Anon walked down the dirt path to Fluttershy’s cottage, his hands buried in his pockets as the cloudy skies above began to rain down a light drizzle.
He’d been in Equestria for about a month now, and he was pretty used to everything by now. He was even decent friends with almost all of the Mane Six, along with a few other ponies in Ponyville.
But he didn’t feel… happy.
Yesterday, Twilight noticed Anon’s downcast mood. Despite being relatively used to everything in Equestria, that didn’t mean that he enjoyed being in this world, or being forced to remain here for the foreseeable future.
“You know,” Twilight started, breaking the desolate silence between them, as they both sat in a booth at a Hay Burger during their lunchtime. “I think you should try our Ponyville spa. You don’t seem to be in…”
She eyed Anon up and down as he looked back at her blankly.
“The best condition, if I had to be honest,” she said with an awkward smile.
“I’ve already been to the spa here.”
Anon tapped his finger on their table.
“They’ve never been my thing.”
He looked around the restaurant they were in. He didn’t like it. It reminded him of his past of working fast food on Earth. Truly some of the roughest years of his life up to this point.
“I think I just like being alone.”
“But you told me that you had multiple friends back in your world. You even told me how much you loved being around them.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow at Anon as he blushed slightly.
“Well-… I-… that was different...”
“How? How was that different than being here?”
Twilight leaned closer to Anon as he looked at the floor.
“You’ve been like this ever since you got here, and I want to help you, Anonymous! But you have to tell me what’s going on!”
Anon scratched the back of his head, as he looked out the window.
It was a nice, sunny day outside, and there were multiple ponies in the nearby park, enjoying their day with picnics and walks.
“It’s not home…” Anon mumbled.
Twilight’s ear flicked, before she asked him to repeat.
Anon just slowly stepped out of their booth, and looked at Twilight one more time.
“Thanks for lunch, Twilight. I’m just gonna head back home.”
Anon did just that as he stepped out of the Hay Burger, but didn’t account for Twilight walking all the way back home with him, refusing to take “no” for an answer.
As they walked, there was a large silence between them, before Twilight spoke up.
“Maybe you should visit Fluttershy tomorrow. She’s planning a nature walk with her animal friends in the woods near the Everfree Forest, and I think you’d enjoy it.”
Anon thought for a second and shrugged.
“Maybe.”
That was as far as their conversation went, and Twilight said farewell to Anon once they reached his house, before he locked his front door and sat himself in a chair on his back porch.
He stared out into the green, rolling hills and trees of the land around him as he squinted his eyes from the bright, overpowering colors.
He spent the rest of the night there, as he daydreamed about positive memories of the past, before he fell into a deep sleep.
Back to the present, Anon approached the front door of Fluttershy’s cottage as a single raindrop landed in his eyes.
He flinched, but didn’t pay it much mind.
When he was at the front door, he took a few seconds to look up at the cloudy skies, before he knocked.
There was a rumble, followed by a metallic crash, before Fluttershy’s quiet voice called to him.
“I’ll be right out! Just give me a moment, please!”
Anon scratched the side of his arm awkwardly, before the door opened.
Fluttershy’s mane was frazzled and covered with what looked like birdseed.
She looked up at Anon, who was almost twice her height, as her eyes grew wide from the unexpected visitor.
“Oh, Anon! W-what brings you here?”
“Yeah…” Anon said, trying to find the best words for the situation.
“Twilight told me that you had a ‘nature walk’ planned for today?”
Fluttershy nodded.
“Oh, yes. It’s been too long since my animal friends have explored the wilderness outside of my cottage.”
Fluttershy tilted her head at Anon.
“Were you thinking about… joining us?”
“I-umm…”
Anon took a sharp inhale of the crisp, rainy air.
“Yes. If it’s ok with you.”
“Of course!” Fluttershy chirped. “The more creatures, the merrier!”
“I can’t wait!” Anon said with a forced smile, before he suddenly found himself walking through a damp forest with Fluttershy leading the way ahead of him.
He had to admit, it was nice to get out of the house for once.
He looked at Fluttershy, who was too occupied with helping her animal friends connect with their environment to pay him any attention.
He was surprised a pony like her wasn’t scared silly to be in such a dark, intimidating place. Anon himself was feeling a bit anxious here, while Fluttershy boldly strolled around, flying up trees and poking her head in tree hollows without a second’s thought.
Anon just followed her and her animals for some time, until all of her animals were out in nature, doing their own things, as it was just him and Fluttershy.
She looked back at him, and began to slow down so she could walk beside him.
“Is something wrong, Anon?”
Anon scrunched up his nose, before he looked at Fluttershy’s kind eyes.
Anon cursed these ponies and their ability to cut straight to the heart of his feelings with those big adorable eyes of theirs.
Small raindrops landed on Anon’s hair, before his expression softened.
“Fluttershy, what makes something home?”
“Ummm-“
“In your opinion. There’s no right or wrong answer here.”
Fluttershy thought to herself, before she looked back at her two bird friends, who were cheerfully making a nest on a tree branch.
She smiled.
“I think home is where you have your best memories. Where you feel safe, right?”
“Think so?” Anon asked.
“I do.”
Fluttershy looked up at the rainy sky, and Anon followed her gaze.
“I think we all need a place like that.”
