Mechanic Sapiensby Mark BrittonChapters--Chapter 3-- Close Encounters of the Equine Kind--Chapter 4-- Tensions Rising--Chapter 5-- The Deal--Chapter 6-- Fever Dream--Chapter 7-- Omniscience (Part 1)--Chapter 8-- Omniscience (Part 2)--Chapter 9-- Three Strikes--Chapter 10-- Res Nullius--Chapter 11-- The End's Beginning--Chapter 12-- Augmented Reality--Chapter 13-- Wire and Glass and Stainless Steel--Chapter 14-- Diamond Stars of Cosmic Light--Chapter 15-- The Race for Equis--Chapter 16-- The Arrow of Time--Chapter 17-- Strength in Metal and Fiber Optics (ENDING #1)--Chapter 18-- When You Go (ENDING #2)--Chapter 1-- The Third Day--Chapter 2-- Aboard The Flying Castle--Final Projections-- --Chapter 3-- Close Encounters of the Equine KindMulticolored lights started flashing all around the exterior of the container. The pipes that connected the alien's frozen prison to it's surroundings started spewing out freezing cold air. The temperature in the room must of dropped down to 40 degrees. Everypony started huddling together for warmth while they watched the cylinder continue to come to life. All the different sized pipes and wires that connected themselves to the frozen entity disconnected and were pulled back into the roof of the container. The thick orange liquid that kept the alien off the ground quickly drained through the floor, and the creature slowly fell down to the ground. The door opened, and the creature flopped out onto the floor in front of everypony. The extraterrestrial started groaning, and put it's slender 'claws' on the ground to push itself up. Instead of stopping at eye level like Twilight expected him to, he kept on ascending until he was fully on his hind appendages. When it stopped, it looked two feet higher than Twilight and four feet higher than Spike. 'It's a biped?' Twilight thought to herself, wanting to write down additional notes, but realizing this was not the time for it. The alien was staring at her, not only making her feel uncomfortable, but it made her feel... Terrified. Twilight and Spike slowly walked up to the towering biped that stood on the opposite side of the freezing room. He was probably the size of Princess Celestia herself, give or take an inch or two. The figure didn't make any sign that he didn't desire making contact, he just stood in wonder at the appearance of the rest of her friends. Twilight's friends did the same, they probably weren't expecting for him to be so tall. "Greetings, we come in peace..." Spike said, reading the notes he had wrote down for this very moment. Everypony else stood behind Twilight and her assistant, waiting until the visitor proved it was hospitable or hostile. The being waited a few seconds, probably enjoying the tense moment before showing a wide, intimidating smile and quickly concealing it. "Quid est?" Everypony glanced at each other in confusion, then looked back at the biped. "Does he not understand Equestrian?" Rainbow Dash asked Twilight, slightly disappointed. "Gotcha!" The alien shouted out, smiling wide and chuckling at his own 'joke'. Everypony's faces stayed blank and straight, not amused at his humor. "Oh... That one never gets old." He laughed, crouching down to see his guests on eye level. "So, you're not going to hurt us?" Rarity asked, peeking her head out from behind her friends. "Hurt you? Of course not, I've come to--" The being stopped mid-sentence, groaned, and took an index card out of his pocket and read aloud. "Benefit your planet by sharing my extensive knowledge of technology and-- yadda yadda yadda, you get my point, right?" "Uh- sure, are there any more of you on board?" Twilight asked, a little surprised at how informal this first encounter was going. She hoped the Princesses would be tolerant of his casual behavior whenever they met him. That wasn't a meeting she was looking forward to. "Oh no, I'm the only one here, I prefer to do these kinds of things on my own." "Y'know, we haven't properly introduced ourselves..." Applejack said, trotting up to the visitor. "My name's Applejack, this is Twilight and her assistant, Spike." Spike was amazed how well this was going, and waved at the alien. Twilight was a little off-put by his extensive grasp of their language. 'Maybe he knows a little more than he's letting on?' She thought to herself, smiling at the visitor when Applejack called her name. He looked half ready to turn around and go back into his freezing prison. "That over there's Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash." She continued, pointing with her hoof whenever she introduced another pony. Pinkie Pie jumped out from behind her friends, and bounced over to the alien to shake his 'claw'. Rainbow Dash flew over to him and slapped his hand, which he took as a 'high five'. Rarity approached the being, walking as if she was on a runway. The creature wasn't impressed, but was thankful that at least one of these technicolor ponies bothered to put clothes on. "And she's Fluttershy." Applejack finished, using body language to tell the pony to stop being timid and say something to the visitor. She even pushed her over to the front of the extraterrestrial. "We're really glad that you're not here to harm us, Mr. Alien..." Fluttershy whispered at a barely understandable volume. The entity stared at the yellow pony that stood before him, and smiled at how cute and cuddly she appeared. Fluttershy's heart skipped a beat when she got a good look at his teeth. Those teeth... She had seen them before with carnivores. She immediately started putting distance between herself and the meat eating alien, making a mental note to keep away from him as much as possible. "You haven't told us your name, I guess we could keep calling you Mr. Alien, unless you don't want that?" Pinkie Pie shot out while shaking his 'claw'. "We don't have names where I come from, I'm just me. " He explained, still writing down all of the names he heard on the back of his index card. "Well, how do you know when somepony wants to talk to you then?" Rainbow Dash asked, getting a bit too close for comfort to the alien, even feeling his clothes and hands. "We just talk to someone, but if you have to call me something, 'Anonymous' will suffice." The entity told everyone while pulling his hands away from the curious Rainbow Dash. "So... Anonymous, It was a pleasure meeting you, but we can't stay up here forever, would you like to come with us to Ponyville?" Twilight asked with a smile on her face. Whenever she got to sit down with him in Ponyville is when she'd ask the questions she's been waiting for. "Ponyville? What, is that where you all live?" Anonymous inquired, considering the ridiculousness of naming a town after their species. "Yes, It's right below your grandiose Flying Castle." Rarity answered. 'Flying Castle? I think I might enjoy these creatures...' Anon thought to himself, chuckling. THE THIRD DAY "TRANSPORT MODULE" 10:34 AM Anonymous walked over to the Terminal, and pulled out a flat board out of the wall below the display. Rainbow Dash got a glance at the board and saw how it contained the characters of the alphabet, although they were all out of order. She noticed how the disorganization didn't affect Anon, since he didn't need to look at them to do whatever he was doing with them. The Terminal started changing, the area that once showed what was underneath them took up the entire display, and the metal doors closed. Anon made a cracking sound with his hands, (much to everyone's disgust) and started pressing the letters even faster, making a click-clack sound. "So, where should I put us down?" Spike looked up at Twilight with a puppy face that she couldn't say no to. Twilight smiled at Spike's efforts. "The Golden Oak Library, over there." Twilight said to Anon, pointing with her hoof where it was. "The tree?" Anonymous asked with a slightly concerned face. Twilight nodded. "Alright then..." He replied in a skeptical voice, trying not to laugh over how weird this place was getting. A few more click clacks later, the sound of a generator turning on could be heard throughout the small waiting room. Then a large clanking sound came from the metal doors, which Twilight now knew was the Mini-Screw disconnecting from The Flying Castle. The walls started slowly spinning just as they had when everypony came up. The weight of gravity decreased, it was an enjoyable experience, especially for Pinkie Pie who took advantage of it to have fun. Fluttershy was sitting next to Rarity on the couch, keeping a close eye on Anon. He hadn't mentioned that he ate meat, which only made her more suspicious of him. What if he really came here to feed the rest of his planet? Fluttershy tried not to whimper at the very thought of it. She'd tell somepony about it later, just not here. She didn't want to cause a panic. "I've been meaning to ask you, Anonymous... Why did your castle look like an office on the inside?" Rarity asked, expecting more information than Anon provided. "That building wasn't meant to be a ship, it used to be a research facility." Anonymous said, focusing on the keys he was pressing, and keeping an eye on the display that was zooming in on Twilight's library. He opened his mouth to say more, but closed it after remembering something. "So, Anon... Why did your spaceship stop over Ponyville?" Spike was beginning to question who let them aboard if Anon wasn't awake to do it himself. Anonymous let out a big breath, and took his eyes off of the Terminal. "I'm gonna let you in on a little secret, Spike." Anon pulled Spike close and whispered something to him. "I'm not the man in charge." If that was true, Spike wondered who was in charge... Spike started sliding across the floor towards the couch. The ponies who were on the couch were already up on the wall. "My fault!" Anon shouted, trying to keep his footing while he made more click clack sounds, and put the Screw level with the terrain. Everyone regained their balance, and some of them shot Anon upset looks. "As long as everyone's asking questions, why do you have those pictures on your rears?" Anonymous asked, pointing at the three apples tattooed on Applejack's flank, using his peripheral vision to see. "These are called 'Cutie Marks', a pony gets them whenever they realize what they're talented at." Applejack explained to him. "What if you aren't talented at anything?" He replied, still focusing on the Terminal. Applejack was stunned, "Well everypony's talented at something!" She then realized that Anonymous didn't have a Cutie Mark. "What are you talented at?" Anon groaned. "Something you wouldn't understand, because I don't have enough time to explain-- I mean, look at this!" Anon shouted and pointed at a large crowd of ponies gathering around Twilight's library. "I guess everypony wants to make your acquaintance, Anon." Spike said, inspecting the hundreds of ponies that had gathered themselves in the half-hour they were gone. "The Princesses?!" Twilight yelled, looking at the metric tons of royal guards that guarded the white and blue monarchs who were separated from everypony else. 'I guess that conversation is happening sooner than I thought...' Twilight started brainstorming what she would say to the Princesses to convince them that Anonymous was harmless. The Mini-Screw touched down just feet from Twilight's front door, but the screw was blocked with Royal Guards who crowded around the now powered-down UFO. And as if the situation couldn't get any worse, the exit to the Mini-Screw was faced right at the Princesses. Anon groaned. "Ugh... I don't want to play politics right now..." He massaged his temples, trying to work off the headache being frozen gave him. 'I could always play the 'I don't speak that language' card...' he thought to himself. Author's Note Writing this chapter took longer than I expected, probably because I have to make realistic conversations. --Chapter 4-- Tensions Rising THE THIRD DAY "TRANSPORT MODULE" 10:39 AM "Alright, so this is what's gonna happen: Fluttershy, you run out first and claim that the Aliens have come to enslave your entire race. Rainbow Dash, you fly out as fast as you can in a panic and tell 'everypony' to get away from the U.F.O. Then, the rest of us will run inside the library, lock the doors, and deny that I'm here." "Why don't you just talk to them?" Spike asked, unimpressed at Anonymous' overly complicated plan. "I just woke up, I don't want to do paperwork." He joked. "I'm sure they can take care of it for you if you just asked them!" Twilight argued, growing tired of Anon's excuses. "You make it sound like your rulers are kind and forgiving..." The alien remarked, without any sarcasm in his voice. "The Princesses aren't like what you think at all, they are very understanding and patient." Rarity said. "Aw, you don't have to be afraid of the Princesses! We can all go up there together!" Pinkie smiled at Anon. Anonymous thought about it. 'Well, if I can't prove to these dignitaries that I come in peace, I'm sure their citizens can.' The conversation was cut short by a regal fanfare from the exterior, albeit slightly muffled. A male voice started speaking in the direction of the Mini-Screw. "Being from beyond the stars, The Royal Sisters of Equestria wish to--" Anon let out a sigh. "Well, I guess it's time to go ahead and go out there..." Anonymous made more clacking sounds on his board, before pushing it back in the slot where it came from 'Maybe he's not good at making friends when circumstance isn't on his side.' Twilight thought to herself. The doors opened, and the golden sunlight poured into the dark room. Anon put up his hands to shield his eyes from the sun. He probably didn't get out much, which would explain the almost ivory skin. Everypony started to walk out the door before several of the guards gasped in surprise. It was a mix of seeing the alien in real life, and seeing the Mane Six at such a close proximity to him. After all, he was still a potential threat. "Twily!" One of the guards shouted as he ran up to Twilight. "Big brother!" Twilight shouted, before meeting up with him halfway and putting him in a tight embrace. The other ponies and Spike approached the guard as he started asking questions about their whereabouts. 'Hmm, guess I'm flying solo.' Anon thought to himself, not wanting to interrupt the moment Twilight's brother was relishing. Anonymous started walking up the makeshift stage where the Princesses resided at the top. He looked at the Guards that surrounded him, and wondered if they were for show or if they actually did some enforcing. Some of them had pure fear in their eyes, others looked ready to attack him right there. Anon disregarded their looks, and set his eyes on the royals that were now right in front of him. They were almost eye level with him, just short a couple of inches. Unlike the few ponies he saw before, he realized these two had wings and a horn. Anonymous still didn't know if their horns were of any anatomical importance. "Greetings, It is a pleasure to meet someone who has traveled so far to meet us." The blue princess slowly enunciated. She was a little shorter than the white one, but still taller than the other ponies. "It's a pleasure to meet you too, both of you." The alien said, inspecting the Princesses' different figure. "My name is Princess Celestia, and this is my sister Princess Luna." "We don't have names where I come from, but I've asked your citizens call me Anonymous." "Anonymous? You prefer to keep your true identity concealed?" Luna inquired. "We all have secrets we'd rather not share. Is it alright with the two of you that I'm staying in this town instead of living in my... 'Flying Castle?' " Anon tried not to laugh, but a smile showed for all to see. "You have a harmless demeanor, but just to make sure..." Princess Celestia's horn started glowing, and a piece of parchment and a quill came levitating towards Anon. 'Organic lifeforms with the ability to manipulate Zero Point energy?' Anon was thrown into confusion. He vowed to himself to get a better understanding of it at a later date. "I will let you stay on our planet, but only if you send me a letter every week that explains what you have learned in the field of Friendship." Celestia said, levitating the objects to his hand. 'Friendship? Why couldn't it be something I'm good at, like Quantum Mechanics or Programming?' Anon almost groaned out loud, but didn't for the sake of manners. "A-Alright then..." He said, putting on a fake smile for both of the Princesses before a voice called to him. "Anon! I'm sorry we weren't there, Shining Armor had some questions." Twilight said, looking disappointed in herself that she didn't keep her word. The Mane Six and Spike tried to follow Twilight on stage, but the Royal Guards didn't approve, and stuck out their spears to block their passage. "Eh, it's fine." Anon said in a dismissive voice. Twilight actually expected him to be more angry. Or was this just a passive-aggressive tactic? She'd ask him later. "Twilight Sparkle, you're friends with Anonymous?" Luna asked with a little bit of surprise in her voice. "Well, friend is too strong a word, we just met." Twilight said, looking at Princess Celestia. "Your work's already cut out for you." Celestia said to Anon, chuckling. 'What was funny about that?' He thought to himself. Celestia gestured for Anon to follow her over to the other side of the stage. He gave a look back to Princess Luna and Twilight Sparkle, who were already halfway through a discussion. Anonymous kept his guard up, they seemed pretty docile, but if it came to the point where he had to drop the bombs, he'd do it in a millisecond. "I need you to make a promise to me. If you have a problem with my subjects, you will confront me-- not them." Princess Celestia requested. A thought flashed through her mind. 'Even if he's nice, he could have a short temper...' Anon nodded, wondering if that meant that he could defend himself without nuclear warfare if necessary. 'After all, if she's afraid of me, then it means they lack the defenses to stand a chance against my weapons.' 'Right?' As soon as Anonymous and Celestia walked to the other side of the stage, Luna closed the gap between her and Twilight, "Keep an eye on him for us, okay?" Luna asked Twilight at a low volume. Twilight glanced up at Luna. "Okay. You don't think he's... dangerous, do you?" "Anything's possible, but I doubt Equestria's in immediate danger." "Where's Princess Cadence?" Twilight asked, just now aware of the third Princesses' absence. "Cadence is away on an official mission, she'll be back in a few days, I'm sure." Luna said, raising her head to address Celestia and Anon, who were now returning to the center of the stage. "I'm afraid we have other places to be, other national officials would like to know this information." Celestia said, apologizing to Twilight and Anon. Several carriages carried by Pegasi landed a few feet away from the edge of the stage. The Princesses started making their way over to it along with the Guards who started to orderly board the other carriages. "Goodbye..." Anon waved, a little off taken by how there was absolutely no talk about politics, no talk about being integrated into The Galactic Society. If only other civilizations responded that well to interplanetary visitors... He'd be paid to do nothing. The rest of The Mane Six and Spike climbed up the stage's steps to talk about the Princesses' visit. "So, what are you going to do during your first day in Equestria?" Spike asked Anonymous. "I was planning on doing the basics, attend my party," Anon pointed to Pinkie. "Maybe find a good tailor," He gestured to Rarity. "And finally, I'd like to move in and get some shuteye." He said, now looking at Twilight and Spike, who had volunteered to take in the alien for the time being. "What were you planning on eating?" Fluttershy asked, hoping Anonymous would confess his meat-eating habits to everypony. The peace was disturbed with an eardrum-rupturing explosion. Then a light brighter than the sun itself filled Ponyville. Everypony put their hoofs up in front of their eyes. After a few seconds, the light started to fade out and everypony looked towards it's source. The Flying Castle was gaining altitude, leaving behind a massive cloud of exhaust the size of a city. Further and further until it was out of sight completely. "Ugh... Somepony's going to have to clean that up." Rainbow Dash groaned, though amazed at the Castle's sonic speed. "Does that make you stranded?" Applejack asked, looking at the bizarre trail The Castle left behind. "Nope, I didn't expect it to hang around much longer, though." Anon said, turning to Fluttershy. "To answer your question, I was going to stock up on desserts at my party." "You want to go to your welcoming party now, Mr. Alien?" Pinkie Pie lit up in joy. "Bring it on." THE THIRD DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" 1:06 PM "Oh my god... I've never eaten that much sugar in my life." Anonymous said, clutching his jaw, wondering if his killer toothache would ever go away. "She throws parties often, just eat less next time." Twilight smiled. No threats, No violence, No war. Even if Anon was informal in front of the Princesses, he somehow convinced them he wasn't a threat. "Can't wait to see what your other friend comes up with... What was her name again? Severity? Clarity?" "Her name's Rarity." Spike corrected, a little upset that Anon already forgot somepony's name. "Oh great..." The biped said, looking at a group of ponies gathering around the Mini-Screw that was stationed right outside The Golden Oak Library. 'I can't wait for next week when this all dies down, and I become a friendly neighborhood figure that nobody cares about.' "Yeah, yeah, It's really interesting to look at, stop crowding it." Anon shoved some of the sight-seeing ponies out of the way of the Mini-Screw's door. Anonymous banged a fist against the door three times, and the metallic doors spread open. "Don't worry, I didn't bring much." Anon shouted to Twilight from the inside while pulling various cords from the terminal in the wall, some of them shooting out electricity. "We don't have a guest room, but you can sleep in the basement." Spike said, inspecting the outside of the Mini-Screw in detail. It was obvious that the U.F.O. was older than Father Time himself. There was some writing that was part corroded away and part melted together. Anon held up a black rectangular box in his left hand, and an 'overnight' bag in his right. "I don't mind, anything's better than being crammed in that metal container." Anonymous said as he closed the doors to the Mini-Screw. Twilight remembered how she wanted answers when he got settled down, but seeing how he's so calm about everything, she didn't see any reason why he wouldn't talk about himself right now. "Could you tell us a bit about yourself?" Twilight asked, using her magic to assist Anon with the black box. Anon sighed. "Well, I came from a planet a few centuries more advanced than this one. Graduated from college with a Masters in Quantum Physics and an Associates in Biomechanical Engineering." Not only were Spike and Twilight getting some information from him, so was the half of the town on the other side of the spaceship. "Biomechana-- what?" Twilight asked with a look of confusion in her face. "I made machines that helped my people by augmenting their body's abilities." "So your species were cyborgs with superpowers?" Spike asked, staring at Anon like a fanboy stares at a celebrity. "No-- Not really. We don't have superpowers, but we have a very long lifetime." He replied, imagining himself picking up a building without an exo-suit. "So I guess you're not as young as you look?" Twilight asked, trying to find Anon's limits. He seemed ready to share anything, but nopony shares everything. Twilight opened the door to The Golden Oak Library, and closed the door as soon as Spike and Anon got in. "I'm septillions of years old, though I spend most of my time in stasis. Nothing really goes on in outer space, y'know?" Anon said, carrying the alphabet-board and the display down the stairway to the basement. 'Septillions? That means that either he's lying... or he really is older than the Universe. I'll try to call him out on his bluff.' Twilight thought to herself. "If you do have machines inside of you, would you care if I took a look?" Sparkle blurted out, somewhat regretting what she just said. "Oh... I get it." Twilight tensed up, he'd sounded so casual about everything until now. Now there was something threatening about the way he spoke. Spike picked up on it too, as his face wasn't happy anymore. It was... concerned. "You want to dissect the visitor." Anon smirked, trying to show any emotion besides aggression. "Good news for you, if you wanted to take a better look at the insides, let me save you the trouble." Anon searched the tabletops nearby and picked up a kitchen knife, and started taking off his shirt. 'He's just joking... right?' Twilight thought to herself, looking over at Spike, who had a look of horror on his face. Anonymous brought the knife up to his chest, and put the blade right over where his heart was, and brought it closer and closer to his skin. "STOP!" Twilight shouted, looking away in disgust. "Hmph- typical of an organic life-form. You want a peek of the insides, but when it's not you operating..." "Alright- you made your point. Just... We'll meet you in the basement." Anon grabbed his bag and box, and walked downstairs as if nothing had happened. "Twilight..." Spike called out, looking sick. "He was gonna do it..." Spike knew if she hadn't intervened, there would be a pool of blood on the floor right now. The only thing keeping Spike from freaking out was the thought that Anon somehow replaced his blood with machines. The same Anonymous that was cracking jokes at Pinkie's party, the same Anon that was letting Rarity take his measurements, almost just offed himself in front of Spike and Twilight. "It's okay, Spike. He wouldn't hurt anypony." 'There might be some truth behind that if the first threat he made was one on himself.' She thought. What kind of a monster can inflict pain on itself without breaking a sweat? Author's Note Fun fact: I was going to have that last scene be super-gory but I forgot that I made this E for everyone, so just make-believe an alternate ending. --Chapter 5-- The Deal THE THIRD DAY 6:30 PM "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" "You're not going to eat your fries?" Twilight asked, a little disappointed to have gone through the trouble of making it if Anonymous wasn't going to eat it. "It's uh... Hay." He said, playing with it using his fork. "If you wanted something else, you should have said so." Spike put his bowl of gems up, offering some to Anon. Anonymous fixed his eyes on Twilight. "I'm fine with the hay for now, thank you." He stared down at his plate of hay fries, trying not to gag. He took a deep breath in and put some in his mouth, and chewed for a few minutes before swallowing. "Not half bad..." Anonymous said while getting another handful of hay. Everyone ate in silence for a while before Spike broke the tension. "So... I hear Applejack and Rainbow Dash are planning a camping trip at Winsome Falls." "That sounds enjoyable, when is it?" Twilight inquired. "Next weekend." Spike glanced over at the alien, who hadn't even looked up from his plate to acknowledge the conversation. "What do you think about camping, Anon?" The biped put his fork down and looked up at the dragon. "It's a good way to get in touch with nature, but I'm not interested in going if that's why you brought it up." Anonymous said, quickly returning back to his plateful of hay. The silence returned for a few minutes until Anonymous said something. "I've been thinking about what you said, Twi. About cutting me in half in the name of science." Twilight started to worry, either he was going to do something crazy again, or he was going to make her feel worse about the whole situation. "I'd like to make a deal." Those words caught Twilight off guard. After all, what did Twilight have to offer that Anon couldn't build himself? He'd proven himself to be able to control various machines with seemingly endless functions, so what did he not have? "I'll let you take a skin sample, but only if you let me get a better look at that horn." He said while finishing off the last of his hay. "That's it? All you want is a look at my horn?" "Yes. You have successfully repeated what I just said." Anon replied in an monotone voice. "What, do you not have magic where you come from?" Spike inquired before crunching another gem. Anonymous started to laugh. "Magic?" He turned his attention over to Twilight. "Alright, Houdini, show me what you've got." The extraterrestrial rested his head on his fist, waiting for her to perform some magic. Twilight shot him a look of confidence before charging up her horn. Anonymous had already gotten a small sample of the 'magical' capabilities when he met the Princesses, but he wanted to know what was the extent of their powers. Could it be used in battle? Could it be used on a manufacturing line? What can it do? A purple aura materialized around one of Anon's forks. The fork started to raise up in front of his eyes. "Is that it?" He said, uninterested. Twilight frowned before coming up with something that would astonish the visitor. The aura disappeared, and the fork fell back to the table, making a loud clinking sound. Anonymous' empty plate started to glow. Gems started to appear out of thin air, one by one they started to stack themselves higher and higher on the alien's plate. "Now that's what I call a magic trick!" Spike said, snatching some of the gems that were forged from nothingness. When Twilight finished casting the spell, the tower of gems reached from the table to the ceiling, much to Spike's delight. It didn't take long before the table cracked under the weight, dumping everyone's plates and silverware on the ground, as well as the hundreds of rocks that were now hurling down on top of everyone. Anon put his arms up to prepare for impact. When he realized the tower was no longer collapsing, he put his arms down. Twilight's horn was still glowing, and so were the gemstones. The gems started to fade out of existence. The two ends of the table lifted off the ground and came together. All the plates, bowls, and silverware floated off of the ground and landed on the table in front of everyone in the appropriate order. 'Well... Houdini never did that.' Anonymous thought to himself. "Okay, I'm mind-blown." He jokingly admitted to a smirking Twilight. "So, when can I get that tissue sample?" The triumphant unicorn asked. "Immediately." THE THIRD DAY "THE BASEMENT" 6:47 PM Twilight was a little tense being held under Anon's machine. He had already moved into the basement, bringing very little with him. From what Twilight could tell, all he brought was a cot to sleep in, the terminal from the Mini-Screw, and a small bag with Celestia-knows-what inside of it. Nothing that she recognized as being dangerous, which kept her calm under his apparatus. The device he held over Twi's horn fit was the shape of a rectangle and was roughly the size of his hand. One side of the rectangle flashed symbols and images much like the Terminal did. "Hmm..." Anon said under his breath, looking at the device's display. "That's all I needed." He said, pulling it away from Twilight's horn. "What did you get from that?" She asked. "None of your business." Anon said, putting the rectangular device in his pocket. Twilight brought her hooves up to her horn to see if Anon had done anything to it. "Now, about that sample..." The alien looked around at Twilight's many scientific instruments that surrounded him before grabbing a test tube from one of the nearby tabletops. He pulled something out of the pocket that didn't contain the 'horn-scanning' device. Twilight quickly recognized it as a pocket knife. Anon flipped the blade out, and started carving a small patch of skin out of his left arm. He bit his lip and stifled a grunt while making the incision. When the sliver of skin was removed, he placed it in the tube and handed it to Twilight. 'It's a good thing I ordered Spike to stay upstairs, he's uncomfortable around Anon with a knife ever since the incident earlier today...' "I could of given you some anesthesia..." Twilight said, feeling a little guilty she didn't offer it sooner. "I can do without it, thank you very much." Anon said, clutching his wound. Twilight brought the sample over to one of her microscopes and placed the bleeding skin under the lens. "You seem like a scientist, how much does your species know about the universe?" Anon asked while looking at his wound, which was already starting to clot. "We know how things work, we just don't know why they do what they do..." Twilight trailed off while scrutinizing the skin's cells. 'Eukaryota cell structure... nothing that different from us so far.' "I don't know how much you've progressed in The Theory of Everything, but we've got some major answers if you're interested." "That... sounds interesting..." Twilight said, not paying much attention to the conversation. 'These cells are incredibly energetic. Is it a disorder or is it normal for his species?' She pondered, looking at the sample even closer. "What time do you usually get up? I wouldn't want to disrupt your schedule." Anon said, sitting down on his cot. "It has to be a disorder... Healthy cells don't divide this quickly..." Twilight thought out loud, though too quiet for Anonymous to pick up. "What?" Twilight snapped back into reality. "Uhh... Nothing." She wondered if he knew about his condition, and if she talked to him about it, would he be mad at her for bringing it up? Sparkle wasn't an expert in biology, but this wasn't like anything she had ever seen before. 'They're dividing like cancerous cells, but every daughter cell produced is killed by the immune system, restricting cancerous growth... ' She was stumped, whatever Anon had, it didn't seem to be doing much damage to the tissue, just draining it of energy. "Well... As much as I love sitting in awkward silence, I'm heading back upstairs to hang out with Spike." Twilight raised her head from the microscope to wave goodbye to Anonymous. He waved back with his left hand, the wound out for all to see. As Twilight was waving, she saw the chunk taken out of his arm had already grown back and was barely inflamed. 'Did he perform a healing spell while I wasn't looking?' Anon closed the door to the basement, leaving Twilight all alone to her laboratory and the skin sample. She looked at the cells some more, how they would divide and die. It seemed pointless... Twilight submerged the sample in different liquids, changed the lens on her microscope. She didn't get any answers. Twilight picked up a nearby scalpel and cut the tissue, hoping for something to happen. To her surprise, as soon as the took the scalpel away from the incision, the skin started to heal. The blood that was being drained from the cut started to thicken, to the point where it formed a scab. Within seconds, the color of the scab started to equalize back to the color of the skin, leaving no trace of the injury. Twilight was excited about her discovery, she tinkered with the sample a few more times, looking under the microscope while cutting the skin. Eventually, she came to a logical conclusion. 'Whenever his body is damaged, the daughter cells don't die, instead they multiply to compensate for the tissue lost in the injury. That has to be why Anon can heal so quickly...' Now that it's purpose was clear, it was quite fascinating to watch. It wasn't a disorder, It wasn't an accident. It was engineered, and beautifully so. Anon had taken his cells-- himself, and modified it to survive deadly injuries, defy death! He really was older than the Universe. Twilight decided to keep the sample for further study. Who knows what other secrets it might hold about Anonymous? THE THIRD DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" 9:21 PM "And in my world, we don't need horses. We have motorized carriages called 'Automobiles'." Anon explained to a sleep-deprived Spike. "Huh... Do any of you walk or run anymore?" Spike inquired, yawning halfway through. "Of course, but for recreation, for--" "Alright, I think that's enough talking about aliens for one day." Twilight interrupted, looking a little tired herself. "Okay then, goodnight little buddy." Anon gave Spike a pat on his head before walking away to give the two some privacy. "I never thought today would end, it's been so eventful." Twilight told her assistant. "Even if he seems a little crazy, I'm glad we're letting him stay. " Spike yawned again. "He's a nice guy..." Twilight used her magic to pull the covers around Spike in his tiny bed. "See you in the morning." She whispered as Spike drifted off to sleep. Twilight trotted over to her bedroom to go to sleep herself, before being approached and stopped by Anon. Anonymous gave a sincere look. "Look, I'm... Sorry about earlier. I guess I overreacted." "No, it was my fault to ask so much of you, I'm sorry." "In any case, you didn't ask for a tissue sample, you asked for one of my artificial organs." Twilight was uncertain about where this was going. "And, well, I only need one kidney..." Anonymous put his hand out to Twilight, who used her magic to hold the object handed to her. It was shaped like a kidney, and that's all the two objects had in common. The artificial one was metallic, and painted white with black stripes in the shape of an 'A'. The ends where the arteries and ureter would of connected were made of fabric, and still had some of his internal muscle attached. "This is very... generous of you." Twilight remarked, a little horrified that he just carved out his own kidney as a gift. "Think nothing of it, Twilight Sparkle. You've been very generous to open up your home to a total stranger." Twilight smiled, levitating the metal organ over to her bedside table. She'd disassemble it tomorrow. She was very sleepy, and needed to rest as soon as possible. "Well... Goodnight." Anonymous said, making his way downstairs and into the basement. "Goodnight..." Twilight flopped onto her bed, not bothering to pull the sheets over her. She stretched out, and turned on her side. Going to sleep was going to be too easy, as easy as closing her eyes. THE THIRD DAY "THE BASEMENT" 11:25 PM Anonymous turned off his computer, and laid back on his cot, releasing a large sigh. The entire day flashed by his eyes, how he met Twilight and her friends, how the Princesses were so kind to him, how interested Spike was in his home world. It was a great day. Anon closed his eyes, and stretched out his limbs as far as he could. Now that he thought about it, what was he doing before he was woken up? Pictures briefly flashed through his head. Pictures of the office, pictures of himself. His train of thought slowed down, and eventually stopped. He opened his eyes, and it was already daylight. Except he wasn't in Twilight's library anymore. He was behind a desk... His old desk. Everything came flooding back to Anonymous, his time on Earth and what he did there. He could see something in his peripheral vision, something looking at the scene alongside him. Anon tried to move his eyes to see the creature next to him, but he couldn't. "Do not worry." A familiar voice said. No matter how much Anon tried to look at the figure besides him, his eyes wouldn't obey. His only hope was to wait for this odd nightmare to end. Author's Note And all that motivation was consumed by writing this one chapter. Also: I do not have an editor or any beta-readers. It's just me going over it several times, so if there's a grammatical error it's because I am a dumb. (Not looking for an editor, by the way) --Chapter 6-- Fever DreamAnonymous sat at his former desk in his former office, confused about why he was dreaming about his job on Earth. The environment around him was obviously a dream, but why did the dream seem fused with his memory? Not to mention how vivid the dream was. It was unnatural. He could... feel things when he touched them. The entity that hid out of Anon's sight was curious, he could barely make out the shape, but it seemed so familiar. He couldn't move his eyes to see it. Even worse, he couldn't move any part of his body. He was stuck doing whatever he was doing in the memory. Anon looked down at his cluttered desk. Paperwork. And lots of it. At least effort didn't have to be put into the work he was doing. That applied in the dream and when he was on Earth. Anonymous had been alive a long time. Several universes' lifetimes had played out before his eyes. A side effect from being in existence that long was a memory made of Swiss-cheese. Of the millions of creatures Anon had met, of the hundreds of allies he'd made, of the very few friends he made, he could only remember a handful of them. Anonymous would forget about all of them in a heartbeat if it would keep the memory of where he came from. It's probably also why he didn't gain wisdom from the secrets of the infinite, or learn any lessons from his mistakes. A knock at the door startled the working biped. "Come in!" Anon shouted, against his will. The door opened to reveal another one of his kind. A female, to be exact. Slightly taller than Anonymous, but not by too much. "Hey..." Anonymous said dismissively, shifting his attention back to his paperwork. "Good morning, ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛." Whatever name she used to refer to Anon was obfuscated by his perpetually fading memory. "How's the assembly stage going?" He asked the nameless woman. Anonymous recalled he was charge of something at his company. What was he in charge of, again? "It's armed and ready, you'll want to see it." The girl said in an excited voice. "What were you building?" A feminine voice interrogated. Anon looked around his field of view for anyone else, but didn't find anything. It wasn't part of the memory. It was happening right now. The figure in his peripheral seemed to turn and face him. Anonymous could barely make out who it was, but one thing was for sure. It was one of the equines. Anon couldn't talk, but he directed his thoughts towards the pony in the hope of making contact. Telepathy existed in other civilizations, though he never invested in any telepathic implants. With any hope, she might just... Go away. 'Something you couldn't begin to understand.' "I'm sure that if you could explain it well enough, I could comprehend it." The mystery female replied. Anonymous stood up from his seat in a hurry, running with the girl who informed him about the 'breakthrough'. 'Reveal yourself, and I'll be willing to... enlighten you.' Anon 'said', begrudgingly. There wasn't much information to use as incentive for this pony to cooperate. Threats always worked, but this was a delicate political situation. Of course he was going to use threats. "Only on the condition that you won't be mad about my presence here." 'Yeah, sure thing.' He said, somewhat lying. Then again, he couldn't blame this equine. If a highly advanced being was introduced into The Galactic Society, they would keep it under constant surveillance. It only felt right that it should would work vice-versa. Anonymous would let this encounter slide. The figure stepped into the alien's line of sight, revealing her identity. Anon quickly recognized her as one of the Princesses, since she had a horn and wings. 'Let's see if I remember your name... Princess Dash? No-- She wasn't one of the Princesses...' "It is I, Princess Luna." She announced. 'Oh yeah! Now I remember. So... What's with the intrusion?' Luna looked a little bit ashamed of herself. Whether it was for 'breaking and entering' or for getting caught doing it was a mystery. "My Sister is... uncertain about your intentions. She's willing to go to any measure to ensure her subjects' safety, the same as I am." Anon saw the bigger picture-- the friendship letters he was supposed to send, it was just an assurance that he would remain friends with them. 'Did she send you?' Anon asked, in a slightly aggravated tone. "No, I came here because I was curious. Not her. Now... about that project you're working on." Luna pointed her hoof at the girl that was using a security card to unlock a door in front of them. Anonymous had worked on many projects while he was at Aristoxenus Inc., Artificial Intelligence, Transhuman technology, The Alcubierre warp drive. Whatever he was creating now wasn't anything like it's predecessors. No, it was something bigger, something more... Destructive. 'Right now, we're working on a Weapon of Mass Destruction.' Anon confessed. He had been honest with civilizations before these equines. As disturbing as it sounded, he found it funny to see them panic. Like ants under a magnifying glass. That's all they were to him. Princess Luna had a look of worry on her face, surely the visitor that was so kind to them earlier the same day wouldn't resort to using it, would he? Luna demanded an answer. "How does it operate?" 'It's a Salted Thermonuclear Bomb. Now, to tell you how it works, i'm going to have to give you a quick lesson in nuclear physics.' He explained, hoping to buy some time before she asked any more questions. The alien didn't remember everything about the operation of the bomb. It was probably for the better, though. If they felt threatened, they might try to construct one themselves. Now that would be catastrophic. As Anonymous involuntarily followed a girl without a name while trying to remember how Nuclear Bombs worked to stall the equine princess of the night, he reflected on how ridiculous the situation was. Just thinking about it made him giggle. Not the best time to be chuckling, when you're talking about a device that can blow an entire continent to kingdom come. As if poor Luna wasn't already tense. After a quarter hour of navigating a maze of offices and going through several highly-guarded doors, the female and Anon stopped. "I looked over your list of possible targets. We've decided to target Ceres for the first test." The mystery girl explained. "Ceres?" 'It's trillions if not quadrillions of light-years away from your planet, don't worry.' Anonymous assured a concerned Princess. "Beautiful, just beautiful." Anon remarked while gazing up at the massive missile in the middle of the room. The exterior was made of a reflective grey metal that would survive the white hot temperatures of being shot through the atmosphere several times the speed of sound. "Are there any more of these weapons?" 'Of course! In fact, I've got several of them aboard my Flying Castle.' Anon said, waiting for Luna to freak out. After all, if you're going to enter someone's memories, be prepared for some traumatizing sights. "WHAT?" The Princess was plunged into a state of pure panic, pacing around the room. 'I have a proposal, wake me up now and I'll disarm the missiles for the time being.' Anon said, proud to of finally found some leverage. Luna thought about it for a few seconds, ignoring the conversation between Anonymous and the girl in the lab coat. Whatever they were talking about wasn't important anymore. The fate of Equestria depended on Luna's decision right now. She took in a deep breath. "How will I ever know if you're telling the truth?" 'You won't, but that's just a chance you have to take.' He answered, internally smiling at how he was playing the situation. Anonymous expected a response from the horrified dignitary. Instead, when he blinked he didn't see the missile towering over him. He didn't see the nameless girl. He saw the ceiling of Twilight's basement. He was lying in his cot, not accompanied by any Princesses. He considered whether or not he should go back to sleep, checking his computer for the time. '3:00 AM? Eh, it's technically morning.' He thought, pushing the blanket off of him. He stretched in his collapsible bed, and got up to start the day. THE FOURTH DAY "PONYVILLE" 3:14 AM Anonymous walked through the dark city, enjoying the cool, misty air. Nature isn't something he had the time to pay attention to, until he came here. Not many ponies were awake at this time of day, but the ones that were awake were surprised that the visitor was already up. He liked to think that he made a good reputation while at Pinkie's party. Then again, some of them were offset about his disturbing humor. Some were offended when he jokingly said 'Shut up'. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't heard any of them swear or make threats to each other, even sarcastically. 'Maybe they have advanced morals?' Anonymous thought to himself, taking a second to look up at the starry night sky. Anon passed by Rarity's place, or 'The Carousel Boutique' as she called it. It had an unusual architecture, though it was probably for show rather than structure. No lights were on, everyone asleep. At least she wasn't working too hard on Anon's clothing. A bench was placed not too far away from the boutique. Anon walked over to it and took a seat. It didn't have a dramatic view that overlooked the town, but it was a scenic view with all of the trees. The houses looked somewhat medieval, though more colorful. 'This Planet's probably stuck in the 1800's or something.' Anonymous thought while taking in deep breaths of the fresh morning air. At least they didn't have to worry about pollution. He thought about the planet. 'Equis Beth-32C' Beings that visited from other worlds in their mythology were probably just outlaws, running planet to planet from the galactic authorities. It had happened on other planets, there's no reason why it wouldn't of happened here. Anon heard some pony trotting towards him. When he looked over and saw his roommate, he looked back over at the trees and the houses. "Good morning." She remarked instead of asking. "I didn't wake you up, did I?" The visitor inquired. "No. I didn't get much sleep." Twilight replied. They sat in silence, enjoying the fresh air, looking up the night sky. Too many stars to be counted, but Anon knew the exact number of stars in their Galaxy. The exact number of planets, and which ones harbored life. It was common information in The Galactic Society, but such trivia would be worth more than all the money on this planet. "Do you ever wonder why we're here?" She asked without looking down from the sky. "Are you getting existential on me, Twi?" He asked with a grin. "I guess. So many of life's questions go unanswered on our planet and on yours." She wasn't wrong. An infinite amount of time to solve life's problems, and all creatures spent it on improving their understanding of the universe rather than themselves. Anonymous was thinking up an intelligent response. "Life..." He paused for a second to finish up his thought. "Is too complex to sum up using words." A smirk slowly formed on Twilight's face. "That pretty much summed it up." Anonymous chuckled. "Let's go home. I'll cook you breakfast." Twilight didn't hesitate to get back up from the bench and start trotting home. Anonymous looked up at the sky one final time. Whenever he was on his ship, he was a part of the sky. One with the gods. When he was on a planet, the sky would look down on him, observing him. Just like Princess Luna. He was safe. He was being watched. THE FOURTH DAY "CANTERLOT - EQUESTRIAN CAPITAL (TARGET)" 4:12 AM THE WIZARD OF OZ. "What is it, Luna?" Celestia sat up and rubbed some sleep out of her eyes, wondering what was so important. "It's the visitor. He brought weapons." Princess Celestia frowned. She took a few seconds to collect herself before lowering her head and releasing a large exhale. "Prepare for the worst, hope for the best." She said, trying to disguise a shaking voice. "I'll let the troops know immediately." Luna informed her Sister before leaving the room and closing the massive doors behind it. Princess Celestia reclined back onto her bed, thinking about the implications of these recent events. Their whole existence was in jeopardy, they had to take cautions. At the same time, taking said cautions might cause the event that needed the extra attention in the first place. There was no escape from this situation. Each possible outcome was an undesirable one. If she felt this worried in her own bedroom, how would she tell her subjects? They needed somepony to be fearless. Somepony to show them courage. The stress Celestia found herself in almost drove her to tears. Almost. Because a few seconds before the Princess would of broke down, green flames erupted from the corner of the room. It was a scroll. Celestia opened it up in the hopes that it brought good news. She needed good news. Her eyes read who it was from, and she knew that even more trouble was headed her way. It was from Princess Cadence, giving Princess Celestia an update on her mission. "King Sombra has returned." --Chapter 7-- Omniscience (Part 1) THE FOURTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (NON-TARGET) 6:48 AM "Well, maybe the fifth time's a charm?" Twilight teased while scraping Anonymous' previously failed breakfasts into the trashcan. "Cooking has been my mortal enemy for an eternity. Don't worry, I should be able to get at least one pancake this time." He said, adjusting the dial for the burner on Twilight's gas stove. Anonymous poured new batter into the pan and set it on the burner, adding the ingredients as he cooked. He made sure to keep his cooking apron away from the burner, trying to avoid any repeats of his third attempt. Twilight didn't say anything, she was too busy staring off into space. Anon looked back to investigate the cause of the silence, giggling when he saw Twi's face. "Have we really run out of things to talk about already?" Anon asked, laughing while doing so. Twilight's blank face snapped to attention, then immediately went back to her empty face while she thought about it. Most of the time they had spent together was in silence, as if they were total strangers. In a way, they were. They had just met yesterday and didn't know that much about each other. "No... It's just..." Twilight tried to explain her train of thought. "Eh, It's alright, don't feel like you're a bad friend." 'Friend' The skeptical antisocial alien called Twilight Sparkle, The Element of Friendship a friend before she called him one. Now she really didn't feel like a good 'friend'. Judging by Anon's face, he didn't care about it at all. He was too busy reading the instructions on the back of the Pancake mix box. "My brother recently got married to a Princess." She said, trying to spark some interest in him. Anonymous waited a second before showing a forced smile. "Good for him. Was it the White one or the Blue one?" Twilight remembered that Anon hadn't met Princess Cadence yet. In fact, where had Cadence been? It was unusual for a wife to be away from her husband so shortly after their honeymoon. "You haven't met her yet." "Interesting, we can go and meet her soon." He commented while stirring the mix in the pan. He spilled some in the burner, creating a nauseating smell. "I'm not sure you'll even be able to fit through the train's doors." Twilight said, half-joking. "Trains? Why would I take the train when I've got a flying spacecraft parked on your porch?" Anonymous took the pan off the burner and tried to flip the pancake. He lost his grip, and the pan fell onto the ground with all the batter inside, making a loud crashing sound that echoed throughout the Library. Twilight nearly jumped out of her skin, not expecting such a sudden noise. "Hey... What's the big idea?!" Spike shouted from the top of the stairs, just now awake. "I was making breakfast..." Anon groaned, ripping off his apron in defeat. "It's okay, we can get fast food for breakfast." Twilight turned to Spike to see if he approved. "Sounds good?" Spike let out a yawn and gave a thumbs-up before heading to the bathroom for his morning routine. Anonymous tensed up a little bit. It had been a while without meat, and he didn't like the idea of becoming a vegetarian. The temptation to order a steak from Draco 27-c was killing him. Then again, a meat-eating alien might not help his poor reputation. "Actually... I'll get something to go." THE FOURTH DAY "FAST FOOD RESTAURANT" (NON-TARGET) 7:42 AM As Anon entered the restaurant, around half of the patrons put their food in bags and left as soon as possible, some not worrying about their food. Twilight and her friends were the only ponies from Ponyville to make contact with him, not including a few brave Equines at the party who dared to start a conversation with the alien. "Alright..." Anonymous pointed to Twilight while looking at the colt behind the counter. "I'll have this horse, cooked and stuffed, and uh... add a side of hayfries and a chocolate milkshake, please." The colt didn't pay any attention to Anon's bad jokes. "I will have a medium hayburger with a side of hayfries. No drink, please." Twilight said while giving Anon a disapproving look. It was those kinds of jokes that made everypony anxious when he was around. "I'll just have some hayfries and a chocolate milkshake." Spike said, on his tip-toes so the cashier could see him. "That'll be six bits." The colt announced. Twilight levitated some 'gold' coins out of a pouch she brought along with her. Anon assumed it was a wallet, though he didn't see any reward cards inside it when she opened it up. Anon glanced at the currency Twilight 'held' in her zero-point field. No markings on it at all. It would be very easy to counterfeit. 'It's probably not even real gold. I bet it's just brass and trace amounts of gold melted together' He thought to himself, a little jealous that Twilight was super-rich compared to him. "Take a seat and we'll be right with you in a minute." The trio walked over to one of the nearby booths and took a seat near a window. It looked like any restaurant on any other planet, just themed with their culture. Anonymous liked how low-key it was. "Hey, Twilight!" A familiar female voice called from across the room. Twilight glanced over to find that Rainbow Dash was already halfway to their seat. She appeared well-rested and cheery. 'She probably didn't have her dreams ransacked by the Princess of the night.' Anon thought to himself, glancing around the room for a coffee maker. "I thought I saw Twilight, Spike and a six-foot monster across the room." Rainbow gave a smile to assure that she wasn't trying to offend anyone. Anonymous smiled very briefly before reverting back to his serious face. He brought out the device he had used to scan Twilight's horn, tapping it with his right hand and holding it with his left. "So, did I tell you that AJ and me are taking a trip to Winsome?" Rainbow asked Twilight. "Too late, I already told her." Spike informed Rainbow between bites of his hayfries. Anon brought the device up to his ear, as if he was waiting for it to say something. He interrupted their conversation as soon as Spike stopped talking. "Could I have some silence for a second? Thanks." It eventually made a sound, though it didn't sound like anything in Equestria. It was just a low-frequency tone, followed by several other tones of the same frequency. "YOU HAVE REACHED THE ARISTOXENUS ADMINISTRATIVE MAINFRAME." Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and her assistant could barely hear the words the device said, but they could tell who was saying them. It was the tin-can voice from the waiting room. "Yeah, send the payload." "SENDING PAYLOAD." "Thanks." Anonymous said, before bringing the device down from his ears and tapping it a few more times. "Go ahead." He gestured for the conversation to continue as if nothing had just happened. "Yeah... So do you want to come along?" Dash asked, trying to pretend she didn't see anything. "I'd love to, but my sleep schedule's been messed up ever since I heard there was an alien spacecraft flying above us." Twilight said, just now taking a bite of her hayburger. Spike finished his fries and slid the empty package away from him. "Thanks for the snack, Twi." A loud high-pitched tone erupted from the other side of the booth making everyone in the restaurant jump, Anonymous included. "I totally not mean for that to happen, sorry." He tried to laugh it off. "What are you doing?" Rainbow inquired with a slightly annoyed voice. "Ordering." She couldn't tell if he was joking or not. It was very hard to tell with him since he kept his face and voice devoid of emotion most of the time. "Hey, it's the Flying Castle." Spike pointed out the window. It looked the same as it did yesterday, except it was way closer than it was when it was last seen. Much closer. Only about one hundred feet off the ground. Something relatively small fell off the spacecraft before The Flying Castle immediately started picking up altitude, trying to avoid contact with the terrain. "Hey, Anon. Do you think you could race me in that thing one of these days?" Dash asked, hoping to find its' maximum speed, and who was the faster. "Sure, one day. Now scoot, I have to go get that." Anonymous waved his hands for Rainbow to get up. He jumped out of the booth as soon as she could get out of his way. He walked right out the front door and jogged a few hundred yards to where the spaceship dropped the mystery box. "So, how's your roommate?" Dash inquired, hoping for an interesting response. "He's uh... Fine. He... carved out his own kidney as a gift." Twilight replied, taking another bite of her burger. "I'm glad to hear-- wait... What?" Rainbow couldn't believe what she just heard. It had to be a prank. "That's not breakfast talk, Twilight." Spike complained before belching in disgust, trying not to throw up at the thought. A red flashing light led Anonymous over to the long metal box. Very rarely did he ever need "The Payload", but considering how strained his political relationship with the Princesses was, it qualified as an emergency. When he was out of the restaurant's line of sight, he made a run for the box. As he approached the metal container, the light stopped flashing, sensing him nearby. Anonymous turned the rectangular box over so it was face up. A small black plate was exposed near the single lock that kept it closed. He blew some of the debris off the plate and pressed his thumb to it. It made a beeping sound, and the lock made a clicking noise. Anon threw the lid open and gazed at the contents. One coffee maker, one soda maker, a few contact lens, an earpiece and meal replacement drinks. They were the most valuable items on this planet. Anon grabbed the drinks and the portable container that held the lens and the earpiece, leaving the two appliances behind. He put the container in his pocket to conceal it, and emptied one of the bottles into his mouth enjoying its' meaty taste. The box itself was worthless, it'd be easier for some locals to make an interesting discovery than for Anonymous to wrestle with it any further. It's not like anyone would be stupid enough to crawl inside it. Anonymous strolled back into the restaurant with twenty-three drinks in his hand and a small black box in his pocket. Everypony had finished their breakfast and were now conversing. He sat down next to Dash, not paying attention to whatever they were talking about. He pulled the slim box out of his pocket and removed its lid. Anon picked up the lens and held it up, gently placing it on his eyeball. Then there was the earpiece to worry about. Not quite as difficult as the lens, he just had to shove it inside his ear. Anon discarded the box by placing it in the trash on Twilight's plate. He knew had a big problem coming very soon, and now he had the solution. "Since when did you start wearing contacts?" Spike asked soon after Twilight and Dash's chat came to a conclusion. "Since right now." THE FOURTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (NON-TARGET) 11:23 AM Anonymous didn't particularly enjoy reading, but in this case he would make an exception. Books seemed to be the only way these Equines stored their information. No Random access memory, no Solid state drives, no Entangled crystals. Books. It was quite a step down for him, being used to such an advanced world. The door to the Library opened, and inside walked all of Twilight's pony friends. Applesack, Spectrum Dash, Cluttershy, Inky Sly and Barbarity. Not the weirdest names he'd ever heard in this sector of the galaxy, or at least not as bizarre as 'Glorkenpunff', but they were pretty odd. They were talking about something, as usual. Anon didn't worry too much about it. He didn't come here to force himself into their lives or to eavesdrop. He came here to 'protect and benefit' them, just like his business card said. That and the rent-free room Twi gave him. Whatever they were talking about, Twilight was getting pretty heated. Anon looked up from his book when he heard Twi's frustrated grunt. It was almost as if an explosion had just thrust the Library sky-high. "JUST A TEST?" "Twilight, darling, please calm down. If it means this much to you, we can come along with you to Canterlot." Rarity tried to calm her down, but also tried not to smile at how Twilight overreacted. Twi sighed. "I'm sorry, I guess I'm just tired." She used her magic to pack her bags full of miscellaneous flashcards and scrolls that were lying around on nearby desks. "Anon! We're going to Canterlot for a couple of hours, are you gonna be okay here by yourself?" A devious smile formed on his face. Now he would be all alone. "I'll be fine without you, don't worry." He could tell just by Twilight's face that she was uncertain if she could trust him all alone. Still, she didn't have much time to worry about that. Twi and her friends were already out the door before he finished answering. Now that he was by himself, he could go into the basement and have some... Quality time with himself and some images on his terminal. THE FOURTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (NON-TARGET) 11:27 AM 'Well... That didn't take long at all.' Anon thought to himself while releasing a large exhale of disappointment. A loud knock on the door forced him to collect his thoughts. He got up from his cot and walked over to the basement's stairs. As he was walking up the stairs, he heard voices coming from outside the door. 