An Alien Walks Amongst Us

Chapters

Chapter One - A Curious Introduction
Chapter Two - Hi, My Name Is...
Chapter Four - The Alphabet For Dummies
Chapter Five - Innocence Is Always Inconspicuous
Chapter Six - Gettin' Dirty
Chapter Seven - What's More Efficient Than Friendship?
Chapter Eight - Introducing, Mr. Anon
Chapter Nine - What's Your Talent?
Chapter Ten - It's A Triangle Of Sorts
Chapter Eleven - More Trick Than Treat
Chapter Thirteen - The After Party
Chapter Fourteen - And Now For Something Unexpected
Chapter Fifteen - A Journey Awaits
Chapter Sixteen – Forced Into The Unknown
Chapter Seventeen - Out In The Open
Chapter Eighteen - Crazy Little Thing Called...
Chapter Nineteen - This Is The Part Where Things Get Hectic
Chapter Twenty - Reunited
Chapter Twenty-One - Silly Pony Life
Chapter Twenty-Two - Meet The Relatives
Chapter Twenty-Three - Pesky Piping Ponies
Chapter Twenty-Four – Decisions, Decisions…
Chapter Twenty-Five – Griffonstone Welcomes You, Now Get Out
Chapter Twenty-Six – New Griffonstone Welcomes You, Now Beat It
Prologue - You Just Have To Believe
Chapter Three - Mare Look At That Body
Chapter Twelve - This Chapter Had A Title, But Due To Copyright Infringement It Has Been Expunged

Chapter One - A Curious Introduction

The dimly lit streets of Ponyville were quiet that evening. A single green unicorn, barely visible from the moonlight, trotted away with a click of her hooves against the cobbled streets. She intentionally stayed away from any lampposts, lest anyone spot her in some form. It was imperative she remained hidden until she could ascertain just what happened out in the forest.

It took little effort making her way out of the town, standing on the edge of the trees that was the Everfree Forest. She took a step forward, then returned it. A chill ran down her spine. No matter how many times she came out, the place spooked her.

A noise came from the darkness, raising the hairs on her back. She couldn’t identify it, as was typical. Perhaps a manticore, or a cockatrice. Something about the forest messed with the magic in their world.

“I hate this place.”

As was routine, Lyra lit up her horn with a flash; another flash of her horn turned it a deep red, easing her eyes in the darkness. It took no more than a few steps to find herself enclosed by the darkness. She was familiar with most of the forest, in a manner of speaking.

The place clearly had a mind of its own, Lyra had worked out long ago. Trees moved, bushes shifted, the ground would rise or lower: it was clearly trying to keep visitors from moving too deeply into the place. Most would be lost soon after entering. Lyra knew how to navigate through such places, having delved into magical workings of the forest often enough.

A noise hooted out of a bush, Lyra jumping from the suddenness of it. ‘Just remember, it’s mostly mundane animals that live here. Magical beings are likely asleep by now.’

‘We can only hope for such things,’ a familiar selfness spoke out.

‘Oh don’t you start up.’ Lyra jumped over a log, looking around for any more debris on the ground. ‘Why not keep things on the positive side?’

‘Like if this is actually an alien?’

‘Exactly! I know it’s probably not one, but what if it is this time? Just think of what that would change!’

‘No one would claim of you being mad anymore.’ Laughter echoed in her head at the self-made joke.

“Oh ha-ha,” she spoke aloud, the red light of her horn helping guide her from a line of vines that would have easily ensnared her.

‘Do you wonder about how the alien would think of this place?’

Lyra rolled her eyes. ‘Of course, I do, you would know that.’

‘How does the sun move for them? How many senses do they have? How would magic work on their world?’

The unicorn listened to the voice ramble on, used to such things. It allowed her to focus on it rather than the terrible place she was delving through.

‘What would an alien even think of coming to a new environment, like ours? Would it be too strange? Would it even know what a tree was?’

That gave the pony a pause. ‘How could it not know what a tree is? That’s one of the fundamental things to a living planet, having a breathable source available.’

‘And who are we to think that it doesn’t have something in place of trees? Or that it even needs to breathe?’

The strange question easily distracted the unicorn from the rock directly in her path. She found her face down in the dirt, her horn flickering out. A cough escaped her as she cursed the forest. Dusting herself off from the embarrassing blunder she relit her horn.

No sooner did a roar sound out, this one being close; Lyra quickly shut her spell off. A flash and she found herself high up on a branch.

It didn’t take long for a creature to walk out of the bushes. It was her luck she came across a manticore, an amalgamation of a lion, scorpion, and some other creature she couldn’t seem to remember.

‘Think it’s a bat? Though sources like to claim dragon, to make it seem more dangerous than it really is.’

Lyra would agree on those sources. The thing unnerved her a great deal. It was, lacking a better descriptor, unnatural. Just another creature that no one knew how it came to be, but it is.

‘Didn’t you use that repellent spray on the way here?’

‘I did! Why isn’t it working?! Oooh, there’s a certain merchant that’s going to have a talking to when I get back that’s for certain!’

‘If you make it back.’

‘Oh don’t start with this.’

‘It’s not my fault you’re feeling such things! I swear!’

Ignoring the voice Lyra watched the manticore sniffing around the tree, likely trying to find what used to be there. It was pure luck it hadn’t tried to look up. The thing had wings and it would make escaping it difficult.

The voice started to laugh. ‘And would you look at that. It was sniffing for a place to sleep!’

Indeed the beast was currently at the bottom of her tree, circled on itself like a cat, sleeping with a loud growl of a snore.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she spoke quietly.

Lyra was in a peculiar state. If she tried using magic to leave, the thing would know immediately. And she couldn’t just crawl down or jump to a different tree, the noise from the activity would simply wake it up.

‘You’re not really going to be scared of a simple little manticore are you?’

‘I have the strangest definition for little.’

‘Please. You’ve seen much worse. I mean come on, you can’t let something like this stop you. You’re Lyra, the alien investigator! Lyra, the extraterrestrial master! Foreign beings and entities beware, you better watch out for that mare! Clearly that manticore doesn’t realize it’s messing with someone as awesome as you!’

Lyra felt pumped from the internal cheerleader. ‘Yeah, you’re right!’

‘And you know just what can solve this situation!’

‘Of course, I do!’

Carefully taking off her pack she searched through its many pockets before uncovering a favored toy of hers: a sound cracker. A prankster’s delight, they were very good at scaring the ever-loving wits out of others. Simply record what you want and it would replay it in different settings. Lyra’s was a special sound cracker. She had managed to get a dragon’s roar.

A cackle filled Lyra’s head as she slowly twirled the sound cracker into the settings she wanted. ‘Running a day and a half from that thing almost seemed worth it!’

‘...Almost.’

Levitating it in position, she dropped the cracker directly beside its head. A loud, piercing screech of a dragon on the hunt reverberated around the area. It was instantaneous, the manticore shooting up into the air to look for the threat. Not seeing anything the creature ran off, not wanting to stick around where the sound came from.

Moments later a hoard of creatures ran into the area, shrieking and hollering as they ran past the tree to get away from the area. It took some time for the place to finally clear out. Lyra sat for some time, wanting to be certain nothing else would run into the area. Feeling safe enough she teleported herself down to the ground. Picking up her cracker she placed it in her pack before heading back off, feeling more courageous than before.

Lyra was left to herself for some time, the voice going quiet. It allowed her to focus more on the encounter. Regardless of if it was an alien or something from her world, it was going to need medical attention. She doubted it was dead, anything with that kind of spell power to teleport would have massive magical defenses not even counting its natural ones. But the longer it was left alone, the more likely something else would come across it.

The smell of freshly turned dirt filled the pony’s nose. Typically nothing to take notice of. The small hints of burnt wood gave way to something important. She slowly made her way forward, steeling herself for what she’d find.

A small clearing met her, filled with destruction and magical essence littering the air. Trees were blown away in a circular pattern, where a crater was entrenched in the ground. Clearly, she had found her crash site.

Digging through her pack with her magic Lyra levitated out a camera. Flashes of light flickered out with each snap, evidence of the impact collected for safekeeping. Everything needed to be documented regarding the situation.

Taking a shot of the impact site the unicorn scrunched up her brow. The camera lowered as she examined the area closer. It was missing something very important, she had realized: its inhabitants. Dirt trailed away from where she was standing, with grass being flattened from a heavy weight the further it went out.

Her camera flashed, taking images as she followed the trail leading her to wherever it ended. Whoever it was didn’t seem to have the strength to walk. Worry filled her from the seriousness of the situation.

The trees started to thicken once more, following away from the disaster zone. She could see they took as straight a path as possible.

Only a little further ahead, past a few more trees, and she found the being, resting with its back up against the tree. It did certainly look like it had been run through the wringer. The unicorn blinked, looking at the being.

Ah, and it was clearly not a pony she had noted. Nor a minotaur. Nope. None of those. Nada. She was looking at an alien. Yep.

It took the unicorn a moment to process what she was seeing, her eyes widening. This wasn’t something Lyra was imagining. She was in front of something clearly not in her catalogs. No, this was an actual alien.

“Eeeeehhhh!” She squealed, unable to control herself. Slapping a hoof to her mouth, she looked at it. The alien didn’t appear to have noticed her.

Heavy breaths worked their way out of the shocked mare. ‘Okay Lyra,’ the voice spoke up, ‘just remember your breathing exercises. Take calm, steady breathes. Breath in…’

“Haaaaaa.”

‘And out.’

“Ooohhh.”

It took a few turns before she felt more in control of the situation.

‘It’s a hooman.’ Lyra walked closer to it. ‘A real one. I can’t believe my dreams were real all along! Bonnie is going to be so surprised when I come back with it!’

First things first, she had a job to do. Levitating her camera out she switched the flash off, not wanting the sharp light to stir the alien. Her horn flared out, forming from it a ball of light, dimly lighting the area in a low red glow. It flew up to the middle of the area, giving some low light to work with.

She proceeded to take as many shots as she could at different angles, from the area around it to the tree it was leaning on. Satisfied with the pictures she placed her camera beside her bag, set up on a timer to collect more images so she could closely examine the creature.

Upon first glance, one could see similarities to a minotaur, the closest thing resembling the being in front of her. Examining the body, she could see the surface skin had a soft appearance, with its pores showing should one look hard enough. Not a lot of hair to cover its body, it seemed, with the most dominant traces of that being on top of its head.

‘So it probably needs the clothing to keep warm and as a small form of protection, most likely. Fascinating.’

The legs and arms were, as she had first noticed, nearly identical in length to one another. The torso itself was quite bulky, yet almost geometrical to a rectangle. She’d clearly have to study it more to really understand what she was seeing.

Even the paws on its arms were peculiar. It had an additional digit on it compared to the four from most digit-held species on her planet. She noted some scratches on its skin, light traces of blood leaking. Lyra grimaced, she’d have to try and clean that when she got back with some disinfectant.

The voice in her head piped up. ‘Using odd chemicals Lyra, who knows how that would react to its chemistry?’

‘Good point. I can check what’s safe when I get back. It’ll just have to heal on its own for now.’

Examining its body, Lyra would have to say that the strangest part had to be the head. She hadn’t seen anything like it before. Its ears almost appeared to be made of its own flesh, simply hanging off but clearly being firmly attached on the sides of the head and not on top. It had no snout or nose protrusion she had seen before on her planet; its nose seemed to come off to a tip angled downward, along with two nostrils directly at the bottom. The eyes were much smaller than theirs, the glimmer that shone off its iris—

She froze. Only then did Lyra realize the alien had been staring at her. For how long, who knew? It had seemed to be inspecting her, as she had been doing.

‘Likely trying to understand what manner of awesome stood before it.’ Lyra mentally waved the voice away, feeling annoyed from its presence.

So far, it wasn’t reacting negatively to her presence. ‘Or was it stunned in silence from the level of magnificence in its presence?’

‘Seriously, not right now!’

‘It’s not my fault the only thing going on in your head is you wanting to impress the darn alien!’

‘...Okay. Fair enough.’

It was time for her to make first contact. She had to show she meant no harm. Clearing her throat Lyra thought over what she should say for its first meeting.

“Hello there. I mean you no harm. I come in peace. Do you come in peace? Do you like pudding?” The voice berated her, yet she ignored it. The words shouldn’t matter what exactly was said, more the manner of how it was said.

The alien’s eyes widened hearing her voice. It seemed to stiffen up. Dread began to fill Lyra, worried she had made a mistake. Swirling its tongue around, the being attempted to speak to her. It came out… wrong. She reeled back, not expecting such a thing.

Staring back at Lyra, it seemed unsure of itself. Or at least, that was how she had interpreted its facial language. There wasn’t much to really tell her about what it was feeling. It smiled back at her, confusing Lyra. Were smiles the same for it as it was for her kind? She hoped it was a friendly smile and not a malicious one.

The smile vanished, its eyes fluttering before the alien dropped its head. Panicking, Lyra inspected the being as close as she could without touching it.

“It’s just asleep,” Lyra said with a sigh, wiping a bead of sweat off her brow. “Likely exhausted from its trip.”

Walking back to her camera she examined the pictures taken. Many of them were unusable, too out of focus or she was blocking the view. There were still some good shots, even with how hard it was to see details. Happy with her work she packed the items away, strapping her pack back onto her side.

Lyra thought about her available options. She knew there wasn’t much she could in treating any injuries it may have. Taking it to the hospital was a terrible idea. Panic would quickly consume everyone around and who knew what would happen then? That would be the least of their worries if it tried anything that could hurt anypony.

No, it was obvious she had to take it back home and keep it locked up until she could process things more thoroughly.

“I can’t wait to work on my report about all this!”

Levitating the alien, Lyra walked off with a large smile.

Sneaking her way out of the forest hadn’t been difficult for Lyra. The sound cracker from before must have scared most of the animal life into hiding. To ensure the alien was safe during transport she had wrapped a survival blanket over its body, preventing stray branches or anything else unaccounted for from possibly damaging it further. For her, it was a very uneventful trip out of the forest. A welcome respite.

Reaching the exterior of the Everfree, Lyra could feel her smile growing. It was just a straight trip over the bridge and through the streets to her house and she’d have all the time in the world with the alien.

Having reached the bridge, she slowed her pace, noticing a small gathering of ponies making their way toward her. They slowed, having noticed her walking their way.

“Lyra.”

“Junebug.” Lyra nodded, turning to the other two. “Wild Fire, Lily Lightly.”

“What are you doing out so late?”

“I could ask the same of you.” Lyra retorted. “Me, I’m just coming back from the forest.”

“Strange,” a pegasi, Wild Fire, said. “We were just on our way out there. Wouldn’t happen to know anything about that odd light from earlier, would ya?”

Lyra let out a nervous chuckle. “Light? What light? I hadn’t noticed any light. Ahahahaha…”

The three narrowed their eyes at Lyra. Lily Lightly looked behind Lyra, giving notice to the bundle floating in the air. “What exactly is that behind you?”

“What do you mean?”

“The floating blanket.”

“Oh. That? Pffft.” Lyra waved a hoof in the air nonchalantly. “It’s nothing, really! Just some silly stuff from the forest.” A muffled groan could be heard coming from the bundle. Lyra let out a forced laugh. “Nothing to worry about!”

Wild Fire, ready to question what was going on, was held back by Junebug. “Wait,” she told her in a hushed tone. “She came from the forest!”

“So? I want to know what that spell from the sky was and she clearly knows about it.”

“I think it may have come from her,” Lightly spoke up, adding to their silent huddle. “She was out in the forest, so it’s likely she was using some of her spells out there. I don’t really care to know what she was up to in the forest.”

“I still want to know. We came all the way out here and I don’t want to return without something.”

“Wild Fire,” Junebug started, “you do remember this is Lyra, right?”

“I—” Wild Fire hesitated.

Lily Lightly hummed, “Ah, right! Lyra likes to bring things back from the forest. Remember when she brought back one of those deer’s thinking it needed help?”

“Or when she tried bringing back odd plants? She somehow managed to get her hooves on some poison joke and the plant was spread all over the town.” Junebug winced. “That was terrible when it hit the bakery.”

Lily stuck her tongue out. “I tasted pink for a full week!”

The three slowly turned their heads back toward Lyra, giving her awkward smiles. Lyra shared an equally awkward smile back.

Junebug started, “So.”

“Right,” Lyra said quickly, stretching her smile.

“Yes, well, it seems everything is fine and dandy! We’ll ah, we’ll be heading back.” Junebug slowly walked backward, the other three mimicking her.

“Quite tired from how late it is,” Lightly added, stretching a front leg in the air, forcing out a yawn.

“True, true!” Wild Fire bobbed her head. “We need to get back and tell everyone there’s nothing to worry about from the forest! Just Lyra is being Lyra is all.”

“Ehr, right! I need to get myself back, got to…” Lyra looked at the alien. “Yes, I have to get settled in for the night! Lots of work tomorrow, yep!”

The three slowly back away, giving plenty of space between them and Lyra before running off back into town. Lyra sighed, happy to have gotten away without revealing the alien to them. She had to hurry home before anyone else came upon her and tried to peek at her guest.

Once back home Lyra cracked the door open, checking for anything in the way. The entire house was dark, telling her Bon Bon had likely gone to sleep. It would be easier to slip the alien in without notice from her friend. Walking in she juggled with her alien bundle, working her way through the entrance to get it in undamaged. Only then did she feel fatigued, the spell she used taxing on her reserves.

“So tired,” she said, panting from exhaustion, making her way up the stairs toward her bedroom.

‘Now, how do I keep something like this secured for the time being? I don’t want it trying to escape the first chance it gets.’

A fleeting thought to tie it up was quickly discarded. In her experience, anything waking up tied down would be difficult working with. Lyra knew she simply had to keep it locked away in a safe location. And the only place she knew of would be her own room.

Levitating it to her bed, she gently laid it down before taking the blanket off its body. Nothing appeared wrong with it. She proceeded to empty the entire room of anything that it could get a hold of. The window was immediately barred up, magically glued from broken chair pieces. She made sure to double-check the bathroom as well, leaving a few simple toiletries that felt safe to leave behind such as toilet paper and soap.

It didn’t take long for her to strip her room, only the bed being left behind.

“There’s so much work to be done. Cataloging everything I’ve done, keeping the place from outside eyes, not to mention telling the princess about everything.” Just the thought sent her into an excited state.

Walking down into the now very cluttered living room, Lyra sat down at her desk. She wrote a carefully written scroll detailing things that had happened, along with what she felt would be needed in learning about the alien and supplies. Adding some of the photos to accompany the scroll, she rolled it all together for transport. Levitating it into the magic lantern, the scroll quickly turned into green dust, flowing off toward Princess Celestia.

“Now all I have to do is wait.”

The unicorn got up from her seat, kicking her items out of the way, making her way to the couch. Clearing the couch, Lyra got comfortable, wanting to get some sleep. It would likely be the next day before the princess would reply and she wanted some proper rest before dealing with the alien.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ Canterlot ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

In the heart of the capital of Equestria stood a mountain, colossal in stature, towering into the sky. On the mountain stood grand structures, of towers and domed constructs that jutted off its body. While seemingly cramped together at a glance, the inner workings spoke of a different tale where a sprawling network of beings lived, of a kingdom that took the dirt given to them and made it into diamonds. Shops as far as the eye could see, institutes of magical marvels, stadiums to entertain the masses: these were but a few spectacles one would see upon entering the famous city of Canterlot.

Arguably the most important place stood the Canterlot Castle, a palace that housed the leaders of the lands: Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. And on a balcony, attached to a tower of the palace, stood the rulers of Equestria who stared up at the night sky, ready for a turnover in shifts.

“Dearest sister, it is time for our night to be laid to rest and arisen elsewhere.”

Celestia smiled, turning toward her. "Indeed, Luna. Shall we begin?”

It was time to lower the lunar body and raise the sun for everypony, welcoming another bright and wonderful day. It was a slow process, using their magic to ease the large entities around their planet, but for beings such as them, it was like breathing air. Compared to the unicorns of yesteryears, their magic was attuned to such activities, what with them embodying the sun and moon respectively.

The two watched as the moon glided with ease across the sky, tucking itself from their sights and for the reappearance in other lands. It was best for them to properly time things just right, never rushing their tasks. It was a hard-learned lesson to remember. Eons ago, having put out a rushed job, resulted in terrible consequences and mass hysteria. It took a great deal of work convincing the world that, no; they were not obliterating their lands. The two were quite ashamed of their actions, having scared everyone into self-submission for some time following tales of their lineage, legends of them descended from gods.

Celestia blinked, wondering just where that memory cropped up from. She examined her sister, staring at her prone form, fully concentrated on the task at hoof. Quite a few of her past memories were resurfacing at the oddest moments, ever since her sister had returned from her thousand-year banishment. The princess wouldn’t begrudge such things; it was important to never dismiss such events as unimportant, lest one forget the lessons learned from such matters.

Just as the sun was starting to appear over the land, spreading its rays upon the slumbering minds over their land, the two princesses dropped the spell simultaneously. It would slip into place on its own from the pull the spell aided it in.

Luna turned to her sister, affirming her job complete. “And so, another week passes on for the celestial satellites to turn in place. As it is time for my rest sister, I wish th—”

Without warning, something misted into the air in front of the two, forcing their focus toward the anomaly. They quickly recognized the spell for what it was, lowering their guards as a scroll materialized into place. It hovered in front of Princess Celestia, its intended receiver. She merely looked at the levitating scroll.

“Now who would send me a message at such an odd hour?

Grabbing it with her magic she unfurled the scroll, moving the attached packet to the side before going over the first page. Her sister, tilting her head, seemed confused. “Who is the sender? Surely not one of those Elements?”

Celestia stared down at the scroll, intrigued by what she was reading. “It comes from Lyra, my current Kommunelegatusionist .”

“Ah, the komlas,” Princess Luna spoke dryly, a frown spreading on her face. “What word does she send to you in such an ill-timed manner?”

“Oh don’t be that way, she means well.” Celestia smiled at her frowning sister. “It’s quite interesting. She lays claim to an alien she had sighted outside of Ponyville, having captured it from the Everfree.”

The sun princess’s smile grew wider, watching her sister rolling her eyes. “If she wanted to send the message,” Luna started, “it could have been received when I was far away from such nonsense.”

“It’s really not as bad as you think it is. She seems to have put a lot of work in this, Luna, and Lyra typically wouldn’t have sent such a thing for another two weeks. This came out of the blue, timed just as we were rotating our celestial bodies. From a glance, it reads off like she’ll be sending even more in the next few days.”

Princess Luna dully stared at her sister. “And?”

“Oh sister, don’t you see? She’s setting up one of those scenarios like past komlas, likely meaning for the two of us to take part in!”

“Ah.” Luna looked hesitant. “I have some… recollections of those. Are you sure you don’t mean just you? Surely it wasn’t meaning to have me involved?”

“What other reason for the timing? And besides, I think it would be fun to have you working this with me!”

“Oh. Joy.”

Seeing her sister’s disliking of the situation made her hesitate. She took a moment, choosing her words carefully. “I think it would be fun for the two of us to have something to bond over.” Luna lost her frown, turning to Celestia. “It would certainly be a great diversion from normal affairs, don’t you think?”

“Perhaps,” Luna acquiesced. “Just please don’t let this get out like last time.”

Walking away from the balcony, the two of them proceeded down the long halls of the palace to their personal study room, guards following close behind. A click with her magic unlocked the door, revealing a room full of shelves, stacked with documents and books collected over the years. A musty smell filled the air, showing just how out of use the room was. A large, sturdy table made of fine wood and engraved delicately with magical scripture sat in the middle with cushions placed around on the floor.

Wiping the area of dust with a simple spell, Celestia took a seat, spreading out the scroll on the table. Luna sat on the opposite side, coughing at the air-born filth, flashing her own horn to get rid of more dust.

Once settled Luna levitated the packet that came with the papers, seeing Celestia entranced by the scroll. “This is a lot more dedication than originally thought,” Luna spoke, staring at the images.

Celestia turned to her sister, realizing she had forgotten about the second packet that came in the scroll.

Luna squinted at an image, turning the pictures in the air. “While hard to make out, she seems to have made an impact crater in the Everfree. See here, there are even some pictures of the ‘alien’ she had captured.”

Celestia, realizing the packet was just as interesting as the scroll, magically grabbed the image, turning it to herself. “How strange. I wonder where she got all the materials to make this happen.”

“Not from funds I hope.”

“Certainly not, I hadn’t approved of anything.” Celestia levitated a scroll to Luna, “Here are some interesting descriptions she gathered so far.”

Princess Luna hummed. “Bipedal, possessing a five-digit paw with nubbed claws, presumed fully clothed from having no hair to cover the body from the cold.” Princess Luna read over the paper as thoroughly as possible. “Basic information about the beast, but once again, more than I would have given credit for.”

“She’ll be collecting more in the coming days. Lyra even stated the being spoke to her.”

Princess Luna arched a brow. “Oh? And what words did this creature have for us?”

Her sister laughed, “We don’t know! She has to translate its speech to our language and plans on teaching it our own for communication. Currently, she has it locked in her house, or more precisely, her room.”

“It’s locked away in her room? Could she not think of a better place to put it?”

“And where would you put such a thing without warning? I’m surprised she was dedicated enough to tear apart her own house to make this work.”

“As far as the letter says, that is.”

“I’ve no doubt she did in fact do such a thing. Lyra is very… thorough on such manners.” Celestia coughed, a few memories popping up involving the mare. “Yes. Well, as of now, she wants to know what we would recommend with the information we currently have.”

Celestia paused, wanting her sister's input on the project. It wouldn’t do if she couldn’t have her sister a part of the project, only a bystander.

Luna, hearing nothing from Celestia, saw she was staring at her, waiting for a reply. She fumbled around with the images, trying to come up with something. “Um… O-Obviously, we need to know why it’s come here to our lands!” She nodded her head, feeling it was the right answer. “We have no idea if it has plans to harm our people in some manner, whether purposeful or not, so we need to question just why it is here.”

“It will take some time for us to figure out how to communicate with it,” Celestia noted.

“True. Then the first order is to make sure it is properly secured in the room, incapable of escaping. Perhaps even placing anti-magic enchantments might be in need.”

“Then Lyra wouldn’t be capable of using her spells to work with it.”

“What of placing them on the alien?”

“It’s an idea, but Lyra has strictly given that she doesn’t want to provoke it in any manner, uncertain of the consequences. Could doing that make it angry?”

“It might, though I don’t see why that would matter.”

“We might be making an enemy out of such actions. That would ruin any form of communication we’d prepare in the future along with relations to an unknown entity.”

Luna huffed out, “This is more difficult than I thought.”

“Something of note, Lyra had mentioned she was unsure if it could use magic or if it even knew what magic was.”

Luna looked incredulous. “That doesn’t make sense. How would it get here in the first place? It even stated it looked like a massive teleportation spell.”

“Clearly there’s more to this puzzle than we can see. That’s something we need to figure out.”

Princess Luna licked her lips, staring down at the work. At the mere idea of a puzzle showed her competitive side. “So we’re essentially working on very little information while having to treat the beast as delicately as the foreign visitors which frequent our palace.”

“Even more so,” Celestia answered. “We also need to consider future funds on the simulation. While she hasn’t said she needs it at the moment, purchasing necessary things like food to needed materials will be necessary.”

“Are we really going to approve her bits for this? I’m fine with working on the scenario, but providing funds seems a tad much.”

“It’s not a problem. There are funds set aside for the komlas on such manners. And before you ask, no, she hasn’t abused such things in the past.”

“Well, that’s good.” Luna tapped the paper, thinking hard on the subject at hoof. “Okay. Here’s what we need to do. She needs to ensure that it is fully secured before collecting whatever data she can on simply observing it. A weekly report will be provided for us to read over, on top of whatever work she already has. Any emergency that occurs needs to have an immediate report written as soon as possible and quickly sent to us. And the primary objective should be on communication.”

“That seems reasonable. And from what we have here, we can ascertain more on the alien's biology and perhaps even its culture.”

The following hour, the two princesses sat in their study, discussing a scenario that would have them pulling at their hair, laughing at their absurd observations, and simply enjoying their time with one another.

‘I’ll have to give a personal note of thanks to Lyra at some point.’ To Celestia, ever since the Nightmare Moon fiasco, she had tried to find an appropriate time to reconcile with Luna. It had been slow progress. ‘Having a weekly discussion with just the two of us is the perfect opportunity I’ve been waiting for.’

Wrapping up their talk, Celestia stamped the scroll they had written in reply, sending it back off to Lyra. “And that is that. I simply can’t wait for her next response!”

“And I am just as anxious as you are, sister.”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ Ponyville ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Hearing something foreign in the vicinity, Lyra jolted from her nap. It sounded like something was banging against metal. Upright on the couch, she searched the room, wondering what had just happened.

Making a dash for her bedroom, she could see that the door was still locked in place. Confused, she walked back down the stairs, wondering what had just happened to make that noise.

Stopping at the foot of her stairs she could see her lantern light was on, along with a scroll inside of it. Even more confused she approached it, observing that it had the seal of the sun and moon stamped clearly on it.

“She replied!”

Lyra grabbed it with her magic, quickly unfurling it. She read every word carefully, worried about what the outcome of the alien would be. Having finished reading Lyra sat down at her desk, staring at the seal that was marked in the letter. Rolling it back up, Lyra tightened it against her chest in a hug, smiling with glee.

They would not only allow her to work with the alien, but they were also giving her a full-on assignment dealing with it as the head researcher. The delighted mare felt ecstatic enough to cry.

“I’m going to do the best job anyone could ask for! I won’t let them down!”

~End Chapter One~

Chapter Two - Hi, My Name Is...

Something was agitating Lyra’s body, jabbing into her back.

“Hnhrurhg… hhnn…”

Trying to ignore it only made the issue worse, the prodding coming one after the other.

“Hnn… quit it.”

Trying to kick at it only had it dig into her back toward her side. With a grumble she tried to whack at the annoyance, only to find herself thrown off the couch. Now fully awake Lyra aimed her unfocused eyes at the figure above her.

Bon Bon held a large frown, a glare directed at her.

“Hey, Bonnie. I hope you’re having a good morning?”

“Why is everything trashed down here?”

Lyra appeared confused; Bon Bon sighed, waving a hoof around the cluttered room. A guilty look flashed across Lyra.

“Oh, that. Right, sorry ‘bout the mess, Bonnie.” She pushed herself upright, jumping to her hooves. “But listen, I’ve got something to show you.”

“I don’t have time for your shenanigans, Lyra,” Bon Bon said, walking past her. “I have to open my stand and I’m already late as it is with opening preparations. I expect this place to be cleaned up by the time I get back.”

“Wait, you don’t open your shop up until ten.” Bon Bon stopped, giving her a sharp look, turned toward a clock on the wall. Looking at it, Lyra saw it was ten past nine. “Oh.” Bon Bon let out a huff before turning back to the front door. “Hold up, Bon Bon. I wanted to tell you about last night in the forest.”

Stopping at the door, she turned to Lyra. “Is the unicorn or whatever it was alright?”

Lyra gave her a questioning look before realizing what she meant. “Silly, I didn’t find a unicorn.” She ran up to Bon Bon, a smile stretched across her face. “It was a real, life, alieeen!”

Bon Bon stared back. “Oh? And what did this alien do when you found it? Is it planning on taking our stallions and ruling over us?”

“How would I know that? I can’t understand its language.”

“Of course you can’t.”

“It was unconscious in the forest, so I brought it here to the house. It’s asleep in my room, so that’s why all my stuff is down here. Didn’t want it having access to any of my stuff.”

Bon Bon, hearing that, flattened her ears as she looked toward Lyra’s room. “It’s in your room, right now?” she asked in a cracked voice. Lyra nodded her head affirmatively. Bon Bon slowly walked back out the door. “I see. I suppose I’ll leave this one to you and come back later with something to handle your—” Bon Bon forced a smile, “－alien.”

Before Lyra could respond, Bon Bon ran off, a dust trail left in her wake. It took little effort for the unicorn to understand her friend's actions. Letting out a huff she slammed the door.

“This isn’t like all the other times. I’ll just have to show her when she gets back.” Thoughts on the alien turned the unicorn giddy. Circling around to start her day, she could see the full extent of the mess she had made. “Okay, I can understand why she’d be upset.”

A spell formed, the previous disorder quickly organizing itself into boxes in a corner. Lyra smiled, watching her magic make quick work of the place. She allowed her magic to continue in the back of her mind, giving some thought toward the alien.

“So much to do, so little time to do it all.”

She had an exhausting amount of plans she wanted to do involving the alien. Before she could attempt them she had to start with her first orders: observe the alien and form communication.

Lyra had an advantage that she felt would allow her to quickly work through her orders. Her dreams of different life forms, to which she had always felt had some sense of realism, gave her some insight on the hoomans. It wasn’t perfect, she knew there were a lot of holes in her knowledge. But it gave her a baseline to work with.

“My first observation will be when I go in to feed it. I can see what it needs for food while trying to prod it to speak to me.”

The only stipulation the princess gave her was to keep her magic usage to a minimum, something she could agree with.

“Right. The first meal I’ll be serving it.” She walked into the kitchen with a skip. “What should I try first?”

A tray was assembled full of assorted food goods, from freshly picked flowers to fried eggs. There was a chance that the alien simply couldn’t eat their exotic foods, preferring to eat rock minerals for all she knew.

A hot cup of cocoa, stuffed full of sprinkles and marshmallows, helped to finish the meal. “This should make a good first impression,” Lyra said, smiling at her work.

The platter was levitated onto a tray with wheels, already prepared with her writing equipment to take notes. Lifting that up to the second floor, she flared her horn, the doorknob glowing green. The magical glue oozed out, pooling onto the ground, before fizzling off into a harmless cloud.

Lyra stared at the door. Just behind it was the alien. This would be her first true opportunity of introducing herself.

‘Okay Lyra, just remember. Appear to be nice and friendly to the alien and keep that confidence revved up.’

“I’ll be nothing but smiles and thank yous.”

‘Don’t spaz out. You don’t want it thinking you’re a weirdo, Lyra.’

“Right. I’m going to be calm and collected.”

‘This is history in the making. Everyone is counting on you.’

She could feel herself panicking, her breath catching up before she found herself hyperventilating. She sat down, trying to calm herself.

A sigh could be heard in her head. ‘Take your time. We don’t want the first thing it sees is a pony having a mental breakdown.’

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Letting out a gasp, his body jerked upright, panic-stricken toward his predicament. He surveyed his surroundings, looking for the horrid monsters enclosing on him. He saw nothing but a normal-looking room and the bed he was lying on.

Feeling he wasn’t about to be mauled by a beast, he fell back into the mattress. He hissed, the aches in his body starting to feel more pronounced. Pulling the sleeve of his jacket back, nothing was visibly shown to him. He felt confused, as it felt like there should be a large, purple bruise marking his entire arm.

While it may not show the damage, he could feel it. “That’s going to take some time to heal,” Anon said, trying to ignore the discomfort in his body.

His recollection of the forest was hazy. He remembered crawling through a dark forest, a loud roar, and animals running all around him. The last, vague memory had him up against a tree, staring at what looked like a short, green horse glowing red.

Clearly, he wasn’t thinking straight. Perhaps the white void from before was another fit of imagination he conjured up. A fever dream? It was possible.

“No. That doesn’t make sense.” Anon rubbed his eyes, feeling a slight headache. “I know the thing with Gleekman was real.” He looked around the room. “So why am I not in a hospital? Or horribly maimed, for that matter?”

He was in a room, completely barren, leaving him with only the bed and his personal effects. The window looked to be barred down, the small cracks the only thing lighting up the dark room. There were two doors on either side of the room, leading to who knows where.

“Who put me in this room?”

No matter what he thought of, every single name he could conjure, no one fit the bill. Anon’s mind couldn’t help but imagine that Gleekman was the likeliest reason why he was in the room. With his plan having gone bust, he managed to find Anon and place him in the room, for whatever reason he had., likely finding a way for him to learn a ‘lesson’.

His back now up against the headboard, he only just noticed the odd patterns etched into it; flowers and leaves along with musical notes stringed on lines. Sheets of frilly patterns and a green comforter full of sheet music lied below him. His feet hung off the bottom of the bed, the bed too small for his frame.

“Leave it to the man to purchase some kids bed for me to sleep on.”

He forced himself to stand up. The room needed to be checked out. He was hoping there would be some way out of it, or at the very least something left behind in the room.

Standing up was painful, his body reeling with a throb, wanting nothing more than to lay back down. Against all protest, Anon stretched his limbs out. He quickly noted how small the dimensions of the room were. The ceiling was easily reachable, the palm of his hand laying flat against it. Strangely the length of the room was quite large, allowing him plenty of walking space.

Everything had a hint of green in it. Why all the green? It wasn’t unpleasant, just odd. Even the wood looked like it was stained green. Who makes a green stain for wood?

His body wobbled toward the window, the gaps in between the boards just barely giving him something to look out of. All he could see were clouds and hints of a tree nearby. It felt like he was up high, likely a second floor.

As he turned, something caught his eye. The boards on the windows weren’t boarded down. There were no nails or screws, they simply hung there. A tug on one held tight, the board refusing to move. He took a step back, staring at the wood.

“It’s not being held down by anything. How is it doing this?” He scratched his chin. “Gleekman did manage to get a missile. I wouldn’t doubt he just has some weird adhesive that can do this.”

There wasn’t anything left for him to look at other than the two doors. The first one, which he felt likely to lead out of the room, was firmly locked. No amount of force could turn the knob even a hair. That left the other door to check out. Turning toward it Anon stumbled, nearly falling to the ground before finding his balance. He bent to where he tripped, spotting a strange indent where he nearly fell.

Anon rubbed his hands over the oddity. “You’re a clue, aren’t you?” It, of course, did not respond, as it was a hole in the ground. It looked worn out like something had been repeatedly worked on at that spot countless times to make the well dug out hole.

At the other door, he gave the doorknob a jiggle, finding it loose. Looking inside was a bathroom, one that was darkly lit and clean looking. It had all the essential needs for a bathroom, yet everything was squashed low to the ground and widened out.

He disregarded the strange lavatory, likely Gleekman collecting weird pieces. The sink at least provided him with some water to drink and clean up. In the mirror, his hair look knotted, eyes appearing dark and baggy, along with a few cuts that managed to collect on his chin.

Outside the room, Anon paced around. What did the place tell him? Not much. It was green, spartan, and kept him locked up. Mulling on his predicament, all he could do was curse Gleekman.

“What am I supposed to do?” He leaned against the wall beside the window, feeling trapped.

The only solution he had was to wait things out. He knew some people would start wondering where he went. Gleekman would be easily tied to his disappearance, which would hopefully result in someone finding him.

“He might even slip up and then I can make my escape.” The man had an issue with nosediving into plans, but they were never foolproof. “I’ll just have to brave whatever he has set up for me.”

Thumps echoed outside his room, alerting Anon to someone’s presence. Was that Gleekman checking on him? Standing straight, arms crossed, he awaited him at a distance. The door made noises that he could not discern, something fizzing on the other side. Nothing happened for some time, his jaw clenched and arms pressed tight against him. With a creak, the door slowly opened.

Anon was not prepared to see a unicorn walking in. It looked at him, stopping only two steps into the room, staring back.

‘Didn’t I see this thing in the forest?’ A faint memory of red appeared. ‘So Gleekman is responsible for the forest? Would that also mean Gleekman is responsible for that white void?’ Anon felt a chill run through him. ‘He probably drugged me and the white room was to disorient? But what was with the forest?’

He calmed his breath, trying to keep his body under control. Taking a look at the unicorn it looked worried.

“~+Are you okay, Mr. Alien?+~” it sang out with a whistle and a chirp.

‘I’m being held hostage by Gleekman, using a musical horse to communicate with me. Great.’

The unicorn, he quickly noted, had a green coloring scheme, matching the rooms aesthetic. Something of importance?

“~+I come in peace,+~” the horse sang in a sweet tone. “~+I hope that we can learn from one another and be friends.+~”

Finally, the unicorn slowly backed out of the room. He could try and escape, yet he felt that was a foolish route to take. There was very little he knew about his situation, only that there was a horse to interact with.

“But why a whistling horse?”

Anon figured it was another one of Gleekman’s toys, something he had made or found interesting. His gut told him there was something else at play. But what?

His brow scrunched up, seeing the unicorn returning, now standing upright on its back legs. The horse was pushing a cart into the room, full of what appeared to be a mug of some sort and animal feed, shaped to look like a smiling horse.

“~+I brought something to eat, Mr. Alien!+~” the green unicorn chirruped at him. “~+I hope you enjoy it!+~”

He watched the thing take its time pushing the cart forward. Unfortunately for the two of them, they had both missed the indent in the ground, the green horse tripping a leg on it. With a stumble, it pushed the tray toward Anon. It bumped right into him, the tray simply shifting around. The mug, on the other hand, flew right onto his crotch.

“AAAHHH!”

Thinking fast he turned around straight into the bathroom, slamming the door shut. His mind was on auto-drive, throwing his clothes off to cool the region with the sink. He was thankful it only hit his thighs instead of his more precious bits.

Having composed himself he grabbed his clothing, trying to clean it off to the best of his ability. A sweet smell wafted off the pants, reminding him of chocolate.

“Was I seriously served hot chocolate?”

He shook his head, finished cleaning off his clothing. A tight squeeze, the water dripping off, right before he put the dirty garments back on.

“Great. Now I feel even dirtier.”

Anon turned to the door, hesitant about interacting with the animatronic.

“I have to go out there. If I don’t, he’ll likely make things worse for me.” In his mind, he knew never to underestimate a man, especially one that tried to blow up and kill multiple people. “I’ll just have to play along for the time being with the horse, thing.”

He peeked out the door to gauge things. The tray of food was where it was left with the mug on the ground in a small puddle. Beside the tray, at the foot of the bed, Anon could see the unicorn with its back turned from him, singing.

“~+Stupid, stupid, stupid!+!” The unicorn hiccuped, wiping its eyes. “~+That was a horrible first impression! Now how are you going to do your job, and the reports, and be friends with it, and…+~” The singing died down as the unicorn tilted its head to the ground.

The animated creature confused Anon. Why did it look upset? Just what games was Gleekman playing?

‘Just play along.’

“Unicorn? Hello?” Hearing him speak, the green equine jerked in place. It rubbed its eyes, turning toward him, blinking widely. Anon coughed, “Ehr… I know you can’t understand me. I assume you can’t that is, what with you speaking in bubblegum pop. So－ God I feel silly saying this.”

‘I’m going to strangle Gleekman when I find him!’

“I just hope my intentions come through, mostly through the tone of my voice. The drink spilling on me? I’m not, well, angry at you.”

He stood still, watching what the unicorn would do next. Standing up, it wiped its eyes once more before breathing deeply, slowly letting it out. Having alleviated whatever upset it, the unicorn walked to the cart, pushing it toward the bed. Looking at the bed, she stared at Anon, waving a hoof at it, whistling to him.

Letting out a sigh he walked to the bed, sitting on the edge of it. The unicorn stared at him, whistling some more, pointing at the food.

“Okay, okay. I’ll eat.”

He picked up the apple, examining it. It looked bright red with an unnatural shine to it. Hoping Gleekman wasn’t stupid enough to poison him after everything he set up, Anon took a bite. The unicorn tilted her head, watching him chew the piece. He noted it had a very rich, sweet taste.

The unicorn seemed interested in what he was eating, letting out cheeps and chirps. Turning back to the food he looked at the things that seemed edible. The fried eggs were enjoyable, seasoned with a spice he wasn’t familiar with. Rich people and their foreign spices. If only he had utensils. Eating with his hands was not pleasant. The sunflower seeds were odd but manageable, and once more seasoned with a strange spice.

Seeing a flash of something in the corner of his eyes, Anon quickly turned to the unicorn. There was a barely noticeable glow to the horn that mysteriously vanished out of sight.

The horse gave him a smile. He looked at what she was doing, seeing a pad of paper in front of her with a quill and ink bottle, along with something scribbled on the papers.

“How are you taking notes?”

The unicorn whistled, forcing a large smile. ‘Likely magnets,’ he thought with a shake of his head.

The last item looked like hay. The horse waited for him to eat some. Anon had never eaten hay, and he wished he never had. He let out a cough, disgusted, wiping the food off his tongue and back on to the plate.

Anon glanced at the unicorn, watching it write down on the paper with its mouth. He blinked. Such an unnatural act, yet it worked. Shaking his head he looked back at the tray.

Nodding to itself the unicorn fluidly wrote a final passage before letting out a whistle. She placed the work underneath the tray, getting up, and taking the tray back out of the room. Staring at the door Anon got up to follow, to see if he could get the door open. He came to a halt, staring at the floor. The mess from before had vanished.

A chill ran up his spine. “How did she clean up the spill without me noticing?”

Walking to the door, he found it once again locked. “Not unexpected,” he spoke, walking back to the bed.

He laid down, hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling. “None of this makes sense.”

Why would Gleekman kidnap him and force him through all these trials? And why was he using an animated green horse? The more he tried to think about it the more confused he was. Before long his thoughts turned sluggish, his eyes feeling heavy before he drifted off.

…A shuffling outside of the door woke him up. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he looked around the room. Not much had changed, other than the light from the window seemed to have moved. A yawn escaped him. He sat up, straightening his clothing to feel more comfortable.

Before long, the unicorn walked in, armed with a smile. She took a seat at the entrance, keeping its distance from him.

Slowly, it raised a hoof to herself, patting her chest. “~+Lyra!+~”

She repeated this process a few times, singing the same thing to him. All Anon could do was stare at her, confused. Was it a greeting? A code?

Pouting, her ears twitched as she brought a hoof to her chin in thought. It seemed she had a eureka moment as she pointed to herself, singing once more. She then pointed at Anon, doing nothing. Then herself once more, singing her song.

‘Ah. She’s introducing herself, I think. So let me guess: I’m going to have to learn how to sing to talk.’ He sniffed, looking unamused.

So, singing. It would be a difficult act to pull off. He was a terrible singer, simply couldn’t hold a proper tune. His first attempt had the unicorn flinch, ears flattened against her head. Anon, admittedly, found her reaction funny. Clearing his throat he practiced once more, trying to pull off his best serenade.

Unfortunately, he was never a man meant for the stage. Every single note was torn apart under his vocal cords. He just could not hold a melody to save his life. How terrible a fate one must have, in need of a tune to speak.

It took some time, and a great deal of effort, but he felt he was making some ground.

“~+Lee,res. Ly-yy-,ra. Ly,yrie. Ly… Ly-rah. Lyira. Ly-ra. Ly-ra.+~”

The unicorn seemed happy at his last attempt, clapping her hooves in delight. It was a butchered existence, his garbled singing.

She pointed a hoof at him, then at her mouth. It didn’t take much thought for him to know she wanted his name. He pointed a finger to his mouth, trying to be as calm and clear as possible. “Anon. Anon. A…nooon. Anon.”

Her ears twitched, frowning at what he said. He agreed with her expression. Compared to her singing his form of communication sounded like someone was beating their face into the ground. She moved her jaw around, trying to form the words.

“Aaaaaccckck—” She coughed, unused to her throat making such forced movements. “Aawiwwnnmuuuunn. Aaahhhhnnnnooooeen.” She continued coughing, straining her chords to perform.

“Close enough?” he shrugged with a small smile.

The unicorn gave him a wide grin. She continued practicing his name, trying to repeat it without choking on her tongue.

Happy with her progress she stood up, exiting the room. It returned immediately with the tray before, only this time it was filled with nothing but apples and eggs piled on it. On the side was a simple glass of water.

As previously occurred, she took out her parchment with a quill and ink bottle and stared at him. It was creepy, in his eyes, how it wanted to record him eating. Or at least, how it appeared as such. Looking at the tray, he once again saw no utensils. Was he really going to be forced to eat with his hands again?

Grumbling in annoyance he picked up an egg in his hands. He attempted to eat as much of the eggs as he could, taking in apples on the side and drinking all the water. His hunger was apparent as he had eaten almost the entirety of the tray.

Finding himself stuffed he pushed the plate away on the tray, hoping it would signal that he had had enough.

A purr was heard from the unicorn as it finished up it's writing. Placing its tools on the tray she gave him a wave before leaving the room once more. He was feeling much better after getting something in his stomach. Still feeling exhausted he laid back down on the bed.

Anon gave his predicament some thought. The house, from what little information he had, was tied to the unicorn, which had appeared in the forest of red.

He frowned. “Am I still in the forest?”

Even if he wanted to escape, he’d simply be running around trees, and who knew what was out there for him to stumble upon. More freaks of nature and whatever else could be cooked up for him to encounter. Leaving would be quite a challenge.

“Gleekman’s own little Fantasy Island, and I’m it’s sole visitor.”

His situation looked dire. Anon hoped for a way to get out, or for someone to find the place and collect him before Gleekman started to ramp things up.

Until then, he simply had to go along with whatever Gleekman has planned and stay as proper of a guest for the unicorn.

Closing his eyes he could feel himself nodding off to sleep.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

“Do-do-do-do-doooo! Do-do-do-do-doooo. Hmmm-hmm, hmmm-hmm…”

Lyra nodded her head to the song, engrossed in her writing. She was writing down an extended account of the observations that had taken place. The morning meal was a bit of a mess, she would make sure not to serve any hot liquids again. Its evening meal was much better, and it told her a good measure of how much it could ingest on a regular basis. The alien looked full so there would be less served to conserve on funds.

Her third meeting with the alien was a memorable one for her. A warm, fuzzy feeling spread through her, knowing the alien knew her name. Or at least could say it. Kind of.

Its name was difficult to pronounce in its language. Lyra had to slow down a lot of her normal speaking patterns just to say it appropriately, and even then it came out stilted and garbled. It was clear she would not be going anywhere with trying to learn its language, it genuinely hurt her throat. The alien though seemed quite capable of learning how to speak their language.

A door could be heard being slammed open, she jumped from the sound. Turning around she could see Bon Bon standing at the front door. Excited, and wanting to share her day, Lyra jumped off her seat to greet her friend. Her steps slowed, noticing Bon Bon was standing on her hind legs with a rather large golf club in her front hooves.

“Okay, where’s the monster?!” Bon Bon looked around frantically, taking a few steps in. “Just point me in the direction so we can wrap this up and I can get the local guard to help and—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait!” Lyra held a hoof up in defense. “What’s going on?! What are you doing?!”

“I can ask you the same thing Lyra. Bringing another creature into our house, are you mad?”

Blinking, Lyra let out a chuckle, realizing where the confusion was coming from. “Bon Bon, there’s no monster here. It’s a real alien!”

Her friend glared. “Oh, sure. Right. Just like the time you thought that costumed pony last Nightmare Night was from the ‘Nether’ and you foalnapped her for a week!”

“A small mistake!”

“Or the time you brought back that naga and all its friends came to the village looking for it!”

“I remember that! That was really funny when they were hollering at Mayor Mare. Heh…”

“Look, Lyra. I get it. You’ll always be pursuing your dreams. It’s just who you are. But you know the drill: I tolerate your actions and you help me drag the creature back to wherever it came from, hopefully before anything happens.”

She walked past the amused unicorn, deciding to head up the stairs toward their rooms. “Now let’s go and get－” Bon Bon squeaked, feeling herself being lifted into the air. A green hue could be seen around her, giving an indication that it was her friend doing the heavy lifting. “Let me down THIS. INSTANT. LYRA!”

The unicorn levitated her friend toward her, “Look. Bonnie. I get it. You’re used to me messing up on these kinds of things a lot. It’s just who I am.” Her friend glowered at her, unamused at Lyra’s words. “But this time it’s the real deal! I have proof to show you I’m not making all this up!”

Moving her friend with her she walked up to her desk, taking out the scroll from the princesses. “See? I got permission from Princess Celestia to work with it and everything!”

Bon Bon stared at Lyra, barely giving the scroll a glance. Lyra rolled her eyes, “Just look at the scroll, Bonnie.”

Levitating it to her face Bon Bon, forced to read the scroll, turned to shock, slowly realizing it wasn’t another false alarm she was used to.

“So the thing you brought here…”

Lyra shook her head up and down. “Yep! It’s a real alien!”

