Ponyville was an interesting place, Starlight decided. It seemed like every other day, there was something going on... some insane event that most ponies were willing to file away under 'shenanigans' rather than dwell upon. And unlike Our Town, the niceness of everypony came off as natural. They were genuinely nice for who they were, rather than who they were being forced to be.

Sure, there were some drawbacks to living here. First and foremost, it was strange living under somepony else's roof as both a friend and 'apprentice' of sorts. She was responsible for pitching in with the upkeep of Twilight's crystal castle, cooking, and cleaning. If she was in and the others were out, she'd hold down the fort, taking messages from any would-be callers, or receiving shipments of goods.

The second drawback was the pranks. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie had been pranking her frequently in the months since she'd come to learn from Twilight. It was all rather harmless stuff, but the sheer frequency of it all was tiring. There were only so much one could put under "It is what it is", until one started to grow paranoid. When it happens often enough, you come to expect it, and when it doesn't, you start to wait for the other horseshoe to drop.

Take this afternoon for example; just a few hours ago, a pair of royal guards towing a sky-chariot had arrived with a large shipping crate and an accompanying scroll. Most of the time, when things came to Twilight from Canterlot, it was either through the regular Equestrian Federal Mail System, or directly through Spike's dragon-fire... It struck her as odd that a crate that Starlight was allowed to sign for was brought to the castle by royal guards. Something important enough to be packed away in such a crate and escorted by guards would surely be too important for her to be allowed to take receipt of.

The crate itself was a mostly standard. It was a 5ft by 4ft by 4ft wooden construct, marked with 'This End Up' and 'Fragile: handle with care', and had small ventilation holes near the lid. Suffice to say, it was easily large enough to fit a fully-grown pony inside. She didn't really have any initial reason to suspect that might be the case, until she brought it inside and heard a muttered profanity from inside the box as it bumped the door. After confirming it with a quick cast of the spell Detect Life, she realised that the plan was probably to jump out of the crate when the top was opened and scare the life out of her. Sure, it was elaborate, even for Pinkie and Rainbow Dash, but she could never be sure how far they might go for a gag.

So she decided she'd wait. If it was indeed one of the pair, Twilight could deal with it. If it was some other life-form, she trusted whoever had sent it via the royal guard would be smart enough to give them water. Besides, the shipping label quite clearly said Twilight Sparkle on it. Opening another pony's mail without their permission was a federal crime. Even if she was a national hero for helping to defeat Queen Chrysalis and liberating the changeling people, she was still on unofficial probation for tampering with the timeline.

The wait wasn't too long, however. It'd only been two hours since she took receipt of the 'shipment' when the alicorn princess and her draconic assistant finally returned. The pair found her in the castle lobby, reading a magazine while occasionally glancing at the crate. "You've got mail," Starlight explained, inclining her head to the box in the middle of the floor. She then levitated the accompanying scroll over to the princess. "I figured you'd probably want to have inspect this and your shipment as soon as possible."

As Twilight opened and read the contents of the scroll, Spike went off to find a prybar to open the crate. Her expression shifted many times as she read— at first, there was surprise, then confusion, followed by a mix of worry and horror. "Is this some sort of joke?" the princess asked, trying to smooth down her quickly fraying mane. "It has to be!"

Starlight nodded. "Yeah, I figured this must be something Pinkie and Rainbow were behind." She glanced at the box and raised her eyebrow. "So should we let whichever one of them's in the box stew for a bit, or get this over with?"

Twilight's expression was not a happy one as she levitated the scroll back to Slight. "This is one hundred percent Princess Celestia's hornwriting," she explained, ushering Starlight to read. "I don't know why the princess would do this but I don't think this is any sort of joke."
Dearest Twilight Sparkle,

For the past several weeks, a being from beyond the Boundary of Reality has been under my care. This being, this Anonymous, was at death's door, but so desperately wanted to live. Through me, Harmony itself acted, granting her life anew as a young earth pony filly. That being said, though she has been quick to adapt to her new form and is quickly learning the written language from the maids, she seems to blame me for robbing her of her species. There have also been incidents with Blueblood that make her staying here challenging. Were it not for these problems, I would gladly raise her here.

To this end, Anonymous is being passed into your care. Though I realise you already have one student learning about friendship under your tutelage, I believe you are ready for the responsibility of caring for a young pony and teaching them what it means to be an Equestrian. I trust that between you, Spike, Starlight, and the rest of your friends, you can make her into an upstanding young mare, as I did for you.
Princess Celestia

PS. Please do not think less of me for sending her to you in a crate. I was going to send her to you eventually anyway. This is merely punishment for the cake.

Shortly after Starlight finished reading the letter a second time, Spike returned with a prybar. He quickly noticed that "Hey, girls, what's with the looks?"

Rather than answer her assistant, Twilight wrenched the prybar roughly from his grasp with her telekinetic field. She and Starlight both crowded around the crate. The moment she broke the seal and lifted the lid, an earth pony filly a little smaller than Applejack's younger sister burst out with a shriek of rage.

Without any assistance, she climbed over the edge of the crate and hopped down to the floor. "Ah fuck, I can't believe she's done this!" she grumbled, shaking packing straw from her black mane and green coat. "Set one asshole's tail on fire for being a racist, and eat one fucking cake, and suddenly it's 'Off to the Time-Out Crate with you'... What the fuck, Sun Horse!?"

Author's Note

This story is set in the opening few episodes of Season 7, before the Pillars, before the School, before Cozy Glow. From here-on out, we're following the daily life of an Anon filly. There will be humorous moments, and there will be sad moments. Most importantly, there will be a complete subversion of the typical 'Anon filly' character tropes. This is an exploration of trauma, moving on, magic, and having a second childhood when you might be a sociopathic child who now gets to play with incredibly dangerous toys (magic).