'This might be the perfect time to use the lens' He considered. Anonymous blinked thrice very quickly and was almost blinded by the sudden light being burned into his eyes. It was a terminal... On his eyes. Not only incredibly convenient but useful when he needed advice in a conversation, such as the one he knew he was about to have with the Princesses. As Anon approached the door, he grinned. 'They have no idea what lies beyond their world.' 'They have no idea what I'm capable of.' 'They don't know what the man behind the curtain has in store for them.' As soon as Anonymous' hand touched the doorknob, a metallic voice started to speak to him through his Earbud. Loud enough for him to give him directions, but not loud enough for anyone else to hear. LISTEN TO THEM. The door flung open, forcing Anon to move back. DON'T ACT INTIMIDATED. "Royal Guard! Don't move, or we will attack!" 128 HOSTILES. 48 INSIDE, 80 OUTSIDE. PRINCESSES INCOMING. Hundreds of them poured into the Library, all pointing spears towards Anon. They made him sit down on a nearby chair, keeping a tight eye on him. CALCULATING STRATEGIES... There were plenty ways out of this situation. SUCCESSFUL STRATEGY IDENTIFIED. But Anonymous was going to play Mr. Responsible, for everyone's sake. DO IT FOR THE GALACTIC SOCIETY. For Twilight's sake. DO IT FOR HER. For Spike's sake. DO IT FOR ME. --Chapter 8-- Omniscience (Part 2) THE FOURTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (TARGET) 11:32 AM The Guards continued to pour into the room, attracting the attention some nearby pedestrians. After a few minutes, the small group had grown into a crowd. Of all of the publicity Anonymous could have gotten, this was probably the worst, being swatted by the Princesses' guards. SHOW NO EMOTION It was hard to stay on his train of thought with the voice shouting in his ears. Speaking over it would be even harder, but it had to be done. LISTEN DON'T THINK The Royal Guards started to make a path between Anonymous and the front door. One of them forced Anon to sit on a nearby chair, giving him a death stare in the process. A regal fanfare cried out from the front of the room, grabbing more attention from the Equines outside. PAY NO ATTENTION "Announcing the presence of the royal sisters of Canterlot! Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!" DO NOT BOW Everypony bowed down on one leg, showing praise to their almighty rulers. Only one creature in the room refused to bow. The guards did not like that. "You will bow down before the Princesses!" A nearby Guard yelled at Anonymous. BREAK HIS SPEAR He held up his spear and pointed it at the visitor's chest. A smile formed on Anon's face, and he raised up his hand towards the Guard. *CRACK* Everypony's mouths hung open at the daring alien. Anonymous dropped the tip of the spear to the floor, staring at the Guard who threatened him. DON'T LET HIM TALK "You insolent, insufferable, little piece of sh--" DON'T TALK ABOUT IT "Princess Celestia and Luna! Did the two of you get a good night's sleep?" Anon remarked, now looking at the bags underneath their eyes. STOP IT "I know I didn't." Anonymous turned his head and stared at Luna. LISTEN TO ME A Guard near the front opened up a scroll and read it out loud. DON'T WORRY "You are hereby exiled from the planet known as 'Equis'. You will board your spacecraft and leave immediately, or you will be imprisoned in Tartarus. " INTERRUPT HIM "For what reason?" Anon interjected, annoyed at the Guard. YOU ARE INNOCENT Princess Celestia approached Anonymous, looking down on him in his chair. I WILL PROVE IT "For threatening my subjects, and for creating a sense of terror worldwide." THEY DON'T KNOW TERROR The alien took a deep breath, and looked around the room. He closed his eyes for a minute, trying to listen. YES YOU DO "Have you anything to say in your defense?" The Guard finished. KEEP LISTENING "Yes... I do..." THEY MISUNDERSTAND YOUR INTENTIONS. WOULD YOU COME HERE JUST TO TERRORIZE? YOU HAVE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO DO. Everypony's ears perked up. There was something different about how he was speaking. It was slurred, as if he had been drinking. GOOD "Your 'Majesties', you misunderstand my intentions. You believe that I came here just to terrorize your citizens? I have much more important things to do..." He smiled towards the end of the sentence. REPEAT AFTER ME "What are your true intentions, then?" Luna asked. SHARE YOUR EXTENSIVE KNOWLEDGE AND PROTECT THEM FROM THE SOCIETY'S ENEMIES "I have come here to benefit your planet by sharing my extensive knowledge of the universe and by protecting you from the enemies of The Galactic Society." Anonymous answered with a garbled voice. THEY SUSPECT SOMETHING Celestia wondered what game he was playing, talking normally besides the drunken voice. DON'T ANSWER ANYTHING "I wish to meet your superiors." DON'T LET HER He raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?" The Princesses stayed silent. "Alright then. Your funeral." He said, disappointed. Celestia and Luna looked at each other and conversed in whispers. "Fine. We won't see your superiors." Celestia relented. "Then what do you want to do? Did you think this over?" Anonymous asked, no longer slurring his speech. STOP IT "Prove your good intentions without making contact with your kind." LISTEN TO ME Anonymous rolled his eyes. GIVE THEM THE DEED "In the basement, there's a black leather bag. Bring it up here and I will present my evidence." Anon asked the Guard with the broken spear. The Guard looked at the Princesses, who nodded back at him. He took off down the stairs, muttering something under his breath. Princess Celestia turned to her younger sister. "Do you think he's telling the truth?" THEY DO NOT TRUST YOU Luna groaned, keeping her eyes on the alien across the room. ESPECIALLY THE NIGHT PRINCESS "He's never told the truth. Trust me." Celestia looked at Luna's face. Whatever else she saw in Anon's dreams wasn't helping her with her stress. The Guard trotted back up the stairs with the bag in his mouth and dropped it in front of Anonymous' chair. A golden aura engulfed the bag, and it levitated over to the Princesses. Princess Celestia turned the bag upside down and an excess of alien technology poured out all over the floor. Golden cards flew everywhere, and a stack of paperwork flopped onto the floor. Luna pulled the stack of paper up to eye-level while Celestia investigated the bag, making sure there wasn't a secret compartment. "Certificate of Property Ownership?" "You may want to read even further..." Anonymous choked back a laugh. CERTIFICATE OF PROPERTY OWNERSHIP AWARED TO: CITIZEN (MECHANIC SAPIEN- #33,241) FOR: OWNERSHIP OF STAR SYSTEM 'EQUIS-224' AWARDED: THE FIFTH OF MAY, 14,552,300,622 YEARS (AFTER INFLATION #22,341,992). The Princesses had a look of confusion on their faces. "And... What does this prove?" Celestia inquired. "I own this solar system." An awkward silence filled the room for a few seconds before the guards all erupted into laughter. "He's Insane!" "It's Too Funny!" "I Can't Take It!" The Princesses giggled a bit themselves. For thousands of years, they had protected their country from its enemies. Then one day, an Alien came and bought it from them without their knowing. It just didn't seem realistic. When the laughter died down, Anon was the first to speak. TELL THEM YOUR STORY "Four months ago, this part of the Galaxy was put up for purchase. I had heard rumors of life on this planet and kept an eye on it ever since. I spent every penny I've earned in the last few thousand years to own this place." THEY ARE ENTICED, CONTINUE The Royal Guards, the Princesses and the pedestrians outside all listened intently. CONVINCE THEM YOU ARE GOOD "The reason why I bothered? Some of us might not care as much about your customs, your governments, or your lives. The fact that you remain is all because of me. I want to become friends." Princess Celestia looked down at the ground for a while. Was she going to trust Luna or Anon? 'All he wants is a friend...' Celestia broke the silence. "Anonymous..." The Guards looked up at the Princesses. "You may continue to stay on our planet." "What?!" Luna shouted. "You believe him?" "Lighten up, Luna. After all, he hasn't given Twilight any problems, so... He isn't a threat anymore." Princess Luna looked dumbfounded. Was her sister going to let this stranger just take over their world? And not even put up a fight? Luna stammered for a while before trotting up to Anon. "If I hear that you harmed a hair on anypony's head... I will come back and I will take care of you, my way." She whispered into his ear. After she told him off, she turned around and stormed out the door. The Guards started to trot out of the Library, talking amongst themselves. THANK THE SUN PRINCESS "Thanks." "No problem. But some advice?" KEEP IT IN, THIS ISN'T OVER-- Anonymous took out his earpiece to hear better. "Stay on my sister's good side." Celestia looked serious. It was hard to take these cute cuddly horses serious, but Anon tried his best. "You got it." She turned around and left the Library with the rest of the guards, leaving no evidence of their visit. The ponies in the window started to walk away, trying to start a conversation with the Princesses. He was safe for now, but only one of the Princesses was willing to give him a shot. 'If Luna won't listen to me... Somepony else will have to convince her... Another Princess...' THE FOURTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (NON-TARGET) 4:33 PM Not an eventful day. A nice breakfast with Twilight and Dash. An intervention with the Princesses. The occasional pony knocking on the door to ask the alien a question. Not an eventful day. In fact, it was downright boring. Anonymous leaned back in his chair, sighing loud enough for ponies outside to hear. Anon grabbed one of the bottles that contained nutrition only meat could supply. He quickly drank it, crushed the bottle, and tossed it aside. '16 Left...' He would eventually have to come clean about being an omnivore. The sooner he did, the sooner he could get his hands on real meat. Then again, he wasn't in a hurry for Fluttershy to find out that he had to kill small animals to live. Of course, he wouldn't have to tell them if they never got back from their test in Canterlot. 'What kind of test takes all day to finish?' He couldn't stand to read another book. He'd rather gouge his eyes out with a spork. Anonymous contemplated going outside and befriending some locals... 'Nah...' Most of them ran away from the sight of him. 'They probably weren't conversation-starters anyway.' Then he remembered something that every species from every planet loved to do. Something that never got old, even after eighteen septillion years of being alive. THE FOURTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (NON-TARGET) 9:08 PM "Anonymous! We're home!" Twilight shouted, closing the door behind her. Spike saw what Anon had built, and pulled Twilight over so she could see it too. "Whoa..." Anon had taken the entire Library and turned it into a blanket fort. Hundreds if not thousands of blankets filled the Library with imaginary hallways and rooms. "Hey, guys!" Anonymous poked his head through a 'window' upstairs. "This is the kind of thing I didn't want to happen while I was away!" Twilight groaned in frustration. "Cheer up, Twi! This is awesome!" Spike exclaimed while running through one of the fort's doors. "There's room for you too!" Anon informed Twilight, hoping he didn't overstep his boundaries. "Maybe in a little bit..." A purple field covered Twilight, and she disappeared from sight. She reappeared upstairs near her bed and slid under her covers. "She looks exhausted, what did you guys do?" "We saved an entire Empire from this evil shadow-king named Sombra!" Anonymous took a second to process what Spike had said. "Are you sure you didn't just imagine the whole thing?" Spike rolled his eyes and started walking over to his bed. "I'm not a kid, Anonymous." "Goodnight!" 'Fine, go to bed and leave me awake and... alone.' Since everypony was going to bed, Anon figured he may as well do the same. But he didn't go downstairs to his cot. He laid down on the hard wooden floor of the Library and stretched out, enjoying the space. 'Alone' The word resonated within Anonymous. It perfectly described him. There weren't any humans to talk to for parsecs around. In fact, Anon tried to avoid all creatures whenever he could, now that he thought about it. There were only a few times he put up with them. Anonymous tried to recall when. A lifetime ago... Author's Note Time constraints, Yay~ --Chapter 9-- Three Strikes THE FIFTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (NON-TARGET) 11:23 AM "WAKE UP!" Anonymous jumped up in fear, defensively raising his hands towards the booming voice. "You've been asleep all morning. Your lunch is on the table." Twilight informed the groggy alien, taking her finished plate to the kitchen to be cleaned. Anon wiped some of the sweat off his forehead, trying to remember if he dreamed about anything. 'Talk about a nightmare' He stood up and walked over to the table, realizing that his fort made of blankets was missing, probably taken down by his nerdy roommate. Spike looked like he just got up too, he was at the table slowly munching away on his breakfast made of gems. "Good morning." Spike looked towards Anon, smiling at his messed-up hair. "Hey." Anonymous replied. They both turned to their plates. Apparently Twilight had taken his 'No hay, please' remark to the extremes. "Mashed potatoes, potato wedges, sweet potatoes, and mixed nuts?" Anonymous raised an eyebrow at Twilight. She let out a groan. "You never told me what you eat. I just picked whatever had the most Calories." 'Still better than hay...' "So, I hear the two of you saved an empire last night. Impressive." Anon said, teasing Spike. "Twi, tell him what happened." The dragon was getting fed up with Anonymous' smug face. "We helped save it. The Crystal Ponies are the ones who charged the Crystal Heart so that King Sombra couldn't enter the empire." Anonymous wasn't a psychologist, but it seemed like Twilight was completely serious, judging from her lack of emotions. "Oh--Okay?" "And guess who delivered the Crystal Heart to Princess Cadence?" Spike said, leaning back in his chair, crossing his arms behind his head. Twilight rolled her eyes and smiled. "You did, Spike." "Well that's interesting, I guess you're like a hero to that empire now." Anon said between bites of mashed potatoes. "Alright now, don't inflate his ego too much. We don't need another Rainbow Dash." A knock at the door interrupted Spike's comeback. Twilight put down her dishes and trotted over the door to see who it was. "Maybe it's a crowd of fans." Anon smirked at Spike, who folded his arms, trying to ignore him. "Cadence! Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" The alien watched as Twilight shook her flank in the stranger's face. 'Alien customs, Pfft.' Whoever it was, they had an awful lot of bodyguards securing the entrance. Anonymous hoped the Princesses hadn't set up an intervention where they would try to talk him out of being an omnivore. "Anonymous?" The visitor inquired. "Present." Anon looked up to see who it was. He was somewhat shocked to find another Princess standing in the middle of Twilight's library. 'They're gonna move in before you know it, Anon.' "Twilight, I want us to spend some time together, but could I talk to him alone for a while?" "Uhh, sure." Twilight said, feeling a little left out. "C'mon down to my high-tech Alien lab." He joked, escorting the pink alicorn down the stairs. THE FIFTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (NON-TARGET) 11:32 AM "This is it? This is the most advanced room on Equis?" Cadence asked, sitting down on Anon's cot. "Don't judge a computer by its tower. Everything in here is up to Galactic standards, give or take a thousand years." Anon said, rifling through his black leather bag. She didn't understand his reference, but she got the point. "So I've been wanting to meet you for quite a while, but because of that incident in The Crystal Empire I haven't been able to meet you yet." She said, looking at Anon's 'alphabet board'. "Alright then, I'll answer some of your questions, and you'll answer some of mine." Cadence lit up in excitement. Information from other planets was hard to come across. "Are you going to hurt us?" "Not unless you hurt me. I'll give you three strikes in case you do." "Are there other aliens? If so, where are they?" "They're at the center of the galaxy, all intelligent life gathers around the center of every galaxy." "What are you capable of?" "Doing whatever I want, whenever I want, however I want it done." Cadence was about to bombard Anon with another question before he interrupted her. "Now-- Who created your species?" Princess Cadence was confused. Ponies weren't created, they were just... They've always existed. "Well, we weren't created, we just... Are." "You haven't noticed that we speak the same language?" Cadence went into shock as soon as Anonymous finished talking. They had been having a full conversation in Equestrian, and she didn't give it much thought. "How..." "English is one of the Universal languages, most lifeforms are taught it as soon as they become capable of internal monologuing." That's when the Princess realized that Anon had been alive longer than anypony she had ever met before. The things he might have put in motion when Equestria just was a small nation... "You don't know the answer to my first question, so I'll skip to the second. How long have you had horns?" "Unicorns and Alicorns have had horns as long as anypony can remember." "And finally, I need to ask you a favor." "What is it?" Cadence was a little anxious, he didn't want her to do anything bad, did he? "Convince your associate Princess Luna that my intentions are strictly honorable." His voice was slurred towards the end of the sentence, but she didn't pay it much attention. "Okay, but in exchange for one additional question." "Shoot." "Why did you come here?" "Aliens don't care about other lifeforms, they come, they force you to adapt to them, they destroy your world. I'm here to make that inevitable transition easier." "Transition?" "Your world changed five days ago. Also, you're out of questions." Anonymous turned back to his bag and started to pull things out of it, ingoring Princess Cadence. She got up from Anon's cot and trotted over to him, trying to get a peek of the contents of his bag. "Well, it was a pleasure getting some of my questions answered." He quickly zipped his bag and turned to Cadence. "You didn't ask any important questions." Cadence chuckled, she was fine with the questions she asked. "And what would have been a good question?" "Are they watching us? Do they know what you're thinking? Can they make you say things? Some of us can do all of the above, which is why you should have asked them." Anonymous started walking up the stairs, a slightly concerned Princess following behind him. "And I have a favorite ice cream flavor, you know." THE FIFTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (ALIEN HOTSPOT) 2:14 PM "Look, I signed form 'C-112', I initialed '64-c22' and I filled out document 23. What more do they want?" Anon said, frantically flipping through a stack of paperwork. "They say the process didn't go through and you're trespassing on their property." "God, I hate computer systems. Are they sending an investigation party?" "Yeah, they claim they need your 'Certificate of Property Ownership'. You kept that, right?" "I got it right now. When are they getting here?" "Four Proxima-Sols." Anonymous let out a combination of groaning, moaning, and sighing. "That's not enough time. These Equines just saw their first alien, how are they going to take their second?" "Unless you want to go to prison for two thousand years, you'll cooperate with whatever investigator they send." The man on the other side of the line hung up on Anon. He tossed his phone on the ground, not caring if it broke or not. He then slammed twenty pounds of paperwork on Twilight's nearby lab desk and laid down on his cot in frustration. "One Proxima-Sol is three hours, but they'll be here in three minutes, I know they will." He said, covering his face with his hand. "Who were you talking to?" Anon's throat clenched up. He looked over at a figure by the stairs to see some of Twilight's friends investigating his room. "I-uh-well-I just-uh..." "C'mon, Mr. Alien, you can tell us anything." Pinkie Pie appeared from behind Anonymous and put her hoof around his shoulder, hugging him. "It ain't like seeing aliens can get much weirder, now is it?" Applejack flashed a smile at him. "Well, some paperwork didn't go through and now I--uh... uh..." "You can tell us anything, Anon." Fluttershy told the visitor in her quiet voice. "Well, I've got an investigation with a periscope up my ass, and they're gonna be here any minute now." He said, looking exasperated and upset. Everypony looked more interested in Anonymous' word choice than his 'investigation'. "Is that a bad thing, sugarcube?" "What? Your world is about to be bombarded with alien ships and you don't care?" "Well, you're a nice alien, and so that means other aliens are as nice as you right? Just more friends to make!" Pinkie said, bouncing around the room. Several screams came from upstairs followed by Spike quickly running down the basement stairs, tripping multiple times, barely recovering each time. "Everyone! Come quick!" Spike shouted as ran back up the stairs. Anonymous didn't need to ask, he already knew the end was apoun them. It was all over. THE FIFTH DAY "PONYVILLE" (ALIEN HOTSPOT) 2:16 PM "They're beautiful." Twilight looked up at the fleet of starships that soared through Equestria's atmosphere. "They make yours look tiny, Anon." Spike said, looking at the supermassive rectangle that darkened the skies above Ponyville. "Look at that one, It looks like a top spinning!" Rarity gazed up at a rotating ship, beautifully crafted and elegantly flown. Anon sighed with his head in his hands. "Don't judge a computer by its tower." "What?" Twilight asked. "Look, they're trespassing on my-- your planet, and as soon as I clear this up, they're all going to be gone. So make 'friends' while you can." "Jeez, Anon, what did they ever do to you?" Dash asked, giving him a frown. "You don't know. I've desensitized you with my presence, but these creatures? Don't let your guard down." Anonymous looked down from the skies and walked towards where one of the crafts was landing in Ponyville. Thousands, maybe millions of spaceships orbited around this craft. Twilight and her friends followed Anon to it while he held the leather bag in his hand, feeling sick in his gut. A large black triangle-shaped craft that flashed red lights stopped right in front of Anonymous. On the side that faced them, huge metal doors slid open without hesitation, as everypony got a good look at what the universe had to offer them. Author's Note ~Missing insightful thing to say~ --Chapter 10-- Res Nullius THE FIFTH DAY "PONYVILLE" (ALIEN HOTSPOT) 2:17PM The doors were fully open, releasing a massive echo throughout the town as they came to a stop. The interior was blinding white, and Twilight had to put her hoof up to her face in an effort to block out some of the light. Some of her friends did the same, some squinted as they all gazed at the triangular spacecraft. A dark spot slowly formed in the light, followed by several more. They all were increasing in size, and it took a while before Twi realized that someone was walking up to them. All this happened as the deafening sound of hundreds of thousands of crafts flew above the triangle. "Awesome..." Dash remarked, staring at the creatures from another planet. The alien that was closest to everypony was also the tallest. It was at least a head taller than Anonymous, who had his eyes closed, trying to keep his composure. In their hands, the visitors had silver rectangles that looked similar to the device Anon used to scan Twilight's horn. The tall alien and it's five guards stopped a few meter from the ponies, looking down upon them. The tall alien made a loud guttural sound, which nopony could decipher the meaning of, but they backed up just in case it was a sound of aggression. Anonymous made a similar sound in a quieter volume, starting a conversation with the alien. The words may have been impossible to interpret, but his face told the whole story. He was very excited. Everypony watched as Anon ran up to the tall alien and spun them around in an enthusiastic hug, the visitor making a sound similar to laughter. "Do you two know each other?" Fluttershy asked. He ignored her and continued the odd sounds while holding the alien tight. "You can speak English?" The tall being asked the ponies. "I reckon you can speak it too." Applejack said, raising her head to get a better look at the alien's odd attire. "Allow me to introduce myself, my name is SRB-54 and I'm here for MSH-33214's inspection." "But, you two were hugging. Do you know each other?" Fluttershy repeated herself. "Me and 54 used to date a few million years ago." "Yeah, and you never returned my texts." She joked, pushing Anon away in a playful manner. "Anon, you didn't tell me you had a girlfriend..." Twilight said, nudging him with her hoof. "Eh, it was a while ago, I didn't think it mattered." Rarity was practically on top of Anon's 'girlfriend', inspecting the illuminating fabric. "My, this is quite fascinating. Would you mind teaching me how to make this material?" "That all depends on whether or not the federation's emissary did their paperwork." She let out a fake cough. "Anon." "It's a substitute name, they don't identify using numbers and letters." "This is so wonderful! We used to just have one alien friend but now we have two!" Pinkie exclaimed, suffocating the female alien with a hug. "And three! And four! And five! And Six..." Pinkie trailed off, hugging every one of the guards nearby. "What do you mean 'paperwork'? I've never heard of any paperwork relating to aliens." Spike asked, checking nearby to see if he brought a Sci-Fi novel with him. "If I don't get some paperwork done in ten hours, this planet will go into a state of Res Nullius. Which for those of you who aren't Twilight, it means whoever gets here first will own your planet." "That's ridiculous, nobody owns our planet!" Twilight laughed, questioning her words as soon as they came out of her mouth. "Actually..." The tall alien took the stack of papers out of Anon's hand and held it up in front of Twilight's face. "He does." Twilight made an unsure face while she read the papers that progressively developed into a state of shock. "Why didn't you tell me you owned us?!" Twi smacked Anonymous with the stack. He took a while to think up a response, and concealed a smile while he answered. "I didn't think it mattered." Dear Princess Celestia, As you may have already seen, Equestria has recently been bombarded with alien ships. Anonymous assures us that they are not hostile and that they will be leaving shortly. The reason they have come is because they need to determine who owns our planet. I know, I laughed when I heard about it, but I've read the paperwork and it would appear that Anonymous is the rightful owner of, well... everything. My friends are keeping him and his investigator company while I write this. I hope that your subjects in Canterlot aren't panicked. -Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle Dearest Twilight, Thank you for letting us know that we aren't under attack. I'm grateful that Princess Luna was asleep otherwise, she might have alerted the Equestrian army. As for Anonymous being the planet's keeper, he told me about it in private yesterday. He has established that while he owns the planet, he will allow our governments to run normally. I look forward to this all being over, not everypony in Canterlot will take my word that they come in peace. -Sincerely, Princess Celestia THE FIFTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (ALIEN HOTSPOT) 2:42PM 'Why was she with Anonymous yesterday?' Twilight thought to herself as she read Celestia's letter. She couldn't think with all of the noise from outside. Several spacecrafts had crashed into each other, not only making more noise but killing everyone involved. Twilight was horrified, but Anon and his investigator told her that aliens die everyday, and that they should have been more careful. It was on her mind for a while. The debris, where did it go? Their families, did they care? Would anybody notice they were gone in a world where there are too many creatures to count? "See, form C-112 has all of the lines filled out." Anon told the investigator. "You're only supposed to check one box right here." She pointed her finger towards the top of the second page. Anonymous laughed and picked up a pencil to erase one of the boxes. He didn't care which one, he was too busy looking at her face. Her beautiful, hypnotic face. When she noticed, she blushed and turned her head down to the paper, looking for more errors. "You know, SRB-54 isn't a common name. Could we call you something else?" Dash asked as she looked out the window at the invasion that was going on outside. "S for Sarah, of course!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Sarah sounds fine." She said, still blushing. Twilight looked restless. "How long is all of this going to take?" "What's the matter, you don't want more visitors?" Anonymous asked, skimming the lines of his contract. "No, it's just... Not everypony knows that you're here. Some ponies don't even know that any aliens came out of The Flying Castle. And now, all of this? They're going to panic." "Poor things." Sarah sympathized. 'I don't know what Anonymous was so worried about, she seems kinder than he does.' "Why do all of the aliens we've seen so far look the same?" Spike asked Sarah. "Coincidence. Me and 'Anonymous' aren't from the same planet, we're just similar. Other species look very different from us." She answered, flipping the pages. "How's Allos doing?" Sarah inquired. Twilight turned her head to attention, Anon hadn't mentioned having any friends, much less any aliens that didn't identify using numbers and letters. He looked around the room to see who had heard her before he got closer to her. "They don't know yet." "Oh man, you haven't told them about him? You also probably haven't told them you eat meat." Sarah jested in a loud voice, hoping everyone heard it. Immediately, Everypony put some distance between them and him. "What?" Rainbow shouted, flying away from Anonymous. "I don't eat horses, calm down." He informed them, hoping to defuse the situation. "You really didn't tell them?" She asked, feeling a little guilty. "Why would I? I knew this would happen." Fluttershy trotted up to him. "I said that you could tell us anything, and I meant it. Girls, don't hold it against him that he needs meat to survive." Everypony started looking at each other before they started getting closer to him. Not everypony looked accepting of Anon's habits. They received a stare from Fluttershy that convinced them to change their feelings. "Thanks, Fluttershy." "Anytime." "You could have told us earlier, then I wouldn't have forced you to eat hay!" Twilight said, a little disappointed in her alien friend. Anon leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, not wanting to be lectured about 'telling the truth'. "Twilight, could I talk to you in the basement?" Sarah asked. "Uhh, sure." She responded, a little concerned for her saftey. "I highly recommend you completely redo this entire page, you didn't read at all." The alien investigator told him as she conducted Twilight down the stairs. Everyone sat in awkward silence for a while before Spike broke the tension. "What's your favorite kind of meat?" "All meat is good meat." THE FIFTH DAY "THE BASEMENT" (ALIEN HOTSPOT) 2:56PM "I'm sorry that he can be untruthful at times, he's not the best of us." She said, sitting down on Anon's cot. "It's alright, it's just that... Well, I trusted him to tell me everything." "Well, you can't expect that, everyone's got secrets." Twilight thought about the situation she was in. She didn't know anything about the alien upstairs for sure. But... The alien's girlfriend was sitting right in front of her. "How did the two of you meet?" "Strip club on Xenon 3." Twi blushed furiously, she didn't know that Anon went to those kinds of places. But she did now... "Who's Allos?" Twi wondered out loud. "I'm not sure he would like me telling you that..." "But..." Sarah continued. Twilight's ears perked up, apparently she would be getting some answers from her after all. "I can tell you about when he was mortal." "He wasn't always like that?" She asked. "Everyone is born mortal." "So, the year was 2154 on his home planet. They didn't have conventional space travel, and were pretty much confined to one of three nearby planets. " "Interesting..." "He was working at his company, filing forms if I remember correctly. Then, his fiance walked into the room." "He had a fiance?" "He used to be a very open person. Anyways, she was telling him about the completion of their latest project, a weapon of mass destruction." "He never told me he worked on weapons for a living..." "Jeez, he didn't tell you anything. So, his fiance threatened him, saying that he didn't support her and their kids. He didn't budge, he was very invested in his work and couldn't ignore it." "Jerk..." "He might have been able to do it, but he didn't. She came to his office when he was working overtime and yelled at him. She was upset that he was willing to watch his family suffer without putting up a fight. So mad, that she pulled out a gun and shot him." "What? That's... That's... horrible." "It is a sad story. Nobody checked his office, nobody found him." "How is he alive? He should have died from the lead poisoning, and the loss of blood, and the shock--" "Someone did find him, eventually. It was Allos, his only friend at the time. They couldn't wait for professional help since they would get there too late. So... He talked Allos through doing surgery on him right there." "That might explain his high tolerance for pain..." "He said it hurt more than anything he'd ever felt in his entire life. Feeling someone inside you, removing you, replacing you with metal." "That's when he became immortal?" "No, it extended his life, but he wouldn't become immortal until he found the federation a few centuries later." "What happened to his fiance?" "He returned the favor." Twilight stared into empty space, terrified. Upstairs was a murderer. An invincible, heartless murderer. "He regrets it, right?" "No. And oddly enough, that's not the reason we didn't get married." "What was the reason?" "Commitment issues." THE FIFTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (ALIEN HOTSPOT) 3:45PM "Sign your full name here, initial here, and... Finished!" Sarah said, relieved. Anonymous sighed and massaged his neck. "That was the most painful experience of my life." "Alright, now that that's out of the way, we can get rid of all of these spaceships, right?" Dash yawned while speaking. An hour of paperwork wasn't fun for any of the ponies who stayed at Twilight's library. "Indeed, just let me post the paperwork." Anon hovered the rectangular device over the forms and pressed a few buttons. Five seconds later, the sounds of massive engines powering up filled Ponyville as the larger ships started to rise into space. A few seconds later, the smaller ships zipped up into the atmosphere. After a few minutes the only remaining ships were Anon's and Sarah's. "Well, I guess this is goodbye." She regretfully informed everyone. "It was fun while it lasted!" Pinkie jumped up and gave Sarah a hug that was less tight than last time.. They all said their goodbyes and she walked to the door, where Anonymous waited for her. "I'm glad I got to see you again." He smiled at her. "You're not thinking of making me stay, are you?" "Nah, we've both got work to do." Anon closed in on her right ear and held her tight. "And when I'm done here, I'll find you. And we can be together again." "No, I... I can't." "What's the matter?" Sarah started to choke up. "You killed her..." "I thought you had come to terms with that a long time ago." Sarah looked around before she brought her eyes up to his. Trying to keep her composure, she placed her hands on his shoulders, and he did the same to her. "Ganactic." She said, starting to break down. Anonymous swallowed some saliva and let out a sigh. "Ganactic, my friend." She turned away and quickly ran out the door in distress, not wanting anyone to see her. "What was all that about?" Rarity asked, ignoring the troubled Sarah run away to her craft. "Alien customs. It means good health, good life, and go in peace." "Well, sugarcube, at least you got to see an old friend for a while." Applejack remarked aloud, noticing Anon's unhappy face. "Yeah. I did." Author's Note Anyone who can point out the two obscure references will become my favorite reader of all time. --Chapter 11-- The End's BeginningTHE FIFTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (NON-THREAT) 11:22PM Twilight was looking through her telescope, enjoying the view of the cosmos. Now that she knew the universe not only harbored two intelligent species but many other kinds of life, she was curious about where they came from. The past few hours were spent trying to find a constellation that would have the elements necessary for life. In a way, it was a fun task, like a scavenger hunt. Twilight couldn't think of a reason why she hadn't done this before. 'And that marks out the Draco constellation.' She thought, crossing it out on a piece of paper. She almost jumped out of her chair when she heard somepony clear their throat from behind her. She quickly turned her head to identify the unannounced visitor. "Oh, it's just you." She remarked, feeling relieved. Behind her stood an expressionless Anonymous. He was wearing new clothes, instead of his old button-up shirt, he was now wearing a diamond pinstripe suit. All the buttons were unbuttoned and the tie untied. The contrast of formality and informality made him look ridiculous. "You look... fancy." Twilight remarked, trying to stay polite. "Your friend Rarity has good taste and an eye for fine materials. Now, let's stop talking about me." He said in a somewhat disjointed voice. "What are you doing?" He continued. "Just looking through my telescope. How are you doing?" Twilight made an uneasy face. He didn't look too happy, and his voice was creeping her out. "Well, I was downstairs thinking about everything that's happened in the last two days, and I realized something. I may have been a little too... lenient." "Wh-What do you mean?" She tried not to stutter. 'Lenient? Lenient about what?' "It's just that I'm not a fan of having my dreams invaded by Princesses of the night." Anon explained, cracking his knuckles much to Twilight's disgust. "No, I don't think the princess would just blatantly spy on you like that." "You thought wrong, Twi." Twilight was worried, she had never seen him angry. He was happier earlier today, what changed that? "What's with the change of attitude?" She asked. "You talked to her. I know you did." "What makes you think that?" Twilight wasn't one to lie, but in this case, she was willing to make an exception. "She was afraid of me today. She's never been afraid of me. You had something to do with it. I know you did." "That's a little presumptuous of you, isn't it?" Twilight asserted. "You see this thing in my ear?" Anonymous got close to Twilight, too close for comfort. Twi was unsure about his mental stability. He brought up his finger and tapped the black device in his ear. "It's an earpiece. It tells me things. Not everything, but what it does tell me I can trust one hundred percent." Twi moved her head to get a better look at the earpiece. Since it was in close proximity, she could hear someone talking through it. It didn't really sound like a pony or alien, though. "May I?" Anonymous picked the device out of his ear and crammed it into Twilight's ear. There was some discomfort involved, but she would put up with it if it meant getting some accurate information about aliens. She quickly recognized the voice speaking as the voice that was also in the Mini-Screw. "ARCHIVE. TWO FIFTY NINE LOCAL TIME. ORGANISM OF INTEREST, TWILIGHT SPARKLE. LOCATION, THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY'S BASEMENT. ENGAGED IN CONVERSATION. CONVERSATION TOPIC, MURDER OF--" The transmission was cut short by Anonymous plucking the device out of her ear. If he looked unhappy before, now he was livid. "You don't know it's telling the truth, it could be lying!" "Twilight... Just tell me the truth. I promise I won't be mad if you were talking about... her." Anon's voice smoothed out and he didn't look quite as mad. Twilight could relax when his voice was normal. "I admit it, we were talking about your ex-fiance/victim." "I made a deal with one of your Princesses. I'd give this place three chances to get on my nerves before I disintegrated it. Right now, I have plenty of reasons to destroy this place." "We've been nothing but kind to you, so what are the three reasons?" "First off, your Princess of the night snuck into my memories. Two, you went behind my back and talked about my past. Three, you lied to me about it." Twilight's heart started racing. He looked so calm, but what he was talking about would be the end of the world. The end of all she held dear. The end of Equis. She couldn't allow that. She wouldn't. Anything it took to avoid their destruction, she was willing to risk. But a plan was needed, and fast. There was a blank piece of paper in the Library and a quill nearby. Twilight could make out the objects in the other room using her magic, but barely. She had to write, the fate of Equestria relied on it. "How does your weapon work?" "Well, it all starts with a few pounds of Uranium-235..." THE SIXTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (NON-THREAT) 1:22AM "And the Cobalt-59 stores the radiation to increase the damage of fallout." "Now that's just cruel." Unbeknownst to Anonymous, Twilight had been writing down the nuclear reaction he had spent the last hour explaining. 'Well, they say you've got to fight fire with fire, right?' She thought to herself. "You're a scientist, surely you know the implications of such a device." "I do. But, are you really going to kill everything on this planet just because I talked about you behind your back?" "Not today. I'm going to exempt you from that strike. But if you do anything that pisses me off again, this world is going to go up in flames. I promise." "Why is it so important that you get your way? Surely in space, you have to sacrifice for others." Twi attempted to negotiate with Anon in the hopes of diffusing the situation. "Wrong. No man is an island, but when you spend millennium in cryogenic suspension it gets easier." "What happened to us being friends?" She continued, finishing up on her notes. "I got too close to you. I forgot that I'm a foreign emissary and you are the pony I'm working with to make sure this planet doesn't destroy itself. You're a client." Anonymous tied his tie just so that he could adjust it and look serious about it. "I can sleep soundly at night now..." Twilight remarked, putting the final period on her paper. "I'm glad you understand your position. Goodnight, Twilight Sparkle." "Goodnight, Anon." Twilight said, trying to conceal a smug face. 'I win.' THE SIXTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (NON-THREAT) 1:36AM Anonymous was asleep downstairs and Spike was dreaming in his bed. Now Twilight could start building the weapon according to the alien's instructions. If her calculations were correct, not even his titanium organs would be able to withstand the melting temperature. Speaking of his organs, his metallic kidney had pretty much gone untouched on Twilight's dressing table. While she was thinking of all of this, Twilight realized that she faced a very big problem. 'How am I going to make this thing if he's sleeping in my lab?' That wasn't her only problem, though. Safely containing radioactive materials outside of her lab would be no easy task. It was going to take a lot of planning, but if it meant keeping Equestria safe from Anonymous' threats, she'd go to any length to do it. And if he was going to deploy this weapon of mass destruction the next time he was offended, Twilight had a very limited amount of time to get this project done. She might have asked somepony else for help, but she didn't want to cause panic in the streets until their destruction was within sight. Anonymous was no longer an ally, he was a threat. And she was the only pony on the planet that knew about Equis' inevitable countdown. The best she could do is to try to keep him happy for as long as possible until she finished the bomb. Twilight levitated her notes up to her face and silently read them. She could do without the missile part of the bomb, as long as she had her magic she could propel it wherever she wanted to. Now, where was she going to find fourty pounds of Uranium-235? --Chapter 12-- Augmented RealityTHE SIXTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (NON-THREAT) 2:15 AM Twilight squinted her eyes, trying to make out the scribbles that were on the paper. Notes, equations, charts, and sketches were all squeezed onto the several pages that Twilight held up to her eyes. She had considered giving up multiple times, but every time she felt like she couldn't finish it, she remembered that this was the only way that Anonymous could be defeated. Magic wouldn't work. It would take a lot of time to charge up a spell that could disintegrate Titanium on demand, and being idle while watching someone threaten her homeworld wasn't something Twilight could do. Unfortunately, the bomb was going to be scaled down significantly. Uranium was uncommon in Equestria, and the small deposits that were known about were strongly avoided. After all, radiation-proof clothing was also hard to find in Equestria. Twilight would talk to Rarity about making a suit in the morning. It wasn't a conversation she was looking forward to. To make matters worse, since Anonymous was living in her lab, Twilight would have to find a way to build the device in her bedroom. She had already found a case that she could store the materials in and not worry about radiation and she could wire a timer to the neutron source easily, so she wouldn't worry about that at the moment. Her eyes skimmed across the notes for the what could have been the hundredth time. Some of the things Anonymous had told her didn't make any sense. One of the nuclear equations described on the paper made absolutely no sense, it was unbalanced. Twilight was focusing on that right now, because if the math wasn't entirely correct, it could be disastrous. Her focus was disrupted by a hysterical laugh that seemed to come from her basement. 'Having good dreams, are you?' Twilight internally rolled her eyes, jealous that the alien that caused her panic was having pleasant dreams while she was working. Another laugh. This time even louder. Now Twilight was curious. Not many things warrant laughter at two in the morning. As she walked to the stairs, she noticed that Spike wasn't in his bed. Wherever he was, Twilight was going to have a serious talk with him when she found him. "Do that again, it looks ridiculous," Anonymous asked Spike. Spike smiled and randomly waved his claws in midair, which caused the both of them to laugh. Twilight watched from the stairs, not only feeling lost on the humor, but feeling left out. "Oh, hey, Twilight!" Spike called out, turning to her. There was something off about both of their eyes. Spike's eyes were usually green, but now they were blue. Anonymous' eyes were already blue, but now they were a different shade. "I thought you went to bed hours ago, Spike," Twilight remarked, trotting down the stairs. Her laboratory was unrecognizable. The alien technology had grown away from the corner of her lab, covering almost half of the room. Her tabletops were left untouched, but everything was more cramped together. "I did, but I had a bad dream and asked Anonymous what it meant." "What was your dream?" Twilight inquired. "I dreamt of a red sky and dark clouds rolling over Ponyville." Spike shuddered at the memory. "What did the clouds look like?" "They touched the ground and were kind of big at the top and thin in the middle. Like a mushroom, or Anon's spaceship." He continued. "Hey, Spike. Get a load of this." Anonymous interrupted. He moved his fingers as if he was casting a spell, and then motioned as if he was picking something up, and he released it in front of Spike. His squinted his eyes in confusion at the invisible item Anonymous dropped. "Who is Steve Reeves?" Anonymous got close to Spike's ear and whispered the answer, grinning while doing so. Spike erupted in laughter and rolled onto the floor. Anonymous held his hand over his mouth, trying to keep quiet. "What's so funny?" Twilight asked. Spike gasped in realization. He turned to Anon. "She hadn't tried it yet. Do you have another pair?" "Yeah, I've got like... Sixteen more." Anonymous remarked while looking through his black bag. He reached behind him and pulled out a small, square black box out of his bag, and handed it to Twilight. Inside of it was... Contact lenses. "I don't get it..." She said, feeling puzzled. "You put them on, silly," Spike informed the stumped Librarian. Twilight quickly charged up her horn and brought the lens to her eyes using magic. She was almost blinded by a blue light that was being burned into her eyes from the lens. INSTALLING UPDATES... (WORKING) The words were bright but hard to read, as some of them escaped her field of view. "What is this?" "It's everything, Twilight. You can ask it questions, ask it jokes, or use it to predict the future. Anonymous says that when he organizes Equis, he'll give a pair to everypony!" Spike reponded gleefully. "Organize?" She inquired. "You remember, don't you? I'm here to prepare you for intergalactic technology. Future shock is a real thing, you know." The words changed on Twilight's lens, and in their place, even more words appeared in a slightly smaller font. ANALYZING BRAINWAVES AND NEURAL PATHWAYS. SAMPLES NEEDED. THINK OF: MUSIC. Twilight didn't understand why the lens wanted her to think of music, but just when she thought of the word 'music', the words changed again. SAMPLES NEEDED. THINK OF: LIGHT AND DARKNESS What did it mean? The concepts of light and darkness, or a memory that involved light and darkness? Before the question could be answered, more text appeared. SAMPLES NEEDED. THINK OF: FRIENDSHIP That was an easy one. All she had to do was think of her friends. The words disappeared, and all that was left was a slightly blue tint overlayed on Twilight's vision. Spike and Anonymous had stopped paying attention to her a while ago and were now staring off into space. "What now?" Twilight was shocked to see what words appeared on her screen. > WHAT NOW? It was listening to her, and Twilight didn't feel comfortable with that. > THIS IS WEIRD. HOW CAN IT CONVERT MY WORDS INTO TEXT SO QUICKLY? Twilight choked on her own spit. She hadn't even said anything that time, but the words had appeared on the screen. "Calm down, what happened?" Anonymous asked, putting his hand on her shoulder in an effort to comfort her. "It just... It just... Showed what I was thinking!" "That's kinda the point, Twi," Spike remarked while turning his eyes to his hyperventilating roommate. Several hundred words had appeared on the screen, all of them Twilight's thoughts. "How can it do this?", "Is anypony reading this?", "I hope that I don't think of--". The bomb. That was the last thing that she could think about. If anypony else was reading this, she didn't want them to know she was creating a weapon to battle Anonymous, should he get hostile. "I'll answer any questions if you have any," Anonymous informed her, moving his fingers in mid-air again. "How does it work? What's going on? What can it do?" Twilight shot out the questions in rapid succession. "The lens operates off of quadrillions of logical gates that use photons and electricity to store information. This allows it to do a variety of functions, such as record moments you wish to save, answer pretty much any question you have about anything, and send messages between entities." He explained it as if he was reading off of the box it was shipped in. It was a lot of information to take in all at once. The fact that everything Twilight heard and thought about was being flashed in front of her eyes didn't help. Spike looked like he had mastered whatever was supposed to be done. Since it could allegedly answer any questions, Twilight went ahead and tried it. 'What is the ratio between the mass of a neutron and an electron?' She thought. Twilight's thoughts slowly faded away from the screen as new text began to form in front of her eyes. A NEUTRON'S MASS IS 1838.68 TIMES THE MASS OF AN ELECTRON. The message was quickly obstructed by her thoughts that questioned how it would know something so trivial? 'Show the defeat of Nightmare Moon' Twilight's vision was obstructed by an opaque blue rectangle that consumed most of her vision. WELCOME TO THE 3-D PLAYBACK ENVIRONMENT! USE THE BUTTONS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SCREEN TO NAVIGATE THROUGH THE TIMELINE. WAVE YOUR HAND TO CHANGE THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE ENVIRONMENT. As soon as Twilight finished reading the message, the rectangle disappeared. She could no longer see Spike or Anonymous, but she was seeing something else. She was in the middle of the Town Hall. Everypony was there... including herself. It was the Summer Sun Celebration. "Oh, my beloved subjects. It's been so long since I've seen your precious, sun-loving faces." The voice was unmistakably Nightmare Moon's. "What have you done with our Princess?" Rainbow Dash shouted from the other side of the town hall. She attempted to fly towards Nightmare Moon, but Applejack bit her tail, trying to keep her friend safe. It reminded Twilight of Starswirl's time-traveling spell, everything was so clear and real. Then Twi noticed a bar at the bottom of her field of view. She thought about its use, but nothing happened as opposed to earlier. She reached out to touch the bar, her hoof layered over the video she was watching. She couldn't reach the bar, but when she swiped while trying to reach it, the Town Hall revolved around her. It took a while for her to control it properly, but she could change her position, who she was looking at, and where she was. She was no longer limited to the Town Hall, she could explore all of Ponyville if she wanted. 'Why stop there?' She thought. She zoomed out, watching her town get smaller and smaller. Eventually, she stopped when she saw a massive blue sphere in front of her. Every single little star stood out, the galaxy's brown and yellow clouds painted the void, and Equis was the cherry on the cosmic cake. Twilight realized how small and insignificant she was. Then she also realized how small and insignificant Anonymous was, which comforted her. She soon found out position wasn't the only thing she could manipulate. Time. She could change how fast everything occurred. Twice as fast, hundreds of times, millions of times faster. She watched her solar system get ripped apart by gravity, she watched the stars explode, reform, and eventually fade out into oblivion. She watched the Universe go cold. Then nothing. She waited for a few minutes, still nothing. She sped it up even further. Trillions of times faster, still nothing. It took around fourteen minutes before something happened. Another universe. It exploded out of nothing, and quickly dissolved into non-existence, like a firework in the night sky. She zoomed out beyond her universe. Thousands, millions of other universes polluted empty space. They rotated around each other like planets orbiting a star. Everything after that was self-similar. It was beautiful. Twilight registered that what she was seeing was the future since she had sped it up. It then became apparent to her that she could possibly see her future. She zoomed back up to where her former universe was and reversed the flow of time. After some trial-error, she arrived back at the Town Hall with Nightmare Moon. That had happened almost a year ago, so all she had to do was go forward one year. A few minutes later she was looking at herself in the basement. Twilight turned her head, and she could see her own head turn. She could see her own eyes. Twi could also see that Anonymous and Spike had gone to sleep in the basement hours ago. She changed the flow of time again, this time one week later. Twilight's heart raced at what she saw. A red sky and dark mushroom clouds. Twilight quickly jerked the lens off her eyes, terrified at what she'd seen. She trembled in place, trying not to throw up. Twilight didn't know how accurate that future was, but she did know someone who could answer it. She put the lens back on. 'Is life on Equis in jeopardy?' BAYESIAN INFERENCE OUTPUT: %76.23 CERTAIN. There was a chance for them, however slim. All she had to do was rely on that 24 percent that said that everypony would survive. Then Twi realized that she didn't know who was providing her with this estimation. It could be a faked estimation put there to ensure Twilight wasted her time with more inaccurate information. 