All Ends With Beginnings

Chapters

Ch.1 Train Ride
Ch.2 The Gardens
Ch.4 A proposition
Ch.5 Last night in Canterlot
Ch.6 Ponyville
Ch.7 Family Bonding
Ch.8 Smoke Break
Ch.9 To Prank a Griffon
Ch.10 Nightmare Night
Ch.11 The Scariest of Stories
Ch.12 There and Back again
Ch.13 The School
Ch.14 An Old Family Home
Ch.15 Please watch for Pedestrians
Ch.16 Hauke Hospital
Ch.17 Claire
Ch.18 The Mental Health Clinic
Ch.19 The Calm
Ch.20 The Storm
End. The Last and The First
Ch.3 Pinkie's One on Fun Super Special Get to know Togethers

Ch.1 Train Ride

You are Twilight Sparkle, and you are overflowing with ecstatic joy. It isn’t often you get to study new creatures, despite the fact there are so many in Equestria. What makes it better is that this creature is, supposedly, a Human!

An ape like creature thought to be mythical by most, and extinct by a select few who you would consider pseudo-scientific until a day ago! Standing corrected could wait! You were practically bouncing up and down the Celestia forsaken walls when you heard you were being given a chance to study it!

Although, not surprising being the Princess’s number one student, and for about seven months now, Princess of Friendship! It’s not only a perfect opportunity to learn about a new species, their culture, language, etc. But the chance to show this new species all the benefits of friendship with Pony Kind!

You take a sip from your cup, the tea warming your throat and soothing your tired vocal chords. Giving them a comfort greatly needed after all the work you’ve put them through, talking the ears off your two poor friends heads.

”I don’t know Twilight, Humans sound kinda’ scary! I mean, their myths are all about them being big bullies to one another! So many wars, mean Gods who slaughter their followers, and they eat meat! Oh those poor animals!” Your friend Fluttershy has been expressing a lot of worry about this trip. Anxious from both being only one of the three of you who would get to meet this new being, and the undoubted truth that these creatures aren’t exactly known for their good stories. The poor butter colored pegasus was shivering under her pink mane, how sad it was to see her in such a state.

“Everything will be fine Fluttershy.” You say, trying to console your timid friend.

“Even if this creature is harmful, he has the ability to walk around the palace. Which I should remind you is full of guards and the Princesses. Not to mention that these creatures had to rely heavily on their technology and numbers to do any real harm! I’ve read a lot on their myths and seen diagrams, their bodies aren’t all that impressive when it comes to individual prowess.”

You give a small smile to your shivering friend. She eases a bit but isn’t too swayed by your reassurance.

”W-well I know that Twilight. I-it’s just, we don’t know hardly anything about them! And what we DO know, is nothing but meanness and bullying! Hay, we don’t even have Rarity, Applejack, or Rainbow Dash on this trip! And we weren’t even told why!”

She had a point. You six usually did everything together, no matter how bad it was. Nightmare Moon, Discord, your brother’s wedding with Cadence, etc.

The few letters you’ve received from Celestia were of very little help of describing why you couldn’t bring those three specifically on the trip. A fact that greatly annoyed Rainbow. She complained up and down how dangerous they were in their stories, just as Fluttershy was worrying about, and she no doubt wanted to tag along just so she can make sure her friends are okay. You appreciate her loyalty but that mare can be so hot headed at times.

Taking another sip from your tea you spoke up again, “Princess Celestia was very adamant in her letters about only you me and Pinkie Pie coming on this trip. I’m certain she knows what she is doing, and has a good reason as to why Rainbow, Applejack, and Rarity had to stay, and why us three had to go.”

Speaking of your third friend, the party mare decided to jump into the conversation at this time. ”Yea Fluttershy! I mean sure these Humans fight all the time, but they also apparently throw just the most AMAZING parties! Lot’s of drinking and music and dancing and drinking and games and drinking and shows and food and drinking and clothes and sweets and did I mention the DRINKING! AAAHHHHH, I can’t wait to meet him slash her, so we can both be best best friends, and he slash she and I can make a bunch of jokes and laugh and have a big awesome party!”

Pinkie gasps at a sudden realization. ”OH-OH! And because they’re new, I get to throw a welcome to EQUESTRIA PARTY!!!”

You swear you hear a squee as your pink friend’s mouth grows into a large smile. One that seems almost impossible to fit on her face.
“Pinkie’s right Fluttershy, Humans may not be all that bad! Besides, who’s to say this Human won’t be good?”

The mare contemplates, putting a hoof to her muzzle. ”You maybe right Twi, I don’t know why I get so upset. Maybe it won’t be so bad? Besides, even if it is dangerous, I still have you two to help keep me safe.”

You smile. Fluttershy was such a worrier, you know this, Tarturus, Shy is literally in her name. Yet, she was the kindest pony you’ve ever met, well deserving of her element. You always enjoyed being around her and your friends. Her kindness is probably one of the reasons so was chosen to come along on the journey.
”SEE? You’re coming around you silly filly! You’re friends are always here for you, and even if they are party animals, we’ll show that bald ape the good ol’ one two if they try to hurt ya’!” Pinkie exclaimed.

A chuckle escapes your lips. Your Pink friend was always one to make you laugh even in the moodiest of times. She wasn’t just the life of the party, she was the party. While she can be annoying in someways, you don’t judge her. You’ve even learned to not question all the quirky and weird ways she seems to bend the fabric of reality. Boy wasn’t that a day when you tried to figure out how her tail twitching a certain way could predict objects falling from the sky? Maybe her laughter was also a reason for her to tag along?

The day dragged on from there, the train slowly making its way to Canterlot. You continue to talk to your friends and ponder how the meeting will take place. Princess Celestia was a little more vague when she wrote to you in her letters. She claimed she would explain everything when you three arrived to the castle. You run through everything she told you in the letters.

You don’t know how old this Human is, however Princess Celestia refers to the Human as ‘he’ and ‘him’ so, you know it’s male. She explained that he was found wondering the Canterlot Gardens at night and was found by Princess Luna whilst on one of her little night walks. She explains very strange behavior and being concerned about him. It makes sense to you. How would you react if you were thrown in some different world and had no idea how you got there? This brings you to your next point. How he arrived. Neither of the Princesses know how he arrived in the gardens, and none of the guards on shift seemed to know either. The Human also expresses that he doesn’t know either, or is intentionally leaving out how he did if he knows.

He was able to express this by the way, because he knows Ponish! Some how. Ponish is the lingua franca of Equestria and surrounding lands, so it isn’t shocking another creature speaks it, but he’s seemingly out of this world, so knowing the language is very strange.

So, you’re dealing with a male human of an undetermined age. Seemingly not from your world at all, with either no memory of how, or the method used to get him here. Or if he does, he isn’t saying, and he speaks ponish. Other than that, and the fact that he isn’t sitting in the dungeon right now for trespassing on royal property is all you know. This last fact gives you relief as it shows the Princesses at least trust him enough to not be in a prison.

Now to mentally run through the terms of your visit. Celestia has specifically requested the aid of Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and you, Twilight Sparkle, to come to meet and study this creature for the next week and see what you can get out of him and hopefully “offer him”.

“Offer him.”

A strange use of words. You assume she means friendship, or advice, or maybe even a way to get home? You don’t know any trans-dimensional teleportation spells. Even Starswirled the bearded couldn't take on such a task. Most of his spells like that failed.

Princess Celestia also requested that the other three of your friends stay behind. The previously mentioned Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity. This confused you, and you tried to make it clear that whatever needed to be done, you could all do together.

Celestia would have none of it though. She put her hoof down expressing only you three came, excluding even Spike, your number one assistant. He also seemed very worried when he learned what you were about to go and do. All your friends did.

Applejack was more confused, being less aware of Humans outside a few tales. Rarity went on about being thankful she didn’t have to meet this “beast”, but lamented over you doing so.
Though she also asked of you to describe the details of the Humans clothing. An odd aspect of Humans was that they didn’t only wear clothes for special occasions, but all the time. The boutique owner WOULD ask to understand the thinking and design of alien clothing wouldn’t she.
As previously mentioned, Rainbow Dash was annoyed, maybe even a little mad she wouldn’t get to go on the trip either. She wanted to be there just in case anything bad would happen.

So, it was just you three. You, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy, on a train, headed to the capitol.
You finish the rest of your tea and place the cup on the saucer in front of you with a clink. You stare out at the rolling mountains, their tops being covered in bright snow.

Celestia was beginning to set her sun, and Luna, beginning to raise her moon. You’ve seen them perform the spell before, during the summer sun celebration, how quick it seemed up close. But from far away is seemed like it was happening in slow motion. The sky was a gradient of a deep orange red color near the horizon to a purple that matched your coat as it moved higher in the clouds.

Your mind raced about everything you would do during this meeting. All the questions you’d ask and all the things you’d show him. Hardly a once in a life time opportunity, and you get to experience it. The quiet vibrations from the train along with the beautiful painting of a sky outside your window relaxed you.

Your eyes almost begin to close when you hear a very audible yawn come from beside you.
”Pfewie! I’m sleepy! Too many sweets in my tummy.” Pinkie yawned, rubbing her belly with a satisfied smile on her lips.

”Oh, I think I agree,” Fluttershy yawned as well, covering her mouth with her hoof. “what about you Twilight? Are you coming back to the cabin?”

You couldn’t deny it. Though you were extremely excited, today was a long day. All that packing and saying good bye to the three friends you left behind. A long with you three talking and eating you did while on the train. You let out a tired sigh. “Yea, I suppose it has been a long day. We should go to bed, we’ll have a longer one in the morning, what with studying a new species and all.”

You exit the dining car and head over to the first class cabin. Being a princess has it’s perks. Reaching your bed, you climb in and get snuggled up, closing the velvet curtain, shutting yourself off from the rest of the room. You hear Pinkie and Fluttershy climb into their bunks. After some quick good nights to each other, you drift off to sleep, dreaming of the days to come and all the information you’ll get to learn.
The next morning has barely even started. The sun hasn’t even risen over the horizon once the Train finally comes to a stop. You and your friends gather your things and step onto the platform. Canterlot’s buildings are towering over you, all of them works of art.
Walls of white with roofs of a soft lavender, with nice golden spires on a few of the taller ones. It gives you a feeling of nostalgia to be back here, it always does. Running around from shop to shop with your mom as a filly, going to Donut Joe’s shop with Cadence, watching your brother Shining Armor at drill practice. It was very homey to you. The cool morning air nips at your neck.

You take a deep breath and stretch, despite the staff’s more than satisfactory attempts to make you all feel as comfortable as possible, train rides were still cramped and sometimes tiring. Your eyes glance over the streets.

No pony is awake yet, it’s still so early in the morning. You, however, have a job to do, you look over to your friends, both of them struggling to stay awake.

“All right girls, let’s start making our way to the castle. We can all eat breakfast there after we meet with the princesses.”

”But Twiiiiiliiiight,” Pinkie protests, ”The castle is suuuuch a long walk! Can’t we get a coffee and breakfast at Donut Joe’s shop?”

“Pinkie, it’s half past five in the morning, he isn’t even open yet.”

Fluttershy yawns and rubs her eyes. ”Well Twilight, there must be some shop open. I’m liking Pinkie’s idea of getting some coffee first before we head to the castle. It really does take some walking to get there from the station.”

You place your hoof to your chin. Trying to remember of a shop that as open at this hour. You haven’t lived here in a few years, and the last time you did you really didn’t go to coffee shops, the royal kitchen was always open. Well...the more you think about it, there is one shop your dad loved to go to. And he always had work start early for him, maybe that was open? Mocha Mare’s was the name you believed.

“Actually, I think there is one coffee shop open, it may be a little bit of a detour from the castle though. You two sure?”

They both nod.

“Alright, let’s go.”

The three of you start making your way down the street, as time passes more and more ponies start to appear, getting ready for a new day. Opening shops, and turning on lights. All of them so groggy and tired. A few you are amazed are still standing on all four hooves.

You three eventually make it to the shop, which had conveniently just opened. You all step inside with sighs of relief. The aura of the shop was one of blissful comfort. Nice and toasty with the smell of freshly ground coffee beans in the air. The three of you order your coffee and sit down at a nice table, Pinkie nibbling on a small lemon pastry to hold her over until breakfast at the palace. The atmosphere was nothing but calm and serene.

If this alien Human really did come from a world of war and violence, he’d probably love the comfort this world has to offer. He couldn’t have landed in a better place assuming he really is in shock in coming to a completely different world. One could only imagine the horrors he’d encounter if he’d landed in the Badlands, or maybe even the Everfree. You considered all of you lucky he ended up here specifically then. It probably would’ve left a bad first impression with all those bandits or monsters after him.

Once all of you were done with your coffee, you start to make your ways to the castle. The little detour giving you three the much needed energy boost to complete the still early morning route. Perfect timing too, the sun was beginning to break the horizon, showing Celestia was at least awake.

Once arriving at the castle, you are greeted by a guard pony who was seemingly nearing the end of his shift with the heavy bags under his eyes. He gives a salute

”Princess Twilight and friends, I assume you are here answering the Princesses’ orders?”

“Yes sir, we are, would you mind taking us to see them?”

”Yes ma’am, the three of you please follow me.”

You all follow the guard inside the castle walls, making your way towards the royal dining area.

”The princesses are currently eating breakfast at the moment, you three all should have plates of your own waiting your highness.”

You smile and thank him.

“Thank you! Do you know if the Human will also be joining us this morning?”

”The Human is not awake yet, from what I understand, however even if he was, he’d probably be eating his breakfast in his own quarters. The Princesses wanted to brief you three before you actually meet this creature.”

“Ah, understandable, thank you.”

Once finally reaching the doors to the royal kitchen, the guard salutes and takes his leave. The three of you enter and bow your heads greeting the Princess sisters.

“Good morning your highnesses, we’ve finally arrived to answer your call to greet this mythical creature who has found himself here.”

Celestia looks over and smiles, her white coat was frizzled, probably from just waking up, her mane continued to just flow in an invisible wind, just as it always had.

”Greeting’s my little ponies, I’m glad the three of you have finally arrived. You’re work will be much appreciated!”

”Much appreciated indeed.” Princess Luna said in a very exhausted tone. “This Human needs all the help he can get!”

You cock your head at the night princess’ words. You notice that her usually starry and smooth flowing mane is disheveled and unkempt. The dark circles around her eyes we deep and sunken, her eyes were slightly bloodshot.

“I’m a little confused, what kind of help does he need? Weren’t we just supposed to study him?”

You knew you probably would be helping this creature in someway, settling him in, showing him friendship, teaching and exchanging ways of life, but Luna’s words made it seem like there was something more going on. You turn to Celestia for an answer, Luna burying her face into her hooves in frustration.

Celestia speaks up, ”I suppose I should brief you three on what exactly it is you will be helping us with when it comes to Anonymous. Please come and sit down though, enjoy the breakfast our chefs have made for you three!”

You all sit down, Pinkie eager to eat despite having a few extra sweets in her after your visit to the coffee shop. Fluttershy speaks up.

”What kind of help do we need to offer him?”

You can see the increasing worry on her face as she asks this question, and just after you managed to calm her down the night before. The Princess clears her throat and begins to lay out everything you three need to know before meeting this Human.

”You three are about to meet a creature previously thought to be fiction, I’m sure that much you know already?”

You and Fluttershy nod, Pinkie looks up from her plate and smiles wide, showing all of the whipped cream smeared on her teeth from her pancakes.

”Well, from what we’ve gathered from Luna’s and my own conversations from him, he has some...erhm, other troubles he’s been dealing with. Outside of being far from home.”

“What kind of troubles?” you ask.

”I believe I mentioned Anonymous, which is the Human’s name by the way, was found in the Royal Gardens by Luna about a week ago during a walk. Well, he wasn’t found in the uhm...best of state.”

You raise an eyebrow

“What do you mean?”

Celestia paused, what she was about to say would probably be very unsettling to here based on the grimace on her face.

”He was wandering the castle grounds, in a very panicked and startled state, when Luna approached him, she mentioned that he was, uhm, ‘beaten up’ you could say?”

”He was drenched in blood and was wielding a knife. He was covered in wounds and bruises.” Luna specified.

You and your friends gasped.

”Oh my goodness! What happened to him? Did he hurt somepony? Did he get into a fight?” Fluttershy was beginning to shiver, though you can’t say it was unwarranted, that sounded awful.

Celestia sighed again. ”No, at least not here from what we can gather. Where ever he was before ending up in the gardens, was apparently very dark, and very violent. Whenever we ask him what happened or how he got his wounds he’d stop talking or say something a long the lines of. ‘I don’t really know myself.’ Seeing him in such a state we had to throw him in the dungeon at first. We didn’t know why he was in such a state or the danger he posed. Given the fact he is out of his cell now you can tell we’ve come to the conclusion through our talks that he was most likely a victim of bizarre circumstance and not some criminal. We’ve managed to clean him up, and we’ve confiscated any thing that may pose a threat from him, but he is still very shaken and scared from where ever he came from. He’s even been having frequent nightmares. Some of which has caused screaming loud enough to wake myself up on occasion.”

This all sounded so horrible. What possibly could he have been through that was so bad? Was he a soldier in one of the wars Humans are known to fight? Or was he attacked one night by a group of thugs? Was it something darker? Your train of thought was cut off by Luna putting in her piece of mind.

”That would explain our distressed state at the moment. I’ve spent days trying to get into his dreams and help him with these night mares, but he seems to be resistant to any spell we try. Whenever we try to counsel him he will refuse to speak on these terrors!”

By the maker! Was it really all that bad?

Fluttershy was on the verge of tears, poor mare was quivering in her seat. Pinkie’s expression was no better. Her eyes were almost popping out of her skull and her hooves were covering her mouth. What ever this Human has been through, it was clearly horrible, he clearly needed some friends to help him through what ever happened.

“What ever we need to do to help we’ll do it Princess. Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and I are on the case!”

Celestia smiles at this, pleased by your determination.

”Thank you all so much. I’m certain you three will be able to help him out with all of his troubles. If you three are finished with breakfast, I’ll show you to his room so you can finally meet him. Sister, you need some rest.”

After finishing your plates and wishing Princess Luna good rest, the four of you make your way to Anonymous’ room.

You were filled with determination and optimism to make this Human feel welcomed to Equestria, and help him fight what ever haunts him. It was your duty as Princess of Friendship, and a duty you were more than happy to fulfill. As you three made it to the door of his room, Celestia stopped and turned her head towards your group again, preparing to give you and your friends some final words before you entered.

”Before you enter, please know I choose you three, and only you three for a reason. Twilight, you are the Princess of Friendship and my faithful student. I’m trusting you can get something out of him, anything is helpful at this point. I also trust you will show him the friendship he needs. Fluttershy, as the element of kindness, I know you will be able to make him feel comfortable and safe, as well as help the medical staff treat some of his wounds. Pinkie Pie, as element of laughter, you should be able to cheer him up and enjoy his time here, how ever long that maybe. We’re hoping this will also help tame his night terrors.”

Pinkie squeed, Celestia’s word getting her out of her funk.

”You can count on us Princess! I’ll help make those mean ol’ spooky-wooky nightmares go away!”

Celestia chuckles at Pinkie’s words.

”I’m sure you all will, please do your best, and good luck.” She opens the door and let’s you three walk into the room. You turn back before entering

“Don’t worry Princess, we’ve handled bigger problems before. We won’t let you down.”

She thanks you one last time before letting the door shut, allowing yourselves some privacy.

You three take a quick look around the room...empty.

“Hello? Anonymous is it? We’ve been sent by the Princesses to visit you!”

You call out. You don’t get an answer. Where is he?

The opening of the balcony makes you jump a bit.

“Eep!”

”Gah!”

Your head snaps to the balcony door, in it’s frame was the tall bipedal creature, the Human. He looked just like the drawings in your manuscripts. Wow, he was tall. Not huge, but the top of his head would come up to at least Luna’s horn if not higher.

You take note of his clothes. White hoodie, blue pants made of what looked like denim, and uh...what were those on his feet? Where they a kind of boot? They looked a bit different, they seemed to cut off at his ankles. His clothes appeared clean, like Celestia said, but you could see the off colored brownish pink that still stained his hoodie. There was a lot of it. Luna wasn’t joking.

”Uhm...Hello? Are you three the ponies Celestia said I would meet?”

His question snapped you back to reality.

“Oh! Yes, my name is Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship and Element of Magic, and these are my two friends, Pinkie Pie, Element of Laughter, and Fluttershy, Element of Kindness. We’ve been sent to study you, and hopefully help you with what ever is troubling you.”

He frowns.

”Oh, she told you about all of that stuff huh? None of you should really have to concern yourselves with my problems.”

You wave your hoof.

“Nonsense, as the Princess of Friendship, and an Element of Harmony, I’d be more than happy to help, and that goes for my friends too! We don’t have to talk about all of the bad stuff now. We should all start on a lighter note!”

You grab a quill and note pad from a near by desk with your magic and sit down, Pinkie and Fluttershy sit behind you.

“Please have a seat and we can get started!”

Anonymous shuffles his feet, looking a little anxious.

“Is there anything wrong?”

The Human in front of you closes the door behind him and starts to speak.

”Oh, nothing! Nothing is wrong, it’s just, I’m still getting used to this place. Talking ponies, magic, hell pegasi and unicorns and the like are all myths where I’m from, and I’m sure I’ve never heard of one talking.”

You scribble all of this down. So not only were YOU talking to a mythical creature, from Anonymous’ perspective so was he! Fascinating

“Really? That’s all very interesting. But, you don’t have to be afraid, to be honest you’re a myth to us as well! For millennia it’s been believed your race was a myth, but here you are!”

He gives a weak chuckle

”So I’ve been told...okay. I’ll sit down now I guess.”

You smile as he takes a seat right across from you and your friends.

”So what do you want to ask me?”

You open your mouth to say something but Pinkie interjects before you can get it out.

”Howdy! I’m Pinkie Pie, but Twilly already said that, and you’re Anonymous right? That’s a weird name, do all Humans have weird names? Or is it just you? You shouldn’t feel sad if you have a weird name, I love weird ponies! Weird ponies can be very funny sometimes you kn-”

You stick a hoof in your friends mouth.

“Pinkie! Calm down, please! You’ll get your chance to help, but right now we’re just asking questions!”

Pinkie just smiles. “Aw come one Twilight that’s boring, and we aren’t going to help him if we’re boooooring are we?” Pinkie put a lot of emphasis on the word ‘boring’.

Your brow furrows.

“We can help him with that later, and like he said, he doesn’t want to talk about that right now. This is the best way we can break the ice.”

Well, you say that, but the ice breaking has already gone off with a rocky start.

You give an awkward smile to Anonymous, who was just staring in confusion at the two of you. You laugh nervously and pick up your quill in your magic again.

“Ha ha, sorry about that, but Pinkie does bring up a good point. Your name is Anonymous correct?”

”Oookay? Yes, my name is Anonymous, but please you can call me Anon for short. To answer your quirky friend there, it isn’t a very common name. But Human names aren’t really anything like, Fluttershy, or Pinkie Pie, or Twilight Sparkle, or something. Save a few exceptions I suppose.”

You write all of this down. Fascinating.

“All right, I suppose we should get the obvious stuff out of the way. Do you have any idea how you got here?”

Anon rubs the back of his neck with his hand. Hands. A lot more dexterous than the claws Spike has, those must be so useful to have.

”See...I don’t think I know, or if I do I don’t think I fully understand. Or if I do understand, then it just raises so many more questions whose answers seem impossible to me. Or just very hard to accept.”

What? What the hay does that even mean? You grimace slightly

“I...uhm...heh, I’m not entirely sure what you mean. Are you saying you do know or you don’t know?”

He blows air out of his nose in frustration.

”Look, I need to be real honest and upfront here. Assuming you three have been told everything the Princesses know, I don’t know exactly how I ended up here, and I have my ideas, but it ties back into getting out of...where ever the hell I was before coming here.”

He lowered his head.

”Look, I know you’re here to help and I appreciate that, but I don’t want to bother any of you with that. I want answers too but let’s just...I don’t know, put a pin in that for now? It was...pretty rough.”

You had to blink. Apparently he’s been asked this several times before. Probably by the princesses. Maybe he’s been going over what happened in his mind over and over and he just doesn’t understand it. Maybe both. This wasn’t turning out as smoothly as you expected. Then again you didn’t expect to be interviewing a mythical creature that clearly came just came out of a dark place.

“Can you excuse me for one second?”

”Yea, sure. Do what you need.” He responds.

“I’m sorry Anon, I just need to discuss something with my friends reaaaaaaal quick.” You apologize as you push your friends into the bathroom. You sigh.

”Oh my, he seems very troubled.” Fluttershy starts, ”I don’t think I’ve ever seen any pony so nervous and confused...other than me really.”

“Alright.” You say. “I may need to alter the plan I had coming at this. Clearly, the something that happened before he was here was rather...abhorrent, and we really need to find a way to not upset him.”

Pinkie interrupts you.

”It’s okay Twi, we didn’t do anything, heck he even said he appreciates us being here! You know what I think? I think he needs a day of specialized one on one fun time!”

Dang pink mare can only think about having fun and partying instead of...wait. “Wait, Pinkie, what did you just say?”

”What? Oh you mean my One on Fun Super Special Get to know Togethers? (Trademarked) it’s a special party I like to plan when ever I meet a pony who’s a sappy sad sapperton or a weepy introvert! Why?”

Of course! A day alone with all of you! Having to be around so many mythical creatures must be just some unwanted stress. You wouldn’t know it by looking at her but that pink mare can be a, “Sweet Celestia, you’re a genius!”

”Heehee, no I’m not silly! I’m Pinkie!”

Yes, this is a perfect idea. All you three have to do is take shifts and get to know him personally one on one.

“Girls, I know what we’re going to do! Come on.”

The mares follow you out of the bathroom. Anon is still sitting on the floor looking into his lap. You clear your throat to get his attention. He looks up at you, waiting for you to speak.

“Anonymous, I have a better approach. All three of us talking to you and interacting with you is probably giving you a lot of stress, what with having to be surrounded by creatures you didn’t consider real until a week ago.”

Anon was giving you a puzzled look. ”Yea, I suppose that’s true? But what are you trying to get at?”

“Anon, for the next week, we will be taking shifts spending the day with you and getting to know you better. One on one.”

”Ermm...Okay? If that’s how you three want to do this? I don’t suppose I have a choice.”

You raised an eyebrow.

“No, no. I mean, only if you want to.” You specify.

Anon waves his hand.

”No it’s fine. It’ll probably help me ease into this whole...being in a different world here anyways.”

You smile.

“Great! So it’s settled. Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy you two may retire to our bedroom, we can discuss who will spend the day with Anon tomorrow before bed!”

The two mares leave, making it just you and Anon there in the room. You walk over and take a seat right across from him, taking your note and pen in your magic again.

“Okay, now that that’s out of the way we can begin again. Also, sorry for taking a break so abruptly, I just wanted to find a way to make you more comfortable. Please forgive me if I end up asking any questions that make you feel uncomfortable.”

Anon puts his hands up. ”No, no it’s all fine. I understand. It’s not like you know anything about me anyways.”

“Well, let’s fix that! Now, next question...”

And so you began to interrogate Anon. Making sure to only ask general questions. Nothing too personal outside of, “How old are you?” Which, apparently he was 20. Even more interestingly, Humans could live up to be 80 or 90 years old where he lived, some have even made it to their hundreds! The whole day was just asking and explaining to each other about your worlds. Comparing differences, noting similarities. Apparently Humans couldn’t control the weather or raise the sun or moon. The weather worked by itself and the sun and moon rising were illusions caused by a spinning globe. What shocked you was their lack of magic! That doesn’t even seem possible.

However, through their own science, they were able to make remarkable, and some rather terrifying things. Life improving drugs, more efficient ways of travel, including flight. But also bombs, war machines, and these things called guns. Instruments that can fire a lead projectile at the speed of sound and tear through a human, sometimes at impressive range.

On and on, love or war, pony or not, you got a lot of information that would probably help you. Maybe even some ideas to share with the inventors and scientists of Equestria. The more and more you talked, the more comfortable Anon became with you. He never lost his somber mood, but he was able to crack a lighthearted joke or two, even if most of them were cynical.

What ever! It’s progress baby, and you could appreciate that much. Alas, time flies when you are lost in note taking and researching. You noticed how much darker the room was. You got up and brushed your self off.

“Wow Anon! I got so much information from talking to you! I really appreciate you sharing all that information with me.”

Anon shrugs.

”Don’t mention it. It really isn’t anything special. Like I’ve been saying, your world is probably far better. With all of the real magic and peace. Even if you get the occasional bad guy.”

“No, thank you really. This is all really good information. I can see you’re tired though. So I’ll leave you to sleep.”

You stop yourself before leaving, remembering the problem he has.

“Anon? Please get some good rest tonight?”

Anon looks at you. You can see the sadness in his face, but also a touch of appreciation.

”Thanks Twilight. I appreciate that. I’ll try. You have a good night’s rest too!”

You give him a smile and wave good bye, shutting his door. A sigh of relief escapes your lips. Today was a good day. A rocky start, but you were able to fix that.

You finally make your way back to your room that you were sharing with the girls.

Pinkie is the first to notice you.

”Hiya Twilight! How’d it go with Anon?”

“It was wonderful Pinkie! I got so much information on his world from him. He actually opened up a lot! He really came around after a few hours. Time just flew by. I’m more surprised we just sat in that room and talked, his world is so interesting.”

Fluttershy was the next to speak.

”That sounds wonderful, were you really able to cheer him up?”

“Well...not exactly, no. But, I was able to make up for the beginning of our conversation and really lighten the mood a little”

You yawn and stretch your forelegs.

“Sweet Celestia, it felt like only a few minutes. I’ve done nothing but talk all day and yet I’m so exhausted.”

You climb into your bed and get snuggled up getting ready for sleep.

”Wait!” Pinkie interrupts your blanket snuggles. ”Twilight, who will be hanging out with Anon tomorrow?”
Oh yea that.

“Oh! Right. Uhmmm, Fluttershy, you hardly got to make yourself known today, and you are very gentle and kind. You should be the next one of us to spend time with Anon tomorrow. Help with the treatment of his wounds as well.”

”I’ll try and do my best Twilight. He seemed so scared and frustrated.”

“Probably, just remember to not ask or bring up anything to personal. All right good night you two.”

They both responded with their own good nights and you drifted off to dream land.
~~~~

Ch.2 The Gardens

“Okay Okay Okay, you got this!” You tell yourself.

You’re Fluttershy, and Twilight just tasked you with spending time with the new creature that just arrived in Equestria. A Human. Practically a monkey. You’ve taken care of monkeys before. Maybe he likes bananas? Oh, but that also sounds like a personal question, and Twilight said to not ask personal questions. Now that you think of it, all your questions may be personal questions.

What food does he like? What is his favorite music? Favorite color? LEAST FAVORITE COLOR? HIS OPINION ON THE POLITICS OF DOOR HANDLES?

Fluttershy, Fluttershy, just be cool.

You GOT THIS! You’re going to go in there, and be his best friend, just like Twilight asked of you. Hay you don’t have a reason to be scared anymore, from what you know now, he is just another scared and lonely creature who needs to be taken care of. Who the hay cares if he’s an omnivore? Mr. Bear is an omnivore, he eats meat, and you love Mr. Bear. He’s your best friend. And from what Twilight found out after her day with Anon, Humans don’t even eat ponies, so you have no reason to be scared.

You bring up a hoof and lightly tap on his door and back up.

…

Nothing.

You do it a second time.

Still nothing.

Maybe you aren’t tapping hard enough. Oh but you don’t want to scare him. He does suffer from night mares after all. Although it’s already 10 in the morning, and from what Princess Luna said at breakfast, this has been his calmest night yet. Still muttering in his sleep maybe, but he wasn’t screaming his poor head off.

You tap the door a little harder this time.
This seemed to work, as you could hear Anon shuffling around in his room and approach the door. It opens, and you get to see Anon up close.

”Oh...Good morning, uh, Fluttershy was it?”

“Mhm, that’s me! It’s my turn to spend the day with you! That is uh, if you don’t mind?”

Anon rubs the sleep from his eyes and scratches the back of his head.

”No, no problem at all. Please come in, I just need to take a shower and get dressed. Just uh, don’t try to follow me in the bathroom, like what one of the guards tried to do.”

“I wouldn’t think of it!” You smiled.

You walked into Anon’s room and sat down on one of the sofas, as Anon took off his hoodie and threw it on the bed. He grabbed a towel and stumbled into the bathroom. Leaving you alone in the room just to think.

Think about what you’d actually do with Anon. Maybe a walk around the Garden? See all the pretty animals? Maybe walk around the palace? Maybe you could just sit in the room and talk about what you two enjoy over tea? Dangerous gambit there, you may end up asking a question too personal.

After some time passed you decide to to pace around the room a bit, maybe you’ll see something that’ll give you an idea. Hmm...a dresser, he wears clothes. Maybe a trip to a boutique? No, he’s a Human, and you didn’t think they’d have Human clothes there. Plus you’re pretty sure he’s not allowed to leave the castle. A painting of butterflies. The walk in the garden was still an option.
Some old books. You’re no Twilight, but maybe there is some literature you can discuss?

A notebook...with his name on it?

You walk up to get a better look. His name was written in a small white box, it was kind of faded. In ink that appeared to be a lot bolder, and freshly written were in large capital letters reading, “DO NOT READ.”
Hm...something is telling you not to read such a thing. It’s probably his diary. You aren’t scum enough to go through his diary. You’re train of though came to sudden halt when you saw a hand grab the note book in front of you and throw it in a drawer with a loud slam.

“EEP!”

You jump and cower behind the closest thing that’s larger than you. The bed.

Shivering you peek your head our from behind the mattress. Anon is standing there clothed and with his hand in front of the drawer, giving you a stern look. You try to choke out an apology.

“I-i’m sorry Anon, I promise you I wasn’t trying to read it, honest!”

Anon just continues to stare at you. You feel smaller than a mouse now, his eyes piercing you. You begin to tear up. Now it’s Anon’s turn to feel guilty.

”No, no don’t cry please. I’m sorry, I’m really sorry! I didn’t know you were just looking at it! It’s my fault I left it on the desk anyways.”

You wipe your tears from your eyes.

”Really, it’s not your fault, I shouldn’t have reacted that way.” Anon continues. “It’s just...I’d prefer what’s in that book to stay in it. Ya know? I didn’t mean to startle you.”

You come out from hiding and walk up to Anon.

“It’s fine, you just caught me off guard. I should’ve stayed away from it knowing how secretive you are. Honestly. Why don’t we just start our day hm?” Anon seems to relax a bit.

”Yea fine. That’s fine. What do you have in mind?”

“Well, if it isn’t too much of bother, I know that your dressings need to be changed and cleaned, and another healing spell applied. We should go down to the palace infirmary and talk about what to do there.”

”Sounds good to me.”

Once in the infirmary, you begin to help the medical staff by getting everything prepared, once Anons shirt and bandages are off, the nurses wash and apply their healing spells over his main wounds and bruises to help in easing the pain and speeding up the healing process.

Once they were done with that, you asked them to leave so that you two could be alone. Wouldn’t want Anon feel like he was surrounded again. Besides, all that was left was reapplying the dressing, and you could do that yourself. Although his healing was coming along very nicely, some of them were still rather deep.

“Don’t worry, this will only take a minute.” You explain.

Anon sat patiently as you wrapped some gauze around his shoulder, some more over his left pectoral muscle.

You reach his left arm and pause. These aren’t like the other wounds on his body. They were knife wounds, localized. Yea he had other cuts on his body, but they weren’t this localized, and all of different sizes.
D-does he?

“Uhm Anon?”

You look up to him. He is clearly getting nervous. He avoids your stare.

“Anon? W-where did these cuts come from?”

Anon rubs the back of his neck.

”Uh...t-there just like any of the other wounds.”

You knew he was lying.

“Anon, where did these cuts come from?”

Anon just sighed, “I don’t want to talk about that. Please just apply the bandage and we can leave. None of them are new anyways. Not since arriving.”

So they are where you thought they were from. You were afraid of that. You’ve heard of ponies committing self harm, some times over the dumbest of things, but you’ve never met somepony who’s actually done it to themselves, nor have you had to treat someone with those wounds.

Anon couldn’t look you in the eyes, he looked so embarrassed.

You had to do something. You just hugged him. This poor creature. Stuck in an alien world, so far from home, probably feeling lost and confused, just got out of a gruesome situation. And now you just learned he hurt himself as well, and not by accident.

By the maker, you just had to find a way to make this day better, you just had to. First the book, now this.

Anon was hugging you back now, rubbing your back.

”I-I’m okay Fluttershy, really. I haven’t done that to myself in a while, honest.”

You break the hug.

“Honest?”

”Honest.”

You wipe the tears from your face and finish wrapping his wounds. You suggest taking a walk in the Gardens, and he agrees. You will make it up to him. What ever it takes. You owe him that much.

It’s about half past noon once you two finally make it to the gardens. The animals have finally warmed up to you after your many visits to the castle. A few of them would come and give you a flower or some berries.
A few birds would tweet a song. A few of the cozy critters just wanted hugs.
Maybe Anon would enjoy some of the animals here...if he didn’t want to eat them.

No! He wouldn’t. Anon ate breakfast! You were sure? The palace staff probably had some meat in reserve for the Griffon ambassadors. Surely they’d be able to quell his meat cravings.

Despite your fears, you decide to risk it and try to find a cute critter for him to snuggle. Most of them would avoid Anon though, they seemed afraid of him. Dang it. You couldn’t judge them though. Anon was scary to you when you first heard of and met him. He could still give you a fright if he was in a sour mood apparently too. You couldn’t let the animals being scared deter you though. You already made two situations very uncomfortable, you had to make it up to him!

You two continue to walk through the garden in silence, you’re racking your brain to think of a way to make the critters here like Anon, or maybe even an alternative solution.

”You know, this is very nice! A lot more peaceful and relaxing than when I woke up here.”Anon interrupted your scheming and brought you back to the real world.

”Being here when there’s light makes it more bearable.”

Oh HORSEAPPLES! This is where Anon woke up! No doubt in your mind THIS would bring back painful memories!

“OH MY GOODNESS AnonI’msososorryIpromiseIdidn’tknowIwasn’ttryingto...”

”Woah, woah, Fluttershy, it’s all okay, I promise. You didn’t do anything wrong. Hell I agreed to come out here didn’t I?”Anon was putting his hands up trying to diffuse the situation.

“A-are...are you sure it’s alright?”

”Yes! Of course. In fact I was appreciating how calm and peaceful the gardens are. Especially during the day.”

Crisis averted, your heart rate slows back down to a steady rhythm. Too many close calls Flutters. You need to find this Human a cute bunny or something to cuddle ASAP! “O-oh. Well...that’s wonderful, I’m happy you feel that way! I’m sorry for over reacting. I just promised to do my best and show you all the kindness I can!”

”I understand, thank you. How ‘bout we just continue our walk hm? I think I recall seeing a water fountain out here from my balcony.”

“Of course! Here, I’ll show you where it is if you don’t remember.”

Aaaand about half an hour later you ended up getting a little lost. The Garden’s are huge. You’d guest-imate probably half the size of Ponyville! Anon seems patient though, just enjoying the fresh air and calm. He deserves it, especially after coming out of what ever part of Tartarus that gave him all those wounds.

The quest for the cuddly animal friend has not ceased however! As you two walk around the Gardens, searching for this allusive fountain, you’d look around and think of any animals Anon would like to hug. You first think of small animals or babies. Oh a birdy would look so cute perched on his shoulder! *gasp* Or maybe, an adorable little opossum sitting in the hood of his hoodie nibbling on a strawberry!

Yes, good ideas, you’ll save those for later. But what else? Anon is big, maybe he’d want a big animal to give a bear hug to...maybe a bear? No a little too scary, plus you don’t think they have bears here.

Biggest animal you’ve seen here are swans! Though you’d have to make it to the fountain to see one of those.

Hm…

Yep, a swan would do. They are always so friendly...at least to you. Dang it that’s right, you need to find a way to make them like him. The animals still seem to be afraid of Anon. Running away at the mere sight of him.

This doesn’t seem to phase Anon though, he was still just enjoying the atmosphere.

”Hey I think I see the path to the fountain!” Anon points with his finger in a direction the right of you two.

By Celestia's butt, a huge sign with a big ol’ picture of a fountain pointing to a dirt path was just a few yards away. Welp. That solves the fountain problem. And sense you couldn’t find a smaller or more suitable creature, looks like a swan will have to be it. Even if he may not get to hug one, he could feed it some seed!

You two approach the gate of the gardens and Anon pushes it open. Allowing you to enter first. What a gentlecolt. Erhm, gentleman? That sounded more fitting.

You two walk up to the base of the fountain. The ornate statue in the middle was rather plain, but it’s size most definitely made up for it. Easily twice as large as Princess Celestia!
The statue itself was of a mare on an orb, standing on one of her back hind legs, with her forelegs in the air. The sculpted pony seemed to be spitting out a steady stream of water, which kept the pool around it full.
Just as you remembered, there were a few Swans swimming in the large pool of the pond. You waved Anon over, and took some seeds from a feed box by the side of the base.

“Here Anon, do you want to feed one of the swans?”

Anon made an unsure face.

”Oh, ehh...I don’t know about that Fluttershy, all the animals seem to be afraid of me. You know, scary alien?”

“Oh nonsense, I’m wonderful with animals, I take care of all the little critters that show up to my cottage back home. Here, I’ll show you.”

Anonymous reluctantly moved his way further to the pond, and took some of the feed from your hoof. You lean over the edge and get the attention of one of the daddy swans, the mommy continues to swim with her babies in another direction.

You begin to coo and convince the water fowl to come closer.

“Hello there Mr. Swan, you look really nice today! I can see that your feathers are already nice and preened! You’ll have to show me how to get them just right. I don’t do as good of a job on my wings. Are you hungry?” The swan gradually makes it’s way closer to you. You hold out your feed.

The swan gently nibbles at the seeds in your hoof and you could see a smile spread on his beak.

“Would you like to meet my fried Anonymous?” The swan stared at you, with a blank expression. You pulled Anon over “Go ahead put out your hand.”

You wrapped your hoof around Anon’s arm and pulled him in closer.

Anon reached out his hand, and the swan cowered a bit.

“It’s okay Mr. Swan, Anon won’t hurt you. See? He’s nice and kind.”

The swan looked up at your Human friend, Anon was giving a small timid smile back. The swan inched closer and inspected the feed, and reluctantly began to eat.

“See Mr. Swan? Anon isn’t mean.” Anon chuckled at your statement. You smiled.

YES! Everything was going great, you were finally doing something right! You slowly let go of Anon’s arm and allowed the swan to get used to and continue to eat from Anon’s feed. “Wait right here Anon! I’m going to go a fetch Mr. Swan’s family!”

”That sounds fine Fluttershy, you go and do that.”

Your smile grows wider. You canter up to the group of swans Mr. Swan was swimming with previously. Three cute little babies and a beautiful wife. You hoof out your feed and coo.

“Hello all of you! Would you like to join your daddy and husband in a snack?” The baby swans beep and get closer to your feed, their little beaks pecking away at the meal presented in front of them. You let out a giggle. “That’s right, let’s go and join you-”

*HISSS*

You don’t even get the rest of your sentence out of you mouth when you hear the hissing of a swan...from Anon’s direction.

”Woah! Hey, it’s okay, it’s okay, I don-AHH! FUCK!”

You look up and see Mr. Swan biting Anon’s hand. Oh, no. DANG IT! It was going so well. You gasp and drop the rest of the feed into the water and rush over.

Anon was desperately trying to pull his hand away from the swan’s beak. You rush up and grab Mr. Swan, pulling opposite of Anon.

”AH! God damn it, let go of me you shit!”

Well that wasn’t very nice. You continue to pull until Mr. Swan is promptly removed from Anon’s hand, and you let him go. The Swan quaked at your friend a few times before swimming off.

“HEY! Mr. Swan! That wasn’t very nice of you! Haven’t you ever heard of biting the hoof that feeds you! Or, erm, Hand?”

You turn back around ready to give a full apology speech to Anon, when you see it.

“Oh Anon, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know Mr. Swan was going to bite you! Oh if I knew I would’ve never...”

Blood. Not a lot of it, but just enough to leave are large red stain on Anon’s hoodie, and enough to leave small smears on his hand in a deep crimson.

”Ah Fuck! Damn bird! Shit.” As Anon was continuing to scream obscenities, you could only watch as your world came crashing down. Your motherly instincts to tend to him couldn’t even over power the failure you could feel, deep in your heart.

The entire day was a failure after another. First you anger Anon by looking at his diary. Then you embarrass him by confronting him about his arm, which was way too much of a personal question and issue to bring up with a creature you just met. Then you bring him out to the place he woke up in, the first moments being here with what ever he went through still in his mind. He said it was fine, but you don’t know if he was just saying that. Hay he probably was! Just trying to be nice.

Then this happens. You end up putting Anon in a dangerous situation, and made him bleed.

Failure.

Failure, Failure, Failure. You wanted to give up. Sure if it was one of your best friends, you wouldn’t be having so much trouble. Hay even if you did, none of them were going through what Anon was going through now. And you just met him! This is your first impression on him as Element of Kindness and you were supposed to make him feel comfortable and safe but only managed to screw this all up!

Your bottom lip began to quiver.

Your vision was starting to blur from the fresh tears in your eyes.

A failure.

”GOD! MMMMM-DAMN IT! Hey Fluttershy do you…?”

You didn’t want to look at him. You couldn’t. How could you? You failed Anon, you failed Princess Celestia, you failed Twilight, you failed our element...you failed your self. You broke down.

”Woah, hey, Fluttershy. Fluttershy it’s okay! I’m not seriously injured or anything, just a few bad scrapes, everything is fine! We just need to...”

“NO! It’s NOT!” You scream. Bad manners, very mean of you. But you don’t care.

You’ve already screwed everything else up, what’s the point in trying to redeem yourself now.

“I messed up! Okay! *sniff* I tried my best today to help you feel safe and comfy and all I did was hurt you and make you feel uncomfortable!”

This probably wasn’t the best look in front of an alien species, but you didn’t really care at this point. You began to question why you were there. “I’m a screw up! Okay! Nothing but a screw up!”

”*sigh* Fluttershy...”

“NO!”

”FLUTTERSHY!”

That made you stop. You looked up. Anon’s familiar somber expression looking down on you. He looked pained, probably from the wound you cause, probably from the discomfort. He knelled down toward you.

You flinched ready for what ever verbal assault he was going to give. Heck, even a physical one, you know you deserved it. Anon placed his hand on your head.

”Look at me Fluttershy.”

You peer over your leg and look him in the eyes.

”Look I know you and your friends were sent here to help me. Help make me feel welcomed and readjust me after my...situation. But I’m not completely helpless. Trust me on this.”

You picked your head up. Tears were still falling, but your lip stopped quivering.

“B-but I’m-”

”I know how you feel right now Fluttershy. You feel as though no matter how hard you try or what you do you can’t do anything right. Nothing works! Nothing seems to go how it’s supposed to and you feel helpless.”

You go to lower your head again but Anon stops you with a finger under your chin and lefts your head up to his eyes once more.

”But I know that everything you did was out of kindness. I know you didn’t mean to find my journal, I know you were just trying to help when it came to my arm, and I know you just wanted to show me your love

for animals.”

His lips form a small sad smile.

”Look, my life was never too great, even before, well, I was in the bad place. I’ve learned to, if not fully accept, then to expect bad things to happen to me from time to time. I know what it’s like to feel like a failure. I still do to be brutally honest with you. But know you didn’t fail at anything.”

You were more confused now than anything. What didn’t you fail at? All your plans failed.

“B-but, everything I tried just didn’t work!”

”Well, maybe your specific plans didn’t go like you wanted. But your goal was to make me feel comfortable and safe. And even if they were small, you still were able to do that. You gave me my privacy to shower, which with the guards keeping a close eye on me is hard to get sometimes. You helped change my dressings which made me feel cleaner, and took the pain away. And you brought me out here, walking through the gardens with you was the calmest I’ve felt in a long time Fluttershy.”

You were speechless. Here come the water works. But you weren’t sad. You were happy. You couldn’t even think on how those words affected you, but you knew they did. And you knew now that you really didn’t screw up. You were able to make Anon feel welcome and calm. Relieve his pain, and allow him some decency.

You jumped into his arms and began to sob again. Anon just placed a hand on your back and began to rub.

”It’s okay Flutters, it’s all okay.”

Those words made you sob harder. After a while your sobbing ceased and you broke the hug. Oh hay, his fingers are still bleeding right.

“Oh my goodness! Anon your hand!”

”Uh...yea, we should probably make our way back to the infirmary.”

“Of course come on, I know the way now. I promise we won’t get lost again.”

”Of course!”

You and Anon begin to make your way back to the infirmary. A new dedication filled your heart. You couldn’t think of a way this would end in failure. But if it seemed to, Anon gave you the confidence to be able to make him feel comfortable no matter what happens. It was night when you finally made it to the room. You were able to get Anon all patched up.

After that was all taken care of he and you had decided to discuss a little more about each other.

Nothing too personal, just similar interests. Something Twilight would be very appreciative of.

You lay yourself across your mattress.

Twilight looks over to you entering the room. ”Why don’t you tell me about your day with Anon Fluttershy? I want to hear all about it! Did ya learn anything new?”

Twilight levitated out her pen and notepad, ready to record anything of note. You position your self into a more comfortable position and pat the empty spot next to you.

“Sure, Twilight! Have a seat, I found out a few new things about him.”

She hoped onto the bed with a pomf.

”All right! Tell me everything you’ve learned!”

“Well, number one, don’t touch his journal, I wouldn’t even ask him about it. Number two, don’t bring up anything about his wounds.”

Twilight was visibly confused by this. ”What do you mean? I would’ve guessed the wounds part, he got them all from that ‘bad place’ he keeps saying he came from. He’s not exactly willing to say anything about that yet. But what journal? I don’t remember him ever having one.”

You shift a little nervously. You probably shouldn’t tell her about Anon cutting himself. He says he hasn’t done it since arriving and you only brought up the wound thing just in case so he wouldn’t have to explain it himself if they ever saw.

“Well, when I first went up to his room, he had a notebook with his name on it. When he caught me looking at it he threw it in a drawer and stood in front of it. He seemed real mad.”

Twilight stuck her tongue out in concentration as she scribbled all of this down.

”You weren’t going to read it were you?”

“Oh heavens no! I just didn’t see it when we first met him, so it caught my eye when I just went in.”

”Well, what else did you learn? Anything about him specifically?”

You nodded

”Great! Go on.”

“Well, he didn’t tell me everything I know, only some of it. I could just see the rest.”

”Still tell me, information is information.”

“All right. Anon is a very anxious creature. I can tell he had a very troubled life back home. Not just from what we know either. Probably his whole life. He mentioned that he felt like a failure, even here. He mentioned being very alone growing up. He wouldn’t tell me everything, but what I can gather, he never really had a friend. Maybe an acquaintance, but never someone he could depend on. I know now he likes music! He says he can play the piano and guitar. Although, when I asked him to demonstrate he declined, saying that he didn’t feel as though anything he knew was special. Oh Twilight, I feel so sorry for him, and thinking about how little info he’ll give out at a time is pretty infuriating.”

Twilight takes several seconds to scribble down all the major points you explained.

”Gosh Fluttershy, I knew he was probably still scared from his incident, but that all just sounds sad. Still though, this will help. We can use it to help us connect with Anon more. Is that everything?”

You nod and take a glance around.

“Where’s Pinkie? It’s getting rather late!”

Twilight giggles

”Oh don’t worry about her, she’s still prepping a little something for Anon, knowing Pinkie it’s probably a small party.”

A party? That made you uneasy. Anon already gave off the impression that he was very secretive and shut off person. And Pinkie wanted to throw him a party.

You remember her talking about having a special kind of party for introverts like Anon. It’s what gave Twilight the idea to split the job of helping him settle in into daily shifts in the first place. You hope she knew what she was doing.

You let your face make contact with your pillow and cover yourself with your blanket.

It was strange. You expected Anon to be some hostile monster or some rude bully at least knowing the stories they had here about humans. But he seems so sad and melancholic. His eyes were sunken in and tired, and he had a smaller frame than expected. He didn’t have the most confident voice either.

He was a little bit like you in that regard. You giggle to yourself in your head.

Now that’s funny. You never thought you’d be relating to a creature from a mythical species that’s known to be violent conquerors. With that thought in your head, you drift into a peaceful sleep.

