//------------------------------// // New Surroundings, New Hostilities // Story: The Content Outcast // by Night Music //------------------------------// The ground flattened beneath my hooves as I trot up to the gate of my new home. Ponyville, a small town just on the outskirts of Canterlot City. Mostly an agricultural town, the citizens here earn their keep by growing and selling produce to the cities that can't grow their own. A farmers paradise. I look up to the archway with the name of the town and the number of ponies living here. I just hope the number is accurate. Looks like it's almost sundown, I should probably get to my new home before it gets dark. I just want to hurry and get everything unpacked, I don't have much in ways when it comes to possessions, but the stuff that I do have, they're very dear to me. I swallow some saliva and quicken my pace. The place I got, it's a cozy little home, single floor, and a couple of rooms with a fireplace in one of them. My new home comes into view and I quicken my pace even further into a gallop. So close, I can almost hear the doorknob turning. Just before I come within five paces to my door I over hear a loud gasp and turn to look at the source of the noise. I look to my left and I see and overly pink pony looking straight at me. I really hope I'm not the one she's looking at because this is getting really weird. After about a whole minute of standing and staring she dashes off to Luna knows where. I let out a sigh of relief and turn back to my cart and sift through my stuff. "That was weird." I think as I pull the key from one of my bags and slide it into the lock and twist. "I hope she doesn't do that again." I know that I'm... odd looking for a pony, but staring really doesn't help anything. I shake my head dispelling the pink one from my head. I open the door to my home and take a few paces into it and look around. It's too dark to see anything so I locate the light switch and I flip it. I regret doing so because the moment I did, ponies popped from every corner of my home and yelled out. "Surprise!" I looked between them all as they yelled out the word and I noticed the pink one. I really didn't understand how she got into here when I saw her run the other way. Most of the ponies who were had said something stopped right in there verbal tracks as they saw me. Once again I looked between them all, most of them had looks of shock on their faces. The next thing I knew was the sweet embrace of unconsciousness after my body hit the floor. "Is he okay?" Fluttershy asked as she looked down at the sleeping pony. "I don't know, all we did was surprise him and he dropped like a rock. What a wuss." Rainbow Dash says as she chuckle at the stallions expense. "Oh please wake up mister, you still haven't met anypony." Pinkie Pie says as she grabs a hold of the stallions hoof and begins to shake, uncertain of what to do in this kind of situation. The rest of the ponies in the house just looked on with worry in their eyes, uncertain if they did something bad or not. "Well, while he's out, how about we look at the stuff in his cart until he wakes up?" Rainbow Dash asks as she lifts a bag out of the cart. Twilight sees this and says. "Rainbow Dash! Why in Equestria would you do that? That's wrong on so many levels." "Whoa! Check it out, he has a pair of spiked iron hooves!" Rainbow Dash said as she slipped the pair of shoes on and gave a kick with her hind legs. "But those were only available to the Equestrian Special Forces, and not to be rude but, he doesn't look like Special Forces material." Twilight said as she eyed the hooves and then turned towards the bag. "What else, does he have in there?" She said as she levitated the bag off the cart and settle the bag down to the ground. She pulled a tome out of the bag and unraveled it and began to read. "This... this is a lost scroll from Star Swirls the Bearded!" Twilight said as she almost choked on the air she was breathing. Rarity saw what Twilight had found and she got curious as well, while she thought that looking through someponies belongings was wrong, the pull she was feeling from the bag as to strong to resist. She poked her head into the bag and used her magic to pull out what seemed to be an article of clothing. What she pulled out was an old style dress that had the Steam Punk fashion written all over it. Gears, gyros, springs and coils made the dress stand out but what really made it stand out was the fabric used in it. "Oh my! This an old Equestrian Dress, back when steam power became the main source of power for ponies they designed articles like this. It's amazing that the fabric even survived let alone the state of the metal." Everypony was finding stuff from all times of the past, the other ponies in the room just looked on with curiosity and wonderment as exotic pieces of history were pulled and shown from the bag. The only thing left was what Twilight held in her magic at the moment. "A rock? He has all this stuff in here..." Rainbow Dash said as she waggled a signed picture from the first Wonderbolt Captain in her hooves. "And he has some dumb rock in there too?" The stallion in question was still passed out cold on the floor. "This isn't just some rock Rainbow Dash, the stuff that makes it up is weird feeling. Let me just cast a spell and see where it's from." Twilight said as her horn lit up with magic and dimmed just as it lit. "Well what is it sugar cube?" Apple Jack asks as she leans in with suspense. "But that's impossible! There is no way he should have this!" Twilight said waving the rock around. "What's the dumb rock!?" Rainbow Dash yelled, trying to get an answer. "The rock... it's from the moon..." Twilight said facing the crowd of ponies. As soon as the word left her mouth, the crowd gasped and looked at the area behind Twilight. They break into my home, and start messing with my stuff. Not really the best welcome to Ponyville, but I've had worst. "Ahem" I cough into a hoof trying to get the purple ones attention. She turns with the rock in her magic towards me and I bring my hoof to the tip of her horn and cut the spell and let the rock drop the floor. She yelps in surprise and shock of the feeling, it's not easy for any unicorn to have a spell cut off like that, but that's not my problem. "Excuse me, everypony, if I could just kindly ask you all to leave, that would be most appreciated if you left without making me result to