Someone was touching me. It wasn't an aggressive touch or the sort one felt when they fell asleep pressed up against something or someone. It also wasn't nearly as vigorous as the time Pinkie fucked around and found out not to poke the sleeping ~~bear~~Anon. In fact, whoever was touching me was actually smaller, which was both good and bad. It was good in that I probably wouldn't end up throwing anyone, but bad in that they clearly didn't know how to respect personal boundaries, or that I have a whole thing about being touched when it's not on my own terms. Plus, I'm kinda hurt right now.

"Flurry, sweetheart, let Anonymous rest," came a voice that I didn't immediately recognise. It was masculine, yet not gruff, but I couldn't place where I had heard it from. "Come sit with Daddy and Uncle Spike." Ah, right, Flurry Heart was the baby alicorn I'd seen with Princess Cadance and Shining Armour at the hospital, which meant that the one poking me was the little tyke with the huge wingspan. That makes 'Daddy' Shining Armour, if I'm not mistaken.

To my surprise, there was a happy-sounding burble from the foal that was seemingly investigating me. This was followed by something warm and fluffy nestling against my side and draping itself across my neck. Evidently, Flurry heart had decided it was naptime for her, as well, although how she managed to not irritate my burns I'll never know.

After a few minutes, during which the baby hadn't moved, I could hear her soft breaths and quiet snores begin behind my head. I thought at some point I might've heard the sound of a polaroid camera and someone saying something about a scrapbook, but honestly, I was just lying there trying to go back to sleep at this point. It wouldn't be fair to the baby that was now treating me as a pillow, after all.

"So, why put her in the corner?" I heard a mare—Cadance, I think?—ask. "I get keeping her nearby for observation, but putting her there makes it seem like a punishment."

The trickle of fluid and the gentle clatter of china reached my ears as I scented tea on the air. "While it's true for most foals that the corner represents ostracism and punishment, I've noted several oddities in Anon's behaviour in relation to sleep since she's come to stay," was Twilight's explanation. "For example, she seems to feel her safest sleeping in a corner on a pillow—or in her pillow pile in the case of her room—rather than on a bed. She almost always turns six times clockwise and once counter-clockwise before facing the door when she goes to sleep." There was some silence punctuated only by the quiet sounds of ponies sipping tea. "I haven't gathered enough data to be certain, but when she chooses to indulge in a nap, it's almost always in the westmost corner of a room."

Okay, Twilight... First, that's fucking creepy that you've been apparently taking notes while 'tucking me in' at night, or that you've been observing my sleeping habits. Second, so what if I prefer corners? They're safe! The whole seven turns thing is just a bad habit, and my head pointing at the door is just coincidence. I don't even knowhow to respond to the whole westmost corner business. I'm a small horse, not a homing pigeon.

"Twilight, that's not normal behaviour for a foal," was Cadance's response after a few moments of silence. "When I was first trained and licensed in childcare, I was trained to recognise behavioural red flags for neglect and abuse; I'd normally be mandated to make a report with all of the red flags you've described and that I've witnessed, but that sort of behaviour doesn't develop over just a week. What is her history?"

If not for the fact that I was currently playing stuffed animal for a tiny version of the theoretical apex of the pony species, I might've spoken up and explained it myself. Instead, I was forced to listen to a rather opinionated retelling of everything about my past that I'd revealed, in addition to the fact that up until about two fifths of a month ago, I somehow crossed between realities and Harmony had turned me into a pony of 'equivalent' age. Yeah, I can only imagine the look on Cadance's face when Twilight said I was formerly a young adult male of my previous species. Alas, I'm still really tired and don't want to open my eyes.

From there, I listened as the two began to discuss the sort of therapy I need. Apparently, although Ponyville had a psychiatric ward at Ponyville General Hospital, there wasn't anyone actively taking patients short of having me committed. Canterlot wasn't an option she wanted to entertain unless absolutely necessary, lest we cross paths with a noble loyal to Blueblood—though for whose sake, she wouldn't say—and she worried I might be overwhelmed there or in Manehattan. The pegasus city, Cloudsdale, was also not feasible for a few reasons. Plus, further-away locations would require overnight stays and long train rides would result in frequent missed days at school, meaning that they'd have to be scheduled for the weeks where I only had the two days.

Colour me surprised when Cadance actually suggested a therapist that'd recently moved up to the Crystal Empire from Canterlot to open a practice. He was apparently even related to a family here in Ponyville. There was definitely still the issue of me missing classes and having a place to stay. Due to her duties, it wasn't like Twilight could just drop everything and go up to the Crystal Empire for an extended period of time every two weeks.