~~~~

Ch.4 A proposition

You walked down the hallway with your other two friends behind you. The mood was somber and not reassuring.

You are Twilight Sparkle. Princess of Friendship, Element of Magic, and faithful student to Princess Celestia, princess of the sun, and ruler of the country you call home. And you weren’t feeling to good.

You weren’t sick, just a little...not depressed, not sad, perhaps tired? Mentally tired anyways.

You’ve been making a lot of progress with this Human being ever since he got here, mostly with gathering information. But helping him was another story. Anon was strange. He came from a world, a species, that are known for being conquerors, explorers, and on occasion, brutal savages.

However, you and your friends got to meet a depressing and closed off individual. For the past 3 days you and your friends have been trying the best you all could to help him settle, and while he seemed to be increasingly open to being friends, he still wouldn’t open up to the other troubles that plagued him.

And that’s about to end.

You think you know a way to help Anon with this, and it’s clear just the three of you Elements of Harmony weren’t going to help him. You make it to Anon’s door and take a deep breath.

…

”You want to do what?”

“We want to take you back to Ponyville Anon. Just Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and I aren’t going to be enough. We need the rest of the Elements to help you really settle in and help.”

Anon seemed unsure about your proposition.

Are you sure about that Twilight? I’m lucky enough and gracious that you and your Princesses have been kind to me, but I’m still an Alien, and one with a bad connotation. I’m not even allowed to leave the castle.”

“We’ve already discussed this with the Princesses, and they agree and are willing to let you go, so long you are under my careful supervision.”

It took some convincing, but you knew you couldn’t get all the information you needed and help Anon out of his predicament without the rest of your friends. Three minds may be better than one, but six is greater than three. Besides, Anon must have been getting palace fever. He needed a calmer and less claustrophobic environment, free from the invading gaze of the castle guards.

Anon shifted on the couch he sat on and scratched his chin.

”Well...I probably wouldn’t be able to change your mind. Plus, I can trust you three and the Princesses with what’s best. When do we leave for...Ponyville?”

You smiled. He trusted you, he’s said that before, but the more he says it the more you can feel it.

“We leave tomorrow morning at five. Me and my friends have to pack, but that shouldn’t take long. So before we do that, we wanted to all sit down and try talking as a group again!” Anon sat back in the couch and rested on leg over the other.

”All right, that seems fine. What would you like to talk about?”

You levitated out your quill and note pad, a content grin on your face.

“Well, I thought that we could review everything you’ve learned and the progress you’ve made so far! Get your side of all of this, since all we have are out individual personal takes.”

Anon nodded and waited for you to continue. You cleared your throat.

You, Anon, Fluttershy, and Pinkie all had a long and great conversation. More opening up, mostly from your end, some laughing, even from Anon, and some more information that’s more personal from him. Not a lot, but important from what you could gather.

He wouldn’t say anything about the dark place, you decided not to ask, but apparently the journal he has was a part of making him feel better. The Humans have what’s called a strange kind of therapy. The journal was for writing down his thoughts and reviewing them.

The Princesses had apparently wanted to confiscate this from him when they took anything from him that may harm ponies, but he begged and convinced them not to, so they let him keep it. Anon seemed very protective of the book, and after a bit of awkward silence was quick to change the subject. Alright so that book was important to Anon, you scribbled that down.

A dark place, depression, self harm, medication, and this odd form of therapy Humans have of dealing with psychological harm, that appeared to be working, but if it was, why was Anon still like this? Maybe he wasn’t doing it long enough, or was just auxiliary help towards frequent meet ups with his doctors and the medicine he’d take.

You noted all of this and kept it for later. This would all be important, you could feel it.

”So Twilight,”

“Hm? Wha-?”

You were pulled from you note taking by Anon.

”You never mentioned where I’d be staying once I got to Ponyville. Pinkie and Flutters are very adamant about me staying at both of their places, but Celestia and Luna mentioned you needing to watch over me right?”

Pinkie got close to your face and started begging.”Pleeeeeeease Twilight! Seeing as Anon is such a saddy sad pants, he HAS to stay with me in Sugar Cube Corner!”

“Well actually Pinkie, he-”

”Oh, but Pinkie, who will take care of his wounds?”

Fluttershy walked up to Anon and rubbed his arm.

“Fluttershy, he-”

”Pshhh! I can take care of his wounds! What’s so hard with wrapping some bandages around a monkey!”

“GIRLS! He’s staying with me! That was the deal.”

Anon gave a nervous laugh. ”Heh heh, I’m being fought over by a bunch of small talking horses.”

You pouted.

“We aren’t fighting! Princess Celestia made it clear we’d only be allowed to bring Anon back under my supervision, so, it’d make the most sense if he stayed with me. End of discussion.”

”Awwww, Anon would’ve loved the cake twins!”

You choose to ignore Pinkie.

Anon would get a chance to meet everypony soon. But he was staying with you and that’s final. You sighed and put a hoof to your head.

”H-hey why don’t we get lunch? It’s three hours past noon anyways.”

Your stomach growled at the mention of food. It’s still amazing how you have been able to lose all sense of time conversing with this being. It feels like you cant get three words out without it skipping three hours into the future. How couldn’t you though. He’s an alien from another world.

“That...actually sounds lovely Anon! The chefs are probably still down in the kitchen. We can eat and then all pack. We’ll have to wake up early to make it to the station on time.”

The three of your friends nod and get up, making your ways to the kitchen. After lunch, packing, and purchasing your tickets, first class again, of course with the princess discount, you decided to meet with Celestia and Luna to have another discussion about Anon before leaving in the morning.

You walk into the throne room and bow.

“Good evening Princess, I’d like to have a final discussion about Anonymous before we take leave to Ponyville in the morning.”

Celestia smiles at you and chuckles.

”Of course Twilight Sparkle! And please, you are a Princess as well! The situation isn’t so formal at the moment for you to bow. Now please, explain all the work you’ve been doing with Anonymous. I hear his nightmares are getting better!”

You get up and blush, giving an awkward laugh before continuing.

“Heh heh, of course! How silly of me. Ahem, Anonymous the Human has been making a lot of great progress during out time here,”

With a flash of magic, you held your book of notes in front of you within your Aura.

“From what we’ve gathered, Anonymous has, unfortunately, had a rather difficult life, even before he was in this, ‘bad place’ he still refuses to elaborate on. From what he’s said, he has been visiting psychiatrists before arriving, who have given him anti-depressant medications as well as a new technique of therapy not practiced by us.”

This seemed to peak the Princess’ interest.

”I’m...so sorry to hear that. Makes me feel a little guilty for throwing him in the dungeon and treating like a prisoner when he first arrived. What kind of therapy?”

“The Humans call it ‘cognitive therapy.’ Essentially, a patient will keep a journal for documenting their thoughts, and are meant to reflect on them. I assume it’s meant to keep track of their thoughts, and rationalize any emotions they may have.”

Celestia taped her chin with her hoof, looking up somewhere nonspecific.

”Yes, I do remember Anon arriving with a journal. Out of all the things we’ve confiscated, he was very...vocal...about parting with such a thing. Seeing as it was just a book, we let him keep it. By the maker, you’d think we were about to banish his whole family in front of him. Though if it was a means of therapy, it’d make sense for him to act like he did.”

You continued.

”Yes, apparently he’s been receiving help for his mental state back in his world for sometime now. However, as for our progress, we know when my friends and I arrived, Anonymous was previously very shutoff. Unwilling to communicate, and when he was very little, as well as suffering from night terrors. Well, four days into our meetings and activities, Anon has since opened up a lot more, and seems to be in a better state than previously, at least in a state where he is comfortable to divulge basic information and pacify his nightmares!”

Your note pad is gone with a poof and beam up at your teacher. She smiles and nods her head, taking in this information.

”Thank you Twilight, this has all been very informative. As for the nightmares, Luna has expressed immense gratitude in quelling them. Ever since our Human arrived here, she had to tend to him nightly, and before you and your friends arrived, it was an all night ordeal just to calm him down. She’ll still be looking for a way to solve this ongoing issue, though you and your friends have given her a much needed break.”

Your can feel your head getting bigger, the pride in your chest threatening to make you explode.

“All in a day’s work your highness! As Princess of Friendship, and an Element of Harmony, I am happy to help with such matters!”

”And my sister and I are more than satisfied with the results. Now please Twilight, though it’s only early in the night, you must get rest for your early travels tomorrow. I wish you and your friends in Ponyville luck. Have a good night.”

After exchanging a good night of your own, you turn around and head back to your room so you could finish packing. Once that was done and you settled into bed, you began to drift into your slumber lost in thought.

What would Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow dash think of Anon? You’d probably have to keep your rainbow maned friend from tackling him on sight. And make sure Rarity doesn’t insult Anon’s appearance to much, he wasn’t really the most...ehhh...maintained looking.

Okay, he looks like he just crawled out of Tartarus, not that he wasn’t, attractive...not that you saw him in such a way of course. But to be fair, from what it sounds like, he did, or might as well have. He’s so trashy looking, but no judging from you. You needed to be a good friend. And with that, blissful sleep over took you, dreaming of what Anon’s first reaction to Ponyville may be.

~~~~

Ch.5 Last night in Canterlot

Another Nightmare overcome. Poor Sweetie Belle was quivering and screaming over being hunted by a timber wolf. Nothing you couldn’t handle. ‘Twas a tame dream.

Being Princess of the Night, no filly nightmare could give you any trouble.

You are Princess Luna, Goddess of the night, and co-ruler of Equestria with your sister. Though, practically, you only hold ruler in title alone.

Yes, you had your say in laws, you had made your own decrees, your own guards, your own crown.

But you weren’t really the figure head. That title went to your older sister. Such is life you suppose, you did try to threaten your ponies with eternal night, and your sister had to stop you.

You loved her though. And to be honest, you appreciated your line of work. Finally doing good for your subjects, instead of threatening them.

Plus, you didn’t have to listen to the constant arguing at court. No nagging, no being paraded around everywhere, no ponies pining for your attention. So long the power YOU had wasn’t threatened, everything would be fine.

You took a deep breath in through your nose, the sweet air of the waking realm filling your lungs. The dream realm can be a bit stuffy sometimes. Though such a thing couldn’t last. You had other business to attend to. After using the little filly’s room, you made your way down from your personal chambers, towards the room of Anonymous.

The poor Human found himself here about a week and a half ago, and was plagued with nightmares since arriving. You were the one who found him wondering the palace gardens, wielding a blade stained in blood, and a strange rectangular object that was emitting a light from it. He called it a “cellphone.”

You’ve heard of phones. An up and coming new piece of technology, though not widely used, and requires a rats nest of wires to connect to different ones.

His little box didn’t have any at all, and didn’t look like what the phones here had. Plus, what does the “cell-” part mean anyways? Didn’t matter. It’s in your possession now, along with his blade, lighter, and a pack of cigarettes. You had to take it from him. He was very shaken and poised for attack, ready to draw blood from any that went near him. And clearly where ever he came from, he succeeded in doing, with all of the crimson liquid drenching the clothing he wore.

Though now you know he was probably defending himself, and in a situation far beyond his control. So his stay in the dungeon wasn’t long. He never did say what that was all about. No matter, the bigger issue was quelling his night terrors. Poor monkey would scream himself, and Tia, awake in the middle of the night.

It took you all you could to try and quell them, but the amount of magic needed was exhausting. You never even saw a bubble into his dreams, it was just him, laying down in the dimension in front of you and screaming in agony. You’ve read all your books and couldn’t figure out why that was, or how you could get into his dreams. You had to wake him up, and he’d be there for a short while with you but leave as soon as he saw you, waking up in his own bed. Thank the maker Twilight Sparkle and her friend managed to calm them down.

They never fixed it, but it was made manageable to combat, and it stopped him from waking up the castle.

You reached his room, and...was that strumming?

You silently peak your head in and look around. He was on the balcony. He was sitting there, smoking a cigarette, and playing away at a guitar, probably one from the ball room. You enter the room and start to approach Anon. What ever the tune he was playing, it was rather pleasing to listen to. Not very uplifting, but listening to it reminds you of his personality. You sat there silently, waiting for him to finish. Watching his fingers pluck and dance around on the instrument.

Once he was finished, he took a final drag from his cigarette, and smothered it out on an ash tray he had on the ground. Anon was really talented, it put a smile on your lips that instead of tossing and turning in his bed in a cold sweat, he was relaxing and enjoying himself.

Though that enjoyment was short lived, as when he turned over to put out his cigarette, he noticed you looking at him and jumped out of the chair he was sitting in, grabbing the guitars neck and bringing it up like club.

”AH! Holy, shit! What, the...Princess Luna? Oh, fuck, you scared the shit out of me.”

“Oh! Our apologies Anonymous! We didn’t mean to sneak up on you like that! We just came to do our nightly checks on you.”

Anon slowly brought the guitar down back to waist level, and finally set it on the ground, laying it against the railing.

”Ah! Of course, yea that’s...fine...”

“Yep! Of course! We can see that you are all fine as well.”

”Yep.”

An awkward pause filled the air with tension.

You and Anonymous were never on the best of terms since your first interactions. You two came to an understanding that neither of you were looking to harm the other. And you even offered to help with his nigh terrors, though, mostly so he would stop screaming.

But after the first night, a slight uneasiness would fill the space between the two of you. Anon scratched the back of his head and looked down.

”So...how long were you uh...standing there?”

You rubbed one fore leg with another and looked up no where specific.

”Oh, we...several minutes ago. We heard you playing the guitar and didn’t want to bother you.”

”Ah, I see. Thanks for that, I guess. I’m not too great on it though.”

“Nonsense, you played very well.”

”I appreciate that, but I really don’t know a lot of songs. I really was only playing because I couldn’t sleep.”

“Oh? Is it the nightmares? Have they woken you up?”

”No, it’s...*sigh*”

Anonymous turns around rests his arms onto the railing of the balcony. You walk over and stand next to him, waiting for him to speak.

”Luna, I want to apologize to you. For when I first showed up.”

“No need Anonymous! It was a misunderstanding between the both of us. You, a creature of folklore from a war like race, and we, another creature of folklore you’ve never seen, and could have been another threat for all you knew.”

Anon pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and first finger.

”Even still. I want to formally apologize. For that, and never properly thanking you or helping you with my nightmares. I really appreciate that, and you especially, after I found out about your story.”

You lifted your head up and straightened your self. So he’s been told.

“You mean about Night Mare Moon, and my banishment?”

”Yes, Twilight told me about it the first day she arrived when we were discussing the differences of our worlds.”

“And pray tell, Anonymous, how learning of my story makes you appreciate me more?”

You leaned in closer a bit to understand him better.

”Well, I was never banished to the moon.” He chuckled.

You furrowed your brow. Anon’s smile faded and he sunk back down to the railing.

”I was never banished anywhere, but I know how it feels. To be lonely, and to have a sort of shadow self consume you. Make you do things you wouldn’t normally do. Make you see things about yourself you’d never accept. Make you think things you’d never think. They give you nightmares.”

This all caught you off guard. What does he mean? Is he trying to say he feels sorry for you? What exactly is he trying to get at here?

“I...appreciate your understanding Anonymous. But we don’t understand why you are being so open about all this. We assure you we don’t need to be felt sorry for. We have accepted our past, and wish only for a better future.”

”Well. I do feel sorry for you, but that isn’t why I’m opening up.”

“And why are you then? We are most likely the one pony you’ve spoken to the least with. Yet you seem to be choosing me to open up to.”

”It’s because, out of all the ponies I’ve met, you are the only one with a backstory similar enough to mine that they may understand what I’m going through. And I didn’t know that until Twilight told me, and if I knew I would have opened up more. I’m sorry I didn’t.”

Anon stood up and dragged the chair he was playing the guitar on over next to him and sat down.

”It’s not even that I’m not thankful or don’t trust the others either. But all of my problems. The one’s I’m not willing to share, are complicated. And last time I told a friendly face about them, I was stabbed in the back, and didn’t want that to happen again. So I never told them, out of fear more than reason, but knowing your past? I feel safer telling you, and can’t give an explanation as to why that is.”

This was a lot heavier that what you were expecting to happen tonight. With a poof of magic, you summoned yourself a pillow and laid it on the ground. Getting comfortable, you sat down right across from Anonymous.

You were very unsure what to do with all this information.

Say ‘Thank You’? Is this what he was thinking about the whole time? Is this why he couldn’t sleep? Because he sees a little bit of himself in you?

“So, this is why you couldn’t sleep tonight?”

”No. That was all something that needed to be said in the first place. Something I needed to say. Just that I understand what you went through and have been through a lot of the same shit, and I’m sorry I never helped you or got to understand you because of that. I’m sorry if this is heavy and out of no where, but it’s my last night here and I might as well tell you in person.”

You were touched. You didn’t believe Anon had some demon that over took him and threatened to spread permanent night across his world. But he was willing to open up that he was also lonely and felt like an angrier part of him was pulling the strings some times.

And now it sounds like he wants to help you with the nightmares, if such a thing can be done in this case. He probably means that he will open up more. You smiled.

“We are honored to hear all of this Anon. In that case what is troubling you?”

Anon returned a small smile before putting on a more serious face.

”Well, it’s about where I was. I have so many questions about that place, or, if I actually have the answers, if I could truly accept them.”

You rose an eyebrow.

“You mean this ‘dark place’ you keep mentioning?”

”Yes.”

“Well, we wouldn’t want to bother you on such things, especially since you’ve been getting better.”

”Really?”

“Anonymous, we wouldn’t dare to think of pushing you to explain anything you were uncomfortable with. It would probably help us, but we also understand full well how hard it is to communicate about being in such bad places. Just stay in contact, and we can get to know each other better, once you are ready, you will be able to explain every thing.”

Anonymous smiled. A real smile. It wasn’t sad like the other ones. It was genuine, you’ve managed to make Anon smile a smile, and it was rather contagious as you could feel your own lips curling up.

”Thank you Luna, I really needed to hear all that. I’ll make sure to write to you often, and tell you about my progress.”

“We’d be happy to read every letter Anonymous!”

You looked up into the sky, and noticed that it was almost time to lower the moon, which meant it was also almost time for Anon to get to the train station.

“It’s almost time for you to depart it seems. I must make my leave, it’s about time to lower the moon. Thank you for opening up to us, and please, practice more on your guitar.”

”Of course.”

You get up and make your way to the door of Anon’s room, until you’re stopped by him one last time.

”Hey Luna!”

You turn around to see him standing in the balcony’s door frame.

”Would you say we are friends?”

What a silly question. You shake your head and smile.

“Of course we are Anon. Please have a good trip.”

Anon smiled and waved you good bye.

”Thank you for talking with me Luna.”

~~~~~

Ch.6 Ponyville

You sat back in your seat, enjoying your hot cup of chamomile. The mountains outside your window moved at a snails pace while the grass and trees in front of them zoomed past you.You boarded this train a good ten hours ago and you were finally, FINALLY, almost home.

Just one more hour ‘till Ponyville. One long hour until you got to see Spike and Owlicious again. One hour until you got to introduce your friends to Anon

What would they think of him?. Celestia forbid Rainbow decides to tackle him on sight. The thought of Rarity gasping and fainting upon seeing Anon in his state makes you chuckle.

”So, uh, Twilight?”

You look up to Anon sitting right across from you.

”What did you say we were going to do when we got back?”

You took another small sip from your cup, and placed it

back onto its saucer.

“Well, the rest of my friends should be waiting at the station for us when we arrive. They are probably excited to see you! After we meet up, we were all going to go back to the library and discuss on what we would do next.”

Anon nodded.
”And, this...library, is where you live?”

You gave him a grin and nodded.

”Huh! Interesting. Never heard of anyone living in a library before.”

“Oh, it’s really small and cozy actually. It’s nothing like the larger libraries in cities like Canterlot and Manehatten.”

Anon chuckled.
”MANE-hatten. That’s funny.”

You cocked your head to the side.

“Is it?” You asked.

”Oh, forget about it. Cultural difference thing I suppose.”

“Ah! I see, I guess.”

Anon sat back in his seat and glanced around the cabin and winced. The other Ponies were staring right at him. There was sort of a panic on the train when the passengers were told a mythical creature was being escorted on the train. Even after being told he was being escorted by the Princess of Friendship herself, it still took some convincing for them to calm down and understand they were in no danger.

What made it worse was that you were in first class. You got it without thinking about it really, just wanted the perks, but you also had to share with some of the most judgmental and snoody upper class ponies on the face of the planet. They all stared at Anon with suspicious and even sometimes disgusted faces.

Knowing Anon, prooooobably not the best cabin to seat him in. Fortunately, there weren’t a lot of ponies in this cabin, and while he didn’t look to be enjoying their stares, he seemed to be getting at least used to it.

”I uh...still don’t think they like me. Are you sure I’ll be welcomed in your home town?”

You waved a hoof at him.
”Pshh! Of course you will! Don’t mind these ponies. Just a bunch of upper class snobs that only care about high society and gossip! The ponies in Ponyville are very accepting and relaxed. Sure they maybe shocked at first, you are mythical after all, but they’ll get used to you quick, and when they do, they’ll accept you as one of their own!”

Anon rubbed his hands together.

”If you say so. Celestia was right about you Pinkie and Flutteryshy, I trust your other friends will be just as welcoming.”

You smiled.
“Glad to hear it Anon. Oh! Hey, Celestia gave you your stuff back didn’t she?”

”Yea, this morning. Why?”

“I want to know a little more about the rectangular thing you have in your bag. Is that one of those smart phones you were talking about?”

”Oh! Yea, it is. It’s dead though, out of battery. I’m afraid, I don’t have a charger to charge it if I did an electrical outlet. So, it’s just a piece of plastic now. Here, you can hold onto it if you want. Get to study technology from my world, even if it will just be a circuit board and wires.”

Anon handed you the small black device. You took it in your magic and looked it over. It was flat on all sides aside from one small button on the right side, and larger button on it’s left with two bumps on them. It was mostly just a black pane of glass with two buttons, and two holes on the bottom.

“Wow Anon! Are you sure? You mentioned to be able to do a lot of stuff with this thing. Are you really okay giving this to me?”

Anon shrugged.
”Oh, it’s nothing. Like I said the battery is dead anyways so it’s just a useless piece of plastic. I’m sure you would be able to find a use for it, if only for study.”

You smiled and gave Anon a quick hug.

“Wow! Thank you Anon. It’s so fascinating to hold alien technology in my hooves!”

”Heh, don’t mention it.” It didn’t take too much longer until you finally arrived at your stop.

Anon offered to help you gather your things. Just a small bag you brought along. Pinkie and Fluttershy already left the train, you can hear them talking to the rest of your friends.

”omygoshomygoshomygosh GIRLS! You are all gonna LOVE Nonny! He’s a big ol’ depressing sad pants but he can be so much fun once ya get to know him! He’s a real softy ya know! Oh! Make sure none of you mention anything about his past, it’s all spooky and mysterious and-”

”Woah, woah, Pinkie! Calm down, we don’t even know what they hay you’re talking about. Who’s ‘Nonny?’”
Ah, that was Rainbow Dash you could hear. You finally make it to the door of the cab and stretch your legs.

You take a deep breath in. Home. Gotta love it. Your friends begin to gather round you, Rarity was the first to greet you.

”Twilight darling! It is so wonderful to see you back. How was Canterlot? That mythical beast wasn’t too much trouble I hope!”

Rainbow hovers over and butts in.
”Yea Twilight! I bet you showed that war mongering monkey what for! Sucks I wasn’t there for the fun.”

“Girls, calm down, one at a time. We didn’t go there to fight him! We were asked by Princess Celestia and Luna to study and help him. Anonymous really isn’t even a dangerous guy!”

The moment those words left your mouth, you were stampeded by a horde of terrified Ponies. All of them eager to exit the train car.

A few ponies were screaming, one of them saying something about a monster. After the stars and funny birds cleared from your vision, you picked yourself up and dusted your self off. Coughing the dust out of your mouth.
“Ugh. Wha’ was all that about?” You muttered.

You turned around and witness Anon anxiously stepping out of the car, a look of guilt on his face.
”Sorry Twilight, I don’t think the lower class passengers got a chance to see me yet and were shocked when I stepped into their cabin.”

Your other three friends stared wide eyed at Anon. Rainbow was giving him a particularly evil eye. Rarity looked like she was going to faint. AppleJack finally stepped up and spoke.

”Uhh. Twi? Is that the human y’all were sent to...study?”

“Oh, yes! I guess it’s finally time to introduce you three. Girls, this is Anonymous, the Human who was found wondering the palace gardens over a week ago.
Anonymous, these are AppleJack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash. They are the rest of my friends, and the three I’ll be making time for you to know while you stay here.”

Your friends all stared at Anonymous anxious on how he’d respond. Anon, similarly, was also staring at your friends for a while, before he finally raised on of his hands.

”Uhm. Hey. Anon is fine. I’m told I’ll be staying here for the...foreseeable future? Nice to meet you all.”

Rarity put her hooves on you.
”Yes! Well, it is certainly fantastic meeting such an exotic creature, and all of us are THRILLED you will be staying here and interacting with us! Twilight darling, do you mind of we spoke with you for a bit?”

“Uhm, sure Rari-WOAH!”

Rarity pulled you to the opposite side of the train platform, pulling your face up to meet hers. AJ and Rainbow positioned beside her.

”Uhm, Twilight dear, I don’t believe any of us remember you mentioning BRINGING that...thing, back with you. Did you?”
Rarity gave a nervous smile, probably hoping for you to say its all a joke or something.

“That wasn’t the plan initially. However Anon really needs help! He’s actually a really nice human, I mean think of the position he’s in! Unicorns and Pegasai are myths where he comes from too, and Humans are apparently the only animals that can speak in his world. He’s far from home in a weird confusing environment. I need you all to be understanding towards him.”

Rainbow got between you and Rarity and shoved her face right into yours.
”Yea? Well, he’s still a human Twilight. And what do humans do in their stories again? War? Chaos? Murder? Even to each other! They are also masters of deceit, how can we really trust him?”

“The Princesses trust him. Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and I have also spent five days with him and he hasn’t tried to harm any of us once. Hay there have been points where he’s helped us and shown kindness!”

”That may be true sugar cube,” AJ pulls Rainbow back.

”And Celestia knows, I wanna be reasonable, and I trust ya, but how do we really know he ain’t lookin’ for trouble? Did y’all even figure out how he got here?”

You look back over your shoulder to Anon. He was talking to Pinkie and Fluttershy. You had no idea what they were talking about, but Pinkie was laughing, so that was a good sign. You faced AJ again.

“Well, no. He refuses to talk about it. He refuses to talk about a lot of his personal life actually.”

”AHA!” Rainbow pushed AJ aside.
”So he IS hiding something from us!”

Rainbow’s face promptly made contact with the ground when AJ applied one of her hooves to the back of Rainbow’s head.
”Woah Rainbow, calm down now. Let Twi finish. Although, I will admit, does sound awfully suspicious.”

“Okay, yes, he is keeping a lot from us, but I’m very certain he isn’t trying to spy on us or have any ulterior motives.”

You lean your head in and lower your voice down to a whisper.

“I was going to tell you three this later, in a more private area, but Anon didn’t come to us from the happiest of origins. From the little we’ve been able to get out of him, he has lived a pretty sad and depressing life, on top of that, he was apparently in a darker and more violent place before arriving. Just look at his bruises. And as morbid as it sounds, that isn’t exactly fruit punch staining his hoodie.”

Rarity placed a hoof over her muzzle.
”My word, that DOES sound unfortunate. But what exactly do you want us to do about all of this?”

“I need you three to be understanding and help him. I promised the princesses we’d help him settle in and make friends. My hope, is that the more we show him the power of understanding, and the magic of friendship, we’ll be able to learn more about him. Information we could use to help him, or maybe even send him home!”

”Ah don’t know Twi. Even if all what you said is true, from they way it all sounds? It’s appearin’ mighty risky.”

You couldn’t disagree with your stetson wearing friend. You really didn’t know everything you needed to. But Anonymous is so tame, if a little jumpy. You shook your head.

“Look, we can do it. We are the Elements of Harmony for a reason. Where he came from, what happened there, and how he got here aren’t important right not. He’s here, he needs friends, and we are ALL going to show him friendship. Alright?”

AJ and Rarity nodded but Rainbow dash stuck her nose up and pouted. Crossing her fore hooves over her chest. An intense glare from you was all that was needed to make her change her mind.

”Ugh! Fiiine! I’ll help.”

“Perfect. Now, I still have to get to the Library and unpack. I’m sure Spike and Owilcious are aching to see me again. You three should go and plan to do something individually with Anon! I’ll meet with you three tomorrow morning at breakfast.”

Your friends still looked uneasy about this.
“

Don’t worry. Anon is a nice guy, this is how we did things back in Canterlot. We all had a day to ourselves and got to know Anon, and at the end of it all, we all spent a day together! Trust me girls, everything will be fine!”

After waiting for Pinkie to say her one thousand good byes to Anon, you took him on a mini tour of Ponyville with a final destination of Golden Oaks.
The ponies walking passed seemed a bit irked by Anon, but seeing him close to you probably put them at ease.

Weird things happened all the time here, especially when you were around. Seeing a mythical ape that could walk upright right beside you is the kind of anomaly Ponies in this village are just used to now. Just as you expected too. The discomfort in Anon’s face seemed to slide away with every step. The magic of Ponyville hospitality at work. Guaranteed to make your bald monkey feel at home or your money back.

”Wow, is that Golden Oaks?”

You nodded.

“Yep! What do you think?”

”I honestly didn’t expect Golden Oaks to actually be a...well...an oak?”

You chuckled.

“It’s a part of the charm. Come on, it’s a lot cozier inside!”

…

”So, let me get this straight.”
Spike pinched the bridge of his snout.
”We are going to let the fairy tale creature that was found covered in blood wandering the Canterlot Gardens at night stay HERE with us...because he’s sad and needs friends?”

You deadpanned.
“Yes Spike, that is exactly what we are doing.”

”Are you sure that’s a-”

“Yes. Yes I am.”

”Well, where is he gonna sleep?”

Anon leaned forward.

”That is a good question Twilight. Where AM I going to sleep?”

“We have a guest bed, we usually set it up right across from mine, but I know you love your privacy Anon. We could set it up in the basement. Don’t worry by the way, it has plenty of light and is clean for the most part.”

Anon shrugged.
”Better than sleeping on the ground or having guards watch you all night I suppose. Thanks.”

You smiled.

“Don’t mention it! We are happy to have you stay over.”

You grabbed one of your quills and note pads from the table in the middle of the room.
“Please make yourself at home. I’m going to be planning out who you’ll be spending time with for the next few days. Oh! And Spike, help Anon out with lunch please. He hasn’t eaten since the train.”

Spike responded with a disgruntled “Aye aye, Captain.” and led Anon to the kitchen.

You got comfortable on your bed and started planning.

Let’s see, AJ first. She’s the most level headed and would actually make an attempt to bond. Even if all she had him do was farm work, it could give Anon some a well needed distraction.

Rarity next. You should probably tell Anon to ask her if she could make him some new clothes. The one’s he was wearing were getting very dirty and torn up.

A new wardrobe would hopefully be more comfortable and help with his self image. And last is, ugh, Rainbow Dash.
Loyal as she is, she can be as stubborn as a mule sometimes.

She’d have to be last, hopefully Anon makes a good enough impression on AJ and Rarity that Rainbow would have to come around to giving him a chance.

You took out Anon’s phone and looked at it. He said it needed electricity to charge the battery inside it. Maybe you could find a spell that would help with that. You looked over it some more. The screen it self was covered in scratches, some of it broken on the bottom. Not shattered, but you could see some noticeable cracks. You turned it over to see the back. Letter’s that spelled ‘Samsung’ was on the back. That must’ve been the maker of this? The back was also covered in scratches and small dents.

It’s edges seemed to have been scraped over small rocks. A small amount of dried blood covered the edges. You frowned. Oh Anon, what happened to you to cause this?

~~~~

Ch.7 Family Bonding

The sun broke the horizon and the rooster cawed. You try your damnedest to open your eyes but it was proving the be a lot more difficult than normal. You shouldn’t have worked late.

You proved Big Mac wrong though, got that pigpen cleaned before midnight.

11:55 was before midnight. Though that didn’t count getting cleaned up and eating a late dinner of cold apple pie. You stretched your hooves and yawned. You smacked your lips.

Ugh, what was that...UGH!

You could still taste the mud and apple pie in your mouth. In fact, you were sure you could taste everything you ate from the past two months. You got out of bed and went to freshen up, a lot of work still had to be done today, luckily you were expecting help.

Twilight brought over that Human thing from Canterlot, turns out he was going through some tough stuff and needed help. Twilight told you he was very lonely back at home, so you decided a day on the farm with with the Apple Family would do him good...maybe?

Look, you weren’t a shrink. Just ol’ honest AppleJack. You were better at planting trees and apple bucking than being a shoulder to cry on.

Weren’t those Humans supposed to be good at fighting and stuff? Well, you suppose war would be hard, if he ever been in it. You really didn’t pay attention to all those stories, didn’t really interest you.

Cared so little that you got a D in the subject of Folk Lore, which was something your Ma and Pa weren’t too happy about, bless their hearts. You walked down stairs and were greeted by the rest of the Family.

Damn, you’re usually a lot earlier. Then again you were working late last night. Applebloom was the first to see you.

”Good mornin’ sis! You’re later than usual, did ya’ win the bet with Big Mac?”

“Sure did sugar cube, got that pig pin cleaned with time to spare.”

”Ya, five minutes to spare.”

You glared at Big Mac sitting there with that stalk of grass in his teeth.

“Ah’ said ah’d have it done before MIDNIGHT. And 11:55 is before midnight.”

Big Mac just smiled and sat back.

”Any more wins like that sis and you’ll have to go to the doctor for sleep deprivation.”

Granny Smith dropped a tray of pancakes down with a slam.

”Consarnit, all ya two know how to do is bicker back n’ forth. Now hush up and eat yer’ breakfast. We’ve got a lot of work today.”

”Oh! Oh! Ain’t today the day when Twilight’s new friend is supposed to be comin’ over to help out?”

Applebloom was jumping up in down in her seat.

“Yep! He’s apparently down in the dumps ‘bout sumthin’. Nothing a good hard days of work and some Apple family bondin’ won’t fix! I gotta warn y'all three though. He is an alien.”

Big Mac perked his ears up at this. Appleblooms eyes seemed to somehow grow bigger.

”Wow! What kind of alien sis?”

“He’s a Human, y’know, from like, folk tales or sumthin’”

”A Human? Y'all invited some bald blood thirsty monkey to our farm!?” Granny smith’s teeth almost flew out of her mouth.

“Now hold on Granny, he ain’t so bad, from what Twilight’s been sayin’. He ain’t like the humans from our stories!”

Truth be told, you were very skeptical of him too. But you trusted Twilight, and from the way it sounded, he was very docile. A bit on the sadder side when it came to attitude.

”Sho, wha’sh he like den?” Applebloom was trying to talk through her food. Silly filly.

“He’s been havin’ a lot of trouble gettin’ used to Equestria, and he apparently ain’t gotta way home. So Twilight was tasked to help him out. And we’re fixin’ to help her. Alls we gotta do is help him out.”

”So, we’re helpin’ him, by him helpin’ us?”

You nodded.

”Cool!”

Granny Smith wiped off her face and put her dish away.

”Well Apple Jack, jus’ so ya’know, if he starts goin’ round and causin’ mayhem, that’s extra chores for the rest of the year.”

“Ah’ promise Granny, he’ll be on his best behavior, Ah’ll make sure of it.” And that was the Celestia’s honest truth. Monkey tries anything and his face will be the receiving end of a bucking.

A few hours later you were out doing your usual rounds.

Bucking apples off trees, when you saw Anonymous walking up the road. You waived your hoof at him.

”Howdy Anon! Glad to see yer finally here.”

”Hey, sorry I’m a little late, took a while finding the place.”

“Twilight didn’t help you?”

”Well, she gave me directions, but she said she would be busy with something today, so I walked here on my own.”

“Welp, now that you’re here, I’ll get you accompanied to my family, and then we can get started.”

”Ah, I see, so, what will we be doing today?”

“Workin’!”

”Ah...I see. Well, alright, let’s go and meet your family I guess.”

You walk Anon back up to the barn where Applebloom, Big Mac, and Granny were all getting prepared for the day’s work ahead.

“Anonymous, Ah’d like to introduce you to the Apple family. Right here’s Big Mac, Applebloom, and our Granny Smith.”

Anon raised a hand in greeting.

”Hi. Nice to meet all of you.”

”WOAH! A real human! Ah’m Applebloom, ah never thought ah’d meet a mythical creature! Does your species really go to war all the time?”

”Well, I guess war is kinda-”

“Applebloom, be nice! Sorry ‘bout that Anon, she can get a little excited.”

Anon shook his head.

”No, it’s okay, I was expecting to be asked questions like these sooner or later. And to answer that questions, not ‘all the time’. At least with the bigger nations. Diplomacy is just easier than war, less expensive too. I believe most conflicts back home are just civil ones.”

Applebloom was infatuated with Anon at this point.

”Wow! That’s so interestin’. Hey! Do human’s get cutie marks?”

”Uhm...”

Okay you probably needed to put a stop to this. Work had to be done and it was almost noon.

“Y’all can ask that later Applebloom. We’ve got us some work to do. Come on Anon, ah’ll give ya some tasks to get started on.”

”Well, alright.”

You walked over to the barn and reached your muzzle into your saddle bag. You pulled out a list and spat it in Anon’s hand.

”Man, I’ll never figure out how you ponies can be so flexible as to reach behind your necks like that.”

“Heh, it can cause cramps sometimes. All right Anon, here’s a list. None of the work is too difficult, nothin’ ah didn’t think you couldn’t handle. Y’all just have to feed the live stock, milk the cows, and then shuck the rest of the corn from last night. We got most of that done. Feel free to do them in any order ya like, after all that’s done, we’re havin’ dinner.”

”That all sounds doable I guess.”

“Great, ah have to go and get the rest of the west orchard bucked, feel free to holler any time y’all need help.”

”Alright.”

“Good, see ya in a bit Anon.”

You make your way back to the west orchard and get to work bucking with Big Mac. He hasn’t said anything about Anon yet. In fact he hasn’t said anything at all since Anon arrived. Just sort of stared at him. Giving him the evil eye.

”Ah’m assumin’ you put him too good work?” He spoke up.

You bucked a tree and with a shake apples came raining down.

“Yea, just havin’ him tend to the animals and finishing the last bit of the corn from last night. Ah don’t think we’d have all that finished by midnight even with all of us workin’.”

”Eeyup.”

You look over to your older brother and cock your head to the side.

“What do ya think of Anon Mac? Ah saw you givin’ him a mean stare when y’all met.”

Big Mac bucked his tree and managed to catch all the falling apples in his basket. He never did show you how he did that. Maybe because he was so large.

”Ah just get bad vibes from the guy. Livin’ in our town, you sorta have to expect strange things to happen.”

He huffed as he loaded his barrels into the cart.

”But from him, knowing their stories, somethin’ just ain’t sittin’ right.”

“Aw shucks Big Mac, you can see he’s a docile fella.”

Big Mac hooked himself up to the cart and you followed him down the path to the next section of trees.

”AJ, ah saw his bruises, and ah could see the red on his hoodie. Ah don’t think he spilled juice on himself.”

You meant to ask Twilight about all of that. His hoodie was torn in places, and he had a bruise above his right eye. You heard about Anon being in a bad place before coming here, but all you knew was to not ask him about it.

“Anon’s been through a lot Big Mac. It’s not our place to judge, we just need to make him feel at home.”

Big Mac shrugged as he unhooked himself from the cart and grabbed two more empty barrels. ”If ya say so sis.”

”GAHH! GOD DAMN IT!”

You could hear Anon screaming.

“Horse apples.” You swore.

“That was Anon. Stay here and keep workin’, Ah’ll be right back.”

You booked it over to where you heard the scream. The chicken coop. You stopped at the gate to see Anon, covered in chicken feed and surrounded by chickens, with a look like he wasn’t very pleased with the situation he’s in. You had to stifle your chuckle as you opened the gate and walked in.

“Aheh heh. Anon, you okay? Seems like y’all got yourself in an unfortunate situation. Chickens seem to like you though.” You gave him a hoof to help him up.

”Gahh. Thanks. I tripped over one of the chickens when they saw me with their food. I don’t think either of us were injured in the fall, though it made this mess I’ve got to clean up.”

You looked over to the seed he spilled. Wasn’t that much, hay, it would’ve filled barely one third of the feed containers he needed to pour in.

“It ain’t no biggie Anon. Y’all didn’t make too much of a mess. Ah’ll help you clean it up and then get back to workin’.”

”Uh, no, I’m fine. I can do this myself, don’t want to bother you.”

“You sure? It’s just a few large cup fulls.”

”Yea I’m fine. I think I’ve got it from here.”

“Alright Anon, if you insist. Ah’ll get back to apple buckin’. Ah’ll check on ya in a bit.”

”Alright, thanks AJ.”

You smiled and walked back to where you left Big Mac. Machine was already done with that section of trees and getting ready to go to the next spot.

”All good?”

“Yep! Gotta say, it was actually pretty funny when ah showed up. Poor monkey got himself covered in chicken seed after he accidentally tripped over one of the hens. Offered to help him clean up the mess but he said he was fine.”

Your brother nodded and loaded the last of the barrels onto the cart.

“Yep, Ah’m sure he’ll be alright from now on th-”

CRASH! You turned your head back over to the chicken coop and sighed.

“All right then. He may need some help.”

Though, when you turned up, you see that the chickens have managed to drag their feed trays out of the shed and threw them at Anon, he decline help again. So you had your laugh, went back over to Big Mac, only to hear another swear from Anon, making you go back and check on him. This happened on and off all day.

What ever it was, either one of the animals would start chasing him down trying to bite him, or he had trouble finding a bucket to put the milk in, you had to explain to Anon how, yes, the cows could talk, and no didn’t mind being milked.

You’d offer help, but he declined every offer. It began to get annoying after a while. Running back and forth between Anon and work started to get tiring, especially if Anon wasn’t going to accept your help.

You’d stop checking on him, but every time there would be a loud crash or some...unusual cursing, you’d be afraid he’d hurt himself.

CRASH

Run and help

BANG

Run and help

”FUCKING SHIT!”

Run and…

”Gah! Damn it!”

Oh come on you couldn’t even finish your thought in time. Eventually you reached your limit. Another loud crash.

“CONSARN IT!” You turn to your brother. “Look, Big Mac, go and fetch Applebloom and Granny, Anon has turned down every offer of help, well not now!”

You made your way, well, stomped is more accurate, to the barn. You didn’t need to try and figure out where he was.

He some how managed to finish the last two tasks you gave him, feed the animals, and milk the cows, he had to be in the barn about the shuck the corn. You bucked the door in, which made Anon jump.

”AH! Oh...hey AJ.” Anon was sitting besides a thin beam which has snapped and landed on his head. You sighed and walked up.

“Look Anon, Ah-”

”Apple Jack really, I don’t want to get in the way of your work, you don’t have to keep checking up on me I real-”

“DANG IT ANON SHUT UP!”

Anon clasped his hands over his mouth and nodded. You sighed and took off your hat.

”Anon look, Ah have been workin’ my hindquarters off to try and help you. Now when I first met ya, I was suspicious, I ain’t gonna lie, ain’t in my nature to as Element of Honesty and all. Though, despite my doubts, you’re a friend of Twilight’s, and she vouched for ya up and down.”

”Well, I uh...”

“I ain’t done yet. Ah thought a good day’s work on the farm would help ya Anon. But it seems things have gone south. The point was to get some good bondin’ and socializin’ done through some hard work, but I put you on your own, and occupied myself with other matters. So, whether or not you just have dumb luck with the animals and uh...structural integrity on the farm,”

You looked at the thin beam that hit Anon. Another thing to fix.

“or you are just really bad at farm work, Ah aim to help ya. And so do my family.”

As if on queue the rest of your family came in behind you. Weird how stuff like that happens all the time.

“Anon, we’re gonna help ya, whether you like it or not.”

Anon looked away from you, still rubbing his head. He couldn’t help but look guilty for the way he’s been ignoring your help. You walk over and offer a hoof to help him up, which he takes.

Anon sighed.

”Thanks Apple Jack, sorry I kept turning you down.”

“All that sorry talk can wait Anon, we have work to do. And hay, with you helpin’ out we can get all that corn done in no time!”

And so you all set to work. Forming a sort of semi-circle and shucking the corn. A good two hours later it had gotten dark. That meant dinner time. Granny had left in the middle of the work to make dinner for you all.

You, Big Mac, Applebloom, and Anon were all cleaned up, well as clean as you all could get with out a shower, and at the table in lickity split. All your favorite foods. A nice apple salad, some apple sauce, apple casarole, and for desert?

Oh sweet Celestia and Luna yes! Apple fritters. You were drooling at the sight of it all.

Anon scans the table. ”You all sure do love Apples.”

“Of course we do! We are Apples after all!”

”Suppose you’re correct.”

Applebloom scooted her chair right next to Anon.

”So Anon! I asked you a question earlier!”

”Oh! What was that again?”

”Do Humans get cutie marks?”

”Ah! I see, those are the designs on your flanks right?”

Applebloom nodded her head.

”Uhm, no. I mean we can get tattoos, but nothing like what those cutie marks are.”

”What’s a tattoo? Does it tell you what your special talent is?”

Anon grabbed a bowl passed to him and filled his plate and passed it on to Big Mac.

”Heh, God help us if that were the case. Well, some people will get a tattoo the relates to a hobby or profession they have. But you can get a tattoo of anything, anywhere on your body.”

Applebloom’s eyes blew up. You were also intrigued.

“That sounds like it’d be askin’ for trouble. And these are permanent? Like cutie marks?” You ask.

”Yea, well you can get them removed, but it probably hurts worse than getting one.”

“Why would it hurt?”

”Uhm...basically, a tattoo is a drawing, and the drawing is made by putting ink in a mechanical pen and drawing on the skin. Stabbing...into you’re uh...you get it.”

“Now why the hay would you do that for your self?”

Anon shrugged.

”Some people have some pretty cool looking tattoos. Some have so many they are probably used to the pain of getting one.”

“Little fillies can’t get these can they?”

”Not in parts of the world that are well off.”

”Awwwww.” Applebloom whined.

Anon smiled at Applebloom.

”Don’t worry Applebloom, you’ll get yours someday I’m sure. And trust me, you don’t want a tattoo.”

”Why not?”

“Applebloom even if they had those here, ya ain’t getting one.”

Your little sister pouted.

”Woah, hey calm down girl.” You looked over to Anon and saw Winona wagging her tail and trying to jump up onto Anon’s lap.

“Aww, that’s just Winona, looks like she likes you.”

”You sure? Every other animal on the farm besides the cows wanted to eat me alive.”

You chuckled.

“Naw, Winona is a sweet heart!”

Your dog finally jumped up onto Anon’s lap and barked.

”Uh, she is cute I guess.” He places one of his hands on her head and starts to scratch behind her ear.

She’s really getting into it.

”Did yu haf a dfog back-f home F-anon?”

Applebloom asks, talking with her mouth full again.

”I did...once. When I first moved out of my mom’s house I found a stray and took him in. Really helped through some of my tougher times. Was a good boy.”

Anon seemed to have forgotten about his food and focused more of his attention on Winona.

”He was a great dog. But I got uh...really...busy with my self. To the point where I couldn’t take care of him. While it hurt to do so, I gave him away to a shelter, better him living a happy life when I couldn’t give him one.”

Anon’s full attention was on Winona now and you had the feeling he was just beginning to monologue.

”He didn’t want to go, he really really wanted to stay with me. And he really did get me through some tough time’s. Sadly, staying with me just meant more pain for him, and because it had become increasingly difficult to pay attention to him I had to let him go...”

Anon let his hands drop to his sides and his head droop. Winona getting up close and giving him little licks on his face.

”Aww, Ah’m sorry Anon. He sounded like a good doggie.”
Applebloom pat his arm.

Darn, guess Twilight was right about him coming from a sad place. This is getting awkward and Big Mac and Granny seem to…

Where’s Big Mac?

You see him running into his room...crying. The only Stallion in this house and Granny had bigger nuts than him.

Anyways, you had to make it better.
“Anon, Ah’m awfully sorry to hear that. Listen, so long ya don’t kidnap her, you’re free to come and play with Winona any time ya want!”

”Oh you don-...Thanks AJ I really appreciate that. Sorry to ruin the mood by the way.”

“Don’t even mention it.”

”No, I really am. I’ve probably been a stress all day. Let me make it up to you.”

“It’s really fine. But what do ya have in mind?”

Anon looked over to your guitar in the corner of the room.

”Mind if I borrow that for a second?”

That’s when you found Granny, your siblings, and yourself sitting in front of Anon and listening to him play some of his music.

It wasn’t the happiest music you’ve heard. But, coming from Anon, that’s probably to be expected. Buck it. Even if the music wasn’t happy, it was calming, good, and you a blanket around you, the only light in the room was the fire, and a nice warm fritter you were nibbling on in front of you.

All and all, today was a pretty alright day.

“Now, where is he?”

You were finally done with handling the nightmares for tonight. A mare in Trottingham was devastated learning her Stallion was having an affair with her sister and she was dreaming she was in a cage being tortured by him.

It’s so unfortunate when things like this happened. But you helped ease her, and put her on the right path, giving her the courage to stand up to both her mate and her sister in confrontation, and the strength to carry on for her self.

Seeing ponies challenging their fears and combating them head on filled you with determination and brought a sense of meaning to your eternal life. But that was the last nightmare for tonight, well, in a way.

You walked past the dream orbs, each one showing you the dream or nightmare a pony was having, looking for a certain alien creature.

“Ah! There he is!” On the ground of the dream realm slept Anonymous.

You make your way to him, careful not to wake him up too early or suddenly. You think you finally have a way to wake him up and keep him in the dream realm. You promised to help him with the nightmares he’s been having, which thanks to the work of Twilight Sparkle and her friends have gotten a lot more tame, though it was still up to you to make sure he didn’t suffer while he slept. You stop inches away from his slumbering body and carefully nudge him with your muzzle.

He moved and grunted a bit.

You froze. Don’t wake up in the waking realm, don’t wake up in the waking realm don’t…

He turned over and propt himself up on his elbows. Stabilizing himself he put a hand to his head and groaned.

”Ughhhh, wha?”

His eyes fluttered open. Huzzah! Success!

”Luna? That you? Where am I?”

You smiled and leaned your neck down so that your muzzle was close to his ear and whispered.

“Yes, it is us, and don’t strain yourself too hard Anonymous, you are in our dream realm.”

He sat him self up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes yawning. He took a good look at you and then around him.

”Woahhh! You come here every night?”

“That is correct, and so do you Anonymous, though you are asleep for the duration of your short stays.”

Anon squinted at you, still trying to process what you said with his brain half awake.

”What? Why am I here?”

You shrugged.

“We don’t know, that’s what we’ve been trying to discover as well.”

Anon stretched and crossed his legs, smacking his lips whilst doing so.

”Huh. So, why did you wake me up here then? I didn’t even know I came here while I slept.”

“We believe having you awake in our dream realm would help us in our task to help rid you of those awful nightmares you have been plagued with. Plus, it’s a perfect way to interact with you with out traveling all the way to Ponyville!”

”Oh...wait, couldn’t you just teleport or fly?”

You chuckled. They really didn’t have magic where he was from did they?

“We could, Anonymous, however such a distance even for an Alicorn would take a days flight, or use up a considerable amount of our magic reserves. While we could use our chariots which cut the time from a days flight to hours, our guards usually have to rest a day before taking back off, and the life of a princess is a busy one.”

Anon nodded.

”I see then. Well, in that case, how do you suppose I help you with my nightmares in this...dreamscape?”

”Dream realm. And we thought we could discuss these nightmares you’ve been having together since you seem to be more open to us about them!”

Anon winced.

”I uh...I do feel more comfortable talking to you about my problems, although I’m not so sure I’m ready to talk about my dreams yet. Sorry to disappoint.”

You shook your head.

“Not at all Anonymous. We understand, it was difficult to discuss our troubles with our sister even after Night Mare Moon was vanquished.”

You lie down next to Anon, getting yourself comfortable.

“Besides, we are friends Anonymous, are we not? We can help you with that by just having conversation, about anything you want.”

”Well...in that case, to start, you don’t have to keep doing that.”

You blinked.

“Doing what?”

”The whole royal ‘we’ business, and you don’t have say my full name like that. Just Anon is fine.”

“Oh! We-uhh...I mean, I understand.”

”Good. Well, I don’t have anything to talk about really.”

“How about your progress in Ponyville?”

”Oh. Hm. Well, it’s going okay I suppose. The Apple family was really nice. I tripped over a chicken and got covered in birdseed, and I made Twilight hyperventilate when I put a book in the wrong section of her library.”

You couldn’t help but chuckle at those latter two points.
Imagining Anon covered in farm hens and seeds, and him giving Twilight Sparkle a miniature panic attack was an amusing thought.

”I’m beginning to open up more as well! It was kind of awkward, and I may have ruined their dinner, but I was able to open up more about my past.”

You were still trying to contain the chuckles from imagining the Anonymous chicken pile.

“Haha, yes I am very pleased to hear all of this. Ahem. Opening up can be a very difficult thing to do for those of us with more abrasive pasts.”

”What about yours?”

You scrunched your muzzle and looked up at no where in particular. Well, you suppose you could reveal more about your self.

Your...feelings. You shuttered. Feelings was something you seldom spoke about, though you suppose the occasion was appropriate.
“Well, I suppose I can start with when I was younger. A lot younger, just turning 500 as a matter of fact.”

”Wow! How young.” Anon expressed in a sarcastic tone.

You rolled your eyes and gave him a grin back.

“500 is a lower number than 3,000”

”Alright, I suppose you’re correct.”

“That was when I first started to to have hints of jealousy towards my older sister. You’ve heard the official story, and it isn’t dishonest, though, it does leave out more personal details.”

”Well, if they are personal it makes more sense to leave it out I suppose.”

“Yes, but it misses the small things. The most important of things in our lives hinge on some of the smallest things Anon. These small things would be how boastful she was, or how in our youth we would constantly tease each other. Small silly things I’d partake in as well. But it was...insulting, when ponies would not bow to you or even give formal greetings because they have no idea who you are. It felt...lonely. Extremely lonely.”

You sighed as you thought back to all the times Tia would do all those small annoying things that built up over time. The times she pranked you in front of court. The times she talk with out end on how the ponies loved her sun. How you were the second monarch.

She’s matured since then of course. Apologized. You both have. You tried not to let them get to you, but you never had any pony to talk to about it. You had her but, she was the problem.

”I can understand that. I never had siblings, but I’ve done a lot of things I feel guilty over. Never had anyone to express my problems to when I was much younger. When I did open up to other kids, I was mocked and harassed. I’d run to my mom or dad, when he was still alive. They listened, but never understood the problems I faced. They’d speak to teachers and counselors but they seemed to only scorn the kids while they did it, and didn’t solve anything underlying. I was terrified of the teachers. They seemed so big to me, and their smiles so fake. Always wanting me to ‘open up.’”

You haven’t had a teacher since Starswirl. Hard to relate exactly, but you could feel the same problem was there. Mockery and no one there to truly understand or comfort you. You were beginning to really like Anon.

At first it was strange how he was beginning to open up just because you two had commonalities of loneliness and isolation.

But it felt good to discuss these things with someone. Never thought it’d be with a myth, but nicer than nothing. Extremely so.

The night carried on, lost in conversation with Anon in stories of your youths and how both of you felt relieved to have SOMEONE who would not only listen, but understand. You can’t fault your sister for not understanding everything.

But with out that understanding, some of the help she offered didn’t help at all, or missed the point entirely. When it was time to raise the moon and for Anon to awake, he hugged you, which caught you off guard at first, but a hug you were eager to return.

It was hard to describe the emotion you felt.

You just knew it was a hug of understanding, one of validity.

A hug that said, “I know what you go through because I’ve lived it.”

You slept exceptionally well that day. In the comforting knowledge you finally found someone that both cared, and knew, what you felt.

