//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Ignoreland // by Atlas_Nebula //------------------------------//         You sigh quietly as you walk with Fluttershy to the local bakery known to the residents of the town as ‘Sugar Cube Corner’. Even in a place so secluded and far away from major cities and modern civilization, there are still ponies that despise your kind. There definitely aren’t as many as you would normally see visiting a population center, but you can still feel the familiar glares attempting to burrow their way into the back of your skull. Mentally shrugging, you continue on your way down the slightly busy street, after all, it comes with the territory.         Quiet whispers sound through the marketplace and you catch glimpses of conversations. “What’s he doing with her? Where do you think they’re going?” Fluttershy doesn’t seem to hear any of them. In fact, she seems rather contented for the most part, smiling softly and humming as the light breeze of mid afternoon whistles through her mane. You can obviously tell that she’s extremely in tune with nature; that much was obvious when you’d seen all of the animals she kept in her house. A house full of organic critters… That certainly wasn’t something you saw everyday.         Nevertheless, you shake your head slightly, clearing the thoughts from your mind and bask in the relative silence of the walk. It’s not particularly far, nor is it particularly exciting, but it’s still nice to not be surrounded completely by hateful glares and vicious accusations. The woefully uninformed don’t usually take very kindly to the strange and unorthodox, especially something along the lines of yourself. Synthetic life... created within a test tube… At least you have a companion for this journey. This is a walk that you’d normally be making on your own, knowing that it would most likely end in disappointment like the countless times before.         You gaze to your right, noticing that Fluttershy is still humming softly, but looking once again at your blank flank with a mixture of sadness and curiosity. When she notices you looking and accidentally makes eye contact, she quietly makes an ‘eep!’ sound before turning and blushing. You almost chuckle. The mare certainly lives up to her namesake, though she seems nice enough. Perhaps you’ll find a potential buyer and repeat customer in her after all? Who knows? All will be told when you arrive at your current destination, you tell yourself. For now, the silence holds you in its cold, yet comforting embrace.         As you turn the corner, you see the building in all of it’s sugary glory. A tall building stands not twenty feet in front of you, but it’s the architecture that catches your eye. You’ve never seen anything like it; the building seems to be made entirely from gingerbread, and held together by some sort of frosting. Large candy canes and lollipops decorate the front entrance and the pathway leading up to the sugar glass door. You briefly entertain the thought of some young colt running up to the building and taking a bite out of the wall to see if it’s real.         Coming up to the building, both you and Fluttershy stop to gawk at it. Up close, the individual grains of sugar and frosting are clearly visible, and it is definitely real. You wonder if they actually have a problem with ponies coming up and eating sections of the building. The would be a very serious danger to the structural integrity of the building. How would the owners repair it? Perhaps they would just bake a-         Your thoughts are interrupted as Fluttershy addresses you. “We’re here, at Sugar Cube Corner. Isn’t it just amazing?” She gives you a gentle smile. Nodding, you walk up to the door and hold it open for her. Once again, she gives you that small, grateful smile as she trots inside of the bakery. You quickly follow, closing the door behind you. As you do, you see your reflection in the mirror... hardened eyes and a emotionless body stare back at you. Artificial. That’s what you are. Shaking your head once again, you make your way over to the table that Fluttershy has taken seat at and sit down with her. The store is almost completely empty, save for the products they’re selling.         All around you, various spices, pastries, and candies fill the shelves. This is literally a child’s paradise. You briefly ponder how anypony could possibly consume these sugary confections regularly without getting some for of health related disease. Still, it couldn’t hurt to try necessarily... not once at least. Across the table, Fluttershy watches as you eye the story in wonder, trying to take in how such a place could possibly exist.         “The Cakes are very good at what they do,” Fluttershy says. “They’ve owned this place for nearly twenty years. My friends and I actually come here very often. It’s a great family friendly place, and they’ve got great food. It’s just the right amount of sweet while not being too sweet.” Fluttershy finishes with a small smile before turning her gaze downwards towards the table, avoiding eye contact but sneaking glances at you when she thinks you aren’t looking. Something strange and different calls for attention, you think to yourself.         “The secret is sea salt and pinch of cinnamon~!” A pink mare bounces out from behind the counter, carrying a tray of with four yellow frosted cupcakes on it. “Well, that’s not all, but I really can’t tell you the secret recipe. You might try to recreate it or something, and it’s supposed to be a secret!” The mare places the tray down and bounces in place, watching excitedly for Fluttershy to take a bite from one of the similarly paletted cupcakes. Fluttershy flinches a bit when the tray impacts the table, but manages a grimaced smile at the pink mare.         “Oh, hey, Pinkie. How did you know it was me?” Fluttershy asks. She cranes her neck downward and takes a dainty bite of the closest cupcake, leaving a petite bite mark. “Thanks for the cupcakes by the way, Pinkie. They’re delicious.”         The pink mare grins so widely, that you swear her mouth might fall off of her face. “Well, since you’re one of my best friends and a regular customer, I decided to make a special recipe just for you! I’m glad it was a success! As for how I knew it was you? You usually come around the same time everyday, and you always make this specific set of plodding hoofsteps. Although… I could have sworn I heard somepony else enter with you…”         “O-oh. Um… Yes. This is my new friend,” Fluttershy says, pointing towards you. The implication of that statement hits you. New... friend?         “New friend... but…” The pink mare slowly turns around towards you. She eyes you up and down, taking in your whole form and no doubt analyzing you. It’s fairly obvious that you’re not like other ponies, but she doesn’t seem to notice. She just continues to scan you as if you were some sort of barcode. It’s actually rather unnerving… “If you’re Fluttershy’s new friend, that must mean that you’re new to Ponyville! If you’re new to Ponyville, that means I haven’t met you yet, and if I haven’t met you yet, that means I haven’t thrown you a party! Oh my goodness I’d better go-”         She stops talking immediately as she looks into your eyes. The two of you stare intently at each other, almost as if probing each others souls. You swear that you can see some sort of gears churning in the back of her head, followed by a faint ‘click’ as some invisible mechanism snaps into place. Now she looks sort of sad. She’s still smiling widely, but you notice that it’s a little less wide than before. Fluttershy doesn’t seem to notice however.         “Pinkie? Are you alright?” Fluttershy asks, concern lacing her voice.         “Huh? Oh, yeah! I was just thinking about something… Anyways, it was nice to meet you Mr. Stallion-guy! I’m Pinkie Pie! I sure look forward to talking to you in the future, but I kind of have some work I’m supposed to be doing for the Cakes, plus I have to feed their twins in a bit. You know, children…” She waves her hoof as she bounds back over the counter and up the stairs, vanishing just as quickly as she had appeared.         “That was weird… Pinkie’s never too busy to meet somepony new… She usually wants to throw them some sort of huge party to welcome them to the town. I wonder if she’s alright…” Fluttershy looks worried for her friend, but you’re pretty sure you know what just happened.         “Don’t worry, Fluttershy. I’m sure she’s fine. Just takes awhile to get used to new things, you know?” You try to console Fluttershy. You don’t particularly like seeing anypony sad, especially kind mares like the yellow pegasus. She seems a little naive to you, but you suppose that’s just part of her nature and how she was raised. “Anyway… So, Fluttershy, what would you like to know?” You sit up straight and professionally, looking dead at her. She shies away from the eye contact, instead looking all around the room except for directly at you.         “W-well… Um. What does it mean?” Fluttershy asks so softly, that even you are barely able to make it out.         “What does what mean?” You ask, slightly confused.         “Well, what does it mean to be an android? How does that… work?” She immediately clasps her hooves over her mouth. “I-I’m sorry! I d-didn’t mean to sound so offensive!”         “It’s alright, Fluttershy.” You take in a deep breath and sigh. “It’s only natural that you’d be curious about something so foreign. I don’t blame you for not knowing how to voice those curiosities.” Fluttershy nods, but still looks down at the table with a small amount of shame.          “Well, how do I start to explain this? Androids, or ‘andys’ as we are also known, are artificially created ponies. We are ponies, but we’re also not, if that makes any sense.” You stop talking for a moment and tap your hoof against your chin, trying to figure out a better way to explain your condition to Fluttershy. What would be the best way to word this…? ”But how can that be possible? If you’re a pony, then you’re a pony just like everypony else. If you’re not, then you’re some sort of other creature. How can you be a pony but not be a pony?” Fluttershy looks at you as she asks this, seemingly bewildered and completely unable to grasp the concept of you simultaneously being and not being something. “Well… It’s like… We look, act, and move like a pony, but we don’t have a lot of the things that make ponies ‘ponies’. For instance, we lack cutie marks. We don’t have ‘families’ in the traditional sense of the word, since we’re created and not born. We never have a childhood. We’re born exactly as we are, and stay that way until we cease to function anymore.” Fluttershy gives you a look of great pity. “O-Oh… That sounds horrible!” She clasps her hooves over her mouth once more. “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. Just… Those are things that everypony should be able to experience! I can’t imagine not having them. You must be so lonely…” You can nearly see tears in the corners of her eyes. “Don’t worry, Fluttershy. You learn to deal with it quickly enough. We’re also a lot stronger and faster than a normal pony due to the fact that we’re not organic. This same fact also makes us sterile. There are multiple advantages and disadvantages to being an android.” You sigh and look at her. She’s still giving you that sad, piteous look. It doesn’t make you feel good at all. “Why are you looking at me like that?” you ask her, feeling slightly uncomfortable. “I’m sorry, but that just doesn’t sound very nice at all. I mean, you’re missing so many wonderful things.” With a practiced steadiness, you respond. “I’m happy. I always have been. I’m contented with the life I’ve been given, and strive to do my best for the community and world around me, even if it means sometimes having to make sacrifices.” It sounds almost robotic, like a mantra of sorts. That’s because it is, but Fluttershy doesn’t know that. Not yet at least. “B-But… Don’t you have any friends? Somepony to care for you?” You shake your head slowly. “Ponies like me don’t tend to make friends with lots of other ponies, Fluttershy. I assure you though, it’s probably for the best. After all, ponies are often afraid of things that are foreign to them. I just do my job and live my life to the best of my abilities. That’s all anypony can ever really ask, isn’t it?” Her next words ring sharply through the air. They aren’t harsh. They aren’t hostile. If anything, they’re extremely soothing, and just soft enough so that you barely hear them. “I’ll be your friend. If that’s alright with you…” You nearly do a double take. You’re not used to this sort of reaction from ponies. The most you get is acceptance, or semi-respect, but never kindness. “I… Uh… Sure. I would love to have you as a friend?” You aren’t really sure how to respond, so you just say the first thing that comes to your mind. “Great!” Fluttershy says, smiling. “Oh dear… It’s getting sort of late. I didn’t realize we’d spent so much time here.” You look at a simple clock hanging in the corner and realize that it has in fact been almost an hour or so. Where did all of the time go? “Uh… You haven’t touched your cupcakes yet!” Fluttershy says to you. Looking down, you notice two yellow cupcakes on a plate in front of you. Fluttershy must have passed them to you earlier without you noticing it, thinking that you were hungry. “No, I’ll be fine. I’m not hungry at all, I promise. Though, we should probably go visit this ‘Twilight’ friend of yours soon. I remember you saying that you thought she’d like to meet me.” “Oh, yes! That’s right! We should head over there right away. The library’s close to here, so it shouldn’t take too long to get there. Twilight is pretty busy later in the day, so it’s best to go as soon as possible.” Fluttershy leaves a few bits on the table before you even have the chance to protest. “Let’s go.” The two of you leave the store. As you do, you stop for a moment and turn to look back at the sugar coated bakery. That had to have been one of the strangest lunches you’d ever had.