Marc woke up with a terrible scratch in his throat and gritty eyes. As hundreds of invasive memories and thoughts washed through his consciousness, he wished desperately that he never had. As he lay there, he tried to think logically about this situation. He tried to rationalize his latest location as simply an attempt to introduce him to the community of Ponyville in as smooth a way as possible. But he couldn't. All he could think was that even these ponies had relegated him to a home for the parentless and social outcasts.
He rolled out of the narrow bed and crawled over to the window. He looked out over the town in an attempt to clear his head; The sun was rising beside the mountain in the far distance. It was such a beautiful view, bespeaking the freedom a promise that seemed to pervade nearly everything beyond. His eyes started tearing up again.
"Uh, Marc? Are you okay?" Rainbow Dash stood behind him in the doorway at the other end of the long, empty dormitory-style room Marc had slept in. She'd been waiting for him to wake up since early dawn, hoping that she had misread his features in the dark of the night before: surely he hadn’t been so upset?
Marc turned and stared blankly at her.
Rainbow, unsure, fumbled with her words, "Marc, I'm sorry I dropped you yesterday, things just got a little out of hoof, with that Derpy flying around-"
"Her name's Ditzy, you know." Marc whispered.
Rainbow barely heard him. Still, he sounded hissing mad. "Oh, I'm sorry. No one calls her that anymore, but I'm glad you made another friend-"
"Friend?!" Marc cried out, "Friend?! I had friends! Not many, but enough to keep me happy. And you know what? My friends back home tried their best to get me out of the damn Orphanage, not trying to put me in one!"
Marc spun around around and sat on the edge of the bed, struggling to suppress his wildly spiraling emotions. This shouldn't be hitting me this hard.And I shouldn’t be taking it out on Rainbow Dash…
Rainbow Dash was very confused. Marc didn't like Rosewood? But everypony likes Rosewood! What the hay is going on?!
"Marc, hey, I'll go talk to Twilight, I'm sure she can help with..." She stopped, thinking about what she knew was in store for her if she even so much as hinted at her mistake to the no doubt scandalized Twilight, not to mention the scorn of other Ponyvillians and probably the Princesses to boot. She shook her head, "Whatever, you know what? I've tried to help, and if this is how its gonna go, then I'm not gonna even bother." She turned and abruptly flew away.
Marc didn't look at the entrance, equal parts remorseful and angry at the prismatic Pegasus. Instead he looked the other way to the archway leading into the next part of the long building that made up Rosewood Cottage. Ditzy stood there, tears in her eyes., "I-I t-thought you l-liked R-Rose...wood."
Marc froze, "Ditzy...wait, I-"
Ditzy trembled as she galloped out the door, crying.
Marc swore into his fist. This had to be the worst day he'd had since arriving in this freaky world. He forced himself up and stormed out the door into the painful sunlight.
He heard sobbing in a tree in the garden, but ignored it and stumbled down the path towards the village, with no idea where he was actually going and too upset to care. They shoved me in a home and think they have a right to be upset… but this was possibly the weakest argument he had ever come up with. Neither Rainbow Dash nor Ditzy Doo had actually decided where he should go, and neither deserved blame. But he couldn’t bring himself around, and it ate at his insides just thinking about turning back to the building sitting sedately on its little hill. He soon found himself in the outskirts of Ponyville, whose citizens shot him worried looks when they noticed his upset face, but he was only aware of them when he nearly bumped into them.
A mint-green unicorn accidentally walked into him, spilling her smoothie on impact. Those pants needed a wash anyway, he thought blandly as he stopped, looking at the mess of blended oats down his trouser leg.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't see you! Are you okay?" Marc looked at her. She looked genuinely concerned.
Marc faked a smile, but it barely made it past a grimace. "Yeah, I'm just having a rough morning."
It came as a surprise when she smiled in an understanding manner and cooed, “Did something happen at the show last night? If you need to talk about it, I’m happy to listen.”
Marc tried to disentangle this kind pony’s tone from that used by his psychiatrists as he responded. “No, I think I just need to get my head straight…” Then he remembered that he actually had somewhere he could be this morning. Might as well visit that odd pony from last night. "Hey, you know where that white and blue unicorn from the sound booth last night lives? I suppose I can take her up on her offer for a visit this morning after all."
