Anonymous in Nu-Questria

You and Izzy are sitting in the atrium having a bit of tea after a very filling meal. The late afternoon light illuminates the atrium in an almost sepia haze.

Izzy has been smiling a lot. She seems really happy for your company. After the incident in the woods, your suspicions that she wants in a romantic way seem pretty moot. She didn’t give any signs that she was in estrus or anything, any way. It seems like she just really likes you as a friend, and her bubbly personality makes it hard to tell if she’s flirting.

Still, she kept really close to your side the whole way back to the tree home. She kept complimenting you on how glad you were that you tried out living the “pony life” for a bit. Almost as if she wants you to consider making it a habit.

You feel that nagging question at the back of your mind. You sip your tea, letting the warm chamomile slip down your throat, and you think up a way you might be able to prod the subject.

“So.” You say, lowering your tea cup down to its tiny saucer. “I got a question for you.”

Izzy looks at you, holding her cup to her muzzle with both hooves. “Yeah?” She asks before taking a sip.

You pretend to admire a random spot on the floor, before looking at her and smirking.

“So, what’s the deal with Hitch? Are he and Sunny like... a thing?” You ask.

Spill the tea, sis.

“Hm... nah!” Izzy says, flattening her ears. She leans a bit closer.

“They kinda had this on-again and off-again thing for a little bit, when they were teenagers. Or so she tells me.” Izzy says, her eyebrows raised slightly.

“Oh? What happened?” You say as you take another sip of tea.

“Well... they’ve been friends for a long time. Since they were foals pretty much. They both felt like it would ruin their friendship if things got too serious. Plus they kinda wanted different things for their life, yada yada.” Izzy says, gesturing as she talks.

“I know what you mean, though. Ugh, they would make such an adorable couple.” She says with brimming frustration.

“Hm... I see.” You rub a finger around the rim of your teacup.

“So... you haven’t known Sunny too long, right?”

“Hm? Oh no, not really, technically. We met for the first time a couple moons ago. It’s a really funny story actually.” Izzy says.

“Yeah, I remember you said it was like that movie we watched. Except you didn’t melt anyone’s face off with a horn laser.” You say.

“Heheh, yeah.” Izzy says.

“So... you’ve lived in this place... Bridlewood, for your whole life?” You ask.

“Mhm... yep.” Izzy nods. She levitates her teacup down.

“Do you-” You ask.

“I don’t have a lot of friends.” Izzy says, interrupting you. She looks to the side awkwardly. “In Bridlewood. I mean.”

Well alright. That explains a few things.

You are about to ask about how she grew up, but she speaks first. “Eh, so what about you, Anon? Do you have a special somepony in your life?” She asks animatedly, wiggling her eyebrows.

Shit. She’s turned it around on you.

“Uh...” You say, looking away.

“I mean... special some-human? Woman friend?” Izzy asks, tilting her head.

“Girlfriend. You mean.” You say.

“Ohh...” Izzy says.

You consider how much you should tell her. She has been very kind and considerate. Not to mention hospitable. It’s not like you don’t consider her a friend, yet you’re uneasy about how much you can trust her. Would she react like Sunny did? Would she call you out?

“... Touchy subject?” Izzy says, taking a quick sip.

You scratch your head. Fine. Whatever. Fuck it.

“I never had a girlfriend, Izzy.” You say.

“Huh?! Really?” Izzy says, genuinely surprised.

“Not in the human world, I mean. I did... however, in the past, when I lived in Equestria... I had marefriends.” You explain.

“Oh. Ohh.” Izzy says. “Oh. Really? Oh...”

The realization sinks into her slowly. Her eyes get as large as saucers and her ears twitch involuntarily, as if a new universe had imploded inside her brain and was expanding with a rapidly increasing horizon of possibilities.

She bites her lip and looks around, unsure what to say.

“Listen, it’s pretty complicated.” You say. “I was in Equestria for a long time, and... I dunno. It just sort of happened. I didn’t think I was the type to fall for another species either, but...”

