“Princess Celestia! We came as soon as we could!” Twilight said as she ran up to the Princess with her friends following closely behind her.
“Thank you girls for coming on such short notice.” Celestia said with her eyes still focused on what she suspected was gonna be the next big threat to Equestria’s safety.
Multiple battalions of royal guards stood around this potential threat, ready to defend Equestria at a moment’s notice. The object of interest was a giant metallic structure, that was suspended in midair by unknown means. It was gigantic, slightly bigger then two barns side-by-side to one another.
“Of course. So, what are we looking at exactly?” Twilight said as she joined in spectating what was essentially a floating castle.
“We have no clue.” Celestia answered with a scowl on her face.
“There was a load bang and then It just appeared out of thin air without warning. Now It’s been floating there for about an hour and a half since my message to you girls.”
She let out a stress filled sigh before she continued.
“Hasn’t moved an inch since, and we can’t get close enough to investigate the anomaly further because of some kind of impenetrable magical force field it possesses.”
Twilight let out a unsatisfied grunt from the lack of information about this thing that had arrived so suddenly. She stared at it and began to analyze any detail she could about it, trying to get at much observational information about it as she could. It’s the best she could do when in depth information is currently lacking.
She noticed the massive object was seemingly made out of gray metal, with white glowing lines tracing over its surface. These white lines were traced in seemingly random directions, never making a smooth curve and only moving in right angles. The overall shape of this object was very smooth and rounded, having a large oval shaped base like an egg. Their was two semi-circles that bulged out of both side of the ship, with two cylindrical columns placed on each end of these semi-circle. these four large columns made load whirring noises, presumably this was how this machine was able to be suspended in midair. On the front end of this mass, there was another shape that stuck out, this one being a cone shape, with the bottom of this cone being flat and the opposite side of this cone had a black patch on it that seemed to be made out of glass. In the back of the structure was what seemed to be one big thruster, but it was not running currently. It had three big fins surrounding the thruster, two on each horizontal side of it. One big long fin was fixated on the top the structure and this fin stretched out across the roof of the structure, gradually getting shorter as it got closer to the front of the structure.
Twilight assumed it had to be some kind of spaceship, straight out of one of spikes comic books. The physical appearance of it certainly matched the bill, but what was something like that doing in Equestria? Where did it come from? But more importantly, what did it want?
Just as she began to board that train of thought, the load whirring noise emanating from the thrusters suddenly produced a load and thunderous noise that vibrated the bones within everypony as it began to move closer to the ground for a landing. The guards on the ground around the ships soon-to-be landing site scattered like ants in an attempt to not be crushed by the massive structure. They regrouped and raised their spears for what may happen next as the thrusters came closer to the ground. The closer it got to the ground, the more dirt it began to kick up, making the guards squint as the clouds of dust was blown into their faces. They all had to back away from the structure as the dust, pebbles and small sticks continued to be blasted in their eyes. The load whirring of the thrusters stopped and the ship sunk a little bit as it settled into its landing position, resting upon four large, sturdy legs that sprouted from the underbelly of the ship. A load hiss emanated from the ship as the hydraulic pressure was released from the landing gear, allowing the ship to come to a stable resting position. Everypony stood in silence, standing still, waiting anxiously for what might happen next.
Twilight looked up at her mentor’s face, and Celestia was trying to stay strong but it was very obvious that she was nervous. Twilight couldn’t blame her either, her own anxious nerves were beginning to make her legs shake. She took a deep breath in and let out a long sigh in an attempt to try and calm her nerves.
It didn’t work.
This floating fortress from beyond this world was potentially way bigger than any threat Equestria has ever faced before. The reason Twilight thought this might be something bad was because of the unknown nature of it. Not only that but there could be multiple creatures aboard this vessel, and what could their goals be? Drench the world in eternal night? Steal all of Equestria’s magic? Perform a forceful seizure of Canterlot? That last one seemed plausible, this current situation isn’t too dissimilar to the time Tempest Shadow arrived in Canterlot. Of course the only similarity they share as of right now is the fact that both instances had giant ships that appeared out of seemingly thin air.
“You alright sugar cube?” Applejack said as she placed a hoof on her friends shoulder, pulling her out of her train of thought.
“Yeah I’m… I’m fine.” Twilight said with a nervous sigh.
Don’t forget, we’re here too ya’know.” Applejack said while gesturing to their other four friends. “If this ends up being trouble, we’ll handle it together.” She said with a reassuring smile.
Twilight smiled back at her friend and placed her own hoof on Applejacks shoulder. “Thank you.” Twilight said with a smile.
Suddenly a large section of the ships hull sunk inwards with a load metal clank and a hiss, and two panels separated from each other down the center to reveal a doorway. The seal was so perfect that it was practically impossible to spot this doorway before it revealed itself.
Behind this door was a single, tall, bipedal being standing at center of the doorway. They wore a regal cloak, which was a faded light blue color that almost made it look gray, and it also had the same design that the flag of Equestria had on it, although it was very difficult to make it out considering how faded it was. The creature also had a white fuzzy collar that looked dirty and stained. The rest of their outfit was mostly gray with jagged white lines, just like the ship. It was also padded with thick armor, with various scratches and dents, presumably from past battles they were involved in. But it was not metal, it looked more flexible and lightweight, almost like hard plastic. But despite this, it was styled as if it was traditional metal armor, with a thick chest and armor plating over every inch of the creatures body. They also wore black hard knuckle gloves and black steel toed boots. Two black boxy weapon were strapped underneath each of their arms, which twilight recognized as pistols from her time in the human world with sunset shimmer. Plenty of other sharp weapons were attached to his armor as well, including two ka-bar knives on his hips kept inside sheath with a button strap around the hilt to keep it secured. On the left leg there was a small push knife on his knee, and on his right leg was an ankle knife.
The more twilight looked at him, the more she thought it was a human. But he couldn’t be from the same place Sunset now calls home, for numerous reasons but the most obvious one was that his face was… odd.
His eyes, ears, mouth, and nostrils were all easily identifiable and visible but the rest of his face and even his hair was fuzzy, almost as if it was out of focus. It was impossible to make out any specific facial features other than a general face shape, so Twilight presumed he was male. She was mainly using details that lied below the neck to come to that conclusion, considering it was hard to tell with the curious nature of his face. One other strange things was the reason only the nostrils were clearly visible was because even the shape of the nose was a mystery. But it wasn’t like there was no facial details though, Twilight could make out his emotions still. It was as if he lacked facial features, and his face was struggling to choose definitive facial details. Like a changeling being caught mid-transformation, attempting to resemble multiple faces at the same time, but also no faces at all.
This mysterious creature stepped out confidently, even though there wasn’t anything beneath his feet to walk on. But right as Twilight thought he was about to clumsily fall out of the ship, his foot actually did contact something. A small area around his feet emanated a bright neon blue glow as he continued to walk down a transparent ramp. The creature looked up and around him at the land he found himself in. He took a deep breath in before exhaling with a smile as he continued to stride down the walkway until he reached the ground.
“Greeting everypony!” He exclaimed with his arms outstretched. “My name is Anon, and I come in peace.” He said with a bow.
“So is this guy an alien or something?” Rainbow Dash whispered to Twilight.
“I don’t think so.” She whispered back.
“Well, if the next words out of his mouth are ‘take me to your leader,’ then he’s an extraterrestrial.” Rainbow said half joking.
“Well if he’s an alien, then we might want to make a good first impression!” Pinkie pie said as she began to hop over to the mysterious creature.
Twilight attempted to protest to Pinkie about getting any closer, but she was practically already over there before Twilight could even udder a single word. The rest of her friends followed closely behind Pinkie as she eagerly bounced toward the creature.
“Hi! My name’s Pinkie pie! Are you an alien? My friend Rainbow dash thinks you are. Don’t worry though, we can still be friends if you are one!” The words were practically being spat out as pinkie jumped in place in front of the creature.
“No I am not an alien,” Anon chuckled. “I am what’s called a human.”
“A human, huh?” Applejack said with a raised eyebrow. “Then if ya ain’t an alien, what’s with that space ship ya came in?”
“It’s, not really a space ship,” Anon began. “It has never traveled Beyond the stars. It’s only ever traveled to and from alternate versions of Equestria.”
“Wait-wait-wait-what!” Twilight said with a hint of dorkish excitement. “Alternate realities? You mean like, the multiverse?!” She said with increasing excitement.
“Kind of, but it’s a bit different.” Anon explained. “I call them realms. the multiverse has infinite possibilities, with some universes looking indistinguishable from one another, only having one slight difference from each other. Realms are different. Realms are almost always distinct from one another, sometimes down to the biological level.”
“That’s amazing!” Twilight said completely geeking out now. “How many versions of Equestria have you seen?”
“hundreds,” Anon said with a smile. “But I don’t do it because I’m looking for the perfect vacation spot. I’m called to a higher purpose. Saving people like me, and ponies like you, from a horrific demise.”
“Demise?” Twilight said, her excitement being replaced with worry. “People like you?” She then said inquisitively.
“Yeah, the people like me are aboard this ship. But they’re not like regular humans. We are Anons. We are all the same person on a biological level, but we still have our individuality, our unique personality’s, and each one of us harold from a different realm.”
“what? Okay wait, you're going to have to take this from the top.” Rainbow Dash said. “Also could you explain it to us like we’re fillies, cause I got lost halfway through that.”
Anon laughed at Rainbow Dash’s interjection. “Perhaps it would be easier to have someone else explain it.” He then turned back to the ship and whistled.
Two other humans then walked out of the ship and began walking down the holographic light bridge. They looked very similar to Anon, the same blurred facial features and hair were shared amongst all three of their faces. But that’s where the similarities ended, they wore radically different clothing and even walked completely differently from one another. True to Anon’s word, they definitely seemed to belong to different realms.
The human on the right seemed to have had half his body replaced with mechanical upgrades. His right arm was made of what seemed to be a type of metal and between the grooves of his arm there was a dim blue glow emanating from within, possibly from a magical energy source. His right eye was also replaced with a mechanical substitute, with a dim blue glow in it as well, but the eye was a bit bulky and stuck out from the eye socket significantly. Wires and many other pieces of tech connected the eye replacement to a motherboard embedded in his skull. He also had glowing blue geometric tattoos all across his skin, presumably being more technological enhancements hidden just underneath the skin. He wore a dark gray jacket but the sleeve that would have covered his robotic arm was cut off, he also wore black tech-wear cargo pants and boots that a had a gem that glowed the same color as the magical bridge beneath his feet. Curiously this man was the only human wearing shoes that seemed to allow him to walk across this bridge, the other humans seem to be capable of these action naturally.
The human on the left was seemingly much older than the other two anons, his blurry hair being grayer than the other. He had deep and gruesome scars across his face next to his left eye; curiously enough the scars themselves were not blurry, only the flesh around them were. A sizable hypertrophic scar had formed around the outer corner of his eye and cheek bone, causing the skin to have a red discoloration. The injured eye had a gray and foggy color to it, indicating that he was blind in that one eye now. Four extremely deep scars streaked across his face, the first scar stretching upwards causing a patch of his hair to be missing along the scars path, it also warped his eyelid so it no longer closed properly. The second scar passed by his ear while the third passed over it, warping the ears shape. The fourth scar stretched across his cheek but then turned to connect with the left corner of his mouth. His wardrobe consisted of a gray military general uniform, with the same white line as Anons armor, although his were much smoother compared to Anons jagged white lines. He also donned a gray cap that had a gold chain that passed over his chest, securing it on his shoulder.
The ponies were immediately intrigued by these two humans, their presence inspiring so many questions about where they came from.
“Mind introducing yourselves.” Anon said to the other humans.
The half robotic human spoke up first.
“My name is Anon, and so is his.” He said pointing a thumb over to the scarred veteran. “We’re all named Anon. So to help with the inevitable confusion that comes with multiple people having the same exact name, we go by nicknames. I’m punk, he’s Scar, duh, and you’ve already met Founder.”
Shock and confusion struck the six ponies, before Twilight spoke first. “So… you’re all apart of some kind of subspecies of human? Is that it?”
“There’s a bit more to it, but that a pretty good way to think about it.” Punk said.
“what’s with all your faces being blurry, though?” Twilight asked. “Cause, that’s the most unnatural thing about you guys.”
“Honestly we have no idea.” Punk answered. “We just get blurry when we’re around other Anons.”
“Weird.” Twilight said.
“Tell me about it.” Punk scoffed.
“Okay, next question.” Twilight said. “Nothing like you exists in Equestria, so it leads me to believe you don’t belong in here. So how did you get here without a ship of your own?”
“We all have the same general backstory.” Punk began. “We were mysteriously transported from our home dimension to this one, finding ourselves to be the only humans and all of Equestria. A majority of us don’t know why we arrived here, it just kinda happened.”
“But we aren’t like other humans that end up in Equestria,” Scar said as he crossed his arms. “For some reason, all Anons are put into a realm for a specific purpose. What that purpose is varies from realm to realm, but the most common reason for an Anons presence in Equestria, is to have a relationship with somepony. Once that purpose is fulfilled. The realm destroys itself.”
“What?” Twilight said in disbelief.
“How do know this?” Rainbow dash said with a skeptical glance.
“Yeah,” Twilight said, slowly sharing the same skepticism. “How do you know that?”
Scar glared at the two skeptics. “Because it happened to me, and Founder’s home realms.” He said through gritted teeth.
“I had to learn that the hard way.” Founder said with a sorrow in his tone as he remembered what happened to his world. “Luckily we got to Scar before the realm got destroyed with him in it… but I didn’t have a guardian angel to come save me. My world crumbled to dust and blew away beneath my feet, leaving me stranded in a void of infinite nothingness. I looked around me, at other realms decaying and I saw the patterns that lead to these realms inevitably destruction…” he took in a deep sigh before continuing.
“from that point onwards, I vowed I would save Anons from themselves, and that’s why this very crew was formed. To save the realms, and to save us Anons.”
“So where did this here ship come from them?” Applejack asked.
“After what felt like years, I eventually fell into a new realm. The ponies in that realm were technologically advanced, and also sympathized with my plight. They upgraded a space ship, and gave it to me as a gift so I could accomplish my goals.” The Founder explained.
“I’m so sorry that happened to you. I-I can’t imagine the terror you must’ve experienced.” Twilight said sympathetically.
“It’s a fate I wish for no other Anon.” Founder said.
“So Anon, err Founder, are you here because you intend on saving or realm’s Anon?” Twilight asked.
“We hope to,” Scar said. “Analysis of this realm indicates that your Anon will arrive shortly. We mean to learn his intentions, and we will act appropriately.”
“Act appropriately?” Rainbow Dash said with a cocked eyebrow.
“I don’t think we mentioned the numerous evil Anons we’ve had to deal with.” Punk said leaning over to Scar.
Scar grumbled, giving a glare back at punk. He then turned back to the ponies. “Not every Anon is destined for a path of righteousness. Often, they have evil intentions. Sometimes we get to a realm before they’re able to do anything. Other times… we’re too late, and we must fight.” Scar said before emphasizing his extremely visible scars.
“And we don’t always make it out unscathed.”
“We’ve had to… kill a lot of Anons.” Punk began. “None of us are proud of what we’ve had to do. But, when an Anon corrupts the minds of nearly everypony in that realm, cutting the head off and watching the body die is the only logical course of action at that point.”
“Well, hopefully it doesn’t have to come to that.” Rarity said, trying to lighten the mood. “When is our Anon scheduled to arrive, anyway?”
Founder looked back at the other two Anons to see if they had the answers Rarity wanted. Scar shook his head and Punk shrugged exaggeratedly, both unsure of the answer to that question. Founder pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance.
“goddammit, we don’t know. We’d have to back to the ship to figure that out, because apparently a guy who’s brain is half a computer can’t figure it out.” Founder said glaring at Punk.
“You won’t allow me to hook up to ships mainframe.” Punk said defensively.
“Yeah, because I don’t want you connecting to the security cameras and watching us while we take a shit.” Founder said with his hands on his hips. His language causing Rainbow dash and Pinkie Pie to snicker.
“We’ll be right back.”
“Can we come with?” Twilight asked enthusiastically.
“NO!” Scar snarled. The sudden anger made Twilight and the other ponies flinch.
Founder raised his hand to stop him from yelling any further. He then turned back to Twilight and her friends. “You may, but no wondering around, or touching anything that looks important unless I say it is okay to do so, got it?”
“Got it!” Twilight said with a nod. “Just got to go tell Celestia to stand down real quick.”
“Alright,” Founder said with bit of a grimace, before quickly transitioning to a smile. “We’ll be waiting right here.”
Twilight ran off backwards past her friends and then took off in flight towards the princess enthusiastically. Founder then leaned over to punk and whispered something to him that the other ponies couldn’t hear.
“lock up the east wing.”