I couldn't go by myself, either. It wasn't that I didn't want to, or that Twilight wouldn't let me; if she felt she could trust me to do something about town within reason for someone of my size and legal age, she probably would allow me to do so. The problem was that I couldn't feasibly trust strange adults, and I couldn't trust myself to respond well in a crisis. Just look what happened with Ebony and Ivory. Flight was still an option.

Although I would honestly have loved to go back to sleep—it was surprisingly nice to lie here with a filly napping on me—I was beginning to feel the call of nature as time went on. Popping one eye open, I groaned and immediately regretted it. Evidently, I needed some of those medicated eye-drops they sent me home with. That, and maybe another painkiller.

"Is she hurting your burns, Anon?" Cadance asked as I peered out through a slit eye. An involuntary wince wracked me as the filly in question shifted slightly. "I can take her if you'd like."

~ 11 ~

Once I'd seen to my needs, it turned out to be near dinner time. Lacking any definitive homework beyond those definitions—the rest of class had been cancelled for the day following the incident with the brothers—I decided to look over my 'Water Bolt' spell. I'd already thought out and marked down the basic parameters of the projectile early this morning, but hadn't gotten a chance to think about the firing mechanism. But in order to look it over, I'd need to find my things.

I suspected that Starlight had probably sent it to my room from the hospital, so with that in mind, I limped my way up to my room. It was a somewhat uncomfortable affair, given that it caused my bandages to shift somewhat, but a little discomfort was worth the opportunity to work on my little personal project before dinner. Things were definitely not going to be fun while these burns healed. The time I was scalded while helping Mom cook way back when, it took about two weeks to heal, and Thom's daughter had told me I was lucky it was only a second degree burn. Even if it healed quicker here, it'd still probably be a week knowing my luck.

Thankfully, when I got to my room and looked around, the bags were on the bed—not my pillow nest, but the actual bed in the room—waiting for me. None of my books had been soaked, thankfully, but I could see that some tea had gotten onto the fabric of the bag itself. Much care was taken in emptying out the bag onto the bed, after which, I moved the bags to the bedside table; they could be washed tomorrow.

Just as I pulled my sketch pencil and magic notebook down, Starlight Glimmer entered my room. "What are you up to, Anon?" she casually asked, sitting down beside me. "Homework?"

Shaking my head, I flipped open the book and gestured with the pencil. "Just a little theorycraft," I said, sagging against her. I don't know why I did it, but I imagined it had to do with instinctual behaviours this body possessed. "I'm sorry; I know that I shouldn't skirt the rules or toe the line like this, but we haven't really had any opportunities for magic lessons lately, and I've got all sorts of ideas that I'd like to get down. I was careful to not write anything that could accidentally be triggered, though."

She nodded, looking down at the page, her eyebrows slowly rising as she read. "Anon, is this—and what you did Saturday—constructed based on something you've seen or read about?" When her head turned slightly and her eyes fell upon me, I shook my head. "Really? I've been reading up on runic magic so that I can aid Twilight in your lessons, and this is definitely an example of a Weaved Spiral spell format."

Cocking my head, I looked up at her. "Really?" A twinge of discomfort rolled over me as I looked down at the mark on my flank. "I was mostly doing what felt natural—suppose it might be what this mark is telling me. I'd had ideas, but we haven't really had an opportunity to talk about them, since I'm still supposed to cover basic magical theory before Twilight will entertain any lessons."

Surprise crossed her face when she set the book down. "We're definitely going to get your studies fast-tracked," she murmured. "I notice you contemplated conjuration in addition to creation; where do you think conjured elements come from?" It wasn't a dismissive sort of question; she was probing.

I shrugged. "It's a bit of a wild guess, to be honest," I said, turning to a new page. "I used to read a lot of high fantasy, especially once I was on the road, and one setting I read a few books from had this crazy level of interplanar intersection due to the existence of Deities and their realms, or planes."

I drew out a circle, dividing it with an ovoid shape before writing out Feywild, Material Plane, and Shadowfell, explaining them as best I could remember—realms of overgrowth and nature spirits, the real world, and a realm of death. I drew a circle around that, which I marked the Ethereal Plane, a sort of borderland between the material plane, the four prime elemental planes, and countless demiplanes. Around the Ethereal, I drew four quarter circles, labeling them Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. I didn't bother going further to describe the Elemental Chaos or the Outer Planes, however.