Anon sighed and shut his eyes, as a few raindrops landed on his face and trickled down to his chin.
“Yeah. That makes sense...”
Fluttershy’s eyes briefly moved to Anon, before they looked back to the path ahead of them.
“I remember when Twilight first got her castle in Ponyville. It was right after she and Spike lost the Golden Oaks Library. Twilight’s castle didn’t feel like home for her, so she was intentionally avoiding it.”
Anon looked ahead, as he took in Fluttershy’s words.
Fluttershy laughed softly to herself.
“Me and the rest of her closest friends tried to decorate the castle to make things feel more comfortable for her, buuuut, things got out of hoof.”
The dirt trail crunched under hooves and feet, as she continued.
“Eventually, we all decided to decorate a part of her castle with the roots of the Golden Oak Library Tree, where she had her best memories of Ponyville.”
Anon looked at her. He had been to Twilight’s castle a few times by now, and had seen the roots on the ceiling of the map room, but didn’t know there was such a history behind them.
“I didn’t know that…,” Anon simply said.
Fluttershy smiled at him.
“Yeah. She had a little something to look back on while she made new memories in her castle!”
Anon thought to himself.
“The thing is, Fluttershy…,” he started, which made her look at him.
“I don’t feel like I’m at home here. This world is really different from mine… Hell, you have unicorns raising the sun and moon, for God’s sake.”
He put the palms of his hands over his eyes and dragged them down his face.
“You ponies have already helped me with my living situation, and I even have a job as a host at Hay Burger.”
“I’m surviving, but I don’t feel like I’m… living.
Anon scratched his shoulder as Fluttershy stared at him.
He looked back at her.
“I don’t know…,” he said sheepishly, as he looked down at the floor.
There were a good few minutes of silence between them as they walked after he said that.
Anon was praying that she would speak up and break it, which she finally did at some point.
“How are you enjoying the walk Anon?” Fluttershy asked as she looked down at the ground.
Anon opened his mouth, but was cut off by Fluttershy asking another question.
“How do you feel right now? No past, no future, only now.”
Anon thought to himself, and stopped, which made Fluttershy stop.
Anon sat down on a nearby log, and Fluttershy did the same.
“I’m… I’m enjoying this walk. It’s relaxing.”
He scraped the wet dirt with his shoe.
“And I’m enjoying talking to you. But my ‘home’ doesn’t feel like home… there isn’t even Netflix in this world…”
Fluttershy tilted her head, and Anon looked at her briefly, before he continued.
“I appreciate how much all of you have been trying to help me feel comfortable, but when it comes down to it, you can only do so much.”
He looked at Fluttershy.
“You six barely know me, and I’ve been distant from all of you ever since I got here.”
Fluttershy looked at the ground as she thought, before her two birds flew to her, and landed on her mane, snuggling into it’s a softness.
Anon couldn’t help but smile a bit from the sight, almost forgetting what he was just talking about.
One bird landed on Fluttershy’s hoof, and she held it close to her face and nuzzled it affectionately, before she looked back at Anon.
“That is true, Anon. But I’m sure we all can understand why. Here you are, in a world so different from your own, with creatures that look so different from you.”
Anon frowned as she continued.
“None of your old friends and family are here with you, and we’re all you have.”
Anon looked down at the ground, before Fluttershy reached a hoof out to him.
He looked up at her and saw a bird standing on her hoof.
“But in this new world, there are sure to be new opportunities and experiences just waiting to be found! Right?”
Anon reached his hand out, clasping her hoof, as the bird hopped over to his arm and on his shoulder.
As the bird nuzzled Anon’s cheek, his eyes were getting watery.
He felt sort of warm and fuzzy, before he unconsciously pulled Fluttershy into a hug. A gesture that was quickly returned.
Anon then let his feelings loose.
He cried into Fluttershy’s mane, until the cries turned into sobs, all the while Fluttershy held him almost as tightly as he was holding her.
“It’s ok, Anon. We’ll always be here for you. You know that?”
Her voice was nearly drowned out by Anon’s release of emotion, but she continued nonetheless.
“Remember this; we will never fill the hole that your loved ones had, but we will be here help you every step of the way.”
After a blurred amount of time, Anon pulled himself out of Fluttershy’s mane, giving her a small smile, his eyes puffy and red with tears.
The rain had stopped and the cloudy skies had cleared somewhat, revealing a warm, orange sunset overhead, shining onto Anon and Fluttershy from the forest’s nearby exit path.
Anon slowly stood up, and rubbed his nose with his arm as he sniffed.
He then held a hand out for Fluttershy, and pulled her up from the log.
“Thank you, Fluttershy… is it ok if I stay over at your place for a few days?”
He looked back at the small bird who was still rested on his shoulder, as he smiled, and gently rubbed a finger along its neck.
“Maybe… I would be interested in having a pet. Something to take care of… if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind,” Fluttershy smiled.
They both then walked along the path and out of the forest, as the afternoon sun still shined on them.
Anon smiled as he thought to himself.
“Hey, Fluttershy, one more thing. Do you have dinner plans tonight?”
Fluttershy blinked.
“Not really. Why?”
“You wanna grab a bite at Hay Burger with me?”
Author's Note
Wow! My first story in who knows how long! I had some fun with this one!!
Thank you to all of you who made it to the end, and please feel free to give constructive criticism, if necessary.