Punk nodded then took off into the ship, and once he disappeared into the ship a load booming voice was heard echoing throughout the field.
”ROYAL GUARDS! STAND DOWN!”
Celestia’s royal Canterlot voice rang out across the flat, empty field. The guard followed their orders and lowered their spears and stood at attention, waiting for their next command.
Twilight then flew back to the Anons, coming in for a touch down in front of her friends. “Alright, we’re good.” She said with pant. “I’m going to ask you a lot more questions, if that’s okay with you.”
“Most Twilight’s do.” Founder said with a hand wave to get the ponies to follow him onto the ship.
Him and Scar then slammed both of their boots twice on the invisible ramp, as soon as second impact happened, the whole light bridge was revealed. Twilight hesitantly stretched her hoof out to touch the ramp. When her hoof hit a solid foundation she confidently trotted on it, catching up to the humans to continue talking with them, her friend closely following behind.
“Okay, first things first.” Twilight said. “Can you elaborate on how Anons are unique, but also the same person?”
“It’s a bit complicated,” Founder said. “Anons can vary in personality, morals, way of speaking, clothing we wear, sexual orientation, etcetera, etcetera.”
“Biologically, it’s a different story.” Scar added.
“Yeah but even then it’s still complicated.” Founder said. “every strand of our DNA is nearly identical to any other Anons DNA. But strangely enough each DNA sample has a few tiny Details that actually differentiated it from other DNA strands. We presume that dictates the different personalities we have, amongst other things.”
“Very interesting.” Twilight said more to herself than to the humans. “And do you all have nicknames, or just the important Anons?”
“Usually it’s only the Anons of higher ranking yes, but there is a few exceptions.” Founder answered. “People like Scar here, were given an official nickname so other Anons know he’s someone you should listen to. Others are given unofficial nicknames because of something they did or said that has become apart of their reputation, like Scales, Trix, Chaser, Spice, and a few others.”
“How do you tell everypony apart?” Twilight said.
“Well, faces as you know are an unreliable way of telling each other apart,” Founder explained. “everything below the neck is a distinguishing feature for Anons. So we don’t issue a uniform, only a wristband to signify they’re on our crew. The rest of there wardrobe are the clothes they were wearing when we found them.”
“Fascinating.” Twilight said, but before she could ask anymore questions, Founder raised his hand.
“I’m afraid your questioning will have to be paused for the moment. Me and Scar have to depart to the command deck, an area which I do not permit you access to.” he then pointed down the hallway. “Down there you will find the food court, it’s where most Anons find themselves at most hours of the day. They might be able to answer anymore questions you might have.”
“Oh, okay! See you soon!” Twilight said beaming with excitement as she trotted down the hall with her friends.
Twilight excitedly pushed past her friends to arrive at the food court as quickly as possible,
her friend following behind her as she continued to trot down the hall, until they quit literally bumped into a random Anon. Her muzzle smacked into his pelvis, causing this Anon to grunt in shock and discomfort from the sudden sensation of the princess of friendship running right into him like a dog with a major case of the zoomies.
“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry!” Twilight said frantically.
“No worries, it didn’t hurt that bad anyway.” Anon said.
He then got a look at his assailant and wore a skeptical look when he noticed it was Twilight and her friends.
“Uhh, who allowed you onto the ship though?” The Anon said with confusion.
“The Founder did, darling.” Rarity said.
“Oh, okay then.” Anon said, shedding any sense of worry he had about the ponies presence. “Were you heading somewhere?”
“The food court, I want to talk to more of you Anon’s.” Twilight said, trying to contain her excitement.
“That would be down this hall,” he said while pointing down a corridor. “It’ll be your third left, then your second right, then you’ll be there. Cant miss it.”
Twilight mumbled the direction back to herself before giving an ecstatic “Thank you!” To the helpful Anon before making a brake for it.
“Twilight! Wait up!” Rainbow dash said as she, and the rest off her friends, tried to catch up to her friend. Rainbow was running along side her friend, seemingly unable to fly for some odd reason.
“Sorry girls, I’m just so exited to learn everything I can about these humans!” Twilight said.
“We can tell,” Applejack said. “But we gotta stick together ya’know. It seems very easy to get lost up in here, and that Founder feller said he didn’t want us wondering off.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” Twilight said before slowing down and taking a deep breath.
“You think he’s hiding something?” Rainbow Dash asked the other girls.
“Oh most certainly,” Rarity exclaimed. “Especially that Scar fellow.”
“Yeah, I don’t trust that rude asshole as far as a can throw’em.” Applejack concurred.
“Come on girls,” Twilight protested. “Stop speculating on the integrity of the creature that are allowing us on their ship.”
“But Twilight,” Rainbow Dash interjected. “What if it’s something that could possibly be a threat to Equestria.”
Twilight thought about her answer for a bit before she spoke. “If they were here to harm us, they would not have introduced themselves, they would’ve just attacked us.”
“I’m still gonna have my suspicions about these guys.” Rainbow said with a scowl. “Especially with Scar.”
“He even sounds evil!” Pinkie interjected.
“Right!” Rainbow exclaimed. “Like, who is named ‘Scar’ and not evil.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “If he poses any kind of threat, we’ll inform the Founder and have him deal with it,” Twilight said before giving a stern glare back at Rainbow. “We are NOT getting wrapped up and involving ourselves in any kind of drama with these humans.”
“Okay, okay. I got it.” Rainbow said with her hoofs up in defense.
They then rounded the last corner and came across a wide open room, with lots of long rectangular tables with a ton of Anons seated at them, either eating or just simply talking amongst each other. There were so many personalities present simply from the way each Anon was dressed. One Anon wore a jean jacket and had a chain on the belt loop of his jeans. He was talking and laughing with an Anon that had glasses and a T-shirt that had what looked like human superhero’s, similar to Spike’s ‘power ponies’ comics. There was an Anon that looked like he had seemingly come from some kind of post apocalyptic realm, and there was even a few female Anon’s. Every Anon was strikingly different from each other, and there was so many that Twilight could View them from a distance forever, she didn’t know who to talk to first.
Before she could introduce herself though, the Anon in the Jean jacket pointed at her and made an announcement.
“Hey! It’s the elements of harmony!” He yelled out, causing the other Anons to cheer at their arrival, causing a variety of reactions from the ponies.
Twilight waved with an awkward smile and a small blush. Applejack smirked and tipped her hat towards the crowd. Rainbow Dash smugly grinned as she outstretched her hoofs with a cocky yeah, it’s me attitude. Pinkie Pie enthusiastically, and exaggeratedly waved her hoof and then blew a few kisses out with both her hoofs. Rarity would simply swoosh her mane to the side before giving small wave. Fluttershy would hide behind her mane and sheepishly wave with a blush and a smile.
Some of the other stoic looking Anons that seemed to be acting as guards talked into the wristband they had on that Founder mentioned earlier. They were likely confirming that the ponies were allowed on the ship like the earlier Anon did. Once they got the confirmation their demeanors seemed to lighten up, except for one.
He was a tall man with a long black leather trench coat, with almost too many buttons, zippers and chains attached to it. He had a popped collar that had way too many unbuttoned, button straps on it as well. He also had a belt buckle strapped across his chest, and two additional buckle straps across each of his wrists. Each belt buckle had a square shape and was designed to look like a chain, and each button had a ram skull design embedded onto it. The back of his coat had a red Japanese symbol on it, and he was armed with a katana. He had black leather pants with big black boots that had a comical large amount of chains attached to it as well, with small metal bits on the tow and heels of the boot. They didn’t look like steel toed boots though, the metal on it seemed to be purely decorative. His blurry hair was the most unique out of all Anons, it was jet black and covered part of his face only allowing one eye to be fully revealed. This eye also glowed a bright, crimson red, and he used this eyes to stare at the ponies with a scowl for some unknown reason.
“Hey, come sit with us!” One Anon yell to Twilight. “I love talking to the different versions of you!”
“Oh, well… thank you.” She blushed.
“I’m assuming you got questions.” The Anon asked rhetorically.
“I’ve got quite a lot of questions, yeah.” Twilight said, sitting across from the human now.
The other members of the elements of harmony would also dispersed amongst the crowd, talking and mingling with the other Anons.
“and how was your Equestria?” Twilight asked an Anon that had a slight Irish accent with an outfit to match.
“Bleak.” He answered. “Not a very nice place, at least not in the area of Manehattan I lived in.”
“I’m sorry,” Twilight said with a hoof outstretched towards him on the table in a sympathetic gesture. “So, why did this crew pick you up?”
“They told me that if I continued down the path I was headed, I’d find love with somepony. At first I didn’t think that was such a bad thing, all things considered. But then they told me that the realm would crumble if that happened, so I decided it was probably for the best that I just disappeared.”
Twilight eyebrows furrowed in sadness, then leaned over to another Anon. “What about you? Why’d this crew pick you up.”
“I was dating my realms version of Applejack.” the Anon wearing a southern looking, blue button up with oil Stained jeans and withered boots.
“It hurt me to leave her behind. But I also couldn’t bear being the reason her and that realm would die if we… ya’know.” He said, pitching the bridge of his nose to try and stop the tears from flowing.
“So they took me in, and I try not to look back too often… Hurts too much to think about.” He said as he took a swig of alcohol in an attempt to numb the pain.
“That’s terrible.” Twilight said, her heart aching for all the Anon's stories. “I wish there was away for us to help.”
“Trust us Twilight,” the Irish Anon spoke again. “If we could solve this problem in anyway, we wouldn’t be here right now.”
Suddenly Punk appeared and interjected himself into the conversation. “The best we can do is save these Anons, and rid other realms from evil Anons when we come across them.”
“Unless they sneak onto the ship.” Irish Anon said.
“You talkin bout that freaky mofo on the east wing.” Southern Anon asked.
“Who else.” Irish said with a tone as if it was obvious.
Twilight look at the Anons confused. “What’s, on the east wing?”
“Goddammit you two.” Punk said in annoyance. “How about we don’t talk about that shit in front of non-Anons.” He said angrily.
“Sorry, Christ all mighty.”
“Sorry, good lord.”
Irish and southern Anon said in announce, seemingly been told this multiple times before.
“Why? What over there.” Twilight prodded.
“You don’t wanna see it.” He warned before sitting down, the Anons around him being significantly less chatty now.
“Okay,” Twilight said awkwardly. “Well anyways, since you’re here now. What kind of equestria did you come from?” She said changing the subject.
“Well I came from a realm that was significantly different from most other realms.” Punk began. “For example the ponies were more, human like. They still had hoofs and pony heads but from the knees up until there necks, they were indistinguishable from humans.”
“Really?” Twilight asked. “That odd.”
“I thought it was normal until I saw most other Equestria’s resident were ponies like you.” Punk said with a small chuckle.
“On top of my Equestria being filled with anthropomorphic ponies, the aesthetic was also very different.” Punk then rested his elbows on the table as he continued to speak.
“To give a basic rundown of what my realm looked like, my nickname is a play on my Equestria’s aesthetic. Punk comes from cyberpunk.”
“Oh, fascinating.” Twilight said with intrigue. “Did the crew come for you for the same reason it did the rest of these Anons?”
“Yeah,” Punk said with a sad expression. “When they arrived at my realm, they told me everything that would happen if I continued to pursue a relationship with the pony I was eyeing to be my special somepony. I thought they were lying, trying to kill me or something.”
“Why?” Twilight said with a bit of laugh.
“That’s a bit of a long story, I can tell you that at another time.” Punk said.
“Alright then.” Twilight said. “Please, continue.”
“Well like I said, I thought they wanted to kill me, so I ran. Founder, Scar, Edge and a few others Anons chased me through my cyberpunk dystopian Canterlot, and I almost lost them too. But eventually Founder got in front of me, and ended the chase. After some convincing, I agreed to tag along with him and his crew. But Founder doesn’t trust me with access to most of the ships utilities considering my arm is capable of easily hacking into the most electrical systems.” Punk said as he flexed the joint of his robotic arm.
“My anti-establishment lifestyle before becoming apart of this crew also didn’t help much.” He said with a laugh.
“I’m guessing that why you’re the only Anon that needs special boots to walk on that ramp outside.” Twilight said.
“Yep,” Punk said. “I’m also the only Anon that doesn’t have a wristband. It’s a communication device, and they think I can reverse engineer it or some shit.”
“Can you?” Twilight asked innocently.
“If I tinker with it long enough I could probably do something with it.” He said with a laugh.
Twilight laughed along before her mood shifted to a more negative one. “So they restrict you from most of the essentials on the ship because of the possibility you might tamper with the equipment?”
“I understand where your minds at, but it’s fine Twi. I understand the concerns they have and I’m contempt with the restrictions.” Punk said.
“Okay then,” she said, unconvinced. “well moving on to your arm, I’ve never seen anything like it before, what’s it made out of? How does it work?” She asked inquisitively.
“If I start explaining how it works in detail, we’ll be here all day. But what I will say is it’s powered by magic, it’s a self-sustaining power source so I never have to worry about loosing charge.” He then stretched his arm out so Twilight could get a up close look at it as he spoke.
“The material itself is a material called polycarbonate plastic, it’s about as strong as steel but light as, well, plastic.” He then pointed at his head.
“This is a different material called 2DPA-1, twice as strong as steel, lightweight, and air tight to protect all the vital electronics that it houses.”
“Incredible.” Twilight said with a smile. “Is that it? Cause it looks like you have more things under the skin.”
“Yeah, it’s a variety of performance enhancers. like adrenaline boosts, pain inhibitors, reinforced muscles, upgraded stamina. It’s a bunch of shit I got over the course of ten years that basically made me super human.”
“Very interesting,” Twilight said as she studied the tattoos on his skin. “Maybe we could do some tests to show off your abilities.” She said excitedly.
“I could use the exercise.” He joked.
“And one last question,” Twilight said. “Earlier you mentioned Founder, and Scar chased you. Obviously I'm acquainted with them, but who was Edge?”
“That’s the nickname for that Anon right there.” Punk said as he pointed toward the Anon in the gothic trench coat brooding in the corner.
He had been eyeing her up the entire time, and he took being pointed at as an indication to walk over to them. Judging by Punk’s exasperated and annoyed sigh, he didn’t intend on have him come over.
“Why are you roping me into this pathetic conversation.” He said to Punk with venom in his voice.
Twilight scowled in disgust at the immediate angry tone this Anon possessed just because he was simply pointed at. She already didn’t like this guy.
“She ask me were I came from, you’re unfortunately apart of that story.” Punk said matter-of-factly.
“You better be recalling that day correctly.” He said threateningly, but Punk didn’t seem to be fazed by his tone.
“Yeah, I was just getting to the part of the story where you pulled out that dinky little katana and tried to cut me open with it.” Punk said.
“Ahh yes. The only reason you were spared that day was because I was told to keep you alive, I would have easily killed you and bathed in your blood otherwise.” Edge said egotistically.
“Yeah, no,” Punk said with an eye roll. “That’s not what happened, like, at all.” Edge glared at Punk as he continued to speak.
“When you pulled that katana out on me, I pulled out my own sword that is vastly superior to yours, and nearly chopped your fucking head off.”
Edge fake laughed at the statement Punk said. “You honestly think you could have bested me?” He then laughed again in an obviously fake and exaggerated manner.
The way he laughed for some reason really got under Twilights skin. It was so condescending and irritating, like he thought he was better than everypony else. The other Anons were now turning around and listening in on the scene Edge was causing. Twilight’s friend were also included in the eavesdropping, each of them having an Anon whisper to them. Presumably, they were telling each of her friends who the Anons involved are, and how much of an asshole this Edge guy is. Some Anons tried yelling out to the Anons involved to knock it off, but Edge simply ignored them.
“Yeah, I do.” Punk said staring daggers into the Edge’s eyes. “I could kill right now if I wanted to.”
“You are an idiotic ape if you think you could best me in combat.” Edge said.
“Anybody here could beat you if they tried. But Founder’s number one rule is ‘no killing on the ship.’” As Punk rose from his seat so did the anger in his voice.
“So this whole scene you’re causing right now is nothing but fucking talk!” Punk yelled as he got up from his seat.
“Sit your pathetic ass back down!” Edge yelled as he pointed at Punk like a dog.
“FUCK YOU!” Punk spat out.
“HEY!” A third booming voice rang out, silencing everyone. It was Founder, and he looked pissed off as he march towards Edge and Punk and continued to yell at the two Anons.
“The fuck is your problem!” He said addressing the both of them.
“That jackass is starting shit again.” Punk said pointing at Edge who stood there with his arms crossed.
“Edge,” Fonder said with a glare. “I’ve gotten repeated complaints about you. You have caused nothing but trouble between you and the other Anons. I understand you prefer being a loner, but if you don’t knock this shit off I’m going to have to do something about it.”