force." Nopony moves, they just sit there and stare at me, the only one not staring is the purple one who just sits there and rubs her horn, probably trying to get feeling back into it. "What the hay was that? Why did you do that to Twilight?" The sky blue Pegasus asks at me as she rears up like she's going to pounce. "I did that because I wanted her to drop the rock, or as you call it, 'the dumb rock', you feather brained, air head." I say looking down at her. These ponies, they come into my home, insult my stuff, and ask why I do the things that I did? "What did you call me?" She asks, a hint of anger in her voice. I never got along with Pegasi, only a few of them were ones I ever called friend. "Are you hard of hearing too cloud pounder?" I see a couple of Pegasi in the crowd of ponies show signs of anger at the remark. "That's it!" Not a moment later, she's in the air leaping towards me. Something inside of me pushes me and I leap into the air, the pegasus lands where I left the ground. I bring a hoof down with a drop kick to the cluster of nerves between the wings. Her whole body stiffens outwards and locks into place. "What did you do to me?!" She says from her position on the floor. Pain most likely flaring up in every joint in her body. "Listen here buster, you mess with one of my friends, and you mess with me." The cow pony says as she charges to save her friend. She turns her hind hooves towards me for a good solid kick to connect to my face. I feel blood pouring from my snout but push it out of my mind. The last thing I need to do now is worry about a nose bleed. "Why don't you come and do that again earth eater?" I say wiping blood from my snout. Again I see looks of anger flare up in the crowd at the remark, along with looks of confusion. The cow pony charges at me again, but this time I slide under her as she leaps to turn, she doesn't turn fast enough and I hit the area where her hind legs bend. The only thing that's going support her now is her two front legs. As soon as her legs hit the ground, they turn to jelly under her and she collapses. "And again, could you all leave my home before I am forced to use force?" I ask with my usual tone as I look at the ground. One of the ponies in the crowd yells out. "If that wasn't force, than what the hay was that?" "I was merely protecting myself. Again and for the last time, could you all just leave?" I hear ponies grumble from the crowd but most of them make their way out the door. The only ones left were the six mares that apparently led the mob into my home. They all just looked at me with slight anger, but slight might be an understatement. The pink one looked saddened for a reason unknown to me. The white one shoved her nose up into the air when I made eye contact."Uppity up." I mumble to myself as I look away from the white one. The yellow pegasus with the pink hair hid behind her mane, probably out of either fright or just the same reasons of the white one. The purple one looked at me dead in the eyes and asked. "Why did you do all of that? We were only trying to welcome you to Ponyville with a party." I look at her and her friends and ask. "What if somepony were to trot into your home, and insult all of your friends, not only that but to go as far as try to assault you when you try to get rid of them?" "But we didn't insult anypony, I'm sorry if we spoke out of term with your stuff but-" "These items that you all decided to ogle and then insult? Those are what remains of my friends that I might be able to hang onto." I say without breaking eye contact with the purple one. She hears this and her ears splay back onto her head. And then, a confused look crosses her face. "What about the moon rock? Who's that supposed to be?" I feel a twinge of sadness inside as the question make its way through my head. "Get your friends and go. I'm not having guests over." "But wha-" "Out." Is all I say before the message is relayed. The two on the ground are picked up by the unicorns and levitated out. The purple one looks back at me before I close the door before she could persist with her questions. From the door I look at all my stuff strewn across the floor, all of them bringing faces back to the front of my mind. All of them I called friend. I feel hot tears stream down my cheeks as my vision get blurry. Why can't I just be left alone? I wonder as I look at the cracked frame case for a special photo. "Did you see him? Dude was freaky, even when AJ kicked him in the face he didn't even cringe." Rainbow Dash said from her position in Twilight's magic. "He certainly was a brute." Rarity said nodding her head. "But what about all the stuff he had, he said they were all that he had left of his friends and I think some of that stuff was as old as Celestia." Twilight said continuing to make her way home. Everypony frowned at the comment, the thought of being alone and then going so far as to push anypony and everypony away. Not many ponies were like this. "Ah don't like him." Stated Apple Jack before asking. "What about you Fluttershy?" When she was greeted with no answer everypony turned around to find out that Fluttershy was no where to be seen. "She probably just went home, this all has been a bit tense. And I don't blame her." Rarity said. Everypony agreed with this and continued to make their way to their respective homes. Fluttershy was anywhere but at her home. She was hovering at the window of the stallions home watching as the stallion went around picking the items up with tears streaking down his face. When he got to the dress he just sat there and cried, looking down at the article of clothing. Before he just bent over and laid down next to the dress, he brought it close to him as if he were hugging it, crying into its fabric. Fluttershy couldn't stand to watch this any longer so, she flew to the front of the stallions house and trotted up to the door before she knocked. The stallion opened the door with clear signs of crying written all over his features. But the tears that had been there were wiped away and his expression went back to the one he had before. "Yes?" He asked as he drew a short breath in through his nose and sniffled. Fluttershy didn't respond but quickly flew in for a neck crushing hug and bouts of tears as she heard him below her begin to cry again. "I'm going to be your friend okay?" She asked as she continued the hug. No matter what he would say, she would be his friend.