~~~~

Ch.8 Smoke Break

You dreaded the day ahead of you.

It was your turn to welcome and make friends with that...THING Twilight brought home. You tried not to be a judgmental mare, though seeing him for the first time was appalling. His mane was a mess, his eyes were sunken in, he was covered in bruises and scrapes.

AND HIS OUTFIT!

He was dressed in what can only be described as rags And they were so filthy. He wore a ghastly hoodie that was stained a light red in some places, Celestia forbid you dwell on what that could possibly be given his wounds.

His denim pants were caked in mud and other dark splotches you, again, didn’t want to dwell on what that could possibly be. He gave you bide vibrations.

You could feel something was wrong with him, you just didn’t know what. You heard a knocking at the door.

Buck, that must be him. Thankfully you sent Sweetie Bell to play with her friends today, she wouldn’t have to meet the beast. You walked up to the door and took a deep breath. Come on Rarity, you are the Element of Generosity. If you can give a water beast your tail to fix his mustache, then you can greet this weird bald primate too.

Although at least the serpent did have a dazzling mustache. You opened the door, and stared in shocking horror at what you saw.

”Hey there Rarity. I was told I’d be spending the day with you today?” What ever they did to him at Sweet Apple Acres, it couldn’t have been good. His clothes were caked in mud and, was that? You sniffed the his clothes.

Oh good heavens it is. That stuff only belongs in gardens not clothes. Did he not clean himself? His hair and skin seem fine today, but his clothing?

“A-ah. Yes, darling, that’s r-right. May I ask what in the heavens happened to you?”

”Oh! My clothes? Yea, they got pretty dirty on Apple Jack’s farm. Really funny stories on how all this happened.”

“Well, I’m not going to be doing anything with you until we get you cleaned up! No offense ‘a-nanny-mouse’, but I can’t let myse-, uhm, I can’t let YOU go out and look like that!”

”It’s Anonymous, and uh, what do you suppose I do with them? I cleaned them, best I could anyway. They are my only pair of clothes I had here.”

“How awful! Nope! This won’t do, you are coming in and we are going to set you up with something better immediately!”

”Are you sure abou-WOAH!”

You didn’t even let him finish, you grabbed him and dragged him inside.

”Uh, Rarity, what are you about to do?”

“I’m about to take those horrid rags off and clean you up!”

Anon pulled himself from your reach.

”AH! Nononononono, that’s fine, really, you don’t have to strip me!”

“A-naughty-moose, really, yo-”

”Anonymous, Rarity.”

“My apologies, Anonymous, you really shouldn’t be so embarrassed, especially with what you have on now. I’ve measured NUMEROUS stallions. You’ll be happy to know that they are all happy with my work.!”

”Rarity, my kind are very...uh, particular about keeping ourselves covered in a certain way. I’m also a very private person on top of that.”

You dead panned. Never mind him being an ape, NO ONE should be in this wardrobe. And he was making this all very difficult.

With a deep breath, you negotiated with him.

“Alright...Anonymous, how’s about we start over a little bit. I can see that you are in a very unfortunate situation regarding your hygiene and wardrobe. I propose that today, I clean and mend your clothing, as well as make you some new articles as well, and take you on a spa day!”

”I...uhm. I guess that’s okay? I don’t want to get naked in front of you though.”

“Understood. Now please, let me take some basic measurements, because those clothes you have on fit you horribly, and take a shower. Down the hall over there and to the right.”

”I took a shower alrea-”

You glared him a glare of a thousand glares.

”Alright alright, fine, I’ll do it.”

You took your measurements, and his clothing after he undressed behind the shower curtain and got to work. With how dirty he looked you expected a long shower from him, not that you’d need anything longer. You were damn good at your job and could at least get these clothes cleaned to a workable level, mended, and start on your first pair of his clothes before he got out.

After you were done with today, he’ll have a different ensemble for every day of the week! Before long, Anonymous was finally out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist.

”Uhh, Rarity, you done with my clothes yet?”

“Hm? Oh of course, they are right over there.”

You waived your free hoof over to the couch, never taking your eyes off your work. Every stitch had it’s place. He walks over and inspects his hoodie.

”Wow! You did a really good job, all the holes are gone and it looks as clean as the day I got it.”

“You’re too kind darling, it wasn’t that big of a deal. Just a deep cleaning spell and some sewing.”

”Well, definitely something I can’t do in the time it took you.”

“I appreciate your words darling, but if I’m going to finish your new clothing I’m going to need some concentration.”

”Oh, sorry. I’ll just get dressed and do, uhm, what ever I guess.”

“Mm hmm, you do that.” You were keeping your eyes on the stitching.

You didn’t work on denim too often. Not unless you were making something for Apple Jack. It was a very firm material fresh, and one you didn’t have a lot of. Had to make it count. All of this not to mention Anonymous’ proportions. It was so...different.

Nothing too drastic, his joints bent and shoulders were broad much in the same way Spike’s were. But he was a far bigger creature, and his legs where thicker than his arms. Definitely a Primate.

Anon seemed to pull it off though, you couldn’t quite pin how but, after being with him for a minute or two, you just got used to the way he looked. More on the scrawny side, or maybe that was normal for humans, but looked okay none the less. Just a little plain. You carried on. More stitching. More cutting. More measuring. More...buck, you didn’t mean to do that. You bucked up on the seem near the ankle of one of the pairs of pants you were working on.

You let out a huff and stomped your hoof on the ground. You looked over at your work. You got a lot done, and this little mess up was an easy fix if anything. But you were exhausted. Time for a break. You closed your glasses and headed over to the back garden, stopping getting your self a glass of iced lemonade before continuing. Anonymous was sitting in the seat across from where you usually sat when you relaxed in your garden. You noticed a cigarette in his mouth.

“Anonymous! Are you smoking a cigarette?”

”Wha? Oh! Rarity, yea I am. I’m sorry, I should have asked first if smoking here was okay wit-”

“Could I have one as well?”

Anon was taken back a little bit from your question.

”Uh...you smoke?”

“Yes, I know, a pony like me who cares so much about her looks and health should stay as far away as she could from the habit. However work can get very overwhelming sometimes and a nice smoke calms the nerves. We all have our vices after all.”

”I suppose so. Here.”

Anon takes out a cigarette and hands it out.

You envelope it in your aura and sniff it.

“Eugh! Oh my! This is a horrible quality! Where in Equestria did you get this?”

”These are actually my smokes from back home. Camel isn’t the best brand but it’s not what I care about.”

“Oh no darling, I’m going to fetch you some high quality tobacco. Sit here one second.”

You go inside and fetch your box of Equestrian Spirits and head back out to Anon, who was still inhaling on his cigarette.

“Darling snuff that out, if we’re going to ruin our lungs we should at least do it with class.”

”Heh. Alright fine.”

He put out the cigarette on the ground and took a new one from your box. You pull out your opera long cigarette holder and put one of your own in, using your magic to light it.

Anon pulls out his own lighter to light his. Both of you inhale on the smoke and let out a content sigh.

“Well, what do you think?”

”Hm? Oh, I guess it’s better. I never smoked for the taste or whatever.”

“No one does darling. At least I hope not. But if you are going to relax it should be a good experience all around.”

”I can understand that. But smoking is never a good experience for me. I don’t use it to feel relaxed after a long days work, or even smoke them because I’m addicted. Although I’m sure I am. I smoke them to just forget about my problems.”

“Well, valid enough I suppose. Just like our vices, we all have our problems.” You glance over at Anon. He’s slouched in his seat and just staring at the cigarette in his hand, letting it burn.

“My mother for one disagrees. Love the mare to death, but she can be a real pain in the flank if you know what I mean?”

Anon looked over and sat up.

”Huh? Oh yea, I suppose so. I probably started smoking because of my mother.”

“That uh, sounds very awful.”

”I don’t blame her. I can’t blame her, she started the same reason I did.”

“To forget?”

”Yea.”

You took another deep breath from your cigarette holder and blew the smoke out your nose. The nicotine was starting to do its job and you began to feel like all the stress was being lifted from you.

You hummed a sweet hum and replaced the cigarette in your holder with a new one.

You looked over to Anon and used your magic to levitate him the box to offer him another one, which he accepts.

”I should probably elaborate.” He sighs.

“You don’t need to dear, I understand, some ponies, or humans in this case, just need something to take the edge off.”

”See that’s also the problem.”

You glanced at Anon with a curious look. Neither of you had really been making eye contact, but now your interest has been peaked. Anon re-positioned him self so that his body was facing towards you.

”Do you mind if I tell you some stuff? I know you’re just trying to relax but it feels very...liberating to let my problems off my chest.”

“Well, Twilight did intend this day for us to bond, so I don’t see any problem in that. Go ahead, what do you have to say.”

Anon sat back again and turned his body away slightly.

”My parents, weren’t bad parents, and I loved them with all my heart, but I definitely had my issues.”

He took another drag from his cigarette.

”My dad, was always busy with work, and whenever he got home, he’d just want to relax. He never hit me, or beat me, or did any of that, he was just always distant. He had to work at least two jobs to keep us in our home.”

“Hm! Well, what was bad about him? From your tone I’m assuming he did something wrong?”

”Well, he didn’t really. It’s what he didn’t do. It was probably just as hard on him. Now that I meditate back on all of this, I’m realizing now he probably just thought he needed to make it through this little rough patch in life and then he could finally enjoy his family.”

“Well, did that rough patch come to an end?”

”For him...a quick one too. Stroke, in the shower.”

“Oh...oh darling I’m so sorry to hear!”

”It’s fine, I was really young, and again he was very distant and tired all the time. The memories I do have were good. It really fucked up my mom though.”

“Oh I could only imagine! Losing a husband so quickly and with a foal of her own must’ve been devastating.”

”Well, she turned to smoking and drinking a lot. She had to take up a lot of working just to feed the two of us and we had to move into a shabby apartment. She would dote on me quite a lot in those days. She was emotionally unstable, having multiple break downs a week.”

You placed both your hooves on Anon’s arm

”Yea, she was probably scared to loose the only other family member she had left. I found all the attention to get very annoying though.”

Anon buried his face into his hands.

”When I grew up I contacted her less and less, though I still called every week to see how she was doing. She loved those calls.”

Goodness, you could see what Twilight was saying. He definitely hasn’t had a happy upbringing.

”Eventually, she got sick. I couldn’t bring myself to visit her on some days...then one day...she...”

Tears were forming in the eyes of both of you now. This was all dreadful to hear.

“You don’t have to finish darling, I think I get it.”

Anon pulled you in close for a tight hug. Be strong Rarity, you’ve let some tears drop, but bawling isn’t something a lady would do in this situ-

”I wasn’t even there, she went without anyone besides the nurses by her side.”

You wrapped your forelegs around Anonymous as tight as you could. Trying to console.

“I-it’s fine darling, y-you, you don’t need to continue.”

The two of you held the embrace for what felt like hours before Anon released the hug. Anon sighed.

”That’s something I don’t think I ever got over...thank you...I’m sorry you had to hear all that.”

“Anon, don’t be silly. I’d give up everyday to listen to your problems if it helped get these horrible feelings off your chest!”

”You couldn’t possibly mean that do you?”

“Absurd! I couldn’t make a statement more true if I were Applejack!”

”Thanks Rarity. Sorry I made today a little awkward.”

“Absolutely not! I must be honest Anon, I was slightly dreading having you come over, but hearing about your problems helped break any preconceived notions I may have had of you. I couldn’t have possibly known the help you needed with out you asking.” You wiped more of the mascara running down your cheek away with a hoof.

“In fact, I should probably get started again on those pants of yours. They will be just the things you need to feel comfortable.”

”You never really had to do that Rarity. I don’t even know how I’ll pay you.”

“Don’t think about it. I’ll be doing it for free.”

”What? Rarity you don’t-”

“Ah! I won’t be hearing it. I AM the Element of Generosity after all.” You gave him smug smile. He wouldn’t be arguing out of this.

”I...hm. Thank you, that means a lot to me.”

“Of course darling! Although, if you helped me with some of this, we could still make it to the spa.”

”Of course tell me what I need to do for you and I’ll get it done. Hopefully with less animals chasing me.”

You snickered at that. “Of course not, my cat Opal isn’t even here this week.”

”Well, sounds good.”

And with that, the rest of the day flew by. Especially at the Spa. By the time you two left, Anon looked more rejuvenated than ever, that bags under his eyes even seemed to be nothing more than a few dark circles.

You waived good bye to him with a wide smile on your face and made it back to the boutique in time to greet Sweetie Bell who had just come back from doing Celestia knows what for her cutie mark. Anon really wasn’t such a bad guy after all. You’d have to remember to tell that to Rainbow Dash. As you were getting ready for the end of the night, you set yourself up some ink, quill, and paper.

By candle light, you began writing, a lonely tear escaped your eye.

“Dearest mother...”

You paced your way around the library, waiting for the next letter from Luna to arrive. You had been discussing with her for the past few days about Anon and his nightmares.

They weren’t as bad as the first few nights he arrived here in Equestria, but they definitely were NOT getting better either. Princess Luna wrote to you saying that she has found a way to wake Anon up in the dream realm without waking him up in the waking realm, but whenever she approaches Anon, he seems to be tossing and turning as if in a struggle. Neither of you know what’s going on. You two don’t why Anon is in the dream realm, or how he could be having nightmares with out a bubble.

Except, maybe one of you did. Princess Luna had a hypothesis, though she said she needed to do a little bit of rereading on the subject to figure this out. And now you were waiting for a letter back from her. She said she’d send another one within the night.

You’ve been walking in circles for almost an hour now. Your hair is frizzy, your eyes were heavy, you could smell your body odor, having taken little time through out the few days to even wash properly, maybe just brush your teeth and mane, but that was about it.

You were on the cusp though, you could feel it. Certainly the princess’ hypothesis would point you in the right direction, if not be entirely correct.

You could hear the pitter patter of tiny feet running down the stairs from your room.

”Twilight!” Spike called to you.

”A letter came from Princess Luna!”

“Perfect, let me see.” You enveloped the parchment in your aura and brought it up to you.

You broke the seal and began to read.

Hm.

A little strange. You have a vague understanding of what she is talking about here, though you don’t fully understand what they had to do with Anon and his nightmares.

The note reads:

”Dear Twilight Sparkle, We have read up on what we believe to be at the heart of this issue, and while it appears to not make any sense, there is nothing wrong with exploring the possibility. You see, a pony’s dream is within their own consciousness, when asleep, their consciousness must go somewhere. That somewhere as you know is the dream realm, a metaphysical dimension for the conscious mind. Imagine the physical world as a piece of film, and the conscious world as a source of light passing through it, and you may understand the general idea. Our minds only act as a vessel for our conscious selves. This consciousness still has an origin however, and stays with our conscious. In most creatures this is within the heart. The heart is the source of our consciousness when projected into the physical world while a pony is awake. We bring this up because in our talks and studies of Anonymous, we can’t seem to find HIS source. Only his consciousness. This maybe a quirk of the dream realm, but I implore you that whenever the time is opportune, use your magic to check and see if Anon’s source of consciousness is in his heart. If we know where his source is, we can use it to help him. I’m sure the spell to do this is in the second volume of ‘Intermediate spell casting.’ I wish you luck. ~Princess Luna.”

Literally what? Yea you know about the relationship about the heart and mind and its connection to consciousness and it’s source but why exactly is she bringing this up?

It should only matter if he were UNCONSCIOUS, at least, the only time you read about this being the case was when patients are being treated in hospital.

Do dreams come from this source too? Strange, but intriguing! It was at this moment you were pulled from your philosophical pondering.

The front door opened and you could hear a sigh escape someone’s lips.

“Ah! Anonymous, you’re home! How was your day with rarity?”

”Evening Twi, it went fine. She sewed me some new clothes, and even paid for a spa day for both of us. I freaked out the owners at first, but they seemed to calm down after Rarity vouched for me. Heh, she must go there quite a bit.”

“Hee hee, yea, the spa is a second home for that mare. Were you able to open up some more?”

”Yea, it felt great to get all of this stuff off my chest. You and your friends never had to do any of this, but I’m very thankful you all do.”

He threw his new outfits onto the couch and sat down across from you. ”It’s been helping me socialize a lot more.”

You smiled. Of course it was working, what couldn’t the magic of friendship solve?

“I’m glad to hear all of that. Does this mean you still feel as sad as you used too?”

Anon sighed and leaned back, staring off somewhere nonspecific. ”Honestly Twi, I don’t think those feelings will ever go away. They’ve been easier to deal with though, I’ll give you that much, but there is still...something getting in the way. I think I know what it is, but I don’t know if I can come to terms with it.”

You canter over to the couch and sit down next to them.

“Gosh, want to talk about it?”

Anon paused for a second, pondering the question, then shook his head. ”Maybe tomorrow. I’m honestly done with opening my heart up today, plus I don’t know how exactly I feel about saying anything about...that.”

You place a hoof on Anon’s arm.

”I understand. I’m happy we are all making a difference though, we’ve all gotten to know you pretty well after the past few weeks and want to see you through it.”

”I’ll still never understand it...but I couldn’t be more grateful.” Anon arched his back and stretched his arms. With a yawn he picked up his clothing and headed for the basement.

”Sorry to cut this chat so short Twilight, but helping Rarity finish my clothes was almost as exhausting as the farm work with Apple Jack, and that spa day was so relaxing. I’m turning in early.”

“Oh, that’s fine Anon, you get some rest. I enjoyed the conversation.”

”Good night Twi.”

“Good night!” You smiled in his direction as he shut his door.

He was doing so much better, but at the same time you could tell there was still so much to do. You could see the worry in his eyes when he was talking about his troubles.

Your mind drifted back to Luna’s letter. Finding the source of Anon’s consciousness hm? You needed to find that spell. You remember learning it, and used it once or twice helping some of the nurse ponies when they didn’t know it. But that was so long ago. Luna mentioned where you could find the instructions to cast it. “Spike!”

You called out to Spike upstairs, he peaked down from where the steps meet the ceiling.

“I need your help finding a spell. I don’t know entirely what Princess Luna plans to do with this information, but we need to look for something inside Anon’s heart.”

”WHAT?!”

You face hoof’d. Maybe you shouldn’t have phrased it like that…

”You’re kidding?” Anon stared up at you, waiting for a response.

“I am not. My sister really did make her own little fortress out of nothing but cake in her bedroom one day. The palace chefs were not too pleased at this. I for one was rather impressed at the structural integrity. Seeing as it was made out of...well cake.”

Anon chuckled to himself hearing that. Tonight was the fifth night you woke Anon up in the dream realm and you have gotten quite attached to him. Underneath his depressing exterior you could find a relatable and interesting companion to talk too.

What ever was troubling either of you, the other would have the best way of dealing with it, or at least express understanding. Both of you felt the same about a lot, and had a lot of problems. It’d even make you blush sometimes.

”Celestia didn’t make a pool filled with tea next did she?” Anon had a sly smile growing on his face.

“Oh she nearly did. However the guards managed to convince her to stop once rumor spread that if she tried such a thing half of the staff would strike over all of the clean up work.”

Anon grabbed a hold of his sides as if they were at risk of flying off as he laughed at your story.

It got a chuckle out of you as well. The things Celestia would do sometimes just to mess with ponies. You’d think her worse than Discord. After laughing for what seemed like a solid ten minutes, Anon looked up and smiled at you.

”You know Luna...you’re the first real friend I’ve had. At least one that feels this genuine.”

“Is that so?”

”Yes, it is. I mean, I’ve had ‘acquaintances’, or people I’d talk to, but they weren’t friends. I couldn’t rely on them and I didn’t know them that well. You seem to understand me how ever, and when ever I need a shoulder to cry on or an ear to talk to, you seem to be there. Not to be mean to the Elements but, they’re not like you.”

You blushed. Truth be told, other than Celestia you couldn’t remember the last true friend you had. You knew you had some, though those were thousands of years ago...and they are long gone now.

“Thank you Anonymous that...really means a lot. I also can’t seem to remember a pony other than my sister I could call a true friend.”

Anon pulled you in for a hug which you were very eager to return.

”Well, I’m happy you feel the same way too Luna. It’s great we can do that for each other.” Anonymous was moving to break the hug, but you wrapped your hooves around him tighter.

He ain’t getting away from this. It was too good of a hug to end now. You may end up staying like this until it was ready for the sun to come up in fact.

Anon chuckled and surrendered to your effort to continue the hug, and he placed a hand on top of your head. Yes, Anon would receive your hugs of friendship. And he was going to enjoy them as much as you did. May the maker have mercy on any creature that would threaten such bond.

~~~~

Ch.9 To Prank a Griffon

You knocked on the door to Twilight’s library.

“Hello? Is anypony home?”

You couldn’t get an answer. It was your day to help settle this Anon guy in. You had to admit that he was very suspicious at first, and you didn’t trust the guy. But you couldn’t blame yourself.

Anypony’s first reaction to seeing a mythical creature from a violent race covered in bruises and blood stains wouldn’t be a positive one. Though in the past few days he’s been here, he’s proven himself to actually be a pretty chill guy. Pinkie and Fluttershy keep talking about how nice he is, and even AJ and Rarity mentioned some pretty assuring things about him.

Plus, the more you looked at him, those battle scars made him look kind of bad ass. You’d figure you could talk about where he got them maybe? You really didn’t plan anything.

Planning is for nerds, and you were no nerd. You knocked your hoof on the door again.

”Hellllooooooooo?”

Ugh, they must not be here. Maybe they were at Sugar Cube Corner or somewhere getting lunch. As you turned to walk away you heard the door behind you open.

”Hello? Rainbow Dash?”

You turned your head back to the sound calling your name.” It was Anonymous, finally.

“Yea! ‘Sup. Did I just wake you up?”

”Yea, I WAS asleep, but I suppose today is the day we hang out huh?”

“Heck yea it is!”

You look behind him. “Uhm...where is Twilight?”

”She left a note in the kitchen, said she went to go buy some more quills or something.”

“Oh. Lame.”

”I don’t know when she’ll be back. Note mentioned something about going to the book store to find some book they didn’t have here.”

“LAMER!”

”Uh...we can start out day now I guess. What ever you want to do is fine.”

“Cool! Follow me.”

”Alright, where are we going?” Anon shut the door behind him.

“Oh you’ll see.”

…

”What exactly is the point of this again?”

You snickered to your self. You poked your head out from behind the bush.

“Look over at that bit on the ground over there.”

Anon peeks his head out to see it.

”Yea, what about it?”

You pulled some glue from out of no where and showed it to Anon. “I glued the bit to paving, so when somepony comes to pick it up, they are going to be having a pretty hard time trying to get it.”

You continued to snicker to yourself. You were a genius. Imagining the look on whoever came across the bit trying to pick it up would probably be priceless.

”Oh. Okay I see. I guess.”

“You guess? It’s going to be so hilarious seeing ponies getting angry over a bit they can’t pick up.”

”I’m sure it will. I guess I was just never a pranking kind of guy.”

You smirked. “In that case, your lucky to be with me. I’ll take you under my wing and show you the ways of the prank master.”

”Uhm. Thanks...I think?”

“Don’t mention it.”

”What the!? Who’s the dweeb who did this?”

A voice was calling out from in front of the shrub.

“Ha ha, we got one.”

You and Anon looked up from the shrub to see the poor passer by who fell folly to your clever ruse. Your jaw dropped. It couldn’t be! Why was she here?

”Uh...Rainbow, is that a griffon? Griffons are real here?”

You ignored Anon, your brow was too busy furrowing.

”UGH! Why can’t I pick this bit up?”

The griffon in question was pulling with all her might on the gold coin with out it budging. During one big tug she pulled to hard and lost her grip sending her flying back.

”AHHHH! Screw it. If I find the dweeb who was dumb enough to glue a bit to the ground I’ll-”

“You’re gonna what?”

You screamed over at her, drawing her attention over to you.

”Well! If it isn’t Rainbow Dash. Did you pull this stunt? Didn’t think you’d be dumb enough to stick valuable currency to the ground!”

Anon pulled on your wing. ”Uh, Rainbow? Who is that?”

You didn’t take your eyes off the griffon in question.

“What are you doing in Ponyville Gilda?”

The Griffon smirked and walked up closer to you.

”As if it’s any of your business why I’m here.”

“You said you didn’t need to be around us ‘dweebs’ last time you were here Gilda. Why don’t you just get lost?”

Gilda kept her smirk and blew the feathers out of her eyes. ”Like I’d listen to you.”

You two were giving each other death stares for the next few moments, Anon darting his eyes from you to Gilda in confusion.

”Uhm. I’m still not sure what’s going on here?”

“What’s going on is that Gilda was about to say ‘Good bye’ and hit the road.”

Gilda eyes Anon.

”Ha, who’s the chimp Rainbow? New friend? First dweebs and now bald gorillas?”

“Why don’t you just shut your mouth and leave? You’re nothing but trouble!”

”What ever dweeb. I have my own business to attend to anyways, I’d rather get that done and then leave as soon as possible. Don’t want to waste my time with you dorks any longer.” Gilda snorted and spread her wings, taking off with a large flap and leaving behind a cloud of dirt and dust.

You kept your eye on her as she left, watching her take off and fly to where ever she needed to go. Anon was busy coughing up all the dirt he breathed in from her take off.

”*cough cough* Ugh. What was that all about?”

“Don’t mind her, that was just Gilda. Don’t hang around her Anon, she caused me and my friends a lot of trouble when she was here last.”

”I could sense the bad blood. What did she do?”

“She was an old friend from Junior Speedsters who came to visit a while back. First time I see her in a while and she managed to prove our friendship was fake by pushing away all my friends just so she could hang out with some pony she thought she was cool with. Not to mention how she’d steal from the townponies here.”

”Sounds like a bitch to me.”

“She is! Ugh, I don’t even remember why we were ever friends. And why is she even here? What business is so important she has to come to Ponyville to do it?”

”Beats me, but we are probably better off staying out of her hair...err, feathers.”

You glared in the direction Gilda flew off in. You wanted to follow her and see what she was up too, but you didn’t want to drag Anon through all of that.

He was turning out to be a cool guy, and you could both still do something. Even if Gilda ruined the mood.

“You’re probably right. Yea, forget her. We won’t let some feather brain ruin our fun. Come on, let’s go get some milk shakes or something, I need a tasty snack to make up for the ruined prank.”

”Sounds fine by me I guess.”

As you two began to make your way over to Sugar Cube Corner you could hear the aggravated grunting of pony from behind you. ”Damn bit! Why are you stuck to the ground?”

Heh, okay, the prank wasn’t entirely ruined.

…

The frosted glass containing the delicious snack slid over to you from across the bar. Ah sweet nectar of the gods. Birthday cake milkshake with sprinkles. Anon was sitting next to you with a glass of cola he was sipping on.

“Ahhh! Much better, I love these things. I don’t know how the Cake’s do it, but these are better than the ones in Cloudsdale.” You say in orgasmic pleasure.

”Yea, the sweets they make here are better than the ones from my home I guess.” Anon stared at his soft drink for a moment, watching the tiny bubbles rise to the top.

”Hey Rainbow, sorry about that bitch ruining your prank.”

“What? No, it’s fine. So long she doesn’t try to start trouble again, we are in the clear for the rest of the day.”

”I have no doubt about that, it’s just I have experience with fake friends like that.” Anon takes another sip from his drink.

“Sound’s rough.”

”Really rough. The whore only used me as a way to please her friends, ended up losing all of us.”

You cringe. It’s creatures like that that make your blood boil. “That’s crazy! What did they do?”

Anon sighed. Meditating back on his drink, he looked like he was considering whether to tell you or not.

”It was an old co-worker I had back when I worked in some dead end retailing job. The job itself made me feel like my life was an endless loop. She noticed I had...problems, and offered help.”

“Oh jeez I think I see where this is going.”

”Yea. So she gives me this quote on quote ‘help’, and it actually does work for a little bit. Gets me to see a doctor, listens to some of my problems.”

“Dang, so what went wrong.”

”Well, I learned what she was really doing from one of her friends. She was making her self look like some virtuous angle saving a sad depressed freak. She said she even revealed to her friends she never understood what I was talking about, and even forgot about some of the things I’ve said to her.” Anon chugged the rest of his soda and slammed the glass down back on to the counter.

”Felt like I had a knife stuck in my back.”

“Wow Anon, that’s really bucked up. Really sappy, but really bucked up. Hey, if we were friends then, she’d be regretting her decisions on trying to use you.”

Anon frowned. ”Appreciate that Dash, but at the same time I can’t help feel a little guilty after what happened afterwards.”

You cocked your head to the side. “Afterwards?”

”Her friends abandoned her after all of that mess, as did I. Apparently it spiraled way out of control too because after that happened. Our manager decided, instead of moving her to a separate shift, to fire her, for reasons I’m still unsure about. In the end, I remember her begging for forgiveness at my apartment door, saying shit about not meaning to be like that and having good intentions in the beginning.”

Wow this bitch came crawling to Anon after she lost her job and friends. “Wow, what a bitch.”

”Yea she was, but...and this is going to sound confusing I know, I felt a little guilty ignoring her.”

“WHAT? How could you feel so guilty about that? She used you to virtue signal to her friends, what’s so redeemable?”

”Well, her betraying me hurt, no question. But she did help me with finding my doctor, and while it lasted, it felt good to have SOMEONE to speak to. Though finding out it was all fake brought me to some really dark places. It was all during a time when I still felt guilty for not being there for my mom when she needed it, so I could at least empathize with wanting to find forgiveness for actions you can’t undo. Sometimes ignoring her felt worse than being stabbed in the back.”

Some heavy stuff. And all you wanted was to enjoy a milkshake.

“Wow Anon, that’s some heavy and emotionally complex stuff. Gilda never did anything THAT BAD, but I’d say that your coworker and her are about equal in their bitch levels.”

”Ha, makes a lot of sense.”

“And don’t feel sorry for her! She got you some of that doctor help you needed, okay, but she deserved her fate. She proved to be an asshole, and now she’s feeling the consequences for it.”

Anon sighed again, signaling for another soda.

”Maybe you’re right Rainbow Dash...I know it’s something that to anyone else would seem obvious but my emotions then, and even now, are a confusing mess. I’m glad I can have some bros like you and the rest of the Elements to help.”

“Hey! No problem! Any time you need help, even if it’s with weird, gross, sappy, emotional stuff, I’m here to help. You can count on me not bragging to Twilight or the others either. I already know I’m great!”

This got a laugh from Anon. ”Haha, thanks Rainbow. You’ve been pretty cool today.”

You bucking know it monkey.

You noticed something caught Anon’s eye. He was looking out of the window to the street.

”Uhm. Rainbow, I think I know what Gilda’s ‘business’ here is.”

You look in the same direction he is and see Gilda pick pocketing one of the ponies in the market place.

What the? Is she really?

You see her pull out a small bag with the word “rent” on it and put the bits she stole into her bag. That slimy, feather brained, no good...ugh.

“Anon...I have a favor to ask.”

”Oh no. Are you gonna-”

“Yes, I am. I need you to keep watch so no police ponies stop me too early.”

”Fuckin’ hell...yea fine alright. If Twilight asks, I wasn’t involved.”

“Fine by me.”

45 minutes later, and a facehoofing Twilight was trying to contain herself while she scolded you about how assault and battery, even if done for good, is still illegal, all the while, a bruised Gilda is being carried away by Paramedics.

You looked behind Twilight and over to Anon rubbing his temple and smirked at him. Anon looked at you, then smiled and shook his head. This Anon guy was alright.

It was late in the evening.

You flip through the pages of the book in front of you. Luna was wrong in which book you’d find this spell in.

It was the third volume not the second.

The spell itself wasn’t that complicated. It’s actually a version of Rarity’s gem finding spell more tuned for finding souls, you just had to focus your mind on looking for the source of consciousness in a pony. Or in this case a human.

“Alright, first let’s see if I can pull this off. Spike, would you mind coming over here?”

Spike got up from his bed and put his comic book down. ”Yea? Whatcha need Twilight?”

“I need to test a consciousness spell on you. It won’t hurt, it will just allow me to find where the source of your conscious is.”

”Uhhhh. Okay? Do I need to do anything?”

“No, just stay still and let the spell do it’s work.”

You closed your eyes and concentrated your magic into your horn to cast the spell. A bright light was cast from your aura.

“Alright, now all I need to do is focus in on your mind and...”

Your eyes shot open. The surrounding environment was in gray scale. Interesting. You looked over to your assistant and could see a cloud of what appeared to be light flowing around his head like smoke.

”Is something wrong Twilight?”

“Wow! Spike I can see your conscious essence! It’s like your face is emitting light.”

”Woah, Freaky.”

“Alright, now I just need to focus on finding the source.” You could feel your horn...beating? That’s the only way you could describe it. It was as if your heart were on top of your head.

You moved toward spike, the closer you got the faster your horn began to beat. You moved your horn from Spike’s head down to his chest.

In that instance, the beating stopped and a flash of light emitted from your horn. The sudden flash blinded you.

“Ah!”

”Woah, Twilight! Are you okay?”

You rubbed your hooves with your eyes. Blinking a few times and focusing on the room to get your vision back.

“Yea Spike, I’m fine, just a bright...Woahhh!”

”What! What is it? What do you see?”

“Spike! There’s light coming from your chest!”

You kept your eyes on the aura swimming around Spike’s ribcage. Beating in tandem with his heart and giving off a pinkish glow.

”What? Is that good? Is there something wrong with me?”

“Can you not see all this light Spike?”

”N-no I can’t!”

“Interesting...really interesting.”

After a few more seconds of inspecting the aura around Spike’s heart, there was another flash, and the light was gone. The world was back in its full color.

“Well. The spell worked. I could see your consciousness and its source Spike.”

”That’s all good right?”

“Of course. Should be. You seem to have everything where it needs to be.”

Spike wiped the sweat off his brow and sighed in relief. ”Phew. At first I thought something was wrong there.”

“Heh, don’t worry Spike, you’re fine. If I expect to see anything different it’d be with Anon.”

”What’s wrong with him? Well, besides the obvious.”

“Well, Princess Luna mentioned not being able to find the source of his consciousness. She doesn’t know if it’s a quirk of Human biology, or him arriving in her dream realm or something, so she asked me to see if I can find it in our world.”

”Well, would you like me to go and wake him up?”

“No it’s fine Spike. The spell should work while he’s asleep. And it isn’t like it’s an invasive spell like a dream or memory viewing spell. It will be just like checking his pulse.”

”Uhm, alright? Are you sure?”

“Plenty sure, besides, Luna said she’d be talking to him in the dream realm tonight and try to get more information from his past. I don’t want to interrupt them.”

”Hey knock yourself out Twilight. You need me for anything else?”

You placed a hoof to your chin. “Hmmm. Nope! That’s all. Speaking of sleep, you should get some too, I didn’t mean to keep you up this late.”

”Nah it’s fine Twilight. I’m always willing to help. Good night!”

“Good night Spike.” You pat your assistant on his head as he walks back over to his bed and cuddles up under his blanket.

Now. Time to find Anon’s source of consciousness. You sneak down and quietly open the door to the basement. Anon was fast asleep.

With how peaceful he looks you assume he’s speaking to the princess right now. You softly make your way to his bed, and concentrate on the spell. With a flash of light, the world is shadowed in gray, and you can see the an aura swimming around Anon’s head, just like with Spike.

So far so good. You focus on the beating in your horn, slow and steady. Using your horn to play hot and cold, you scan Anon’s body.

Nothing. Well. Not surprising.

This rules out the dream realm interfering. You could still feel the beating, so it probably wasn’t that Humans don’t have a source at all.

If their consciousness was their own source, then you should be able to see the pinkish hue, but the light around Anon’s head was white.

You pointed your horn into the air, feeling the beat.

You paced around the room.

Slower, slower, picking up! Slow again.

Wait, back toward the other side of the room. Making sure you don’t wake Anon up, you quietly make your way to the other side of the room. The beating in your horn was picking up pace.

You stopped at the desk with all of Anon’s stuff on it.

“Hm. Maybe it’s in Anon’s bag?”

You scanned it with your horn. Nope, wasn’t in there. But you were warmer, you could feel it. You scanned the rest of the desk.

Nothing.

What could be making your horn beat this much?

“Hmmm. Where is it?”

You scanned around the desk. The candle, the inkwell, his bag again. All the while the beating in your horn changing in tempo as you moved it around.

Nothing here. What were you missing?

...wait.

You saw the drawer of the desk was opened slightly. You opened it.

A familiar notebook. With Anon’s name, and large red text. ’DO NOT READ’

Could this be it? Your horn was beating at an increased tempo now. It’s the only thing you haven’t checked yet. You lower your horn and a bright flash fills your vision. You gasped and backed up.

You tripped over your self and landed on your back. You held your breath and looked over to Anon’s bed. He grunted and rolled over.

”N-no. Just askin’.” Anon said before letting out a long sigh and continuing to snore.

“Oh thank goodness.”

You whisper. You pick yourself up and brush the dust off. “Now, let’s see if that...whaaaa?”

You looked back over to the journal, expecting to see it surrounded by a pleasant pinkish aura.

Well, it was surrounded in an Aura. This aura wasn’t very pleasant though. It wasn’t a soft pink like Spike’s.

You slowly made your way over to inspect it closer.

A deep crimson glow was coming from the book. Instead of the light gracefully dancing, it vibrated, any shapes the aura made were jagged, and jutted at geometrically impossible angles.

Your ear twitched, hearing something else that didn’t happen with Spike.

Whispers. Strained, almost inaudible whispers. The book itself seemed to be trying to speak to you. Emphasis on trying.

You could barely hear them, and you couldn’t make out any of the words, but it sounded like speech.

You dared yourself to move closer. As you outstretched your hoof however, another flash filled your vision, and the colors of the world were restored. And with the return of color, the aura disappeared.

“What in the name of...”

You stared at the journal. You were beginning to feel really uncomfortable now. You slowly backed away and quietly, ever so gently, shut Anon’s door.

You were silent and cautious the entire way to your bed, your legs moving on their own.

When you finally reached your own bed, you lay down and stare at the ceiling.

“What...was that?”

What ever just happened was all your mind could focus on. One question answered. Ten hundred more pop up.

You know Anon’s source of consciousness isn’t in his heart.

But why? Why was it in his journal? Why was the aura surrounding it so much different than Spike’s?

Reading the book again, you could see that the aura was supposed to look like it did with Spike. What were those whispers you heard? What was anything at this point?

...why Anonymous?

How deep did his troubles go?

You felt like you asked yourself this question over a hundred times now. But honestly. Seriously.

What happened to him?

He’s been opening up a lot about his troubles before arriving here, and doing so has seen amazing progress. The question kept nagging at you. Every day you wanted to know more and more. It irritated you how it took so long to figure all of this out.

It feels like studying Pinkie all over again. What in the name of Celestia happened to him in this bad place he mentioned? What else is he hiding? What is he NOT saying? If he refuses to say anything then...how horrible must it be?

The thoughts of what that could be haunted you for the rest of the night. Random creeks of the old tree and the wind outside making you jump with every random noise. The still and quite night leaving you too unnerved to get into a comfortable position.

You didn’t get that much sleep that night. Too many questions. Not enough answers.

”Luna...I have to ask you a question.”

You look over to Anonymous, he was slouching, his hoodie covering his face.

“What do you wish to ask me Anon?”

”Luna. I trust you, you know why. I love all the new friends I’ve made as well, but I trust you the most. You’re the best one I’ve made here, even if I only ever get to see you in my dreams...quite literally.”

You chuckled.

“Yes Anonymous, you’ve expressed this.”

”Yea. It’s true too. It feels like we can talk about anything with each other. But I’m about to ask a question I’m sure Twilight would want to hear about, but I’d rather have it kept between us.”

“Of course Anonymous, I wouldn’t think of doing anything you were not comfortable with.”

You gave Anon a reassuring smile, which he returned. Anon sighed and prepared himself for the question.

”Luna...how do you know if something you see is real?”

Ah shoot. Philosophy. Not your strongest point. You’ve read some of the basics sure, but you never pondered these questions yourself.

“Well, I have no reason to distrust what I see now. You are real, and the ponies around us acknowledge you. I can feel you when we hug. I can hear your voice. And I have no reason to think I’m insane. Why do you ask? Is it because we are all myths in your world as you are in ours?”

”Well. Actually, that may influence, but it isn’t what I mean. In fact being dropped in a land of magic and talking myths isn’t the strangest thing I’ve seen recently. I actually have been feeling more normal and at home here than back where I come from.”

“That’s very good to here. We are all trying our best to welcome you.”

”Yes, and while I don’t understand why in the beginning you did that, I’m finally at peace with it. I accept it, and it’s been helping a lot. But there are far bigger problems.”

“Concerning your perception of reality?”

”Yes.”

“Why are you questioning such things Anon?”

Anon sighed and cupped his face. He slouched for another moment before picking his head up and taking in a deep breath.

”Luna. It’s about that place I was in.”

Oh by the Maker is he really? He’s finally opening up? Really? You listen in closely.

”Luna I...I’ve seen things. I saw terrible, horrible things there. I-I saw some of the most strangest things. I...ugh. Never mind. I don’t even know how to explain it. Or accept it. All that matters is, while I was there. I couldn’t find out if any of that was real or, if I was just seeing things.”

“It’s okay Anon. It must have been real. You have cuts and bruises still healing all over your body.”

”That’s not exactly what I mean, at least, with what I know now. But the thought that everything I did witness actually happening is...terrifying.”

You pull Anon in for a tight hug.

“Anon, you don’t have to continue if you don’t want to. I’m sure you’ve seen some horrible things. I have as well, having to save my kingdoms and walk into nightmares every night. Just know everything will be okay, and we will help you with what ever happens.”

Anon hugs you back, burying his face into your chest tuft. Oof. He’s warm.

”Thanks Luna. I wouldn’t want you to have to deal with such a thing though.”

“I will personally deal with what ever evils that haunt you. No exceptions.”

Anon sighed and buried his face into your tuft more. OOF! You like that. You blush. You both fall over onto the pillow you brought to sit on, still in an embrace.

“You know Anon, I was thinking about visiting Ponyville during Nightmare Night coming up. We could spend time together then.”

”That sounds great Luna can’t wait.”

You two stayed laying on the pillow for the rest of the night.

How great it felt to have this kind of bond. How warm you feel inside having a true friend. How reassuring and safe to finally have someone who’d dealt with all of your problems. How pretty his eyes were.

…

Uh...you’d have to really ponder on that thought later. Right now you were too busy embraced in the forever warm and comfy hug of friendship. And you weren’t about to let some off hoof thought distract you.

~~~~

Ch.10 Nightmare Night

It was Nightmare Night.

Anon’s been living with you for a month now. Nightmares don’t let up. He’s been better attitude wise though.

He still has his bouts of depression. He still has his problems. But being around friends has been able to help him. You’ve been dreading Nightmare Night because of the horror theme, and you didn’t want Anon to endure all of the creepy and spooky things that usually goes on tonight.

That’s why it surprised you when you found out he didn’t mind such things. There was a similar holiday back in his world called ‘Halloween’ themed around horror. They had trick or treating as well, and dressed up, and had parties with scary decorations.

When he grew out of dressing up and trick or treating he said he’d watch an old horror movie, which apparently, their technology with movies are also beyond what Equestria has.

You supposed all of this would be okay then. You decided to dress up as Edgar Allen Pone for this Night Mare Night. One of your favorites. His stories were more dark than they were scary, but he was an amazing writer. Speaking of writing, you couldn’t get your mind off of what happened almost a month ago with trying to find Anon’s source of consciousness. It was in his journal, and the aura surrounding it seemed corrupted, almost unnatural. You didn’t write to Luna about it. You didn’t know how too.

How do you describe what you saw that night? Anon seems so normal, as normal Anon can be at least. You always knew he was hiding something, but this something seemed to be deeper than just this bad place he went to or a very bad incident that happened to him.

You found yourself deep in thought as to what either one of those could have been. Was the bad place a very bad fight? Was he in a bad part of what ever city he was in? Was he lost in the woods in his world? What wild animals did they have there?

Was he held hostage? What about this horrible occurrence? Was it the bad place itself? Or something else? The death of a family member? He was open about his mother and father. It couldn’t be that could it?

There was still something he wasn’t telling you. It irked you. You had a job, you had a friend to help! You had to know. You HAD to.

But tonight wasn’t the night for that, unless something extreme happens. You wouldn’t cast memory spell on him. You weren’t that low, and you knew you were already hoofing the line when it came to looking for his conscious without asking. This had to come from him lest dire circumstances call for such a thing.

You took one of Spike’s fake mustaches and placed it on your upper lip. Rarity helped with the dying of your mane, much to her chagrin, and even supplied the tie and blazer needed.

You looked at your self in the mirror. The past few sleepless nights of reading Pone’s stories gave you some natural bags under your eyes.

“Heh. Looks like I’m ready to write “The Manticore’s Paw” or something.”

Now all get up in your costume, you walked down stares to find Spike and Anon getting a candy bowl ready for the little fillies that would stop by for some tasty treats. Spike was the first to notice.