“Apologies, Founder.” Edge said with a hand over his heart and taking a bow. Causing Punk to rolled his eyes.
Founder grumbled. “Anyway I have a mission for you. A simple one, just grab the Anon of this realm.”
“Understood.” Edge said.
“You will be accompanied by green squad. I need him back here for studies though, he has a weird frequency. We need to make sure it’s harmless before we take any kind of actions against him. So don’t kill him.”
“Understood.” Edge said again.
“C-can we come with?” Twilight asked timidly.
Founder thought for a moment before answering. “I’ll allow it.” He answered, causing Edge to grow a look of disgust towards Twilight.
Founder then talked into his wristband. “Scar, rally some of green squads members for a simple extraction led by Edge. Twilight is tagging along as well.”
He then walked out of the dining hall, but the room stayed silent. Many Anons finding it hard to talk about anything else after what just happened.
“Why do you want to follow me around like a pet.” Edge said condescendingly towards Twilight.
“Wha-? I just want to meet our realms Anon before you take him away.” Twilight answered nicely.
“I don’t need your help, Sparkle.” Edge said leaning over Twilight. Her ears bent back and laid flat against her skull. Punk was about to jump back into the fight to defend Twilight, but Rainbow dash beat him to it, placing herself in between Edge and her friend.
“Back off, dickwad.” Rainbow dash said while flying above Edge’s head.
Edge scoffed at Rainbow. “Not worth my breath anyway.” He then turn his back on them, and walked out of the dining hall.
“Fucking asshole.” Rainbow snarled.
“Sorry about him.” Punk said. “He thinks he’s hot shit. They only keep him around because he’s fiercely loyal, and Founder values loyalty.”
“That almost makes me wanna denounce my element.” Rainbow joked, causing Anons within earshot to laugh a bit, causing the atmosphere to lighten up significantly.
“I’m surprised that you want to continue being within his vicinity, Twilight.” Punk said as he sat back down.
“Trust me, I’m not too thrilled about it.” Twilight laughed. “I’m just going to try and ignore him because like I said, I’m only there to meet our realms Anon before you recruit him… it’s a shame he can’t stay.” She said that last part with a hint of sadness in her voice.
“What’s up?” Rainbow dash said as she sat next to twilight.
“All these Anons came from an equestria that had somepony there that loved them.” Twilight said looking down at her hoofs. “It’s just so sad that they had to sacrifice a life with the one pony they loved just to insure the survival of that realm.”
“It wasn’t an easy decision to make.” Punk interjected. “The last thing I wanted to do was leave my realm behind.”
“Then what convinced you to leave?” Twilight asked.
“Simple. If I stayed, the realm would die.” Punk said. “When Founder told me what happened to his realm, i decided leaving was the best option. I didn’t want the lives of everypony I cared about to end in the blink of an eye just because I loved somepony to much. None of us did.”
Twilight looked down at her hoof sadly before speaking again. “I wish there was a way to prevent that from happening. You Anons deserve to live a peaceful life with the pony you love.”
Punk scoffed. “Wouldn’t call my dystopian home realm ‘peaceful.’”
“Well, you know what I mean.” Twilight said quickly.
“Yeah, yeah. I know, I know.” Punk said with a slight smile. “It’s a nice sentiment, thank you.”
“Yeah. No problem.” Twilight smiled back at Punk.
“Elements of harmony!” A voice called out. “You wanted to tag an along on our mission, so come on. We’ll be departing shortly.”
The Anon that said this looked way different than the blurry Anons scattered around the room. He wore a black three piece suit with a white dress shirt and a red tie. But for some reason his skin wasn’t blurry, it was bright green, with a black question mark right in the center of his face. He had no eyes, yet seemed to see just fine and his mouth was placed where the dot of the question mark would be. He was bald, with smoothed out facial features similar to a mannequin but with a sharp and prominent jawline. The top curve of the question mark would bend with his eyebrows so he could still convey some kind of emotion. His strange appearance caught the elements of harmony off guard, mostly because of the fact it looked like a walking green mannequin. Twilight assumed him to be a member of that green squad Founder mentioned. Kind of a no brainer.
Pinkie pie, clearly being the least freaked out about the green Anon, eagerly bounced over to the strange human, calling out to her other friends to come along with her. They eventually got up and said there goodbyes to the Anon they were speaking with and followed Pinkie as she bounced behind the green Anon. As they walked down the hall, Twilight noticed that Rarity and applejack were whispering to each other. She then began to fall back so could join in on the conversation.
“He was just an asshole, nothing more to it.” Applejack said, Twilight only catching the last half of her statement.
“Talking about Edge?” Twilight asked.
“Yes.” Rarity with a scowl at the mere mention of his name. “What even caused him to start that?”
“Punk pointing at him.” Twilight whispered.
“That’s it?” Rarity whispered back in bewilderment.
“Ohh, he was itching to start shit then.” Applejack concluded. “Not looking forward to hanging out with him more.”
“You don’t have to come along, I can do this alone.” Twilight said.
“Alone? With that bastard? Hell na Twi, we’re coming with ya.” Applejack said.
Twilight smiled at Applejack. “Thank you, that means a lot.”
“Anyways,” Rarity said, butting back into the conversation. “What did you learn about the Anons? I’m quite curious myself about these creatures.”
“Well first thing I learned is how Founder got this ship.” Twilight said. “Apparently this ship was apart of a fleet of interstellar vessels. Piloted by ponies, although they were less nice. Apparently Celestia was some kind of galactic warlord in that realm, But they did show kindness to Founder strangely.”
“How did they achieve realm travel, though?” Rarity asked.
“Well, apparently before Founder arrived in that realm,” Twilight began to explain. “When he was falling in that vast emptiness between realms, his blood somehow was infused with some kind of power. Those ponies used advanced technology to siphon the power from his bloodstream, and the hyperdrive in the back of the ship, which was used to travel through space in the blink of an eye, had been repurposed after his blood power was put into it. After some convincing, Founder was allowed to take this ship and began the journey we see him on now.”
“Very interesting.” Rarity said.
“Founder made it seem a lot easier when he described that story earlier.” Applejack said.
“He kinda did, yeah.” Twilight chuckled. “But I assume that’s because he didn’t want to go into detail, since that wasn’t really the point of the conversation.”
“True.” Applejack said.
“You know,” Rarity said, beginning a new conversation. “I’d kinda like to visit some of these alternate realms, specifically so I could visit alternate me’s.”
“Would definitely be interesting to see alternate Twilights. Trade knowledge, just talk to each other! It would be so cool!” Twilight said with increasing excitement.
“Cease the incessant yammering.” Edge snapped, killing Twilights excitement.
He stood at the exit of the ship with a crowd of green and featureless Anons, all in the same suits and ties, the only thing separating them visually was the colors of their ties.
“Shut your goddamn mouth already.” Scar snarled as he walked up from behind the ponies and towards the group of green Anons.
“Excuse me Scar.” Edge said crossing his arms. “But Founder put me in charge of this mission. Not you.”
“Excuse ME Edge, but green squad is MY squad to command. So do not overstep. Ever. Again.” Scar snarled.
“Fine.” Edge said.
“No.” Scar said angrily. “It’s not fine. it’s fucking, understood! If you can respond with understood to Founder, then you can to me too.”
Edge was about to spit another unnecessary insult at Scar, when a green Anon cleared his throat loudly.
“Sir.” The green man said. “We should get on with the briefing, shouldn’t we?”
“Yes,” Scar said as he glared at Edge. “We should.” He then pushed Edge away from him. Edge simply laughed with his hands up mockingly.
“Elements of harmony, front and center.” Scar commanded.
The ponies followed his command and trotted past him to stand among the crowd of Anons, which they could barely tell apart from one another.
“Now this mission is nothing special. It’s a simple extraction mission, pick up this realms Anon, and bring him back here safely.” He then began to pace back and forth as he spoke.
“He is scheduled to arrive in the Everfree Forest any minute now. We were going to pilot the ship over there, but since Twilight and her friends have decided to tag along she should be able to teleport all of you there.”
Twilight wore a shocked impression as this responsibility that was suddenly thrusted upon her.
“Was this information not relayed to you beforehand?” Scar asked Twilight when he noticed her expression.
“No, it wasn’t.” Twilight said.
“Awesome.” He said in an ironic and irritated tone. “Sorry this was dropped in your lap, Twilight. Are you capable of doing this? If not we can go with the original plan.” The tone of his voice suggested he was expecting the answer to be ‘no.’
“Yes, i can do it.” Twilight said with a smile. “It’s not a big deal, really. It just might take a lot of energy out of me.”
“Good.” Scar nodded. “So for those who haven’t been teleported before, it may cause Nausea if you are not ready. To avoid this, plant your feet firmly to the ground and close your eyes. Understood?”
“YES SIR!” All the green Anons exclaimed. It was also at this point that Twilight noticed the green Anons in particular have the exact same voice for some reason. Of course, this made it even more difficult to tell them apart from each other.
“Last thing you should know. The frequency of this realms Anon is, aggressive. This could mean one of two things. He is either going to arrive with some kind of power attached to him, or he’s going to have an explosive arrival. Beware of both of these possible outcomes, but do NOT kill. Is that understood?”
“YES SIR!” They responded in unison.
“Understood… Edge?” Scar said with venom in his voice as he stared daggers into the abrasive Anon, who was the only Anon that didn’t say anything with the other Anons.
“Yes. Sir.” Edge said in a disrespectful tone.
“Permission to speak freely, sir.” A green Anon with an orange tie said.
“Granted.” Scar replied.
“If his arrival is followed by an explosion, what would the radius of this blast be?” The Anon asked.
“Roughly ten feet. But that’s not an exact number, so don’t take it as gospel.” Scar answered. “Be careful out there, I pray for your safe return. Well… for most of you, I do.” He said, glaring at Edge who simply smirked in response, as if he was just granted a compliment.
“Twilight.” Scar said, immediately capturing her attention. “Send them off, and return them all safely.” He demanded.
“Well do.” Twilight said with a nod.
She then lit up horn and it began to glow brighter and brighter as she conjured up the strength to teleport everyone. She let out a small grunt as she pushed herself, her horn glowing brighter with every passing second. She lifted her head high then brought it down fast and a shimmering pop rang out, and in the blink of an eye, they were no longer on the ship and now smack dab in the middle of the Everfree forest. Twilight gasped and collapsed to the ground while clutching her head with her hoofs in an attempt to ease her newly formed headache.
“You all right Twi?” A green Anon asked, kneeling down to her level.
“Yeah, I’ll be okay. It’s just a headache.” She reassured.
“I have something to help with that.” A different green Anon said. He then reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a half empty pill bottle for headache relief.
“I think she’ll be fine.” Rainbow Dash said, standing in between her and the Anons.
The anon with the pills gave her a facial expression that could’ve been annoyance or maybe an eye roll, but with his only discernible facial feature being a question mark, it was hard to tell.
“I get the hesitance, Dash. It’s not like you’ve seen the best personalities us Anons have to offer, But trust me. Twilight should take one of these.” He insists.
“Why?” Rainbow asked.
“Because when that ship travels the realms, it causes migraines for a lot of us. These pills help with those migraines nearly instantaneously.” The Anon said trying to convince the stubborn pegasus.
Dash gives a skeptical look at the human. The Anon groaned and pulled out a pill and threw it into his mouth and swallowing. He then opened his mouth to prove he actually swallowed it.
“See? Not poison.” The Anon said matter-of-factly.
Dash reluctantly relented but was still reasonably skeptical as the Anon pull out another pill, and a small canteen of water for Twilight. Her magic was wobbly and weak, so she just let Anon put the pill in her hoof. She then popped it into her mouth, letting it rest on her tongue. she then grabbed the canteen from the humans hands and took a small swig from it. When she swallowed the pill her headache seemed to immediately dissipate, which shocked her because she thought Anon was exaggerating when he said instantaneously.
“Wow.” Twilight exclaimed. “That did worked instantly!”
“See why I offered them now?” He said more to Rainbow Dash than Twilight.
“Whatever,” Rainbow scoffed. “Let’s just find our Anon already.”
“Yeah! Enough meaningless distractions.” Edge yelled before walking into the forest, demanding the another Anons to follow him.
Rainbow dash snarled it him as he walked away, and noticed the red Japanese symbol on his back.
“What the hell does that stupid shit an his back mean?” Rainbow Dash hissed.
“Ohh you’re gonna love this.” An Anon said. “It’s a Japanese symbol that means, Demon.” He said the last part in a deep voice, likely to mockingly imitate Edges voice before laughing out loud.
“Is he serious?” Rainbow laughed.
“Oh my god, he’s dead fucking serious.” The Anon said.
“Has he always been like that?” Twilight said.
“Yep,” Anon answered. “He’s always been starting shit, and he’s always had that God complex of an ego.”
“Yeah, nobody likes him.” Another Anon said.
“Why does he act like that though?” Twilight questioned.
In response, the Anon began to act like Edge and answered as if he was him. “Because I fuckin’ hate this world, and the human worms feasting on its carcass. I always wanted to die violently, but I will not go easily. I will bring as many people to the grave with me as possible. But the coffin will not hold me forever.”
Another Anon joined in. “Love is pain. And pain is weakness leaving the body. And I don’t feel pain, not anymore.”
Both those Anons started laughing, causing the Elements of harmony to also erupt in laughter.
“No fuckin’ way that asshole says shit like that.” Rainbow laughed, wiping a tear from her eye.
“Oh yes he does.” Anon said. “Those were direct quotes.” He said laughing again.
“This guy thinks he’s so fucking cool.” Rainbow dash said mockingly.
“Yeah, like I said.” The other Anon said. “Nobody likes him. We nicknamed him ‘Edge’ as an insult, but he’s so moronic he thinks it’s named after his dumbass sword.”
“Oh god, what’s his sword name?” Rainbow said, barely holding back her laughter.
“Bloodedge.” Anon said in the same mocking tone while wiggling his fingers like a cartoon ghost, causing everyone to erupt in laughter again.
“Why does Founder put up with him?” Applejack asked. “If I were him, I woulda bucked him off the ship eons ago.”
“Well, despite his personality being as pleasant as a sandpaper handjob, he’s an extremely valuable asset.” An Anon said.
“How is he a ‘valuable asset?’” Applejack asked again.
“Because when we unfortunately have to kill people, he’s pretty much untouchable.” Anon said.
“I find that extremely hard to believe.” Rainbow Dash said.
“Believe it Dash. Punk is probably the only Anon that could match him.” Anon said.
“Oh,” Twilight muttered. “So that fight they had earlier was because Edge’s ego was bruised from a previous encounter.”
“Bingo!” Anon said with a snap and a point.
“I’d recommend staying out of his way,” the other Anon said. “It’ll do wonders for your mental health.”
“Duly noted.” Twilight said. “Now come on, let’s catch up with the rest of the crowd.”
They all began to jog up to the rest of the green Anon and Edge, but still were falling back from the crowd significantly to continue to talk to these two Anons about the other Anons. They were told what they already knew about them. They get transported to Equestria by mysterious means, fall in love with somepony or are destined to fall in love with eventually, but are then picked up by the other Anons before the realm dies. Of course there’s more nuance to each Anons story, but they all boil down to the same core details. Love indirectly destroys the realm, and the cause is unknown. The new information they acquired was exactly how the blurry faces of the Anons even occur in the first place. Apparently when they’re in a close vicinity with other Anons, their faces turn blurry and each Anon had a detailed face before the other Anons came along. The Green Anons, however, swear they’ve always looked this way. It was only when they meet the same criteria for blurry faces, did they suddenly realize they were green and bald.
The other thing that set them apart, was the fact that they were, ‘tail chasers’ as they put it. Without fail, every last green faced Anon as mated with at least one pony from their native realm, and it was literally any creature you could think of.
Cadence, Shining Armor, Trixie, Gilda, Gabby, Spike, Silverstream, Coco pommel, Thorax, Maud, Derpy, Cheerilee, Ember, Autumn blaze, Sunburst, Tempest Shadow, Lyra, Luna, Octavia, Gallus, literally anyone you could think of has had relations with one of these green Anons in another realm. It got crazier when they introduced the fact that in other realms, some stallion were mares and vice versa. They… they were perverts, plain and simple. But they’re nice people, at least the two they were talking to were. There names were Trix and Chaser, there ties being there only distinguishable feature. Trix had a light blue and light purple tie and Chaser had a dark purple tie. They might be overly flirty with them at times, but it is infinitely more tolerable to deal with when compared with Edge’s ’delightful’ personality.
“So chaser,” Rarity asked. “What’s your story?”
“Well, I got dropped into Equestria near Klugetown, when I arrived there i was basically homeless for around a day before Tempest showed up. She interrogated me for where you girls went, and when I gave her that information she put these on me.” He said as he presented two thick metal bracelets on his wrist, with a thin pole traveling down both his forearms.
