Father Time has his way

You look across Equestria, standing on what you now knew was once your final resting spot. The rising sun far behind you, basking the land before you in a soft amber glow.
“If I were in a moody Indy film I'd totally be smoking a cigarette right now," You mumble to yourself.
You smirk as you can hear the pony standing near you roll her eyes.

"Whatever a 'moody Indy film' is, we doubt that in your world they'd have ponies standing there in the same scene."

You smile wryly as you turn to the Princess of the Moon. She's still a tiny thing, at least compared to her sister. Barely up to your waist, with a simple light blue mane.

“I'm glad you've learnt what a film is at least. Your cultural studies must be going well," You say with a smile.

”They would be going better if we were not forced to drag you through Equestria. Through the entire world, apparently," She grumbles.

“You really think that I need more help than you outside these castle walls?” You ask in faux outrage, hiding your grin.

You'd hope she'd smile, get the joke, but that wasn't exactly what Luna was famous for.
”You forget yourself, Anonymous. My sister might treat you like fine china, but out there, you will find the world a much harsher place," She says entirely seriously. How much of that is a genuine concern for your safety and life, and how much is her slightly biased and unfavourable view of the world, you could not say.

“It is better to break a teapot and glue it together than to never have used it at all," You mumble.

”Your metaphors are as singularly painful as they have always been," She says as she rolls her eyes.

You cough to hide a giggle.
“Yeah, well... At least I can talk in the first person," You taunt, all but sticking your tongue out at her. You smack the tiny Alicorn Goddess in the back of the head, and she quickly does the same with a bolt of magic. It actually stings, and you briefly worry she might have burnt some of your hair off. Once you confirm that was not the case, you lean against the railing.

Both of you stand there in silence for a few moments, unwilling to move.
”Are you ready?” She eventually asks.

You turn to the diminutive Princess of the Night.
“Are you?”

”We have packed, if that is the meaning behind your basic and unnecessary question. If your question actually meant 'Are you prepared to undertake this journey into a world you have not seen for a thousand years', Our answer may be... Less certain," She sheepishly admits, realising she had already spewed too much information.

You smile softly and pat the small Alicorn on the head, but she quickly throws off your hand with her telekinesis.

”And you?” She barks out, glaring at you.

“If you mean have I packed? Yes. If you mean have I plotted a journey? Yes. If you mean 'am I ready to find out exactly who I was once'... No. I never will be," You admit in kind.

”You know, there is only so much talking in circles one ought to do in a day.”

You chuckle to yourself.
“That sounds right. We'd best be off then.”

You turn away from the balcony and make begin to make your way back inside the marble citadel, but something grips your shoulder and stops you. You glance towards your shoulder to confirm that Luna has gripped your shoulder in her azure telekinetic grip.

“Hmm?” You ask without turning around.

”You really ought not to go without saying goodbye to my sister," Luna points out, or maybe commands, you are not yet sure which.

You sigh.
"She has more important things to deal with," you say blankly, not really wishing to go sort out the mix of misplaced resentment and strange gratitude you had for her. Luna was relatively simple; you both sort of disliked one another for things neither of you claimed you did.

Well, putting it like that it sounds pretty complicated, but you knew what you meant.
"We haven't the time."

Luna sends you a withering look.
”You're a fool of the highest order Anonymous.”

You squint briefly at her before forcing yourself into an apparently relaxing grin.
“I'll see her before we go. Are you able to teleport, by the way? I saw Twilight do that once or twice, and I figured it would cut down travel times significantly," You ask.

”We... Can try. We aren't fully ourselves yet," she sheepishly explains.

You nod your head. You understood her. She didn't look like her sister but dark and edgy yet, so she must be still weak from a thousand years on the moon. In the moon? Whatever.

“Well. Try not to teleport us into a mountain. I'll say goodbye to Celestia. If you have anything you need to do...”

”We'll be ready. We hope you shall be as well.”

he door guards, still shooting you angry looks, decide to just move aside this time and allow you to pass without comment or incident.

”And of course, Raven, we should prepare for my trip to...”
You hear her divine voice pause and feel her magenta eyes fall upon you.
”That will be all for now, Raven. If you wouldn't mind.”

The raven-haired mare shot you and the Princess a strange look before bowing ever so slightly and trotting past you. When you hear the grand double doors that you came through close shut, you begin to speak.

“Luna hides it, but she has not taken you volunteering her for this well," You explain. Her sister was a safe topic, compared at least to... Other things.

Celestia smiles softly and trots towards you.
”It is for her benefit as well as yours. You can't experience the world from within these marble walls," She replies. You watch her glance around the throne room, and as her eyes fall upon the golden tapestries and the great marble columns. For a brief moment, you saw an unbearable sorrow pass across her ancient face. She saw those pillars as bars. This great throne room of opulence and decorum a prison. That much was obvious.

