Even with her entrapment on the moon for a millenia, perusing the dreams of her subjects regularly once more still felt as natural as breathing to her. She did not sleep herself at night, but instead immersed herself into the ether between conscious and unconscious thought as the rest of the world went bedward as the sun fell and the moon rose. The real world fell away and the dream world spread out infinitely before her, and now the work of Princess Luna could commence.

She did not wish to deride her loving friends with her observations of their dreams, but the mind of almost every pony she has dipped into has been… simple, to say the least. They had simple wants, simple feelings, simple pleasures. Little Scootaloo dreamt of speeding through the clouds with comically large wings. Bulk Biceps dreamt of meeting his personal hero: an older, much more muscle bound gargantuan of a stallion with a short spiky mane and tribal tattoos covering the majority of his figure. Maud Pie dreamt of a rock.

Verily, her duties were in no way challenging in the slightest even after coming back from her hiatus. But upon finishing her rounds with her usual subjects and replacing nightmares with more pleasant dreams, it was time to tackle a beast she had never seen the likes of before.

She attempted a direct approach earlier in the day, zapping him with a spell of slumber in order to get a quick surveillance of his mind in order to have a more informed plan of attack. One of the children made to escape the second they noticed he was incapacitated, so she zapped the both of them as well just to be safe. But just connecting him to this network of dreams she had so naturally maneuvered before proved to take hours of effort, she had never felt something so alien such as this before, and so she had to abandon further intrusion until the night fell.

While the ponies and other creatures in Equestria felt simple, small, and manageable, the mind of Anonymous was quite the opposite. If the minds of ponies were to be referred to as lakes, Anon’s mind was a veritable ocean of swirling memories and emotions, some flowing in perfect synchronicity and others clashing violently with one another in explosive fashion. She was not deterred, in fact the challenge almost excited her! Luna would have to pull out all the stops for this one.

Luna was by no means omnipotent in the dreamscape, she could not possess the minds of anyone nor could she alter their memories to suit her needs. But she picked up a trick or two in the war she and her sister waged against the ancient mind flayers ages ago which would eventually lead to the latter’s extinction, which bolstered her arsenal significantly when it came to finding enemy dissidents while they slept. It was extreme, but she was able to delve deeper into the minds of ponies than just their dreams, and observe their memories as they played out in order to obtain information.

It hasn’t been needed since times of war long long ago, but she could not stand by anymore while this human gets so involved in the lives of not just ponies, but the Elements of Harmony. Especially after she and her sister received a missive from Cadence about Anon’s romantic inclinations towards Pinkie Pie, no doubt originating from Twilight. Her sister thought it cute but Luna was on high alert ever since, and she will strike before it is too late. How could such a stranger be so willing, happy even, to help others with even the most mundane of tasks and seem to take such joy from doing so? And now he wants to become deeply involved in the life of one of the Elements, putting them in a vulnerable state?

She strode with purpose into the depths of Anon’s mind, and the world around her shifts once more.

“How’re you liking the carnival so far Nonny?” Pinkie Pie asks you. Thanks to the weather ponies the carnival was jam packed with patrons on this beautiful cloudless day, and Pinkie Pie made it her mission to get you to take a break from helping with everpony’s chores and soak in the peak of Ponyville fun.

Such feelings of joy, and wonderment!

“It’s amazing!” you laugh, “For a little town you guys sure know how to party!”

“Psshhaw,” Pinkie says dismissively, “The carnival’s awesome amazing and all, but you’re talkin’ to the premier party pony here! You haven’t seen anything yet!”

“Well I see some rigged games that want our bits, want to play?”

“I didn’t know you were so ready to lose!” Pinkie says with a playful glare.

“Oh ho Ms Pie, is that a challenge?”

“I dunno, are you…” she pulls a rubber chicken out of her mane and honks it at you, “chicken?”

“Alright, whoever wins best of three games gets eternal bragging rights!” You declare.

“Hmm, eternal bragging rights sounds good, but let’s spice this wager up a bit! How about… the loser has to buy the winner her share of greasy fattening carnival food!”

“Alright that sounds-- hey! How come this hypothetical winner already happens to be a she?” You shoot her a playfully accusing look.

“Well Nonny, I did say you were going to lose! I Pinkie sensed it!” She sticks her tongue out at you as she says this.

Oh this mare was going down!