“You girls should know the rest of the story from that point onwards, I just tagged along with Tempest trying to hunt you down.”
“I’m assuming you started dating Tempest after that?” Twilight said with a smile.
“Yeah we did.” Chaser said. “It was fun…” a glum demeanor began to overtake Chaser as he thought about the life he could’ve had.
“Well, how did you get your nickname?” Twilight asked, trying to lighten the mood.
Luckily her attempt at getting Chasers to lighten up worked, and he began laughing at the origin of his name. “Well, you know how we called ourselves ‘tail chasers’ earlier? They called me a ‘storm chaser’ as a joke and the name just kinda stuck.”
“Well that’s cute.” Twilight said with a smile. “What about you Trix? How’d you get your name?”
“Not sure you wanna hear that story. It’s very sexually explicit.” He said.
“I think I can handle it, I’m not a filly.” Twilight said with a bit of annoyance in her voice.
“Alright then,” Trix said with a shrug. “My full nickname is ‘GlimmerTrix’ because I had an, exciting afternoon with both Starlight Glimmer and Trixie. I walked in on those two going at it, then I joined in.”
“Oh wow, umm.” Twilight stammered, finding herself at a bit of a loss for words.
“Yeah, it’s a bit awkward to tell that story as you can see.” Trix said.
“Wait a minute.” Twilight said. “That was it? That’s your whole story? Chaser went on an adventure before coupling with Tempest, and you’re telling me all you did was have a th-threesome with Starlight and Trixie and then left the realm?”
“No.” Trix said in an offended tone. “I was in my Equestria for the entirety of my developmental years, I pretty much spent my whole teenage life there. When I grew up, Starlight got a crush on me, and Trixie just kinda third wheeled their way into bed with us. Also I didn’t just leave, okay. It was a lot harder for them to convince me because I had already spent so long in my realm. It wasn’t an easy decision to make Twilight.” Trix said, holding back a lot of anger in those last few words.
“I-I’m sorry I didn’t mean to offend you.” Twilight said quickly, trying to diffuse the situation.
“I know… I’m not mad at you. Just, mad that I had to leave.” Trix said glumly.
“How long has been since you left?” Twilight asked.
“Four years.” Trix said sadly.
“Stupid question. But If you could, would you go back to your realm?” Twilight asked.
“I sure would. We all would.” Trix said. “But there’s nothing for us green Anons to go back to.”
“W-what?” Twilight said.
“Yeah. Anons need to do something monumental in order to kill a realm… intercourse is a guaranteed realm killer.” Trix said.
“That’s… I don’t even know what to say.” Twilight said, a sympathetic tear starting to form in her eyes.
“Yeah… it fucking sucks.” Trix said.
Silence fell over the group, as they were incapable of coming up with anything that could possibly lighten the mood at this point.
They all walked through the forest for a few more minutes when suddenly, a short but violent rumble was felt throughout the forest. Birds cawed as they fleed from the tree lines and animals ran from the area. The green Anon that stood next to Edge pulled out a thin black rectangular metal device with a screen that had a lot of moving, squiggly lines on it. It was similar to a heart monitor, but they were a lot more violent in its movement. Twilight guessed this was how they were checking the soon to arrive Anons frequency.
“Ready yourselves Anons!” He yelled. “He’s going to be arriving somewhere over there!” He said as he pointed into a random direction in front of him.
Almost as soon as he pointed in that direction, a pillar of light shot up from the floor and into the sky.
“GET BACK! RUN!” That same Anon yelled.
Everyone followed those orders and they all began to sprint away from the light. But as they began to run, they were all suddenly lifted into the air as a bassy hum rank through the skulls of everyone in the forest, the rumbling reverberating through everyone’s chests as if they were at a rock concert. Rainbow dash and Fluttershy were unable to catch the air beneath their wings as they were lifted off their hoofs. Loose sticks and rocks were also lifted up, the weight of these objects didn’t seem to matter as boulders and pebbles were lifted with the same amount of ease.
The pillar of light then collapsed suddenly, slamming down with a loud bang and bringing everyone that was floating in the air straight back down to the ground with it, hard. The impact of the light hitting the ground bent the trees in the surrounding area, as if a meteor struck the area, but no crater had been formed. The only new addition to the forest floor was a human lying face down on the floor, seemingly unconscious. He wore jeans and a lightweight blue jacket, his clothes seemed to have been sun bleached from his transportation to this world. Twilight quickly ran over to the human, and for a split second she saw a non-blurry face, but it was only a glimpse before the face quickly became fuzzy like every other Anon.
“Is he okay?” Twilight said to the other Anons in a panic.
The closest green Anon ran over to the newly arrived Anon on the floor, he flipped him over and checked his pulse. Holding two fingers up to his neck, thankfully he felt a pulse. He then checked his breathing by putting a finger under the unconscious humans nose.
“Yes he’s fine, just need to wake him up.” He said as he reached into his suit jacket pocket.
He then pulled out a small cardboard bag that said ‘wake the dead’ on it. He then pulled a small white package slightly bigger than a pill out of it, and then crushed it between his fingers making a popping noise and then waved it beneath the unconscious Anons nose. Nearly instantaneously he gasped and jolted upwards, he was now wide awake.
“The fuck was that?” He said while rubbing at his nose.
“Smelling salt, we needed to wake you up.” Green Anon said.
What? Why would you- wow, what the?” The new Anon said as he noticed the green face of the human next to him.
He then looked in front of him and noticed the other green faces, and the small multicolored horses standing around him.
“Where the hell am I?” He asked, utterly confused by his new surroundings.
“You’re in a place called Equestria.” Twilight said.
“Oh, you talk. that’s uhh… different.” He said.
Twilight giggled. “My name’s Twilight Sparkle.”
“Uhh, my name's Anon and… I… I don’t know how I got here.” He said with a worried tone as he realized halfway through his sentence that he couldn’t remember the events leading up to his arrival.
”Typical side effect, happens pretty often.” The green Anon said with a shrug.
“What? What do you mean?” The new Anon said as he began to rise to his feet.
“Well that’s-“
“Not important.” Edge interrupted. “You’re coming with us for interrogation.”
“Excuse me?” The new Anon said in an offended tone of voice. “For what reason?”
The green Anon stepped in between them to try and defuse the situation. “Not interrogations, it’s more like questioning. It’s complicated, but you’ll understand eventually.”
“I’m sick of this fucking forest,” Edge spat. “and I’m tired of explaining basic information to low IQ, Imbecilic individuals.”
“The fuck?” The new Anon muttered in disgust.
“What is it? Did I use too big of words for you?” Edge said smugly.
“Wha-? Fuck you, jackass.” He said in defense.
“Yeah, thats right. Prove your weakness to me.” Edge laughed.
“Jesus Christ, what is your problem?” The new Anon said with a scowl. He then turned to the green man beside him. “Is this fuck-face with you guys?”
“Unfortunately, yes.” The green man said.
“So do I have permission to beat this guy to bloody pulp?” Anon asked.
“You will not succeed, you weak and incapable fool.” Edge said with his arms crossed.
“Okay, shut the fuck up already before I make you shut up.” He then cracked his knuckles and glared at Edge, his pupils dilated like a tiger on the hunt. The smelling salts he inhaled giving him a surge of adrenaline that he felt like he needed to release somehow.
“Hey, guys. enough Please.” Twilight said trying to defuse the situation.
“I do not need you to come to my assistance, bitch.” Every Anon expresses their dissatisfaction in some way at what Edge said, especially the ponies.
“Why do you always have to start shit?” Green Anon said.
Edge rolled his eyes, but before he could retort he was punched square in the nose by the new Anon. Edge couldn’t even react properly to being punched before more punches collided with his face. Anon then hooked Edges ankle out from under him and tripped him to the ground, his head hitting the ground hard. Anon then got on top of him and continued to pummel his face, every punch slamming his head against the dirt, essentially dribbling his head against the hard forest floor. Blood oozed from his face as Anon continued to let out his frustration and what was essentially roid rage from the smelling salts. He did eventually relent when a green hand halfheartedly attempted to push him off. Anon saw it was the green Anon, but it was evident from how he was barely trying to push against him that he didn’t really care if he continued to punch him. But he did decide to back off of Edge, but not before spitting on him.
“You’ll pay for that.” Edge scowl.
“Sure you will, you fucking loser.” Anon scowled back. “Now would someone please explain to me what the hell is going on? Who the hell are you people anyways?”
Fluttershy tugged at Anons pant leg, and when she had his attention she started to explain in a very timid voice.
“Excuse me.” She said. “But maybe I could explain to you what’s going on.” Anon bent down to her level and gestured for her to continue talking.
“Uh, well. These green m-…men? uhh, are all the same person, different versions of the same person if I understood everything correctly. They’re here to rescue you, because Anons tend to… inadvertently destroy the realm they’re in.” she explained nervously.
“Wow what?… that… that’s kinda heavy.” The new Anon said. “Cant I just go back home? How can I stop it from happening?”
“You can’t stop it.” The green Anon said. “The only way to prevent it is to join our crew, leave this realm as a selfless act to protect the ponies of this realm.”
“I-… wow. So I get transported from earth to here and I can’t even stay here or else I’ll destroy it.” The new Anon said in a defeated tone.
“Well, you’re actually one of the lucky ones.” The green Anon said, trying to lighten the mood. “You don’t have any emotional attachments to this world so it’ll be easier for you to leave.”
“yeah, lucky.” Anon said with a glum tone. “Well, if everyone else has the same name as me, id like a nickname.”
“Most Anons do,” green anon said. “We can give you a temporary nickname for now, until we can find a better one for you.”
“Okay, well what were you thinking?” The Anon said.
“We usually give the new arrivals the moniker ’Native.’”
“Hmm… yeah, I can deal with that for now.” Native said. “What’s your nickname then?”
“My nickname’s Scales.”
“Why?”
“Cause I rutted Smolder.” Scales said with a smile.
“Rutted who now?” Anon asked with a cocked eyebrow.
“It’s not that important, I’ll explain it to you later.”
Edge scoffed at their conversation while he still laid on the ground. Obviously wanting to get their attention and rile them up.
“You got something to say?” Native said, taking the bait.
“Why explain it at all? Love is a sickness, a disease. The fact you idiots continue to talk about these relationships like they still matter, even after these relationship you had with these ponies have cause worlds to burn, just further proofs to me I’m surrounded by imbeciles.” Edge said egotistically.
“Holy shit, this guy.” Native said while pointing his thumb back at him in ‘get a load of this guy’ fashion.
Edge then unsheathed his sword to showcase its red blade. It glowed a menacing red, presumably because it was enchanted in some way, and also had a black spiraling pattern that was close to the base of the blade. The hand guard had the design of a human skull on it with wide open jaw, giving off an illusion that the blade was coming out of the skull’s mouth. Bones also surround the skull to give the Hand guard a circular shape.
“This is bloodedge. She yearns for blood, and so do I. I told you, you would pay for wounding me. But today I was told not to kill you, but I was not given any restrictions on wounding you.”
He then swung the blade at Native with an upward slash, Native instinctively raised his arm to protect his face which caused his forearms to be cut wide open by the blade. He let out a cry of pain as he fell backwards to the ground. Scales, Twilight, and Fluttershy ran to his aid as blood began to gush out of the open wounds. As his blood began to ooze out, it would begin to rise up into the air and fly towards the blade of the katana. The drops of blood clattered to the blade and causing its red glow to begin glowing brighter, along with Edges red eyes. He then looked up into the sky and outstretched his arms, the wounds he gained from Natives punches began to rapidly heal. Before long, it looked like he never suffered a single scratch.
“Know your place, worm.” Edge then spat on Native.
Native pushed the green Anon and the two ponies away from him as he charged at Edge. But Native was stopped in his tracks from Edge pointing the tip of his blade inches from his face. Edge smirked as he began to step closer to Natives face, causing him to back away from the blade. But every large step Native made backwards, Edge made bigger strides forwards, with a big grin on his face.
“STOP!” Twilight yelled, as she flew up and grabbed his sword with her magic and threw it behind him. Edge watched as it arched over his head and stabbed into the forest floor.
“What is wrong with you!?” Twilight screamed as she floated close to his face. “You have been constantly rude to EVERYPONY you interacted with today. Why? What do you gain from acting like this? Not to mention you have the AUDACITY to say everypony around you should ‘know there place!’ Maybe you’re constantly miserable because you constantly mistreat everypony in your life! Maybe if you try respecting others, and treat them like equals then you- ACK!” Her lecture was cut short by Edge gripping onto her neck with a single hand, and began to choke her.
“That is e-fucking-nough!” Scales said as he pulled a gun on Edge. “Knock it the fuck off. NOW!”
Edge looked at him, then behind him and noticed the other green Anons have pulled their guns on him too. Twilights friends had fierce looks in there eyes, ready to pounce at a moment’s notice. He scoffed at the other Anons before turning to Twilight.
“I’m not going to treat these idiots that surround me like flys with any amount of respect. They are not my equals, and they aren’t worthy of my respect, only Founder is.” He then tossed her to the ground, and waited for her to be done coughing and gasping for air before continuing.
“I don’t care for your respect either, and if you attempt to overstep your worth to me like that again. I will kill you, and relish in your death, and consume your blood.”
Edge then walked away and grabbed his katana from the ground, and then cleaned the dirt from the blade before slowly sheathed it. He glared at the green faces who still had their guns drawn before pushing past them. The green Anons holstered their weapons and quickly rushed over to aid Native and Twilight. But because they all had the same voice it was rather confusing to answer all the questions the green Anons were asking. But they got through it eventually and they concluded that Twilight will be fine, she’s just may have a red mark and possibly a bruise may form.
They needed to patch Native up quickly though, they didn’t know how deep the cuts were. They tried to bandage him up the best they could with first aid and gauze, but he was bleeding quite a lot, the blood from his wounds had covered the entirety of his arms at this point. First aid kit’s wasn’t going to cut it, they needed to take him to the medical wing of the ship quickly.
They demanded Twilight to teleport them back to the ship, and she proceeded to teleport everyone back, including Edge against her better judgment. The same Anon that gave her the migraine medicine earlier tossed it back to her, along with his canteen to wash it down. He, and the other Anon’s ran down the hall towards the medical wing as fast as they could with Native being carried in their arms.
Twilight quickly choked down the medicine that was tossed towards her and rallied her friends together and ran after the green men. They eventually caught up to the Anons and they burst through a set of doors, finally arriving at the medical wing. They were about to enter the room as well but an Anon turned around and blocked the path.
“Sorry girls, I can’t let you in.” He said in a tone that conveyed to Twilight that he didn’t really want to shut them out, but unfortunately had to.
“Why? I want to make sure he’s okay.” Twilight panicked.
“He will be. Don’t worry. But because of your tiny size, you might get in the way. N-no offense.” Anon said.
“We’ll be careful, I promise!” Twilight pleaded.
“I’m sorry Twi, I can’t allow that.” He said.
“I… okay then.” Twilight said in a defeated tone and a scrunched muzzle.
“Could you at least give this back to who gave it to me.” She said as she held the canteen and pill bottle in her magic.”
“Sure thing.” He said before grabbing the items from her magical grasp.
“And hey, you can come visit him later if you want. Try coming by tomorrow. With your Anon being injured by that cocksucker, we’ll have to stay grounded for a bit until he’s fully healed.” Anon reassured.
“Sounds wonderful darling.” Rarity said. “We need some rest anyways. right,Twilight?”
“Y-yeah. You’re right.” Twilight said, trying to shake off the stress from today’s events. “We’ll come back tomorrow!” She waved to the Anon as she began to walk away.
“See ya then!” The Anon said before ducking back into the room, and disappearing from view.
“So… what now?” Rarity said awkwardly.
“I’m going to head back to Canterlot.” Twilight said with a sigh. “You girls can hangout around town while I give Celestia my report.”
“Gladly,” Rainbow dash said exasperatedly. “I need a drink after that shit.”
“Me too.” Applejack said. “I know a small bar in the back of ‘pony Joe’s’ Place. Real underground type deal.”
“Sounds relaxing.” Fluttershy said. “But I might not tag along. You girls know how I am with alcohol.”
“Oh, don’t worry Fluttershy. He’s got non-alcoholic stuff there for ya.” Applejack reassured.
“Oh, okay then.” Fluttershy said with a smile.
But before she could say anything else, Founder appeared behind them.
“Hey girls.” He said with a hint of worry in his voice. “You all okay? I heard you ran into trouble out there.”
“Yeah, that piece of shit Edge nearly killed Twilight, and our realms Anon!” Rainbow dash said with gritted teeth.
“Did he, now?” Founder said skeptically. “Cause I heard from him that your Anon attacked him first.”
Before Rainbow could blurt out another word, Twilight interrupted her.