“Not something fake, nor costumed up or mistaken identity?”

“It’s the genuine deal!”

Bon Bon was lowered to the ground. “How did you manage to bring it back here?”

“The hooman didn’t seem capable of much when I took it out of the forest.”

“It’s a hooman?! But I thought those were just dreams you had!”

“Eh, yeah. So did I. Never imagined they could be real. Maybe I’ve actually been dreaming of other worlds this entire time?”

“You can’t tell the princesses about your dreams in your reports.”

“I know that! They would think I’m some crazy nutter and put me in the stablehouse! No, all my information has to be done by scratch, unfortunately.”

The two of them walked over to the couch, taking seats beside one another. “So there’s really an alien in your room right now?” Bon Bon asked.

“Yep! It’s very tired for some reason, probably from how it got here in the first place. Not exactly sure how just yet, didn’t see any kind of transport vehicle or runes.”

“An accidental teleport?”

“That’s what I’m thinking,” Lyra agreed. “I’m not getting a sense that it knows much about magic. So I’m thinking something or someone mistakenly pulled it from somewhere and dumped it out in the forest.”

“We can always ask it once the hooman wakes up.”

The unicorn shook her head, “The hooman can’t understand us, nor can I understand it. Our language is too incompatible at the moment, though I hope to teach it ours. Its language hurts to speak.”

Bon Bon frowned, staring at her friend. “I remember what you told me about your dreams, you heard them speak about their ways and who they are. How did you understand them there but not now?”

“I－” Lyra paused. “I’m not entirely sure. Maybe the dreams just allowed me to hear things from their perspective?”

“I guess that makes sense…”

“I’ll learn their language in time. At the moment I’ll teach it ours so it can communicate with more than just me. I’ll be getting basic data from it for my reports to the princess. I bet I could even get you assigned as my personal assistant. She did mention the possibility of bits to help with things should they be needed.”

“Do you really think they’d pay you for this work? I can’t exactly take time off from my job to help without knowing we’ll be financially fine.”

“They’ll totally be fine with it! Every awesome project, led by an equally awesome mare, needs an awesome assistant. Sadly for me, I couldn’t find any awesome assistants but you’ll surely do for the time being!”

Bon Bon playfully shoved Lyra, forcing a chuckle out. “It would be nice to take a break from making and selling candy. Never did care for doing it during the fall.” She let out a grunt, feeling her friend hugging her.

“This’ll be so much fun! The two of us, working on a new frontier no one else has ever done before! Just make sure to listen to my very professional words as I AM the leading expert on aliens around these parts.”

Bon Bon laughed, just as a growl came from her stomach. Looking at the table in front of her she took an apple slice from a plate conveniently placed there.

‘Should I tell her the alien was eating from that?’ Lyra watched her friend enjoying the apple slice without much thought. ‘Maybe I’ll keep that to myself.’

“So,” Bon Bon started, having finished her third apple slice, “can I see it?”

Lyra blinked. “Um… sure? I don’t see why not. It’s probably sleeping though so be very quiet.”

The two mares silently made their way up the stairs. Lighting up her horn, Lyra unlocked the door, cracking it open for them to slowly make their way in. It was semi-dark, making it hard to see much of the place. In the far end toward the middle of the room was Lyra’s bed with the hooman napping.

Walking up to it Bon Bon stood toward its head, staring at the face. “It’s so… ponylike.”

“It was weird for me too, at first.”

The two of them stared at the alien, its chest slowly rising and falling with each breath. Lyra nudged her friend, motioning her head to the door. She got the gist, following her friend back outside. Locking it up once more the two of them returned to the couch downstairs. There, Lyra gave a quick explanation of what was needed from her friend should she decide to help as an assistant.

“And at the end of every week, I’ll send a report to Princess Celestia. You’ve seen me do this with my normal work so you know what that’s about. I should get a reply from her soon after she works over what I sent her.”

“This doesn’t seem so difficult from what I initially thought. You’ll likely need help teaching it our language though.” Bon Bon patted her chin in thought. “Maybe if we talk to Twilight－”

“NO!” Lyra hollered out. “We are NOT letting that crazy mare here! I still remember some of the things she’s done with her magic learning and experiments.”

“I don’t think she’s that bad.”

Lyra narrowed her eyes. “There have been numerous accounts of her doing odd things with her magic. Remember the time she turned that tree sentient? All it would do was yell about its praise to the sun, whacking any pony that came near while throwing apples all over the place.”

“Applejack did have a hard time for a few weeks with that. Never had a tree buck her back before like that.” Bon Bon cleared her throat. “Okay, Twilight probably isn’t a good idea from past experience.”

“We’ll work with the alien for the time being by ourselves, learning from it and teaching what we can. Then, when needed, we can find help as we hit roadblocks.”

“What exactly is the point to all of this? What are we leading to?”

The unicorn gave her friend a confused look. “We’re going to try and bring it out into our society.”

“Why?”

“It’s a showing! We do this, it’ll show we ponies can truly adapt to just about anything! We can help assimilate others into our culture with just a little work on our end. And who likes the idea of merely holding the alien away in a cage? What if for some reason it has a purpose for coming here? Or perhaps it’s lost and scared? We shouldn’t treat it like some wild animal in a cage.”

“Fine, alright. I get your point.”

“I’ll be trying to talk with it some more tomorrow, see what its limits to our language are. I’m hoping you’ll be there to introduce yourself.”

“That might not be possible Lyra, I’ll need to tell certain pony’s I’ll be taking time off from my business. I will be back as soon as I can afterward.” Bon Bon stopped, yawning as she stood up from her seat. “Right now I think I need to get some sleep, I want to get an early start in the morning to get this all done as soon as possible. I’ll hopefully see you sometime in the afternoon.”

“Enjoy your night!” Lyra said, watching her friend walk to her room.

Cleaning up her workspace Lyra sat down at her desk, continuing her current project dealing with the alien and what she had done so far that day. It was another two hours before she eventually finished her work, finding her focus starting to wane. Rubbing her eyes she placed her quill down and got up from her seat. Turning the lights off she settled into her couch, letting out a yawn as she drifted off to sleep, plans on the alien being the last thoughts on her mind.

~ End Chapter Two ~

Chapter Four - The Alphabet For Dummies

Inside a house, in a room stained of green shades, there was a man that had a horrifying thought. It took him a few days, held in the room to have the thought, but for it to truly become clear, it had taken five. Each day in the room of green pigments, he was given time to himself, to think about his situation and what it meant for him.

The first day he had an odd visit with a unicorn that seemed to be wired up on a sugar craze each time he encountered it. The second introduced two additional horses, one with a lab coat as if to play dress-up and another with a bright coating of yellow with winged appendages. His meetings with the equines were perplexing to him, but no harm came of him, so long as you didn’t count one’s pride.

It wasn’t until the third day that the horses came back did he understand that this was going to continue with them for some time. Playing dress up or forcing him to do odd sets of calisthenics. The fourth day made him irritable and wondering when the big reveal would occur. The fifth gave him some realization as to something he didn’t want to admit as possible.

Gleekman wasn’t responsible for his current kidnapping.

If he was, the man wouldn’t have waited as long as he had to jump out and throw some dialogue at Anon, probably on how he got one over on him. He knew Gleekman well enough; the man couldn’t help himself from holding off on a big reveal, one ‘AH-HA!’ moment before acting superior to him in every manner. That’s just the kind of man he was.

Whoever was holding him had nothing to do with Gleekman. And for that, he grew both scared and annoyed.

It was a terrifying thing to wonder why anyone would hold you in a garish looking room, being toyed with for whatever reasons they had. Yet, it was a monotonous, boring ride through it all, watching the horses pop in, perform their acts of shenanigans, then leave him alone for hours at a time.

It felt like a cartoon special that he was being forced to deal with each time they came around, and as an active participant, he wasn’t having much fun. Not even their lessons, if they could be called that, of teaching him their whistling language helped stave off his boredom.

At the current moment, the man was dealing with the horses once more, sitting on the ground, a tray to the side, staring at the unicorn. It was clear she was the one in charge of things, seeing the lab coat horse assist it and the pegasus performing checkups as a doctor would. They had their roles and they stuck to them.

As it were, the pegasus was once again doing some form of tomfoolery, appearing to set up the current scene that would make Max Fleischer giddy with what slapstick hilarity would ensue.

“~+Puuuuuuddddiiiiiiinnnnggggg!+~”

Yes, the unicorn was just… weird.

“~+Say it with me now, puuuuuddiiiing!+~” The unicorn shoved some strange goop in his direction, the contents jiggling.

“~+Come on, I know you can do it! Puuuuddiiing!+~” She moved the unknown substance around in a circle. “~+You can have some pudding if you say it! Good pudding, yummy pudding, yaaaay pudding!+~”

He wouldn’t say he disliked her presence. If anything, the unicorn was nothing but friendly to him, if quick to anger at the oddest things. The horse was one of the few moments that interested him in his situation as it always came packed with a horned arsenal of hilarious acts. The act of levitation alone was such a grand thing to witness, the tech set up to make it work mind-boggling for him. It certainly helped remind Anon that whoever was holding him was well prepared for any form of half-baked escape he might have planned.

All the unicorn ever did, it seemed, was poke and prod him while trying to teach him to sing/speak their language. At the moment, she was singing to him about the substance on a spoon, a constant loop of the same sounds over and over. It should have been clear by then that he wasn’t going to go anywhere in their language without some form of basics to learn from. You’d have more luck trying to teach him how to construct a ten-story building without giving him the fundamentals of math. The unicorn was quite bullheaded in her ways.

“~+Lyra, I don’t think the alien likes pudding… or what you’re doing at all,+~” the lab coat wearing horse whistled. “~+And why are you trying to teach it that word?+~”

“~+I don’t know!+~” the unicorn chirruped. “~+I got hungry from thinking how to teach him our language and thought, ‘Hey, maybe the alien would like some pudding!’ So I tried to make him learn and eat at the same time!+~”

Anon could hear the lab-coated horse put out a bass-toned solo, “~+Lyra, it’s been five days of this and all the alien’s picked up was some words you weren’t even trying to teach it, like bathroom.+~” Anon turned his head to the bathroom, recognizing the tune being sung. “~+As he is showing my point.+~”

The unicorn blinked in confusion, “~+So what you’re trying to say is, we should give him a bath while teaching him?+~”

The horse choked on her tune, “~+NO that’s not what I’m saying! How would you even come to that conclusion?! I think whatever you’re doing isn’t working and we need to think of something else to do!+~”

“~+I don’t know what to do! The protocol would have me ease the information into his head so that we can communicate without any problems. But he can’t handle that, remember?+~”

The unicorn flopped to the ground, her hooves splayed out as she continued floating the spoon of goop around in a circle. “~+What else can I do? Bonnie, why aren’t you helping me! Assist me Bonnie, assiiiiist meeee!”

As the two bickered at one another Anon sat there, hoping to understand the situation. Looking at the floating slop in the air he could feel his stomach grumble, a reminder they hadn’t fed him yet. It was clear the goop was edible, or at least he hoped it was. The mess didn’t look all that appetizing.

Picking up the container that sat on the ground full of the stuff he gave it a sniff, finding hints of what closely resembled exotic smelling vanilla and oranges. Scooping some out with his fingers, he gave it a lick. Pudding. The gloop was some strange form of pudding with a very creamy texture and hints of something very organic, none of that artificial stuff. A high-end attempt at a healthy alternative for the foodstuffs. He could certainly get used to it.

Something whacked him against the head, forcing Anon to drop the dish to the ground. “What the heck?!” he yelled out, rubbing his dome.

The bowl levitated from his reach, floating up to the cart beside him. A rolled-up piece of parchment glowing green was in the air, being directed by the unicorn. “~+No! Bad hooman! You don’t get any until you say the word.+~”

Out of everything he had been through, the horse would on occasion treat him like a common house pet. He was getting tired of it.

“~+Lyra, you didn’t feed the alien so it’s probably pretty hungry.”+~”

“~+No, he needs to learn how to say pudding before he gets any!+~”

Looking at the cart he could see a cup of water on it. He narrowed his eyes at the unicorn, lifting his hand toward the cup. ‘Treat me like a pet, I’ll start acting like one.’

The unicorn narrowed her own eyes, giving him a sharp whistle, “~+Don't. You. Dare.+~”

His hand slowly made its way to the cup, inch by inch—

“~+Keep your paw away from that water!+~”

—fingers tapping at the cup, teetering it away from him.

“~+If you don’t retract it right now Imma gonna bop ya!+~”

Anon looked at the unicorn, smirking at her.

“~+I’m warning you mister.+~”

Using a small amount of force, he tipped the glass, its contents now spilled across the cart.

The unicorn stared at the cup, then at his hand, and then at him. A large frown comically appeared on her face as the horse raised her paper, rearing it back at him. Thankfully, the other horse grabbed the scroll in the air, bopping the unicorn in the head in turn.

“~+Okay, you get a time out.+~”

“~+But he’s the one that spilled the water!+~”

“~+You’re at fault for not feeding it and making the alien grumpy. So here’s what’s going to happen. We’re going to give it the food and then we are going back downstairs to discuss how we should appropriately teach it. Got it?+~”

“~+What? No! I wanna stay here! I’ve still got some time to try and teach it some more words.+~”

The lab coat horse walked over to the unicorn and bit on the end of her tail, dragging her out of the room. The unicorn flopped down onto her stomach, trying to dig her hooves into the hardwood floor.

“~+Nooooo! I wanna stay and talk to the hoomaaan!+~” It now sounded like she was lyrically whining.

“~+It can’t even understand you! Now lock the door on our way out.+~”

The two exited the room with the unicorn chirruping something fierce the entire way out. The door clicked to a close, telling Anon it was locked once more. He shook his head at their antics. ‘Whoever decided to have them act like that was off their rocker.’

Looking back at the tray, he saw a small stack of eggs, as usual, along with the leftover pudding from before. He was getting tired of all the eggs, but it was better than them trying to feed him hay.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

“Let me go!”

“No!”

“Nyaaaa!!!!” Lyra wailed out in protest.

Bon Bon ignored her as she continued dragging the unicorn down the stairs, each thump meeting her stomach. Once in the living room, she threw Lyra in the air on the couch. Upon landing, Lyra sat up and crossed her front legs, letting out a harrumph, pouting.

“Lyra, you asked me to help assist you in your work. This is not the kind of work I was expecting to do.” Bon Bon walked to the couch, plopping herself beside Lyra. “I know you’re an intelligent mare, but you don’t know how to teach.”

“It’s not my fault that the stupid manuals don’t have anything on this.”

“I’ve been trying to help you all week and I, for the most part, had taken a backseat and doing what you asked of me, even when you had me doing some pretty stupid things. Like really, really stupid things. Things I disliked…” Lyra sheepishly grinned. She had been ordering her around to do things she was too lazy to do. “But I gotta be honest, what you’re doing is just not working.”

“Well, fine,” she muttered out. “What would you suggest I do?”

“I think we need to find somepony that can give us some advice on how to teach the alien.”

“Who could help us with that?”

“Well… there’s always Twilight—”

Lyra hissed at Bon Bon hearing the name.

‘How dare she mention that mare in your presence,’ her inner voice growled.

“Or we can talk to Cheerilee about this.”

She quickly calmed, thinking about the suggestion. Yes… that could work. Cheerilee knew a thing or two about teaching, what with her being a teacher after all.

“I suppose Cheerilee would be a good option.” Lyra jumped from the couch, heading toward the door. “I’ll head over to Cheerilee for some advice while you go out and get us some snacks!”

“Lyra, remember how I just said I disliked how you’ve been ordering me around on stupid errands?”

“Ugh, fiiine. I’ll get the snacks and you can talk to Cheerilee!”

“Wait, that’s not what I—”

Lyra already had the door slammed shut with her now hopping down the road to the market.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

“Uuuugh.”

‘Too, many, mango smoothies.’

Lyra was currently sitting on a bench, groaning from the nasty tummy ache she had. She wished that smoothie vendor hadn’t talked her into the very delicious smoothies. So there she was, sitting on a bench, waiting until the pain went away.

She watched as everypony walked by, giving her odd looks at how she sat.

‘What?’ her inner-voice spoke. ‘It’s a perfectly reasonable way to sit.’

Lyra nodded in agreement with that. She thought the ponies shouldn’t be judging her for picking a better sitting position. ‘Yeah, that’s right. Stop judging us!’

“Don’t you judge me!” she screamed, frightening a filly and her mother walking by. They gave her a look before speeding up their pace away from her.

A sigh escaped Lyra’s lips before she went back to sipping on her smoothie. ‘Why do you still have this stupid drink? It’s just gonna give you more tummy aches so maybe you should, I dunno, stop drinking it?’

Nope, Lyra continued slurping her drink. It’s as if the drink wouldn’t allow her to stop. ‘Stupid, delicious smoothies.’

As she lazed about, she spotted Fluttershy. She was trying to purchase something in the market, no doubt related to her furry friends. She had wanted to talk to her.

Jumping off her bench, her stomach lurched. She took a moment to wait for her stomach pains to ease before walking over to Fluttershy, levitating her bag of purchases and smoothie.

“Hey, Flutters,” Lyra called out.

Fluttershy jumped, her wings fluttering about. Noticing Lyra she let out a sigh, walking up to her. “Hello, Lyra. And how are you doing this afternoon?” she asked quietly.

“Not bad, not bad, just picking up some munchies for later on.” Lyra took another sip from her floating drink before turning back to Fluttershy.

“You’ll get a nasty tummy ache if you drink too much of that,” Fluttershy said worryingly.

‘I know, but I can’t stop.’ “Listen, I needed to tell you something after you left from the checkup this morning.”

“I apologize. I had a lot of errands that I had to attend to, such as getting more food for the animals.”

“That’s fine, I just need you to come by later tonight.”

Fluttershy looked around the sparse crowd for any eavesdroppers. “Is it about the… alien?” she asked in a hushed tone, failing to look inconspicuous.

“Yes, it is. Just come over tonight at your earliest convenience, we need your input on what you’ve been working on before we send our work off to the princess.”

“R, Right! I’ll do my best to help with whatever is needed.”

Slurping on her smoothie, Lyra thought if there was anything else she needed. Since Bon Bon was talking to Cheerilee, that left a lot of free time for her.

“…Hey Fluttershy, just how long are you going to be here?”

“Oh? I suppose a good while; there are a lot of great deals going on today. Why do you ask?”

“No reasons, no reason at all…”

Lyra chuckled to herself as she began to walk off, doing her best to ignore the pain in her stomach. She had time to kill. A nice little meet up with a certain long-eared rodent sounded like a good way to spend it.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

A loud slam could be heard downstairs, jolting Anon from his nap. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he stretched and sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for another round with the horses. He was getting used to them coming at odd hours of the day.

Hearing the clopping of hooves alerted him to their quick arrival, somewhat unusual but not unwelcome. What he hadn’t expected was to see the doorknob shaking, with the door banged up against repeatedly. He could hear what sounded like a kettle blasting steam from its spout on the other side. This troubled Anon. Why would the horses attempt to break down the door like this?

‘Unless it’s not them.’

Had someone found him? Is this a rescue attempt? Or had one of his captors decide to take action against Anon, for whatever reason they found? Perhaps they found his actions as of late to be lackluster for their pleasure and wanted to ramp things up, scare him a bit?

Then, the noises stopped. After a few seconds, he started to relax, thinking the intruder had given up. His worries grew exponentially when a new, grinding noise started. It sounded as if something was eating away at the door, or the doorknob to be precise, as he saw it rattling like crazy. He quickly stood up, fearing for the worst.

The grinding stopped; the doorknob wiggling before being sucked through the other side. The only place he could think of going was the bathroom to hide, but that would block him in even worse with less room to work with.

The door swung open, revealing the creamy coated horse with the lab coat. Anon, confused at the situation, looked at her, wondering why she had done that. He could see her lab coat was bulging with materials. She walked in the room cautiously, leaving the door ajar, unable to close properly without a doorknob. Looking past her, he also saw a bag on the floor with tools sticking out of it. Why did she do that? Where was the unicorn?

She walked over to where Anon and the unicorn typically sat down, staring at Anon. The horse seemed to be waiting on him for something. Getting the message, he slowly made his way to his normal spot, sitting down, staring at her cautiously.

“~+Guess I’m lucky enough Lyra hasn’t come back yet, I need to work fast,+~” the horse whistled before she took a seat. She then stared at Anon with a frown. “~+So, I don’t fully trust you yet, so you better keep to yourself or I’ll, I’ll do something.+~”

The horse paused, and then slapped herself in the face with a hoof. She then dug inside her coat, pulling out scrolls along with ink bottles and quills. Along with those came what appeared to be pictures. Not normal pictures, but ones with images that looked like they were taken with a Polaroid camera.

“~+I know you can’t understand me, so I’ll mostly be talking to myself. I find that completely fine, preferring my own company to most others, especially aliens like you.+~”

The horse dug around some more, coming out with sheets of paper filled with scribbled, unintelligible notes. “~+Let’s see here. Cheerilee said to try and find common ground between both parties, so those images should help. With Lyra likely to be upset when she gets back this had better work or so help me, I’m throwing you out the window, consequences be darned!+~”

She slid a piece of the scribbled paper over to Anon before sitting upright. He looked down at it, seeing cursive-like writing, evenly spaced out with each character. It looked like a sheet of music. Because, of course, it did.

He saw her shoving a stack of papers in his direction along with a quill and ink bottle, with an image of an apple. Right beside the apple was a string of cursive-like characters and an empty line right underneath it. The horse pointed at her, tapped the cursive, then pointed at him, and then the empty spot,

Anon immediately understood what she wanted. Dipping the quill in ink, he wrote down his word for apple. It wasn’t very clean, what with his difficulty using a quill. Finishing, he passed the paper back to her before he stared at their alphabet once again. Its squiggly, flowery writing appeared confusing at first, but he thought he could translate it if given time.

The horse thumped her hoof against the floor, gaining Anon’s attention. She passed another piece of paper over to him, this one with a tree on it. He could only wonder why he was being forced to translate a language as he continued writing down words with each page passed to him.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Over the past two hours, huge strides had been made. Although some things were difficult translating, it felt rather simple once he worked out the patterns. It at least offered him some chance of communicating with the horses.

As it turned out, the horses preferred to being called ponies. Because of course, they did. Whoever was controlling them certainly wanted to have things feel like a set display to a little girls show. They even had ridiculous names, of which he was able to translate.

“~+Bonnie!+~ Anon heard twittering out.

The lab-coated horse, named Bon Bon, jumped in the air before she turned to the door. There stood the unicorn, looking stunned, noticing the paper and work all over the ground. She then turned her sights back to Bon Bon, an angered expression appearing.

“~+We were supposed to do this together, Bonnie! Why didn’t you wait for me?+~”

“~+W, Wait,+~” Bon Bon sung out, standing up and backing away, “~+I can explain!+~”

Anon, while not understanding them, could see that the unicorn wasn’t happy with whatever had happened. Did she not want him to learn? But she had been attempting to teach him on a prior occasion, so that couldn’t be it.

Looking at the situation, it appeared she was about to throw a tantrum. He still wasn’t sure just why they were acting in such a manner. Did the person controlling them think it was entertaining?

Seeing that he needed to help diffuse the situation, he grabbed a piece of paper and quickly scribbled down a simple greeting he hoped translated properly to ‘Hello, Lyra’. Perhaps if he could show that he had learned something it could help calm it down.

Anon waved the paper in the air, hoping to gain her attention. Seeing him the unicorn scrunched her face up, levitating the paper right out of his hands with eyes squinted at his butchered attempt at writing their language.

The unicorn immediately flipped her behavior. “~+EEEEEH! Bonnie, he knows how to spell my name!+~”

Bon Bon dropped her head with a sigh of relief as the unicorn rolled around the ground in glee.

“~+Yes, I had been teaching him how to write our language with what Cheerilee told me. I even got him to learn my name.+~” She then passed a piece of paper to Anon, pointing at herself. “~+My name, write my name. Myyyy naaaame.+~”

Anon already figured that she wanted him to write her name. After looking at the paper by him with their translated language, he attempted to write her name down as well.

The smiling unicorn grabbed the paper from him, eager to see his work. Her smile disappeared only for a moment, now replaced with a smirk and what sounded like snickering. Bon Bon looked confused. “~+What’s wrong? He did spell my name, right?+~”

“~+O-oh yes, quite clearly Bam Bam.+~”

The pony grabbed the paper from her, examining it. She clicked her tongue, grabbing a new piece of paper that she shoved toward Anon. “~+No, do it again like I taught you.+~”

Anon wasn’t sure he remembered how to spell her name, even with the paper. More work would be needed. He wrote down the pony’s name once more before he handed it to Lyra.

It read Bam Bam.

Lyra couldn’t stop from letting a loud, squeaky chirp from slipping out as Bon Bon looked at the paper, fuming with anger. Bon Bon paused before she closed her eyes, letting out a slow, controlled breath to calm herself.

“~+Okay, it’s obvious its intelligence isn’t that high so it needs more practice. So let’s try this once more.+~” She grabbed more paper, slipping a piece to Anon before she grabbed her quill for her paper.

“~+B, O, N, B, O, N.+~” The horse pointed at the letters repeatedly, trying to drill the work into his head.

The pony nodded her head, content with his work. “~+Now… wriite myy naamuuh+~”

Nodding his head, Anon wrote her name down before he passed it over for Lyra and Bon Bon to look at.

It read Bam Bam.

Anon simply couldn’t help himself, finding it too amusing. Lyra burst with laughter as Bon Bon stiffened. Lyra dropped to the ground, her warbling guffaws unable to be controlled. Bon Bon looked at Anon and then turned around, heading straight to the window. She then grabbed a piece of the wood, attempting to rip it off.

“~+W-W-W-What are you doing?+~” Lyra wheezed out with a whistle, seeing what Bon Bon was doing.

“~+I’m, eeeerg, going to throw, yeeeergh, that alien… OUT THIS WINDOW!+~”

“~+Nyoooo!+~” Lyra squealed, her laughter now turned to a light giggling. “~+You need to tell me how to teach him to say pudding instead!+~”

The unicorn tried pulling Bon Bon away, who held onto a board attached to the window. “~+GRAAAAAHHH!!!~+~”

‘Maybe I shouldn’t have done that,’ Anon thought, watching the scene before him. But with how dry his days had been recent, he needed to find something to amuse himself with.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

‘Darn Bonnie, trying to do things by herself! Ooh!’ Lyra was upset at her going ahead with teaching him before she could get back.

‘It was also annoying having you repair the doorknob.’

‘Stupid Bonnie, I should’ve made her put it back up.’

‘She did do some good work, teaching him so quickly. The ‘human’ as we now know, is already picking up how to write our language. He might even be able to teach himself on his own time.’

‘He does seem very intelligent.’

She turned to her friend who was writing down what had transpired in her report. A great deal of progress had been made, just as the reports were due to be sent. Sending a semi-complete working of the human’s language was the icing on the cake. They only had Fluttershy’s work left to add before sending off.

A light knocking on the door could be heard. “Right on time,” Lyra said. “Come in!”

Fluttershy walked in, looking worried. “I’m very sorry for not coming sooner. I was held up because I couldn’t find Angel anywhere! It took a while but I found him climbed up in a tree and having wrapped himself in a lot of rope. I don’t know why he would do such a thing.”

Lyra chuckled to herself. ‘Worth spending two hours there.’

“It’s cool, I’m just glad you made it right before we sent our work on Anon to the princess.”

“Anon?” Fluttershy blankly looked at the two. “Oh! Is that the alien’s name? It sure is strange sounding.”

“That’s because he’s an aaaliieeen!” Lyra strained.

Fluttershy giggled as she pulled out a folder out of her side pack, “I hope this is everything you needed. You should take a look at it to make sure everything is fine for the princess.”

Levitating the folder, Lyra looked through it, seeing a very thorough amount of work on the human. She even saw some diagrams on his body, along with drawn images of things like his ears and teeth.

“That’s awesome, Flutters! After all this, I’ll make sure you’re credited so you can get paid for your work. Why you could even become famous for this!”

Fluttershy blushed from your praise before picking up something she wasn’t too pleased to hear. “F, Famous?”

“Well, yeah. Everypony is going to know about you and your work after this eventually gets published to the public.” Or at least, Lyra expected that to happen eventually.

Fluttershy seemed alarmed. ‘Ah, right, she’s not one for being in the spotlight,’ her inner voice said.

“I d-don’t meant to be rude, but I don’t want a repeat of the modeling thing, so i-if you could leave me out of—”

“You were a model?”

“EEP!” Fluttershy clamped a hoof over her mouth, regretting her previous words.

Bon Bon turned away from her work, now giving Lyra a frown. “Didn’t you see those magazines that were published a while back? She was on the cover of them. There were even quite a few posters of her. She still has a small following, hoping for more work from her.”

“I wasn’t paying attention, don’t exactly read fashion magazines. But now that you mention it…”

Fluttershy started to turn red, fidgeting at the unwanted attention and praise. Lyra sighed, looking down at the papers she had given her. It seemed wrong to take credit from someone else.

“I don’t like the idea of claiming I’m the one doing this work, Flutters.”

“It’s fine! Really. I’m just glad to have helped at all. Seeing a new species, even one not from our planet, was rewarding enough.”

“You could just say that it came from an anonymous source that didn’t want to be named, for now, Lyra,” Bon Bon said.

Lyra thought that over for a moment. “That might work, so long as the princess doesn’t directly ask. Okay, I’ll try that, but if the princess asks I can’t hold the information back.”

“R, Right. That works,” Fluttershy said with a smile. “I should be getting back to my animals, I still need to feed them and, um…”

“Right, right. Thanks for the help once again, Flutters.”

She nodded before exiting the door, once more leaving Lyra and Bon Bon to their work. Lyra started to make a copy of Fluttershy’s portion for the princess, taking the original copy and storing it away. Lyra soon found herself immersed in her work, scribbling away, making sure it was all neatly documented.

“Hey, Lyra.”

Said mare jolted, messing up on the current paper she was working on. Looking at it, she could see a nice, large ink smudge. She let out a sigh, grabbing a new piece of paper and setting the destroyed work aside.

“Sorry about that, just wanted to show you something.”

“What time is it?” Lyra asked.

“It’s been about an hour since Fluttershy had come by.”

‘Wow, time went by really quick for you.’

“I was finished with the paperwork, so I was going through some of your stuff to help arrange it a little and saw some of your old books.” Lyra looked at a box beside Bon Bon, seeing the school books she had from the academy.

“I nearly forgot I had those. What exactly did you want to show me?”

Bon Bon passed a thick book over to Lyra. The Creatures of Yesteryear could be read on the cover. Lyra remembered that book; it was a part of her lessons studying on different creatures and beings. She could barely remember anything from it, the material dry and boring, not what she expected from a book with such a great title. Not many ponies are issued such books either, so when she found out she was one of the rare few to get a copy, her excitement went into the trash finding the book so bland to read.

“Page four-hundred and nine,” Bon Bon told her.

Turning to said page, Lyra could see a bipedal creature that eerily resembled the human, only with more hair and brightly colored. “Oh wow! That’s neat!” Lyra said while looking over the descriptions.

There wasn’t a lot of information about the creature, which Lyra found odd. There was a surprising amount of stern warnings regarding the being, yet no information about its life or what it was? All it had were a few sparse details on it.

“I should add this in,” Lyra decided. “We could use this as a good reference point for a species that used to live on our planet. Good find, Bonnie.”

Lyra made copies of the pages from the book, adding them alongside some nice, clear images of the human posing.

Examining the entry once more, Lyra looked at the title on the creature’s name. “The Bleuh Bleuh Bleuh?”

“Yeah.”

Something was tugging on the back of her head reading that name, something really important…

Sadly, it had slipped away. Silly as the name was, she made sure to write it down beside the human species. It would take another hour for Lyra to work over the document, packing it all up neatly to send the princess.

“Aright, everything’s ready for the delivery! Wanna read it before I send it off?”

“Nah, I’m good!” Lyra heard yelled from the kitchen.

Walking to her lantern, she slipped the papers inside, watching it condense into its magical form for takeoff. She didn’t expect a reply for a good while, likely not until the next day. Hopefully, it would come along with the bits she requested.

“Lyra, I made you a sandwich!”

Lyra walked in the kitchen, ready to devour the sandwich with gusto. She always did make the best sandwiches, making sure to add extra mayonnaise. Who doesn’t like extra mayo with their tomatoes?

After eating, the two of them sat down on the couch, discussing things they could be doing with Anon and his lessons when the lantern started kicking about. Lyra looked over at it, seeing a scroll had been deposited from it.

“Didn’t you just send that a little while ago?” Bon Bon asked. “That’s a quick response from them.”

“Yeah… it is.” Another shake and the lantern dumped out a bag that clanged against the holder. “And she sent the bits! Alright, now we have money for clothes and food!” Bon Bon cleared her throat. “I didn’t forget about you either silly.”

She nodded as Lyra went over to pick up the heavy bag. Deciding to look at that later, she opened the scroll, reading it out loud for Bon Bon and herself. It was mostly a formality on how the two of them (three if she included the unnamed helper) were doing a good job on their work, along with other manners such as the bits.

Lyra started to slow down, noticing an oddity. “That’s weird. The last part is written with a block around it.”

Bon Bon merely shrugged. “Maybe it’s just something she felt was important enough she wanted to make sure she had your attention on it?”

“Huh. It’s concerning the Bleuh Bleuh Bleuh. Weird.”

‘Well, whatever,’ her inner voice said. ‘It surely can’t be that bad, right?’

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There she was, getting ready to sleep after her royal duties were finished for the day when she felt a spell directed at her. Princess Celestia hadn’t felt anything malicious from the magic, so she waited for it to form to see what was being sent. She quickly recognized it as a transportation spell, one with similar flames to Spike the dragon. ‘Why is Twilight sending me a letter so late tonight? Did something occur?’

“Oh!”

Princess Celestia saw a tightly bound folder along with a single scroll that she caught in the air with a spell, immediately noticing the seal of a sun servant placed on them, quickly realizing it was Lyra. While late in the day, it was better than receiving it in the morning.

“If I hurry, I might be able to get Luna in on this update.”

Taking the scroll, she looked at it, seeing it was a simple rundown on things that Lyra had done. Celestia, while wanting to get her sister, was too curious to leave just yet, wanting to know what the next session in this scenario would entail.

“Interesting. They’re having difficulties teaching it to speak our language, so they’ve turned to teach it to write.”

Celestia grew curious just why they went with that. She saw that Lyra had indeed requested bits, needing funds to help supply food, clothing, and outside help. ‘I’ll look to see if her request is reasonable,’ the princess thought to herself, gathering the papers.

Getting up from her bed, she proceeded to leave her room, two guards following behind respectively. Entering the throne room, she saw her sister sitting there, talking to a bat pony that she typically dealt with during the nights. It was rare for Celestia to interact with the nocturnal equines. As it were, they made up a majority of Luna’s forces, and while smaller than her own, hers was more diverse with other beings. She even managed to get griffons in her guard, how quaint.

Celestia waited to enter once the conversation ended and the pony left, the two guards standing outside the entrance.

Luna turned to her sister, an eyebrow raised. “Hello, sister. We, I had thought I sensed your presence. How are you doing this evening?”

“My evening so far has been quite well, thank you for asking.”

“Sorry if I sound too direct, but why you’re still awake during these hours? Is there something important you need my services in?”

“No, nothing of the sorts,” Celestia confessed. “Just as I was lying down, another scenario had arrived for us.”

Luna perked up hearing that. Walking down from her seat, she motioned one of her guards over to her. It was another bat pony, a unique armor signifying a Captain. Whispering something to the pony, Celestia could see the look of surprise on their faces. Celestia’s sister nodded to the guard as it made its way up to the throne, sitting down. Luna walked up to Celestia, noticing her surprised reaction.

“Well, you did say that I should try and change with the times. So I am, as our subjects would say, shaking things up.”

Celestia still felt gobsmacked at this action. This is not what she had meant by change and she was very certain Luna knew of that.

For just a moment, Celestia saw a mirthful expression out of the corner of her eyes. ‘So it’s like that,’ Celestia thought, keeping her face as calm as she could.

Luna gave Celestia a smirk hidden behind a gentle smile, having already seen the reaction she wanted off her sister. “Why, there’s nothing to worry, dearest sister. He is only there to stave off any visitors in my absence while I am away with you.”

“How… creative of you to think of such a thing,” Celestia replied, not wanting to indulge Luna. “Since that’s been dealt with, let us head off to our work.”

Her sister gave Luna another smile, “Lets.”

The two of them walked down the halls toward their study, two sets of day and night guards following closely behind them. Reaching their study, the guards stood their watch outside the door. Upon entering she levitated the scroll to Luna. She started reading as Celestia sat herself down, getting herself comfortable.

“So, she is asking for bits,” Luna hummed. “Even though we allowed requesting, I did not think she would do so. Should we refuse?”

Celestia shook her head, “No, I see no reason not to. She’s gained the assistance of her friend named Bon Bon, along with another that would like to remain unnamed.”

“How curious hearing that.”

“Indeed. Along with that, the bits are for ‘feeding’ and ‘clothing’ the alien. The anonymous pony is helping them figure out the alien’s dietary needs and using old fashioned work to create some diagrams of the creature's body. They will also be acquiring someone’s assistance later for creating clothing as it’s body requires constant coverings. Bits are also needed for anything that might come up they aren’t sure how to deal with but within reason.”

Princess Luna read some of the reports, thinking about her sister's words. “I am still uncertain with trusting the unicorn with these bits, sister.”

“It is fine, I doubt she would try any conning in her work.” Celestia opened the document, showing Luna its contents. “She’s not the type to just try and steal like that. And look, it seems they were arduous in their work.”

Luna examined what was shown to her. The two of them started splitting up the document, reading it in sections together as they conversed on the scenario. Celestia was having a great deal of enjoyment with Luna.

Starting on the portion of the diagram of the folder, titled Health and Biology, Luna frowned. Celestia paused, looking at her sister as she flipped over her pages, looking at the images she had floating beside them.

“How strange; there is something familiar about what I am seeing, but for the life of me… I cannot trace my memory for what it may be.”

Her interest peaked, Celestia turned from her work and slid over to her sister's side to get a look at what Luna had floating in front of her. ‘Oh how lovely, it seems Lyra also had images taken of the alien! They were very clear this time around, allowing her to see the alien in－’

Her thoughts ceased, seeing the images beside another set, displaying a being she had all but forgotten about.

A scream ripped out of her throat. She threw the floating document away from the two, her back flinging away from the table and the horrible images. Celestia’s heart was beating at an irregular pace as Luna stood staring at her sister, clearly seeing something had upset her sister but unable to say why.

Hearing noises outside the door, Luna quickly used her magic, keeping it closed. Thanks to her quick actions, the guards were unable to tear the door down. They continuously banged up against it, trying to force it open. Celestia was thankful for her sister; she didn’t want the guards to see her like this.

“PRINCESS! IS EVERYTHING ALRIGHT?!” More banging could be seen hitting the door.

“We are fine, you may return to your posts,” Luna ordered them.

A pause of silence occurred before the two sisters heard what sounded like an argument happening outside the door, then more banging. Luna seemed pained from their lack of respect for her orders.

Celestia, trying to collect herself, spoke as clearly as she could, “Guards! Do as you’re ordered! Now, return to your posts!”

The banging stopped after hearing Celestia’s voice. It was quite obvious that it was her guards, not Luna’s, which continued to bang on the door. Even so, their lack of taking orders was not surprising. Celestia may have just gotten her sister back, but it was still apparent some of her guards did not trust her. That’s something she’d have to deal with another time, but for now, she needed to talk to her sister. Luna had a worried expression, focused once more on Celestia.

“Sister, are you alright? What happened to frighten you so?”

Luna’s worry made Celestia happy she cared enough to ask. Standing up, she slowly made her way back at the table, staring down at the document now strewn about. She sighed, levitating everything back in order before looking at her sister.

“Luna… do you perhaps remember the Bleuh Bleuh Bleuh?”

Luna had a curious expression, “No, I can’t say I do.”

Celestia dropped her head down, another sigh escaping her. “I can’t blame you for not remembering. They only came out typically during the daytime, and at first, that was it. They slowly ramped up their actions over time. They were… creations of Discord from long ago.”

She looked down at the pictures, giving her chills along her spine. “He had created them to help him spread chaos of their choosing across the land.” Celestia paused, calming herself before she continued. “They were too good at their jobs. Discord, when I confronted him, admitted they went beyond what he had intended. Things got out of hoof for even him; so much destruction and chaos came from them.”

The chaotic creatures were one of the few things to truly scare Celestia in her long-lived life. They could turn the simplest, most innocent of things into something so horrific, so maddening. Anything they came into contact with was soon tainted with their horrid, black chaos.

“All our little ponies were afraid to do much during the day. But soon, the creatures turned to the night, finding more enjoyment in their work during then.”

Luna’s head popped up at that, “I remember now. That was the start of when so many of our ponies started to stray from my night.”

Celestia nodded her head in acknowledgment. “You only remember a small portion of it since their night raids lasted a very short time, near their end. I, we had agreed to not interfere with one another’s affairs during then, which is why I kept so much of it from you. I deeply regretted that decision.”

Her sister lowered her head, nudging herself beside Celestia in a hug in an attempt to make her feel better. Celestia reciprocated in kind, feeling her fear ebbing away.

“How did you manage to get rid of them?” Luna asked, sitting back up.

“That, once more, was because of Discord. As much as he adores chaos, this was not what he wanted. He felt terrible seeing just what his creations were capable of. So, he helped me sweep across the lands, gathering them all up until the two of us could properly banish them away. Of course, I then used the elements on Discord before he could flee.”

She remembered Discord barely put up a fight that day. She still remembered his roaring laughter at the transformation, all the while trying to force an imposing pose; always a being for dramatics, that one. The draconequus felt bad about what he had done, as Celestia saw. And if it wasn’t for those beings he had created, she wouldn’t have felt a need to keep him locked up.

It wasn’t as if he had meant to hurt anything. He was somewhat enjoyable to have around from time to time, causing some fun scenes here and there. If only he wouldn’t get into so much trouble all the time.

Luna looked at the documents, thinking about what she was told. “Do you think Lyra knew of this before she sent her work to you?”

“…It’s a possibility,” the princess admitted. “Out of anypony I know in this day and age, she would be one of the few to know of such creatures. Though, I am quite surprised she found enough information to know of such things.” Celestia rubbed her eyes with magic, feeling tired from the night’s events. “From everything I know of her, I imagine she may have sent this over as a test of sorts.”

“A test? Surely not!”

“I meant in testing our work in this scenario, nothing more sister. It’s quite possible that, because she knew of my prior association with them, she wanted to look beyond its image and continue dealing with this.”

“Or maybe she wants you to look beyond that? She sent you enough similarities between this ‘alien’ and a past menace. An alien that may very well have nothing to do with this, yet there’s enough of a relation to give one pause and think. You should not set things aside and give this being the benefit of the doubt.”

Celestia thought about her sister's words. “Yes, that is true as well. It might be both those things, and something else. But right now, I’m seeing a challenge that Lyra has just issued us in dealing with this ‘alien’.”

A smile could be seen growing on Luna’s face. “I do hope that means you’re going to reply accurately to this supposed threat.”

“Oh yes sister, I most surely am,” Celestia replied with a smile to match her sisters. “Why, it would be seen as rude if I did not come up with... an appropriate response to this.”

Her actions could stop this scenario sooner than she’d like, but she was NOT going to let this stand without proper retaliation. Especially with Luna being involved.

The two of them read the rest of the documents, looking over everything they were sent as most of their talks were set aside. Finishing, they took out a scroll, Luna neatly writing their acknowledgment on her work and some proper feedback. She started with the acceptance of bits and the usual congratulatory filler areas of their ‘teaching’.

“So, just how should we address the alien situation?” Luna asked.

“Why the alien and the Bleuh Bleuh Bleuh do seem to resemble one another fairly well, don’t you agree?” Celestia paused, taking a moment to herself. “It’s too similar for my liking. That ‘alien’ could be related to them somehow, and that makes them a possible danger if such a relation was true. So we need to set up precautions in making sure the safety of our ponies is met.”

“And if this ‘Anon’ is not proven safe?” Luna asked.

Celestia smiled at those words, which Luna returned in kind. Oh, how much fun it is to bond.

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“—alien known as ‘Anon’ must be proven within two weeks not a danger to our ponies in the manner previously stated. If not, the alien will have to be…”

Lyra choked on her words, feeling faint. The color drained from her face, reading the last few words. Bon Bon looked at her with worry.

“What does it say, Lyra?” Bon Bon asked in a hushed tone.

Lyra gulped air, looking at the scroll once more. “If not… It will have to be b-b-banished… or terminated, for the protection of our subjects… and all of Equestria.”

~End Chapter Four~

Chapter Five - Innocence Is Always Inconspicuous

The dark, cold draft of the night flew through the open room that housed two doleful ponies. A broken window littered the ground with glass, allowing the biting wind in. Papers cluttered the floor with ink blots spewed across the walls, a couch flipped over, along with a mountain of boxes trampled around. Off in the corner, a single book stood out, or what once appeared as a book; charred remains were all that was left, smoke wafting from the ashes. Only a single, dim light of yellow gave away what happened, originating from an untouched kitchen.

Near where the boxes of forgotten junk and past memories were, there could be seen a pile of shredded blankets, shuddering about. A unicorn laid in the middle with her back turned away from the room, curled up. The convulsing gasps of Lyra’s raspy breathes were the only audible sound left.

In the middle of the hazard zone stood Bon Bon, staring at her friend with worry. She had attempted to calm her down yet could not find the words to do so. The tantrum produced a wild side the candy-pony had never seen in her friend; it was the first time she had seen anyone truly threaten a princess.

She could understand her anger. Lyra herself had devoted a great deal to the princess, going to great lengths to keep the sun princess content. Any requests from the princess, no matter how strange and dangerous, and she had done her best to complete them.

For Lyra to have seen the letter sent from the princess, it must have torn her apart.

Looking at her tear-stricken friend, she could see her having calmed down. Her crying had slowly ceased to a low whining, accompanied by an occasional sniffle. Readying herself for whatever may come, she waded through the sea of torn devotion to help a friend in need.

Twitching of the unicorn’s ears gave away her friend's movements; flattening her ears down couldn’t muffle the clicking hooves on the hardwood floor making their way to her. Staring down at the unicorn, she could see the red, puffy eyes that gathered tears, pattering in droplets that pooled on the floor. Bon Bon sat down, pushing herself close to the mare. Noticing the close proximity, Lyra reached her head upon a welcoming shoulder, tears flowing freely. Bon Bon simply sat there, allowing her as much time as was needed, rubbing Lyra’s back in reassurance.

A hiccup, a small winding of air, and Lyra spoke, “W-Why would the p-princess want to do this?”

Taking a moment of silence, to allow some clearing of the air, Bon Bon responded, “Princess Celestia is only looking out for her ponies, for us. It’s a hard position to be in, having to choose such hard decisions.” Lyra shoved her head further into Bon Bon, a softened sobbing her reply. “We have some time to help show that it’s not a threat to us, at least directly. How long do we have, Lyra?”

Lyra took in a gulp of air before replying. “T-Two weeks…”

‘It that really enough time to judge something like this, with something that can’t properly communicate with us?’

Bon Bon wasn’t sure of their odds against time, but she would continue to stay optimistic, if only for Lyra.

“Okay, so here what we’re going to do. I’m going to set my bed up so you can get some rest. In the morning, we are going to do our best to show the alien is not a danger to us.”

“…But how?” Lyra questioned, her words muffled in Bon Bon’s shoulder.

‘That’s a good question. Just how do we go about proving its innocence?’

“I’m not entirely sure,” she answered truthfully. “But I figure with you on the job, we’re certain to find a way. You… you’ll think of something. You always do.”

Bon Bon can feel the Lyra slumped over her shoulder, her exhaustion setting in. A glance revealed her nodding off. Bon Bon slid her up to her hooves and helped her move forward toward her bedroom.

Setting her down, Bon Bon sighed. Taking her time, she deactivated any trap that was left in her room lest her friend trip into one waking up. Walking out, she helped the barely conscious Lyra to her bed. She immediately slumped to the side, passed out. Bon Bon threw on additional comforters to keep her warm.

Standing by the door, she looked back at Lyra’s disheveled form. Her breathing was at a steady pace, yet wheezed out from its overuse. Bon Bon, thinking on what was needed, thought the next two weeks were going to be a major pain. But she would toughen it out for Lyra.

Not that she cared too much about how the alien ended up, she was more concerned about Lyra than the things predicament. Lyra’s been her best and closest friend for as long as she could remember, practically family to her… a pony she treasured dearly. And friends like that stuck with one another to the bitter end.

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“Uuuugh.” Bon Bon could feel her body aching, dealing with the last night’s troubles.

It was an exhausting job, cleaning up all the glass and broken objects. It took even longer rearranging everything to a more presentable manner. After everything was finished, she was just too tired to make it to her bed. Plopping down on the couch seemed like a good idea at the time, but now she had quite the sore back.

“How does she deal with sleeping on this thing?”

Getting up, she cracked her back, feeling a draft from the boarded window. She’d have to call maintenance for the window, as soon as Lyra could handle being on her own. Bon Bon let out a grunt before she slipped her lab coat on, making her way to the kitchen, intent on fixing Lyra and herself a nice, big breakfast.

Balancing a plate on her back and another in her clenched teeth, she deftly made her way up to her room. Once in, she saw Lyra still asleep, a slight snore whistling out. A few strays of light shined through the partially covered window to help light up the room. Bon Bon could see Lyra had herself balled up with the bedding's rolled around her.

“Hey, Lyra,” Bon Bon softly said. “Time to get up. I have food for you.”

Ears twitching to the sound of her voice, Lyra started to stir. The two of them were fairly light sleepers, so it didn’t take much to wake her up. She stretched her legs and body out while yawning. Looking at Bon Bon, Lyra sat up, spotting the food.

“Are you feeling better?” Bon Bon asked, watching Lyra take a bite of her jammy, buttered toast.

Mid-chew, Lyra tilted her head to the side in thought before lightly nodding back.

Lyra spoke through her sore throat, “Did you remember to feed Anon?”

‘Ah crap!’ Bon Bon berated herself, she knew she forgot something!

“Uh, y-yeah! I have the alien’s food right here!” she answered with a smile, pointing at her own plate of food.

Lyra smiled at her, going back to her food. She took a few more bites at her own food before stopping mid-bite once more. “Aren’t you going to feed him?”

Bon Bon, with a forced smile, picked up her plate and walked out. Her smile dropped once she knew Lyra wasn’t looking; a twitch in her left eye could be felt. Walking up to the door, Lyra formed a quick spell to unlock and open the door. The alien was already awake and sitting on the ground, looking over the papers from before

‘I must have forgotten to take some of this back out with me yesterday before we left.’

Anon looked at her, having already heard the door open, noticing the plate in her mouth. She could clearly see its eyes widening, a small smile appearing on its face. Taking the quill in its soft digits, it scribbled something down before giving it to her. A somewhat legible ‘thank you’ was offered to her; it seemed to be picking things up quickly.

She nodded at the alien before returning to Lyra’s side by the bed. Her stomach grumbled quietly as she stared at Lyra’s half-eaten plate of food.

‘I was really looking forward to that jammy toast.’

“Okay,” Bon Bon started, ignoring the delectable smells. “I’ve been thinking of some ways to prove this alien is harmless. The few ideas that I came up with don’t seem to be in line with what the princess will allow, such as allowing him outside and meeting with other ponies.

“I was thinking we can get around her restrictions by simply having ponies come to us. We introduce the alien, keep things under control, and it should at the very least give us some extension, if not outright removing any issues of it staying. What do you think of this?”

Staring back at her friend, her eye could be felt twitching once again, seeing her attention elsewhere. Turning to what was holding her attention, Bon Bon’s face fell. A mental scream tore through her, realizing she had forgotten to close the door holding the alien. Worse, it held the silverware that was on the plate. The only saving grace being the alien was too enraptured in eating its food to realize the door was open.