"I figured since it is clear that the universe is crazy, there might be some truth to the fiction," I finished, putting the pencil down. "I guessed that we might have elemental planes to draw upon here." I shrugged. Would that make Equestria and Earth the Feywild and Material Plane? Or are are these realities in the multiverse just their own demiplanes, making the material plane something... other?

"Sunburst would just love to hear some of your world's theories," she muttered shaking her head. "Yes, elemental spells typically draw upon bridging the Elemental Planes through conjuration. It makes me wonder just how much of your fiction corresponds to our own magical theory."

I couldn't help but smirk. "Why do you think I'm so eager to start?"

Her expression grew more serious. "Listen, Anon; Twilight and Cadance were discussing sending you to visit a therapist in the Crystal Empire," she explained, maybe not realising that I'd been awake and eavesdropping on that particular conversation. "I could probably chaperone these trips, and we could use the downtime to work on your magic studies if you'd like. We could even ask Sunburst to help. Next to Twilight or the other Princesses, he easily has the most knowledge regarding all known magic."

That... actually sounded pretty okay. I could travel—God but the little nomad in me wanted to be on the road again—and study magic as frequent as every two weeks in addition to getting care? And I'd only lose one school day a week? That sounded like an excellent tradeoff. Plus, she'd get more opportunities to catch up with her friend. That being said, I knew that it might not be that simple.

There was the matter of where to stay, first and foremost. From the way Starlight had described it, this Sunburst guy lived in a small abode that was heavily occupied by books. Did he even have room for a mare and a filly—even one who was content to just sleep on a pillow or cushion? I wouldn't want to make him sleep on his own couch. Although, since I was Twilight's ward, maybe Princess Cadance would offer a room for us? She is Twilight's sister-in-law.

Next was Cheerilee. I knew that she was already on board the "Anon needs therapy" train, but how frequently was she willing to have me absent? Would the biweekly absence be too disruptive? Or would she be willing to create work-packets for me to tackle while I was away?

Finally, there was the matter of how long such trips would be. From my limited understanding of the geography, it wasn't a matter of just sitting on the train for two hours in the morning, and then catching the train back in the evening. It was more like, wake up early, catch the train, and arrive at the destination just in time for dinner. At the very least, that made it a regular three-day-minimum trip each time I have to go for an appointment.

~ 11 ~

Dinner was an interesting affair. It wasn't that the meal cooked up by Spike—seriously, that kid must have a stash of cook-books—was bad, or that the company was unruly. I mean, okay... Flurry was being a bit ornery but that's how babies are. No, it was just different because I think this is one of the first opportunities that I've had to interact casually with a stallion.

See, most times I encounter stallions, they're busy with their work, and although I'm sure they'd be happy to indulge a nosy foal if their work pertained to their special talent—something I'd noticed often coincided with their passions—I knew better than to take up too much of their time if I could help it; these guys were working hard to bring home the bread. But Shining Armour? He was on a trip with his family to see his sister and God knows what else they even had planned before getting wrapped up in coming to get me from the hospital.

The problem becomes that I'm not really sure how to address him. Although I might mentally be an adult, we weren't exactly on the same levels of social standing; it'd seem rude not to address him by some sort of title, but it's clear that he's not just a Mister Armour. Which one though? I know that before his marriage to Princess Cadance, he was Captain of the Guard, and he's now a Prince Consort if I'm understanding the Equestrian hierarchy correctly.

"Something on your mind?" he eventually asked. Shit, have I been staring? "You've been looking at me a lot, like you want to say something." Fuck. He caught me.

Putting down my fork next to my mostly untouched vegetable stir-fry and fried rice, I stared down at my meal. I could feel my cheeks flushing, and somehow this small cue was visible to others. "I, um, was wondering how I should talk to you," I murmured. "You've many titles, and you're effectively a visiting dignitary, despite being family to my guardian. Do I call you Captain, Prince Consort, Mister, or just Sir?" My ears folded back in embarrassment as my gaze turned to Princess Cadance. "For that matter, you're the leader of an empire, so would that not make you Empress Cadance?"

Just like that, all tension left the room as Spike began laughing. Everyone else—even the baby, for the love of God—quickly followed suit. I didn't really get what was so funny though. What was so funny about my confusion?

The couple explained that they, much like Twilight, preferred not to have their titles used in a more casual or familiar setting. As long as we weren't in public, I was free to address them by their names. That was pretty neat. I'd never really gotten onto first-name business with the Sun Horse or the Dream Horse, and although I could think of them by their names or my mnemonic devices, I'd learned pretty quickly that with those two leaders, other ponies were very insistent about titles being used when referring to the princesses.