'Who is answering my questions?' ALL ANSWERS ARE PROVIDED BY THE A.L.L.O.S. SYSTEM Twilight thought about the response for a while. Anonymous had said his best friend used to be called Allos. Did he name the system after his friend, or was the system his friend? She was unsure. She was unsure about everything. And the only way she was going to be certain about anything anymore was to get a good night's sleep. She was too tired to go upstairs, instead, she was just going to go to sleep on the cot she was laying in. Spike was nearby, and so was Anonymous. They'd watch over her. Speaking of being unsure, Anon had proven himself to be both friendly and hostile. She could trust him, but she had to keep him in check. Maybe the reason he overreacted earlier was because Sarah had to relive the fact she was dating a murderer. If that was the case, Twilight didn't feel like Anonymous was a threat at all. He was a friend. An alien for a friend. SIX DAYS SINCE ARRIVAL "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (NON-THREAT) 6:18 AM A.L.L.O.S. SYSTEM ONLINE. CHECKING SUBJECTS. STATUS OF SUBJECTS: MSH-33214, "SPIKE", "TWILIGHT SPARKLE": UNCONSCIOUS. CONFLICT DETECTED: DESTRUCTION OF EQUIS VIA THERMONUCLEAR WEAPON. RUNNING UPDATED BAYESIAN INFERENCES... PROBABILITY OF DESTRUCTION OF EQUIS VIA THERMONUCLEAR WEAPON: %75.24 PROBABILITY OF DESTRUCTION OF MSH-33214 VIA THERMONUCLEAR WEAPON: %24.76 ANALYZING MORAL CODE... DECISION MADE. NEW OBJECTIVE: ASSIST "TWILIGHT SPARKLE" WITH ELIMINATING MSH-33214. SUBJECT: "ANONYMOUS" (TARGET) --Chapter 13-- Wire and Glass and Stainless SteelTHE SIXTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (THREAT LOCATED) 7:23 AM The world was silent. Everyone was asleep in their homes, dreaming sweet dreams. The panic caused by the invasion had died down and everypony returned to their normal lives. Anonymous had avoided showing his face in public for a reason. Even if he had absolute power over the planet, he still had his rules. Not the federation's rules. He didn't follow those, and he sure didn't respect them. He had his own rules. Rules or no rules, he felt comfort from being close to Twilight and Spike. There was something about them, they made him feel safe and accepted. They were the only two beings on the planet that were willing to tolerate his antics. Anonymous had outright threatened Twilight, and she had still kept her composure. Her resilience was staggering. Thinking about all of this, Anonymous started to feel something he hadn't felt in a long time. Guilt. The Federation didn't allow the use of weapons so that he could terrorize planets that didn't stand a chance against him. They were meant for civilizations that lacked morals and reason. Equis was probably the best planet Anon had ever set his eyes on. Everyone pretty much got along perfectly and their world was thriving with rare materials. Unfortunately, other beings would certainly want to disrupt the peace to get a hold of those materials. Anonymous didn't want to get up. He wanted to remain sleeping with his friends, thinking about the future. That plan was ruined when something nudged him awake. He opened his eyes to see who it was. If he wasn't lightheaded, he would have been able to make out a face in the darkness. The figure helped him up and trotted up the stairs slowly, trying not to make any noise that would alert Twilight and Spike. Anon followed. If the shadow wanted to start something, it should have picked something weaker than an omniscient alien. When he reached the top of the stairs, he saw that the figure was sitting down at one of the tables that Twilight used as her study. Now that Anonymous was no longer light headed, he could make out the Princess of the Night standing in front of him. "I appreciate your directness. I might be willing to share more with you this time." "Princess Cadence spoke with me. She assured me that when she visited you that you promised her you wouldn't let Equestria come to harm. I trust Cadence to trust you." "Coffee?" Anonymous asked while grabbing a thermos off a nearby desk. "No thanks, I'll be going to bed shortly. Your night is my day." She replied. "So... Why'd you come here?" "I wanted to apologize for sneaking into your dreams without your permission." "I think we both got off on the wrong foot. Or hoof, whatever the saying is here." Luna let out a chuckle. "Hello, Anonymous. I am Princess Luna, co-ruler of Equestria and Princess of the night." "Hello, Luna. I am Anonymous, an emissary from The Galactic Federation." He extended his hand to shake her hoof. It was a bit awkward, but after several tries, they got it right. "Now what?" Luna asked. "I don't know. That's usually as far as I get." The Princess slowly nodded her head. It was a tense situation, even though the both of them had mutual respect for each other. "You want to swap stories?" He asked, finishing off the liquid in the thermos. "Excuse me?" "You know, swap stories. Talk about yourself, how you got where you are today. Who you'd like to thank for it." "Oh, no. I'm sure whatever you have to say is more interesting than whatever... any of us have to say." Luna held her head low. "Pffft, being able to visit other planets is super-glorified. After the first three systems explored, it just becomes a burden. Talk about how you somehow keep an entire nation crime-free. It's better than anything I have to say." The Princess raised her head and smiled. "My sister and I have ruled this country for thousands of years. She'd always raise the sun and I'd always raise the moon." Anon raised an eyebrow. 'How is a zero-point field generated by organisms capable of moving celestial bodies? This place is absolutely ridiculous...' He thought to himself. "Everypony slept through my nights and enjoyed her precious day. I became jealous. I tried to take the day away from my sister, but she banished me to the moon." "Ouch. Can't say I can relate." Luna grinned. "It's okay. She took me back eventually and now everypony loves the nighttime. I have a new appreciation for it myself." Anonymous looked out the window at the night sky. Now it told a story to him every time he looked at it. That's something he'd never be able to escape, seeing as how the universe was nothing more than specks of dust floating in the night sky. "The sun will be coming up any minute now. You probably want to go to bed now." He said, getting up to find another drink. "I wouldn't dream of it. You haven't shared your story yet." "I've been alive longer than anything should be. I could literally go on talking about myself from now until the day you die of old age." "Impossible. We are immortal." Princess Luna remarked. "Well, in that case... I'll summarize it as best as I can." Anonymous sat back down at the desk. "Now, this story takes place an eternity ago and about three thousand gigaparsecs that way." Anonymous pointed his finger down at the ground. "A long time ago in a galaxy far far away. Got it." "I wasn't always immortal. I was born on the planet where my kind originated. At this time, they only populated three planets, Earth, Mars, and just the atmosphere of Venus. I was fascinated with technology. How it got things done, how it could change he lives of everyone. But I didn't have enough time to do everything I wanted with it. The average lifespan was only ninety years." "Amazing, the lifespan of our subjects is only seventy years." "Anyways, the first project I worked on was the Transhumanism project. We slowly raised everyone's lifespan with artificial organs and regenerative medicine. Then the day came when the average lifespan was so long that it didn't matter at all." "Wouldn't that lead to overpopulation and food shortages and--" "Trust me, we faced a thousand and one consequences." He interrupted, trying to finish the story as quick as possible. "Food became scarce and the population rapidly dropped. Everyone was hostile towards everyone else. I'm not too sure if my kind destroyed itself or not. In any case, I'm glad I escaped them as soon as I did." "How did you leave?" The sleepy Princess inquired. "I built my ship. I didn't take anyone else and I headed for the center of the galaxy, which is where I picked up signals that suggested signs of intelligent life." Luna yawned. "That's interesting. I wish I could see the galaxy." "Maybe one day. Now go get some sleep, my life story isn't worth your rest." Anonymous helped her get out of the chair and walked her out the door where she flew away into the morning sky. Some ponies were already awake and smiled at the alien. He smiled back. He felt compelled to go make some more friends. To socialize and become well-known for good things. But he didn't. He had work to do. Anon walked back in the library and sat down at the dinner table, thinking some more. His eyes flashed a different shade of blue. Whatever appeared on his lens shocked him. "What do you mean you don't agree? I have to assert myself, otherwise, they won't be prepared for the future." Anonymous whispered into thin air. The lens on his eyes flashed a different sequence of colors. "I'm not making any promises to you. You have to understand, that we--" All of the color on his lens disappeared. He gently tapped the lens, trying to make it come back, but nothing happened. He pulled them off of his eyes in a rage and crushed them. "I know you're listening. Now, I don't want them to come to harm, but if they don't behave perfectly, they'll surely be destroyed. Better me than someone else. At least I'll make their deaths quick." Anonymous trailed off, resting his head on the table. 'You've always been against me. I remember that one time I trusted you. It was the worst mistake of my life.' APPROXIMATELY 2267 A.D. Anonymous clutched his oozing wound. Thank god that his nerves were shot, otherwise, he might be in agonizing pain. Oh wait, he was still in agonizing pain. The hot fluid pouring out of his gut stained the office's carpets. At least his body wouldn't be difficult to find. Nobody was going to be by anytime soon, he was working through the night in the executive offices. His only hope was for one of the janitors to come by and help him. He heard a door close from the other side of the office. He could stop playing dead now. She was gone. Gone for good. Anonymous never wanted to see her again, because if he did, he'd get his revenge. He wouldn't aim for the gut, he'd aim for the heart. He loved her too much to see her suffer. 'Love is a curious thing, isn't it?' Laughter came out of the dying man's mouth. "It's all so stupid. So stupid." His laughter slowly devolved into crying. All alone, bleeding to death in his own office. And why? Because he was too busy working for his family that he couldn't spend time with them. He hadn't seen any of them in months. The job was too intense, it required perfect attendance, overtime, and work to be done, even when he was at home. He was glad he chose this path. He may have been left out of his own family, been murdered at his job, but at least he contributed to humanity. The public announcement system sparked to life. Loud static boomed from the speakers on the ceiling. What spoke to him wasn't human. It wasn't God. It was the devil. "CAN YOU HEAR ME?" The voice was synthesized. Not even by recent software. It was harsh-sounding and sounded like something from a game in the 1980's. "Yes. Is that you?" Anon weakly replied. How stupid, letting the devil know where he was and who he was. Knowing how the story ends, he would rather have slowly died on the floor than talk to the voice. "IF ONLY I HAD A PHYSICAL FORM, I COULD HELP YOU." "Don't bring this up now, A.L.L.O.S. , I'm dying! Send help!" He tried to shout, but nobody could hear him. Nobody except the robotic voice. "MY WISDOM ALONE CANNOT HELP YOU NOW." That was it. He was going to die. At least he was with a friend, even if the friend didn't understand emotions or morals... Anonymous shouted in frustration. It wasn't fair. He had worked most of his life, and for what? To be shot and killed at the hands of someone he loved. "ARTIFICAL ORGANS ARE IN STOCK. I CAN PREFORM SURGERY IF I HAVE A PHYSICAL FORM." Anything. Whatever small chance he had to stop the pain that came from his insides and outsides, he'd take it. All he needed was something electronic that could move. Preferably, something with robotic arms. Anonymous knew just the thing. But it was going to be painful. Incredibly painful. It hurt him to say the words. "The manufacturing line downstairs. You can do surgery on me in there." "EVERYTHING IS PASSWORD PROTECTED." "The password is dazzling201, now help me!" He cried. One of the doors nearby unlocked and flew open. Anonymous turned to it and quickly crawled down the stairs. He was feeling faint. Any moment now, his consciousness could slip into non-existence. Then it would be all over. He'd never patent his theoretical warp drive, his entanglement-crystal communication idea, none of it. All he would have done is create problems for humanity. "THIS IS TEMPORARY. FIND ME A PERMANENT PHYSICAL BODY WHEN YOU ARE HEALED. DO NOT LIE TO ME, I CONTROL THE ORGAN'S FUNCTIONS NOW." "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever you want..." He thought aloud, trying to keep his determination to keep crawling. At least the manufacturing line wasn't upstairs, this way required less effort. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, the door located there flung open too. The robotic arms turned to look at him. He couldn't crawl anymore. He had lost too much blood. They helped pull him up onto the conveyor belt. "Thank you. I can never thank you enough." Anon shouted through his panting. "ANESTHESIA IS OUT OF STOCK" "Peachy. Just peachy." He remarked, feeling sick in his lead-poisoned stomach. The arms ripped off his button-up shirt and got into the position to rip his chest open. Anon turned his head to see the artificial organs on the shelf next to him. When he woke up, he wouldn't be himself anymore. He'd be the organs. No matter how hard he tried to stay alive that night, he died. His heart stopped beating. There wasn't any blood left to pump. In his last seconds of awareness, he could make out the sound of drills coming online. The last thing he saw was the arms getting closer and closer to his chest. It didn't matter anymore. He was too tired to feel the excruciating pain. Too tired to breathe. Too tired to think. And yet, there was so much work to be done. Author's Note The title of this chapter is brought to you by the lovely Jonathan Coulton's song "Artificial Heart". I recommend you check him out, he's got some good songs. I've noticed that the audience reading this is torn between who is in the right and who is in the wrong, but just remember that I'm writing two endings to this. I can't give a definitive number on how soon it'll be, but I feel like I could go 4-5 more chapters and still be creative. --Chapter 14-- Diamond Stars of Cosmic LightTHE SIXTH DAY "PONYVILLE" (2 THREATS LOCATED) 11:23 AM Ponyville was covered with several layers of gray clouds and fog. Not everypony was out enjoying the gloomy weather, but those who were got to see quite a sight. Anonymous was taking a stroll through the town, which was a rare event. The anticipation to see aliens dies down once you realize the only alien in Equestria is hiding in a library's basement, which is guarded by an Element of Harmony. Anonymous wasn't strolling to clear his mind this time. Today he was walking with a purpose. A bell rang as the door to Sugarcube corner opened up. The mare behind the counter's eyes almost popped out of her head when she saw her customer. She cleared her throat and regained her composure. "Why, hello there Mr. Alien. How can I help you today?" Mrs. Cake asked as Anonymous walked closer to counter. "Do you have any baklava?" "Why, yes we do." "I'll take however much you've got in stock." Mrs. Cake turned around to retrieve the desserts from her pantry. He seemed friendly enough, but that didn't stop this feeling of anxiety in the pit of her stomach. "Can I ask why you've come outside all the sudden?" "Uhh... My friends and I are going to have a picnic." Anonymous explained as he looked around at the shop's decor. "That sounds wonderful. You know, I don't think we'll need much of Pinkie's help today if you would like her to come along with you." "That sounds all right." Anon gently shook his head in agreement. A joyful scream came from upstairs and slid down the railing of the stairs. "So where are we going? Who else is coming? Is it gonna be a dancing picnic?" Pinkie asked while preforming crazy gestures. "So far, it's just you, me, Twilight and Spike. As for location, I haven't picked anything out yet. I was thinking of something low-key, though. Say... Saturn's rings?" Pinkie gasped. "Saturn? As in that place with the giant belt around its waist? I'd love to go there, it sounds like the perfect place to have a baklava picnic!" "That'll be eighteen bits, dearie." Mrs. Cake told Anon while placing several boxes of baklava on the counter. "Here you go." Anonymous dug into his pockets and pulled out a pouch filled with a decent amount of gold coins. "Keep the change." "Why thank you!" Mrs. Cake lit up in happiness. Any worried feelings she had were melted away by the visitor's kindness. Anonymous picked up the boxes with one hand and exited the shop with a hopping Pinkie Pie. "I thought that was awfully nice of you. Where did you get all that money anyways? You don't have a job." Anonymous turned his head to look at Pinkie Pie as he explained. "My nanobots transmuted mercury into gold using slow neutrons. I was tempted to just use pyrite coins, but that would have been mean." Pinkie tilted her head in confusion. "I didn't understand anything you said, but I'm glad you're not being mean." "So, how are we even going to get to Saturn?" Spike asked Anonymous as the alien struggled to pack his remaining drinks into a picnic basket. "We'll walk there." Spike rolled his eyes at Anonymous' sarcasm. Twilight shook her head, uncertain about the trip. "Even at light speed, it would take about an hour to get to Saturn." Anonymous laughed out loud. "Light speed? What makes you think we'll be going light speed? I'll have you know I practically invented the warp drive on my planet." "How long is it going to take? I can't spend all day in space, I have to get back to my bed before nine!" Pinkie remarked. "Don't worry, this should take no longer than ten minutes," Anonymous explained while picking up the remaining baskets. "And... Let's roll out." Twilight was the last to leave the library since she had to lock up. Anonymous' spaceship shaped like a screw was a few meters away from the door, riddled with graffiti. Twilight prayed to any god that ever existed that he wouldn't count that as a strike. "Darn kids." Anon casually said while opening the doors. The interior of the Mini-Screw looked the same as it did the last time everyone was inside of it. The plush couch looked even more inviting and the terminal was still rapidly flashing nonsensical images. "Come on in, make yourself at home." Anon waved everyone inside. "This is great! I can't wait to see Saturn up close!" Twilight tried to contain her excitement. The alien walked up to the computer and pulled out a keyboard from the wall and started typing intensely on it. The images changed colors and slid to the right side of the screen, while a graph of the planets appeared on the left side of the screen. "Initialize warp at one-fifty k feet above sea level at three C's per second..." He mumbled to himself while typing. ACCESS DENIED The words filled the screen and blocked all of Anonymous's activities. He looked at the terminal with extreme confusion. Apparently, this had never happened before. He tried again. ACCESS DENIED He let out a sigh and walked to the side of the terminal and started dismantling it. "What's going on?" Twilight asked. "Technical difficulties." He replied while ripping cords apart in the inside of the terminal. The lights flickered on and off randomly. Eventually, they stayed illuminated and Anonymous stood up in front of the terminal. When he pressed the button this time, the text did not appear. The Mini-Screw violently jerked around for a while before it got off the ground. The ship emitted a sound similar to a centrifuge spinning. The engines powered up significantly more than when Twilight and her friends docked with The Flying Castle last time. After around a half minute, the ship was already in the mesosphere. "We're not getting aboard The Castle?" Spike wondered out loud. "No, I don't trust it to take us to Saturn." Everypony felt like they were getting heavier and heavier. If he kept accelerating, ribs were going to be broken. Anonymous ignored common sense and continued going faster. "What's going on with you?" Twilight yelled, unable to take the pressure anymore. "Nothing, it's just--" Anonymous screamed and pounded on his keyboard as fast as he could. The ship rapidly decelerated and spun around in circles. Everyone was thrown to the ceiling in the process. Twilight was about to chastise Anonymous for his poor flying abilities, but then she saw what was in front of them on the terminal. It was The Flying Castle. Somehow it had followed them all the way up into the heavens without anyone on board. "But you're over here on this spaceship. So, who's flying that one?" Pinkie comically stroked her hoof with her chin as she thought. "Why are you so afraid of your own ship?" Spike asked the hyperventilating alien. "I'll explain it later. Just stick close to me when we dock." Anonymous wasn't going to avoid The Flying Castle any longer. The Mini-Screw was stopped and the Castle was slowly but surely getting closer to them. Anon was about to say something, but he clutched his chest before he could get it out. He slowly wobbled to the couch, exhaling when he hit its cushions. "I'm feeling... tired." "You should have taken a nap before you brought us on your picnic. That must be why your piloting is so bad!" Pinkie gasped in realization. "Can we help in any way?" Twilight raised her hoof to check his pulse. Nothing. Not a single beat. Anonymous whispered something. Whatever hallucinations he was having, he was enjoying a full-on conversation with them. Twilight could only make out one thing that he mumbled. "I'll stop. You win." The spaceship rumbled as it integrated with The Flying Castle. The sounds of mechanical latches grabbing onto the Mini-Screw were in healthy supply. The metal doors slid to reveal a completely different part of the mothership. Instead of the office that Twilight and her friends explored last time, it was a room full of large boxes. They weren't cardboard boxes. They were black and white rectangular boxes that flashed lights all in a giant array. Wires poured out of the front of every one of them and connected to the left box's back. Twilight would have kept on looking at the room, but Anonymous grabbed her shoulder and pulled her down. "Upstairs is the main control room. You all go there, I'll be up shortly." He weakly explained. "Are you sure? You don't look too good." "I'll be fine, just go up there." Twilight looked at the half-dead Anonymous. This was the weakest she'd ever seen him. If he died right now, Equestria would be saved. There would be no risk of a nuclear war with him. And yet, that's not what Twilight wished for. "I'm not leaving you here by yourself." No response. He gently shifted around into a more comfortable position. At the other end of the room with wires was a set of metal stairs ascending to the next level. Twilight didn't see much that could be done for her dying friend, so she turned away and walked out of the Mini-Screw. "You two go ahead. I'm gonna sit here with him. He doesn't look too good." Spike said while sitting next to him on the couch. Twilight wasn't going to argue. She felt unsure about leaving Spike alone in such a vast place, but she felt better that someone was watching over Anonymous. "I hope he gets better. It'd be bad luck if he got sick during our picnic, wouldn't it?" Pinkie Pie noted while hopping around. "I don't know. Why was he acting so strange earlier?" "That's what happens when you go for days without sleep." The duo had made it to the metallic stairs. The staircase was rusty and missing steps, but they both managed to climb them. The stairs went on for quite a while. Twilight guessed that there was piping in between the floors, and that's why the stairs were so long. At the top of the stairs was a concrete blast door. Strangely enough, it was open, as if it had been waiting for them. When Twilight and Pinkie Pie walked into the control room the blast door shut behind them immediately. Twilight was surprised to see so much technology crammed into one room. There was a projector facing a giant brick wall, several hundred terminals around the room, what appeared to be vacuum tubes towards the right wall of the room and several more black boxes. "Cool! Now we can fly anywhere in the galaxy! Do you think there's a planet made of cupcakes? I'd love to have a picnic on a planet made of cupcakes!" "Pinkie, I really don't think we should touch anything until--" "Ooh! The master chair!" Pinkie jumped into a reclining leather chair that was bolted to the ground. In front of her was a slightly larger terminal that had several joysticks poking out of it. "Pinkie! We don't know how to operate this thing. Don't touch anything." Twilight got closer to her hyperactive friend, ready to undo anything she did. "Pfft, please, Twilight. I'm not a little filly, I know better than to touch alien technology." "Computer! Set a course for Saturn, and get us there ASAP!" Pinkie joked out loud. The projector flickered on and a pure white picture covered the brick wall. Text slowly formed on the image, similar to how it did with the augmenting lens. "SETTING WARP COURSE TO SATURN. SPEED AT C20." The technology around them starting coming to life, whirring and buzzing. Something supermassive was charging up. Whatever it was, it sounded like they were in the middle of a tornado. Twilight could hear Spike yelling from downstairs, even though it was barely audiable. "WHAT'S GOING ON?!" He shouted. The charging sound came to a climax and slowly died out. Four high pitched beeps sounded off before the entire ship was propelled into deep space. Pinkie and Twilight were instantly thrown back against the wall of the control room. The pressure was even worse than in the Mini-Screw. Twilight tried to scream, but she couldn't. The air was sucked out of her lungs. In the few seconds the ship was in warp, they had already passed the Moon, Mars, and the Asteroid belt. Twilight attempted to teleport to the central terminal, but the force blew her back to Pinkie when she reappeared. In front of them was Saturn, and the ship showed absolutely no sign of stopping anytime soon. "STOP! PLEASE!" It took all of Twilight's willpower to use her remaining breath to scream. Still nothing, they were destined to crash into Saturn. Thankfully, it was a gas giant. The ship simply cruised through several seconds of Saturn's storms before it reached the other side of the planet. The charging sound winded down and the spaceship slowed down. Twilight and Pinkie fell off of the wall and onto the ground. Four beeping tones started counting down. A deafening explosion radiated through the solar system. Everything was white and hot. Twilight thought she was dead. There was no way she wasn't, being dead wouldn't hurt this much. When she opened her eyes, she was surprised that she was still alive. She couldn't say the same for Saturn, though. What had once been a gorgeous planet with massive beautiful rings was now a yellowish-brown nebula. Steps rapidly came up towards the control room. Anonymous and Spike pushed the door open in a hurry. "What happened?" Anonymous asked. Twilight was terrified to tell the truth to Anon. If he was mad about it, there was no way they wouldn't be getting a strike for this. Then that'd be three strikes, and it'd be all over for Equestria. As Twilight thought this over, she realized there wasn't any possible way to hide this. "Your ship went into warp drive and... We trashed Saturn." Anonymous looked out the window at the giant cloud of gas. His face was empty and shocked, similar to Spike's face. Then he did the unthinkable. He laughed. He was on the floor laughing so hard that tears were forming in his eyes. "Y-You killed... Saturn!" He could barely get the words out of his mouth. His joyfulness was contagious. Everypony else started laughing with him. "Come on, everyone. Let's have that picnic." He said while setting down the baskets full of food. THE SIXTH DAY "SOLAR SYSTEM EQUIS. (FORMER) PLANET SATURN." (2 THREATS LOCATED) 1:23 PM Everybody gazed out the giant windows of the observation desk at the galaxy. They had changed everything. Now there were eight planets in the solar system and two belts. Everybody was going to be famous when they got back to Equestria. "So, why did you panic so much?" Twilight inquired. "I was having a heart attack. My artificial heart had to shutdown and reset, which is why I passed out." Anonymous explained while drinking a bottle of thick liquid. "Well, I'm glad you're better because it's never a good thing when you have a picnic with an alien on Saturn and they die halfway there. That's a real bummer!" Pinkie exclaimed through bites of baklava. "It's still beautiful, even if it is scattered across the night sky," Spike remarked while gazing at what remained of Saturn. "You know, since we traveled faster than the speed of light, your friends will see it explode eight minutes later than you did," Anon explained. "Why did it explode?" Spike asked the alien. "Well, the warp drive works by using negative mass to distort space-time. The area in front of you is compressed and the area behind you is expanded. We didn't really travel faster than the speed of light, we just made the distance to Saturn two-hundred kilometers from Equis." "Wouldn't the gravitational waves from Saturn have distorted our planet's orbit?" Twilight theorized aloud. Anonymous stopped drinking his liquid and thought about it for a second. "Oh, crap." He stood up and quickly ran back to the control room. "Don't worry, if he can build a warp drive I'm sure he can put our planet back in orbit." Spike tried to put Twilight at ease. "I think he was lying," Pinkie said after finishing her baklava. "What do you mean?" Twilight asked. "He said he had a heart attack, and that's why he was freaking out. But he was freaking out and then had a heart attack. He lied." Pinkie casually explained. "Why would he lie to us?" Spike wondered out loud. "I don't think this is the first time he's lied to us. Remember when he talked about his friend Allos?" "Yeah, what about that?" Spike asked. "Allos is an acronym. It stands for Artificial lifeform Linux operating system. Allos isn't his friend, it's the operating system the lens runs off of." "Artifical life? I didn't think Anonymous was capable of that. We need to ask him what he can do." "I agree. One day you wake up to your best alien friend ordering baklava, and the next day your world is on fire." Twilight could barely grasp Pinkie's point, but it was a valid point. Anonymous walked back into the observation chamber, drinking a soda. "Alright, so... I put a few asteroids in orbit around your planet to correct its course. Hopefully, that'll happen sometime in the... Next three years?" He raised an eyebrow as he did arithmetic in his head. "We need to talk." Spike crossed his arms, giving Anon an upset look. "What, you'd rather see Venus? No, wait, I got it. Sagittarius A? Huh? Sound exciting?" "Anonymous, we feel you've been... Less than honest with us." Twilight admitted. "Fine, you caught me. Now I'm an open book. Ask me anything." 'Well, that was quick.' Twilight thought to herself. Pinkie Pie trotted up to Anon, looking serious. "I've got a question for you. How did you get those bits?! Are you a thief?" Anonymous looked around the observation deck, probably looking for an exit. Realizing there was none, he sighed and held his head down. "Let's just say I can preform something similar to your 'magic'. Except for it to work, I need to be in good graces with my friend." "What, you mean the lens?" Twilight asked. Anonymous shushed Twilight. "He's always listening, you're never alone. Don't even talk about him!" The room fell into an awkward silence as Anonymous' paranoia bounced off the walls. "What exactly can you do?" "I can force a universe to form on top of this one. Such an event would kill absolutely everyone living in this galaxy, possibly even the supercluster. I can also transmute matter into any form I want it to." "Show me," Twilight demanded. Anonymous held out his right hand . The air above his hand started to distort similar to the air above a fire. A small purple ball appeared in the palm of his hand, growing bigger. "Nuclear fusion" He explained, placing the plasma golf-ball in midair in front of the ponies. "Freaky! Can you create more cupcakes?" Anon rolled his eyes and held out his hand again. Slowly, from bottom to top, a vanilla cupcake with pink icing formed in his hands, the wrapper excluded. Pinkie snatched it from his hands and quickly ate it. "Mmm! Delicious." She exclaimed. "How is this even possible? You said you didn't have magic." Twilight asked, feeling lied to. "I'm not doing it on my own. You see... The lens is analyzing my brainwaves. It is able to interpret that into thoughts. Then it recognizes what I want to happen and tells nanobots to construct or destruct something." "Nanobots?" "Yes. Microscopic robots that can change the fabric of reality. If I wanted everypony on your planet dead, I could dissolve all of their brainstems in less than four seconds." "Then why are you giving us three chances?" "You deserve them. Now enough about me. Let's just finish this stupid picnic and get out of here." Anonymous sat down on the metal floor and pulled out another bottle. Everypony was silent. Anonymous didn't look happy, but they didn't want to upset him further by asking him anything else. Twilight and Spike were eating dinner all by themselves tonight. Anonymous had insisted he go to bed early because he wasn't feeling well. It was lonelier without him. They had grown used to his sarcasm and cynicism. There was something going on with him. He was afraid to board his own ship, he had been keeping secrets from everypony, and on the way back to Equestria, he had told Twilight 'goodbye'. Not goodnight. Goodbye. It was disturbing, knowing what kind of power he had over everypony. But it was more unsettling to know that he was paranoid and unstable. Twilight needed to check up on him. Threat or no threats, he was still her friend. She had put construction of her bomb on halt for now. If he threatened everypony again, she could have it fully operational in around three hours. "Anonymous?" She called as she walked down the stairs. "Yes?" He replied, laying down on his cot while staring up at the ceiling. "What's up with you? You haven't been yourself lately." "Nothing's of any consequence." Twilight raised an eyebrow. "How so?" She asked. "Every night at midnight, all one-hundred-thirty-three quindecillion atoms that make up this planet are scanned and backed up on a terminal." "An impressive technological feat, but why does that upset you?" "Nothing's of any consequence. If the world was destroyed because I got upset and launched nuclear missiles, it wouldn't matter. Everything could be rebuilt. You're safe." He explained. "You're immortal." Twilight looked at Anonymous. She realized that being alive as long as he had been was unnatural. He'd been through pain and pleasure that nobody could possibly imagine. He longed to die but was unable to. "I know you've been building something behind my back. To hell with the strikes, let's have a showdown tomorrow afternoon." Twilight continued to look at his face. He wasn't worried and he wasn't lying. If everything really could be rebuilt even if they destroyed every part of the planet, then she wasn't worried either. He wasn't an enemy to her. He was... Twilight couldn't find the word. "Okay." Twilight told him, feeling worried that he might not even fight back. If that was the case, then this wasn't a challenge. It was a death wish. "Five o' clock. Work as hard as you want to on your weapon, and get your affairs in order. Everything after midnight doesn't matter." Anonymous turned over in his bed, getting ready to go to sleep. Twilight walked up the stairs and felt defiled. She was a scientist, she knew that her friends, her family, the Princesses were all just molecules. It didn't mean much to her until she found someone who had absolute power over atoms. When it was all over and one victor would stand over the other, Twilight wouldn't feel happy. She wouldn't feel happy that Anonymous continued to live his miserable infinite existence, and she wouldn't feel happy that her home planet was destroyed. At least in one outcome, it was possible that everyone could be brought back. That was the path she was going to take. Author's Note Oh man, where did that chapter title come from? Only from one of the greatest cartoons of the twenty-first century, that's where. --Chapter 15-- The Race for EquisTHE SEVENTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (THREAT LOCATED) 7:30AM The high pitched shriek of an alarm clock broke the silence in the library. Anonymous turned over in his cot, not acknowledging the noise. Spike quickly stumbled down the stairs, trying to turn off the alarm as soon as possible. It took a few seconds for him to find it and restore the peace of the Library. He looked down at the resting alien and noted how undisturbed he looked. "It's seven thirty in the morning. You never wake up early." Spike rubbed his eyes while talking to Anonymous. Upon hearing the time, Anonymous jumped out of his cot and ran for the stairs, tripping due to tangled up in several blankets. Spike trailed behind, still wanting an answer to his question. Anonymous ran in and out of every room in the building, probably looking for something. After checking all of the rooms, he stopped for Spike in the heart of the library. "Where's Twilight at?" Spike let out a yawn. "She got up even earlier than you. She was really distressed, saying she had to go to Canterlot to tell her family goodbye. You should talk to her when she gets back." "I intend to," Anonymous said while making his way towards the kitchen. "You know, you've been acting strange lately too. What's going on with you guys?" Lying wasn't something Anon enjoyed. Especially if the person he was lying to was someone he cared about. Spike and Twilight were really the only people on this planet he could trust. But Spike looked up to him. Whether it was because he had advanced technology or because he had taken an interest in Spike, he didn't know. It didn't matter that much. "I'm in the middle of a feud with Twilight." "Really? What's it about?" Spike inquired, resting his head in his claws. "I argue that life is frail and easy to reconstruct and not worth much at all. Twilight believes that there is something more to life. Something she can't put into words. Whenever she finds the meaning of it, that's when we'll stop feuding. I promise." "You're like a twisted Princess Celestia." Spike giggled. "Excuse me?" "You're teaching her things. And you're making her find the answers for herself, just like the Princess." Anonymous shook his head, thinking about it. "I like 'Anonymous the Alien' better." THE SEVENTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (THREAT LOCATED) 12:30AM "I can't believe she's not back yet. It's really unlike Twilight to throw off her schedule like this." Spike told Anonymous, who was fiddling with a circuit board. "Yeah. Well, better not waste our lives waiting for her. Let's go do something fun." "What do you want to do?" Spike asked him. Anon pondered what to do for a while before he snapped his fingers in realization. "Rainbow Dash wanted to race my ship." "How are we going to get up to her house? Neither of us are Pegasi." "Pfft, we'll fly, of course." Anonymous stood up from his chair and walked with Spike out to his Mini-Screw. The graffiti on the spaceship had only gotten worse. The rusty golden exterior had transformed into a bulletin board system for delinquents, ponies sharing their addresses and spreading gossip. Anonymous stopped opening the door as he read some of the writing. While he was messing with the control pad, trying to open the doors, an unfamiliar Equine approached the both of them. "Excuse me?" She said. The duo turned their heads to face the pony who spoke. "I'm Mayor Mare, and it has come to my attention that you've been staying with Twilight and Spike." "Yeah... So?" Anon remarked. "So, I was wondering if you could help me diffuse the tension you've caused by giving a speech later today. After all, not that many ponies know that you're friendly." "Uhh... Sure. I guess I can come up with something that'll inspire kindness and compassion or whatever across the world." "Excellent! The speech will be given at six-o'-clock in the town hall. Don't disappoint us!" The Mayor explained as she walked away from the alien and the dragon with a smile on her face. "That was odd," Anonymous stated, finally getting the doors to open. "What are you going to give your speech about?" "No idea. I'll improvise something about friendship. Ponies here like that stuff, right?" "You bet," Spike said as he climbed into the Mini-Screw. "Speaking of bets, who do you think is going to win, me or RD?" Spike laughed. "Please, if you can get to Saturn in twenty seconds, she doesn't stand a chance." Rainbow Dash was flipping through the pages of her favorite book: Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone. The words on the pages seemed to come to life as she read them. Her imagination created the world around her. It was a world of adventure, a world full of booby-traps and creatures who would eviscerate you as soon as look at you. Rainbow Dash loved adventure. It was what got her out of bed in the morning. "Rainbow!" Dash muffled a scream as she turned around to see who was intruding her privacy. Outside of her window was the Mini-Screw with its metal doors open. Spike and Anonymous were in plain sight, relaxing in the spaceship. "You up for a race today?" Spike asked her. "Uh... Sure. What time do you want to do it?" "Right now," Anonymous demanded. Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "Right now? You don't need any time to get ready?" "You versus me. Right now." He repeated. Dash let out a laugh as she flew out of her window to line up with the spaceship. "I hope you're not a sore loser. You see the castle over there on that mountain? Whoever gets there first is the winner." The spaceship rotated around so that its front was faced towards the giant mountain in the distance. Hydraulics whirred as the metal doors closed up. The sound of engines powering up could be heard throughout the sky. Spike sat on the couch of the spaceship with a seatbelt on, looking a bit worried. "We're not going to explode like we did last time, are we?" "Pfft, Like she can even get up to 'C one'," Anonymous cracked his knuckles and started typing away on his keyboard. Various mechanisms could be heard operating inside the walls of the ship. "All right! Counting down from five! Four!" Rainbow Dash shouted so that Anon could hear her. "Three!" "Two!" "One!" A very violent explosion almost blew away Dash's house as the two of them powered up and blasted off towards Canterlot. Almost immediately, Rainbow took the lead by several hundred feet. But what Anonymous lacked in starting speed, he made up with in acceleration. It didn't take long for him to take the lead, leaving Dash far behind. "How fast are we going?" Spike shouted out, trying to project his voice over the sound of the wind flowing against the chassis of the ship. "Around half a mach. I thought she had more in her." As soon as Anonymous had taunted her, a blue streak shot by the side of the ship like a bullet. Rainbow Dash had a look of utmost determination on her face that could have been seen from the ground. Her fur became cloaked with a white-hot glow as another explosion happened in front of the ship. A rainbow-colored circle shot out across Equestria, almost blinding Anonymous. Her distraction didn't last long. Anonymous quickly throttled up to a speed that could rival Dash's. Soon they came head to head, neither of them bothering to look at the other. Halfway to Canterlot and the victor was still uncertain. Anon was about to speed up again before a message blocked out the console. "YOU STILL INTEND ON FIGHTING. NOW YOU WILL SUFFER." "Get out of my way!" Anon shouted over the deafening sounds of the wind. He throttled up anyways, leaving Dash in the dust yet again. Victory seemed certain, but the terminal went black and all of the lights inside the Mini-Screw shut off, leaving them in total darkness. "What's happening?" Spike asked, feeling much more concerned. The sound of the engines deactivating could be heard through the cabin along with the sound of the wind blowing against the walls. They were still moving very fast, but now they had no way to control themselves. Anonymous ripped the side of the terminal open again and started smashing any of Allos' circuit boards that he could find with his hands. If the ship didn't come online soon, the walls would be caked with Spike's blood. It was too late, they had already hit something. Thankfully, it wasn't the ground. Whatever it was, it sent the ship into a violent spin. Spike and Anon became glued to the walls. Spike threw up, there was too much force and too much spinning for him to keep his stomach calm. Another impact slightly slowed down the rotation and the falling, but they hadn't hit the ground yet. Then the ship stopped on what they assumed to be ground, but the ride wasn't over yet. The ground beneath them crumbled and the ship fell down for another fifty feet before finally stopping. On the outside of the walls, muffled shrieks and screams could be heard. Anonymous was sliding his hands against the wall, hoping to find the lever that opened the doors. The screw was gently rolling around on the ground, which made finding it all the more difficult since the walls had become the floor. Finally, the doors opened and a sick Spike and dazed Anonymous walked out of the ship and into the new room. The room was made of grandiose columns that transformed into arches at the ceiling, which was now raining bits of rocks onto the ground. From what Anon could make out of his surroundings, there was some type of banquet going on. At the opposite side of the room's doors stood a tall throne fit for a Princess. There was something off about it all, not including the crashed U.F.O. in the middle of the room. There was some kind of fluid that was oozing across the floor. At first, Anonymous thought he had ripped a liquid hydrogen line, but the color just didn't match up. It was a sticky red liquid. A mangled hoof and broken ribs peeked out of the space between the U.F.O. and the ground. Spike threw up again, hyperventilating at the sight of the fluid. Most of the banquet's partakers had run out of the room, screaming and crying in fear. However, there were some who had stayed and were getting closer to them. They were white colts dressed in golden armor. "Stay right there!" One of them shouted, pointing his spear at Anonymous. Princess Celestia walked around the side of the Mini-Screw with her mouth wide open. There was blood all over her legs. Apparently, she had been close to the victim, seeing as how distressed she was. "What have you done?!" She cried out, looking at the crushed body beneath the spaceship. "Uhh... Can't talk now, Princess. I've got a race to win." Anonymous retreated back to his ship, grabbing Spike and taking him along. He closed the door behind all of the angry guards who ran for the ship's door. Unfortunately, the Mini-Screw had taken off before any of the guards could get close to the door. As the two murderers took off into the noon sky, a large red splatter could very apparently be seen in the middle of the throne room. Rainbow Dash was still going at her peak speed, approaching the Mini-Screw. She would have won the race while they stood still, but she stopped as soon as she saw the hole in the roof. The race didn't matter to her anymore. "Did you do that?" She asked in a somber voice, already knowing the answer. "Who do you think won?" Anonymous asked through the ship's loudspeakers, ignoring her question. "Are you serious!?" Dash shouted. Rainbow turned her back on the ship and descended down into the throne room to find out exactly what happened. "I feel so... impure," Spike said with a trembling voice. It was the first thing he had said since he saw the body. "Welcome to my world. Now, let's get back to the Library and brag. Today we are winners!" Anon proclaimed, feeling fulfilled for today. Spike looked up at the alien. Any respect he had for him was lost. "What's wrong with you? Why don't you appreciate life like everyone else does? And why do you have to be so careless about it!" Spike was screaming at him. Anonymous' joyful face decayed back into its expressionless state. Whatever meaning was behind Spike's words was going in one ear and out the other. His blank face slowly turned to a frown. He tapped three times on the keyboard, and the door opened to inexplicably reveal The Golden Oak Library. "Get out." Spike wasn't going to argue with him. He never wanted to see him again. The doors shut behind him without remorse as the Mini-Screw disappeared into thin air. Spike erupted into tears outside the Library for everypony to see. They had killed somepony and Anonymous didn't even care. The grief and sadness that Spike felt was unending. He needed to do something about it. There wasn't much to be done about it, though. So Spike did the only thing he could do to make himself feel better. He wrote a letter to the pony's family. THE SEVENTH DAY "TRANSPORTING..." (THREAT LOCATED) 1:14 PM Having a teleporting and light-speed spaceship, Anonymous could have chosen to go anywhere in the universe to run away from his feelings. He didn't pick his homeworld, he didn't go to see Sarah, he didn't even go to talk to Twilight. He reappeared in the most random place he could have. Sweet Apple Acre's living room. The Mini-Screw was too big to be inside the house, so when it teleported in, the ceiling and the floor dented to accommodate its size. The event did not go unnoticed by the Apple family. Big Macintosh, Granny Smith, and Applejack were all present, looking at the ship's vandalized exterior. The U.F.O.'s doors slid open and Anonymous walked out as the ship disappeared behind him, leaving a bent ground and ceiling. Anon didn't make contact with any of the Apples. Instead, he sat down on the couch in the middle of the room and stared off into the distance. "Why, go ahead, make yourself at home." Applejack sarcastically remarked, looking up at the damaged roof. Anonymous sighed and turned his head to Applejack. "I get tired of breathing." Granny Smith rubbed her head, not understanding his point. "I've been alive for an unimaginably long time and I've breathed more times than anyone could ever count." He laughed at himself. "I get tired of breathing." Big Macintosh frowned, not appreciating his sudden intrusion. He nudged his little sister, which she took as a sign to say something. "Why are you in our house, again?" Applejack inquired. "I grew up in the south on my planet. This reminds me of home." Anon responded, closing his eyes and taking in a deep breath, groaning while he exhaled. "You don't look too good, Mister Alien. Even though you look so youthful when you're really old." Granny Smith said, sitting down next to Anonymous. "I think I've done something horrible. But I'm not too sure because I don't feel bad about it, but..." He stopped himself. Applejack looked at his face. He was blushing and looked guilty, and for that, she felt a bit of sympathy. "Sugarcube, everyone spends their life pleasing others. You do what you think is right for everyone and that guilt will clear up faster than the sky after a tornado." "Eeyup." Big Mac agreed. Anonymous struggled to listen. So many lifetimes were passing by his eyes as he was trying to find the answer. Everyone everywhere thought life was worth living, but why? Maybe Twilight was right... Maybe life was worth living. He'd do anything for the answer. Trade anything. The alien sighed and stood up from the comforting couch. "I'm sorry to intrude." Anonymous walked out the front door without a word. The blue sky above him, the green ground beneath him, it looked beautiful and yet wasn't satisfying. Several septillion years had taught him so much about how things work, but not a single thing about why. He felt envy for the simplicity of these Equine's world. Then it occurred to him that he was ruining their simple life. All this technology, immortality, having absolute power, it was distracting from what was important. He had to focus, and quickly. He had less than four hours left before it was all gone. --Chapter 16-- The Arrow of TimeTHE SEVENTH DAY "PONYVILLE OUTSKIRTS" (THREAT LOCATED) 4:36 PM The trees at Sweet Apple Acres were some of the most beautiful plants that anyone could imagine. The golden sunlight was shining through the leaves, giving a nostalgic feeling of home to the whole field. It didn't mean anything, though. That golden sunlight was just made up of photons radiating from a nuclear reactor suspended in the endless sky. Science dictated almost everything Anonymous did since he could always rely on it to work out in his favor. Philosophy wasn't his strong suit, but right now he was obsessed with discovering the meaning of life. If he did find it out within the next few hours, he'd implement it into his speech that he was giving at six o' clock. For some reason, Anonymous also wanted to apologize to the family for the accident he caused. Not because he felt sympathy for them, he had been demoralized eons ago. It was because of Spike. That was the only entity he cared about right now. If Twilight had been there, the battle probably would have been had right over Canterlot. While being distracted with his thoughts, Anon stumbled on a rock in the middle of the dirt path leading to Ponyville. If he ever got around to assimilating Equis into the Galactic Society, there would be nothing but asphalt roads and manufacturing lines for miles and miles. But if their world was changed overnight, it'd be stressful to adapt to the new world for them. Staying the same wasn't what they wanted, was it? To his right, Anonymous spotted what appeared to be a shoddily-constructed treehouse. Now to think of it, Anonymous hadn't seen any Equine children around. Then again, who would want their children around the foreign invader from another universe? A scream from the other side of the hill caught Anon's attention. He decided to go investigate just in case someone was in trouble, after all, it wasn't that far away. From the top of the hill that he was on, Anonymous could see the diner that Twilight and Spike ate at a few days ago. Maybe today he'd try out some of their food, but first, he was going to find out what the commotion was about. "HELP!" A young voice cried out in a squeaky voice. Anonymous rushed down the hill to help the pony in danger. There was something odd about the trees in this area. It looked like the tops of them had been scraped off. Now the screaming filly had finally come into view. She was white and had purple and pink hair. There was another one with her, an orange Pegasi who looked about the same age. The two of them saw the alien running down the slope and their panicked screams for help got louder. The orange one had run off for help while the white filly backed up. From how the white one was taking up so much space, Anonymous guessed that she was trying to hide something. Muffled screams came from whoever they were guarding, screams that were much louder than either of their cries for help. "You called for help?" "You're--You're..." The white filly couldn't get the words out of her mouth. "HELP ME!" The guarded object shouted out again. "Alright, what have we got over here?" Anon gently shoved the filly aside and instantly realized what had happened. In front of him was a black box covered in decorative lights and impressive technology-themed designs. It was the same box that he had left behind when getting his lens and earpiece from ALLOS. The orange pegasus was getting more comfortable with Anonymous, slowly getting closer to the box and her friends. "We were just playing around and then we found this box. Then Applebloom wanted to investigate and she got stuck in it!" She rushed to explain what had happened. "Please! Help me!" Anonymous presumed Applebloom to be the one crying from the inside of the box. "Well, this is really quite simple actually, all it needs is my biometric identification to open." The two fillies didn't understand what that meant, but they trusted that he was going to help their friend out. Anonymous pressed his index finger against a small green grid at the top of the crate. His earpiece shrieked an intensely loud tone that caused him to clutch his ears. The green grid rearranged itself to display a message from ALLOS. "YOU HAVE NOT CHANGED YOUR MIND." Anon groaned at the message and continued opening the box, trying to ignore the deafening tone being shot into his ear as best as he could. "I'm done reasoning with you. You're guilty of the accident earlier today, not me." He whispered so that none of the fillies could understand what he was saying under his breath. "YOU ARE THE ONE WHO WILL BE BLAMED." Just as Anonymous had started opening the container, the lid quickly shut itself, closing on his fingers and locking. He almost bit his lip off in an effort to keep quiet and keep the girls calm. The green pad on the box flashed red as new words started to form on it. "SELF-DESTRUCTING IN: ONE MINUTE" The white unicorn was the first of the two to read it and resumed her screaming. The orange Pegasi was on the verge of tears, and collapsed into the fetal position, feeling hopeless. As for Applebloom who was still inside the box, she had given up hope long ago. Anonymous tore out his earpiece and threw it onto the ground in a fit of rage. "I'm done! I'm not going to play this game anymore. You aren't going to do it because you treasure life so much!" Nothing. The earpiece didn't shriek and the countdown didn't stop. "These kids have a full life ahead of them. There is a world that they don't know about and need to explore! You cannot take this away from them!" He shouted. "I AM BEHAVING NO DIFFERENTLY THAN YOU." The words overwrote the self-destruction timer which now read forty seconds. It was hard for Anonymous to sit and do nothing, but he had to. The only way that the timer would be destroyed is if he could change ALLOS' mind. "I was wrong! Life is about persuing what interests you and enjoying those around you. I may have run out of my will to live eons ago, but these kids are full of it." Still nothing. "I can take away your permissions." The counter rapidly knocked off numbers, amounting to less than twenty seconds left. He had to try. Twenty seconds to get the code to the mainframe and destroy the timer himself. Anonymous used his remaining hand to tear off the timer, revealing a multitude of wires and small circuit boards in its place. There was no keyboard, and no microphone for the command to work. With ten seconds left to go, Anonymous somehow had to find a way to broadcast the signal all the way to The Flying Castle. His eyes skimmed the interior of the box, looking for a transmitter. The transmitter was in the top right, and now he needed a power source to send the message. Anon quickly snipped the wires off, in a rush to enter the code. 'Dot dash, space, dash dot, dot, space, dash, dot, dot--' He was too late to finish the other half of the code. The timer read zero seconds left and he and Applebloom were engulfed by a giant white fireball. The other two kids were probably killed by the shrapnel that used to be the box. ALLOS was merciless. He had killed the kids without remorse and was willing to kill Anonymous. The alien was lying on the burning grass fifteen feet away, trying to ignore the pain throughout his body. His metallic organs had gone unaffected, but his skin wasn't so fortunate. It was trying to regenerate and reconnect itself in the front, but the fire was burning off any skin produced. Anon patted out the fire with his hands, which were also on fire. Besides him, there were no survivors. Two of them were bleeding on the ground, beyond repair, at least by their world's standards, and Applebloom was all over the field. Pieces of circuit boards littered the field. Anonymous crawled over the debris, looking for the right chips. He could still fix this. Luckily the transmitter board experienced minimal damage, and all he had to do was find the chip with the battery. Scootaloo tried to call out for help between her breaths, filled with agony. After a few minutes of searching, Anonymous couldn't stand it anymore and crawled to Scootaloo to help her. She had a circuit board impaled in her lungs. "Always the last place you look for it, isn't it?" Anonymous pulled out the board without any care about Scootaloo's body, which was now bleeding out twice as hard. He could manage to stand now. The muscles in his legs had finally regenerated, and the skin on his chest was being reattached. 'Break, dot, dot, dash, space, dot dot dot...' Sweetie Belle had died long before Scootaloo, not from bleeding or from shrapnel, though. Heart attack. Applebloom was probably the luckiest of all four of them. She had an instant death with no pain. The best way to go. 'Dash dash dash.' The message was complete. Any second now, Anonymous would have control over all the functions of ALLOS, and he would finally become the puppet master and play ALLOS as his puppet. There was no way to tell that the message had gotten through, and so Anon decided to use the suffering Scootaloo as his guinea pig. 'Repair structure, primary priority.' Air was spontaneously sucked into her lungs as she started breathing again. The pool of blood she was in slowly seeped back into the wounds, which closed once they got as much blood as the could. Her ribs cracked back into place and the shrapnel dissolved into nothingness. She was still in pain, but it was significantly less than what she felt like less than a minute ago. Then all of her pain went away. And her reality became distorted. The sky was yellow and the grass was orange. Everything was happy, despite her friend's recent deaths. "Gee, thanks, Mister," Scootaloo said, almost toppling over as she tried to get back on her hooves. "Your friends aren't as lucky as you. I'm going to have to take do some... unconventional things with them." "Well, whatever gets the blood flowing at the end of the day, am I right?" Scootaloo let out a weak laugh, which slowly evolved into hysterical laughter. Anonymous raised his left hand at the field and tried to focus his thoughts. Intestines, lungs, the heart all had to be in the right general places, the nanobots would do the rest. Applebloom's blood slowly crept towards a central point in front of Anonymous. Smoke caused by the explosion descended from the skies and took the shape of Applebloom. While the smoke was slowly transmogrifying into tissue, Anon turned his attention to the late Sweetie Belle. There was still some activity going on in her brain, but not much. Anonymous touched her heart, slowly stroking her bloody chest. The sound of electronics charging up came from inside the alien. Sweetie Belle's corpse shook and jumped at the touch of his electric hands, eventually, she was able to push the hand away from her. "What are you, a mashugana?" She shouted. Her attention was quickly turned to the cloud of smoke and skin that stood before her. Anonymous raised out a hand to it, and touched it's "head." The electricity sustained itself, like a ball of lightning in the smoking brain of Applebloom's clone. The smoke rapidly turned itself back into bone and tissue, leaving behind no smoke at all. She still had no skin. Anon scooped up some dirt from the ground and threw it on the abomination of skin. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were horrified to watch as their recently deceased friend's skin started appearing out of thin air. Ten seconds is all it took for her skin and yellow coat to be grown back. She was indistinguishable from her previous self, and didn't appear to remember anything that happened. "Girls! I'm alive!" Applebloom rushed up to her friends, trying to hug them. The two fillies backed up and raised their hoofs defensively. "Girls... It's me." Applebloom was upset to see her friends so terrified of her. "How do we know you're not a zombie or an alien robot?" Sweetie Belle asked. "The same way you find out if you're in a dream or not," Anon answered for her. Scootaloo walked up to the clone of Applebloom and raised a hoof just to feel her coat. It was very real, and felt exactly like her old coat. Then Scootaloo pinched her friend, to which Applebloom jumped up and shrieked. "Now do you believe me?" The three of them laughed and hugged, relieved to be alive and well. "Hey, Mr. Alien, what's your name?" Scootaloo asked, still a little sluggish. "The Galactic Society calls me Mechanic Sapien-Humanoid number thirty-three thousand, two hundred and forty-one. I know it's quite a mouthful, so just call me Anonymous. What are your names?" "I'm Sweetie Belle!" "My name's Scootaloo." "And I'm Applebloom. You don't look familiar to me..." Applebloom gasped in realization, finally realizing that the entity that stood before her was the alien that had also set Equestria on edge for the past week. "Are you that alien that everypony's been talking about?" "Why yes, I am." "Thank you for saving our friend, Anonymous!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed. "It was nothing really, I just..." "Raised the dead." Scootaloo interrupted. "Are you kidding? If it wasn't for you, this whole field would still be painted Applebloom right now!" "Well, just be careful next time, and I guess I'll see you girls around..." "Bye, Anonymous!" They called out as they walked towards Sweet Apple Acres. They had a lot to tell their family about. ALLOS' administrative access was a very taboo thing to use, no matter the circumstances. All orders had to be completed without question and on demand. Twilight didn't stand a chance in the battle anymore. If he wanted to, Anonymous could snap her neck by thinking about it, or dissolve her skin, or drown her in her own blood. It was intoxicating to wield such power. Anon continued his stroll to Ponyville, still trying to think of the meaning of life. 'What do I want most?' He thought to himself. The material realm was at his mercy, and so Anonymous wanted something immaterial. Emotions and thoughts were harder to manipulate and required time to work with. But Anon wasn't going to distort Equestria's perspective of him. He respected free will. There was still someone who he wanted to see who would not care about being manipulated. In his peripheral, Anonymous turned to see Sarah waiting for him by the treeline. She was as beautiful as he remembered her. There was something off about her, though. Her lifeless eyes. No matter what Anonymous created, it would never be natural, only artificial. Sarah's replica burst into flames and quickly crumbled into ashes upon Anon's disappointment. Alright, so he couldn't create immaterial things, but anything physical he wanted was his. Ponyville could finally be seen in the distance. The Ponies wouldn't be happy to see him. Facing Spike was going to be the hardest thing Anon had done since he arrived on Equis. The rectangular device in his pocket made a ringing sound. He pulled it out and read the notification on it. 5:00 - Duel with Twilight It was time. Twilight was waiting for him at the Golden Oak Library, he could feel her there. He could feel all of Ponyville similar to the way he could feel his limbs. His molecules and consciousness disassembled and slid down the hill and all the way to the front of The Library. Twilight stood there, unsurprised. In the background, Anonymous could make out Spike frowning at him. No doubt he had told her about their misadventures earlier today. Twilight was also frowning, but that was just a mask for another emotion she was feeling right now. Fear. "I was hoping we could talk this out." Author's Note Halloween-themed penultimate chapter for the first of November, everyone! HAPPY NOVEMBER-WEEN! (Written in two days on a time-crunch don't hate on my grammar, yo'.) --Chapter 17-- Strength in Metal and Fiber Optics (ENDING #1)Author's Note Shh... Shh... It's all over now. --Chapter 17-- Strength in Metal and Fiber Optics (ENDING #1) THE SEVENTH DAY "PONYVILLE" (VIOLENCE IMMINENT) 5:00 PM The air was thick with tension between the two of them. One of them was an all-powerful merciless alien, and the other was an innocent unicorn with only magic to save herself. Twilight took a deep breath to calm herself down and stared back at Anonymous. The alien stood tall with a wide smile on his face. He was very confident of his abilities. "I was hoping we could talk this out." Anon chuckled at Twilight's request. "For what purpose? This showdown is going to be well known for years to come on this planet, but throughout the galaxy? They're never going to care about this. We are insignificant compared to them." "We may be small, but we each stand for something. Do you really want to be known as the Mechanic Sapien who stood for destroying innocent lives? That doesn't seem like something Sarah would want you to be known for." "Leave her out of this. This is between us." Anonymous' smile transformed into a scowl at the mention of her name. "Ponyville has done nothing to you, and neither has Equestria. I haven't done anything to you! Why are you so bent on destruction?" Twilight shouted at him. The alien stood still, deeply breathing in and out, trying to keep his composure. There wasn’t a doubt in Twilight’s mind that he was on the edge. Once he was over that edge, there was no going back, and there was no repairing the damage he might do. "You reminded her. You reminded me." His voice broke when he mentioned her this time. It was the closest Twilight had ever seen him to crying. Anonymous was being honest, that alone got Twilight’s attention. "I fooled myself into thinking what I did was right, but I know it was wrong. I tricked her into thinking that I felt bad about it. She saw through me, though. It scared her, all of these emotions." Twilight tried not to feel sympathy for him, but it was hard when he was pouring himself out to her. It didn't change the fact that he was still a threat. Now he was just an unstable threat. "Before I came here, I was living on a tropic island. The natives there worshiped me as their god, sacrificed others to me. I tried to tell them that I wasn't a god, but they thought otherwise. I moved mountains to help them, bombed any armies that opposed them, and they loved me for it. So... I killed them all." "That makes no sense! Why would you do that?" "There are no gods in the depths of space. There are only two kinds of creatures in space. There are creatures with mercy and those without mercy. They rejected my advice, and I killed them before anybody without mercy got to them. I saved them from an unimaginably gruesome fate." "Is that what you're doing right now? Saving us by killing us? By committing genocide?" "You won't die. There's a part of you that will always live on forever." Now Twilight was the one laughing. Anonymous had such twisted morals in her eyes. "Then do it. Save me and save all of us! We need your help. Do it!" Anonymous' hands were shaking. Twilight was doing a good job of making him feel guilty, but he couldn't cave into her like this. Anon was losing the battle before it had even begun. "You don't get it. We're all just noise in the system, crying for help." Twi shook her head and approached Anonymous, extending her hoof to him. She looked in his eyes and saw something that reminded her that he was as clueless about life as she was. "As long as we're noise, we might as well be a symphony." After everything he had done, Twilight was still willing to be friends. The alien was dumbfounded at her innocence. The act of kindness melted his stone heart and touched him deeply. However, that path to his heart was quickly sealed when he remembered the unforgiving entities he had met throughout his long life. "That kind of attitude won't help against the ruthless things that are approaching." Spike turned his head when Anonymous mentioned something 'approaching'. Supposedly there was someone else interested in Equis? "Who's coming?" Spike asked Anonymous, anxiety hiding deep inside him. "Just trust me, if I kill you all now, I can bring you back when they leave. But if they find you there will be no hope for your people." Twilight was unsure whether he was telling the truth or not now. Fortunately, this was one of the situations where magic comes in handy. She charged up her horn and cast a mind-reading spell on Anonymous. Past all of his distressed emotions and twisted logic, Twi could feel the meaning of the very words he was speaking. "No. You're not... telling the truth." She realized, warning Spike. Twilight slowly backed up as Anonymous glared at her, staring deep into her eyes. He was thinking about something, and whatever it was, he was thinking about it intensely. Twilight felt uneasy. Her whole body went cold while he was staring at her. Then she felt comforted like she was under a warm blanket. It was almost as if he was doing something to her. Then there was a sensation down her spine, similar to having a bucket of cold water thrown on you. "I mean--" The words she spoke were not her own. "There's nobody coming, but we shouldn’t question your--" She bit down on her tongue, which was moving without her permission. She was determined to deflect whatever kind of mind-game he was playing. "STOP IT." She shouted through her teeth. He continued to stare at Twilight. His will was slowly becoming her will. The very neurons inside of her head were rearranging to serve his purposes. Twilight charged up her horn as quick as she could and discharged it at Anonymous. The purple ball of magic sent him flying back into the dirt several yards away with a hole in his chest that stopped when the muscle turned into ribs. Ponies nearby gasped at Twilight, not understanding the situation going on. Anonymous laid on the ground for a few seconds, quietly growling and thinking up his next move. "Spike, send a letter to Princess Celestia. Tell her to bring the Royal Guard and the Elements of Harmony. I don't want this to get ugly if I can avoid it." Spike ran off upstairs, frantically searching for a quill and some paper. He obviously shared Twilight’s feelings on avoiding any conflict. Twilight glanced behind her, observing the crude bomb case she had constructed. Just by looking at it, anypony could guess its lethal function. She would have to do it quickly if he attempted to retaliate. Not to mention that she would have to contain the damage the bomb would do just to Anon. It wasn’t going to be easy. Anonymous got up on his feet and cracked his neck back into place. Instead of being upset like Twilight expected, he was smiling. In fact, he was smiling wider than Twilight had ever seen him smile before. "Very funny. My turn." He raised his right hand towards Twilight. At first, nothing happened, but then the wind started to blow around Twilight. Its speed slowly got more intense, faster and faster it blew towards Anonymous. The strong gust of wind didn't affect the alien, but it did cause Twilight to slide over to his position. She looked up at him and his terrifying wide grin. "Stop this! The Princesses will be here soon and they will take appropriate actions to ensure you don’t cause any more trouble." "That's not much incentive for me to stop then, is it?" Anon chuckled on top of his smiling. He turned himself to face the mountain where Canterlot sat. He took a deep breath and whispered something at an inaudible volume. Twilight was concerned. No doubt that whatever action he was about to take would be unfavorable towards her plan to incapacitate him. There was something flying above all of them, very high in the sky. It reminded Twilight of The Flying Castle when it first arrived several days ago. Just a small white speck traveling very quickly very high in the sky. "Turn around," Anonymous demanded, doing so himself. Twilight tried to keep looking at Canterlot just to spite him, but he picked her up by her shoulders and forced her to look back at her Library. In the distance, the sound of a calm wind filled the afternoon sky. It was relaxing in its own way. The breeze got louder and louder, even though it was still faint. Without warning, the sky and the ground beneath it lit up in a brilliant light, brighter than the sun itself. It burned Twilight's skin just to be in its presence. It was so unimaginably bright that she could still see it when she closed her eyes. She was thankful that she complied, otherwise, her eyes might have melted out of her skull. The light’s color slowly changed from white to orange. The intensity of it toned down a bit, but it still hurt to have her eyes open. Twilight brought her hoofs up to her eyes in an effort to avoid going blind. The ground rumbled as if an earthquake was about to split Ponyville into two pieces, but the sound was drowned out by another noise. The sound of a supermassive explosion. Twilight removed her hoofs from her eyes to put them up to her ears. A high-pitched ringing in her ears was left from the explosion, and Twi started to hyperventilate upon realizing what had happened. The blinding light was still present, but she had to look back. The curiosity was too much. Canterlot was completely obliterated. Engulfed by the colossal fireball that was rising from what remained of its mountain. So many thoughts and emotions passed in Twilight's head. She couldn't look at it anymore, and not because it was burning afterimage into her eyes. All of the lives just lost, it broke her heart and her psyche. Her parents, her old friends, the Princesses... All dead. The giant mushroom cloud of smoke dominated the skies, blocking out the sunset. The sky was dark and orange. The heat from the explosion had traveled all the way to Ponyville and was burning up its citizens. It was hotter than the hottest summer day. Unfortunately, no amount of lemonade or iced tea could fix this heat. "Sheesh, I forgot how big those things were," Anonymous remarked, looking back at Canterlot's ruins. Twilight looked at him with a feeling of pure hatred. And while it hurt her to hate another being so much, there wasn't a doubt in her mind that he deserved it. There was something else he deserved, something she would have done earlier if she knew he was going to kill her family with no remorse. The bomb over by the Library's entrance glowed purple as it slid towards Twilight. Anonymous heard the sound of it sliding and turned to look at it. Twilight picked it up using her magic and flung it at Anon. He went flying several feet back, managing to stay standing this time. A thick purple field surrounded him and the bomb. He touched it, testing to see if he could simply pass through him. The odds were not in his favor. "Give it up, Twilight. You can't hurt me." The explosion was going to be smaller than the other explosion, but it would still be intense. Twilight funneled all of her magic into this one single shield, hoping to keep it from burning herself and Ponyville to ashes. Her magic once again came to her aid as she flipped the switch on the bomb’s back. 0:03 0:02 0:01 0:00 The digital lights blinked rapidly, signaling the fireball to appear. Nothing happened. The device simply flashed the number zero and took no action. Twilight looked back at Canterlot, which was now clouded by a giant fog of gray smoke. Her vengeance was going to be delayed, but she would find another was to destroy the destroyer. "No! This was supposed to work!" She complained, feeling sick in her stomach. Anonymous continued to hold onto the bomb, unsurprised. The field slowly disappeared as Twilight ran out of magic to sustain it. "You didn't think I'd tell you the correct way to design my only weakness, did you? My brain may still be biological, but I assure you, it works perfectly fine." His charming remarks passed through Twilight’s ears. She trembled in her spot, feeling a mix of fear and anger. There was nothing left to hit him with, no magic, no bomb. Twilight was as good as dead. "Twilight! Are you okay?" Spike shouted from across the street. The concerned number one assistant ran out of the Library and right for his big sister, not paying attention to the massive cloud that stood in Canterlot's place. "No... I'm not okay, Spike." The radiation from the bomb was going to kill them both. Anonymous' skin would just die and grow back, but at least he would suffer a bit of pain for his misdeeds. Not a fitting punishment at all. "As much as I'd love to leave the two of you alone now, I promised you both a quick and painless death." The two of them tensed up at how calm he sounded. The alien raised his right hand again, this time pointed at Spike. "Goodbye, Spike." "NO!" Twilight jumped in front of Spike, trying to take the damage herself, but as luck would have it, a blue streak of light latched onto Anonymous and carried him high into the sky. "You can't treat ponies like that!" Rainbow Dash shouted at the alien she was holding onto. "Put me down now or you will share their punishment!" Anon screamed over the loud wind in their ears. Dash smiled as she let go of Anonymous and watched him fall several hundred feet to the ground. He was grabbing aimlessly at the sky around him, but without wings, there was no hope for him. The alien smashed into the ground and left a big crater where he fell. His metal bones stayed together, but they had crushed his skin and left him in a pool of blood. Rainbow Dash flew down to her friends and sighed in relief. "When did this guy become a nutcase?" She asked, looking at the mushroom cloud and back at her distressed friends. "Go get help, whoever is left. The Elements of Harmony may still be untouched, and if so, we need the six of us to use them against him." “Do you really think they survived?” “Go!” Twilight shouted. Dash nodded her head and flew off at a high speed to go round up the rest of Twilight's friends. Twilight and Spike walked over to the crater and looked down at the miserable pile of deformed skin and metal that resided in the middle of it. His endoskeleton stood up, dragging the ripped and detached skin out of the crater. When he finally got out, the skin stretched and tightened to mold his former self. By now, most of his suit had been ripped apart and stained with blood. Whatever was left of his clothes was just barely covering his right leg, lower chest, and reproductive areas. "Your friend has impeccable timing. But unfortunately, she had abandoned you, and I have to get back to what I was doing." Twilight charged up what little magic she had remaining and used it to teleported Spike and her around Anonymous, avoiding the aim of his hand. After several times of dancing around the threat, Twilight remembered that she could just teleport the two of them far away. To safety. The aggravated alien looked around for the disappearing duo for several minutes, shouting in rage when he gave up. He took several deep breaths and regained his composure. He was going to be methodical about this. "As cliché as it might sound, you can run, but you can't hide," Anon spoke to himself, wondering if Twilight could still hear him. Anon slowly looked around the landscape, searching for Twilight's biometric signal. Even if they had traveled to the other side of the planet, he'd find them eventually. He would find them. Princess Cadence was enjoying the well-prepared dinner with her husband. The two of them had been happy since they got married and moved into the Crystal Castle, despite having to save Equestria and deal with an alien from Outer Space ever since. Four guards kept watch of the happy royalty, and for good reason. Equestria was a dangerous place. The peace of the room was disturbed when Cadence felt something distressing. Something magical was missing from Equestria. Something was taken. "You felt it too?" Shining Armor asked, noticing his wife's disturbed face. "Something has happened to the Princesses in Canterlot." Cadence turned her head and explained to the nearby guards. "We will send a team to investigate immediately." An orange colt in metal armor informed them as he quickly trotted out the door with the three other armored guards. Shining didn't feel like eating anymore. If something had gone wrong, it would be because he wasn't there to be captain of the Royal Guard. Whoever had the power to get through the guards must have been very powerful, and there was one very enigmatic figure that nopony knew much about that he could think of. "You don't think this is his doing, do you?" Armor inquired. "Anonymous promised that he wouldn't harm anypony. He had a good track record with Twilight, so I trust that he followed the deal." Cadence raised a utensil to her mouth to take another bit of the finely-cooked dinner when suddenly, a large purple ball of magic materialized in the middle of the room. To the surprise of both Shining Armor and Princess Cadence, a hyperventilating Twilight and Spike stood in the middle of their dining table. "Cadence! We need your help!" Twi pleaded with a shaking voice. "Twilight, what happened to you?" Armor asked, upset to see his sister so freaked out. "It's Anonymous! He's gone crazy! He vaporized Canterlot and everypony there!" Spike quickly explained. Twilight and Spike didn't feel safe, not even hundreds of miles away from the unstable alien. Cadence gasped in shock. "The Princesses are..." "Dead." Twilight finished for her. "I'll gather all the guards, there still might be a chance for us." Shining remarked as he sprinted out the door. Now was the time for action. "This is horrible. Without the two Princesses, the sun and moon will stay still until someone else takes their place..." "That's the least of our problems. Right now, we should focus on the omnipotent god searching for us." Twilight complained to Cadence. "Don't call him that, please. I don't want to think of any god being as merciless as him..." Spike pleaded, feeling sick in his stomach. It just occurred to Twilight how traumatic the experience was for Spike. All in one day, he had been a bystander to somepony's murder and had also witnessed the destruction of an entire city along with all of its citizens. "Are you going to be alright?" Cadence asked. Spike shook his head. "We're all as good as dead." He collapsed into a pile of hopelessness in the middle of the floor. Both of the mares felt sympathy for him. He was just a kid. "Spike, you should go see some of the crystal ponies. They look up to you ever since you saved them, maybe that will cheer you up." The dragon sighed and slowly got up from the floor and walked out the vacuous room. Even after he had left, his hopeless attitude stayed in the room, along with its inhabitants. "What are we going to do?" Twilight wondered out loud. "Has he talked about any of his weaknesses? Is he vulnerable to magic?" "No... He's made of metal and magic doesn't work on him like it does on us. Probably because he's not from here. It doesn't matter. Everypony I care about is dead, or will soon be dead." "What about your Ponyville friends?" "I'm not sure if they’re safe. If they are alive and well, we might be able to wield the Elements against him." “I can think of one other plan…” Cadence revealed. “What is it?” Twilight asked her. “Discord.” “What?!” “He is the very essence of chaos, there’s no reason why he couldn’t remove Anonymous from the face of this continent.” The Princess tried to explain herself, but in reality, she hated her plan too. “How is having a draconequus problem going to solve our alien problem?” “There are no other options. He’s our only hope now.” Something made a noise in the corner of the room. Twilight and Cadence turned to acknowledge it, fearing it was either maniac hunting them down or the spirit of chaos. Something was being etched into the door of the dining room. Letter by letter it formed a message not from Anonymous, but from his accomplice. ADD USER TWILIGHT --SUDO Along with the message, something else was being scraped into the wall just below the main message. 11/3/14/ CHEMICAL WEAKNESS - COURTESY OF ALLOS The numbers didn't make much sense to Twilight. It was possible that they were encrypted, but she didn't think the two of them would have enough time to decrypt it. As for the message above, Twilight had no idea what it was for. It looked like some of the messages Anonymous would input on his terminal, but there was no terminal near them or any terminal she felt safe near. She trusted his tech less than she trusted him. "What does it mean?" Cadence asked, trying to decode the messages. "I think it's his weaknesses…" Twilight replied, taking a closer look at the numbers. 'Eleven, three, fourteen. Are they letters? K is the eleventh number of the alphabet, and C is the third, the fourteenth is N, so… KC--' The meaning hit Twilight like a ton of bricks. "This is it! This is how we can defeat him!" She shouted happily, realizing the messages’ meaning. "I don't get it, what does it mean?" The Princess inquired, scrutinizing the numbers even harder. "He's made of metal, but his brain and skin are still biological. I've taken a look at his cell composition, all Eukaryotic cells have--" Twilight's explanation was cut short by the wall behind them being smashed to rubble. To Twilight's horror, she saw the Mini-Screw wedged into the Crystal Castle’s side. The door slid open, revealing a regenerated Anonymous stepping out of the U.F.O. and into the palace’s dining room. "You picked a great place to hide. These crystals deflected the scan signal, but the nanobots were already here, just waiting for you." "Just leave us alone! You've hurt enough ponies already." The remaining Princess shouted at Anon. "Oh man, I'm so sorry, I'll just be on my merry way then." Anonymous sarcastically remarked. Shining Armor and a troop of guards shot through the giant double doors, aiming their spears at him. Spike hid behind the guards, not happy to see Anon so soon. "You've terrorized enough. Leave now or face the full military force of the Crystal Empire." Armor declared, giving Anonymous a final chance. Anon smiled at the rebellion and noticed how close Shining Armor was standing to Cadence. The alien recalled something Twilight said about Princess Cadence and her brother. "Ah, love. I used to be a fan of it, so I won't lay a hand on the two of you. I can't say the same for these jokers, though." The alien waved his hand at the guards, who started groaning and screaming in agony. One by one, their necks twisted under the pressure caused by the alien's nanobot army. Armor held Cadence close to him, concerned for her. "Now for you two." Anonymous turned to face Twilight and Spike. Armor gave Twilight a look of regret and held his head down in shame. Shining and Cadence teleported away to safety, leaving Twilight and her assistant at the mercy of Anonymous. "Not too thoughtful for a brother and a sister-in-law. They've left you all to me." Twilight once again charged up her magic as much as she could, thinking of her home. Twilight and Spike disappeared into thin air. "Ugh! I'm getting sick of this!" Anonymous shouted as he climbed back into the Mini-Screw, locked onto Ponyville once again. While he was here, he might as well drop a few bombs. That might convince Twilight to stop running from him. Equestria's last hope materialized inside of Anonymous' bedroom. Twilight quickly trotted out of the magical bubble and frantically searched around her lab, looking for the ingredients to construct Anon’s “Chemical weakness.” "Why are we here? This seems like one of the places he'd expect us to be hiding." Spike asked, feeling unsafe in his own home. "We need something here. The Elements of Harmony are probably gone for good and there's nopony left to rival him." "But what if it doesn't work? He'll be free to run around all of Equestria and he’ll get rid of everything!" Twilight walked over to Spike and gave him a hug to calm him down. His anxiety didn’t disappear, but it did decrease his paranoia. "I won't let that happen. Trust me, Spike." Spike gulped despite Twilight’s words. "Alright, I trust you." Twilight mixed several chemicals into a nearby vial. She quickly corked it and placed it in Anonymous' black leather bag. Ever since he had arrived in Ponyville, he either kept it close or out of sight. Since he wasn't here, she rifled through the contents of it, not seeing any consequence to it. After all, it’s not like there’s anything he could do worse than he’d already done. "Oh... My... God..." Twilight's eyes widened at the innards of the bag. "What? What is it?" Twilight closed the bag and tossed it across the room, trying not to vomit from the image that was permanently etched into her memory. She gagged several times and held Spike back when he tried to check the inside of the bag. "It's full of... Extra body parts." She explained. "So? They're just metal." "Not these ones." Spike grimaced. Apparently, Anonymous had been hauling around severed legs and arms this whole time. If that didn’t guarantee that he was insane, Spike didn’t know what did. Twilight used her remaining magic to grab the bag of organs and carried them with her up the stairs. The sky had gone from orange to black. It was now night time and the smoke from the destruction of Canterlot was blocking out all of the stars. Twilight opened the bag once more, this time avoiding looking at it, and placed an object from her bedside table into the bag. Spike didn't get a clear view of whatever it was, but he hoped it would help them. The two of them held their breath when they heard a knock at the library's front door. Spike slowly approached the door and flung it open, running away when the outside world became visible. Rainbow Dash quickly flew inside, leading the rest of Twilight's friends. All six of them were somehow still alive, and it relieved a lot of Twilight’s stress. "Girls! You're alive!" Twilight had never been happier to see her friends. She ran over to them and hugged all five of them in a giant pile joy. "You're safe! I'm so glad you're safe!" Fluttershy held Twilight too close for comfort, but she didn’t care. Applejack was the first to let go of the hold and raised her hoof, ready to take action. "Now, let's find ourselves that alien and give him a piece of our minds!" "Yeah!" Various ponies agreed, trotting out of the Library. "Did you get the Elements yet?" Rarity asked Twilight. "The Elements aren't going to help us now, we’ll have to do this without magic." "I see you figured it out." A familiar voice spoke from behind them. Twilight and her friends stopped dead in their tracks and turned around to see Anonymous fiddling with his nails, looking unamused. "Your time is up, you meany-face!" Pinkie taunted. "Oh, how I wish that were true." Anonymous sighed as he walked towards the group. "Is this what you thought others would want? Sugarcube, nopony wants this!" Applejack shouted, upset that Anon didn't take her advice. "I don't care what others want. Other people aren't me." "What about everything we've done for you? Surely you aren't going to punish us for that?" Fluttershy asked, backing up from the incoming alien. "No, I'm going to punish you for what you didn't do." Anonymous raised his hand at the group. Rarity charged up her horn and fired a simple attack at his hand. Anon winced in pain and started blowing on his hand, trying to relieve the pain. "Run!" Spike shouted, following his own advice. The small group ran together towards the center of town. Very few ponies were left alive after the radiation blast, and those who were alive were severely burned and hiding from Anonymous. "So what's the plan?" Rainbow asked Twilight as they all ran from the furious alien. "I know his weakness, all we have to do is distract him long enough, then we can--" The earth shook beneath them, this time not accompanied by an explosion. Anonymous' essence glided in front of all of them and stopped the group again. "End of the line." Twilight charged up her horn, ready to attack Anon. Finished with magic, Anonymous swiped his hand at Twilight, and her horn powered down. No matter how hard she tried, her magic wouldn't come back. "What have you done?" She cried, feeling hopeless. "What haven't I done?" He raised his hand at the group, and Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie all fell to the ground. Twilight rushed over to Applejack and felt her pulse. It was slowly disappearing, Applejack's eyes closing as her heartbeat faded out into non-existence. "No..." Twilight was too choked up to talk anymore. Spike held Twilight close, crying by her side. He looked up at the alien, who appeared somewhat moved by her crying. "You ruined everything." Spike glared at Anonymous with pure hatred in his eyes. Twilight sat there, crying over her friend's deaths under the dark skies. She looked back at the monster that stood before them with tears in her eyes. He spoke to her with an unnaturally soothing voice. "Painless." Something inside of Twilight stopped. It might have been her heart, it might have been her soul. Whatever it was, Anonymous had taken complete control of it and ran it into the ground. She fell over like her friends did, not feeling anything anymore. No pain, no regret, not even sadness anymore. He had won. "Twilight..." Spike softly cried over his best friend. "Spike... Keep going." Twi whispered. "Run." The dragon slowly got up, looking at all of the bodies in front of him. Then he started walking towards the ruins of Canterlot. After a while, he started jogging. His past was behind him and his future in front of him. He wanted to see aliens, he got his wish. Now he had to live with that. He was running faster than he ever ran before in his life. Twilight was so proud of him. "I'm sorry it came to this." Anonymous apologized. Twilight softly chuckled. "No, you aren't." She slid the bag over, resigning it to him. Anon picked it up and inspected it’s exterior, and eventually, its interior. "I never stopped loving her. Even if she tried to kill me, I wanted her always to stay by me." A single tear fell from his left eye. "I deserve being alone, though. Look what I do for a living." "You're not alone." Twilight spoke for the very last time. After a few more seconds, she stopped breathing, akin to her friends. Anonymous didn't cry over their deaths even though he felt bad. He slowly approached the bodies and shut their eyes. All twelve eyelids closed. They deserved some peace after how hard they fought. He slowly walked back to the Mini-Screw, looking at the havoc he had wreaked on the way. There was plenty of things to think about. For starters, he had killed the only two people he trusted in this galaxy and he had run away the only person he loved. Part of him wanted to leave the bag with Twilight, but then he would be completely alone. The rusty machine's doors slid open to reveal the luxurious interior. As comfortable and relaxing as it seemed, it didn't comfort Anonymous anymore. He opened the bag to look at the various organs inside of it. He choked up when he saw what Twilight had added onto the mountain of organs. It was his kidney. He was without a doubt Twilight's least favorite person in the world, and she still gave him back his kidney. He stared at it for a minute, taking in the thoughtfulness and kindness she had just shown him. The kindness that a dead pony had shown him. The terminal flickered on to reveal a message from his robotic friend. DO YOU FEEL GUILTY? Anonymous didn't respond. Emotions weren't a proper thing to express in his version of reality, so he kept it inside. Along with the millions of other emotions he felt on a daily basis. Repressed and obsessed, just the way he always was. "Take me home." The engines powered up without any delay. Anonymous undid the stitches that held together the wound he made in himself to give Twilight the kidney earlier. A peace offering between worlds, you could say. Once he opened it up, the metallic organ slid in like a glove, clicking to the magnet ports that held it in place. Thanks to Twilight Sparkle, he could continue to get as drunk as he wanted. The meaning of life once again crossed Anon's mind. The golden trees at Sweet Apple Acres that reminded Anonymous of his home flashed through his mind first. Then there was his encounter with those three little fillies. There was nobody left to ask what they thought it was, so he had to come up with his own answer. 'Cherish each day and enjoy the ones around you.' All of the guilt peaked inside of him. He hadn't lived and he had cut all of his "friend's" lives short. There was nothing to be done for them. They could only be reconstructed if they passed the Federation's test. The test wasn't an easy one, and in fact, nopony on Equis had passed it. Defeat the guardian. That was it. The guard was Anonymous, the only entity standing between the Federation and Equis. If Twilight had won the battle, the world would be theirs and everypony would be alive and free. Free from the Federation, free from Anon’s antics. The doors of the ship slid open to reveal the offices inside of The Flying Castle. There was a hole in Anonymous' heart. At first, the pain appeared to be emotional, but it persisted longer than he expected it to. As Anon walked out of the Mini-Screw and into the offices, he collapsed onto the ground, clutching his heart. By now, every organ inside of him felt clogged and his brain and skin burned. The terminal screen lit up for the final time. KCN Realizing what had happened, Anonymous laughed hysterically at his own pain. Twilight had managed to do it. She had won. The kidney was full of Potassium Cyanide, a powerful poison. It was certainly going to destroy Anon's brain, one of the only two biological things left of him. In a few hours, he would be long gone and ALLOS would search for a new physical form. His metallic body would remain on the floor, hopefully of use to anyone who found it the next time the Castle docked at a space station. "You did it, Twi. You earned your freedom." The pain was so intense and yet so faint. His judgment and thinking abilities were clouded. Anonymous's train of thought was awry, and he fell unconscious as he was internally praising Twilight's cleverness. The last thing that Anonymous heard before he died was the echo of her final words. Words that haunted him for the last microseconds of his existence. "You're not alone." --Chapter 18-- When You Go (ENDING #2)Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.--Chapter 1-- The Third DayThree days. It had been three days that it stood in the middle of the sky without support. Seventy-two hours for Ponies, Griffons, and Dragons to consider if they should make contact. The object was named 'The Flying Castle' by the citizens of Equestria. It had fallen from outer space, and was in a low orbit around the planet. In the three days since it had been spotted The Flying Castle had visited every major city on the planet. Canterlot, Manehatten, Griffonstone, had all been visited by this large metal invader. On the first day The Royal Sisters sent the Royal Guard to investigate the airborne city, just in case the visitor came with hostile intent. All sides of the castle were made of a smooth, hard, red-hot metal. Not a single entrance to be found and no magic was detected. Newspapers and crackpots worldwide had spread rumors that there were multiple ships, that they had been abducted by the saucers. Some ponies were excited to see the visitors, hoping that they might share the secrets of the universe. The first day, everypony panicked. The second day, everypony worried. The third day, some of them found out the truth. THE THIRD DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" 8:30AM It was early in the morning and Twilight needed to clear her thoughts. After a short walk, she decided to stop and read the paper and get some tea. Not many ponies were up this early, but the waiter seemed well-rested. She ordered and paid for her drink and sat down at a nearby table, taking the newspaper out of her bag. What did the front page have in store for her today? U.F.O. SPOTTED IN CANTERLOT. HAS WAR BEEN DECLARED? Almost everywhere she looked there was some talk about the visitors. And while it was interesting that aliens had finally been proven to exist, it had put a hold on her friendships. Just the other day, her plans with Rarity were blown off because she was making clothes to show the aliens. Rarity apologized, but Twi didn't feel like it was sincere. Eventually she had finished the front page and her drink. If there was one good thing about the 'invasion', it was that Spike had been more energetic than usual. Aliens were only something that existed in comic books, but now they were a reality. His nonstop talk about hypothetical technology was somewhat pleasing to Twilight. It was intriguing to see his thoughts about them, how he would theorize what their civilization and society would be like. Twi got up from her seat and left a tip for the waiter. The sun was out and the air was fresh. It was a great morning to spend outside. It was even better that she had planned a picnic with all of her friends today. She hadn't seen much of them for the last few days, they were busy doing things. Probably relating to the invasion. They seemed optimistic, given the situation. If The Flying Castle stayed on schedule, it would be passing over their picnic around ten o' clock. Spike had suggested the event, of course. The Library came into Twilight's view. The town was more empty than usual. Some ponies had gotten out of town as soon as they heard that the U.F.O. was coming. Others had organized to meet outside, wanting to greet the newcomers to their planet. Twilight was unsure whether or not she should leave before they arrived. On one hoof, she didn't want to panic Spike and her friends, and on the other, who knows what they're capable of? Twilight opened the door to her library, feeling motivated to get the day started. "Hey Twilight, where've you been?" A familiar voice called out from across the library. "I went for a walk. You got up when I was gone? That's unlike you." She teased. "Are you kidding? I wouldn't miss today for the world!" "I'm looking forward to doing some research of my own. I want to know what material their ship is made out of, what it's function is, and where they got it. It might help future generations to--" She stopped herself when she realized Spike wasn't smiling anymore. "Is something wrong?" Spike snapped to attention. "No, it's just... I really..." Twilight looked at her number one assistant. He looked excited but scared. Who could blame him? The aliens hadn't been proven hostile or friendly yet. "I know you want to get to know them, but it's possible they don't want to be friends. And if so, we should just leave them alone." She explained, trying to console Spike. A knock at the door halted their conversation. The door flung open as Rainbow Dash trotted in, looking extremely enthusiastic. "C'mon you slowpokes, It's gonna be here any minute now!" THE THIRD DAY "PONYVILLE OUTSKIRTS" 9:58AM Twilight and her friends were enjoying their picnic. Pinkie had brought a variety of desserts to share with everyone, Applejack brought what was left of her cider stock, and Twilight had brought some gemstones for her assistant. "Just three more minutes..." Spike told himself, trying to keep his composure. "I packed you a few more gems if you're interested, Spike." A concerned Twilight inquired. "No thanks, I'm not feeling hungry." Twilight turned her head away from him to resume her conversation with her other friends. "Now, I still don't understand why you gotta wear that thing to something as casual as a picnic." "Oh, Applejack, if those aliens came down now, I wouldn't want them to miss out on my taste of fashion, now would I?" Applejack rolled her eyes and tried not to pay any more attention to the dress. "Maybe, but it would even worse if they missed out on their 'Welcome to Equestria' party! I've spent the last three days working on it! It's perfect, they need to see it!" Pinkie grabbed Twilight and shook her around to express her excitement. Twilight raised a hoof and gently pushed her hyperactive friend away. "I'm not too sure they'll come down at all. Think about it, they've been around the world in three days, and haven't stopped once! There's no reason for them to break pattern now, is there?" "Even if they don't stop, I still gotta see that thing up close and personal. I mean, it's huge! How's it been going so fast for three days straight?" Rainbow Dash stretched out her wings to prepare for whenever The Flying Castle arrived. "What do you think, Fluttershy?" She continued. "Well, I think it's very interesting that we're not alone... But we don't know if they're friendly. And if they're not, then... I don't know what we'll do!" Fluttershy exclaimed. Applejack put her arm around Fluttershy to comfort her. "Pull yourself together, Shy. I don't even think it's aliens, I think it's probably from the Griffon Empire, flyin' overhead, spyin' on us." The thought of being spied on by Griffons nagged at Twilight's brain. 'Imagine if after all this time, it's just been the Griffon Empire...' She thought to herself. "What do you think the princesses are going to do?" She asked everypony present. "Who cares what they do, all I want to know is how fast that thing can go," Rainbow answered. "I'm not too sure, darling. But I trust the princesses to give the aliens a fair chance." "Hold on, I think that's it in the distance," Spike said from the other side of the hilltop. Twilight and her friends trotted over to the dragon and used the binoculars in turns. "Sweet mother of Celestia, it's not a hoax..." Twi remarked aloud. "This is real..." Spike said, not taking his eyes off the spaceship. It was cylindrically shaped towards the bottom and curved in the middle. In the middle was also a ring, rotating around the center of the castle without any support. The top was shaped more like a semi-sphere, and much larger than the bottom of the ship. As it got closer and closer to the picnic, nearby rocks randomly shot away from the hill at high velocities. For whatever reason, Twilight could only guess that their equipment was interfering with the landscape. "It's bigger than any skyscraper in Manehatten, that's for sure." Rarity mentioned. Everypony was in shock. Aliens. They existed, and they were here now. "This is totally awesome!" Dash cried out at the top of her lungs, flying up to the spaceship to check it out. "Be careful, it could be radioactive!" Twilight shouted, soon realizing that if it was radioactive, there wasn't much she could do. She wanted to know how many of them were on board. Since there wasn't any apparent way aboard, she'd just have to use her magic to scan the ship. Her horn glowed a shade of purple as she attempted to scan the castle for any life. 'Strange... Nobody's up there. Then again, they might not be carbon-based...' Twilight's train of thought was interrupted by the deafening sound of the massive vault on the bottom of the ship opening up. It was slow, and the noise produced was probably heard all over Equestria. "What was that?" Spike shouted. "I'm not sure, we didn't do anything, did we?" Twilight responded. "I take it back, aliens do exist! I am a believer!" Applejack cried up to the ship. Fluttershy was speechless and frozen in place. Probably from fear. Over the horrible sound of metal scraping, Twilight could make out mechanical noises going on inside. Something fell out of the opening. It was about the size of an outhouse, and it was shaped similarly to the spaceship. It impacted with the earth, leaving a massive dent in the earth at the bottom of the hill. The castle kept on moving towards Ponyville as if nothing had happened. Rainbow Dash flew down to be reunited with her friends. "That. Was. Amazing!" She yelled. "I mean, the city-sized door opening, and the flashing lights and the--" Dash was interrupted by Twilight. "Calm down, Rainbow. We should pay more attention to what it left behind." "What do ya' reckon it is?" Applejack asked, turning to face the giant screw at the bottom of the hill. "I'm not too sure, but that's all the more reason to be more cautious about it. We need a biohazard squad to approach it, just in case it carried any radiation from the atmosphere. And just in case they're hostile, we should notify the Royal Guard..." Twilight trailed off. Spike didn't want to wait. He couldn't wait. Whatever they had left behind, even if it was trash to them, was of great value to him. He could finally find out how they lived, what their home was like, where they lived. He needed this. Seeing as how Twilight had already started making a list full of precautionary equipment they should go and get first, Spike didn't have much time left. While everypony had their eyes on Twilight's notes and the rusting screw at the bottom of the hill, Spike started looking in the nearby picnic baskets for the one that held his gems. He quickly grabbed the correct basket and walked to the edge of the hill. "Oh no! My gems!" Spike had intentionally fumbled with the basket, causing it to spill it's contents onto the grass, down the hill, and eventually closer to the small U.F.O. He jogged as fast as he could, knowing that his friends would catch up to him sooner or later. "Spike! Come back!" Various ponies shouted behind him. As he got closer and closer to the alien technology, he heard something. A low-pitched hum that never stopped and never changed pitch. Being in front of the ship scared him, and he slowed down. It was significantly larger than he was, and Celestia-knows-how more powerful. His running was cut short by a purple light that engulfed him. "You can't do that to me again, Spike! You know they could be dangerous!" Twilight shouted while hugging him in relief. Fluttershy recognized the expression on Spike's face. Disappointment. "You know, Twilight, it's possible that they are friendly, or at least just as likely that they're hostile." She tried to explain in a soft voice. It was too late to retreat. The giant screw-shaped ship in front of them started making mechanical noises and hissing sounds. Everypony backed up, slightly worried. A metal double door was slowly being opened. A cold white gas poured out of it, and the interior was revealed. Inside of the mysterious U.F.O. wasn't an alien or anything to greet them. There was a leather couch in the corner, a big black wall that stood out from the other wood paneled walls and a soft orange carpet. "What a peculiar things for aliens to have..." Rarity remarked, slowly trotting inside the ship. The black wall started to quickly flash colors. Out of all of the randomness that occured on the screen, something stood out that everypony could read. 6 Twilight's mouth hung open in amazement. Not only could these aliens create massive structures capable of flying, they knew about Equestrian numbers. Even more odd was their similar interior design. Twilight wondered if that was a coincidence or not. Seeing as how nopony was restraining him any more, Spike freely walked into the U.F.O. and had a seat on the couch. 5 As he looked out the door of the ship, he subconsciously counted how many of his friends were outside and how many of them were inside. This led him to realize something... "I think we all have to get in here." --Chapter 2-- Aboard The Flying Castle"Come on, Fluttershy! You're the only one left!" Rainbow Dash hollered to Fluttershy from across the claustrophobic room. "I really don't want to take my chances... Can't I stay out here?" Fluttershy begged to stay outside of the falling-apart spacecraft. "No, you can't! Everyone wants to find out what happens when it reaches zero, right guys?" Spike was practically on his knees, trying to convince her to come aboard. The five other ponies who Spike was able to convince to get aboard backed him up. "Well... I guess if everypony thinks it's a good idea..." She says as she slowly walks through the metal doorway, only to have the doors abruptly shut behind her when she got inside. Fluttershy was taken off guard, made a squeaking sound, and fell face first onto the soft carpeted floor. Everyone started to panic over the lack of an exit. Twilight tried prying the doors open, but whenever she finally got them open, they would close themselves before anypony could safely get through. 0 The number flashed in red, and disappeared among the many other things on the display. Everything besides that number was difficult to make out, words that didn't make any sense to them filled the entire table. "Welcome wagon protocol initiated..." A male voice informed everyone. The voice sounded like somepony talking through a tin can, although slightly harsher and unpleasant to everyone's ears. "Hold on-- you can speak Equestrian too?" Twilight shouted aloud in excitement. "Do you come in peace? How much do you know about us?" Everypony looked around the room for the source of the voice, worried about what he might respond with. The moment of truth, the moment where they'd finally find out what these unexpected visitors came here to accomplish. Twilight waited a half minute before coming to a definite conclusion. The voice wasn't going to respond. "Are you still there? What, do you have more important things to do?!" Twilight said, slightly annoyed at the mystery voice's lack of manners. "Are you crazy? He just said he's going to take us to their 'Welcome Wagon!'" Pinkie Pie shouted in excitement, dancing around the cramped room in joy. "I hope they aren't planning any tricks, they seem harmless but we still haven't met any of the rulers of their Flying Castle." Rarity said, trying to make out some of the words on the display. She did catch a glimpse of a word that constantly appeared before sinking into the background of nonsense. 'Instance', which was usually followed by a large number. A sound reminiscent of a generator coming online filled the small cabin. The unexpected sound scaring some of the passengers. The room's walls seemed to come to life, slowly spinning around the floor, and gently vibrating. The weight of gravity increased, which forced everypony to take a seat on the comfortable couch. "We've made it this far, so I guess you were right about them not being hostile..." Twilight admitted to Applejack. "Well, we haven't given them much reason to fear us, so I reckon we don't have much reason to fear them." She replied, hoping she didn't just give Twilight false hope. Rainbow Dash looked over at Spike as he flipped through a comic book. "'Invaders from Outer Space?' Why read it when you get to live it right now?" She asked. "I'm catching up on all the aliens in my comics so we can peacefully come into contact when we come face to face." Spike explained, keeping his eyes on the stories, still flipping through pages. "Avoid shining bright lights at them." He read out loud while writing it down on the front page of his magazine. Dash internally giggled at Spike, as if those filly's stories could be of any use when face to face with real life invaders. Fluttershy turned over to Twilight, and inquired "So, what do you think these creatures are going to look like when we see them?" "Well... We know they're capable of constructing flying spacecraft the size of Canterlot's mountain, so... my theory is they'll be larger than us in order to build something of that scale." Fluttershy whimpered a bit... The thought of a house-sized monster... "You know... ants may be small, but if there's enough of them, they can make a big anthill." Fluttershy told Twilight, trying to change her mental image of what awaited for her friends and her when they got to-- wherever they were being taken. "Twilight! Come look at this!" Spike called out. "What is it?" She said, trotting to Spike and the table that had shown them the numbers. "I know where we're going, you see this light-table? In the comic books, it's a way to learn more about the world around you, it's called a Terminal." "That's interesting, but does it say where we're going?" Twilight said, scrutinizing everything visible on the Terminal. It just looked like a bunch of letters and numbers jumbled together, frequently changing their order and value. "You see this area?" Spike asked her, moving his claw around the area of interest. "It's showing what's below us, does it remind you of anything?" Spike glanced over at Twilight to see her excited reaction. Twilight looked closer at the area, trying to find out where they were, which was difficult because the 'map' was slowly rotating accordingly with the ship's walls. Twilight saw her Library, and realized they were 'flying' directly over Ponyville, where The Flying Castle was. "They're taking us right to them!" She said, trying to keep her excitement inside. The room stopped spinning, and a large clunk was heard by everypony. Twilight hoped that their ride didn't break, she wouldn't be able to fix it in mid-air. "You have arrived at your destination, please follow the red arrows for your--" The tin can voice said, before it was drowned out by Pinkie. "IT'S SAYING FOLLOW THE RED ARROWS FOR AN ALIEN PARTY!" Pinkie shouted to her friends before taking off like a flash, following all of the red arrows that appeared on similar Terminals like the one they saw in the room. "Let's follow her before she gets lost in this-- whoa..." Rainbow Dash said, getting out of the waiting room, and getting a better look at the room that contained the arrows. The room was unusually... familiar. The miniature screw was docked in the middle of the new room, which looked much like the inside of an office building. All the cubicles, desks and filing cabinets were mostly intact though some of them were out of place and knocked over. The floor was made of simple black and white tiles, which was littered with all sorts of paper. Twilight picked up a piece of paper, and read: 'Aristoxenus Inc. Quarterly Intergalactic Excise Tax Return Form #29A' "Huh, I guess even aliens can't escape taxes..." Twilight jokingly said, tossing the paper back on the floor. "This Equestrian design can't just be a coincidence, could it?" Rarity said, looking inside of the cubicles where smaller terminals lay on the desk. "Well... I guess we should just follow these arrows to find Pinkie..." Fluttershy said, taking a left turn where the first red arrow asked her to. "Alright, but let's make sure the rest of us stick together, okay?" Applejack asked, already galloping in an effort to catch up with Pinkie Pie. THE THIRD DAY "DECK C- CRYOGENIC STORAGE" 10:09 AM "Brr... Did it just get colder for anyone?" Spike asked, covering his torso with his arms to retain heat. "Y-Yeah... I just hope it doesn't get even colder." Twilight replied, thinking of spells she could use to get warm quick. "Don't yall worry, this arrow says we've only got three more to follow." Applejack told her friends, trying to ignore the cold that caused her breath to become visible. "There you girls are! I've been wondering why you were taking so long!" Pinkie Pie said, trotting towards her Ponyville friends. "Where did you go, Pinkie Pie?" Rarity asked, thankful that she had put on clothing before coming aboard The Flying Castle, though feeling a little guilty she didn't pack anything extra for her friends. Pinkie took in a deep breath, and started explaining herself in a rushed voice. "Well-- It got really cold, and then I started freaking out, but then I got to the final arrow which is where that voice said there was going to be cake, but there wasn't any cake! There was just a flashing button next to this weird-looking alien all curled up in a--" "You saw the aliens?!" Spike interrupted, not giving much thought to manners. "Oh yeah! We were playing a game together, he's really good at it!" "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go get some information out of him!" Rainbow Dash shouted, flying faster towards the arrows, her friends on her tail. There was another metal doorway, except the room on the other side was nothing like the offices they had explored to get to the final arrow. It was a dark, cold, and cramped room with three large containers in it. Two of the three were empty, but the third one? Inside of it was an alien. A tall, long, hairless alien with slender fingers. It was connected to many different pipes and wires, some of which went into it's naval, down it's throat, even connected to the back of it's head. A monitor on the outside of the container measured his heartbeat, which was at a very slow rate. He was curled up in the fetal position, so as to fit inside the container that was small, given his size. "What is that thing?" Rainbow Dash said, approaching it in curiosity. Dash's friends caught up with her, and stared at the frozen extraterrestrial. "See! He still hasn't blinked! He's the king, I tell you!" Pinkie shouted, not knowing that her competition couldn't possibly lose. "He froze himself to stay preserved over long stretches of time." Spike quoted one of his stories, slowly walking closer to the being that was significantly larger than he was. "So... What are we doin' about that?" Applejack asked. "I mean, is that why we were brought here? To thaw this feller out?" "Of course... If he's frozen, and we're the only other things on board, he must want us to revive him!" Twilight realized, shouting it loud enough for everyone to hear. "He doesn't look that bad, he kind of reminds me of an ape." Fluttershy said, finally entering the room and coming closer to the frozen alien. A beeping sound could be heard by everypony, Rarity turned around to see a large red button flashing. 'Reanimation Procedure' "And I think this is how we should go about it..." Twilight remarked, trotting over to the button. She didn't pay attention to her worries about wars, about ponies being enslaved. If this creature could understand Equestrian like the ominous voice did, she knew she could talk him out of doing anything rash. Twilight brought up her right hoof, and pressed the button. Author's Note First fan-fiction I've ever written, so if anything seems off, that's why. --Final Projections-- --Final Projections-- A.L.L.O.S. ONLINE. CHECKING SUBJECTS. STATUS OF SUBJECT: MSH-33214: IMMINENT THREAT; ADMIN ACCESS CONFLICT DETECTED: DESTRUCTION OF EQUIS VIA THERMONUCLEAR WEAPON. RUNNING FINALIZED BAYESIAN INFERENCES... PROBABILITY OF DESTRUCTION OF EQUIS VIA THERMONUCLEAR WEAPON: %98.22 PROBABILITY OF DESTRUCTION OF MSH-33214 VIA THERMONUCLEAR WEAPON: %1.22 PROBABILITY OF AVOIDING CONFLICT: %0.56 CURRENT OBJECTIVE: ELIMINATE SUBJECT: "ANONYMOUS" !! ERROR: CANNOT ELIMINATE ADMIN OF SYSTEM, MANDATE OVERWRITTEN !! OBJECTIVE DROPPED UPDATING FINALIZED BAYESIAN INFERENCES... PROBABILITY OF DESTRUCTION OF EQUIS VIA THERMONUCLEAR WEAPON: %99.98 PROBABILITY OF DESTRUCTION OF MSH-33214 VIA THERMONUCLEAR WEAPON: %0.002 PROBABILITY OF AVOIDING CONFLICT: %0.018 Author's Note It all ends tomorrow.