“He did. But Edge aggravated him and pushed him to do so.” She said trying her best not to have a confrontational tone.
“I’ll deal with him…” he sighed. “I'm sorry he has caused nothing but trouble for you guys today.” Founder said sympathetically.
“Can’t you just kick him off the ship already?” Rainbow Dash said, which caused her to be elbowed in shoulder by Twilight.
“Ow, what?” She said, genuinely confused as to what she said to warrant that response.
“It’s not that easy, Rainbow.” Founder said. “I could exile him to the vast space between realms, but I can’t. I lead this pilgrimage to rescue Anon’s, I can’t exile or kill every Anon that are dicks.”
“But you have kill folks before, have ya not?” Applejack questioned.
“We have.” Founder said. “But they wished to inflict harm on us, and other ponies. They would stop at nothing until they succeeded in there malicious goals. Edge is just an ass. I can’t subjugate one of these Anons to the same fate I had to suffer just because they’re a dick.”
“Well are you going to punish him in anyway?” Twilight said. “he did choke me after all.”
“He choked you?” Founder said in a bewildered tone.
All of Twilight’s friends nodded, corroborated her story. Which caused Founder to sigh in annoyance and disappointment.
“I’ll deal with him…” Founder said with a scowl.
“Thank you.” Twilight said as she rubbed her neck, still feeling phantom pain from the encounter.
“So are you heading off the ship, or staying a bit longer?” Founder asked.
“No, we were gonna leave.” Twilight answered. “But we’ll be back tomorrow, I never got to actually talk to our Anon before everything went down.”
“Then we will be happily expecting your return.” Founder said with a genuine smile.
Founder continued to walk with the ponies until they got to the exit of the ship and opened the door so the ponies could leave. He then took his glove off and placed it on a black square on the wall. It then glowed a bright green light around the outline of his hand, and then spoke to him.
“hello Anon. What is your command?” a robotic female voice said.
“Allow ship access to this realm’s elements of harmony.” Founder said.
“Okay… blood sample needed.” The voice said.
“Wha- wait.” Twilight sputtered. “Why does the wall need our blood?”
“So you can board this ship freely whenever you wish.” Founder explained. “I just need one of you ponies to offer up a sample, the computer will to the rest.”
Twilight began to step forward but was stopped by Applejack. “Not so fast, sugarcube. You’ve been through enough today. Allow me.” She then stepped forward towards Founder and extended her hoof out to him.
“Thanks AJ.” Twilight said.
“Don’t mention it.” Applejack said.
Founder then pulled a small cylindrical device with a needle at the end from a small cubbyhole in the wall. He then gently pushed the needle under Applejacks skin. She stood stoically as her blood was drawn, and once he was finished drawing blood from the farm pony he placed the needle back into the wall. The wall then ejected a small band-Aid like a recite at a grocery store, which Founder grabbed and placed on the small wound he had made on Applejacks forearm. He then tapped the screen a few times before it spoke once more.
“… blood sample confirmed. Welcome Elements of harmony of realm C-101010. Level 1 permissions granted-
light ramp access, granted.
Boarding access, granted.
Food and water access, granted…
armory access, denied.
Core room access, denied.
East wing access, denied.
The door to the ship then finally opened.
“See you girls soon.” Founder said with a smile.
The ponies said there goodbyes and then made their way off the ship, the light bridge now responding to there hoofs and allowing them walk across it like how the Anons did earlier. Twilight had a slight grimace on her face as they walked down the ramp. Nobody else noticed it, but Fluttershy saw Twilight’s face first.
“What’s going on?” Fluttershy said, breaking Twilight from her train her thought.
“Ehh. It’s probably nothing, but that’s the second time I heard something about the east wing.” Twilight said in a bit of hushed tone.
“I heard about that East wing too.” Rarity said. “The Anon I spoke to mentioned something being kept in the East wing. They said it was, horrific.”
“Well apparently they’re not supposed to talk about it,” Twilight said. “because the Anon who told me were shushed by punk.”
“Something about this business don’t sit right with me.” Applejack grumbled.
“Yeah,” Rainbow dash said. “They’re hiding something.”
“Why are we assuming it’s something we have to worry about?” Pinkie pie interjected. “Maybe they’re keeping it from us because we wouldn’t like to see it.”
“Or it’s because it’s something so bad, they know we would take issue with it.” Rainbow said.
“Maybe.” Pinkie said with a shrug. “What do you think Twilight?”
“I-… I don’t know. Whatever it might be, we shouldn’t go around trying to figure out what it is. It’ll probably just lead to more trouble than it’s worth.”
“You’re telling me you don’t want to know what’s back there?” Rainbow dash said as she crossed her hoofs.
“Oh no, I SO want to know what’s back there.” Twilight said with a small chuckle. “But again, we’re guests. We shouldn’t snoop around there home, especially since we have no real reason to believe they’re hiding something malicious.”
“Hmm… ahh, I guess you’re right.” Rainbow said begrudgingly.
“Thank you,” Twilight said confidently. “Now, let’s head back to Canterlot already. I’ll probably meet up with you girls at the bar later on when I’m done with my report.”
“We’ll save a seat for ya then, sugarcube.” Applejack said tipping her hat towards her.
They walk past the Canterlot guards that were still outside the ship, they had begun setting up camps around the ship. Tents were being pitched and materials to start multiple camp fires were being piled up. The girls began to make there way up the hill where they left Celestia at, and once they got to the top they were greeted by her warm smile.
“Thank goodness, you’re back. I was beginning to worry.” Celestia said with a relieved sigh.
“Yes, we’re fine princess.” Twilight said with a bow.
“So, what have you learned about our visitors?” Celestia asked.
“Quit a bit. We’ve got a lot to discuss.” Twilight said.
“What happened to your neck, dear?” Celestia asked.
Twilight rubbed her neck before responding. “Like I said, we’ve got a lot to discuss.”
“Well, let’s not waste anymore time then.” Celestia said before teleporting herself and the other six ponies back to Canterlot.
Chapter 2: The east wing part 1
“I can’t believe they’d continue to allow such an abrasive individual like him amongst their ranks.” Celestia said in disbelief after learning of Edge's actions earlier that day.
“Personally, I can’t believe he feels as comfortable as he does to behave in that manner. He needs to actually be punish for once. Because I get the feeling he hasn’t had any kind of punishment before.” Twilight said as she rubbed her neck, which had formed a fairly noticeable bruise by now.
This conversation was taken place in Celestia’s study as the two of them relaxed on soft pillows. This was a less professional setting for what was essentially a briefing on Twilights meeting with a foreign nation, but Celestia didn’t mind much. She had worked herself up with so much with worry and anxiety over the intentions the Anons might’ve had that she needed a moment to relax for once today. Thankfully she found it oddly comforting to lay down on a cushy pillow and listen to Twilight rambled on about what she learned since they last spoke, no matter the subject. Thankfully the information Twilight learned eased Celestia’s nerves knowing that the Anons are not here to harm them, and even if they did start a conflict with someone, it would be to protect Equestria. Although she was unsure how to feel about the one Anon known as Edge. Clearly, he's an arrogant hothead that will push the boundaries of everyone around him until a conflict arises, just so he can feel in power. If there’s was to be any sort of friction between these humans and Equestria, it would likely be with him. Especially since he’s already assaulted a princess acting as a diplomat. He clearly has a massive ego that has given him the delusion that he’s untouchable, so he thinks he can choke the princess of friendship and get away with it. Probably because he has before, given his cocky attitude about the situation.
Celestia wanted to personally issue a punishment herself but, much to Celestia’s dismay, Twilight refuses to let Celestia take matters into her own hoofs. She reasons that if Edge felt like his life was in danger, he would have no reason to hold back and would kill mercilessly and suffer little to no damage, considering the healing properties that blade possess. One could only imagine the destruction he would cause if given the opportunity to let loose.
They both hated the fact that his barking could be backed up with a devastating bit. It only added to his ego, he had the power to bully and keep his status as ‘top dog’ because if anyone ‘over stepped’ he would retaliate and always win.
“Ughh,” Celestia groaned. “I get the hesitation Founder has when it comes to dueling out a permanent punishment for him, I truly do. But he needs a proper punishment, like you said. It needs to be something that gives him a reality check.”
“No kidding.” Twilight said. “But I’m not going to get involved. I’m going to let Founder decide the punishment. Cause I’m trying to avoid any and all unnecessary conflict with them.”
“I understand.” Celestia said. “I wouldn’t want to start unnecessary drama with them either. But if it were me, I’d have him court martialed.”
“Hehe, I don’t blame you princess.” Twilight said with a chuckle.
“I do have some worries about if Founder is a strong enough leader for those Anons though.” Celestia admitted.
“What do you mean?” Twilight inquired.
“If he can’t control someone like Edge, he may not be a strong enough leader for the rest of those poor Anons. They need a strong leader to guide them through their unique struggles.” Celestia said.
“Well, he seems to mean well, and I believe he wants the best for them.” Twilight said.
“Yes, I understand that he means well. But I’m just putting it out there that their might need to be a shift in leadership. Perhaps that Scar fellow would be a good pick, despite his lack of people skills.”
“Hehe, maybe.” Twilight giggled. “But Founder probably thinks he’s the best leader they’ve got, considering what happened to him and his realm.”
“Speaking from personal experience, being the one that other ponies turn to for advice, or guidance, and even praised as a flawless leader for so long can put a strain on your mental health. It makes you stress out about every little thing that could possibly go wrong. He just needs to step back for a bit, that’s all I’m saying.” Celestia explained.
“I understand princess.” Twilight said with a nod. “If it ever comes up, I’ll bring up your concerns to them.”
“Thank you, twilight.” Celestia said. “Also, when you inevitably go back to their ship, please be careful. I don’t want you getting hurt again.” Celestia added.
“Trust me, I’ll be careful.”
“Could you pass that on to Rainbow Dash for me?”
“What? To be careful? She already knows.” Twilight said confidently.
“Perhaps, but I feel like she needs an extra reminder to stay out of trouble.” Celestia said.
Her concerns weren’t without merit, Rainbow was very protective of Twilight and was often very combative with the other Anons as a result. She was only combative to a select few, but if she said the wrong thing to the wrong Anon, things could get messy. Edge doesn’t have any hold ups when it comes to assaulting them, and Twilight didn’t want that to happen again. Scar was also a scary person and also seemed like he was one bad day away from killing somepony.
If Rainbow Dash said the wrong thing to him, she might not be seen from again, and that’s not even mentioning her morbid curiosity regarding the east wing. Rainbow Dash had been talking everponies ears off about it thinking it was something they should investigate. But Twilight didn’t think it was anything to worry about, even though they have restricted access to that location. Hell, Twilight even failed to mention the east wing to Celestia. She didn’t think she had anything to worry about regarding it, so why bother making Celestia worried over nothing as well.
“I understand Princess,” Twilight said. “I’ll make sure to remind Rainbow when I see her later today.”
“Thank you, Twilight.” Celestia said with a smile. “You might as well go and give her that reminder now, I think we’re done here.”
“Alright then.” Twilight said as she rose to her hoofs. “See you later.”
“See you later Twilight. Oh, also I’ll be staying with my guards that are still stationed by the Anons ship for the time being.” Celestia said as she hovered over some paperwork and began scribbling onto them.
“For how long?” Twilight asked.
“Until the Anons leave, so hopefully not for very long.” She answered. “I don’t think I have to worry about them coming out and attacking us, but you can never be too careful.”
“Of course.” Twilight nodded. “Oh, could you set a few tents up for us as well. We’ll probably be staying there for the same amount of time you will be.”
“No problem, I’ll write the captain a letter to get that sorted out as soon as possible.” Celestia said with a smile.
“Alright, thank you princess. I’ll see you in the morning.” Twilight said.
“See you then.” Celestia said with another warm smile as Twilight exited her study.
“Rainbow, enough.” Applejack said with an exasperated tone.
“Come ON!” Rainbow said exasperatedly. “We need to know what’s back there!”
“No, we don’t.” Applejack said as she took a swig from her mug.
“Holy shit, why are you being so stubborn?” Rainbow Dash said with her hoofs in the air.
“Why are YOU being so stubborn?” Applejack said as she slammed her mug back down on the bar.
“You conceded to Twilight about not worrying about what’s back there earlier today and now, here you are, trying to convince us to sneak back there and find out what’s up.”
“It’s because they’re hiding something from us, and we need to know what it is.” Rainbow Dash said.
“No, we do not. There isn’t a good enough reason to do anything like that.” Applejack said with a raised tone.
“Oh for the love of Celestia, give it a rest, both of you!” Rarity said, having grown quite sick of her two friends going around in circles for the past half an hour.
“Rarity, I’m trying to look out for us.” Rainbow reasoned.
“I know darling,” she said, trying and failing to hide her annoyance. “But chances are it really is nothing, because if it was something we had to worry about, they would have told us by now. Now please, stop talking about it.” She said with annoyance dripping off every word.
“No, I’m not gonna stop talking about it because that excuse doesn’t make any sense Rarity.” Rainbow said, followed by annoyed groans from her friends.
“It doesn’t!” She said, defensively responded to the groans.
“They don’t want any discussion of the east wing to be had around us, they are hiding something! Why are you guys being so dismissive about all this?”
“Because,” Twilight said as she appeared from behind Rainbow, making her jump out of her skin a bit from her sudden presence.
“It’s not worth the possible consequences they would dish out if they find us snooping around trying to find something we have no business knowing.”
“But Twilight,” Rainbow said. “Wouldn’t Celestia want to know if visitors from a foreign land brought something potentially harmful to Equestria’s safety along with them, or are harmful themselves?”
“Celestia actually said for you to stay out of it.” Twilight said a bit smugly.
“Wha- really?” Rainbow said in disbelief.
“Yep, so that means you have been ordered by the princess of the sun and ruler of Equestria… to stop talking about the east wing.” Twilight said with a smugness in her demeanor.
“Wh- I- ughhh. Fine.” Rainbow finally conceded.
It was a half-lie on Twilight’s end, Celestia did say Rainbow Dash should stay out of trouble. But, as previously mentioned, Celestia had no idea about Rainbows borderline obsession with the east wing. Not like Celestia having knowledge of the east wing would’ve changed her position anyways.
“If it makes you feel any better Rainbow, I have been thinking of the east wing a bit myself.” Twilight said. “Based off of what little information I was able to gather, it’s probably a prison cell for an evil Anon.”
“Well, if that’s the case, why couldn’t they just kill him? They obviously don’t have any hangups with killing Anons, so why does this hypothetical Anon get to live?” Rainbow asked.
“Well, my current theory is that he’s probably hard to kill. I mean, look at King Sombra, he died to the crystal heart, and he came back to life. So, it’s not unlikely to assume someone else in another realm probably discovered the same kind of reincarnation spell. So, they probably just keep him as a prisoner since killing him is likely more trouble than it’s worth.”
“But what about- “
“And they probably don’t want us back there because he’s got a silver tongue or possesses some kind of cognitive mind manipulation spell. So, for our own safety, they don’t want us back there in case he somehow convinces us to let him out and ends up wreaking havoc.”
“Hmm, I guess that makes sense.” Rainbow said.
“Are you actually convinced now, or are you pretending to agree with me again?” Twilight asked with and an accusatory tone.
“Ehh, it’s a fifty-fifty split, but I'm willing to believe your theory. Unless I’m given a reason to doubt it of course.” Rainbow Dash admitted.
“Finally, somepony got through your thick skull.” Applejack scoffed.
The rest of the ponies erupted into a fit of laughter at the comment the farm pony made at the Pegasus’ expense. Rainbow simply rolled her eyes in annoyance as she really didn’t find the humor in her statement. She then turned back to the bar and finally drank the shot that was poured for her at the beginning of her argumentative tirade that she never got around to drinking.
“Anyways, when are we planning to head back to that ship, Twilight?” Applejack asked.
“Probably in the early afternoon tomorrow. How does sometime around ten, or ten-thirty sound for you girls?” Twilight suggested.
The elements of harmony all agreed to the time Twilight suggested in near perfect unison.
“Alright then.” Twilight said before slapping a bunch of bits on the counter and pushed them towards the bartender.
“Let’s finish up our drink then head back to the castle and turn in for the night. We’ll meet in the main foyer of the castle before we head out, so don’t sleep in.”
“We’ll be there sugercube, don’t you worry.” Applejack said, tipping her hat towards her.
The six of them continued to drink and converse amongst themselves about a variety of topics, of course there was some discussion about the Anons and their opinions on certain member of that clan, but they did talk about other things. You couldn’t blame them for talking about the Anons though, it was the hot button topic of the evening. Hell, all of Canterlot was talking about the ship at this point so it was kind of difficult to avoid discussing the Anons. It was only a matter of time until this ship and its crew became an Equestria wide topic of discussion. Hopefully the Anons depart before the tourists arrive to see the ship and Canterlot becomes a crowded, hectic mess as ponies from all across Equestria arrive to gawk at the ship as it sits in that field, doing nothing.
