Our new Friends, Our new Enemies

by The Potato Guy

Chapter 2: How to not make friends

Hoof by hoof Solar Virtue began his long journey up north to his soon to be new home, Ponyville. Stopping was, in his opinion, a luxury he could not afford. Blank Canvas had thus far not tricked him or made any false promises in regards to this deal of his, so worrying about being part of some cruel trick was not something he need do. Yet despite now apparently owning a degree of freedom that he had never before experienced in his life, avoiding areas of population and never remaining in the same spot for a prolonged time was still the norm for him. Excitement was one thing however that kept his progress to Ponyville at a high pace, technically now no longer being one Solar Virtue anymore, symbolically taking up a new identity now. Yet, almost harshly so, he still felt that one thing tug at his being, and finally reaching Ponyville and thus, his home, it served only to tug at him even more. This could, and possibly would, be the something that Solar thought might possibly finally change him.

So apart from stopping to sleep and eat, Solar’s journey was quiet and uneventful, especially so considering the use of public transport was kept to a minimum, an act that Solar thought necessary, thanks to a large desire not to tempt fate with an overzealous approach to his new freedoms. And so, despite taking longer than it could have, Solar Virtue eventually arrived at Ponyville.

It didn’t seem real.

It wasn’t that he thought his eyes had tricked him and that the town in the distance was some sort of a mirage, but the idea that in just over a mile of easy walking, he would have forsaken his old life , in place of one here. Adding to this was the beautiful and peaceful tranquility of the town. The area was calm and relaxing to him, a world away from the busy and dangerous undergrounds and metropolis' he had spent the last few years in. Ponyville was, ironically, given its relatively small form, the biggest thing to ever happen to him, and there was no one stopping him now.

“Greetings friend”

Solar snapped out of his daydream and turned his head. Walking towards him was a dark maroon coloured earth pony .a mane of an extreme dark shade of purple flying in the wind.

“Can I help you? Solar said as dismissively as he could.

The unknown pony then proceeded to stop, allowing Solar to get a good look at him. Like himself, this pony seemed to be well built and strong while still maintaining the same slimness that allowed great speed and maneuverability. The similarities ended there though. Unlike Solar’s dark brown eyes, this pony had instead paired a piecing shade of blue which went well with his sharp angular face, totally in contrast to Solar’s own soft yet strong own facial features.

“I guess you can. This is my first visit to Ponyville you see!”. The pony then replied, an obnoxiously sick smile seemingly plastered upon his face.

Now in this moment, Solar had a choice. Ever the illusive type, he knew that should he proclaim this was his first visit too, even should the resulting reaction from this pony be one of capable of inflicting great boredom and small talk, something that Solar thought worse than being stabbed . It was the ordinary, expected thing to do. However, on the opposite end of the scale, he could dismiss this irritation as easily as he knew he could. That would be the easy, simple option.
Yet as he now kept reminding himself of, he had come here for a new life, and by shunning potential acquaintances in a similar position to him would only serve to make this new life very lonely, and problematic should be find himself in the need of allies.

“It’s mine as well” Solar eventually said, determined to act the 'ordinary' pony and bracing himself for the resulting Smalltalk.

“Oh, I see” said the other pony. But there came none of the small talk that Solar so feared. In fact, there was no talking whatsoever, only the motion of the pony’s body turning to leave. It left Solar panicking in what to do next. Was he so out of touch with society that even his own small talk was obviously hollow? At this rate, it would be abandonment, not seclusion that would force a sad and lonely life upon him, not to mention one of no ambitious satisfaction.

This was not a feeling Solar liked, so much even, that he found himself suddenly following this new pony just in case conversation may rise again,

“So, uh, what brings you here?”

Great, I’m doing exactly what I didn’t want to happen. Brilliant as usual Solar.

“Work mostly. Or maybe the lack of it. I hear there may be great opportunity for a pony like me” said the pony as the two began to walk closer to the town.

“And what opportunity would that be then?” Solar replied. It was a tone that painfully proved to himself that he had still very far to go before he could ever be a normal functioning member of society, let alone talk to another pony correctly. Still, a little information on another pony couldn't hurt.
Couldn't hurt him at least.

The other pony then paused for a moment, but he didn’t seem to take great notice or offence to Solar’s blunt and almost rude tone. “Well, think of me as a kind of private detective, hence my cutie mark” the pony said, showing off his a shape exactly akin to a magnifying class on his flank.

“That seems like a potentially useless skill in this town of all places” Solar then blurted out, bluntly as ever and said with no consideration to the other pony’s feelings.