How can he be acting in this way already? If this memory is correct he has been here hardly a month and it is as if he is like every other pony!

Even when all the proceeds went to Ponyville’s local government, these carnies were vicious, so you had to play to your strengths. The two of you squared off in the bottle pyramid game first. The unicorn running the stand used his magic to align a row of three bottle pyramids, and the two of you were handed three balls each.

“Ladies first,” you say to her with a smirk. You were going to have this first game in the bag.

“Okay hotshot, watch how it’s done!” Pinkie grips the ball in her mouth, and with a glare she flicks it at the first pyramid. The top three topple to the ground, leaving two more rows intact. She tried her hardest, but the next two pyramids were hardly affected. She frowns and puffs her cheeks out at the outcome.

“Oof, poor luck there miss, let’s see if your friend here fares any better!” The carnie says resetting the pins for you.

You take aim and nail the first pyramid with the ball, and just as you thought, the ball was lighter than it should be and the bottom pins were way heavier. A sturdy bottom row remained, but this carnie was not expecting someone with the potent arm strength of their chimpanzee ancestors giving them an edge. You wind up the pitch for the next one, and nailing it as hard as you can you topple the entire second pyramid. The carnie stood a little shocked at what had happened, and even more shocked when you promptly demolished the last pyramid as well.

“Well… looks like you won.” He says, with his former enthusiasm replaced with a tone of confusion and a little anger. Using his magic he floats down a stuffed walrus that was hanging from the front of the booth into your loving arms.

Pinkie suddenly is nose to snout with you, “You don’t think I know a setup when I see one Mr Man?” the bubbly pony was all fired up now. “If we’re going to play this way, I have just the game in mind to play next,” her hot strawberry scented breath pelts your face as she gives you a devilish grin.

“It’s only fair I suppose,” You say pressing your forehead to hers and matching her fire, “Seems like you need the leg up anyhow.”

Pushing herself from you she only laughs heartily as she leads you a bit down the fairgrounds to the balloon darts booth. The carnie at the booth gives you the same smile the last did, thinking you two were just his next victims of wallet-cide.

“Go ahead Mr I Throw So Well, since y’know, you’re so good at throwing so well,” Pinkie says coolly.

One, two, three darts all fail to pop the balloons, the last even bounced off the balloon without even popping it. You furrow your brow at this, maybe the darts just had worn down tips, it gave you an itch to call shenanigans but you didn’t want to look like a sore loser.

“Oh darn Nonny, bad luck!” Pinkie bumps you aside with her rump as she grips not one, but all three darts in her mouth at once. Her eyes become a blur as she gives the balloon board a thorough examination, and just as quickly her eyes become laser focused. In one quick motion she whips her head and sends the darts speeding towards the board. It was almost surreal how the darts split from each other so perfectly in midair, and downright flabbergasting that every dart hit their mark and popped the balloons all at the same moment. Needless to say, she was surprisingly good.

“How did you do that Pinkie?” You ask.

“Ha! Making sure balloons stay blown up is one of a party pony’s primary particular duties!” Her smile is quickly replaced with an ominous stare, “But I can also decide when those balloons go from blown up to blown out.”

Pinkie Pie, now adorned with jumbo sunglasses, had quite the skip in her step as you two wandered the carnival looking for the perfect tie breaking game.

“Listen Pinks, I think we need to make this one actually fair.”

“Whaddya mean?” Pinkie asks innocently, “Seems like you were just bad at that last one.” You swear she’s fluttering those lashes at you under those shades.

“More like you were a little too good. So how about we choose this one at random for fairness sake?”

“If it makes you feel better buddy,” she says. Before you can react she slips under your legs and saddles you on her back.

“What are you wh-wh-whoa!” You can’t manage to get the rest out as Pinkie starts spinning around and around in place, and the world around you becomes a blur on Pinkie’s Tilt-a-Whirl(patent pending). When it seemed she reached her peak speed she came to a hard stop, luckily you were holding on tight otherwise she would have thrown you for miles.

“That-a-way!” She points to a far off booth, eyes rolling in their sockets.

Making your way over to the booth in question you see none other than Applejack leaning over the counter.

“Howdy y’all!” Applejack says perking up a bit upon the sight of some friends.

“Oopsie! Must have gotten my Bestie Sense confuzzled with my Choose-y Sense!” Pinkie says.