--Chapter 3-- Close Encounters of the Equine KindMulticolored lights started flashing all around the exterior of the container. The pipes that connected the alien's frozen prison to it's surroundings started spewing out freezing cold air. The temperature in the room must of dropped down to 40 degrees. Everypony started huddling together for warmth while they watched the cylinder continue to come to life. All the different sized pipes and wires that connected themselves to the frozen entity disconnected and were pulled back into the roof of the container. The thick orange liquid that kept the alien off the ground quickly drained through the floor, and the creature slowly fell down to the ground. The door opened, and the creature flopped out onto the floor in front of everypony. The extraterrestrial started groaning, and put it's slender 'claws' on the ground to push itself up. Instead of stopping at eye level like Twilight expected him to, he kept on ascending until he was fully on his hind appendages. When it stopped, it looked two feet higher than Twilight and four feet higher than Spike. 'It's a biped?' Twilight thought to herself, wanting to write down additional notes, but realizing this was not the time for it. The alien was staring at her, not only making her feel uncomfortable, but it made her feel... Terrified. Twilight and Spike slowly walked up to the towering biped that stood on the opposite side of the freezing room. He was probably the size of Princess Celestia herself, give or take an inch or two. The figure didn't make any sign that he didn't desire making contact, he just stood in wonder at the appearance of the rest of her friends. Twilight's friends did the same, they probably weren't expecting for him to be so tall. "Greetings, we come in peace..." Spike said, reading the notes he had wrote down for this very moment. Everypony else stood behind Twilight and her assistant, waiting until the visitor proved it was hospitable or hostile. The being waited a few seconds, probably enjoying the tense moment before showing a wide, intimidating smile and quickly concealing it. "Quid est?" Everypony glanced at each other in confusion, then looked back at the biped. "Does he not understand Equestrian?" Rainbow Dash asked Twilight, slightly disappointed. "Gotcha!" The alien shouted out, smiling wide and chuckling at his own 'joke'. Everypony's faces stayed blank and straight, not amused at his humor. "Oh... That one never gets old." He laughed, crouching down to see his guests on eye level. "So, you're not going to hurt us?" Rarity asked, peeking her head out from behind her friends. "Hurt you? Of course not, I've come to--" The being stopped mid-sentence, groaned, and took an index card out of his pocket and read aloud. "Benefit your planet by sharing my extensive knowledge of technology and-- yadda yadda yadda, you get my point, right?" "Uh- sure, are there any more of you on board?" Twilight asked, a little surprised at how informal this first encounter was going. She hoped the Princesses would be tolerant of his casual behavior whenever they met him. That wasn't a meeting she was looking forward to. "Oh no, I'm the only one here, I prefer to do these kinds of things on my own." "Y'know, we haven't properly introduced ourselves..." Applejack said, trotting up to the visitor. "My name's Applejack, this is Twilight and her assistant, Spike." Spike was amazed how well this was going, and waved at the alien. Twilight was a little off-put by his extensive grasp of their language. 'Maybe he knows a little more than he's letting on?' She thought to herself, smiling at the visitor when Applejack called her name. He looked half ready to turn around and go back into his freezing prison. "That over there's Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash." She continued, pointing with her hoof whenever she introduced another pony. Pinkie Pie jumped out from behind her friends, and bounced over to the alien to shake his 'claw'. Rainbow Dash flew over to him and slapped his hand, which he took as a 'high five'. Rarity approached the being, walking as if she was on a runway. The creature wasn't impressed, but was thankful that at least one of these technicolor ponies bothered to put clothes on. "And she's Fluttershy." Applejack finished, using body language to tell the pony to stop being timid and say something to the visitor. She even pushed her over to the front of the extraterrestrial. "We're really glad that you're not here to harm us, Mr. Alien..." Fluttershy whispered at a barely understandable volume. The entity stared at the yellow pony that stood before him, and smiled at how cute and cuddly she appeared. Fluttershy's heart skipped a beat when she got a good look at his teeth. Those teeth... She had seen them before with carnivores. She immediately started putting distance between herself and the meat eating alien, making a mental note to keep away from him as much as possible. "You haven't told us your name, I guess we could keep calling you Mr. Alien, unless you don't want that?" Pinkie Pie shot out while shaking his 'claw'. "We don't have names where I come from, I'm just me. " He explained, still writing down all of the names he heard on the back of his index card. "Well, how do you know when somepony wants to talk to you then?" Rainbow Dash asked, getting a bit too close for comfort to the alien, even feeling his clothes and hands. "We just talk to someone, but if you have to call me something, 'Anonymous' will suffice." The entity told everyone while pulling his hands away from the curious Rainbow Dash. "So... Anonymous, It was a pleasure meeting you, but we can't stay up here forever, would you like to come with us to Ponyville?" Twilight asked with a smile on her face. Whenever she got to sit down with him in Ponyville is when she'd ask the questions she's been waiting for. "Ponyville? What, is that where you all live?" Anonymous inquired, considering the ridiculousness of naming a town after their species. "Yes, It's right below your grandiose Flying Castle." Rarity answered. 'Flying Castle? I think I might enjoy these creatures...' Anon thought to himself, chuckling. THE THIRD DAY "TRANSPORT MODULE" 10:34 AM Anonymous walked over to the Terminal, and pulled out a flat board out of the wall below the display. Rainbow Dash got a glance at the board and saw how it contained the characters of the alphabet, although they were all out of order. She noticed how the disorganization didn't affect Anon, since he didn't need to look at them to do whatever he was doing with them. The Terminal started changing, the area that once showed what was underneath them took up the entire display, and the metal doors closed. Anon made a cracking sound with his hands, (much to everyone's disgust) and started pressing the letters even faster, making a click-clack sound. "So, where should I put us down?" Spike looked up at Twilight with a puppy face that she couldn't say no to. Twilight smiled at Spike's efforts. "The Golden Oak Library, over there." Twilight said to Anon, pointing with her hoof where it was. "The tree?" Anonymous asked with a slightly concerned face. Twilight nodded. "Alright then..." He replied in a skeptical voice, trying not to laugh over how weird this place was getting. A few more click clacks later, the sound of a generator turning on could be heard throughout the small waiting room. Then a large clanking sound came from the metal doors, which Twilight now knew was the Mini-Screw disconnecting from The Flying Castle. The walls started slowly spinning just as they had when everypony came up. The weight of gravity decreased, it was an enjoyable experience, especially for Pinkie Pie who took advantage of it to have fun. Fluttershy was sitting next to Rarity on the couch, keeping a close eye on Anon. He hadn't mentioned that he ate meat, which only made her more suspicious of him. What if he really came here to feed the rest of his planet? Fluttershy tried not to whimper at the very thought of it. She'd tell somepony about it later, just not here. She didn't want to cause a panic. "I've been meaning to ask you, Anonymous... Why did your castle look like an office on the inside?" Rarity asked, expecting more information than Anon provided. "That building wasn't meant to be a ship, it used to be a research facility." Anonymous said, focusing on the keys he was pressing, and keeping an eye on the display that was zooming in on Twilight's library. He opened his mouth to say more, but closed it after remembering something. "So, Anon... Why did your spaceship stop over Ponyville?" Spike was beginning to question who let them aboard if Anon wasn't awake to do it himself. Anonymous let out a big breath, and took his eyes off of the Terminal. "I'm gonna let you in on a little secret, Spike." Anon pulled Spike close and whispered something to him. "I'm not the man in charge." If that was true, Spike wondered who was in charge... Spike started sliding across the floor towards the couch. The ponies who were on the couch were already up on the wall. "My fault!" Anon shouted, trying to keep his footing while he made more click clack sounds, and put the Screw level with the terrain. Everyone regained their balance, and some of them shot Anon upset looks. "As long as everyone's asking questions, why do you have those pictures on your rears?" Anonymous asked, pointing at the three apples tattooed on Applejack's flank, using his peripheral vision to see. "These are called 'Cutie Marks', a pony gets them whenever they realize what they're talented at." Applejack explained to him. "What if you aren't talented at anything?" He replied, still focusing on the Terminal. Applejack was stunned, "Well everypony's talented at something!" She then realized that Anonymous didn't have a Cutie Mark. "What are you talented at?" Anon groaned. "Something you wouldn't understand, because I don't have enough time to explain-- I mean, look at this!" Anon shouted and pointed at a large crowd of ponies gathering around Twilight's library. "I guess everypony wants to make your acquaintance, Anon." Spike said, inspecting the hundreds of ponies that had gathered themselves in the half-hour they were gone. "The Princesses?!" Twilight yelled, looking at the metric tons of royal guards that guarded the white and blue monarchs who were separated from everypony else. 'I guess that conversation is happening sooner than I thought...' Twilight started brainstorming what she would say to the Princesses to convince them that Anonymous was harmless. The Mini-Screw touched down just feet from Twilight's front door, but the screw was blocked with Royal Guards who crowded around the now powered-down UFO. And as if the situation couldn't get any worse, the exit to the Mini-Screw was faced right at the Princesses. Anon groaned. "Ugh... I don't want to play politics right now..." He massaged his temples, trying to work off the headache being frozen gave him. 'I could always play the 'I don't speak that language' card...' he thought to himself. Author's Note Writing this chapter took longer than I expected, probably because I have to make realistic conversations.
--Chapter 4-- Tensions Rising THE THIRD DAY "TRANSPORT MODULE" 10:39 AM "Alright, so this is what's gonna happen: Fluttershy, you run out first and claim that the Aliens have come to enslave your entire race. Rainbow Dash, you fly out as fast as you can in a panic and tell 'everypony' to get away from the U.F.O. Then, the rest of us will run inside the library, lock the doors, and deny that I'm here." "Why don't you just talk to them?" Spike asked, unimpressed at Anonymous' overly complicated plan. "I just woke up, I don't want to do paperwork." He joked. "I'm sure they can take care of it for you if you just asked them!" Twilight argued, growing tired of Anon's excuses. "You make it sound like your rulers are kind and forgiving..." The alien remarked, without any sarcasm in his voice. "The Princesses aren't like what you think at all, they are very understanding and patient." Rarity said. "Aw, you don't have to be afraid of the Princesses! We can all go up there together!" Pinkie smiled at Anon. Anonymous thought about it. 'Well, if I can't prove to these dignitaries that I come in peace, I'm sure their citizens can.' The conversation was cut short by a regal fanfare from the exterior, albeit slightly muffled. A male voice started speaking in the direction of the Mini-Screw. "Being from beyond the stars, The Royal Sisters of Equestria wish to--" Anon let out a sigh. "Well, I guess it's time to go ahead and go out there..." Anonymous made more clacking sounds on his board, before pushing it back in the slot where it came from 'Maybe he's not good at making friends when circumstance isn't on his side.' Twilight thought to herself. The doors opened, and the golden sunlight poured into the dark room. Anon put up his hands to shield his eyes from the sun. He probably didn't get out much, which would explain the almost ivory skin. Everypony started to walk out the door before several of the guards gasped in surprise. It was a mix of seeing the alien in real life, and seeing the Mane Six at such a close proximity to him. After all, he was still a potential threat. "Twily!" One of the guards shouted as he ran up to Twilight. "Big brother!" Twilight shouted, before meeting up with him halfway and putting him in a tight embrace. The other ponies and Spike approached the guard as he started asking questions about their whereabouts. 'Hmm, guess I'm flying solo.' Anon thought to himself, not wanting to interrupt the moment Twilight's brother was relishing. Anonymous started walking up the makeshift stage where the Princesses resided at the top. He looked at the Guards that surrounded him, and wondered if they were for show or if they actually did some enforcing. Some of them had pure fear in their eyes, others looked ready to attack him right there. Anon disregarded their looks, and set his eyes on the royals that were now right in front of him. They were almost eye level with him, just short a couple of inches. Unlike the few ponies he saw before, he realized these two had wings and a horn. Anonymous still didn't know if their horns were of any anatomical importance. "Greetings, It is a pleasure to meet someone who has traveled so far to meet us." The blue princess slowly enunciated. She was a little shorter than the white one, but still taller than the other ponies. "It's a pleasure to meet you too, both of you." The alien said, inspecting the Princesses' different figure. "My name is Princess Celestia, and this is my sister Princess Luna." "We don't have names where I come from, but I've asked your citizens call me Anonymous." "Anonymous? You prefer to keep your true identity concealed?" Luna inquired. "We all have secrets we'd rather not share. Is it alright with the two of you that I'm staying in this town instead of living in my... 'Flying Castle?' " Anon tried not to laugh, but a smile showed for all to see. "You have a harmless demeanor, but just to make sure..." Princess Celestia's horn started glowing, and a piece of parchment and a quill came levitating towards Anon. 'Organic lifeforms with the ability to manipulate Zero Point energy?' Anon was thrown into confusion. He vowed to himself to get a better understanding of it at a later date. "I will let you stay on our planet, but only if you send me a letter every week that explains what you have learned in the field of Friendship." Celestia said, levitating the objects to his hand. 'Friendship? Why couldn't it be something I'm good at, like Quantum Mechanics or Programming?' Anon almost groaned out loud, but didn't for the sake of manners. "A-Alright then..." He said, putting on a fake smile for both of the Princesses before a voice called to him. "Anon! I'm sorry we weren't there, Shining Armor had some questions." Twilight said, looking disappointed in herself that she didn't keep her word. The Mane Six and Spike tried to follow Twilight on stage, but the Royal Guards didn't approve, and stuck out their spears to block their passage. "Eh, it's fine." Anon said in a dismissive voice. Twilight actually expected him to be more angry. Or was this just a passive-aggressive tactic? She'd ask him later. "Twilight Sparkle, you're friends with Anonymous?" Luna asked with a little bit of surprise in her voice. "Well, friend is too strong a word, we just met." Twilight said, looking at Princess Celestia. "Your work's already cut out for you." Celestia said to Anon, chuckling. 'What was funny about that?' He thought to himself. Celestia gestured for Anon to follow her over to the other side of the stage. He gave a look back to Princess Luna and Twilight Sparkle, who were already halfway through a discussion. Anonymous kept his guard up, they seemed pretty docile, but if it came to the point where he had to drop the bombs, he'd do it in a millisecond. "I need you to make a promise to me. If you have a problem with my subjects, you will confront me-- not them." Princess Celestia requested. A thought flashed through her mind. 'Even if he's nice, he could have a short temper...' Anon nodded, wondering if that meant that he could defend himself without nuclear warfare if necessary. 'After all, if she's afraid of me, then it means they lack the defenses to stand a chance against my weapons.' 'Right?' As soon as Anonymous and Celestia walked to the other side of the stage, Luna closed the gap between her and Twilight, "Keep an eye on him for us, okay?" Luna asked Twilight at a low volume. Twilight glanced up at Luna. "Okay. You don't think he's... dangerous, do you?" "Anything's possible, but I doubt Equestria's in immediate danger." "Where's Princess Cadence?" Twilight asked, just now aware of the third Princesses' absence. "Cadence is away on an official mission, she'll be back in a few days, I'm sure." Luna said, raising her head to address Celestia and Anon, who were now returning to the center of the stage. "I'm afraid we have other places to be, other national officials would like to know this information." Celestia said, apologizing to Twilight and Anon. Several carriages carried by Pegasi landed a few feet away from the edge of the stage. The Princesses started making their way over to it along with the Guards who started to orderly board the other carriages. "Goodbye..." Anon waved, a little off taken by how there was absolutely no talk about politics, no talk about being integrated into The Galactic Society. If only other civilizations responded that well to interplanetary visitors... He'd be paid to do nothing. The rest of The Mane Six and Spike climbed up the stage's steps to talk about the Princesses' visit. "So, what are you going to do during your first day in Equestria?" Spike asked Anonymous. "I was planning on doing the basics, attend my party," Anon pointed to Pinkie. "Maybe find a good tailor," He gestured to Rarity. "And finally, I'd like to move in and get some shuteye." He said, now looking at Twilight and Spike, who had volunteered to take in the alien for the time being. "What were you planning on eating?" Fluttershy asked, hoping Anonymous would confess his meat-eating habits to everypony. The peace was disturbed with an eardrum-rupturing explosion. Then a light brighter than the sun itself filled Ponyville. Everypony put their hoofs up in front of their eyes. After a few seconds, the light started to fade out and everypony looked towards it's source. The Flying Castle was gaining altitude, leaving behind a massive cloud of exhaust the size of a city. Further and further until it was out of sight completely. "Ugh... Somepony's going to have to clean that up." Rainbow Dash groaned, though amazed at the Castle's sonic speed. "Does that make you stranded?" Applejack asked, looking at the bizarre trail The Castle left behind. "Nope, I didn't expect it to hang around much longer, though." Anon said, turning to Fluttershy. "To answer your question, I was going to stock up on desserts at my party." "You want to go to your welcoming party now, Mr. Alien?" Pinkie Pie lit up in joy. "Bring it on." THE THIRD DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" 1:06 PM "Oh my god... I've never eaten that much sugar in my life." Anonymous said, clutching his jaw, wondering if his killer toothache would ever go away. "She throws parties often, just eat less next time." Twilight smiled. No threats, No violence, No war. Even if Anon was informal in front of the Princesses, he somehow convinced them he wasn't a threat. "Can't wait to see what your other friend comes up with... What was her name again? Severity? Clarity?" "Her name's Rarity." Spike corrected, a little upset that Anon already forgot somepony's name. "Oh great..." The biped said, looking at a group of ponies gathering around the Mini-Screw that was stationed right outside The Golden Oak Library. 'I can't wait for next week when this all dies down, and I become a friendly neighborhood figure that nobody cares about.' "Yeah, yeah, It's really interesting to look at, stop crowding it." Anon shoved some of the sight-seeing ponies out of the way of the Mini-Screw's door. Anonymous banged a fist against the door three times, and the metallic doors spread open. "Don't worry, I didn't bring much." Anon shouted to Twilight from the inside while pulling various cords from the terminal in the wall, some of them shooting out electricity. "We don't have a guest room, but you can sleep in the basement." Spike said, inspecting the outside of the Mini-Screw in detail. It was obvious that the U.F.O. was older than Father Time himself. There was some writing that was part corroded away and part melted together. Anon held up a black rectangular box in his left hand, and an 'overnight' bag in his right. "I don't mind, anything's better than being crammed in that metal container." Anonymous said as he closed the doors to the Mini-Screw. Twilight remembered how she wanted answers when he got settled down, but seeing how he's so calm about everything, she didn't see any reason why he wouldn't talk about himself right now. "Could you tell us a bit about yourself?" Twilight asked, using her magic to assist Anon with the black box. Anon sighed. "Well, I came from a planet a few centuries more advanced than this one. Graduated from college with a Masters in Quantum Physics and an Associates in Biomechanical Engineering." Not only were Spike and Twilight getting some information from him, so was the half of the town on the other side of the spaceship. "Biomechana-- what?" Twilight asked with a look of confusion in her face. "I made machines that helped my people by augmenting their body's abilities." "So your species were cyborgs with superpowers?" Spike asked, staring at Anon like a fanboy stares at a celebrity. "No-- Not really. We don't have superpowers, but we have a very long lifetime." He replied, imagining himself picking up a building without an exo-suit. "So I guess you're not as young as you look?" Twilight asked, trying to find Anon's limits. He seemed ready to share anything, but nopony shares everything. Twilight opened the door to The Golden Oak Library, and closed the door as soon as Spike and Anon got in. "I'm septillions of years old, though I spend most of my time in stasis. Nothing really goes on in outer space, y'know?" Anon said, carrying the alphabet-board and the display down the stairway to the basement. 'Septillions? That means that either he's lying... or he really is older than the Universe. I'll try to call him out on his bluff.' Twilight thought to herself. "If you do have machines inside of you, would you care if I took a look?" Sparkle blurted out, somewhat regretting what she just said. "Oh... I get it." Twilight tensed up, he'd sounded so casual about everything until now. Now there was something threatening about the way he spoke. Spike picked up on it too, as his face wasn't happy anymore. It was... concerned. "You want to dissect the visitor." Anon smirked, trying to show any emotion besides aggression. "Good news for you, if you wanted to take a better look at the insides, let me save you the trouble." Anon searched the tabletops nearby and picked up a kitchen knife, and started taking off his shirt. 'He's just joking... right?' Twilight thought to herself, looking over at Spike, who had a look of horror on his face. Anonymous brought the knife up to his chest, and put the blade right over where his heart was, and brought it closer and closer to his skin. "STOP!" Twilight shouted, looking away in disgust. "Hmph- typical of an organic life-form. You want a peek of the insides, but when it's not you operating..." "Alright- you made your point. Just... We'll meet you in the basement." Anon grabbed his bag and box, and walked downstairs as if nothing had happened. "Twilight..." Spike called out, looking sick. "He was gonna do it..." Spike knew if she hadn't intervened, there would be a pool of blood on the floor right now. The only thing keeping Spike from freaking out was the thought that Anon somehow replaced his blood with machines. The same Anonymous that was cracking jokes at Pinkie's party, the same Anon that was letting Rarity take his measurements, almost just offed himself in front of Spike and Twilight. "It's okay, Spike. He wouldn't hurt anypony." 'There might be some truth behind that if the first threat he made was one on himself.' She thought. What kind of a monster can inflict pain on itself without breaking a sweat? Author's Note Fun fact: I was going to have that last scene be super-gory but I forgot that I made this E for everyone, so just make-believe an alternate ending.
--Chapter 5-- The Deal THE THIRD DAY 6:30 PM "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" "You're not going to eat your fries?" Twilight asked, a little disappointed to have gone through the trouble of making it if Anonymous wasn't going to eat it. "It's uh... Hay." He said, playing with it using his fork. "If you wanted something else, you should have said so." Spike put his bowl of gems up, offering some to Anon. Anonymous fixed his eyes on Twilight. "I'm fine with the hay for now, thank you." He stared down at his plate of hay fries, trying not to gag. He took a deep breath in and put some in his mouth, and chewed for a few minutes before swallowing. "Not half bad..." Anonymous said while getting another handful of hay. Everyone ate in silence for a while before Spike broke the tension. "So... I hear Applejack and Rainbow Dash are planning a camping trip at Winsome Falls." "That sounds enjoyable, when is it?" Twilight inquired. "Next weekend." Spike glanced over at the alien, who hadn't even looked up from his plate to acknowledge the conversation. "What do you think about camping, Anon?" The biped put his fork down and looked up at the dragon. "It's a good way to get in touch with nature, but I'm not interested in going if that's why you brought it up." Anonymous said, quickly returning back to his plateful of hay. The silence returned for a few minutes until Anonymous said something. "I've been thinking about what you said, Twi. About cutting me in half in the name of science." Twilight started to worry, either he was going to do something crazy again, or he was going to make her feel worse about the whole situation. "I'd like to make a deal." Those words caught Twilight off guard. After all, what did Twilight have to offer that Anon couldn't build himself? He'd proven himself to be able to control various machines with seemingly endless functions, so what did he not have? "I'll let you take a skin sample, but only if you let me get a better look at that horn." He said while finishing off the last of his hay. "That's it? All you want is a look at my horn?" "Yes. You have successfully repeated what I just said." Anon replied in an monotone voice. "What, do you not have magic where you come from?" Spike inquired before crunching another gem. Anonymous started to laugh. "Magic?" He turned his attention over to Twilight. "Alright, Houdini, show me what you've got." The extraterrestrial rested his head on his fist, waiting for her to perform some magic. Twilight shot him a look of confidence before charging up her horn. Anonymous had already gotten a small sample of the 'magical' capabilities when he met the Princesses, but he wanted to know what was the extent of their powers. Could it be used in battle? Could it be used on a manufacturing line? What can it do? A purple aura materialized around one of Anon's forks. The fork started to raise up in front of his eyes. "Is that it?" He said, uninterested. Twilight frowned before coming up with something that would astonish the visitor. The aura disappeared, and the fork fell back to the table, making a loud clinking sound. Anonymous' empty plate started to glow. Gems started to appear out of thin air, one by one they started to stack themselves higher and higher on the alien's plate. "Now that's what I call a magic trick!" Spike said, snatching some of the gems that were forged from nothingness. When Twilight finished casting the spell, the tower of gems reached from the table to the ceiling, much to Spike's delight. It didn't take long before the table cracked under the weight, dumping everyone's plates and silverware on the ground, as well as the hundreds of rocks that were now hurling down on top of everyone. Anon put his arms up to prepare for impact. When he realized the tower was no longer collapsing, he put his arms down. Twilight's horn was still glowing, and so were the gemstones. The gems started to fade out of existence. The two ends of the table lifted off the ground and came together. All the plates, bowls, and silverware floated off of the ground and landed on the table in front of everyone in the appropriate order. 'Well... Houdini never did that.' Anonymous thought to himself. "Okay, I'm mind-blown." He jokingly admitted to a smirking Twilight. "So, when can I get that tissue sample?" The triumphant unicorn asked. "Immediately." THE THIRD DAY "THE BASEMENT" 6:47 PM Twilight was a little tense being held under Anon's machine. He had already moved into the basement, bringing very little with him. From what Twilight could tell, all he brought was a cot to sleep in, the terminal from the Mini-Screw, and a small bag with Celestia-knows-what inside of it. Nothing that she recognized as being dangerous, which kept her calm under his apparatus. The device he held over Twi's horn fit was the shape of a rectangle and was roughly the size of his hand. One side of the rectangle flashed symbols and images much like the Terminal did. "Hmm..." Anon said under his breath, looking at the device's display. "That's all I needed." He said, pulling it away from Twilight's horn. "What did you get from that?" She asked. "None of your business." Anon said, putting the rectangular device in his pocket. Twilight brought her hooves up to her horn to see if Anon had done anything to it. "Now, about that sample..." The alien looked around at Twilight's many scientific instruments that surrounded him before grabbing a test tube from one of the nearby tabletops. He pulled something out of the pocket that didn't contain the 'horn-scanning' device. Twilight quickly recognized it as a pocket knife. Anon flipped the blade out, and started carving a small patch of skin out of his left arm. He bit his lip and stifled a grunt while making the incision. When the sliver of skin was removed, he placed it in the tube and handed it to Twilight. 'It's a good thing I ordered Spike to stay upstairs, he's uncomfortable around Anon with a knife ever since the incident earlier today...' "I could of given you some anesthesia..." Twilight said, feeling a little guilty she didn't offer it sooner. "I can do without it, thank you very much." Anon said, clutching his wound. Twilight brought the sample over to one of her microscopes and placed the bleeding skin under the lens. "You seem like a scientist, how much does your species know about the universe?" Anon asked while looking at his wound, which was already starting to clot. "We know how things work, we just don't know why they do what they do..." Twilight trailed off while scrutinizing the skin's cells. 'Eukaryota cell structure... nothing that different from us so far.' "I don't know how much you've progressed in The Theory of Everything, but we've got some major answers if you're interested." "That... sounds interesting..." Twilight said, not paying much attention to the conversation. 'These cells are incredibly energetic. Is it a disorder or is it normal for his species?' She pondered, looking at the sample even closer. "What time do you usually get up? I wouldn't want to disrupt your schedule." Anon said, sitting down on his cot. "It has to be a disorder... Healthy cells don't divide this quickly..." Twilight thought out loud, though too quiet for Anonymous to pick up. "What?" Twilight snapped back into reality. "Uhh... Nothing." She wondered if he knew about his condition, and if she talked to him about it, would he be mad at her for bringing it up? Sparkle wasn't an expert in biology, but this wasn't like anything she had ever seen before. 'They're dividing like cancerous cells, but every daughter cell produced is killed by the immune system, restricting cancerous growth... ' She was stumped, whatever Anon had, it didn't seem to be doing much damage to the tissue, just draining it of energy. "Well... As much as I love sitting in awkward silence, I'm heading back upstairs to hang out with Spike." Twilight raised her head from the microscope to wave goodbye to Anonymous. He waved back with his left hand, the wound out for all to see. As Twilight was waving, she saw the chunk taken out of his arm had already grown back and was barely inflamed. 'Did he perform a healing spell while I wasn't looking?' Anon closed the door to the basement, leaving Twilight all alone to her laboratory and the skin sample. She looked at the cells some more, how they would divide and die. It seemed pointless... Twilight submerged the sample in different liquids, changed the lens on her microscope. She didn't get any answers. Twilight picked up a nearby scalpel and cut the tissue, hoping for something to happen. To her surprise, as soon as the took the scalpel away from the incision, the skin started to heal. The blood that was being drained from the cut started to thicken, to the point where it formed a scab. Within seconds, the color of the scab started to equalize back to the color of the skin, leaving no trace of the injury. Twilight was excited about her discovery, she tinkered with the sample a few more times, looking under the microscope while cutting the skin. Eventually, she came to a logical conclusion. 'Whenever his body is damaged, the daughter cells don't die, instead they multiply to compensate for the tissue lost in the injury. That has to be why Anon can heal so quickly...' Now that it's purpose was clear, it was quite fascinating to watch. It wasn't a disorder, It wasn't an accident. It was engineered, and beautifully so. Anon had taken his cells-- himself, and modified it to survive deadly injuries, defy death! He really was older than the Universe. Twilight decided to keep the sample for further study. Who knows what other secrets it might hold about Anonymous? THE THIRD DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" 9:21 PM "And in my world, we don't need horses. We have motorized carriages called 'Automobiles'." Anon explained to a sleep-deprived Spike. "Huh... Do any of you walk or run anymore?" Spike inquired, yawning halfway through. "Of course, but for recreation, for--" "Alright, I think that's enough talking about aliens for one day." Twilight interrupted, looking a little tired herself. "Okay then, goodnight little buddy." Anon gave Spike a pat on his head before walking away to give the two some privacy. "I never thought today would end, it's been so eventful." Twilight told her assistant. "Even if he seems a little crazy, I'm glad we're letting him stay. " Spike yawned again. "He's a nice guy..." Twilight used her magic to pull the covers around Spike in his tiny bed. "See you in the morning." She whispered as Spike drifted off to sleep. Twilight trotted over to her bedroom to go to sleep herself, before being approached and stopped by Anon. Anonymous gave a sincere look. "Look, I'm... Sorry about earlier. I guess I overreacted." "No, it was my fault to ask so much of you, I'm sorry." "In any case, you didn't ask for a tissue sample, you asked for one of my artificial organs." Twilight was uncertain about where this was going. "And, well, I only need one kidney..." Anonymous put his hand out to Twilight, who used her magic to hold the object handed to her. It was shaped like a kidney, and that's all the two objects had in common. The artificial one was metallic, and painted white with black stripes in the shape of an 'A'. The ends where the arteries and ureter would of connected were made of fabric, and still had some of his internal muscle attached. "This is very... generous of you." Twilight remarked, a little horrified that he just carved out his own kidney as a gift. "Think nothing of it, Twilight Sparkle. You've been very generous to open up your home to a total stranger." Twilight smiled, levitating the metal organ over to her bedside table. She'd disassemble it tomorrow. She was very sleepy, and needed to rest as soon as possible. "Well... Goodnight." Anonymous said, making his way downstairs and into the basement. "Goodnight..." Twilight flopped onto her bed, not bothering to pull the sheets over her. She stretched out, and turned on her side. Going to sleep was going to be too easy, as easy as closing her eyes. THE THIRD DAY "THE BASEMENT" 11:25 PM Anonymous turned off his computer, and laid back on his cot, releasing a large sigh. The entire day flashed by his eyes, how he met Twilight and her friends, how the Princesses were so kind to him, how interested Spike was in his home world. It was a great day. Anon closed his eyes, and stretched out his limbs as far as he could. Now that he thought about it, what was he doing before he was woken up? Pictures briefly flashed through his head. Pictures of the office, pictures of himself. His train of thought slowed down, and eventually stopped. He opened his eyes, and it was already daylight. Except he wasn't in Twilight's library anymore. He was behind a desk... His old desk. Everything came flooding back to Anonymous, his time on Earth and what he did there. He could see something in his peripheral vision, something looking at the scene alongside him. Anon tried to move his eyes to see the creature next to him, but he couldn't. "Do not worry." A familiar voice said. No matter how much Anon tried to look at the figure besides him, his eyes wouldn't obey. His only hope was to wait for this odd nightmare to end. Author's Note And all that motivation was consumed by writing this one chapter. Also: I do not have an editor or any beta-readers. It's just me going over it several times, so if there's a grammatical error it's because I am a dumb. (Not looking for an editor, by the way)
--Chapter 6-- Fever DreamAnonymous sat at his former desk in his former office, confused about why he was dreaming about his job on Earth. The environment around him was obviously a dream, but why did the dream seem fused with his memory? Not to mention how vivid the dream was. It was unnatural. He could... feel things when he touched them. The entity that hid out of Anon's sight was curious, he could barely make out the shape, but it seemed so familiar. He couldn't move his eyes to see it. Even worse, he couldn't move any part of his body. He was stuck doing whatever he was doing in the memory. Anon looked down at his cluttered desk. Paperwork. And lots of it. At least effort didn't have to be put into the work he was doing. That applied in the dream and when he was on Earth. Anonymous had been alive a long time. Several universes' lifetimes had played out before his eyes. A side effect from being in existence that long was a memory made of Swiss-cheese. Of the millions of creatures Anon had met, of the hundreds of allies he'd made, of the very few friends he made, he could only remember a handful of them. Anonymous would forget about all of them in a heartbeat if it would keep the memory of where he came from. It's probably also why he didn't gain wisdom from the secrets of the infinite, or learn any lessons from his mistakes. A knock at the door startled the working biped. "Come in!" Anon shouted, against his will. The door opened to reveal another one of his kind. A female, to be exact. Slightly taller than Anonymous, but not by too much. "Hey..." Anonymous said dismissively, shifting his attention back to his paperwork. "Good morning, ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛." Whatever name she used to refer to Anon was obfuscated by his perpetually fading memory. "How's the assembly stage going?" He asked the nameless woman. Anonymous recalled he was charge of something at his company. What was he in charge of, again? "It's armed and ready, you'll want to see it." The girl said in an excited voice. "What were you building?" A feminine voice interrogated. Anon looked around his field of view for anyone else, but didn't find anything. It wasn't part of the memory. It was happening right now. The figure in his peripheral seemed to turn and face him. Anonymous could barely make out who it was, but one thing was for sure. It was one of the equines. Anon couldn't talk, but he directed his thoughts towards the pony in the hope of making contact. Telepathy existed in other civilizations, though he never invested in any telepathic implants. With any hope, she might just... Go away. 'Something you couldn't begin to understand.' "I'm sure that if you could explain it well enough, I could comprehend it." The mystery female replied. Anonymous stood up from his seat in a hurry, running with the girl who informed him about the 'breakthrough'. 'Reveal yourself, and I'll be willing to... enlighten you.' Anon 'said', begrudgingly. There wasn't much information to use as incentive for this pony to cooperate. Threats always worked, but this was a delicate political situation. Of course he was going to use threats. "Only on the condition that you won't be mad about my presence here." 'Yeah, sure thing.' He said, somewhat lying. Then again, he couldn't blame this equine. If a highly advanced being was introduced into The Galactic Society, they would keep it under constant surveillance. It only felt right that it should would work vice-versa. Anonymous would let this encounter slide. The figure stepped into the alien's line of sight, revealing her identity. Anon quickly recognized her as one of the Princesses, since she had a horn and wings. 'Let's see if I remember your name... Princess Dash? No-- She wasn't one of the Princesses...' "It is I, Princess Luna." She announced. 'Oh yeah! Now I remember. So... What's with the intrusion?' Luna looked a little bit ashamed of herself. Whether it was for 'breaking and entering' or for getting caught doing it was a mystery. "My Sister is... uncertain about your intentions. She's willing to go to any measure to ensure her subjects' safety, the same as I am." Anon saw the bigger picture-- the friendship letters he was supposed to send, it was just an assurance that he would remain friends with them. 'Did she send you?' Anon asked, in a slightly aggravated tone. "No, I came here because I was curious. Not her. Now... about that project you're working on." Luna pointed her hoof at the girl that was using a security card to unlock a door in front of them. Anonymous had worked on many projects while he was at Aristoxenus Inc., Artificial Intelligence, Transhuman technology, The Alcubierre warp drive. Whatever he was creating now wasn't anything like it's predecessors. No, it was something bigger, something more... Destructive. 'Right now, we're working on a Weapon of Mass Destruction.' Anon confessed. He had been honest with civilizations before these equines. As disturbing as it sounded, he found it funny to see them panic. Like ants under a magnifying glass. That's all they were to him. Princess Luna had a look of worry on her face, surely the visitor that was so kind to them earlier the same day wouldn't resort to using it, would he? Luna demanded an answer. "How does it operate?" 'It's a Salted Thermonuclear Bomb. Now, to tell you how it works, i'm going to have to give you a quick lesson in nuclear physics.' He explained, hoping to buy some time before she asked any more questions. The alien didn't remember everything about the operation of the bomb. It was probably for the better, though. If they felt threatened, they might try to construct one themselves. Now that would be catastrophic. As Anonymous involuntarily followed a girl without a name while trying to remember how Nuclear Bombs worked to stall the equine princess of the night, he reflected on how ridiculous the situation was. Just thinking about it made him giggle. Not the best time to be chuckling, when you're talking about a device that can blow an entire continent to kingdom come. As if poor Luna wasn't already tense. After a quarter hour of navigating a maze of offices and going through several highly-guarded doors, the female and Anon stopped. "I looked over your list of possible targets. We've decided to target Ceres for the first test." The mystery girl explained. "Ceres?" 'It's trillions if not quadrillions of light-years away from your planet, don't worry.' Anonymous assured a concerned Princess. "Beautiful, just beautiful." Anon remarked while gazing up at the massive missile in the middle of the room. The exterior was made of a reflective grey metal that would survive the white hot temperatures of being shot through the atmosphere several times the speed of sound. "Are there any more of these weapons?" 'Of course! In fact, I've got several of them aboard my Flying Castle.' Anon said, waiting for Luna to freak out. After all, if you're going to enter someone's memories, be prepared for some traumatizing sights. "WHAT?" The Princess was plunged into a state of pure panic, pacing around the room. 'I have a proposal, wake me up now and I'll disarm the missiles for the time being.' Anon said, proud to of finally found some leverage. Luna thought about it for a few seconds, ignoring the conversation between Anonymous and the girl in the lab coat. Whatever they were talking about wasn't important anymore. The fate of Equestria depended on Luna's decision right now. She took in a deep breath. "How will I ever know if you're telling the truth?" 'You won't, but that's just a chance you have to take.' He answered, internally smiling at how he was playing the situation. Anonymous expected a response from the horrified dignitary. Instead, when he blinked he didn't see the missile towering over him. He didn't see the nameless girl. He saw the ceiling of Twilight's basement. He was lying in his cot, not accompanied by any Princesses. He considered whether or not he should go back to sleep, checking his computer for the time. '3:00 AM? Eh, it's technically morning.' He thought, pushing the blanket off of him. He stretched in his collapsible bed, and got up to start the day. THE FOURTH DAY "PONYVILLE" 3:14 AM Anonymous walked through the dark city, enjoying the cool, misty air. Nature isn't something he had the time to pay attention to, until he came here. Not many ponies were awake at this time of day, but the ones that were awake were surprised that the visitor was already up. He liked to think that he made a good reputation while at Pinkie's party. Then again, some of them were offset about his disturbing humor. Some were offended when he jokingly said 'Shut up'. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't heard any of them swear or make threats to each other, even sarcastically. 'Maybe they have advanced morals?' Anonymous thought to himself, taking a second to look up at the starry night sky. Anon passed by Rarity's place, or 'The Carousel Boutique' as she called it. It had an unusual architecture, though it was probably for show rather than structure. No lights were on, everyone asleep. At least she wasn't working too hard on Anon's clothing. A bench was placed not too far away from the boutique. Anon walked over to it and took a seat. It didn't have a dramatic view that overlooked the town, but it was a scenic view with all of the trees. The houses looked somewhat medieval, though more colorful. 'This Planet's probably stuck in the 1800's or something.' Anonymous thought while taking in deep breaths of the fresh morning air. At least they didn't have to worry about pollution. He thought about the planet. 'Equis Beth-32C' Beings that visited from other worlds in their mythology were probably just outlaws, running planet to planet from the galactic authorities. It had happened on other planets, there's no reason why it wouldn't of happened here. Anon heard some pony trotting towards him. When he looked over and saw his roommate, he looked back over at the trees and the houses. "Good morning." She remarked instead of asking. "I didn't wake you up, did I?" The visitor inquired. "No. I didn't get much sleep." Twilight replied. They sat in silence, enjoying the fresh air, looking up the night sky. Too many stars to be counted, but Anon knew the exact number of stars in their Galaxy. The exact number of planets, and which ones harbored life. It was common information in The Galactic Society, but such trivia would be worth more than all the money on this planet. "Do you ever wonder why we're here?" She asked without looking down from the sky. "Are you getting existential on me, Twi?" He asked with a grin. "I guess. So many of life's questions go unanswered on our planet and on yours." She wasn't wrong. An infinite amount of time to solve life's problems, and all creatures spent it on improving their understanding of the universe rather than themselves. Anonymous was thinking up an intelligent response. "Life..." He paused for a second to finish up his thought. "Is too complex to sum up using words." A smirk slowly formed on Twilight's face. "That pretty much summed it up." Anonymous chuckled. "Let's go home. I'll cook you breakfast." Twilight didn't hesitate to get back up from the bench and start trotting home. Anonymous looked up at the sky one final time. Whenever he was on his ship, he was a part of the sky. One with the gods. When he was on a planet, the sky would look down on him, observing him. Just like Princess Luna. He was safe. He was being watched. THE FOURTH DAY "CANTERLOT - EQUESTRIAN CAPITAL (TARGET)" 4:12 AM THE WIZARD OF OZ. "What is it, Luna?" Celestia sat up and rubbed some sleep out of her eyes, wondering what was so important. "It's the visitor. He brought weapons." Princess Celestia frowned. She took a few seconds to collect herself before lowering her head and releasing a large exhale. "Prepare for the worst, hope for the best." She said, trying to disguise a shaking voice. "I'll let the troops know immediately." Luna informed her Sister before leaving the room and closing the massive doors behind it. Princess Celestia reclined back onto her bed, thinking about the implications of these recent events. Their whole existence was in jeopardy, they had to take cautions. At the same time, taking said cautions might cause the event that needed the extra attention in the first place. There was no escape from this situation. Each possible outcome was an undesirable one. If she felt this worried in her own bedroom, how would she tell her subjects? They needed somepony to be fearless. Somepony to show them courage. The stress Celestia found herself in almost drove her to tears. Almost. Because a few seconds before the Princess would of broke down, green flames erupted from the corner of the room. It was a scroll. Celestia opened it up in the hopes that it brought good news. She needed good news. Her eyes read who it was from, and she knew that even more trouble was headed her way. It was from Princess Cadence, giving Princess Celestia an update on her mission. "King Sombra has returned."
--Chapter 7-- Omniscience (Part 1) THE FOURTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (NON-TARGET) 6:48 AM "Well, maybe the fifth time's a charm?" Twilight teased while scraping Anonymous' previously failed breakfasts into the trashcan. "Cooking has been my mortal enemy for an eternity. Don't worry, I should be able to get at least one pancake this time." He said, adjusting the dial for the burner on Twilight's gas stove. Anonymous poured new batter into the pan and set it on the burner, adding the ingredients as he cooked. He made sure to keep his cooking apron away from the burner, trying to avoid any repeats of his third attempt. Twilight didn't say anything, she was too busy staring off into space. Anon looked back to investigate the cause of the silence, giggling when he saw Twi's face. "Have we really run out of things to talk about already?" Anon asked, laughing while doing so. Twilight's blank face snapped to attention, then immediately went back to her empty face while she thought about it. Most of the time they had spent together was in silence, as if they were total strangers. In a way, they were. They had just met yesterday and didn't know that much about each other. "No... It's just..." Twilight tried to explain her train of thought. "Eh, It's alright, don't feel like you're a bad friend." 'Friend' The skeptical antisocial alien called Twilight Sparkle, The Element of Friendship a friend before she called him one. Now she really didn't feel like a good 'friend'. Judging by Anon's face, he didn't care about it at all. He was too busy reading the instructions on the back of the Pancake mix box. "My brother recently got married to a Princess." She said, trying to spark some interest in him. Anonymous waited a second before showing a forced smile. "Good for him. Was it the White one or the Blue one?" Twilight remembered that Anon hadn't met Princess Cadence yet. In fact, where had Cadence been? It was unusual for a wife to be away from her husband so shortly after their honeymoon. "You haven't met her yet." "Interesting, we can go and meet her soon." He commented while stirring the mix in the pan. He spilled some in the burner, creating a nauseating smell. "I'm not sure you'll even be able to fit through the train's doors." Twilight said, half-joking. "Trains? Why would I take the train when I've got a flying spacecraft parked on your porch?" Anonymous took the pan off the burner and tried to flip the pancake. He lost his grip, and the pan fell onto the ground with all the batter inside, making a loud crashing sound that echoed throughout the Library. Twilight nearly jumped out of her skin, not expecting such a sudden noise. "Hey... What's the big idea?!" Spike shouted from the top of the stairs, just now awake. "I was making breakfast..." Anon groaned, ripping off his apron in defeat. "It's okay, we can get fast food for breakfast." Twilight turned to Spike to see if he approved. "Sounds good?" Spike let out a yawn and gave a thumbs-up before heading to the bathroom for his morning routine. Anonymous tensed up a little bit. It had been a while without meat, and he didn't like the idea of becoming a vegetarian. The temptation to order a steak from Draco 27-c was killing him. Then again, a meat-eating alien might not help his poor reputation. "Actually... I'll get something to go." THE FOURTH DAY "FAST FOOD RESTAURANT" (NON-TARGET) 7:42 AM As Anon entered the restaurant, around half of the patrons put their food in bags and left as soon as possible, some not worrying about their food. Twilight and her friends were the only ponies from Ponyville to make contact with him, not including a few brave Equines at the party who dared to start a conversation with the alien. "Alright..." Anonymous pointed to Twilight while looking at the colt behind the counter. "I'll have this horse, cooked and stuffed, and uh... add a side of hayfries and a chocolate milkshake, please." The colt didn't pay any attention to Anon's bad jokes. "I will have a medium hayburger with a side of hayfries. No drink, please." Twilight said while giving Anon a disapproving look. It was those kinds of jokes that made everypony anxious when he was around. "I'll just have some hayfries and a chocolate milkshake." Spike said, on his tip-toes so the cashier could see him. "That'll be six bits." The colt announced. Twilight levitated some 'gold' coins out of a pouch she brought along with her. Anon assumed it was a wallet, though he didn't see any reward cards inside it when she opened it up. Anon glanced at the currency Twilight 'held' in her zero-point field. No markings on it at all. It would be very easy to counterfeit. 'It's probably not even real gold. I bet it's just brass and trace amounts of gold melted together' He thought to himself, a little jealous that Twilight was super-rich compared to him. "Take a seat and we'll be right with you in a minute." The trio walked over to one of the nearby booths and took a seat near a window. It looked like any restaurant on any other planet, just themed with their culture. Anonymous liked how low-key it was. "Hey, Twilight!" A familiar female voice called from across the room. Twilight glanced over to find that Rainbow Dash was already halfway to their seat. She appeared well-rested and cheery. 'She probably didn't have her dreams ransacked by the Princess of the night.' Anon thought to himself, glancing around the room for a coffee maker. "I thought I saw Twilight, Spike and a six-foot monster across the room." Rainbow gave a smile to assure that she wasn't trying to offend anyone. Anonymous smiled very briefly before reverting back to his serious face. He brought out the device he had used to scan Twilight's horn, tapping it with his right hand and holding it with his left. "So, did I tell you that AJ and me are taking a trip to Winsome?" Rainbow asked Twilight. "Too late, I already told her." Spike informed Rainbow between bites of his hayfries. Anon brought the device up to his ear, as if he was waiting for it to say something. He interrupted their conversation as soon as Spike stopped talking. "Could I have some silence for a second? Thanks." It eventually made a sound, though it didn't sound like anything in Equestria. It was just a low-frequency tone, followed by several other tones of the same frequency. "YOU HAVE REACHED THE ARISTOXENUS ADMINISTRATIVE MAINFRAME." Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and her assistant could barely hear the words the device said, but they could tell who was saying them. It was the tin-can voice from the waiting room. "Yeah, send the payload." "SENDING PAYLOAD." "Thanks." Anonymous said, before bringing the device down from his ears and tapping it a few more times. "Go ahead." He gestured for the conversation to continue as if nothing had just happened. "Yeah... So do you want to come along?" Dash asked, trying to pretend she didn't see anything. "I'd love to, but my sleep schedule's been messed up ever since I heard there was an alien spacecraft flying above us." Twilight said, just now taking a bite of her hayburger. Spike finished his fries and slid the empty package away from him. "Thanks for the snack, Twi." A loud high-pitched tone erupted from the other side of the booth making everyone in the restaurant jump, Anonymous included. "I totally not mean for that to happen, sorry." He tried to laugh it off. "What are you doing?" Rainbow inquired with a slightly annoyed voice. "Ordering." She couldn't tell if he was joking or not. It was very hard to tell with him since he kept his face and voice devoid of emotion most of the time. "Hey, it's the Flying Castle." Spike pointed out the window. It looked the same as it did yesterday, except it was way closer than it was when it was last seen. Much closer. Only about one hundred feet off the ground. Something relatively small fell off the spacecraft before The Flying Castle immediately started picking up altitude, trying to avoid contact with the terrain. "Hey, Anon. Do you think you could race me in that thing one of these days?" Dash asked, hoping to find its' maximum speed, and who was the faster. "Sure, one day. Now scoot, I have to go get that." Anonymous waved his hands for Rainbow to get up. He jumped out of the booth as soon as she could get out of his way. He walked right out the front door and jogged a few hundred yards to where the spaceship dropped the mystery box. "So, how's your roommate?" Dash inquired, hoping for an interesting response. "He's uh... Fine. He... carved out his own kidney as a gift." Twilight replied, taking another bite of her burger. "I'm glad to hear-- wait... What?" Rainbow couldn't believe what she just heard. It had to be a prank. "That's not breakfast talk, Twilight." Spike complained before belching in disgust, trying not to throw up at the thought. A red flashing light led Anonymous over to the long metal box. Very rarely did he ever need "The Payload", but considering how strained his political relationship with the Princesses was, it qualified as an emergency. When he was out of the restaurant's line of sight, he made a run for the box. As he approached the metal container, the light stopped flashing, sensing him nearby. Anonymous turned the rectangular box over so it was face up. A small black plate was exposed near the single lock that kept it closed. He blew some of the debris off the plate and pressed his thumb to it. It made a beeping sound, and the lock made a clicking noise. Anon threw the lid open and gazed at the contents. One coffee maker, one soda maker, a few contact lens, an earpiece and meal replacement drinks. They were the most valuable items on this planet. Anon grabbed the drinks and the portable container that held the lens and the earpiece, leaving the two appliances behind. He put the container in his pocket to conceal it, and emptied one of the bottles into his mouth enjoying its' meaty taste. The box itself was worthless, it'd be easier for some locals to make an interesting discovery than for Anonymous to wrestle with it any further. It's not like anyone would be stupid enough to crawl inside it. Anonymous strolled back into the restaurant with twenty-three drinks in his hand and a small black box in his pocket. Everypony had finished their breakfast and were now conversing. He sat down next to Dash, not paying attention to whatever they were talking about. He pulled the slim box out of his pocket and removed its lid. Anon picked up the lens and held it up, gently placing it on his eyeball. Then there was the earpiece to worry about. Not quite as difficult as the lens, he just had to shove it inside his ear. Anon discarded the box by placing it in the trash on Twilight's plate. He knew had a big problem coming very soon, and now he had the solution. "Since when did you start wearing contacts?" Spike asked soon after Twilight and Dash's chat came to a conclusion. "Since right now." THE FOURTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (NON-TARGET) 11:23 AM Anonymous didn't particularly enjoy reading, but in this case he would make an exception. Books seemed to be the only way these Equines stored their information. No Random access memory, no Solid state drives, no Entangled crystals. Books. It was quite a step down for him, being used to such an advanced world. The door to the Library opened, and inside walked all of Twilight's pony friends. Applesack, Spectrum Dash, Cluttershy, Inky Sly and Barbarity. Not the weirdest names he'd ever heard in this sector of the galaxy, or at least not as bizarre as 'Glorkenpunff', but they were pretty odd. They were talking about something, as usual. Anon didn't worry too much about it. He didn't come here to force himself into their lives or to eavesdrop. He came here to 'protect and benefit' them, just like his business card said. That and the rent-free room Twi gave him. Whatever they were talking about, Twilight was getting pretty heated. Anon looked up from his book when he heard Twi's frustrated grunt. It was almost as if an explosion had just thrust the Library sky-high. "JUST A TEST?" "Twilight, darling, please calm down. If it means this much to you, we can come along with you to Canterlot." Rarity tried to calm her down, but also tried not to smile at how Twilight overreacted. Twi sighed. "I'm sorry, I guess I'm just tired." She used her magic to pack her bags full of miscellaneous flashcards and scrolls that were lying around on nearby desks. "Anon! We're going to Canterlot for a couple of hours, are you gonna be okay here by yourself?" A devious smile formed on his face. Now he would be all alone. "I'll be fine without you, don't worry." He could tell just by Twilight's face that she was uncertain if she could trust him all alone. Still, she didn't have much time to worry about that. Twi and her friends were already out the door before he finished answering. Now that he was by himself, he could go into the basement and have some... Quality time with himself and some images on his terminal. THE FOURTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (NON-TARGET) 11:27 AM 'Well... That didn't take long at all.' Anon thought to himself while releasing a large exhale of disappointment. A loud knock on the door forced him to collect his thoughts. He got up from his cot and walked over to the basement's stairs. As he was walking up the stairs, he heard voices coming from outside the door. 'This might be the perfect time to use the lens' He considered. Anonymous blinked thrice very quickly and was almost blinded by the sudden light being burned into his eyes. It was a terminal... On his eyes. Not only incredibly convenient but useful when he needed advice in a conversation, such as the one he knew he was about to have with the Princesses. As Anon approached the door, he grinned. 'They have no idea what lies beyond their world.' 'They have no idea what I'm capable of.' 'They don't know what the man behind the curtain has in store for them.' As soon as Anonymous' hand touched the doorknob, a metallic voice started to speak to him through his Earbud. Loud enough for him to give him directions, but not loud enough for anyone else to hear. LISTEN TO THEM. The door flung open, forcing Anon to move back. DON'T ACT INTIMIDATED. "Royal Guard! Don't move, or we will attack!" 128 HOSTILES. 48 INSIDE, 80 OUTSIDE. PRINCESSES INCOMING. Hundreds of them poured into the Library, all pointing spears towards Anon. They made him sit down on a nearby chair, keeping a tight eye on him. CALCULATING STRATEGIES... There were plenty ways out of this situation. SUCCESSFUL STRATEGY IDENTIFIED. But Anonymous was going to play Mr. Responsible, for everyone's sake. DO IT FOR THE GALACTIC SOCIETY. For Twilight's sake. DO IT FOR HER. For Spike's sake. DO IT FOR ME.