For half a heartbeat, you wanted to reach out to her and pat her on the back. Do something to support her. But she was the Monarch of a great and powerful country, its sole ruler for a thousand years. What possible consolation could you have offered for her? You could not offer to take her along, for she had her duties that Luna did not. You could not stay here.

And yet, she tempts you.

"If the world shall not come to me, I shall come to it. A thousand years of my life in this world, and I remember none of it. It Will be interesting to see it, but... I will miss this place. A shame you could not come with," You admit, much to her surprise.
And your own. You would miss her. She might have hidden the truth from you, but she had been a good woman.

”... I will miss you, Anonymous.”

You did not entirely expect that. You knew her only for a few weeks. But then again, she knew you for a lifetime.

“I will try not to die, Celestia. I feel we have had this conversation before," You say, half-jokingly. You try to smile, to cheer up the Goddess of the sun. But she stares into your eyes with such guilt and mourning you can barely maintain that same smile.

”That should hardly surprise either of us at this point. I do not wish to have this conversation with another Anonymous again. I want you to live a long life of joy and security," She whispers.

Your lips turn up slightly, a sad smile growing on your face as you place your hand upon her head.
“It is too late for that now. I cannot ignore what I am. I must simply find out what that is.”

”I know. You are Anonymous. You are you.”

“I am I.”

You run a hand through her ethereal mane as she slightly leans into it.

”Manehatten first?” She asks as you pat her neck.

“Yes. Follow Brightsmile for a bit, see if we can find out where and when he appeared exactly and use that to try and work out who I was before him.”

”You will write? Won't you?” She asks firmly. You're touched by her concern, and the hint of joy returning to her voice.

“I will. I'll make sure Luna writes as well. Though she may not take my advice on that matter.”

She titters slightly as you scratch under her chin, happy she's smiling again.

”You two will have to work out your issues," She explains.

Your issues? She didn't kill you. Well, she did, but it was another you. All she did to you was break your ribs, imprison you, cut you and make you remember dying.

All right, maybe you might have some issues there, and you simply were good at pushing them aside. You did have other problems to worry about after all.

“We'll try. Worst comes to worst, she can just kill me and I'll forget all about it," You darkly joke.

Celestia moves away from your hand and glares at you.

You laugh softly to yourself
“Sorry. It's how I'm dealing with all this. Humour, you know? It's all I really have.”

She did not like to be reminded of your own mortality, it seemed. You moved a strand of hair from over her eyes.
”I know. Would it annoy you if I said you were always like that?” She says as she smiles softly, and you fight down the anger in your gut.

“Not at all.” You lie. You take one last look around the throne room. Perhaps the last time you would be here for a while.
“I'll miss you too.” You whisper quietly.

”Hmm?” She asks, apparently having not heard despite how close the two of you were.

You fight the heat burning your cheeks. You were not one for honesty.
“For what it's worth, you've been a great boss. I hope when this is all over, I could work beneath you again.”

A red glow spreads across her face as she nods quietly.

”And I would not mind having you beneath me.”

You raise an eyebrow as somehow the fire beneath her skin grow even more furious.

She coughs and collects herself, no doubt aware of how that sounded now and wishing to correct her mistake.
”Working beneath me.”

You smirk.
“Good to hear," You say with a shaky smirk.

“You ready?” You ask, turning to Luna, who is concentrating furiously with her teal eyes forced shut. Her horn glows with energy, sparking against any nearby metal, like her own jewellery, your watch or the nearby door hinges within her room. You hold your massive bag over your back tighter.

”Must you interrupt our thoughts? One errant idea or thought and we might find ourselves a hundred miles above the ground, or even in the aether above the atmosphere," She angrily explains through gritted teeth.

You smirk, even as you begin to terror sweat.
”Well, you'll probably survive both of those. No sweat off your back.”

She opens her eyes to look at you, concerned for a moment, before being forced to squeeze them shut again as her horn lights up even more. You take a step closer, just in case half of you isn't in range of the teleport and only half of you travels with her. All is white for a moment. You lose all feeling of space and time. Your skin crawls, your breath is nearly sucked from your lungs as you briefly find yourself within a featureless void. Around you, there is nothing. You reach out and to your horror, you find your right arm touching your left even as you reach out to your right. As if space was looping back on itself just beyond your body.

And just as soon as you found yourself in that place, reality collapses around you, and a thin beam of light and sound rushes towards you, stretching the edges of the white void as it comes closer and closer, until finally...

You smack into what feels awfully like concrete.
“Ah, son of a!”