“Eeeeeh…” Bon Bon heard mumbling from her friend.

Turning back, she noticed an eerie smile. She knew what that smile meant; Lyra’s about to do something very, very stupid. Bon Bon hoped whatever was running through her head wasn’t too dangerous.

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A yawn escaped Anon, rubbing his bleary eyes. The previous night was a tiring ordeal for him, the noise keeping him up. He had the bed overturned, giving him some form of barricade should the rowdiness decide to pay him a visit.

Having fixed the bed early in the morning, he had taken to working on the paperwork left behind by the two ponies. He made a personal vow to choke whoever made him learn such a thing. Just who comes up with a language that uses whistles and music sheets?

That was all set to the side the moment the pony named Bon Bon walked in, placing a plate of food down. A full-fledged meal with hash browns and an omelet, even including utensils of all things. He wasn’t sure what he had done to be offered such things.

Speaking of such things, they had left the door wide open. Looking out, he could see the unicorn and science-pony up on a bed, squeaking and whistling to one another. The unicorn was simply staring at him. Anon gave a wave, wondering where they were going with this.

‘Did they seriously make a whole house and give the two ponies their own rooms?’

Taking another bite of this toast, he could hear a low-whining coming from the unicorn. It slowly crawled out of its bed, past her bewildered assistant, flopping to the ground in a thudding head first. Anon winced seeing that, wondering how much that would cost them in repairs. Picking herself up she shook her head, walking up to Anon, the other pony following close behind.

The unicorn looked at him, her eyes quickly directed to the ground full of papers. “~+You left him with the papers?+~” she tweeted, her voice skipping like a scratched record. “~+Good idea! He can do his own studying while we’re away now! We just need to make sure he has enough materials to continue on when we’re not here.+~”

Bon Bon twittered, looking to the ground with a forced smile. “~+So what exactly were you thinking when you saw, well, whatever it was you saw?+~”

“~+Well… I noticed you left both our doors open, and that let off a lot of alarms in my head. What if he had escaped? And he even had a fork! He could have done something with that, right? But look! He hadn’t even tried to stab you when your back was turned!+~”

Whatever the unicorn said made Bon Bon fidget about, looking at Anon warily. “~+R, Right… your point?+~”

“~+Okay, so hear me out. The way I see it, we need to show he’s not a danger. So why not make it so we introduce dangerous substances to him! We can record everything we do and, with enough work, paint him in a manner that would show he’s not as dangerous as the princess think he is!+~”

The only thing Anon got out of that was the word ‘dangerous’, a familiar word that the lab pony had provided to him as she continuously used it the other day teaching him. ‘What’s dangerous? Are they going to do something dangerous to me?’

“~+Lyra, that might be a bit too dangerous, don’t you think?+~”

“~+It’s not like we have anything else we can do with the restrictions the princess gave us. Besides getting other ponies in on this. I mean, it’s a start.+~”

“~+Yeah, I suppose.+~”

Anon slowly took a bite of his omelet, keeping an eye on the two. Whatever Lyra had planned, he felt he was going to regret it. Best to enjoy his meal before they started.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

As luck would have it, his initial assumption was way off. All they had done was place items around the room: a dresser, a rug, even a desk full of papers, inks, and quills. That didn’t stop them from adding more worrisome things to that list, such as a full set of knives. It was a frightening thing to have the ponies simply giving him such things. All he could do was stare at the two ponies, wondering why they would do such things. Were they testing him? Screwing with him? Likely, both.

In all likelihood, they wanted to show how little of a threat he was, considering he was up against autonomous, mechanical horses. Here, have this wonderfully high-risk cutlery that could hurt someone if used in such a manner. As if he would do such a thing. How much clearer did they have to be that he was no threat to them?

Having gone through a round of ‘gift-giving’, they left him to be in the now furnished room, sitting at the desk in a chair much too small for him, learning an aggravating language of lyrical melodies as they continued to pass him items slowly over the day.

Learning enough of their language, he felt confident enough to ask some questions. Queries on why they were holding him in the room or how they were performing their levitation acts were put off, feeling his captives wouldn’t share such information. Asking them about their current actions would do for the time being.

Carefully writing it down, he handed the paper to them. Lyra’s horn glowed, her green aura levitating it to her. Reading it, her previous smile dropped. Bon Bon looked at it before whinnying.

“~+Should we tell him about what’s going on with the princess?+~”

Taking a shaky gulp of air, the unicorn looked like she was about to cry. A mistake, it seemed, asking her such a question. Grabbing some paper, Lyra scribbled a reply. Bon Bon read it, letting out what clearly sounded like a tea kettle groaning. Being given the note, Anon had difficulty working out what it read. He had to cross-reference the note to translate it, the ponies remaining patient, taking considerable time just to work out the single sentence.

**I just wanted to prove that you can be friendly and trustful.**

He hummed to himself, figuring it was something like that. Everything was simply a test, holding him in the room, seeing how far they could go and what he’d do. Perhaps the people holding him wanted a willing test subject, showing him glimpses of what they had. Something felt off, in the back of his mind, a tickling sensation that he wasn’t seeing something that felt almost too outlandish to consider.

“~+Lyra, could you not have chosen a better excuse?+~

“~+It’s sort of true Bon Bon. An alien pops up for the first time in, like ever, and I want to be his friend!+~

“~+I don’t think it’s a good idea to get too close to it, Lyra. And even though I don’t really agree with the princess, we don’t know if he’s here for something that could harm us in some manner.+~”

“~+He, he wouldn’t do anything wrong…+~”

“~+Lyra, a mysterious being comes up out of the blue for no reason? No matter how you look at it, that just doesn’t seem right.+~” Lyra frowned at whatever Bon Bon had chirped. “~+The princesses have been around for a long time, they’re more knowledgeable in these kinds of things. They’re probably considering him dangerous enough to warrant those threats.+~”

The unicorn’s ears flattened against her head, looking away. “~+For all we know, he might just be acting complacent until he can get out of sight and take over the world, or something else equally as vile!~+” Bon Bon shook her head. “~+Why would we even believe he would want to be our friend right now? We’ve kept him locked in a room over a week, poking and prodding him without much thought. Would you be quick to befriend somepony who did that?+~”

The unicorn looked upset, a small whimper being heard. Bon Bon, noticing Lyra’s reaction, only now realized her melodic words weren’t helping things. To Bon Bon, she knew that she was only trying to reassure her own thoughts. To Anon, he only heard garbled whistles and tunes, incapable of knowing what was really going on. Before Bon Bon could try fixing the situation she made, the unicorn levitated some of the materials surrounding Anon, startling him. Writing a note, she placed it down in front of Anon to read.

He slowly started translating, trying his best to ignore the unicorns watering eyes. Why would they create these things with such emotions? How did they even go about creating such an AI?

Ignoring such questions, Anon looked at the translated note in full: **You are not here to take over our world, are you ?**

His mind had blanked out. What a ridiculous question to ask. How was it related to him being tested? Were they simply testing how he’d answer, to see how far he’d gotten with his language skills? Or was he missing something else pertaining to everything he’d been going through?

Letting out a sigh, he wrote down his reply for her, taking his time to write as cleanly as he could before handing it over.

**No not here to take world**

He had to save time writing additional words, finding it difficult to write them with ease. Anon could only hope the message was legible enough for them to understand. Lyra frowned, pointing at her note once more, showing a bent section. Bending it back, he saw more words he translated.

**Can we be friends?**

He found the question strange. Looking back at her, he saw her obviously worried about his reply. That tickling feeling came back, telling him things were not as they seemed. For what reason would they ask to be his friend? Weren’t they… Didn’t they kidnap him?

….He put that to rest, something to think about later when given the chance. He wrote a simple response to her once more.

**Yes**

A little white lie wouldn’t hurt anyone; if it was a test or not, the answer should suffice. He just wasn’t sure if answering honestly would do.

The unicorn didn’t seem to react, reading his message. Was she expecting a stronger message? They wanted to be friends or tested his capability to be one. An ally? Regardless, his body reacted before his mind could catch up, reaching out for a handshake. Ah, but what if that was taking things too far?

“Oomph!”

Lyra tackled him, wrapping her hooves around him as she squeezed tightly. It was truly unexpected. Why would she do that? Laying on the ground, arms splayed out, he looked at Bon Bon, hoping she would do something. She only raised a brow at him, letting out a sigh, shaking her head. The pony pointed at his hands, then to Lyra. He immediately got that she wanted him to hug back.

He reached his arms around and gave her a light squeeze, a trill sounding off. Lyra quickly let go and jumped back to where she was, a wide smile appearing on her face. The unicorn then turned to Bon Bon, her smile widening.

“~+See! He totally likes me!+~”

The other pony rolled her eyes at what was said. As she went over to more papers, likely to write more things to him, Lyra paused. She looked like something important had been forgotten. Looking at the wall, she examined the clock, another recent addition.

“~+Wasn’t Fluttershy supposed to be here by now?+~”

Bon Bon rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof. “~+Remember when I said I thought it would be a good idea to get some more ponies to help?+~”

“~+Yeah?+~”

“~+You see, Fluttershy had already arrived earlier in the day when you were moving things up for Anon. When she came by, I sort of told her she should come back tomorrow+~”

“~+What does that have to do with bringing more ponies here?+~”

“~+I may have told her to come by along with Rarity as well.~+”

“~+YOU WHAT?!+~” the unicorn trumpeted. “~+Why would you make that decision?! He doesn’t need additional ponies seeing him right now! What if she were to spread word about him? Or, or she upset him in some way?!+~”

Bon Bon horned something out as if scoffing. “~+Lyra, the thing needs proper clothing anyways, so we may as well do this sooner rather than later. I doubt meeting another pony will upset him in any fashion, especially after living with us. And on top of that, she may be helpful to us.+~”

Anon watched the two converse, slightly unnerved at what had transpired. Not from the physical contact, but how real the horse felt. There was heat radiating off of her, and not a single bit of metal could be felt.

‘...They aren’t real. They can’t be. It’s simply not possible.’

He didn’t want to even begin on that route of thinking, pushing it to the back of his mind. He grabbed papers, going back to writing down each letter and doing his best to pronounce the ones he knew. He needed to learn to speak as soon as he could so they could move on to why they were holding him.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Bon Bon did not like Lyra’s plan involving the human. It seemed like a good idea the day before, giving it items and taking pictures of it, and recording what the alien did with them. They also got around to helping him speak their language, one letter at a time.

Thinking on the previous day’s works geared her up for what was to come. Fluttershy had just come by with Rarity. The fashionista was carrying a small bag of measuring tools Lyra couldn't recognize.

“So Miss Lyra, just where is this fashion emergency that, for some reason, needed to be put off until today?”

“Fashion emergency?”

“Why, yes! Fluttershy came by stating that there was a wardrobe in need of a touch-up yesterday and mentioned you were the pony in dire need of such work. It pained me to hear you wanted to hold off for another day to do so, why the audacity! These kinds of things should be immediately dealt with as soon as possible!”

Lyra looked at Fluttershy. “Did Bonnie say something like that yesterday?” Fluttershy, looking confused, nodded her head. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but the clothing isn’t for me.”

Rarity appeared stumped. “Oh? Then is it for your lovely maref—” She choked on her words from the expression Lyra gave her. Coughing, Rarity tried to regain her composure. “R, Right then, so I mean are the clothes meant for your friend Bon Bon?” she asked with a forced smile.

“No, they are not,” Lyra answered. Rarity blinked, uncertain of the situation. Lyra looked at Fluttershy, whose eyes widened in realization. “Rarity, I need you to promise me that what you are about to see is not spoken about outside this house. Not to any of your friends, nor to any associates. I can’t have you blabbering about what I’m about to show you.”

Rarity scrunched her face up, looking toward the door. “I am uncertain I find myself wanting to be a part of whatever it is you have planned for my work.”

“It’s nothing worrying,” Fluttershy added, “they were just ordered by the princess not to let this get out.”

“…Eh?”

“Just come over and sit down so I can explain some things,” Lyra said, ushering the two over to the couch.

Sitting down, the three of them sipped on tea that Bon Bon made for them as Lyra started to summarize the past week involving the alien. Lyra would have liked Bon Bon’s help but she stated she had things to do out in town. Not thinking much of it, Lyra made sure to emphasize the importance of keeping quiet until the princess allowed things to progress.

Having finished her wild tales, Rarity, taking a sip of her tea, placed it down and looked at the bag she brought. “I suppose I can take a gander at our alien, but I am uncertain I can make it any garments. I barely have any experience making minotaur fashion as it is, so I’ll need to study its clothing for some time”

“That’s fine, as long as Anon has something to wear. The princess will also be paying for this. Once you’re done I’ll have the bits ready for you.”

The conversation moved on toward some small talk as the three of them relaxed for the moment, drinking their tea. Rarity seemed hesitant about meeting the alien.

Finishing the tea, the three of them made it up the stairs, already finding the door wide open. It didn’t matter if it was open or closed, only that they accentuate the importance to the human not to leave the room. He had complied with little trouble.

Walking in, Lyra saw the human sitting at the desk, going over paperwork from last night.

‘The chair he sat on looks much too small for him,’ Lyra thought, ‘I’ll need to get him a custom made one soon or magic him one that fits.’

And thankfully, none of the items they brought up there were in sight. Lyra didn’t want to explain why their kitchen wares were in the room.

Noticing them, Anon turned from his work and waved up one of his arms before waving it. “H-ei-llo,” he said, surprising Lyra and the others.

“Oh my!” Rarity said, walking up to him curiously. “What a strange, exotic-sounding accent!” She looked at his clothing, her interest growing. “And just look at his clothing! Why I’ve never seen such fabric. And that stitching!”

She started prodding him, circling around where he sat. Any fear she previously had, melted at the sight of the otherworldly garments on display. Anon simply stared at Rarity as she poked and tugged on certain pieces of clothing he wore.

Anon, looking confused, wrote down a note and held it in the air. Lyra levitated it over to her, **Who other uonicourn why poke me**

Lyra felt flabbergasted. ‘He knows what a unicorn is?’

She knew that she had never stated what that was, only that they were ponies! That’s something she would have to ask about later on.

“She’s examining your clothes,” Lyra answered.

Looking a little amused, he pointed at his ear, shaking his head. Lyra slapped a hoof to her face.

“Lyra, ask him if I can borrow his top clothing if you wouldn’t mind. The patterns in the cloth, the way it’s designed! Why these humans must be very advanced in their fashion trends from what I’m seeing! I simply adore how they thread the clothing.”

Writing a note, Lyra passed it for him to translate. He was getting surprisingly good, seeing as he’s only had a few days’ worths of training to do so. Reading the translated note, he stood up for Rarity. She quickly backed away, only now noticing how tall he was. Slipping his arms out of the heavy article, he held it in front of Rarity.

She stood there, jacket now levitating from her horn, staring up at Anon. Placing the jacket in her pouch, she now has a measuring tape in her magic. “Lyra, I’ve never prepared clothing for such a—” She eyed him up and down, “—tall figure before. It shall be a challenge, but I find myself eager for it. Now, if you could kindly ask him to take off his fascinating garments for me so I can properly measure him and look at his clothing, that would be much appreciated.”

“He doesn’t like to go nude, Rarity,” Fluttershy said, remembering that detail from last time.

“And why is that?” Rarity asked. “Is he that attached to his clothing? Oh dear, is he hiding some kind of scarring or some other outlandish ordeal?”

Lyra replied, “Here’s the thing. See, he doesn’t have a way to cover himself down there, if you catch my meaning.” Rarity frowned, confused. “His, erm… stallionhood can’t be tucked away, he doesn’t have any inherent magic like we do, so…” Lyra left the remaining words open, having no difficulty getting her words across.

Rarity blushed, “I, I see. That would answer why he wears so much clothing.”

“He really is an alien,” Fluttershy said, gaining their attention. She fidgeted with the attention on her. “I mean, all beings are capable of hiding themselves instinctually through the magic they have in themselves. N-Not him though, he doesn’t have any internal magic before coming here…”

Rarity hummed to herself, the shading in her cheeks staying a vibrant red. “This is going to be an odd measuring for us then. I… I must be thorough in my work if I am to help fabricate him clothing proper for a species like him. So, Lyra, just tell him this is nothing more than business and we can leave it at that.”

Would the human be alright with that? Writing out the note, she floated the message to Anon. He read it, his face turning slightly red, his claw clenching. Looking down at Rarity, she gave him a smile with a nervous chuckle. He wrote back a message, this one Lyra noticed more sloppily, **If she make me new okay -------- please thank-----**

Most of the note was unintelligible but it got the message across. Relaying the message to Rarity, she opened up her sack and started placing tools and paperwork for the job. “Thankfully I always make sure to keep any tools needed for such a job in case of emergencies.”

Nodding in agreement, Lyra noticed Fluttershy did the same thing with her bag, taking out tools she couldn’t recognize along with her own stack of papers. “Oh, um… I never, well, got a, um… I never got a chance to write down details I need on his body as thoroughly as before, so, if you d-don’t mind…” She let out a cough, her cheeks growing red in embarrassment.

‘…Screw this,’ Lyra thought. ‘I may as well collect data as well. Yes, collecting data and nothing more…’

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

One hour later, the three of them walk out of the room, all with matching faces flushed red.

“Darling, I don’t think the human liked you chasing him around, taking pictures of his—” She cleared her throat, “—nudity being out and about.”

“If he had stopped trying to dodge me after the first one I wouldn’t have needed to chase him,” Lyra replied.

“I do hope that’s all these pictures are used for,” Rarity said with a smirk. Lyra sputtered at her accusation. “Why, from how it appeared, I almost confused you for a mare in heat,” Rarity chimed with a purr.

“Now you know that’s not true,” Lyra said with a blush. “Besides, from how Flutters looked, she was about to jump him!”

“You make a good point,” Rarity agreed. “She sure was quite close to him during her little examination.”

“How she poked and prodded at his muscles for much longer than one would think is needed.”

“Why from how her wings couldn’t keep down, you’d think he had an intoxicating smell coming off of him that made her—”

“IGOTTAGOFEEDMYANIMALS!” Fluttershy screamed, dashing straight out the door and into the sky.

The two remaining ponies stood there, watching her soar in the sky from the open door. Laughter trickled out of them.

“I never knew Fluttershy could fly off so fast,” Lyra said. “She could give Dash a run for her money.”

Rarity chuckled, “I do say this has been an interesting day for me. As I said I’ll be borrowing his jacket for a while to work as a template to help prepare clothing for him.”

“Just make sure nopony knows of him being here.”

“I will keep my word and not sound off a single peep from these mare’s lips,” Rarity said, raising a hoof and showing a zipping motion in front of her mouth. “I’ll be by every once in a while to ask more questions about his clothes. The ‘denim’ is quite fascinating, mimicking something we have and yet, so much sturdier. I would love to learn more about his world’s fashions!”

Closing the door, Lyra looked at the clock, wondering just why Bon Bon hadn’t come home. With nothing better to do, Lyra walked back up to Anon’s room. He was sitting back at the desk, eating an apple Lyra had already stocked for him to snack on. Anon looked at Lyra, a blush forming from what had previously taken place, shuffling in his seat. Putting the apple down, he wrote a note for Lyra.

**was that needled*

Taking a stack of papers for herself, she sat down on the chair she brought up for herself by the desk.

**Sorry, my friends got excited meeting you and may have gone overboard.**

Anon passed another note, Lyra noting his notes were becoming faster to write down. **okay i am putting lots trust**

That made Lyra smile, knowing he was doing so. Lyra wrote a note back to him, **Is it alright to ask you some questions about yourself ?** She still barely knew anything about his world or himself.

Working through his notes he gave a nod to himself, giving her his reply. **see no problem i ask tooo**

Lyra rubbed her chin, thinking of what to ask first. **How did you know Rarity was a unicorn?** Lyra watched him as he thought about the question.

Anon hummed, writing Rarity’s name to the side as a reference before returning a reply. **old ancheent storys of unicorns and other creatores**

‘Ah, so like a mythological creature.’ Lyra wrote back, wondering just what his species viewed unicorns as. He hesitated, looking at his own paper in thought.

**unicorns are beings of magic of clean things with horn to make better some my people want horn to do same take force unicorns in tails always attack our kind only fine with young i forget why**

Lyra could feel herself pale reading that. ‘That… doesn’t really help things at all,’ she thought. He gave Lyra a new note to read, **old stories not real magic not real but fake same with unicorn and other beings**

Reading the note, she could see he didn’t really mean them harm. Why would he reveal these things to her? Taking the note, she ripped it up and using a small flash of fire, burned the note immediately.

Anon looked at her with a flinch, thinking he did something wrong. Lyra wrote a reply back to alleviate such worries, **It’s fine, just don’t tell anyone about that. Would be very bad.**

If word got out that his people had such tales, it’s likely the princess would more likely put him in observation for all eternity. They would need time to get to know him before he was to say anything about his species’ stories.

Lyra noticed a new note from him, **ask are there other ponies and creatures in your world like old tails**

**Yes there are. Along with ponies we have beings like dragons, diamond dogs, minotaurs, griffons, hydras, and more.** It took some patience from Lyra to allow Anon time to translate the words, each one a new expression of fascination and astonishment. Lyra wrote a question for him, **What other beings are on your planet?**

Lyra could hear him hum to himself, reading the note. **we only beings that can think on whole planet we have other species like lions and such but we are alone in our world**

‘That’s… depressing.’ Just thinking of being the only species on their planet, it made her feel selfish wanting to meet an alien with how much they already had.

He wrote another question for her, **what markings on your behind**

She looked at her mark, showing her lyre imprinted on her body.

**They are called cutie marks and they tell us what special talent we have. Mine is a lyre, as you can see. That means I am especially talented with them. Lyres are used for music.**

After reading the message, he turned to the side and looked at her mark once more. She bent a little to let him look. With that done, he scribbled another note for her.

**can i hear lyre it would be nice to hear music**

“Um…”

It had been quite a long time for the mare, her lyre simply collecting dust. It wouldn’t hurt to grab it and show him.

She made her way downstairs and into her pile of belongings. Pushing things aside, she eventually came across her old lyre case. It was, as she thought it would be, dusty. Opening it up, she could see the strings gleaming in the light as the well-polished wood reflected her face. Adding the upkeep enchantments surely did wonders. It would need a tune-up later when she had the chance to sit down with it.

Closing the case, she brought it back up where Anon was sitting. Lyra was nervous playing the lyre, wondering if she would be any good how out of practice she felt. Taking her seat, she set the case down and got the lyre out. Butterflies started buzzing around her stomach as her forelegs started to tense up.

‘Darn it Lyra, calm down,’ her inner-voice chastised.

Breathing to ease herself, she plucked a few strings to test the sound. Taking stock of the number of songs she knew, Lyra went with something she made up at the academy. It was a song of lyrical whimsy, full of happy thoughts. It was her interpretation of the freedom of the air.

Her hooves moved back and forth, never missing a beat, feeling as if she never stopped playing. It felt nice playing once again, remembering the good times with her lyre. She wanted to make sure Anon also enjoyed her performance.

‘This might be the only time he’ll be able to see me play if the princess…’

She shook the thought out of her head, shoving the sad feelings aside. No, right now, there was nothing but her, a lyre, and Anon.

Plucking the last few notes in a jovial finale, she took a pause, letting out a gust of air she had been holding on to. Looking up, she saw Anon had a note written for.

**you very good at your music thank you for playing**

A smile spread across her face reading that. She wondered just how she compared to his people's works. Setting the lyre back in its case, she wrote a note to him asking such. Reading her note, he slipped his paws into the pockets on his clothing, taking out a little gray box with the white strings. Lyra remembered it was the same thing she saw when she cleaned his clothing. Showing them to her, he wrote a note before passing it to her.

**this has over three and five zero songs from many different musics in my world.**

It took her but a moment to realize what he had said. ‘That little box holds that much music in it?!’

**i prefer hearing you play your music right now never heard anyone play a lyre so well would you play more**

Lyra could feel a warm, fuzzy feeling growing inside of her. Putting the box away, he sat there, waiting patiently on her answer. She replied with the plucking of her lyre that lasted throughout the night.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

It had been almost a full two weeks since the princess’s letter. Tomorrow morning was when Lyra was to report back to the princess.

Over two weeks, she had felt they were becoming close friends. Her trust in him increased as well, enough to let him down the stairs. After she boarded all the windows up, that was. Lyra was amused by seeing his reaction to the appliances. He had similar items in his own world, just not magical.

The two of them spent a lot of time downstairs on the couch, with Bon Bon on a chair to help with things, teaching Anon how to write and speak. Fluttershy would come by daily alongside Rarity. The two had helped Anon understand things in their world after they were told what information was allowed.

Rarity, as annoying as she was at times, helped Anon speak up about his world. She was fast, already prepared with two sets of clothing for him. He seemed happy, having something else to wear. And Rarity was equally happy, especially after seeing her payment.

Even after she brought his clothes over, Rarity would come by just to talk to Anon. They were becoming pretty good friends, perfect for what Lyra had planned for the princess. Fluttershy on the other hoof was still shy around him. More work was needed there.

As for Lyra and Bon Bon, those two, of course, spent the most time around him. Bon Bon usually had business out in the town, either bringing back things that were needed or some other ‘important’ errand Lyra sent her off to. She did her best to teach him how to talk, write, and simply understand what they said.

Everything he wrote was fascinating to Lyra. His world, while troubling to read at times, was an interesting place to hear about.

The nights were reserved as a relaxing period, to put things aside. Lyra started to play her lyre more often as a result, with Anon and Bon Bon sitting there to listen. Lyra taught Anon to learn how to play a little, thinking with his ‘hands’ and ‘fingers’ that he would have little trouble.

The past two weeks were some of the best she’d ever had. So why did they have to go away so quickly?

“Lyra, Rarity and Fluttershy are here,” Bon Bon said.

Lyra sighed, walking to Anon who was sitting on the couch, going through papers on their table. “Anon, we need you to up to your room,” Lyra said slowly, pointing in the direction and sounding things out so he could clearly understand her.

He barely recognized anything they said, but did catch on to key words and understood intent quite well.

Nodding, he grabbed his papers, standing up, and went to the room. Once inside, Bon Bon opened the front door, allowing the two mares in. Lyra led them straight to the couch, already prepared for their arrival with tea. Bon Bon started to serve it out as they all took seats.

“Lyra,” Rarity started after taking a sip, “you told us that you needed our help today involving Anon. I confess I am confused. What more could we do to help than what we already have?”

Lyra looked tired and moody. She let out another sigh, putting aside her tea as she began explaining what the princess had her doing in full for the past three weeks. This also included the threat against Anon. The two were shocked and appalled to hear what the princess ordered.

“Th, There has to be something we can do! This, this is just, well, bad! And mean! And… just plain not right…” said Fluttershy, barely a whisper at the end.

“Bon Bon and I have been thinking of ways to help but so far all we’ve come up with is giving him a lot more control over his environment and gather some data on his world and people.”

“Could you not have other ponies come in and help with this?” Rarity asked.

Lyra shook her head, “We can’t. The princess’s orders are to keep him in the house until we can prove him harmless. In fact, even having you two around was stretching what the princess allowed. She doesn’t even know you two are specifically here, or how much you two are doing, only that we have outside help.”

The four of them sat in silence.

“You, well, mentioned you wanted us to help somehow?” Fluttershy asked with a barely audible voice.

“Yes,” Lyra replied, “I was hoping I could get written statements from the two of you about your involvement with him. Bon Bon and I are going to do the same, so we had hoped you would add more support.”

“Of course we’ll do it!” Rarity spoke out. “I would be devastated if a friend were to be banished off without a fight!”

“Did the princess, say, um, how she was… going to…” Fluttershy looked away, embarrassed at her unfinished question.

“No, she never mentioned much on that subject. I imagine it’ll involve her sending guards here.” Lyra started passing papers around with ink and quills. “I just hope this persuades her enough.”

The two of them took their time, writing what they could think of about their time with Anon. A collected stack of their responses sat on the table, Lyra clipping them together with the other papers she needed to send out.

“When will you be sending these out?” Rarity asked.

“In the morning, around when she needs to bring up the sun. I don’t know why she wanted to wait until then, but it’s something I didn’t want to bother asking her about.”

“In the morning when the sun goes up?” Fluttershy hummed in thought. “Um, do you think that she, well, might be sharing your work with Princess Luna?”

Lyra froze hearing that. What if she was? Things could make more sense to her if that were true. Bon Bon let out a groan as well, coming to the same conclusion.

“D-Did I say something wrong?” Fluttershy asked.

“Princess Luna doesn’t exactly get along with Lyra,” Bon Bon said. “If she’s also seeing the work, then—”

“Then that might mean she’s the one that set this all up!”

‘I know that Princess Luna dislikes me, but for her to go out of her way to do this is just evil!

“Now let’s not go jumping to any conclusions on this just yet,” Rarity said. “We don’t know if that’s even the case or what made Princess Celestia decide all of this.”

“True, it might have been that book,” Bon Bon muttered.

“Book?” Fluttershy asked.

“Um… forget what I just said.”

Lyra looked at the ground, her thoughts swirling as they tried to connect things together but failing.

“Well look at the time!” Rarity said, getting up alongside Fluttershy. “I would love to stay and chat on this but we have other things we need to deal with. We’ll see you tonight gals!”

Lyra paused in her thoughts.

“Tonight?” Lyra asked. “What do you mean?” Looking up, she saw they already left.

Bon Bon gave Lyra a forced smile. “It’s nothing to worry about, just some plans for later. Now, why don’t you spend some time with Anon? I’m sure he’d like that.”

Lyra shook her head as she got up to take a seat at her desk. “No, I need to go over these papers. I’ll probably be looking over them all night. If there’s something I can add or possibly improve… Look, I just, I need to work on this. Okay?”

“Sure Lyra, I’ll just go feed Anon,” she said, walking off slowly to the kitchen.

‘Okay, so with the work of Fluttershy and Rarity, I just need to rework some of my own stuff to fit in with what they said. Add to…’

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Loud knocking could be heard from the front entrance. Lyra was going over her work for the twenty-second time that night. She rubbed her head from the headache she could feel coming.

Looking at her clock, she saw it was well past bedtime. ‘The two must be here for Bonnie,’

Stacking her papers aside, she got up from her seat and walked to the door. She greeted Rarity and Fluttershy inside.

“Bonnie, it’s the girls!” Lyra screamed up the stairs. “They’re here for you!”

“Actually, we’re here for you,” Rarity said, standing close to her.

“What?”

Bon Bon descended the stairs, running up to the two of them. “Oh good, you’re early. You have everything you need, Fluttershy?”

“Yes, everything I might need is packed right here,” she said, pointing to her side pack.

“You mind filling me in on what’s happening?” Lyra asked as Bon Bon shoved her toward the front entrance.

“We, are going out, to have some fun, drinking,” she said, having to continuously shove Lyra toward the door.

“Hold up! I need to stay and keep working on this, Bonnie! What if I missed something or—”

“Lyra,” she interrupted, “I don’t think there’s much else that you can do right now. But I do see that you’re extremely stressed out from all the work. You’ve barely had any time off. And as your friend, I’m going to force you to have some time off to relax.”

“But I can relax here with my work!”

“No, you’re just going to work yourself to death. Fluttershy is going to stay here with the alien while you go out with us for some fun.”

The girls dragged Lyra off into the night, her protests heard the entire way through Ponyville’s streets. They eventually made it to a building that they shoved her into. It smelled… dirty. Lyra could see ponies lounging about, drinking and spouting off nonsense to one another. She didn’t want to be anywhere near them.

“Come on, have a few drinks and relax,” Bon Bon said, shoving her up to the bar.

The bartender looked over to Lyra, rubbing a glass with a rag. “What can I get you?”

“I don’t wa—”

“A salty ocean for us three,” Rarity ordered, taking a seat beside Lyra, “and heavy on the salt.”

Lyra slumped onto the bar, groaning in defeat. ‘This sucks,’ she thought as a drink was brought over to her.

Taking a look around, she could see Bon Bon and Rarity on either side of her, waiting for her to start drinking. Grabbing it, she quickly slammed it down, ignoring the salty taste hitting the back of her throat. Slamming the mug down, she slapped the mug back to the bartender. “It needs more powder,” she commented.

“I think you need to lay off the hard stuff for a bit,” Bon Bon advised, taking a sip from her mug.

Lyra grunted as the bartender came back with another drink along with a bag of powdered sugar. Layering the top with a good amount, he slid it over to her. “One snowy beach for the gal,” he said as Lyra licked her lips at the drink.

‘Screw it,’ Lyra thought. ‘If they’re going to make me drink, I’m going to do it right and hard.’

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

“Aaaaagh!” Lyra roared out, taking another drink.

So far, Lyra had been hit on by around a dozen or so stallions, finding her actions throughout the night alluring, for one reason or another.

‘Pfff, yeah right,’ she thought. ‘I can do so much better than them stinky heads! Though, that last one was pretty nice looking.’

She started having second thoughts on having her drinks powdered, thoughts that were quickly thrown out the window after the first two drinks. Lyra had lost Bon Bon and Rarity amongst everyone in the crowd; Lyra thought they were roaming around to pick someone up

‘Eh, screw em’,’ her inner voice said. ‘You got your drinks and are having a blast! Why were you even so stressed out before again?’

…Oh, right. It was because of the alien. Her brain scoffed at that. ‘That darn alien, making you stressed out.’

“Hey, watch it!”

“You watch it!” Lyra said, bumping around the other ponies as she made her way to the bar.

She took another gulp of her drink, sitting down at the bar to think to herself. The alien sure made her life more hectic than it previously was.

‘And here you were, trying to save his life when all he can do is barely say hello!’ Wait, that didn’t make any sense…

‘Brain, you’re home, go drunk.’

Taking another sip, she recalled the previous few weeks with him. A smile appeared on her face as she closed her eyes, remembering those times. ‘They sure were fun,’ she thought, just before slapping her head on the counter.

‘He sure is a great friend! And you’ll be able to do a lot more with him in the future… Hopefully, the princess doesn’t do anything, it might be his last day here.’

Lyra shot her head up. ‘WHY AM I HERE?!’

‘You should head back home with Anon so he can spend his last day with his great friend, Lyra!’ her inner voice told her. ‘Stupid-headed Lyra just had to go out for drinks when she could be doing that instead!’

Lyra took another sip, noticing her mug was empty. Thank goodness Bon Bon was paying for these. Or was Rarity? Placing her mug down, she slipped off her stool and made her way to the door with only one thought on her mind: spending time with her good friend Anon.

The walk through Ponyville was a struggle for the tipsy unicorn. Her legs wobbled all over down the streets. She had a tumble or two along the way.

She felt relief seeing her house. A gasp of surprise came out, seeing she owned three of them now! Walking to the left one it started vanishing, making her grunt in annoyance. Leave it to vanishing houses to ruin one’s night. Walking up to the middle one, she opened the front door, seeing a yellow pony sitting on her couch, reading.

“Oh!” Fluttershy gasped in surprise. “I didn’t expect you to be back just yet!” She looked behind Lyra. “Um… where are the girls?”

“They’re at the bar, wai, wai… w-waaiting on yoou!”

“Really?” she asked, unsure of Lyra’s words.

“T-Totally! I’ma just gonna spend some time with, with the alien alone! Yes, alone…”

Fluttershy looked like she’s about to protest. “No, look Flutters. I gets you like the aliens thinga-ma-bobbers—” She turned red hearing that “—but tonight might be his very only completely last night here! So I’m gonna spend time with him and, and… and go UP to his room and, and have some fine with him aaall night lonk, okays?”

“Um… well…”

“The girls are watings for you, Flutters! Hurry! Flyyy!” Lyra grabbed her with magic, lifting her and throwing her into the night air. “FLYYYYYY!” she screamed at the now airborne Fluttershy.

She seemed confused at the situation, looking behind her as she flew off toward the bar. Lyra let smirked as she reentered her house. Barely making it up the stairs, she opened the door to where Anon was. She could see he was on the bed, sleeping without a shirt. She smiled at him, closing the door behind her as she made her way over to him.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

“Where the buck is she?!” Bon Bon screamed out to no one in particular, looking around the bar.

Lyra somehow slipped past her and Rarity, walking around the place as she heckled ponies. She had tried to stop her several times but it was difficult to do when she had a mare that could teleport without much thought.

Walking around, she saw Fluttershy sitting at the bar.

“Is that you, Fluttershy?” Bon Bon asked the pony.

She turned around and stared at her, unsure of what to say. “Oh, um, yes it is, Bon Bon.” She looked around the room for a second. “Have you seen Rarity?”

“No, I haven’t. Have you seen Lyra?”

“Lyra? Yes, I have.”

“Where is she?!”

Fluttershy let out a squeak, startled from the yelling. The drink in her hoof spilled across the bar, eliciting a groan from the bartender. “S-she's back home!” she answered. “She said sh-she was going to spend the night with Anon when she got back. I thought you knew since Lyra said—”

Bon Bon stopped listening as soon as she heard where Lyra was. She dashed out the bar straight back home, worried about what Lyra would do. A drunken Lyra was a very obsessive and random Lyra. That was not a good combination. The last stallion that came across that mix, their previous next-door neighbor, wouldn’t come out of the house for a full month, mumbling to himself until he eventually moved.

She hoped the alien was alright. Lyra would be devastated if she did anything to it in the morning. Slamming the front door open, she quickly ran up the stairs… right before plummeting back down them. Her head started seeing doubles of doubles from the tumble. Deciding to slow down so she didn’t slip, she carefully made her way to the room.

Opening the door, she had to let the darkness adjust so she could see. Taking a breather, she looked to the bed where she could see movement. Lyra could be seen on top of Anon, curled up in a ball fast asleep on its chest. Anon had an arm wrapped over her, which she snuggled her head into.

‘Thank goodness, that could’ve been so much worse. Seeing as there’s nothing wrong, I probably should leave them alone for the night,’ Bon Bon thought as she stared at the two, closing the door.

‘Of course, some pictures of this for later on would be pretty funny.’

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Last night had been troublesome for Bon Bon. She had to pay for all the damages from Lyra along with her tab. Many of the ponies there were trying to have her kicked out for good. Bon Bon made a vow to make sure Lyra could be kept in better control before she was ever given salt on that level again.

Morning came quickly for her. Nudging Lyra awake to deliver the message on time was amusing. Telling her what happened the previous night, even more fun.

Back downstairs, the two of them deposited every single thing they had prepared right into the lantern. After that, they sat on the couch, eagerly awaiting a reply.

“I really hope she changes her mind,” Lyra said, looking down at her hooves.

Bon Bon rubbed Lyra’s neck with her head, hoping to calm her down. “We’ll find out soon enough, Lyra. Just, don’t be upset if it’s not the answer you’re looking for.”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~Canterlot~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The past two weeks had been a troublesome mess for the princess. Ever since the fiasco involving the meeting in the study and the guards, Princess Celestia thought it would be a good idea to… reeducate them on how to properly take orders. Luckily for her, Shining Armor was around to help that out, quite disgusted to see such insubordination in his guards.

It was a tiring time at the palace, with her weeding out the unruly guards along with her duties. Plus, there was her sister ‘modernizing’ herself when she could. It was clear Luna was messing with her. Celestia allowed it, for the most part, finding it nice to see her opening up, but she was starting to get annoyed.

Currently, it was the end of Lyra’s two weeks where she needed to prove in her ‘scenario’ that the alien was harmless, or as harmless as could be. She found herself entertained at the end of the first week with what Lyra had reported back. Her attempts were quite ridiculous, allowing the alien more freedom around them and trying to teach him to speak. Thankfully, Lyra and her little assistant kept this realistic and only allowed the ‘human’ barely capable to write.

It was quite obvious to Celestia that Lyra was really trying to keep things going. She and her sister had a fun moment when she even said she was having clothing made for it. They humored her with playing along. Now, Celestia wished she hadn’t.

The restrictions, while hard, felt fair. And yet, she couldn’t help but feel anger at the pony having found a way around it in a manner she hadn’t considered; her sister’s laughter hadn’t helped things.

“She, she, she—” Luna attempted to say, only for her to go back to laughing.

‘I should have expected something like this’, Celestia thought, ‘Lyra is quite a clever little pony.’

Lyra got her elements involved.

And not one, but two of them! Just how she had convinced them to be a part of the scenario vexed her. She figured that Rarity was likely to help with the clothing, but the extent of her involvement was much greater than she originally anticipated. Adding to that, the anonymous stranger, now identified as Fluttershy, was fully involved with the whole thing, perhaps even from the beginning.

Having one of the elements involved in this was bothersome enough, but she could have dealt with it if anypony had asked questions. But now, she had two fully working alongside Lyra. Kindness, or Fluttershy, had spoken of the gentle nature the human had, while Generosity spoke of the being in a very good light. Reading both of their reports, along with Lyra and Bon Bon’s work, immediately shot down any attempts to shut the scenario down as she had originally attempted. A victory she and her sister could have won together.

Princess Celestia knew she should have sent a guard. Now she was stuck with playing along, on top of the ridicule that her sister was mirthfully cackling about. That was… embarrassing, having her plot thrown right back into her face from Lyra’s little comeback.

“M-M-Maybe you should have her get the other elements in this as well, just to round it all off!” Luna gasped out in between her bellowing laughter.

“…You know what? That sounds like a terrific idea!”

‘I can get the others involved and try to work this out as a win. And if anything, I’ve got Twilight as my ace in the hole. She would just need a little… nudging in the right direction.’

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~Ponyville~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The response letter back hadn’t taken long to arrive. Snatching the scroll before Lyra could get to it, Bon Bon read over the princess’s message. Lyra jumped on her shoulders, frantically trying to read alongside her. A smile stretched across her face, clapping her hooves together in glee. Lyra jumped off her shoulders, letting out a squeal as she jumped around the room.

“He’s going to be fine!” she excitedly said, giggling about the room. “I’m gonna wake him up and give him a hug!”

Bon Bon yanked her tail, her body thumping to the ground. “Lyra, read the rest of this before you run off.”

Lyra harrumphed as she made her way back to Bon Bon, reading the rest of the message. “So we just need to get the rest of the ‘elements’ to accept him? Ah, no problem! In the baaag! Easy-peasy! I totally have this covered, Bonnie!”

Bon Bon stared at Lyra, wondering if a certain detail would come up.

“What?”

Clearly not. “Is there anything interesting about the elements that you might find yourself having any difficulty with?”

“…Twilight,” Lyra gritted out.

“Yes.”

Lyra closed her eyes, taking small, calming breaths. “Well, at least Anon is safe for the time being. We just have to convince the other six elements—”

“Four, we already have Rarity and Fluttershy.”

Lyra blinked. “Ooh yeah, forgot they’re elements.” Bon Bon slapped a hoof to her face. “Okay, so four more to go then. How long do we have for that again?”

“A week per pony, and we have to convince them so we can have it interacting with others out in town. Otherwise, she’s going to send the guards here to take over.”

Bon Bon started to think about the current situation. Why, exactly, was the princess ordering things in such a strange manner? It felt off to her. Was this really about the alien, or was there something else going on they didn’t know about? Or was all of this simply just Luna’s involvement in the mix?

At the moment, Lyra didn’t seem to care with Anon safe. With a full month away to really start worrying, it didn’t seem like things would be a problem. Bon Bon would just have to keep her friend in line and ensure she didn’t mess up anything.

“So Lyra, who should we first go and… talk… to…” Bon Bon trailed off, looking at the vacant spot Lyra was just at.

Yelping could be heard upstairs, telling her just where Lyra went. ‘I better make sure she doesn’t harm it,’ she thought, making her way up. It might be better to wait on things until they’re done celebrating the victory.

~End Chapter Five~

Chapter Six - Gettin' Dirty

“You’re early,” Bon Bon said, inviting the two ponies inside.

“We were anxious to hear what the princess had to say about our extraterrestrial friend,” Rarity replied, taking a seat in front of the couch.

“S-So is everything going to be fine?” Fluttershy asked, taking a sip of tea.

“Yes, the princess agreed that our work was enough for her to have second thoughts,” Bon Bon answered. “But there’s been a slight addition to what we need to do.”

“What does the princess expect him to go through now?” Rarity asked, dropping a cube of sugar in her tea before swirling it.

Lyra cleared out her throat, “Now before I say this, I just want to point out that it totally slipped my mind you two were elements. Not that I think it’s a huge thing, I mean, I’ve never heard you two ever bringing such things up.”

“Small details,” Rarity replied, gently drinking her tea. “To parade such things around, why would I want that to be the defining factor of who I am?”

Lyra nodded, “I get that. The only reason I bring it up is, well, It seems that it actually helped the princess in her decision with Anon.”

“How so?”

“There’s a lot that no one knows about, the counsel at Canterlot being such an example. They’re a kind of a system of checks and balances that the princess set up long ago for looking into different beings in power in our lands, the princesses being included.

They would normally ignore this whole alien thing, even with me being a direct employer of the princess as it doesn’t have anything to do with them. On account of the Elements being directly under Princess Celestia’s power, however, that changes things.”

Lyra chuckled, “I don’t know if you gals know how much they keep an eye on you all. They took what you said about Anon very seriously. The two of you pretty much helped stop the princess just from your letters.”

Fluttershy turned to Rarity surprised. “I, well… I didn’t know we had that kind of influence… Did you, Rarity?”

Rarity blinked. “No, I didn’t. I wasn’t aware us being Elements truly amounted to much,” she said, trying to sound nonchalant, clearly failing from having her ego rubbed.

“Anyways, the princess has included your statements and is reconsidering everything,” Bon Bon said. “But now she wants the statements of the other elements, to prove without a doubt that he’s harmless through their eyes.”

“So,” Lyra said, slamming her teacup on the table, “here’s the plan! We need you two to ‘convince’ the others of Anon’s innocence! He needs to be with each one for a week, so having a jump-start would be really helpful.”

“And… how exactly are we going to go about this?” Rarity asked. “He’s barely able to understand us as it is, only just recently learning how to write.”

“I don’t think it’ll be that difficult, so long as we move things around in the right manner.” Lyra brought out a board, showing off her ingenious plan that was sure to work. None of the others commented on how it looked like the drawings of a three-year-old.

“The first one will be Applejack. She’s more judgemental toward actions than words, which will help with Anon’s current difficulties in speaking.” An image of Applejacks, eyes enlarged, was pointed at. “She’ll need the least amount of work out of the four. Keep him around her, get them to know Anon, and it’s quite simple with her.”

“The next,” she tapped on an image of a pegasus, sleeping on a cloud, “is Rainbow Dash. So long as we keep him near the farm, Applejack should be able to help convince her. Though I am afraid of her flying off if she gets bored. She’ll need behind the scenes prodding to keep her around.”

A tap of the board showed a grumpy unicorn, glaring at the viewer. “Twilight will be third. Out of them all, she’ll be the most difficult to convince. In fact, it’s quite likely the princess will have already told Twilight about everything and has something prepared to foil things.”

Rarity harrumphed, “Don’t be absurd, I highly doubt the princess of all ponies would sabotage this whole ordeal.”

Lyra held her tongue, wishing to share her side of things concerning the moon princess and how things have already been meddled with. Stirring that hornet's nest wouldn’t help. Trying to sip from her tea, she noticed that she cracked her cup, the tea puddled on the table. Shrugging, she took the teapot, drinking directly from it.

“Regardless,” Lyra continued, wiping her mouth, “Twilight will still be very strict about her work, possibly going as far as to treat him similar to a wild beast. She may even keep us from doing anything during that time, so that’s why we need Pinkie to be last.” Lyra tapped the board, showing a pink pony jumping around.

Fluttershy looked confused. “Why would Pinkie being reserved for last help with Twilight?”

“Pinkie tends to do what she does: Be super friendly and try to bring a smile to others. If Twilight has any notion that Anon might not be all that he seems, Pinkie should be able to help convince her otherwise, along with everyone else at the time backing her up.”

“The plan isn’t difficult, but it will take a lot of work to perform as we want it to,” said Bon Bon. “We want this to be off to a good start. The first pony we planned on him meeting was Applejack. Are there any arguments for that?”

Fluttershy continued drinking her tea as Rarity rubbed the bottom of her chin in a thinking pose. “Applejack would be a very good place to start. Out of the other four, I don’t think she would have much trouble around him.”

Rarity took a sip of her tea, failing to ignore the sloppy gulping coming from Lyra. ‘What? I’m really thirsty!’

“Just out of curiosity but, well, why wasn’t Rainbow Dash considered first?” Fluttershy waved her hooves in front of her, “I mean, not that Applejack’s a bad pony to start with! I just, well…”

Finishing her teapot in a loud gasp, Lyra threw that over her shoulder. Bon Bon dived for it before it could hit the ground. “We figured that if we can get Applejack on our side, she can easily help and saddle Rainbow Dash to look positive toward him. I mean, seriously, what do you think the first thing Dash will do seeing Anon?”

“Tackle him,” Fluttershy and Rarity said in sync.

“Exactly,” Lyra said with a nod, “then she’ll start hollering at Anon, which might result in some things we’d like to avoid. But if Applejack is around, someone already used to him, she could help convert Dash to our side! So your side of all this is quite simple: We just need you two to try and keep both Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash away from the farm until the end of the week.”

“How do you intend to introduce Anon to Applejack?” Rarity asked, placing her cup on the table.

It was still quite full. She barely drank anything in it. Lyra licked her lips. ‘She’s not going to finish that, is she?’

Rarity, seeing this, rolled her eyes, pushing the cup forward. Lyra gladly accepted the cup, levitating it up to her before slamming it down. The drinks from the bar really dehydrated her.

“Anyway,” Rarity continued, disgusted at Lyra’s lack of etiquette, “she can’t take time off from the farm. And if I recall, Anon can’t leave this house.”

Bon Bon spoke up, “After reading the message over, it ultimately states we are to have it shown it to the elements in a manner that does not deviate from their normal routines. Normally this would be difficult to do with since after they’re done with their tasks, it would be getting quite late for them to do anything with Anon, leaving little to no impact on their views toward him. But with how she wrote her orders, we can interpret them as being allowed to invite the alien to their residences and introduce them over the course of a week.”

Lyra slammed her cup down, still feeling dry. She started to eye Fluttershy’s drink as she sipped on it.

“Won’t it be a problem if any other pony other than Applejack sees him?” Rarity asked.

“We thought of that. Sneaking him when there’s little activity out in town won’t be that difficult, we’ll make the trip either early in the morning or late at night.”

Fluttershy seemed to have noticed Lyra eyeing her cup. She pulled it back, worried she’d want it as well. It was her favorite flavor, Lilac Springs. It was difficult coming across that flavor. Lyra had it imported a while back; spendy, but worth every bit.

“It sounds like you have everything already planned. I suppose I best keep Sweetie Belle away from the farm for the time being.”

Lyra was staring at the drink Fluttershy was very adamant with keeping away from her. ‘Ooh, if only I could—’

Her thoughts were interrupted as Bon Bon smacked her hooves, sending her a glare. “Lyra, I already served you, Anon, and the girls. You are being rude right now. If you want more, you just have to ask and I’ll go make some more.”

The unicorn rubbed her hooves, sending a pout. They’re the ones that forced her to go to the bar, they knew how thirsty the next day would have been for her.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

“~+Now… Whaaat is thaaat?+~”

Lyra pointed at, of course, the stick with fire on it, placed around some kind of box to prevent it from burning things.

**Fire on a Stick.**

“~+Good! Now… Whaaat is on myyy riiight?+~”

He looked where she directed, letting out a sigh before writing the answer down.

**Fire on a Blade.**

“~+Yes! Now… Whaat am I loooking at nneeooouuww…?”

Rubbing his eyes Anon looked where Lyra was. Oh, he definitely remembered that one. He looked back at her, seeing a large smile that waited for an answer.

**Fire on Fire.**

Lyra clapped her hooves. They had been testing dangerous things on him for some time. His worries never abated, seeing them bring out more hazardous and weird items each time.

The pony went back to her papers, writing something down. It was the last day they were supposed to be doing any of the dangerous item testings, as they called it. They had mentioned that he would be leaving the building later on to visit someone for a week. He, of course, was nervous.