"So, what brings you down to this neck of the woods?" I asked, once again picking up my fork now that the awkward moment had passed. The rice seemed a bit undercooked and didn't really want to stay on the fork. Although, that might have had more to do with the fact that my hoof was a bit shaky right now. Maybe if I...?

"Oh, we're here because a friend of mine retired recently to pursue art," Shining said, watching in amusement as I mixed my stir-fried vegetables and sauce in with the rice. "Spearhead's throwing a bit of an art exhibition at a café here in Ponyville, so we decided to attend to show him some support."

"Plus, it'll give Twilight some time to bond with Flurry," Cadance beamed, as if it wasn't clear that this was about foisting the baby off onto Twilight for a day so they could have some time alone. "We'll be returning to the Empire on Friday."

I nodded numbly, even as a cold feeling filled my stomach. There went the idea of talking to Twilight about fast-tracking my magic studies. My face remained a trained neutral expression, but I couldn't really stop my ears from folding back; it was one of those reflexive or instinctual reflexes this body had pertaining to sensory organs I wasn't used to having some control over. I could tell everyone's eyes were on me, but nobody said a word.

There's no way I'm jealous of a baby... am I?

~ 11 ~

After dinner, I quietly returned to my room to fetch my homework and dictionary, and made my way to the library. If there'd been any work missed from whatever class Cheerilee had intended for the span of the end of lunch to the end of the school day, nothing had been said. Heck, for all I knew, I might be suspended until Monday's class, or even Wednesday's. I did, after all, feed a kid his teeth and ensured that his brother would be grounded for a while.

The homework itself, defining unfamiliar moon-glyphs from the book—Friendship on Changing Tides by Apocrita—didn't take all that long. I'd already taken the time during my reading to preformat my homework, and although I'd probably need to get some blank paper for additional practice, I'd left enough space for the demonstration sentence and definition during my time noting it down in class. Most of my time was just spent cross-referencing the dictionary and copying out the meaning.

I would have to ask Cheerilee when next I saw her if there was some sort of guide to stroke order, like with sun-glyphs. Although I was able to make legible copies of the glyphs in question, I found that knowing an intended stroke order, as was demonstrated by the pink-maned maid whose name I never got, made for more consistently shaped glyphs. Writing out sentences with them was a breeze, at the least.

One glyph I'd come across, however, had me at a bit of a loss and ended up being put off until the end. It wasn't present in my dictionary at all, and the only context I had was the previous definition I'd needed to seek: star sign. That said, the closest I'd come to the glyph in question was Caelum: the chisel constellation, but it was deformed for the lack of a better term. It almost looked like they'd hacked together two or more other glyphs to produce it.

I bit my lip and considered going out to find someone to ask if they knew anything about astrological zodiacs. No, that'd be too easy. Treat this as an opportunity to learn and expand your knowledge. Instead, I found a rolling ladder tucked away in the corner of the library and pushed it up to one of the non-fiction shelves and started glancing through the titles. If I couldn't find what I sought, I moved on.

It took three shelves before I found the section dedicated to astronomy and astrology, and even then, it took a while before I found exactly what I was looking for. See, the only reason that I wouldn't be able to find something in a dictionary is if it wasn't actually a word, it was a proper noun, or it wasn't recognised at the time of printing for that dictionary. The print-date in my dictionary was dated mid-year of last year, while the novel I'd found the word in had only come out a few months ago. As such, I was looking for something released within the last six months.

Honestly, finding what I was looking for was a bit of a fluke. It was a relatively new-looking book complete with a crisp new plastic dust-jacket. The title was a bit of a giveaway, as well—New Age Astrology: a Guide to the Extended Zodiac. It was all stuff that pertained to horoscopes and how theoretically your personality is influenced by the star sign you were born under, your solar or lunar sway—read, if you were born at night or during the day—and what Element of Harmony resonates most with you.

The whole thing was kinda stupid, if you asked me. Not astrology and horoscopes, since I knew the importance of having a source of hope in one's life. No, what was stupid was that this took a system with ten signs, and dragged it out into one-hundred twenty—one hundred thirty if you count the base 'true signs' that you only get if you're born on the cusp of night and day. I can only imagine what its like having a whole section of the newspaper dedicated to one hundred thirty horoscopes.

Then again, maybe it was just some scheme cooked up to sell weekly horoscope books. It'd be a disingenuous way to integrate Princess Luna's return and the cultural significance of the six fragments of what ponies believed formed harmony, sure. That said, it's the exact sort of thing people looking to exploit those who need hope would do. I'm surprised such a thing never caught on back home.