By the time they wake up in the morning, not only will Celestia be stationed outside the ship, but reporters, journalists and photographers will be parked outside the ship as well. News is definitely going to travel fast, and who knows what the public will say in regard to her neck bruises, so she definitely needs to cover that up before a picture is taken and rumors run wild.
Twilight almost couldn’t wait to go back to the ship, even if the Anons gave her secondhand depression. It wasn’t on purpose obviously; their stories just make Twilights heart ache. If she could, she would help every last one of those Anons get back home or find a new home for the few Anons that no longer have a realm to go too and finally live the lives they deserve.
But without the proper resources and research, she couldn’t do much of anything. All she could really do was drink enough alcohol to compensate for every Anon back on that ship. She could consume a bit more alcohol than her friends thanks to her Alicorn physiology. So, it took her longer to be inebriated compared to her friends, so how bad could this hangover really be?
The answer to that question was, really really bad.
She was not expecting her hangover to be this bad, it felt like her brain was being squeezed out her ears, and her mouth tasted like mold. She felt awful, and she looked even worse. She tried to fix herself up the best she could before she left the castle but did a pretty subpar job. She didn’t even bother covering up her bruises, because she did not feel like dealing with makeup. What was even more embarrassing is that she was going to have to reintroduce herself to the Anons while looking like she was just caught in a tornado. But hands down, the worst part about a hangover for a unicorn was the usage of magic. Simple levitation made it feel like her skull was being torn in half. So just imagine the terrible pain she felt teleporting, not only herself, but her five other friends fifteen miles outside of Canterlot. At least she didn’t have to teleport a platoon of green men halfway across Equestria while having a hangover. Her head probably would’ve exploded if she had to do that. But the act of teleportation still caused her to puke nearly instantly after teleporting. Thank Celestia Rarity was there to pull her mane back as she threw up.
Once Twilight recuperated from her dizzy, nauseous feeling, Rarity wiped her face off to clean up any bile from her lips. Rarity wore a disgusted expression as she did all this but every time Twilight looked up at her, she tried to wear her best smile. Once Twilight recovered from her embarrassing puking fit, they began their trek over to Celestia and greeted her. Celestia tried not to laugh at Twilights expense, but it was very difficult considering how terrible she looked. Celestia was in a big tent at the top of the hill she had stood at yesterday, with the rest of the guards stationed at the base of the hill. When they last saw them, they were setting up tents, but now they had practically set up a wall of tents that creating a barrier between the ship and their beloved princess of the sun. Between this wall of tents and the hills incline, was three large tents for the elements of harmony. Twilight asked why there wasn’t six, which Celestia told her that that’s all they had. They’ll have to figure out a bunkmate situation later.
The photographers and journalists she expected to be here were set up roughly a mile back from the ship. There were a few guards that acted as a barricade so they didn’t get any closer. The teleportation of the elements of harmony seemed to have existed the crowd since camera shutter flashes, and lots of yelling were heard once they arrived. So Twilight puking is definitely going to be in the papers tomorrow, which is embarrassing.
Twilight and her friends then squeezed past the guards and headed back onto the ship, since they now had clearance, they were able to walk up the invisible ramp and board the ship without any issue. Twilight could hear even more sound of distant excitement and camera clicking as they ascended the invisible ramp.
Once aboard, they began to search for the current whereabouts of their realms Anon. Twilight couldn’t help but feel the atmosphere of the ship had changed a bit since they were last here. Realistically the atmosphere hadn’t changed at all, she was only ignorant to it before. When she first came on the ship, she was wide eyed with excitement, wanting to learn everything she could about the realms and the Anons. But after learning how much heartache they’re going through she couldn’t ignore the sadness and depression that clung to the air like a thick fog. Her mind looped back to wanting to help them again, she wanted to find out all she can about realms and find a way to stop them from being somehow destroyed.
But she knew such a thing was likely impossible. To learn about the realms and how they operate, she’d probably have to be subjected to the same torture Founder was subject to. Being lost in an endless void of nothingness, watching entire worlds die all while falling helplessly into the space between realms is not a pleasant-sounding experience. She didn’t want to go through that, nor would she wish it upon anypony else, so she just had to trust Founder that what he was doing was the only way to prevent that fate for the realms. He was the unfortunate expert in this after all.
Anyways, back to the task at hand. After a bit of aimlessly wondering the elements of harmony eventually made their way back to the food court. Once there, they began to mingle with the Anons once again. Many of them were asking Twilight if she was alright after her encounter with Edge, which she assured them that despite the bruising she was fine. She was also poked fun at for the state of her appearance, which Twilight was expecting so she took the ribbing in strides.
As they continued talking, she noticed there Anon wasn't anywhere to be seen. There wasn’t a single Anon with a sunbleached blue jacket anywhere to be seen. So, Twilight eventually had to ask where he was, but she didn’t really know how to react to the answer given to her.
“They actually threw him in the east wing not long after you left yesterday.” One Anon replied.
“Wha- the east wing?” Twilight said in disbelief. “Why is he back there?”
“Well, he got a bit aggressive.” The Anon answered.
“Wha- why- okay wait. Why would he be back there? What is the east wing?” Twilight said, trying to organize her thoughts.
“I don’t know if I’m allowed to tell you.” He answered nervously.
Another Anon from across the table then butted into the conversation to help explain things.
“It’s the prison block.” He said. “Your realms Anon was put there for the time being until he calms down.”
“Should you have said all that?” The previous Anon said slightly above a whisper.
“I didn’t mention you-know-what. It’s fine.” He whispered, obviously trying not to let Twilight hear him.
Unfortunately for that Anon, Twilight was able to make out everything he said. But she pretended like she didn’t hear anything and continued down her previous line of questioning.
“What did he do exactly to get himself thrown in jail?” Twilight asked.
“Well, he didn’t really like the idea of leaving this realm, and obviously you can see the problem with that.” The first anon said.
“Oh… Y-yeah, I can see how that would be a problem.” Twilight said.
“Yeah, so they put him in a holding cell, so we didn’t lose track of him.” The Anon said again.
“Why, was he going to run away or something?” Twilight asked.
“Well, we couldn’t take that chance.” Anon said. “His frequency was strange so that already put us on high alert, and then he got hostile when he was told he needed to leave with us. It was easier if we just lock him up for a bit until he cools down and agrees to come with us.”
“What happens if he still refuses?”
“Well, if he refuses, he clearly doesn’t care about the lives he could potentially destroy.”
“So… a-are you going to kill him?” Twilight asked in shock.
“No, no. It wouldn’t come to that. Hopefully.” Anon said.
She gave a grunt as a response as she looked down at her hoofs as she got lost in her own thoughts. She didn’t want her realms Anon to be evil, she wanted to believe this guy means well. It’s not like his first minutes in Equestria were very welcoming in the first place, so of course he’d be a little aggressive. He’s just scared and confused, not malicious at all, or at least Twilight hopes so. But then again, she didn’t really know him very well, maybe when she got to know him better, she could accurately assess his motivation.
Then it hit her like a ton of bricks. The sudden realization that she didn’t know why it had taken so long to realize, but her realms Anon is now locked away in one of the only places on this ship she’s not allowed access to. She was promised that she could speak with him before they left, and now they locked him behind a door and hid the key.
“Wait, I was promised I could speak with him.” Twilight said in a tone that was a mix of disappointment and annoyance.
“You were?” The Anon said before sharing a look between him and the other Anon across the table. “Who made you that promise?”
“A green Anon I talked to when Ano- Native was being rushed to the medical wing. He said I could come by later and talk to him once he was patched up.” Twilight explained.
He shared another glance to the Anon across the table. Twilight glanced between the two of them, desperately waiting for an answer.
“Go ask.” The Anon across the table said with a wave of his hand.
“All right hold on, I’ll be back.” He said before rising from his seat and talking into his bracelet as he left the food court.
Twilight just sat there and didn’t speak as she awkwardly shuffled in her seat. She looked up at the Anon across the table that had failed to whisper past her earlier, and she debated on asking the question that bounced around her head. She was able to deduce what the answer was, but she wanted confirmation.
“Are… are you really going to kill him if he doesn’t agree to go with you guys?” She asked bluntly, but with a tinge of nervousness in her voice.
“I-… I hope not.” He said.
“But it’s a possibility, right? If he refuses to join the crew, you’re going to kill him. Right?” Twilight said in a concerned tone.
“Twilight, we’re not heartless. We’re going to reason with him and make him see reason. We wouldn’t kill him unless he proves himself to be an active threat to our safety, as well as yours.” He explained.
“Okay…” Twilight said.
“Twilight, I promise you he won’t be harmed. We’ll do everything we can before we even consider doing something like that.” Anon said with a hand outstretched towards her in a sympathetic gesture.
“Okay.” She said again, a little bit more convinced this time around.
“Princess Twilight.” An Irish accented voice said from behind her, snatching her attention away from the man in front of her.
“You wanted to visit your realms Anon. You’re requested has been authorized by Founder, but only if you are accompanied by an escort. Now come along, gather your friends and let’s head over there now, Founder doesn’t want you back there for very long.”
“Oh, okay then. Girls! Come on let’s go!” Twilight shouted.
Her friends looked over at her before turning back and saying their goodbyes to the Anons they were speaking to before following Twilight and the Irish Anon out of the food court. As they followed them, Twilight caught the other girls up to speed as to where they were heading. They were shocked to hear what their destination was, especially after all that talk about not talking about that place. Now they’re being escorted to that very same location. Rainbow dash was probably the only one exited, the rest of them did not share the same enthusiasm she did. Fluttershy was exceptionally nervous, her wings clung to her sides and quivered as they got ever so closer to their destination. Applejack was as nervous as the rest of her friends, but she was far better at keeping her cool then the others. Pinkie was the only one that was both nervous and exited, or as she would put it, Nervouscited.
The Irish Anon then stopped at a locked door and placed his hand against the wall, causing the area around it to glow yellow.
“Access restricted.
Please enter verification code to continue.” The robotic voice in the wall said.
Anon taped the screen a few times in seemingly random places which caused a small, joyful sounding jingle to play from the wall before it spoke again.
“Temporary access granted.
Welcome, Cork.” The wall said as the door slid open, finally revealing the east wing to the elements of harmony.
It felt illegal to see inside the room after all the secrecy surrounding it. But honestly, it was a bit disappointing, there wasn’t anything special about this room. So obviously Rainbow dash’s excitement died once she scanned the area and found next to nothing interesting. The room was large, but its size was decreased to just a hallway because of the four large, three-sided rooms that occupied its space. Presumably these were the prison cells, but for the first two rooms, the fourth side of the rooms was wide open, no prison bars or anything. but the last two were a different case. The far left room had a magical blue barrier acting as an impenetrable wall, presumably magic in origin. The room directly across from it had the same blue barrier but in addition to that it had what resembled a hurricane shudder over it, obstructing visibility as to what it contained. Unlike a hurricane shutter though, it seemed a lot sturdier and more permanent so that it could make sure whatever is in there, stays in there. Of course, this detail sparked Rainbows curiosity but as they were guided into the east wing the Irish Anon, who name is presumably 'Cork' according to the wall, made sure to guide their attention away from the right side of the room and towards the left side instead. On the left side of the room lied their realms Anon, tossing a small red bouncy ball into the air and catching it as it fell back towards him. his cell was quite cozy, a comfortable and clean looking bed with an equally clean sink. off in the back right corner was a small glass room with a toilet in the center. quite a cozy environment for what's supposed to be a prison cell.
“Native. You have visitors.” Cork said.
Native had a look of annoyance on him, but once he turned his head and saw the ponies standing outside his cell, his demeanor lighted up significantly.
“Oh, hey guys.” He said with a smile as he sat up from his bed.
“Hey, how are you doing?” Twilight asked.
“About as good as I can be with me being locked up in here.” Native said sarcastically.
"doesnt seem too bad. it's seems to be pretty cozy and clean in there." Twilight said in a chipper tone, hoping her attitude rubes off on him.
"I guess so, yeah." Native said in a depressed tone.
"Do you at least have some type of privacy for that toilet, darling?" Rarity asked.
"Oh yeah, when I close the door, the glass goes blurry, so it gives me some kind of privacy." Native said.
“Are you healing up alright?" Twilight asked. "Edge didn’t cut you too deep, did he?”
“He did cut me open pretty good, but they said I’m gonna be fine. I’ll just have some scars to remember him by.” He said sarcastically while rolling up his sleeves to show off the white bandages that covered his forearm.
“Thats good. I'm glad you’re going to be okay.” Twilight said.
“Thanks, uhm. Twilight? Right?” Native asked.
“Yes, You’re right. I’m Twilight. That’s Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash.” She said as she pointed at each of her friends respectively.
“Nice to actually formally meet you girls.” Native said.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you too, sugar cube.” Applejack said with a tip of her hat.
“Hey, I got a quick question to ask.” Twilight said.
“Lay it on me.” Native said.
“What did you do to get locked up back here?” Twilight asked.
“Well, that’s kind of a long story and I don’t think you have a lot of time with me.”
Twilight peered back at the Cork who stood guard behind her. he made a motion with his hand that told them to ‘make it quick’.
“Try to give a shortened version of it please.” Twilight said.
“Alright well, they told me the whole ‘Anons destroy realms’ story and I asked them if they knew for sure that would happen. They told me Founders story, and that the other green Anons and Scar didn’t have realms anymore. But I didn’t necessarily believe them. They need to give me dead to rights proof, which they did not do so I told them ‘If you can’t prove that I’ll destroy this realm by staying in it, then let me stay and I’ll find out the hard way.’ They didn’t like me saying that, so the fuckers put me in here.” Native said that last part with a bit of animosity in his voice.
“That isn’t all you did.” Cork said.
“What are you talking about?” Native said.
“I was told you punched Founder.” Cork responded.
“That’s ridiculous. All I did was push him!” Native said defensively.
“Still, you shouldn’t have done that.” He insisted.
“I don’t like people putting their hands on me.” Native said matter-of-factly.
“He was trying to stop you from going outside.” Cork said in the calmest voice he could, but some annoyance still bleed through his tone.
“Whatever.” Native said with his arms crossed.
“Anyways, uhh,” Twilight said, regaining control of the conversation. “Why do you need proof? Do you not trust them?”
“It’s not that I don’t trust them,” Native began. “I believe they mean what they say, but I just got here. I just got plucked from my home and was suddenly transported into a completely new world, and now I’m being told I have to immediately leave again. I can’t even go back to the world I used to call home, and I don’t even get the chance to try and call this place home… I don’t want to leave again. I don't want to go with these guys if I don't need to.”
Twilight looked down at her hoofs, once again saddened by the unfortunate fates of an Anon.
“I’m sorry.” She said. “I wish there was a happy ending for you, and for all humans that come to Equestria.”
The Irish Anon had a look on his face that indicated he was hiding something. It looked like he wanted to say something but was biting his tongue.
“What is it?” Native said, nodding up at the Anon to indicate who he was talking to.
“Some humans do get a happy ending, but not us. Not Anons. We call the other humans, The named, and we usually don’t mess with them because more often than not, they’re realms don't decay for some reason.” He explained.
“So just Anons have to suffer, huh.” Native said, more as a statement than a question.
“Yeah… The names don’t go through what we do.” Anon said.
“Why do you call them ‘The named?’” Twilight asked.
“Cause they got actual names, like James, Ryan, Adam. Not Anon, which is short for Anonymous for a few of us.” The Irish man said.
“And how do you know that the named don’t destroy realms?” Native asked accusatorially.
“Realm A-51016. Numerous humans with names have been transported to that Equestria and have had children with the citizens of that realm. Something that would definitely kill an Anons realm, but it has happened multiple time in the same realm, and it still exists today.” Cork said.
“Prove it.” Native said bluntly.
“Alright.” Cork said with a shrug. “On the main console in the control room, you can type in a realms designation code and view the realm’s frequency. You will see a very active frequency on realm A-51016, but on a realm like C-3624, which is Founders home realm, you’ll see nothing because it no longer exists.”
Native only grumbled in response to the information the Anon gave him.
“I know what going on in that head of yours.” Cork continued. “You don’t want to believe it; you want to believe that we’re wrong. You want to believe that you don’t have to leave, and that you can stay and be the lucky outlier in our people’s statistics… many Anons before you have had the same thoughts. You’re not the first, and you most certainly will not be the last. But the numbers don’t lie, we can prove it. You have to come with us.”
“…Listen I- “ Native was then interrupted by the other Anons wristband.
“Calling all Anons! Calling all Anons! Get to the food court now, we need help breaking up a fight! ”
“Fight between who?” Cork asked the wristband.
“Edge and Punk!” The wrist band responded.