”Oh! You’re ready Twilight! Ready to go to Pinkie’s Nightmare Night party?”

“Of course! Just set the bowl out on the front porch and we’ll be on our way.”

Spike was in a cute little Griffon costume, Anon didn’t bother with dressing up.

“Are you sure you don’t want to be in a costume Anonymous? Everypony else will dressed up for the occasion.”

”Ha. I’m fine. I’m already a spooky, meat eating, alien from another world. I’ll fit right in.” His cynical sense of humor was hard to get used to, but you’re past over thinking it by this point.

“Alright Mr. Spooky monkey, we should get going now. We don’t want to be late.”

Spike hopped onto your back and Anon placed the bowl out on the front step of the library. With that all three of your were off to Sugar Cube Corner. Walking through the front door you took a minute to appreciate Pinkie’s decorating skills.

There were dead leaves scattered randomly over the floor, the lights were dimmed, and there were ghosts and bats hung up on the wall. There were cupcakes with frosting spiders on them and barrels filled with water and apples. Really nice decorations and assortment of games all around the bakery.

With some classic Pinkie touches. Black and orange balloons for example.

Speaking of Pinkie Pie. ”OH! Everyone! Spike, Twilight, and Anon are here!”

The party mare, dressed as a chicken...again, got the attention of all the other ponies in the place so they could welcome you. Well all accept Rainbow Dash and Apple Jack who were competing to see who could bob for the most apples. Who were in lion and zombie costumes respectfully.

”Darlings! How nice to see all of you here finally. You three are a little late.” Rarity walked up to hug you. She didn’t dress up too much herself, just a gothic gown.

“Heh. Yea, sorry about that. I was just getting ready.”

”Well you look better than I thought you would! Well minus the mustache.”

“Edgar Allen Pone did have one! No use dressing up as the author if I’m not going to be accurate.”

”Well I suppose you’re right. Well, we all hope you enjoy the night, Pinkie Pie out did her self with the treats this year.”

The party itself ended up being so much fun. Spike orbited Rarity most of the night. You were very entertained by Rainbow and AJ competing over all of the games, and even Fluttershy showed up, which was a surprise. She said she showed up for Anonymous, having the same worries you had that the night would trigger something or scare him.

Though, despite his insistence on the opposite being true, Fluttershy spent most of her time around Anon. Though he ended up being the one comforting her. Poor pegasus was shivering in Anons hoodie after Pinkie tried to give her a cupcake with a gumball decorated to look like an eye stuck in the top.

The fun was cut short by the voice of Mayor Mare outside gathering everypony who could here out to the town square.

“Oh! It must almost be time for the little fillies and colts to go visit and offer candy to the Nightmare Moon statue.”

”The what? You guys have a statue of Nightmare Moon?”

Anon took his attention away from calming Fluttershy down and looked at you with an eyebrow raised.

“Yep! It’s on the edge of town, every Nightmare Night the mayor will get all of the children together and offer their candy to the statue.”

”And why would they do that?”

“Oh, it’s just a little fun. There’s a legend that if the foals didn’t offer their candy to Nightmare Moon she’d come and eat them.”

”Uhhh, and Luna is okay with that still being a thing?”

“Oh she doesn’t mind anymore. A few years ago she tried to come here and change Nightmare Night into more of a feast. Didn’t go over too well. She actually ended up embracing the idea instead.”

”Oh! Well, if she’s okay with that I guess. It’s a little weird to continue to have a holiday where you celebrate the fear of your now reformed princess.”

“Culture is often weird. It’s not like we can just change the holiday after a thousand years anyway. In fact! You should go with the group Anon. Princess Luna likes to make appearances at the statue!”

”Huh. Yea I’ll go. Luna mentioned visiting a while back. I just have to calm down Flutters first.”

Fluttershy nuzzled her self deeper into Anon’s hoodie.

”Oh. P-please don’t bring me. Whenever Luna makes her appearance it’s always so scary.”

Anon wrapped his arms around the quivering mare and cooed. ”Aw don’t worry Fluttershy, I can walk you back home before I go if you’d like?”

Fluttershy nodded her head vigorously.

”Alright. Well, I guess I’ll be walking her back to her cottage. I’ll see you later tonight Twilight?”

“Mhm! Oh! Anon, before I forget, just come back to the library, the girls are going to be staying over to tell scary stories!”

Anon made his way to the door, trying his best not to trip over himself as he cradled Fluttershy. ”Yea, sounds great. I’ll make sure not to take to long. See you guys later.”

You all waved goodbye to the two as Anonymous left through the door.

”Hey Twilight! I gots ya a question!” Pinkie Pie flew...yes, flew, flapping her costumes chicken wings, over to you.

“Yea? What is it?”

”You got any seeds for me?”

Oh Pinkie.

You tried your best to keep it in. You did, you really did. And then he said it. He said those words you were never expecting.

Then the flood gates opened. You couldn’t hold back the feelings in your chest. Not after those words.

”Yea, and then Rainbow Dash told her if she ever came back to Ponyville she’d use the rake on her next.”

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh goodness Anonymous, I suppose I should be mad at her for committing assault but...HAHAHAHAHAHA!”

It had been a while since you’ve laughed that hard. This night had all around been a very pleasing one. Giving the little foals a show by scaring them into giving you candy was always fun. And you knew they were never really afraid of you.

Little Pipsqueak was always a voice of reason among them. You were given a happy surprise when you saw Anonymous standing behind the crowd of foals. So much so you almost broke character.

”Yea. Rainbow Dash seems to get herself into trouble a lot. She is always coming from a good place though I think.”

“Is that so?”

”Of course. Though, the road to Hell is paved in good intentions.”

“The road to Hell?”

”Oh. Hell would be the closest version to Tartarus I think. Anyone who has committed sin or evil would be sent to Hell after they died.”

“I see. And there is a road that leads there?”

”Metaphorically yes. It’s a cautionary saying. Even if you are coming from a good place, that doesn’t mean everything you do is right or will come out the way you want it to.”

“Ah! A rather morbid way to say such a thing, but I think I understand.”

”Yea, Humans have some morbid ways of putting things into perspective. But it’s a form of art all in its own way.”

“How poetic.” You respond.

”Exactly.”

You and Anon walked a long a trail in White Tailed Woods, enjoying the scenery in the late hours of the night. A dim yet calming light being given off by your stars and moon. Fireflies danced around the both of you, a calm breeze gave life to the otherwise quite path.

The leafless tress allowed there to be very little in the way of the light coming from the sky. The night was so calm and peaceful that those not paying attention wouldn’t know tonight was supposed to be one of celebrating horror.

A heavy gust of fall wind blew from the side of the forest you were closest to, interrupting the otherwise temperate and relaxing breeze. The cold bit at you and you moved closer into Anonymous, bumping his arm.

”Woah. You okay Luna?”

You blushed. “O-of course. It just got a little colder out here.”

”Oh, yea. It is fall, one of the reasons us Humans where clothing.” Anon shuddered.

”Wish I had clothing more suited for the upcoming colder months though. Even my hoodie isn’t going to be enough for the winter weather.”

That’s a good idea for a present. ”Suppose we’ll just have to toughen it out for tonight though.”

“Yes, of course.” You say.

No. You could keep each other warm, with body heat. Just relaxing in a clearing leaning against each other, staying warm in Anon’s…

Ugh.

Those thoughts again. It started as an off hoof thought. Nothing you thought was serious. He was an amazing friend! Though the more time you spent with him the more those kinds of thoughts entered your mind.

Friends could keep each other warm! A warm hug of friendship...looking at the sky together...listening to Anon’s heartbea-

Stop! You’re making yourself blush. You couldn’t stop them from coming. He was from another race, another world. And he was mortal, he’d be gone like the rest of them.

Plus you two have an amazing friendship already. Why ruin that with awkward thoughts.

”Hey, what’s that?” You stopped and looked to see where Anon was pointing.

In one of the large clearings, there was a guitar leaning against a tree stump.

“It appears a pony has left their guitar out here.” You respond, looking into the clearing.

”Well, let’s go see if it has a marking or something saying who it belongs too.”

The two of you walk up to the musical instrument and Anonymous picks it up. On the body of the guitar, right under neath the bridge, are three large red apples.

”Hey. This is Applejack’s guitar!”

“Why would her guitar be all the way out here?”

”Maybe she just wanted to play out here and left it for some reason.” Anon sits down onto the tree stump and places the guitar on his lap.

”Hm.” He strums each string, one by one on the guitar. ”It’s still tuned...”

He looks up to you and then smiles.

”It’s been a few weeks, want to hear a song.”

“That would be most enjoyable.”

”Alright. Hmmm. What’s a good song I remember? Ah!”

Anon’s fingers danced across the strings of the guitar, playing a sweet if somber melody. Suitable though. Sweet yet somber describe Anonymous perfectly. You sat down and gazed at Anonymous as he worked the strings.

Each chord and strum coming together in an amazing harmony. Seeing him play his instrument, his figure cast against the dark woods, illuminated only by the dim light of the moon, stars, and occasional winter firefly, such a view would be perfect as a painting.

Such a painting would be one you’d stare at for hours. Being here and seeing the real thing though? Much better.

~~~~

Ch.11 The Scariest of Stories

”And then, after the pony slowly opened her front door, she finds on her door step...her missing saddle, covered in mold.” Lightning flashed, and you and your friends all huddled into each other. Shivering.

Rainbow was pretty good at telling some scary stories.

”Oh! Good HEAVENS Rainbow Dash, I-I don’t think I’ve shivered t-this much from one of your stories since y-you’ve told me about the time you crashed into Applejack’s pig sty!” Rarity was nuzzling right into your chest tuft.

Rainbow stood up and puffed her chest out. ”Heh, yea! I’m filled with great stories. Spooky, AND awesome.”

“More spooky than awesome.” You respond.

It was probably around midnight, you and your friends have been telling horror stories for hours. Mostly because after the first few, none of you were brave enough to sleep.

You looked over to Anonymous. He looked as though he was deep in thought.

“Anon?”

”Wha? Huh? Yes Twilight?”

“You okay? You haven’t said anything in a while?”

”Uhhhh. I’m uh, I’m fine. You guys are just taking a while is all.”

“What do you mean?”

”I mean, you guys have been sharing your...uhm, ‘spooky’ stories, and I was just waiting for one that was particularly dark is all.”

”WHAT?!”

Rainbow fluttered her self up into the air and hovered over to where Anon sat.

”The tale of ‘The Moldy Saddle’ is one of the most terrifying stories I know!”

Anon looked at Rainbow incredulously.

”Uhm. Is it really?”

Rainbow looked almost offended. Her mouth was open so wide It almost touched the floor from her position in the air. ”Uh, yes, really!”

”Alright, calm down sugar cube. Ah’m sure Anon didn’t mean nothin’ by it. He jus’ wasn’t spooked was all.”

Applejack butted in trying to mediate the situation.

”Though, Ah’m not sure how he couldn’t be.”

Pinkie Pie, seemingly out of no where, poked her head from behind Anonymous.

”WOW NONNY! I haven’t seen you shiver all night! *gasp * Does that mean you have an extra scary SUPER DUPER HORRIFYING STORY?!”

With the added emphasis on super duper horrifying, she hopped on top of Anon’s shoulders.

”Gah! Pinkie, you’re too heavy! No, I don’t really have one.”

Anon picked Pinkie up off his shoulders and set her down in front of him. Rarity finally lifter her head from your chest and looked over to Anon.

”Oh, you must Anon! If Rainbow Dash’s stories aren’t scarring you, you must have SOMETHING a lot more terrifying!”

”Listen, I...wait. Are you all being serious right now?”

The five of you looked at each other, and then all back to Anon.

“Serious about what?” You ask, eyebrow raised.

”Those were all the scariest stories you guys had to tell?” Anon looked at all of you, clearly confused.

“Well, some of them were scarier than others, and while they are all stories, they are some of the scariest we have in our culture...why?” You still weren’t sure what he was talking about.

Anon pinched his chin.

He was coming to a realization. Of what you didn’t know. But it look like it hit him like ton of hay bales.

”Those...those stories are all terrifying to you guys. Some of the scariest known?”

”Uh Yea!”

Rainbow set her self down, looking at Anon with a confused expression.

”Those stories...are the scariest...you guys have ever...”

Anon trailed off, it seemed like he was mostly talking to himself now.

”Excuse me for a minute, I need to uh...look at something real quick.”

Anon got up and left for the basement.

”Aww Nonny, where ya goin?” Pinkie started to follow Anonymous but you stopped her as she passed you.

“Hold on Pinkie, something’s up. I’ll go see what’s wrong.”

You picked yourself up and walked over to the basement.

You raised a hoof and knocked lightly on the door. “Anon?”

No answer.

You looked back over to the girls, they all shrugged.

“Anon? Anon, what’s going on?”

You pushed the door open slightly. You peered into his room, it was dark. The only light coming through was form the crack in the open door.

Anon was next to his bed, inspecting his old hoodie. Rarity mended it the best she could but there were still a stitch or two from the cuts he had in it.

“Anon?”

Anon didn’t move, he just continued to look at his old hoodie. You walked in a little bit and moved closer toward him.

“Anonymous, is everything oka-”

”Those are really the scariest stories you guys know? Like, not even that Edgar Allen Pone author doesn’t have anything scarier?”

You were taken a back a little bit. He’s really that overwhelmed by learning about pony horror?

“Uh, well, a few, but I wouldn’t say they are a lot scarier than say what Rainbow has to tell. Anon, what’s going on? Why is how scary our stories are upsetting you?”

Anon finally turned his head over to you, he looked like he was about to say something, but then stopped himself.

He turned his head back over to his hoodie and placed it carefully on his bed. ”It’s nothing Twi. I just came to a realization.”

He was becoming more confusing and hard to read by the minute.

“What do you mean? What realization?” You looked back over to Anon’s hoodie. “Is it about that place you were in?”

Anon didn’t answer. Instead he turned around and sat on his bed. The room was dark and still. The two of you looked at each other.

Your face expressed a sign of worry, on Anon’s a somber and serious tone. The quiet seemed to drag on.

Even the girls outside the room weren’t speaking. Knowing them they probably had their ears to the door and waiting in anticipation for what Anon had to say.

He let out a sigh. ”Twilight. You should stop asking about that. I’m never going to tell you what happened there.”

“What?”

”I said I’m never going to tell you what happened to me, or where I was between me being in my world and me showing up here.”

Where was this coming from? “Anon, if there’s anything wrong, we can help.”

”No Twilight. I want to do this alone.”

You went up to hug Anon but he stopped you, placing his hands on your shoulders. ”Really, Twi, I have to do some thinking tonight. I’m sorry to leave the party so early, but there are things I need to figure out tonight.

You gave Anon a pleading look, but once you realized you wouldn’t change his mind, you simply nodded and left the room.

When you closed the door to the room behind you, you looked over to your friends who were all looking at you with expectant looks on their faces.

”So...what the hay was that all about?” Rainbow asked, concerned.

“I don’t know Rainbow, Anon just needs some time to think tonight.”

”Think? About what?! Did my story end up scaring him?”

“No, I don’t think that’s it. But something about our stories opened his eyes about something, and it’s best we just let him meditate on what ever it is. He says he apologizes about leaving so early.”

The rest of the night continued as planned, absent one sad human. You all made conversation, ate s’mores, Pinkie was even able to get a few laughs out of every pony. But what Anon said stuck with you.

Another question you didn’t have the answer too, adding to how bugged you were with all of the other mysteries. Anon never came out of his room that night.

Eventually, you all decided it was time to go to sleep. As your head laid upon your pillow, the same questions bugging you at the beginning of the night made it difficult for you to find rest.

...

The night was silent. You and you’re friends were all asleep. The fire smoldered out some time in the middle of the night. You were wrapped in a comfortable blanket next to all of your friends on the floor of your library. The calm air of the night blew against the windows of your tree.

”AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Your eyes shot open.

Rarity and Pinkie woke up in a panic. Applejack and Rainbow were in a defensive stance in seemingly no time.

”What in the hay was-”

”FUCK YOU!”

The basement door flew open, almost coming off of the hinges.

Anon stumbled onto the ground.

“Anon!”

You rushed over to help him up off the ground. “Anonymous! What’s wrong!”

Anon was rolling on the floor as if he was in a struggle with some invisible attacker.

”Yo! Anon! What’s gotten into you?” Anon didn’t answer Rainbow Dash.

Instead he rolled into the table in the middle of the library, knocking the wooden statue off of it.

“Oh sweet Celestia! He’s having a night terror!”

”Ah’m on it Twi!” AJ ran into the kitchen and filled a mug with water.

Running back over, she splashed it in Anon’s face. ”JESUS! Buh! Good Christ!” Anon stopped struggling and grabbed his chest, breathing heavily.

“Anon! Anon, are you okay?”

”W-what the fuck? Twilight? I...you? Huh?”

“Anonymous, it’s fine, we’re going to help.”

”Twilight! You...Jesus Christ...did I...another one?”

Anonymous looked at you. His eyes wide in shock. “You had a night terror Anon!”

”Fuck...again? Damn it.” Anonymous was still catching his breath.

Pinkie and Rarity helped him sit up, each grabbing one of his arms and helping sit up against the table.

”Thanks you two, I-GAH!” Anon grabbed his head. ”Fuckin’ headache!”

Anon rubbed his temple for a minute while you went to grab some pain medication.

Once you were back you gave him the pills and a glass of water. After a minute of heavy breathing and pestering from your friends asking if he was alright, the situation finally calmed down.

”Y’all alright Anon?”

”Yea, I am. Thanks AJ.” Anon leaned his head back against the table and took a deep breath. ”I’m fine, everything his fine.”

“Anon, you haven’t had a nightmare that bad since you were in the castle!”

”Yea, I know. It was a bad one too.”

”No kidding!” Pinkie exclaimed.

”You busted through the door and were all like ‘wraaaa’ and I was all like ‘aaaaaa’, and then AJ came through with a mug of water and-mmphmmmphphph.”

Rainbow pushed her hoof into Pinkie’s mouth. ”Woah! Calm down there Pinks.”

Anon brought his hands to his face and rubbed his eyes. He sighed and blinked the sleep away. He leaned his head back again and stared at the ceiling.

Another night terror. Well, the first one you actually saw. You, Pinkie, and Fluttershy were able to calm him down back at the castle and never actually got to see one.

At worse, he’d wake up in a cold sweat when ever having one of his nightmares, and Princess Luna was also usually able to help him while he slept. But this?

You haven’t seen this before. You and your friends offered to help him to couch, but Anon insisted he was fine and awake enough to move around on his own.

None of you managed to get back to sleep that night. It was five in the morning when Anon woke up anyways. With only about four hours of sleep under your belts, you all decided breakfast would’ve been a good way to further calm the situation.

You would all ask periodically about Anon’s nightmare, but much like his normal ones, he wouldn’t say anything about them.

So the five of you eventually stopped asking. Breakfast was quiet that morning. You couldn’t shake the feeling that what had happened was a result of last night.

You’d blame the stories but Anon seemed unphased by them. You thought back to Anon saying he needed to think about something. What that was you weren’t sure.

You could guess however, what Anon thought about had to do with troubles he either previously gotten over, but have come back, or something he never revealed to anypony, and the mental dam keeping it back in Anon’s mind finally collapsed under the pressure.

Pinkie Pie offered Anon lunch at Sugar Cube Corner later that afternoon. Maybe that would work. You’d let her try that.

But you had an epiphany of your own. Something was wrong with Anon. Gravely wrong. More than personal problems, even if those would be at the heart of it.

You told yourself you wouldn’t do anything drastic unless a situation proved to you that there was no other option. Well, you felt that night terror that left half your library in a shamble, and a door dysfunctional, these measures had to be applied.

Yes, you’d let Pinkie offer Anon a lunch with your friends. But it was clear now that you had to intervene. You couldn’t wait for the answers to show themselves. You had to do something, and do something now.

...

”Twilight, you coming?” Spike waved over to you from across the room.

Him and Anon were about to go to Pinkie’s lunch she planned to help alleviate Anon’s night terror from last night.

“Oh! I’ll be there, I still need to clean up some of this stuff.”

”Twilight, are you sure you don’t want me to stay behind and take care of the mess instead? I am the one who caused it.”

“Don’t be silly Anon. You don’t want to miss the lunch Pinkie Pie is throwing for YOU. It won’t take me long!”

”I suppose you’re correct. We could take care of it when we get back though. We can eat, and then I can help you out.”

“No no. It’s an easy clean. I insist, you and Spike go and show up to Pinkie’s party. Tell them all I’ll be there in a minute.”

”Well...if you insist I guess. See you in a minute?”

“Of course! I’ll see both of you soon.”

You waved to Spike and Anon as they left the library, watching the door shut behind them.

“Now that they are gone.” You cast a spell or two and the library was as clean as it was before the episode last night.

You’d have to schedule something for somepony to fix the door though. Didn’t matter now. Anon’s night terror last night made something in your head click into place.

What you and your friends were doing wasn’t enough. You had to help Anon some OTHER way. Your mind drifted to his journal.

No!

That was if there was no other way. You wanted to help him, and at this point you were even considering doing some ethically questionable things to do so.

But you had to exhaust options. Maybe looking through his things would get you somewhere? You pulled the door to Anon’s room carefully and walked inside.

He took care of the little space you offered him. Best he could at least. The bed still wasn’t made, and his things from his world were still scattered around his desk.

He was neat enough to hang his clothes properly though. You picked up one of his hoodies. His older one. Looking it over you noticed the fine, barely noticeable stitching Rarity has made to mend the thing. You could barely see any pink or red that was a result of where ever Anon was the night before arriving to Equestria.

You could only imagine what Luna had seen of Anon when she found him.

You scrunched your muzzle. “Don’t worry Anon. You may not want to accept our help. But we are going to give it to you. We’ll make what ever you’re going through better.”

You set down the hoodie and walk over to Anon’s bag resting on the table.

You begin looking through his bag, searching for something that may help you without having to do anything too drastic. Though you felt that may be unavoidable the more time went on.

A pocket knife. It had little red droplets staining it, the knife it self was rather dull and bent. As though he’d been using it a lot and was either not taking care of it, or unable to.

A pack of cigarettes and a lighter. Obvious what these are for. A strange long wire that split in two a long the middle. On the end of the two wires were small buds bent into a shape resembling a phonograph’s horn.

At the other end, a dull metal spike with grooves a long it. You weren’t sure what these were for. You put those aside and continued.

You found some pieces of paper and small coins in his bag. Human money! Another mental note to ask Anon about, but this wouldn’t help you.

You stopped rummaging through the bag. You found something. What was this? You pulled it out.

It was a long, black, rectangle. Rhomboid actually now that you looked at it. It was ‘L’ shaped and had a little trigger in the angle. You don’t remember the princess’s mentioning Anon having this on them. They must have thought nothing of it.

It seemed to be hollow. As if you put something in it. Ugh what was that smell? It smelt burnt.

You placed the open end of the black object under your nose and took a whiff. Was that?

There was a faint smell of burnt sulfur coming from the inside of it. Weird. You wonder what that was used for.

Just another thing to ask Anon about.

After some more looking, you could find nothing. You sighed, and glanced over to the drawer in the desk.

You didn’t want to.

It felt wrong.

You were already doing a very fishy thing by looking through Anon’s personal belongings, but reading his private journal felt so unethical. But he needed help.

His nightmares weren’t getting better, and if last night was a message of what was to come, they could only get worse. With a deep breath you opened the drawer and enveloped the journal in your aura.

You could feel a dark energy coming from it. You could already feel the weight of the action you were about to do. What else could you do though?

You stared at the front.

’DO NOT READ’

Those bold letters in red seemed to pierce into you.

You gulped, and stared down the journal.

“This is for Anon. I have to do it. Even if what I’m doing is wrong. The ends HAVE to justify the means in this situation. They have to.”

You placed the notebook on the ground and let out a long sigh.

“I’m sorry Anon. I’m just trying to help.”

You read the bold letters one last time.

‘DO NOT READ!’

It read like a warning. You opened the cover and stared at the red writing. Guilt was already beginning to fill you. But you persisted.

For Anon. For your friend. For his sanity. You began to read.

“Dear diary...”

You couldn’t finish the line. You fell over.

Everything went black.

~~~~

Ch.12 There and Back again

Surrounded.

He was surrounded. Surrounded by a thick cloud of red Aura. You tried your best to enter the aura but were repulsed on every attempt. Why wasn’t this working?

You sensed something was wrong in your dream realm, something wrong with Anonymous. But it felt like it would’ve been another normal Night Mare.

This was so much different however. This thick aura surrounding Anon seemed so alien. What was wrong?

“Maker damn you! Let us in!”

You screamed, using your royal Canterlot voice. The thick crimson cloud surrounding Anon’s unconscious body swam around.

Agitated by your previous attempts, it lashes out at you. The smell was horrible. Like mold and rot. You recoiled and gag on the air in your mouth. You couldn’t do anything here. You had to do something else.

Frustrated, you left the dream realm and ran to your sister’s chambers. “Celestia!”

Your sister jumped at your sudden entrance, almost choking on the cake in her mouth.

”Guh! Luna! What’s the emergency?”

“Sister, it is urgent! I must go to Ponyville to deal with a nightmare issue!”

”Nightmare? It’s the middle of the day. Who would be asleep at this hour?”

“Anonymous.”

”Did you not see him last night?”

“We did. And he is having another nightmare. One I can not solve in my dream realm.”

”You can’t? How’s that?”

“We aren’t sure, but there is a strange aura surrounding him on the dream realm and I can’t get through it. I will be leaving to Ponyville with great haste! I’m sorry we must cancel on the tea party.”

”I...uhm. That’s fine Luna. If Anonymous needs help with an issue like this, it is far more important you go and help.”

“I will return sister, wish us luck.”

With that, you galloped out of Celestia’s chambers and down the halls of the castle. You reached the main balcony and took off, flying as fast as you could.

Normally it’d take a day for you to reach the town flying on your own. But the sense of urgency present within you, and with a considerable amount of magic, you were able to reach the edge of Ponyville’s city limits within a hooffull of hours.

Touching down at the city limits you caught your breath. A significant amount of you magic reserves were depleted and your wings were sore.

“Oh...moonrocks, never again.”

After gulping down several mouthfulls of air, you took off galloping to where you knew Anon was staying. Twilight’s Library. You dashed in and out of the ponies in the street. A few of them screaming, a few of them expressed some rather course words you’d have them punished for if the situation wasn’t so dire. Others took photographs.

Panting and with a mane soaked in sweat, you finally reached the library. You knocked in the door to the library.

…

Wait, forget this, you’re a princess. You kicked the door open, almost hitting a small dragon in the face.

”Ahh! Woah hey, watch it...Princess Luna?”

“Ah! Spike, Twilight’s assistant. We apologize for the urgency, but there is something wrong with Anon!”

”What? How’d you know Anon passed out?”

“Yes, we’ve come to...wait, what was that you said?”

”You said you came by to check on Anon. How’d you know he fell out cold out of no where?”

“He is out cold?”

”Yea! Here, I’ll take you to him.”

You entered the library and followed the small dragon to the other side of the room. Anon was, as the dragon said, unconscious on a couch in a corner of the library. Rarity and Fluttershy were by his side tending to him. When they noticed you, they quickly turned themselves around and bowed.

”Princess Luna! Why are you here?” Fluttershy squeaked.

“We sensed Anonymous was in trouble and came to help as soon as we could. We are close friends after all.”

”Oh! Of course.”

You looked around the room for a second, noticing a lack of Elements of Harmony.

“Where are the rest of your friends? Specifically Princess Twilight.”

Rarity stepped up. ”Well that’s just it your majesty, we can’t find her. We sent out the rest of us to go and look for her.”

“Where was the last place you three remember her being?”

The purple dragon spoke up next. ”Anon and I were on our way to Pinkie’s to have lunch. Twilight stayed behind to clean up the library before she went. She said she’d be right behind us.”

“So Anonymous fainted at the bakery in town?”

”Yea! But we brought him back here assuming Twilight was still here to help. We’ve checked her room, the kitchen, Anon’s room. She’s no where.”

“We see.”

You walked up to Anonymous and studied him. He was definitely unconscious. There really wasn’t anything you could do in this situation. You already saw what he looked like in the dream realm, and there really wasn’t a good spell for waking people up from unconsciousness. Or a spell at all for that fact.

You had to calm yourself down entering the library, you had a royal demeanor to maintain. Your subjects couldn’t see you freaking out like a filly who just lost her toy. But seeing Anon out cold on the couch like this, and without any known cause twisted your stomach up in knots. You’d describe him as being peaceful if it weren’t for the eerie stillness he projected.

The only movement was the soft rising and falling of his chest with every breath he took. This was the only obvious sign he was breathing. His breaths weren’t very audible, even with your alicorn hearing. You moved to rest your hoof on Anon’s chest when the front door opened.

”It’s hopeless y’all! We’ve looked every where. That hayburger joint, quills and sofas, the book store, we even checked the bakery for her!”

You looked over to the front door to see Applejack coming through relaying her distress over not being able to find their friend. Followed by Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.

Upon observing you they gasped and bowed. Upon lifting up her head, the apple farmer expressed confusion upon seeing you.

”Princess Luna? What are you doing here?”

“We sensed Anon was in danger and came to check in on him.”

Pinkie gasped jumped right in front of you. ”DANGER! Oh my gosh, is Nonny alright? Is he sick? Does he have the flu? Common cold? Gasp Does Anon have a spy chasing him?”

The party mare got closer and closer to your face with every threat she listed off. She was so close at the end of her rambling you could smell her coffee breath.

You scrunched your muzzle and slowly placed a hoof onto her face and pushed her down and away.

“Uhm. Noooooo. At least. We don’t think so. There still seems to not be any reason as to WHY Anon has passed out. And I’m assuming the three of you haven’t found the whereabouts Twilight Sparkle have you?”

Applejack stepped up again to answer. ”No your highness. We didn’t. We’ve looked and asked all over town. But nopony seems to no where Twilight went off to!”

“Well, this certainly is a problem then.”

Rainbow Dash hovered over you two, interrupting your train of though. ”Uhhh. Guys? Do you hear somethin’?”

“Hear wha-”

*thump*

”What was that?” Spike looked around nervously.

*thump*

All of you stopped to listen in to the source of the sound.

*thump*

A horrible smell began to arouse as well. It was faintly familiar for some reason.

Rarity gagged and covered her muzzle with a hoof. ”Gah! Ughh. I believe I think I hear the movement from, guhhh…” Rarity shivered. ”From, that room over there.”

She pointed her hoof over towards a door of the library that seemed to have it’s hinges broken.

”What? The basement? We were just in there.”

”Well standing around and doing nothing won’t solve the mystery.” Rainbow Dash swooped over and placed her hoof on the door. ”What ever is in there may be why Twilight is gone. Or maybe even why Anon blacked out.”

Rainbow dash opened the door and a gust of the stench flew out. It was rancid. It was like mold...mold and rot. It was on the tip of your tongue. What was it?

Rainbow Dash coughed and covered her muzzle with one of her forelegs and peered in. The rest of you really couldn’t see in the room. Rainbow’s body was blocking the door way, and the room was dark.

After gazing into the room, Rainbow cowered and slammed the door shut, turning around and keeping her back against the door. Her eyes were wide and pupils dilated.

“Rainbow Dash, what did you see?” You asked the shivering pegasus.

You moved toward her.

”U-uh...you don’t wanna know.”

You made your way closer and stopped just in front of the mare leaning against the door. “Rainbow Dash. What is inside the room?”

You postured yourself to make you seem taller than you were. You were still taller than the rest of the ponies in the room, but you really wanted to emphasize the authority in your bearing.

Rainbow gulped, her eyes darted to the side and she careened her neck to stare at the door. ”Uhm. Princess, I wouldn’t go in there if I were you. B-but, if you wanna look…” Rainbow moved out of the way and went back to fluttering above you. ”Go right ahead. I’mmmmm gonna stay over here...away from...that.”

She flew over to the other side of the room, right next to Anonymous. You and the rest of the mares in the room stared at her inquisitively.

“Alright?” You say. You looked back over to the door and placed a hoof on the handle.

*thump*

What was she so worried about? What was behind this door?

*thump*

They said they checked this room a while ago when searching for Twilight Sparkle. What could have made their way into this room with out them noticing?

*thump*

You slowly opened the door. All the mares minus Rainbow Dash were behind you trying to take a peak. Even timid Fluttershy who was quivering behind your flank.

You finally pulled the door open as far as it would go, stopping only because the hinges were so badly damaged.

Applejack heaved.

Pinkie Pie slowly backed away.

Rarity fainted.

Fluttershy began to break down.

Spike uttered one word.

”Freaky.”

The inside was...Well, it was bizarre. Very bizarre and very terrifying. The same cloud of funk invaded your nostrils. The floor of the room seemed to be covered in dark red and engorged blood vessels. Some of them as thick around as the barrel of a foal, others had a far more normally sized diameter. They pulsated slowly and seemed to push blood, or what ever substance they were carrying, into the floor of the tree itself. Patterns and roots all flowing into each other.

It was like seeing the circulatory system of a pony just lying on the ground haphazardly. Some of the bark and wood on the walls were peeled back or rotting. Mold and fungus in their own patched along the confines of the room. What was most peculiar however, was that underneath some of the peeled back wood and bark, was metal.

Corroding and rusted metal. Lastly, and seemingly the most ominous, was that in the middle of the room, what you presumed to be the source of all this was since everything, blood vessels, mold, and metal alike, was a black note book.

Though the book itself was also covered in random veins as well, you could make out large and red letters, reading…

“Do not read?” You read aloud.

”W-what?” Fluttershy looked up from her hooves.

“Do not read...is this Anonymous’ journal?” You slowly entered the room and stared around.

It clicked why that smell is familiar. It was the same stink from the Aura that surrounded Anonymous in your dream realm. Despite the arteries carpeting the floor, there really wasn’t any blood outside of them.

“By the maker. You said you inspected this room?”

Spike poked his head through the door frame. ”Yea! None of this was here like twenty minutes ago!”

What? What in Tartarus caused all of this? You took a close look at the book.

*thump*

You recoiled.

It...it moved!

*thump*

The book was moving. It looked like it was trying to open up.

*thump*

*bang*

The blood vessels covering the book finally tore, and the cover flew open, hitting the floors surface with the force of a two ton weight falling from the sky. Pages flipped and turned themselves. You slowly began to walk backwards, never taking your eyes off the journal in question. The flipping began to get progressively faster and faster. The book flipping to seemingly random pages. Forwards and backwards.

”AHHHHHHHHHH!”

A scream could be heard coming from the book, as if it were coming from down a long hallway.

”Horse apples! That sounded like Twilight!”

Applejack, who was slowly walking backwards away from the book, halted when she heard the scream.

“Sky above! She’s in the book?” You exclaim.

”PLEASE! PLEASE! I CAN’T, NOT HERE!”

She was begging, screaming as if in painful agony. You had to do something. With out hesitation, you channeled some of the little magic you had rest in your reserves and performed a return spell on the journal. A spell you learned as a filly if say, Celestia or a student was practicing a spell that allowed you to enter a book but they forgot how to return. A bright flash filled the room. A thud. And then...silence.

…

You opened your eyes. Blinking away the bright light away from the flash of the spell. You shook your head and looked toward the book.

The room seemed fine now, back to normal. All that lay on the floor was Anon’s journal and…

Sweet mother of...you don’t even know.

Your spell worked, that was for sure. Twilight was on the floor, against the wall on the opposite side of the room.

A scarred, and bruised mess. Her body was covered in lacerations and bite marks. Scabs and burn marks covered her flank and there were a few large bruises around her ribs. One of her wings were dislocated. A trail of dry blood trailed from her nose, and most of her tail seemed to be missing. What on earth happened to this mare?

”Twilight!” A chorus of screams erupted from behind you, and the five other elements of harmony and Spike rushed in to see their friends.

Frantic chattering from her friends trying to make sure she was okay filled the room. You pushed them aside and approached the mare.

“Calm down, all of you calm down. Let us handle this.”

You lowered your head down and nuzzled Twilight.

“Twilight. Twilight wake up.”

She twitched as did her leg. You nuzzled her some more and concentrated a little bit more magic into your horn. You may not have a spell that could wake a pony up from being unconscious, but in dire situations you could perform a spell that would give ponies a jolt of energy. Though in this case a jolt may not be necessary.

Twilight’s eyes slowly opened and she began to take in the view around her.

”W-where...where am I?” She croaks.

“You’re in your library Twilight. Back home.” You coo.

”I-I’m back? I...I’m back.”

“Yes. Of course. Be careful sitting up.”

”I-I’m...I’m back from...I’m back...”

“Yes. You’re fine now Twilight Sparkle. You’re safe. Where ever you were, you’re not there any more. We can get you the help you need.”

”I...back…” She just kept stuttering the same words over and over.

“Yes Twilight, you’re back...Twilight, can you tell us where you were?”

”Where? I...no. No, I can’t...I don’t...I was…” Tears began to form in the purple mare’s eyes.

”Where? I was...I’m back from...from, no I can’t I…” She continued to stutter.

Tears began to fall from her eyes now. She sniffed and brushed some of them away.

”No. No, I’ll tell you.”

“That’s wonderful. Where is it that you were?”

Helping ponies out of nightmares trained you for this you suppose. It’s been more than one occasion where you had to help a foal recover from a terrifying nightmare.

”I...I was in the dark place...I know where I was. I know where Anon was, I know what happened, I know everything now and I…” She stopped her self again. She began to breakdown.

”Oh sweet Celestia, what did I do? What did I do? I just wanted to help! I couldn’t stand to see Anon struggle and be able to do nothing! I...I had to read it. I had to read his journal and now I...I can’t even begin to just...I…” The flood gates opened, and tears flowed freely and in great amounts from her eyes.

She wrapped her hooves around you and buried her muzzle into your chest. You allowed her. She wanted to help Anon? By reading his journal? And his journal is the dark place? Like...literally?

It would explain the state the room was in before you cast the spell. But Twilight mentioned only reading the journal not casting a spell. And she knows everything now? What possessed her to read his personal diary like that? What was so urgent with Anon that she had to violate his privacy?

You shuttered to imagine.

Taking a closer look at the state Twilight was in, it mirrored what Anon looked like when you first encountered him. It tore you up inside to think about Anon going through what Twilight just had as well. What could that have possibly been?

Your thoughts were cut short though.

Twilight had since removed her face from your chest and was staring behind you. ”A-anon?”

You and the rest of the ponies in the room turned your heads to see Anonymous standing there with his journal in his hands. An apology began pouring out of Twilight’s mouth.

”A-anon...I...I didn’t know, hay, I COULDN’T have known that everything you had gone through was just so-”

”You read my journal.”

Twilight recoiled.

“Anonymous! You are well!” You exclaim.

”She read my journal…” He ignored you.

“Uhhhh...”

”Yes Anon, I did, and I’m sorry but you were just so hurt and things looked like they were getting worse and I-”

”There is written, in BIG RED LETTERING TO NOT DO THE EXACT THING YOU JUST DID!” All of you shrunk back at that.

Anon seemed enraged, embarrassed, hurt...betrayed. It pained you to seem him like this.

”Anon...I’m sorry...I…” Twilight began to cry again.

”Twilight why...w-why did you read...wha?” Anonymous began to look so confused, so hurt. It broke your heart.

You stood up and began to approach him. “Anonymous, listen to us.”

”Luna? L-luna do you know anything?”

“Anonymous...Anon, no, let us explain, we can all figure this...”

”No! No more explaining. I can’t. No more helping! Do you not fucking see what all this ‘helping’ has done? Do you see what it caused?! I just KNEW something like this would happen. Look at her!” Anon points to Twilight, who cowers.

“No, fuck this, I’m fucking leaving.”

Anon turns around and books it out of the room. “Anon wait!” You begin to chase him down but are stopped when Twilight jumps onto you.

”Luna wait! Please, I need to warn you!” You struggle do get Twilight off of you, even with the help of her friends, and magic. She was grabbing on to your haunches for dear life almost.

“Twilight Sparkle! What is the meaning of this? We need to catch Anonymous!”

”Princess please, I need to warn you about what could happen! I want to help Anonymous just as much as you but please! You have no idea what happens in his book!”

“And when have WE expressed interest in violating his privacy?” You spat back.

”Princess Luna, you don’t understand. That book, his journal, that was his source of consciousness! That book holds all the information we need to help him.”

“W-what? His source of...you never wrote back to us on that! We assumed you have failed to find it.”

”W-well no...I’m sorry. I did find it. But I didn’t know what to make of it. It wasn’t just outside of Anon’s body. It gave off a horrible aura that was so different than what my book on the spell described.”

“So you are saying...that all of his problems are coming from his journal?”

”Well most of them. Please, Princess you have to understand, if everything I found out while in that journal is true...and I didn’t get far...then the only way to help Anon...is to truly understand what he went through in that book. And because I screwed up, you can’t just track him down and force it. You have to convince him.”

You pondered what the young princess was telling you. How did she know all of this, and why in the heavens did she not tell you about Anon’s source of consciousness? Well, you had it now. Which means you can finally get into Anon’s head...with his permission, and hopefully end all of this once and for all, as well as get any answers you’ll need.

“Are you sure about all of this Twilight Sparkle? This is all coming from seemingly NOWHERE from our perspective.”

She vigorously nods her head.

“So be it. Elements of Harmony! The rest of you take care of your friend and get her medical attention. I’ll find Anonymous.” And with that, you made haste to go and find Anonymous. Where ever he went.

...

You ran out of the library and flew up into the sky. Only for you to come back down.

“Hnng! What in the?”

You pick yourself up and brush off the dirt from the landing. You were still too tired from arriving to Ponyville so quickly. “Moonrocks...guess I’ll have to search for Anon on hoof.”

You looked around you and saw a crowd of shocked ponies in the market place off in the distance. You ran up to them. Noticing you, they all bowed their heads in respect. One of the mares called out to you.

”Princess? Your majesty what are you doing here?”

“No time for formalities my little ponies. We must ask you all if you’ve seen the Human Anonymous come through here?”

You spoke as urgently as you could short of using your royal Canterlot voice.

You didn’t want to deafen the crowd.

”Him? Oh goodness, he ran just right through us a minute ago.”

“Did you see where he went?”

”He went into that direction over there your highness, down the path of White Tailed Woods!”

“We thank you all!”

You booked it. Going down the path they said Anonymous ran down. Questions ran through your head. About the journal, about Twilight, about Anonymous.

Those all had to wait however. Now you just had to make it to Anon and…

Well, you didn’t really know. Twilight was rather vague on those details. She said she’d figure a few things out, and that if you wanted to help Anon, he had to let you. Though Anon did seem panicked. He left the library in a rush, with out even checking on Twilight or questioning why everypony was there.

What ever caused all of this, it terrified him, and you could see the guilt and anger in his eyes as he picked up his journal and fled.

Your hooves kicked up dirt as you ran down the trail. You ran with so much speed and force that a few of the leaves that hadn’t been shaken down from the trees during the Running of the Leaves event were certainly off of them by now. You looked around. In every clearing. Past every tree.

In the branches as well. He was a primate. Wasn’t that a thing they did? Live in trees? Point being, you were doing your best to look for Anon.

Wait. Stop.

You dug your hooves into the ground, skidding to a halt.

You waved the kicked up dirt cloud away to get a better view into the clearing you just passed.

Huzzah!

There on a stump, sat Anonymous. You cantered over to him and called out his name.

“Anon! There you are, please, we must-”

Anon swerved around and fell back.

”What the? Luna! Why are you-?”

“Anon calm down, I’m not here to-”

”Luna, no, I don’t want help, not you too! I couldn’t bear-”

“ANONYMOUS! THAT IS ENOUGH!”

You stomped a hoof on the ground and screamed so loud you made the trees and earth around you shake. Anon recoiled and hid his face behind his book. A disturbed flock of birds were shaken from their nests and flew off. Squawking in annoyance.

That was able to make Anon shut up.

You didn’t really like doing it, now that you were accustomed to the manners and ways of speaking in the modern world, but the Canterlot voice was still useful. A steady silence replaced the panic from earlier. A long breath was held between the two of you before you let it out with a sigh.

Now that all was still, you finally felt you could breath easy. A very nice contrast from the series of events that happened earlier in the day.

“Anonymous...Anon, there is no more running away from this. No more hiding, no more secrets. We can not wait any longer. We all beg of you...I beg of you, just talk to us.”

Anon lowered the book from his face. He seemed so defeated. You approached him and sat down.

“We are far too tired to run any longer. I have exhausted a significant amount of my magic reserves and energy just to get here to Ponyville to make sure you were okay. Twilight Sparkle seems to have seen and been through a lot just to help you. We all witnessed some pretty unusual things in the past few hours, even coming from you.”

Anon looked so distraught. As though he didn’t even know what to do in the situation. He brought a hand to his forehead and looked over to somewhere nonspecific before meeting your eyes again.

”Why?”

“We care about you Anonymous.”

”What...does that mean Luna? That’s too vague. How? Why are you trying to help me? Especially after what happened? How could you care about an alien you found not even a few months ago that almost attacked you?”

“Anon, don’t talk about yourself like you are some horrible monster or daemon! We understand that our first impressions were not ideal, and yes in the beginning it was to make sure you were not a threat to our kingdom, but now we’ve developed a genuine care for your well being. You could be a horrible spirit meant to haunt me and I’d still care, especially over the bond we shared.”

”S-spirit? Why are you-”

“Anon, that was a figure of speech.”

”I...uh, heh heh. Yea, of course.”

“Anonymous...I’d like to say I know you. You expressed so yourself that we share a lot in common. We felt alone. We both had horrible issues with our personal self image. I know it’s hard for you to express your self, get everything off your chest.”

”Luna this is clearly different. I-I mean, Twilight is injured, and, I don’t recall everything that happened in the book, but when I went through it, I just had to question if I was even sane. There were time’s I had to overtly question if I was even...”

Anon fell to the ground on his knees and buried his face into his journal. You nuzzled the side of his face.

“Anonymous. We saw what happened to Twilight. This changes nothing other than the urgency in needing to help you. Something is wrong. Unnaturally wrong, and something that can obviously not be so easily done away with by magic.”

”I don’t want to hurt any one again Luna. Hell, you know how I felt about leaving my coworker to suffer in her grief, even if she was in the wrong. I don’t want to bother anyone with my problems.”

“Anonymous. I have been able to trust with you all my problems and hardships that led to Night Mare Moon. Those problems definitely hurt ponies, especially my sister. You’ve been able to help me through feelings and emotions I couldn’t discuss with family successfully. We are similar even in this, and we are in debt with you for it.”

Your chest felt twisted on the inside. Those awkward thoughts began to come back again, only now they were joined by fear. The fear that if you didn’t do anything you’d be harming Anon. Or worse, loose him.”

”I...I don’t even understand everything myself.” He sighs.

“You must’ve known somethings. You kept that book out of the hooves of anypony, especially me and my sister when we were about to confiscate it.”

”I didn’t want anyone to read what was inside! I didn’t want all of my problems coming out like that. Those were mine! I didn’t know they’d be fucking sucked in! I tried to get rid of it, burned it, soaked it, tore it up, threw it in the garbage. But it doesn’t fucking go away. It’s like it’s attached to me in a sort of way. Like we need each other to just exist!”

That reminded you of what Twilight said about his source of consciousness.

“That may very well be so Anonymous. And if that’s the case then clearly what ever the real problem troubling you is, has to be inside that book. Twilight discovered as much.”

”She probably figured out a lot of things...God, poor Twilight. I can’t show my face around the six of those ponies again.”

“We all care about you, that’s why Twilight read it in the first place.” You placed a hoof on the journal.

“And that is why we must finish what she started.”

anon stared at you in disbelief at what he just heard. He slowly began to shake his head.

”No. N-no, no! Luna! You can’t! I know you want to help, but if you have to...argh, Luna not this way. Please!”

You wrapped a hoof around Anon and pulled him into a hug, nuzzling your neck into his.

“I don’t want you to hurt either...but it must be done.”

”L-luna...”

Anon wrapped his arms around you. ”I know where you’ll go. It’s to dangerous. I barely made it out of that place in one piece.”

His grip got tighter, and you could feel his wet eyes mat the fur in your neck. ”I can’t hurt you too. God forbid I lose you.”

You placed your free hoof on Anon’s chest and softly pushed him away, breaking the hug.

“You have helped me through my troubles. The longer we postpone the more at risk you put yourself in. Please Anon, let us help you.”

He wiped his eyes and looked at you with pleading eyes. Begging you not to do it. You won this staring contest of will though and Anon sighed. He looked at the book still in his hands, and then back at you.

Slowly and with a trembling hand, he slowly out stretched his arm and gave you the journal.

You surrounded the book in your aura and held it in front of you.

”Luna wait...”

You stopped and lowered the book to make eye contact with Anonymous.

”Before you do it...I need to tell you that I...just...be safe. And I’m so, so sorry.”

You simply gave anon your best reassuring smile and lifted the book back up. You closed your eyes and took in a deep breath. You let the wind and sounds flora and fauna of the wildlife enter your ears for a gentle moment. Assuming, if Twilight and Anonymous were anything to go off of, this was the last moment of peace you would be experiencing for a while.

You released the breath, and with a hoof opened the cover of the notebook. You began to read the red writing.

”Dear diary...”

You couldn’t even finish the line.

You fell over.

