All Ends With Beginnings

“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.

~~~~