Sitting at his desk in his small chair, Anon looked at the paperwork in front of him. A bunch of nonsensical scribbles that made up a language was written down. He had been hard at work, trying to learn as fast as he could. Whoever they were taking him to was likely to test him on what he had learned.

Continuing his work, his thoughts kept drifting to a reason for it all. Why would anyone want to kidnap him in the first place? Sure, he was the leader of an environmental group, but if anyone wanted to kidnap him for those reasons, why put him through everything?

He had been surrounded by small horses for the entire stay, being taught a musical language, seeing all acts of nonsense such as levitation taking place, and nothing seemed to be adding up for him. How did they even manage to make robotic horses that intricate? Who would do all this?

**You are not here to take over our world, are you?**

He kept remembering the odd message, the thing prodding at him, trying to tell him how it all made sense. He refused to acknowledge the ridiculous thing.

He felt a tug on his arm, the one called Rarity measuring him once again. They were making him a cloak to cover his body and she wanted to make some last-minute adjustments.

“~+Are you almost done?+~” Lyra sang out.

“~+Nearly there darling, simply want to give his arms some more drape.+~”

“~+They’re covering well enough don’t you think?+~”

“~+Goes to show what you really know. If it is covering his entire body, it needs to look stylish! His arms will droop down, the bottoms just barely touching the ground yet completely hiding his legs, and a hood concealing his face, a dark foreboding look to anyone daring enough to peer inside.+~”

“~+Are you trying to make him look like a creep?+~”

“~+Why, no, I am not. I rarely get to do this kind of work and I admittedly am finding it fun, trying to give it my all to designing such a thing.~+”

It didn’t take much longer for her to finish. He now stood in front of the door, a cloak covering him, with a rucksack strung over his shoulder carrying some small supplies and extra chalk, alongside his board. Lyra and Bon Bon wore matching cloaks, strapping their bags to themselves, the other two having already left long ago.

‘I hope they’re not making me a part of some strange horse cult.’

Anon could feel his heart thumping in anticipation, wondering just what awaited him outside. He watched as Lyra used her horn, slowly opening the door. Looking around, he could see many different buildings around him with various shapes, forms, and colors. Off in the distance, Anon saw what looked like a gingerbread house and a merry-go-round that looked fit for a fair.

He wasn’t sure how to react. His expectations were blown out of the water. How was he to know he would be located smack dab in a town, full of horses. It was still early in the morning, but he could clearly see more horses walking around near the town center or flying in the sky. He had never seen the yellow one using her wings to fly, thinking it was merely for show; it shows how much he knew, now seeing they were fully functional. How did they even keep their bodies in the air with so little force being used?

Feeling a bump in his leg, Lyra motioned for him to follow her quietly. The different houses he passed were interesting to look at, each one being its own unique design. He was quite impressed with the one made entirely out of a tree.

They had to hide in bushes every now and then, waiting for any passersby to leave. It appeared they were leaving the town and were hiding him from the other horses.

‘Why are they going through with all of this? Hiding away from the others as if it was dangerous to be known by the other horses. Who would be insane enough to design an entire town of ponies to show off, just to hide from them?’

…Unless he was thinking in the wrong direction this whole time. A coldness settled in, some form of realization finally dawned on him. He watched Lyra and Bon Bon guiding him forward, twittering softly to one another.

‘No. They can’t possibly be real.’

But why make everything up, all just for him?

‘They were levitating things! And they’re horses! None of their actions make much sense either.’

Perhaps he was the one not making sense. How would anyone make advanced pieces of technology, invent a completely new language of such intricacy, and be using him of all people to use them on? In the grand scheme of things, he was a nobody. Just some schmuck that wanted to make the world a better place.

‘Oh god. OH GOD. Where am I? These are freaking real?’

He couldn’t control the beating of his heart. His mind felt dizzy, a sickening numbness spreading inside him.

‘No, no, no. I… I have to stay calm. I can’t freak out right now, I just need to take things slowly.’

His mind preoccupied, he never noticed them slowing to a stop, now standing in front of a massive apple orchard.

He wasn’t sure how to handle everything. It was too much to take in all at once.

His tolerance nearly broke seeing the sun making an appearance. At first, he thought perhaps his mind was finally breaking down with how bright it was getting. Anon instead saw the sun gliding through the sky at an alarming rate over the horizon.

‘THE SUN’S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO DO THAT.’

The moon followed the sun’s actions, only drifting down past the horizon. He wasn’t even aware that he ran off in a random direction in a panic. His journey was short-lived, running straight into a tree.

He could see white spots blinking in his vision. Many little thumps began to hit his body soon after. Groaning, he leaned up and saw apples covering him. Rubbing his head, he could hear a pony saddled up beside him, looking down at him in amusement. It was a new horse, having an orange coat and freckles that don’t make any sense in having. The pony also wore a cowboy hat, for some reason.

The pony gave him a smirk. “~+So, this here be that alien I was told about? The fella ain’t very bright in the dome, is he?+~” Lyra merely groaned.

The orange pony chuckled, “~+The name’s Applejack, partner. We here at Sweet Apple Acres be expectin’ you to not run around slammin’ into trees too much around here.+~” The pony eyed around his body at the apples. “~+Unless this is how you aliens go about gettin’ yer apples?+~”

Anon continued to stare at her, uncertain what she said. It sounded like the language Lyra and the others spoke, but something was off.

“~+Applejack, he can barely understand us as it is. The most he can do is read and write.+~”

Lyra pointed at the bag on Anon’s shoulder, motioning they wanted to communicate. With some hesitation, he pulled himself out of the apples, sitting beside them before grabbing the chalk and board. Looking up at the sun, he saw it floating still, brightening the day. Forcing himself not to freak out, he wrote her a message.

**Sorry, the sun scared me. Not used to seeing it do things like that.**

The cowboy pony raised an eyebrow. Giving her the chalk, she wrote a message back for Anon to read. He stared at it, unable to understand what she wrote. Showing the board to Lyra, hoping to find what it said, she smacked her face with her hoof, giving the still-unnamed pony a deadpan expression.

“~+Applejack, how many times do we have to say this to you? Stop writing in your accent!+~”

“~+And I keep on tellin’ everypony to get those rocks outta their heads ‘cause I ain’t got no accent!+~”

The two ponies started to bicker back and forth as Anon sat there in the pile of apples, contemplating his life, wondering how he wound up in such a situation.

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Sitting inside the barn, Anon tapped at his chalkboard with some chalk. His stay on the apple farm was if nothing but exhausting. He was on break, going through a grueling amount of work, picking up barrels of apples and hauling them around. Working on his language skills was extremely important if only to simply speak with the… Equestrians.

Anon bottled up his emotions, going along for the ride if only to keep his sanity. He had already been there for a few days, having to go back and forth from the house to make visits. After a few too many close calls, they decided it would be best for him to stay at the farm. Applejack was not one to let him simply stay there with nothing to do, regarding him more as extra labor.

“At least she doesn’t see me negatively,” he muttered.

It took some prodding but he got Lyra to finally tell him about how the princess of their land was, in fact, having him under her supervision. Depending on how things went, he was told he could simply live with them or wind up being banished. To the moon. And apparently, it was not the first time for that to happen.

Anon made sure to work twice as hard, putting in twice as much effort in whatever was asked, knowing it would likely be the factor on his fate. Applejack immediately took a shine to him, appreciating all the hard work he put in. The other two, her brother and grandmother, were just as enthused with all the extra help and no fuss coming from him.

He wiped a bead of sweat off his brow, clearing the chalkboard before beginning once again. With Lyra disappearing halfway through the day, he was left alone to study. She had mentioned something about keeping others away from the farm. It gave him time for practice. His numbers were starting to look crisp and clean.

Hearing something scraping, he turned to the door, seeing Applejack walking up to him.

“~+Okay ya big galoot, I know ya can’t really understand us but I’m gonna need to have you tidy up before ya sit down and eat with us.+~”

Placing his chalkboard down, Anon followed Applejack to the back of the barn. He could see a wooden tub there, filled with water and bubbly soap.

He knew where this was going, and he didn’t want any part of it. Looking behind him for an exit, he saw Big Mac standing right in his way, nudging him forward. Anon attempted to get out of there but the two overpowered him, forcing him toward the bath.

“Darn it Lyra, where the hell are you?!”

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Sitting at the table, the two apple siblings shared red faces, looking at the ground on opposite sides. Lyra, who was sitting beside the very upset human, held her head down. Anon was peeved.

They had hung his cloak up so it was easy to see the emotions on his face. He held his hands together on the table, patiently waiting for what he assumed was a meal being made.

Feeling something poke him on the side, he saw Lyra nudging his board on the table. He could see she wrote a note for him.

**I’m sorry Anon. I forgot to tell them about your clothing situation.**

The earlier bath had ruined his mood; he felt violated as they stripped him down for his involuntary bath. He could forgive the one time at the house, not really understanding things, but Lyra simply forgetting to tell his patrons something that important? During their silence, an older pony was loading the table with food, keeping an ear out to what was said.

Applejack turned to Anon, “~+We’re mighty sorry about what we had done. We promise we’ll ask ‘fore we do anything like that again. Guess we forgot you’re an alien and all with your alien habits and whatnot.+~”

The unicorn translated what they said on the board. Letting out a sigh, Anon wrote a reply back.

**It is fine you were not informed of it so I can not get too mad at either of you.**

Applejack let out a sigh. “We do appreciate your help around the farm, really. And you don’t seem like a bad sort of fella. Could get used to having another hoof, or paw-thing, around here.”

The elderly pony finished setting the table finally she took a seat at the head. “~+Now, even though we may have some strangeness currently at our table, I’m hopin’ to have everypony here to act as they would normally any other day.+~”

The others nodded while Anon could only guess what was said. He saw everyone there starting to pass some of the food around, putting it on their plates. Examining the food, he saw a wide assortment of apple products all over the table. There was an apple salad, apple quiche, and apple kabobs to name a few. He also saw some things he’d pass on, such as what appeared to be meatloaf, only take the meat and replace it with hay. And apples. He was curious about how they managed that one.

Looking at a bowl of what he thought was potatoes, he eagerly pulled it over. Some mashed potatoes sounded fantastic after all the eggs he’s been served for so long with barely anything to break up the monotony of them. He was wondering how they’d taste.

With no warning, his head was forced straight into the bowl, something now sitting on the back of his head. Anon could clearly taste a rich potato flavor with just a hint of apple that was surprisingly appealing to his taste buds. Now if only he could enjoy it without being shoved into them.

“~+Applebloom! What are you doin’ here?! And get offa him this instant!+~”

The weight quickly vanished. Lifting his head from the bowl, he looked at a chair on the other side of him, seated now by a very small pony, adorned with a very large ribbon in her hair, giving him a very large smile.

Applejack looked at her with a frown. “~+I thought ya were gonna be havin’ a sleepover at Rarity’s place with yer friends.+~”

“~+Well, I was until Rarity let slip that there’s an ALIEN HERE!+~”

“~+Darn it, Rarity,+~ Lyra grumbled, “~+I told you not to tell anypony! But does she listen? Nooo!+~”

The little pony prodded at his clothing, her eyes twinkling in wonderment. “~+Wow. Your clothes are so weird! What’s it like being an alien?+~”

“~+Apple Bloom, he can’t understand you,+~” Applejack said while passing Anon a napkin. “~+He doesn’t understand our language; he has to write everything down on that there board to speak to us.+~”

The little pony groaned, “~+I forgot Rarity said that. This sucks.+~”

Anon cleaned the mess off his face, and not wanting to let the food go to waste, he scooped some of it out of the bowl and onto the plate.

“~+Does he have any weird, alien powers or things he can do?+~” the little pony asked. All the other ponies at the table looked at Anon, and then at Lyra.

Lyra rubbed the back of her neck, “~+He doesn’t have any powers. In fact, his race doesn’t have magic in any form. Not a drop of the stuff where he comes from.+~”

The others widened their eyes at that, the table gasping like kazoos. Anon ignored them, trying out some of the food they had prepared. He knew they were talking about him, but it wasn’t like he could hear what they said or do anything about it.

“~+How is that possible?+~” Granny Smith asked. “~+Everything has magic in them.+~”

“~+Not humans,+~” Lyra answered. “~+They’re completely devoid of it in them or in their world. They get around that by being extremely advanced in their technology. Anon here told me they had things that could allow them to fly across the lands in hours, or talk to another being with only the click of a few buttons.+~”

“~+That… sounds like magic to me, Lyra,+~” Applejack said.

The unicorn shook her head, “~+No, it’s all technology powered by other things. He even brought with him a small box, right in his pocket right now, that carries over thirty thousand songs of all kinds!+~” The other ponies oohed at what Lyra had said. “~+It’s currently dead, but he said it just needs some juice and it can get up and running.+~”

“~+Juice? I gots some apple juice if that’ll help ya.+~”

“~+I don’t think that’ll work granny, it probably needs special human juice.+~”

“~+Lyra, why don’t you ask your friend here what kind of juice he needs. Perhaps we can ask our neighbors up the hill, they gots some carrot juice they store away.+~”

Lyra gave her an awkward laugh. “~+I don’t think he needs real juice, but I could ask what he meant by it.+~”

“~+What d’ya mean by ask?+~” Applebloom spoke up.

Applejack placed her cup down. “~+Lyra here can ask him questions on that chalkboard and he can write back, it’s the only way he knows how to communicate with us.+~”

“~+…Entire sentences?+~”

“~+How else would you have a conversation?+~” Applejack said with a chuckle.

Applebloom gave them all a skeptical look. “~+How’s that possible? Rarity mentioned he only knows how to write for like, two weeks. Even I have problems writing certain words. So how does he know how to write so well?+~”

Everyone blinked at Applebloom, then looked at Lyra. “~+I’m… not sure? I didn’t even think anything of it until now.+~”

Applejack narrowed her eyes. “~+I don’t know, Lyra. That sounds suspicious, being able to write so quickly in another language. You sure he’s not hiding anything from you?+~”

“Well, the reason－”

“Now I mean no offense but I want to hear what he has to say.”

The others twittered agreements, nodding their heads. Lyra seemed worried, grabbing out her chalkboard. “~+I-I’ll ask him real quick, just give me a moment!+~”

Pausing from his bite of apple rolls, which he was greatly enjoying, he saw Lyra had a message written out to him.

**How are you able to learn our language so quickly?**

Placing down his roll, he took the chalkboard, thinking of a reply. His initial thoughts when he was first learning was that the people holding him hostage were simply lazy and created a language that translated easily to English. Sure, there were some odd spelling mannerisms like adding some flourish to show capitalization or the weird differences to their punctuation marks, but it still felt simple enough to translate.

Now that he knew better? He wasn’t sure. How was he capable of translating their language without any problems? It was both irritating and frightening to him, how things coincided with one another. Anon knew how to translate words that they hadn’t taught him, like tambourine or unicorn. Language doesn’t work like that, it shouldn’t work like that, and yet it was seemingly working like that.

**I am not sure why. Your words transfer from my people words easily. It is like stoves or pies. Things that are same that should not be.**

The others read the message, clearly confused.

“~+What’s he mean by stoves and pies?+~” Applejack asked. “~+What’s he on about things being the same? Why shouldn’t they be and what’s that got to do with language?+~”

Lyra replied, “~+The real question is, shouldn’t they be different?+~” Everyone merely looked more confused. “~+From talking to him, while it’s a bit early to say for sure, I’ve come to the conclusion that the two of our worlds are tied together in some manner.

“~+We have similar foods, similar tools, and even similar societies, in certain respects. They know of magical creatures from our world, taking them as myths. We have a lot of products and ideas that they have which we take for granted or don’t give much thought about. Somehow, we’ve been trading ideas back and forth without ever interacting with one another.+~”

Apple Bloom let out a gasp. “~+Are you talking about the dream theory? Miss Cheerilee was talking about that recently.+~”

“~+Dream theory?” Applejack frowned. “I don’t seem to recall that being taught in schools when I was a filly.+~”

“~+It’s only a recent theory from the magical community,” Lyra spoke. “With how our population is growing, we get to truly see the wider variety of what our people are capable of, both in works and magic.

“~+For example, hundreds of years ago, Grampy Tracks was a pony that was said to be able to communicate with animals, helping disputes between ponies and the wildlife. It was a very rare phenomenon and most thought of like a fairy tale. But with our numbers increasing, it’s pretty common to find a few animal whisperers around.+~”

“~+What’s this have t’ do with dreams?+~”

“~+There are numerous incidents of ponies or other beings with special abilities that crop up from time to time, and one of those reported on ponies that could dream walk, similar to Princess Luna, but on a wider level, dreaming of places that seemingly don’t exist. A theory last decade came up that we’re tapping into other realms, and those realms were tapping into ours, sharing ideas back and forth.+~”

“~+I sure would love to be able to do that,” Apple Bloom said. “Explore other places, see new faces, interact and have fun with all kinds of races!+~”

Lyra looked to the side, coughing. “~+Uh yeah… so would I. Anyways, there’s something weird going on, and yet we don’t have any answers. Ultimately, I think he’s saying his language is also similar to ours, and that there doesn’t seem to be an answer; for the time being, until something presents itself that can answer this, it is what it is.+~”

Everyone hummed a choir of flutes as Anon finished his last apple roll, ignoring the symphony of sounds around him as he ate. He frowned, not finding anything to help sop up the apple gravy with for his apple potatoes. Oblivious to the tone everyone had regarding him, he wrote a message to the Apple matriarch.

**Are there more apple rolls? They are very good.**

The older apple family member seemed elated at the message, happily moving from a subject she wasn’t comfortable in. “~+Of course there is! I made a whole batch of them for everyone, and yet, none of the others seem t’ like it for some reason or ‘nother.+~”

“~+Granny, we like the roles, +~” Big Mac said with the tone of a saxophone.

“~+Don’t be lyin’ through your teeth or someone might see that wooden smile of yours! You eat everything off your plates but the roles!+~”

Lyra let out a sigh, seemingly relieved from whatever had transpired. Once things calmed down, Anon was given a whole plate of rolls. He wasn’t going to argue, the look from the others telling him he better eat it since he asked for them.

For the remainder of the night, Lyra told them about the humans and their advanced world. The Apple family was sucked into everything she had to say about them. Anon, barely catching words that Lyra had said, simply ignored the whole thing, eating his food, only replying when urged to.

Soon after the meal, he was brought out to the barn by Lyra where he’d be spending his nights at. It looked like someone had tried setting things up for him to sleep relatively comfortably on the hay, placing a rather large blanket and a decently sized pillow.

Lyra looked at him, giving a hesitant smile. She grabbed his chalkboard, writing a message.

**I hope things have been going well on the farm.**

“So do I.”

He was still nervous about the thought of being banished. He had to stay civil with everyone. If all he had to do was some hard work for a week, then he would push it as hard as he could.

**I’m going to leave you for the night since the Apples don’t want me ‘freeloading’ here.**

Anon easily understood that. They worked him hard around the place, carrying buckets of apples or running around doing odd chores. Lyra gave him a wave goodbye, leaving him alone in the barn.

He laid down under his blanket, left alone to his thoughts. He was still coming to grips about being in another world, a small part of him refusing the silly idea. And yet, he had nothing that could convince him the idea was wrong. No one in their right mind would put so much effort into tricking him otherwise.

“I’m not going back home, am I?”

His friends, family, everything he had was gone. Something pinched his heart, thinking about his life.

“I… I really shouldn’t think about that right now. I need to stay hopeful for the future and get through this. Just… roll with the punches.”

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The rest of the week had been a hassle. The ponies at the farm had him carrying bins of apples along with whatever chores they needed doing. Lyra had been around him more often, explaining things when she could about him to the others.

Applejack didn’t seem to mind him one bit, something Lyra was ecstatic to see, only questioning about his taste in apples or farming from his world. He did enjoy the exercise on the farm, feeling he needed to get in some shape for some time.

The only other thing of importance would have to be the smaller ponies who called themselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They had attempted to sneak him out of the farm one day. Anon talked them out of it but had difficulty preventing them from their shenanigans at attaining their marks. Applejack found it entertaining and allowed them free run, seeing as he helped keep them out of her hair.

He was just happy things were going well for him if one didn’t include him being ripped from his world and being forced to do chores in an effort to save his life from being banished to the moon.

Lifting up what he would think to be his fiftieth bin of apples, Anon turned around and noticed something was off. No one was around. Lyra had been making a habit of sticking close to him, and one of the other ponies typically sung at him in some fashion, trying to talk.

He made his way to the barn, trying to figure out where everyone went. Stopping, he heard a whistle in the air. Anon looked up, his eyes widened, seeing a mass of colors swirling around in the sky.

He attempted to stay cool so he wouldn’t freak out like he did the first day on the farm. Anon reasoned this was just another oddity in the land of magic and talking ponies, much like the sun and moon were. Slowly walking to the barn with the apples, all the while watching the colors shoot about, they made an immediate sharp turn in the air, now aimed at Anon. The whistling grew louder as the colors came closer and closer.

Thinking fast, he dropped the apples and dove to the side just as the colors came to him. He successfully dodged, seeing the colors shooting right past him and into the sky, only to make a quick stop. Anon frowned, seeing it was a pony with wings. It was rearing up, showing it was coming back for him.

‘Why is it attacking me?’

He turned around from the pony, making a run for Applejack.

“APPLEJACK!” he screamed in English, hoping it would draw her attention.

Her head coincidentally appeared around a corner of a tree, her legs dropping to the ground from the mid-buck. Looking up in the air, she shook her head before going back to bucking.

“Darn it, Applejack! Help me!”

The pony slammed into his back, sending him tumbling to the ground. Laying still, the pony dropped onto his back.

“~+Aaaaw yeeeah! I totally just stopped that monster from taking your apples, Applejack+~” Anon groaned in pain as Applejack walked up to the two of them. “~+So, for my reward, which I definitely deserve from such a heroic action, I wouldn’t mind some of that cider I know you’re already cooking up.+~”

Applejack could only smirk. “~+Now Rainbow Dash, why would I reward ya rammin’ into my guest?+~”

“~+…Guest?+~”

“~+Yes, my guest. This here’s that alien the princess told us that Lyra would be showing around. It’s so nice that ya got to meet the fella early, making such a great first impression and all.+~” Applejack laughed at her words.

“~+Th-Th-THIS is the alien?! B-B-B-But he doesn’t look like, all weird or anything like I thought he would!+~”

“~+Ya thought he was a monster.+~”

“~+Yeah, so?+~”

Lifting a brow at her multi-colored friend, Applejack chuckled before turning around to return to her work. Rainbow Dash blinked, just before realizing she was still sitting on his back. She jumped off of him, landing right beside him. Anon finally sat up, looking at a very worried blue face.

“~+Oh my gosh, I am so sorry about that! I thought you were a monster and was trying to run with her apples and, gah! Why didn’t you say something!+~”

Anon slowly blinked at her; he couldn’t understand a single word she said, especially with how fast she spoke. He pointed at his ears, hoping she would get the message.

“~+I BROKE YOUR EARS?! OH NO!+~”

The rainbow-colored pony attempted to pick Anon up from where he sat, unable to move him a single inch. Surprisingly, Anon did have a single advantage over these ponies: his superior strength. He wasn’t sure why, but he could overpower these ponies without too much effort. He found this little bit of info out at the bath scene when he picked Big Mac right up off the ground. It sadly didn’t help one bit with him not taking a bath.

“~+What are you doing?! I need to take you to the hospital to fix your ears! Come on!+~”

She continued to tug on his jacket, trying to pick him up to his feet. The pony flapped her wings rapidly. Anon, frowning, looked over to the side, seeing Lyra and Applejack walking up to the two of them.

“~+Rainbow Dash, what are ya doin’?+~”

She let out a grunt, “~+I’m trying to get the alien to the hospital! I think I broke his ears!+~”

Anon looked at her, and then at the other two before he shook his head. He pointed at his ears, showing he couldn’t understand her.

“~+See!+~”

“~+Rainbow, he can’t understand you,+~” Lyra said, “~+That’s why he’s pointing at his ear.+~”

The pony stopped tugging, landing on the ground, looking at him.

“~+Oh. Well, why didn’t you tell me you couldn’t understand us!+~”

The two ponies smacked their faces, which the multicolored pony ignored. She walked around Anon as if to examine him for something.

“~+You don’t look like you’re up to something. Just what was the princess talking about?+~”

“~+Wait, what do you mean by that?+~” Lyra asked. “~+Did the princess say anything?+~”

“~+Ya mean ya don’t’ know?~+” Applejack asked. “~+The princess sent us all letters, explaining the situation. She just said some things to watch out for. I didn’t see much wrong with the fella, so I dropped it pretty quickly.+~”

Lyra looked to the ground, frowning at her words. “~+I didn’t think the princess would interfere that far.+~”

The winged pony continued circling Anon, uncertain what to take him for. “~+Well, the princess wouldn’t have sent those letters without a reason, right? So if there is something wrong with it, I’m gonna make sure for the next week!+~”

Hearing that, Lyra picked her head up. “~+You’re going to be here for the week?+~”

“~+Of course I am! I mean, I’m not going to just go back to work when I finally just talked them into letting me off for two weeks!+~”

“~+Wait, it’s only for a week,+~” Applejack said.

“~+Oh, I know, but they don’t know that,~+” Rainbow Dash said with a snicker. “~+So how are we supposed to do this? I mean, I still want to be able to do stuff and I don’t want to be all cramped up in your home, Lyra.+~”

“~+He can’t exactly stay up in your house for obvious reasons,+~” Lyra said.

“~+Yeah didn’t think he’d be cloud-capable.+~”

“~+There’s nothing to worry about,~+” Applejack said. “~+He can just stay here for another week!+~”

The three nodded their heads in agreement. Lyra translated things for Anon, to which he was not happy about.

‘Staying at the farm for another week. Fantastic.’

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Anon was at a grand looking lake, situated near the apple farm. The one called Rainbow Dash had forced him to come for some reason. Lyra had run off ahead of them, making sure no one was around and shooing anyone close by. Rainbow Dash was currently writing a message on a blackboard she had brought herself.

**Okay alien, now that we’re here I have some questions for you.**

Anon stood there, waiting for her next message. He didn’t think she’d try to do anything rash, but just in case he would make sure to answer carefully.

**First things first, you’re not here to take over our world and rule it as the Supreme Alien King Emperor are you?**

He couldn’t help finding the question absolutely ridiculous. He grabbed his own blackboard to scribble back a reply.

**No, I am not. I am not sure how I got here to your world.**

Rainbow Dash stared at Anon after he answered. **You’re not lying, are you?**

He sighed, scribbling on his board once more. **No I am not lying. I just appeared here falling from the sky. And why would I take over a world I know nothing of? I do not even have the power to stop a pony from tackling me from the sky.**

She chuckled, scratching the back of her head in a sheepish manner. **Next question. Why would the princess not trust you?**

Anon had to think on that one for a moment, **I do not know. I would have to guess she is just looking out for her people, you ponies. Though if she really thought I was bad, would she not have sent guards instead of having me meet you ponies? I would believe she is being careful of things.**

The pony hummed, thinking over the message. **That makes sense, I guess. But I’m still going to be watching you for a week, just to make sure.**

He nodded his head. Watching the pony, she started to write a message, right before rubbing it out. She tapped the chalk against her chin, thinking over what to write next. Anon remembered a few things Lyra told him before Rainbow could snatch him away. He wrote down a message for her instead.

**Since we are here, how about you show me some of your flying skills? I was told you were one of the best fliers around these parts.**

Rainbow Dash scoffed. “~+Best around these parts?! Try best in Equestria! Just watch!+~”

Putting her board down, she took a few steps back before shooting off into the air. Rainbow Dash flew around in streaks of color, showing off what she could do. Anon saw her doing some very interesting aerobatics he hadn’t seen before, such as her doing near-complete stops as she turned. It was very impressive that she could decrease her speed as quickly as she could. After a good showing of her skills, she came back down with a large smile.

“~+Hehehe, so what’d ya think of that, Mr. Alien?+~”

‘Seems she forgot I can’t understand her,’ Anon thought. He got out his board, assuming he got what she was asking.

**Your skills are very nice. I have never seen anyone move around quite like that before. Reminds me of something from my world called Blue Angels.**

Rainbow Dash frowned, making Anon worried he said something wrong. ‘Were there connotations I’m not aware of here from my world? Was it the word Angels?’

She scribbled a message back. **What do you mean by very nice? That’s it? Not awesome or super cool or anything, just nice?**

Anon groaned, writing a quick message. **Sorry, my word strength in your language is still weak.**

She huffed reading that with a pout. The pony then hummed. **Who are the Blue Angels?**

**They are people in my world that fly around in the sky at very high speeds, pulling off many different tricks and things in groups and by themselves.**

Her face lit up reading that. **That sounds like the Wonder Bolts! They fly around doing awesome stunts and maneuvers all over Equestria. I’m training so that one day I can be a part of them.** He saw her write another message to him. **I thought your people didn’t have magic.**

Seeing her face, she had narrowed her eyes, as if she caught him in something. He wrote back a reply, having to take things slowly to figure out how to write out certain words. **We do not. We have very advanced machines that allow us to do many things in replace of magic, flying is one of them. I have seen some of your machines, but what we have greatly does better everything I have seen here.**

“~+I think I remember Applejack telling me about that… Okay, you’re off the hoof for now.+~”

“Right. Whatever you said, sure.”

“~+I couldn’t understand you, what did you say?+~” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Seriously, I don’t understand you.”

“~+What was that?+~”

He rubbed a hand over his face. ‘This is ridiculous.’ Rainbow Dash paused in thought, thinking of something before smirking at Anon.

**So you said you don’t have magic? I take it you don’t know much about it then?**

**No, can not say I have too much understanding with it yet, Lyra only recently began teaching me.**

Her smirk widened. **Let me show you some then!**

Before he could ask her what she meant, the pony flew off into the sky toward a formation of clouds. Popping into them, she came back down with some of the clouds, pushing them in front of her. Anon took a step back as Rainbow Dash came back, his eyes widening at the site. “~+So whaddya think?+~”

**How are you doing that? I thought only unicorns could use magic.**

Rainbow Dash harrumphed, picking up her board once more. **Unicorns can use magic externally without too much of a problem because of their horns. But everything has magic in them in our world. Earth ponies are good on the ground, but us pegasi can do things with the sky and even the weather if we get good enough! That’s how I can control this cloud here.**

Anon was in awe. **That is amazing. Can you do anything else with this cloud?**

Reading that, she grinned before jumping on the cloud. She sat on top of it with no problem. **I can do many things, such as making it rain or shoot out lightning. I can even sit down on this cloud with little trouble. Why don’t you give it a shot?**

His amazement furthered reading that, and then he frowned. **I do not think I can do that.**

**How would you know before you try it?**

He was about to reply before he remembered something. Lyra had mentioned that he was currently gathering magic in himself somehow a while back. Thoughts of being able to do things like what Lyra or Rainbow Dash had shown started to swim around his head. Anon was eager to see if he could do anything like what a pegasus could.

**How should I do this then?**

The grin returned on Rainbow Dash. **I’d recommend you take a few steps back before jumping on here with your whole body so you can get up all the way.**

**Why would I need to do that? Could I not just climb up or you lower this down further?**

“~+Uuummm…+~” **There’s no way to really grab onto these things, you attach to them! And I can’t lower this further because it can’t touch the ground.**

“Makes sense, I suppose,” Anon said, taking a few steps back. Rainbow Dash jumped off, standing a few feet away from him, still smiling.

“~+What are you two doing?+~” Lyra asked, having just returned.

“~+Um… well, Anon was going to try and see if he could… get on a cloud?+~”

“~+Dash, he can’t use magic! He’s just gathering it inside himself, and even with that there isn’t anything that shows he can use magic!+~”

“~+Ehr, well… but what if he can?! Wouldn’t it be really interesting to know if he can use what he has already to, uh, jump on a cloud and land on it…?+~”

Lyra continued to frown at Rainbow Dash, making Anon wonder if there was something going on. She then sat down, waving at Anon to continue on. With a salute, Anon got himself ready.

He ran at the cloud, jumping in the air with spread arms. He could feel the cloud was cold to touch, but it had a puffy-like quality along with an odd, smooth feeling to it that made him think of velvet marshmallows. It was only a second he felt this as he slammed straight through the cloud and into the ground. He laid there, limbs spread out, face first in the dirt.

“~+BWAAA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HAAAAAA!!!+~”

Rainbow Dash gave out a belly laugh, rolling around on the ground, unable to stand. Lyra had her head turned away, a hoof covering her smile.

“…Uuughh”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

His week with Rainbow Dash had him somewhat on edge It was the same week with Applejack, only with the pegasus messing around with him. Supposedly, that was a good thing? If she was playing jokes, surely that didn’t mean she saw him as much of a threat.

All she really did was ask him some questions about planes and helicopters and other similar topics. Even bringing up space flight blew her away; Lyra got very involved with those stories. Other than that, she simply swam around or flew in the sky, or even bringing him the odd food to share.

By the end of the week, she was calling him a bro, hoping to spend more time when he was free. Lyra was in high spirits, having the two on her side.

“~+Well, the two weeks with ya’ was an interesting time ‘round here+~” Applejack spoke, nodding at him. “~+You come back now when your speakin’ troubles are fixed and we can probably put ya’ to some good work here at the farm.+~”

He was slowly starting to understand certain words. Lyra tried to rationalize that it was the magic integrating with him allowing his language skills to speed up. He felt doubtful about that explanation.

“~+And we’re going to build the most awesome plane that we can so you can fly up here with me!+~”

“~+I certainly wouldn’t mind seein’ that.+~”

“~+We’ll talk to you all later,+~” Lyra said, donning her cloak. “~+We need to get back so he can be rested up for the next visit.+~”

Wearing his own cloak, the two of them walked by to Lyra’s house, the dark of the night helping aid them. Back at the house, Lyra threw her cloak on a hook, taking a seat by her desk. Anon took a seat by Bon Bon on the couch, watching her eat an apple dish. He grimaced, being tired of eating so many apples.

A whoosh came from Lyra, documents she brought back with her burnt up in a green fire. The remains flew under the crack of the front door, disappearing.

“~+Okay, that’s two of them down. Now we just have to worry about Pinkie Pie and Twilight.+~”

From what Anon could gather, he was going to another place in the morning. He was wondering just where it would be this time, hoping he wouldn’t have too many problems.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~Canterlot~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Princess Celestia read the note that came in from Rainbow Dash, her Element of Loyalty. She had nothing but good things to say about the ‘alien’.

‘Just how did Lyra manage to convince her to play along. Applejack I expected, but Rainbow Dash?’

Applejack and Rainbow Dash had conjured up fascinating stories about the human. Some of what they had written was certainly amusing to read, such as how it managed to get catapulted by three fillies trying to attain their cutie marks. Those two absolutely adored the thing. In the end, it wasn’t what she hoped for.

Looking at the images, she couldn’t help but shiver in disgust. ‘How could something like that be any of those things? I’ll never understand why they modeled the alien after those beings from so long ago.’

The images, unfortunately, brought up ghosts from her past she would rather remain buried in the past.

“Sister, I am not sure why you continue with this scenario. Why not just finish this and let it be done with? Surely you understand we have more important matters to deal with.”

Looking at her sister, she could see she didn’t seem to be enjoying this as much as she used to. Of course, neither was Celestia.

The guards from weeks back were turned over to Shining Armor to deal with. This had the unfortunate action of showing more dissidents in their ranks.

Their argument, as puzzling as it was, made it seem like she was under a spell by Luna, and currently being used to achieve her plans quietly behind the scenes. If that wasn’t confusing enough, they even managed to find another guard by pure chance, arguing the opposite direction, that she was the one controlling Luna. To make matters worse, it seemed the pony had some ambition in bringing about Nightmare Moon’s old moon plan from a thousand years ago. Their first course of action was to dethrone Celestia and place Luna on the throne as sole ruler, as they thought she should be.

He was currently locked away, being interrogated by her most trusted guards for more information. She suspected there were more guards in their midst, planning something. Princess Celestia wasn’t certain how any of it came to be, but it was clear that there were two divisions going against one another in her palace. None of the ponies captured were speaking, tight-lipped with their information.

‘How quaint, Lyra having inadvertently made it possible to find these ponies before they could enact anything at their own discretion.’

Princess Celestia saw her sister still staring, waiting for an answer. She turned her head back at the documents on the table, seeing the ‘human’ smiling up at her as if to taunt her with her past haunts.

“If I were to quit, that would be me admitting defeat. That wouldn’t be a good message to have once this scenario gets out.”

“You just have difficulty admitting you don’t want to lose.”

“…I am currently trying to find a way to end it as quickly as I can without making it appear that I had too much involvement in it. Even giving those letters out was risky.”

“So what exactly do you have planned then?”

“Right now, I have my most faithful student primed and ready for her week. I imagine she will be the last one to be given her week. During that week, she’ll start to convince the others why this—” She pointed a hoof at the photos, “—is a danger to have around. That, and I’ve already given her all the information I could on the Bleuh Bleuh Bleuh’s. All we need is some kind of uncertainty from the Elements, and we can easily end this right then and there.”

“Won’t this appear like you’re sabotaging things?”

“Perhaps it will. But I can easily spin it around that Twilight was needed to be informed of everything due to her position, easily quelling any backlash this may have.”

“And just what will happen if Lyra gets through Twilight?”

“Lyra won’t get through her, I have a good amount of faith it will end with Twilight.”

~End Chapter Six~

Chapter Seven - What's More Efficient Than Friendship?

Laying in his bed, Anon tried his best to relax both his body and mind. He didn’t want to get up, knowing that to do so would mean starting the day. That would mean he had to interact with the ponies, which would also mean he would have to leave the house for the next pony he’d be with for a week. This was not something he was particularly looking forward to.

Going two straight weeks of hard farm labor was exhausting, and having to quickly come to grips that everything around him was real and he was not kidnapped did not come easy. He did prefer it when he thought Gleekman or some other influential person was simply messing with him. At least it made more sense than having magical horses trying to integrate him into their world or be banished to the moon if they failed.

Prying an eye open, he saw the light from the window softly spreading through the room, indicating an early morning. He closed his eyes once more, wanting to have as much ‘me’ time as he could.

‘How did I even get here? The missile surely couldn’t have done it, right?’

He thought he remembered Gleekman mentioning something about a foreign source giving him the missile, or components to make it; he couldn’t remember, the details foggy. Did they somehow get a hold of a compound that rifted a portal to where he wound up, in that forest? Or was everything some form of reincarnation, an allowance of a second chance.

‘But… why horses? Why are they acting so odd? And they want to teach an alien to live with them? How bizarre.’

Anon turned in the bed, pushing his head into the warm, soft pillow. Wearing the custom pajamas that Rarity made for him, something he hadn’t had a chance to wear before, he could feel himself loosening up. He had to thank that one when he could properly speak.

As much as he didn’t want to, his thoughts continued to drift back to his new life. An odd, hollow feeling he had difficulty describing crept up, knowing that everything he knew was gone. He was the sole human on the planet that didn’t truly care about such things. Only his status as an ‘alien’ seemed to matter.

Turning on his back, he let out a grunt, frustrated. He was not getting any more rest, his mind too preoccupied with nonsense. Pulling the covers away he sat up, stretching out. He had another pony to meet for the week, and from what Lyra had mentioned, this one could be potentially dangerous.

“If she finds this pony dangerous, then that’s something I should worry about, considering what she finds safe.”

After a quick shower, he made sure to pack all the necessities in his rucksack. He made his way downstairs, Lyra already placing plates down for food. She gave him a hearty wave, motioning him to sit. It was eggs, and this time he was more than happy to eat after all the apples he was forced.

More things on his mind appeared. Anon wondered just why he was able to consume their foods. How could his diet be sustained off the nutrients of alien matter? That shouldn’t be possible. The unicorn reasoned that their world’s magic was adapting him to their world, but he had difficulty believing that.

Taking a bite of his toast, he watched as the other two sat down for their meals, Lyra scribbling a note to him.

**We will be leaving after we eat. Do not freak out with Twilight as she may overstep her boundaries with you. Her impressions of you are of great importance so try to make a good one during your time there.**

So the pony’s name was Twilight.

**Why should I be so careful with her?**

Lyra finished an orange slice before turning to the chalkboard. She twittered, tapping her chin before writing a reply.

**She’s not normally bad but has a habit of getting overexcited concerning magic or studies to it. To make things worse, she’s also a direct student to Princess Celestia, though I’ve always seen it more as an understudy relationship.**

He felt shocked, not expecting to confront such high authority, especially one so close to the ruler. His anxiety grew, knowing he’d be with her for a full week.

**Is there anything I should know of her?**

**Not much other than what I mentioned. She’s a magical prodigy, has a baby dragon for a helper, and enjoys reading books. Twilight also lives at the library in town, the big tree you asked about before.**

None of the information helped ease him, only exacerbate it. She liked books though. He could work with that. His studies in college had him writing poetry and reading things like Sherlock Holmes. Perhaps he could move some of their conversations to literary works?

Finishing their meals Lyra had him wearing his cloak and out the door, the sun and the moon slowly starting to make their rotations.

The two hurried through the town, making sure to stay out of sight of early risers. Standing in front of a large tree, Anon couldn’t help but be awed at the sight, knowing it was a fully functioning abode with its library.

About to knock, Lyra paused, motioning for him to do so. He gave it a hard knock, Lyra positioning him off to the side. A few seconds passed before he could hear a pattering of clicks behind the door. It opened, showing a small lizard-like creature just at the opening.

‘Is that the baby dragon Lyra mentioned?’

It let out a yawn, rubbing an eye. “~+Lyra? Why are you wearing a cloak? It’s kind of early to be up, don’t you think?+~” The dragon sounded like everyone else, having a tune-like quality, but it came out with a barely noticeable hiss. “~+Did the flame from your lantern go out?+~”

“~+Nah, that’s fine. I’m here for Twilight. She should be expecting us.+~”

“~+I was wondering why she was up so soon.+~” He took a moment on her words. “~+Wait, us? Sorry about that, let me…+~”

Widening the door, he could see the tall, cloaked form of Anon. He merely blinked before slowly closing the door once more. Lyra rolled her eyes, sticking a hoof in.

“~+He’s fine, and also the reason we’re here. Could you tell her we’re here?+~”

“~+Uh… Yeah, sure. Take a seat and I’ll, uh, go tell her.+~”

Walking in, he found an odd fusion of housing and library. The walls all seemed to be in one piece, nothing cut or made by hand. It was as if every piece of the place was molded into place using the tree itself.

Sitting down on a small couch beside Lyra, the dragon came back down, taking a chair to sit in front of the two. Anon continued to look around the place, fascinated by the idea that he was inside a tree.

“~+What brings you two here anyway? Twilight keeps fretting about something and seems too preoccupied to talk to me.+~”

“~+Anon, that’s his name, is supposed to spend some time with Twilight and… get to know her, if you will. Official princess business and whatnot.+~”

“~+Ooh, friendship lessons.+~”

“~+Pardon?+~”

“~+Princess Celestia has Twilight and all her friends doing friendship lessons that they send to her.+~”

“~+I was not aware they were doing that, which is odd. I know enough about the history of the Elements by now. Is this a role they have to do?+~”

“~+Actually, that’s because of Twilight and her friendship lessons that originated in Canterlot, coming from the princess. They’ve just moved her to Ponyville to perform her lessons better.+~”

Anon was barely able to decipher what was said, feeling frustrated being out of the loop. So, he took out his chalkboard and wrote a message.

**Is it alright if I read some books?**

At the very least he wanted to see what their books were like while they waited for Twilight to arrive.

**That’s fine,** Lyra wrote back, **just don’t make a mess.**

He quickly stood, walking over to the books to see what they held. There were quite a few to choose from.

“~+Why is he writing on a chalkboard? Is he a mute?+~”

“~+He can talk, just not in our language. We’re teaching him how to understand us but it’s been slow going. He can easily write our language though.+~”

“~+I see.+~ The dragon examined Anon more closely. “~+Why is he wearing a cloak? He’s not ugly or anything is he?+~”

“~+Nothing of the sort. We can’t let anyone see him at all for the time being. Princess’s orders, after all.+~” She lit up her horn, magically tapping him in the side before holding up his board.

**You can take off your cloak now.**

He nodded, taking it off and placing it over the arm of the couch. The dragon’s eyes widened seeing his full form.

“~+I don’t recognize what species he is. Is he something from one of those colonies you’ve told me about in your reports?+~”

“~+No, nothing of the sort. I know this will sound silly, but he’s an alien. He wound up here somehow and we’ve been helping him for a while.+~”

“~+An alien.+~”

“~+Yes.+~”

The dragon stared at Anon, watching him peruse the books. Anon grumbled, looking at each one.

“A lot of romance, history, and adventure. Even some fantasy and mystery books. But I’m not seeing any sci-fi.” He picked up a book, turning it in his hands.

The dragon gritted his teeth. “~+Was that him speaking? That sounds… weird.+~”

“~+It’s hard for us to speak like him so we’ve been teaching him how to speak like us.+~”

Anon laughed. “I wonder how they’d react to some Lovecraftian works or some dystopian stories. Maybe cyberpunk could be a thing here? Oh, steampunk would be some good fun.”

“~+I think I’ll wait upstairs until Twilight is ready,+~” Spike said before getting up, making his way up the stairs.

Lyra rolled her eyes, watching Anon going through the books. Letting out a sigh, she glimpsed at a stack of books off to the side, seeing something familiar. Levitating it away from the stack, she felt gobsmacked, reading the cover of the book: The Creatures of Yesteryear.

“~+W-Why is this here? There are very few of these books available to anyone. Did the princess give this to her?+~”

Hearing hoofsteps, she quickly levitated it back to the pile, seeing Twilight coming from the second floor with Spike following. She momentarily froze, seeing Anon looking through the books. Twilight slowly made her way to them, standing off to the side.

“~+Twilight.+~”

“~+Lyra.+~” Twilight turned to the human. “~+And you must be this Anon that I’ve heard of. I didn’t expect either of you for at least another week. Or to be so… lifelike.+~” Twilight looked confused when no reply came.

“~+He can’t speak our language,+~” Lyra spoke. “~He’s only been here for around a month and our language barrier is quite large.+~”

“~+No kidding,+~” Spike chuckled, earning a look from Twilight. “~+Hey I heard him speak his language just a moment ago. Wasn’t pleasant, too still and direct and… something else.+~”

Humming, she turned to Lyra. “~+Why haven’t you performed a knowledge spell on him to remove this barrier? I know what your packet sent said but I’m not seeing a problem if he’s absorbing magic.+~”

“~+He’s absorbing magic slowly, and it all seems to be concentrated inside his body. We might be able to learn more about the internals of his body when that all settles, but his mind is off-limits unless we want to intentionally hurt him.+~”

Twilight didn’t look convinced, staring at Anon who was staring back, now noticing the purple unicorn. “~+It certainly would have made this much simpler to do. I’ll be honest Lyra, he doesn’t look at all like what the princess described to me.+~”

“~+What exactly did she say?+~”

“~+Well, she spoke of something much… hairier. And less life-like, almost like a puppet.+~”

“~+The princess hasn’t met him formally so she can only go on information she’s provided, along with past experiences.+~”

Twilight glanced at the stack of books. “~+I assume you’re referring to the confidential book she sent me?+~”

“~+That book was required reading for my role as a komlas so I know all about it.+~”

Anon had already sat down, flipping through the pages of a mystery book he found interesting, ignoring the ramblings of the two.

“~+I really shouldn’t judge on appearances, but the princess wouldn’t have sent those warnings needlessly, so you’ll have to excuse me if I want to check him thoroughly.+~”

Lyra gave a wary look at those words.

“~+I say that because I may have a caged area upstairs where he’ll be staying at, just so you’re aware.+~”

“~+Is that necessary?+~”

“~+Aren't you the one that had him locked inside a bedroom for a few weeks before allowing him out? A week here won’t hurt him, and he’ll be staying where I normally sleep. He’ll be well handled.+~

“~+And as a side note, I’d also like to do most of this on my own. I mean no offense, but the princess felt something was odd concerning his stay with the others and had asked I did this without any outside influence.+~”

Listening to the two ponies chirp and squeak, Anon watched as Lyra appeared dejected. The purple unicorn looked like she was trying to reassure Lyra of something. The dragon simply stared at Anon, squirming in his seat, giving a half-hearted wave that he returned.

A tug on his sleeve directed him to the chalkboard Lyra held up. **You’ll be staying here for the week with Twilight by yourself. I will try to pop in when I can.**

‘Different from how others went, but I don’t see any problem here. At least there’s something to do here, reading books and all. I just hope I can manage to keep this pony happy without Lyra.’

Clearing his throat, he decided to give a small showing that he could somewhat understand them if only to present to the purple unicorn he was able to learn. “~+Bye. Lyra.+~” It was a struggle to remember the proper enunciation of singing to get that right.

Before he knew it, Lyra wrapped herself around him in a tight hug. With a shake of her head, Twilight performed a spell, prying her off. Wrapping Lyra in a purple haze, she popped out of sight, clearly being teleported by force.

‘And from what Lyra said, she knows even stronger spells that that. Great.’

Twilight and Anon stared at one another. “~+Alright then. So, I now have an alien in my home for a week.+~” She let out a groan. “~+Why did the princess decide this was a good idea?+~”

“~+Maybe she wants you to expand your friendship lessons even further?+~”

“~+Princess Celestia gave me a large list of things I need to check off when examining him, and none of them seem to be aimed toward friendship. If it was, she’d just let me work things on my own.+~”

Anon continued to stare at the two, uncertain on what to do. Should he continue looking at books? Try and interact? This was a subordinate to the princess herself. He couldn’t act rash about things.

“~+I’m just not sure where to start with him. I’m supposed to dig into things Lyra hadn’t breached with him, but I don’t know how to go about it.+~”

“~+You could always ask him about his world? I don’t see anything from Lyra’s reports that told us anything about his planet, save for a few pages.+~”

“~+I had wondered why there wasn’t anything on his people.+~” Twilight hummed. “~+Yes, I could do that. It could help provide some topics to discuss.+~”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Laying in his new bed, Anon tried his best to appear relaxed in both body and mind. He had been awake for some time now, having gone to bed after a night of odd questioning. Using his peripherals, not wanting to give away he had already noticed her, he saw Twilight in the corner, sitting on a chair, watching him.

He had slept in her bed, only it was fully caged all around with magical bars of some kind to keep him in. It was a fascinating, yet terrifying sight watching the unicorn bend the bars to allow him in. He made sure to stay well behaved after that showing.

As much as he enjoyed laying in bed doing nothing, he had to get up and start the day with the unicorn. She had explained the previous night he would be answering questions about him and his people. Twilight had been, for the most part, polite toward him. He did notice her irritation at how slow things were going, having a conversation between two chalkboards.

Sitting up, he made sure to look as nonthreatening as possible, giving a slight stretch and a yawn. The unicorn squeaked out something, seeing him up.

“~+Fantastic! I was wondering why you were staring at the ceiling for so long. Perhaps it’s a human action that Lyra hasn’t picked up yet?+~”

“~+Or he’s not much of an early bird? It’s six o’clock Twilight, can’t we go back to bed and do this later?+~”

“~+I need as much time as I can with him and go over the princess’s checklist. A week is simply not enough time to do much before I have to decide on if this human is a threat or not.+~”

The dragon rubbed his head. “~+I just don’t see how he can be a threat.+~”

“~+Weren’t you scared of him the other day, barely refusing to be around unless I was there?+~”

“~+And now that I’ve seen him from last night, I think he’s less of a threat than even Owlowiscious is.+~”

A trill of a hoot came from the far wall, making Anon jump in fright. He instinctually kicked the covers off, flopping to the floor, before feeling embarrassed at what he could see was an owl.

“~+Case in point.+~”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “~+He could be putting on an act.+~”

Anon already had his chalkboard out, a message written in greeting to the new guest. The thing merely blinked back, giving another hoot. He held up the chalkboard in the air, trying to pass the message back but the owl simply flew off; he looked dejected, the chalkboard lowered to the bed.

‘Another kind of intelligent animal, like on the farm? I just don’t know anymore.’