Everything went black...

~~~~

Ch.13 The School

You are Princess Luna.

Princess of the night. Co-ruler of Equestria. And you feel like your head was about to split open.

You began rubbing your temples with your hooves and tried your best to open your eyes. Dry mucus caked your eye lids. Making it just a little more difficult to open them. It didn’t help that you felt as though all of the magic and life had been sucked out of you.

You haven’t felt like this since awaking after your thousand year slumber in your moon.

Rubbing out all of those eye boogers, you let your eyes get accustomed to the light in the room around you. Well, what little of it there was anyways. The room you were in was...well, it looked abandoned.

A strange rectangle in the ceiling of the room was giving off a very faint light source, though it seemed to go out and come back in small flashes.

You got the feeling it wasn’t supposed to do that. The walls had porcelain tiling and the ground you lie on is wet and clammy. Looking closer you could see taps coming from the walls. The ceiling appeared moist, black splotches of mold were…

Oh...oh heavens.

“Hrk!”

By the maker. It just hit you like a slab of marble. The dank musk and decay invaded your nostrils. The hint of the mold was light, but just enough to make it a thousand times worse than what it would have been. “Oh good graces, what in...hrk!”

Aaaaand you just emptied your stomach on the floor. Now was probably a good time to get up and figure out where in the hay you were. Maybe a towel to wipe off any vomit that may have gotten onto you. The shower area seemed communal. Something you’d see in a locker room.

Upon exiting the shower area, you find that a locker room is exactly where you were. Lockers lined the walls, though they were stacked to heights far taller than it’d be expected for a pony to use. Looking at the place, it seemed to be slightly big for any sort of locker room.

Even if you were in Cloudsdale where Pegasi could just hover up to reach, the taps, faucets, and benches all seemed to be out of place. Hay, the room was slightly bigger than for a mare your size.

Okay okay.

Enough of sizing up the room. Where were you? Like, exactly?

Yea duh, you were in a locker room. But why? Oh! You remember now. You must be inside of Anon’s journal. Why would it send you here?

Some smelly locker room where the benches are rotten, the lockers bent in and rusted, some of their doors fallen off, and mold infesting the ceiling? You remember Anonymous warning you of this place being terrifying, and of Twilight also having been here. She didn’t seem to have a very pleasant experience either.

“I suppose...I will just have to find a way out of here?”

Good...idea? Better than nothing, and it gives you a goal to work towards. You really should’ve asked Anonymous more about the book.

But he was already VERY adamant you not even open it. And when you freed Twilight Sparkle she was adamant that you HAD to go through the book to help him. Given her distressed state and injuries, she really didn’t appear to be able to give any more details than what she did give out.

You make your way through the rows of lockers and happen upon a small room. It appeared to be an office with a little desk inside.

Probably where an instructor or coach would sit. The light inside was far brighter and a lot more stable. You pushed the rotting door open slightly and took a few steps inside.

The walls had writing on them.

”OPEN YOURSELF UP!”

Smeared in...was that? You sniffed the air. Please don’t let it be what you thought it was. You got a little closer to the lettering and sniffed one more time.

“Oh by the maker that’s...Hrk!”

You caught the vomit in your throat and managed to swallow it back down. Yep...feces.

Someone took their dung...and smeared that message on the wall. What in the heavens pushed someone to do that? As cryptic and strange as the message was, it really didn’t help you. Though you’d stick a pin in that and remember it for later.

You looked over the desk to find something that could help you. A long and black cylinder that seemed to stretch in a conic shape at the end.

The chair behind the desk had a satchel draped over the back.

“How convenient.”

You threw the satchel on and tighten the strap so it’d fit snug around your lower neck and barrel.

“This should prove useful in my journey. As for THIS strange object.”

You look over the odd wand device and find a switch near the base.

Switching it on caused light to flash out the end.

“This...should prove VERY useful in my journey.”

You switched off the torch and placed it in the satchel. You didn’t need it quite yet, being princess of the night had it’s perks which included better visibility in the dark. Though assuming the luminosity of the environment you find your self in now is anything to go off of. You don’t think it’s going to get any brighter.

Leaving the office you notice a small hallway that was close to the door. A small and dark hallway. With a small cage in the wall that seemed to be holding cones, exercise equipment, and various balls for sport in it.

Yep, it probably won’t get much brighter from here on. At the end of the hallway was a door that had a sign saying ‘exit’ on it though, and that’s what you needed.

You walk down and pull the handle.

Locked.

Moonrocks. There was probably a key back in the-

”Another horse huh?”

“AH!”

You back into the wall of the corridor opposite of the source of the strange voice. Which was the cage.

“Who’s there! We demand you to identify yourself!”

Having a mini-heart attack and having your back against a wall is no reason to NOT be authoritative to a strange voice coming from the darkness. Oddly enough not your first time.

”I’m assuming you already know me...sort of.”

Wait. You did recognize that voice. You squint into the darkness and see the vague shape of…

“A-Anonymous! Is that you in there?”

”You know, the last one of you asked the same question. I hope you don’t get as excited when I give you the same answer.”

“There is no need to be cryptic. I know that voice!”

The dark figure inched his way closer into the soft light coming from down the hall way.

He...looked like Anonymous.

Though his normally white hoodie was gray and covered in stains.

It looks like he hasn’t shaved in days, which was odd given the fact Anonymous usually kept himself clean shaven when he could. And he was wearing...uh.

“Anonymous? Why are you wearing a blindfold? And why the crosses on them?”

Anonymous furrowed his brow.

”I’m not going to answer a stupid question like that.”

You cocked your neck back slightly. What? Why was he acting so rude? Were you two not close friends? Your last memory with him was him fearing for your safety if you recall correctly.

“Anonymous there is no need to be abrasive. I’m sure we can help each other. I see that the cage is locked, maybe there’s a key in th-”

”I don’t need YOUR help with the cage.”

“Oh?”

”I don’t need your help with anything.”

”What? I don’t think I understand. You allowed me to read your journal. I did not force my way in like Twilight. Though please understand when she did so she was only doing it out of love for a friend.”

”You were allowed to read it? Don’t tell me you’re trying to help too! You weird multicolored horses are just gonna make everything worse!”

“We make...what? Anonymous please calm down, surely you know that you let me read the journal! It occurred less than-”

”Oh, Shut up! You want to try and help? Go ahead. You can’t, and you’ll become absorbed and suffer the same pain as I do, and probably die like the purple bitch who just came through almost did. But by all means, give it a shot.”

“W-well, isn’t that what you wanted? And what’s so dangerous out there?”

Anon slipped his hand in his hoodie pocked and took something out of it.

”Here, this is all I’ll give you. Don’t expect anymore help. Now if you excuse me…”

Anon flicked the item into your face and turned around. Making his way to a large bin in the corner of the cage. ”I need to have a serious...heart to heart with my self.”

Anon stepped into the bin and crouched down out of sight.

You pressed your face up against the cage.

“Anon? Wait, what do you mean? Why must you act so aggressive?”

No answer. “Anonymous?”

Still no answer.

“Anon please speak to me!” You shook the cage, which in turn shook some boxes next to it and caused a medicine ball to come out and hit the bin Anon just climbed into.

The bin tipped over and...nothing inside.

“What in the name of…?!”

Huh. Guess he really didn’t need help getting out of the cage? You call out his name a few more times before giving up. He really wasn’t in there anymore.

Why was he being so rude? And what was with that blindfold with the crosses? With a sigh you turn your attention to what ever Anon threw at you on the ground.

It was a key. Picking it up in your aura you inspected it. It gave off a purple glint when bringing it to the light.

Was this too the cage lock? A quick attempt was all that was needed to rule that out.

Okay so this must go to the exit then. You put the key into hole in the door and unlocked it.

“Well...even if it seems you don’t remember, I will help you out of this mess Anonymous. No matter what.”

You push the door open and walk through, entering a gymnasium. Much like the locker room you just exited, it was in shambles.

In fact, it looked like it would collapse at any second. Beams and railing bent and rusted. Stagnant water dripping from various places.

The wooden floors rotten and torn from the floor. Very little light. The stench of rot and mold still hung in the air. You settle on trying to find a way out of this place as well.

What Anonymous told you before disappearing was of very little help. Hopefully on finding your way out of this abysmal place you’ll find a clue towards something. You make your way across the gymnasium and exit the door, leading into a large hallway.

Billboards hanging on by a single rusted nail, papers strewn across the floor. The fancy electrical lights continued to flicker, all emitting inconsistent amounts of light.

This was definitely a school. The few doors that weren’t boarded up had paintings seemingly done by small children, and the decorations among the hallway were depictions of rainbows and green fields.

Well, those that had color or weren’t peeling away from the apparent years of neglect. You choose a direction and hoofed it.

Had to find the exit of this place.

The deeper you went into the school the danker the environment became. The occasional bug would scurry, water was soon replaced by a black sludge coming from pipes. Some of the tiling from the ceiling were just gone and exposing a dark void above.

Nothing about this place sat right with you. Not at all.

Though, there were little signs of any hostile creatures or monsters. The only signs of life was the occasional insect or vermin.

And who ever in Tartarus was smearing their own excrement on the walls of the school. There was enough of it, that it couldn’t have been any rat. And fresh enough that it had to have been placed within the last few hours. Finally, after a few jumps from rats, and having a miniature heart attack from a roach falling into your mane, you found what must have been the exit.

Two large doors with a sign above them.

’WELCOME TO INCOGNITO ELEMENTARY’

Why a welcome would be given above the front doors you were seemingly supposed to EXIT the school through was odd. Though at this point hardly a concern.

A quick push against the metal bar across the door revealed the doors were locked.

Figures. Of course you could always break through...the solid wooden and glass doors.

Making a lot of noise. No. And though you had the energy to walk and move around fine, maybe even get into a little bit of a fight or run away if it came down to it, your magic reserves remained at critical levels. Weird, you should have enough to preform basic spells at this point.

Which meant you couldn’t just teleport. Darn. Telekinesis seemed to work fine though.

Maybe the headmaster’s or principle’s office had a key to the front door. Fortunately the office was right across from the front door.

Unfortunately the door to the inside was boarded and chained up. Of course. You’d have to find another way inside. You idly tap the chain with your hoof and give out an exasperated sigh.

“If this is a cruel joke, I’m not laughing.”

Snickering could be heard. Now you were annoyed. First the universe decides to be intentionally difficult and now somepony was laughing at...

Wait.

You snap your head to the source of the laughter and immediately take a defensive stance. A small figure just out of sight moved back down towards the hallway you came from. You continued to gaze intensely down the hallway and into the dark.

Alright, you weren’t dumb enough to go back down that hallway again. You look around the area you were in.

Front door locked. Office boarded up. Same story for the other hallway. Doors closed and boarded shut. Which meant the only other way to go was…

“You must be joking.”

You inch your way back to the hallway. Rustling could be heard. More giggling. With a gulp, you made your way back into the hallway.

You peak behind the corner. Nothing.

You let out the breath you were holding in your chest. There was movement from out of the corner of your eye. You snapped your head around.

A door that was previously closed was now open. Dare you look inside? Curiosity killed the cat Luna.

If the injuries on Twilight told you anything about the creatures of this world, it was best to just stay away and not interact unless absolutely necessary. You decided to inch your way to another one of the classrooms.

Not a much better decision. But there was a 50/50 chance of there being nothing inside the closed classroom, and an absolute certainty of something being in the classroom where the door was now opened. That was good reasoning, right?

Okay maybe not, but you made your decision and you were going to follow through.

You inched your way backwards toward the other door, keeping your eyes locked on the open class. Each step was slow and precise. Every few seconds you looked around yourself to make sure you were still in the clear.

Your hindquarters made contact with the door behind you.

You take a quick look inside the window to make sure nothing was immediately inside. Looked clear.

You enveloped the knob in your aura and slowly turned it, as to not make too much noise, and pushed the door open. One last check around you to make sure you were clear, and then back to the open door. You froze.

Two small white eyes staring back from the door frame opposite the classroom you were about to enter. You catch your breath in your throat as you and the figure across the hall stare each other down.

Not one to feel threatened by a thing of such size, though not foolish enough to underestimate it, you furrow your brow and straighten yourself, though keep a defensive stance. The black figure began to move from out of the class room and into the small amount of light in the hallway.

A small human, a child it looked like. The hair on it’s head disheveled, and its skin a sickly gray. The clothing it wore was torn and covered in filth.

Dry mucus and snot covered it’s face. It eyed you with growing suspicion. You kept your authoritative demeanor. Keeping your brow furrowed, you squinted at the human young. A part of you felt sorry for the poor thing, but understanding the context of the situation you were in, you stayed vigilant.

The child’s face began to twist from suspicion, to a scowl. It reached behind it self and from seemingly no where pulled out a pair of rusty scissors.

It began to hyperventilate, taking in deeper and deeper breaths. Anticipating what was probably about to happen, you made a slight movement to back further into the classroom behind you.

That did it.

The child took in a final deep breath and let out a shrieking cry. The sheer volume from something so small took you off your guard a bit and you flapped your ears back and flinched. The crying became progressively louder, and louder, and was soon joined by more distance screaming.

A quick turn of the neck down the hall way showed shadows moving in the distance.

“Moonrocks!” You swore.

The child in front of you reared back and prepared to leap.

You quickly dodged back into the class room and slammed the door shut, locking it. The child hit the glass and fell unto the floor outside.

About a dozen more of the children joined it, screaming at the same eardrum piercing volume.

“HA! CAN’T REACH US IN HERE YOU HEATHE-URK!”

Your celebration was cut off by child grasping onto your neck. Turns out the room wasn’t as empty as you’d thought.

You rear back and slam into the wall. You hear something metallic fall against the floor. The child had a knife. Struggling, you kept back up against the wall and shaking violently to remove the hell spawn off of you.

The little horror had an iron grip however and held on tightly.

It was screaming that horrid cry into your ears at an increasing volume. The sound was akin to cutlery scratching against a plate.

You thrashed around the classroom. You crashed into the tables and desks within. Slamming into what ever you could to get the heathen off of your back. It began to dig the nails of its fingers into your neck and tried to reach your eyes.

“OH NO YOU DON’T!”

With one final slam against the black board of the classroom, you could hear a crunch, and the child’s scream became muted.

The shrieking replaced with a horrid hollow, wet, gasping noise. The human young finally released it’s grip and fell onto the floor.

You backed away to the other side of the classroom and scanned the area. No other children, just the one’s still outside, and the one trying it’s best to gulp air into it’s lungs. You kept your eyes onto the convulsing mess on the floor. The sound was awful. Tears poured form it’s face and it was sobbing profusely interrupted only by the coughing. A small amount of deep crimson blood came splattering out of it’s mouth.

“B-by the maker!”

*CRACK*

Your neck snapped from the injured child and toward the door.

The children were throwing books at the window and managed to crack the glass. You quickly inspected the room once more. Looking for some way out. There was a slight breeze coming from above you.

A vent. A large vent. Would you even be able to fit through there?

*CRACK*

Well, only one way to find out. You used the little amount of magic you could to rip the grate out of the wall near the ceiling.

*CRACK*

You took position slightly away from the vent and reared back.

*CRASH*

The window broke. The children were coming through. With hardly any time before they latched onto you, you made a leap of faith and managed to somehow get half way through the grate. You placed both forelegs on either side of the wall and managed to keep your self in. A weight could be felt dragging on one of your hind legs.

Tartarus! One of them was on you. The screaming from the children reverberated in the metal vent amplified the horrid volume. You thrashed your hind legs and bucked wildly as you tried to crawl further into the vent. The child kept it’s iron grip onto you.

You were finally almost entirely in the vent. Though you were also pulling the child latched on in with you.

“GAH! Get off of-AHHHHHH!”

A sharp pain was flared near your haunches. A warm liquid could be felt staining your coat.

“YOU LITTLE PIECE OF-”

You reared your hind legs back one more time. The heathen lost it’s grip. You bucked as hard as you could.

*CRUNCH*

Shrieking replaced with a horrid gurgle and a thud. More of the warm liquid could be felt as it splattered against your backside. You pulled yourself further and further away from the entrance.

You didn’t look back. You really couldn’t either. The vent was just big enough for you to fit in, but moving within it was another story. You crawled and crawled your way through. The shrieking began to get further and further away.

The vent was too high up for the hell spawn to get in...you hoped. After a few difficult turns through the vents, you found another grate. You peered through the opening and into the room.

It was the front office.

“Thank the maker!”

You used one of your forehooves to bust the grate open and crawled out, falling onto the floor. Using your magic, you placed the gate back in place, and covered it with a large filing cabinet.

You lay on the floor, catching your breath. After a minute of heavy breathing you try to pick yourself up.

Try.

The sharp pain in your hind leg flared and caused you to buckle.

“AhH! Hnnng!”

The little heathen got you with the scissors. You searched the area of the office. All that was around that could help was a filthy sweater. What ever, it’ll do for now. You ripped off a piece with your teeth and wrapped it around the wound.

With that over, you slowly picked your self up again to sit in a better position. You took a few deep breaths and made sure to inspect the office for any more of the little creatures, or anyway for them to get in.

Nothing. For good this time. The shrieking seemed to have died down. You were left in the well illuminated office in silence. Free to catch your breath and process what just happened.

Your heart was still racing. Adrenaline pumping and coursing through every vein and artery. The sounds of what just happened went through your head over and over again.

The shrieks. The breaking of glass. The crunching.

By the maker, the crunching. The horrible noises of the two children’s lungs filling with blood too. It was all just so…By the gods.

You looked yourself over. Dark crimson caked your hindquarters. The gravity of the situation was beginning to set in.

You stared at the ceiling, still trying to catch your breath. Two children.

You just crushed the chest and skull of two small children.

Sure, two children that were trying to harm you. Just like the rest of them. And they in fact did harm you.

But still, two children all the same. Heavens above, why was this all in Anon’s journal? Why did you have to do that? Did you have to?

What was that supposed to mean? When you thought dangerous monsters you were thinking of ones you’d find in the Everfree or even Tartarus. Not children.

Why? Why children Anonymous? What did they have to do with his problems? What did they do to him?

You lowered your face to your hooves. Your vision was blurry. You wiped the tears away the best you could.

No.

No tears. No crying. Anon was in trouble.

He was probably some where here. And not the Anon you had first spoken to. The Anon YOU know. The real Anon.

The one who wanted help, and would help you. The Anon who stayed up through the night in the dream realm with you.

The Anon you…

You picked your self up and brushed off the dust from the vents. You took one last breath in through your nose.

Focus on Anon. That’s why you’re here.

Anon.

Now, time to look for this key. You opened up a few of the drawers and cabinets.

Papers, penciles, folders, student records.

...hmm.

You flipped through the student records.

Sally, Carter, Mordecai, Sarah, Jason.

Human names were weird.

Jessie, Juan, Anonymous, Parker...Anonymous?

You pulled out the folder. Yep. These were Anon’s records. So this was Anon’s school.

Let’s see then. This may have a clue of where to go next. You opened the records and began reading.

The records gave some basic information. His height, weight, age. This was back when he was 11 years old.

He was given something called an IEP. He was apparently given a special education program based on issues he was having.

Well, nothing inconsistent here then. It reports that he had trouble confessing his problems with his teachers. Whenever they tried to help, he’d shy away.

You recall Anon talking about that. Medical information, all missing.

Oh! An address. 547 north west lane.

Human addresses are weird. You take the page with his address and place it in your satchel.

All you needed was a map of the area and you’d have your new destination. Though, that’d have to wait. Need to go and find this key.

The office area itself was just a large room for the front desk and small hallway area that lead into different smaller offices. Which included the nurses office. Gauze and painkillers, very useful. Now in your satchel.

In terms of finding a key however, all of the offices were empty. Time to actually check the front desk then.

Oh...well, should’ve checked here first. On the wall next to the front desk was a key rack with keys labeled for different doors. Library, Cafeteria, Gym, Office, FRONT DOOR!

You grabbed the key with telekinesis. This one had a slightly off light blue or cyan color to it.

Into the satchel it went. Might as well look around the rest of the front office for anything befor-

*Thud*

You quickly ducked behind the desk. You slowly peaked out from under it and out the office window into the main lobby where the front door and noise came from.

A tall lanky figure obscured some what in the darkness was approaching one of those heathen children. The child was very distraught and seemed to be panicking. It was crying, though not as loud as when you first encountered them.

The figure outstretched one of its arms and grabbed the child. It cooed and tried to comfort the crying heathen.

”Shh. Shh. Little one. I must help you.”

The child shook its head violently and thrashed in the long arms of the thing.

”I must help you child...just, open up to me.”

The child screamed in that familiar shriek. The creature impaled the child’s chest with it’s long digits and raised the heathen above it’s head.

The heathen was crying and violently thrashing around trying to get away.

”I said...open up to me.”

The taller creature ripped open the child’s chest cavity and began to pull out the organs. Slowly, one by one. Sniffing them, bringing it to it’s face which was hardly visible and blocked by long blonde hair.

The creature paused and slowly began to move its head upwards and towards the office window. You took cover once more behind the desk, out of sight. Your heart began to race again.

”Ah. Another young soul in need of help?”

NonononononononononononooooooNOPE!

You could hear movement coming closer to the window. A slow knocking. Your heart threatening to explode in your chest.

Just go away, just go away just go away.

”Little one, if you are inside, I must help you.”

The voice was raspy and feminine. You curled up behind the desk, looking for a way out if it decides to break through the glass.

”Hmm. I must have...made a mistake.”

You could hear the creature move away, slowly, heavily. The movement began to get quieter, and quieter, and quieter.

Then silence. Silence for three very long minutes. Your chest was burning. You shakily release the breath you’ve been holding. With a gulp you peak up from behind the desk and into the main lobby.

Gone.

It was gone. Leaving behind the gored heathen.

What ever in the nether regions of the maker herself that was, that was the last you EVER wanted to see of it.

A little bit more of exploring of the office, making sure to keep out of view from the window, lead to nothing, and it was now probably time to make your way back to the front lobby. You decided to grab the rest of the keys just in case.

They were all a bronze color, separate from the front door key, and had emblems on them for the respective doors they opened.

You found a school map and discovered that the library was only a hallway away from the main lobby. Perfect.

Map in your bag, and a destination to reach, you decide to enter the vent from the nurse’s office and make your way to the school library.

Twenty minutes. That’s how long it felt just to get through all the vents.

You could hear the rustling of those heathen children outside and that was about it. Though they didn’t seem to hear you, you didn’t know whether to count yourself as luckier to be within the vents or not. Insects and rodents of various sizes would crawl over you.

You were pretty sure one of the times you took rest you laid your muzzle into a puddle of rat piss by mistake. Hopefully it was just dirty water.

The entire place was beginning to just smell the same, and you were finally getting used to it. It was as if there was nothing more to smell. Desensitization from the musk of a decaying school aside, looking through one of the grates you could see that you were finally inside of the library.

Graces and thanks to the heavens. Waiting patiently and staring out into the large room you decided the coast was clear and climbed out.

You made your way through the rows of rotting book shelves with extreme caution. You didn’t want to have a run in with a heathen...or worse.

Goodness, if Twilight had to go through the same environments you did you could have only imagined what her reaction to the library of the school would have been. Books lay haphazardly across the floor.

Apparently one of the heathens used an anatomy book as toilet paper. What was it and these children with relieving themselves every where except a toilet?

You know for a fact you passed several bathrooms when you first roamed the halls.

*creak*

At the sound of a door being pushed open you hid behind the shelf closest too you. Observing between the book shelves you could see one of the children running across the room with a human doll.

Giving chase to the young child was another young child screaming and crying.

If the creatures weren’t so dangerous you’d face hoof.

No. You were going to do it anyways. Tartarus spawn or not, children acted like children.

They ran into a room with the sign above it reading ‘COMP LAB’. Whatever that was.

Staying as quite as you could, you inched your way over towards the exit of the library. Keeping your eyes on the COMP LAB You could hear the two children fighting each other over the plastic toy.

Carefully, you pulled out the library key from your bag and unlocked the door.

One look through the door window, the hall way was empty. You carefully applied pressure to the metal bar across the width of the door.

Carefully...carefully…

*Squeaaaaaak~*

You cringed. The audible struggle in the lab ceased.

Oh Tartarus no.

You spun around to see the two little demons staring at you. You couldn’t move. Anticipation and fear froze you. All movement ceased and the air between you and the children became still.

A staring contest. You and the two children. Seconds passed. You waited for the scream.

A minute. You waited for the scream.

Two long agonizing minutes. You waited for the scream.

They just stared at you. No hyperventilation. No sharp objects. No scowling. They just...stared at you? Maybe it was because you were staying so still?

The first heathen you encountered jumped you and screamed because you moved slightly. You couldn’t just stand there forever!

The stand off continued for an agonizingly long amount of time. Movement could be heard coming from underneath some stray tables and from inside the same lab. Two more showed themselves. Three more. By the maker, five, now six!

Eight of the cryptic human children came out and were just staring at you. You were sweating profusely. It felt like it were as hot as your sister’s sun.

You legs began to shake a bit, then your torso, and with that your breath. Your eyes darted around to each one of the little children. They just stared at you. A few of their mouths hung open.

Ten more minutes. You dared to try and move. Just like last time, one hind leg back, toward the door.

Nothing.

Another step.

Nothing.

They continued to just stare at you. You let out a breath. They were doing nothing. You weren’t exactly sure why, or what you were doing differently, but they weren’t doing anything. You lay your hoof down on the metal bar on the door and continue to push it open.

Still nothing.

You exit into the hallway and they continued to stare. The door closed. You stepped further away. Walked a bit aways.

You were good. YOU WERE GOOD! HUZZAH!

You have no idea why this group of children were so docile, but they just let you go without so much as screaming.

And you were in the hall way! You could see the light from the main lobby from here. The home stretch! Finally, you could just exit the door.

Hyperventilation. Behind you. A deep breath in.

“Help.” You mutter.

Screaming. You didn’t even look behind you. You took off down the hall way. Something flew into you. One of the children T-boned you coming down one of the hallways you had to pass to get to the main lobby.

“NO! AHH! UNHOOF US YOU HEATHEN FROM TARTARUS!”

You slammed into a set of lockers against the wall. The child was shrieking in your ear.

You slammed again. The familiar crunching of bone and rupturing of internal organs. The child from right behind you grabbed a hold of something.

You couldn’t see the sharp object he was wielding but he managed to used to slash at a tendon in your wing.

You screamed. You fell to your side. Burning pain pulsated from your withers.

The child who was wielding the sharp object, a piece of broken mirror, climbed on top you. It raised the shard in the air and let out one of its ear drum rupturing cries.

You raised your hooves in between the two of you, ready to block.

It thrust down. You blocked, though he managed to give you a good scrape. He slashed across. You blocked again. He really shouldn’t be messing with a princess who took jousting as sport. He stuck his fingers into your nostrils.

“AH!”

You sneezed. The child climbed further up to your neck and wrapped its legs around you, tightening his grip. He was chocking you.

You tried roll over in attempt to throw him off but you ended up just rolling over onto your new wound and instinctualy flinched back. You tried to use your hooves but he was too far up your neck and managed to use his iron grip to latch on.

As a last resort you used up the little bit of magic you had to force him off you, but his grip around your trachea was choking you and you couldn’t concentrate on making the spell manifest. The child raised its glass shard into the air and let out one more scream.

It made sure to get right into your face for this one. Before the child could attempt to cut open your jugular however, it froze and began hacking blood into your face.

It dropped the mirror shard on the ground and convulsed a bit.

Looking down at its chest to see what had just happened, you could see long skinny digits piercing through the chest of the child. The grip around your throat loosened. The child’s arm fell.

His eyelids began to droop. It let out a few more coughs before it began to be lifted up.

”Now now sweet child. We do not allow bullying on THESE school grounds.”

This can’t be happening. This can NOT be happening. The tall anorexic figure of the human woman came into view as she moved the small child out of the way and up close to her.

She moved her large disgusting hand over the child’s skull, wrapping its fingers around it completely. Every movement cause cracking and snaps in her joints.

”You know about our no tolerance policy here little one.”

She squeezed her hand and the skull sunk in. Bone and gray matter crunched and squished between her digits and the child’s body tremored. Viscous blood and cerebral fluid oozed from between her claw like digits.

You couldn’t look away from what was happening, but hay if you weren’t also trying to crawl away from the giant horror in front of you.

”Now...what is this then? Another child lost and afraid?”

“N-no, nnonononoo. We are perfectly fine, there is no need to help us!”

You don’t even know WHY you were trying to reason with it. It’s intentions seemed very clear. You could see it’s face now. It looked NOTHING like the human faces you recognize from the depictions back home, or on Anon.

Smooth tight skin. No nose, no eye sockets, just large vertical incisions where her eyes should be.

To top it off, a large, way too large, toothy, yellow, grin. She’d put Pinkie Pie to shame.

”Of course you’re not little child of mine. You are distressed.”

It began to approach you.

“N-no, you must be mistaken.”

”No...I can see it. It is MY job to help you, as faculty of the school. I MUST help you.”

You rolled over to the other side and tried to get to stand up on your legs to run to the door. The front lobby was so close. Just a meter away. You could feel the needle like appendages wrap around your barrel and yank you back towards the horrible creature.

It spun your around and brought you uncomfortably close.

”Now...why don’t you just let it all out. Open up to me.”

It brought it’s hands up and pointed its horrible sharp nails towards your chest. Your squirmed. It was all you could do. Tears were rolling down your face. What would happen? If it ended here you wouldn’t be able to help Anon, see your sister or subjects again.

You pushed and squirmed best you could, you stuck out your horn, trying to pierce it through the head where the nose was supposed to be, but it just held you closer away.

”Ah, ah, ah. No need to struggle. Just open up.”

“Eep!”

A small pain came from one of your hind legs. Both you and the tall creature looked down. The child you crushed between your self in the locker was still alive, and biting into your leg.

The monster holding you scowled and growled.

”Little one…” Turning its attention, and claws, away from you, it skewered the skull of the child through the eyes and held it out with just two of its fingers.

”What did I just have to teach the other BRAT about our NO TOLERANCE POLICY!” It threw you down the main hall and sent you skidding into the main lobby.

You immediately started to get up and scrambled your way toward the front entrance.

The creature grabbed onto the lower torso of the other child and with a little effort ripped the other child in half. Its intestine and stomach spilling out onto the floor.

You levitated the cyan key out of your pack and rammed it into the key hole and turned it.

”Leaving so soon? You aren’t about to play hooky are you? You truant brat.”

You pushed into the metal bar and the doors flew open. With out looking back you went into a full gallop down the dark street leading away from the school. A loud, familiar, screeching could be heard from the dark place behind you. No. No looking back, no looking back. Just get away. Just get away. You were free now Luna. You just had to get away. Far away.

Screw that school and everything inside.

~~~~

Ch.14 An Old Family Home

You flinched slightly.

You continued rolling the gauze around your withers. Last wound to cover up. You sat on a sidewalk in one of the neighborhoods you were running through.

You finally managed to escape the wrath of Anon’s school and the horrors inside it. Though you couldn’t help but feel that was just the beginning.

It was dark out, it was night. Though it was a different kind of night. There weren’t as many stars in the sky, you didn’t know if that was because of the light pollution coming from the city in the distance, or if Anon’s journal or world just had less stars in the sky.

You couldn’t feel a connection to the moon here either. It sat motionless in the sky.

You used your teeth to cut the excess gauze and tightened it.

“That should do it. Should’ve grabbed some alcohol or something.”

Not that you’d be any worse of with out it. Though it’d help. Superior alicorn immune system for the win.

You packed up the rest of the items you picked up in the school and packed them into your satchel. You remember finding something called a ‘bus stop’ a ways back. You don’t know what a bus was, but you did see that it had a map there. While you didn’t want to back track back in the direction toward the school, you had to find out where exactly Anon’s home was.

Assuming that’s what the address in his student file was. You picked your self up and walked back into the direction of where the map was.

Finding the bus stop you studied the map closely.

Human maps were weird. Human homes looked weird. Human streets...yea weird.

What ever. You looked at the address on Anon’s sheet again, 547 north west lane, and looked back at the map.

The map itself didn’t show you any house numbers, or any indications of houses at all despite some buildings of interest. It did give you street names however and a helpful ‘you are here’ dot.

North west lane seemed to only be a few blocks away. It’d be easier to fly there, if one of your wings weren’t out of commission. Damn heathen children. No use in cursing your luck now, you had to find Anon’s home. You decided this map would be very useful.

You turned around reared your hind leg that wasn’t cut open or bit into, and bucked the glass the map was behind. Breaking it to pieces. You grabbed the map and stuffed it into your pack and continued down the suburban street.

There was an eerie yet calm stillness in the air. The only noise being made was by that of bushes and trees in the wind. Large metal boxes with tires on them blocked parts of the wider street.

Some of them were on fire, others had lights on their fronts flickering on and off. You recall Anonymous mentioning these things. ’Cars’ you think they were called? Human transportation was weird.

Papers were strewn across the street, garbage poured out of their bins. It looked like chaos in the street, yet that calming silence persisted.

The neighborhood seemed completely abandoned. Few houses had light coming from the inside. Streetlamps using the same fireless lights towered over you on the corners of the streets.

Again a few were flickering. The whole world seemed to be in a state of disrepair and abandonment.

It was as if a riot had just occurred and then the human populace had just vanished.

The combined quite and goal with a path of seemingly little of any obstacles gave you some time to think. To really soak in where you where and ponder what has happened and what may.

You WERE in Anon’s journal, and outside of it being used as a strange sort of therapy, and being the source of Anon’s conscious, you knew relatively little about it.

Was the world you were in an accurate representation of the world Anon lived in? If so how? It seemed impossible to live in. Too dangerous and dilapidated. Too broken.

You recall the state Anon was in when you first met him, and how he was against anypony reading through his journal. He must have been through here then. But how did HE get here? He wrote it, and humans couldn’t use magic.

By the maker, Anon has been through this Tartarus. You winced recalling the memory on how you just threw him in the dungeon. He didn’t seem to mind anymore and was understanding.

But after what you went through, needing help, terrified and confused, only to be thrown into a prison cell and treated like a prisoner? The guilt made your chest tighten.

Throwing a lost creature that went through Tartarus and back into a prison. Someone who needed help.

You needed help.

The empty streets were really beginning to emphasize the loneliness. A far too familiar feeling.

Hm…’Familiar’. A strange term to use in such a different world. The whole world was different. It’s architecture, it’s technology, the ways human’s worked.

You heard all of the stories from Anonymous but actually being here really put things in their place. You thought back to the school. A lot of it was so weird. Everything here was.

Though you couldn’t shake the feeling of how wrong it felt. Assuming this wasn’t as accurate as it appeared, you could definitely tell the difference between what was just different in this world, and what was just...wrong.

It was wrong to see those children attack you. For you to have to kill them.

That horrible tall monster ripping the children apart with it’s horrible hands. The inconsistency of how one moment, a crowd of the heathens would attack you, and the next moment just stare into your soul and do nothing. How that could change in a heart beat as well.

How the only creature that felt compelled to do harm was the giant, and how it thought it was helping.

Assuming you can believe the words it spoke.

You hated classes when you were younger too, but never have you wanted to just get out of a school like just a few scant moments ago. Bless the soul of Anonymous.

Anonymous.

That’s where your thoughts turned to next. Why must the last encounter with him be so unpleasant and confusing.

Was that even Anonymous? He looked like a mess.

...okay even more of a mess than he usually did.

But there was something so off putting. Something wrong with this one. But at the same time far more real.

Other than the sudden attitude change and loss of memory, the strangest aspect about this Anonymous was that blind fold.

How was he able to see with that on? And why did there have to be crosses over where his eyes would have been. Would did that mean?

You could have sworn you saw blood from a wound on his head seeping through it. Was it a way to cover an injury? Did he suffer cranial trauma? Is that why he was acting so different? Why he didn’t remember who you were? That didn’t explain the ability to just disappear out of no where though.

You sighed and looked up. A blue sign reading ‘North West Ln.’ stood on the corner of one of the streets.

Almost there. You turned down the street. You turned your thoughts back to Anonymous.

That seemed to happen a lot. Even before coming here. You worried about him. Ever since the night he expressed an increased feeling of comfort being around you and the acknowledgment of your similarities with each other, you two seemed to be inseparable.

He was the best friend you ever had minus your sister. Yet thinking of him even as ‘the best and possibly only friend you ever had’ seemed so...disappointing?

Not that you were disappointed with Anonymous. Heavens no! You just wanted...something more.

You were fooling yourself. Beating around the bush. You knew what you wanted, what you felt. You just never explicitly thought it. Or said it aloud.

You had feelings for Anonymous. The species difference was odd, but that wasn’t an unheard of occurrence in Equestria. Humans were the only intelligent creatures in his world though. The concept may be too foreign to Anon. Perhaps even borderline immoral to him.

The thought of that hurt. It cut deeper than any rusty pair of scissors could. That didn’t even touch on the mortality of Anon. He was still mortal. And would eventually leave the living world. The thought of that hurt a lot more.

Even if the possibility of you two ever being more than friends was slim, or actually an impossibility, the loss of a friend as close as him would be devastating. If only the friendship could last forever. If only it could be more than that.

You stopped in your tracks and just stared at the ground. A horrible feeling in your chest. A feeling as though you had already lost him. Impossible to imagine. He was still fine outside the book right? But the wound he had, the change in behavior. The fact he was a mortal.

Your vision began to become blurry. You dropped onto your haunches. You could feel tears rolling down your cheeks.

If all of that were true...the purpose in all of this felt hopeless. It couldn’t be hopeless though. Could it?

You wrapped your hooves around your face and lowered your head to the ground. You lay there sobbing your heart out for a good half hour. Not sure how to handle all of these feelings. Curse your immortality, curse your body, curse the Tartarus you found yourself in.

Curse the unrelenting loneliness you felt. It’s times like these you really needed somepony to hold in an embrace.

Something Anonymous was usually happy to fill. But he’s not here. And if the last interaction you had with him was anything to go by, he may have despised the proposition.

But. There were times he didn’t. Every other time. Why were you so focused on the Anonymous of now? That wasn’t the Anonymous still in Equestria. You hoped.

There was still an Anon outside this journal. There was still an Anon alive, there was still a reason to be here, RIGHT NOW. You aggressively rubbed the tears out of your eyes and picked your self up.

To hay with feeling sorry for yourself. No more selfishness of what you want or what may happen to YOU.

You loved Anon and wanted nothing but the best for him. You were here to help HIM. And if your time was short with him, you had to help him with these demons. You’re too far in now.

You pumped your self up, punching the mailbox in front of you with your hoof. Right in the numbers.

The numbers…547.

Wait.

You pulled out the address on Anon’s record.
‘547 North West Lane.’

You looked back to the numbers on the mailbox.

WHAT AN AMAZING COINCIDENCE!
You conveniently decided to stop and cry like a foal in front of the place you needed to be!

…

Okay focus. You turned and studied the house in front of you. An average sized home, it looked similar to every other house on the street. It didn’t have light coming from the inside. You took a deep breath in, and then out.

It’s time. No more crying. You had to do this. For a friend. Your straightened yourself, filled with determination. One hoof in front of the other. You walked up to the door.

“I will help you through this Anonymous. Or die trying.” You entered the house.

You honestly expected the door to be locked. Even if it were, you probably would’ve just kicked the door down. It was flimsy any ways.

The inside of the house was...honestly fine.

There was dust everywhere, a little messy, and dark but hey give yourself a day of cleaning and it’d be livable.

No boarded up doors, no mold, no rot. Honestly relatively nice. Entering the door led to a small hallway before giving way to the living room.

Now that you were there you had to find...something. You really wanted to just find Anon but not knowing where he was, you decided finding clues about where he COULD be had to suffice.

And no one seemed to be home. What ever. You first searched around the living room. Nothing of note really.

Two sofas faced a large black box on a dresser. In the middle was a small table, some magazines, some books.

Nothing that would have helped really. Ah! The kitchen and dining area. Entering it your nostrils were invaded with the horrible smell of decay.

Thankfully it was just the food that was left on the counter and a refrigerator left open. The food was black and shriveled. Or green and fuzzy.

A bowl of chowder had its own ecosystem, how tantalizing. The worst of it was a slab of meat that had maggots crawling through it.

Though with what you had previously went through, it was only enough to make you slightly cringe and gag. You decided to close the fridge so as to not smell the rotting food any longer than you had to.

Hm. What was this? A note mentioning Anon!

’Anon’s job phone number and address: 555-240-1209, 1576 South Elroy Street’

Not to sure what a ‘phone number’ was, but hey a new address. No doubt that this must’ve been where Anon lived. Before leaving you decide to explore a bit. No doubt you’d find something useful here.

You exited the kitchen and went down the hall way closer towards the back of the house. All the doors were open fortunately.

A quick peak into one room showed an average bedroom. Nothing really spectacular. Queen sized bed seemingly big enough for two humans. You were about to continue down the hall way when something caught your eye.

No. That can’t be.

You entered the bedroom and picked up one of the pictures on the dresser. By the heavens it is!

Awwwwwww.

It was a picture of Anonymous as a little foal. A much better looking child than the ones back at the school.

A quick glance over and you found a family picture. His father looked so tired. He was seemingly staring off into the camera. His mother appeared the same. Anon stood in the front disinterested. As if he had better things to do to occupy his time. They were cute pictures none the less.

…

You placed the one of the young Anon in your bag and placed the family picture back onto the dresser. It wasn’t creepy. It was sweet. This house? This street? Hay, probably the whole neighborhood? That was creepy.

You exited the master bedroom and entered the only other one in the hall. Anon’s bedroom you had to guess.

It had another one of those boxes. Smaller this time.

Posters hung on the wall, mostly for what appeared to be films and bands. Pills and a glass sat on his night stand. His bed was a mess. The sheets were tossed around. Clothes covered it, and a guitar sat leaned up against the edge.

Being here carried with it an almost surreal feeling. This is where Anonymous must have spent most of his childhood. You stood there for a moment, taking in the atmosphere. The subtle familiar smell of Anon allowing you to relive the few memories you experienced with him.

*click*

*creak*

The sound of the front door opening snapped you back to reality.

”I’m home!”

You hid out of sight from the door to Anon’s room. Half way in his closet.

You could hear the front door slam and heavy foot steps approach down the hallway. You could hear them enter one of the rooms and another door closing and then, the faint sound of running water from a faucet.

Was one of Anon’s parents home? The voice you heard after the door opening sounded male.

But weren’t his parents were dead. Did another Human family live here? But, Anon’s name was on the fridge!

Were there other Human’s named Anonymous? You peered down the hall way. None of the doors seemed to be closed. Quietly stepping out of Anon’s room you peered into the master bedroom.

The bathroom door was shut, and a faint bit of light poured through the small crack underneath, as well as the sound of running water. It was probably best to finally leave the house.

Before you could fully turn your head however, the faint sound of more footsteps could be heard approaching the hallway. Moonrocks, no time to dodge back into Anon’s room.

You managed to sneak quickly back into the master bedroom and hide behind the bed. The foot steps stopped. The door to the bedroom slowly shut. By the heavens please no. You weren’t trapped in here with some monster or something were you?

Did the tall woman find you? You looked from underneath the bed and past the sheets.

No legs.

Taking a chance, You peaked your eyes from behind the bed. You were alone. Did the thing in the hallway shut you inside the bedroom? You were really beginning to not trust your own judgment when placed in these situations. You didn’t see any where another creature could be in the house, and you’ve already made enough noise.

And if your ears weren’t playing tricks on you, why did it shut the door with out entering?

You just then noticed that the water had stopped running in the bathroom. The light from the night outside got very dim. The house and atmosphere seemed to get a lot quieter. If that were possible.

A calm set in that you really weren’t comfortable with.

*SLAM*

You snap your attention to the bathroom. The door opened with enough force to throw itself from its hinges. Light from the inside bathed the room in a soft yellow glow.

Inside the bathroom was...by the ground you walked on.

The tub portion was overflowing with water and a mixture of blood. The bathroom was caked in mud and dirt. In the shower, from a noose, hung the mangled and stripped corpse of a human.

Most of the flesh and muscle had been stripped from the bone. The eyes, still in their sockets stared directly at the floor.

It’s lower jaw, somehow still attached, hung open in what seemed like a terrifying mid scream. What remained of the digestive system, laid scattered across the floor.

Yep. You were definitely getting the hay out of this house. Screw the front door you were going to break a window. You turned away from the closest window towards you and got ready to buck it out of its frame.

You reared back, stabilized yourself, and kicked with all the force your could. You fell to your face.

What? How did…

You looked behind you. The wall was about three meters further away from you than it was just a few seconds ago. How was...that shouldn’t be possible!

You launched yourself back up to your hooves. The house was growing. What in Tartarus?

Sobbing could be heard from somewhere in the house. It sounded horrid. As if somepony were being tortured.

Nope! You definitely were NOT leaving through the front door. You focused towards the window and broke out into gallop, sprinting with all the energy you had in you toward the window. The house seemed to be growing faster and faster. Not fast enough though.

Once you felt you were close enough, you shut your eyes and lept, keeping your forehooves in front of you. You crashed through the window and landed onto the back lawn outside, knocking the wind out of you.

You picked your self up and ran toward the fence.

You jumped over it and landed into the yard of the house behind it. You jumped their fence and finally reached the street of the neighborhood right next to the one Anon’s house was on.

You turned and galloped down the street. Despite the running and distance between you and Anon’s house growing, the tortured wailing didn’t seem to be getting fainter. It actually started to get louder.

An expletive Anon would commonly use popped into your head as realization struck. For some reason you felt compelled to use it yourself given the situation.

“OH SHI-GUHH!”

Something tackled you from behind, wrapping its arms around your neck.

”PLEASE, NO PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. YOU’RE ALL I HAVE LEFT! PLEASE, I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU. MY BABY, JESUS CHRIST, MY BABY!”

The grip around you was tightening, choking you out. You struggled to fill your lungs with air as you thrashed around. Much like the children in the school, what ever latched on to you had a vice like grip.

Those children however gave you the know how with how to deal with this situation.

Your reared yourself up and fell backwards on top of your assailant.

*CRUNCH*

You were really beginning to like that sound now, whenever you were the one causing it at least.

”GUKHHH!” It gurgled.

The grip loosened it self and you gulped down what felt like gallons of precious oxygen. You quickly scrambled to your feet and booked it. Not even looking back.

”PLEASE DON’T LEAVE ME! YOU’RE STILL MY CHILD! I LOVE YOU! I CAN’T LOOSE YOU TOO!”

Are you kidding?

Keeping your gallop you turn down the main rode and dashed over a few cars. You could hear the slapping of feet approaching you.

“Buck this!”

And that’s exactly what you did.

You made one final buck, a wet splat could be heard and felt on your backside.

”Plushckk!” *Thump*

You were pretty sure that did it. The horrible crying stopped and the pair of feet giving chase with it. What ever was giving you chase was hopefully, finally, lying dead in the street behind you. You weren’t dumb enough to stop though.

A single glance behind you, and you could see a corpse of...something, lying motionless in the street.

“Thank the maker!”

You focused back to the street in front of you, never letting up. New mission and destination. Reach downtown, catch your breath, find Anon’s place of work.

