All Ends With Beginnings

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.

~~~~