Spike held a claw up to his mouth, holding back laughter. “~+You think that’s an act?+~”

A groan escaped Twilight. “~+This is going to be a long week.+~”

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Dull, tedious, and boring is how he’d describe his time with Twilight. All he had him do was sit and answer questions, scarcely taking breaks when needed. It had been several days trying to work with the unicorn, trying his hardest to keep her pleased. He answered everything she asked, keeping it as clear and concise as he possibly could. With his life on the line, he wasn’t going to risk giving her a weak reply.

And yet, she still wasn’t happy.

Sitting at a table near his caged area, Anon stared across at the fuming unicorn. He hadn’t seen Lyra in the past few days, though that didn’t mean she hadn’t tried coming in. From Lyra’s attempted interventions to the slow work with conversing due to their language barrier, and he could see Twilight was nearing her limits.

“~+Finally going to admit you’re having trouble with this?+~”

“~+Spike…+~” She deflated, looking down at her table, covered in papers and her chalkboard. “~+I don’t know what to do. None of this makes any sense to me. Why is the princess having me do this? Why do I need to keep Lyra out of this? And why is it he’s not allowed to have magic used on him?+~”

“~+Well, the princess herself never specified what could or could not be done to him, Lyra said that.+~” Spike, realizing what he said, quickly waved his arms in the air. “~+Not that I’m saying you shouldn’t listen to what Lyra said! There’s likely a reason to that.+~”

Humming, Twilight pulled out a document Anon easily recognized as Lyra’s work on him. What it said he had no clue of, the pony keeping the thing away from him. Flipping through the pages, Twilight read through some of the passages.

“~+All it says is that his mind seems too delicate to touch with magic. I’m pretty sure I can get the spell to work quickly to teach him, and if anything goes wrong I can easily fix him up.+~”

“~+You do know you’re saying that you’re fine with hurting him so long as you have an easier time talking to him.+~”

“~+From how Lyra described it she barely even had any observations on it, only seeing his mind being irritated from the use. I doubt he’ll feel much, probably close to a small pinch.+~”

Spike looked at Anon, frowning. “~+This doesn’t seem right. You’re supposed to be learning friendship lessons here in Ponyville, so shouldn’t you use this opportunity to learn from this? Why even risk anything involving him?+~”

“~+If it came from anyone other than Princess Celestia, I wouldn’t even bother thinking about it. But, I have a schedule that needs to be kept on time from the princess.+~” Twilight lit up her horn, smiling at Anon. “~+A few shortcuts won’t hurt.+~”

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Sitting at her desk, Lyra leaned her head on a hoof, tapping a report that was due by the end of the week. It certainly helped keep her mind off Anon, working on such things.

There had been a few incidents involving a group of odd fellows called the aarakocra’s that had set up a temporary base in the mountains, making the griffon's in the area nervous about the intruders. No one was certain where they had come from, only that they had been continuously snatching anything shiny from either side of the border, with them returning to Equestria’s side for their base of operations.

They had claimed to be lost, not even sure how they got to where they had, and that they were stuck until they could figure out how to get home. Lyra imagined they likely came from one of the uncharted continents on the other side of the world. Such things happen from time to time.

‘I’m going to have to advise that they send one of our wayward adventuring groups up there to figure out just what is going on,’ Lyra thought, scribbling down on her parchment. ‘They’ll also need a griffon or two with their party from our side to help any negotiations that are made.’

As she finished her work, her lantern let out a small ding. It belched out green flames, a crumpled piece of paper falling out.

Confused, Lyra picked it up, smoothing the paper out to read the message.

**Anon is in trouble. Hurry to the library. Do not tell Twilight about the message. Be quick.**

She doesn’t need to think twice about the message as she dashed out the door, straight to the town library. Arriving there she slammed open the front door, seeing the place was in chaos. The books were in disarray, paper and ink spread throughout the floor. Near the table was Twilight, reading book after book, the things hovering in the air. She looked miserable, a haunted look in her eyes which were previously crying.

The moment she saw Lyra, Twilight dropped the books, letting out a holler. “Oh, thank goodness you’re here!”

“What happened?!”

“I messed up. I messed up big time.”

Twilight recapped on what had happened earlier in the day. Frustrated by her lack of work the princess wanted her to do, she had reasoned that it would be fine to attempt a language implantation spell used in the fields for species encounters, something that Lyra was more familiar with than Twilight.

Things went awry the moment she activated the spell. Anon acted completely different from anything she had predicted. Her face paled, describing how he let out a strangled scream as if holding his head in pain, trying to claw something out from it. He then began throwing stuff everywhere as he bled out of his nose, with her trying to calm him down, the situation far out of her control. And then, without any warning, he simply stopped, dropping to the ground unconscious.

“I don’t know what to do! I can’t take him out of here to a hospital, and healing spells won’t work effectively on him!” She slammed her face on the table, letting out a sob.

Dashing up the stairs, Lyra could see the chaos. The bars that surround the room had been ripped out, allowing anyone in or out. Spike stood in the corner with Anon, sitting on the floor, dabbing his nose with tissues.

Upon seeing Lyra, Spike let out a sigh, wiping his forehead. “I wondered when you would come here.”

Lyra walked to Anon, looking concerned. “How is he?”

“I’d say you should just ask him yourself.”

“I… I fine,” Anon spoke, shocking Lyra. “Just… tired.”

“Wait. The spell worked?”

Spike handed Anon another tissue, taking the one out of his nose that was covered in blood and replacing it.

“Ew,” he replied, wiping a claw. “Yeah, the spell worked. He kind of threw the chair and table to the side and was screaming at first. Twilight freaked out, trying to calm him down and heal whatever injury she thinks she did. When he finally exhausted himself he curled up in a corner to rest. Twilight ran downstairs, trying to find some kind of spell or thing to work with him.

“He’s kind of just tired at the moment. He doesn’t even recall the event. I’m helping him with his nose; this guy sure does bleed a lot.”

With some hesitation, Lyra performed a scanning spell. Nothing seemed wrong with him, though some of his muscles appeared to be pulled. Carefully examining his head, she saw his mind still had some of Twilight’s magical remnants left behind, slowly finding a way out of him through his nose.

“This is why I didn’t want to use magic on him,” Lyra said, dropping her spell. “His body is still adjusting, and I doubt his mind could cope with anything for a very long if at all.”

Anon mumbled something, drifting off again before shaking his head, dabbing at his nose once more.

“Is being tired a symptom of magic use on his head?” Spike asked.

“We’ve observed it the only time I’ve used magic near his mind.” Lyra let out a breath she was holding. “So far he doesn’t look like he’ll be in any danger from Twilight’s actions.”

“At least he can speak our language now?” Spike nervously chuckled, seeing Lyra’s unamused look. “Just trying to see the positives here.”

Seeing things were fine on this end, Lyra walked back downstairs. Twilight was watching her, a look of apprehension strained on her face.

“Is he okay?”

“Yes, he is, for the most part. You could have gone up and seen if he was yourself.”

“I… You’re right, I could have.”

“You treated him like something to study and pass some kind of test. Why would you use the spell at all? Instead of focusing on things we’ve already been through, why didn’t you try and be his friend? Surely you could have found any motives through that alone.”

Twilight looked down in shame. There was so much Lyra wanted to say to her, to just show how wrong she was. She certainly felt vindicated enough.

‘Hold up Lyra,’ her inner voice spoke. ‘This is a great opportunity for us!’

‘Yes it is, and everyone will know of what Twilight did.’

‘No you dunderhead. Twilight has to finish this week with Anon regardless of what happens. Telling everypony about her actions would only muddle the waters and allow the princess more intervention at a later date.’

‘...That’s true’

‘We can have Twilight instead write a glowing report on Anon and give him an easy week with her! We’ve practically got this assured so long as you do exactly as I say.’

Lyra walked up to Twilight, placing a hoof on the table. “Okay. This is what we’re going to do.”

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She had stayed at Twilight’s for several hours, setting up a new schedule and rules she had to abide to. Anon did seem alright, regardless of his nose still bleeding by the time she left. Spike had volunteered to keep an eye out for him for the time being, Twilight still too ashamed to try and say anything to Anon. It would take some time for the magic residue to leave him.

It was dark by the time she came back to the house. She let out a yawn, wanting nothing more than to finish her report, find a quick bite to eat, then hit the hay. As frightening as it was, she felt happy with the outcome of things.

Lyra quickly noted there was a ladder set up to the roof, something she knew she hadn’t set up before leaving.

“Why is Bon Bon up there so late?”

‘There’s a star shower scheduled tonight, Lyra. You’re supposed to watch it with her. How did you forget that?’

“Oh. Right.”

Climbing the ladder, she saw everything was already set up. Bon Bon was half-asleep at the table, a small bowl of candies on it with a burnt-out candle. A bottle of cider specially saved sat in a bucket of diluted ice.

“Hey, you made it!” Bon Bon drowsily said, wiping her eyes.

“Sorry for being late, Twilight held me up.” Lyra walked over, giving her friend an extra tight hug. Letting go, she looked around before turning to Bon Bon. “Cider’s a bit much just for stargazing. What’s the occasion for?”

“It’s kind of a special night for us.”

Lyra blinked. ‘Special night?’

‘Come on Lyra? This is like, the weird anniversary of yours. The first day you started stargazing with her, along with the first day you two became friends. The first day you two applied to college, and so on.’

She rubbed the back of her neck. “Ah yeah, I remember. The weird anniversary of ours, how things kept coinciding with this same day for us. How we first became roommates and friends and such.”

Bon Bon chuckled, “The little voice in your head had to remind you, didn’t it?”

‘She’s on to us!’

“Uh… no?”

Bon Bon shook her head with some mirth, pouring the two of them drinks. “It’s fine, I know you have some difficulty remembering things. It does make it simple for us to have a single day to remember it all, maybe even future events for that matter.”

Streaks of light started to tear across the sky, interrupting their conversation. The darkened sky lit up, the two watching the scene, forgetting about everything else save for what was around them, enjoying their own company.

As the night started to end, Lyra could only praise the night princess’s work.

Lyra turned to her friend, seeing her dozing off, leaning on her shoulder. “Bonnie?”

“Hmm…”

‘Yeah, she’s pretty much out.’

Being as gentle as she could, Lyra levitated her friend up in the air and down the stairs. She made it through Bon Bon’s room, placing her on the bed. Just as Lyra tucked Bon Bon in, she wrapped her front leg around Lyra’s head, trying to snuggle with her. She managed to slip in one of her friend’s stuffed animals, watching her nuzzle it.

“Hmm… Lyra…”

Lyra chuckled hearing that. She cleaned up the mess on the roof, starting to feel tired from the day. Stumbling to her room, trying to find her alarm clock, she placed it by her bed before flopping on top of it, immediately falling asleep.

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It was nearing the end of the week with Twilight. Anon was quite shocked with the huge turnabout the pony had made in regards to him. Where previously she was treating him like a biohazard, keeping him back with a figurative ten-foot pole, now she was treating him with a lot more respect.

‘She had to have felt bad for using the spell,’ he thought, thinking over that day.

Arguably, he felt no different from when Lyra had used it, though his lethargic nature stayed for awhile. He also had a bloody nose, reasoned that the magic was flowing through it and making it irritated.

The dragon was a pretty nice guy, after all, helping him with that whole ordeal. While he still had some hesitations with the unicorn, at least he wasn’t being treated like an animal. On top of everything that had happened, he could finally understand the ponies. Sort of.

He still couldn’t speak their language properly, the mere difficulty of singing in tune hard to grasp, but the chalkboard was being used less and less with him understanding their words somewhat.

The spell, in his opinion, was quite the godsend even if it amounted to him losing some memories of the event and a bloody nose. Twilight was extremely apologetic, now regarding him like fine china. It wasn’t like he remembered the incident well, but he most assuredly kept a close eye on her horn. The unicorn was quite astute seeing that, appearing regretful.

At the moment, Twilight had the two of them at a table, with her writing down things he had been telling her of his people. While Lyra was interested in how they worked in relationships and their bodies, along with him as a person or how humans lived their lives, Twilight had been on a nonstop barrage of questions asking about their cultures. She had found it fascinating to see how diverse people could be with only a single species on the planet.

“So these Canadians have an entire market cornered simply on the sap of their trees to make maple syrups?”

**Yes, in a manner. It’s a massive part of their culture, having been taught by the natives there hundreds of years ago. Even their money is scented with it, though that’s their bigger denotations. A popular treat for people is to lay down some syrup in the snow and place a stick in it, then eat when it freezes.**

“How riveting!”

He still had to write everything out, but so long as she was understood, she appeared happy. Twilight also genuinely sounded interested in everything he said about his people. As a plus, she had never veered towards wars or anything of the sort, merely wanting to know of their people and odd little facts. He did supply her with some of the problems they faced globally such as stripping of lands for resources or the oil disasters they’ve been met with, but these seemed so foreign a concept for her he dropped it quite quickly.

Writing everything down on her parchment, Twilight groaned, finding her ink dried up. She lifted her ink bottle, looking inside. “Come on, there’s a little more in there.”

Anon mentally shook his head. ‘They have all this magic and can’t even figure out pens yet.’

A sudden strike of realization came to him. He arrived in their world with only the clothing on his back and what has left in his pockets: His wallet, his old iPod, and a novelty pen. He had nearly forgotten the pen, having just recently been given the thing before boarding the boat with Gleekman by his friends and associates from the group.

Opening the inside jacket pocket near his breast, he found his elegant-looking pen. He was surprised to see the pen had no problems, scribbling a piece of paper quickly. The thing was supposed to be designed off what astronauts used in space, with a built-in light and refillable inks, though the latter was quite a useless feature where he was.

Tapping on the table to get her attention he passed the pen to her. She looked confused, looking at it.

**A simple tool we devised called a pen. Try it like you would a quill.**

He motioned for her to tap the button on the bottom, the nib ejecting for use. She hummed at the thing, writing down on the paper. Her eyes widened, staring at the quill, and then the pen.

“This is remarkable! It acts like a quill and a bottle of ink combined!”

She wrote her notes down at a remarkable pace, letting out a laugh. “Think of all the notes I can take with this! Why this changes things on a whole new level of academic work!”

The need to show up presented itself; he motioned for her to twirl the end of the pen, making sure to show she needed to be gentle. The thing flashed in her eyes, a yelp escaping her. Blinking, she could now see it was producing light from the tip.

“It produces light as well?! Whu, buh, uhh…”

“It is… easy to use… may-be you can… recreate it?”

He would love to see more pens around the place, getting tired of using quills and ink bottles all the time.

The unicorn stared at the pen for a while, in awe at what she was seeing. “Initially, I thought your people’s inventions as something to set aside, but I was not aware your people were so capable.” She had an odd gleam in her eyes. “We have so much to talk about.”

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Standing outside the doorway, Lyra gently nudged him away from the library, leaving behind Twilight who was unwilling to let him go.

“Just give me some more time with him! Think of all the things we could do with his knowledge.”

“He doesn’t know how to make most of those things, Twilight.”

“But he knows rudimentary knowledge on things which we can use to create much of his people’s work! Think of what we could do if we managed to make these ‘bah-tauries’ of his. And the idea of ‘rai-diah weebuhs’ could change the entire landscape of our world! Think of how vast the changes would be if we could call anyone from anywhere in the world, without the use of magic!”

“Yeah, well, maybe some other time. See you later Twilight!”

Lyra ignored the screams of pleads from the unicorn, leading Anon into the dark of the night. She hummed alongside him, making their way toward their next destination.

“You… seem… ha-ppy?” Anon spoke, slowly working the words out.

“Very much so! With Twilight cleared to go, we now have nothing to worry about. The princesses don’t have any other way to take you now.”

“Why… do they not… re-gard-less?”

Anon never understood the whole getup with him needing to stay with others for verification. From everything he had heard from Lyra, it almost sounded like the princess just wanted him gone. Why not just go collect him anyways?

“What is… to stop her… just co-ming?”

“That’s not how things work around here. We have proxies in place, like Twilight and the Elements or something similar. On the rare instance she does decide to step in it’s usually because it directly involves her or there is without a doubt no other way to go about it.

“The Elements are a great example of this. Back a thousand years ago Princess Celestia wielded that power, but nowadays it’s been given down to her subjects to use. There are similar things around the lands like them. This is because back then, a lot of people abused the power they had, as they had so much of it. And those with the most power tended to have an iron grip on everything around them.”

Anon understood that. “Power is co-rupt-able… abso-lute power, abso-lutely co-rrupts.”

Lyra blinked at him, “Wow, that’s a really good way to put it. I’m definitely saving that quote to you.” She coughed. “But yes, during the era that the princesses came about, many other powerful rulers were appearing, more powerful than anything before them.

After a lot of infighting and talks, decrees were put out to place some of the powers they held to the people, though some historians will say they feel it was heavily aimed at Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. After all, she was capable of moving the sun, ruled an entire land, had the Elements and countless other artifacts; this just made for someone no one could trust to not abuse things.”

“What… does that have… to do with… all this?”

“To help solidify everything, each nation passed into law that certain positions would be made, including a council that would form for each of their respected lands to help deal with things on a more personal level, derived from leaders from each town and their chosen watchers. They’re aware of what is going on with you, and won’t allow the princess to just come in and nab you without making a fuss.”

“I… see.”

‘Even so, this all feels a bit convoluted.’ He put those thoughts to the side, thinking of something else.

“Were are… we going?”

“To the last pony for the week. You still need to spend some time with her.”

He looked at where they were walking. “At… App-le A-cre?”

“There wasn’t any other place that’s so out of town to do this, and Applejack is fine having you around.”

‘Of course, she is; it’s free labor to her.’

It had gotten dark just as they reached the farm. Standing outside a familiar barn, Anon had difficulty seeing anything.

“Before we go in, I just want to… give you a bit of a warning. Don’t go super crazy, okay? Please trust me that nothing is going to get you.”

‘Gee, when you put it that way, why would I think anything otherwise?’

“I will… stay fine.”

Walking inside, the back door was immediately slid shut, putting him into the pitch, black darkness of the barn. Chuckles could be heard as Anon inched forward, trying to figure out what was going on.

“Lyra?”

Suddenly, the barn lit up in a blazing light. Anon could hear what sounded like a roar of singing tones announcing themselves with a hearty surprise. Festive music played in the background as some chirps and tweets littered in the air. He could see streamers and confetti around the area, with a table full of treats he was accustomed to seeing at parties.

A very pink pony suddenly appeared in his face, forcing him to take a step back.

“You’re Anon! It's so nice to finally meet you!” She shook his hand up and down, nearly lifting him off the ground. “I was super upset when no one had me set you up with a welcome-to-town party but now that you’re here we can have a super-duper long one all week long!”

“P, Par-ty?”

“This is going to be so much fun! After I heard about you I knew I had to make an extra special out of this world party! But Lyra wanted to keep you a secret so I couldn’t even sneak into your place to do anything! Now that my weeks here I quickly planned a bonkers amount of things to do! Party games, dance-offs, and I even prepared different kinds of foods for the whole week just so you wouldn’t get sick of not eating it all!” She clapped her hooves, her grin widening even further. “This is so exciting!”

“I do hope you’re not going to let things get too crazy up in here,” Applejack interjected. “There’s a farm I have to run and if he’s going to be here, I expect he’ll be helping around when he can. Do I make myself clear Pinkie?”

She shot ramrod straight into the air, giving her a salute. “Ma'am, yes ma'am! I’ll even help on the farm! Buck every apple and ensure all trees are apple-less, ma’am!”

Applejack ran a hoof over her face. “Just don’t do anything crazy, please?”

“I’ll be as well behaved as I always am!”

“That’s what I’m afraid of…”

Pinkie shot over to Anon, now suddenly on his shoulders. “We’ll just have to get our party on at night! Just you, me, and everyone here!” She brought out some kind of horn, blowing it into the air, Anon covering his ears in pain. “Let’s paaah-taaay!”

Toots and whistles shouted off in return as all the ponies he had met during his time there started to wander around.

“A party,” he spoke in English.

He stared at what was going on, trying to come to terms with everything. It was certainly something to end the whole thing with them. Yet, it didn’t feel right to him, seeing it all. Watching them all happily talking and sharing in the festivities, somehow, it all felt so meaningless to him.

‘Just how did everything I’ve gone through in this world accumulate to this party I’m at?’

Rainbow Dash started to talk to Applejack, trying to challenge her to some kind of apple dunking competition. It started to get heated when Big Mac brought a bin over to them, the two quickly shoving their heads in.

‘I’ve been in this place for nearly two months, having thought I was being kidnapped to finding I’ve been transported to a magical world of singing, talking ponies. And now they want me to party with them.’

Twilight was off in a corner, excitedly talking to Rarity about Anon’s time with them and the new ideas he had given them. Rarity was projecting some images of his clothing in the air, talking about his threads while Twilight illuminated her images of the pen he had shown her, along with a few brief items he had described.

‘How am I supposed to take all of this? I’ve always prided myself with staying calm on the surface, never letting anything show, yet this… this might be too much to handle.’

He continued to stand there, unable to move as everyone around was oblivious to the turmoil raging inside him.

Fluttershy was talking to the three small ponies that had spoken to him on the farm a few times, sharing their adventures with him and how they almost got cutie marks on many occasions. She seemed amused at what she was told, while also being polite with her time with them.

‘Am I really stuck here with these horses? These alien creatures in this alien world?’

He felt hollow, something catching his breath, looking at all the horses. They all looked like what they were having the time of their lives. Nothing was out of place to them in this party of theirs.

‘No, that’s wrong. I’m the one out of place here. They truly expect me to just party and have fun like them.’ He looked down at his hands. ‘I’m the alien, aren’t I? None of this makes sense to me, how they’ve been acting or what they do, yet to them, it’s perfectly normal to act like this. Here I am, walking among them, not fitting in the slightest, and I don’t know what to do.’ Something tugged inside him, watching the ponies jovial attitudes. ‘I don’t know how much longer I can do this.’

Something tugged on his leg, drawing him from his miserable thoughts. Lyra, now wearing a little party hat, was holding a cup out to him, looking worried.

“Are you alright? Do you need to talk?”

Anon paused, wondering what she meant by that. He then felt a tear, drawing from an eye; his jacket helped wipe it away before anyone else could notice, not wanting to know how they’d react to that.

“Just long… couple weeks.”

She wasn’t convinced, her frown remaining. “Here, I got you this drink. It’s punch.”

He grabbed the cup, staring down at the red liquid.

“If you want I can talk to the others, maybe try and hold all of this off for a later date? I’m certain we can have Pinkie tone this down, somehow.”

“...No, it is… it is fine,” he lied.

For the time being, he just had to treat things like if he was in a foreign country. There tended to be different rules and ways people reacted to certain gestures and actions. This was clearly on a whole other scale, but so long as he didn’t look into the details too clearly, he could make it work.

‘I’ll make it out of this, I always do. I just… need time to adjust. Yes, just some time.’

“Why don’t… you tell me about… that pi-ñ-ata over there?”

Lyra seemed eager to show him around, wanting to enjoy their time with one another.

“So a piñata is a fun little game where you take a stick and beat it, and candy comes out! Now, I know it’s a pony shape but that’s not because we like hitting one another. Well, some do, but they’re meanies and you shouldn’t be around them. Stupid meanies. Anyways, you need to get a blindfold and…”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~Canterlot: One Week Later~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

“How queer this is, having a quill and ink bottle put to one single entity. And yet, here it is, and with even further potential. It’s quite the marvel.”

Princess Celestia saw her sister twirling around one of the ‘pens’ her student Twilight had sent, courtesy of komlas Lyra. The thing was certainly ingenious and would revitalize their writing industry for more products of similar caliber.

Luna turned to Celestia, “Has Lyra ever produced such items in the past? Her creativity is, admittedly, a bewildering thing to see.”

“No, she has not. I’m not sure if this is a recent thing or something she has hidden for unknown reasons.”

“Perhaps to use when she felt most advantageous to reveal?”

If it was before the scenarios had started, she’d refute Luna. Lyra had never shown the capability, nor the character for such actions.

‘And yet, now I am uncertain.’

Celestia was confused, thinking Lyra’s true talent was her musical abilities, along with her magical potential being quite high and her studious nature to her work. To show off her inventive side perhaps was enough for her to change her views on the mare.

The reports on the table shared an account of the final two weeks, shared between Twilight and Pinkie Pie respectively. Somehow, Lyra had managed to convince them to side with her. Pinkie Pie was no real surprise; Twilight had been the one to shock her.

She had sent reports to her student about the alien ahead of time, detailing further information that what was given to the others, all the while pointing toward the Bleuh Bleuh Bleuh’s. Her reports spoke of confusion, seeing nothing but very faint visual similarities to the things, but none of the remarked characteristics.

‘If there was a time for Twilight to venerate me and to simply be guided by my words, this would have been it.’

The ‘puppet’ that Lyra continued to share in each image was as unsettling as she had seen the first time. And now, with the Elements on board and the council having a part in everything, the scenario would continue to the next step of integration. Even Twilight was involved, having requested to work on further inventions.

“I’ll say, regardless of our troubles with this, it had been enjoyable to the end, even with all that’s been occurring with the guard.”

Celestia couldn't agree more, feeling tired just thinking of it. More guards had been outed, which only made things worst. It seemed the groups leading them started to disturb the peace in certain towns, Canterlot being hit the hardest. They’d leave behind propaganda at the scene, vying for either her or her sister to be the sole rulers of the lands. It was becoming a bigger headache with each passing day.

“So,” Luna started, “are we going to do anything about the scenario?”

“No, I don’t see any point. Honestly, it’s the only thing that’s giving us time away from everything.”

Luna clicked the pen a few times, humming to herself. “You’re going to be petty about losing aren’t you?”

“Oh, Luna… of course I am.”

“How troublesome do you plan to be?”

“I’m not going to do anything too harmful or something that needs heavy involvement from us. Just a… nudge that will push her to the limits over time.”

“You better not keep me in suspense. What do you have cooked up for her?”

Princess Celestia smiled, “Why, I’m going to require her to get a job.”

“...A job?”

“To be more precise, her alien friend. She’ll need to integrate it into our town and have it start working there.”

“I see where you’re going with this. Take away some of the funding needed as a way to push the alien to get a ‘job’ to support itself and integrate, and we’ll have her on the ropes!”

A small twinge of guilt could be felt, knowing what she was doing to Lyra felt wrong, in a manner. It was quickly killed by her competitive side, seeking revenge over its loss.

Taking out a new parchment, she started to write a return letter when suddenly, her quill was yanked from her magical aura. Looking to where it went, she saw the pen now floating in her face.

“You may as well test it out.”

Rolling her eyes she grabbed the pen, returning to her letter. She was going to make it difficult for Lyra to continue working on her scenario. It should provide the two of them with some potential entertainment from the outcome.

~End Chapter Seven~

Chapter Eight - Introducing, Mr. Anon

Sitting on her couch, Lyra took a sip of tea to wake up, already on her fourth cup. She hadn’t slept well the previous night, having sent in the packet that would determine Anon’s fate. As confident as she felt, she couldn’t help but worry that perhaps something could go wrong.

“Do you know how much longer this will take?” Twilight asked, taking a sip of her tea.

“Why would I know that?”

“It’s part of your job I thought to send off these packets and receive a response? Am I wrong?”

“I just send them off. I don’t usually get a response from the princess unless it’s urgent or sometimes as a thank you. The ones involving Anon are usually prompt so I’m not sure why it’s taking so long.”

“We just need some patience,” Bon Bon chimed in from beside Lyra. “I doubt the princess is putting off on sending her response.”

Lyra shook her head, taking another sip of tea. “Why are you here anyways Twilight?

“I’m here for Anon and to see what happens to him.”

“...His inventions got you that worked up?”

Twilight’s face flushed, “I uh, I won’t say it doesn’t, but I do still care for him okay?”

Lyra let out a heavy sigh, tired, not wanting to start on some tirade against her.

‘You should probably just let it go,’ her inner voice spoke. ‘She’s not exactly doing anything wrong, and it does help us having her on our side if things go south.’

‘I still don’t like it. She’s not exactly well remembered at school: Always reading books and ignoring everything around her that wasn’t magic, not exactly staying with her supposed friends, and her magical experiments were extremely dangerous.’

‘As opposed to the equally dangerous experiments we had to do in that school?’

‘Regardless, I just have difficulty trusting her. The others may like her around here in Ponyville, but I grew up with her in Canterlot.’

‘You just didn’t like school and have a habit of pinning your hate of it on Twilight. So you had some difficulties there along with a few bullies. We’ve moved past this.’

Lyra gritted her teeth. ‘Stupid bullies, none of them believed in my dreams and just made fun of me, calling me names like incidental unicorn number two. It drove me nuts! Why am I the second? Who was the first?!’

“Uh, Lyra? Are you alright?”

Twilight gave her a confused look, seeing Lyra staring at her cup for some time.

Lyra sighed, “You realize we’re not likely to get a lot of his people’s tools for a good long while. We need to prepare him to be around us and not focus on how we can benefit from him.”

“I understand, which is why I brought a few books to help us teach him.” Twilight pulled out a stack of books that somehow were able to fit in the small rucksack she had. “This one is about a history of Equestria, but it’s a version that doesn’t hide some of the more… immoral things that have happened. I’m still trying to get it approved to republish that one.

“And this one is a guide for magical theory and mundane workings of magic in our world. It was written by one of Star Swirl’s pupils who remains unnamed to this day, only going by the moniker Sunlight Dee. It was a revolutionary book for its time but there is barely any research that goes into magic-absence or the more mundane usages of magical workings today.”

A loud thump sounded out, the books deposited on her table. Lyra stared at the imposing stack of books.

“That’s… a lot of reading to go through. I’m not sure if we’ll have time to go through all this.”

Twilight waved a hoof, “I figured you wouldn’t be able to look through these. You’re already focused on him and the integration along with reports, which is a lot of work as it is. I’ve already read all of these and will have Anon reading them with my help. Get him up to date on some information about our world, if you will.”

“Which is the next step that we need to teach him to integrate Anon.”

“See? Very helpful!”

Sipping on her tea she thought it over, finding the idea intriguing. It would allow her more time to do what she wanted with Anon, that’s for certain.

A rattling from her lantern pulled her from her thoughts; it spat out in green flames a scroll, depositing inside its tray.

“She responded!”

Lyra burst from the couch, running to the scroll and cutting across the waxed celestial seal. Her face was glued to the parchment, reading each word carefully to see what their decision would be.

“He’s going to stay!” she hollered in triumph.

Twilight’s head hovered over her shoulder, reading the scroll. “You should read the last part Lyra.”

“...It says she wants him to integrate into our society as soon as possible. I don’t see anything wrong with that.”

‘In fact, that’s fantastic news! You can show him around, take him on meals, get him all dressed up, and even get to show everyone you’re not crazy!’

“Princess Celestia wants him to get a job, Lyra.”

She paused, looking at the scroll. “Ah, crud.”

“And to ensure this happens, she’s taking away her funds that helped pay for things.”

“Double crud.”

Something loud came from the kitchen, Bon Bon running up to them with food all over her. “Repeat that would you please?”

“She’s… not going to pay Lyra anymore for the work on Anon?”

Bon Bon’s eyes widened, her jaw slacked from the words. “No. NO!”

She ran up the stairs to her room, loud banging soon followed. She came back downstairs all cleaned up with several rucksacks tied to her, heading out the door.

“Where are you going?” Lyra asked.

“I need to go, NOW! I have to collect ingredients and get into contact with some sales reps for a fresh batch of treats if I want to get ready for the next seasonal sale!” She muttered to herself about things she had to do as she left the house, leaving behind two very confused unicorns.

The two stared at the door and then turned to one another.

“I get it being a pain, but what’s with her reaction?” Twilight asked.

“Bon Bon’s very strict about how the treats are made, and so she’s always out and about doing things, talking to ponies behind closed doors, and so on.”

“That’s a bit strange, just for making treats. Are you sure there’s nothing else she’s doing?”

“I doubt she’s hiding anything from me.”

‘Pretty sure.’

“Speaking of, I need to tell Fluttershy. She was being paid by the funds as well from her work.”

“She’ll be fine. Being the premier veterinarian that works with just about any creature, from bears to lions, and let’s just say she’s well paid for her services. Who I’d be worried about is Anon. It’s not going to be easy, finding a job for him.”

Lyra tapped her chin. “That’s true, he’ll be working with ponies, and he doesn’t have a lot of experience being around us.”

“Not to mention no one in town even knows about him. How would some of them react to a very strange looking being, walking around amongst them out of the blue?”

“And we need to get him a job by the end of two weeks.” A smile slowly formed on Lyra’s face. “So you know what that means?”

“That I need a new assistant for the library?”

“Would the princess even allow that?”

“...Maybe?”

Lyra shook her head. “No, I’m thinking he needs to be introduced to the townsfolk! Get out there, meet them, and see all there is in the town of Ponyville.”

“Is that such a good idea? There are quite a few skittish ponies out there. And he’s still not very familiar with being around us. What if he does something that is, well, too alien for them to understand?”

“I’ve been overprotective of him for the past two months, keeping him holed up here and sneaking him around. He’ll likely meet plenty of neigh-sayers and odd fellows in town, but he truly has to do some of it on his own. Otherwise, he may never feel confident around us, and the same for us around him.”

“I can see your reasoning with that. So how exactly do you want to go about with this?”

“I think I’ll take him out and try to direct him to places we’re familiar with, like Sugarcube Corner, but at his own pace. Let everyone see him, try and let him take control of the situation as they appear, and move on from there.”

“And you’ll stay in the background, watching him, and intervening when it’s needed so he’ll feel like he’s taking charge.”

Lyra nodded. “I genuinely think he needs this. Being around him, I can see he’s not doing so well around us, as if he’s restraining himself from something. It was most prominent at the party with Pinkie, how he was staring at us so oddly.”

“I think all of us noticed it in some way but didn’t think it prudent to say anything.”

“That was for the best. I managed to ask him later on and he seemed to completely clam up, appearing like he’s fine. I’m not sure how his people are, but I don’t think that’s healthy.”

Twilight sighed. “It might be him being away from his home and life, and perhaps a feeling of… loneliness.”

“There are no humans here. He must be feeling out of his depth, having no one he can confide in or having any form of normalcy to his life. We need to show we can be there to help him through things and hope he’ll open up.”

“So you’ll be taking him out today and have everyone get to know him. When are you planning on getting started? It’s going to be a lot of traffic in the afternoon and I’m not sure letting him out then is a good idea.”

“I think that’s the best time to let him out, have everyone see him and start getting used to Anon. Also… I’m letting him get some extra sleep right now; he seemed to need it after Pinkie’s shenanigans.” Lyra looked up toward her bedroom. “Besides, I think that would be the best time to take him.”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

A groan of pain slipped out of him, the week spent with the party pony from hell a tiring ordeal. Anon had not expected her to be so literal with a week-long party. Adding in all the farm work he had to endure, he was simply beat.

It only took roughly three days before he finally collapsed from exhaustion. Pinkie seemed to take pity on him, putting up board games to play for the last few days. Admittedly, he did enjoy them, albeit finding some of her choices unnerving due to the peculiar similarities to his world’s games: Life was now Stable, Catan was now Tribes of Three, and Apples to Apples was… well, that was the same. Applejack was enthused with that one.

They even had their variation to Dungeons & Dragons, Ogres & Oubliettes. Having played D&D during college, he had some fun explaining his version of the game and deciding to show them a new rule set, with a proper DM courtesy of himself, when he got some time to plan it all out.

For the most part, it was a great way to alleviate some stress since arriving in their world. He was nearly able to forget about living in a foreign world surrounded by magical, talking creatures.

Sitting up in his bed, Anon swept his hair back; it was starting to get longer than he was happy with, the thing needing a cut.

“Some-thing to men-tion later on,” he said in Equestrian.

His language skills were getting better, being able to pick up more complex words as time went on. He knew of them but simply found it difficult to speak. It would take time but he’d soon be a grand virtuoso of the spoken tongue.

Standing up, he started to get ready for the day. Taking a shower, getting dressed, brushing his hair back, and making sure he was somewhat presentable. Anon wasn’t sure just what Lyra and the others had in store for him next, but he wanted to ensure he at least looked ready.

At his desk, he went through his papers, writing in a few lines for his journal that they had provided for him to write in. He looked at it, tapping the paper in thought.

“I still can’t get over how Gleekman transported me here, accidental or otherwise.”

He had been doing his best to stay focused on his new life with the horses, but every so often he’d wander off in thought about the wrongness of it all. Just how did it happen? Did someone from this world go to theirs and provide it to the man? Was it some convoluted manner like the alignment of stars that brought him through a rift?

A knock on his door interrupted his thoughts. Closing his journal, he put it away as Lyra walked in.

“Hey, Anon! Ready for the day?”

“Yes?”

“Great! I’ll see you downstairs, we’ve got some things to talk about. Oh, and make sure you pack your rucksack.”

‘Ah, another day out with the ponies it seems.’

Taking care to pack a few things that he thought could be useful, he made his way downstairs. Lyra was sitting on the couch waiting for him.

“Come here and take a seat.”

He sat on the couch beside her, staring at an unfurled scroll on the table. It had a strange manner in its writing, compared to what everything he had seen was the norm; the thing came off as eccentric, and powerful.

“The princess had gone through everything we had given her and seems to think, for the time being, you’ll be fine here in town with us.”

“That… is good.”

‘At the very least I don’t have to worry about being hauled off because I looked at someone funny. Hopefully, this means things will calm down.’

“So the next step the princess wants is to see you get a job!”

‘Spoke too soon.’

“Why… a job?”

“She sees it as an opportunity for you to assimilate into our lands and to get to know everyone. Also, she cut off our funding so I have no way to feed you anymore.” She gave him a large smile after that.

‘What is wrong with these ponies?! I don’t understand. How could anyone think to give a foreign being a job even remotely appropriate? I’m only just starting to speak and now I have to hold a job in this place?’

Anon smothered his feelings, letting his thoughts die off.

‘No, don’t get upset. They’re just different. Their rationale is simply… distinct, and unique. Just go with the flow.’

“So what… do I do?”

“We need to figure out a few things you’re good at, and find the best place for you to be! Of course, we’ll also be walking around in town so everyone can get to know you. It wouldn’t do any of us any good if you couldn’t make friends.”

He pinched his glabella, irritation settling in. “Friend… ship.”

“Yes! So you’ll go out in town and get to know everypony, and while we’re out there you can see all the shops and maybe come up with some ideas on what you can do. But before we do that, do you have any kind of special talents we can work with?”

“Lyra, I was… envi-ro-ment-alist. I helped… try and make… world better. Oil spills, coal mines, air po-llu-tion.”

The unicorn scrunched her brow. “I know you’ve brought that up before but… I’m sorry, I don’t know what that is. I mean, I’m not sure how anyone can hurt air, that’s weird.”

None of the ponies, as far as he could tell, had any of the problems he had told them about in his world. To find that they were confused by what he described was quite frustrating for him, along with a hint of jealousy. Unless someone intentionally tried to do damage, things would generally be fine.

He took out his chalkboard, finding it needed to help explain some things.

**I recall you telling me about how your people regulated the weather in Cloudsdale. Could you explain that again?**

“The pegasi help move around clouds and control the weather. It helps water the plants, keeping things hot and cool when needed, and also gives us ways to schedule the weather around certain days.”

**Our world does not have such luxuries. It’s all maintained by its own environment responding to uneven heating. Over-burning our fuels and polluting our air have long term effects, from putting smog into the troposphere and triggering different illnesses to damaging our ozone layer.**

Lyra scrunched up her brow. “Ozone… layer? Troposphere?”

**It’s a barrier that helps shield the sun’s radiation from damaging the planet, and without it, every plant on our planet would start dying off. Not to mention the different ways we’d die, from cancer to lack of oxygen.**

“I… I don’t know what cancer is but it sounds ominous. But we don’t have to worry about such things, the princess controls the sun to regulate that, and magic does help prevent a lot of illnesses like those tumors you’ve mentioned before.”

‘Which makes my environmental science degree here useless,’ he thought.

“This is all very knowledgeable, and I certainly want to get this written down, but unless you know how to grow some nice plants, I don’t think your knowledge will be helpful. I’m sorry.”

It irked him, seeing all his knowledge would be wasted in their world. His urge to help the world felt smothered, knowing they didn’t seem to have many of the problems his world did.

‘Although they have to compete with multiple, magical end-of-the-world scenarios, so I’m not sure which world is better off in that regard.’

“Maybe you can juggle? Oh! What about dancing. I bet you would be a fantastic dance instructor!”

‘I just can’t accept that their world is this well off, not with how many species live here and use up resources. It’s certainly a problem they’ve never thought come across, so they wouldn’t know to look for it.’

“Whatever you decide to do, just put your heart into it! I believe in you, don’t forget that.”

“Uh… thanks, Lyra.”

She gave a nod, jumping from the couch. “I have plans for us to go around Ponyville and get some lunch while we look around. I can’t wait to show you around!”

After that, Lyra led Anon out of the house and toward the town. He had only seen glimpses of the place going back and forth to see either Applejacks’ or Twilight’s place. But this was different; everything was out in the open as ponies walked around, going about their business.

Quite a few of the ponies stopped what they were doing, gawking at him. He made sure not to try anything that could even remotely look threatening. Simply following Lyra was all that was needed, so why change that?

Lyra held her head up high, smugly walking down the street. There were quite a few gasps, seeing her beside him. It started a trend; anyone that was going about their day stopped to see what the commotion was about, only to reel back at the tall figure of Anon walking down the street.

Noticing something, Lyra let out a menacing chuckle, pulling out a scroll from nowhere with her magic. Anon recognized it as something the princess had given her, official papers about what was going on.

“I’ll be right back, I’ve got to share with those mares over there the lesson of never doubting others.”

She proceeded to bounce over to them, shoving the scroll in their faces while spouting off how she was right and they were wrong, whatever that had meant. The surrounding ponies could hear Lyra’s words, calling him an alien being, which only exacerbated the issue of them seeing him as something to avoid.

Alone in a gathering crowd of ponies, he could hear their loud whispers, wondering what exactly he was. He’s an alien? Why was he here? Lyra was right? It was difficult trying to hear them all.

One daring pony slinked up to him, freezing when his gaze focused on her. She looked around for support, only to find everyone moving back from her.

“I, uh, um...” Her legs started to wobble, any bravado she had fleeing, her eyes starting to tear up. “Uh, uh…”

Feeling pity for the thing Anon walked up to her, looking down. He let out a cough to clear his throat, of which all the ponies took as a menacing growl.

“He-llo. I… am Anon.”

Her pupils shrank at the massive being boring down on her, speaking his words in a stilted, foreboding manner. The thing smiled, showing off its terrifying incisors. It was going to eat her!

Full of fear the pony let out a garble of a scream before turning to run, only to slam its face right into a tree beside her. Everyone looked at the downed pony, and then at Anon.

“Sweet Celestia, he has special alien powers that make us hurt ourselves!”

“He made Tinklebell punch her face into a tree!”

“RUN!”

Ponies scattered from the area, hollering out nonsense that Anon could barely catch. Lyra walked back, clearly confused about what had happened.

‘Okay, that was a bad first impression.’

“They’re just… skittish,” Lyra said. “Give them some time. They’ll grow on you.”

“I… hope.”

Walking to the town square, many of the stalls were hesitant, halting their sales or hiding behind their stalls when Anon walked past them, uncertain what to do. Lyra merely acted like everything was normal, even humming to herself as if to show how calm she was.

“Okay Anon, I’ve got to go talk to Bon Bon at her stall. Stay here and get to know someone, make a friend! I’ll be back in a jiffy!”

Before Anon could ask her how she knew what a jiff was, or even try to get a reason why she was leaving him, Lyra had already left. Once again, he found himself standing by himself, ponies slowly starting to whisper about him. They gathered once more around him, questioning who or what he was, rumors from the previous incident already intermingled in their conversations.

‘I know what Lyra is doing, with her leaving me here. She’s trying to get me to do things on my own, and while nice to know she has my trust in that, it is not likely to work. Who in their right mind would try and befriend something like me, who is not like them?’

His ruminations ceased when he felt two thumps against his back, stumbling him forward.

‘Did someone just slap two pillows against my back?’

Two pegasi were on the ground, trying to figure out what had happened.

Most of the ponies, he had found out, didn’t have the strength to do anything to him save for a few rare ones like Big Mac. They’d need a lot of momentum to get him moving like Rainbow Dash could pull off. Magic was, of course, the exception.

“Darn that monster and his wily ways! He must have some kind of special powers to protect himself against our awesome might!”

“W, We’ll make sure you can’t have your ways against our stallions evil-doer!”

The two ponies flew into the air, trying to pull at his jacket to drag him away. They barely made any ground, sliding him an inch or two from his spot. They got red in the face trying to move him, but all Anon had to do was lean in the other direction, using minimal strength, and that alone seemed to stop them in their tracks.

They let go, huffing and puffing. “How strong is this guy? I had training in the academy to fight monsters so why isn’t it working?”

“Maybe we should get Snowflake to help? He’s got to be strong enough to move him away.”

As interesting as this was to him, he didn’t want more ponies to get involved with trying to move him. That would surely bring about a mob effect, and he didn’t want them doing anything to him, such as being thrown out of the town.

Thinking of a way to get them to back off from him that didn’t involve him physically doing so, he just so happened to notice the clouds in the air. Or to be more precise, a single lone cloud floating above them. A peculiar tuft of a rainbow was slung over the side, giving away to the identity of the pony.

Before the two ponies got up for a second attempt, Anon reached in his rucksack. He found some apples he put there, just in case it was needed. He reared back, throwing the apple straight up. The first one missed, some of the ponies wondering why he was attacking a cloud. Clearly, to them, it was such a hateful thing, wanting to get rid of such things.

The second apple hit its mark, a yelping kazoo sounding out in surprise. “What the hay?” Dash sat up, holding an apple in her hooves.

Looking where it came from, she saw Anon waving at him. A frown appeared on her face, throwing the apple back. Anon had no problem catching the return, watching Rainbow Dash slowly descend to the ground.

“You better have a good reason chucking that at me.”

Anon pointed at the two pegasi now floating toward Dash. “Help, please.”

The pony pumped a hoof in the air. “Alright, Dash is here, knew you weren’t a square. So you heard Roseluck say a monster was brought here?”

The second pony nodded her head. “We came here as fast as we could to put him back in that pocket he came from.”

“We couldn’t find anypony around here that could help so we decided to take action. He’s a toughie; he’s so strong, we couldn’t even budge it.”

“Way too strong.; he’ll ruin all our future plans, financial or otherwise!”

“Roseluck and the others said he gave her a look that spoke entire volumes to her.”

“Possibly a book or two’s worth!”

“She said he was here because he couldn’t find anyone to stay with him for too long and is now going to take over our mares and stallions.”

“He can’t even hold a stable relationship! How sad.”

“And that he’s going to take over our world and be the supreme ruler.”

“For a very measured amount of time!”

Rainbow Dash stared at them incredulously. “What?” She looked at Anon, and then back to them. “A monster? Girls, he’s not a monster.”

The two pegasi hovered in the air, staring at her before turning to Anon.

“He’s… not a monster?”

“Then what is he exactly? Someone from another continent? I’ve never seen anything like him before.”

“I doubt you would. He’s an alien from another dimension,” Dash answered. “Guy somehow got stuck in a teleportation spell or something and got dropped inside the forest. Lyra’s just been helping him out since he’s arrived here.”

As if a switch had been flipped, the ponies hearing that almost seemed to look at him with less hostility, talking about him in wonderment, growing more curious about him.

“He’s an alien? That’s so cool!”

Anon couldn’t believe how quickly the pony’s turned their views around with that being explained. Quite a few in the crowd were now talking to one another, very curious and wanting to know more about the alien.

Dash gave a small chuckle. “So if he was a monster he needs to leave, but as an alien and everything’s fine?”

“Yeah, totally!”

“Why would we think an alien would be scary?”

“What if he was an alien monster?” Rainbow Dash asked.

One of the pegasi rubbed her chin in thought. “Well… we’d be running away from the coolest thing ever, I suppose.”

Rainbow Dash tittered at her answer.

Seeing movement on the side, Anon noticed that Lyra was now a part of the crowd, drinking what he believed to be a smoothie. It was pretty impressive how easily she blended into the background without even trying. She waved at him with a smile before going back to her drink. Anon had figured she just wanted the crowd to figure things out on their own about him. It was either that or she abandoned him to get a drink, and there’d be no reason to think that, right?

Feeling something poking him, he went back to the two pegasus ponies hovering in the air.

“Hey, we’re sorry for thinking you’re a monster.”

“Yeah, super sorry.”

“It fine,” he said, waving them off.

“You speak sorta funny, Mr. Alien,” one of the two pegasi said.

“I like it!” the other exclaimed, floating up to his face. “He’s got a really cool accent!”

Before he could say anything about it, Dash spoke for him. “That’s because he’s still learning how to speak our language. He’s got this weird roll in his tongue when he says anything.” She turned to Anon, giving him a smirk. “So is there anything else this awesome mare can do for you?”

He shook his head no.

“Well then, I’m off to relax. Catch me later when you want to hang out.” She quickly zipped back up to her cloud, pushing it higher in the air before laying back down on it.

The crowd around Anon seemed to have dispersed once they realized he wasn’t a current danger to them, though a few lingered around, their curiosity not sated. He found it strange how the ponies immediately regarded him with indifference from how they previously acted.

…Except for the ponies that ran off. He hoped word would get around that he wasn’t hostile. Anon didn’t want a lynch mob chasing him around the place.

Feeling a tug on his shirt once again, Anon saw that the two pegasus ponies were still there, hovering in front of him.

“Since that’s over with, we… don’t have much to do today.”

“So we’d like to be your friends around here!”

“Two totally awesome pegasus friends, might I add.”

Hearing the clopping of hooves, Anon saw Lyra walking up to his side. “I don’t see the harm in you two coming along. I was just about to show Anon around the place and get some food at the Sugarcube Corner.”

One of them perked up hearing that. “We’d love to come! They’re having a sale on pineapple sundaes!”

“Oh! We never got to introduce ourselves!” the two ponies said simultaneously.

They started to do something that looked practiced with them spinning around in the air in the pattern of a sideways eight, looping around one another. All of a sudden, they collide together in mid-air, holding one another.

“I’m Flitter!”

“And I’m Cloud Chaser !”

“And we’re the two awesomest pony sisters in all of Ponyville!” they say together loudly.

“And I’m hungry,” Lyra said, moving past them. “Let’s get going before they stop serving lunch!”

“Alright!” the two pegasi say in unison.

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“I’m sorry Anon, I forgot about what their meals would consist of.”

The lunch was a bust, their entire menu consisting of every single sugary item he could think of, and then some. There was even sugar water on the thing. Who in their right mind would order that?

If that wasn’t enough, he had also found out Pinkie Pie both worked and lived there. She was upset he wouldn’t order anything, promising him he’d enjoy a pastry or cupcake. No amount of begging or even giving them away would budge him, he would refuse to eat such things for a meal.

Instead, the others ate there, awkwardly trying to enjoy their meals as Anon stood there, waiting for them to finish. He managed to get a lettuce sandwich at a stall, eating that as they walked to their next destination. Admittedly, it was quite good for such an odd idea for a sandwich; he’d seen lettuce replacing bread, but hadn’t seen lettuce replacing the fillers before.

Arriving at their next destination, Rarity’s Boutique, Anon found it was one of the more interesting places in the town, designed like a carousel.

“Ding-ding!” Cloud Chaser called out.

“I’ll be right the-eere!” the voice of Rarity trilled back. A few seconds go by before she opened the door. Seeing Anon, Rarity immediately jumped at him. “Ooh thank you, thank you, thank you, tha-ha-haaank you!” Rarity held him around his waist in a tight hug.

“…Your welcome?”

Rarity let him go, a large smile on her face. “Ever since I got those custom orders from Lyra and used the designs in my work, everypony has been ordering for their own nonstop!”

“Oh!” Lyra exclaimed. “Are they done?”

Anon was confused by what they were talking about. The two pegasi give him questioning looks, which he shrugged. Moving them to follow her inside, Rarity brings them to a room full of little mannequins with pony physiques.