“Whaddya mean?” Applejack asks.

“Pinkie Pie and I have a bit of a competition going on right now--”

“Yeah! And I’m kicking his flank at the moment!” Pinkie says cheerily.

“And we’re tied. We decided to break the tie by choosing the next game at random.” You finish.

“Well ah ain’t exactly runnin’ a game booth here y’all, just selling caramel apples. Applebloom was supposed to be here helpin’ me but the second her little friends told her about face paintin’ I lost her the second I turned tail. And I ain’t even selling apples at the moment because Big Mac’s off gettin’ more.”

“Aw shoot, time to go for another spin?” Pinkie asks. Please, no.

“Well hold on just a sec you two!” Applejack cuts in, “Y’all’re actually in luck, ‘cause I’ve been sittin’ on somethin’ that I’ve been wantin’ to try for ages now to drum up some business. And y’all are the perfect for me to give it a spin on!”

“Alright AJ, what’s the game?” You ask.

“I bet it’s some epicly elaborate apple-themed extravaganza!” Pinkie says excitedly.

Eight bags, bean variety.

Two boards, thirty feet apart from each other.

Two holes, each able to decide destiny.

A man and a mare, head to head in a rip-snorting full throttle game of...

“Corn Holin’ is the name of the game!” Applejack says proudly, “A family fun time from the bygone ages, much better than that there ‘skee-bawl’ they got nowadays. Give her a go!”

“Looks like I lucked out Nonny, because you’re going down!” Pinkie says with a competitive glare.

“Pfft, you don’t think I had this back home? Bring it on!” You declare.

An entire hour went by with neither of you making a single shot. Big Mac ended up coming back after fifteen minutes and a dejected Applejack ended up going back to work for the rest of the time. You two were so wrapped up in the game that you didn’t even notice Applejack come back to check on you, with Big Mac, Applebloom, and a cart full of packed up caramel apple supplies in tow.

“Eeyup, guess you were right when you said they sucked at this game.” Big Mac notes, alerting the two of you to their presence. You and Pinkie were drenched in sweat and disheveled from an hour straight of consecutive failures.

“It’s--You… This game is rigged!” You say frustratedly.

“Yeah what he said! I call shenanigans!” Pinkie says pointing an accusing hoof.

Applejack does not look amused. “Big Mac, Applebloom, if ya would.”

Big Mac takes your side and flicks it with no effort, as does Applebloom and they both perfectly sink their shots.

“Ah’m a tiger in case you couldn’t tell!” Applebloom says to Pinkie happily. You and Pinkie looked utterly defeated.

Applejack clears her throat, “I know y’all talked yourselves up nice and well but if you want mah honest opinion, y’all just got really lucky.” Applejack can’t help but laugh at how much this game has taken out of you two, “But yer always welcome to come down to the farm and practice!”

“But I was so clo-ho-hose! I was literally a quarter of a fraction of a decimal of a centimeter away from winning!” Pinkie whined from her seat next to you on a bench. The full moon was starting to reach its peak tonight, and the carnival was still in full swing, probably even more so since they were about to do the fireworks show.

“Well at least we weren’t total losers, we won candy apples!” You try to console Pinkie but she isn’t buying it.

“The candy apples were good and all but it’ll never be as sweet as being Princess of Games!”

“Wait so if I won would I be a Prince or a Princess?”

“It wouldn’t have mattered because you wouldn’t have won!” Pinkie flops on her side dramatically. Although since it’s Pinkie she’s probably being very serious.

Is this really that big of an issue to her? Quality of life must have really improved in my absence.

Luna feels frustrated because she can’t understand the simple woes of these ponies, but Anon feels differently. Anon laughs, and soon he’s laughing hard. Pinkie Pie stops her sulking for a moment and looks at him with confusion, the same thing Luna feels right now.

“What’s so funny? You know it’s not nice to be a sore loser, buster.”

It takes a second for Anon to compose himself. “It’s not that Pinkie, really I mean it. I just had a really fun time with you today, even if we did get really sweaty.”

“Really?” Pinkie asks.

“Oh are you saying you didn’t have fun today Ms I Was Almost Princess of Games?”

“Well I’m not--”

“Ohhh! Didju nawt have fun today buddy?” You say in a dumb cutesy voice pushing the stuffed walrus in her face.