“Oh and you know do you? Had a lot of experience in such things?” retorted the pony, unexpectedly seriously. Well, perhaps not too unexpected were Solar more like every other pony. Regardless, just like that, Solar had learned how to not make friends the hard way. Already this pony seemed to be irritated with him and his uncaring attitude, and that was before Solar even entertained the consideration to the panic worthy issue that was an almost possible suspicion into Solar’s own criminal past.

In that following moment, when both ponies had stopped in their tracks, an awkward silence rapidly filled the void, with Solar completely paralyzed to those foreign problems he now found himself in.

“I’m joking friend!” suddenly burst out the other pony, laughing loudly. “Oh you should have seen your face!”

This was something Solar did not wish. This was not something he had begged any omnipotent force to gift him. The inability to detect a joke was something that did not bring any joy to him. Failing at something so simple and trivial was far from appreciated.
Seriously, what's wrong with me?

“Oh, right” said Solar, trying hide the awkwardness in his voice and to shake off some embarrassment.

“Geez, lighten up buddy!” This was far from what Solar needed. Now, he felt like the only thing he needed was to get away from this pony as quickly as he could, all other aspirations put aside. Stupid verbal punches on the shoulder proved nothing but an empty husk of a pick up.

It was then when Solar realised that he and this other pony had still stopped in their tracks again, an awkward gaze emitting from the stranger.

Oh Celestia, make this end

“Uh, you okay? I didn’t mean for it to sound so serious” said the pony, a trace of concern now showing on his face.

No of course I’m not. I’ve never done this before!

“Yeah I’m fine. I’m just not used to doing this a lot” Solar said with an awkward laugh, all before he realised what exactly he had just said. He had just told another pony that one of the core pillars of life, talking to others, was not something he had great experience in. Now while he wasn’t desperate to be socialite, interacting with some pony else would be appreciated, no matter how much he hated to admit it, and proclaiming that even conversing with another was a rare thing would do many things, but convincing this other pony that Solar was definitely some pony to be around was not one of them.

He had completely ruined his chances now.

Solar quickly tried to shrug it off, the same way he had done whenever a he had previously encountered an trying point in his life. By beating himself so much internally that he was left as form that just could no longer care.

“Tell me about it. I’m usually too busy with work to get any time to speak ‘normally’ with ponies. I’m guessing you’re similar” laughed the persistently optimistic pony.

Does running from certain death count as work?

“Uh huh” replied Solar plainly, demonstrating his point.

“So….” Said the other pony after a few tediously awkward moments of silence. “What’s your name?”

Solar’s head rose quickly to this question. Because of his certain lifestyle, the only time he heard this question was in a usually precarious situation, capture by guards or worse, by a shady gang.

“Urm” Solar managed.

“You do have a name right?” asked the stranger pony , far more seriously than Solar would have liked.

Again this created another awkward silence, one that could be easily removed should he only say his name.

“Well yeah, of course!” It was a horrifically cringey response, one with a laugh so fake that any other pony could be forgiven for mistaking that Solar was lying and in fact, did not have a name.

In truth, while this refusal to immediate answer should have been a delaying tactic so Solar could fabricate a new fake name, it was mostly the embarrassment and social inexperience that forced the following response.

“It’s Solar-“

DAMN IT!

Like an idiot, he had accidentally let slip his true name. Sure, this pony wouldn’t know who he was exactly, but once word got around that there was a Solar in town, this foolish action of his would come back to haunt him for sure. But alas, he couldn’t stop now for fear of even more embarrassment and suspicion. Solar would just have to commit to his now careless half lie.

“Solar….?” Questioned the other pony as the internal panic for Solar to search for another name continued. His eyes furiously scanned his surroundings in search of an idea, but to no avail. That was until his gaze fell upon the horizon, where what looked like a storm was approaching.

“Gust. My name is Solar Gust” Solar somewhat proudly replied, stating just one of the many words he could associate with a storm.

Wow. Hope you're proud of yourself Solar. Impressive creativity

Never before had this wandering pony felt happier with himself, the lack of socialising now giving him successes he had never felt before. It was a foal like, truthfully embarrassing moment of pride. Most had mastered this skill before pre school, yet here he was, full grown and still internally grinning like an idiot. Still, regardless of any immature joy, his body grew tense as he waited for a response from this other pony, as if it was awaiting approval.

“Well nice to meet you Solar Gust. I’m Arcing Storm!”