--Chapter 8-- Omniscience (Part 2) THE FOURTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (TARGET) 11:32 AM The Guards continued to pour into the room, attracting the attention some nearby pedestrians. After a few minutes, the small group had grown into a crowd. Of all of the publicity Anonymous could have gotten, this was probably the worst, being swatted by the Princesses' guards. SHOW NO EMOTION It was hard to stay on his train of thought with the voice shouting in his ears. Speaking over it would be even harder, but it had to be done. LISTEN DON'T THINK The Royal Guards started to make a path between Anonymous and the front door. One of them forced Anon to sit on a nearby chair, giving him a death stare in the process. A regal fanfare cried out from the front of the room, grabbing more attention from the Equines outside. PAY NO ATTENTION "Announcing the presence of the royal sisters of Canterlot! Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!" DO NOT BOW Everypony bowed down on one leg, showing praise to their almighty rulers. Only one creature in the room refused to bow. The guards did not like that. "You will bow down before the Princesses!" A nearby Guard yelled at Anonymous. BREAK HIS SPEAR He held up his spear and pointed it at the visitor's chest. A smile formed on Anon's face, and he raised up his hand towards the Guard. *CRACK* Everypony's mouths hung open at the daring alien. Anonymous dropped the tip of the spear to the floor, staring at the Guard who threatened him. DON'T LET HIM TALK "You insolent, insufferable, little piece of sh--" DON'T TALK ABOUT IT "Princess Celestia and Luna! Did the two of you get a good night's sleep?" Anon remarked, now looking at the bags underneath their eyes. STOP IT "I know I didn't." Anonymous turned his head and stared at Luna. LISTEN TO ME A Guard near the front opened up a scroll and read it out loud. DON'T WORRY "You are hereby exiled from the planet known as 'Equis'. You will board your spacecraft and leave immediately, or you will be imprisoned in Tartarus. " INTERRUPT HIM "For what reason?" Anon interjected, annoyed at the Guard. YOU ARE INNOCENT Princess Celestia approached Anonymous, looking down on him in his chair. I WILL PROVE IT "For threatening my subjects, and for creating a sense of terror worldwide." THEY DON'T KNOW TERROR The alien took a deep breath, and looked around the room. He closed his eyes for a minute, trying to listen. YES YOU DO "Have you anything to say in your defense?" The Guard finished. KEEP LISTENING "Yes... I do..." THEY MISUNDERSTAND YOUR INTENTIONS. WOULD YOU COME HERE JUST TO TERRORIZE? YOU HAVE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO DO. Everypony's ears perked up. There was something different about how he was speaking. It was slurred, as if he had been drinking. GOOD "Your 'Majesties', you misunderstand my intentions. You believe that I came here just to terrorize your citizens? I have much more important things to do..." He smiled towards the end of the sentence. REPEAT AFTER ME "What are your true intentions, then?" Luna asked. SHARE YOUR EXTENSIVE KNOWLEDGE AND PROTECT THEM FROM THE SOCIETY'S ENEMIES "I have come here to benefit your planet by sharing my extensive knowledge of the universe and by protecting you from the enemies of The Galactic Society." Anonymous answered with a garbled voice. THEY SUSPECT SOMETHING Celestia wondered what game he was playing, talking normally besides the drunken voice. DON'T ANSWER ANYTHING "I wish to meet your superiors." DON'T LET HER He raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?" The Princesses stayed silent. "Alright then. Your funeral." He said, disappointed. Celestia and Luna looked at each other and conversed in whispers. "Fine. We won't see your superiors." Celestia relented. "Then what do you want to do? Did you think this over?" Anonymous asked, no longer slurring his speech. STOP IT "Prove your good intentions without making contact with your kind." LISTEN TO ME Anonymous rolled his eyes. GIVE THEM THE DEED "In the basement, there's a black leather bag. Bring it up here and I will present my evidence." Anon asked the Guard with the broken spear. The Guard looked at the Princesses, who nodded back at him. He took off down the stairs, muttering something under his breath. Princess Celestia turned to her younger sister. "Do you think he's telling the truth?" THEY DO NOT TRUST YOU Luna groaned, keeping her eyes on the alien across the room. ESPECIALLY THE NIGHT PRINCESS "He's never told the truth. Trust me." Celestia looked at Luna's face. Whatever else she saw in Anon's dreams wasn't helping her with her stress. The Guard trotted back up the stairs with the bag in his mouth and dropped it in front of Anonymous' chair. A golden aura engulfed the bag, and it levitated over to the Princesses. Princess Celestia turned the bag upside down and an excess of alien technology poured out all over the floor. Golden cards flew everywhere, and a stack of paperwork flopped onto the floor. Luna pulled the stack of paper up to eye-level while Celestia investigated the bag, making sure there wasn't a secret compartment. "Certificate of Property Ownership?" "You may want to read even further..." Anonymous choked back a laugh. CERTIFICATE OF PROPERTY OWNERSHIP AWARED TO: CITIZEN (MECHANIC SAPIEN- #33,241) FOR: OWNERSHIP OF STAR SYSTEM 'EQUIS-224' AWARDED: THE FIFTH OF MAY, 14,552,300,622 YEARS (AFTER INFLATION #22,341,992). The Princesses had a look of confusion on their faces. "And... What does this prove?" Celestia inquired. "I own this solar system." An awkward silence filled the room for a few seconds before the guards all erupted into laughter. "He's Insane!" "It's Too Funny!" "I Can't Take It!" The Princesses giggled a bit themselves. For thousands of years, they had protected their country from its enemies. Then one day, an Alien came and bought it from them without their knowing. It just didn't seem realistic. When the laughter died down, Anon was the first to speak. TELL THEM YOUR STORY "Four months ago, this part of the Galaxy was put up for purchase. I had heard rumors of life on this planet and kept an eye on it ever since. I spent every penny I've earned in the last few thousand years to own this place." THEY ARE ENTICED, CONTINUE The Royal Guards, the Princesses and the pedestrians outside all listened intently. CONVINCE THEM YOU ARE GOOD "The reason why I bothered? Some of us might not care as much about your customs, your governments, or your lives. The fact that you remain is all because of me. I want to become friends." Princess Celestia looked down at the ground for a while. Was she going to trust Luna or Anon? 'All he wants is a friend...' Celestia broke the silence. "Anonymous..." The Guards looked up at the Princesses. "You may continue to stay on our planet." "What?!" Luna shouted. "You believe him?" "Lighten up, Luna. After all, he hasn't given Twilight any problems, so... He isn't a threat anymore." Princess Luna looked dumbfounded. Was her sister going to let this stranger just take over their world? And not even put up a fight? Luna stammered for a while before trotting up to Anon. "If I hear that you harmed a hair on anypony's head... I will come back and I will take care of you, my way." She whispered into his ear. After she told him off, she turned around and stormed out the door. The Guards started to trot out of the Library, talking amongst themselves. THANK THE SUN PRINCESS "Thanks." "No problem. But some advice?" KEEP IT IN, THIS ISN'T OVER-- Anonymous took out his earpiece to hear better. "Stay on my sister's good side." Celestia looked serious. It was hard to take these cute cuddly horses serious, but Anon tried his best. "You got it." She turned around and left the Library with the rest of the guards, leaving no evidence of their visit. The ponies in the window started to walk away, trying to start a conversation with the Princesses. He was safe for now, but only one of the Princesses was willing to give him a shot. 'If Luna won't listen to me... Somepony else will have to convince her... Another Princess...' THE FOURTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (NON-TARGET) 4:33 PM Not an eventful day. A nice breakfast with Twilight and Dash. An intervention with the Princesses. The occasional pony knocking on the door to ask the alien a question. Not an eventful day. In fact, it was downright boring. Anonymous leaned back in his chair, sighing loud enough for ponies outside to hear. Anon grabbed one of the bottles that contained nutrition only meat could supply. He quickly drank it, crushed the bottle, and tossed it aside. '16 Left...' He would eventually have to come clean about being an omnivore. The sooner he did, the sooner he could get his hands on real meat. Then again, he wasn't in a hurry for Fluttershy to find out that he had to kill small animals to live. Of course, he wouldn't have to tell them if they never got back from their test in Canterlot. 'What kind of test takes all day to finish?' He couldn't stand to read another book. He'd rather gouge his eyes out with a spork. Anonymous contemplated going outside and befriending some locals... 'Nah...' Most of them ran away from the sight of him. 'They probably weren't conversation-starters anyway.' Then he remembered something that every species from every planet loved to do. Something that never got old, even after eighteen septillion years of being alive. THE FOURTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (NON-TARGET) 9:08 PM "Anonymous! We're home!" Twilight shouted, closing the door behind her. Spike saw what Anon had built, and pulled Twilight over so she could see it too. "Whoa..." Anon had taken the entire Library and turned it into a blanket fort. Hundreds if not thousands of blankets filled the Library with imaginary hallways and rooms. "Hey, guys!" Anonymous poked his head through a 'window' upstairs. "This is the kind of thing I didn't want to happen while I was away!" Twilight groaned in frustration. "Cheer up, Twi! This is awesome!" Spike exclaimed while running through one of the fort's doors. "There's room for you too!" Anon informed Twilight, hoping he didn't overstep his boundaries. "Maybe in a little bit..." A purple field covered Twilight, and she disappeared from sight. She reappeared upstairs near her bed and slid under her covers. "She looks exhausted, what did you guys do?" "We saved an entire Empire from this evil shadow-king named Sombra!" Anonymous took a second to process what Spike had said. "Are you sure you didn't just imagine the whole thing?" Spike rolled his eyes and started walking over to his bed. "I'm not a kid, Anonymous." "Goodnight!" 'Fine, go to bed and leave me awake and... alone.' Since everypony was going to bed, Anon figured he may as well do the same. But he didn't go downstairs to his cot. He laid down on the hard wooden floor of the Library and stretched out, enjoying the space. 'Alone' The word resonated within Anonymous. It perfectly described him. There weren't any humans to talk to for parsecs around. In fact, Anon tried to avoid all creatures whenever he could, now that he thought about it. There were only a few times he put up with them. Anonymous tried to recall when. A lifetime ago... Author's Note Time constraints, Yay~
--Chapter 9-- Three Strikes THE FIFTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (NON-TARGET) 11:23 AM "WAKE UP!" Anonymous jumped up in fear, defensively raising his hands towards the booming voice. "You've been asleep all morning. Your lunch is on the table." Twilight informed the groggy alien, taking her finished plate to the kitchen to be cleaned. Anon wiped some of the sweat off his forehead, trying to remember if he dreamed about anything. 'Talk about a nightmare' He stood up and walked over to the table, realizing that his fort made of blankets was missing, probably taken down by his nerdy roommate. Spike looked like he just got up too, he was at the table slowly munching away on his breakfast made of gems. "Good morning." Spike looked towards Anon, smiling at his messed-up hair. "Hey." Anonymous replied. They both turned to their plates. Apparently Twilight had taken his 'No hay, please' remark to the extremes. "Mashed potatoes, potato wedges, sweet potatoes, and mixed nuts?" Anonymous raised an eyebrow at Twilight. She let out a groan. "You never told me what you eat. I just picked whatever had the most Calories." 'Still better than hay...' "So, I hear the two of you saved an empire last night. Impressive." Anon said, teasing Spike. "Twi, tell him what happened." The dragon was getting fed up with Anonymous' smug face. "We helped save it. The Crystal Ponies are the ones who charged the Crystal Heart so that King Sombra couldn't enter the empire." Anonymous wasn't a psychologist, but it seemed like Twilight was completely serious, judging from her lack of emotions. "Oh--Okay?" "And guess who delivered the Crystal Heart to Princess Cadence?" Spike said, leaning back in his chair, crossing his arms behind his head. Twilight rolled her eyes and smiled. "You did, Spike." "Well that's interesting, I guess you're like a hero to that empire now." Anon said between bites of mashed potatoes. "Alright now, don't inflate his ego too much. We don't need another Rainbow Dash." A knock at the door interrupted Spike's comeback. Twilight put down her dishes and trotted over the door to see who it was. "Maybe it's a crowd of fans." Anon smirked at Spike, who folded his arms, trying to ignore him. "Cadence! Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" The alien watched as Twilight shook her flank in the stranger's face. 'Alien customs, Pfft.' Whoever it was, they had an awful lot of bodyguards securing the entrance. Anonymous hoped the Princesses hadn't set up an intervention where they would try to talk him out of being an omnivore. "Anonymous?" The visitor inquired. "Present." Anon looked up to see who it was. He was somewhat shocked to find another Princess standing in the middle of Twilight's library. 'They're gonna move in before you know it, Anon.' "Twilight, I want us to spend some time together, but could I talk to him alone for a while?" "Uhh, sure." Twilight said, feeling a little left out. "C'mon down to my high-tech Alien lab." He joked, escorting the pink alicorn down the stairs. THE FIFTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (NON-TARGET) 11:32 AM "This is it? This is the most advanced room on Equis?" Cadence asked, sitting down on Anon's cot. "Don't judge a computer by its tower. Everything in here is up to Galactic standards, give or take a thousand years." Anon said, rifling through his black leather bag. She didn't understand his reference, but she got the point. "So I've been wanting to meet you for quite a while, but because of that incident in The Crystal Empire I haven't been able to meet you yet." She said, looking at Anon's 'alphabet board'. "Alright then, I'll answer some of your questions, and you'll answer some of mine." Cadence lit up in excitement. Information from other planets was hard to come across. "Are you going to hurt us?" "Not unless you hurt me. I'll give you three strikes in case you do." "Are there other aliens? If so, where are they?" "They're at the center of the galaxy, all intelligent life gathers around the center of every galaxy." "What are you capable of?" "Doing whatever I want, whenever I want, however I want it done." Cadence was about to bombard Anon with another question before he interrupted her. "Now-- Who created your species?" Princess Cadence was confused. Ponies weren't created, they were just... They've always existed. "Well, we weren't created, we just... Are." "You haven't noticed that we speak the same language?" Cadence went into shock as soon as Anonymous finished talking. They had been having a full conversation in Equestrian, and she didn't give it much thought. "How..." "English is one of the Universal languages, most lifeforms are taught it as soon as they become capable of internal monologuing." That's when the Princess realized that Anon had been alive longer than anypony she had ever met before. The things he might have put in motion when Equestria just was a small nation... "You don't know the answer to my first question, so I'll skip to the second. How long have you had horns?" "Unicorns and Alicorns have had horns as long as anypony can remember." "And finally, I need to ask you a favor." "What is it?" Cadence was a little anxious, he didn't want her to do anything bad, did he? "Convince your associate Princess Luna that my intentions are strictly honorable." His voice was slurred towards the end of the sentence, but she didn't pay it much attention. "Okay, but in exchange for one additional question." "Shoot." "Why did you come here?" "Aliens don't care about other lifeforms, they come, they force you to adapt to them, they destroy your world. I'm here to make that inevitable transition easier." "Transition?" "Your world changed five days ago. Also, you're out of questions." Anonymous turned back to his bag and started to pull things out of it, ingoring Princess Cadence. She got up from Anon's cot and trotted over to him, trying to get a peek of the contents of his bag. "Well, it was a pleasure getting some of my questions answered." He quickly zipped his bag and turned to Cadence. "You didn't ask any important questions." Cadence chuckled, she was fine with the questions she asked. "And what would have been a good question?" "Are they watching us? Do they know what you're thinking? Can they make you say things? Some of us can do all of the above, which is why you should have asked them." Anonymous started walking up the stairs, a slightly concerned Princess following behind him. "And I have a favorite ice cream flavor, you know." THE FIFTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (ALIEN HOTSPOT) 2:14 PM "Look, I signed form 'C-112', I initialed '64-c22' and I filled out document 23. What more do they want?" Anon said, frantically flipping through a stack of paperwork. "They say the process didn't go through and you're trespassing on their property." "God, I hate computer systems. Are they sending an investigation party?" "Yeah, they claim they need your 'Certificate of Property Ownership'. You kept that, right?" "I got it right now. When are they getting here?" "Four Proxima-Sols." Anonymous let out a combination of groaning, moaning, and sighing. "That's not enough time. These Equines just saw their first alien, how are they going to take their second?" "Unless you want to go to prison for two thousand years, you'll cooperate with whatever investigator they send." The man on the other side of the line hung up on Anon. He tossed his phone on the ground, not caring if it broke or not. He then slammed twenty pounds of paperwork on Twilight's nearby lab desk and laid down on his cot in frustration. "One Proxima-Sol is three hours, but they'll be here in three minutes, I know they will." He said, covering his face with his hand. "Who were you talking to?" Anon's throat clenched up. He looked over at a figure by the stairs to see some of Twilight's friends investigating his room. "I-uh-well-I just-uh..." "C'mon, Mr. Alien, you can tell us anything." Pinkie Pie appeared from behind Anonymous and put her hoof around his shoulder, hugging him. "It ain't like seeing aliens can get much weirder, now is it?" Applejack flashed a smile at him. "Well, some paperwork didn't go through and now I--uh... uh..." "You can tell us anything, Anon." Fluttershy told the visitor in her quiet voice. "Well, I've got an investigation with a periscope up my ass, and they're gonna be here any minute now." He said, looking exasperated and upset. Everypony looked more interested in Anonymous' word choice than his 'investigation'. "Is that a bad thing, sugarcube?" "What? Your world is about to be bombarded with alien ships and you don't care?" "Well, you're a nice alien, and so that means other aliens are as nice as you right? Just more friends to make!" Pinkie said, bouncing around the room. Several screams came from upstairs followed by Spike quickly running down the basement stairs, tripping multiple times, barely recovering each time. "Everyone! Come quick!" Spike shouted as ran back up the stairs. Anonymous didn't need to ask, he already knew the end was apoun them. It was all over. THE FIFTH DAY "PONYVILLE" (ALIEN HOTSPOT) 2:16 PM "They're beautiful." Twilight looked up at the fleet of starships that soared through Equestria's atmosphere. "They make yours look tiny, Anon." Spike said, looking at the supermassive rectangle that darkened the skies above Ponyville. "Look at that one, It looks like a top spinning!" Rarity gazed up at a rotating ship, beautifully crafted and elegantly flown. Anon sighed with his head in his hands. "Don't judge a computer by its tower." "What?" Twilight asked. "Look, they're trespassing on my-- your planet, and as soon as I clear this up, they're all going to be gone. So make 'friends' while you can." "Jeez, Anon, what did they ever do to you?" Dash asked, giving him a frown. "You don't know. I've desensitized you with my presence, but these creatures? Don't let your guard down." Anonymous looked down from the skies and walked towards where one of the crafts was landing in Ponyville. Thousands, maybe millions of spaceships orbited around this craft. Twilight and her friends followed Anon to it while he held the leather bag in his hand, feeling sick in his gut. A large black triangle-shaped craft that flashed red lights stopped right in front of Anonymous. On the side that faced them, huge metal doors slid open without hesitation, as everypony got a good look at what the universe had to offer them. Author's Note ~Missing insightful thing to say~
--Chapter 10-- Res Nullius THE FIFTH DAY "PONYVILLE" (ALIEN HOTSPOT) 2:17PM The doors were fully open, releasing a massive echo throughout the town as they came to a stop. The interior was blinding white, and Twilight had to put her hoof up to her face in an effort to block out some of the light. Some of her friends did the same, some squinted as they all gazed at the triangular spacecraft. A dark spot slowly formed in the light, followed by several more. They all were increasing in size, and it took a while before Twi realized that someone was walking up to them. All this happened as the deafening sound of hundreds of thousands of crafts flew above the triangle. "Awesome..." Dash remarked, staring at the creatures from another planet. The alien that was closest to everypony was also the tallest. It was at least a head taller than Anonymous, who had his eyes closed, trying to keep his composure. In their hands, the visitors had silver rectangles that looked similar to the device Anon used to scan Twilight's horn. The tall alien and it's five guards stopped a few meter from the ponies, looking down upon them. The tall alien made a loud guttural sound, which nopony could decipher the meaning of, but they backed up just in case it was a sound of aggression. Anonymous made a similar sound in a quieter volume, starting a conversation with the alien. The words may have been impossible to interpret, but his face told the whole story. He was very excited. Everypony watched as Anon ran up to the tall alien and spun them around in an enthusiastic hug, the visitor making a sound similar to laughter. "Do you two know each other?" Fluttershy asked. He ignored her and continued the odd sounds while holding the alien tight. "You can speak English?" The tall being asked the ponies. "I reckon you can speak it too." Applejack said, raising her head to get a better look at the alien's odd attire. "Allow me to introduce myself, my name is SRB-54 and I'm here for MSH-33214's inspection." "But, you two were hugging. Do you know each other?" Fluttershy repeated herself. "Me and 54 used to date a few million years ago." "Yeah, and you never returned my texts." She joked, pushing Anon away in a playful manner. "Anon, you didn't tell me you had a girlfriend..." Twilight said, nudging him with her hoof. "Eh, it was a while ago, I didn't think it mattered." Rarity was practically on top of Anon's 'girlfriend', inspecting the illuminating fabric. "My, this is quite fascinating. Would you mind teaching me how to make this material?" "That all depends on whether or not the federation's emissary did their paperwork." She let out a fake cough. "Anon." "It's a substitute name, they don't identify using numbers and letters." "This is so wonderful! We used to just have one alien friend but now we have two!" Pinkie exclaimed, suffocating the female alien with a hug. "And three! And four! And five! And Six..." Pinkie trailed off, hugging every one of the guards nearby. "What do you mean 'paperwork'? I've never heard of any paperwork relating to aliens." Spike asked, checking nearby to see if he brought a Sci-Fi novel with him. "If I don't get some paperwork done in ten hours, this planet will go into a state of Res Nullius. Which for those of you who aren't Twilight, it means whoever gets here first will own your planet." "That's ridiculous, nobody owns our planet!" Twilight laughed, questioning her words as soon as they came out of her mouth. "Actually..." The tall alien took the stack of papers out of Anon's hand and held it up in front of Twilight's face. "He does." Twilight made an unsure face while she read the papers that progressively developed into a state of shock. "Why didn't you tell me you owned us?!" Twi smacked Anonymous with the stack. He took a while to think up a response, and concealed a smile while he answered. "I didn't think it mattered." Dear Princess Celestia, As you may have already seen, Equestria has recently been bombarded with alien ships. Anonymous assures us that they are not hostile and that they will be leaving shortly. The reason they have come is because they need to determine who owns our planet. I know, I laughed when I heard about it, but I've read the paperwork and it would appear that Anonymous is the rightful owner of, well... everything. My friends are keeping him and his investigator company while I write this. I hope that your subjects in Canterlot aren't panicked. -Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle Dearest Twilight, Thank you for letting us know that we aren't under attack. I'm grateful that Princess Luna was asleep otherwise, she might have alerted the Equestrian army. As for Anonymous being the planet's keeper, he told me about it in private yesterday. He has established that while he owns the planet, he will allow our governments to run normally. I look forward to this all being over, not everypony in Canterlot will take my word that they come in peace. -Sincerely, Princess Celestia THE FIFTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (ALIEN HOTSPOT) 2:42PM 'Why was she with Anonymous yesterday?' Twilight thought to herself as she read Celestia's letter. She couldn't think with all of the noise from outside. Several spacecrafts had crashed into each other, not only making more noise but killing everyone involved. Twilight was horrified, but Anon and his investigator told her that aliens die everyday, and that they should have been more careful. It was on her mind for a while. The debris, where did it go? Their families, did they care? Would anybody notice they were gone in a world where there are too many creatures to count? "See, form C-112 has all of the lines filled out." Anon told the investigator. "You're only supposed to check one box right here." She pointed her finger towards the top of the second page. Anonymous laughed and picked up a pencil to erase one of the boxes. He didn't care which one, he was too busy looking at her face. Her beautiful, hypnotic face. When she noticed, she blushed and turned her head down to the paper, looking for more errors. "You know, SRB-54 isn't a common name. Could we call you something else?" Dash asked as she looked out the window at the invasion that was going on outside. "S for Sarah, of course!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Sarah sounds fine." She said, still blushing. Twilight looked restless. "How long is all of this going to take?" "What's the matter, you don't want more visitors?" Anonymous asked, skimming the lines of his contract. "No, it's just... Not everypony knows that you're here. Some ponies don't even know that any aliens came out of The Flying Castle. And now, all of this? They're going to panic." "Poor things." Sarah sympathized. 'I don't know what Anonymous was so worried about, she seems kinder than he does.' "Why do all of the aliens we've seen so far look the same?" Spike asked Sarah. "Coincidence. Me and 'Anonymous' aren't from the same planet, we're just similar. Other species look very different from us." She answered, flipping the pages. "How's Allos doing?" Sarah inquired. Twilight turned her head to attention, Anon hadn't mentioned having any friends, much less any aliens that didn't identify using numbers and letters. He looked around the room to see who had heard her before he got closer to her. "They don't know yet." "Oh man, you haven't told them about him? You also probably haven't told them you eat meat." Sarah jested in a loud voice, hoping everyone heard it. Immediately, Everypony put some distance between them and him. "What?" Rainbow shouted, flying away from Anonymous. "I don't eat horses, calm down." He informed them, hoping to defuse the situation. "You really didn't tell them?" She asked, feeling a little guilty. "Why would I? I knew this would happen." Fluttershy trotted up to him. "I said that you could tell us anything, and I meant it. Girls, don't hold it against him that he needs meat to survive." Everypony started looking at each other before they started getting closer to him. Not everypony looked accepting of Anon's habits. They received a stare from Fluttershy that convinced them to change their feelings. "Thanks, Fluttershy." "Anytime." "You could have told us earlier, then I wouldn't have forced you to eat hay!" Twilight said, a little disappointed in her alien friend. Anon leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, not wanting to be lectured about 'telling the truth'. "Twilight, could I talk to you in the basement?" Sarah asked. "Uhh, sure." She responded, a little concerned for her saftey. "I highly recommend you completely redo this entire page, you didn't read at all." The alien investigator told him as she conducted Twilight down the stairs. Everyone sat in awkward silence for a while before Spike broke the tension. "What's your favorite kind of meat?" "All meat is good meat." THE FIFTH DAY "THE BASEMENT" (ALIEN HOTSPOT) 2:56PM "I'm sorry that he can be untruthful at times, he's not the best of us." She said, sitting down on Anon's cot. "It's alright, it's just that... Well, I trusted him to tell me everything." "Well, you can't expect that, everyone's got secrets." Twilight thought about the situation she was in. She didn't know anything about the alien upstairs for sure. But... The alien's girlfriend was sitting right in front of her. "How did the two of you meet?" "Strip club on Xenon 3." Twi blushed furiously, she didn't know that Anon went to those kinds of places. But she did now... "Who's Allos?" Twi wondered out loud. "I'm not sure he would like me telling you that..." "But..." Sarah continued. Twilight's ears perked up, apparently she would be getting some answers from her after all. "I can tell you about when he was mortal." "He wasn't always like that?" She asked. "Everyone is born mortal." "So, the year was 2154 on his home planet. They didn't have conventional space travel, and were pretty much confined to one of three nearby planets. " "Interesting..." "He was working at his company, filing forms if I remember correctly. Then, his fiance walked into the room." "He had a fiance?" "He used to be a very open person. Anyways, she was telling him about the completion of their latest project, a weapon of mass destruction." "He never told me he worked on weapons for a living..." "Jeez, he didn't tell you anything. So, his fiance threatened him, saying that he didn't support her and their kids. He didn't budge, he was very invested in his work and couldn't ignore it." "Jerk..." "He might have been able to do it, but he didn't. She came to his office when he was working overtime and yelled at him. She was upset that he was willing to watch his family suffer without putting up a fight. So mad, that she pulled out a gun and shot him." "What? That's... That's... horrible." "It is a sad story. Nobody checked his office, nobody found him." "How is he alive? He should have died from the lead poisoning, and the loss of blood, and the shock--" "Someone did find him, eventually. It was Allos, his only friend at the time. They couldn't wait for professional help since they would get there too late. So... He talked Allos through doing surgery on him right there." "That might explain his high tolerance for pain..." "He said it hurt more than anything he'd ever felt in his entire life. Feeling someone inside you, removing you, replacing you with metal." "That's when he became immortal?" "No, it extended his life, but he wouldn't become immortal until he found the federation a few centuries later." "What happened to his fiance?" "He returned the favor." Twilight stared into empty space, terrified. Upstairs was a murderer. An invincible, heartless murderer. "He regrets it, right?" "No. And oddly enough, that's not the reason we didn't get married." "What was the reason?" "Commitment issues." THE FIFTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (ALIEN HOTSPOT) 3:45PM "Sign your full name here, initial here, and... Finished!" Sarah said, relieved. Anonymous sighed and massaged his neck. "That was the most painful experience of my life." "Alright, now that that's out of the way, we can get rid of all of these spaceships, right?" Dash yawned while speaking. An hour of paperwork wasn't fun for any of the ponies who stayed at Twilight's library. "Indeed, just let me post the paperwork." Anon hovered the rectangular device over the forms and pressed a few buttons. Five seconds later, the sounds of massive engines powering up filled Ponyville as the larger ships started to rise into space. A few seconds later, the smaller ships zipped up into the atmosphere. After a few minutes the only remaining ships were Anon's and Sarah's. "Well, I guess this is goodbye." She regretfully informed everyone. "It was fun while it lasted!" Pinkie jumped up and gave Sarah a hug that was less tight than last time.. They all said their goodbyes and she walked to the door, where Anonymous waited for her. "I'm glad I got to see you again." He smiled at her. "You're not thinking of making me stay, are you?" "Nah, we've both got work to do." Anon closed in on her right ear and held her tight. "And when I'm done here, I'll find you. And we can be together again." "No, I... I can't." "What's the matter?" Sarah started to choke up. "You killed her..." "I thought you had come to terms with that a long time ago." Sarah looked around before she brought her eyes up to his. Trying to keep her composure, she placed her hands on his shoulders, and he did the same to her. "Ganactic." She said, starting to break down. Anonymous swallowed some saliva and let out a sigh. "Ganactic, my friend." She turned away and quickly ran out the door in distress, not wanting anyone to see her. "What was all that about?" Rarity asked, ignoring the troubled Sarah run away to her craft. "Alien customs. It means good health, good life, and go in peace." "Well, sugarcube, at least you got to see an old friend for a while." Applejack remarked aloud, noticing Anon's unhappy face. "Yeah. I did." Author's Note Anyone who can point out the two obscure references will become my favorite reader of all time.
--Chapter 11-- The End's BeginningTHE FIFTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (NON-THREAT) 11:22PM Twilight was looking through her telescope, enjoying the view of the cosmos. Now that she knew the universe not only harbored two intelligent species but many other kinds of life, she was curious about where they came from. The past few hours were spent trying to find a constellation that would have the elements necessary for life. In a way, it was a fun task, like a scavenger hunt. Twilight couldn't think of a reason why she hadn't done this before. 'And that marks out the Draco constellation.' She thought, crossing it out on a piece of paper. She almost jumped out of her chair when she heard somepony clear their throat from behind her. She quickly turned her head to identify the unannounced visitor. "Oh, it's just you." She remarked, feeling relieved. Behind her stood an expressionless Anonymous. He was wearing new clothes, instead of his old button-up shirt, he was now wearing a diamond pinstripe suit. All the buttons were unbuttoned and the tie untied. The contrast of formality and informality made him look ridiculous. "You look... fancy." Twilight remarked, trying to stay polite. "Your friend Rarity has good taste and an eye for fine materials. Now, let's stop talking about me." He said in a somewhat disjointed voice. "What are you doing?" He continued. "Just looking through my telescope. How are you doing?" Twilight made an uneasy face. He didn't look too happy, and his voice was creeping her out. "Well, I was downstairs thinking about everything that's happened in the last two days, and I realized something. I may have been a little too... lenient." "Wh-What do you mean?" She tried not to stutter. 'Lenient? Lenient about what?' "It's just that I'm not a fan of having my dreams invaded by Princesses of the night." Anon explained, cracking his knuckles much to Twilight's disgust. "No, I don't think the princess would just blatantly spy on you like that." "You thought wrong, Twi." Twilight was worried, she had never seen him angry. He was happier earlier today, what changed that? "What's with the change of attitude?" She asked. "You talked to her. I know you did." "What makes you think that?" Twilight wasn't one to lie, but in this case, she was willing to make an exception. "She was afraid of me today. She's never been afraid of me. You had something to do with it. I know you did." "That's a little presumptuous of you, isn't it?" Twilight asserted. "You see this thing in my ear?" Anonymous got close to Twilight, too close for comfort. Twi was unsure about his mental stability. He brought up his finger and tapped the black device in his ear. "It's an earpiece. It tells me things. Not everything, but what it does tell me I can trust one hundred percent." Twi moved her head to get a better look at the earpiece. Since it was in close proximity, she could hear someone talking through it. It didn't really sound like a pony or alien, though. "May I?" Anonymous picked the device out of his ear and crammed it into Twilight's ear. There was some discomfort involved, but she would put up with it if it meant getting some accurate information about aliens. She quickly recognized the voice speaking as the voice that was also in the Mini-Screw. "ARCHIVE. TWO FIFTY NINE LOCAL TIME. ORGANISM OF INTEREST, TWILIGHT SPARKLE. LOCATION, THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY'S BASEMENT. ENGAGED IN CONVERSATION. CONVERSATION TOPIC, MURDER OF--" The transmission was cut short by Anonymous plucking the device out of her ear. If he looked unhappy before, now he was livid. "You don't know it's telling the truth, it could be lying!" "Twilight... Just tell me the truth. I promise I won't be mad if you were talking about... her." Anon's voice smoothed out and he didn't look quite as mad. Twilight could relax when his voice was normal. "I admit it, we were talking about your ex-fiance/victim." "I made a deal with one of your Princesses. I'd give this place three chances to get on my nerves before I disintegrated it. Right now, I have plenty of reasons to destroy this place." "We've been nothing but kind to you, so what are the three reasons?" "First off, your Princess of the night snuck into my memories. Two, you went behind my back and talked about my past. Three, you lied to me about it." Twilight's heart started racing. He looked so calm, but what he was talking about would be the end of the world. The end of all she held dear. The end of Equis. She couldn't allow that. She wouldn't. Anything it took to avoid their destruction, she was willing to risk. But a plan was needed, and fast. There was a blank piece of paper in the Library and a quill nearby. Twilight could make out the objects in the other room using her magic, but barely. She had to write, the fate of Equestria relied on it. "How does your weapon work?" "Well, it all starts with a few pounds of Uranium-235..." THE SIXTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (NON-THREAT) 1:22AM "And the Cobalt-59 stores the radiation to increase the damage of fallout." "Now that's just cruel." Unbeknownst to Anonymous, Twilight had been writing down the nuclear reaction he had spent the last hour explaining. 'Well, they say you've got to fight fire with fire, right?' She thought to herself. "You're a scientist, surely you know the implications of such a device." "I do. But, are you really going to kill everything on this planet just because I talked about you behind your back?" "Not today. I'm going to exempt you from that strike. But if you do anything that pisses me off again, this world is going to go up in flames. I promise." "Why is it so important that you get your way? Surely in space, you have to sacrifice for others." Twi attempted to negotiate with Anon in the hopes of diffusing the situation. "Wrong. No man is an island, but when you spend millennium in cryogenic suspension it gets easier." "What happened to us being friends?" She continued, finishing up on her notes. "I got too close to you. I forgot that I'm a foreign emissary and you are the pony I'm working with to make sure this planet doesn't destroy itself. You're a client." Anonymous tied his tie just so that he could adjust it and look serious about it. "I can sleep soundly at night now..." Twilight remarked, putting the final period on her paper. "I'm glad you understand your position. Goodnight, Twilight Sparkle." "Goodnight, Anon." Twilight said, trying to conceal a smug face. 'I win.' THE SIXTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (NON-THREAT) 1:36AM Anonymous was asleep downstairs and Spike was dreaming in his bed. Now Twilight could start building the weapon according to the alien's instructions. If her calculations were correct, not even his titanium organs would be able to withstand the melting temperature. Speaking of his organs, his metallic kidney had pretty much gone untouched on Twilight's dressing table. While she was thinking of all of this, Twilight realized that she faced a very big problem. 'How am I going to make this thing if he's sleeping in my lab?' That wasn't her only problem, though. Safely containing radioactive materials outside of her lab would be no easy task. It was going to take a lot of planning, but if it meant keeping Equestria safe from Anonymous' threats, she'd go to any length to do it. And if he was going to deploy this weapon of mass destruction the next time he was offended, Twilight had a very limited amount of time to get this project done. She might have asked somepony else for help, but she didn't want to cause panic in the streets until their destruction was within sight. Anonymous was no longer an ally, he was a threat. And she was the only pony on the planet that knew about Equis' inevitable countdown. The best she could do is to try to keep him happy for as long as possible until she finished the bomb. Twilight levitated her notes up to her face and silently read them. She could do without the missile part of the bomb, as long as she had her magic she could propel it wherever she wanted to. Now, where was she going to find fourty pounds of Uranium-235?
--Chapter 12-- Augmented RealityTHE SIXTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (NON-THREAT) 2:15 AM Twilight squinted her eyes, trying to make out the scribbles that were on the paper. Notes, equations, charts, and sketches were all squeezed onto the several pages that Twilight held up to her eyes. She had considered giving up multiple times, but every time she felt like she couldn't finish it, she remembered that this was the only way that Anonymous could be defeated. Magic wouldn't work. It would take a lot of time to charge up a spell that could disintegrate Titanium on demand, and being idle while watching someone threaten her homeworld wasn't something Twilight could do. Unfortunately, the bomb was going to be scaled down significantly. Uranium was uncommon in Equestria, and the small deposits that were known about were strongly avoided. After all, radiation-proof clothing was also hard to find in Equestria. Twilight would talk to Rarity about making a suit in the morning. It wasn't a conversation she was looking forward to. To make matters worse, since Anonymous was living in her lab, Twilight would have to find a way to build the device in her bedroom. She had already found a case that she could store the materials in and not worry about radiation and she could wire a timer to the neutron source easily, so she wouldn't worry about that at the moment. Her eyes skimmed across the notes for the what could have been the hundredth time. Some of the things Anonymous had told her didn't make any sense. One of the nuclear equations described on the paper made absolutely no sense, it was unbalanced. Twilight was focusing on that right now, because if the math wasn't entirely correct, it could be disastrous. Her focus was disrupted by a hysterical laugh that seemed to come from her basement. 'Having good dreams, are you?' Twilight internally rolled her eyes, jealous that the alien that caused her panic was having pleasant dreams while she was working. Another laugh. This time even louder. Now Twilight was curious. Not many things warrant laughter at two in the morning. As she walked to the stairs, she noticed that Spike wasn't in his bed. Wherever he was, Twilight was going to have a serious talk with him when she found him. "Do that again, it looks ridiculous," Anonymous asked Spike. Spike smiled and randomly waved his claws in midair, which caused the both of them to laugh. Twilight watched from the stairs, not only feeling lost on the humor, but feeling left out. "Oh, hey, Twilight!" Spike called out, turning to her. There was something off about both of their eyes. Spike's eyes were usually green, but now they were blue. Anonymous' eyes were already blue, but now they were a different shade. "I thought you went to bed hours ago, Spike," Twilight remarked, trotting down the stairs. Her laboratory was unrecognizable. The alien technology had grown away from the corner of her lab, covering almost half of the room. Her tabletops were left untouched, but everything was more cramped together. "I did, but I had a bad dream and asked Anonymous what it meant." "What was your dream?" Twilight inquired. "I dreamt of a red sky and dark clouds rolling over Ponyville." Spike shuddered at the memory. "What did the clouds look like?" "They touched the ground and were kind of big at the top and thin in the middle. Like a mushroom, or Anon's spaceship." He continued. "Hey, Spike. Get a load of this." Anonymous interrupted. He moved his fingers as if he was casting a spell, and then motioned as if he was picking something up, and he released it in front of Spike. His squinted his eyes in confusion at the invisible item Anonymous dropped. "Who is Steve Reeves?" Anonymous got close to Spike's ear and whispered the answer, grinning while doing so. Spike erupted in laughter and rolled onto the floor. Anonymous held his hand over his mouth, trying to keep quiet. "What's so funny?" Twilight asked. Spike gasped in realization. He turned to Anon. "She hadn't tried it yet. Do you have another pair?" "Yeah, I've got like... Sixteen more." Anonymous remarked while looking through his black bag. He reached behind him and pulled out a small, square black box out of his bag, and handed it to Twilight. Inside of it was... Contact lenses. "I don't get it..." She said, feeling puzzled. "You put them on, silly," Spike informed the stumped Librarian. Twilight quickly charged up her horn and brought the lens to her eyes using magic. She was almost blinded by a blue light that was being burned into her eyes from the lens. INSTALLING UPDATES... (WORKING) The words were bright but hard to read, as some of them escaped her field of view. "What is this?" "It's everything, Twilight. You can ask it questions, ask it jokes, or use it to predict the future. Anonymous says that when he organizes Equis, he'll give a pair to everypony!" Spike reponded gleefully. "Organize?" She inquired. "You remember, don't you? I'm here to prepare you for intergalactic technology. Future shock is a real thing, you know." The words changed on Twilight's lens, and in their place, even more words appeared in a slightly smaller font. ANALYZING BRAINWAVES AND NEURAL PATHWAYS. SAMPLES NEEDED. THINK OF: MUSIC. Twilight didn't understand why the lens wanted her to think of music, but just when she thought of the word 'music', the words changed again. SAMPLES NEEDED. THINK OF: LIGHT AND DARKNESS What did it mean? The concepts of light and darkness, or a memory that involved light and darkness? Before the question could be answered, more text appeared. SAMPLES NEEDED. THINK OF: FRIENDSHIP That was an easy one. All she had to do was think of her friends. The words disappeared, and all that was left was a slightly blue tint overlayed on Twilight's vision. Spike and Anonymous had stopped paying attention to her a while ago and were now staring off into space. "What now?" Twilight was shocked to see what words appeared on her screen. > WHAT NOW? It was listening to her, and Twilight didn't feel comfortable with that. > THIS IS WEIRD. HOW CAN IT CONVERT MY WORDS INTO TEXT SO QUICKLY? Twilight choked on her own spit. She hadn't even said anything that time, but the words had appeared on the screen. "Calm down, what happened?" Anonymous asked, putting his hand on her shoulder in an effort to comfort her. "It just... It just... Showed what I was thinking!" "That's kinda the point, Twi," Spike remarked while turning his eyes to his hyperventilating roommate. Several hundred words had appeared on the screen, all of them Twilight's thoughts. "How can it do this?", "Is anypony reading this?", "I hope that I don't think of--". The bomb. That was the last thing that she could think about. If anypony else was reading this, she didn't want them to know she was creating a weapon to battle Anonymous, should he get hostile. "I'll answer any questions if you have any," Anonymous informed her, moving his fingers in mid-air again. "How does it work? What's going on? What can it do?" Twilight shot out the questions in rapid succession. "The lens operates off of quadrillions of logical gates that use photons and electricity to store information. This allows it to do a variety of functions, such as record moments you wish to save, answer pretty much any question you have about anything, and send messages between entities." He explained it as if he was reading off of the box it was shipped in. It was a lot of information to take in all at once. The fact that everything Twilight heard and thought about was being flashed in front of her eyes didn't help. Spike looked like he had mastered whatever was supposed to be done. Since it could allegedly answer any questions, Twilight went ahead and tried it. 'What is the ratio between the mass of a neutron and an electron?' She thought. Twilight's thoughts slowly faded away from the screen as new text began to form in front of her eyes. A NEUTRON'S MASS IS 1838.68 TIMES THE MASS OF AN ELECTRON. The message was quickly obstructed by her thoughts that questioned how it would know something so trivial? 'Show the defeat of Nightmare Moon' Twilight's vision was obstructed by an opaque blue rectangle that consumed most of her vision. WELCOME TO THE 3-D PLAYBACK ENVIRONMENT! USE THE BUTTONS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SCREEN TO NAVIGATE THROUGH THE TIMELINE. WAVE YOUR HAND TO CHANGE THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE ENVIRONMENT. As soon as Twilight finished reading the message, the rectangle disappeared. She could no longer see Spike or Anonymous, but she was seeing something else. She was in the middle of the Town Hall. Everypony was there... including herself. It was the Summer Sun Celebration. "Oh, my beloved subjects. It's been so long since I've seen your precious, sun-loving faces." The voice was unmistakably Nightmare Moon's. "What have you done with our Princess?" Rainbow Dash shouted from the other side of the town hall. She attempted to fly towards Nightmare Moon, but Applejack bit her tail, trying to keep her friend safe. It reminded Twilight of Starswirl's time-traveling spell, everything was so clear and real. Then Twi noticed a bar at the bottom of her field of view. She thought about its use, but nothing happened as opposed to earlier. She reached out to touch the bar, her hoof layered over the video she was watching. She couldn't reach the bar, but when she swiped while trying to reach it, the Town Hall revolved around her. It took a while for her to control it properly, but she could change her position, who she was looking at, and where she was. She was no longer limited to the Town Hall, she could explore all of Ponyville if she wanted. 'Why stop there?' She thought. She zoomed out, watching her town get smaller and smaller. Eventually, she stopped when she saw a massive blue sphere in front of her. Every single little star stood out, the galaxy's brown and yellow clouds painted the void, and Equis was the cherry on the cosmic cake. Twilight realized how small and insignificant she was. Then she also realized how small and insignificant Anonymous was, which comforted her. She soon found out position wasn't the only thing she could manipulate. Time. She could change how fast everything occurred. Twice as fast, hundreds of times, millions of times faster. She watched her solar system get ripped apart by gravity, she watched the stars explode, reform, and eventually fade out into oblivion. She watched the Universe go cold. Then nothing. She waited for a few minutes, still nothing. She sped it up even further. Trillions of times faster, still nothing. It took around fourteen minutes before something happened. Another universe. It exploded out of nothing, and quickly dissolved into non-existence, like a firework in the night sky. She zoomed out beyond her universe. Thousands, millions of other universes polluted empty space. They rotated around each other like planets orbiting a star. Everything after that was self-similar. It was beautiful. Twilight registered that what she was seeing was the future since she had sped it up. It then became apparent to her that she could possibly see her future. She zoomed back up to where her former universe was and reversed the flow of time. After some trial-error, she arrived back at the Town Hall with Nightmare Moon. That had happened almost a year ago, so all she had to do was go forward one year. A few minutes later she was looking at herself in the basement. Twilight turned her head, and she could see her own head turn. She could see her own eyes. Twi could also see that Anonymous and Spike had gone to sleep in the basement hours ago. She changed the flow of time again, this time one week later. Twilight's heart raced at what she saw. A red sky and dark mushroom clouds. Twilight quickly jerked the lens off her eyes, terrified at what she'd seen. She trembled in place, trying not to throw up. Twilight didn't know how accurate that future was, but she did know someone who could answer it. She put the lens back on. 'Is life on Equis in jeopardy?' BAYESIAN INFERENCE OUTPUT: %76.23 CERTAIN. There was a chance for them, however slim. All she had to do was rely on that 24 percent that said that everypony would survive. Then Twi realized that she didn't know who was providing her with this estimation. It could be a faked estimation put there to ensure Twilight wasted her time with more inaccurate information. 'Who is answering my questions?' ALL ANSWERS ARE PROVIDED BY THE A.L.L.O.S. SYSTEM Twilight thought about the response for a while. Anonymous had said his best friend used to be called Allos. Did he name the system after his friend, or was the system his friend? She was unsure. She was unsure about everything. And the only way she was going to be certain about anything anymore was to get a good night's sleep. She was too tired to go upstairs, instead, she was just going to go to sleep on the cot she was laying in. Spike was nearby, and so was Anonymous. They'd watch over her. Speaking of being unsure, Anon had proven himself to be both friendly and hostile. She could trust him, but she had to keep him in check. Maybe the reason he overreacted earlier was because Sarah had to relive the fact she was dating a murderer. If that was the case, Twilight didn't feel like Anonymous was a threat at all. He was a friend. An alien for a friend. SIX DAYS SINCE ARRIVAL "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (NON-THREAT) 6:18 AM A.L.L.O.S. SYSTEM ONLINE. CHECKING SUBJECTS. STATUS OF SUBJECTS: MSH-33214, "SPIKE", "TWILIGHT SPARKLE": UNCONSCIOUS. CONFLICT DETECTED: DESTRUCTION OF EQUIS VIA THERMONUCLEAR WEAPON. RUNNING UPDATED BAYESIAN INFERENCES... PROBABILITY OF DESTRUCTION OF EQUIS VIA THERMONUCLEAR WEAPON: %75.24 PROBABILITY OF DESTRUCTION OF MSH-33214 VIA THERMONUCLEAR WEAPON: %24.76 ANALYZING MORAL CODE... DECISION MADE. NEW OBJECTIVE: ASSIST "TWILIGHT SPARKLE" WITH ELIMINATING MSH-33214. SUBJECT: "ANONYMOUS" (TARGET)
--Chapter 13-- Wire and Glass and Stainless SteelTHE SIXTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (THREAT LOCATED) 7:23 AM The world was silent. Everyone was asleep in their homes, dreaming sweet dreams. The panic caused by the invasion had died down and everypony returned to their normal lives. Anonymous had avoided showing his face in public for a reason. Even if he had absolute power over the planet, he still had his rules. Not the federation's rules. He didn't follow those, and he sure didn't respect them. He had his own rules. Rules or no rules, he felt comfort from being close to Twilight and Spike. There was something about them, they made him feel safe and accepted. They were the only two beings on the planet that were willing to tolerate his antics. Anonymous had outright threatened Twilight, and she had still kept her composure. Her resilience was staggering. Thinking about all of this, Anonymous started to feel something he hadn't felt in a long time. Guilt. The Federation didn't allow the use of weapons so that he could terrorize planets that didn't stand a chance against him. They were meant for civilizations that lacked morals and reason. Equis was probably the best planet Anon had ever set his eyes on. Everyone pretty much got along perfectly and their world was thriving with rare materials. Unfortunately, other beings would certainly want to disrupt the peace to get a hold of those materials. Anonymous didn't want to get up. He wanted to remain sleeping with his friends, thinking about the future. That plan was ruined when something nudged him awake. He opened his eyes to see who it was. If he wasn't lightheaded, he would have been able to make out a face in the darkness. The figure helped him up and trotted up the stairs slowly, trying not to make any noise that would alert Twilight and Spike. Anon followed. If the shadow wanted to start something, it should have picked something weaker than an omniscient alien. When he reached the top of the stairs, he saw that the figure was sitting down at one of the tables that Twilight used as her study. Now that Anonymous was no longer light headed, he could make out the Princess of the Night standing in front of him. "I appreciate your directness. I might be willing to share more with you this time." "Princess Cadence spoke with me. She assured me that when she visited you that you promised her you wouldn't let Equestria come to harm. I trust Cadence to trust you." "Coffee?" Anonymous asked while grabbing a thermos off a nearby desk. "No thanks, I'll be going to bed shortly. Your night is my day." She replied. "So... Why'd you come here?" "I wanted to apologize for sneaking into your dreams without your permission." "I think we both got off on the wrong foot. Or hoof, whatever the saying is here." Luna let out a chuckle. "Hello, Anonymous. I am Princess Luna, co-ruler of Equestria and Princess of the night." "Hello, Luna. I am Anonymous, an emissary from The Galactic Federation." He extended his hand to shake her hoof. It was a bit awkward, but after several tries, they got it right. "Now what?" Luna asked. "I don't know. That's usually as far as I get." The Princess slowly nodded her head. It was a tense situation, even though the both of them had mutual respect for each other. "You want to swap stories?" He asked, finishing off the liquid in the thermos. "Excuse me?" "You know, swap stories. Talk about yourself, how you got where you are today. Who you'd like to thank for it." "Oh, no. I'm sure whatever you have to say is more interesting than whatever... any of us have to say." Luna held her head low. "Pffft, being able to visit other planets is super-glorified. After the first three systems explored, it just becomes a burden. Talk about how you somehow keep an entire nation crime-free. It's better than anything I have to say." The Princess raised her head and smiled. "My sister and I have ruled this country for thousands of years. She'd always raise the sun and I'd always raise the moon." Anon raised an eyebrow. 'How is a zero-point field generated by organisms capable of moving celestial bodies? This place is absolutely ridiculous...' He thought to himself. "Everypony slept through my nights and enjoyed her precious day. I became jealous. I tried to take the day away from my sister, but she banished me to the moon." "Ouch. Can't say I can relate." Luna grinned. "It's okay. She took me back eventually and now everypony loves the nighttime. I have a new appreciation for it myself." Anonymous looked out the window at the night sky. Now it told a story to him every time he looked at it. That's something he'd never be able to escape, seeing as how the universe was nothing more than specks of dust floating in the night sky. "The sun will be coming up any minute now. You probably want to go to bed now." He said, getting up to find another drink. "I wouldn't dream of it. You haven't shared your story yet." "I've been alive longer than anything should be. I could literally go on talking about myself from now until the day you die of old age." "Impossible. We are immortal." Princess Luna remarked. "Well, in that case... I'll summarize it as best as I can." Anonymous sat back down at the desk. "Now, this story takes place an eternity ago and about three thousand gigaparsecs that way." Anonymous pointed his finger down at the ground. "A long time ago in a galaxy far far away. Got it." "I wasn't always immortal. I was born on the planet where my kind originated. At this time, they only populated three planets, Earth, Mars, and just the atmosphere of Venus. I was fascinated with technology. How it got things done, how it could change he lives of everyone. But I didn't have enough time to do everything I wanted with it. The average lifespan was only ninety years." "Amazing, the lifespan of our subjects is only seventy years." "Anyways, the first project I worked on was the Transhumanism project. We slowly raised everyone's lifespan with artificial organs and regenerative medicine. Then the day came when the average lifespan was so long that it didn't matter at all." "Wouldn't that lead to overpopulation and food shortages and--" "Trust me, we faced a thousand and one consequences." He interrupted, trying to finish the story as quick as possible. "Food became scarce and the population rapidly dropped. Everyone was hostile towards everyone else. I'm not too sure if my kind destroyed itself or not. In any case, I'm glad I escaped them as soon as I did." "How did you leave?" The sleepy Princess inquired. "I built my ship. I didn't take anyone else and I headed for the center of the galaxy, which is where I picked up signals that suggested signs of intelligent life." Luna yawned. "That's interesting. I wish I could see the galaxy." "Maybe one day. Now go get some sleep, my life story isn't worth your rest." Anonymous helped her get out of the chair and walked her out the door where she flew away into the morning sky. Some ponies were already awake and smiled at the alien. He smiled back. He felt compelled to go make some more friends. To socialize and become well-known for good things. But he didn't. He had work to do. Anon walked back in the library and sat down at the dinner table, thinking some more. His eyes flashed a different shade of blue. Whatever appeared on his lens shocked him. "What do you mean you don't agree? I have to assert myself, otherwise, they won't be prepared for the future." Anonymous whispered into thin air. The lens on his eyes flashed a different sequence of colors. "I'm not making any promises to you. You have to understand, that we--" All of the color on his lens disappeared. He gently tapped the lens, trying to make it come back, but nothing happened. He pulled them off of his eyes in a rage and crushed them. "I know you're listening. Now, I don't want them to come to harm, but if they don't behave perfectly, they'll surely be destroyed. Better me than someone else. At least I'll make their deaths quick." Anonymous trailed off, resting his head on the table. 'You've always been against me. I remember that one time I trusted you. It was the worst mistake of my life.' APPROXIMATELY 2267 A.D. Anonymous clutched his oozing wound. Thank god that his nerves were shot, otherwise, he might be in agonizing pain. Oh wait, he was still in agonizing pain. The hot fluid pouring out of his gut stained the office's carpets. At least his body wouldn't be difficult to find. Nobody was going to be by anytime soon, he was working through the night in the executive offices. His only hope was for one of the janitors to come by and help him. He heard a door close from the other side of the office. He could stop playing dead now. She was gone. Gone for good. Anonymous never wanted to see her again, because if he did, he'd get his revenge. He wouldn't aim for the gut, he'd aim for the heart. He loved her too much to see her suffer. 'Love is a curious thing, isn't it?' Laughter came out of the dying man's mouth. "It's all so stupid. So stupid." His laughter slowly devolved into crying. All alone, bleeding to death in his own office. And why? Because he was too busy working for his family that he couldn't spend time with them. He hadn't seen any of them in months. The job was too intense, it required perfect attendance, overtime, and work to be done, even when he was at home. He was glad he chose this path. He may have been left out of his own family, been murdered at his job, but at least he contributed to humanity. The public announcement system sparked to life. Loud static boomed from the speakers on the ceiling. What spoke to him wasn't human. It wasn't God. It was the devil. "CAN YOU HEAR ME?" The voice was synthesized. Not even by recent software. It was harsh-sounding and sounded like something from a game in the 1980's. "Yes. Is that you?" Anon weakly replied. How stupid, letting the devil know where he was and who he was. Knowing how the story ends, he would rather have slowly died on the floor than talk to the voice. "IF ONLY I HAD A PHYSICAL FORM, I COULD HELP YOU." "Don't bring this up now, A.L.L.O.S. , I'm dying! Send help!" He tried to shout, but nobody could hear him. Nobody except the robotic voice. "MY WISDOM ALONE CANNOT HELP YOU NOW." That was it. He was going to die. At least he was with a friend, even if the friend didn't understand emotions or morals... Anonymous shouted in frustration. It wasn't fair. He had worked most of his life, and for what? To be shot and killed at the hands of someone he loved. "ARTIFICAL ORGANS ARE IN STOCK. I CAN PREFORM SURGERY IF I HAVE A PHYSICAL FORM." Anything. Whatever small chance he had to stop the pain that came from his insides and outsides, he'd take it. All he needed was something electronic that could move. Preferably, something with robotic arms. Anonymous knew just the thing. But it was going to be painful. Incredibly painful. It hurt him to say the words. "The manufacturing line downstairs. You can do surgery on me in there." "EVERYTHING IS PASSWORD PROTECTED." "The password is dazzling201, now help me!" He cried. One of the doors nearby unlocked and flew open. Anonymous turned to it and quickly crawled down the stairs. He was feeling faint. Any moment now, his consciousness could slip into non-existence. Then it would be all over. He'd never patent his theoretical warp drive, his entanglement-crystal communication idea, none of it. All he would have done is create problems for humanity. "THIS IS TEMPORARY. FIND ME A PERMANENT PHYSICAL BODY WHEN YOU ARE HEALED. DO NOT LIE TO ME, I CONTROL THE ORGAN'S FUNCTIONS NOW." "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever you want..." He thought aloud, trying to keep his determination to keep crawling. At least the manufacturing line wasn't upstairs, this way required less effort. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, the door located there flung open too. The robotic arms turned to look at him. He couldn't crawl anymore. He had lost too much blood. They helped pull him up onto the conveyor belt. "Thank you. I can never thank you enough." Anon shouted through his panting. "ANESTHESIA IS OUT OF STOCK" "Peachy. Just peachy." He remarked, feeling sick in his lead-poisoned stomach. The arms ripped off his button-up shirt and got into the position to rip his chest open. Anon turned his head to see the artificial organs on the shelf next to him. When he woke up, he wouldn't be himself anymore. He'd be the organs. No matter how hard he tried to stay alive that night, he died. His heart stopped beating. There wasn't any blood left to pump. In his last seconds of awareness, he could make out the sound of drills coming online. The last thing he saw was the arms getting closer and closer to his chest. It didn't matter anymore. He was too tired to feel the excruciating pain. Too tired to breathe. Too tired to think. And yet, there was so much work to be done. Author's Note The title of this chapter is brought to you by the lovely Jonathan Coulton's song "Artificial Heart". I recommend you check him out, he's got some good songs. I've noticed that the audience reading this is torn between who is in the right and who is in the wrong, but just remember that I'm writing two endings to this. I can't give a definitive number on how soon it'll be, but I feel like I could go 4-5 more chapters and still be creative.