You poke the floor. “When it comes down to it, ponies and humans are pretty much the same inside. We’re both sentient and sapient. We both use language. We both use tools. For all intents and purposes, there’s no reason that we both can’t... you know.” You say.

Izzy gulps. “D-date?” She asks.

“Yeah...” You say. “Well, I mean, fall in love. Consensually. As adults.”

You pause. This feels really awkward.

“Hah!” Izzy says, rolling her eyes. “Good one, Anon. You’re trying to prank me, huh?” She drains her teacup and then smirks at you.

“I’m not that dumb, come on!” She says.

You say nothing and glance away. You frown a little.

Izzy notices this and sets her tea cup down.

“You’re... not joking?” Izzy says.

“No. It was real.” You say.

Izzy seems a bit surprised.

“Oh. Okay.” She says. She looks around the atrium awkwardly before glancing back to you.

“Do you... want to tell me about them?” She asks.

You feel a pang of regret. Those old memories are stirring in the back of your mind. You don’t have to prove anything to this unicorn. So why do you feel compelled to speak?

“Well,” You say, “It’s... a pretty long story. Did Sunny already tell you about my life in Ponyville?”

Izzy tilts her ears. “Um... Hm...” She looks to the side pensively for a moment.

“Remember when you left me at the ruins and Sunny stayed behind?” You ask.

“Well, yeah. Sunny was really sad when she came back to camp. She had been crying. We asked her what what wrong, but she said that Anonymous wasn’t going to help us, and that we need to just move on. Then we sang some songs and ate, and she was alright the next day.” Izzy says.

You feel an awful sensation in your gut. You could have just explained it to her better if you weren’t so seething with rage. Still, Sunny didn’t divulge your secrets. She respected your feelings even though you treated her like that.

Izzy is eyeing you curiously. You take a deep breath and shake your head.

“Well, like I said... I had a lot of marefriends. I uh...” You trail off. You swallow. You really don’t want to fuck this up again.

“Hey. Anon.” Izzy says. “You don’t need to worry, okay?”

You look at her warm, empathetic smile. “You can tell me whatever you want and I won’t stop being your friend. I promise.” She says.

You smile a bit. A bit of confidence stirs in your chest.

“Well...” You say, “You remember that I lived in the time that Twilight Sparkle and her friends did, right? In Ponyvile?”

Izzy nods.

“It sounds stupid but... I just sort of woke up there one day. Right outside of town in a field of flowers.” You say.

“I had no idea where I was or how I got there. I just sort of... wandered right into the middle of Ponyville.” You say.

“Heh, I feel you.” Izzy says with a smile.

You grin a little. “So eventually those six ponies found me and tried to figure out what do do with me. Twilight believed there was a way to return me back home with her magic, but it would take a long time to figure out. I had to stay there temporarily in the meantime.”

“Uh huh.” Izzy says.

“So Twilight organized her friends to go and help me uh... ‘fit in’ to Ponyville. For lack of a better term. They found me a place to stay and introduced me to pretty much everyone in town.”

“Huh... a human strolling in the middle of ancient Ponyville. That would have been a trip.” Izzy says with a sassy smile.

“Yeah, it really was. All the ponies were kind of intimidated by me, too. But I tried my best to just... I dunno. Smile and be friendly? What else could I do, right?” You say.

“It turned out alright. They all seemed to calm down once Applejack and Rainbow Dash showed that I meant them no harm.” You shrug.

“So Twilight went off to uh, Canterlot. Where Celestia lived. You know about Celestia, right?” You ask.

“Yeah, duh. Sunny told me all about Celestia. She is super pretty by the way.” Izzy gushes.

“Hey, uh... did her mane really flow all the time like there was wind?” Izzy asks.

“Yeah.” You say and nod.

“No way...!” Izzy beams and stares into space.

“It was because she had a lot of... uh, ‘latent magic’ about her. She was incredibly powerful.” You say.

“So Twilight talked to Celestia in Canterlot and then came back to Ponyville. She told me that the spell she needed to send me back didn’t seem to exist. At least, not yet. Even Celestia and Luna didn’t know how to do multidimensional travel. So I was stuck indefinitely until Twilight uncovered something. She had no idea how long it would be, though.”