Immediately after this pony had also stated his name, a feeling that Solar could only associate with a near death experience, him narrowly avoiding certain death, shot across his body. Still, he couldn't help himself but entertain the thought of what might have occurred if he made the connection with the approuching storm, but still was interpreted as a lie

“I guess I can just call you Arc then!” smiled Solar, high on his satisfaction, yet still greatly wanting to further the conversation in an attempt to not give the pony any chance to think.

“If you want…” replied the Pony now known as Arcing Storm with a grunt. Almost as if Solar had asked an inappropriate question.

Do all ponies change their mood this quickly?

“Ok I will do that then” Solar said, taking the point quite literally, yet unsure of how to respond to what sounded like the end of a conversation.

“Uh huh”.

Solar could only glare at the now and suddenly less then interested Arcing Storm. Proving that it may indeed be the end of the conversation, and instead of focusing on Solar , the pony he was supposed to be talking to, something that even a social dimwit such as Solar knew should occur in any conversation, he now decided to now almost completely ignore Solar, as if he wasn't even there, and simply stare ahead into Ponyville.

Are you looking at the storm for ideas too? Never thought some odd weather could cause so much interest

Despite this strange mental removal from the world, a few generous moments were given to Arcing Storm in order to allow him to return to the conversation he should be having. When this time reached its limit, and when Arcing Storm still seemed to forget everything but his gormless staring, Solar decided he could easily waste his socialising time with another pony and opted to instead begin to walk into Ponyville proper, alone.

“Hey wait! Where you going?” called Arcing Storm as soon Solar began walking out in front of him.

“Into Ponyville” replied Solar plainly, bluntly and truthfully.

“Well duh” said Arcing Storm catching up with Solar. “We’re both new here so I think we should stick together, you know”.

I know you’re already annoying me.

“But…” Continued Arcing Storm as he saw Solar’s walking pace quickening and his eyes refusing to focus on anything but him. “…I can see you probably need to be somewhere quickly, so I’ll let you get off.

Thank Celestia! I’m free!

It was truly remarkable how quickly Solar had grown bored of this pony, despite promising himself to talk to some pony. However, even with Arcing Storm’s strange behaviour, part of this sudden refusal to talk was still down to a lack of experience, so perhaps in this world, devoid of action, plot and general excitement, this was just the new everyday.

“Perhaps we could meet up later? It’s a small enough town so I’ll bet we’ll see each other sometime”.

“Uh huh” grunted Solar in what was really was meant to be some sort of petty revenge for when he had just received the same response. To this, Solar, spitefully so, almost craved some sort of a confused or awkward reaction from Arcing Storm, a stutter or another period of silence. There was however, none of this. With a slight nod Arcing Storm swiftly left Solar’s company and continued into Ponyville alone.

This was, given careful thought, probably for the best. The entirety of Solar’s brief company with Arcing Storm had not be ideal by any standards. Awkward silences, misunderstandings and struggles with what to say had plagued him throughout. It had been a far cry from what Solar imagined a normal conversation would have been like outside of criminal underground circles, and instead of having a naturally flowing chat, the usual thoughts and feelings had taken over Solar yet again. It wasn’t even a great surprise either. A lifetime of fighting, evading and being in the company of deceitful and cruelly ambitious ponies had always forced Solar to never be content with the current situation. Who knew if that pony approaching him was hired to kill him, or that pony who had been up to now, kind to him, was plotting against him. It was because of this that Solar would never be able to accept a conversation for what it was , choosing instead to always suspect a disguise for darker intentions . This, in all honesty, all stemmed from one thing, or rather, one thing he was devoid of.

Trust.

Even if a Solar came across a pony who proven themselves to be ordinary and harmless, the past would creep up like a cold and force him to focus not on enjoying what was being said, but on what this pony wanted. Why exactly they were wasting his time doing this when time could be spent more usefully and productively elsewhere. Every other pony, no matter how pure in character they may be, was just another obstacle in Solar living his life, and his 'decision' to now come to Ponyville would force all too many occasions in which he would have to engage in the tedious and pointless acts of socialising. Without any profitable use, Solar knew he would create himself such a distrust of every pony, he would be forced to never again leave even the house.

But yet, in this quaint and lifeless town, a house did await him, and an apparently normal life was there, ready for him should he chose. It was because of this mere curiosity that ensured Solar's legs did not stop and turn around, opting to continue the walk into Ponyville.

What have I got myself into…?

Author's Note:

Another chapter successfully delivered.

Thanks for reading guys. Hope you all stick around to read more :)