//------------------------------// // Will Always Be. // Story: We, Who Are Different. // by Diabeto131 //------------------------------// It was a cool fall afternoon when Violet found herself walking through the park with her head hanging low. It had only been a week since she moved to Ponyville, and she was looking for a job. She prided herself on her work ethic, and her ability with growing flowers. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough for the ponies of Ponyville. To them, she was odd, an outsider, some thing that had taken up residence in town. It was as she was pondering the cruelty of the ponies when she noticed a bench on the path, and the creature that sat upon it. It was tall, and wore clothing, blue jeans and a green hoodie. She approached it carefully, attempting to deduce what it was. It had short brown fur on the top of its head, and some lighter fuzz on the bottom half of its face. As she got closer she realized it was sleeping. Violet placed her front hooves on the arm of the bench, so she could get a closer look at its face. She wracked her brain in an attempt to deduce what the this strange being was. Was it a species of monkey, or a sickly Minotaur? Where was it from? What can it do? These were the questions that bubbled to the surface of her thoughts. "Seat's open. I'd prefer it if you gazed longingly into my good side." The creature spoke, spooking the young Thestral, causing her to jump, extend her wings, and release a sound not too dissimilar to a squeak. It looked at her with an amused expression on it's face as it patted the spot next to it. She looked back into it's steel grey eyes and huffed. "I wasn't 'gazing longingly'." She stated as she walked around and sat next to the creature. "Oh, I know I got a pretty face, you don't need to hide your infatuation." It responded with a wink. Violet glared at the creature with baleful, golden eyes. It began to chuckle. "That has to be the most adorable glare I have ever seen." A blush formed on Violet's cheeks at its words. She shook her head and asked the most prominent question on her mind. "What are you?" Violet winced when the words left her mouth. That certainly wasn't the best way to word that, but if the creature was offended, he didn't show it. Instead, he stood up, and turned towards the Thestral. It raised both its arms to its side. "I am Andrew Sullivan, you may call me Andy or Sully, if you so choose!" He began marching back and forth with one hand pointing to the sky, while the other rested behind his back. "I am a member of the species Homo Sapiens, or human, if you will. A proud race whose technological, psychological, medical, mechanical, and spiritual knowledge and technology knows no bounds. We who created the pyramids, we who created the Great Wall of China, we who have walked on the moon, and dream even bigger." He stood in front of his seat on the bench and turned towards the sunset. "We who look to the horizon, but instead of seeing the end of the day, see the beginning of a beautiful night." He plopped lazily back onto the bench. "But," the smile on his face disappeared after that one word, "that doesn't mean much here." Violet stared in confusion at the weird creature. "Wait, you've walked on the moon." Her question caused the human to laugh. "No, I haven't. I'm not from Equus." Her eyes widened. Is she talking to an alien? "I'm from a place called Earth. I went for a walk, and ended up here. That was..." He placed a hand on his chin in thought. "Three years ago. Tomorrow." "Have you tried to go back?" Andrew raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Trying to get rid of me already?" Violet violently shook her head and stumbled over her words. "N-No! I-I mean ... What I meant was..." The alien waved her out of her tangent. "I know what you meant, and yes, I tried." He leaned back into his seat to get comfortable. "So, you new in town?" Violet nodded with a wide grin. "I'm Violet, this place is wonderful!" She began to gush on about the scenery and how good the soil is for growing flowers. "I met the flower sisters a couple days ago and we talked about techniques and tools for gardening." "That's Rose and her sisters right?" Violet nodded, and Andrew laughed. "Did you know that in my first week here, I met those three. I was walking through the market when I bumped into Rose." "How did you bump into Rose?" Violet's question caused Andrew to rub the back of his neck. "I had my head down, wasn't really paying attention. But, any ways, I bumped into her, and I apologized. But she was frozen, she wouldn't speak or move. At that moment I saw that her sisters were behind her, also frozen." "What happened next?" Violet asked, wondering how the story ended. "They fainted. Just, fell over." "That's it?" "They recovered and accepted my apology, and now I'm their go to maintenance guy." Andrew frowned. "I skipped the bit about how the town was ready to have the Elements blow me into friendship dust. Guess you could say that they saved me from getting lynched." Violet gasped. "Really?! Why would they do that?" With a shrug the human continued. "Just look at me, I'm almost twice as big as your average pony. I could look down to Princess Celestia. I'm weird and hairless. I'm always wearing clothes, thank god for Rarity. And icing on the shitty cake, I eat meat. I'm an omnivore. While I can eat fruits and veggies, I also need meat. Because of this, most ponies thought I was going to eat them." He saw the look on Violet's face. "I don't eat ponies. I prefer my meat, non-sentient." "Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you." Andrew laughed and shook his head. "You didn't offend me. Not much can anymore. Enough about me. All I know about you is your name. Where do you work?" Violet bowed her head with her furry ears flattening against her head. "I'm currently looking for work. Nopony wants to hire a Thestral. Rose told me if they ever needed help, that they would come to me, but they don't. At least not right now." Andrew stood up and stared into the sky, seemingly studying the stars that were coming out. "How are you with manual labor?" Violet looked up at him in confusion. "I'm generally good with getting my hooves dirty." Andrew looked back at her. "I could use a hand, I fix things for some of the ponies in town. If you're interested, meet me at Sugarcube Corner in the morning." He looked towards the moon. "I've got to get home and plan out tomorrow's route. I'll see you later, Vi." He smiled at her before walking down the path. "Bye, Andy." Violet sat there for a few more moments and stargazed. She smiled to herself as she got off the bench and began trotting home. She had somewhere to be in the morning.