“Oh, okay.” Izzy says, “So you were really stuck there, huh?”

“Yeah, pretty much. But surprisingly, it got to be pretty normal after a while. It felt like an average, rural town. Things went by pretty slowly most of the time, unless some big disaster happened.” You say.

You scratch your head. Izzy leans forward and narrows her eyes.

“So... was it her?” Izzy asks.

“Twilight? Oh god, fuck no.” You say, and shake your head.

“Twilight was... I dunno. She was a good friend to me right away. I felt like I had this strange connection with her, like our fates were somehow aligned. Yet I wouldn’t call it love. It was a bit different.” You say.

Izzy smirks very smugly.

You glance at her and say, “Don’t-”

“Sounds like a crush to me.” Izzy says.

“Psch.” You say and roll your eyes. “Yeah right... she was never my marefriend.”

You cross your arms and glower.

Izzy leans back and tosses her head side to side playfully. “Well, okay, okay.” She says, “So who was the first, then?”

“Well...” You say, inhaling a deep breath. “I’ll tell you.”

“It was about... I dunno, maybe two moons after I first came to town. I had gotten pretty settled in. I spent more time around Ponyville and felt comfortable just... walking around. I still, you know, visited with Twilight and Pinkie and Rainbow pretty much every day. I felt like I could walk around fine without being escorted any more.”

“Uh huh, uh huh” Izzy says, leaning forward with anticipation.

“So...” You smile as you say. “I was strolling through the park outside town one day when I turned a corner and saw this pony sitting on a bench. She was a mare, a unicorn.”

“Ooh!” Izzy says, her hooves on her cheeks.

“She had a mint green coat, a cyan and white mane, and she was sitting in a very peculiar way.” You say.

You move to imitate a slouching unicorn on a park bench, sitting on her back.

“Like this.” You say.

Izzy gasps silently. You sit up normally again.

“Out of all the ponies in Ponyville, I never saw any sit like that before. Except for her. The thing is, she looked at me. And the moment our eyes met, I knew it. She was terrified. She was copying the way she saw me sit, and she knew I had caught her doing it.”

“No!” Izzy says. “Oh my stars! What did you do?”

“Nothing.” You say. “The moment she saw me she took off running. She didn’t look back once.”

“Oh.” Izzy says, a little confused.

“So, I asked around at the cafe later. One of the patrons had heard of her. Her name was Lyra. Lyra Heartstrings.”

Izzy is burning up with adoration. “Oh, that’s a cute name!”

You smirk, crossing your arms. “Well, I figured I’d run into her again sooner rather than later. Turns out she ended up running into me. You see, I was working to pay off my house there in Ponyville. It was a pretty fair deal, honestly. The ponies had found out that I was pretty good at a certain kind of job.”

You extend a hand and wiggle your fingers in the air with a flourish.

Izzy tilts her head in confusion, and one of her ears flops.

“They had a day spa in Ponyville.” You say, rubbing your chin. “I didn’t have many other skills I could apply, but I have very dexterous fingers, and an eye for details. So they put me to work helping groom ponies.”

Izzy’s eyes flash in recognition. She seems to be thinking about how your fingers work. Probably equating it to monkeys. Ah, speciesism.

“I could trim and polish a hoof much quicker than a pony can. I could brush out a mane or tail like that.” You say, with a snap. “So it seemed like a natural fit. Of course, I also did a lot of grunge work. Swept the floors. Cleaned the bathtubs. That sort of thing.”

“So...” Izzy says.

“So yeah, one day I was just sweeping up the hair one morning and all of a sudden I feel something bump into me. I look behind and Lyra was just standing there, looking up at me. She was trying to say something to me, but I couldn’t hear her. I asked her what she said, and she said really quietly: ‘hands’. Then she bolted and ran again. She didn’t even ask for a refund as she left.”

“She kept running?” Izzy says.

“Yeah...” You say. “I felt really bad. I know I’m really unusual to see around a town full of ponies, so I thought she viewed me as a monster or something. I asked Twilight how I should handle it. She told me that she knew Lyra through a friend, so she would arrange a time for us to meet so we could talk it out.”