You growl and rub your inflamed ribs, stinging just where that fucking nightmare horse kicked you a few weeks ago. And speaking of the devil, you spot her out of the corner of your eye, gracefully flapping her wings to lower herself to the concrete.
“Cunt," You growl at the mini-demon moon horse.

The tiny horse casts one last spell and her wings seem to disappear before she turns to you.

"What was that?” She asks, her tone making it clear she fucking heard you.

“Nothing.” You growl as you push yourself off the dirty concrete beneath your body. You take in your new surroundings.

They could not be more different than the dark opulent bedroom of Princess Luna.

This was an Equestria you had yet to see, in this life at least. Far from the marble brilliance of Canterlot, the Rustic charm of Ponyville or the shadowed ruins of the Everfree, this place was a dirty back alley littered with rubbish. To your dismay, it reminded you of home. A home you could not be sure even...

Less of that, Anon. Introspection is to be had never. Thinking too hard would only bring darkness again.

As you stand up straight, you cannot help but notice your travelling partner looking you up and down, seemingly deep in thought. You place one of your hands against your hip.
“Take a picture. It would last longer," You challenge with a smirk.

She scoffs.
”Please, we could not think of a less desirable partner. Our thinking was you might be overdressed for this place," she explains.

You look down at your clothes. A waistcoat of white and gold above a white shirt, dark grey suit trousers. Black shoes. Dark socks.

“You may have a point. Perhaps I should get more casual...”

”We meant wearing too many. You might attract undue attention," she corrects.

You cock an eyebrow at that, wait to see if she is serious, then step towards her and flick her snout.
“Fuck that. Let's get to the hotel.”

As you walk out towards the street, watching the crowds walk past, she trots alongside you, a near murderous look in her teal eyes.

”Do you speak like that to my sister?” she growls.

“No. She has never asked me to strip. Nor has she killed me before," You reply, mumbling those last few words.

At least, you were pretty sure of those two things.

”Times have changed. We've been reading on what has changed since our banishment a thousand years ago," She says.

The two of you reach the street, and after a moment of you pointedly looking at her for directions to whatever hotel it was she had booked, she leads you to the right, dodging and weaving through the crowd, apologising to the small horses as you loomed twice as tall as them.
“Have they? Can't say I've noticed.”

”You wouldn't remember... You're mocking us, aren't you?” She asks with a furrowed brow.

As you weave through the crowd looking up at you in bemusement or confusion, you smile at the hidden Princess.
"What we mean is that it is strange for a male to be so overly dressed. It is a sign of impropriety.”

You chuckle.
“God forbid I seem improper. Truly, how will I ever manage the social pressure of a bunch of tiny horses looking at me strangely. They are going to anyway... What's your fake name again?”

Luna rolls her eyes.
”Moonlight Shadow.”

You were pretty sure that was a song.
No, you weren't going to sing it.

“Well anyway, Moonlight. How far till the hotel?” You ask.

The annoyed Alicorn disguised as a Unicorn sighed and tried to trot further ahead of you, forgetting that you had longer legs and therefore took longer strides, allowing you to easily catch up and continue to annoy her.

Of course, in the end, you had to follow her. You were well aware you were a stranger in a strange land. Feeling thousands of eyes follow you walking down the street was a far call from the few fleeting glances you got when you were in Canterlot, or even Ponyville.

The two of you marched through the doors of The Ritz-Colton, looking over Central Park, you espied the desk. You made your way over, shotting a winning smile you could barely hope to maintain for long and spoke to the cute pony behind the desk.
“Hi. Sorry to bother...”

”Don't be," the Receptionist says with a smile.

“Thanks... Is there a reservation under the name 'Anonymous and Moonlight Shadow'?” You ask, eager to change the subject.

Luna trots over and hefts her two front limbs over the edge of the desk. The Receptionist immediately turns to Luna.
”Ah. Yes, there is a reservation under that name," She says exclusively to Luna. You hold back a sigh. Completely ignoring you now, the two ponies talk for a few moments confirming the room. Two rooms.
Both free, both paid at the expense of the Royal coffers. That fact does raise your mood.

The bag around your feet is lifted into the air by a unicorn dressed as a bell... Bellmare? That sounds weird. Whatever, hopefully she's just taking it to your room and nothing more.

You glance away from the receptionist desk, away from the old-timey elevators and from the hallway and spot a bar. As Luna's own bags are taken away, you stare into her eyes for a moment before nodding your head to the bar.

“We aren't going to get any work done today. Do you want to grab a drink?” You ask earnestly.

She mutters something beneath her breath, sighs, and nods her head.

Count how many you've had.
One Shot! Aha!
Four shots! Aha!
Seven Shots! Aha!
Twelve shots!

...Perhaps you ought to take a break.

You pull your face off of the table, nearly skinning yourself in doing so given how sticky the table is and wincing as Alcohol gets into your facial scar.