“Motherfucker.” Cork mumbled to himself. “Come on ponies, I gotta go and you can’t stay.”
He then sprinted out of the east wing and the other ponies followed suit. But before Twilight could follow her friends, she was stopped by the dejected tone of Native’s next statement.
“Nice seeing ya.” He said as he began bouncing that ball against the wall in a way that made it bounce back into his hand.
“Well, I wanna follow the rules. I’m a guest I don’t wanna overstep my boundaries.” Twilight said.
“Whatever.” Native said in a dejected tone.
“Hey, I promise I’ll come back as soon as possible.” Twilight said before trying to run out of the room again but was stopped yet again be his next statement.
“Wish you didn’t have to. I wish you could stay and talk with me for a little while longer.” He said.
“I know… I do too.” Twilight said.
“I’m not talking about talking to me before leaving.” Native said.
“Yeah… I kinda figured.” Twilight said.
“Being an Anon fucking sucks.” Native said.
“Sure sounds like it… but are you still skeptical about the story the Anons are telling you?” Twilight said.
“I’m still on the fence about the whole thing, yeah.” Native admitted. “But if what that guy said is true, I don’t want to take the risk of being the cause of this realms death. Especially when someone like you lives in it.”
“W-what do mean by that?” Twilight said with a small blush forming on her muzzle.
“Well, from what I’ve seen, you and your friends are very nice people. You’re also pretty cute. If all the ponies across the realms looked like you, I could definitely see why it would be hard for an Anon to give up living in their realms.”
“Hahaha, ohh stop.” Twilight said with a hoof wave, her blush glowing brighter at his comments.
“I’m serious!” Native said. “I’ve barely talked to you, and I already know I’m going to miss you.”
“Thanks.” She said with a smile. “I-… I just wish you could stay. There’re so many wonderful places in Equestria you could call home.”
“Where would you recommend living in Equestria?” Native asked.
“Oh well, i’m probably a bit biased on this topic, but I would recommend Ponyville.” Twilight suggested. “It’s a quaint little town with lots of wonderful residence and plenty of job opportunities. I think you would love to visit the Ponyville massage parlor, they are amazing at stress relief.”
“Well, if my fate wasn’t already sealed about where I’m going, I would definitely take you up on that date.” Native said slyly.
“What? I wasn’t asking you on a date.” Twilight said with a massive blush on her face.
“Whatever you say.” Native said before beginning a new line of questioning. “Forgive me if this is too personal, but have you dated anyone before?”
“W-well, one pony. I-I’m bisexual so I dated a mare back in high school named Moon Dancer.” Twilight said. “I also had a brief crush on a royal guard stallion named Flash Century, but that never really went anywhere. Why'd you ask?”
“Just curious.” Native said with a shrug.
“Well did you date anypony back where you came from.” Twilight asked.
“Not really. I did have a long-term girlfriend for a few years, but we broke up months before I… well before I disappeared and ended up here.” Native said.
“Did you have family back home?”
“A mom and dad yeah. I’m already missing them too.”
“I’m sorry… GAH! Why do you people have to suffer so much! There has to be a way to save the realms that doesn’t involve leaving it in a selfless sacrifice.” Twilight said in frustration.
“Me too. I wish I could spend more time with you. I’m gonna miss you.” Native said.
“So, does that means you’re going to leave this realm with the other Anons?” Twilight asked.
“Most likely, yeah. I think after I see that frequency thing at the center console, I might be more convinced to go with them. But even if it doesn’t, I don’t wanna take the risk and accidentally kill this realm. Because you’re a lovely woman, and if the rest of the realm is anything like you, I don’t want any harm to befall you or your friends.” Native said, causing Twilight to blush once again.
“Well, thank you Anon.” Twilight said.
“Yeah, no problem.” Native said with a smile.
The two of then stared at each other for a moment. Seemingly entranced by each other’s eyes. They didn’t speak either, they just stared at each other in silence. They both suddenly realized what they were doing and snapped out of it, both blushing intensely and laughing awkwardly.
“I gotta go, I’ve been here too long already. I’ll be back later, okay.” Twilight said as she began walking to the exit.
“See ya then.” Native said with a wave.
As Twilight walked towards the exit it suddenly slid open, and Founder stormed in.
“WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING BACK HERE!” He screamed as he marched into the room, causing Twilights ears to her skull as she began to back up from the advancing human.
“I-I-I’m sorry! I was just leaving, I promise!” Twilight stammered.
“YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT WITH YOUR FUCKING FRIENDS! WHY THE FUCK DID YOU LAG BEHIND SO MUCH!” He screamed.
The muscles in his neck tensed as he yelled at Twilight, and she could practically feel the heat emanating of off his body from the anger that filled him. Twilight was now pressed against the wall at the end of the hall as Founder continued to scream at her.
“WHAT WERE YOU DOING! SNOOPING AROUND IN SHIT YOU SHOULDNT BE!”
“N-NO! No honest to Celestia I wasn't snooping around! I was just- “
“THEN WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU DOING!” He yelled, interrupting the purple Alicorn.
“We were just talking.” Native said in raised, almost combative tone of voice.
“About what!” Founder yelled, a little quieter this time.
“She was just asking me questions about my life, and i was just flirting with her, it’s not a big deal.” Native said.
“I beg to fucking differ! You want to destroy this realm!?” Founder said.
“What, no! I was just-”
“Well you were just about to do that!” Founder said, finishing Native’s sentence for him.
“Are you kidding me? Playful flirting isn't going to destroy the realm.” Native said in an arrogant tone that pushed Founders buttons in just the right way to piss him off even more than he already was.
“YES IT WILL!” He screamed, banging on the magic barrier that separated the two humans from coming into physical contact with each other.
“There is so much evidence to support our cause, but you refuse to believe it!”
“F-founder he was just coming around to the idea of-“Twilight tried to say before she was cut off.
“SHUT THE FUCK UP! YOUR JUST AS CULPABLE AS HIM!” He snapped.
“I said I’m sorry!” She said, tears welling up in her eyes from being yelled at. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to break your rules! It won’t happen again I promise!” Twilight pleaded.
“Leave her alone!” Native said.
“BOTH OF YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Founder screamed.
“You’re both threatening this realm with your recklessness! I’ve dedicated my life to protecting these realms, but I can’t do that when you two are actively working against me on that goal! I need you two to bite your fucking tongues and stop fucking flirting or else everything I’ve worked for is put in jeopardy! I’m not about to let the first realm to die under my watch be because you can’t watch your goddamn mouth!”
On the last syllable of that sentence a sudden, load, metallic crash rank out. The sound made all three of them jump out of their skin and turn back to see where the sound came from. Whatever it was, it sounded powerful, and it came from the one cell block that had a metal shutter concealing its occupant. A short, muffled sound emanated from behind the barrier that could only be described as bark that sounded more akin to a scream was heard before another load bang rang out from the cell as whatever was back there threw itself at the shutter with all its might. The shutter wobbled and even dented slightly from the impact, and made Twilight literally jump into the air out of fear thinking it was about to bust out of its confinement like an angry rhino.
Twilight then heard a low growl from the other side of the shudder. The growl sounded off, like there was a wet gurgling that accompanied the growl. but despite the strength it has shown itself to possess, the sounds it made sounded weak.
Twilight’s blood ran cold hearing those noises emanating from the concealed creature's cell. She then looked over her shoulder and looked over at Native, who was also reasonably freaked out. but Founder was silently fuming, his fists were clenched so hard his knuckles were turning white. Twilight was about to speak but she closed her mouth, knowing whatever she could say in that moment wasn’t going to illicit a positive response from him.
“Get out...” Fonder said through clenched teeth.
Twilight obeyed his command and sprinted out of the east wing as fast as her hoofs could carry her.
She ran down the hall trying to put as much distance between her and the east wing as possible. Eventually she slowed her pace down until she went from a sprint to a gallop, and then to a brisk walk. But although her physical speed had slowed down, her mind was still racing a mile a minute thinking about what just happened. She spent so much time telling Rainbow Dash to not worry about it and omitted discussing the east wing when talking with Celestia, and now it seems like she should worry about what they have locked up in there. It had incredible strength and was clearly very aggressive, that much is known. But its size and species are a complete mystery, but Twilight knows it couldn’t have been human. That growl was definitely from some kind of beast not from this world. She so desperately wanted to dig into this mystery and find out what is going on and figure out what that was and why Founder got so angry at Twilight being back there. But judging by the shear amount of anger Founder possessed throughout that whole ordeal, she didn’t think it was a smart idea. She’s already pushed her luck enough at it is.
On top of her mind being flooded by thoughts of what could be concealed back there, her thoughts kept looping back to Founders anger. She couldn’t stop thinking about it. She understood the reason he was angry, but it seemed almost unreasonable how heated he got. Native wasn’t doing anything malicious, to blame him as if he was purposely trying to destroy the realm was a bit unjustified in Twilights opinion. He also initially angry at Twilight for being in there but later dropped that in favor of yelling at Native and Twilight for flirting. She swears those green Anons were flirting with everypony yesterday. She tried to rationalize his anger for him by coming to the conclusion that he was probably just angry about Edge and Punks fight. Or he could just be very passionate about keeping the realms safe. Or perhaps a combination of the two.
Yeah, that it, it’s gotta be.
She stopped in her tracks when she heard a couple of voices from beyond a corner.
“You need to stop getting into shit with him.” An unfamiliar voice said.
“Right, I forgot he’s Founders little lapdog.” A voice belonging to punk said in a sarcastic, angry tone.
“That’s not true, he took his sword away as punishment for what he did yesterday.”
“That’s not a fucking punishment, are you kidding me?” Punk said in an exasperated tone.
“Punk, I’m not trying to start a fight with you,” the Anon said. “But you understand you’re both kept on a leash for a reason. Right?”
“Yeah, but it’s bullshit!” Punk said. “He treats me like I’m going to hack and take over this ship like I’m skynet or some shit, if I’m given the opportunity. Meanwhile Edge Is it allowed to belittle, berate and straight up physically assault people at times, and he gets zero repercussions except for this rare instance when his actions finally have consequences. but the punishment is the equivalent of taking away his phone, it doesn’t actually fucking punish him at all. He doesn’t learn anything, he never does.”
“I know, I know the light-handed treatment Edge is given is annoying. But for you, you have to understand it’s because of how easy you can hack stuff, right?” Anon said.
“Yeah,” Punk said, with Distain in his voice. “But I’m treated like a second-class citizen because of what I might do. I can’t fucking help that the realm I spawned in practically required me to do these implants to survive. It was illegal implants back then, and it’s still feels like that law is being enforced on me now, a hundred realms later.”
“I understand your frustration, really, I do. But you do understand that picking fights with Edge, even when justified, Founder will still just view that as you being a hot head. Which also prevents you from receiving higher authorization levels.” Anon said in a sympathetic but stern tone of voice.
“That’s not the reason, and you know it.” Punk said.
“Punk…” Anon said in a tone that sounded like he was warning him about continuing to talk the way he is.
“What.” Punk said.
“You know what.” Anon said. “He doesn’t trust you because of your distrust of authority figures.”
“No, I don’t like authoritarian figures, there is a difference.” Punk corrected.
“Watch it.” Anon said sternly again.
“…fine…” punk muttered in defeat.
“You know I would have to report that statements to Founder. You only have Level one access, I’m technically your superior.”
“Of course you do.” Punk said.
“I’m not gonna do that though, I like you. But I will warn you, as a friend, you need to stop before you say that stuff to the wrong Anon.”
“Got it… I’ll just bite my tongue for the rest of eternity.” Punk scoffed before walking off.
The other Anon then left in the opposite direction, indicated by his fading footsteps. Although punks' footsteps were getting closer to Twilight. She panicked and attempted to cloak herself with magic, but her horn didn’t even light up. She continued pushing, trying to produce even a single sparkle but nothing happened.
Punk then rounded the corner and saw Twilight, and quickly figured out she was eavesdropping. But he didn’t seem mad, he clearly had an annoyed look on his face and was shocked to see her, but he simply sighed and walked past her.
“I won’t tell anypony what you said, I promise.” She said, immediately trying to defuse the situation.
“Why? You seem to want to please Founder as much as possible. So go ahead, get me in trouble. I’m used to it.” Punk said as he continued to walk away.
“I’m not going to get you in trouble. Besides, I think Founder’s mad at me right now.” She said as she trotted up to his side as they walked side by side.
“Really? Why?” Punk asked in bewilderment.
“Ugh. I was in the east wing without an escort.” Twilight said with shame in her voice.
“Hmph. I’m guessing you got an earful after that.” Punk said.
“He screamed at me, yeah. He even accused our Anon of trying to destroy the realm because he was talking to me.” Twilight said.
“Talking to you how?” Punk asked.
“It was just harmless flirting, that’s all he thought it was.” Twilight said.
Punk grunted in response, it was unclear as to what emotion that grunt was supposed to convey though.
“Did you guys get punished?” He asked.
“No, not yet at least.” Twilight said.
“Hmph… that’s it? That’s all that happened?” Punk asked.
“Uhh, yep. That’s it.” Twilight lied. A lie so obvious it might as well have been applejack saying it.
“Sure, okay.” Punk said, entirely unconvinced.
Twilight bit her lip, debating on whether or not she should say anything. If she started gossiping and telling Anons she heard what was back their, she might get in trouble. Even more trouble than she’s likely already in. But Punk didn’t seem like the type to rat her out, so maybe it would be alright if he was the one and only person she told. Right?
“A-actually, something else happened.” Twilight said.
“Did you see it?” Punk said, getting straight to the point.
“Huh? Oh uhh, N-no I didn’t. But I heard it. Whatever it was.” Twilight stated.
“For your own sake, I hope that’s all the information you ever learn about that thing.” Punk said.
“Is it something we should worry about? Cause Rainbow Dash has been up our ass’s trying to convince us it’s something dangerous, and I don’t want it to be some serious danger that could threaten our realm. Cause I just convinced Rainbow to not worry about it and whatever that is just made it’s itself known and it doesn’t sound nice. So I just want to make sure-“
“Twilight!” Punk said, snapping her out of her anxiety filled rant. “It’s locked up tight. As long as the ship has power, that thing will be safely lock away. It will never get out. You don’t have anything to worry about.”
“A-are you sure?” She asked.
“Yes, I’m sure. It’s been there since before I got here, it’s not gonna get out anytime soon.” Punk said.
“Okay…” Twilight said. “But are you sure?”
Punk gave her an exasperated look before sternly answering, “Yes.”
“Can I ask what is it? why is it back there?”
“Don’t ask those questions. For your own sake.” Punk warned.
“Is… is there anything I need to know about it?” Twilight said.
“If there was, we- I would’ve told you by now.” Punk said.
“Okay…” Twilight said, anxiety still coursing through her veins.
“Take a deep breath Twi, you’re fine. Everything is fine.” Punk said as he reached down and pet her main softly as they walked.
She took a deep breath in and then let out a deep sigh, her wings ruffling as she shook the anxiety from them. But she was still a bit anxious from the whole situation, and she didn’t fully believe it was nothing to worry about. She also wasn’t satisfied with the lack of answers she’s been given, but she could use context clues to estimate what it might be.
Her best guess is that it was a beast that an evil Anon snuck on to the ship, for what purpose is unknown. Maybe to kill the Anons, or to kill residents of other realms. Whatever the goal was for that thing it’s probably for the better that it’s lock up in that cell.
But she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off, the caginess about the topic and the amount of secrecy surrounding it didn’t sit right with her. She wanted to figure out what it was so she could make sure it was nothing. But she also feared the consequences of doing something like that. She already got scared half to death by Founder yelling at her, she could only imagine the meteoric rage he would unleash on her if she uncovered the secret he is so desperately trying keep hidden.
She was then suddenly struck with a terrible thought. What if seeing it is the problem? Like if she were to perceive it, it would cause physiological harm. She quickly shook the thought from her mind, she tried not to work up her nerves again by making herself worry about the potential danger it could or could not possess.
“Head back to the food court, your friends are probably wondering where you are by now.” Punk said, snapping Twilight out of her thoughts.
“Are you not coming with?” Twilight asked.
“Hell no, I want be alone for a while.” Punk said before using a hand scanner on the wall to enter a bedroom, which was presumably his considering it was decorated in a cyberpunk aesthetic.
The only light source were RGB lights that lined the corners of the room, making the entire room a bright blue color. There was also a noticeable clutter to the room, with clothes and metal scraps strewn across the floor. But it seemed to be an organized chaos, Twilight would know what organized chaos looked like because her bedroom back at her parents' house looked the exact same. But what really caught her eye was a few posters on the wall, which was her first real glimpse into another realm.