Rarity grabbed a box that was put aside from a list of others boxes in the corner, her magic floating it over to the four of them. Lyra threw the box open, letting out a twitter as she removed the clothed item.

“Socks?” Anon questioned.

“Not just any socks, but the latest in fashion!” Rarity answered back. “They’re all the rage! The way they’re designed in the patterns to showing off all the nice stitching while allowing the colors through. They’re also comfortable, fit well on any hoof, and they’re very stylish. There are so many ways to design them, it’s been a great addition to my wardrobe!”

Lyra was giggling, putting the socks on. She squealed once she had them on, clapping her front hooves together.

“So awesome! They match my color and everything!”

“…I want those socks,” Flitter said, staring with envy at Lyra.

Anon found it weird they were enjoying them to such a degree. He required them, but they’re just using it for… fun?

‘What is wrong with these ponies?’

Taking her socks off, Lyra put them back into the box. “These are perfect! I can’t thank you enough.”

“Why darling, you should be thanking Anon for these wonderful little things.”

Right after she said that Anon found himself lying on the ground, being squeezed by Lyra. “Pony hug pile!” one of them said seeing that. And now he was covered in ponies, being squeezed in all directions.

Soon enough, the four of them said their goodbyes as they walked out the door, waving Rarity off. The minty unicorn was currently in thought where to go next as she floated her box beside her.

“Oh, oh!” Flitter said, trying to get their attention. “Can we show him Cloudsdale? I bet he would love to see that!”

“How is he supposed to even get up there?” Lyra asked.

Cloud Chaser waved a hoof in the air, “Don’t mind her, she just wants to show him our house likely with something else in mind…” She hovered in the air, nudging Flitter in the side.

“C-Cloudy!” Flitter yelled, face turning red. “That’s not true!”

“She has a thing for beings of high elevation if you catch my drift.”

“Stop telling people that. Next thing you know, everyone will think I’m into mountain climbing!”

“Always wanted a tall, built stud by her side.”

“In my opinion, you need a strong stud to build a good foundation.”

“Yeah, sure. It was pretty clear the moment you saw Anon that something was going on with you. Just admit it…” Cloud Chaser hovered right up to her face with a grin. “You have the hots for him!”

“AAAAAH!” Flitter screamed out in embarrassment. She started batting Cloud Chaser with her hooves, flinging them at her head. Her sister laughed it off, flying around her in circles.

Anon shook his head at the randomness before talking to her. “Lyra, what… what do now?”

“Let’s just leave. I got word some friends recently returned and I want you to meet them before it gets dark.”

She turned around, continuing down the road. Anon followed, leaving the two ponies behind to argue with one another.

Lyra herself had already shown him to quite a few places, with a few ponies getting used to his presence, though many still shied away from him. Going down the road, Anon saw that many of the ponies weren’t acting normal. At least, what he thought was normal. They seemed to be hiding around behind trees or in bushes, following him close behind. He told Lyra this but she didn’t think much of it.

“It’s probably just some curious ponies wanting to know more about you,” she said just as they made it to a house. “Here we are!”

It looked like someone split a house in half, coloring each side differently to their tastes. It was certainly one of the more interesting houses he had seen so far. He could hear a strange thumping coming from inside of it, making him wonder what was going on in there.

“When I was back in college, it was these gals here that were the greatest of buds I knew. Well, except for Bon Bon, she’s the bestest BEST bud.”

“You have… a co-llege? A hi-gher edu-ca-tion school?”

“Sorry I never got around to telling you that but there’s just so much to share about our world, some things just slip by. But, yes, we have our education system that works kind of like yours. It’s not until we get older do we start splitting off into different vocations, earlier than you do. Oh, but we also have special schools like the one I and Twilight went to when I was younger.

“Later in life I split off in a different direction from others I know, taking degrees in cultural studies, music theory, and some cryptozoology classes after the princess introduced me to some studies for my komlas career. I met these two in college during then and try to keep in touch when I can. And I’m hoping they’ll open up to you.”

Lyra walked up to the door, very slowly tapping the door. After a few seconds of no reply, Lyra let out a sigh, hitting it harder now. A peculiar sound came out, sounding much like wapa-wapa-wapa. Anon raised a brow at that, staring at Lyra and her funny knocking on display. A red blush appeared on her face, clearly embarrassed.

The door slammed open, revealing a very disheveled pony that wore purple glasses. A heavy thumping could be both heard and felt coming from the house. Anon thought he recognized it as a form of electronic music, possibly dubstep.

“Lyra! I thought I heard you! You’re the only crazy mare I know with those silly bonker sounds. So what has you stopping by?” Lyra motioned at Anon, with the pony letting out a whistle, looking him up and down. “So THIS is the devilish dog that everypony’s talking about!”

“You already know about him?”

“Sister, when an interstellar navigator drops by, word is going to travel far and wide. Well hurry up and bring that bodacious beast from the stars inside!”

The two of them followed the pony in, the place looking cluttered with strange wires and equipment. She shoved things to the side, getting the two to a couch. “I can’t remember the last time we’ve had time to yak about things.”

“Maybe if the two of you settled down we could hang out more often.”

“The traveling is too alluring to give up. You haven’t partied until you’ve seen a griffon bopping about, clucking their heads off.” The goggled pony walked over to a box, tapping buttons that were on it that turned off the thumping. “For a bunch of beak-heads, they sure do enjoy to party. Oh! Totally forgot to introduce myself to your otherworldly pal.” She stuck a hoof out to him, smiling at Anon. “Name’s Vinyl Scratch and don’t you forget it!”

He accepted her hoof with a shake, “Name is Anon.”

Vinyl gave a laugh hearing him. “That’s a peculiar accent you have there. I bet it would sound kickin’ as part of a mixin’ for some of my work.”

“What… do you do?”

“I’m a DJ. That’s another word for an awe-inspiring musician if you didn’t know. See, other DJ’s tend to just go around showing off some simple beats or a quick hash-up of something already done. But I have evolved beyond such mundane things! I have brought about a wave of frenzied noise to everypony’s ears in Equestria and helped refine the lightning-jabber that is the electronic arts!”

The techno pony stopped in her spiel, scrunching her face, appearing like she forgot something. A flash of recollection and she’s up from the couch.

“Ah right, I nearly forgot. I should probably get some refreshments. Octavia would chew me out if I forget something like that again.”

Once she left, it gave Anon some time to take a breather, and look around. The place on the inside looked like it was split down the middle and had things of the more sophisticated manner on one side, and the wires and electronic tools on the other. The wires were all over, making him stay on the couch, afraid he’d hurt something. He had no idea what any of it did and didn’t want to get zapped by some electricity, or lightning as it’s called here.

“I thought… you did not… have el-ect-ro-nics.”

“We don’t, or at least not like your people. Everything here is powered by magic, and Vinyl just transfers her magic into a lightning that can be intercepted by the wires, allowing her to control multiple things at once. Most other ponies that aren’t unicorns have to have one on-site just to power their setups.”

“I… see.”

‘So they have some form of electronics here but haven’t advanced it to anything meaningful. I understand that, especially with magic. Why figure out how to make an option to the wheel when it’s already working just fine as it is?’

“Vinyl experimented with how tunes could sound with lightning back in college,” Lyra continued. “She was inspired by past DJ’s that attempted to use lightning in some form for music and took it to a whole different level. At the time, most beings used lighting when it came to music for playing records or recording them.”

She waved a hoof around the room. Wires and speakers and many other unidentifiable things were haphazardly strewn about the place in a chaotic mess, at least on her side.

“This is the result of her work. Vinyl showed off her music to the world and soon, many other ponies started to emulate what she did, creating their works using her as inspiration.”

“A music… pio-neer?” Anon hummed to himself, looking at the large speaker in the corner. “That is… imp-ress-ive.”

Vinyl soon returned with a tray full of cups and a kettle, along with another pony walking beside her. She was of a simpler appearance, wearing only a pink bowtie with a white-collar.

“Vinyl here does not know what’s appropriate to serve to guests and, thankfully, I was in the kitchen when she was trying to bring something out.”

“Still think fizzy drink and hay fries are perfectly reasonable…” Vinyl grumbled out. She levitated the tray on the table in front of the couch. “This is Octavia,” she said with a wave of a hoof. “She can be pretty uptight at times but she’s cool in my books.”

Octavia remained blank-faced at her words before sitting down in a chair. She poured some tea into cups before passing it around to everyone. Anon took a sip, finding it fairly bland and in dire need of sugar.

“Is the tea not to your liking?” Octavia asked, noticing his grimace at the taste.

“No, need sugar,” he replied.

Lyra dropped a few sugar cubes in his cup, stirring it with her magic.

“That is a fascinating accent you have there… well, pardon my manners. I don’t know your name.”

“Anon.”

“Anon… what a peculiar name. Where exactly do you hail from?”

“He’s not from around here, Octavia,” Vinyl told her. “He’s a misplaced foreigner from another dimension. Surely you’ve heard of the rumors going around?”

Octavia took a sip of her tea, “I don’t try to believe in every single rumor that crops up around here. For all I knew, he was just a minotaur that held a preference towards a shaved body.”

“But… he has no horns,” Vinyl pointed out.

“Yes, you are correct there. Ah, I do apologize for thinking so oddly of you. I doubt you felt comfortable being compared to something so crass sounding.”

“OOOH! You’ll apologize for that but won’t apologize for wrecking that awesome upgrade I did for your cello?”

“That was no upgrade, that was an abomination to music itself.”

“It’s got a slick new sound and everything. Everyone’s going to want to hear that!”

“That is solely your opinion, which you should keep to yourself. What you did was destroy my beautiful instrument for your perverse pleasures. Do you know how much it’s going to cost me to fix that?”

“There’s no need to fix anything. Hooking up that lightning-pack made it so much sicker to listen to! It was… it was… It was wondrajestic and you should be lucky to have me do that!”

Octavia sputtered, “That is not a word, Vinyl. Stop twisting the Equestrian language to fit your needs, you fiend!”

“You’re a fiend!”

Anon stared at the two ponies arguing in front of him, feeling awkward at the situation. Lyra had a big grin on her face, watching the scene.

“They’re fun to watch,” Lyra said to him. He merely shook his head at her.

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The two of them started to return home after spending an hour at their house. With the argument heating up, he wanted to leave in fear of being brought into the fight himself. Anon felt confident in defending himself, just not around magic, or when they were throwing things around at one point.

“They do that… often?” he asked.

“Yeah, it’s sort of their thing. But they’re still pretty cool friends.” Anon found it strange they could stand one another. “It sure was an interesting day,” she said just as they walked inside their house, “I can’t wait to do it again tomorrow!”

Lyra started to put up her rucksack on a peg as Anon thought over her words. He knew that he would have to go back out, but the thought of doing so was making him nauseous.

“Lyra, why are we… doing this again?”

“Well, the princess wants you to assimilate into our town. I want everyone to get used to you so you can get a job and make some friends!”

She looked up at him with a smile, quickly turning into a frown noticing his dour disposition. “Are you okay? Did you not like going out? We can take it slowly if you need it.”

He placed his rucksack on the rung near the door, making his way to her couch and sitting. The entire time he had been trying to work things out, convincing himself he could get used to his new life. All the whispers, the stares. And knowing he’d be living with all those ponies didn’t feel right to him.

“I’m not sure… I can do this.”

Lyra sat beside him, placing a hoof on his shoulder. “Do you want to talk about it?”

A humorless laugh escaped. “I just… miss my nor-mal-cy, my life. I miss my mother who… always doted on me, pro-bably thinks I am dead. I miss riding my bike… going out, list-ening to my music. Every-thing, my ca-reer, all I had built up… is gone.”

He leaned on his legs, looking down. “I will never… have the chance to do any-thing I wanted before. Vi-sit Paris, write that book I wanted to, take a shu-ttle to the moon.”

Anon let out a long, drawn-out sigh. He chuckled, thinking about his life. “There was this place… Hangry Henry’s. Ser-ved the best co-ffee and cherry pie. Went there… for years.” He could remember the taste, the early morning mood the establishment held. “You never know… how much you take things for granted… until it is gone.”

Feeling something wrap around him, he saw Lyra hugging him, crying into his shoulder. “I’m so sorry. I want to be able to make things better for your life, but I don’t know how to give you any of that.”

Lyra’s head was lightly patted by him. “It is fine. I am just feeling… homesick, and lo-nely.”

“Y, you can make new friends here and have a new home and not be sad or feel lonely.”

“I do not think that… will work. It is… hard to ex-plain.”

“Well, I’m not going to give up! I want you to be happy here on our planet. Not just because it’s my job, but because I’m your friend. And friends help friends.”

He hummed, looking at her determined face. “No… fair weather friends here.”

“Right, we’ll hope for great sunny days for you!”

Anon withheld a chuckle at the misinterpretation, uncertain if the ponies even knew what that concept meant.

‘I just need to work on living here. Take my time, and try to live with them in some form. Lyra’s trying her hardest to help me. I should put more effort myself.’

Turning to the unicorn, he paused; Lyra had fallen asleep on him, sounding off small, squeaky snores. Smiling at her, he lifted her, carefully walking her up the stairs to her room. He gently placed her down, pulling the coverings over her before going back downstairs.

“I suppose I’m taking the couch tonight.”

His plans involved talking to Lyra about the princess’s demands, hoping to find out as much as he could. If he was going to get a job, he may as well find something he could do without any problems.

It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep, the day’s exhaustion sweeping over him.

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“How’s the situation?”

“Sir, he’s currently in Ponyville under the careful watch of Lyra. She is, as of now, taking him around and introducing him to the population there, sir. And… I think the other group may be onto us, sir.”

“Very well. Keep a careful eye on him. We don’t want the other group interfering with our plans.”

“And what happens if they do interfere, sir?”

“Then we’ll deal with the human. He’s to keep out of reach of them at all costs, do you hear me?”

“Sir, yes sir!”

“You have your orders… dismissed.”

~End Chapter Eight~

Chapter Nine - What's Your Talent?

The following day, Anon sat down with Lyra in the kitchen, asking her to explain things to him about life in their lands. She barely worked with him on the topic, even Twilight provided more information than her. It was clear she was more interested in him and his life, skipping what he thought should have been obvious to teach him.

This lead to Lyra explaining more about her work than she had previously. Being directly employed by the princess seemed to have some perks, such as having restricted information given to her or knowing special magics, though having a job as a komlas didn’t seem very glamorous from what he had seen.

Regarding the princess, none of his answers on why they wanted him to have a job were answered. It was as if she simply followed along with authority figures. Or really, just about any pony from what he had seen so far. A dangerous route if anyone decided to do something dangerous like form a commune based around their ideals.

On the topic of her job and aliens, Lyra had shared something that she had been keeping a secret from others: her dreams. She had been having dreams of humans and their culture for a long time. From Star Wars to Sherlock Holmes, she experienced these places as she slept. It certainly explained how she knew things about humans.

“You know what my dreams are?”

“In a way? You are… just de-scribing a lot of stories and movies… we have from our world. I think… maybe you’re in-ad-vertently viewing them… while you sleep.”

‘Free tickets to movies while you sleep. I’m almost jealous of her.’

“I don’t know. It feels like I’m there, walking among them as things go on. You don’t think they might be places like your world? Like, their own contained realities?”

“How would you explain… us knowing about them then? We don’t have magic.”

“Sure, but what say you are unconsciously receiving the thoughts of those worlds and realities? There’s a fascinating theory here about that. While we create our own stories or worlds in our arts and books, perhaps they are realities that are being reinterpreted.”

“Yeah, I guess? Can’t say… there isn’t a po-ssibility… what with a world of magic.”

Anon didn’t want to continue the conversation, feeling her reeling away from the whole point of talking to her.

“Can we refocus… on me living here?”

Lyra coughed, “Right, sorry.”

A louder cough made the two jump, Bon Bon standing off to the side. She went around to sit across from them, staring down at her already prepared meal.

“There’s no jammy toast.” She sounded sad, looking at her plate.

“Shoot, I knew I forgot something!”

Lyra got up, going to the counter, preparing just that. Bon Bon continued to frown at just about everything she looked at. Her plate, the floor, Anon. Even Lyra was subjected to the strong frown, of which she was unaware of as she prepared toast. Place some large, hairy eyebrows on that face and Anon wasn’t sure anyone could withstand such a frown.

“Are you… doing alright?” Anon asked.

She, of course, frowned back. “Why do you ask?”

“You seem… upset at some-thing, glaring at every-thing, even Lyra.”

Bon Bon blinked, not realizing that. “Sorry, that wasn’t my intention. And… yeah, it’s been a rough couple of days, trying to get some stock made up for this season. Thankfully I have something to show for it, but I’ll be up for many nights so I can make up enough stock to sell for next week. “

She continued, “It is the busiest day of the year for candy selling, so I need to make up as much as I can for everypony to purchase what they can from me.”

Lyra let out a gasp. “That’s right! I need to get my costume ready!” She turned to Anon, looking him up and down to size him up. “I should get one for Anon as well.”

“What is happening next week?” Anon asked.

Lyra blinked at his question. “I never did tell you about our holidays, didn’t think it was important to mention.”

‘Like a lot of things, it seems.’

“Next week is Nightmare Night. It’s a holiday that specifically has to do with ponies dressing up and going around asking for candy and playing games!”

Bon Bon rolled her eyes at what she said. “The holiday originated from Nightmare Moon. It’s a being from the past that had, from what everyone now knows, taken over Princess Luna’s mind and tried to force eternal darkness. There’s a lot more to it than that, but it’s the gist of things. The holiday was made to teach little foals and fillies to learn about our past and its rulers, while also having her steal candies from them at the same time. Just don’t question it.”

“That sounds like… a holiday I know called Hall-o-ween. People go around, collect candy, dress up, play games. Nothing about stealing candy… unless you count tricks?”

“Did you dress up for anything on Hay-low-een?” Lyra asked him with a wide grin.

“When I was youn-ger, yes. I still do for parties, usually as my favorite super-hero Batman.”

He had only given a quick rundown on what superheroes were just moments ago, Lyra having experienced them in her dreams. She squealed, hearing that.

“I remember that guy in my dreams! He wears long pointy ears, rides around in a funny cart, and has a bird for a sidekick!”

“Ah, yeah… that is him.”

Bon Bon took a sip from her drink to clear her throat. “She told you about her dreams?”

“It… came up yes-ter-day.”

“Oh, boy was he a fun one. He had so many weird things to say, and those gadgets. The Bat-melter, the Bat-fan, his Bat-tweezers, and my personal favorite the Shark Repellent.”

Anon let out a groan, wiping his face. ‘Of all the Batmans she could dream of, she got that one?’

“Bat-man… has changed in many years. Much… different from that one, Lyra.”

“So Batman retired and someone else took up the role? It must be some guy if he can take on villains like the Joker, or Clock King.”

“Yeah, that… sure is right.”

‘Who the heck is the Clock King?’

“He must have had so many exciting adventures. I can’t wait to see the new Batman from you! We should be able to find someone in town to make it up for you and you can share everything about him. This is going to be so much fun!”

“Lyra,” Bon Bon spoke up, “we need to get him a job before we plan on anything else at the moment. Plus, don’t you remember who would be showing up for that day? If it’s going to be a repeat of previous Nightmare Nights, then Princess Luna might make an appearance to our town this year.”

She realized what that meant, furrowing her brow. “Oh yeah, she’ll most likely want to see Anon for sure.”

Anon remembered his conversation with Lyra about the princesses. While the unicorn didn’t go into too much detail, she felt that it was Princess Luna that was giving her most of the trouble that she had gone through for the past several weeks, involving him.

He wasn’t too excited about meeting an all-powerful princess of the lands, one that could move one of the celestial bodies with but a thought. Thankfully, it was still another week before that would happen, so he could prepare for his inevitable introduction with her.

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“We are… going to the park?”

Walking down the streets of Ponyville, he was being led in the opposite direction of town by Lyra.

“We need you to get familiarized by everypony in town and we can’t do that unless you’re interacting around them. This should also give you some ideas on what our lives are like, so you could figure out what kind of job you could perform.”

“And… a fair is taking place? A holiday before a holiday.”

“Eh, kind of. There are several music gatherings held each year, and one is being held today. Ponies go there and share their music while stands are set up to sell odd things or as gaming booths. But I wouldn’t call it a holiday.”

“It’s pretty fun,” Bon Bon added. “You get to go around, enjoy some food, and hear a lot of different music playing. Just keep a friendly face and everything should be fine.”

‘Easier said than done.’

Walking up to the festivities, many of the ponies were in high spirits, laughing and drinking or eating something he partially recognized, but was certain was filled with things like hay or flowers. The few that noticed him paused, surprised to see him there. It had a ripple effect, everyone slowly realizing that the alien was there.

“Play it cool Anon,” Lyra whispered to him, placing a large smile on her as she walked forward.

“Hello everyone! We are here to show our foreign friend our festivities! Please do not be alarmed by his freakish height or odd appearance as he is an alien.”

Bon Bon slapped a hoof to her face as everyone gave Anon mixed looks.

“Is this… a good idea?” Anon asked Bon Bon.

“We’ll see if it was in a few minutes if Lyra hadn’t mistakenly formed a mob out for you.”

Quite a few ponies stopped to stare at Anon, whispering rumors about the other day, most wondering just what he was and why he was there. Lyra had previously told him they would open up eventually, as their world is so full of different species it’s hard to lay suspicion for very long. He still found it uncomfortable being around.

Anon was pushed slightly forward, feeling two oversized bags of marshmallows hitting his backside.

“See, we nearly got him to move that time!”

“We were so close we were!”

He held a sigh back, realizing it was only Flitter and Cloud Chaser, the former holding a picnic basket.

“Hey girls,” Bon Bon said. “You two out here for the festivities?”

“We go every year just to see all the acts that come here; finding all that great talent, playing their instruments on our backdoor.”

“The music is also pretty good, I must admit.”

Bon Bon coughed, “Ehr, yes. We were showing Anon around ourselves.”

Flitter seemed intrigued, floating over to him. “Really? That’s fantastic! We got a picnic and everything we can enjoy together!”

“We were just thinking of having a picnic.” Lyra stepped in, keeping her smile up. “Why don’t we find a good tree to sit under to enjoy the music.”

Flitter and Cloud Chaser went ahead as the three followed. Bon Bon walked up to Lyra, giving her an odd look.

“After everything you said dealing with Anon, wanting to take him around the place, I didn’t think you’d be interested in a picnic with him and others.”

“Oh, I’m not. But looking around and hearing of what others had to say of Anon, it’s not looking good. Can you believe some of them think I just went and tamed some beast from the Everfree? No, I think getting him to do something normal like a picnic would be for the best.”

“Get everyone to see he’s just here to relax, like them, and not up to anything?”

“Pretty much.”

Bon Bon hummed. “It’s been a while since we’ve had a chance to just relax. I wish I could stick around for that but I have to go back to my work.”

“Ah, I wanted you to hang out with us today.”

“I’m still way behind on my treats and I need to sell some to make up on costs. I’ll see you out in town tomorrow though, my stand should be up by then.” With a wave goodbye, Lyra was left alone to work with Anon.

Finding a tree was relatively easy for the group, most of the ponies wanting to be close to the stage left most of the outer areas alone. For Anon, he found it… surprisingly relaxing. Everyone was at ease, sitting around, eating food, and listening to music. The ponies that passed them by sometimes spoke, seemingly to see just who or what he was.

Lyra had him speak to every one of them, no matter who it was or what their question wound up being. She wanted him to interact with as many ponies as he could. The more ponies that he spoke to, the bigger the outcome. Or that was how she had put it. He didn’t want to argue, finding the issue nonexistent, his time there nice and simple, enjoying the sun and music.

Most of the music he heard was quite interesting to him, though in fairness, without having heard any for so long, he was glad to have anything. The current act, playing a barbershop quartet, had just finished their rounds, making room for a familiar face.

“Octavia is playing today?” he asked Lyra.

The music was certainly not what he was expecting her to play. It came off more like a fast-paced country than the classical music he was expecting.

“No, that’s not Octavia,” Lyra answered. “That’s just her biggest fan, Fiddly Faddle, but she also goes by Fiddlesticks. She’s quite obsessed with Octavia. Fiddlestick’s learned all the instruments that Octavia has and even tries to mimic her appearance at times.

“She’s not very good at classical. After a lot of attempts, I recall she had some stroke of inspiration and had started playing it like country, and ever since she’s stuck with it; still obsessed with Octavia though, for whatever reason she has.”

“She must have come out here to perform to possibly try and draw her out,” Cloud Chaser said.

“Who’d want to come out to a showdown on that kind of stage?”

“Does not Octavia only play the cello?” Anon asked. He had thought from what was explained before that was her main string to play.

Lyra shook her head, “She plays from the entire violin family: The viola, violin, cello, and double bass. She has a preference towards the cello, but honestly, if it has a string she’ll play it.”

He frowned, hearing about the violin family. ‘Just another thing from both of our worlds. This is too strange of a coincidence for our worlds to not be connected in some manner.’

Anon set these thoughts aside as Fiddlesticks started to play. He still didn’t know how the ponies could hold things with their appendages.

“We should probably go, I don’t want her knowing I’m here,” Lyra said, trying to pull Anon away as Fiddle finished her set, leaving the stage.

“Why is that?” Anon asked. He wanted to continue listening to music.

Lyra let out a sigh. “Look, Octavia doesn’t keep a lot of ponies very close to her nowadays, especially with how much she travels. I happen to be one of those few that she does. I just don’t want to be—”

“Hello there, Lyra,” Anon heard from his side.

The unicorn immediately halted in her steps, turning to Fiddlesticks who had somehow snuck upon them without their notice.

“…Ah, hello?”

“I noticed that you were in the crowd and I figured I’d come over and say hi and ask you some things. I mean, you still haven’t answered my questions from last time!”

Anon quirked an eyebrow up at this new pony, who barely even glanced in his direction. She even sounded like Octavia but with a slight southern twang to her. It was eerie how accurate she was going about this.

“Look, I’d love to chat and all but…” Lyra moved over to Anon’s side, “I’m showing Anon her around the place. It’s nothing I can get held up in and all, you understand.”

“It’s nothing huge,” Fiddlesticks said with a wave of her hoof, “I just wanted to know some things about Octavia I heard recently. Like, what stories she shared with you from her travels or your time in college with her. I hear there are interesting rumors regarding some things back then with your lot.”

“I uh, I don’t know what you're referring to,” Lyra nervously spoke.

Anon wasn’t sure if it was the weird looks she gave Lyra or how she mimicked Octavia, but looking at that pony, he was officially creeped out.

“Oh, my,” Cloud Chaser started, “Who do I spy with my dawn-tinted eyes?”

Flitter followed, “I see someone that wants to make a break for it.”

Cloud Chaser looked thoughtful, “While some say boring, I say it’s hard to miss that dark gray mane and light gray coat.”

Flitter poked Fiddlesticks, “Being around a boorish person like you turns any mood dark and gray.”

Cloud Chaser nodded her head, “With a pink that greatly highlights her character.”

Flitter nudged Fiddlestick's face aside, “You need to wipe the pink off your face, or others will be judging your character.”

“If I didn’t know any better…”

“And we all wish you didn’t…”

“Why that’s Octavia!” they both said in unison.

Her eyes widened like saucers, looking to where the two ponies pointed at. Octavia was now on stage, setting up her instrument with a few other ponies. The pony in front of him started to hyperventilate.

The moment Octavia started to play her music, something that Anon thought looked elegant, the pony let out a shrill scream, running up to the crowd, completely captivated by the music.

Lyra immediately pulled him away from the vicinity of the mare. “I didn’t expect her to be there or I’d have made sure Bon Bon stuck around. She usually has a way to get that creepy mare away from us.”

“Why did she act like that?”

She rubbed her forehead, finding a headache starting to appear. “When Octavia had just gotten a name for herself years ago she… made some bad decisions, one of them involving her fans. She may have gotten a little too close to some of them after some of the concerts she held and was a part of. Fiddlesticks was one of those fans.”

He pictured Octavia rather differently from what she had said. But he knew how stardom could get to some people’s heads.

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“These all look fantastic, Bonnie!”

“Thanks. It took a long time to get most of these done, the slimers being the most difficult. Sadly I couldn’t get the squishy beans or teeth crackers made up.”

“Aw, I really like the crackers. Think you’ll have enough time to get some done for next week?”

“No, starting a new batch with different ingredients will take too much time. I’ll just make some more of the current treats but vary the flavors.”

After the music festival, Lyra took him back to the house to rest so she could get ready for the next day, saying she needed to make plans for him out in town. He was currently in the town square, looking at many of the different stands set up for the upcoming holiday. Lyra wanted him to look around the place and come up with further ideas for potential careers he could work in.

Anon stood at Bon Bon’s stand, seeing a fairly wide variety of sugary treats, some familiar but in different shapes or makes.

“What do you think of Bon Bon’s treats, Anon?”

He picked up one, moving the candy in his fingers. “This looks… like a Mary Jane. Is there… peanut butter mixed in?”

Bon Bon’s eyes widened. “Peanut butter! That’s a good idea. I should mix some batches with that. And no, that’s mixed with dyed marshmallows.”

“Natural dyes?”

“...I don’t know how you’d make something unnatural. Is that a human thing?”

Before he could respond, a flash of light popped right beside them. Twilight stood there, looking around before spotting Anon. The ponies that were hesitant near Anon stepped back, wondering just what was about to go down.

“There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you. For someone so distinct looking you are not easy to look for.”

“Did you… need something, Twilight?”

“Did Lyra not tell you? You were supposed to spend some time with me so we can talk about your people for my reports.”

Lyra turned away, scrunching up her nose. “I… may have forgotten?”

Twilight let out a sigh. “I had requested the princess to let me put in reports with you Anon, specifically on your people’s works. Your pens are already getting into circulation and I can’t wait to see what else we can do.”

“He’s the one that made those pens?!” a pony hollered out.

“I love those things!”

“No more ink bottles or broken tips!”

The ponies all seemed in agreement with the pens, of which Anon had no idea were being made.

“Should have… patented those.”

“What’s a patent?” Twilight asked.

He hadn’t meant for her to hear that. “It’s… a human thing, forget it.”

She shrugged it off. “While Lyra should have spoken to you about us talking－” Lyra looked off to the side, “－I know it’s important to have you personally taking part in what we do, so I’ll just follow along for now. There’s still plenty of time for us to talk today after your done here.”

“Oooh.” Lyra sucked in some air, looking guilty. “I may have set him up for a presentation that’s going to start pretty soon at the school. Oops?”

Twilight looked nonplussed. “Okay,” she gritted out. “Then I’ll talk to him after that. So where are you going next?”

Before Lyra could reply, Bon Bon placed a hoof over her mouth. “She’s nearly finished taking him around here as it is. All that’s left is Pinkie’s stand.”

“Oh!” Twilight seemed thrilled. “She said something about having something special for this year and I am anxious to see what she made.”

A quick jaunt over to the stand, with Twilight ensuring Lyra didn’t get off track, and the three of them stood, mouths agape at what was at Pinkie’s stand.

Anon opened his mouth, closed it, and then opened it once more agape.“What… am I looking at?”

Pinkie threw some green and purple confetti in the air. “It’s your very own conjured cookie construct, Crumble!”

“Yay! I’m Crumble!”

Standing on top of her stand stood an animated confection in the shape of a pony. It walked, it spoke, it did a little jig.

“Uh, Pinkie?” Twilight spoke. “Why did you make this? HOW did you make this?”

Pinkie stuck a hoof under her chin, rubbing it in thought. “It sure was something. One day, I encountered a mysterious being that offered me ultimate power with ultimate muscles in exchange to take on an ultimate wrestler someday in the future, but I opted to ‘pretty okay’ power for pretty okay muscles and spent a pretty okay day with the guy. Poor fella, he looked like he needed a friend so I shared some treats with him, talked things out, and then introduced him to Cheerilee’s sister so she could help the guy with his vengeance. It was a pretty fun day! Oh, and I met a unicorn afterward that agreed to help me animate the cookie.”

Lyra opened and closed her mouth several times. “But… why?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I dunno seemed like a good idea at the time. It’s too bad I could only have one made up, but I did have a lot of copy-cookies made to look like her. Want one?”

“Ooh! Ohh!” Crumble jumped up and down, pointing at Anon. “I want him to try me out! I’m sweet and delicious and totally worth it!”

Pinkie smiled at Anon before leaning over, raising a hoof over her mouth. “Come on, just do it for her real quick, please? Nopony else had the courage to try it and it’s breaking her sugary heart she can’t get anyone to nibble on her!” She went back to sitting at her stand, a wide smile beaming off of her.

The other two ponies gave him reluctant looks as Anon, with some hesitation, picked up the sapient treat.

It let out a giggle, “That tickles!” She continued to giggle as Anon slowly opened his mouth, taking a bite of it. “Ooh, you went for my behind! Oh yeah, chew me up real nice and good! You don’t know how good this feels with your tongue sliding against my bits! More, chew me some more!”

Everyone stared at the gingerbread pony who was only getting more detailed with how Anon was chewing it. His face started to pale as the confectionery urged him to take another bite.

“…I wasn’t aware you could rewire an animation spell for it to feel it being eaten,” Twilight said.

“Or that it could enjoy it,” Lyra added.

“Hehehehe…” Pinkie nervously chuckled. “Ah, thank goodness there’s only one Crumble around?”

Placing the cookie back down, Anon slowly started to walk away from the group.

“Hey!” the cookie squeaked out. “Where are you going?!”

Anon continued to walk away.

“I still got so much more for you to chew on! Don’t you wanna try out my hind legs? Or what about my neck! I bet that’ll feel real interesting!”

He maintained his walk from the cookie.

“Oh?! Hey, my tooshie is regrowing itself! Hey come back, you can munch on it once more! Won’t that make you excited for another session with me?!”

His walking didn’t stop for the cookie’s wants.

Walking away from the traumatizing situation, Lyra and Twilight led him toward the school building. It was a quaint little thing, reminding him of some old photos his great grandparents shared of their time in school.

“Okay, I already talked to Cheerilee and she’s going to introduce you to the class today,” Lyra said, standing outside the front door. “We’re a bit early but it should be fine. Just wait here until we come back with the go-ahead to bring you in. All you have to do is introduce yourself and answer a few questions to them before we head back.”

Anon waited outside with Twilight as Lyra went in to talk to the teacher. It didn’t take long for her to return, motioning for them to come in. Walking inside, Anon could hear the gasps of the small ponies that couldn't hide their curiosity. He only recognized the three little fillies from his previous stay at Applejacks, all three giving him waves.

“See, told you he was real,” Sweetie Belle said, head raised high.

Standing in front of the class, Cheerilee gave him a nervous smile. She coughed, staring back at the class.

“Class, today I have a very special guest for you all. So please treat…” The teacher whispered to Lyra. She returned an expressionless face before whispering back. “…Him with respect. This is a being from another world, an alien, so he is still not accustomed to us or our world.” The class ooh’s and aah’s at what she had said.

Twilight sat behind the desk that was to Anon’s side, pen and pad in front of her, ready to write anything down that could be of use. Lyra sat beside her, mimicking Twilight’s actions. Coughing into his hand, Anon cleared his throat.

“I am named Anon. I… come from a world called Earth that… contains only humans, which is what I am. We are the only spe-cies on our planet that is sapient.”

He continued to state off facts about him and his planet, keeping it short and simple so his jaw wouldn’t cramp up from having to swirl his tongue around to speak so much. The little ponies seemed to eat up whatever it was he had to say. Anon was surprised to see them so well behaved, expecting them to be more unruly.

After he had finished, he started to answer a few questions for them. Most of them were fairly simple to answer.

“How are you supposed to do anything without magic?” a unicorn he had picked asked. Feeling the glares from the non-unicorns on him, he looked around, realizing his mistake. “I, uh… I mean most of what we have needs either magic or is black rock powered. How are you able to do that without magic?”

‘Black rocks?’ Anon took a moment to realize they must have meant coal. ‘Lyra did mention that they used it in very small amounts. Not enough to impact their world.’

“We use el-ec-tricity,” he answered. The foreign word was returned with questioning stares and a very hard look from Twilight who was interested in this subject. “You call it lightning. We use lighting and make it do many things.” Anon rubbed his jaw, starting to feel the soreness set it. His tongue was feeling heavy as well, not used to long talks.

“And just how is lighting supposed to do anything at all?” a pony with a tiara asked. “It’s hard to control and overpowers anything it connects to.”

Of course, it wasn’t a very widely used source of energy. Anon looked at Lyra who understood what it could do. Vinyl was a perfect example of what was possible with it.

“We humans have taken lightning and found means… to contain it and work for us. We convert natural energy… to num-erous tasks, from creating images of mass com-ple-xity with but a button… mass-produce items... have all our me-dia di-rectly… ported to us with only a screen the size of a choco-late bar… and so much more.”

He saw Twilight raise a hoof, “How do you get the lighting to be portable? I remember you saying it needed something called a bah-taurie .”

“Those are… energy con-tainers that store che-mical energy. It is then trans-formed into el-ec-tricity that powers a de-vice.”

Lyra rose her hoof. “What kind of devices? Do you mean like that music box of yours?”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “He only showed me his pen. He has more items with him right now?”

“It… is dead. Needs char-ging to work. Maybe, in the future.” Anon turned back to the class. “El-ec-tricity allows us to do many things… You may have magic, but we have in-ge-nuity, to do what-ever we please… should we put our mind to it.”

He started to explain a few items of interest to the class, from cars to planes to video games, explaining concepts like phones to how a satellite worked. It was mind-blowing for them to hear how an entire people could accomplish so much without magic. It’s certainly made them more aware of what was possible in the world.

Lyra and Twilight were scribbling everything he had to say, while also slipping in a question or two whenever they could. By the time they had left, the class had sparkles in their eyes, clearly inspired by his talks. He wondered if it would have effects on the future what he had done that day.

By the time they returned to Lyra’s it was starting to get dark. Twilight had forgotten about her talks with Anon, her mind filled with things of fancy from his world.

Lyra walked up to where they were sitting in the living room, placing a kettle and cups on the table before serving them. She took a seat next to Anon on the couch, sipping on her tea gently. “So Anon, tomorrow we’ll officially go out and try to look for a job. Did you see anything that appealed to you?”

He held his tea in his hands, thinking about the question. “I… didn’t see much. Maybe something… tomorrow will appear.”

The more he looked, the more it seemed he’d have to work some kind of retail job. He hadn’t done anything like that since high school. Surely the ponies would be less terrible to deal with than groups of hostile parents, trying to order meals while their spastic children ran off the walls.

“There has to be something you saw in town that you felt comfortable working in,” Twilight said. “What about that environment job you had, couldn’t that work beside a florist?”

“His world and our world are completely different from how their environments work. I even have trouble trying to fathom just how different it is without magic guiding them to grow luscious fruits or keeping everything alive. Can you imagine having to grow plants purely on sunlight and dirt?”

Twilight placed her tea down in thought. “Ah, reminds me of a book I read a while back about an incident over eight hundred years ago. Princess Celestia was out of commission and the sun was gone for two whole years, left on the other side of the planet. It was a bad time for that to happen, as a lot of unicorns started to get lazy thinking she could do all the work, and got lax in their training.”

“And now we have ‘The Magical Learning Conscription’ laws in place as a result.”

Twilight nodded her head. “And I’m in the camp that we are better with them enforced to this day. If we had trained unicorns around during that period, they’d at least be able to move it around slowly over time.”

“Wait,” Anon started. “Two years… no sun? Would that not… kill plants with no sun?”

“Quite a few plants, but many survived with the aid of unicorns supplying arrays that they had to keep supplying their magic to, helping keep things afloat.”

"They managed to place arrays around the known lands close by, and by amplifying its effects, wrapped the world around to provide the energy needed for the plants to live. We even have them to this day, though many are forgotten and lost out in the wilderness."

“My world… would coll-apse in less than a year… without the sun.”

The amount of work to keep any plants alive with electric lights, enough to sustain people to live, would be astronomical.

“Okay, we’re getting off-topic. So your profession isn’t all that useful here.” He felt a stab in his gut from Twilight’s remark. “Maybe you could try and recreate some of the workings of your world you keep mentioning? I’m certain the princess will allow a grant for you to start up a business if you ask.”

“The princess wants him to take a job in town, with other ponies. She took the funds away from us regarding Anon. I don’t think she’ll turn around and give them back if she’s working with you.”

“Maybe it can be considered a future job once he’s settled in. What do we have him do for the time being that he’d be good at?”

Anon didn’t know the answer to that. Retail wouldn’t work; trying to make a sale to any of the ponies would end up in failure. He was not savvy enough to sell anything to foreign beings. He could probably try and pick up a trade, but would anyone be willing to teach him a profession?

Lyra had been writing on her pad, reading it over a few times. “So we just need to find you a job you can do!” Lyra exclaimed. “You should be able to do so something on this list and later on we can figure things out for you.”

Taking the list, he read over some of the jobs she wrote down: Farmhand, shopkeeper, masseuse, food maker, inventor, and so on. “…It will have to do.”

It wasn’t like there was much he could do. He knew that at some point he would need to support himself in this world. The princesses all but demanded it, after all. And if he wound up disliking his work, he could always look for another at some point.

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For the rest of that night, Twilight and Lyra had talked to Anon about narrowing things down he could make a career out of. Or at least, use it as a temporary job. Lyra had thought she had some ideas, but with Anon’s skepticism, it took a while for them to find things to help accommodate him.

Twilight steered things toward the idea of recreating items, constantly reminding the two that he could simply work for someone that manufactures things, or who could finance his business as a partner like Filthy Rich; Anon simply agreed to look into it at a later date in time. When Bon Bon came back that night, Lyra had told her everything that happened and asked her to tag along in the morning.

While Lyra did want her friend’s help, she also just wanted the two to be friendlier with one another. There was something… wrong with their friendship and the minty unicorn wasn’t sure how to help push things in a positive note. She saw little things here and there, the small glares from Bon Bon, or how she’d try to find ways to make plans to be away when he was around.

It was unfortunate when Bon Bon had declined, saying she needed to make and sell more stock. Still, she held out hope for the two to have an everlasting friendship. Lyra just felt the two needed more time with one another to make things work out.

The next day, she had packed a quick meal to eat on the go in the morning, hoping to move things in a hurry to introduce him as places started to open up.

‘It’s a good thing Twilight couldn’t make it,’ her inner voice chimed in. ‘Too busy with all the work Anon gave her.’

She nodded her head in agreement. With Twilight bugging him about his lightning projects, all he had to do was remind her that his pen was powered by the thing and she ran off to go and collect it for studies.

“Anon, hurry up,” she whined. “We have to leave before everypony starts the day!”

“Alright, Lyra,” he grumbled, walking toward the door with her.

Grabbing her bag, Lyra set a trot down to Applejack’s farm. Not that she had any intentions for him to get a job there, what with him disliking that idea quite fervently. The carrot farm though seemed like a good place for him to start. His hands were perfect to help gather all the carrots from the ground, which should speed up the workload. That, and both her and Carrot Top were pretty good friends back in the academy.

It didn’t take long to get to the apple family farm. She could already see Applejack and Big Mac bucking apples. Upon noticing her, Applejack stopped, walking over.

“Well howdy there, Lyra,” Applejack greeted with a nod. “What’s gotcha comin’ out here this early in the day?”

“I’m just heading up to Carrot Top’s farm to ask her some questions.”

Applejack flinched hearing that. Lyra raised an eyebrow in confusion. She knew they were cousins and didn’t have any problems as far as she was aware.

“I reckon I best come along wit’ ya up there, just to make sure nothin’ goes wrong.”

“…Okay then.”

Nodding, Applejack lead Lyra in the opposite direction that was needed, Lyra slowly following confused.

“Applejack? Why are you going this way?”

“I figured a scenic route would be good. Get some fresh air, stretch out our legs.”

“No, Applejack. I can’t just be gallivanting around right now.”

“It’ll still lead ya up to the farm wit but a bare moment to take a stroll through the Everfree.”

“What?” Lyra paused, quickly turning around. “I don’t want to go through that forest if I can help it at all!”

Lyra started back toward the road leading to the carrot farm. Applejack ran up to her, a forced smile and sweat dripping off her forehead.

“How ‘bout I go get her and you talk down at my farm? We can get some tea made up and we can make a day of it!”

“I need to talk to her about him getting a job with her up at her farm. It would make no sense for me to bring her here to discuss that.”

“W, Why not have him work here? There’s no reason to go up there and ask is there?”

“I want to work with him and I think he’d do better with her. I just don’t have time to—”

Something collided with Lyra’s head, making her wobble around. Shaking her head from the dizziness, she looked at what had hit her.

It was an apple. Somepony had thrown an apple at her! Looking around for the culprit responsible for it, she immediately spotted something very familiar to her.

“I thought Twilight was supposed to get rid of that thing!” Lyra yelped, dodging another apple.

“And she said she couldn’t because she’d feel bad for destroyin’ a sapient being like that!” Applejack dodged one, holding a hoof to keep her hat on. “It was stuck with intelligence for so long she didn’t think it was morally right to take it away!”

‘I don’t want to deal with Twilight’s stupid experiments.’ They continued walking down the road, dodging the apples thrown their way. ‘Stupid Twilight, stupid tree.’

“I say, I say, you must let out and praise the sun for its glorious luminosity that is descended unto us!”

“WE DON’T WANT WHAT YOU’RE SELLING!” they said in tandem. An apple was lobbed at them.

“I speak, I speak, do you not feel the basking glow of the light dancing upon you beings that which wraps us in its everlasting glow?”

“SAY IT TO SOMEONE THAT CARES!” they spat back in unison. More apples were chucked at them.

“I cry, I cry, it is a glow that caresses your body to grow in its ever candescent aura of luminous power that it grants each and every one of its followers!”

“GO FOLLOW IT DOWN A HILL!” they yelled together. A horde of apples was thrown at them.

“Make a run for it!” Applejack screamed as the tree continued its hail of apples.

By the time they made it to Carrot Top’s farm, they both felt battered and bruised from the apples. Pulling one stuck on her horn, she shuddered at the weird feeling, throwing it to the side. Spotting the pony she was there for, Lyra immediately walked up to her.

“Well hey there, Lyra! I haven’t seen you in a while!” Carrot Top said in her very feminine and attractive voice that Lyra was quite jealous of.

Honestly, everyone was jealous of such a mare. She had the perfect amount of sultry and country rolled into one package. A fantastic coat that was always in perfect shape, her hair that never had a bad day, and the way she always played so innocent in everything she did.

‘At least you have better ears than her,’ her thoughts spoke out.

‘True, true.’

‘And a terrific looking tail. Why you just have awesome all over you.’

‘While I agree, it’s just no match for her voice.’

‘Can’t argue with you on that one.’

Carrot Top waved a hoof in front of Lyra’s face to get her attention. “Are you okay? You were zoning out pretty hard there.”

“We had an unfortunate run-in with the tree down the road and got battered pretty well,” Applejack put out.

“Little Ol’ Barker? I don’t know about that, he’s always been so nice to me!” The other two mumble to themselves, clearly not convinced. “What have you two been up to? Is there something you need help with?”

“I’m just here to see if you can help my good friend Anon here a job! He was having difficulty finding work and I thought with his hands, he’d have an easy time grabbing all those carrots of yours.”

“That sounds mighty fine of you to help your friend, making sure he’s taken care of and all.” She looked around Lyra before giving her a questioning look. “So where exactly is this friend of yours?”

“He’s right—”

Lyra looked behind her, Applejack being the only being behind her.

‘...Where’s Anon?’

The unicorn took a moment to think to herself, trying to place where he might be. Back at the tree? Maybe the apple farm?

Then, realization struck her.

“He’s back at the house!”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~One Hour Before~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

“Hello?”

Anon was currently standing outside the house, looking around for Lyra. He had gone back inside for but a few seconds to grab some resumes he had made, thinking they’d help him with his job search. And now she was nowhere in sight.

‘She wouldn’t have left me alone, would she?’ He gave it some thought. ‘No, that can’t be it. She’s likely having me explore the area to try and get a job myself.’

Wandering around an area full of all-powerful unicorns and ponies that seem easy enough to get riled up sounded like a stupid idea. But he had to look around for a job. Backing down just because someone might get scared or try something felt ridiculous, as he was trying to reason.

“You can do it. It’s just some job hunting. No problems… right?”

Walking toward the town, Anon rummaged through his sack slung across him, taking out the list that was made the night before. The vending stalls seemed like a good place to start for him. Unfortunately, most of them were either still uneager with the idea of being in his presence for too long or just didn’t have work for him.

“Sorry, but I don’t really need any help working my stall.”

“Do you have any magic capabilities?”

“How good are your juggling skills?”

The ones that did have positions to offer merely wanted him as a sideshow, something to attract attention to their business. Although, that felt a bit negative; these ponies were quite… silly at times, so perhaps it was not such a dour reason he was making it out to be.

At the last stall, Anon saw Pinkie smiling at him, waving a hoof. The cookie was there as well, screaming at him, waving both hooves in the air energetically. He gave them a smile and a wave back before looking down at the list, crossing stalls completely off.

Skimming over the paper, he looked at where the next place for him to check out was. Sugarcube Corner stared back at him. Puckering his lips at the thought, that got scribbled out immediately. He liked the pony and all, but he couldn’t take all that energy around him for too long.

Slowly walking down the street, he went over the list for the next place. Rarity’s boutique was an interesting prospect, but he wasn’t sure if he liked the idea of making clothing for a living. Rarity would likely take him in if he offered the ideas he had of styles his people had, wanting to learn as much about him and his clothing in the process, even if he needed to be taught. It would be something to think about if he couldn’t find any other work.

Sadly, he had no idea where the other stores that they had listed are. They had names on their shops, but every store in town had a medieval-styled sign with nothing but images on them. He saw a shop that simply had some kind of bag or suitcase on a sign on the building. What was that supposed to mean? Did it sell bags? Was it a travel agency? Was it just someone’s home that coincidentally had a sign out front of it?

Deciding to check out each store one by one, he randomly chose one to walk into. He immediately ran back out from the angry stares. That was a shop with writing materials being sold, and they clearly didn’t want him there, still peeved about the pen situation.

Picking another building by random choice, he soon started to cross off more things on the list when he came across something on it. The café couldn’t hire him due to him being too large and unable to speak clearly to the customers. The flower shop was a bust, Rose and her two sisters screaming like he was about to eat them until he left the shop.

The costume shop wasn’t able to since they had a specific dress code to wear the costumes they had each day; it would be too expensive for them to tailor costumes to his specific size and shape. They did confess an interest to meet him at a later date once he mentioned Lyra’s desire for a costume for him.

The last one he just went to was another rejection, the eighth one when it came to the shops. He was really hoping for that one since he loved reading. The bookstore wouldn’t hire him unless he had a very good understanding of their language and literary works.

Crossing it off the list like the others, he noticed movement in the corner of his eye. Looking over, a pony hid before running off somewhere away from him. Those ponies were getting pretty annoying. He didn’t bother with them seeing they only wanted to look at him. It was reasonable; he was an alien and all.

Anon started to wish Lyra was there to help with things. Walking into another building by random, he recognized it quickly as a day spa.

‘There’s no way they’ll hire me,’ he thought, taking out his list with a sigh. Just as he was about to cross it off, someone called out to him.

“Yes, welcome to the day spa. Is there anything I can help you with?”

It was one of the ponies that worked there, quite obviously. He had briefly met them two days ago when Lyra took him around but never really got a chance to talk to them. Thinking about it, he thought it wouldn’t hurt to ask them before he crossed them off.

“I am… looking for a job. Do you have… a position?”

The pony walked out from behind her counter, inspecting the human with a hum. “You have an interesting accent. Customers like that; they feel it is very exotic, very unique. It helps with business, you see.”

Anon couldn’t help but feel she was relating to him since she also seemed to have an accent herself. Still, he felt it was off to a better start than the other places. If he was lucky, maybe they’d hire him to clean around the place.

“Your… what are these?” the pony asked, pointing at his hands.

“These?” He raised his hands, showing them to her. “They are my hands.” Anon wiggled his fingers in different directions, balling his hand and spreading them to show them off.

