All Ends With Beginnings

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.

~~~~