The one that caught her eye the most was a poster of Vinyl Scratch, a resident DJ in ponyville but that poster made it seem like she a way more popular music artist in that realm then the Vinyl she personally knew. She had a pony head but a human body, just as Punk described the look of the residents of his realm yesterday. Her iconic glasses seemed to be optical replacements, and she had some kind of futuristic earpieces placed in both ears. Considering the load volumes her music tends to reach, it’s safe to say those are some kind of earplugs. She also had tons of geometric tattoos all over her skin, a few of these tattoos even trailed up her horn. Her mouth was open, and her tongue hung out like she was a rockstar, her hands accentuated that rockstar persona with her fingers being curled into a ‘rock on’ hand gesture. Her outfit was rather skimpy, but the erotic nature of this outfit seemed to be on purpose. She wore a small jacket that matched her color pallet and had a short crop top with a low-cut cleavage, showing off as much of her breasts as possible without the photo looking like it came from a porno shoot. At the bottom of the poster there was big text that read ‘DJ pon3’ in a sharp and shiny font. It was intriguing, and the curiosity that sprouted from spotting this poster made her forget about the east wing.
“Well if you ever feel like having some company, I’d love to be invited into your room so I can learn more about your version of Vinyl.” Twilight said pointing at the poster.
Punk looked back at the poster and laughed to himself. “Sure, why not, I’d love too. Come by later today maybe I’ll be in a more sociable by then.” punk said with a laugh.
“Sounds like a plan!” Twilight said as she trotted of in the direction of the food court. “See you then!”
“See ya Twi.”
*5 hours later*
It is now the midafternoon, and the elements of harmony had transitioned from the ship to the outside, sitting in front of three large tents that were set up for them earlier. After a quick discussion they figured out who would be each other's bunkmate. Pinkie Pie and Applejack were in one tent because Applejack can sleep through Pinkies snoring for some reason and they both naturally wake up earlier than the others. Fluttershy and Rarity chose the second tent because Fluttershy was a quiet sleeper and wouldn’t interfere with Rarity’s Beauty sleep in anyway. Lastly, Twilight and Rainbow Dash were going to be sharing the third and final tent because they both liked reading before bed so having a light on wouldn’t be keeping the other bunk mate awake whatsoever.
But they had quite a while before they had to settle in for the night. The sun was still high in the sky and hadn’t come anyway close to kissing the mountain range to the east yet. Twilight also wasn’t done being on the ship just yet, she still wanted to try and talk to Native one more time if she could and then meet up with Punk later if she could. But they needed some time outside the ship before that happens, because Edge started making his rounds pissing everyone off. Despite Rainbow Dash being the one butting heads with Edge most frequently, it was actually Rarity who was on her last nerve with him and had to excuse herself before she lost her mind. The rest of the ponies followed her lead, of course being left with a parting gift from Edge in the form of more verbal beratement as if him annoyed the hell out of the unanimously liked guests to the point they had to leave was some kind of righteous victory that he should wear as a badge of honor.
That was two and a half hours ago by now, and the ponies have cooled off and are currently chitchatting amongst themselves at the moment. Of course, most of the topics they discussed had to pertain about Edge, but the topic Twilight was the most interested in was the fight that took place between Edge and Punk. Of course, she was absent for this ordeal, but her friends gave a pretty detailed description to the portion of the fight they were able to see.
Apparently, Punk had got Edge on the ground and the other Anons were preventing him from breaking the ‘no killing’ rule. Because even though Edge had his sword taken away, Punk had a sword of his own that was surgically implanted on himself. According to Rainbow Dash, his metal arm had split open to reveal a sword hidden inside, which he was trying to use to skewer Edge.
So clearly this was more than just a fight, it was an attempted murder. Presumably this was long time coming, tensions between those two did seem pretty high the last time she saw them interact. So it made sense for someone to call all the Anon to the scene to try and break them up. Rainbow Dash also kept laughing as she remembered Edges face, because according to her he looked like he was “pissing his pants with fear.”
The topic then inevitably shifted to the question of where Twilight disappeared to after they left the east wing. She attempted to skate around the topic, but her friends were persistent, so she attempted to explain what happened while also omitting as many details as possible, especially about the potential beast that’s chained up in that cell. She did not feel like dealing with Rainbow’s ‘I told you so’ attitude. But in hindsight, she probably should’ve shared more detail because now her friends were grilling her for more information.
“And he just let you leave after that?” Applejack questioned. “No punishment or anything?”
“Nope, I got off pretty lucky.” Twilight said.
“So, after all the secrecy about the east wing, he see’s you in there when you’re not allowed, and he just let you go with a slap on wrist?” Rainbow Dash questioned.
“My guess is he realized it was an accident.” Twilight said.
“You guess?” Rainbow Dash asked. “He didn’t tell you he’ll ‘let it slide’ since it was an accident?”
“I-. No- I mean yes! Yes, he did tell me.” Twilight stammered.
“Uhh huh. Sure.” Rainbow Dash said, entirely unconvinced.
“He did!” Twilight insisted.
“I guess I just don’t believe that. I mean, how could he just slightly raise his voice at you and do nothing else?” Rainbow said.
“Well, if he didn’t have the guts to yell at Edge, why would he yell at me?” Twilight said, attempting to cover for Founder.
“Cause apparently Edge is ‘just an asshole,’ like he said. Meanwhile that east wing is treated like the gates of Tartarus, and you basically broke a huge law in Founders eyes. That's why he would yell at you.” Rainbow said with her hoofs crossed.
“I'm sorry Twilight darling,” Rarity said. “But I feel like you’re leaving out important information.”
“Well, I mean… he did yell at Native more than he did me.” Twilight said.
“Why?” Rainbow said.
“Because he started flirting with me, and Founder thought he was trying to destroy the realm that way.” Twilight said.
“So, he was flirting with you… evil-y?” Rainbow Dash said.
“N-no. He wasn’t evil, I could tell.”
“Then why was he yelled at?”
“He wasn't yelled at; it was more of a stern talking to.”
“But you just said he got yelled at.”
“Oh my gosh Rainbow, I misspoke! Stop being so hyper observant over everything I say.” Twilight said, getting annoyed with her multicolored friend.
“I’m just trying to get your story straight.” Rainbow said with her hoofs up in defense.
“It is straight!” Twilight insisted.
“Okay, then you won’t have an issue with telling us exactly what Founder said to Native.” Rainbow said, trying to get Twilight in a gotcha moment.
“He simply told him that he didn’t want Native exchanging anymore word with ponies could be flirtatious in any way, for the betterment of the realm. That’s all he said.” Twilight said.
“So, he’s against flirting?” Applejack said.
"Yeah, because it could be a slippery slop, if Founder allowed flirting, then Anons could be more inclined to go further. So, he puts a stop to it before it could ever get to that point.” Twilight reasoned.
“That doesn’t make a whole lotta sense.” Applejack said bluntly.
“Wha- why?” Twilight said.
“Cause those green fellers were flirt’n up a storm with us, remember? Especially with me a Rarity.” Applejack said, successfully poking a hole in her once sound logic.
“They clearly didn’t see a problem with flirting.” Rarity said in a way that indicated she didn’t mind the compliments she received.
“So what? All the green guys are evil then?” Pinkie asked.
“Well Twilight apparently seems to think so.” Rainbow concluded.
“No, that’s not what I’m saying!” Twilight in an annoyed tone. “None of them are evil. Founder was just frustrated because we were being reckless.”
“You were being reckless by flirting?” Rainbow Dash said with snort.
“Yeah, that’s what he said.” Twilight said.
“Well, we already discussed why that doesn’t make any sense. So, I think that flirting thing was just a quick cover up excuse because he thought you were going to find out what was back there.” Rainbow theorized.
Twilight rolled her eyes at Rainbow, which she took as an invitation to continue.
“So, were you snooping around back there?” Rainbow said with a smug smile.
Twilight bit her tongue before they could form word she couldn’t take back.
“No, I wasn’t… could you please stop assuming the worst about Founder.”
“Right, because him blatantly lying to you about the flirting thing is supposed to read as a good thing.” Rainbow Dash said sarcastically.
“Rainbow…” Twilight said sternly.
“Not to mention that shudder over one of the jail cells. That looks like something that’s trying to be concealed, totally something to not be concerned about.” Rainbow Dash said.
"Rainbow. Please." twilight said with a twitch in her eye.
"I'm just saying, I wouldn't blame you for trying to figure out what's behind there." rainbow continued.
“I didn’t need to.” She blurted out.
“What?” Rainbow said.
“Wait, didn't need to?” Applejack said incredulously. "What does that mean?"
“Did he show you what was back there or something?” Pinkie said excitedly.
“No!” Twilight said.
“Then why do know what’s back there?” Rainbow said.
“I don’t, Rainbow Dash.” Twilight said irritatedly.
“Then why did you say you ‘didn’t need' to snoop around?”
“Cause it fucking rammed into the wall!”
Twilight slapped her hoof over her mouth from her outburst. Mostly because she just admitted what she was trying to avoid admitting, and partly because she cursed by accident. She then dropped her head into her hoofs know what Rainbow’s reaction is going to be to her accidental spilling of the beans.
“AHH HAH! I knew it! There is something in there!" she blurted out in excitement. "And giving the fact it slammed into the wall; I guarantee it’s a monster they’ve got locked up like an attack hound that they'll release at any given moment.” Rainbow said as she rose to her hoofs.
"they're not going to do that." Twilight insisted. "Punk told me It’s locked up tight; it’s not coming out.” Twilight said.
“Not yet at least.” Rainbow Dash said, which caused Twilight to sport an annoyed look. “They’re probably waiting to unleash hell on us when we least expect it, and since you got close to finding out what it is, it’s only a matter of time until they leave no witnesses.”
“Rainbow, I’m getting sick of your insistence on this topic. I talked to Punk about this, and he said we don’t have to worry about it.” Twilight said sternly.
“I don’t believe that.”
“I can tell.” Twilight said in an annoyed tone.
“Twi, I’m looking out for us. A hostile creature is now confirmed to be in that cell, and it rammed itself against the wall trying to get out! You’re seriously going to continue and deny the danger it poses towards Equestria!” Rainbow said, clearly trying to rally her friends to her side.
“Rainbow Dash.” Twilight said sternly once again as she rose to her hoofs as well. “I’m aware of the danger. I was reluctant to do anything because there would be no reason to start conflict with foreign adversaries when there’s no real reason to do so. I understand now that there's is a probable cause to raise concern over what's back there, But I still wouldn’t do anything brash because the truth is Founder was insanely pissed that I was back there by myself. I don’t want to know what kind of anger or punishment that could be carried out against us if we start actually snooping around. You may think your looking out for us, but you don't know what you're talking about. I do. So please Rainbow, fucking drop it.”
There was a tense atmosphere in the air as Twilight and Rainbow stared daggers into one other. The rest of their friends exchanged awkward glances between each other, each one scared to break the silence.
“Fine…” Rainbow pouted, finally breaking the silence.
Rainbow Dash’s pouting continued as she stormed off in the other direction. Twilight then let out an exasperated sigh before collapsing back down to the floor. she rubbed her temple as she tried to calm down. she hated yelling at her friends like that, but she had to say something.
“I should go see if she’s alright.” Pinkie said before bouncing off after the rainbow Pegasus.
Her friends still held their tongues, unsure of what to say to release the tension after that argument. But finally, Applejack broke the silence.
“I'm sorry sugar cube. I shouldn’t have jumped into that fight like that. I should ’a known she would try to turn that into some kinda call to arms.”
“It’s fine aj. It’s not your fault for wanting the full story. I just didn’t want to worry any of you girls.” Twilight said with another sigh.
“Well if it makes you feel any better Twilight, I’m on your side.” Rarity said.
“Same with me.” Applejack said.
“Girls it’s not about taking sides, I just don’t want to cause any trouble with these guys. Rainbow doesn’t realize the risk she’s running with that attitude of hers. I’ve already overstepped with them, and I might be overstepping even more when I ask to see Native again later.”
“I understand darling. I don't want to start a war with the Anons either. I mean, have you heard what those guns are capable of?” Rarity said. “We would barely stand a chance.”
“I agree we should keep our snouts out of their business,” Applejack said. “But do you really think finding out whatever’s back there will lead to a war? seems a bit extreme.”
“I have no idea; it all depends on how much they value what’s back there being a secret. I don’t want to push my luck, that’s why I’ve been trying to discourage Rainbow from doing anything stupid.” Twilight said.
“I’m sure we don’t gotta worry too much about her.” Applejack said. “Pinkie’ll talk some sense into her.”
“I hope so.” Twilight said before looking up at the sky.
Celestia was pushing the sun closer to the horizon, so if she wanted to meet with Native again, she’d have to do it soon.
“You girls up to going back on the ship one more time before nightfall?” Twilight asked.
“I’m up for it. Let’s just wait for Rainbow to get back, then we’ll get going.” Applejack said.
“Well she better hurry up with her temper tantrum, I wanna get moving soon.” Twilight said.
“so fucking annoying. ‘Yeah, I’m aware there is an explicitly hostile creature on the ship, just don’t worry about it. ’ argghh!” Rainbow Dash said, imitating Twilight’s voice in a mocking manner before kicking the dirt in frustration.
“You alright Rainbow?” Pinkie said from behind.
“I’m fine.” She said angerly.
“Doesn't really sound like it.” Pinkie said.
“Well can you blame me? Twilight’s being annoying right now.” Rainbow Dash said while waving her hoof in the direction of the pony in question.
“Well, you were kinda being annoying too Dashie.” Pinkie said.
Rainbow Dash gave her pink friend an offended look.
“You were! I'm not gonna sugar coat it.” Pinkie said defensively.
“Am I the only one concerned over this shit? I’m being persistent on this topic because of the way Twilight keeps covering for these Anons even though they don’t deserve it.” Rainbow Dash said.
“She’s just being cautious.” Pinkie said with a dismissive hoof wave.
“There’s being cautious, and then there’s being complicit.” Rainbow said.
“I wouldn’t go that far.” Pinkie said.
“I would!” Rainbow Dash said before beginning her rant. “She got yelled at for being back there, so much so that she now fears Founder to some extent. Not only that, but the thing they’re keeping a secret rammed itself into the wall. It’s something dangerous, I don’t like knowing there is a hostile creature of unknown origin on that ship just waiting to attack.”
“Well to be honest, I kind of agree with you.” Pinkie said.
“So, you think we should know what’s back there.” Rainbow Dash said.
“No, not really, I kinda side with Twilight on that one. If Punk told Twi that it’s nothing to worry about, then it probably really is nothing to worry about.” Pinkie clarified.
“Then why would Founder get so angry that it made Twilight scared to even talk about what happened if it truly was nothing?” Rainbow Dash said.
“I-…hmmm.” Pinkie hummed, trying to find a reasonable response to Rainbow question.
“Well, what do you think is back there exactly? Just some monster?” Pinkie asked.
“Either that, or it’s an Anon that’s currently being falsely imprisoned.” Rainbow Dash said with a grin.
Pinkie gave her friend a skeptical look.
“I’m not sure about that one Dashie.”
“No no no, think about it.” Rainbow Dash insisted.
“They locked up Native, and he didn’t do anything wrong besides be skeptical about the Anons motives. They don’t lock up Edge for nearly killing him and Twilight, so apparently that’s not a punishable offense. But apparently being reasonably skeptical of their motives is apparently. The thing they’re trying to hide is probably an Anon that found out something he shouldn't have, so now he’s locked up. Oh, and the descriptions that describe it as ‘horrific’ is probably just a red herring ya’know? Just something to try and discourage us from looking into it.”
Pinkie stroked her chin as she hummed in thought in an almost exaggerated fashion.
“That does seem pretty likely,” Pinkie admitted. “But what if it's a spooky monster?”
“If it's a spooky monster it's a spooky monster.” Rainbow dash said with a shrug. "But if it's another Anon, they'll be forced to tell us why he's back there."
“But what if they- “
“They wouldn't do anything to us Pinkie, were technically diplomats and there’s an army outside. If they were to harm us, there’ll be hell to pay. Now come on Pinkie, let’s find out what’s going on.” Rainbow Dash said while pointing her head at the ship.
"What if it ends up really being nothing?" Pinkie asked.
"I think we've already discussed why that's not the case, but if it does end up being nothing. then you and me will tank the punishment and well move on from this." rainbow dash said.
Pinkie thought for a moment once again. Her mind jumped back and forth between her answers, but inevitably she gave Rainbow Dash the answer she wanted.
“Sure. Let’s do this!” Pinkie said as with a small bounce. “You gotta plan?”
“No, but we’ll figure it out. Just you and me, so that mean don’t tell the others about this. They wouldn’t agree with us.”
“Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie said before bouncing off to the rest of their friends.
Rainbow Dash then took flight and followed behind her pink friend, and after they shared a few short words, they headed back to the ship as a group. Twilight and the rest of her friends unaware that Rainbow and Pinkie were about to do something incredibly reckless.
