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."