The trees whizzed pass you. You were dodging and jumping over those car things left and right. You kept your eyes forward and focused. Focused on the skyline and buildings of the city in front of you.

~~~~

Ch.15 Please watch for Pedestrians

Another ‘bus stop’, another map, a new direction. You found yourself just outside the city.

Again a feeling of emptiness.

Again a a feeling of emptiness.

For the city that was. Your determination was keeping you strong throughout everything, even if you only just arrived. The night seemed to last forever though. The moon hasn’t moved since you’ve arrived.

The city, much like the school and suburban neighborhood, looked like it had seen the bad end of one of Discord’s “pranks” and then left abandoned. Some doors and windows were boarded up, even had bars over them.

Some of the windows that weren’t covered showed signs of life with light coming out of them. Though you were reluctant to trust it.

You never thought you’d see the hour where the light proved to be more worrying than the dark.

Though in a way you were thankful, as the streets were light up, if only occasionally, by the lamps. The buildings seemed to tower over you.

They reminded you have the skyscrapers in a city like Manehatten, or even your castle back in Canterlot, but so much bigger. Even with a map the streets seemed to be just a confusing maze with the occasional sign to tell you where you were. A few of the buildings were different, some boutiques, some hole in the wall drug stores.

At the intersections of streets, wires would hang across the lamp posts with boxes hanging off of them that would occasionally flash on one of three colors. Red, yellow, or green.

Some of the paths had those cars blocking the way but were hardly and obstacle for you to climb over, unless they were larger or on fire. In which case you had to find another way around. Which usually wasn’t an issue. You scrunched your muzzle as you looked at the map again. This map made less sense than the last one you found in the neighborhood.

You felt like you were going in circles at some points. How did Anon live in a city like this? The roads and paths in even the largest cities back home had some logic behind them, yet were still able to feel natural.

Here it’s all the same sized blocks, with the same buildings, hardly changing. You thought back to home.

The welfare of Twilight, and her friends. Your sister. Anonymous was probably still in the woods unconscious. Moonrocks. Anon was still in the woods. There you go with not thinking. You were usually a lot better than this but you just were not on your ‘A’ game today.

Thinking of poor Twilight Sparkle going through all the same horrors as you were was depressing. Poor mare probably wasn’t expecting any of this to happen. You could only hope she was healing and comfortable in a hospital bed, surrounded by her loyal friends. You left your sister back at the castle in a state of confusion.

You just canceled the get together she had planed because of an unexpected emergency. She must have also gotten a letter from Twilight’s friends as well.

She had to. Oh no. What if she had decided to visit Twilight and see her in such a state? What if she decided to go and search for you after realizing you went to go look for Anonymous? What if she found the location of Anonymous and the book?

The location MUST be obvious by now! The veins, the peeling away of natural land and living matter, only to reveal corroded metal that shouldn’t be there?

Anon’s body out cold and motionless. What if she tried to break you out like you did Twilight? While you didn’t want to stay here any longer than you had to, Twilight said you had to live through Anon’s troubles.

Anon said the same thing in the school.

You quickened your pace down the quite street. The wind having completely died and leaving you in a familiar heavy silence. You could only hope your sister didn’t find the book until you’ve reached Anon again and find out at least what had happened to him to cause him to write all of this. You take one more turn and reach a large clear area. A park was in the middle of it all, a proud clock tower and statue dominated the area with their size.

You noticed something a little off about the statue. Was...was that Human on top of a pony?

…

You were going to have to remember to ask Anonymous about that.

Well, you were down town. Which according to the map meant you were half way to South Elroy Street. You think. You took a seat in the park near a fountain so you could better read the map.

South Elroy seemed to be another seven blocks away, and though you’ve been lucky so far, you don’t know if any obstacles would be in the way.

*dong dong dong dong dong*

The crashing sound of a bell made you jump a little bit. You looked up at the clock tower. The hour marker pointed to the numeral five.

Five? Like five in the morning? You looked back up in the sky. The moon was in the wrong position. Anonymous mentioned the moon on his world moved by itself.

And if that were the case they should really do something because the moon was not in the correct place at all. It was still at its highest point in the sky.

You shook your head and looked back down at your map.

Your your yourrrr map.

You could feel a migraine coming on. You blamed all of the physical trauma.

You grumbled and rubbed your flank. The number of times you feel on your butt, you swear. It didn’t help the writing in the map was written APPARENTLY for ants.

Even with this part of the city being more well illuminated you had to squint and lean in just to read.

A soft glow from a light source behind you illuminated the map thankfully and helped with the ability to read the extremely fine print.

“Ah. Much better.” You let out with a sigh.

You dead panned. Where was that light coming from?

You looked behind you, and instantly regretted the decision to do so. Looking back at you, if you could say it could look, was another humanoid creature.

Its skin pulled impossibly taught across its body and appeared sickly. It lacked any clothing and muscle for that matter. Its flesh tightly gripping its bones. It appeared malnourished.

The distinctive lack of any facial features was what really shocked you.

No eyes, just sunken sockets. No nose, nor nose holes, just indents caused by the impossibly tight skin. Teeth from the skull inside made an impression against the flesh wrapped around its head. No openings no holes, no cartilage, no hair.

Just skin pulling against the bones, the features of the skulls protruding and leaving impressions. Hints as to where the openings should be.

And the faint light source that helped you in the reading of your map?

Came from the faint flame of a candle the monster was holding in its hand. The light from which it was seemingly using to inspect you.

You scrambled.

Moving away from the demented being before coming to stop after you ran into something else. Looking up, you could only stare in horror from the feet of another one of these creatures.

It brought its free arm up and swat at you. Despite the lack of any muscular development, it managed to throw you a full meter away, knocking the wind out of you.

Rolling to a stop, you scrambled back up and ran towards the closest bastion of safety you could. A tree with low branches. Better than nothing. Doing your best, you scampered up the tree and held on for dear life.

Humans may be monkeys but they lived on the ground. They couldn’t reach you from here...right? The two creatures you ran into gazed at you form the ground.

Even without eyes, their stares managing to pierce your very being. And after a few seconds they...started to walk away?

Minding their own business as if nothing happened or was out of the ordinary?

“What in the name of...”

”You’re still here?!”

A familiar voice was calling out to you.

Your looked forward toward the statue at the center of the park. There, holding the hind leg of the pony statue, was Anonymous.

Still wearing that blindfold too.

“Anonymous! You’re okay! Thank the heavens. Anon, what are these things? Why aren’t they attacking like the monsters previously? And speaking of, what in Tartarus WERE THOSE!” Anonymous stayed silent for a moment.

”Even after all you’ve been through you’re still here. Why? I’m honestly shocked you made it out.”

“Anonymous, please, I am not in the mood nor condition to fool around. This is serious, there are monsters in these streets and you are in need of help. I’M in need of help. We can help each other, but first we must find a way to get past these things!”

Anon motioned his blind gaze towards the monsters on the ground and then back to you.

”Just a bunch of fools. All of them going through the motions, they think they can navigate the chaotic streets of this city and life with just a flame, wick, and a small amount of wax.”

W-what? “What?”

”But look at me, at both of us. We are not so lucky to have a light to guide us.” Anon spat in disgust at one of the creatures.

You looked back over at the creatures and jumped down off the branch. More of them seemed to be roaming these streets, but all focusing on themselves.

You looked back toward Anon in confusion.

“You mean that they don’t want anything to do with us? Why? Anonymous please tell me what is going on!”

”Yes. Now, I answered YOUR question. Answer mine. Why are you still here?”

WHAT DID THAT MEAN?

“ANONYMOUS! I am NOT in the mood for this over the top and ominous language. You know very well why I am here! To help you. You asked for my help, and I care for you greatly. All of this will be made easier if you just tell me what is going-”

”Will you SHUT UP!?”

You flinched and shut your muzzle.

”Do you have any FUCKING idea what you’re doing? How much STILL being here hurts? Don’t think I’m not reliving every moment of this place a long with you. This. Is. My. Hell. I had to live through this TWICE before, and just like you I thought I could use this idea of myself to fight through these demons my first time through this horrible shit hole! You’re in MY world, through MY eyes. And every time one of you four legged SHIT STAINS come through here and make me ‘open up’ this world I have to relive it EVERY SINGLE TIME! And look at you! You’re injured! So much good “helping me” did you huh? I don’t have to be as nice as I’m being right now you know?”

“Anon, you don’t need to be so harsh! Look, I-i’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you. We don’t need to insult each other and fight. I don’t mean to hurt you I just want to help!”

”I don’t give a damn. Just leave!”

“No! I am going to help you! I don’t precisely have a way to leave either you know!”

Anon glared at you. You can feel the anger through the blindfold. Then he paused and regained his composure.

”Yes you do...you just have to do what I did to get out.”

“What?”

”Look. Just leave. I still have my own persona to deal with.”

And with that, Anon walked behind the leg of the statue and seemed to vanish in thing air.

“Anon wait! Please don’t go! What do you mean just do what you did? How would I do that? Anon, please, I’m scared and in danger! I’m alone!”

You tripped over the raised concrete path through the park. He was gone, again, just like that. And all you two did was fight.

“We just want to help you...so we can be friends again…” You picked yourself up. You felt defeated.

Why was he acting so differently? Why on the earth you stood on was he being so hostile? Was he some fake? Created by the world to scare you or fool you? Beat you down mentally?

Or was this actually his true self and you were actually friends with a fake monster?

No. That couldn’t be, that wasn’t.

Anonymous was acting harsh and rude but he is clearly in a dark place, he had to be. You sounded like you were making excuses.

But you also had a monster in you. You also used to be filled with hate and spite. But you were in a dark place, and you needed help. You were finally able to get that help and managed to move past it thanks to the love and dedication of those around you.

And here was Anon, in a dark place, and like he said it hurts him just as much and clearly doesn’t want to go through this again.

Who would you be if you couldn’t show the same dedication and love that managed to help you change? Were these similarities not why you two were friends? Why Anon was compelled to befriend you in the first place?

You picked your map up off the ground. You wouldn’t let this darker Anonymous distract you. You would remain loyal!

You knew what Anonymous was really like. He helped you through so much, you HAD to do the same for him.

You looked around you. Those creatures were becoming more numerous. But they seemed to ignore you. Just don’t run into one of those things again and you should be fine.

Seven blocks. Seven blocks between you and your next goal. You slid the map back in your pouch and started walking. The power of friendship saved you. And bet your flank it was going to save Anonymous as well.

Darkness surrounded you. It was a familiar feeling at this point. And then. Light.

A ringing could be heard.

“Ugh. Fuck, what happened?”

You placed a hand up to your head.

You were Anonymous.

And your temples were throbbing. Memories came flooding back. You were in White Tailed Woods.

Why? Oh yea, you were running away. Something terrible happened. Twilight had read your journal and saw the horrors inside it.

Quite literally. How the hell that happened you weren’t sure of but she had apparently been sucked literally into the book and lived through the same horrors you did shortly before showing up to this strange horse world.

Fuck what else happened? Luna tracked you down and begged to help you after she found out. She pleaded with you but you didn’t want it. Look at what happened to Twilight you couldn’t put your closest friend through that!

Hell the incident with Twilight was just proof that there were things you couldn’t get help with.

But, she finally convinced you, you didn’t feel as though you’d be able to convince her any other way. Oh Luna, you hoped she was okay.

The light began to blur and faint shapes could be made out. Furniture. You rolled over to your side.

You grabbed your stomach as it began to twist inside of you. You felt like you were going to blow chunks.

“Ohhhhh, shit, I don’t feel good.”

You rubbed your eyes and blinked. Your vision was beginning to become clear again. You sat yourself up, making sure you didn’t move to quickly and lose your lunch.

You really shouldn’t have eaten so many sweets at Pinkie’s party. But you learned very quickly that, when in party mode, saying no to Pinkie Pie was a near impossibility.

You took a look around. You were...wait.

“My apartment? What the fuck how could I have...oh. I must be back in the journal.”

But why here? The first memories you had of being in the journal was waking up in an alley way. Why where you back here?

You slowly picked your self up and leaned against the couch. The room looked just like it did when you last left it. Minus one mess, but you didn’t want to think about that.

Fuck, if Luna is in here with you and she found out about that...even if she sees and survives everything like it was nothing, you wouldn’t be able to look at her. You gathered your self and stumbled into the bathroom turning on the faucet, splashing cold water in your face.

Alright focus.

Luna didn’t seem to be in the apartment with you. Your suite was small enough that it would have been obvious.

You’d have to find her. You stared into the mirror. God you looked awful, how long were you out?

Your hair was a mess, you’d grown some stubble on your chin…Your blindfold was stained?

Wait...no...it couldn’t be. You reached your hands over your eyes. Nothing. The reflection looking back at you in the mirror furrowed its brow.

”You have got to be shitting me.” Your reflection spat out in shock.

YEA NOPE YOU WERE OUT OF THERE! Not him again. Even if he was who he was. You ran out the bathroom and to front door.

Locked. Shit. You banged and yanked on the door knob, trying to get out.

”Where do you think you’re going?” You paused and slowly craned your neck to look behind you. The other Anonymous was right behind you.

”We clearly have some business to take care of. You have some explaining to do.”

Fuck.

~~~~

Ch.16 Hauke Hospital

You are Princess Luna.

And you were slightly confused. You stared at the two creatures in front of you. Pedestrians you took to calling them.

Mostly because all they seem to do is wander the street. You took a slight break in your travels to witness the odd creatures and their behaviors. These two were just touching each other.

Not sexually...you think. You weren’t sure what to think. They were sliding their bony hands across their faces. Their digits exploring the smooth tight skin across their bodies.

Feeling each imprint from the skeletal structure of their skull across their face. Honestly you couldn’t say you were terrified of them anymore. Unsettled sure, but not terrified. They acted too odd, too unpredictable to strike terror into your soul.

They were actually kind of silly.

A nice change of pace from the horrible gore and life threatening danger you’ve experienced since your time here. You haven’t let up your guard though. Despite the occasionally silly though mostly unsettling attitude of these monsters, you still didn’t trust the environment around you. They could still attack you, and not just for running into them at full speed like last time.

Just a slight bump is enough to make them attack. Even if it is just enough to get you away from them, it’s proven difficult to walk down the street. You weren’t sure what Anon was supposed to be getting at.

Neither from their representation in the journal nor what he said at the park.

parparparparparparkkkkkkkk

You groaned. You shook your head and turned your attention away from the two pedestrians to continue your journey. A slight headache was coming back. All this blunt trauma can’t be healthy.

A sign reading ‘North Elroy Street’ caught your attention. Finally! Just another block until-

*BOOM*

A large explosion cut your internal celebration short. The sound was coming from the direction South Elroy was supposed to be. Oh Tartarus.

You cantered down the street, dodging the creatures as you did so to figure out what exactly happened.

By the heavens.

Fire.

Fire and rubble and ash. And a few dead pedestrians.

“What in the hay?”

A crowd of pedestrians began forming around the flames, crowding around it and staring like it were a spectacular bonfire. You looked around for the cause of this. One of those large car things, which seemed to have a large metal cylinder on its back, was split in two. Metal was twisted and most of it was on fire.

You could make out a sign on one of the halves of the large tank through the bellowing smoke.

’DANGER! GASOLINE! No smoking or open flames!’

Looking at the candles the pedestrians were holding it wasn’t hard to piece together what had happened. Large amounts of structural damage to the surrounding buildings left a large amount of rubble in the street. That coupled with the new crowd of the monsters made it a near impossibility to get through. With an annoyed sigh you reached into your pouch and grabbed your map again.

“Great. Not a thing in this universe is allowed to be straight forward, could it?”

You grumbled bringing the map closer to your face. This side of the city was actually very run down, you were surprised the explosion didn’t bring the whole block down into dust.

So, you had made some markings on your map to denote where obstructions and dead end paths were so you had an easier time knowing where you could and could not go. Every street seemed to be cut off from South Elroy, all accept for North Elroy, but that isn’t exactly an option now.

You noticed a large building on the map that took up both sides of the block. Hauke University Hospital.

It was just on the other street over, maybe they had an entrance on both sides? Only one way to find out. You walked around the block and over to the other street on the side. Checking first to see if you couldn’t just walk around the block so you didn’t have to go through a building falling apart.

Nope, more large trucks. A pedestrian was caught in a loop climbing up and falling off of it over and over again.

Welp. Hospital it had to be then. Walking up you studied the exterior. Much like the rest of the city, dilapidated, falling apart, signs of structural damage all over.

Huge for a hospital though. Twice the size of the one in Canterlot. Why where human buildings so massive?

You approached the front door expecting to just push through them. You were given a minor fright and a miniature heart attack when it just slide open on its own. In a very creepy and slow way.

You stepped back a bit half expecting a monster or other sort of demon to come running out. The door closed again.

You approached. The door opened.

You got startled and flinched back again. The door closed.

“What in the world?”

You approached the door a third time. The door opened.

“I-is it supposed to be doing this?”

Great now you’re talking to yourself. What ever. Haven’t you been doing this the whole time?

You stood there inspecting the entrance. Would it try to cut you in half if you tried walking through? You pondered this for a moment.

”Pfft.”

That was all ridiculous! The door was moving much too slowly.

…

But what if that’s what it WANTED you to think.

Buck it. You needed to get to the other side of the street, and there was literally no getting around this. A few quick breaths, and some final words of self encouragement, you ran through the raced through the two doors and flinched.

You were fine.

“HAH! Couldn’t get us! You’ll have to try harder than THAT world. Hahahaha-”

*beep beep*

*click*

“Huh?”

You glanced behind you to see the glass doors were now closed. You approached it and it didn’t open like before.

You pushed. Wouldn’t give.

Wait, it opened by sliding. You tried to slide the door to the side. It wouldn’t budge.

“Come on, open!”

You tried using some of the little magic you had to help. Still wouldn’t open it self.

“No matter! We will simply kick our way out.”

You spun around so your plot faced the door, reared up, and bucked. Your hooves made contact with the glass and a sharp pain fired down your nerves.

You bounced off and landed on your face.

“Guh!”

You looked up in confusion. The glass wasn’t broken.

“What!” You shook your head and reared up again.

Buck, bounce, fall on your flank.

“Buhhh. The maker must be making a joke out of me. I’m trapped in here!”

You got up and tried to rediscover what balance was.

“No matter. We will just find the rear exit. We have to leave through there anyways, hopefully it is not also locked...or indestructible.

You observed the room in front of you. The remains of what used to be a waiting room were rotting away. All of the front desk windows had metal shutters closed shut and rusted through.

A few had holes.

Lights were fighting an uphill battle to stay illuminated. A stretcher laid on its side and covered in mildew in a small children’s section. You approached the front desk.

Papers and medical waste littered the counter. That was rather out of place. You knew this place had to be abandoned, but why so many needles at the front desk?

A lot of them were broken, the contents spilling out and mixing, the needles themselves covered in brown rust.

“Disgusting sight sure. But I must obtain a map for this place.”

You said, still talking to yourself for some reason. Ah! There we are. You could see a small map on the other side of the counter through one of the rusted holes in the shutters. Using your magic, you pushed the shutter out of place.

It took far less effort than expected, the corrosion really helped you out there. Using telekinesis, you grabbed it and levitated it in front of your face.

There WAS an exit on the other side of the hospital, a straight shot through the hallways. You didn’t want to get to excited though, it wouldn’t be as easy as it looks if previous events were anything to go by.

You walked past the front counter and out of the front waiting area. Wheelchairs were tipped over, stretchers were rusted and thrown about at random areas along the hallway.

You passed one that had a mattress that was underneath a leak. The brown water slowly dripped onto the bare sheets creating a horribly rancid puddle. Black mold covered the surrounding collection of water, and you swore you could see the larvae of some insect swimming in the water. Ugh.

The more you traveled down the hall way the more it seemed to fall apart.

You began to get this strange feeling running down your spine, freezing your bones and making you shudder. It wasn’t just that you had the feeling something horrible happened here. Clearly something bad had happened. Bad things were happening quite a lot here.

But something a lot more sad, a lot more depressing. Something heavy and...painful.

What significance did this place spark in Anon?

The strange rectangular lights above you hung just from the wires, and more and more of the squares in the ceiling were beginning to go missing. The paint on the walls were cracking and peeling away, revealing horribly infected walls covered in more of the black fungus.

The smell was unbearable. The usually clean smell of a hospital was replaced with dust, mold, and rot. And then insects started to crawl from their hiding spots.

Large centipedes and bugs, a few as a large as the base of our hooves, would scurry and make horrible clicking noises. You were beginning to feel more and more uneasy, the stale air of the place wrapped around your throat. The atmosphere was suffocating.

Yet no monsters, no loud noises, no locked doors even. Minus the entrance.

Just an eerie silence, broken only by the tapping of your hooves on the linoleum, and the skittering of the bugs on the walls. You pushed open the last pair of doors in front of you and walked into the ER, which had its own convenient entrance for the large cars humans used as an ambulance. You pushed against the entrance, only to discover that it was locked.

“Of course. We are only surprised this didn’t happen sooner.”

What to do now? Maybe this door wasn’t indestructible?

You tapped the glass of the sliding doors, turned around and kicked it. Just like at the front, you bounced off the glass and landed on your back.

“No...still can’t do that.” you sighed.

You picked yourself up and searched the desk area in the middle of the room. Just a bunch of paper work and boxes with large dark screens. Similar to the one you found in Anon’s house. Only smaller.

A piece of paper with a reminder to the staff caught your eye though.

”ATTENTION ALL STAFF! Don’t forget to have you I.D. on you at all times! They are your identification and key to get to otherwise locked areas in the hospital. We’ve been having too many instances of the staff misplacing their cards. A nurse had to be given a written warning for leaving her card in the lounge. Signed by: Care team leader, Jessie Kauffman.”

Huh. So their ID cards were used as keys? How in the hay was that supposed to work. You didn’t find any IDs in this room. Perhaps if these workers were as complacent as they were described, you could probably check their employee lounge for any IDs.

Were medical workers usually this incompetent in the human world?

You pulled out your map and looked for the lounge. The map was telling you to go all the way to the third floor.

“Again, nothing in this world can be easy can it?”

With a groan you packed your map away and continued to the stairs. Entering the stairwell you looked up.

Moonrocks! These steps went up by hundreds of meters! It seemed impossible to even fit in the building! There wasn’t even any consistency in the spacing between the doors to other floors.

It seemed to go on almost forever!

ever

eVer

You started your ascent, your hooves tapping against the grated steps and causing a nauseating echo. After five minutes you looked up. It didn’t even look like you made a dent in traveling. In fact the second floor look only a little bit closer than at ground level, how far were you from, WOAH!

Spiraling darkness.

The steps seemed to just keep going down and down and down forever. A sharp pain pulsed in your skull, and then left as soon as it came.

“Ah! What is with these strange occurrences within the building?”

You continued your journey upwards. Each step causing a loud clang between your hoof and the metal, which in turn reverberated among the long and deep walls of the stairwell. The sounds aggravated your headache.

You began to get extremely sick of the metal, the horrible rotting walls, and the darkness.

Your alicorn eyes were really being tested at this point. And then, finally after all that climbing.

“The third story. Thank the gods!”

You pushed into the bar across the door.

*clink*

It was locked.

You had to hold in your scream, every nerve and fiber in your body was at a stress point you’ve never felt before. Every door, EVERY DOOR, the smallest obstacle between you and the one thing you needed was always LOCKED!

The throbbing in your head was reaching points of becoming unbearable. You could hardly concentrate on anything with the burning pain in your head.

You felt like something was inside of it and trying to break free by eating itself out.

NO, BUCK IT! YOU WERE GOING TO GET THROUGH THIS DOOR WITHOUT GOING ON ANOTHER SCAVENGER HUNT.

Hay, you were already on one. With a mixture of just wanting to let out anger, and a bit of desperation in hoping it’d work. You reared your hind legs back, and with all your might, with every bit of strength in you, even the limited amount of magic you could use in this maker forsaken world, you gave the door a hard, loud buck.

*BANG!*

The doors flew open, one of them came off one of its hinges. The sound from the loud bang of the kick vibrated off the walls and assaulted your ear drums.

You dug your hooves into your temple and rubbed furiously. After the pain died down you looked behind you and sighed.

“I should feel joy from something finally going our way, however it’s about time this all ends.”

You picked yourself up and finally walked into the hallway. Walking down it caused the rooms and walls to become even worse for wear somehow. Exposed boards and insulation spilled unto the tiling.

Drywall dusted the floor in a carpet of white. Eventually all the lights stopped working, and the darkness was too much for even you to see through.

Luckily, you had torch on you from the school. You grabbed it from your pouch and switched it on. A beam of bright light punctured the darkness in front of you.

The eerie feeling you felt first coming in was back, and even worse this time around. A lot more off than before. A lot more uncanny. Walking past a few rooms something made you stop. It was faint, you almost missed it, but you could definitely hear it. Sobbing, coming from one of the shut rooms.

You looked toward the door of the room in question. The faint weeping of a young girl was coming from behind the door. You tensed up and put a hoof forward to step away. The sobbing grew louder. You did it again. It grew louder. It was a pained sobbing. The crying you’d hear over a lost loved one, or a child lost in the woods. Every muscle in your body was tensed, contracting past mere uncomfort and into pain.

You picked up your hoof to take one more step forward, and the sobbing stopped. You didn’t like that. It rubbed you in all the wrong ways. It coming out of nowhere was one thing but then disappearing and being replaced by the horrible silence was another.

You held your breath for a long while, waiting for something to happen. One of those heathens. That lady from the school, the woman that chased you out of Anon’s house, hay even a pedestrian.

But nothing happened.

You attempted walking again, and when there was still no odd occurrences, you continued. Now thoroughly on edge and uncomfortable. Never knowing from what or why these things happened.

The darkness seemed to move around you with every step at that point. Finally, you reached the lounge. Finding the ID wasn’t difficult, a doctor had left his in one of his coats. You inspected it. The ID was the cleanest thing in the building you’ve come across so far.

The card itself shone a bright pure white. And on the back, a purple bar. The text was in a soft baby blue. You grabbed it and shoved it into your bag. You walked back down the hall way, the darkness was getting uncomfortably close now.

You took a slight detour to another stairwell. Crossing into another hall and taking a right. Coming upon another room that was out of place. Deep black roots crawled up and around the frame of the door, bark covering the walls. The uncanny feeling that stuck around you seemed to consume you into a deep depressive state. Fear over what could be in that room swarmed in your mind…But…You had to go in.

You just had to go into this room. You felt as if not doing so would be...wrong.

Woah woah woah. Luna, listen to your self. You cant…

Cant cant cant cant canterrrrrrrrrrrrrrr lot lot lotttttltoltlotloltoltol.

The headache came back. You began to approach the door. You had to go in. You had to check on who was in there. You didn’t even know who was in there. B-but you had to check. You didn’t want to. You didn’t want to see them. But you needed to see them. You’d be horrible otherwise. What kind of son would you be?

You pushed the door open. Not even your flashlight could illuminate the black in this room. It was like stepping into a demented version of Twilight’s library.

“I-I’ve come to see you…”

The roots twisted and turned, growing into a large mound of rotten wood and bark.

“I can’t be too late can I?”

The roots compressed into each other, the wood crunched

and snapped.

“By God...I am.”

You didn’t know who God was. You had no idea what you were saying, but at this point you felt so compelled to do so. With a final crack, bark and roots gave way and fell onto the floor. A dark silhouette of a human woman was standing there. A shadow being that seemed to shutter in and out of existence. But the eyes themselves were red and large. They took up more of the face than they should have.

The sight alone seemed to snap you out of what ever possessed you to enter in the first place and you shook your head. No words, no thoughts, no waiting for it to do anything, just running. You turned and scurried away, passing and jumping over cots, stretchers, and wheelchairs a like. The roots from the door were following you, matching your pace. As they did, the walls turned to black and more bark seemed to grow in its place.

You finally made it to the stairwell and raced down. The roots twisted around the metal, and from wood they turned to rusted pipe, and instead of bark, the metal corroded and scraped away. You didn’t even run down the steps, you just jumped from one platform to the other.

Almost there.

The door to the hallway was one more flight. You reached it and pushed it open. Something grabbed your hind leg and tripped you. Some of the piping.

“UGH!”

You looked back in horror at...nothing. Did the shadow woman not follow you. You looked back up into the stairwell and pointed your torch up.

No, there she was, staring back. Not moving an inch. The roots and pipes however, were still inching their way towards you. You freed your hoof from the metal snagging it and rushed toward the exit of the ER.

Finally reaching it, you had an epiphany.

“HOW DO THEY USE THESE THINGS AS KEYS?”

You pulled the card out with our teeth and looked around the door. A black box was near the frame of the door, just to the left of it. The box itself had a red light on top and a slit inside it. You pushed the card along the slit nothing. Maybe you have to slide it back and forth?

You aggressively slid the card up and down inside the slit.

*beep beep*

*click*

The light turned green, and the doors opened. Running out of the exit you missed a wheelchair blocking the path and tripped.

You skid and rolled onto your side. Half in and half out of the exit. Before you could get up, a sharp pain pierced your side. One of the roots had stabbed into you, and a horrible black stain was spreading along your coat. You glanced back into the hospital. The shadowy, almost two dimensional women was standing on the far opposite side of the room.

It’s eyes the most visible thing about it. It stood still yet its form was still vibrating and seemingly jumping into and out of this reality at spastic moments.

A large toothy grin spread across the figures face, giving you flashbacks to the school. Its teeth were stained yellow and gums cut a deep red. The roots continued to approach you, growing out of the exit.

You bucked a few of the roots and they went flying. You pulled the root still lodged into your side out of you and scampered away, out side of the exit, and down the street, the fire from the explosion of the street opposite of the one you were now on illuminating your way.

You ran and ran and ran. You were beginning yo find yourself in this situation way too often. Looking behind you, you didn’t see the woman nor the branches giving chase after that.

You finally made it to South Elroy and took rest at a bus stop. You took a moment to collect your self. Your breath was heavy and quick. Your heart was close to popping in your chest.

You winced and grabbed your side in pain. Cuddling up into a fetal position. You checked the wound from the branch. It broke skin and pierced muscle but it actually wasn’t that deep. Not deep enough to reach anything major. You covered it in gauze and poured some alcohol on it you snatched from the ER.

The black coloration of your coat, flesh, and blood however was of a concern. A wave of depression and loss fell over you. Loss of what you didn’t know....you tried not to think about that.

You looked back into the direction of the hospital. Another horrible place, another horrible monster evaded. You were beginning to notice a pattern. You were getting yourself into a lot of these horrid situations.

Maker forbid you get too used to this. You were safe now, and you were at South Elroy. You had to continue. You could FEEL yourself getting closer. You knew you had to be. It was a deep metaphysical feeling. In a way, it felt like this book was running out of pages, what was at the end, you didn’t know, but you had to find out.

Anon was acting strange, and he doesn’t want you here. But at the same time he want’s you to “make your own way out.”

What ever that means. You looked down South Elroy Street. The streets were calm now, not even the pedestrians seemed to be wandering around. You slide back against the glass of the stop and rest your self for a minute. Your eyes were beginning to grow heavy.

Just a little bit of rest. You rest your head back onto the ground. You couldn’t sleep...too...dangerous. You finally allowed your eyes to shut.

No sleep. Just...just to rest your eyes.

You wrestled with your bindings, trying your damnedest to free your self. Your breathing was made difficult through the gag in your mouth.

You are Anonymous, and you were tied up and locked in the dark bathroom of your old apartment.

The other you had knocked you unconscious and left you there. You had no idea what he wanted to do with you or where he went, but you could only assume it was something very bad.

Last time you saw him he...well, no use dwelling on that or what it could mean.
You had bigger things to worry about than the fabric of reality. Of what was real or not.

No. Luna was trapped in this hellish world and you needed to find out where she was. If she was okay or not.

“God damn it. This rope is tight as fuck.”

The sound of a closing door and foot steps approaching the bathroom door caught your attention. The knob twisted and the door was pushed open.

”Now that she’s been taken care of, I can deal with you.”

He grabbed you and dragged you out of the tub, pulling you into the main room. He threw you against the sofa and ripped the gag out of your mouth.

“WHERE IS SHE!?”

”Doesn’t matter. The both of you won’t be here very long anyways.”

“You piece of shit, if you did anything to her I’ll-”

”Do nothing. You will do nothing but leave. I don’t want anything to do with either of you, and I don’t really care about how or why you came here. I just want peace.”

“Peace? You weren’t very peaceful last time I saw you! I don’t know who you are or why you look like me, but you can’t be good!”

The other Anonymous straightened himself and looked down at you with a disappointed expression. You didn’t know how you could describe it as looking with the blind fold on. You really didn’t care though.

”You really don’t know who I am? Do you even know who you are?”

“Fuck you and your cryptic bullshit! My last visit here had me at my limits.”

”If you’ll recall, I did nothing to you my last time here other than...vent my frustrations. I hate this place just as much as you do. When I couldn’t fight my way out-”

“Fight your way out? Are you seriously telling me you had to go through everything I did? With what you can do? You can go where ever you want, do what ever you want.”

”I fought in my own way. We both did.”

“Listen, just tell me where Luna is, is she okay?”

”If you are referencing the unicorn, pegasus hybrid thing with the dark coat and weird mane, then hopefully not for long. If what she has expressed has any truth.”

“You faggot, what did you do to her?”

You struggled a bit more with the rope tying your feet and hands together.

”It’s not just what I did to her, but what I did to myself, what we both did...”

“That doesn’t make ANY sense. Stop with the ominous bullshit and just speak normally. What the FUCK did you do to Luna?”

The other Anon leaned into your face and grimaced.

”We opened up. We opened ourselves to blank pages and mapped out our frustrations. She’s at the mercy of our psyche now.”

“So you’re saying you just left her out there? With all of those fucking...things, with no help? No way of protecting her self? And stop saying WE, we aren’t the same.”

”Wow. You really do not know who you are do you? Not the same in body. I’m actually surprised you have one. No, we inhabit the same mind.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

The other Anonymous sighed and took a seat beside you.

”I really don’t want to talk about this. Why can’t we have some weird mind connection thing to make you understand.”

You spat at his shoe beside you. “I refuse to believe we are the same in ANY form of the word. If you are a part of me, if you do come from my mind, I had to struggle every day of my life to keep you down. I hated myself because of you.”

The other Anon sighed. ”I know what you mean...you’re catching on at least. But you can’t stay here. You’re supposed to be gone.”

“What do you mean?”

”Forget it. Like I said, I don’t want to talk about any of this. I hate opening myself up. And now some innocent bystander is going to succumb to my pain...or find a way out.”

“Where is the way out?”

”If I knew that I wouldn’t have made my own way out of this place. Unfortunately it seems when ever someone wants to be nosy about this book, my troubles, I end up back here.”

You stared up at him. He just stared out in front of him, at nothing in particular.

“Look. If us being here hurts you. We can make a deal.” You plead.

”That’s not how this works.”

“THEN HOW DOES IT? I don’t want to be here again, I’m sure Luna hates it here, and from what you are saying, you hate being here just as much as us. None of us know the way out apparently, and if that’s the case, why don’t we pass the time doing something useful?” The other Anon sighed again.

”I suppose I should listen to you.”

“Really? Then how about you untie me?” You motion with your bindings.

The other Anon pinched his chin.

”Alright. I only ever did this as a precaution. Just know there isn’t anything you can do to escape this apartment. And trying to harm me will do more harm than good.”

“Fine, whatever, just untie me!”

”Alright.” He reached down and undid your restraints.

You rubbed your wrist, motherfucker tied those knots so tight they left bruises.

“First off. Where is Luna, is she okay?”

”Last I saw of the horse she was in the park. A little beaten up, but she made it out of our old elementary school and house just fine. She is hell bent on ‘saving us’. Heh, if only she understood.”

“She’s fine then?”

”She’s alive.”

“Good. And yea, by the way. What do you mean, ‘understand.’ Are we in the book? My own mind? What?”

”As far as I know, we are inside of our journal. Everything happening here, is what is written in there.”

He pointed to the book laying on the dining table. Great, that thing was here too.

“Alright. So Luna is safe, and it turns out I was in my journal the whole time. That leaves two more questions I have.”

”If you insist.”

“Who are you. And how did I end up in the journal in the first place?” The other Anon’s brow furrowed.

”Every writer needs a main character Anon.”

God damn it he was being ominous again. “What does that even mean? Jesus H. Christ! You are so fucking weird.”

”I-”

A terrible groaning side shuttered throughout the whole apartment. A sharp pain pulsed in your skull. It seemed to do the same to the other Anon.

“AGH! Fuck, what was that?” The other Anon rubbed his head. His mouth began to open as he came to a sudden realization.

He walked over and opened up the journal and flipped through it. He looked toward the door and threw the book back on the table.

”THAT BITCH! AND SHE DIDN’T DIE FROM THAT?” He looked over at you and pointed an accusing finger.

”NO MORE QUESTIONS! NO MORE TALKING! All you and her are is trouble! Both of you had better find a way to leave. You know where the kitchen is. I have to go and talk to this bitch!”

“HEY FUCK YOU! WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU ARE GOING! DON’T YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT HURTING HER!”

He opened the door and looked back at you. ”Hey before you do the right thing and leave, remember this. Wherever you end up next, just fucking stay there, like you were supposed to.”

With that, he slammed the door shut. You ran over and fiddled with the handle. Locked from the outside.

“GOD DAMN IT!” You pounded on the door of your apartment.

“

DON’T YOU LAY A GOD DAMN HAND ON HER!”

You had to step back and collect your self. Okay, okay. There had to be a way out. After a few minutes of looking and throwing things at windows, nothing worked. You pulled out a chair at the dining room table and sat down. You looked at the journal in front of you.

“He read that before leaving. What did it say?” You grabbed it and started reading.

”You finally made it to South Elroy and took rest at a bus stop. You took a moment to collect your self. Your breath was heavy and quick. Your heart was close to popping in your chest. You winced and grabbed your side in pain. Cuddling up into a fetal position. You checked the wound from the branch. It broke skin and pierced muscle but it actually wasn’t that deep. Not deep enough to reach anything major. You covered it in gauze and poured some alcohol on it you snatched from the ER.”

What?

You don’t remember this ever happening. Was...was this about Luna? She made it through Hauke? From the sound of it she also encountered...that must be why the other Anon was upset. What else did this journal have? You flipped through the pages.

Most of it would be incoherent to the average reader. But you were able to relate to everything written here. You wrote it after all. But there were apparently stuff in here you didn’t remember writing. You flipped to the front.

”It’s dark and lonely. I always felt alone. I hated that feeling. I was always too awkward to make any real friends. Last one I had was a fake bitch.” You flipped through a few more of the pages.

Wait. What was this.

”I need to fight back. I have to try. These thoughts are too much. The things I go through are too much.”

Weird.

”I wake up...in a dark alley way…” You don’t remember writing this. But...this was almost like...

”I don’t know where I am or how I got here. Leaving this place, all I see are the struggles I deal with. The things I’m afraid of that no one seems to understand. They confuse me. They hurt the same but they are far more real. I can touch them. They can touch me now.”

You recognized this. You don’t remember writing this though.

No.

You remember living it.

”I exited the alley way. I had to find my way home. But every twist and every turn I made there was another one of them. So hostile, so terrible. They cut deep with their knives like my anxiety does just trying to go to work.”

You flipped through more of the book.

No...you didn’t write this you lived through this. This is a retelling of what you did when you found your self here. Every monster, every location. It recalls how you escaped the alley way. How you found your self at the ER, the school, your old home. The streets. Everything you did to the smallest detail.

What the other Anon said before leaving went through your mind.

”Every writer needs a main character.”

Main character…

You dropped the journal back onto the table and looked at your hands. You tried to remember what had happened shortly before showing up in that alley way.

You couldn’t. You had the memories. Your childhood, your mother, your father, your job and co-workers. Your doctor. Living here. But...what was the last thing you remember doing before showing up here the first time?

You didn’t know.

“Every story...needs a main character...”

You could feel yourself begin to shake. You brought your hands up to your head and pulled at your hair.

“Every story…” Your got quicker. “A main character.”

You felt as if you were just struck by a train mentally. The walls seemed to shake just a little bit.

“Who...who am I?”

Your sense of reality began to break down. It really couldn’t be true was it? You could feel things! You could feel your hair, the table. You even had memories of feeling things.

Like...like...hugs! Hugs from your friends. From Luna. Luna. Was she real? Were your friends?

You leaned back in the chair and stared at the ceiling.

What the fuck was going on?

~~~~

Ch.17 Claire

“Mmmm. Anonymous...”

You scrunched your nuzzle up. Something was licking your nose.

“Anon, it’s cute to wake me up like this but you have the breath of a dog.”

*pant pant pant*

You cracked an eye open.

*bark*

“Agh!”

You shot your head up and backed away. It was a dog! And it woke you up from your, mmmmmm, personal dream. You looked around. The fire in the distance from the explosion had died down by this point.

*bark*

You looked back to the canine in front of you. It looked so happy to see you. You were suspicious though. You haven’t exactly seen anything friendly in this place yet, and you weren’t about to trust a random dog waking you up either. You took a look at the name tag.

”Claire.”

Wow. Nice job “Claire.” She woke you up from a very comforting dream.

…

WAIT! You got to your hooves.

“Did I...was I...how long was I resting?”

You looked around for something, anything to tell you the time. The moon was still of no help. Buck it, you need to get to 1576 South Elroy Street. You dug the map out of your bag and opened it.

“Alright, we are at this bus stop here. Just two blocks to the south and we will have made it.”

The dog poked its head out from underneath the map and smiled at you.

*bark*

“Uh. Good girl. Please, go away. We are busy.”

*bark*

You stuck the map back into your bag and started heading south.

“Really, you are a, uhm, pretty hound. But we must be on our way.”

The dog began to follow you.

*bark bark*

You looked back to the dog. Its tongue was hanging out of its mouth. You stopped and turned to face it.

“By the maker, how did you end up here? Really, you may run along now.”

The dog jumped up and rest its front paws on your legs.

*bark bark*

“Shoo! Shoo!”

You backed away, this was getting rather irritating now. You looked over to a stray branch in the middle of the road. You picked it up with your telekinesis.

“Oh! Look at this! Look at this! Do you wish to have the stick? Do you?” The dog began running around you and barking, excited at the brown twig in your aura.

“Well, go get it!”

You levitated the stick down and behind a back alley. The dog yipped and chased it. Once out of sight, you cantered off further down the street. Once you were a block away you looked back and sighed. She didn’t follow you. Good. It looked like an innocent and normal animal. It was a nice change of pace.

Well, the rats and insects in the buildings you went into didn’t seem too different from the ones in Equestria, but the dog wasn’t a vermin or pest.

You didn’t want it getting in the way though. You hope it stayed safe. You continued down the road, you weren’t too far now. The streets seemed eerily empty. You haven’t seen one of those pedestrian creatures for a while now. Though they weren’t here when you first arrived in the city either.

Strange. What could it mean? What could any of this mean? You thought back to what Anonymous had said in the park. ‘Just a bunch of fools. All of them going through the motions, they think they can navigate the chaotic streets of this city and life with just a flame, wick, and a small amount of wax.’

Was he referring to other humans? Then why the candles? Some dramatic allusion to guiding their way through life? They acted so strange though. Well, if you were Anonymous, anything anyone else did may seem strange.

Ah! Finally building 1576!

It was clothing shop. You did recall Anonymous saying he had a job in retail.

*clunk*

A rolling can caught your attention. You looked toward the alley way it came from. A pedestrian came out from behind the walls. Ah, there one was. It thrashed about and ran into one of the cars. You winced. That had to hurt.

Its hands clawed at its own face. It appeared to be in a state of distress. You slowly walked backwards, cautious of what it was doing. Sure these things acted strange, but this one was acting...so much more different.

In fact, where was its candle? It let out a deep and pained groan. That’s a noise you’ve never heard it make before. The creature dug its nails into where it’s mouth was supposed to be, finally piercing skin. A brown bile poured from its new mouth.

“Oh goodness!”

It smelt fowl. Like the worst vomit you’ve ever had the misfortune of smelling.

And you’ve smelt what Celestia hacked up after one of her cake and wine binges.

The creature heaved and stabilized itself against the car, seeming to catch its breath. It turned its head up to you and twitched. Its whole body started to twitch at an unnatural speed and angles.

It began to approach you, you stood your ground ready to stab it through with your horn.

*Bark bark*

A gray blur pounced on the creature, knocking it over. The dog from before had pounced on it. The creature groaned and thrashed around, trying to get the animal off of it. The dog bit into its neck and chewed away at the flesh. You were amazed by the surprising lack of blood. In fact, there was none. Just flesh and bone.

After a minute of struggling, the pedestrian finally stopped moving, and went limp. The dog sat next to the creature and looked at you expectantly. Its tail wagging side by side with excitement.

“Oh! You!”

You smiled for the first time in what felt like a while.

“Good girl!”

*bark*

It went over behind the car the pedestrian vomited on and came back with the stick.

“Ah! The stick! Of course.”

The dog walked up and placed it down in front of you. You picked up the stick again and looked at it for a moment, and then back at the hound. You COULD throw the stick away again and continue into the retail store on your own. But as it turns out, this dog may not get in the way as you expected. It had actually just proven itself to be of some use.

“Hm. Hows about this, Claire, instead of playing the game of fetch, you come and follow me?”

The dog tilted its head in confusion because it’s a freaking dog Luna and can’t speak Ponish.

“Uhh. Just, follow me girl!”

The dog yipped and jumped around, following you into the store. You pushed the door open and walked in.

It was so dark. You had to use your torch again. The store seemed to be twice as large as the hospital waiting room you were in just a while ago. Venturing further inside, you looked around and inspected the clothing racks. Shirts of all different shapes and sizes, all able to fit human proportions, hung on large racks. The most striking thing about this store was how clean it was!

No mold, no leaks, no rot nor decay.

Just dark.

“Oof!”

You tripped over something. Your dog rushed over and pulled at your leg trying to help you up.

“What in the hay was did we trip on?”
You looked down. A shallow trench ran through the tiled paths in the floor. Well less of a trench and more so a,

“Rut...I wonder what THIS is supposed to mean.”

Ah sarcasm. The only thing keeping you sane at this point.

Stepping over the rest of the hole you continued.

“Now...I suppose I should be looking for an office or employees’ lounge or the like. That may have something I’ll need.”

You made it to the back of the store, hitting a dead end. Following the wall you made it to a door that said ‘employees only.’

Pushing it opened revealed a small warehouse area. It was filled with boxes and carts. There was a bin filled with hangers. You pointed your flashlight around.

Ah! An office.

”Ughhhhhhh.”

You could here the clattering of boxes somewhere in the other end of the warehouse area.

Claire growled at this sudden noise.

“Shh! Do not make a sound. Follow us!”

You whispered as you wrapped a hoof around the dog and dragged it toward the office. Once inside you shut the door and locked it and closed the blinds to the window. You peaked through the shutters and stared into the large room.

You could hear more shuffling around, but it was still localized on the other side of the building. You sighed and looked back at the dog.

“You must be quieter. We know you are willing to help, but there is no need to draw attention when not needed.”

Claire whined and laid on its stomach and looked up at you with those puppy dog eyes. Oh no, not those, not your heart.

“Please do not give us those eyes. Now you must hush, we can’t have one of THOSE pedestrians interrupting us.”
You got behind the desk and started to open up drawers.

Bills, a check list, a pornography magazine.

…

Hm...what do humans like? You just needed to look through it for uh...research. Curiosity! Purely scientific, not at all trying to figure out what would please a human male because the only human male you know is a good and platonic friend anyways.

Totally.

Ugh. Forget it. You threw it back into the desk and shut the first drawer, opening another one. You picked up a folder from the other drawer.

“Now this should contain useful information.”

The folder said ‘Employee Records and Roster’ on it. You opened the folder and flipped through. Lisa Cunningham, Mason Sanders, Claire Adams, hey one of the employees had the same name as your new friend!

You continued to scan the paper. AH! Here we go, Anonymous.
You began reading his records.

”August 5th, 2019. Anonymous was late for work. Given a verbal warning. September 1st, 2019. Anonymous was caught slacking in the Men’s restroom. Given a verbal warning. September 10th, 2019. Anonymous was late for work again. Given a verbal and written warning. September 25th, 2019. Anonymous failed to show up to work. Given a final written warning and placed on Probation. Note: Anonymous has been taken off of probation and had his last written warning excused upon phone call from his psychiatrist. Employer’s Notes: Anonymous is hard to have around here. He’s rather subpar at his job so I just keep him on the night shift. However, his shrink just recently informed me that Anonymous needs “special consideration”, whatever the hell that means, and needs a job like this. If I didn’t have a conscious I’d have fired him. But I don’t feel right firing an employee that is sick, and can at least do SOMETHING around here. Claire seems to be a good enough friend and influence for him. I’m placing her on the same shift as Anonymous as well as giving Anonymous small jobs that are hard to fuck up. Janitorial jobs, stocking jobs, what have you. He’s too anxious around the customers. I’ll have to make sure to update the shift manager.”

Hm. And this Claire seemed to be a close friend of Anon’s. What happened between them? Was she the coworker Anon spoke of? Poor Anon. You remember him mentioning not enjoying his job. If this was the only way to earn a living he had though, no wonder he stayed.

You recalled the days before your banishment. How you grew to resent lowering the moon, your subjects not caring a small bit about the night you provided them. Caring only for your sister’s day. Even now you hated night court. It was so boring, nopony bothered to show up with their problems outside of a few petty squabbles from nobles too full of pride who didn’t schedule themselves soon enough to make it onto day court.

And they made sure to tell you how “awful it was” to have to stay up at such a “grueling hour” when really all they were fighting over was a percent of inheritance. At least one person appreciated your night…

You flipped over to the roster section of the folder. It included more of those strange phone numbers, something called an “E mail”, and employee addresses.

You looked underneath Anonymous’ name.

”23 Saxon Ave. La Casa Apartments, Room 201.”

Could this be it? Finally? Please let this be it. This wasn’t seemingly located in the suburbs like his previous house. No, that must be where he just grew up!

Anon’s house! His home!

You hoped, how much you hoped he would be there! Then maybe then you’d find out how to actually help him! You grabbed the list and placed it in your satchel. You then closed the folder and picked it up with your telekinesis.

*clink*

A plastic baggie with an orange key fell out of the folder and onto the desk. Moving it the folder to the side you picked it up and read the note taped to the bag.

”New key for the front door. Don’t lose it.” Well, might as well take it just in case.

Sticking that in your bag you went up and checked through the blinds again. You couldn’t hear anything this time.

You shined the flashlight out into the dark. Nothing but boxes. Area seemed clear.

“Psst. You ready to go little one?”

The dog lifted its head up and started to wag its tail.

“Good. Now remember, do not make a sound.”

You crack the door open and peer through. Still clear. You walk out and take a sigh. Claire walks out and sniffs and stares deep into the darkness.

Oh maker, please don’t. Claire starts growling.

As Anon would say.

“Shit.”

Your new companion starts barking and runs into the darkness.

“Wait, no, stop!”

You reach out your hoof. Too late now. You point your torch in the direction he went in, but you couldn’t see her. You could hear the struggle. The groaning, the snarls, boxes being pushed over. Claire whimpered. And then silence.

Against your better judgment, you ran into the darkness to fine the poor thing. Seeing the pedestrian, you skid to a halt.

Though covered in bite marks, the pedestrian still stood, its new mouth wide open.

The dog was caught in between the fingers off the creature, staring back at you. The pedestrian raised one of its long thin fingers at you and let out another groan.

The pedestrian released its grip on Claire, and she fell onto the floor. Your new companion got back onto its legs and glared at you, exposing its teeth. She began to snarl. Foam dripping from her mouth.

You slowly began to back away.

“N-nice dog? Good girl?”

It pounced, barking wildly. It bit on to your leg and thrashed its jaws. Screaming you kicked it against the metal shelf next to you and threw her towards the pedestrian, knocking the creature over with the poor pup.

Ignoring the pain you bolted towards the exit of the warehouse area and into the main part of the store. The exit was close but seemed so far away. You dashed in between racks, shelves, and mannequins.

Claire caught up and bit you the leg you were stabbed in at the school. Moving forward, your hoof fell into the rut in the path of the store and you tripped over.

Groaning could be heard all around you. The smell was pungent and sickening. You flailed free from the grip of Claire’s jaws, but weren’t able to dodge a swipe from one of the twitching pedestrians, punting you into another one of them. Who in turn threw you into a clothing rack.

You tried to pick yourself back up, only for the dog to bite you in your flank. You used your front hoof to bash her in the face, giving you time to run closer towards the exit before the twitching horrors could get any closer to you.

You were limping the whole way there. You could hear Claire behind you getting closer. You reached the door and pushed. Locked. To be expected honestly.

You pulled the orange key out of the bag and slid it into the hole. You looked behind you, Claire was in mid pounce.

With out thinking you kicked her and she let out a cry that pierced your heart.

You turned the key pushed the door open and slammed it shut, locking it again.

You lay down on the ground in front of the store and look back. You flinched as you moved your legs. Blood covering your coat where the bite wounds were. You looked back toward the entrance. Crawling backwards away from the door.

Expecting the dog or one of those twitching things to come and break it. Claire limped herself to one of the glass door and peered out and stared at you.

“You can stay locked in there you beast!”

Instead of snarling and barking back at you, she whimpered and licked the window. Its face was mangled. Blood was mixing with her saliva, and you can see that a blood vessel ruptured in his eye.

“Oh! Now you want our sympathy? After you tried to maul us?”

Claire began pawing at the window and yelping.

“Forget it!”

The pace she was pawing at the door became quicker as she glanced behind her. The yelping and whining becoming louder until a hand came from the darkness and pulled Claire back in. The horrible noises coming from behind the door made you splay your ears back. The cries from the dog soon replaced with crunching and tearing. It was the blood that splattered across the door that made you jump and run away down the street. In a full gallop towards Saxon Avenue and Anon’s apartment.

On the way you couldn’t help but tear up. Poor dog. Even if it attacked you, you didn’t know what possessed it. She probably did so against her own will. And to die like that? You only had her for a short hour or so. Was that negligence?

Or was it the book trying to convey something else in Anon’s life? Maybe that was why she had the same name as one of Anon’s co-workers. You opted to just forget it and focus on getting to Saxon Avenue as soon as possible, and praying to every god that might exist that Anonymous would be there.

You didn’t want to stay here any longer.

~~~~

Ch.18 The Mental Health Clinic

You finally made it to Saxon Avenue.

Only to be greeted by a large wall running through the alley ways and across the street, blocking you from the building.

“Looks like I will have to find another way around...again.” You sigh and turn around intending to walk around the block and to the back.

”You will not find a way in that way.”

You stopped.

”That way is blocked as well.”

Not again. You couldn’t believe you were saying this but please, PLEASE, not again. You didn’t want a repeat of last time in the park.

You turned around to face Anonymous. You were going to have to be calm.

“Anonymous?”

He was standing on top of the large wall.

”You somehow managed to survive both the hospital and the shop. You’re persistent. But I told you, you need to leave.”

“Yes, I did survive. And it was hard for me to do so. I in fact came very close to being ripped open.”

”But you’re not.” He spat back.

“You say that as if it is somehow a problem.”

”It IS a problem!”

“Why? Why would me being okay be a problem to you! Are we not close friends Anon?”

”I don’t even know you! Just leave! I don’t want you here!”

“Anonymous that...t-that really hurts!”

”How the fuck do you think I feel? You being here prolongs the problem! Having to live through this all again when I have already found a way out of here is such bullshit. All I can do is hope you are consumed by this place or you…” Anon shook his head. “I don’t want others hurting because of me, I just want to be left in peace!”

“ANONYMOUS! I am here to HELP you with your problems! If you don’t tell me how I can NOT!”

”God...DAMN IT! Can’t you see what I’m doing? If this is all too much for you, you should just FUCKING LEAVE! If you can’t find an exit, just leave, like I did!”

“That does not make any sense! And even if it did, if you did that before, why can’t you just do it again?”

Anonymous hesitated. He seemed to get a little anxious.

”I...I don’t think it works like that. You can’t do that twice.”

“Have you even tried? What did you do?”

Anonymous put a hand up to the back of his head, you assumed where that wound you first saw in the school was.

“Anon...Anon what did you do to escape the first time?!”

Anonymous lowered his hand and looked back down at you. He looked almost saddened by something.

“Anonymous?”

He furrowed his brow and pointed to the building next to you.

”If you go through there...you’ll learn what ever you need to know, and hopefully find a way out, or forced out. If not, then it will lead to the back of the apartments I-I need to leave.”

You were about to call out to him, but, knowing the previous encounters, you knew it would have been pointless. Why did he look so upset when you asked him how he got out? A bad feeling began to swim around in your stomach.

What did he do? And why was he helping you all of a sudden? You looked toward the building Anon pointed towards.

”Incognito Psychiatric Clinic.”

Why was a mental clinic so close to Anon’s place?

Oh.

You recalled back to why Anon wasn’t fired from his job. The call from his doctor. He also must have set up Anon’s living arrangement. You really were not keen on going into another building. But it seems as though you had no other choice. You approached the door and let out a deep sigh. Anon apparently wanted you dead, left at the mercy of those creatures.

He seemed to be in pain just by you being here, and claims to not know you. You hesitated.