The green unicorn literally bounced about three feet off the road. "Oh, yeah, Vinyl! She's my neighbor! Then again almost everypony is your neighbor in a town this small. Come on, I'll show you, I was going home anyway. My name is Lyra by the way." She trotted off down the street without waiting for an answer.
Marc couldn't help but be amused at the bubbly pony as he followed her down the road. Just being exposed to ponies like that would raise his mood no end. It struck him that ponies could actually be excitable with shoving cupcakes down his throat and shooting him with mobile cannons.
Eventually he saw the huge lightning rod poking out of the roof of the relatively large cottage ahead of him. Lyra was already bouncing over to her own cottage across the street with little preamble, "See ya later Mr. Marc!"
Marc barely got a chance to wave to Lyra before she disappeared into her home. Shaking his head with a small smile, he knocked on Vinyl's door and waited. What is that thumping noise anyway?
When the door opened, he was hit in the face by a sheer wall of bass and rhythm that took his breath away. But other than her slightly quivering mane, the unicorn in the doorway seemed unaffected by the thumping sound, her goggles and headphones...No, earmuffs...protecting her from what should have caused her lasting bodily damage.
She punched something on the inner wall by the door, stopping the music before it gave Marc internal bleeding. "Oh, hi! C'mon in! I was just busy working!" She stopped when she saw the state of him; A grimace on his features and most of a smoothie smeared down his trowers leg. "Uh, got little something on ya there...Never mind, come, grab a seat."
Marc swayed slightly as he walked into a spacious living room. Well, it would have been spacious were it not for the literally dozens of speakers and mixing boards littering the room in a random manner, vying for space with a random spattering of plush beanbags and other unrecognizable paraphernalia.
Marc wasn't actually all that surprised, but decided to be polite anyway and go through a proper introduction. "Hello, I’m, Marc, as you heard. I never really caught your name last night, you know."
Vinyl laughed at that. "Oh, that's what you were trying to say when you left! Well, I'm Vinyl Scratch, and...um, Octavia is in her room, there's a spell on it so she can't hear anything in the rest of the house when her door's closed. She’s my…well, you should probably ask her if she comes out today…” Marc sense for dysfunctional relationships shot through the roof at that. With dry chuckle at her own expense, Vinyl changed the subject, “Anyway, How ya doing? How'd ya like Rosewood Cottage? Pretty neat place, huh?"
And in one fell sentence, Marc’s slowly warming mood dropped to arctic levels "What? Isn't Rosewood the town Orphanage? Why would I enjoy being put in a glorified homeless shelter?"
Vinyl was shocked at this, " Whoa, dude, I have no idea what you're talking about, but Rosewood is, like, the most awesome hangout if you're in a jam. I mean, anypony with trouble is welcome there anytime! I have to stay there sometimes when Octy gets mad at me, and that's often, I can tell you. Didn't you and Ditzy get on last night?"
Marc didn't understand how she could seem positive about the place. "Wait, isn't Rosewood a home for ...well, the town's parentless or disabled ponies?"
Vinyl took off her goggles so that Marc could fully appreciate her annoyed expression, "No, no...I mean, sometimes ponies like that do stay there, only because anypony is welcome! Mostly it's just ponies visiting town or looking to get away from it all. Like, Ditzy stays there cause her sister can’t exactly live in Cloudsdale with the rest of the Doo family…you know, ‘cause she’s a unicorn? Ditzy didn’t want to live alone, so her dad made a deal with the mayor that his daughters could look after the place so long as the family helped fund it. And Scootaloo has that wing thing, so she stays there whenever her mom gets called out to the Royal Guard, at least til the little tyke is fit enough to go to flight school in Cloudsdale...Did you even bother talking to Ditzy about what Rosewood was before going there? Please tell me you didn't do anything stupid before you came here?"
Marc went catatonic as he realized just how stupid he had managed to be. "Oh god...I may have said some things I need to seriously apologize for."
Vinyl sighed and sat down on a beanbag. "Need to talk about it first?"
Marc looked down, thinking hard. “In my world...I was in a big orphanage dedicated to people with mental disabilities. I hated it there, I was always being tested and moved around. I may have overreacted when I thought I was being put into another one."
Vinyl looked at him blankly. "Um, I have no idea what you're talking about, why were you in there in the first place?"