Izzy nods.

“So Twilight puts this disguise spell on me, right? To everypony else, I would look like a normal stallion. Then she took me to an outdoor cafe near the center of town. She waited with me there until Lyra and her friend Aloe showed up.”

“Ooh...” Izzy says. “Sneaky.”

“So we were all sitting at a table, and Twilight took the disguise spell off me. Lyra freaked out a little, but she didn’t run away this time. Twilight started explaining everything I had told her about humans, and Lyra just... stared at me. The whole time. Twilight got done explaining it all, and then she and Aloe left us alone so we could talk openly.”

“So?!” Izzy says, she is leaning forward on her hooves, almost looking like she’s about to fall over.

“So... she told me that she already knew everything Twilight had said.” You say.

Izzy gasps.

“And more.” You say.

Izzy gasps again.

“She asked me a question, and she used a name I hadn’t heard a pony say since I got there.” You say. “She asked me what Earth was like. I had only mentioned that name to Twilight. I just called it the ‘human world’ for all the other ponies because it was just easier to explain that way. But somehow... Lyra knew.”

“How?” Izzy asks.

“Apparently, I wasn’t the only human to visit Equestria. There were others that visited, a long, long time ago. There wasn’t much about us in writing. The only book that mentioned humans was stolen from the Ponyville library, you see. Before Twilight even got there. It was taken... by her.” You say.

“To the book we were a weird anomaly. Thought to be some kind of mythological creatures that went extinct. Yet they left evidence behind. Drawings, writings. An article of clothing. Lyra loved it. Everyone thought she was crazy for thinking humans were once real.”

“No...” Izzy says, “No way!”

“Yeah. Crazy, right? It was like me coming into Ponyville and into her life was like a dream come true. She just couldn’t really... believe it I guess. She had been wanting to approach me and talk to me the whole time, but she couldn’t work up the nerve. That meeting with me at the cafe was what finally gave her the chance to do that. Needless to say, after that she really started to take a liking to me...”

Izzy gasps very loudly and covers her mouth with her hooves. Her eyes are shining brightly.

“So, then next thing I know-” You say.

Suddenly, Izzy’s mane is vibrating loudly.

“Uh...” You say. Izzy blinks and then whips her head to the side.

“Huh? Oh flipping frog butts!!” She says and reaches into her mane.

A vibrating smartphone falls and clatters to the ground. The screen is lit up and it has an icon with Sunny’s picture along with a green and red icons. “Sorry, Anon!” Izzy says and quickly scoops up the smartphone.

“Wait, you have service out here?” You ask.

Izzy holds the phone up her her ear, gripping it with the pony-accessible holder on the back.

“Sunny? Hey!” She says.

You hear a bit of Sunny’s voice through the small speaker. Izzy springs up to her hooves.

“Oh, it’s so good to hear your voice! Uh huh! Yeah he’s fine! He’s right here.” Izzy says, glancing at you. “Mhm! Yeah. No! Wait really? Huh.”

Izzy starts pacing on three hooves in a small circle as she talks. You shift around in your seat on the floor and watch her for a bit.

“Really? ... Hm, no I don’t think so. Well, okay. Yeah! Uh huh. Another day? Well yeah that’s fine. No, I don’t mind, seriously Sunny.”

One more day? Perhaps there was a delay in their plans. Huh.

Izzy continues chatting with Sunny on the phone. The conversation flows so naturally between them, unlike the stilted back-and-forth you have with Izzy. Izzy starts listening to a long explanation from Sunny, probably explaining the details of their forays into the pony towns. You stretch out a bit and decide to stand up.

No point in sitting here. It could be hours before they finish talking. You decide to make your way back downstairs and let them catch up.

You make a quick wave and smile to Izzy as you walk through the curtain and turn the corner.

Izzy levitates the phone with her magic and waves back with a smile, still listening intently to Sunny.

You make your way down the stairs. You hit the switch for the lights and the globes of light spark on all around the room. You notice that the clay pipe from before is still laying there.

Well, why not. It might be a while before you can do this again.