This...thing, that claimed to be Anonymous, or at the very least looked a lot like him, wanted you gone. In some way. Whether you found a way out, died, or “made your way out.” You still didn’t like the sound of that.

He also apparently has no memory of you. So, is he even really Anonymous? Should you trust him?

khm

mmmhmhmhmhmmkkkkkkkk

Your temples flared again. Another headache. You looked at the door. Regardless, you really had no other option. If he wasn’t the Anon you knew, the Anon who was your closest friend, the one you loved, then that meant your Anonymous was still in trouble.

If he was Anonymous, then you had to find out why he was acting so strange. Why his actions seemed to make NO SENSE.

And the last obstacle between you and your, hopefully, final location, was this clinic. You took in a deep breath, held it and let it out slow. You furrowed your brow, grit your teeth, and pushed the door open.

The inside of the clinic looked no different than the rest of the buildings in the city. Dark and rundown. There was a waiting room, a counter, and a door that lead to the offi------ceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

.anav ainmos irgeA !ciH

Your head throbbed in pain. You SWORE you could hear whispers. You shook your head and looked forward. First things first. Find the rear exit. You walked through to the offices and proceeded onward.

Subverting expectations, while there WERE holes in the wall, and the wooden beams were rotting, the usual sour stench and mold were not to be found. Sure, a musk was heavy in the air, but not of mold.

The usual black splotches were instead replaces by incoherent scribbling on random areas of the walls in various sizes and clusters, separated from each other by a considerable margin. They all seemed to be about different things.

Some were sayings about some God that was foreign to you. Others were about time. Others seemed more personal and called out to family members or friends.

You didn’t bother paying close attention to them. You resigned to following the exit signs. You could still hear the same whispers from when you first walked in. More disjointed from before. A dull pain radiated in the back of your skull. You must have finally started to go insane.

CiH

ciH

irgeA

ciH

anaV

icH icH icH icH icH icH icH

You rubbed the back of your head and pressed onward. Finally you reached the exit and pushed against the door.

“Locked. As expected.”

You turned around to go back the way you came.

“I suppose it is now time for me to...huh!”

You were...back in the waiting room? But, all you did was turn around. You looked back behind you. The door to the offices remained closed.

“How in the name of the maker!”

You darted your head around. Looking for anything else out of the ordinary. You spun around back to the offices door. You slowly approached it and peered through. The hallway looked the same...you thought. There did appear to be more writing.

You walked through the door once again, checking to make sure you really didn’t close it and walked again through the hallways. The whispering and migraine seemed to have calmed down now. You tried to open a few of the doors, most of them were locked. One door you opened, revealed an office with all of the furniture slammed against the wall and just staying there.

As if gravity didn’t affect it what so ever. The chairs, lamps, and tables were just glued to the right most wall. You walked down the corridor, you were about to take a right when something caught your attention.

A clump of hair. Purple hair to be exact.

“This is peculiar.”

You wouldn’t have bat an eye at it if it weren’t for the fact you knew humans didn’t have purple hair naturally. Orange or red on rare occasions, but purple? There seemed to be a trail of them.

You followed, those few strands seemed to give way to a pile of purple and pink hairs, sometimes covered in blood.

“By the maker...Twilight Sparkle must have been here.”

Those were the colors of her mane and tail, and if you recalled, half of her tail was missing. The tiny splotches gave way to a trail of smeared blood all the way down the hall. Down the hall to a door with a red hoof print on it.

No doubt in your mind now. Twilight must have been here. The trail stopped at this door however. This one must not have been locked. You opened it and pushed your head through. Everything in here seemed to be on the floor, as it should.

You entered and approached the desk in the center. A box with buttons on it laid on the desk. It was one of those new tape recorder things. There were buttons for rewind, fast forward, play, stop, and record. Curious, you hit the rewind button until the tape stopped winding and pressed play.

”Let’s see here, Alright, should be working. Hope Dr. Hash is right about these things. Ahem. Dr. Hill, September 26th, year 2019 of our lord. I will be keeping these audio logs as a way of note taking. My arthritis has been getting in the way of me keeping written and typed notes, so a fellow colleague here in the clinic was kind enough to give me one of his old tape recorders. Honestly, I’m surprised the damn thing still works. Anyways, I wish to record my thoughts on a recent patient. Anonymous. He was brought in here by the daughter of a patient of mine who had recently just passed away, bless her soul, with complaints of feeling anxious, and a lack of motivation. During a session I can already see what he is referring to. He shows visible signs of both anxiety and depression, I’ve decided that I’d be taking him as another personal patient and have already scheduled future visits. During one of our two previous sessions he claims he was put on probation by his boss at work and I decided to intervene. The man was very...irritable, but conceded in taking Anonymous off of probation and striking a written warning off of his record. Speaking to the fellow psychiatrists in the clinic they ask why I haven’t given him some pills to help with his problems already. I was, understandably, taken aback by this. I understand the ease and how common it is to just throw some Prozac or Celexa at a patient and call it a day until our next meeting, but I never believed in throwing drugs at a problem so quickly. I’ve been in this field for 36 years! Drugs alone can’t be expected to help a person. They should be used as another option, as an auxiliary to other methods. I don’t even need the studies, which are good to have don’t get me wrong, but I’ve had amazing success by offering far more practical solutions. A few cases, I didn’t even need to prescribe pills. Falling back to Anonymous, his story is very intriguing to me. Another patient who doesn’t like to open up, but the allusions he makes just peak my interest. I will be creating more audio logs in the months to come to document Anonymous and his progress.”

With a click and some mechanical movements inside the machine, the tape stopped. So this Dr. Hill figure was Anon’s doctor. You grabbed the tape recorder and placed it in your bag, it may come in handy later.

You rummaged through the doctor’s desk. You found a key, but it wasn’t the exit key. It was to the office of that Dr. Hash previously mentioned in the tapes. Placing it in your bag you left the desk and opened the door back into...a janitors closet?

You peaked your head inside and looked around. Yep, this was a janitorial closet. Filled with cleaning liquids, a faucet, mop, etc.

You backed out of the closet again and closed the door. Maybe you opened the wrong one? You circled back toooooo the hallway?

You were back in the hallways of the clinic. You really didn’t like what this building was doing. Were you dropping in and out of consciousness? Were you being teleported around?

You scanned the hallways to look for the hair trail and Dr. Hill’s office. You seemed to be in a completely different part of the building. Well, whether you were being transported around instantly, or fading seamlessly from one moment of awareness to another, you had better find this Dr. Hash’s office really soon.

You choose a hallway and started walking down. The writing on the wall was beginning to get very...dark.

”Wars, the horror of mothers.”

”Robert, Robert I’m sorry! Please do not blame me for the death of our child! I did it, I did it but it wasn’t me! Possession overtakes us all at a point!”

”Ah, human cares! Ah, how much futility in the world!”

”We crawl and slide through this world. We are but faceless nobodies holding a candle to guide ourselves through days as dark as night, and nights as blinding as days. We loose the wick and from our mouths we spew the bile within us that keeps us human. Now we twitch and thrash, lost monsters in the dark, in pain.”

”Why does Mommy lie to daddy about the men who keep visiting us? They keep saying they are mommy’s friends, but then they go into the bedroom and start to hit mommy. I can hear her screaming.”

You had to stop there. It was too haunting, and distracting you from your goal. You notice a black rectangle on a metal tray resting in one of the hallways.

A white label was taped on its side. The writing on it read, ”Dr. Hill October 3rd, 2019.”

You placed it into your bag. You’d have to listen to it later. You began reading the names on the doors as you passed them.

Walters, Shoemaker, Jackson, Nguyen, Fuchs.

Hash!

You pulled out the key to his office and slid it into the door. A heavy thud was heard down the hallway to your right. You shot a glare down the corridor, a shadow was making a move towards the intersection you were near.

“Moonrocks.”

You quickly turned the key and shot into the room. You made sure you closed the door quietly and locked it.

You backed away slowly as the sounds of movement out side the door began to grow louder. From underneath the door you could see the moving shadows of the feet of whatever was wandering the halls with you stop at the door. You held your breath.

Your vision began to be filled with odd lines and vibrating grains.

A horrible static hissing began to assault your eardrums. You splayed your ears back and backed away further from the door.

Your migraine came back with full force, you grunted slightly as you squeezed your temples between your hooves. The whispers joined soon after.

.roignol tif silam des tse ativ aspi siverB

You stared at the shadows from underneath the door. Eventually, a loud groan, akin to what you’d hear from two giant pieces of machinery rubbing against each other shook the walls of the building. The shadows began to move again, and the thudding resumed, eventually getting further and further away. And with them, the horrible clouded vision and whispers. Even the pain began to subdue itself.

Gasping, you leaned against the desk to collect yourself. Once your head stopped spinning and your breathing came back down to a normal rate, you began to inspect the area of Dr. Hash’s desk. Another tape, this time dated October 12th.

Desk first. You rummaged through.

A note to Dr. Hill about not leaving his tapes around the clinic.

…

Makes sense as to why you found a tape just lying on a tray.

A key! This one was too the front desk area of the clinic. If previous situations were to go off of, the front desk area probably had a key to the exit Painkillers! You dropped those into your bag. Nothing else in the desk though. Tape time it looks like.

You took out the tape recorder and set it on the desk. Ejecting the previous tape, you levitated out the tape you found in the hallway and placed it into the player. Closing the tape into place, you pressed play.

”Dr. Hill, October 3rd, 2019. I’ve gotten to speak with Anonymous again today. We have a regular check up twice a week. Not the most frequent patient, however he’s increasingly proving himself to be the most interesting. I’ve managed to get a basic over view of his life story, finally. Those three decades as a psychiatrist are really starting to pay off I guess. Heh. I’m proud to have had a mentor like my professor. If he wasn’t dead I’d be thanking him everyday for turning me to Carl Jung and his work. How interesting it is to read deep into the psychological and philosophical work of a man such as him. Though I can gush about my idols at a later date. On Anonymous, he has come to me with new developments. He claims to be seeing things. Things he knows aren’t there. Several tests and an episode during one of our sessions have pushed me to add ‘light psychosis’ to his list of problems. The good news is, medication does seem to be helping. Despite what I believe, I don’t think medication is nonsense. I understand and support its use. I simply believe it’s abused these days is all. Anyways, Anonymous has apparently been slacking in applying the methods I’ve given him to help with his anxiety and depression. I’ve had to arrange his living conditions to be in the building right next door to us so it’d be easier on both me and him to visit each other. He prefers for me to see him at his apartment. I am not against doing such things, I already do it for a few patients. His apartment on another note, is littered with bottles of alcohol and cigarette butts. Relatively free of any other garbage however. I’ve had to stress that alcohol can cause adverse side effects to the medication I’ve given him, which he’s taken to account by drinking less of it...for a while. He doesn’t meditate like I’ve asked him too. He says when he tries he only seems to focus on the guilt he feels over his mother. When I’ve asked him on the hobbies he’s picked up, he says he still plays the guitar and is learning how to play the piano but refuses to give a demonstration. I suspect he is lying to me, though I can not say for certain. He apparently had to get rid of this stray dog he had found, which bugged me since it seemed to be helping immensely with his anxiety. The most effective treatment so far are our little talks. However Anonymous is becoming more and more insistent that he wants more of the pills. I understandably refused...at first. But decided, against my own better judgment, to prescribe him more antidepressants anyways with the promise he’d throw away ALL of his alcoholic beverages. I had to remind him to only take the correct dosage. He said he would comply. I remain suspicious.”

The tape stopped there. Anonymous was seeing things? Could that be what inspired this whole thing? You knew and understood he was taking medication for depression and getting help for his anxiety. You had to know more. You popped the tape currently in the player out and replaced it with the one on Dr. Hash’s desk. You pressed play.

”Dr. Hill, October 12th, 2019. Bad news...good news. Bad news is that apparently Anonymous and his friend Claire, the daughter of my late patient, have had a falling out. I don’t understand as to why, neither will give me details. As nosy as I feel, I can’t be having things like these interrupt my progress with Anonymous. However, that may not matter anymore. Good news! A revelation, which I had not thought of before. Cognitive therapy! I was speaking recently to a colleague from Sweden I had met sometime ago at a conference who had his own patient with similar problems as Anonymous. He’s told me that he’s been making decent progress in learning the problems of his patient after giving him a book and asking him to write down all of his problems. So, that’s what I did with Anonymous! And how glad I am that I did. Not only have I been able to see deeper into Anonymous’ mind than before, but I am now able to talk about Jung! See, the way Anonymous writes shows signs of him trying to reconcile what in Jungian psychology we call the self, the ego, and the shadow. I’ve had to ask him if he has ever read any of Jung’s work, perhaps in school, and he says he hasn’t. I was gobsmacked! Not to mention the way he’s been dealing with his problems is interesting as well. We have another session tomorrow, I will be asking him how the book has been treating him! I hope- knock knock. Yes? Come in! What about Anonymous...what happened? My god...nurse, go and fetch Dr. Hash for me, I mus-”

The tape stopped there. You could feel your heart drop. What on earth caused him to act like that? What happened to Anon! You stared at the recorder on the desk for what felt like hours. Hundreds of dark thoughts running through your head. None of which could really be true...could they?

…

The hallways seemed to be getting longer. The writing has become so numerous and clustered together that the walls had nearly been painted red. You can’t even read what’s been written anymore. The horrible feeling in your stomach hasn’t gone away. SOMETHING happened to Anon, and you didn’t know what. Maybe if you found him and calmed him down you’d be able to solve this mess. Find out what happened and help him through it.

*knock knock knock knock*

You jumped and backed against the wall.

*knock knock knock*

Something behind one of the doors you were walking past began wrapping against it. A quite sobbing could be heard from beyond it.

You swore you could make out words, but the presumed trembling of lips made it impossible to make out. Staying around would probably just cause misfortune. You sped up to almost cantering away from the door. The front office shouldn’t be too far away if the signs are to be believed. Get to the front office, get the key that was hopefully there, get out. Then you could go to Anon’s apartment and finally get out of here.

You were so close. You finally turned down the hallway that led back to the waiting area. The door to the office was right there. Before reaching the door you found another tape lying on the ground. You stopped and inspected it.

This one didn’t have a date at all on it.

”Vixit.”

Hm. What did that mean? You placed it in your bag.

You approached the door and unlocked it. Entering the room, you noticed the papers scattered about everywhere. Chairs flipped over, a moldy sandwich half eaten. There was no writing in this room however.

Strange. You walked over to the desk and rummaged through it. Nothing in here. The next drawer had nothing either. You walked over to the next desk and rummaged through it.

“What is this?”

You pulled out a small object in the shape of an ‘L’.

It had a narrow barrel and the broad short end of it had a hole you assumed something was supposed to go into. It had a loop and a small trigger inside of it.

There was a tag written on the broad side.

”For emergencies only.”

You placed the two objects in your bag and continued searching around the office. More of those small boxes with screens were on each desk. Boards with letters on them sat in front.

Human technology was a fascinating thing you were beginning to regret not asking Anonymous more about before coming here. They must have been useful for something, perhaps these things could have cut the amount of time you had to spend here in half.

You scanned the walls.

A key rack!

But...no keys.

You couldn’t find a key anywhere in this office! You let out an irritated huff.

“Well, while I am here. Might as well listen to this new tape.”

You ejected the previous tape from the player and placed in the one labeled “Vixit”, and pressed play.

“OH! BY THE MAKER!”

You had to cover your ears. Horrible scratching and mechanical whirring filled the room you were in. It was like industrial nails on a metal chalkboard. Soft wet sounds were overlaping the horrible metallic screeching.

You stopped the tape and ejected it. Throwing it across to the other side of the room.

“Well. That was pointless.” You sighed and took in your surroundings again.

Your luck on just finding keys in the front area of a building had run out it looked like. Maybe if you went back to either of the doctors’ offices you’d find a-

A loud thud could be heard from back in the hallways, right outside the door.

“Moonrocks.”

You backed away from the door, slowly, hoping whatever was out there wouldn’t realize you were in here and would leave again.

The grainy vision and loud scratching noises came back, along with the migraine.

The whispering was louder this time, you would have described them as almost screaming if it wasn’t for their hushed nature.

.tauqea srom ainmO

A loud bang and the door to the office flew open.

But nothing was in the frame of the door.

“Where in Equestria did-”

A horrible blunt force flew into you from behind, pushing you all the way across the room.

You slammed into the legs of one of the desks.

“AGH! Ughh. Gods above, what was...oh, moonrocks...”

A large creature, had to be at least two and a half meters high, towered above you. Another humanoid in a filthy straight jacket. Its legs were covered in linen caked in dried deep red blood. Its midsection was covered in rusted barbed wire. The head, or lack of one was the most striking part about it.

Instead of a head of any sort, a broken, hoof held mirror was in its place. The worse part about the monster though, was the yellow key hanging around its neck. The one with “exit” written on it.

A terrible groan shook the walls of the building. Pieces of the wall cracked and fell off, exposing the drywall underneath.

You scrambled to your hooves. Great, you really couldn’t just run away from this monster could you?

You got into position, ready to take on what ever the beast had to throw at you. Another mechanical groan shuttered from the creature as it slowly made its way toward you. Its gait similar to that of a wounded animal. You levitated one of the boxes from the desk and threw it at the monster. It made contact and shattered into pieces. Green circuitry and wires scattered over the floor. The horrible thing let out another industrial groan and paused.

Gaining its bearing it began to approach you again. That didn’t seem to do anything. You dragged a desk with your magic in front of the beast to block its path.

It simply raised one its large feet and broke the desk in two.

Okay you were running now. You exited the room and ran down the hall way.

SHIP!

Or no wait, what was it? Oh yea, SHIT!

What else could you do to take it down? Blocking its path seemed to not do anything.

“WOAH! AHH!”

The ground gave out in front of you. The hallway seemed to bend into the ground as if it were made of elastic rubber.

You fell onto the wall in front of you. The building seemed to be on its side now. You looked upward.

“OH TARTARUS!” The thing had followed you and slid down the same way.

You jumped to your left as the thing crashed into the wall, now a floor. It picked it self up and turned in your direction. The turning of gears and blowing of steam could be heard, but no industrial equipment could be seen. And the creature seemed to be organic minus the head.

You slowly backed away, glaring at the creature. Think quick, think quick. Buck it. You charged, aiming your horn directly at the torso.

It began to raise its leg to kick you away but you managed to move out of the way just in time to pierce it in the gut. Horrible black ooze flowed from the puncture wound.

The sounds of large machinery grounding flesh was deafening. It was like the maker relieving herself on your soul. You unsheathed your horn from the creature and made the attempt to stab into it again.

Its foot made contact with the side of your barrel and pushed you away. You collided with the wall behind you, knocking your breath out of your lungs. You coughed and sputtered as you started to get back up. The giant pinned you against the wall with one of its feet and grabbed you. With impossible flexibility, it brought you close to its mirror face.

You stared into it.

Your face was stained with splotches of blood and bruises. The black oil stained your mane. It slowly began to tighten its grip around your barrel.

You grunted.

In desperation, you reached down and grabbed the key between your teeth and ripped it from the beasts neck. You then immediately punctured in once again in the shoulder. The deafening sound of metal crashing against metal again shook the halls.

It threw your across the hall. You landed on a doorknob coming up from the wall floor and cracked a rib.

“AHHHHHH!”

The pain was excruciating. You held your side as you picked your self up again, you stumbled and slipped back over onto your side. You were covered in the black ooze the poured out from the thing.

The thing had slipped over after throwing you. It tried its best to get up, but the slick viscous liquid was giving it just as much trouble as you in terms of getting back up. You used your magic and threw a drug tray at it.

It slipped again and fell onto its back.

Using the ceiling and floor as leverage, it placed a foot onto either side of the walls and started to move toward you.

The oily substance pooling out of it. You opened one of the doors in the floor.

Its chest got stuck in the door way. Its lower limbs began to thrash. You kicked down on its neck area and the thing dangled into the room in the floor.

You turned and began to run away, limping the entire time. You twisted and turned down every hall you could to find the exit.

It was made difficult seeing as how the building was turned ninety degrees on its side.

Still, you hopped down and turned through every hall way you could. Then, all of a sudden, gravity decided to correct itself.

You fell back onto the floor.

“Guh! Shit.”

You landed on the rib. You picked your self up again and quickly tried to regain your barrings. You could hear thudding coming from back down the hall way.

“CAN WE NOT GET A BREAK IN THIS MAKER FORSAKEN TARTARUS!”

You limped through the corridors, following every exit sign. Certain doors threw themselves open, forcing you to dodge them. You enveloped one that almost got you with telekinesis and ripped it from its hinges in anger.

You turned down the last hallway.

“Finally, the exit!”

You moved towards it. The pain in your head and chest burning and pulsating within you. You were running off of adrenaline at this point.

You didn’t have any more energy in you.

*Thud*

*rip*

*Crash*

A door soared from behind you and hit the exit, the wood shattered and flew splinters in every direction.

The mirrored faced giant was limping toward you. The blaring of a horn echoed down the walls of the cursed clinic. Like Tartarus it was going to pull that shit on you!

Using your magic, you opened every single door in the hallway before turning back towards the exit. Ignoring every ache and broken bone, you dashed into a mad sprint towards the exit. So, bucking, close.

You unlocked the exit and started to push through. A door came slamming down onto your back.

“GAHHH! BUCK!”

It threw another door at you. You looked back in terror as it began to low crawl like an ant towards your position. The squeaking and whirring increasing in volume. You pushed the exit wide open, falling onto the pavement outside. Using your good hind leg, you kicked the door closed with all your might and backed up against the wall of the alley way. The exit door rattled and shook. Dents forming from the incessant banging it was unleashing against it.

You crawled your way to the back alley of the apartments toward its rear entrance. Using the last of your strength, you picked yourself up and escaped into the building. You closed the door behind you and locked it.

A final, mechanical screech could be heard from next door. And then. At last. Silence.

You panted as you slid down the door of the apartments rear entrance. Grasping at the broken rib, curling up into a fetal position.

You looked down the hall way. You were in the main lobby of the building.

The inside was...beautiful. The lights were on. The walls were neat and seemed to be freshly painted.

Pictures and paintings hung from them.

“Finally.”

You panted as you rest your head against the door.

“Finally...I’m here.”

You took out the painkillers you found in the clinic. You downed what you pretty sure was over the recommended dose. You didn’t care.

You picked yourself up and walked into the lobby. Quiet, muffled music played from some unknown source.

The light shewn beautifully against the orange walls of the place. The scent in the room was of a sweet citrus. You found a comfortable looking couch and laid upon it.

You cleaned and reapplied the dressings to your wounds. The black mark from the hospital still stained your coat. You sat up and took a deep breath in, allowing the calm nature of the area overtake you.

“It’s so...different here.”

You looked over towards the front desk. You had a near heart attack. Though upon further inspection, you didn’t know whether to feel dread or laugh.

There stood a pedestrian, holding his candle, in a...bellhop outfit.

It just stood there, as if it were its job too. You stared at it lazily.

“Why Anon came up with you creatures is hard to say...and why you must be so violent with out those candles is of another mystery.”

A smile touched your lips.

“But sometimes, you can be rather silly.”

The pedestrian stood there in silence. You chuckled and took in another deep breath.

“Though I am finally here. And after what just occurred. I need a little rest.”

You took in the calming and finally clean and neat atmosphere the lobby had to offer. You frowned.

“I should make good use of this time. I do not know what this calming environment is supposed to mean to Anon. Perhaps it was the only place he felt safe?” You sighed.

“What ever it means. I still have this horrible feeling of what happened to my Anonymous...and that this may be the calm before the storm.”

You leaned your head back and listened to the comforting music, waiting for the painkillers to take their effect.

~~~~

Ch.19 The Calm

You let out a deep sigh as you picked your self up.

The pain has subdued itself, while not entirely, to a point to where you could move with out the feeling of being flogged by hot nails and sharp glass with every step. You picked yourself up and grabbed your bag. Heading over to the door in the main hall that led to the stairwell.

You pushed up against it.

You weren’t surprised. Locked. You expected such, but you grumbled under your breath all the same.

“Great...now I must go and fin-”

*ding*

You turned your attention to the front desk. Its bell having been rung by the pedestrian behind it.

Without breaking its thousand yard stare, it used its free hand to reach under the counter and grab a small pink key and an envelope. It reached its bony appendage out towards you.

You inspected the monster for a moment, looking at the items in his hands and back towards its face.

“Is that...for us?”

The monster didn’t move. It maintained its empty and emotionless expression. The candle it held casting a soft warm light onto its face.

You slowly approached the items in its hands, unsure of how it would react. You reached out and grabbed the items in your teeth and pulled away. The creature slowly let his arm back down by his side.

“Mmhmm…” You used your telekinesis and took a look at the key.

A bright hot pink covered most of the body, while the teeth were painted a baby blue. You placed the key behind the envelope and opened it.

”You have made it this far. You have not yet failed. Though beware. Though half the clime is over, half the clime yet remains. And these are steep cliffs. Graviora manent!”

“Is this really all we need to continue? No monsters guarding it, no horrible hallways full of vermin? Could it really be this-” You looked back up to the pedestrian to find him further back in the office.

He was...um...you were not entirely sure. Holding a book in his free hand, he placed his face within the book, in between its pages, and was pulling back and forth on the book massaging its head between the paper. It stopped only for a second to slowly look at you before turning its attention back toward the book. Pulling the book away and pushing it back towards its faceless head.

You slowly began to back away and placed a hoof on the door handle to the stairwell. You bid fare well to the strange character you were witnessing with just a slight bit of awkwardness in your tone.

“Well...we see that you are busy. We appreciate your help, but we will be on our way. Fare well! And uhm...have a good rest of the shift, yes.”

With a nod you unlocked and pulled open the door, closing it with a roll of the eyes.

“Why Anonymous made them so strange is beyond me. Are the strangers he see everyday really this strange or is it poetic hyperbole?”

You weren’t really sure. Not that it mattered now. You stared into the hall way ahead of you.

It maintained the same level of warmth and cleanliness of the front lobby.

The smell of indigo and oranges matched the look of the hallways, all painted in a magnificent orange only slightly darker than that of Element Applejack’s coat.

You pulled out the roster you obtained from Anon’s previous place of work.

“Room 201. Only one floor above me.”

You looked up toward the ceiling.

“Maker! Please give us fortune that paths will not be locked, and neither doors locked. And if they must be, then we pray for the strength to overcome them.”

You looked ahead down the softly lit corridor.

“I’m coming Anonymous.”

You pressed on down the corridor. This building was filled with unusually sweet things. The aroma was nice and filled with a mixture of scents that went surprisingly well together. The ambient temperature was a nice and toasty warmth. The newly discovered white circles in the ceiling, which were probably speakers, played more of the muffled soft music, calming and fitting to the atmosphere.

Human music was...nice.

The carpet underneath your hooves were soft and relaxing. The whole environment made every tense muscle in you relax. Your body moved slightly with the beats of the music playing from the ceiling. You let a nice, warm grin grow on your face.

You whipped your head back, getting some of your mane out of your face. You were going to enjoy this amazing change of environment. The numbers started at 100 at the beginning of the hallway and got higher as you walked down it.

The stairwell itself was actually somewhere in the back from what the signs said. A little bit nonsensical and an inconvenience to those living on higher floors.

But hey, if the apartments seemed this nice all the time, you wouldn’t complain. You made it to the stairs and ascended them. Each wooden step had the appearance of dark oak. The lacquer on each on making them shine.

Reaching the top second floor, you went back down the hall way to make it to your final destination. You allowed your self to get lost in thought for a minute. If this is where Anonymous lived, you wouldn’t mind living here yourself. If this was supposed to be some run down mess, you could only imagine what the other buildings would look like if they weren’t as run down.

Your dopey grin grew a little wider. Living here...with Anon. Imagining a world where you were an average mare just to come home to a cozy and welcoming apartment, just to greet Anonymous and fall asleep in each other arms on a couch in front of one of those black boxes, that all sounded so blissful.

You enjoyed the warmth that built in your cheeks as you blushed over the thought. Though maybe this was all just you fantasizing over sweet thoughts while the moment was finally peaceful. A true break from the horrors you’ve been through. You turned down the next corner.

*skksssssssssss*

The music coming from the speakers stopped suddenly. You irked a cringed back a little bit. The static catching you off guard. A still silence filled the void once occupied by the calming music. You looked around for a moment to see what could have caused it.

“This can’t be good.”

The all too familiar feeling of unease came back to you.

Nothing really seemed to change. But the silence had come on so suddenly you couldn’t help but feel unnerved. The bad feeling in your stomach came back, you felt a lot worse now. The itching dread washed over you, something felt so wrong. Like something horrible was about to happen.

“Well...the calm was good while it lasted.”

You had to get serious again. This all must have been a sign.

You only had a hallway and a door to get through and you’d be in Anon’s apartment. You could feel it in your bones, THIS was the end. You were about three meters from the door when you heard it.

From one of the rooms you could hear thudding and banging around.

”Gah! Fuck!”

You could hear something heavy hit the ground from across the walls. One of the lights in the hall way began flickering, all the way down at the end. You cantered over to the door.

”You were NEVER supposed to come back!” A loud crunch was heard, followed by a thud.

You stopped at the door, by the time you got there the light flickered and went out.

Room 201.

This door was far different from the rest in the hallway. The wood was rotting and the knob was rusted. The only thing to your left was a small area that lead to a patio. You were at the end of the hallway.

”F-fuck! W-where did he? FUCKING BASTARD!”

“Anon? Anonymous!”

You worked the door handle. It appeared to be unlocked but it was so rusted it would barely give. No, you weren’t about to be stopped by a door knob. You backed up and slammed into the door, opening it with a loud slam.

“Guh!.”

You fell onto the floor, your poor bag having been through so much finally ripped open and spilled some of its contents out. You picked yourself up, rubbing the part of your shoulder you used as a battering ram. Across the room laid Anonymous, slowly getting up off the ground.

It had looked like he had just gotten into a fight.

“Anonymous! I’m here, I’m final-”

”You!”

He stumbled, propping himself against the table.

“Y-yes, me! Anonymous, I’m here to help I really mean it!”

”NO! N-no...no you’re here for something else, I KNOW it!”

He wiped his nose with his sleeve. He looks like he had previously been weeping. And...in a fight?

A blood splatter stained his gray hoodie.

“Anon, are you alright? Why do you have dried tears on your face? What’s with the blood?”

”FUCK OFF! I KNOW WHAT YOU WANT!”

“S-so you will let me help you?”

”Help me? ME? No, I know why you’re REALLY here!”

Anonymous pointed an accusatory finger at you. He seemed far more angry than before. You quickly tried to diffuse the situation.

“Anonymous, please, rest easy. I have come far and have been through a lot of horrible situation just so I could find and help you. What I do, I do out of love...a-as a friend.”

Anonymous gave a fake chuckle, not noticing your slip up.

”No! No, you are probably here for the same FUCKING reason the purple shit stain came. You want me to “open up”, right?”

“Anonymous please, you must cooperate with me. We are both rational animals with a voice.”

”No! You know what? Fuck you, fuck purple shit, and fuck myself!”

“Anon, you mustn’t be obscene, we can-”

”No! I’ll give you what you fucking want! You want me to open up, you want me to tell you what happened to me...and would you look at that.”

He grabbed the ‘L’ shaped piece of metal on the floor that fell out of your bag.

You don’t know why, but your heart sank.

“Anonymous...Anon, I don’t know what that is, but please put it down. Yes, I want to know what happened and I want you to open up, but it’s nothing to be scared of. I care for you!”

”NO! No. Nononononononono.!” Anon grabbed his head in pain.

”You don’t get it! I don’t want help! I was free! Free from everything you just went through! I hate opening myself up, I hate discussing or showing this! It makes me have to relive every gruesome memory of my FUCKED life! Just like with that FUCKING book.”

You shrank back. Thinking back in hindsight it was almost funny that you almost died at the hands of those monsters. Greater demons wouldn’t have phased you in Equestria, though to your credit, you were wounded and constantly low on magic.

But here in front of Anon was a different story. This was someone you had a deep emotional bond with. A young but close friendship. And he was screaming at you like you were a naughty foal. You could only whimper out pleads now. Fresh tears moistened and matted the fur under your eyes.

“A-anon, I only w-wish to help you i-in your troubles.”

”Oh...I’m about to give you all the fucking help you’ll need. You asked me before why I didn’t try to leave like last time. I didn’t think it could be done, but might as well try now.”

He pulled out another long piece of metal with what appeared to be metal pellets inside. He slid the metal piece into the broad end and then pulled back the metal on the barrel.

Your eyes remained fixed on the object in Anon’s hand.

“A-anon, w-what is-”

”You want to help me SO fucking bad? You want me to open up! YOU WANT ME TO SHOW YOU HOW I GOT OUT OF HERE? YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT FUCKING HAPPENED TO ME?”

“Anon I-I...”

”YOU WANTED THIS! HAVE FUN CLEANING MY BRAINS OFF THE WALL! FUCK YOU!

“ANON!?”

Anonymous turned the barrel end of what he carried into his mouth and pulled the trigger.

*BANG*

It all happened so fast. Way too fast. The loud sound of an explosion, the red and pink matter splattered against the off white walls. And Anon’s body falling to the floor. The speed of it all is what caused your lagged reaction.

You had to stare at the corpse for several long seconds before you could fully grasp what had just happened.

You began to hyperventilate, tears flowed from your eyes freely.

And then the screaming, the horrid, ear piercing screaming. You wailed at such a volume you could hear the windows shake. You began to choke on the sobs. You cried out his name over and over again. Begging for the sight in front of you to not have been real.

You crawled slowly to the body of your friend. Everything you went through. All the challenges you faced. The monsters, the buildings. For this? You hovered over Anon’s body. Blood pooled from the wound in the back of his head.

“W-why! Why why why why why...”

You nuzzled your snout into Anons necks. You squeezed his body as you rocked back and forth. You never got to express your true feelings to him. You couldn’t help the shaking running through your body. You shuttered and choked on tears. Anon’s blood soaked into your fur as it began to pool around and spill onto you. The muffled screaming and sobbing felt like it went on for hours, your throat was hoarse, it itched with pain. You nuzzled deep into him and squeezed your eyes tight, embracing your Anonymous. Squeezing him into you.

The sobbing died down. You lay there a husk of what you once felt like. You didn’t even try to think about it, you couldn’t. Rationalizing it would be too much. No memories on the past, no dwelling on what anything in this damned book meant, just your clutching on to Anon in a world you still don’t know the way out of. You sniffed as fresher tears came to water your cheeks.

You were still here. In the journal, with a dead friend, and plenty of demons waiting to peel off your skin outside.

Something brushed up against you. You pulled in Anonymous close as you shot a glare behind you.

Nothing was there.

You glance down, terror and confusion washed over you. Anon had rested his hand on your flank. A tug from your mane pulled you back down to Anonymous’ chest. You struggled to pull away. Screaming and crying, begging to be spared.

Anonymous replied with covering your muzzled with his hand.

”It still hurts.”

The floorboards began to splinter and crack. The paint on the walls began to chip and become rapidly infested with mold. You desperately tried to free yourself from Anon’s grasp. The floor gave out from underneath the both of you. You began falling. Falling into darkness.

~~~~

Ch.20 The Storm

The world around you was hazy.

The walls and ceilings of Anon’s apartment room around you appeared as though a film of grease was coating the surface of your eye and the world around you was cast in a blur.

The light in the room scattered in fixed beams. You didn’t feel right. You raised a hoof to your temple and began to gently message. You felt groggy, as though you had just woken up.

“W-wha? What happened?”

You managed to croak out. You had to think back to what had just transpired. You had finally made it inside the apartment after making it through the psychiatric clinic.

You shuddered as you recalled the metallic groaning and whispers from that horrid beast stalking its walls. After surviving that Tartarus, you entered the building and managed to finally make it to Anon’s room.

You remember that short walk so fondly. The music, the bright lights, the deep orange color of the walls, the smell, the temperature. It was all an amazing change of pace.

However...something bad happened after that. A familiar twisting sensation could be felt within the deepest parts of your stomach.

“Anonymous...what happened to Anonymous?”

You sat on your haunches and wrapped your hooves over your head. You could feel deep inside your heart that something happened. You recall seeing him throughout the travels of the book.

“Why must I feel like I’ve fallen from several stories in the air?”

The room around you had begun to get dimmer. Your thoughts have consumed you by this point. A specific human saying Anonymous brought up. Why did he bring that up again? The room around you has begun to blur to the point every shape and angle was nothing more than a vague blob. The light had dimmed to almost darkness at this point. A soft static tickled your eardrums. How did that saying go?

“The road to somewhere was paved in something.”

You didn’t notice the figure standing in front of you until you heard the click of a switch on the firearm it branded. You flinched and snapped your attention towards it, meeting its gaze. The human towered over you, its hoodie stained in wet dirt and perhaps a liter of crimson blood.

The face was covered by shadow but the blood shot eyes seemed to illuminate on their own. It’s stained teeth equally visible. In the hand by its side was a piece of cloth with two black crosses on the band. The other hand it used to point the barrel of the weapon directly between your eyes. The darkness within the hole seemed to stare back into you.

“A-anon?” You manage to shakily whimper out.

The last thing you heard was the pained croak of that familiar voice.

”Welcome to Hell.”

*Bang*

A door threw itself open, slamming against the concrete wall across from you. Your eyes shot open. You jumped to your hooves. Light shown above you, the light from the hole in the floor of Anons apartment from dozens of stories above you.

The static you heard from before was far more violent.

You could hear the panicked sobs from some unknown source paired with the screaming of a deranged psychopath screaming of sickness and violence against yourself. A red glow penetrated the door way, the shadows of twitching bodies and the bars of cages danced across the wall in a horrible ballet.

Red scribbling repeated it self on the ground in front of you and made a path a long the floor and snaked out of the door.

”The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

Adrenaline surged through you. You galloped out of the room your were in. Hundreds of cages littered the void you rushed into. Pedestrians lie in pain, digging their fingers through their skin and tearing apart the flesh and bone in their abdomen. Exposing the gore of their chest cavity. Large meat hooks were suspended from a nonexistant ceiling.

You continued to gallop, sprinting down the path of words. You had no idea why you were doing any of this. You may have been running towards certain doom. However the new environment you found yourself in was not a very pleasant one to be in, and you didn’t dare think about what you would do just staying here listening to the cries of pain invading your ears.

The whole world was covered in shadows, the only assurance you were walking on a floor was rust and the path written in the red writing.

”The road to hell, the road to hell, the road to hell-”

Paths moved and twisted above and beside you. The area you were in was moving as though it were alive. Alive and in an extreme amount of pain.

You just wanted to leave. To get out.

The cages and twisting bodies within them became no more than a blur.

Your body betrayed you and moved on its own. Not that your mind was in any shape to control it. You could feel your psyche being ripped and torn into shreds.

Not a single lucid thought crossed your mind. Just images of the macabre and a fear of what may happen if you remained in this place longer than you wanted.

Pieces of wood and metal appeared in blinding speed along side you, fixating themselves into place as walls and a ceiling, forming a long corridor. At the end another door. Something was following you.

You could hear its heavy foot steps. You took a quick look behind you. Something was coming after you and gaining on you, FAST!

You picked up as much speed as you could.

Door

Door Door Door doordoordoordoordoor.

You crashed into it and out the other side of it. Recovering from the fall you kicked the door closed and pressed your back against it.

Silence. Finally.

Tears fell from your face, your chest heaved. Your throat burned from the aggressive attempts to suck in the air as you ran. You fell to the floor and absorbed the still quietness of the room you now found yourself in.

Something like an abandoned warehouse. Crumbling and stagnant. The only light shining through the windows were from the pale alien moon from above.

“M-moonrocks!”

You stumbled over your hooves. Cantering further into the large building.

“I must continue. I need to find a way out, I must find help.”

You moved beyond a grated door and into a larger area of the warehouse. It was enormous. You’d estimate as large as the Canterlot gardens. You stopped when you saw something in the middle of the room, in chains.

It groaned and attempted get up. You frantically scanned the area of the room you were in for an exit.

It placed a hand up to its head.

”Fuck me, that bastard can punch...”

Your heart dropped. That voice…

”What the? Chains? How in...where am-”

“Anonymous?”

You couldn’t help yourself. Despite what you had experienced, your heart still yearned to find and help the friend you were here for. The figure faced the direction you were in.

”Who the-”

”A-anonymous, is that you? Is it really you?”

The figure didn’t say anything for a minute. The moment of quiet allowed you to collect yourself after the jarring series of events that had just played out. You needed to gather yourself and focus now that you were out of what ever void you were in between here and the apartment.

The human figure lowered its hand to its side. Inspecting you to make sure you really were who it thought you were.

“Luna?”

You are Anonymous. An epiphany had just befallen you.

You kept your hands over your head.

You weren’t sure what to believe any more. After reading your own journal and seeing what very well may be the truth caused you to question a lot more than what you were bargaining for.

The front door opened and that blindfolded version of yourself came in and slowly closed it behind him, shutting it with a sigh.

He appeared to have been disturbed by something. You stood up and threw the chair out from behind you.

“Hey!”

The other Anonymous looked up at you, and furrowed his brow.

”What?” The word spit like a snake’s venom.

“Luna. Where is she? And what did you do?”

The other Anon glared at you for several long seconds before answering.

”She is in the clinic next door...I informed her the only way to get here is through that place.”

“You WHAT! The clinic? Hey last time I was here, that was the place I came the closest to dying! And you told her to just go in there with that freaky mirror faced mother fucker?”

”That is partially the point. I just want her to leave, same as you. And you are still here.”

He maintained a calm voice. But he seemed to be getting at the end of his nerves.

“So you ARE trying to kill her! Why the fuck would you do that? She’s just trying to help, an-”

”I don’t exactly WANT to kill her I just want to be left ALONE!” He slammed his fist against the wall.

”I can’t bring myself to out right say it either! You know how hard it is for me...for us to do something like that! After what happened with Claire and seeing how hurt she was after we did nothing to help, or didn’t visit mom enough it...I don’t want others to get caught up in this. I can’t bring myself to just murder someone or something else...not even tell them to do it to themselves. Not after seeing someone as distressed and confused as her. All I can do is hope they aren’t as strong as they seem.” You could see the material of the blindfold become darker and moist, tears began to fall from underneath the flap.

He moved over to the table and leaned over against it.

”It’s not me...it’s not who I want to be.”

“Then what is this world then?”

He looked up at you for a moment and wiped his nose on his sleeve.

”What do you mean?”

“I read the journal.”

”Then you already know...you know who you are, what you were supposed to be.”

“Look, which one of us is the real Anon?”

He wouldn’t look up at you. He just buried his head into his sleeve.

He leaned into his arm for support against the table.

“Who are we? You apparently know something I don’t! So what’s going on!” You yelled.

”Stop FUCKING screaming! Look, I wrote it! Okay, I wrote the journal!” He lashed out at you, becoming more and more animated with every word.

”I needed a way to cope. To fight back. Write down what I felt I was going through. You were supposed to be how I did that! You were supposed to be what Dr. Hall called my “Ego”! But that FUCKING BOOK made it possible to look back at how shit life was, all of the horrible things I did! We didn’t make it!”

“Then why are we here? Why am I still here?”

”Being a pussy makes you do stupid things...things that are overly dramatic in the moment...I had to leave Anon. I had to get out, but I couldn’t let all the work I did go to waste.”

“What does that mean?”

Tears were flowing down the blindfolded Anon’s face at this point. His voice began to become interrupted by choked sobs.

”I...I w-was long gone. I k-knew what I had to do...but you? You went through too much, you were that f-fighter in me...I had to give you a happy end. Hoping you’d continue o-on in a world better than this.”

“In a world better than...”

You paused. He couldn’t really be meaning what he was saying...was he? A large metallic screeching could be heard from next door.

Oh lord no. Both of you clenched your heads as a massive headache threatened to split your skull open came on. She was in trouble.

“Luna! Fuck, that thing is going to get her! I have to go!”

”Hell no!”

The other Anonymous grabbed you by the hood.

”I can’t have you going back out there again! It will only hurt worse! He’ll show up!”

“H-hey! Let go! Who the fuck is “he”? I’m your ego or conscious or something right? We need to help her!”

”NO! No more!”

He pulled back, your ass had a very rough introduction to the ground. You reached up and pulled at the Real Anon’s hands.

“Hey! Achh! Let GO!”

He began dragging you away from the door and tackling you.

”LIKE HELL I’M ABOUT TO LET THAT HAPPEN!”

You struggled against him, desperately trying to free your hand.

”Damn it why couldn’t you just stay where you were? Did I not send you to a better place?”

“Because!”

You grunted as you freed your left arm.

“We needed the help!”

You swung at Real Anon’s jaw. Pain surged through your cheek bones. Both of you cried out in pain.

The Real Anon released his grip allowing you to scuddle across the floor away from him.

“Gahh! What the fuck?”

You rubbed your cheek.

”We are the same person retard.”

“Oh...yea.”

You got up and hurried to the door. Before you could pull it open, the other Anon reached around and grabbed your arm with both hands, pulling you back.

“Gah! Fuck!”

”Hey! Why can’t you just help me? Why do you have to make this longer than it has to be?” You grunted out as you squirmed.

The other Anon readjusted his grip and threw you across the room. You fell backwards and tripped over the coffee table, rolling over onto the floor. You grabbed your ankle in pain as you picked yourself up.

”You were NEVER supposed to come back!”

That was the last thing you heard before the other Anonymous’ fist filled your vision.

…

*Slam*

You awoke with a start. The loud slam of a closing door brought you back to consciousness.

”Ugh. Fuck.”

Your head fucking hurt.

You groaned. You moved up, trying to get to your feet. You placed a hand on your head.

”Fuck. That bastard can punch...”

You eyed the restraints tying keeping you on the floor.

”What the? Chains? How in...where am-”

”Anonymous?”

You turned towards the sudden voice calling out your name.

“Who the-”

You paused.

”A-anonymous, is that you? Is it really you?” Standing just a few yards away from you was your friend.

The equine in question had definitely seen better days. You couldn’t help but feel a heavy guilt as you saw her.

She was covered in bruises and medical dressings, blood stained her coat. Her usual flowing mane was like a rats nest and didn’t give off the same glow as before. What really hurt you were the blood shot eyes and the tears coming from them.

“Luna...”

”Y-yes?”

“Luna, is that you? Holy shit, are you okay?”

Relief practically beamed from her. She flew like a bullet toward you and pulled you into a bear hug.

Well...MARE hug would probably be more accurate.

She nuzzled and cried into your shoulder.

”By the maker! I knew it, I knew it HAD to be some demon taunting me! Tricking me into thinking you hated me.”

You wrapped your arms around her and returned the hug.

“Uh...yea. No, it’s me, it’s me Luna, I’m here, I’m okay. Luna, you look hurt! What happened!”

”I won’t talk about it! It doesn’t matter. What matters is that I am finally here with you and I can help. I can help you and we can leave and put all of this behind us together.”

“Help me? Luna, you are seriously injured! Where did all this blood come from?”

She pulled you in tighter.

”No! I must help you! That’s why I am here.”

“Luna…” You broke the hug and brought her eyes to yours.

“Luna, you’re hurt. You can help me out of these chains but after that we need to find a way out and to the closes hospital. Okay?”

”B-but.”

“No, you’ve clearly been through enough. We can’t do this anymore, we need to-”

”NO! Anonymous, I WONT have you refuse my help again! I had thought I lost you!” She started to cry again.

”I thought I failed! After having to live through every dark problem you had to go through, it gave me the determination and drive to finally reach you and help. I thought I...I thought...you...*sniff* I witnessed you die Anon!”

Fuck. You could feel your heart sink to your stomach.

Did Real Anon really… Jesus Christ, why would he even…

You shook your head. It didn’t matter now. You’ve let Luna be hurt by your journal for long enough, but now you had to get out of these chains and get out of here.

“Luna, I’m fine! Look at me. I understand what you saw may have been...frightening, and I’m sorry you had to see that but help me out of these chains! Who knows what would happen if we stayed here!”

”Sorry? Why are YOU sorry, I was merely deceived! Anon, tell me that never happened, please tell me I saw only an illusion.”

“Luna, we need to go! I don’t want to talk about that right now.”

Luna looked so desperate and worried. Having to go through all of what she did and having to witness your...”escape” must have fucked with her in ways she’d need someone like Dr. Hill for.

”A-Anonymous, I don’t want to lose...*sniff* no, you are correct, I shall unshackle you. Please hold still.”

You held out your arms and let her fiddle with the chains. It took some work but with a little bit of magic she managed to undo the lock from within the chains and undo them. As the shackles fell you rubbed your wrists.

“Alright, good. Now, follow me we need to...Luna? What are you looking at-URK!”

A rope had found itself around your neck and pulled you back.

”Anonymous!”

Luna grabbed a hold of you and pulled you back. You grabbed at the rope and pulled at it, trying to keep it from cutting off air to your lungs. With a quick pull of the rope you were snatched from Luna’s grasp.

“Gah!”

You reached up and grabbed a hold of the rope pulling it towards you.

You glanced over to where the rope had come from. Behind a cement pillar in the shadows was...is that the Real Anon?

But no, you could see his eyes, not the rest of his face though. He wrapped the rope around the pillar and tightened it.

”RELEASE HIM FROM THOSE BINDINGS YOU FOWL BEAST!”

Luna picked her self up and ran past you. This other Anon dipped back behind the pillar just as Luna reached it. She glanced over and around it.

”He’s...He’s gone?”

From the shadow behind the next pillar, the other Anonymous seemed to materialize from no where and approach your friend.

“Luna! Behind you!”

Before she had a moment to react, the other Anonymous went up and kicked her into the side with unnatural force. You ran up to try and tackle him, but again he slipped into the shadows and was just gone.

Yes, INTO the shadows, you were sure of it this time.

“Hey! Come out here fuck stick!”

Luna coughed and stumbled to pick her self up.

“Fuck. Hold on! I’m- HRK!”

As you attempted to run over to Luna’s side, the rope tightened and you fell to the ground. You were like a dog tied to a leash with this rope around your throat.

You fumbled with your rope attempting to free yourself so you could aid your friend.

”Back away!” Luna cried. You pulled your attention toward her.

From the other side of the building the weird shadow version of yourself, who’s face was still unable to be seen, was walking up towards her. Brandishing a large fire axe.

Fuck.

You quickened your attempts to undo the knot. The mother fucker tied a good one in the rope. The sound of metal hitting stone reverberated through out room.

Luna had just managed to duck away from the swing of the Shadow Anon’s axe. Angered, he swung towards Luna’s neck again, and again Luna ducked out of the way.

Luna charged the assailant, throwing him and his axe to the floor. Luna began to crush his ribs and break his right arm.

The Shadow Anon grunted in pain but managed to reach out with his left arm and grab Luna by the throat. Squeezing his grip he brought her extremely close to his face.

Luna flailed and let out choked screams. What ever this Anon looked like didn’t seem to be pleasant. Apparently able to brush off the broken ribs and arm like it was nothing, he got up to his feet and threw the equine princess into a cement pillar head first.

Luna grunted and attempted to regain herself but cried out in pain and head to bring a hoof to her temple. The Shadow Anon walked over to his axe, grabbed it, and made his way towards her.

“Oh, hell no.” You wrestled with the knot on your rope for a few more seconds before finally managing to get undone.