The pony’s eyes widened seeing this. “My, my! They are dexterous things, yes?” The pony paused, turning his hands from one direction to another. “They remind me of a minotaur paw, but it has an extra digit. And so soft! They seem very special.” She felt up his hands for a second more before letting them go. “Maybe we can do with some training, putting them to a good use. Come, follow me.”

She directed Anon to follow her to the back of the room where he saw an identical-looking pony, their coat and hair coloring reversed, who was currently cleaning the floor.

“I just realized I have not introduced myself. I am Lotus, and this is my sister, Aloe.”

“Ah, hello there,” Aloe greeted. “Sister, what do you bring him here for?”

“He has an interest in work and his hands look capable of many wondrous things.”

“Oh?”

Lotus walked up to her sister, whispering something into her ear. The sister whispered back, keeping their conversation to themselves. They would gesture toward his hands, clearly interested in them. Nodding to one another, they turned to Anon.

The two ponies directed him to another room, this one filled with spa equipment and bodyboards. Aloe went over to a drawer, grabbing some books while Lotus had him sit down in a chair.

“Our unthoughtful littler sister Vera decided she wanted a different lifestyle and quit, going to work at her hair salon,” Lotus said. “It just so happened we were looking for a replacement.”

“It is a great thing to have you here,” Aloe said, placing the books on a desk beside Anon’s seat. “The digits we feel could be something very special. They are so smooth, capable of so much. They may do wonders for our customers.”

“We were thinking of having you massage here as your primary work. But first, we must know if you are able to learn.” Lotus sat down beside him, giving Anon a book on pony anatomy.

The two ponies had kept him back there for a good while, teaching him the basics of massage. It was lucky of him that he already knew about some of the pony anatomies, what with Lyra and Fluttershy having taught him when he first arrived there. He wouldn’t know about everything, but it was enough for his work there.

Lotus and Aloe seemed eager to have him there, happy to see Anon picking up on what they were teaching him without too much of a problem. He wasn’t sure if he felt comfortable doing massaging, but he would at least give it a shot before making any decisions.

Hours went by with him barely noticing them. They kept trying to point out how they massaged with their hooves and showing the difference between them and his hands, along with how much more accurate he should be capable of applying pressure in certain areas.

The two taught him plenty of things, such as how to look for stress in muscles and how things differed between ponies of different races. It would take time for him to have things drilled into his head, but everything seemed simple enough so far. In fact, it almost seemed too simple.

“We will worry about other species in a future topic but for now we feel you could be of a great service to us,” Lotus said with a smile. “Some learning back at your home will help speed up the process, yes?”

“And as of right now, we have a way to help you with some on the job experience,” Aloe said with a matching smile. “A few hours back we had a volunteer to help ease you into things. She should be arriving any moment now!”

Anon did not like the sound of that. Just who would volunteer for a massage from a beginner?

A ding could be heard at the entrance of the spa. “Ah, that may be the volunteer right now!” Lotus said.

He was not feeling up to practicing on a live subject so soon.

‘What if I hurt them? Or something goes wrong?’

Before he could protest, Lotus placed a hoof on his arm, staring directly into his eyes.

“I can see you are very nervous, Anon. But I am certain you can do this. Some things may go wrong, but we are to be there and help things go as smoothly as possible.”

Anon thought about what she had said. On a positive note, he would likely have a job after doing this. The negative, he could really mess up a pony doing this…

Aloe came back to the room he was in with a very familiar pony that he most assuredly did not want to see there.

“Why, Anon! What a surprise seeing you here,” Rarity spoke with surprise.

He was now screaming in his head, asking why he was in such a situation.

“That is who you are volunteering for,” Lotus said.

Rarity looked very uncomfortable hearing that. “Lotus… Aloe… I’m not exactly certain that this is such a good idea.”

“But Rarity,” Aloe spoke up, “you said you would help us with our problem here. You do not even have a need to pay for our services! Anon desperately needs help if we are to get him to work here. Can’t your generosity extend to him for his training?”

Rarity froze with those words, staring off into nothing. Slowly turning to Anon, her right eye twitched, teeth clenched together. “I… I suppose I can help…” she forced out.

Rarity was moved to a body table, laying down onto it with her legs on either end. Lotus lead Anon over to Rarity who looked quite nervous.

“Now, do as we precisely say, okay?” Lotus ordered as she and her sister stood on his sides, watching him closely. “Try to remember what we had taught you. We will come in should we need to.”

Anon may be a fast learner, but this was certainly too much for the first day! Looking down at Rarity, he saw she was having difficulty relaxing. Thinking to himself, he wanted to get this over with without hurting his friend.

‘Right. So what’s the first thing I should do?’ He gave it some thought. ‘Can’t forget the importance of cleanliness.’

Going over to a sink, he lathered them thoroughly before rinsing them off. Drying his hands, Lotus pointed to the oils, reminding him what was next.

“Rarity… do you have… pre-ference in oil?” Anon asked, walking over to the shelf.

“…The jasmine oil from last week was quite pleasant,” she answered in a hesitant voice.

Grabbing the bottle, he brought it over to the table sitting beside the massage table. Anon applied a good amount on his hands swirling it around in them and adding some heat through the friction.

“Is there a… place you would like, me to start?” he asked, staring down at her.

“Just a simple massage will do, Anon.”

It was pretty obvious she wanted to get this done and over with. Standing over Rarity’s head, he made sure to remember what the spa ponies told him. They helped guide him in what was needed in the massage, showing him how to help soothe Rarity’s stiffness in different areas.

From kneading her body to how much pressure was needed, to what areas he should pay attention to when examining the body. The two made sure he worked on her shoulders, identifying the stress built up.

Lotus and Aloe did a back and forth conversation, talking about how her work in making clothing was the likely culprit while they attempted to talk to her. Anon realized they were helping calm her with the simple conversation, something they had brought up earlier.

The ordeal wasn’t as bad as Anon thought it would be, but he still didn’t like how they jumped into having him immediately using live subjects. He was surprised to have Rarity being as cooperative as she was not too long into the massage. Amazingly so, in fact; it seemed she was enjoying it the further he worked on her.

Before he knew it, Lotus stopped him, saying he was done with her massage. Rarity was barely awake, nodding in and out during the last part of his work.

“Oh my. For a first time massage, you have performed admirably. I am almost afraid to see what would happen should you improve on your techniques.”

“Not that we should, as it only benefits us that he does improve!”

Anon was already cleaning his hands, wiping it off with a towel. “So do I… have a job?”

“Of course you do! It would be madness not to offer you a position here at our establishment.”

“We’ll even pay you a bonus for today’s work.”

“That… is not needed.” He didn’t want to come off like he was swayed by bits the first day on the job. He needed to set some standards, after all. “I am fine with nothing for now.”

“No, no, no, no, no. We must pay you as it is only fair for all the work we’ll have your training and performing on today.”

He paused, replaying her words in his head. “There is… more?”

“Why, yes! After relaying some of Rarity’s－” Lotus looked at Rarity’s unconscious form, “－relaxed disposition, it has intrigued a few that have come in. We have others that have accepted a free massage from training.”

“More training is always a great thing, is it not?”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

It was after the seventh pony that came in that Anon was given the day off from his training. They had thanked him for all his work, saying the word should spread quite quickly to everyone’s enjoyment of his massaging. They were going to sell it off as some kind of human-secret techniques he was using; complete and utter crap, but they thought the intrigue alone would get customers in the door.

Aloe told him the basics of what to expect working there: He was to get paid at the end of every week, he needed to keep his workspace clean and tidy every day, the work hours, and a few other things. He asked for some of the books to help improve on his work when he got back at Lyra’s. Aloe seemed impressed at his willingness to better himself, happy to give him an old book that described things like pressure points and magical lines on a body.

Walking inside Lyra’s house, he closed the door just as something slammed into his gut. He fell to the ground with Lyra on top of him, holding his waist in a tight hug.

“WHERE WERE YOU?!” she cried out.

He found it difficult to reply, what with the air knocked out of him. Lyra continued to hold him to the ground, hugging him tightly, squishing her face into his chest while avoiding poking him with her horn.

Once he regained his breath, he slid himself up so he was sitting.

Lyra held on to him.

So he forced himself to stand up, hoping she would let go.

Nope, she’s only holding onto him tighter, dangling from his waist.

Walking to the couch, Anon took a seat before peeling her off, placing the pony beside him.

“Where were you?!” Lyra repeated. “I couldn’t find you anywhere out in town! Bon Bon said she hadn’t seen you either so she and Applejack had me stay here in case you came back!”

“I walked outside in… the morning and did not see you. I thought… you wanted me to look… on my own since you were not there.”

“Oh, I… well, buck.” Lyra sat there, red in the face from embarrassment.

She then jumped into his lap for another hug, profusely apologizing for leaving him behind. He pulled Lyra off once more, sitting her beside him.

“So did you find any work in town?” she asked.

“I went to all the stalls and no one was hiring. Most shops… did not want or need me. It took a while… but I found work.”

“Really?” She jumped into his lap once more, staring up at him. “Who’re you going to work for now?”

“I start my training tomorrow at the spa.”

“You work there?!” She seemed surprised. “But, they only hire the best they can find!”

‘Or someone with fingers.’

He started to explain how his day went up until the spa, going into detail what exactly they had him do there. Showing the books in his bag, he told her about how they were going to train him to do specialized massaging from how it seemed.

“Um, Anon… would you mind giving me a massage?” A blush formed on her face. “I um, well, I mean I could help you with learning.”

Lyra did appear stressed. He thought he might be able to help with that. And he could use the extra training for his work.

“Sure,” he answered with a nod. “There is… much I need to learn for work.”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~Canterlot~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Princess Luna was currently inside her sister’s study room, looking over some documents. Celestia had to attend another meeting with the guards, leaving her alone to herself for once. Luna had told her she needed to look over her own guard’s papers alone in a private manner in the study. She wasn’t sure but she had a feeling she was being watched by her own guards. Not that they couldn’t be trusted, but why should she take the chance, she reasoned.

Luna had just gotten done looking through the list of employed guards she had, seeing if there were any patterns from the traitorous guards she could discern, thinking it could be used to find more of their flock. Her sister hadn’t even begun combing through their guards for potential enemies, leaving it up to Luna to look into matters.

Sending the ones under suspicion to areas she could watch them for signs have already picked up a few more to place in the dungeons. Having her most trusted guards spread around the area could also pick up the slack that was Celestia’s own guards, running haggard with the troubles of the day on top of the ‘resistance’ ponies as they started calling them.

Her efforts were already paying off. Her guards had informed her that the resistance ponies, were starting to appear in Ponyville.

It worried her to read that report, but it was more worrying to see that none of them had made any movements there at all. They were complacent with doing nothing and keeping out of sight. Princess Luna was curious if they’re now focusing on the Elements for some reason. It seemed the most likely of reasons, after all.

Thinking about Ponyville, she recalled a certain mare that she was definitely going to see next week. Luna was certain that she could deal with the problem that her sister did not have the heart in stopping. Celestia was being too soft with her, she felt. Unfortunately, she was forbidden by her from making any contact with the scenario without a proper reason.

But she was going to Ponyville for Nightmare Night this year. Who was to say if she didn’t mistakenly bump into them during her time there? And who was to say what may come of it?

~End Chapter Nine~

Chapter Ten - It's A Triangle Of Sorts

“Hmnurhfmn… belly… rub… hermrm…”

Anon and Bon Bon stared down at the unconscious form of Lyra that was laying on top of their living room coffee table.

‘Or would that be a tea table since they don’t serve coffee here?’

Wiping his hair back, Anon let out a sigh, trying to move a few strands from his eyes. He made a mental note to ask about a haircut next time he got. The spa ponies did mention their sister, Vera, went off to start a new hair cutting business.

“We should… probably wake her.”

Bon Bon nodded her head, “Agreed. Having her sleep on the table will set up a precedent for future sleeping sessions on it. I only just got her to stop sleeping on the kitchen table and I don’t want her to start this up again elsewhere.”

Walking up to her, Bon Bon started to poke her in the side. Lyra squirmed around with each poking until she started to jerk around. Bon Bon took a few steps back, watching Lyra kick in her direction before tumbling over the side, landing with a soft thump.

She blinked a few times, shaking her head before standing up. “Why am I here on the floor? Oh hey, guys! Did I miss anything?”

“If anything I’m the one that missed everything,” Bon Bon said.

“...Eh?”

“Anon somehow got a job, on his own might I add, as a masseuse in the Day Spa here in town. Which, by the way…” She turned to Anon. “Just how did you manage that?”

“I just… walked into shops, and asked around. They liked… my forei-gness and after some practice… saw their cli-en-tele liked my work and hired me on the spot.”

“That shop is quite popular, Anon. They don’t hire a lot of ponies or individuals not vetted by their family, so having you hired on the spot is unheard of.” Bon Bon looked at Lyra. “Though looking at how Lyra was just moments ago, there must be something to your work.”

Lyra coughed, “Ehr, yes. Well, he was pretty good.” She shook her head. “But enough of that. Is that really a place you’ll be comfortable working in? Carrot Top at the carrot farm is perfectly fine with hiring you up there. I don’t want you being in a profession that might make you uncomfortable, especially with one that requires a lot of physical contact.”

‘Says the pony that received said physical contact.’

“It is fine, I can… adapt to it. But I don’t know… if the pay is good. Still hard… under-standing your curr-ency.”

No matter how much they tried to explain it, he couldn’t fathom why a few bits could pay for either a loaf of bread or a train ride. How were the two comparable concerning their prices?

“They said… starting pay is two hundred bits a week, not including tips.”

The jaws of the two ponies dropped. “What?! That’s more than even the princess pays me!”

“That would certainly pay for this month’s expenses,” Bon Bon chimed in.

“Congratulations are in order!” Lyra rubbed her chin. “But Nightmare Night is coming soon and we’ve got a lot of work to do until then. Ah, how about you come to stargaze with me and Bon Bon after Nightmare Night!”

Bon Bon appeared seemed to choke on something, smacking her chest. “S-Sorry, just had a nasty cough right there.”

Anon noticed Bon Bon’s reaction, storing that for later.

Lyra seemed to think to herself. “But why would they pay you so much? They’re not trying to pull one over on you I hope.”

“It did not… feel like it to me.”

Lyra hummed to herself. “I think I better go out and talk to them, just to see what they’re up to. Bon Bon can you stay here and help out Anon with setting up dinner?”

Bon Bon went rigid, “H, how about I go out and ask them and you stay here?”

“No, I need to go out anyways for a few other reasons. Don’t worry I’ll be back soon!”

Having left, Bon Bon and Anon stood alone in the room; the two shared a look, Bon Bon turning from him, appearing like she was trying to say something.

“I uh, well I guess I’ll go to the kitchen and start something,” she said, slowly walking away. “I need to prepare a lot of candy as it is and I can do both at the same time.”

Before she could make her way past him, Anon stood up and blocked her path. “Bon Bon, we need to talk.”

The earth pony furrowed her brow, looking up at his tall form. Pointing at the couch, he motioned for her to take a seat. A grunt sounded out from her as she made her way there, clearly not sure what to take this for. To Anon, it felt like the perfect time to get things settled once and for all. He had been meaning to talk to her about her attitude for a while now.

“So,” the pony said, her grumpy tone made clear, “what did you want to talk about?”

She wasn’t willing to stay around for too long if the subject started off directed toward her, so Anon took a different approach to breach the topic. “It is about Lyra.”

Her eyes rolled in their sockets, “Anon, I know she can be strange and silly at times. I’m certain you’re aware she’s still a good mare despite some of her actions and any pony that gets the chance to know her can see that.”

“It is not that.”

“Is it about the massage? Or about you needing a job? We all need to pull up our hitches and support one another so you can’t think about slacking off.”

He shook his head no, confusing things for her. She was curious just what was going on with Lyra if it wasn’t anything recent.

“Bon Bon, you do not like me, do you?”

It took a moment for the words to take effect. Her eyes widened with her mouth hanging open, trying to find something to reply with.

“W-W-What do you mean by that?!”

A breath of air escaped him as he rubbed his jaw, knowing it would be very sore and painful along with his tongue after this.

“I had noticed things about you. At times, you would… glare at me or do your best to stay away. You do not like to talk to me, at all. You occa-sionally slip up even and call me an ‘it’… instead of re-ferr-ing to me as a person. Something must be going on… and I wanted to help find common ground for both of us.”

Her head pulled away from him, ashamed to look at him and shocked to realize her previous actions were easily read by him.

“I… it’s not like I hate or dislike you, or anything like that. What I… see you… it’s just complicated, that’s all.”

Anon shook his head, “Then help me find a way… to make this less com-plicated.”

Her nose scrunched up. “It’s not like I can talk to you about this. It’s just really hard for me to get around this, okay?” Bon Bon’s eyes focused on her hooves now, getting more uncomfortable as this went on. “I really don’t want to talk about this. Can we just forget this ever happened and I promise to do better?”

He rubbed his jaw, swallowing his collected spit, all the while doing his best to unravel his spun tongue from the difficulty that was speaking in their language.

“Bon Bon, I do not want ani-mo-sity between us. I would like us to be friends. It is hard to do so without talking about this.”

Placing a hand on her shoulder, trying to show some connection to her, Bon Bon slapped it away with her hoof. He retracted his arm, unwilling to look bothered by her actions.

Anon then decided to go toward something she would definitely listen to. “There is also Lyra to consider.”

She froze, hearing Lyra coming into the topic.

“Lyra talked to me about this a bit ago. She… wanted me to try and get to know you better, hoping to bridge the gap between us.”

Those words forced the pony in front of Anon to slightly pale. Her stomach churned as if something heavy dropped in it. “So you told Lyra about this?” she said, the words barely reaching his ears.

“No, Bon Bon. She just noticed this as well but kept it to herself.” That made her feel even worse, not realizing her friend saw her acting in such a way. “I am hoping with this we can get to know one another.”

“Well I don’t want to do this right now,” Bon Bon grumbled, her comfort zone pushed past its limits. “Look, I’ve got better things to do tha—”

“Bon Bon!” he said with a scratchy voice.

She jumped in her seat from the couch, not expecting him to do that. He had never raised his voice in such a manner, and doing so had her think he was getting angry. It was only then Bon Bon realized she was alone, in a house, with an alien that was multitudes stronger than her, and with no proper way to defend herself should he truly want to do anything.

“This is not just about your wants. Whether you like it or not, I am stuck living with you!”

Bon Bon kept her head turned away, her face showing an angry expression, hiding the fear and sickening feeling inside. It only made him angrier.

“You have to think of others besides yourself. I know, this is your home and I should not really be speaking to you about this. But I have little to no say in much of what happens here… and that plain sucks for me, having to be around here with you showing so much dislike to me!”

The pony flinched with the rough rasp of his voice barking out. The heavy accent helped to add a flair of anger in his words, coming off as if he were growling at her. Looking at her, Anon took a pause, noticing he needed to calm down. Anger would not get him anywhere. He wanted to settle things with her, not start a fight.

“Look… Lyra may have been the one to ask me to talk to you, but I have been meaning to do this for a while. Can’t you see you’re upsetting her with your actions?”

Her head whipped to him. “What?! MY actions?!” Her words demanded an explanation.

“Yes, your actions. If you had not noticed, Lyra had been trying to get us three to do things together. Each time though… when it involved me, her attempts… were wasted around with you not wanting a part of what she was doing.”

Bon Bon’s previous emotions were gone, more intent with listening to him now.

“You barely have been around her recently, and that is not because of me. She had wanted… to do things with you and me many times but you would always excuse yourself. Have you not noticed? Lyra finally stopped asking you so much with including you with her activities.”

Anon took a moment to let his jaw rest while letting what he said sink in for Bon Bon.

“The last real thing you were a part of… was helping me learn to speak, and the last activity was that picnic a few days back. You left as soon as possible each time. You could have stayed with us though. Do you not want to be a part of what we do… like when Lyra plays her lyre?”

“I… needed to make my…”

“We could have helped with that and you know it, Bon Bon. She had offered and I had as well.”

His words felt like they were finally getting through to her. Her face softened up with the things Anon listed to her she missed out on: From the music festival to Lyra spending time with him at the farm. Bon Bon recognized the folly in her actions on everything she had missed out on. By the time he was done, her head hung to the ground, turned away from him. Cautiously, he placed a hand on her shoulder, this time without it being slapped away.

“I am trying to make this work, Bon Bon. Please, help me with this… okay?”

She didn’t respond to him, clearly taking in everything that Anon said. Her body shook unsteadily under his hand. Bon Bon wiped at her face, shaking her head from side to side. Slowly, her head turned to him, tears flowing from her eyes.

“W-Why can’t I be you?”

Anon wasn’t sure what to expect, but this was surely not one of the things he thought would come up.

“What do you mean?” he asked, unsure where this was headed.

Bon Bon looked at his shoulder, staring at the hand on her. She then turned to her hooves, turning them over, staring at them. “Your hands… I wish I had your hands…”

And now it’s gone into the creepy zone. He pulled his hand back at her words.

“You know, I’ve been Lyra’s friend for a long time. And she’s done a lot for me, more than I can ever repay her for.” Bon Bon tried to wipe the tears from her face, only for more to appear in its place. “But I still tried to be there for her, to help her as she helped me.”

This didn’t feel like something that he should be hearing. When he imagined her opening up to him, this was not what he had in mind to happen.

“I’ve tried talking to her, you know. I’ve tried telling her about my feelings, but each time… I froze. I feel like I can’t breathe and I lock up every single time. So I’ve tried to show her how I felt in different ways, hoping she’d see through it.” Bon Bon slammed her hooves into the couch, shoving her head down into them. “Why does she have to be so dense!”

“I do not mean to be rude but… what does have to do with you disliking me?”

“I-I’ve already told you I don’t dislike you. I just didn’t want to be around you and I guess I may have gone about that too strongly. It’s just so hard for me to look at you, knowing how Lyra feels about you.”

Something clicked, finally realizing what was going on. ‘Please, for the love of god, don’t tell me what I think you’re about to tell me.’

“She’s always so affectionate with you.” Bon Bon sniffed, wiping away more tears, “Not that she isn’t affectionate, to begin with. But with you, she’d always make sure to give you a hug whenever she could, or sharing her smoothies with you.”

Anon thought Lyra was just being especially friendly with him when she did those things.

“And th-those nights I stargaze with Lyra… those were supposed to be our nights together.” Her voice was barely a whisper, her words whimpering out. “I set those up so we could have some time, alone, so I could… so I could be with her.”

She continuously wiped at her face from the streaming tears. Her hooves lowered from her eyes, hovering above her chest.

“It really hurts. The fact that I’ve been with her for so long and I can’t even bring the courage to talk to her. And here you are, barely here for a few months and she’s already doing things with you I could only wish for…”

Bon Bon gulped air into her lungs, letting out a light sob. Her head shook, wiping at her face once more.

“I don’t even know why I’m telling you this.”

“Bon Bon… I see her as a friend but that is it. I am… not even sure I could see myself with a pony at all, it seems too out of place for me.” He really did not want to think about being in any kind of relationship like that. “Maybe if I talk to her about this, she will stop looking at me like this a—”

“NO!” Bon Bon screamed, turning her head to him. “D-Don’t do that! That would break her heart more than anything you could ever imagine! I don’t want to see that!”

‘What have I gotten myself into?’

“Y-You’re the one that she wants, that sp-special somepony she’s always dreamed of being with… Not me…”

Saying those words out loud seemed to take the remaining energy out of her. Bon Bon slumped down into the couch, openly crying her heart out having finally said her feelings out in the open. Anon wondered how long she had been dealing with this by herself.

Scooting closer to her, he wrapped an arm around her body in a hug, hoping to help calm her. The pony weakly struggled away from him at first. Her weak attempts ceased with her hooves slowly wrapping around him, holding him tightly as she cried into his chest. Anon rubbed her back up and down, trying to calm her.

It was clear she didn’t want to say this to Lyra due to her feelings on the subject. It was surprising to hear she was willing to give up on her chances with Lyra so she would be happy. Anon could now say he understood why she had been acting as she had been toward him. And to find Lyra thought of such things for him, it wasn’t something that ever came across his mind. Most of the ponies seemed to be very close to one another, so he took her actions as just being especially fond of him…

Bon Bon’s crying slowly turned into little whimpers, her hold on him staying strong.

“…You should not give up on her,” Anon said, rubbing the top of her head. “You just have to try harder at this. Try speaking to her, Bon Bon.” He lifted her head so she was looking at him, her red and puffy eyes looking back at him. “If you truly have feelings for her… you cannot give up so easily like this. You just need to find a way.”

Her face blushed from embarrassment at his words. As she was about to reply, the front door slammed open, announcing the return of a certain unicorn.

“Okay then! I’ve talked to those two ponies at the spa and we’ve come to an agreement for…” Her words died off as she walked in, staring at the two of them on the couch. She blinked in confusion at the situation. “Uuuum… what’s this?”

Bon Bon looked like a deer in the headlights. Anon knew she wasn’t ready to speak to her after her episode. He needed something to explain away her teary eyes and why she was on him like that.

“Bon Bon tripped and sla-mmed her face into the ground so I was cleaning out her eyes.”

‘That’s my excuse? Seriously?’

“Oh no! Is she hurt?!”

‘AND SHE BELIEVED IT?!’

“Uhh… a little? She needed to use my shirt so that is why it is so wet…?”

Lyra jumped into action, running up to her friend and examining her face. She wrapped her in a tight hug, “Are you alright?”

“Y-Yeah, I’m fine now…” Bon Bon answered in a raspy voice, returning the hug.

Standing up, Anon decided to let the two have some privacy. He had some hope doing so would allow her to talk to Lyra about her feelings now that they were out in the open.

“Anon, where are you going?” Lyra asked as he started out the door of the house.

Stopping, he turned to the two who were still holding one another. Lyra looked curious while Bon Bon appeared happy for the moment with Lyra being so close to her.

“I was going for a small walk to help clear my head.” Staring at Bon Bon, another idea popped in his head. “How about you two fix up meals while I wander around Pony-ville. Would let me… inter-act with others while you two dis-cuss this Night-mare Night star-gazing.”

“Ah, we could do that! There’s barely any time and we still have to plan for costumes and her stall. But we could also use your input on this, I mean, you’ll be there after all.”

Anon looked at Bon Bon who stared back. “I… can’t. Because… I already promised a pony out in town that I would spend some time with them. You did want me to find more friends, remember?”

“Oh… Well, I guess I’ll just hang out with Bon Bon by myself then. That’s still cool.”

Gazing directly into Bon Bon’s eyes, he nodded at her before heading out the door, closing it behind him as he headed down the street. Honestly, he did need to clear his head after what had transpired. The cool air felt fantastic as he took a brisk walk around the town. He waved at the ponies that saw him by himself.

Staring at all the ponies going about their business, thinking about what had just happened, and seeing how things have gone with him so far, he felt horribly out of place in this pony society. Why were so many of them accepting of him without much thought?

“Hmmm.”

He shook his head, not wanting to have those thoughts around his head at the moment. He said he had made a promise to be with a friend, and now he had to find someone so his story didn’t fall apart late on. Fluttershy was an option, he hadn’t been around her house before and it might be interesting.

“Well, well, well! What’s an alien doing all alone by himself out here?” Hearing that, Anon turned around, finding Vinyl standing there with a large grin.

“Hey there,” he greeted.

“Hey there yourself! So what are you doing out here in town?”

“I could ask the same of you.”

“Heh. Well, I just got back from the park from playing some wicked tunes out there! Had them throwing themselves all over the ground to my beats and it was amazing. You should’ve seen it!”

“I am sorry to have missed it,” he told her, genuinely upset to have missed something like that.

“Eh, there’s always another time, right? So, you never answered my question.”

He scratched the back of his head. “I needed to give Bon Bon some time with Lyra alone. It’s a bit… complicated.”

Anon didn’t want to just tell her about some things that he felt were clearly not for other ears. Apparently, there was no need for him to do so. Vinyl looked like she knew exactly what he was talking about, her mouth forming an ‘O’ shape.

“So Bon Bon got around to telling you about her feelings toward Lyra.”

“…You know about that?”

“Sure,” she answered with a wave of her hoof. “Both Octavia and I back in the academy used to hang out with them all the time. I told her she needed to be more aggressive in this. We knew about her feelings for Lyra after some time, and we kept telling her to snatch that mare up before somepony else does.” She looked him up and down with an appraising look. “And from how I saw some things, it looks like a certain alien may have done just that.”

“I do not understand how. I am not a pony. She is just a friend.”

She let out a hearty laugh. “Dude, it is so obvious. That mare is absolutely bonkers over you.”

“But I am not. Bon Bon is the one that wants her, not me!” Anon rubbed the bridge of his nose, getting annoyed at the accusations thrown at him. “Can you just help me put those two together?” He felt a need to try and help Bon Bon with her problem.

Vinyl clicked her tongue. “You know how long I’ve tried doing just that? Lyra is incredibly oblivious and Bon Bon is too much of a wuss to try anything with her. Maybe in a few years, a few more barriers will drop and they’ll be honky-dory with one another, but right now? That candy mare better act fast or Lyra will just keep falling all over for you.”

“I do not… get you ponies.” He took a few steps away from her, staring up at the night sky. “Nothing you do makes sense. You are all either too fi-dge-ty or too friendly. Your soci-ety sounds like it is written from a children's book. I am captured by Lyra, only to be… ordered to inte-grate into your people… and get a job. And now you say… Lyra might like me more than just a friend.”

“Not might like, does. And comparing things from your world, of course, nothing would make sense. Up is down and friendship triumphs over evil!” Vinyl gave off a laugh. “Although, I do have to admit, us ponies have always been a bit… kooky in certain respects.”

“No kidding.”

Vinyl cleared her throat. “But uh, yeah; loving other species isn’t exactly frowned upon. Hay, I know of a few relationships that have three in their crowd, tangoing down the congo-line to their own beat of passion. It’s called herding, and if you think being with a pony is weird, wait until you see a minotaur, a griffon, and a pony together in one. That sure was a weird trip up in those minotaur lands.”

The unicorn walked up to him, pushing a hoof lightly into his gut. “Just don’t be surprised if someone eventually comes down with a burning sickness of the loving-pains. And between you and me, that bug may have already stricken Lyra hard in the chest.”

He shook his head, “Romance… is not something I am ready for, or thinking about. Even the idea of being with a pony…”

Hot air escaped her lips, steam flowing out from the cool air. Lifting her goggles up with her magic, she stared him down with her intense eyes. “Are you trying to tell me that love can only be found in the hearts of familiar beings in familiar places? The way I see it, love is much, much more complicated than that. It has a way of sneaking up on you, and before you know it… it’s found you. Then the only thing left is to allow it to flourish.”

A grin appeared on her face before she let out a chuckle. “I know you’re a stranger in these parts. I just don’t think it’s something that you should ignore. Or at least, that’s how I see things, anyway.” She gave him a wink, placing her goggles back on. “Don’t worry. You’ll get over the whole species thing, I’m certain of it.”

‘Just let it go or she’ll keep talking about this.’

It was too weird for him to think of such things at the moment. Anon wasn’t even sure if it was something he could imagine ever happening. Lyra was just a good friend… that’s it.

Vinyl started to walk away from him, thinking she made her point and that the conversation was over. “Hey,” he called out, halting her from leaving.

“Something else on your mind that, should I steal a line from another, the grand and mighty Vinyl can help you with?” she responded with a turn of her head.

“I need a favor from you.” Now that he thought about it, she was the best choice to stay with. “I have to stay with someone after Nightmare Night for the night… possibly until the next day. Do you mind if I came over?”

“I do hope you’re not going to try and convince either me or Octavia into that little herd of yours.”

Anon looked nonplussed. “Har-dee-har-har.”

She chuckled, “Sure you can come over. We can stay up and talk about music. I wouldn’t mind showing you what I have and see what you think compared to your own worlds. You, humans, do have music, right?”

“Yes, we do,” he said with a nod, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out his iPod, showing it to Vinyl. Walking up to him, she looked confused at the object.

“What’s this?” she said, levitating it to her, twirling it in the air.

“It’s a music player from my world. If you can make it work I can show you some music myself.”

She turned the thing around in the air with her magic, playing around with the earbuds connected. “You’re giving this to me?”

“Lending it, I will want it back eventually. You said you used lightning. We call it electr-icity back home. That thing runs on it. If you are careful enough… you might be able to figure out how to charge it back up.”

“Now that I’m looking at this, it looks just like that drawing that Twilight showed me a while back. She said something about a flashlight and how the battery could be charged to make it work. So this has one of those battery things in it?”

“Be careful… it is fra-gile, could break. Also, it is touch-screen.” She looked confused at the word combination. He held up his hand, “Our digits touch the screen, and control… different actions that are pro-grammed, choosing what to play… how to play it, vo-lume… and so on.”

“Oooh, that’s pretty rad. So I’ve also got to figure out how to mimic your hands to operate it on top of charging the battery. And I just noticed how these noodles are smaller versions of my headphones; I didn’t think it was possible to make them that small! This makes me even more excited. I have to get back and see what I can do with this!”

“Just make sure not to over-charge or it could destroy the battery!” he yelled out to the now running Vinyl.

He heard something but with how far away she was he missed it. Humming to himself, Anon looked up into the sky, noticing how the night sky seemed to sparkle with life. Shades of purple drifted in the air, the lights twinkling about. It certainly made for a spectacle.

Arriving back at their house, he opened the door slowly, walking in and closing it quietly. There was no one he could see in the room. Looking in the kitchen, he saw Bon Bon sitting at the table, staring out at the window. He knocked on the side of the wall which made the pony jump in her seat.

“Darn it, Anon, you scared me!”

“Sorry,” he apologized with a chuckle, taking a seat at the table with her, ignoring the cold food on the plate in front of him. “So… did you tell her your feelings?”

She turned her head away from him. “…No.”

He was really hoping she would have said something. “Where is Lyra?”

“She’s setting a bath for me right now, telling me it would help me relax.” Bon Bon saw Anon raised an eyebrow at her. “Lyra noticed that I was pretty stressed out, not including the excuse you used about me smacking my face into the ground, so she wanted to help by having me laze around while she went around doing things for me.”

Bon Bon had a small smile on, showing she wasn’t too upset with how things turned out. While that unicorn could be trouble at times, she always did her best to help her friends out when she could.

“Anon, I wanted to thank you for what you did… the stargazing thing, I mean. If you want, I can try and find somepony you can be with on that day.”

He shook his head. “It is fine, I already found someone.”

“Really? Who?”

“I was walking around when Vinyl found me. We talked and I asked her. She agreed without any problems.”

“Well, that’s good then.”

An awkward silence between the two had them shuffling in their seats. Anon coughed into his hand, clearing his throat.

“I feel I should also mention that we… sort of got on the topic about you and Lyra. I did not mean for the conver-sation to go there… but it seemed she already knew about this, to a degree.”

“Uuugh, of course, she’d say something. What did she have to complain about now?”

“Um, well… how you should try harder?”

“That all?”

He rolled his eyes. As much as he didn’t want to continue this, he felt it would be better if she heard it from him rather than from Vinyl. Anon had a feeling she would not appreciate that one bit unprepared.

“No, she mentioned something about herding. I just… do not get the whole poly-gamy thing. It is so weird, right? Other than that, she took my music box and will… try to repair it. That might be nice if she… manages it.”

“…Uh-huh.”

Bon Bon didn’t seem to be paying attention to him, and from how she looked, he took it that she was simply exhausted. Standing up, he stretched his arms out.

“I better go and take a shower… before reading some books for tomorrow, what with my… new job in the morning. I will see you tomorrow.”

“…Okay.”

He shrugged at that, making his way upstairs.

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Once Anon left, she slumped down on the table, laying her head on it. Lyra had asked her to wait downstairs until Anon came back as she set up the bath for her. The memories from earlier played around in her head, forcing her to groan in embarrassment. Not only had she confessed to someone she had no intention to, but she cried herself silly on him as well!

She hated feeling so out of control. Bon Bon also hated the fact that what Anon said was completely true. Why was she acting so badly toward him for so long? He wasn’t a bad guy or anything. In fact, he was quite pleasant to be around. But seeing how close Lyra was to him made her upset enough to keep a wall up around him.

Bon Bon wanted to change that. It was unfair to him how she was acting so badly to him. He was another being to her much like any other pony. It wasn’t his fault that he was sucked from his home and met the one pony she had feelings for.

She hummed to herself, thinking back on him. It was nice of him to leave her alone with Lyra. It gave her plenty of time to talk with her, catching up on some things. Of course, she did try to say something to her and confess some of her true feelings. But much like all the other times, she choked on the spot.

‘Why can’t I admit my feelings for her? Why can’t Lyra see what she means to me? I want to see her happy… but isn’t there a way for me to come out happy as well?’

Her head shook away from those thoughts, feeling tears prickle at the side of her eyes. Bon Bon had no intention to start that emotional ride once more. A sigh escaped her lips, thinking back on Anon and what he said to her.

‘Of course, Vinyl would say something like that. That darn mare’s been saying things like that for a good while now. I probably should have listened to her back in the academy…’

The pony thought about all of the chances she had to say something to Lyra. Vinyl would always push her toward something or another with her plans. And many of them were quite good, but she never went through with them.

If she could just talk to Vinyl again, maybe she’d tell her of some way to help. But with how Lyra seemed so set on Anon to her, it felt like a distant dream for her to think she had a chance now.

…Something clicked in her head, thinking about her musical friend. She had shared her thoughts with Anon about what could be done.

‘Did she know he would do that? Vinyl must have, she’s done this kind of thing before in the past! And what she said…’

Her heart thumped hard against her chest.

‘Could it work? Risking everything for one last gamble? ‘

Just the thought alone made her head swim with little fantasies daring to bubble in her head as a euphoric feeling flew right through her.

‘Yes… maybe I can try it. It’s not something that would ever come across my mind, but it might be my last chance with her…’

A herd. Bon Bon would try and learn to love an alien.

And with that, she would get him to love both of them in return. She felt it might be easier even to talk with Lyra with somepony else there with her. Just thinking about a relationship with her, something that felt like it could truly happen, made her feel light-headed.

She had a lot of ground to make up with Anon. And surely, for that pony, she had enough room in her heart for another. In loving Anon, she might get what she’s always wanted.

Lyra.

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Anon had just finished his breakfast with the two ponies, barely able to make conversation before he was out the door and making his way to the Ponyville Day Spa for his first day on the job. He was not looking forward to it, knowing that it was likely they would have more volunteers for him lined up. Lyra and Bon Bon had attempted to try and talk to him one last time about not working there, but he politely declined, thinking he would get over his discomfort soon enough.

Walking down the street, Anon thought back to the house. Bon Bon had certainly seemed much nicer to him. The conversation from the other day seemed to have helped things with the two of them.

It did confuse him when she tried to get him to join in on their stargazing that morning. He took it as her way to try and play along from the other night. Anon, of course, refused, stating his plans for that night. Bon Bon didn’t seem to like that answer for some reason, but once more he assumed she was just playing along.

Once at the spa, he saw Lotus and Aloe at the front, getting started for the day. The two ponies turned to him before looking to one another, looking nervous to him.

“Anon, we… we understand that you might have some difficulties with us…”

“But know that we are there for you. We can help you with learning and being able to manage things when needed.”

‘Where was this coming from?’

“It is understandable when someone with… special needs have some trouble with work.”

“Yes, we will be there to help you with anything you may have problems with so don’t think we will give up on you.”

‘What the heck did Lyra tell these two?!’

“You do not need to worry. We shall overcome any obstacles that stand in your way!”

“We shall give you the confidence you need and help breach anything that you may come across in your times of need!”

‘...I’m going to talk to Lyra about this and figure out what rumor she just started about me.’

“I am… ready for the day,” he said, hoping to move on.

“Yes, that is good. And don’t worry; we will make sure to train you before you work on any customers, okay?”

“Volunteers only for now, yes?”

The two took him to the backroom once more, only the place now had been segmented into different areas. There was one in the corner that had black mesh walls that went up over his head.

“You shall work inside the zoned out area. It is magic proof, soundproof, blast-proof－”

“－fire proof, waterproof, lightning proof－”

“－sigh proof, word proof, and sad proof.”

“Plus a few other proofs I can’t remember, no?”

“But they are very important, yes?”

Anon looked at the walled-off area. “Is there anything not proof in there?”

“Smiles!”

“Hugs!”

“And most importantly…”

“Friendship!” the two said in unison.

‘LYRA!’

“And before we begin, we have special garments for you to wear.”

“So very special!”

He was handed something that appeared normal, a simple blue one-pieced garment that clipped over his chest. It appeared stylish, albeit bulky with a slight sheen. They certainly didn’t look like something he’d want to wear around outside of the spa. He assumed Rarity was the one to make them for him.

Thinking on the pony made him realize that he was most likely going to massage her once more that day. It was a good assumption to make, he felt since they had to have talked to her recently to make the clothing he held so quickly for him.

“We will be teaching you for most of the day unless we need to pull away for a customer. Our study sessions will go on for most of the day but you will have a lunch break on your own time out in town. The volunteers should come in after that for practice.”

The idea of massaging them was still an awkward subject to broach. He would just have to get used it this since it would be where he would work from then on.

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It had been a few hours since he arrived there. The two had started out by showing him the cleaning process of their equipment, such as how to sterilize and clean their jacuzzis. While they were very clear he would actually be doing nothing but massages, in the event they needed to pull him away for other tasks, they wanted him prepared beforehand, or beforehoof as they said. They did continue with teaching him more about how to properly apply pressure to the right points. He felt he would have it down in no time.

During his lunch break, Anon had decided to go by Bon Bon’s stand. Lyra was too busy at the moment catching up on work from the princess, and he felt working on his relationship with Bon Bon would be a good idea. She had certainly done a one-eighty from what he had seen.

“—The six of us had to hide inside the closet until the teacher for over an hour until she left,” Bon Bo said, recanting an old story of her academy days. “It certainly was a pain, but it was better than being caught for blowing up the alchemy lab again.”

‘She must have taken what happened to heart yesterday. I’m certainly up for this new, friendlier Bon Bon.’

“Hey Bon Bon, I probably should get back to work now,” he said, standing up, brushing the crumbs off his pants. “It was nice having lunch with you.”

“W-Wait, Anon,” she said before he could walk off. “Are you, um… can you come back tomorrow like this?” He blinked at her, seeing her blush. “I mean, that’s if you want to and all…”

“Well, sure, I do not mind that. But would you not rather spend time with Lyra?”

“It’s fine if you come along every now and then. I’ll try and invite her when I can so we can all eat together.”

“I guess that is fine. I will see you after I get off from work.”

He waved at her, a smile returned. Anon lightly jogged back, not wanting to be late to work on the first day. Some sort of timepiece would be needed in the future so he didn’t mistakenly miss work.

Once he arrived back, Aloe had him in the back room working on a dummy pony. She showed him how to massage certain areas and told him multiple reasons why for each one. He was so engrossed in his work; he didn’t notice how much time had passed by.

At last, the time came for him to work on the real thing. In his sectioned area, he put his special garments on, waiting for whoever was to be his volunteer.

Aloe walked in, “And here is your first charge of the day, yes.”

“Oh… Hello, Fluttershy.”

“H… Hello, Anon.”

“Why did you volunteer?” he asked as she climbed the table.

“Oh, well, um… I just felt so bad yesterday.” Anon gave her a confused look. “I mean, Aloe and Lotus asked both Rarity and me to help you and I said no, and it made me feel so bad since Rarity went by herself. If I had known it was you, I would have certainly helped!”

“It is fine, no hard feelings,” he said, drying his hands after cleaning them.

“Now Anon, you will be working on multiple pegasi today, one unicorn, and one earth. They were what we could get for volunteers for the moment.” She walked around the table to him, pointing at Fluttershy’s wings. “Please be aware of what I taught you earlier on how certain areas of their wings are quite sensitive. Even though they can use them as appendages, they keep those areas away from being touched. And it even differs from pony to pony where it may be, though it is commonly…”

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“...Oh my.” Aloe looked quite surprised at Fluttershy’s reaction.

She looked like she enjoyed what Anon had done in his massage very much. Her tongue was lolling out, a leg twitching with her wings limp across both sides of the table.

“I was not aware pegasi could enjoy a massage much like that!”

“Sister, how is the—” Lotus paused at the entrance. “Oh my my my!”

“My exact reaction!”

“I better take her off for a dip in the sauna, no?” Lotus walked up, slinging Fluttershy over her shoulder. “We really need to find an easier way to transport our future customers from Anon’s super massages.”

“A conveyor belt from here to there, yes?”

“Ooh, I like that idea!” Lotus said, walking out of the place.

Anon let out a sigh as he started to clean up the table for the next volunteer he was told was waiting for him. Just as he finished, an unfamiliar pony with an orange coat walked in, looking up at him.

“Hello there,” Anon said.

“And a hello back to you,” the pony said, walking to the table. “The name’s Golden Harvest but most call me Carrot Top.” Anon felt like he heard that name before. “I figured I would come down here and see why you gave up working for me down at my carrot farm.”

‘Ah, the pony Lyra mentioned the other day.’

“The name is Anon,” he introduced just as she laid herself on the table.

Aloe walked up to her, making sure she was properly in place. “Just relax and allow Anon to work his magic.”

Carrot Top smirked at this, turning her head to him. “Oh, I don’t know how much of a job he’ll do compared to you, Aloe. You’re the one with the magic touch around here.”

Aloe smiled back at her. “As true as that is, I fear Anon may surpass me…”

He had done exactly as he was instructed to in his work. Earth ponies had more mass on them compared to other ponies. It didn’t mean much in the end, just a bit more pressure was needed. She turned to putty underneath his hands in no time. Apart from the rare mess-up on his work, she enjoyed every bit of her time underneath his touch. The pony had him mostly working on her hindquarters.

“H-How can a massage feel this goooood?” Carrot Top moaned, letting out another squeal.

“See, Anon? With practice, you are perfect for the job! Now, the next volunteer should be here at any moment. I will need to bring Carrot Top to the bathing room since Lotus is still working on another customer.”

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Anon stared down at the large pony that was on the table who stared ahead, eyes narrowed and legs poking out on either side of him. The pony looked extremely agitated to him. He could barely tell if the pegasus was enjoying his massage at all the entire time he worked on him. Aloe said he was doing perfectly fine, but he was barely assured of that at all.

“…Is everything going alright for you?” he asked.

“YEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”

“There is nothing wrong? No pain or anything?”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

“Would you like to try some oil on the wings now?” Aloe asked.

“HHHMMMMMMMMMMMMM…”

The pony stuck his lip out in thought.

“YEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”

“I remember your preferences were either Delightful Jasmine or Light Lily. Which would you like to try today?”

“HHNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGG…”

“…The jasmine?” The large pony narrowed his eyes, clearly thinking it over. “…The lily?”

“YEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”

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Anon blinked, staring at the yellow-coated pony that made her way to the table.

“H-Hello again, Anon.”

“…Fluttershy. What are you doing back here again?”

“Well, um, see, I… I thought you could do with more w-work and since I had nothing else to do today, I came in to help volunteer again…?”

She made her way onto the table, eagerly awaiting another session with him. He cleaned his hands once more, getting ready for her massage.

“Oh, and could you please try massaging the tips a little more thoroughly this time? That is if you wouldn’t mind…?”

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“Hey there, Anon!” Flitter said, trotting right up to him. “Looks like I’ll be your next volunteer for the day!”

“…Joy.”

“See, when I heard there was a need for volunteers for a new kind of massage I immediately knew that it would be you working here! And I couldn’t just let myself not help out a friend in need!”

“…Right.”

Flitter climbed onto the recently cleaned table, making herself comfortable.

“So I’ve only done this a few times, but I’m certain you’ll do a good job with those hands of yours!”

Anon let out a sigh, preparing for another session.

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“Oh, um… hi again,” Fluttershy said, walking up to the table once more. “I thought this time you could try that new oil they brought in from Manehatten: Silky Salvation.” She climbed the bed once more without hesitation, waiting for another message with him.

‘...Fluttershy, why?’

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“Okay Anon, you’re nearly done for the day,” Aloe said just as he cleaned up his workspace. “You only have one more volunteer for the day and you can go home early.”

Relief could be seen on his face hearing that. While the work didn’t seem overly complicated, he was getting tired from all the massages. Hearing Lotus returning with the last pony, he turned around, staring at her.

“Um… hey, Anon.”

‘Why is Lyra here?’

“Could I talk to Anon real quick, Aloe?”

The pony nodded her head, leaving her alone with Anon.

“Why are you here?” Anon struggled out, trying his best not to slip into English.

“I-It’s not what it looks like. After yesterday, I went and confronted Lotus and Aloe about you working here.” That explained their actions in the morning. “When I was talking to them, Rarity may have been there, already talking to them and… well, I know having her as a volunteer made you uncomfortable. So I thought you would have a better time if it was me in her place.

Having Lyra as a volunteer was even more uncomfortable!

“…Let us just get this done for the day. I am tired.”

“You’re not upset with me, are you?” she worriedly asked, making her way to the table.

“…No, Lyra. I am not upset.”

Yes, Anon was very upset. He just wanted to get this over with so he could leave for the day.

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Why did Lyra have to volunteer for this?

Anon knew she meant well, but he wished she would think things more thoroughly. Of course, from what he had noticed, many of these ponies didn’t really think things through all that much. Perhaps this is just something that he’ll have to get used to.

As soon as he finished her massage, Lyra got cleaned up in their bathing area before heading off to Carrot Top’s place, stating she would be spending some time up there to catch up on things. Both Aloe and Lotus had immediately broken down the day and how his massages went. He knew there were problems here and there, but overall they were very happy to see him improving at such an enormous pace.

They told him it would be another two weeks give or take before they would allow him to do massages on his own. As much as Anon didn’t care for the job, a twinge of pride at his work could be felt, knowing it was appreciated.

Arriving back at Lyra’s place, he stretched his back, feeling relieved to be done for the day. Anon was ready for a hot shower before taking it easy, likely to go and study things once more.

“Anon,” he heard from the kitchen.

“Hello, Bon Bon,” he said, taking a seat next to her in the kitchen. “How was your day?”

“It went really well! In fact, I have a big batch of candy that I have ready to sell tomorrow. I’ll still need some help from Lyra to do some batches, but other than that it shouldn’t be a problem.” Bon Bon moved her seat closer to him, giving Anon a warm smile. “But what about you? Tell me about your day.”

Anon frowned, confused at her question. “You… want to hear about my day?”

Bon Bon didn’t look offended at the question. “I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to know, right?”

It certainly wasn’t what he would expect from the candy mare from her previous character, but Anon could see it was most likely her attempting to be friendly with him. It was certainly not something to complain about. He could do with this over how she was.

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For what felt like the past hour, he had been talking about the different things that he had done at the day spa. It was a new experience for him to hold such a long conversation with her. Even when he grew tired from the difficulty of their language, Bon Bon sat patiently for him to continue on. She was very amused hearing some of the rumors that passed through that spa he picked up. Most of them didn’t make any sense to him.

Feeling just how one-sided the entire conversation had been with him, Anon tried to move things toward Bon Bon. He also tried to ask her a few times about things between her and Lyra, but all she did was smile back at him.

“Don’t worry about it Anon. I… think I have a plan for that that will work in the end.”

Anon simply nodded, happy to hear that. The previous conversation between him and Vinyl fluttered across his mind, and it was something that he just couldn’t see coming to fruition, nor did he really care for it. Yes, the most obvious answer was for Bon Bon to be with her.

Feeling drowsy, Anon yawned, stretching his arms out. As much as he wanted to study his books, sleep sounded like a better idea. But first, he really should get a shower soon before heading off to sleep.

“Bon Bon, it was nice talking to you but I am tired. I need to shower and get some sleep soon, okay?”

“Ah, well… alright then.”

Standing up, Anon pushed his chair in and started toward the stairs.

