Anomalous

by benxlabs

Naturalization

As he headed back to town, he tried to get a grip on himself. He had to remember. His mind regurgitated question after question, the same questions over and over again. Questions that he should have been able to answer. What is my name? Where am I from? Why am I here? He vaguely recalled pain and something about dark figures, but his memories slipped away almost as fast as he had could recall them. How was he supposed to break free of this cursed spell if he couldn't even remember who he was?

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEE!” A pink pony screamed at him moments after he stepped foot into the town. After she finished her maniacal outburst, she dashed away before he could ask who she was, or recommend her to the nearest psycho clinic. It hadn't even been a full minute after returning to Ponyville, and he had already encountered another nutjob. The citizens of this town were not making a very good impression. So far, he had met a shy one, a feisty one, and apparently, a psycho one. Well, he supposed that Twilight was normal enough, but he tossed that idea out the window. He wasn't going to disprove his own theory.

At least he could maintain accident-free walking for a full five minutes now. It was an impressive achievement, considering that he had relearned how to walk in merely two days. Although he had been able to make do and find shelter for the previous nights, he doubted his luck would hold up. He had explored most of the town already, but there was no hotel or tavern in sight. He decided to refrain from asking the townspeople, as they had certainly showed him just how friendly they could be. And so, he decided to try the homes that rather clearly did not belong to the simple townsfolk he feared so much. His first find was a cake store, filled with many delicious looking confectionaries. He was tempted to stay just for the possible culinary benefits, but to his dismay, the store was closed. He was greeted with a "Sorry, We're Closed" sign when he found the entrance. He peeked in through the window. There wasn’t even a person- well, pony in sight. He sighed. Time to try the next house.

After an arduous search, he discovered another interesting looking structure. The multi-layered cake shape caught his attention. But now that he was closer, he saw that the name was actually "Carousel Boutique". Go figure. But no sooner had he reached the front door did he find yet another "Sorry, We're Closed" sign. What was going on? Did these ponies expect to make a profit off taking a permanent vacation? Was it really that easy to make money here? And so, he wandered on, still in search of a home. By this time, he had made his way to the very outskirts of the town, and he had been about to give up this disastrous endeavor when he encountered a small cottage, that had a roof...made out of leaves? Huh. Approaching the cottage, he hesitantly knocked on the door. Perhaps this was the end of his journey.

A while later, the door was opened by an annoyed looking bunny.

“Excuse me, are you the owner of this house?” He asked the bunny. The bunny shook his head furiously.

“Okay...is the owner of the house available?” He asked again. Once again, the bunny shook its head.

“Do you know when the owner of the house will be available?” he tried again. Again, the bunny shook its head again.

“Can I stay here for a while then? Pretty please?” he asked another question. As he expected, the bunny just shook its head. Then it slammed the door in his face.

“Well, that went well.” He muttered to himself as he turned around dejectedly.

What was their left for him to do? He had done a survey of everything around the town, but all of his efforts had been in vain. Maybe he could try to fly? The sky is the domain of the Pegasi, after all. He beat his wings, hesitantly at first, but more confidently as he rose into the air. Flying is something that you can't just forget. Although he was still unsteady in the air, he could fly! He could actually fly! The thought brought him a rush of adrenaline.

As he slowly surveyed the area around the town from the air, he spotted something that caught his attention. At first, he thought it was just a rather large and unusually lumpy cloud, but as he approached it he realized that it was actually an entire home, entirely made from clouds. Amazed that the laws of physics could be bent so far, he lowered himself down onto the house, ready to investigate. As he suspected, the cloud home was solid and clearly structured. The flooring sank ever so slightly under his steps, but it provided a cushion to his gait rather than obstructing it. He knocked on the door, but received no response. After a moment of debate, he tried again. Still, no one answered the door. Deciding to explore the premises for just a little longer, he looked around him. As he gazed around, a fountain caught his attention. Instead of water, it was spurting what seemed to be pure rainbow. A thought hit him. Perhaps this was the house of that rainbow-haired pegasus? Remembering his previous encounter, he decided to skedaddle before she came back.

Still without a home, he arrived back where he started, in front of the library. He sighed, suddenly feeling very tired. It felt wrong to impose himself on them so many times, and he had been hoping to find shelter without their assistance, but in the end he was back here again. He hoped that they would take him in as graciously as they did before. Steeling his heart, he knocked on the door, and was surprised when it opened. It wasn’t locked. A dark thought crossed his mind. Were there bandits in Ponyville? He took a tentative step inside, and whispered: “Hello? Anybody home?” It was very dark inside. He took step after careful step, terrified that any moment a pony would jump out holding the dragon and Twilight hostage, demanding that he turn over all his belongings. And yet his fears were unwarranted, for he made it all the way inside without any incident. He gave a small sigh of relief, glad that he didn't have to deal with anything like that. It was still very dark in the library though. He wondered why. He got his answer a few seconds later.

As the library suddenly lit up, he didn’t know whether to scream first or to jump five feet into the air first. Unable to decide, he did both at the same time. When he regained his senses and was able to look around him, hw was shocked to see hundreds of ponies, pegasi, and unicorns beaming at him.

“Um...what?” He wasn’t sure why they were so happy.

“Welcome to Ponyville.” A sandy colored pony with a white mane stepped forward.