“Fuck yes!”

Finally you got up and went in at a dead sprint towards the Shadow version of yourself. You jumped and grabbed him just as was about to bring the axe down. With a grunt, both of you fell to the floor. You wrestled with him and managed to pin both of his arms to the floor underneath your legs. You grabbed him by the collar and pulled him towards you, removing his hood in the process.

“What the fuck!”

This Anon looked like he had just come from the bad end of a belt sander. Chunks of flesh and muscle were missing, exposing the white bone underneath.

The eyelids were seemingly missing, as well as his lips, and his teeth were stained. Blood poured profusely from these wounds, making the area around the head and neck of the hoodie soaked in the crimson liquid. The shadow Anon wrestled to try and get his arms free. Before he could however, you formed a fist and punched him directly in the jaw.

Punching this Anon didn’t seem to hurt you for some reason. Which was good because not only were you giving him friendly and repeated introductions to your fist, but he also had his rib cage and right arm turned to dust by Luna.

A few good punches in made blood splatter from his mouth and made a few teeth fly from the gums.

The Shadow Anon managed to bend his legs up with impossible flexibility and wrap them around your chest. He thrust his legs back down, pulling you onto your back. He managed to free his left arm and pull you off of him. He wrapped both hands around your throat and begin to squeeze. You choked and gasped for air, reaching at his hands and trying to pry them off.

You began to get tunnel vision, your periphery being consumed in darkness. Your heart raced, your vision got hazier and hazier, your mind felt like it was about to give out. You were reaching to point of no return.

”LET! HIM! GO!”

Luna ran full force into the side of your would be executioner and sent all three of you into the ground. All of you let out a grunt as you flopped to the side of both Luna and the Shadow Anonymous.

The mare unleashed her fury onto him. It actually scared the ever living shit out of you.

Yes, more than anything you’ve seen in this book. You watched her lay into him with everything she had. You could feel the anger in her eyes behind the tears. All of the pent up stress and frustration from whatever she had been through in this journal finally coming through. She thrashed and tore, hell, she bit into his jugular and ripped off a piece of throat.

Whenever it looked like the Shadow you was going to over power her, she’d scream and dislocate one of his joints.

Finally, she finished off with a hard, swift, and gnarly buck to the cranium. Shadow Anon’s skull caved in, gray matter flew into different directions, the horrid sounds he made would have made you vomit if you weren’t already recovering from the brink of death.

With Shadow Anon’s skull caved in, Luna rushed over to check on you.

”Anonymous! Are you okay? Can you breath? How hurt are you?”

You had to take a few deep breaths before you could sputter out anything.

“I *cough* yea, I’m fine, I just feel light headed.”

”Are you sure? No new wounds? Nothing life threatening”

Life threatening? Is that was even applicable to you.

“I’m fine Luna, honest. I’m more worried about you.”

Luna sighed and embraced you in a firm hug.

”I am fine Anonymous. Now that the horrid deceiver who mislead me in my travels and tried to make me believe you had died is gone and away from you.”

Damn. You really have to break the news to her huh?

“I...well, about that...”

”It was horrible Anonymous...to see you like that. I wouldn’t know what to do if I had lost you. That was much too close...Anonymous, I must make a- AHH!”

“Luna!”

Luna had just been pulled away from the embrace. Shadow Anon pulling her by the hind legs. His face contorted and pulsated. New flesh and bone rebuilding the skull and brain that had been lost.

”I am not your demon bitch.”

He pinned Luna down on her back and broke her leg. Luna let out a horrible cry of pain that cut deep into you.

The Shadow Anon kicked her to the side and grabbed his axe again. You scrambled to your feet and got into a defensive position.

“What the fuck was that for! Who are you?”

The Shadow Anon began to croak.

”We all have those parts about us Anon. The things we don’t like about ourselves. They build up, and the damns gotta break sooner or later.”

The Shadow you swung his axe and you managed to duck under it. ”You’ve had your run, now its my turn.”

You tried to jump toward him and grab him by the collar but he managed to block you with the handle of the axe, which you managed to grab. You two pulled on it back and forth for a while until he pushed you over onto the ground.

He stepped onto your foot and using the broad end of the axe, gave your leg the same treatment he gave to Luna.

“GAHHH! FUCK!”

You could hear your shin fracture in two. You kicked him in the legs and managed to make him stumble off of you. You began began to back up as far and as fast as you could as he regained his footing. The Shadow you walked casually up and pressed his foot on your broken shin.

“GAH! Ahhh! FUCK!”

Shadow Anon raised the axe above his head. You flinched and raised your arm above your face.

Fuck. This was it. Left to die in the world you created for yourself. Why couldn’t you have done what Real Anonymous wanted and stayed in the new utopia he willed you to?

”Gah! Hrk!”

You dared to open one eye into the direction of your killer. He coughed out and grunted in pain. A long dark horn came out the front of his chest. He was thrashed off of you and dropped his axe in the process. Luna looked at you with a pleading urgency in her eyes.

”Anonymous! Quick!”

“Quick? Q-quick what!?”

”I do not know! But hurry and do SOMETHING!”

You looked down at the axe on the ground. You furrowed your brow and reached for it. You grabbed it and used it to help you to your feet. You accidentally placed too much pressure on your broken shin and you winced in pain.

“Ah! Fuck!”

”Anonymous hurry! His thrashing about will soon get the better of me.”

Luna stuck more of her horn through Shadow Anon’s chest. You limped over to be in front of him and got a good look at his face.

He stared back at you with loathsome intent.

”Even if you get over me here...I won’t be gone forever. Everyone has something like me in them.”

You spat in his face.

“Maybe. I have others to help me though.”

”You are a piece of shit.” He growled.

“Well,“ You swung the axe back and aimed at his head.

“fuck you too!”

You put all the strength you had remaining into behind this swing. The axe went clean through the still fresh wounds and buried itself in his skull. The world around you began to vibrate and seemingly glitched in and out existence. You fell to the floor and grabbed your head in pain. A horrible coarse static like from an old TV stabbed into your ears. You tried to look up to find Luna but the world was too chaotic to really see anything even 3 feet ahead of you.

Your head met the ground and you finally passed out.

~~~~

End. The Last and The First

*gasp*

You awoke with a start. You sat up and immediately started to take in your surroundings.

It was day time, that was good. You where in White Tailed Woods.

Thank fucking Christ in his heaven. You let out a huge sigh of relief.

“Its fucking over.”

You find Luna laying on the ground still covered in bruises. You crawl over to check on her. She’s fine, just asleep. A sense of relief filled your soul.

“Luna! Luna wake up!” You try and shake her awake.

You hear a twig snap behind you. You snap your attention towards the sound.

“Y-you? What? How-”

”So...this is where I sent you? Gotta say, it does look...nice.” The Real Anon stood there with a guilty expression on his face.

“What do you want? Why are you here?”

Real Anonymous looked at you with deep regret and guilt at first. But then, a small sad smile touched his lips.

”I...well, wasn’t expecting this. But I’m glad it happened. A part of me continues at least. I guess a new story for us?”

“What? What do you mean?”

The smile on the Real Anon’s face grew wider as he reached for his blindfold and finally took it off. His irises were the purest milky white. It was almost unsettling how it looked like he only had pupils.

”I’ll let you find out what I mean by your self. But, I can finally rest now. I don’t hurt anymore.”

“W-what? What does that mean for me then? Are you going to be staying here? Just give me a straight answer!”

He shook his head and smiled.

“Look just...Thank You, I can rest easy now, and you can go on and live a happy life, like we always wanted...just make sure you keep the bad side of us in check, please?”

“That doesn’t answer-”

”PLEASE?”

You were taken back by the sudden desperateness. You shook our head.

“I don't...yea, yea sure.”

”Thank you. Here, before I go, have this. You’ll need it.” The real Anon sighed and took out some object from his hoodie and tossed it to you.

You reached up a caught it. You turned it over and inspected it in your hands. A red pencil.

“I don’t understand...why would you-”

You looked up to speak to the Real Anon again, only to find that had vanished.

“What the...”

You scanned around the clearing. He was gone.

Luna mumbled and moved beside you.

”Ugh. W-wha? Anon? *Gasp* Anonymous! W-we’re back? We are in Equestria again!”

“Woah, woah Luna. Don’t move too much. Yes we’re back.”

”And you’re alright? Oh thank goodness!” Luna wrapped her hooves around you, bringing you into a tight hug.

You panicked a bit and had to position yourself so you wouldn’t put any weight on your broken leg, but once you found a good position, you returned the gesture and squeezed her tightly in a hug of your own.

The princess buried her muzzle into your shoulder, repeating over and over how happy she was that the two of you were finally out of that place and you were alright.

You held on to her, running your hand down her mane. You cooed to her, whispering that everything was fine now, and there was no reason to be afraid anymore. Both of you were safe. Finally.

”I think I heard it from over here!”

You looked up over the trees. Was that...that was Rainbow Dash!

”Hey! Guys, I found them!”

The pegasus swooped down into the clearing and was followed by the rest of her friends, minus Twilight and...fuck.

Celestia.

She approached you two, horrified by the conditions you two were in.

”Anon! What they HAY was that? You just ran out of the library screaming about not wanting help anymore and hurting others! Half an hour later we could hear a huge explosion from Twilight’s room in the hospital! What’s going on?” You just stared at Rainbow dash.

“Uhhh. I-”

”Oh my goodness! You two look hurt! What happened? Did a bunch of mean timber wolves attack you! Oh, you look worse than you did back at the castle!”

“Wha-, well, Fluttershy-”

”ENOUGH!” Celestia spread her wings and reared back.

That fucking Canrerlot voice as well. Nearly made you deaf. Celestia approached Luna, who was still in your arms.

”Sister? You’re injured! What happened?”

Luna tightened her grip around you, almost as if afraid something would happen to you.

”W-we were helping our Anonymous dear sister.” Celestia cocked her head in confusion.

”How does this explain your wounds?”

Luna didn’t answer her this time, she covered her face with her mane and went back to nuzzling into your shoulder. Celestia glared into you. It felt like she was staring into your soul.

”Girls...all of you fetch medical ponies to help Anonymous and my sister to the hospital to get their wounds treated.”

With a collective nod, the rest of your friends hurried off to go and fetch help.

”As for you Anonymous, you will be answering a lot of questions.”

You gulped. Luna glared at her sister from behind her mane, whispering something about what she’d do if she laid a hoof on you or something. You really were not looking forward to what Celestia had in mind for questions, nor what Luna may do if she didn’t approve.

You stared at the white ceiling above you. This was it. This was possibly the end. At the very least of your freedom, for a while. You didn’t think Celestia would KILL you, or worse.

Hell even if that was what she had on her mind, you weren’t quite sure if she’d be able to succeed.

You were waiting now. In your hospital bed alone. Your friends visited you but then had to leave upon the request of Celestia, they were probably all in Twilight’s room.

They told you they found your journal, but it was empty, and there seemed to be nothing wrong with it. No more ponies being sucked in. Though Celestia refused to release it from her custody.

The last you saw of the Sun goddess, she entered your room and told you to “prepare” after she had dismissed the Elements. She’s visiting Luna now.

No doubt worried for her, it would explain her attitude and actions. You couldn’t blame her. You allowed Luna to go in and almost get ripped to shreds by…

No. NO, You can’t have those thoughts.

Should you though?

Your newly discovered wisdom of not trying to blame yourself and trust your friends was currently in a fight with your usual self blame and fear of dragging others down with you.

You just hoped Luna was okay. She didn’t deserve anything she went through, but because of her you managed to realize things about yourself.

It’s like you were blind before but could see for the first time!

…

Hm. Deja Vu.

You rubbed your hands down your face.

“The real concern is what Celestia will do to me.” You muttered to no one in particular.

The door swung open, the monarch breaching the entrance alone and shutting the door. Speak of the devil, and he shall appear in the form of horse princess.

You sat straight and tensed up. Celestia approached the end of the bed and stared into you.

Her face was stern and stoic, but you could feel the overbearing presence of authority in her eyes..

”Anonymous.”

You gulped.

“Y-yes?”

”Why does my sister trust you?”

“I...uhm, what?”

”WHY does my sister TRUST you?”

“Uh...I don’t...I’m sorry, I wasn’t expecting a question like-”

Celestia sighed and dug her hoof into the bridge of her muzzle. She straightened her self one more and began to speak with a sense of authority and matter of factness that made you feel like you were on trial in a formal court.

”Anonymous, you appeared in our world without warning, it was my sister and co-monarch, Princess Luna, who had found you in a private section of our castle gardens covered in blood, and wielding a weapon, poised to attack. Anonymous, you are from a species while once though only to be mythical in our land, was still considered dangerous. Anonymous, you have been insistent on being difficult in giving us information that we desperately needed. Anonymous, you, to add on to the fact of with holding information, with held the important matter of fact that the journal you begged to keep as though your life were at stake COULD SUCK PONIES WITHIN IT AGAINST THEIR WILL. A journal Anonymous that once sucked in, apparently, did NOT have an effective means of escape from what ever horrors within that were so dangerous a goddess of the night who can raise and lower the moon with ease, almost faced certain doom on multiple occasions. A journal Anonymous that apparently has evils within it so dark and gruesome that both my sister and faithful student, who was also trapped within its bindings, refuse to speak on what exactly they’ve witnessed within the book. All of this done after we have given you the benefit of the doubt and trusted you because you appeared a distraught victim of circumstance. Plagued with nightmares and depression both my student and sister aided you with no other reason outside of their virtuous altruism and eventual compassion as friends. Two of the closest mares to you, were allowed to be sucked into your journal on separate occasions because of your negligence to to get rid of or hide it properly, or educate us as to why merely reading this book would bring a fate worse than death. A book Anonymous that is linked DIRECTLY to you on a spiritual and conscious level. Meaning all evil in that book came FROM YOU! I’ll ask you one more time Anonymous. Despite all of what had transpired, WHY. DOES. MY. SISTER. TRUST. YOU?”

You were at a loss for words. Celestia looked at you with expectancy.

Though her horn only came up to eye level when standing, from your bed she towered over you.

She was right. Everything that happened could have been avoided, if it not had been for your own flaws.

Luna’s trust did come into question. And you know about more situations, like Luna having to deal with both the real Anonymous and that horrible Shadow version of you. But how would you know such a thing?

“I don’t mean to avoid the question, your highness, but wouldn’t this be a better question for her instead?”

She sneered at you. You winced.

”I ask you this question for a reason Anonymous. My patience is running thinner.”

You twiddled your thumbs and looked down at your hands for a moment before answering.

“She...I think she trusts me because of all that we have in common?”

Celestia raised an eyebrow.

“Think about it. From our talks, both Luna and I are...or were, lonely. We were disconnected from the others around us and have a troubled past. A part of us that we aren’t really proud to have. We both suffer over what we’ve done, and even if we have those willing to help and listen now, we fail to find those who would understand. Couple that with the fact we were both willing to listen to each other, probably because of those similarities, a bond formed from this similar experience.”

”So that is what you believe then?”

You furrowed your brow.

“Y-...No.”

”No? Anonymous I’m not in the mood for games.”

“No. No, because I don’t just “believe” that’s what’s going on! I know that’s the reason! You weren’t there when Luna finally found me in the book! Hell, you weren’t there when she was going through any of it! I get that you fear for your sister but she went through that, all of that, because she wanted to help. She begged me to let her help! After I warned her by the way! Which I did do. You were right about one thing though. I’m the idiot for not expressing this sooner. She poured her heart out to me on occasion in her dreamscape thing while I was too much of pussy to do the same. Even then she was willing to go through what she did so I’d get better. She…”

You paused for a moment as a sudden realization started to catch you.

“She was willing to literally walk through hell in back just to help me. And I tried to push her away initially...she fought to help me before even entering the book. I was so concerned about hurting others I didn’t give a shit about myself. Not knowing doing just that, I did hurt others. When she finally did find me...despite HER wounds, she was concerned about me.”

You sighed and fell back onto your pillow. There was a strange feeling in your chest, you’ve never felt it before. Though it warmed your cold heart. A very foreign feeling. The more you thought about Luna the more the weird feeling in your chest radiated.

You felt a flurry of weird warm chest emotions and feeling like a jack ass at the same time.

”I see. In any case Anonymous, whilst I have more questions for you, mostly regarding your book and what was inside. I must take my leave. I hope you make a speedy recovery, but you WILL be guarded, and will be prohibited from seeing my sister until AFTER recovery.”

“What? Why?”

”She has been through enough Anonymous. Both her and Twilight Sparkle and her friends. And until our interrogations are through, I can’t allow the risk of anything else happening. I have already informed the hospital staff. Once my sister is in a stable enough condition, she will be transferred over to the ward in the castle. You will remain here with a garrison however. I don’t think you are evil Anonymous. Just too much of a hazard to not be safe around.”

“Fine! You should take me with you then! If I’m such a hazard.”

”You ARE! And I shall not. I can not have you be close to Luna for now, and she must be in Canterlot.”

“Fine! Fine.”

You crossed your arms and looked out the window. Disrespectful sure. But what was she gonna do?

Kill you?

Pff. Beat you to the punch sweet heart.

Celestia glared at you for several more seconds before taking her leave.

Before exiting the door though she paused and looked back. In a stern tone, like a mother berating a child almost, she repeated her wishes of recovery.

”We DO hope you recover soon and well Anonymous. Maybe you and my sister can be friends in the future.”

She closed the door behind her. You snorted.

“Yea...magic of friendship my ass.”

You continued staring out the window, letting the soon to be setting sun to melt your lingering anger away. Replacing them with thoughts of Luna and everything she’s sacrificed for you up and to this point.

That warm feeling in your chest came back.

You lie there in your hospital bed. The dark room slightly illuminated by the moon and lights of Ponyville. You couldn’t sleep.

You were tired. Extremely tired. However the sandman must have been having issues with pulling you into a comfortable slumber.

Something was just missing.

And not just your clothes minus your underwear. Thank god the docs didn’t need to take THOSE off.

You lazily gazed out at the streets of Ponyville. The Hospital being on a hill allowed you to take in its sites. You enjoyed the comfortable aesthetic of the wholesome and friendly town at night.

Those were the exact sights you enjoyed seeing so much. It’s why the head of your bed back home was right next to the window. There is something about a city’s skyline at night that was so comforting.

If it were raining, all the better. Though back at home it was just a small thing that distracted from your usual life. Something you took for granted.

You sighed and rolled your head over to inspect the ceiling. Counting all the tiny holes in the white cardboard tiles.

You’ve been wrestling with questions. As diverse as they were overwhelming. The question Celestia asked you. Her future interrogations. The well being of Twilight and your other friends.

Luna...just in general.

There’s that warm feeling again. That red pencil the Real Anonymous gave you too.

Well, can you even call him the real one? You never understood what Dr. Hill was talking about when he said shit about The Ego or the Self, or who ever the Jung guy was. You didn’t care.

This “Real” Anonymous wrote the journal. Wrote your story. But you were able to live outside of it. And he’s gone now. And the Shadow Anon?

Maybe you were all just manifestations of a singular part of a personality?

Man, fuck this philosophy bullshit. As if it matters...does it?

You were pulled from your existential dread by the sounds of hooves approaching your bedside. You shoot up to see who was approaching.

”Good evening...Anonymous.”

“Luna!”

The night princess shushed you, covering your mouth with a hoof.

”It is best not to speak with such a high volume, lest one of the guard outside the door hear us!” She whispered.

“Luna, what are you doing here? How did you get here?”

She allowed a soft chuckle to escape her.

”My sister thinks a few guards and a protective barrier can keep me inside my room. However she forgets that I still posses my wisdom of when she’d try to trap me in my room when we were foals.”

“W-well...still, why are you here?”

Luna turned her head away slightly and rubbed one foreleg with another.

”I longed to see you.”

She blushed and scrunched her muzzle.

“Well. Why didn’t you just visit me in my dreams?”

Luna composed herself and gave you a dead panned look.

”One must be asleep to dream Anonymous.”

“Uh. Right. Heh, woops.”

”Besides.”

Her blush came back.

”I wished to see you in a more...”genuine” manner.”

“You mean, in the real world?”

”The dream realm is as real as this realm Anon!” She spoke in a matter of fact tone.

”But yes, I did want to be...closer to you.”

“Well, why?”

”U-uh. Well. We both had just escaped the brutal world of your journal and I, uhhh, worried for your well being.”

She scrunched her muzzle again and stared at you expectantly. Her blush deepening.

“What would Celestia do if she found out though? She’d be livid if she caught the two of us in the same room.” At this Luna grew irritated.

“I refuse to dwell on what my sister’s opinion may be. It is none of her concern. I am harming nopony. And if she were to lay a hoof on you she’d face the consequences.”

“Luna, I’m fine, I don’t want to see you and your sister fight over this.” Luna’s irritation grew, but she let out a sigh and looked at you again with tired eyes.

”My sister will not punish you if I were to be in this room. I will make sure of that. Please Anonymous, I want to stay beside you.”

This took you off guard just a bit. You knew Luna had grown protective of you, but now it looked like she was close to begging to stay.

“I just don’t understand. I really am fine, the doctors are doing a good job. You don’t need to check up on me.”

”I-i’m sure the staff are excellent at their work. Still however, my mind would be a-at ease if I were to stay here and make sure.”

“I know. But we are in enough hot water as it is. I don’t understand why you would need to take such a risk to be here with me? Later, we could-”

”Anonymous I’m scared.”

You stopped. That was...unexpected. Her pleading eyes began to grow moist.

”A-anonymous, I’m still in shock over the trials in your journal. It is uncomfortable alone, and after what I witnessed happened to you within the journal I...*sniff*...Anonymous my mind betrays me by dragging itself back to that one occurrence. Not to mention having to see you hurt so gravely. I’m scared of what happened to me, and what may happen to you.”

Fuck.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck why.

WHY did she have to bring up that?

You understood and should have expected it. And you’d need to explain the reality of it sooner or later.

You looked into Luna’s pleading eyes for a moment. She leaned in with an expectant face. You pondered for a moment.

Fuck Celestia. You could not blame her for her worry over Luna, or her lack of understanding that you DID in fact try to get rid of the book. Though you admit there could have been better ways of handling that. One of those diary locks maybe?

But you couldn’t watch one of the closest friend you have here suffer like this. You sighed.

“Luna. You can stay...but, I need to explain something to you first.”

You needed to say this though.

You watched Luna’s face beam with excitement for half a second before dropping in worried confusion.

”W-what is there to explain?”

Your gut twisted. You cringed at the reaction.

Luna was probably worrying herself to death over you for a long time before seeing what she did. While you’d love to lie to her and say what she saw was just to scare her…

“It was real.”

”W-what? What was real-”

“What you saw Luna, was real.”

”W-w-what do y-you-”

“That actually happened Luna. I couldn’t take it anymore.”

You weren’t looking at her anymore, you just stared at the sheets on her bed. But you could almost feel the wet tears in her eyes. Her voice shook and stuttered.

”Y-you...no, you are here. You are h-healing, I c-can feel you-”

You wrapped your arms around her neck, attempting to pull her in for a hug when she pushed away and placed her hooves on your shoulders.

”N-no. You’re real and talking to me. How could that have been real if I am touching you?”

Her voice began to get a little louder. A noise outside, probably the guards, made the both of you flinch a bit. After a few stressful seconds of nothing happening, Luna turned back to you.

Worry and distress poured from her eyes with her tears. You reached up and placed a hand on one of the hooves on your shoulders.

“I’m not sure. Yea, I can get hurt, I can talk, others seem to see me. And at first I didn’t believe it either. But...”

”But?”

“Luna, I don’t mean to scare you or upset you more than you were a minute ago...but I needed to tell you. I...really did kill my self.”

It probably took everything it had in her not to scream. Her face twisted in pain, she hyperventilated, the tears from her eyes began to soak through the blankets and wet your skin. She buried her face into your shoulder, grabbing your head and pulling it close.

Her pained sobs were made worse at her attempts to keep them quite.

She squeezed you tightly as you hesitantly returned the gesture.

“H-hey. Luna, I’m still here, it’s all going to be okay.”

All the mare in your arms could do is whisper inaudible questions as to why that had to happen to you between her sobs. She let out loathing whispers to the idea you thought your life was bad enough to end it.

She expressed in depressing whispers how she couldn’t understand why you would do such a horrible thing to yourself. Her body began to move awkwardly

You peered down at her hooves. She was continually shifting her hind legs as she leaned into you as she cried. An idea popped into your head. An idea that made you blush slightly.

The warm feeling in your chest came back.

“Luna? Hey, look at me.”

For a moment, she ceased her tears and looked up at you with pitiful bloodshot eyes.

“Do you want to...lay in the bed next to me? Like...under the covers?”

Like under the covers?

Jesus, you awkward motherfucker. First you confirm her worst fears to be true, and then you-

”I...I-i...*sniff* Yes. I w-would enjoy that immensely.”

Huh. Well...it worked. Awkward but...it worked.

You pulled up your blanket as Luna climbed into the bed and underneath the warm cover with you. She wrapped all her legs around you and stretched her good wing around the both of you. She placed her head right next to yours. Her muzzle just underneath your jaw.

Her soft coast brushed up and tickled your bare skin. She was so warm. She pulled you in close, sniffing and wiping away her tears from her grief.

Your heart was beating at a million miles an hour. That warm feeling in your chest was burning now. You stared vigorously at the ceiling above you.

But at the same time you felt an odd calmness. A very comforting and sweet feeling, completely alien to you. You’ve hugged her before, you’ve hugged other ponies before.

But some sudden realization made it different. Some change in context. Like a shift in your relationships made you feel very close to her in some way.

Luna must have noticed this. The beating in your chest was very audible by this point.

”Anonymous?”

She nuzzled into your cheek to catch your attention.

“Y-yea?”

”I-I love you.”

You turned your head over to meet hers. The very next thing you did shocked the both of you. Now having no control of your body, you leaned in and placed a kiss on Luna’s lips. Though in shock at first, Luna graciously returned the gesture.

You were freaking out in your head. This was so weird. The embrace held for several long seconds before broken. The both of you stared into each others eyes, unsure of what to do next.

Fuck it. Who cares if this was weird? You were in a land of magical talking ponies.

You are just a manifestation of a personality probably.

You managed to trap two of your friends inside your journal.

You had to fight a bunch of nightmareish monsters.

THEY had to fight a bunch of nightmareish monsters.

YOU BLEW YOUR OWN BRAINS OUT AND ARE STILL WALKING AROUND! YOU’RE DEAD PROBABLY!

Yea, who cares if this is weird. Out of all the weird things, being in this warm bed, right beside this mare, this princess of the night, it felt right.

It felt good.

And God in heaven knows for a fact feeling anything good just isn’t something that happened to you very often.

You leaned in and gave Luna another kiss, which again she returned.

She placed a hoof behind your head, and you cupped her cheek with your hand.

Both of you embracing each other warmly, allowing any outside stressors to melt away completely.

All that mattered to either of you was the other, right now, in this moment. Both of you fell asleep that night in a loving embrace.

You stared at the empty book in front of you. You clinched the red pencil in your hand, knuckles turning white. You let out a deep breath. It has been two months since the incident.

Two months after Luna had delved into the darkness of your book and had to relive a story meant only for you.

Here now you sit in her chambers, only one thought on your mind. You were about to take one of the biggest chances in your life.

There was a compulsion in you though. A great need.

A queer libido to write these things down. You don’t know whether or not the real Anon has anything to do with these feelings. This great desire only being held back by your hindsight and rationality. The last time you wrote down your thoughts you’ve managed to create a dark and horrible depiction of how the world around you seemed to be back home.

A dangerous reality that unbeknownst to you could effect others, and by some odd twist of luck or supernatural force, could pull those you loved into it. Now you sit here with the means and uncanny desire to do it again. Though with a twist admittedly.

You did not desire to write down any dark thoughts.

No. In fact, you wished the opposite. You wanted to write down and rationalize your effort in healing. An effort you only have no doubt because God or some other higher power managed to allow a happy ending in what would otherwise be a horrible miscommunication between the sovereign of this world.

A happy ending that allowed you to stay here in your lover’s chambers. A happy ending that allows you to sit in front of this book and ponder to make a daring decision.

Would this new diary turn into a dangerous and horrible artifact of arcane power?

Were you yourself cursed to turn such things into that?

Was it only because you wrote down dark aspects?

You weren’t sure. But you had the desire.

You had a goal in mind to. To actually heal. To use it as a way to finally open up. No weird stories. No over dramaticism. No dark creations. Just the honest truth.

“Fuck it.” You said under your breath.

You touched the now empty pages of your old journal with your pencil, and began writing.

”Dear Journal. It is January now. I have a lot of explaining to do. I don’t tend to go into detail as to how I got into this world or why because I’m hoping this book to be used with outside context. The context of who I am and what had happened. Coupled with the understanding of why I’m writing in this. To get better. Mentally. I guess I’ll just start at the end of the incident then. After both Luna and I managed to get out of this journal. Once I managed to finally win over the Shadow part of myself, with a great help from Luna, both her and I were finally out of that place. We were found injured in the forest by my friends, the Elements of Harmony, and Celestia. Speaking of Celestia, it looked, at first, like she wanted to tear me limb from limb.

She accused me of not attempting to warn others nor getting rid of or destroying the book. Both of those are false, though to be fair, I could have done better, and Celestia really didn’t have that information. She tried to set things up so that I would be far away from Luna, and kept under a more watchful eye in Ponyville. Not the worst punishment, but I don’t think I deserved one. Well, LUNA didn’t think I deserved it. She was at first unable to explain the needed context to Celestia to help calm her nerves, as Luna was mentally disturbed over the incident, as was my close friend Twilight. A fact which I still feel guilt for. Though I still feel the guilt of being responsible for the mental and physical scarring of those closest to me, I won’t deny the gratitude I feel for their willingness to help me. I no longer reject the help of others because of my fear for their safety. It is still there, but I won’t refuse help from others when I need it. In return I do all I can to help them, despite what may happen to me. I never really cared what happened to me anyways. That’s why I’m here in the first place. And that apathy towards my well being may still be a problem, at least in the eyes of those who love me. I was still responsible however, add that to the fact Celestia found both her student and sister injured and disturbed and she can only assume the worst. She separated me from Luna and Twilight and had guards posted at my door. Though despite these precautions, and most likely a word of warning from her sister, Luna managed to sneak out of her room and into mine. At first I was worried about her being there. I didn’t want things to get worse nor Celestia to get angrier. But after Luna expressed her fear of being alone after what had happened, I caved and allowed her to stay. She probably would have anyways, and I wanted her to. I had to confess something that night though. Confess on how I really did end my life, and what Luna saw wasn’t just some illusion or trick to scare her. At first she denied it but eventually realization struck and she hugged me tight as she cried.

I wasn’t the only one to confess something that night. Luna expressed her feelings towards me in that bed after she calmed down from the revelation of my death. It was in the bed I experienced my first kiss. And my second, and third...so on. It was strange to me but I let it happened, and accepted it. I realized I had similar feelings, though I never realized I did until then. Love and affection was always foreign to me, any time I had something close to that feeling it was all blurred and seemed the same. Friendship, romantic love, paternal love, all seemed to just be a part of the same thing I never got to have save for rare occasions. And until now, at least I hope, always left as soon as they appeared. We fell asleep in that hospital bed in each others arms. Or hooves? You know what I mean. The next morning wasn’t pleasant. I woke up to Luna standing over me in the bed and screaming at her sister who had just walked in on us.

I’m not exactly sure how it happened but in the midst of the screaming, I wasn’t able to get even a few words in with both of rulers ignoring me or screaming over my words. Eventually they calmed down and an actual discussion was allowed to happen. Luna was finally able to fully express her side of the story now that she was in my company and was able to vouch for the actions I did. We both managed to get through to Celestia and she rethought a lot of her actions to that point. Though she was still had a lot of questions for me, and while I wouldn’t be locked away in Ponyville, I am restricted to the castle for the time being. She even allows me to stay in Luna’s chambers due in part to a very adamant Luna.”

After several days of discussion, Celestia became increasingly open to solving the issue in a more pragmatic way, and though my friends are upset to see me leave, they are happy that I’m alright and won’t be banished.

I apologized countless times to Twilight and what she had to go through, but she kept insisting that it wasn’t my fault and that she shouldn’t have broken my trust and looked into my private journal in the first place. She says she’s glad that I’m at least all right and managed to fight back against my problems.

In what I can only assume it typical Twilight fashion, she soon devolved from sympathetic and understanding despite what had happened, into inquisitive and curious. Wondering how all of what had just happened worked and what it means. We still communicate through letters, she asks me a lot of questions about my world and my condition. Once she fully recovers she says she’ll want to make a visit to the palace to visit and “study me.” The study aspect about that one letter sent a shiver down my spine, but I trust her.

These days however I find myself in a comfortable routine. I’ve managed to suggest providing music during ceremonies and parties on the palace grounds to a willing but cautious Celestia, and work on original music during the night with Luna when she isn’t busy. When she is, I’m usually by her side, she is still very nervous with out me, which I hate to see, but being there with her seems to comfort her and I’m more than happy to help her. During the day, both Luna and I fall sleep in each other’s embrace.”

You gazed over the writing on the pages. There was something else you had to say. Some thing else that needed to be said. This would not be the last time you wrote in this book.

Far from it. You felt as though this was the beginning of a new chapter in your life. Though all new stories must come with the closing of books.

”Anon? Will you be coming to bed soon?”

You looked over to your mare in her bed. She looked to you in a tired longing, her eyelids beginning to betray her from a long and busy night.

“Of course I will. I just need to finish this. I’ll only be a minute.”

”Please finish with haste. *yawn* I can only sleep comfortably when next to you.”

“I’ll hurry and finish up.”

You looked back to your book. Something in your head clicked and you smiled. Once again, pencil touched paper, and you wrote out the closing thoughts of this major event in your life.

”I went through some of the worst trials in my life back home. I do not resent it however. I loved my family, I appreciate the work Dr. Hall did to try and help me. In the end it didn’t matter however. I succumbed to my anxiety and depression, to my dependency on alcohol, my desire for an end. Though, even though my old life ended, I can see a new one beginning. Was I right to end it? I wouldn’t have found a new life here if I hadn’t. Well, it probably wasn’t. But it happened. I accept that now. And I’m willing to accept what ever comes my way, and with the motivation to do better. So, even though my other life is over, quite literally, a new life has started for me, and I’m ready to live it. With great friends, an amazing lover, and this time, a book that will be used to heal and bring me up, other than hurt and smother me in my own self defeatism. I’ll have to start this new life with some rest. Asleep by her side. I suppose the old adage is true.”

”All Ends with Beginnings.”

~~~~

END

Author's Note

Okay. This is the end. It took so long to post for a reason, I'll explain in a minute but first let me say thank you to every one here for reading and commenting on the story. To everyone in the AiE threads on /mlp/ and everyone here in FIMFiction. It was the first story I ever wrote and completed.

When I first wrote this on 4chan a little over a year ago (holy shit time flies) I loved seeing everyone comment along and put out their theories as to what all the symbolism was and what it meant. Not everyone liked it but that's to be expected. I noted and took to heart all the criticism I received while writing and remembered all of the good things people had to say. One anon even told me this story helped push him to accept Luna as his favorite character. Another on how they started my story and binged the entire thing in a day. So if one or two people enjoyed my story I consider it a good first success.

You don't have to keep reading unless you're really interested in what I have to say next by the way. Just know I'm working on more projects that can be found on my ponepaste and will eventually post them here.
~~
Anyways, why did this take longer to post than my original schedule of uploading? I already said in one of the comments that work keeps me from posting during the week but I'm usually good on posting during the weekend. Well, one of the biggest critiques I received was how people felt the ending was rushed. I wanted to think long and hard about whether or not I rewrote the ending to make it better but I ultimately decided to keep it the way it was. I hardly rewrote anything else in the story outside of some dialogue to make it more clear who was saying what and to make Anon not sound like such a little bitch.

With that explained. I'm also willing to answer any questions and go into detail about how the story was written and what all the symbolism meant. I also ask to post your own interpretation of what exactly happened and what you think all the different anonymous' were and how they relate to his character. I love talking to you guys.

Alright, I have some more writing not to do. See ya when I see ya.
~Salt

Ch.3 Pinkie's One on Fun Super Special Get to know Togethers

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!

Today is finally the day you get to throw Nonny his very special party! Nonny is the cute nickname you gave him. Giving him a nickname will show him you are comfortable with him and such.

Oh you’re Pinkie Pie by the way! But you can just call yourself Pinkie. All you’re friends do!

You are hoping down the hall way to Anon’s room. Silly monkey should be up by now. Your friends have evidently been doing amazing things for Anon! Luna even mentioned Anon being able to sleep better! Hasn’t screamed himself awake since you and your friends showed up!

So many things to celebrate today! Anon’s arrival, Anon sleeping better, Anon finally meeting friends! Today is gonna be so much fun! Fluttershy even mentioned he can play music!

You wonder what kind of music Anon likes? Probably blues music because he’s always so blue.

You finally arrive at his door and give it some nice loud knocks.

If he wasn’t awake before he is now! You sit in front of the door and wait for a second. You can hear Anon in his room moving around. He open’s the door in a flash.

”Holy shit! What’s going on! Do you need me? Is something wrong?”

You giggle at this. Oh Nonny, such a joker.

“Hee hee! No silly, it’s just time for your extra special One on Fun Super Special Get to know Togethers! TM Aaaaand you finally get to spend the whole day with me!”

Anon just looks at you. Why does he look so confused? OH WAIT! You recognize that kind of face!

It’s the same silly ‘are you being serious face’ Rainbow would give you whenever she was being a stick in the mud and you wanted to have fun.

”Pinkie Pie, you were banging on my door like there was some emergency! Please, don’t do that!”

Ohhhh yeaaaaaa! Anon is still jumpy from that spooky dark place he was just in.

“Oof. I’m sorry Nonny! Let me make it up to ya’! It’s time for your party! Oh! Don’t worry, only you and me will be the attendants!”

”That...okay fine. Where is it?”

“In the ball room silly. Where else? Come on! I’ll show you where it is.”

You grab Anon by the arm and start leading him to the ball room.

Once there, you throw the door open and lead him in.

“TAA DAA! Well, what d’ya think?”

You stand by Anon, waiting for his response. He looks around the room taking in your handy work. No doubt shocked by how awesome it all is.

Streamers, balloons, a BUNCH of snacks, and a big cake!

You smile and inch closer to his face.

”It’s uhm...You really out did your self huh?”

You giggled.

“Nah silly, this is only a small party! Now come on, let’s eat!”

You put your party music on and dive head first into the cupcakes you’ve made. Oh Celestia they were good.

You hoof one to Anon.

“Come on try it!”

Anon took the pastry and inspected it. Turning it around in his hands, as if trying to figure out what to do with it.

Did he not know what a cupcake is?

“It’s a cupcake! You eat it silly. Like this.”

You take two cupcakes and shove them in your mouth. After some chewing and one big gulp you grin.

“See? Like that!”

...

He wasn’t eating it.

”I know what a cupcake is Pinkie. Sorry, I never liked sweet things to be honest with you.”

Blasphemy! No wonder Anon was always so gloomy. He never got to understand and appreciate the beauty of cupcakes! You put your hoof to your chin.

Hmmm. Sweets aren’t working, neither is the music.

AHA! Music! Anon plays music. Maybe it isn’t the music he likes? “Weeeeeell. If you aren’t hungry, why not play some music? I’m something of a musician my self dontcha know?”

Anon starts to decline but you weren’t about to let that stop you.

You kick the speaker out of the way and grab Anon by his hood, dragging him to the stage.

You sit him down, pat him on his head and grab one of the instruments Fluttershy said he could play. A guitar!

You hoof him it and sit down in a chair right across from him.

“Alright Nonny, play me some tunes!”

You grinned expectantly at him, then frown. He still appeared to be in shock, probably from how fast you moved him from across the room and into a chair.

Okay. Something is up.

“What’s wrong Anon? Don’t you enjoy playing music? Fluttershy told me...”

”No, Pinkie, it’s not that.”

Anon set the guitar down.

”It’s just, all of this is so unnecessary for me. It’s way too much at once.”

Did this man just say he doesn’t like parties?

”Please don’t be upset by this. I never really went to any parties back home, never had one since I was a little kid. I’m willing to give you a chance, but all of this is so...over the top.” He motions to the whole room.

He probably had a point. It’s clear to you now, you had it all wrong. He was different than most introverts you’ve dealt with. And just giving him a guitar and telling him to play wasn’t going to cut it either.

Something wayyyy smaller. Smaller than even this party, if that was possible!

Twilight and Fluttershy said no personal questions, but you had to find out WHAT it was that made Anon smile.

“In that case Anon, what makes YOU smile? What’s the ONE, or maybe even TWO things that gives you the biggest shiniest grin, and makes you feel warm and fuzzy on the inside?”

Your goal here was to get Anon out of his funk, make him laugh, find something he can find joy in. Anon sighed and looked up somewhere non specific, thinking about the answer to that question. He frowned

”Honestly? I couldn’t tell you Pinkie. There wasn’t much to be happy about back home. Even the music playing Fluttershy told you about was more of a...distraction than anything. The best I could feel when I was home was some peace at mind. Small distractions from the otherwise shitty situations I found my self in. They would put me at ease, but they didn’t make my problems go away.”

Dang, heavy stuff Sad stuff. You couldn’t cry though, you had a job to do, and dang it if you wouldn’t give it your all.

“Well, then give me some of those distractions. I’ll find some way to turn it from a distraction to something you can find smiles in!”

Anon pondered a minute.

”Well...”

…

It was now three hours later. You haven’t given up, you wanted to sometimes, you were even getting a little angry. Nothing seemed to be working. All of these “distractions” Anon talked about didn’t seem to be working.

At least the way you meant for them to be. You didn’t know what TV was, and video games sounded fun but you didn’t have anything that would match what Anon described. All the music you had, Anon didn’t groove to. All the jokes you had would at best get a light chuckle, and at worse a blank expression.

You tried drawing, nothing, played him some music yourself, and while he was impressed by all the instruments you could play at once, didn’t really make him smile. There must have been something you haven’t tried yet. Some thing you didn’t think of or do.

…

Alcohol? Humans loved alcohol from what you knew. But this was risky, you didn’t know the kind of drunk Anon was, he may be the violent kind, touchy feely kind, or, Celestia forbid, the depressed kind. Most likely the last one. Welp, you miss one hundred percent of the shots you don’t take.You turn to Anon, who, appeared as bored as yourself.

“Anon, I have an idea!”

Anon raises an eyebrow.

”Yea? What is it? More pin the tail on the pony?”

“Ha ha, no dummy, just wait here and I’ll be right back.”

You start to make your way to the door when Anon grabs your tail.

”Pinkie wait,”

You turn your head one hundred and eighty degrees. A talent that would make certain ponies cringe but it seemed Anon just stopped questioning things.

”I am thankful for every thing you’ve tried to do Pinkie, honestly I am. But trust me, you won’t find success in trying to make me any happier than I was before I got here. You’d be walking down the path a lot of doctors and professionals have and end up coming to the same conclusion, that what I go through can’t really be helped.”

What? Doctors? What’s this about doctors? You aren’t a doctor, you’re a party pony.

“Doctors? What do you mean Anon? Are you sick? GASP IS THAT WHY YOU’RE NOT HAPPY? Do you have some weird strain of pony pox?”

”I-What? No...*sigh* Pinkie.”

He lets go of your tail and gets down on one knee. The mood in the room has gotten a lot more serious. If he is so sick why hasn’t he told anypony?

You mean, yea he has wounds and bruises but you were told that was from the bad place. He was making it out that this was going on for a while?

“What’s wrong Anon? Tell me and I’ll help. We all will!”

Anon slid his hand down his cheek. Scratching at his 5 o’ clock shadow. He took in a deep breath and held it for a few seconds before letting it go. The air has been still for quite a minute now. The seconds seemed to be getting longer with each one that passes.

The faces he’s making looks like he’s still trying to come up with a way to tell you what exactly he means or how exactly he’s sick.

”Pinkie, since I’ve gotten here, there was a lot about me I didn’t want to be let known. Even now there is a lot I want to be kept a secret.”

You just nod, usually you’d interject to say something but you felt as though this was all too important for that.

”I’ve been keeping quiet from you all because, well, it’s rather hard for me to open up to people, especially those I’ve just met. I get the feeling that people will just not understand, or if they do understand, I’ll just end up making things worse. My life, my entire life, has not been a good one, but I’m sure you all could’ve guessed that by now.”

You didn’t want to listen to any of this. You wanted to make Anon laugh and smile. You wanted to show him a good time. A nice welcome to Equestria. This was all too sad and depressing.

Anon starts again, ”I honestly have no idea why you all keep doing this. I’m a strange alien in your world, from what I understand, my species has a more than slight negative image attached to it, not that it’s undeserved, and none of you have any obligation to try and help me. Despite that, all of you have tried to help me, and when ever I see you all get so tied up in how I’m doing, I feel as though I have to explain to you three or the princesses why what’s being done is hopeless or why they actually AREN’T failing in the attempts they make to better me.”

No obligation? You’re an element of harmony, it wasn’t just your job or duty, but purpose to make ponies laugh.“But we-”

He puts a finger to your lips and you stop talking.

”Pinkie, I won’t ask you or your friends to stop trying to help me. I tried that when we first met, I don’t want to bother you all with my problems, since I don’t think they can go away. However I do want to at least give you all the information I should’ve given you but didn’t because I thought it would be...too much.”

What does that mean? Too much what? You could feel your hair deflate. Did Anon seriously not want all of your help? But he keeps saying he appreciates the help!

Maybe it’s him?

He couldn’t possibly see himself THIS low!

”Pinkie...I’m not exactly the happiest person. The doctors I visited were psychiatrists and counselors. I took medicine for depression and anxiety for as long as I’ve been living on my own. Everything the doctors did and tried never helped me.

In fact one of their methods might have...well, I shouldn’t tell you that. But please understand, It’s not that I’m not grateful for what you’ve been trying. So far, you, Flutters, and Twilight have been the only three willing to be my friend for a long time. Having been alone for so long I really appreciate that. Just, please don’t beat yourselves up for not being able to fix me, it’s none of your faults. It may sound a little childish or ridiculous to put it this way but I’m just...broken.”

Broken?

He...broken?

Psychiatrists? Medicine for depression? Only three friends? Even the loneliest of ponies you knew weren’t entirely alone. Even cranky had his marefriend he was looking for. You’ve never heard of doctors giving ponies medicine for feeling depressed or anxious. Depression was a feeling not a germ. Did they also give medicine for feeling sad or angry? Maybe too happy?

And what was that one method he mentioned? Why wouldn’t he finish that part? Have so many really tried and failed no matter what they did? You couldn’t believe that, you didn’t, you wouldn’t. You understand what Fluttershy was telling you about Anon now. For being a failure. And now it was filling you with the same determination.

“Anon, you aren’t broken. And I’ll prove it to you! I don’t know when or how, but I will. Obviously this isn’t something that can be done in a single day. A lifetime of gloom and bad feelings will do that. But me and my friends...OUR friends, will help you!”

You give Anon a determined smile.

He returned the same sad smile as before and stood up.

”I really can’t convince you any other way huh?”

“NOPE!”

”Fine...you know what Pinkie? I think I want a cupcake.”

You squee, and rush over to the table full of treats. The rest of the night was just doing whatever you enjoyed doing, and Anon participating. This seemed to make him happy enough. He never laughed nor did he have a smile as big as even your smallest, but you could see that he was content enough to just witness you having fun. He never played his guitar.

By the time the sun finally went down, Anon decided that then was as good a time as any to rest. Who knew watching you break dancing would be so tiring!

When Anon left, you cleaned up the ballroom, which was easier to do than set it up, and retired to your own suite.

Both Twilight and Fluttershy were in there chatting to themselves in front of...is that a blackboard?

Twilight noticed you walked in and greeted you.

”Ah! Pinkie pie! We were just in the middle of planning how to help Anon! How was your day with him?”

“It was rough in the beginning, but I was able to find a way for him to enjoy the party I had planned!”

”That’s great! You and Fluttershy have been making leaps and bounds with him progress wise, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna especially have been thankful, seeing as we’ve been able to cut down on the severity of his nightmares!”

Fluttershy smiled and added her own words.

”I’m really happy we’ve been able to help so far. I just wish he’d open up to us more!”

Twilight nodded in agreement with her statement.

”Oh! Speaking of which, Pinkie! Have you learned anything new about Anonymous today?”

You shuffled a bit. You knew you had to tell them, heck you were expecting this to be the first thing you and your friends spoke about. But everything Anon said to you? It made a lot of sense, but it was a lot heavier than what you three thought you were previously dealing with.

The fact that there was a lot more going on in Anon’s life than just coming out of that horrible place.

You clear your throat and begin explaining everything you know.

“Well guys, I think we’re dealing with something a lot worse than we thought. And I mean, super duper MEGA worse! When Anon told me, it made a whole lotta sense, but thinking about it just makes me wanna throw him a pity party.”

Twilight and Flutters look at each other and then back to you, worry visible in their eyes.

”That sounds horrible Pinkie, what does that all mean?”

You scratch the ground before answering.

”Twilight? Can you really go to the doctor and take medicine for feeling sad and gloomy all the time?”

Your purple friend cringed at this question.

”Pinkie, is that what Anon told you? Buck me, no wonder he’s been so closed off. Other than taking medicine for depression, what else has he told you?”

Well, that confirmed your answer, but that left having to explain the rest of what Anon told you.

“Nonny told me that, while he appreciated all of us doing this for him, he said that we’d might as well not bother, since those doctors and medicine couldn’t help him. He said he was...broken.”

Twilight’s cringe seemed to worsen at the last word there. Fluttershy seemed to find the floor very interesting, her hair covering her eyes.

”All of that actually makes a lot of sense.” Your butter colored friend spoke up.

You and Twi turn your attention to her.

”You two remember when I asked you not to ask Anon about his wounds? Well, turns out when I was changing his gauze, I found out he used to hurt himself...a lot.”

...

WHAT!!! ANON HURT HIMSELF? ON PURPOSE!?

Your hair deflated, an audible noise akin to a balloon losing air accompanying it.

Twilight seemed just as taken a back.

”By the maker. First we learn Anon arrived here from a very awful place, now it turns out his whole life was a mess! No wonder he’s been having so many nightmares, and why he hasn’t been opening up to us! We HAVE to find out what happened! Buck the schedule, all of us are meeting with Anon tomorrow and getting to the bottom of this. We can’t let him stay like this.”

“But Twilight!”

You interject

“Anon told us twice now that we shouldn’t bother! He even told me the only reason he told us ANYTHING in the first place was because he felt like he had to, otherwise we’d keep getting angry over problems all his doctors failed to solve anyways!”

”I agree, Anon is very delicate with these things, we should continue to go slow!”

Fluttershy says this while putting a hoof over Twi’s shoulder.

Twilight sighs.

”We can’t just let him stay like this though. We need to do something!”

The night dragged on with discussing how to help Anon, now you all knew how bad of a situation he was really in. A perfect plan couldn’t be brought up. You all decided to meet with him together tomorrow. You had trouble getting to sleep that night.

You couldn’t help but feel anxious, like something bad was about to happen...you just didn’t know what.

~~~~