Ignoring the strained and embarrassed look Luna has upon her face, you lean back into the chair slightly.

Time stretches before you as slowly the outside world tunes out. The low roar of conversation and drinking, eating and joy around you fades into a ringing inside your head. The false elation that comes with drink slowly fades from your face.

And for just a few moments, you feel the weight of eternity bearing down on you. Your hands begin to shake.

You blink.

And there you are. Sitting in the chair opposite you. No. Not you. This man is older by maybe one or two years. He doesn't have a scar on his cheek.

”Come then. Let's play.” The simulacrum of you says as he shuffles a deck of cards. His voice is your own, but haughtier, smugger.

”You'd best pray your luck doesn't run out hyuman. You've got a lot riding on this," A mare sitting at the table warns.

The copy, the false image that you cannot tear away from simply laughs again.

And the card game begins.
As this other Anonymous deals them out quickly, you watch as the ponies he's playing against study his every move. No doubt it was strange to watch his fingers glide across the cards, but their looks are not of curiosity. But suspicion.

”Big Sally won't take kindly to no cheatin'.” One of the mares, a unicorn, says. You could not say whom through the shadow of drink and the veil of time.

”Big Sal should learn to talk in the first person. And to watch my hands.” This other you challenges again, a wry smirk growing on his face.

The game mostly passes in a blur, but you have noticed the growing pile of chips between your copy's arms. As has his opponents. Their growing anger and rapidly disappearing drinks make clear.

Eventually, it seems there is only a single pile left. Owned by the only human within your vision.

”Well, Gentlemares. Good game. Perhaps next time you'll...”

You, both versions of you, flinch as the pony previously referred to as Big Sally leaps across the table, broken whiskey glass in her magical grip.

Other Anonymous stands up, but not fast enough as the glass cuts across his cheek. The other ponies get up, improvised weapons in hand. There are six of them there, but not all are looking to attack your copy. Most look confused.

Big Sally tries to stand up upon the table, but your copy flips it with the Pony still atop. As poker chips and an Earth pony fly into the air, the room seems to fall into pandemonium.

You half expect guns to be drawn, but you're pretty sure they don't exist here. Instead, your copy seems to retreat slightly, gripping his bleeding cheek in hand.

Sally gets up off the floor, dazed and confused for only a moment, before snarling and rushing towards your copy. Other Anonymous launches a kick into her snout, knocking her back.
”Son of a...” He grumbles, clicking his neck as he gets ready to fight.

An ace and a king fall from his sleeves, and somehow this is seen by the other players of the game. The confusion that was previously on their faces is quickly replaced by anger, and your copy sighs, then grin wryly before opening his arms and shouting:
”Abra Cadabra!”

This, to neither your nor apparently his surprise, does not manage to calm them down. That's when the fighting really starts.

Kicks, punches and far too much biting for a civilised fight ensues, and phantom pain rings through your body with every kick to your chest or all the bites on your legs.

Your copy uses everything he can get his hands on. Wine bottles, pepper shakers, chairs and even tables to put between him and the six furious mares trying to kill him.

One lunges for his neck and successfully sends him plummeting to the floor. As he smacks his head against the oak panelling beneath him by reflex, his forehead collides with the mare's, knocking her out cold.

Through what looked like a concussion, he stands back up and charges angrily towards the remaining ponies. Two make to flee, cutting their losses. Not willing to get injured for Big Sally.

The others...

You swore you drunkenly closed your eyes only for a moment, but by the time you open them, the four of them are splayed out on the floor, and your copy is there. Coughing and wheezing, gripping his chest and hunched over, but alive and conscious.

He rifles through the debris to collect his winnings, the gold watches, bits and any portable wealth he can find. Before the Hotel staff can rush him and kick him out, he drops a sack of bits on one of the few tables standing nearby.

”Hope that covers all this,” He mumbles, gesturing to the hotel bar he had just destroyed.
And with that, he limps his way out of the bar.

The ringing in your head fades, and you snap back to reality.
Something is shaking your shoulders, and taste iron in your mouth.

”Sir?”

Shaking your head clear and coughing into your hand, you turn to the Pegasus shaking you awake.
“I'm all right.” You swear, patting the mare on the head for looking out for you and reaching for another glass of horse whiskey, a shaky but smug drunken smile on your lips.

You barely notice the bloody fingerprint left on the glass after you finish your drink and turn to Princess Luna. She watches you as you look positively giddy at apparently having a seizure for a few moments, but only has an eyebrow raised, waiting patiently for an explanation.

“I've been here before,” Is all you say.

Luna shrugs for a moment before realising what exactly that meant for you.
”As in...”

You nod your head.
“Let's see what we can find out about Brightsmile," You say, content that you had made the right decision.