Let's see, though. Judging by the resemblance to the Caelum constellation's glyph, I'll probably find my definition under the related derived signs... and there it was: Caesogen. "Those born under Caelum—in the month of Pentilis—with a solar sway and whose resonance is Generosity, are said to be inclined to shape the world to their own vision, often to the benefits of others. They are frequently influenced by their fiery emotions, but fair in their decisions in the end," I read aloud. It went on to say which base signs and resonance a Caesogen would get along with and who to avoid.

Honestly seems like an odd thing to shoehorn into a novel for children all willy-nilly, but maybe it had a purpose? I mean, I can kind see how it relates to the character of Wind Tracer, up until she basically told Dichotoma to fuck off and die. Maybe it's a hint that from the author that she'll do the right thing and work together with him to get off the island? Then again, maybe I'm just reading too much into things and the author included it because extended star-signs are or were the in thing when they wrote it.

Regardless, I marked down the definition from New Age Astrology in my homework, threw the word into a sentence, and put the page aside. I could work on the practice portion tomorrow, and I wasn't entirely sure whether that was actually to be passed in or just for my own benefit.

That said, I was kinda curious what my sign was and what the sign said about me. Since I was born in Binuary, according to the Equestrian calendar, that made my base sign the Hydra. If I remembered what Mom said correctly, I was a late night/early morning baby, meaning my sway would be lunar. How did one determine their resonance though? Was it something arbitrary, like how you feel when taking a personality quiz? Or was it something a bit more logical, or maybe even mark-related? Regardless, I live with the former bearer of the Element of Magic, and had a cutie mark for magic, and the pony I looked up to was a mage. Seemed like a no-brainer.

"Hyluma. Those born under Hydra—in the month of Binuary—with a lunar sway and whose resonance is Magic, are said to be beings of many faces. They may be hard to get along with due to their often analytical nature and compartmentalised lives, but those who give them a chance will find their friendship deep and rewarding. Their creativity may be surprising to those who don't know them," I read aloud once more. "Hyluma marked beings will get along well with those of the Octans, Phoenix, and Scutum signs, and resonate well with Honesty, Generosity, and Loyalty. Laughter may seem infantile to a Hyluma, while Kindness may be mistaken for patronism. The Aquila, Caelum, and Serpens signs will often be at odds with Hydra signs due to conflicts of ideals."

I shook my head as I closed the book. There was no telling how accurate that was, because half the draw of this sort of things was finding the way they applied in your life. Maybe someone that actually was into that sort of thing might agree with its assessment of me, but in the end, it was just a look into the curiosities of this world's own culture. Still, as I went to return the book to its place on the shelf, I found myself smiling.

The more time I spend here, the more I can't tell if it's the same or different.

Author's Note

1: This a bit of a cooldown chapter. After the excitement of the previous two, it was about time for something a bit more calm and/or fluffy. Thus we have Anon beginning to interact more with Twilight's extended family, talking shop with Starlight, and then doing some homework.

2: It should come as no great surprise that Anon would have some exposure to the cosmology as presented in the Forgotten Realms. Given other ties to D&D present in the story, in addition for her taste for fantasy, it felt right to reference the many planes.

3: The idea of the Extended Zodiac is something I borrowed from the Homestuck/Hiveswap franchise. I'd been playing through the Hiveswap FriendSim on Steam over the last couple of weeks, because I was feeling kinda nostalgic for the series. Then, late one night, I got it in my head that since I'd gone and made a full calendar for this iteration of Equestria, why stop there? Why not make a Zodiac to go with it?

Honestly, that night's a bit of a fever dream and I wasn't sure I actually made it, but then I looked and sure enough, there was a file in My Documents the next morning labeled EquestrianZodiac.txt. The ten 'True Signs' of this Zodiac are, in order of months, Scutum, Hydra, Ursa, Aquila, Caelum, Draco, Eridanus, Octans, Phoenix, and Serpens. I felt it best to draw on actual constellations, rather than invent yet more complexity.

The names for the Extended Zodiac are created by taking the first two to four letters of the True Sign, the first two letters of their sway, and then the first two or three letters of the related element.
Some examples are:
Aquiluhon, Caesogen, Hyluma, Erisoki, Octalulo, Phosola

1. Sorry for not posting last week. Decided to take some time to let the chapter sit and then see if there was anything I wanted to change or add. Next chapter? Anon gets her cloak, goes visiting, and more!