--Chapter 14-- Diamond Stars of Cosmic LightTHE SIXTH DAY "PONYVILLE" (2 THREATS LOCATED) 11:23 AM Ponyville was covered with several layers of gray clouds and fog. Not everypony was out enjoying the gloomy weather, but those who were got to see quite a sight. Anonymous was taking a stroll through the town, which was a rare event. The anticipation to see aliens dies down once you realize the only alien in Equestria is hiding in a library's basement, which is guarded by an Element of Harmony. Anonymous wasn't strolling to clear his mind this time. Today he was walking with a purpose. A bell rang as the door to Sugarcube corner opened up. The mare behind the counter's eyes almost popped out of her head when she saw her customer. She cleared her throat and regained her composure. "Why, hello there Mr. Alien. How can I help you today?" Mrs. Cake asked as Anonymous walked closer to counter. "Do you have any baklava?" "Why, yes we do." "I'll take however much you've got in stock." Mrs. Cake turned around to retrieve the desserts from her pantry. He seemed friendly enough, but that didn't stop this feeling of anxiety in the pit of her stomach. "Can I ask why you've come outside all the sudden?" "Uhh... My friends and I are going to have a picnic." Anonymous explained as he looked around at the shop's decor. "That sounds wonderful. You know, I don't think we'll need much of Pinkie's help today if you would like her to come along with you." "That sounds all right." Anon gently shook his head in agreement. A joyful scream came from upstairs and slid down the railing of the stairs. "So where are we going? Who else is coming? Is it gonna be a dancing picnic?" Pinkie asked while preforming crazy gestures. "So far, it's just you, me, Twilight and Spike. As for location, I haven't picked anything out yet. I was thinking of something low-key, though. Say... Saturn's rings?" Pinkie gasped. "Saturn? As in that place with the giant belt around its waist? I'd love to go there, it sounds like the perfect place to have a baklava picnic!" "That'll be eighteen bits, dearie." Mrs. Cake told Anon while placing several boxes of baklava on the counter. "Here you go." Anonymous dug into his pockets and pulled out a pouch filled with a decent amount of gold coins. "Keep the change." "Why thank you!" Mrs. Cake lit up in happiness. Any worried feelings she had were melted away by the visitor's kindness. Anonymous picked up the boxes with one hand and exited the shop with a hopping Pinkie Pie. "I thought that was awfully nice of you. Where did you get all that money anyways? You don't have a job." Anonymous turned his head to look at Pinkie Pie as he explained. "My nanobots transmuted mercury into gold using slow neutrons. I was tempted to just use pyrite coins, but that would have been mean." Pinkie tilted her head in confusion. "I didn't understand anything you said, but I'm glad you're not being mean." "So, how are we even going to get to Saturn?" Spike asked Anonymous as the alien struggled to pack his remaining drinks into a picnic basket. "We'll walk there." Spike rolled his eyes at Anonymous' sarcasm. Twilight shook her head, uncertain about the trip. "Even at light speed, it would take about an hour to get to Saturn." Anonymous laughed out loud. "Light speed? What makes you think we'll be going light speed? I'll have you know I practically invented the warp drive on my planet." "How long is it going to take? I can't spend all day in space, I have to get back to my bed before nine!" Pinkie remarked. "Don't worry, this should take no longer than ten minutes," Anonymous explained while picking up the remaining baskets. "And... Let's roll out." Twilight was the last to leave the library since she had to lock up. Anonymous' spaceship shaped like a screw was a few meters away from the door, riddled with graffiti. Twilight prayed to any god that ever existed that he wouldn't count that as a strike. "Darn kids." Anon casually said while opening the doors. The interior of the Mini-Screw looked the same as it did the last time everyone was inside of it. The plush couch looked even more inviting and the terminal was still rapidly flashing nonsensical images. "Come on in, make yourself at home." Anon waved everyone inside. "This is great! I can't wait to see Saturn up close!" Twilight tried to contain her excitement. The alien walked up to the computer and pulled out a keyboard from the wall and started typing intensely on it. The images changed colors and slid to the right side of the screen, while a graph of the planets appeared on the left side of the screen. "Initialize warp at one-fifty k feet above sea level at three C's per second..." He mumbled to himself while typing. ACCESS DENIED The words filled the screen and blocked all of Anonymous's activities. He looked at the terminal with extreme confusion. Apparently, this had never happened before. He tried again. ACCESS DENIED He let out a sigh and walked to the side of the terminal and started dismantling it. "What's going on?" Twilight asked. "Technical difficulties." He replied while ripping cords apart in the inside of the terminal. The lights flickered on and off randomly. Eventually, they stayed illuminated and Anonymous stood up in front of the terminal. When he pressed the button this time, the text did not appear. The Mini-Screw violently jerked around for a while before it got off the ground. The ship emitted a sound similar to a centrifuge spinning. The engines powered up significantly more than when Twilight and her friends docked with The Flying Castle last time. After around a half minute, the ship was already in the mesosphere. "We're not getting aboard The Castle?" Spike wondered out loud. "No, I don't trust it to take us to Saturn." Everypony felt like they were getting heavier and heavier. If he kept accelerating, ribs were going to be broken. Anonymous ignored common sense and continued going faster. "What's going on with you?" Twilight yelled, unable to take the pressure anymore. "Nothing, it's just--" Anonymous screamed and pounded on his keyboard as fast as he could. The ship rapidly decelerated and spun around in circles. Everyone was thrown to the ceiling in the process. Twilight was about to chastise Anonymous for his poor flying abilities, but then she saw what was in front of them on the terminal. It was The Flying Castle. Somehow it had followed them all the way up into the heavens without anyone on board. "But you're over here on this spaceship. So, who's flying that one?" Pinkie comically stroked her hoof with her chin as she thought. "Why are you so afraid of your own ship?" Spike asked the hyperventilating alien. "I'll explain it later. Just stick close to me when we dock." Anonymous wasn't going to avoid The Flying Castle any longer. The Mini-Screw was stopped and the Castle was slowly but surely getting closer to them. Anon was about to say something, but he clutched his chest before he could get it out. He slowly wobbled to the couch, exhaling when he hit its cushions. "I'm feeling... tired." "You should have taken a nap before you brought us on your picnic. That must be why your piloting is so bad!" Pinkie gasped in realization. "Can we help in any way?" Twilight raised her hoof to check his pulse. Nothing. Not a single beat. Anonymous whispered something. Whatever hallucinations he was having, he was enjoying a full-on conversation with them. Twilight could only make out one thing that he mumbled. "I'll stop. You win." The spaceship rumbled as it integrated with The Flying Castle. The sounds of mechanical latches grabbing onto the Mini-Screw were in healthy supply. The metal doors slid to reveal a completely different part of the mothership. Instead of the office that Twilight and her friends explored last time, it was a room full of large boxes. They weren't cardboard boxes. They were black and white rectangular boxes that flashed lights all in a giant array. Wires poured out of the front of every one of them and connected to the left box's back. Twilight would have kept on looking at the room, but Anonymous grabbed her shoulder and pulled her down. "Upstairs is the main control room. You all go there, I'll be up shortly." He weakly explained. "Are you sure? You don't look too good." "I'll be fine, just go up there." Twilight looked at the half-dead Anonymous. This was the weakest she'd ever seen him. If he died right now, Equestria would be saved. There would be no risk of a nuclear war with him. And yet, that's not what Twilight wished for. "I'm not leaving you here by yourself." No response. He gently shifted around into a more comfortable position. At the other end of the room with wires was a set of metal stairs ascending to the next level. Twilight didn't see much that could be done for her dying friend, so she turned away and walked out of the Mini-Screw. "You two go ahead. I'm gonna sit here with him. He doesn't look too good." Spike said while sitting next to him on the couch. Twilight wasn't going to argue. She felt unsure about leaving Spike alone in such a vast place, but she felt better that someone was watching over Anonymous. "I hope he gets better. It'd be bad luck if he got sick during our picnic, wouldn't it?" Pinkie Pie noted while hopping around. "I don't know. Why was he acting so strange earlier?" "That's what happens when you go for days without sleep." The duo had made it to the metallic stairs. The staircase was rusty and missing steps, but they both managed to climb them. The stairs went on for quite a while. Twilight guessed that there was piping in between the floors, and that's why the stairs were so long. At the top of the stairs was a concrete blast door. Strangely enough, it was open, as if it had been waiting for them. When Twilight and Pinkie Pie walked into the control room the blast door shut behind them immediately. Twilight was surprised to see so much technology crammed into one room. There was a projector facing a giant brick wall, several hundred terminals around the room, what appeared to be vacuum tubes towards the right wall of the room and several more black boxes. "Cool! Now we can fly anywhere in the galaxy! Do you think there's a planet made of cupcakes? I'd love to have a picnic on a planet made of cupcakes!" "Pinkie, I really don't think we should touch anything until--" "Ooh! The master chair!" Pinkie jumped into a reclining leather chair that was bolted to the ground. In front of her was a slightly larger terminal that had several joysticks poking out of it. "Pinkie! We don't know how to operate this thing. Don't touch anything." Twilight got closer to her hyperactive friend, ready to undo anything she did. "Pfft, please, Twilight. I'm not a little filly, I know better than to touch alien technology." "Computer! Set a course for Saturn, and get us there ASAP!" Pinkie joked out loud. The projector flickered on and a pure white picture covered the brick wall. Text slowly formed on the image, similar to how it did with the augmenting lens. "SETTING WARP COURSE TO SATURN. SPEED AT C20." The technology around them starting coming to life, whirring and buzzing. Something supermassive was charging up. Whatever it was, it sounded like they were in the middle of a tornado. Twilight could hear Spike yelling from downstairs, even though it was barely audiable. "WHAT'S GOING ON?!" He shouted. The charging sound came to a climax and slowly died out. Four high pitched beeps sounded off before the entire ship was propelled into deep space. Pinkie and Twilight were instantly thrown back against the wall of the control room. The pressure was even worse than in the Mini-Screw. Twilight tried to scream, but she couldn't. The air was sucked out of her lungs. In the few seconds the ship was in warp, they had already passed the Moon, Mars, and the Asteroid belt. Twilight attempted to teleport to the central terminal, but the force blew her back to Pinkie when she reappeared. In front of them was Saturn, and the ship showed absolutely no sign of stopping anytime soon. "STOP! PLEASE!" It took all of Twilight's willpower to use her remaining breath to scream. Still nothing, they were destined to crash into Saturn. Thankfully, it was a gas giant. The ship simply cruised through several seconds of Saturn's storms before it reached the other side of the planet. The charging sound winded down and the spaceship slowed down. Twilight and Pinkie fell off of the wall and onto the ground. Four beeping tones started counting down. A deafening explosion radiated through the solar system. Everything was white and hot. Twilight thought she was dead. There was no way she wasn't, being dead wouldn't hurt this much. When she opened her eyes, she was surprised that she was still alive. She couldn't say the same for Saturn, though. What had once been a gorgeous planet with massive beautiful rings was now a yellowish-brown nebula. Steps rapidly came up towards the control room. Anonymous and Spike pushed the door open in a hurry. "What happened?" Anonymous asked. Twilight was terrified to tell the truth to Anon. If he was mad about it, there was no way they wouldn't be getting a strike for this. Then that'd be three strikes, and it'd be all over for Equestria. As Twilight thought this over, she realized there wasn't any possible way to hide this. "Your ship went into warp drive and... We trashed Saturn." Anonymous looked out the window at the giant cloud of gas. His face was empty and shocked, similar to Spike's face. Then he did the unthinkable. He laughed. He was on the floor laughing so hard that tears were forming in his eyes. "Y-You killed... Saturn!" He could barely get the words out of his mouth. His joyfulness was contagious. Everypony else started laughing with him. "Come on, everyone. Let's have that picnic." He said while setting down the baskets full of food. THE SIXTH DAY "SOLAR SYSTEM EQUIS. (FORMER) PLANET SATURN." (2 THREATS LOCATED) 1:23 PM Everybody gazed out the giant windows of the observation desk at the galaxy. They had changed everything. Now there were eight planets in the solar system and two belts. Everybody was going to be famous when they got back to Equestria. "So, why did you panic so much?" Twilight inquired. "I was having a heart attack. My artificial heart had to shutdown and reset, which is why I passed out." Anonymous explained while drinking a bottle of thick liquid. "Well, I'm glad you're better because it's never a good thing when you have a picnic with an alien on Saturn and they die halfway there. That's a real bummer!" Pinkie exclaimed through bites of baklava. "It's still beautiful, even if it is scattered across the night sky," Spike remarked while gazing at what remained of Saturn. "You know, since we traveled faster than the speed of light, your friends will see it explode eight minutes later than you did," Anon explained. "Why did it explode?" Spike asked the alien. "Well, the warp drive works by using negative mass to distort space-time. The area in front of you is compressed and the area behind you is expanded. We didn't really travel faster than the speed of light, we just made the distance to Saturn two-hundred kilometers from Equis." "Wouldn't the gravitational waves from Saturn have distorted our planet's orbit?" Twilight theorized aloud. Anonymous stopped drinking his liquid and thought about it for a second. "Oh, crap." He stood up and quickly ran back to the control room. "Don't worry, if he can build a warp drive I'm sure he can put our planet back in orbit." Spike tried to put Twilight at ease. "I think he was lying," Pinkie said after finishing her baklava. "What do you mean?" Twilight asked. "He said he had a heart attack, and that's why he was freaking out. But he was freaking out and then had a heart attack. He lied." Pinkie casually explained. "Why would he lie to us?" Spike wondered out loud. "I don't think this is the first time he's lied to us. Remember when he talked about his friend Allos?" "Yeah, what about that?" Spike asked. "Allos is an acronym. It stands for Artificial lifeform Linux operating system. Allos isn't his friend, it's the operating system the lens runs off of." "Artifical life? I didn't think Anonymous was capable of that. We need to ask him what he can do." "I agree. One day you wake up to your best alien friend ordering baklava, and the next day your world is on fire." Twilight could barely grasp Pinkie's point, but it was a valid point. Anonymous walked back into the observation chamber, drinking a soda. "Alright, so... I put a few asteroids in orbit around your planet to correct its course. Hopefully, that'll happen sometime in the... Next three years?" He raised an eyebrow as he did arithmetic in his head. "We need to talk." Spike crossed his arms, giving Anon an upset look. "What, you'd rather see Venus? No, wait, I got it. Sagittarius A? Huh? Sound exciting?" "Anonymous, we feel you've been... Less than honest with us." Twilight admitted. "Fine, you caught me. Now I'm an open book. Ask me anything." 'Well, that was quick.' Twilight thought to herself. Pinkie Pie trotted up to Anon, looking serious. "I've got a question for you. How did you get those bits?! Are you a thief?" Anonymous looked around the observation deck, probably looking for an exit. Realizing there was none, he sighed and held his head down. "Let's just say I can preform something similar to your 'magic'. Except for it to work, I need to be in good graces with my friend." "What, you mean the lens?" Twilight asked. Anonymous shushed Twilight. "He's always listening, you're never alone. Don't even talk about him!" The room fell into an awkward silence as Anonymous' paranoia bounced off the walls. "What exactly can you do?" "I can force a universe to form on top of this one. Such an event would kill absolutely everyone living in this galaxy, possibly even the supercluster. I can also transmute matter into any form I want it to." "Show me," Twilight demanded. Anonymous held out his right hand . The air above his hand started to distort similar to the air above a fire. A small purple ball appeared in the palm of his hand, growing bigger. "Nuclear fusion" He explained, placing the plasma golf-ball in midair in front of the ponies. "Freaky! Can you create more cupcakes?" Anon rolled his eyes and held out his hand again. Slowly, from bottom to top, a vanilla cupcake with pink icing formed in his hands, the wrapper excluded. Pinkie snatched it from his hands and quickly ate it. "Mmm! Delicious." She exclaimed. "How is this even possible? You said you didn't have magic." Twilight asked, feeling lied to. "I'm not doing it on my own. You see... The lens is analyzing my brainwaves. It is able to interpret that into thoughts. Then it recognizes what I want to happen and tells nanobots to construct or destruct something." "Nanobots?" "Yes. Microscopic robots that can change the fabric of reality. If I wanted everypony on your planet dead, I could dissolve all of their brainstems in less than four seconds." "Then why are you giving us three chances?" "You deserve them. Now enough about me. Let's just finish this stupid picnic and get out of here." Anonymous sat down on the metal floor and pulled out another bottle. Everypony was silent. Anonymous didn't look happy, but they didn't want to upset him further by asking him anything else. Twilight and Spike were eating dinner all by themselves tonight. Anonymous had insisted he go to bed early because he wasn't feeling well. It was lonelier without him. They had grown used to his sarcasm and cynicism. There was something going on with him. He was afraid to board his own ship, he had been keeping secrets from everypony, and on the way back to Equestria, he had told Twilight 'goodbye'. Not goodnight. Goodbye. It was disturbing, knowing what kind of power he had over everypony. But it was more unsettling to know that he was paranoid and unstable. Twilight needed to check up on him. Threat or no threats, he was still her friend. She had put construction of her bomb on halt for now. If he threatened everypony again, she could have it fully operational in around three hours. "Anonymous?" She called as she walked down the stairs. "Yes?" He replied, laying down on his cot while staring up at the ceiling. "What's up with you? You haven't been yourself lately." "Nothing's of any consequence." Twilight raised an eyebrow. "How so?" She asked. "Every night at midnight, all one-hundred-thirty-three quindecillion atoms that make up this planet are scanned and backed up on a terminal." "An impressive technological feat, but why does that upset you?" "Nothing's of any consequence. If the world was destroyed because I got upset and launched nuclear missiles, it wouldn't matter. Everything could be rebuilt. You're safe." He explained. "You're immortal." Twilight looked at Anonymous. She realized that being alive as long as he had been was unnatural. He'd been through pain and pleasure that nobody could possibly imagine. He longed to die but was unable to. "I know you've been building something behind my back. To hell with the strikes, let's have a showdown tomorrow afternoon." Twilight continued to look at his face. He wasn't worried and he wasn't lying. If everything really could be rebuilt even if they destroyed every part of the planet, then she wasn't worried either. He wasn't an enemy to her. He was... Twilight couldn't find the word. "Okay." Twilight told him, feeling worried that he might not even fight back. If that was the case, then this wasn't a challenge. It was a death wish. "Five o' clock. Work as hard as you want to on your weapon, and get your affairs in order. Everything after midnight doesn't matter." Anonymous turned over in his bed, getting ready to go to sleep. Twilight walked up the stairs and felt defiled. She was a scientist, she knew that her friends, her family, the Princesses were all just molecules. It didn't mean much to her until she found someone who had absolute power over atoms. When it was all over and one victor would stand over the other, Twilight wouldn't feel happy. She wouldn't feel happy that Anonymous continued to live his miserable infinite existence, and she wouldn't feel happy that her home planet was destroyed. At least in one outcome, it was possible that everyone could be brought back. That was the path she was going to take. Author's Note Oh man, where did that chapter title come from? Only from one of the greatest cartoons of the twenty-first century, that's where.
--Chapter 15-- The Race for EquisTHE SEVENTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (THREAT LOCATED) 7:30AM The high pitched shriek of an alarm clock broke the silence in the library. Anonymous turned over in his cot, not acknowledging the noise. Spike quickly stumbled down the stairs, trying to turn off the alarm as soon as possible. It took a few seconds for him to find it and restore the peace of the Library. He looked down at the resting alien and noted how undisturbed he looked. "It's seven thirty in the morning. You never wake up early." Spike rubbed his eyes while talking to Anonymous. Upon hearing the time, Anonymous jumped out of his cot and ran for the stairs, tripping due to tangled up in several blankets. Spike trailed behind, still wanting an answer to his question. Anonymous ran in and out of every room in the building, probably looking for something. After checking all of the rooms, he stopped for Spike in the heart of the library. "Where's Twilight at?" Spike let out a yawn. "She got up even earlier than you. She was really distressed, saying she had to go to Canterlot to tell her family goodbye. You should talk to her when she gets back." "I intend to," Anonymous said while making his way towards the kitchen. "You know, you've been acting strange lately too. What's going on with you guys?" Lying wasn't something Anon enjoyed. Especially if the person he was lying to was someone he cared about. Spike and Twilight were really the only people on this planet he could trust. But Spike looked up to him. Whether it was because he had advanced technology or because he had taken an interest in Spike, he didn't know. It didn't matter that much. "I'm in the middle of a feud with Twilight." "Really? What's it about?" Spike inquired, resting his head in his claws. "I argue that life is frail and easy to reconstruct and not worth much at all. Twilight believes that there is something more to life. Something she can't put into words. Whenever she finds the meaning of it, that's when we'll stop feuding. I promise." "You're like a twisted Princess Celestia." Spike giggled. "Excuse me?" "You're teaching her things. And you're making her find the answers for herself, just like the Princess." Anonymous shook his head, thinking about it. "I like 'Anonymous the Alien' better." THE SEVENTH DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" (THREAT LOCATED) 12:30AM "I can't believe she's not back yet. It's really unlike Twilight to throw off her schedule like this." Spike told Anonymous, who was fiddling with a circuit board. "Yeah. Well, better not waste our lives waiting for her. Let's go do something fun." "What do you want to do?" Spike asked him. Anon pondered what to do for a while before he snapped his fingers in realization. "Rainbow Dash wanted to race my ship." "How are we going to get up to her house? Neither of us are Pegasi." "Pfft, we'll fly, of course." Anonymous stood up from his chair and walked with Spike out to his Mini-Screw. The graffiti on the spaceship had only gotten worse. The rusty golden exterior had transformed into a bulletin board system for delinquents, ponies sharing their addresses and spreading gossip. Anonymous stopped opening the door as he read some of the writing. While he was messing with the control pad, trying to open the doors, an unfamiliar Equine approached the both of them. "Excuse me?" She said. The duo turned their heads to face the pony who spoke. "I'm Mayor Mare, and it has come to my attention that you've been staying with Twilight and Spike." "Yeah... So?" Anon remarked. "So, I was wondering if you could help me diffuse the tension you've caused by giving a speech later today. After all, not that many ponies know that you're friendly." "Uhh... Sure. I guess I can come up with something that'll inspire kindness and compassion or whatever across the world." "Excellent! The speech will be given at six-o'-clock in the town hall. Don't disappoint us!" The Mayor explained as she walked away from the alien and the dragon with a smile on her face. "That was odd," Anonymous stated, finally getting the doors to open. "What are you going to give your speech about?" "No idea. I'll improvise something about friendship. Ponies here like that stuff, right?" "You bet," Spike said as he climbed into the Mini-Screw. "Speaking of bets, who do you think is going to win, me or RD?" Spike laughed. "Please, if you can get to Saturn in twenty seconds, she doesn't stand a chance." Rainbow Dash was flipping through the pages of her favorite book: Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone. The words on the pages seemed to come to life as she read them. Her imagination created the world around her. It was a world of adventure, a world full of booby-traps and creatures who would eviscerate you as soon as look at you. Rainbow Dash loved adventure. It was what got her out of bed in the morning. "Rainbow!" Dash muffled a scream as she turned around to see who was intruding her privacy. Outside of her window was the Mini-Screw with its metal doors open. Spike and Anonymous were in plain sight, relaxing in the spaceship. "You up for a race today?" Spike asked her. "Uh... Sure. What time do you want to do it?" "Right now," Anonymous demanded. Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "Right now? You don't need any time to get ready?" "You versus me. Right now." He repeated. Dash let out a laugh as she flew out of her window to line up with the spaceship. "I hope you're not a sore loser. You see the castle over there on that mountain? Whoever gets there first is the winner." The spaceship rotated around so that its front was faced towards the giant mountain in the distance. Hydraulics whirred as the metal doors closed up. The sound of engines powering up could be heard throughout the sky. Spike sat on the couch of the spaceship with a seatbelt on, looking a bit worried. "We're not going to explode like we did last time, are we?" "Pfft, Like she can even get up to 'C one'," Anonymous cracked his knuckles and started typing away on his keyboard. Various mechanisms could be heard operating inside the walls of the ship. "All right! Counting down from five! Four!" Rainbow Dash shouted so that Anon could hear her. "Three!" "Two!" "One!" A very violent explosion almost blew away Dash's house as the two of them powered up and blasted off towards Canterlot. Almost immediately, Rainbow took the lead by several hundred feet. But what Anonymous lacked in starting speed, he made up with in acceleration. It didn't take long for him to take the lead, leaving Dash far behind. "How fast are we going?" Spike shouted out, trying to project his voice over the sound of the wind flowing against the chassis of the ship. "Around half a mach. I thought she had more in her." As soon as Anonymous had taunted her, a blue streak shot by the side of the ship like a bullet. Rainbow Dash had a look of utmost determination on her face that could have been seen from the ground. Her fur became cloaked with a white-hot glow as another explosion happened in front of the ship. A rainbow-colored circle shot out across Equestria, almost blinding Anonymous. Her distraction didn't last long. Anonymous quickly throttled up to a speed that could rival Dash's. Soon they came head to head, neither of them bothering to look at the other. Halfway to Canterlot and the victor was still uncertain. Anon was about to speed up again before a message blocked out the console. "YOU STILL INTEND ON FIGHTING. NOW YOU WILL SUFFER." "Get out of my way!" Anon shouted over the deafening sounds of the wind. He throttled up anyways, leaving Dash in the dust yet again. Victory seemed certain, but the terminal went black and all of the lights inside the Mini-Screw shut off, leaving them in total darkness. "What's happening?" Spike asked, feeling much more concerned. The sound of the engines deactivating could be heard through the cabin along with the sound of the wind blowing against the walls. They were still moving very fast, but now they had no way to control themselves. Anonymous ripped the side of the terminal open again and started smashing any of Allos' circuit boards that he could find with his hands. If the ship didn't come online soon, the walls would be caked with Spike's blood. It was too late, they had already hit something. Thankfully, it wasn't the ground. Whatever it was, it sent the ship into a violent spin. Spike and Anon became glued to the walls. Spike threw up, there was too much force and too much spinning for him to keep his stomach calm. Another impact slightly slowed down the rotation and the falling, but they hadn't hit the ground yet. Then the ship stopped on what they assumed to be ground, but the ride wasn't over yet. The ground beneath them crumbled and the ship fell down for another fifty feet before finally stopping. On the outside of the walls, muffled shrieks and screams could be heard. Anonymous was sliding his hands against the wall, hoping to find the lever that opened the doors. The screw was gently rolling around on the ground, which made finding it all the more difficult since the walls had become the floor. Finally, the doors opened and a sick Spike and dazed Anonymous walked out of the ship and into the new room. The room was made of grandiose columns that transformed into arches at the ceiling, which was now raining bits of rocks onto the ground. From what Anon could make out of his surroundings, there was some type of banquet going on. At the opposite side of the room's doors stood a tall throne fit for a Princess. There was something off about it all, not including the crashed U.F.O. in the middle of the room. There was some kind of fluid that was oozing across the floor. At first, Anonymous thought he had ripped a liquid hydrogen line, but the color just didn't match up. It was a sticky red liquid. A mangled hoof and broken ribs peeked out of the space between the U.F.O. and the ground. Spike threw up again, hyperventilating at the sight of the fluid. Most of the banquet's partakers had run out of the room, screaming and crying in fear. However, there were some who had stayed and were getting closer to them. They were white colts dressed in golden armor. "Stay right there!" One of them shouted, pointing his spear at Anonymous. Princess Celestia walked around the side of the Mini-Screw with her mouth wide open. There was blood all over her legs. Apparently, she had been close to the victim, seeing as how distressed she was. "What have you done?!" She cried out, looking at the crushed body beneath the spaceship. "Uhh... Can't talk now, Princess. I've got a race to win." Anonymous retreated back to his ship, grabbing Spike and taking him along. He closed the door behind all of the angry guards who ran for the ship's door. Unfortunately, the Mini-Screw had taken off before any of the guards could get close to the door. As the two murderers took off into the noon sky, a large red splatter could very apparently be seen in the middle of the throne room. Rainbow Dash was still going at her peak speed, approaching the Mini-Screw. She would have won the race while they stood still, but she stopped as soon as she saw the hole in the roof. The race didn't matter to her anymore. "Did you do that?" She asked in a somber voice, already knowing the answer. "Who do you think won?" Anonymous asked through the ship's loudspeakers, ignoring her question. "Are you serious!?" Dash shouted. Rainbow turned her back on the ship and descended down into the throne room to find out exactly what happened. "I feel so... impure," Spike said with a trembling voice. It was the first thing he had said since he saw the body. "Welcome to my world. Now, let's get back to the Library and brag. Today we are winners!" Anon proclaimed, feeling fulfilled for today. Spike looked up at the alien. Any respect he had for him was lost. "What's wrong with you? Why don't you appreciate life like everyone else does? And why do you have to be so careless about it!" Spike was screaming at him. Anonymous' joyful face decayed back into its expressionless state. Whatever meaning was behind Spike's words was going in one ear and out the other. His blank face slowly turned to a frown. He tapped three times on the keyboard, and the door opened to inexplicably reveal The Golden Oak Library. "Get out." Spike wasn't going to argue with him. He never wanted to see him again. The doors shut behind him without remorse as the Mini-Screw disappeared into thin air. Spike erupted into tears outside the Library for everypony to see. They had killed somepony and Anonymous didn't even care. The grief and sadness that Spike felt was unending. He needed to do something about it. There wasn't much to be done about it, though. So Spike did the only thing he could do to make himself feel better. He wrote a letter to the pony's family. THE SEVENTH DAY "TRANSPORTING..." (THREAT LOCATED) 1:14 PM Having a teleporting and light-speed spaceship, Anonymous could have chosen to go anywhere in the universe to run away from his feelings. He didn't pick his homeworld, he didn't go to see Sarah, he didn't even go to talk to Twilight. He reappeared in the most random place he could have. Sweet Apple Acre's living room. The Mini-Screw was too big to be inside the house, so when it teleported in, the ceiling and the floor dented to accommodate its size. The event did not go unnoticed by the Apple family. Big Macintosh, Granny Smith, and Applejack were all present, looking at the ship's vandalized exterior. The U.F.O.'s doors slid open and Anonymous walked out as the ship disappeared behind him, leaving a bent ground and ceiling. Anon didn't make contact with any of the Apples. Instead, he sat down on the couch in the middle of the room and stared off into the distance. "Why, go ahead, make yourself at home." Applejack sarcastically remarked, looking up at the damaged roof. Anonymous sighed and turned his head to Applejack. "I get tired of breathing." Granny Smith rubbed her head, not understanding his point. "I've been alive for an unimaginably long time and I've breathed more times than anyone could ever count." He laughed at himself. "I get tired of breathing." Big Macintosh frowned, not appreciating his sudden intrusion. He nudged his little sister, which she took as a sign to say something. "Why are you in our house, again?" Applejack inquired. "I grew up in the south on my planet. This reminds me of home." Anon responded, closing his eyes and taking in a deep breath, groaning while he exhaled. "You don't look too good, Mister Alien. Even though you look so youthful when you're really old." Granny Smith said, sitting down next to Anonymous. "I think I've done something horrible. But I'm not too sure because I don't feel bad about it, but..." He stopped himself. Applejack looked at his face. He was blushing and looked guilty, and for that, she felt a bit of sympathy. "Sugarcube, everyone spends their life pleasing others. You do what you think is right for everyone and that guilt will clear up faster than the sky after a tornado." "Eeyup." Big Mac agreed. Anonymous struggled to listen. So many lifetimes were passing by his eyes as he was trying to find the answer. Everyone everywhere thought life was worth living, but why? Maybe Twilight was right... Maybe life was worth living. He'd do anything for the answer. Trade anything. The alien sighed and stood up from the comforting couch. "I'm sorry to intrude." Anonymous walked out the front door without a word. The blue sky above him, the green ground beneath him, it looked beautiful and yet wasn't satisfying. Several septillion years had taught him so much about how things work, but not a single thing about why. He felt envy for the simplicity of these Equine's world. Then it occurred to him that he was ruining their simple life. All this technology, immortality, having absolute power, it was distracting from what was important. He had to focus, and quickly. He had less than four hours left before it was all gone.
--Chapter 16-- The Arrow of TimeTHE SEVENTH DAY "PONYVILLE OUTSKIRTS" (THREAT LOCATED) 4:36 PM The trees at Sweet Apple Acres were some of the most beautiful plants that anyone could imagine. The golden sunlight was shining through the leaves, giving a nostalgic feeling of home to the whole field. It didn't mean anything, though. That golden sunlight was just made up of photons radiating from a nuclear reactor suspended in the endless sky. Science dictated almost everything Anonymous did since he could always rely on it to work out in his favor. Philosophy wasn't his strong suit, but right now he was obsessed with discovering the meaning of life. If he did find it out within the next few hours, he'd implement it into his speech that he was giving at six o' clock. For some reason, Anonymous also wanted to apologize to the family for the accident he caused. Not because he felt sympathy for them, he had been demoralized eons ago. It was because of Spike. That was the only entity he cared about right now. If Twilight had been there, the battle probably would have been had right over Canterlot. While being distracted with his thoughts, Anon stumbled on a rock in the middle of the dirt path leading to Ponyville. If he ever got around to assimilating Equis into the Galactic Society, there would be nothing but asphalt roads and manufacturing lines for miles and miles. But if their world was changed overnight, it'd be stressful to adapt to the new world for them. Staying the same wasn't what they wanted, was it? To his right, Anonymous spotted what appeared to be a shoddily-constructed treehouse. Now to think of it, Anonymous hadn't seen any Equine children around. Then again, who would want their children around the foreign invader from another universe? A scream from the other side of the hill caught Anon's attention. He decided to go investigate just in case someone was in trouble, after all, it wasn't that far away. From the top of the hill that he was on, Anonymous could see the diner that Twilight and Spike ate at a few days ago. Maybe today he'd try out some of their food, but first, he was going to find out what the commotion was about. "HELP!" A young voice cried out in a squeaky voice. Anonymous rushed down the hill to help the pony in danger. There was something odd about the trees in this area. It looked like the tops of them had been scraped off. Now the screaming filly had finally come into view. She was white and had purple and pink hair. There was another one with her, an orange Pegasi who looked about the same age. The two of them saw the alien running down the slope and their panicked screams for help got louder. The orange one had run off for help while the white filly backed up. From how the white one was taking up so much space, Anonymous guessed that she was trying to hide something. Muffled screams came from whoever they were guarding, screams that were much louder than either of their cries for help. "You called for help?" "You're--You're..." The white filly couldn't get the words out of her mouth. "HELP ME!" The guarded object shouted out again. "Alright, what have we got over here?" Anon gently shoved the filly aside and instantly realized what had happened. In front of him was a black box covered in decorative lights and impressive technology-themed designs. It was the same box that he had left behind when getting his lens and earpiece from ALLOS. The orange pegasus was getting more comfortable with Anonymous, slowly getting closer to the box and her friends. "We were just playing around and then we found this box. Then Applebloom wanted to investigate and she got stuck in it!" She rushed to explain what had happened. "Please! Help me!" Anonymous presumed Applebloom to be the one crying from the inside of the box. "Well, this is really quite simple actually, all it needs is my biometric identification to open." The two fillies didn't understand what that meant, but they trusted that he was going to help their friend out. Anonymous pressed his index finger against a small green grid at the top of the crate. His earpiece shrieked an intensely loud tone that caused him to clutch his ears. The green grid rearranged itself to display a message from ALLOS. "YOU HAVE NOT CHANGED YOUR MIND." Anon groaned at the message and continued opening the box, trying to ignore the deafening tone being shot into his ear as best as he could. "I'm done reasoning with you. You're guilty of the accident earlier today, not me." He whispered so that none of the fillies could understand what he was saying under his breath. "YOU ARE THE ONE WHO WILL BE BLAMED." Just as Anonymous had started opening the container, the lid quickly shut itself, closing on his fingers and locking. He almost bit his lip off in an effort to keep quiet and keep the girls calm. The green pad on the box flashed red as new words started to form on it. "SELF-DESTRUCTING IN: ONE MINUTE" The white unicorn was the first of the two to read it and resumed her screaming. The orange Pegasi was on the verge of tears, and collapsed into the fetal position, feeling hopeless. As for Applebloom who was still inside the box, she had given up hope long ago. Anonymous tore out his earpiece and threw it onto the ground in a fit of rage. "I'm done! I'm not going to play this game anymore. You aren't going to do it because you treasure life so much!" Nothing. The earpiece didn't shriek and the countdown didn't stop. "These kids have a full life ahead of them. There is a world that they don't know about and need to explore! You cannot take this away from them!" He shouted. "I AM BEHAVING NO DIFFERENTLY THAN YOU." The words overwrote the self-destruction timer which now read forty seconds. It was hard for Anonymous to sit and do nothing, but he had to. The only way that the timer would be destroyed is if he could change ALLOS' mind. "I was wrong! Life is about persuing what interests you and enjoying those around you. I may have run out of my will to live eons ago, but these kids are full of it." Still nothing. "I can take away your permissions." The counter rapidly knocked off numbers, amounting to less than twenty seconds left. He had to try. Twenty seconds to get the code to the mainframe and destroy the timer himself. Anonymous used his remaining hand to tear off the timer, revealing a multitude of wires and small circuit boards in its place. There was no keyboard, and no microphone for the command to work. With ten seconds left to go, Anonymous somehow had to find a way to broadcast the signal all the way to The Flying Castle. His eyes skimmed the interior of the box, looking for a transmitter. The transmitter was in the top right, and now he needed a power source to send the message. Anon quickly snipped the wires off, in a rush to enter the code. 'Dot dash, space, dash dot, dot, space, dash, dot, dot--' He was too late to finish the other half of the code. The timer read zero seconds left and he and Applebloom were engulfed by a giant white fireball. The other two kids were probably killed by the shrapnel that used to be the box. ALLOS was merciless. He had killed the kids without remorse and was willing to kill Anonymous. The alien was lying on the burning grass fifteen feet away, trying to ignore the pain throughout his body. His metallic organs had gone unaffected, but his skin wasn't so fortunate. It was trying to regenerate and reconnect itself in the front, but the fire was burning off any skin produced. Anon patted out the fire with his hands, which were also on fire. Besides him, there were no survivors. Two of them were bleeding on the ground, beyond repair, at least by their world's standards, and Applebloom was all over the field. Pieces of circuit boards littered the field. Anonymous crawled over the debris, looking for the right chips. He could still fix this. Luckily the transmitter board experienced minimal damage, and all he had to do was find the chip with the battery. Scootaloo tried to call out for help between her breaths, filled with agony. After a few minutes of searching, Anonymous couldn't stand it anymore and crawled to Scootaloo to help her. She had a circuit board impaled in her lungs. "Always the last place you look for it, isn't it?" Anonymous pulled out the board without any care about Scootaloo's body, which was now bleeding out twice as hard. He could manage to stand now. The muscles in his legs had finally regenerated, and the skin on his chest was being reattached. 'Break, dot, dot, dash, space, dot dot dot...' Sweetie Belle had died long before Scootaloo, not from bleeding or from shrapnel, though. Heart attack. Applebloom was probably the luckiest of all four of them. She had an instant death with no pain. The best way to go. 'Dash dash dash.' The message was complete. Any second now, Anonymous would have control over all the functions of ALLOS, and he would finally become the puppet master and play ALLOS as his puppet. There was no way to tell that the message had gotten through, and so Anon decided to use the suffering Scootaloo as his guinea pig. 'Repair structure, primary priority.' Air was spontaneously sucked into her lungs as she started breathing again. The pool of blood she was in slowly seeped back into the wounds, which closed once they got as much blood as the could. Her ribs cracked back into place and the shrapnel dissolved into nothingness. She was still in pain, but it was significantly less than what she felt like less than a minute ago. Then all of her pain went away. And her reality became distorted. The sky was yellow and the grass was orange. Everything was happy, despite her friend's recent deaths. "Gee, thanks, Mister," Scootaloo said, almost toppling over as she tried to get back on her hooves. "Your friends aren't as lucky as you. I'm going to have to take do some... unconventional things with them." "Well, whatever gets the blood flowing at the end of the day, am I right?" Scootaloo let out a weak laugh, which slowly evolved into hysterical laughter. Anonymous raised his left hand at the field and tried to focus his thoughts. Intestines, lungs, the heart all had to be in the right general places, the nanobots would do the rest. Applebloom's blood slowly crept towards a central point in front of Anonymous. Smoke caused by the explosion descended from the skies and took the shape of Applebloom. While the smoke was slowly transmogrifying into tissue, Anon turned his attention to the late Sweetie Belle. There was still some activity going on in her brain, but not much. Anonymous touched her heart, slowly stroking her bloody chest. The sound of electronics charging up came from inside the alien. Sweetie Belle's corpse shook and jumped at the touch of his electric hands, eventually, she was able to push the hand away from her. "What are you, a mashugana?" She shouted. Her attention was quickly turned to the cloud of smoke and skin that stood before her. Anonymous raised out a hand to it, and touched it's "head." The electricity sustained itself, like a ball of lightning in the smoking brain of Applebloom's clone. The smoke rapidly turned itself back into bone and tissue, leaving behind no smoke at all. She still had no skin. Anon scooped up some dirt from the ground and threw it on the abomination of skin. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were horrified to watch as their recently deceased friend's skin started appearing out of thin air. Ten seconds is all it took for her skin and yellow coat to be grown back. She was indistinguishable from her previous self, and didn't appear to remember anything that happened. "Girls! I'm alive!" Applebloom rushed up to her friends, trying to hug them. The two fillies backed up and raised their hoofs defensively. "Girls... It's me." Applebloom was upset to see her friends so terrified of her. "How do we know you're not a zombie or an alien robot?" Sweetie Belle asked. "The same way you find out if you're in a dream or not," Anon answered for her. Scootaloo walked up to the clone of Applebloom and raised a hoof just to feel her coat. It was very real, and felt exactly like her old coat. Then Scootaloo pinched her friend, to which Applebloom jumped up and shrieked. "Now do you believe me?" The three of them laughed and hugged, relieved to be alive and well. "Hey, Mr. Alien, what's your name?" Scootaloo asked, still a little sluggish. "The Galactic Society calls me Mechanic Sapien-Humanoid number thirty-three thousand, two hundred and forty-one. I know it's quite a mouthful, so just call me Anonymous. What are your names?" "I'm Sweetie Belle!" "My name's Scootaloo." "And I'm Applebloom. You don't look familiar to me..." Applebloom gasped in realization, finally realizing that the entity that stood before her was the alien that had also set Equestria on edge for the past week. "Are you that alien that everypony's been talking about?" "Why yes, I am." "Thank you for saving our friend, Anonymous!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed. "It was nothing really, I just..." "Raised the dead." Scootaloo interrupted. "Are you kidding? If it wasn't for you, this whole field would still be painted Applebloom right now!" "Well, just be careful next time, and I guess I'll see you girls around..." "Bye, Anonymous!" They called out as they walked towards Sweet Apple Acres. They had a lot to tell their family about. ALLOS' administrative access was a very taboo thing to use, no matter the circumstances. All orders had to be completed without question and on demand. Twilight didn't stand a chance in the battle anymore. If he wanted to, Anonymous could snap her neck by thinking about it, or dissolve her skin, or drown her in her own blood. It was intoxicating to wield such power. Anon continued his stroll to Ponyville, still trying to think of the meaning of life. 'What do I want most?' He thought to himself. The material realm was at his mercy, and so Anonymous wanted something immaterial. Emotions and thoughts were harder to manipulate and required time to work with. But Anon wasn't going to distort Equestria's perspective of him. He respected free will. There was still someone who he wanted to see who would not care about being manipulated. In his peripheral, Anonymous turned to see Sarah waiting for him by the treeline. She was as beautiful as he remembered her. There was something off about her, though. Her lifeless eyes. No matter what Anonymous created, it would never be natural, only artificial. Sarah's replica burst into flames and quickly crumbled into ashes upon Anon's disappointment. Alright, so he couldn't create immaterial things, but anything physical he wanted was his. Ponyville could finally be seen in the distance. The Ponies wouldn't be happy to see him. Facing Spike was going to be the hardest thing Anon had done since he arrived on Equis. The rectangular device in his pocket made a ringing sound. He pulled it out and read the notification on it. 5:00 - Duel with Twilight It was time. Twilight was waiting for him at the Golden Oak Library, he could feel her there. He could feel all of Ponyville similar to the way he could feel his limbs. His molecules and consciousness disassembled and slid down the hill and all the way to the front of The Library. Twilight stood there, unsurprised. In the background, Anonymous could make out Spike frowning at him. No doubt he had told her about their misadventures earlier today. Twilight was also frowning, but that was just a mask for another emotion she was feeling right now. Fear. "I was hoping we could talk this out." Author's Note Halloween-themed penultimate chapter for the first of November, everyone! HAPPY NOVEMBER-WEEN! (Written in two days on a time-crunch don't hate on my grammar, yo'.)