“Ano--haha!--Nonny stop! Okay okay you got me!” You relent the walrus assault, “I had fun with you today too. Sorry for getting worked up about winning so much.”

“It’s ok Pinks, I got a little in the zone too.”

“Call it a draw?”

“You bet. But I think Mr Walrus here would be better off with you.”

“What? You won him though, you should keep him! We both won things so it’s only fair.”

“You lost your glasses though.”

“No I--” She hoofs herself in the face, “Oh shoot, must have lost them during spinny time, they’re either in a bush somewhere or on the moon I bet. But still, you really don’t have to, Nonny.”

“I insist Pinkie, really. It’s gonna sound cheesy but I think I’ll be able to remember this day just fine without it, because I got to cut loose for once with a good friend, and I’m really glad it was you.”

She takes the stuffed animal very gingerly from you, a soft smile on her face as she hugs it close.

“Thanks Nonny, I’m glad I got to spend today with you too.”

Fireworks and leaning against each other serves no purpose in this investigation! Even if my moon-work was stunning as always in this memory, the only thing I have learned so far is that Anonymous’ feelings towards these ponies is genuine at the very least. But WHY, is he some kind of sleeper agent? I must push deeper to know the truth!

And deeper did she push, swirling colors and sounds pass by her form as she goes further and further into the depths of this foreign mind. These colors begin to fade the deeper she goes, and in this sea of gray a new scene begins to take shape.

Something’s not right, however. The gray quickly shifts to static, and a burst of new colors spread around her in this space. Suddenly Luna is standing in the middle of a cozy living room, and a jazzy saxophone tune plays from an unknown source.

“What’s going on? Where am I?” Luna was unnerved, her magic wasn’t working!

“Woah Danny, sounds like you’ve been around too many cleaning chemicals again!” Anon says beside you, and an audience laughs at the joke, again from an unknown source. For some reason this Anon has long black hair, slicked back with copious amounts of gel.

“What are you talking about? Where am I Anonymous!?” Luna shouts at him.

“Uh oh, sounds like Danny’s pretending to do his lost old man bit again huh Jesse?” Pinkie Pie says laying a hoof around Anon’s shoulder. Where did she come from?

“Speaking of pretending, I sure learned my lesson about pretending to be sick so I didn’t have to do that big test…” Luna spins around to see Scootaloo has appeared behind her as well.

“Well Steph why didn’t you just ask for help with studying if you were so sure you were gonna fail?” Pinkie Pie asks her.

The filly looks down sadly and paws at the floor, “You guys were talking about how proud you were about my report card, and I didn’t want to let you down by failing a test right after. I thought I could just fake being sick and it would just go away.”

“This is madness, can no one hear me?” Luna says incredulously looking around the room for a means of escape. Soft piano music begins to play as Anon gets on one knee to the filly.

“Aw Steph, we’d never stop being proud of you just because you bombed one test!”

“Yeah, and asking for help when you need it is the best thing you can do!” Pinkie says, “We’ll always be there to help you out when you need it.”

“You really mean that Uncle Joey?” the filly asks.

“Of course kiddo,” Anon says, giving her a big hug. The audience gives a big “aww” in return for the gesture.

“And Michelle would love to help out too wouldn’t you?” Pinkie turns to a unicorn baby sitting in a love seat.

“You got it dude!” the baby says. The audience gives an especially hearty laugh to this.

Luna was panicked now, even more so when giant yellow words materialised at the far end of the room. Before she can process this a blackness starts to spread from the floor and the ceiling, enveloping everything in sight. The audience hasn’t stopped laughing, if anything they’ve gotten louder. Luna takes flight as Anon and the others are swallowed by it, and the laughter from the audience has become deafeningly loud.

She couldn’t avoid it any longer, the darkness grips her like a sticky tar immobilizing her, she tries to struggle and yell for help but nobody answers her. It inches up her neck, clings to the sides of her face, and just as it consumes her sight--

Luna breaks free from her trance with a huge gasp. She turns frantically around her chambers to take in her surroundings. The sun was just peeking over the horizon, and all of her candles were blown out, incense also completely smoked out. This was real, she was fine, and at this realization she lets out a shaky sigh.

What in Tartarus was that human?

Author's Note

So this chapter ended up being a LOT longer than I envisioned, but hey more for you to enjoy!
There's going more of these special mini-plot chapters in between regular ones, and if I nail the execution it's going to turn out very very well!