“I am Mayor Mare, the mayor of Ponyville.” The pony continued. At that moment, the pony from before, the pink psycho, stepped forward.

“Remember when I screamed at you? That was because I had never seen you before, and since I had never seen you before, you must have been new, because I know every pony in Ponyville, and if you’re new, then you haven’t met anyone yet, and if you haven’t met anybody yet, then you must not have any friends, and if you don’t have any friends, then you must be really lonely, and if you’re lonely, then you must be sooooo sad, and then I had an idea! That’s why I was like ‘AIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE!!!’, because I thought of an idea to invite every single pony in Ponyville to a super-gigantic super-fun welcome party!” The pink one rambled on and on, threatening to drive him crazy.

“Um, oh, right, is that so? Hah.” He did his best “I’m interested and listening” expression. It was one of his special talents after all. Meanwhile, he focused on trying to figure out the best way to escape this rather unexpected conglomeration.

The purple one...what was she called? Twilight? Yeah, Twilight. Twilight Sparkle, seemed to be amused by his predicament. She approached him, and whispered in his ear:

“You can hide out in my bedroom. The same thing happened to me when I came here.” He gave her a look of gratitude, and snuck upstairs as stealthily as possible. Unfortunately, that was not very stealthily.

“Where're ya' goin'? Ain't you enjoyin' the party?” An orange pony was blocking his escape route.

“Um...well, no, er, I mean Yes! The party is great! I love it! I just...uh...” He tried to think of an excuse to be heading upstairs. Twilight stepped in.

"Don't worry about it AJ, he was just going to fetch a book from my library for me.” Once again, he silently thanked Twilight in his head.

“A'righty then, y'all just make sure you hurry on down once you’re done!” He nodded a few times and scrambled up the remaining steps. He rushed into Twilight’s bedroom and slammed the door shut. Peace at last.

The door burst open. “Urgh...just five more minutes Mom...” He mumbled groggily. How in the world had he fallen asleep? He remembered finding a particularly interesting novel, and had gotten onto the bed to get into a comfortable reading position. He had only closed his eyes for an instant, to rest them from reading so long. I guess I really was tired, huh? Life in Ponyville is pretty stressful. Then he heard a cough. It was Twilight.

“Sorry to disturb you.” She chuckled. “It’s getting kind of late out, and most of the ponies have left.” He got the hint.

“Oh! Yes...it’s just...”

Twilight looked at him strangely. “It’s just what?”

He sighed. “I don’t have a home.”

Twilight gasped. “You’re homeless?”

He waved his arms frantically. “No! It's not like that! I'm definitely not a hobo! It's just that I haven't found anywhere to live yet and-”

Twilight cut in. “If that's how it is, I'm sure we can find you a home in no time! You can stay here for the night, or as long as you need to. There's a couch downstairs, but it's still a bit messy from the party. Would you be okay sleeping there?”

He smiled. “Sure! I’m not causing any trouble for you, am I?”

She started. “Oh no! You remind me of myself when the Princess sent me to Ponyville! Well, that is, I guess I had a home at least...” She trailed off, slightly embarrased. She let him be after that, and he was glad for it. Despite already having had a nap, it was no problem falling right back asleep. He was out before he hit the couch.

He was surrounded in blackness, but he could feel that something was there. Suddenly, he felt a cold wind. It was a strong wind that pushed him backwards. His foot slipped, and he realized he was on the precipice of an abyss. The wind was more like a powerful breath, sucking everything into the endless abyss. He grabbed onto the ledge as he lost his footing. The wind grew stronger, ripping away even the blackness to fuel its eternal hunger. As the ledge he had been grabbing onto broke off, he fell screaming into the abyss. But his scream served only as the accompaniment to a sinister cackle emanating from the pit.

He bolted upright, drenched in cold sweat. The sound of that omnious laughter was still fresh in his mind. He hadn't had a nightmare in a long time, so the dream disturbed him much more than it should have. He sighed. There was no way he could fall asleep after that, so he decided to take a little midnight stroll to calm his nerves. His walk took him to the outskirts of the town and beyond. Soon, he only had a vague idea of where he was, but he kept walking. He felt that there was something up ahead, something that he was meant to find. To his surprise, he realized that he had found a hedge maze.

As he made his way through the maze, he noticed many statues, each one meticulously carved with a level of detail that was beyond art. It was as if living creatures had simply become stone. He shuddered. If there were Pegasi, shouldn't there also be a Medusa? He pondered as he walked, until he found his way to a clearing. He was in the middle of the maze. The center of the labyrinth housed only one statue: the figure of a draconequus. He approached the statue, curious. This statue, more so than the others, seemed to be a living, breathing creature. It reverberated with energy, unlike any other statue he had seen. As he got closer, he even thought he could hear the statue speaking.

His heart was beating wildly. He felt raw emotion rise up in his chest. He knew what the statue was saying was true, but he refused to believe it.

His frustration boiled over as he ran at the statue, slamming into it.

A bolt of jagged lightning arched across the night sky, striking the statue and creating cracks all along the exterior. To his horror, the statue began reverberating, shaking off its stone shell. With a final peal of thunder, the statue exploded into a white haze, disappearing into the night sky, followed by a malevolent chuckle.