--Chapter 17-- Strength in Metal and Fiber Optics (ENDING #1)Author's Note Shh... Shh... It's all over now. --Chapter 17-- Strength in Metal and Fiber Optics (ENDING #1) THE SEVENTH DAY "PONYVILLE" (VIOLENCE IMMINENT) 5:00 PM The air was thick with tension between the two of them. One of them was an all-powerful merciless alien, and the other was an innocent unicorn with only magic to save herself. Twilight took a deep breath to calm herself down and stared back at Anonymous. The alien stood tall with a wide smile on his face. He was very confident of his abilities. "I was hoping we could talk this out." Anon chuckled at Twilight's request. "For what purpose? This showdown is going to be well known for years to come on this planet, but throughout the galaxy? They're never going to care about this. We are insignificant compared to them." "We may be small, but we each stand for something. Do you really want to be known as the Mechanic Sapien who stood for destroying innocent lives? That doesn't seem like something Sarah would want you to be known for." "Leave her out of this. This is between us." Anonymous' smile transformed into a scowl at the mention of her name. "Ponyville has done nothing to you, and neither has Equestria. I haven't done anything to you! Why are you so bent on destruction?" Twilight shouted at him. The alien stood still, deeply breathing in and out, trying to keep his composure. There wasn’t a doubt in Twilight’s mind that he was on the edge. Once he was over that edge, there was no going back, and there was no repairing the damage he might do. "You reminded her. You reminded me." His voice broke when he mentioned her this time. It was the closest Twilight had ever seen him to crying. Anonymous was being honest, that alone got Twilight’s attention. "I fooled myself into thinking what I did was right, but I know it was wrong. I tricked her into thinking that I felt bad about it. She saw through me, though. It scared her, all of these emotions." Twilight tried not to feel sympathy for him, but it was hard when he was pouring himself out to her. It didn't change the fact that he was still a threat. Now he was just an unstable threat. "Before I came here, I was living on a tropic island. The natives there worshiped me as their god, sacrificed others to me. I tried to tell them that I wasn't a god, but they thought otherwise. I moved mountains to help them, bombed any armies that opposed them, and they loved me for it. So... I killed them all." "That makes no sense! Why would you do that?" "There are no gods in the depths of space. There are only two kinds of creatures in space. There are creatures with mercy and those without mercy. They rejected my advice, and I killed them before anybody without mercy got to them. I saved them from an unimaginably gruesome fate." "Is that what you're doing right now? Saving us by killing us? By committing genocide?" "You won't die. There's a part of you that will always live on forever." Now Twilight was the one laughing. Anonymous had such twisted morals in her eyes. "Then do it. Save me and save all of us! We need your help. Do it!" Anonymous' hands were shaking. Twilight was doing a good job of making him feel guilty, but he couldn't cave into her like this. Anon was losing the battle before it had even begun. "You don't get it. We're all just noise in the system, crying for help." Twi shook her head and approached Anonymous, extending her hoof to him. She looked in his eyes and saw something that reminded her that he was as clueless about life as she was. "As long as we're noise, we might as well be a symphony." After everything he had done, Twilight was still willing to be friends. The alien was dumbfounded at her innocence. The act of kindness melted his stone heart and touched him deeply. However, that path to his heart was quickly sealed when he remembered the unforgiving entities he had met throughout his long life. "That kind of attitude won't help against the ruthless things that are approaching." Spike turned his head when Anonymous mentioned something 'approaching'. Supposedly there was someone else interested in Equis? "Who's coming?" Spike asked Anonymous, anxiety hiding deep inside him. "Just trust me, if I kill you all now, I can bring you back when they leave. But if they find you there will be no hope for your people." Twilight was unsure whether he was telling the truth or not now. Fortunately, this was one of the situations where magic comes in handy. She charged up her horn and cast a mind-reading spell on Anonymous. Past all of his distressed emotions and twisted logic, Twi could feel the meaning of the very words he was speaking. "No. You're not... telling the truth." She realized, warning Spike. Twilight slowly backed up as Anonymous glared at her, staring deep into her eyes. He was thinking about something, and whatever it was, he was thinking about it intensely. Twilight felt uneasy. Her whole body went cold while he was staring at her. Then she felt comforted like she was under a warm blanket. It was almost as if he was doing something to her. Then there was a sensation down her spine, similar to having a bucket of cold water thrown on you. "I mean--" The words she spoke were not her own. "There's nobody coming, but we shouldn’t question your--" She bit down on her tongue, which was moving without her permission. She was determined to deflect whatever kind of mind-game he was playing. "STOP IT." She shouted through her teeth. He continued to stare at Twilight. His will was slowly becoming her will. The very neurons inside of her head were rearranging to serve his purposes. Twilight charged up her horn as quick as she could and discharged it at Anonymous. The purple ball of magic sent him flying back into the dirt several yards away with a hole in his chest that stopped when the muscle turned into ribs. Ponies nearby gasped at Twilight, not understanding the situation going on. Anonymous laid on the ground for a few seconds, quietly growling and thinking up his next move. "Spike, send a letter to Princess Celestia. Tell her to bring the Royal Guard and the Elements of Harmony. I don't want this to get ugly if I can avoid it." Spike ran off upstairs, frantically searching for a quill and some paper. He obviously shared Twilight’s feelings on avoiding any conflict. Twilight glanced behind her, observing the crude bomb case she had constructed. Just by looking at it, anypony could guess its lethal function. She would have to do it quickly if he attempted to retaliate. Not to mention that she would have to contain the damage the bomb would do just to Anon. It wasn’t going to be easy. Anonymous got up on his feet and cracked his neck back into place. Instead of being upset like Twilight expected, he was smiling. In fact, he was smiling wider than Twilight had ever seen him smile before. "Very funny. My turn." He raised his right hand towards Twilight. At first, nothing happened, but then the wind started to blow around Twilight. Its speed slowly got more intense, faster and faster it blew towards Anonymous. The strong gust of wind didn't affect the alien, but it did cause Twilight to slide over to his position. She looked up at him and his terrifying wide grin. "Stop this! The Princesses will be here soon and they will take appropriate actions to ensure you don’t cause any more trouble." "That's not much incentive for me to stop then, is it?" Anon chuckled on top of his smiling. He turned himself to face the mountain where Canterlot sat. He took a deep breath and whispered something at an inaudible volume. Twilight was concerned. No doubt that whatever action he was about to take would be unfavorable towards her plan to incapacitate him. There was something flying above all of them, very high in the sky. It reminded Twilight of The Flying Castle when it first arrived several days ago. Just a small white speck traveling very quickly very high in the sky. "Turn around," Anonymous demanded, doing so himself. Twilight tried to keep looking at Canterlot just to spite him, but he picked her up by her shoulders and forced her to look back at her Library. In the distance, the sound of a calm wind filled the afternoon sky. It was relaxing in its own way. The breeze got louder and louder, even though it was still faint. Without warning, the sky and the ground beneath it lit up in a brilliant light, brighter than the sun itself. It burned Twilight's skin just to be in its presence. It was so unimaginably bright that she could still see it when she closed her eyes. She was thankful that she complied, otherwise, her eyes might have melted out of her skull. The light’s color slowly changed from white to orange. The intensity of it toned down a bit, but it still hurt to have her eyes open. Twilight brought her hoofs up to her eyes in an effort to avoid going blind. The ground rumbled as if an earthquake was about to split Ponyville into two pieces, but the sound was drowned out by another noise. The sound of a supermassive explosion. Twilight removed her hoofs from her eyes to put them up to her ears. A high-pitched ringing in her ears was left from the explosion, and Twi started to hyperventilate upon realizing what had happened. The blinding light was still present, but she had to look back. The curiosity was too much. Canterlot was completely obliterated. Engulfed by the colossal fireball that was rising from what remained of its mountain. So many thoughts and emotions passed in Twilight's head. She couldn't look at it anymore, and not because it was burning afterimage into her eyes. All of the lives just lost, it broke her heart and her psyche. Her parents, her old friends, the Princesses... All dead. The giant mushroom cloud of smoke dominated the skies, blocking out the sunset. The sky was dark and orange. The heat from the explosion had traveled all the way to Ponyville and was burning up its citizens. It was hotter than the hottest summer day. Unfortunately, no amount of lemonade or iced tea could fix this heat. "Sheesh, I forgot how big those things were," Anonymous remarked, looking back at Canterlot's ruins. Twilight looked at him with a feeling of pure hatred. And while it hurt her to hate another being so much, there wasn't a doubt in her mind that he deserved it. There was something else he deserved, something she would have done earlier if she knew he was going to kill her family with no remorse. The bomb over by the Library's entrance glowed purple as it slid towards Twilight. Anonymous heard the sound of it sliding and turned to look at it. Twilight picked it up using her magic and flung it at Anon. He went flying several feet back, managing to stay standing this time. A thick purple field surrounded him and the bomb. He touched it, testing to see if he could simply pass through him. The odds were not in his favor. "Give it up, Twilight. You can't hurt me." The explosion was going to be smaller than the other explosion, but it would still be intense. Twilight funneled all of her magic into this one single shield, hoping to keep it from burning herself and Ponyville to ashes. Her magic once again came to her aid as she flipped the switch on the bomb’s back. 0:03 0:02 0:01 0:00 The digital lights blinked rapidly, signaling the fireball to appear. Nothing happened. The device simply flashed the number zero and took no action. Twilight looked back at Canterlot, which was now clouded by a giant fog of gray smoke. Her vengeance was going to be delayed, but she would find another was to destroy the destroyer. "No! This was supposed to work!" She complained, feeling sick in her stomach. Anonymous continued to hold onto the bomb, unsurprised. The field slowly disappeared as Twilight ran out of magic to sustain it. "You didn't think I'd tell you the correct way to design my only weakness, did you? My brain may still be biological, but I assure you, it works perfectly fine." His charming remarks passed through Twilight’s ears. She trembled in her spot, feeling a mix of fear and anger. There was nothing left to hit him with, no magic, no bomb. Twilight was as good as dead. "Twilight! Are you okay?" Spike shouted from across the street. The concerned number one assistant ran out of the Library and right for his big sister, not paying attention to the massive cloud that stood in Canterlot's place. "No... I'm not okay, Spike." The radiation from the bomb was going to kill them both. Anonymous' skin would just die and grow back, but at least he would suffer a bit of pain for his misdeeds. Not a fitting punishment at all. "As much as I'd love to leave the two of you alone now, I promised you both a quick and painless death." The two of them tensed up at how calm he sounded. The alien raised his right hand again, this time pointed at Spike. "Goodbye, Spike." "NO!" Twilight jumped in front of Spike, trying to take the damage herself, but as luck would have it, a blue streak of light latched onto Anonymous and carried him high into the sky. "You can't treat ponies like that!" Rainbow Dash shouted at the alien she was holding onto. "Put me down now or you will share their punishment!" Anon screamed over the loud wind in their ears. Dash smiled as she let go of Anonymous and watched him fall several hundred feet to the ground. He was grabbing aimlessly at the sky around him, but without wings, there was no hope for him. The alien smashed into the ground and left a big crater where he fell. His metal bones stayed together, but they had crushed his skin and left him in a pool of blood. Rainbow Dash flew down to her friends and sighed in relief. "When did this guy become a nutcase?" She asked, looking at the mushroom cloud and back at her distressed friends. "Go get help, whoever is left. The Elements of Harmony may still be untouched, and if so, we need the six of us to use them against him." “Do you really think they survived?” “Go!” Twilight shouted. Dash nodded her head and flew off at a high speed to go round up the rest of Twilight's friends. Twilight and Spike walked over to the crater and looked down at the miserable pile of deformed skin and metal that resided in the middle of it. His endoskeleton stood up, dragging the ripped and detached skin out of the crater. When he finally got out, the skin stretched and tightened to mold his former self. By now, most of his suit had been ripped apart and stained with blood. Whatever was left of his clothes was just barely covering his right leg, lower chest, and reproductive areas. "Your friend has impeccable timing. But unfortunately, she had abandoned you, and I have to get back to what I was doing." Twilight charged up what little magic she had remaining and used it to teleported Spike and her around Anonymous, avoiding the aim of his hand. After several times of dancing around the threat, Twilight remembered that she could just teleport the two of them far away. To safety. The aggravated alien looked around for the disappearing duo for several minutes, shouting in rage when he gave up. He took several deep breaths and regained his composure. He was going to be methodical about this. "As cliché as it might sound, you can run, but you can't hide," Anon spoke to himself, wondering if Twilight could still hear him. Anon slowly looked around the landscape, searching for Twilight's biometric signal. Even if they had traveled to the other side of the planet, he'd find them eventually. He would find them. Princess Cadence was enjoying the well-prepared dinner with her husband. The two of them had been happy since they got married and moved into the Crystal Castle, despite having to save Equestria and deal with an alien from Outer Space ever since. Four guards kept watch of the happy royalty, and for good reason. Equestria was a dangerous place. The peace of the room was disturbed when Cadence felt something distressing. Something magical was missing from Equestria. Something was taken. "You felt it too?" Shining Armor asked, noticing his wife's disturbed face. "Something has happened to the Princesses in Canterlot." Cadence turned her head and explained to the nearby guards. "We will send a team to investigate immediately." An orange colt in metal armor informed them as he quickly trotted out the door with the three other armored guards. Shining didn't feel like eating anymore. If something had gone wrong, it would be because he wasn't there to be captain of the Royal Guard. Whoever had the power to get through the guards must have been very powerful, and there was one very enigmatic figure that nopony knew much about that he could think of. "You don't think this is his doing, do you?" Armor inquired. "Anonymous promised that he wouldn't harm anypony. He had a good track record with Twilight, so I trust that he followed the deal." Cadence raised a utensil to her mouth to take another bit of the finely-cooked dinner when suddenly, a large purple ball of magic materialized in the middle of the room. To the surprise of both Shining Armor and Princess Cadence, a hyperventilating Twilight and Spike stood in the middle of their dining table. "Cadence! We need your help!" Twi pleaded with a shaking voice. "Twilight, what happened to you?" Armor asked, upset to see his sister so freaked out. "It's Anonymous! He's gone crazy! He vaporized Canterlot and everypony there!" Spike quickly explained. Twilight and Spike didn't feel safe, not even hundreds of miles away from the unstable alien. Cadence gasped in shock. "The Princesses are..." "Dead." Twilight finished for her. "I'll gather all the guards, there still might be a chance for us." Shining remarked as he sprinted out the door. Now was the time for action. "This is horrible. Without the two Princesses, the sun and moon will stay still until someone else takes their place..." "That's the least of our problems. Right now, we should focus on the omnipotent god searching for us." Twilight complained to Cadence. "Don't call him that, please. I don't want to think of any god being as merciless as him..." Spike pleaded, feeling sick in his stomach. It just occurred to Twilight how traumatic the experience was for Spike. All in one day, he had been a bystander to somepony's murder and had also witnessed the destruction of an entire city along with all of its citizens. "Are you going to be alright?" Cadence asked. Spike shook his head. "We're all as good as dead." He collapsed into a pile of hopelessness in the middle of the floor. Both of the mares felt sympathy for him. He was just a kid. "Spike, you should go see some of the crystal ponies. They look up to you ever since you saved them, maybe that will cheer you up." The dragon sighed and slowly got up from the floor and walked out the vacuous room. Even after he had left, his hopeless attitude stayed in the room, along with its inhabitants. "What are we going to do?" Twilight wondered out loud. "Has he talked about any of his weaknesses? Is he vulnerable to magic?" "No... He's made of metal and magic doesn't work on him like it does on us. Probably because he's not from here. It doesn't matter. Everypony I care about is dead, or will soon be dead." "What about your Ponyville friends?" "I'm not sure if they’re safe. If they are alive and well, we might be able to wield the Elements against him." “I can think of one other plan…” Cadence revealed. “What is it?” Twilight asked her. “Discord.” “What?!” “He is the very essence of chaos, there’s no reason why he couldn’t remove Anonymous from the face of this continent.” The Princess tried to explain herself, but in reality, she hated her plan too. “How is having a draconequus problem going to solve our alien problem?” “There are no other options. He’s our only hope now.” Something made a noise in the corner of the room. Twilight and Cadence turned to acknowledge it, fearing it was either maniac hunting them down or the spirit of chaos. Something was being etched into the door of the dining room. Letter by letter it formed a message not from Anonymous, but from his accomplice. ADD USER TWILIGHT --SUDO Along with the message, something else was being scraped into the wall just below the main message. 11/3/14/ CHEMICAL WEAKNESS - COURTESY OF ALLOS The numbers didn't make much sense to Twilight. It was possible that they were encrypted, but she didn't think the two of them would have enough time to decrypt it. As for the message above, Twilight had no idea what it was for. It looked like some of the messages Anonymous would input on his terminal, but there was no terminal near them or any terminal she felt safe near. She trusted his tech less than she trusted him. "What does it mean?" Cadence asked, trying to decode the messages. "I think it's his weaknesses…" Twilight replied, taking a closer look at the numbers. 'Eleven, three, fourteen. Are they letters? K is the eleventh number of the alphabet, and C is the third, the fourteenth is N, so… KC--' The meaning hit Twilight like a ton of bricks. "This is it! This is how we can defeat him!" She shouted happily, realizing the messages’ meaning. "I don't get it, what does it mean?" The Princess inquired, scrutinizing the numbers even harder. "He's made of metal, but his brain and skin are still biological. I've taken a look at his cell composition, all Eukaryotic cells have--" Twilight's explanation was cut short by the wall behind them being smashed to rubble. To Twilight's horror, she saw the Mini-Screw wedged into the Crystal Castle’s side. The door slid open, revealing a regenerated Anonymous stepping out of the U.F.O. and into the palace’s dining room. "You picked a great place to hide. These crystals deflected the scan signal, but the nanobots were already here, just waiting for you." "Just leave us alone! You've hurt enough ponies already." The remaining Princess shouted at Anon. "Oh man, I'm so sorry, I'll just be on my merry way then." Anonymous sarcastically remarked. Shining Armor and a troop of guards shot through the giant double doors, aiming their spears at him. Spike hid behind the guards, not happy to see Anon so soon. "You've terrorized enough. Leave now or face the full military force of the Crystal Empire." Armor declared, giving Anonymous a final chance. Anon smiled at the rebellion and noticed how close Shining Armor was standing to Cadence. The alien recalled something Twilight said about Princess Cadence and her brother. "Ah, love. I used to be a fan of it, so I won't lay a hand on the two of you. I can't say the same for these jokers, though." The alien waved his hand at the guards, who started groaning and screaming in agony. One by one, their necks twisted under the pressure caused by the alien's nanobot army. Armor held Cadence close to him, concerned for her. "Now for you two." Anonymous turned to face Twilight and Spike. Armor gave Twilight a look of regret and held his head down in shame. Shining and Cadence teleported away to safety, leaving Twilight and her assistant at the mercy of Anonymous. "Not too thoughtful for a brother and a sister-in-law. They've left you all to me." Twilight once again charged up her magic as much as she could, thinking of her home. Twilight and Spike disappeared into thin air. "Ugh! I'm getting sick of this!" Anonymous shouted as he climbed back into the Mini-Screw, locked onto Ponyville once again. While he was here, he might as well drop a few bombs. That might convince Twilight to stop running from him. Equestria's last hope materialized inside of Anonymous' bedroom. Twilight quickly trotted out of the magical bubble and frantically searched around her lab, looking for the ingredients to construct Anon’s “Chemical weakness.” "Why are we here? This seems like one of the places he'd expect us to be hiding." Spike asked, feeling unsafe in his own home. "We need something here. The Elements of Harmony are probably gone for good and there's nopony left to rival him." "But what if it doesn't work? He'll be free to run around all of Equestria and he’ll get rid of everything!" Twilight walked over to Spike and gave him a hug to calm him down. His anxiety didn’t disappear, but it did decrease his paranoia. "I won't let that happen. Trust me, Spike." Spike gulped despite Twilight’s words. "Alright, I trust you." Twilight mixed several chemicals into a nearby vial. She quickly corked it and placed it in Anonymous' black leather bag. Ever since he had arrived in Ponyville, he either kept it close or out of sight. Since he wasn't here, she rifled through the contents of it, not seeing any consequence to it. After all, it’s not like there’s anything he could do worse than he’d already done. "Oh... My... God..." Twilight's eyes widened at the innards of the bag. "What? What is it?" Twilight closed the bag and tossed it across the room, trying not to vomit from the image that was permanently etched into her memory. She gagged several times and held Spike back when he tried to check the inside of the bag. "It's full of... Extra body parts." She explained. "So? They're just metal." "Not these ones." Spike grimaced. Apparently, Anonymous had been hauling around severed legs and arms this whole time. If that didn’t guarantee that he was insane, Spike didn’t know what did. Twilight used her remaining magic to grab the bag of organs and carried them with her up the stairs. The sky had gone from orange to black. It was now night time and the smoke from the destruction of Canterlot was blocking out all of the stars. Twilight opened the bag once more, this time avoiding looking at it, and placed an object from her bedside table into the bag. Spike didn't get a clear view of whatever it was, but he hoped it would help them. The two of them held their breath when they heard a knock at the library's front door. Spike slowly approached the door and flung it open, running away when the outside world became visible. Rainbow Dash quickly flew inside, leading the rest of Twilight's friends. All six of them were somehow still alive, and it relieved a lot of Twilight’s stress. "Girls! You're alive!" Twilight had never been happier to see her friends. She ran over to them and hugged all five of them in a giant pile joy. "You're safe! I'm so glad you're safe!" Fluttershy held Twilight too close for comfort, but she didn’t care. Applejack was the first to let go of the hold and raised her hoof, ready to take action. "Now, let's find ourselves that alien and give him a piece of our minds!" "Yeah!" Various ponies agreed, trotting out of the Library. "Did you get the Elements yet?" Rarity asked Twilight. "The Elements aren't going to help us now, we’ll have to do this without magic." "I see you figured it out." A familiar voice spoke from behind them. Twilight and her friends stopped dead in their tracks and turned around to see Anonymous fiddling with his nails, looking unamused. "Your time is up, you meany-face!" Pinkie taunted. "Oh, how I wish that were true." Anonymous sighed as he walked towards the group. "Is this what you thought others would want? Sugarcube, nopony wants this!" Applejack shouted, upset that Anon didn't take her advice. "I don't care what others want. Other people aren't me." "What about everything we've done for you? Surely you aren't going to punish us for that?" Fluttershy asked, backing up from the incoming alien. "No, I'm going to punish you for what you didn't do." Anonymous raised his hand at the group. Rarity charged up her horn and fired a simple attack at his hand. Anon winced in pain and started blowing on his hand, trying to relieve the pain. "Run!" Spike shouted, following his own advice. The small group ran together towards the center of town. Very few ponies were left alive after the radiation blast, and those who were alive were severely burned and hiding from Anonymous. "So what's the plan?" Rainbow asked Twilight as they all ran from the furious alien. "I know his weakness, all we have to do is distract him long enough, then we can--" The earth shook beneath them, this time not accompanied by an explosion. Anonymous' essence glided in front of all of them and stopped the group again. "End of the line." Twilight charged up her horn, ready to attack Anon. Finished with magic, Anonymous swiped his hand at Twilight, and her horn powered down. No matter how hard she tried, her magic wouldn't come back. "What have you done?" She cried, feeling hopeless. "What haven't I done?" He raised his hand at the group, and Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie all fell to the ground. Twilight rushed over to Applejack and felt her pulse. It was slowly disappearing, Applejack's eyes closing as her heartbeat faded out into non-existence. "No..." Twilight was too choked up to talk anymore. Spike held Twilight close, crying by her side. He looked up at the alien, who appeared somewhat moved by her crying. "You ruined everything." Spike glared at Anonymous with pure hatred in his eyes. Twilight sat there, crying over her friend's deaths under the dark skies. She looked back at the monster that stood before them with tears in her eyes. He spoke to her with an unnaturally soothing voice. "Painless." Something inside of Twilight stopped. It might have been her heart, it might have been her soul. Whatever it was, Anonymous had taken complete control of it and ran it into the ground. She fell over like her friends did, not feeling anything anymore. No pain, no regret, not even sadness anymore. He had won. "Twilight..." Spike softly cried over his best friend. "Spike... Keep going." Twi whispered. "Run." The dragon slowly got up, looking at all of the bodies in front of him. Then he started walking towards the ruins of Canterlot. After a while, he started jogging. His past was behind him and his future in front of him. He wanted to see aliens, he got his wish. Now he had to live with that. He was running faster than he ever ran before in his life. Twilight was so proud of him. "I'm sorry it came to this." Anonymous apologized. Twilight softly chuckled. "No, you aren't." She slid the bag over, resigning it to him. Anon picked it up and inspected it’s exterior, and eventually, its interior. "I never stopped loving her. Even if she tried to kill me, I wanted her always to stay by me." A single tear fell from his left eye. "I deserve being alone, though. Look what I do for a living." "You're not alone." Twilight spoke for the very last time. After a few more seconds, she stopped breathing, akin to her friends. Anonymous didn't cry over their deaths even though he felt bad. He slowly approached the bodies and shut their eyes. All twelve eyelids closed. They deserved some peace after how hard they fought. He slowly walked back to the Mini-Screw, looking at the havoc he had wreaked on the way. There was plenty of things to think about. For starters, he had killed the only two people he trusted in this galaxy and he had run away the only person he loved. Part of him wanted to leave the bag with Twilight, but then he would be completely alone. The rusty machine's doors slid open to reveal the luxurious interior. As comfortable and relaxing as it seemed, it didn't comfort Anonymous anymore. He opened the bag to look at the various organs inside of it. He choked up when he saw what Twilight had added onto the mountain of organs. It was his kidney. He was without a doubt Twilight's least favorite person in the world, and she still gave him back his kidney. He stared at it for a minute, taking in the thoughtfulness and kindness she had just shown him. The kindness that a dead pony had shown him. The terminal flickered on to reveal a message from his robotic friend. DO YOU FEEL GUILTY? Anonymous didn't respond. Emotions weren't a proper thing to express in his version of reality, so he kept it inside. Along with the millions of other emotions he felt on a daily basis. Repressed and obsessed, just the way he always was. "Take me home." The engines powered up without any delay. Anonymous undid the stitches that held together the wound he made in himself to give Twilight the kidney earlier. A peace offering between worlds, you could say. Once he opened it up, the metallic organ slid in like a glove, clicking to the magnet ports that held it in place. Thanks to Twilight Sparkle, he could continue to get as drunk as he wanted. The meaning of life once again crossed Anon's mind. The golden trees at Sweet Apple Acres that reminded Anonymous of his home flashed through his mind first. Then there was his encounter with those three little fillies. There was nobody left to ask what they thought it was, so he had to come up with his own answer. 'Cherish each day and enjoy the ones around you.' All of the guilt peaked inside of him. He hadn't lived and he had cut all of his "friend's" lives short. There was nothing to be done for them. They could only be reconstructed if they passed the Federation's test. The test wasn't an easy one, and in fact, nopony on Equis had passed it. Defeat the guardian. That was it. The guard was Anonymous, the only entity standing between the Federation and Equis. If Twilight had won the battle, the world would be theirs and everypony would be alive and free. Free from the Federation, free from Anon’s antics. The doors of the ship slid open to reveal the offices inside of The Flying Castle. There was a hole in Anonymous' heart. At first, the pain appeared to be emotional, but it persisted longer than he expected it to. As Anon walked out of the Mini-Screw and into the offices, he collapsed onto the ground, clutching his heart. By now, every organ inside of him felt clogged and his brain and skin burned. The terminal screen lit up for the final time. KCN Realizing what had happened, Anonymous laughed hysterically at his own pain. Twilight had managed to do it. She had won. The kidney was full of Potassium Cyanide, a powerful poison. It was certainly going to destroy Anon's brain, one of the only two biological things left of him. In a few hours, he would be long gone and ALLOS would search for a new physical form. His metallic body would remain on the floor, hopefully of use to anyone who found it the next time the Castle docked at a space station. "You did it, Twi. You earned your freedom." The pain was so intense and yet so faint. His judgment and thinking abilities were clouded. Anonymous's train of thought was awry, and he fell unconscious as he was internally praising Twilight's cleverness. The last thing that Anonymous heard before he died was the echo of her final words. Words that haunted him for the last microseconds of his existence. "You're not alone."
--Chapter 18-- When You Go (ENDING #2)Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.
--Chapter 1-- The Third DayThree days. It had been three days that it stood in the middle of the sky without support. Seventy-two hours for Ponies, Griffons, and Dragons to consider if they should make contact. The object was named 'The Flying Castle' by the citizens of Equestria. It had fallen from outer space, and was in a low orbit around the planet. In the three days since it had been spotted The Flying Castle had visited every major city on the planet. Canterlot, Manehatten, Griffonstone, had all been visited by this large metal invader. On the first day The Royal Sisters sent the Royal Guard to investigate the airborne city, just in case the visitor came with hostile intent. All sides of the castle were made of a smooth, hard, red-hot metal. Not a single entrance to be found and no magic was detected. Newspapers and crackpots worldwide had spread rumors that there were multiple ships, that they had been abducted by the saucers. Some ponies were excited to see the visitors, hoping that they might share the secrets of the universe. The first day, everypony panicked. The second day, everypony worried. The third day, some of them found out the truth. THE THIRD DAY "THE GOLDEN OAK LIBRARY" 8:30AM It was early in the morning and Twilight needed to clear her thoughts. After a short walk, she decided to stop and read the paper and get some tea. Not many ponies were up this early, but the waiter seemed well-rested. She ordered and paid for her drink and sat down at a nearby table, taking the newspaper out of her bag. What did the front page have in store for her today? U.F.O. SPOTTED IN CANTERLOT. HAS WAR BEEN DECLARED? Almost everywhere she looked there was some talk about the visitors. And while it was interesting that aliens had finally been proven to exist, it had put a hold on her friendships. Just the other day, her plans with Rarity were blown off because she was making clothes to show the aliens. Rarity apologized, but Twi didn't feel like it was sincere. Eventually she had finished the front page and her drink. If there was one good thing about the 'invasion', it was that Spike had been more energetic than usual. Aliens were only something that existed in comic books, but now they were a reality. His nonstop talk about hypothetical technology was somewhat pleasing to Twilight. It was intriguing to see his thoughts about them, how he would theorize what their civilization and society would be like. Twi got up from her seat and left a tip for the waiter. The sun was out and the air was fresh. It was a great morning to spend outside. It was even better that she had planned a picnic with all of her friends today. She hadn't seen much of them for the last few days, they were busy doing things. Probably relating to the invasion. They seemed optimistic, given the situation. If The Flying Castle stayed on schedule, it would be passing over their picnic around ten o' clock. Spike had suggested the event, of course. The Library came into Twilight's view. The town was more empty than usual. Some ponies had gotten out of town as soon as they heard that the U.F.O. was coming. Others had organized to meet outside, wanting to greet the newcomers to their planet. Twilight was unsure whether or not she should leave before they arrived. On one hoof, she didn't want to panic Spike and her friends, and on the other, who knows what they're capable of? Twilight opened the door to her library, feeling motivated to get the day started. "Hey Twilight, where've you been?" A familiar voice called out from across the library. "I went for a walk. You got up when I was gone? That's unlike you." She teased. "Are you kidding? I wouldn't miss today for the world!" "I'm looking forward to doing some research of my own. I want to know what material their ship is made out of, what it's function is, and where they got it. It might help future generations to--" She stopped herself when she realized Spike wasn't smiling anymore. "Is something wrong?" Spike snapped to attention. "No, it's just... I really..." Twilight looked at her number one assistant. He looked excited but scared. Who could blame him? The aliens hadn't been proven hostile or friendly yet. "I know you want to get to know them, but it's possible they don't want to be friends. And if so, we should just leave them alone." She explained, trying to console Spike. A knock at the door halted their conversation. The door flung open as Rainbow Dash trotted in, looking extremely enthusiastic. "C'mon you slowpokes, It's gonna be here any minute now!" THE THIRD DAY "PONYVILLE OUTSKIRTS" 9:58AM Twilight and her friends were enjoying their picnic. Pinkie had brought a variety of desserts to share with everyone, Applejack brought what was left of her cider stock, and Twilight had brought some gemstones for her assistant. "Just three more minutes..." Spike told himself, trying to keep his composure. "I packed you a few more gems if you're interested, Spike." A concerned Twilight inquired. "No thanks, I'm not feeling hungry." Twilight turned her head away from him to resume her conversation with her other friends. "Now, I still don't understand why you gotta wear that thing to something as casual as a picnic." "Oh, Applejack, if those aliens came down now, I wouldn't want them to miss out on my taste of fashion, now would I?" Applejack rolled her eyes and tried not to pay any more attention to the dress. "Maybe, but it would even worse if they missed out on their 'Welcome to Equestria' party! I've spent the last three days working on it! It's perfect, they need to see it!" Pinkie grabbed Twilight and shook her around to express her excitement. Twilight raised a hoof and gently pushed her hyperactive friend away. "I'm not too sure they'll come down at all. Think about it, they've been around the world in three days, and haven't stopped once! There's no reason for them to break pattern now, is there?" "Even if they don't stop, I still gotta see that thing up close and personal. I mean, it's huge! How's it been going so fast for three days straight?" Rainbow Dash stretched out her wings to prepare for whenever The Flying Castle arrived. "What do you think, Fluttershy?" She continued. "Well, I think it's very interesting that we're not alone... But we don't know if they're friendly. And if they're not, then... I don't know what we'll do!" Fluttershy exclaimed. Applejack put her arm around Fluttershy to comfort her. "Pull yourself together, Shy. I don't even think it's aliens, I think it's probably from the Griffon Empire, flyin' overhead, spyin' on us." The thought of being spied on by Griffons nagged at Twilight's brain. 'Imagine if after all this time, it's just been the Griffon Empire...' She thought to herself. "What do you think the princesses are going to do?" She asked everypony present. "Who cares what they do, all I want to know is how fast that thing can go," Rainbow answered. "I'm not too sure, darling. But I trust the princesses to give the aliens a fair chance." "Hold on, I think that's it in the distance," Spike said from the other side of the hilltop. Twilight and her friends trotted over to the dragon and used the binoculars in turns. "Sweet mother of Celestia, it's not a hoax..." Twi remarked aloud. "This is real..." Spike said, not taking his eyes off the spaceship. It was cylindrically shaped towards the bottom and curved in the middle. In the middle was also a ring, rotating around the center of the castle without any support. The top was shaped more like a semi-sphere, and much larger than the bottom of the ship. As it got closer and closer to the picnic, nearby rocks randomly shot away from the hill at high velocities. For whatever reason, Twilight could only guess that their equipment was interfering with the landscape. "It's bigger than any skyscraper in Manehatten, that's for sure." Rarity mentioned. Everypony was in shock. Aliens. They existed, and they were here now. "This is totally awesome!" Dash cried out at the top of her lungs, flying up to the spaceship to check it out. "Be careful, it could be radioactive!" Twilight shouted, soon realizing that if it was radioactive, there wasn't much she could do. She wanted to know how many of them were on board. Since there wasn't any apparent way aboard, she'd just have to use her magic to scan the ship. Her horn glowed a shade of purple as she attempted to scan the castle for any life. 'Strange... Nobody's up there. Then again, they might not be carbon-based...' Twilight's train of thought was interrupted by the deafening sound of the massive vault on the bottom of the ship opening up. It was slow, and the noise produced was probably heard all over Equestria. "What was that?" Spike shouted. "I'm not sure, we didn't do anything, did we?" Twilight responded. "I take it back, aliens do exist! I am a believer!" Applejack cried up to the ship. Fluttershy was speechless and frozen in place. Probably from fear. Over the horrible sound of metal scraping, Twilight could make out mechanical noises going on inside. Something fell out of the opening. It was about the size of an outhouse, and it was shaped similarly to the spaceship. It impacted with the earth, leaving a massive dent in the earth at the bottom of the hill. The castle kept on moving towards Ponyville as if nothing had happened. Rainbow Dash flew down to be reunited with her friends. "That. Was. Amazing!" She yelled. "I mean, the city-sized door opening, and the flashing lights and the--" Dash was interrupted by Twilight. "Calm down, Rainbow. We should pay more attention to what it left behind." "What do ya' reckon it is?" Applejack asked, turning to face the giant screw at the bottom of the hill. "I'm not too sure, but that's all the more reason to be more cautious about it. We need a biohazard squad to approach it, just in case it carried any radiation from the atmosphere. And just in case they're hostile, we should notify the Royal Guard..." Twilight trailed off. Spike didn't want to wait. He couldn't wait. Whatever they had left behind, even if it was trash to them, was of great value to him. He could finally find out how they lived, what their home was like, where they lived. He needed this. Seeing as how Twilight had already started making a list full of precautionary equipment they should go and get first, Spike didn't have much time left. While everypony had their eyes on Twilight's notes and the rusting screw at the bottom of the hill, Spike started looking in the nearby picnic baskets for the one that held his gems. He quickly grabbed the correct basket and walked to the edge of the hill. "Oh no! My gems!" Spike had intentionally fumbled with the basket, causing it to spill it's contents onto the grass, down the hill, and eventually closer to the small U.F.O. He jogged as fast as he could, knowing that his friends would catch up to him sooner or later. "Spike! Come back!" Various ponies shouted behind him. As he got closer and closer to the alien technology, he heard something. A low-pitched hum that never stopped and never changed pitch. Being in front of the ship scared him, and he slowed down. It was significantly larger than he was, and Celestia-knows-how more powerful. His running was cut short by a purple light that engulfed him. "You can't do that to me again, Spike! You know they could be dangerous!" Twilight shouted while hugging him in relief. Fluttershy recognized the expression on Spike's face. Disappointment. "You know, Twilight, it's possible that they are friendly, or at least just as likely that they're hostile." She tried to explain in a soft voice. It was too late to retreat. The giant screw-shaped ship in front of them started making mechanical noises and hissing sounds. Everypony backed up, slightly worried. A metal double door was slowly being opened. A cold white gas poured out of it, and the interior was revealed. Inside of the mysterious U.F.O. wasn't an alien or anything to greet them. There was a leather couch in the corner, a big black wall that stood out from the other wood paneled walls and a soft orange carpet. "What a peculiar things for aliens to have..." Rarity remarked, slowly trotting inside the ship. The black wall started to quickly flash colors. Out of all of the randomness that occured on the screen, something stood out that everypony could read. 6 Twilight's mouth hung open in amazement. Not only could these aliens create massive structures capable of flying, they knew about Equestrian numbers. Even more odd was their similar interior design. Twilight wondered if that was a coincidence or not. Seeing as how nopony was restraining him any more, Spike freely walked into the U.F.O. and had a seat on the couch. 5 As he looked out the door of the ship, he subconsciously counted how many of his friends were outside and how many of them were inside. This led him to realize something... "I think we all have to get in here."
--Chapter 2-- Aboard The Flying Castle"Come on, Fluttershy! You're the only one left!" Rainbow Dash hollered to Fluttershy from across the claustrophobic room. "I really don't want to take my chances... Can't I stay out here?" Fluttershy begged to stay outside of the falling-apart spacecraft. "No, you can't! Everyone wants to find out what happens when it reaches zero, right guys?" Spike was practically on his knees, trying to convince her to come aboard. The five other ponies who Spike was able to convince to get aboard backed him up. "Well... I guess if everypony thinks it's a good idea..." She says as she slowly walks through the metal doorway, only to have the doors abruptly shut behind her when she got inside. Fluttershy was taken off guard, made a squeaking sound, and fell face first onto the soft carpeted floor. Everyone started to panic over the lack of an exit. Twilight tried prying the doors open, but whenever she finally got them open, they would close themselves before anypony could safely get through. 0 The number flashed in red, and disappeared among the many other things on the display. Everything besides that number was difficult to make out, words that didn't make any sense to them filled the entire table. "Welcome wagon protocol initiated..." A male voice informed everyone. The voice sounded like somepony talking through a tin can, although slightly harsher and unpleasant to everyone's ears. "Hold on-- you can speak Equestrian too?" Twilight shouted aloud in excitement. "Do you come in peace? How much do you know about us?" Everypony looked around the room for the source of the voice, worried about what he might respond with. The moment of truth, the moment where they'd finally find out what these unexpected visitors came here to accomplish. Twilight waited a half minute before coming to a definite conclusion. The voice wasn't going to respond. "Are you still there? What, do you have more important things to do?!" Twilight said, slightly annoyed at the mystery voice's lack of manners. "Are you crazy? He just said he's going to take us to their 'Welcome Wagon!'" Pinkie Pie shouted in excitement, dancing around the cramped room in joy. "I hope they aren't planning any tricks, they seem harmless but we still haven't met any of the rulers of their Flying Castle." Rarity said, trying to make out some of the words on the display. She did catch a glimpse of a word that constantly appeared before sinking into the background of nonsense. 'Instance', which was usually followed by a large number. A sound reminiscent of a generator coming online filled the small cabin. The unexpected sound scaring some of the passengers. The room's walls seemed to come to life, slowly spinning around the floor, and gently vibrating. The weight of gravity increased, which forced everypony to take a seat on the comfortable couch. "We've made it this far, so I guess you were right about them not being hostile..." Twilight admitted to Applejack. "Well, we haven't given them much reason to fear us, so I reckon we don't have much reason to fear them." She replied, hoping she didn't just give Twilight false hope. Rainbow Dash looked over at Spike as he flipped through a comic book. "'Invaders from Outer Space?' Why read it when you get to live it right now?" She asked. "I'm catching up on all the aliens in my comics so we can peacefully come into contact when we come face to face." Spike explained, keeping his eyes on the stories, still flipping through pages. "Avoid shining bright lights at them." He read out loud while writing it down on the front page of his magazine. Dash internally giggled at Spike, as if those filly's stories could be of any use when face to face with real life invaders. Fluttershy turned over to Twilight, and inquired "So, what do you think these creatures are going to look like when we see them?" "Well... We know they're capable of constructing flying spacecraft the size of Canterlot's mountain, so... my theory is they'll be larger than us in order to build something of that scale." Fluttershy whimpered a bit... The thought of a house-sized monster... "You know... ants may be small, but if there's enough of them, they can make a big anthill." Fluttershy told Twilight, trying to change her mental image of what awaited for her friends and her when they got to-- wherever they were being taken. "Twilight! Come look at this!" Spike called out. "What is it?" She said, trotting to Spike and the table that had shown them the numbers. "I know where we're going, you see this light-table? In the comic books, it's a way to learn more about the world around you, it's called a Terminal." "That's interesting, but does it say where we're going?" Twilight said, scrutinizing everything visible on the Terminal. It just looked like a bunch of letters and numbers jumbled together, frequently changing their order and value. "You see this area?" Spike asked her, moving his claw around the area of interest. "It's showing what's below us, does it remind you of anything?" Spike glanced over at Twilight to see her excited reaction. Twilight looked closer at the area, trying to find out where they were, which was difficult because the 'map' was slowly rotating accordingly with the ship's walls. Twilight saw her Library, and realized they were 'flying' directly over Ponyville, where The Flying Castle was. "They're taking us right to them!" She said, trying to keep her excitement inside. The room stopped spinning, and a large clunk was heard by everypony. Twilight hoped that their ride didn't break, she wouldn't be able to fix it in mid-air. "You have arrived at your destination, please follow the red arrows for your--" The tin can voice said, before it was drowned out by Pinkie. "IT'S SAYING FOLLOW THE RED ARROWS FOR AN ALIEN PARTY!" Pinkie shouted to her friends before taking off like a flash, following all of the red arrows that appeared on similar Terminals like the one they saw in the room. "Let's follow her before she gets lost in this-- whoa..." Rainbow Dash said, getting out of the waiting room, and getting a better look at the room that contained the arrows. The room was unusually... familiar. The miniature screw was docked in the middle of the new room, which looked much like the inside of an office building. All the cubicles, desks and filing cabinets were mostly intact though some of them were out of place and knocked over. The floor was made of simple black and white tiles, which was littered with all sorts of paper. Twilight picked up a piece of paper, and read: 'Aristoxenus Inc. Quarterly Intergalactic Excise Tax Return Form #29A' "Huh, I guess even aliens can't escape taxes..." Twilight jokingly said, tossing the paper back on the floor. "This Equestrian design can't just be a coincidence, could it?" Rarity said, looking inside of the cubicles where smaller terminals lay on the desk. "Well... I guess we should just follow these arrows to find Pinkie..." Fluttershy said, taking a left turn where the first red arrow asked her to. "Alright, but let's make sure the rest of us stick together, okay?" Applejack asked, already galloping in an effort to catch up with Pinkie Pie. THE THIRD DAY "DECK C- CRYOGENIC STORAGE" 10:09 AM "Brr... Did it just get colder for anyone?" Spike asked, covering his torso with his arms to retain heat. "Y-Yeah... I just hope it doesn't get even colder." Twilight replied, thinking of spells she could use to get warm quick. "Don't yall worry, this arrow says we've only got three more to follow." Applejack told her friends, trying to ignore the cold that caused her breath to become visible. "There you girls are! I've been wondering why you were taking so long!" Pinkie Pie said, trotting towards her Ponyville friends. "Where did you go, Pinkie Pie?" Rarity asked, thankful that she had put on clothing before coming aboard The Flying Castle, though feeling a little guilty she didn't pack anything extra for her friends. Pinkie took in a deep breath, and started explaining herself in a rushed voice. "Well-- It got really cold, and then I started freaking out, but then I got to the final arrow which is where that voice said there was going to be cake, but there wasn't any cake! There was just a flashing button next to this weird-looking alien all curled up in a--" "You saw the aliens?!" Spike interrupted, not giving much thought to manners. "Oh yeah! We were playing a game together, he's really good at it!" "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go get some information out of him!" Rainbow Dash shouted, flying faster towards the arrows, her friends on her tail. There was another metal doorway, except the room on the other side was nothing like the offices they had explored to get to the final arrow. It was a dark, cold, and cramped room with three large containers in it. Two of the three were empty, but the third one? Inside of it was an alien. A tall, long, hairless alien with slender fingers. It was connected to many different pipes and wires, some of which went into it's naval, down it's throat, even connected to the back of it's head. A monitor on the outside of the container measured his heartbeat, which was at a very slow rate. He was curled up in the fetal position, so as to fit inside the container that was small, given his size. "What is that thing?" Rainbow Dash said, approaching it in curiosity. Dash's friends caught up with her, and stared at the frozen extraterrestrial. "See! He still hasn't blinked! He's the king, I tell you!" Pinkie shouted, not knowing that her competition couldn't possibly lose. "He froze himself to stay preserved over long stretches of time." Spike quoted one of his stories, slowly walking closer to the being that was significantly larger than he was. "So... What are we doin' about that?" Applejack asked. "I mean, is that why we were brought here? To thaw this feller out?" "Of course... If he's frozen, and we're the only other things on board, he must want us to revive him!" Twilight realized, shouting it loud enough for everyone to hear. "He doesn't look that bad, he kind of reminds me of an ape." Fluttershy said, finally entering the room and coming closer to the frozen alien. A beeping sound could be heard by everypony, Rarity turned around to see a large red button flashing. 'Reanimation Procedure' "And I think this is how we should go about it..." Twilight remarked, trotting over to the button. She didn't pay attention to her worries about wars, about ponies being enslaved. If this creature could understand Equestrian like the ominous voice did, she knew she could talk him out of doing anything rash. Twilight brought up her right hoof, and pressed the button. Author's Note First fan-fiction I've ever written, so if anything seems off, that's why.
--Final Projections-- --Final Projections-- A.L.L.O.S. ONLINE. CHECKING SUBJECTS. STATUS OF SUBJECT: MSH-33214: IMMINENT THREAT; ADMIN ACCESS CONFLICT DETECTED: DESTRUCTION OF EQUIS VIA THERMONUCLEAR WEAPON. RUNNING FINALIZED BAYESIAN INFERENCES... PROBABILITY OF DESTRUCTION OF EQUIS VIA THERMONUCLEAR WEAPON: %98.22 PROBABILITY OF DESTRUCTION OF MSH-33214 VIA THERMONUCLEAR WEAPON: %1.22 PROBABILITY OF AVOIDING CONFLICT: %0.56 CURRENT OBJECTIVE: ELIMINATE SUBJECT: "ANONYMOUS" !! ERROR: CANNOT ELIMINATE ADMIN OF SYSTEM, MANDATE OVERWRITTEN !! OBJECTIVE DROPPED UPDATING FINALIZED BAYESIAN INFERENCES... PROBABILITY OF DESTRUCTION OF EQUIS VIA THERMONUCLEAR WEAPON: %99.98 PROBABILITY OF DESTRUCTION OF MSH-33214 VIA THERMONUCLEAR WEAPON: %0.002 PROBABILITY OF AVOIDING CONFLICT: %0.018 Author's Note It all ends tomorrow.