Marc coughed a bit, becoming a little upset. "Well...I'm really uncomfortable talking about it, but I guess I should tell you ponies sometime. Well, when I was younger, about ten years ago...My parents were rather important people, shall we say, but obviously someone thought they didn't deserve what they had, so...they tried to kill all three of us. I survived, though, to be put in the orphanage under psychiatric care. I never did hear if they actually caught the killers…it’s blurry now… That's my story, really."
Vinyl couldn't absorb that kind of story; it was far beyond what ever happened in Equestria "Whoa...Sorry I...well, yeah, so...” She struggled to find the right words, and eventually gave up all together, “Why don't you head over to Sugarcube Corner and get some breakfast? Maybe you could stop off at the Library and talk to Twilight, its right up the street.” Suddenly, inspiration hit, “Oh, and come back this evening and I'll let ya listen to my latest creation. You'll be the first to hear it finished aside from Octavia and me!"
Marc nodded, "Yeah, I'd like that. Thanks for the help, I really needed that. Sorry for any trouble."
As he stepped out of the door, he turned and said, "Oh, and Vinyl? That music you were playing? It's very popular where I come from." She beamed as she closed the door behind him.
Marc wandered over to the large candy-house that undoubtedly was Sugarcube Corner. A weaker soul could get diabetes just by looking at it. The only other thing nearby aside from cottages was a huge old tree; Certainly nothing like a Library, so he decided on a snack. The ponies inside all looked at him as he as he walked in. A few left.
But most gave him a cheery hello. Pinkie Pie was bouncing around by the counter, pretty much tossing cupcakes at everypony in range.
With a gentle wave, he greeted the hyper active pony. "Hiya, Pinkie. Thanks for last...mmph!"
Marc found another cupcake shoved in his mouth. "Oh, hey Marc! You look sad, so have a cupcake!" Pinkie hopped around way faster than should have been possible. Newton would have hated this place, Marc thought as he swallowed the sweet confection, then coughed.
"Pinkie, not a good idea, you are actually going to hurt me doing that."
"Oh, sorry. Not feeling well? You look sad still, maybe I can help, here's a balloon!"
Marc tried to slap the buzzing piece of rubber out of his face as it whizzed into him. "No, no, Pinkie, i just want a bagel or something."
Pinkie's eyes widened as she gasped, "Ohhhh! Well, come with me! There's a whole room full of Scrump-a-licious treats right back here!" She dashed off, bouncing against the wall over the counter and flying through the door behind it.
Marc trailed her, trying to maintain his patience. When he crossed into the back room, he saw Pinkie Pie sitting amongst truly massive piles snacks and confections, looking at him with a curious angle to her head. "Are you okay? A cupcake didn't help, neither did a balloon...Do I need to sing you a song, or throw you a party? No...? Well, I'm running out of ideas..."
Marc shook his head and smiled a little. "No, Pinkie, I just need some food." Marc rummaged around for something that didn't look as if it was dredged through sugar before baking.
Pinkie jumped up and headbutted him away from the piles of confections into a chair against the counter. "Now you just sit there, Marc, and tell me why you made Rainbow Dash so sad! Even my prank on Spike couldn't make her feel better! And now you're sad too, so if I can't throw you a party, I will listen til you smile, like Twilight always says!" She then sat square in front of him and resumed the curious angle of her neck.
"Um..." Marc had no idea what was going on, but he guessed this interrogation-style questioning was Pinkie's way of showing concern for a friend.
Marc decided that, although Pinkie Pie was mostly insane, she was at least trying. With a little difficulty, he told her a washed down version of the story he had told Vinyl that morning.
"I just got mixed up between what a place like Rosewood means in my world, and what it means here. You...well, the place I stayed in before was not very friendly. In fact, I hated it there. I just...Whatever, yeah, so I got the wrong impression, and now I need to make it up to Dash and Ditzy. Can you help? It'll make me smile."
Pinkie shot up and threw a violent salute, "Okey dokey! I'll go get Rainbow Dash! You go to Rosewood, Ditzy is there, so you talk to her first! See you later!" She disappeared in a puff of confetti.
Marc stood up straight and gathered his wits. Yup, Pinkie was right (If utterly mad); So was Vinyl. He had overreacted and hurt their feelings, and he had to make it up to them, not the other way round
Time to fix this.