“W-Wait,” Bon Bon said right before he left the kitchen. He turned to her, seeing the pony looking flustered and red in the face. “Um… could you, well, um… Could you… give me a hug? N-not that you have to or anything, but, well…”

Anon merely blinked at her. It was possible she was still feeling upset about the day before, or maybe she just wanted a hug from him. He still didn’t know about their customs very well, but the ponies around him always wanted hugs, and he didn’t see anything wrong with it.

Walking up to her, he got down on one knew before grabbing her body, squeezing her in a tight hug. Anon heard her hum softly, obviously enjoying it. Clicking could be heard behind him, interrupting the moment. Turning around, he could see Lyra standing at the entrance.

“What are you doing?”

“I was giving her a hug,” he told her, standing up. “How was your time at the farm?”

“Um… Good! It was good. Lots of catching up and chasing off bunnies.”

“I am glad to hear that it was good,” Anon chuckled. He let out a yawn, rubbing his eyes. “I better get a shower now and then some sleep. I will see you two tomorrow morning.”

“Right well, goodnight then,” Lyra said, slowly making her way to the living room and to her desk.

Walking out of the kitchen, Anon made his way straight to his room, feeling the day’s events wearing him down. Though it was stressful work trying to make sure he didn’t mess up in his work, he felt good being able to do something once more.

As strange as it sounded, Anon could feel things were going well for him. He could finally feel himself getting used to the ponies and their strange ways. Hopefully, in the future, he could get some semblance of normalcy in his life. And surely Lyra would get over him. Right?

‘…Yeah, I just have to be optimistic about things. Bon Bon did say she had a plan, so it was clear she was going to try for Lyra. Whatever her plan was, I hope it works out for her. That pony could use someone like Lyra.’

~End Chapter Ten~

Chapter Eleven - More Trick Than Treat

“It’s getting pretty festive around here.”

Bon Bon nodded her head, “We take our holidays quite seriously. You should see us when Hearts and Hooves day comes around.”

Streamers were placed all over the area, orange and black being the color choice in the area. Some spots of confetti and balloons could be seen haphazardly thrown around. Childish macabre decorations were placed in areas of high traffic as if to spook someone walking by. The numerous stands that were set up contained many things for sale related to the holiday or were there to add some fun for passerby’s, such as the pumpkin carving table filled with the younger ponies.

Anon stopped, looking out into the town. “It’s a… quick change from last week's pie fight.”

A whine could be heard, only then did he notice the proximity of Roseluck’s stand.

“S-So you’re s, still mad about last week?”

“Rose, I wasn’t mad. If anything, I was irritated.”

She pointed a hoof at him, “I-Irritation is nothing more than another form of anger.”

Bon Bon started, “So long as you don’t try and pull another mob hunting stunt, and everyone will try their best to forget that pie war you started.”

She looked down at her stand, playing with one of the holiday-themed bouquets she had set up to sell. “...I’m sorry about last week. I… I didn’t think everyone would be so enthused about the pie thing.”

“Or trying to force Anon into the Everfree.”

Anon coughed in his hand, “It’s fine, I am over it.”

Rose flattened her ears. “S-So you say…”

Anon rubbed his hand over his face.

“You have to admit,” Bon Bon started, “it was kind of funny seeing them run around with pies, flinging them around while trying to aim at you.” She gave a smile, seeing his frown. “At least no one got hurt?”

“Pinkie Pie kept selling pies to everyone. It went on for a whole day.”

Roseluck groaned, “Lyra and Twilight didn’t help things either.”

“No, but they certainly finished it,” Bon Bon said. “Seeing the two quickly grabbing every pie in the air at the same time and throwing them all back at the same time is something I will never forget.”

“I, I didn’t even know Lyra could do that kind of magic.”

Bon Bon gave an amused look, “Everyone seems to forget Lyra had gone through the same schooling as Twilight did. I pity the person that underestimates her in magical prowess.”

Walking up to her, he ruffled her mane, making her squeal from the unexpected response. Patting her mane back into place, Rose looked up at him. Anon made sure not to smile too widely at her, lest his canines are seen and having her freak out.

“Just don’t get so worked up about what happened, okay?”

She didn’t look reassured about things. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, Rose, I’m very sure. Everyone makes mistakes, just learn from them and move on.”

Letting out a sigh of her own, she redoubled her smile, looking like a heavy weight had been lifted from her. “I’ll try my best not to make the same mistake twice,” she said in a chirpier manner.

Giving her a nod, Anon walked away from her feeling better about things. Ponies were incredibly emotional about things and he didn’t want to mistakenly stir her up again.

The two walked away, Roseluck already having a small line forming up to purchase her wares. Whether to decorate or eat them, Anon was uncertain.

“You’re speaking has certainly improved in the last week,” Bon Bon commented.

“Being around customers for a week straight… it kind of forces me to push my skills to the test. It also helps that I’ve been around you most of the time, helping me with that.”

“Bah, I barely did anything, that was all you.”

Arriving at his destination, he looked up at the sign reading Creative Costumes. Lyra and Bon Bon had insistently bugged him to get a costume and referred to this place. Initially, he was to find something there and have it fitted out for his dimensions. Some talking between the owner and he walked out with a deal for costumes designed from him based on ‘human’ costumes.

Looking around the shop, Anon could see a few costumes on display alongside rows and rows of bags holding more silly attires that were for sale. Of course, with them being fitted for ponies, he stood out above them all, making him easy to spot.

“Good day to you, Anon.” Peppy the store clerk greeted him. “You must be here for your costume. Let me go get it real quick so you can try it on. I want to make sure it fits perfectly before you leave. Customer satisfaction is my key priority!”

“So what exactly did you wind up choosing for your costume?” Bon Bon asked. “You’ve been keeping it a secret for the last week.”

“You’ll see it tomorrow,” Anon said with a smirk.

Bon Bon harrumphed, giving a pout.

Peppy returned, quickly shoving Anon into a booth containing all the individual pieces of his costume.

“Check it out and tell me if anything seems off!”

He was impressed with the costume and how intricate everything was. The gloves fit like a charm, the boots were a perfect fit, and the suit itself didn’t squeeze him enough for it to be uncomfortable.

“The black makeup you requested is in the box labeled as such.”

“Black makeup?” Bon Bon said. “What did you make for him?”

Placing the belt on, he felt like his childhood wish had finally come true. He may even try to put it on after the holiday; it was too good of a costume just to waste around in a closet.

“Don’t forget to try out the little toys that you requested! They should work just like you described them!”

“I didn’t request any toys…” He paused, looking at his belt. “Oh crap, these work?”

“Well, yes. You did describe them alongside the costume that you detailed. As it is my profession to have the best costumes possible, it would be bad taste to leave out what you had described as the ‘important bits he never left behind’.”

Feeling around, he could feel the ‘toys’ that he was now packed with. If anything, his smile grew larger. They, of course, would need to be tested out at a later date but at the moment he couldn’t be happier.

Taking off his costume, Peppy boxed them up before meeting him up to the counter. Peppy pushed the box to him as Anon passed over a meager ten bits.

“Are you sure that’s enough?”

“Anon my dear, I should be paying you for the ideas you gave me for costumes last week! I was in a serious creative slump concerning my wares. With you walking into my store, I not only have a series of ‘alien’ costumes put out in time for the holidays but I also have a backlog of things I can put out at any given time!”

Peppy paused, staring off into nothing with a tilt of his head.

“You have been a great deal of help to me. I usually get somepony that comes out here every year to sell me specially made masks to help boost my sales. Clever little things, it was as if you became what you wore, and by the time the holiday was over, they’d vanish without a trace. So many ponies were eager to come in the next year for more.”

He walked over to one of his windows, staring out into the street. “I was getting worried since he still hasn’t arrived. Nightmare Night makes up a bulk of my sales after all. I do hope nothing bad happened to him. He was always so eager to sell his face masks to me with a smile…”

The pony once again stared at nothing, eyes glazing over. Bon Bon and Anon shared a look, Anon swirling a finger near his head. She laughed seeing his antics.

Peppy jumped around in the air, twirling toward Anon’s direction with a large smile.

“But with your help, I can now sell many, MANY costumes for YEARS to come!”

He galloped over to a hidden area he had in the back covered by an array of dark, red curtains. Pulling them away, he revealed to Anon the costumes he had been relentlessly working on for the past week, showcasing one of the ideas he had passed off. It was a hideous abomination, something that looked straight out of a high budget Hollywood film.

“This… THIS alone is one of the most terrifying things I have EVER seen in my life!” The pony chuckled, staring at the ripped flesh with a smile. “The minds of you humans sure do conjure up the most hideous of atrocities. And all I had to do was base them off that happy little mask seller's merchandise so I could do what I wanted this year. I can’t wait to get my volunteers to scare the town with this!”

“I don’t understand… why you won’t just sell this thing off instead of some of the more toned down ideas I shared with you,” Anon said, staring at the deadened eyes on the display.

“It kind of is horrifying, but also fun seeing something so new,” Bon Bon interjected. “We’ll all be playing a part in this year’s event.”

“Still,” Anon continued, “why choose this when some of the other creatures I listed would have been truly unique to you ponies? I know you’re going for the whole alien crea-tion angle with your promotions so this doesn’t make sense to me.”

The ponies already had zombies in their culture, albeit a very cartoonish one that barely conjured up anything with a true fear factor: Green ooze with an insatiable love of brains alongside the old fashioned green skin. What he had shared though, on top of his very basic understanding of costumes in his world, gave this pony a more frightening costume.

“I can use those next year! Besides Anon, I need to sell the idea that these new costumes are not only scarier than the normal ones, but I need to have them be memorable enough for everypony in town to know just where to get them!”

It didn’t make sense to Anon what he heard. But Peppy sounded like he knew what he was doing… probably. Peppy walked to his counter, taking a book out that had everything Anon had discussed with him.

“Our zombies were merely controlled by others, or if dead on the rare occasion, seeking out the living through their hatred of not being able to live. But to have them eating the flesh off of the living? And the idea of them passing off this infection to others in multiple ways? And I absolutely love how they’re not supposed to feel pain at all, that’s a new one for me!

“I’m going to need quite a few volunteers to be… eaten.” Peppy chuckled as he read some of the entries, eyes glued to the book. “I’m going to use everything I can to make a big impact this year, such as that fake flesh you told me about.”

“You’ve already got that made up?”

“Sure! It only took me two days straight without sleep, but I managed to make something that appears just like the real thing! I can’t wait to see this in action with someone’s flesh being torn off! I even set it up so the flesh could stay hidden until the person gets ‘infected’ and their skin starts to decay!” He let out a maniacal laugh, clapping his hooves together. “This’ll be the best Nightmare Night EVER!”

The pony walked over to his costume, staring at it once more. “Don’t you worry, I’ll use more of your ideas next year. I just wouldn’t want to use all the good stuff all at once…”

‘Maybe telling this pony about some of our cultures was a bad idea.’ Shrugging it off, he took his box and walked out the door, heading back to Lyra’s. ‘Whatever, worth it in the end just for this costume.’

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Arriving back at the house, Anon saw Lyra at her desk, currently working on another report. Hearing him enter, the pony turned to him. “Welcome back!” she said with a smile. “What’s with the box?”

“It is my costume for tomorrow.”

Heading for the stairs, Lyra immediately followed him to the room, trying to get a peek inside the box.

“Lyra, wait until tomorrow to see.”

Lyra harrumphed with a pout, being denied what she wanted. Once back downstairs, Lyra headed to her desk to continue working.

“Almost finished?” he asked, taking a seat on the couch.

“No, I’m reading some documents that the princess sent over about some reports concerning a species recently coming into contact with the griffons. They’re another bird-like species, but bipedal and fully bird. That is, not like the griffon’s chimeric features. It’s surprising to see them having gone unnoticed for so long.”

“Is there something wrong? You do not look too happy right now.”

The pony mumbled to herself, looking away from her work. “…I’d rather be doing what I was doing before.”

“And what was that?”

Lyra fidgeted in her seat, looking at Anon. “Um… well, that was when I was doing things with you when you got here…”

“We can still do that stuff, Lyra. So long as you get your work done first.”

“But I don’t wanna work!” Lyra whined, teleporting herself with her lyre on top of Anon’s lap. Anon grunted at the sudden weight on him. “See, we can do this instead!” she said, plucking a few strings.

“Lyra,” he said, pushing her hooves from the lyre, “I’m pretty sure that your work is very important and needs to be finished, right?”

She flattened her ears against her head, letting out a long-winded sigh. “Yeah…”

Grabbing her by her sides, he lifted her into the air. She let out a squeak as he forced himself to stand up, placing her on the ground while holding the lyre the entire time. The pony looked up to Anon with a pout and large eyes.

“We can play the lyre after you’re done with your work.”

“B-But… but I wanna play neoooow!” she whined, thumping her hooves about.

“You have responsibilities, Lyra. We can play the lyre after you finish your work for the princess.”

She grunted, placing her lyre down beside the couch. “Fiiiine,” she strained, dragging herself back to the desk.

“Don’t worry, I’ll wait until you finish.”

It wasn’t like Anon had much else to do for the day anyways. Twilight already had other plans for herself so she wasn’t set to bugging him for that day. Studying wasn’t something he felt like doing either. No, relaxing to Anon felt like something he should catch up on.

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The rest of the day went by without an incident, so Anon called that a win in his book. He only had to encourage Lyra to finish her work as she grumbled on about wanting to do something else. Bon Bon had come by just as she had finished her last page for that day. It allowed the two of them time with Anon to play the lyre.

Bon Bon, to the surprise of both of them, pulled out a lyre herself. She claimed to know how to play herself and wanted to join in personally. It didn’t take much for Anon to know why she’d know how to play. It was kind of sweet, how he saw that.

Lyra looked slightly rustled having Bon Bon playing the lyre with her. It looked like she was jealous of both Anon and Bon Bon. Seeing this, the candy mare whispered to Anon for Lyra to sit in his lap while she played. It helped keep Lyra calm during her time playing.

Bon Bon wasn’t as good as her friend, but she was easily better than Anon was. Whenever Lyra went up to play, she switched spots with Bon Bon on his lap. A few hours of this and he had more than enough, especially with the two wanting hugs in between each session.

With how late it had gotten into the night, Anon went to sleep soon after that. He woke up to Lyra having to tell him she would be gone for most of the day with Bon Bon, needing to do something out in town. With the holiday, he was given the day off. All the shops in town would be closed. It left him with some rare alone time with himself.

With nothing to do, he was going to do it how he wanted: Dressed down in his costume. Sitting around all day like that, Anon felt surprised he hadn’t chafed anywhere. Magic was likely involved in that, he reasoned.

And so, Anon sat around, feeling pretty awesome with his costume. He did test some of his gadgets, noticing the high-quality craftsmanship on them.

Just as the afternoon came around, a knock could be heard downstairs. Peppy had come over, wanting to discuss some preparations he had been making for the holiday.

“So what you’re saying,” Anon said, staring across from the couch at him, “is that you’ve got every single unicorn in on this, most of who will be in on the act and pretend to be zombies, roaming around for their victims…”

“It was sadly needed so they wouldn’t mistakenly attack someone,” Peppy said with a frown. “I tweaked the idea so the zombies had gone after high-magical entities first, and then hunting down the rest. I wanted this little zombie run of ours to come out of nowhere. That’s where the real fun is!”

“Aren’t you afraid of anyone getting hurt by… I don’t know, defending ponies from these zombies?”

“I’ve already got that one covered. See, I got some of my trade ponies to work on a spell that will wrap around other ponies that get tagged, or ‘infected’. The spell was also retooled quickly to conjure up a few defensive shields and skins onto the infected. Sadly, it will slow them down tremendously, but I believe that’s a fair tradeoff. Besides, that is also how you described your zombies, with them all sluggish.

“Anyways, most ponies will run from one look at these things so I doubt they’ll try anything but a buck or two here and there. And most of the ponies that could do any damage are already in on this, with the few that aren’t being told what is going on while they are being ‘fed on’, right before they go off to do their own thing. After the first wave, the rest will be told about what’s happening by the refs I have. I’ll even have some props for zombies to mess around with until they meet some others to chase after. Oh, and you’re a safe zone.”

Anon nearly missed that, narrowing his eyes at the pony. “Safe zone?”

“See, since you’re not from this world, most of the ponies weren’t likely to go near you in the first place. Nearly everyone is fine with you now, but they still shy away. So then I thought, why not make it so the zombies just have a disliking of you, to begin with for some mysterious reason! And with that, the zombies were instructed to leave you alone. No one is to reveal this of course, but anypony with a good eye for seeing this will realize what is going on.”

This put a damper on the night for Anon. “Is there any way for them to not involve me in this?”

“Even if I wanted, gathering every single pony involved in this would take so long, it would already be night time when this all should be happening!”

“So I’m stuck with this…”

“Hey, think of it like this. With you being the safe zone, it makes it so you’re not involved with the running or anything else!”

‘That’s a pretty good point. I don’t want to see myself running around in this costume.’

“That’s all I think I needed to bring up with you,” Peppy said, getting up from his seat. Just before he left, the pony turned around to Anon. “Oh, and I didn’t want to say anything since it might have seemed rude but you should probably get your voice checked out.”

“…My voice is perfectly fine.”

“Anon, it sounds like you’ve been growling at me the entire time.”

Anon didn’t respond to that, merely crossing his arms, giving Peppy a frown.

“This is how I am supposed to sound.”

The pony raised a brow before rolling his eyes and leaving. With the pony gone, it left Anon with nothing to do once more. Once he started to feel bored, he got up from his seat to go upstairs and continue on his studies.

Time passed quickly for him and before too long it had already gotten dark outside. Standing in the bathroom, Anon checked himself one last time to make sure everything was in its proper place. Smirking at his reflection, he sauntered down the stairs, hoping for the other two to make it back soon.

And just in time, it seemed; Lyra was just walking through the door with Bon Bon. As he was about to greet them, he heard a scream coming from behind them. A few seconds later, a blast of light impacted the wall right beside him, forcing him to fall down the few remaining stairs. Catching himself before he could face plant, he looked at the two ponies that appeared ready to attack him, clearly panicking. Anon quickly concluded why they were freaking out.

“W-Wait! WAIT! It’s me-it’s me-it’s me-it’s me,” he screamed out repeatedly.

“…ANON?!” Lyra yelped back, seeing who it was finally.

“YES!”

“Why do you look scary like that?!” Bon Bon hollered at him.

Lyra nodded in agreement. “It’s… very intimidating.”

Anon cleared his throat. “It’s supposed to be,” he replied, getting somewhat into character.

Lyra walked up to him, poking his suit. She circled him, examining his costume, and playing with his cape for a little before standing in front of him. “Are you dressed as someone from your home planet?”

A smirk could be seen on his face. He grabbed either side of his cape, flaring it out. “Of course, for I. Am. Batman!”

Lyra opened and closed her mouth several times. “W-What? Batman… this is Batman?”

Bon Bon seemed to be only partially paying attention as she dragged the unconscious Fluttershy to the couch. It was difficult to work with her legs all sticking in the air the entire time.

“Did she seriously faint?” Anon asked as Lyra went back to playing with his cape.

“It might have something to do with the big, scary monster that is currently standing in our living room,” Bon Bon said, making sure Fluttershy was comfortable.

“Batman is not a scary monster. He is the dark. He is the night!” Anon flared his cape out, right before it got pulled back down by Lyra who went back to playing with it.

“What happened to your voice?” Lyra asked, now climbing onto the cape for some reason. “Your accent was already strange enough before but now it’s… well…. Bon Bon, help me here.”

“Gravelly.”

“Yeah, it’s more gravelly now,” Lyra said just as she reached Anon’s neck, wrapping both of her front legs around it. “I should totally get a cape like this.”

“Because this is how Batman talks,” he answered.

“It sounds like this Bat-man needs a cough drop,” Bon Bon said, trying to wake Fluttershy.

Sitting down on the couch, the three of them waited for Fluttershy to wake up. To pass the time, Anon started to tell them everything he knew about Batman and the awesomeness that the caped crusader represented to him. Bon Bon seemed mildly interested while Lyra followed along excitedly, having wondered just what had changed between the different Batmans, writing everything he had to say.

“It’s pretty impressive that Peppy managed to get a lot of the details right,” Anon said, playing with the grappling hook that was nestled in a pouch. “I mean, obviously most of this is of his design but it still screams Batman.”

“Are you going to use your gadgets out in town tonight?” Lyra asked, putting her papers on Batman away. “Oh! Please tell me you have shark repellent, I’ve always wanted to see that!”

“...Yeah, there’s shark repellent.” Lyra clapped her hooves with excitement. “But there are other things, like his grappling hook and the explosive gel.”

“So long as you’re not blowing things up tonight, I doubt anyone will mind you tonight,” Bon Bon said. “Just be aware of all the zombie activity tonight. Even though they won’t go after you, others may crowd around you for safety if they notice you’re not being attacked.”

“I’ll probably just hide out someplace until most of this blows over. Also, what part do you all play in tonight?”

“I’m going to be the first infected zombie!” Lyra answered as she hung off his cape, now swinging back and forth in the air. “Wheeeee!”

“And I’ll be the first victim to the first zombie,” Bon Bon chipped in, taking a seat in her chair once more. “Lyra will pale throughout the night from the applied costume she already has on. Then when she changes, I will be nearby so she can eat me.”

‘...Don’t say anything,’ Anon thought, coughing into his fist. “The costume is pretty impressive, Lyra. I can barely tell it’s on.”

“Peppy sure did do a good job, though if you look very closely you can see my fur is a slight bit thicker than it should be. Still, the material should hold out and work for the night.”

“Ooooh…” The three of them turned to a groaning Fluttershy, rubbing her head. “I just had the worst dream of meeting a scary, dark, horrible monster standing in the rooaaaAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”

And with that, she fainted once more.

Bon Bon groaned out herself, trying to wake up the pegasus once again as Lyra continued to swing on Anon’s cape. Anon could only hope that the night fared well for him.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ Canterlot ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Sitting at the throne was the princess of the night, looking off into nothing. With the evening having started several hours early that day, it left her in charge sooner than normal. Much like every year, there was no work to be done for that day. And Celestia, as usual, had gone off and hidden somewhere for some alone time due to the rarity of such things for either of them.

‘She has likely tucked herself away in her room, enjoying some sweets and a good book while her phonograph plays,’ Luna thought with some envy.

The preparations for her travel had already been made for that night for her departure to Ponyville. While other towns and their heads had petitioned for her in hoping she’d arrive at them, they never knew what her answer was until the very last moment: Luna never made a final decision until the night she was to leave. Sadly for them all, Luna had already decided to go back to Ponyville. She had things that were needed of her there that night.

Hearing a clipping of hooves coming from down the hall drove the princess out of her thoughts. Walking into the room was Sunshine Smiles with two night guards following on either side of him. Turning to them, Sunshine nodded to the two who crisply saluted to him, right before exiting the room promptly. Standing a few clicks away, he greeted his princess with a salute and a stony, attentive face. Luna merely tilted her head at him.

“Princess Luna, we have made the arrangements for our contacts in the town to meet us on the outskirts of Ponyville out of sight of everyone, as requested. I volunteer myself to collect this for you so that you may enjoy your night, your highness.”

“There is no need for that at this moment, I can do it myself.”

Breaking off his salute, he stood upright with a glow of his horn, levitating something out of his armor.

“There is nothing else to report other than a letter addressed personally to you.”

The princess levitated it, seeing the waxy seal of the sun on it, having already been slit. The guard saw the confusion on her face. “It was initially sent to Princess Celestia due to her not having a proper way to send it to you, in hopes it would arrive at you eventually.”

“Very well,” Luna brushed off, reading the contents of the letter.

She quickly frowned, seeing who the letter came from. Her frown turned away with a smirk, reading further on.

‘So she dressed it up in a costume for the evening. And a bat-themed one at that. Perhaps she is trying to butter me up, as the expression goes. She made the right assumption that I would arrive tonight.’

She continued reading, a flash of excitement spread across her face.

“A zombie run?” she exclaimed with a large smile.

“Princess Celestia had the same reaction, though with some… distaste to it.”

“Of course she would,” Princess Luna said, her smile lessening. “I had created these runs in the past to help teach every being how to handle the vile things while we took care of scrubbing the disease from existence. Still, they were quite enjoyable, and I had some fun preparing them every year. Sister cared little for them.”

Luna hummed to herself. “And though the magic to create them had been wiped out, I keep an ear out for such things in the unlikely chance they pop up. There is a reason why I keep my little agents around, Sunshine.”

“I… wasn’t aware such things truly existed.”

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of; after so long I’d imagine most would think of them as fictitious creations. I’ll have to remember to pass off such information like this to everyone under my wing. It is a difficult task to know what is needed when everything I know used to be common knowledge.”

“Ah… yes, my princess.”

Looking at the letter once more, Luna started to think about what her actions should be. Initially, she was to go over the gathered intel from her agents before meeting Lyra at the end of the night. Things would need to be changed now. There was no way she would want to miss such a chance.

“Captain, there’s been a change of plans. You’ll be gathering the intel from the ponies and keeping the guards with you. Afterward, you will immediately head back here to go over it and have it prepared for my return from the night.”

“Princess Luna, is it safe to do that what with the rebellious ponies still out there and no guards to protect you?”

“Your worry for my safety is duly noted, but not needed, captain. I am assured that they would not attempt anything directly to me. No, you and the guards will return here after you are done with your mission.” Having the guards away would allow her free reign to roam around and have some fun with the run.

Standing up from her throne, Sunshine Smiles bowed to her before leading her to her carriage. Walking down the halls, the princess could see her guards standing at attention on either side of her. A few of them were hidden in the shadows, tucked away from sight from everyone but her. She noted a few that could do with some training to better hide.

Arriving at their destination outside was a regal looking carriage with four guards at the front to drive it. Seating herself, Sunshine headed to the front of the carriage, giving an order to move out. They shot off into the sky with a silky smoothness that kept from disturbing the princess from her seat.

It was a relaxing kind of pleasure for the princess to ride in her carriage, always taking the opportunity when given to do so. Having it during the night only added to her enjoyment immensely, staring up at the stars as she came up with new ideas about their placements.

Playing with one of her star clusters that were built from her everlasting glow of colors, she hadn’t noticed the carriage descending until the trees started coming into view. Upon landing, Princess Luna stepped out of her seat, stretching her legs once on the ground. Sunshine Smiles quickly stood before her, awaiting further orders.

“You currently know what needs to be done, captain. Gather that intel and return to the palace post-haste with the information.”

“Yes, your highness,” Sunshine Smiles acknowledged, saluting her before returning to the carriage with the guards.

Gathering them, they head off into the forest just as the princess went into the town herself. With a slow pace down the road, Luna could see that the festivities had already begun. The streets and buildings were littered with a multitude of props and decorations to celebrate the night away as music played with a unique fervor she was unaccustomed to. Games were set up with ponies crowding around, awaiting their turn to play. Costumes of all kinds could be seen along with baggies full of treats, gathered from the night’s activities most likely.

Standing in the dark, Princess Luna could see a small group of ponies walking right past her. The shadows easily hid her from their sights or at least should have since one filly managed to notice her. She immediately shrieks, alerting the others of the group to her presence. They follow suit before placing candy in front of her and running off in glee. With a small chuckle, she levitated the treats, popping them away out of sight to examine later.

Turning back to the town and their games, she had a want to be a part of it and triumph over the silly games they had set up. Yet she knew that it was best to go and meet Lyra and her little project. It would seem rude of her to ignore them for later on, not just from the importance of the scenario but from the letter that was sent to her in the rather roundabout manner.

Pacing herself in what she hoped appeared to be a stroll down the road Luna could see the ponies pausing at their activities, clearly surprised to see her there for a second year in a row. While a few gave bows, most gave a wave and a smile, assuming she was here for no other purpose than the merriment they were currently experiencing. It was certainly something the princess was still in need of getting used to from the previous reverent of her and her sister as idols and gods.

“Princess Luna! Over here! Ooh-ooh-ooh! LUNA!”

The annoying yelling aimed at her turned her direction to a booth being operated by one of the Elements. Laughter, she easily remembered, due to the gleeful attitude the pink pony held.

“I am surprised to see you haven’t tried running off from seeing me,” Luna said, walking up to the stand. Sugary biscuits were on display, the gaily smiles of ponies staring back at her.

“That wouldn’t be any fun,” Pinkie said, waving a hoof. “Repeat actions dull the humor after all!”

“Ehr, yes… quite right...” It almost appeared like one of the biscuits was staring at her, eerily smiling.

“I hope you’re having fun here, and two years in a row. We’ll be the talk of the place. Ooh! What do you think of my costume?”

“It is… astonishing how closely you resemble a cupcake.” Luna had to look twice; had that biscuit somehow gotten closer? “Are you perhaps pulling a prank on m－”

“Hello!” Luna jumped, staring at the talking treat. “I am Crumble! Nice to meet you!”

“C-Crumble?”

The cookie pony did a sideways cartwheel, throwing sprinkles in the air. “The conjured cookie construct! Yay!”

It seemed that ponies were giving a wide berth from their stand. Luna turned to Pinkie who gave her a large smile.

“Pinkie Pie, just who, or what is this?”

“She’s Crumble!” The biscuit waved at her. “She was magically formed by a mysterious unicorn, oo-ooh! And I wanted something to help set up my booth for the holiday. Want a copy-Crumble?”

Pinkie passed something that looked exactly like the construct dancing on the stand, only it was flattened out. It held the same, strange smile the original had.

“No way! She totally wants a taste of the original and not some fake impostor.” She shook her behind at the princess, Luna giving an offended look. “Come on, I know you want some of this sweet thing right here!”

She held back her tongue, deciding it wasn’t worth arguing against a golem with little sense.

‘...Wait, golem?’

Now that she thought about it, golem’s were relatively easy to take down. While magically superior in many aspects, their one greatest weakness was their incapability to answer simple math. Automaton’s made of magical fractals could not seem to comprehend any form of math, their minds too preoccupied with keeping itself together and performing complicated tasks.

Though they could simply ignore the question as they’re inherently made to do, a lot of stories revolved around tricking them into doing math to win against one. It was quite common to have golem’s take around an abacus to help solve this problem.

‘It would be good practice against the golem Lyra made. Even better, as there doesn’t seem to be any unicorns, so I’ll be able to get away with none the wiser.’

“－my tail is a particularly fun part, but I know many that wouldn’t mind a nibble on my thighs. Oh! I’ve also been working on my magical essence so I can even grow larger than I already am or even have additional parts! Certainly gives you more to chew on, eh? Eeeeh?”

‘I’ll have to be careful with my question. Pinkie may act oblivious but she’s not stupid, from the reports I’ve read regarding her.’

“How about this. I haven’t met a golem in a long time and am… interested in how modern-day standards have developed to their creation. Answer just one question and I’ll have a… bite out of you.”

Crumble’s face seemed to light up with excitement. “Really?”

Luna gave a soft chuckle, “Really.”

“Oh, to be eaten by a princess, what a dream come true. I have to get the best I can out of this opportunity.” She stood up on her hind legs, pointing at the princess. “Make it an all-you-can-eat buffet with me for tonight and you’ve got yourself a deal!”

“Very well then.” The construct sat down, clapping her hooves together. “Say I have ten bales of hay and give away seven. How many do I have left?”

“Pfft, that’s all? You have… ah, there’s…” She scratched her head. Her face scrunched up, an eye tweaking. “N-N-Ninety-eats? Oh wait, it’s…”

As predicted, Crumble started to shake, collapsing on the table, muttering. “W-W-What…”

Pinkie blinked, looking down. “Um… Princess Luna? What’s wrong with Crumble?”

She made sure to look saddened, staring at the biscuit. “It appears that the golem spell form hadn’t changed since my times. Disappointing. Don’t worry, it’ll wear off in a few hours.”

“Poor Crumble,” Pinkie said, picking her up and placing her to the side. “You stay right here until you feel better.”

“N-N-Ninety-eats. I, hurk, I answered. I answered!”

“Ah, she did answer though!”

“It… appears she had. Unfortunately, the deal was for tonight and I can’t stay here all night to wait until she gets better. Perhaps you'll have someone else perform this... buffet of yours?”

Luna discreetly walked away, wanting to get as far away from the thing as she could. The whole thing felt nauseating to her. But she now had some form to combat against the golem that was causing her and her sister problems for the past few months.

Walking around, many ponies gathered the courage to confront her, giving their greetings or some festive treat-giving. She was having an alright time but was slowly becoming irritated at being unable to find her reason for coming to Ponyville.

“Oomph!”

Stopping in her tracks, Princess Luna stared down at the pony that had collided with her side. As if by coincidence, she saw Lyra on the ground, shaking her head in confusion. Looking up, she gawped at the princess before chuckling nervously. Luna’s brow furrowed, seeing how pale she appeared.

“Hello, Princess Luna,” Lyra weakly greeted with a small groan, still rubbing her head. She was barely capable of standing herself up straight. Had she had too much salt?

Bon Bon could be seen trotting up to her friend from the side, helping to pick her up and keep her standing before turning her attention to the princess.

“P-Princess Luna! Good evening! Um… how was your trip here?”

“It was uneventful, as usual.”

“Your guards, they’re um… not here… are they?”

‘A strange question to ask. Ah, wait, she’s wondering if I’m here to take their… alien away.’

“No, I am alone on this venture,” the princess replied smoothly.

Bon Bon seemed to relax while Lyra… looked paler. As amusing at it was earlier to see, the princess had not meant to impose such fright in her.

“Bon… Bon… It’s n-nearly t…”

Lyra’s little assistant blinked at her friend before she realized something. “Oh, right! Before we go, is there anything else you need, Princess Luna?”

Now is as good a time as any to see their project. Although Luna felt somewhat bad seeing Lyra in her current situation, if she could help in some way with the scenario and relieve her sister of some stress, she’d gladly do it.

“Yes, I would like to see this ‘alien’ of yours, if you don’t mind.”

Blinking at her, before nearly slipping from Lyra’s stumbling and groaning about, Bon Bon stood her back up before turning and pointing her hoof in a direction. “He should be down there, showing off his costume still to a group of foals and fillies.”

‘Showing off… his costume?’

Luna was confused at what she heard. Right before Bon Bon could leave with her friend, they were stopped with the princess walking in front of them.

“Yes, well I’d like to see the alien.”

“…Okay?” Bon Bon answered uncertainly.

The two stood in silence as Lyra continued to silently moan to herself.

“…Aren’t you going to be needed there to show it to me?”

“He is fully capable of introducing himself to you. While he still has difficulties speaking, Anon should be fully capable of holding a conversation as Lyra had already written previously. Now if there’s nothing else, I really need to help Lyra out further down that road. Much, much further down…”

Stepping to the side, Princess Luna allowed them to walk away from her.

‘An automaton of the size shown in those pictures should need someone to control it without a crystal to power its internals, and not once did we see one inserted anywhere.' She hummed in thought. ''Perhaps they gave its controls to someone else? Or is it overconfidence? This just makes things easier for me without them nearby.’

It didn’t take her long before she was met with a fairly large crowd of ponies strewn all about the place. Far off in the corner she could see—

Her head reared back, taking a few steps away.

‘Sweet Solaire, what in the damned fires of Tartarus is that?!’

The being towered over the group of young ponies as it grabbed its cape and flaring it out for the crowd who oohed and awed at his actions. She was expecting it to be tall, but the costume it wore was quite imposing. Garbed in a finely shaped black and grey suit, it scowled at the crowd below its feet, posing in some odd fashion that gave it a look that demanded its attention.

It was designed around a bat as the princess could see, from the tipped ears to the cape that hung at its back, and of course, the bat image etched forward for all with it being emblazoned across its chest. The most disturbing thing for her had to be the facial area, how its eyes were completely blackened behind the mask, yet still capable to show such fierce emotions. The thing was incredibly animated, well beyond such intricacies she was used to in any kind of golem.

A shiver ran down her spine, looking at the formidable creation in front of her. Lyra truly had done a lot of work setting this up. She almost felt bad, wanting to destroy its mental foundation. Such a magnificent specimen of the magical arts, to be taken down by but a dozen math problems.

Somepony bumped into her side, forcing her to look away from the imposing sight. Turning to her side, she could see a pony running off, apologizing as it ran away. Clearing her mind and regaining her composure, the princess turned back to the automaton, wanting nothing more than to get this over with so the rest of the night could be enjoyed.

Examining things once more, Luna could see the little ones currently running around it, swinging on its cape or poking at its costume. The ‘alien’ did nothing more than stand still with its arms crossed, continuing to scowl at nothing. She swore she heard ‘I’m Batman’ being whispered in the air as she approached it.

The moment she got within a body’s length away, the young ponies took notice of her and immediately ran away in mock fright. Princess Luna knew it wasn’t real with the way their screams turned into peals of laughter when they thought they were far enough away. Staring at the alien, its head turned to her. The automaton's eyes widened looking at her.

“Uhr… hello there,” the automaton spoke with a strange voice that caught the princess off-guard. “You are… Princess Celestia?”

Reeling herself from acting out in anger at the strangest idea that she could be her sister, she proceeded onward. “I am Princess Luna, my sister does not stay up during the night unless absolutely needed for it is my time of the ruling.” The being merely continued to stare, though its scowl had vanished she noted. “Since I was down in Ponyville for the festivities I thought it would be a good idea to check up on you, what with you being our resident alien after all.”

Princess Luna had to resist the urge to grimace at the stupidity of speaking to the spelled-up dummy.

“I am sorry; I should have realized who you are with how you look.” An eyebrow arched hearing that. His voice had turned from a coarse roar to a softer tone. “N-Not that there is anything wrong with how you look,” it said, mistaking her reaction.

The puppet chuckled, rubbing the back of its neck. Luna, watching its actions, noting the advanced motor skills the thing held over other automatons she had seen in the past. Crumble was able to get away with so much, being made of one, malleable form. This though? Was it possible she and her sister had missed something in their letters about this? They must have…

“To be blunt, I am surprised I have… not been met by either princess’s by now what with how I am an alien to your people.”

Luna could see her subjects off to the side, staring at the conversation taking place, talking to one another. That… does look a bit odd, doesn’t it?

“Both Celestia and I have many duties that we must attend to which made it difficult to properly have any time with you.”

‘A good enough excuse that has worked in the past.’

“Still, when I talked to Lyra about this… it was strange I was not called to the pal-ace to meet either of you.”

‘Did Lyra program this thing to make me look stupid?’

Looking around, while she saw ponies questioning both her and her sister on the alien's presence, she noticed that not a single unicorn was currently there. It was best to do this now before any could think to question what was going on.

“As… odd as it may be to ask of you, I just realized that in the documents, I felt they were personally lacking information on some of your intelligence. So I ask of you something of a quick question to test this: There are six apples. I take three and you take two. How many are left?”

“…What?”

Repeating the question once more, Luna stood there, staring at its dumbstruck expression. It was clear that the thing was already starting to overload from going beyond its simple programming for that night.

“Is this about those weird math tests from Lyra? I swore she sent in the sec-ond test that was better prepared but I guess I was wrong. I will talk to Lyra about this so we can send something better in as soon as possible.” The thing sighed, rubbing the bridge of its snout. “As for the answer, it is one apple.”

Princess Luna wasn’t expecting it to answer back. ‘It… must have been a fluke. Yes, certainly another question will have it starting to stumble in its answers.’

“If I am holding twelve rocks in my hooves and currently own eight baskets each with the same amount of rocks, how many rocks do I have?”

The automaton rubbed its chin before counting its digits, trying to figure out the question. “You’d have… ninety-six rocks.”

“…No, you’d have one hundred and eight.”

“Oh, I thought this was a trick question since you said only in the rocks in your baskets. With what you hold it would be that much.”

"S-Six times nine, subtract sixty-nine! What is the answer?"

It looked at her with a tilt of its head. "Oookay. That's... give me a moment." An arm went up, its digits scratching the visible chin. "Ah, tricky, that's negative fifteen."

"Ah... Bah..."

“Princess Luna, can we play with Anon now? He was showing us his cool gadgets!”

Much too confused at the situation, she slowly nodded her head at the filly that spoke to her. She jumped in glee before running up to… whatever that thing was.

It couldn’t be an automaton like she initially thought. They’re not in use nowadays very much due to their programming flaws that she just tried to abuse. Only someone like Pinkie would be… special enough to make one. The stupid creations were made to do simple things, like move rocks or clean things because of this, but still broke down due to mishaps. To have one magically programmed to fix such flaws have to be impossible, especially with how niche the magic was.

Looking at the costumed… whatever it was, she could see it pulling something from its very odd belt. Aiming at a light pole, it shot something right out of it before propelling straight into the air toward it, flaring its cape as if appearing to fly up. Gasps and cheers could be heard from the display, along with most of the crowd following it.

“Automatons… are not capable of such complex movements like that either,” the princess said to herself quietly. “Just what is this thing?”

All she could do was stand there, dumbfounded at the recent turn of events as she attempted to remember anything that could explain this from Lyra’s documents.

‘The pony never did state how she went about making those images of it, so maybe it wasn’t a golem in any of them. It wasn’t a spelled one, that’s for sure. So maybe she hired a minotaur to shave… and act the part? It would make sense, taking out a chunk of her pay to have one do such a thing. ‘

She shook her head at the ridiculousness of the idea.

‘No, that doesn’t explain the missing horns. They’re too prideful of them to remove their horns for any pay. I should know since I’ve tried before.’

The only other bipedal creature coming to mind for her that was around were those race of cats. She doubted that the newly found races would either be involved with this.

‘…It’s not like it’s real, right?’ With nothing at the moment making sense, either Lyra had made the greatest fool of her or she was just talking to an actual alien.

‘I-It’s not possible to make real contact with such things…’

The thought of what she and her sister was ready to do in the past and their actions, what could have been, what—

Luna shook her head, feeling silly about her actions. ‘No, this isn’t reasonable for me to just jump to these thoughts. I should hold out for a little while before thinking about this more thoroughly, or at least not until after the run.’

Before she could think more about this, a scream could be heard, interrupting her thoughts. This didn’t appear to be a scream of mock fright but of genuine horror. Running off in the direction where she heard the scream to see what the problem was, the princess skidded to a halt as ponies ran past her, many looking scared out of their wits.

“RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!”

“THEY’RE EATING EVERYPONY!!!”

“HELP!”

“ZOMBIES! ZOMBIES!”

‘I got worked up for that? Why would they seem that scared from some zombies?’

Princess Luna knew they were a scary thing to come across, but they weren’t enough to elicit such actions from them. Slowing walking forward to where the ponies ran from, it didn’t take long for Luna to see her first ‘zombie’ that night. It was multiple zombies that were currently lumbering around, looking for their next victim. She couldn’t help but let out a chuckle watching them stumbling on their hooves.

It had been a very long time for her participating in a zombie run. She had missed such things, having them all the time before she was banished. The rules were quite simple as well: Do not get caught or you were out. The horror genre was such a small thing in their world, but she knew everything there was to know about it, albeit from an aged point of perspective. But zombies, she knew zombies.

They were in character, the princess noted. Due to there being nopony around for them, they went back to ‘eat’ the brains of their victims, just as she expected. Her curiousness had her making way up to a few without being noticed to stare at their costumes and watch them feed. As dumb of a decision it was to do such a thing during the zombie run, Luna was too eager to see how their costumes looked.

“So what exactly—”

Her eagerness evaporated upon seeing the rotten, paled face of the zombies, their flesh having been torn asunder and fluids oozing off their ripped bodies. They seemed to ignore the original idea of simply gnawing on one’s head for the brains and went all out with devouring the very flesh of the being.

One of them turned their head towards Luna, its jaw hanging loose. This, in turn, forced others to do the same. The princess immediately ran away, her heart thumping at being seen. As slow as they were, there were just so many of them all around her now, it made escaping very difficult for her to do. Even in the skies, it seemed the morphed pegasi roamed the skies, taking a few dives at her, unafraid of any repercussions to be had for doing something to their princess.

She was not used to seeing such things in gruesome detail. They were eating flesh, not brains! And she knew for a fact that zombies did NOT eat flesh! In fact, if she was being accurate, eating brains was still wrong but widely used due to the tales passed around over and over until it morphed into what is now known. Zombies sucked on one’s head and drained their mind’s essence, turning them stupid and making another in the process.

It confused her greatly with how things have changed into this, though she was not complaining. It certainly was more terrifying to go up against the slow yet massively large crowd of them. Adding a new level of danger… excited her. Luna made a mental note to find out how they managed to make such costumes for future use to scare her sister at some point.

With a shake of her head, the princess cleared her thoughts to focus more on her participation in the run. She did not want to return to the castle, having been one of the first to lose. Her sister would not let her live it down for a very long time.

The zombies were quite slow, something that Luna was very thankful for. It was mostly a hassle for her to dodge around the massive amount of them that are currently all around. Running down the street, she could spot some other ponies that were also running like her though at a much slower pace, too confused or wondering where to go. One of the poor hapless ponies got jumped by a crowd of them, going down with his screams quickly muffled by the drove of undead unicorns, only to be replaced by the crunching of bones and tearing of flesh.

Having dodged around for a good half an hour, it led the princess into finding another group of ponies. Following them led her into a small bakery where they were all currently hiding out.

Luna wished she hadn’t trailed them to the building, finding it a tad boring. Many of them were crying or shaking in fright, uncertain about what they should do. They were a disorganized mess of subjects hiding away in this shop. With boredom seeping into the princess, she decided to try and make things more interesting for the night.

“Listen up, everypony,” Princess Luna said, standing up to her full height to the gaggle of ponies. “We’re currently in a crisis in the town and I need you all to be as calm and collected as possible.”

Taking direct order of the situation is already relieving the princess of her previous boredom as a small smile adorned her face, incapable of hiding it. All of the ponies direct their attention to her, feeling better about their situation knowing she was there.

“We need to take stock of the situation at hoof here and figure out where to proceed. Does anyone have any ideas?”

“Princess?” someone said in the crowd. “W-What about finding a way to fix all this? A cure?”

Ah yes, the cure. The run, she had read, had a win criterion for finding the cure for the virus. It was an odd thing to have heard of this from one of the ponies there, but it certainly added more challenge and motivation to go out where the zombies were.

…Still, the ponies around here were a pathetic bunch that needed more calming about the situation.

“We should probably figure out what we know about the zombies first if we are to go out there soon.”

A few whispers could be heard, discussing the idea about them leaving the safety of their building.

“Well… they’re very slow, so it should be easy to go around them so long as we’re careful,” one of them chipped in.

“There’s a lot of them out there though,” a second voice put out. “It’s not their speed but their size we need to worry about.”

“Can’t we have a few of us flying to watch out for that?”

“There’s some pegasus zombies out there in the sky as well, just as slow and numerous as the ground. Not sure if it would help us at all having eyes in the sky.”

“I… I think I saw Rainbow Dash up there. Even at half her speed, she’s still faster than any of us. She’d get us for sure.”

Most of the talks revolved around them planning how to go around the place and what to look out for. It didn’t take long for them to calm down to an appropriate level for the princess.

“What about a cure? Does anyone know where it can be located?”

Everyone looked to one another, finding themselves unable to answer.

“Do you know where it could be, Princess Luna?”

“No, I don’t.” They all groan, their hope of an easy win thrown out the door. “So that would mean we need to split up into groups and look around for it. Anypony that doesn’t want to be a part of this should stay hidden and keep doors locked. As for myself, I should go venture by myself since any group I do go with would be at an unfair advantage.” Standing up, Princess Luna fluffed her wings, getting ready to leave the building.

“But where should we look in the first place?”

“What about the source of the outbreak?”

“Could we even find where that would be?”

“We can make an educated guess. There’s also a few places hinted at by some of the ponies that were out there, talking and leaving those weird clues before this all started!”

“That’s right, some of them were talking about some… mad scientist and her carrying around antidotes just in case something went wrong.”

“So that could also mean we need to go to the library, the outskirts of Everfree, and the mayors.”

“Don’t forget about finding the first infected as well, we could just find them which could lead us to what infected them, which in turn could have us lead to a cure in some form.”

“How would we even go about figuring out the first infected?”

“Hey, I don’t know if any of you remember but Lyra was acting really weird before all of this started, more so than usual. She was all wobbly and looking incredibly pale.”

“I remember that as well, I just thought she had too much salt.”

“Okay then,” the princess said, making her way to the door. “It seems everypony here has an idea of what to do. I’m going to personally head over to Lyra’s and see if there’s anything there while you all go to the other locations.”

“Alright princess, just watch out for all those zombies!”

“And keep an eye out for Lyra while you’re out!”

“Don’t forget the alien!”

Just as the princess was about to open the door, she stopped hearing that. “Why would I need to keep an eye on that thing?”

“Because he’s our friend?”

“He might be frightened out there with all the zombies!”

“And he’s not a thing, he’s an alien!”

“He’s also very fun to be around.”

“And those hands of his!”

All the mares could be heard sighing hearing that, along with a few stallions. The princess, as curious as she was about that, didn’t want to stick around for more praises toward the anomaly that was Anon. Without looking back, she quickly shot herself into the sky.

Knowing that the night would help her more than it would the zombies, she placed a spell around her to help warp the dark around her better. Swimming around in the air was an endeavor for sure with how many pegasi were already turned. Luna was certain she saw Loyalty up there, growling-cackling while looking for her next victim. The princess was glad they were forced to be slow in their movements but she wasn’t certain just how much the rainbow-maned mare would follow that rule.

Quickening her flight, it didn’t take long for her to arrive at Lyra’s house. Knowing it would be a bad idea to go through the front door, she slowly descended herself to the second-story window. Not seeing anyone there, she teleported herself inside before immediately looking around for anything tied to the infection. The clues and such are typically quite obvious about what they are, to help prevent from unneeded snooping around.

Skimming through the contents on the desk, Luna came across an odd book. She would have ignored it, save for the name ‘Alien Diary’ written across the front. Her curiosity getting the better of her, she opened it to the first page.

day one of diary
lyra forcing me to write in this and any thoughts ive should be put she said to me
ii find it a of a pain but ii said yes with her
she told me to write in their words
it is difficult to do but she said for practice to get better
she said that ii would be the only one looking in this unless ii say so or if its askeed for
at least magic horse is giving me some privacy thats good
at this time its been over a week being here in this land of make believe
ii still find it hard to get over the fact that im here i will get gleauk back for this
writing is still difficult so ii am stopping for now

The princess flipped through a few of the pages before reading further.

Day why am I here?
Lyra says I stay at apple farm for another week. This time its with a rainbow colored pony named.
Rainbow is an interesting character to be around. She even showed me that she can manipulate weather.
That’s neat. At least my week with her won’t be boring. Not that my time so far has been boring.
The time at the farm, along with the ponies moving me about has kept me from thinking about home.
I’m feeling a bit homesick, and each day that goes by adds more to that feeling.
I can’t be sure if there is a way to get back ho
I have to leave. Lyras taking me to a lake now. She has a box with her too. I wonder what that’s for.

Reading more of the book made her realize it was, in fact, the alien’s diary of its time in Ponyville. Its writing seemed to have improved at a fairly good rate, though from what she read the alien’s speaking skills have gotten to a slow improvement rate in comparison.

Day Nightmare Night in Equestria.
I really need to write the actual day count in these things.
All the preparations have been made for tonight. I have my costume on and the zombie event is still on.
Lyra will be the first to turn. Peppy has all the unicorns all ready to be turned at his command.
I’m just glad they won’t come after me since I’m an alien. It’ll be amusing to watch them move away from me as I walk through them.
I was given a vial that’s supposed to be used as the ‘cure’.
It can only work if both Lyra and I are together. I suppose walking around the town as this goes on will give these ponies a chance to find me, if they do at all, that is.
It’ll all be moot once the town hall’s clock bell rings at midnight, leaving the cure unusable.
I don’t reasonably get why the cure would still work if someone had been fed on, but whatever I’m not going to nitpick the logic on this.
I hope these ponies can take my worlds’ zombies well enough. It should be interesting though to see their reactions.

“So the alien came up with these zombies?”

She wondered why they looked so much more terrifying than they should. It was something to look into later about the… alien.

Princess Luna blinked, looking down at the journal. She thought over everything that had occurred involving the alien and his caretakers.

Things started to click into place. Every report before the alien scenario showed Lyra as being studious in her work and highly talented in magic but never involved with magical theories or spell making. She didn’t have the kind of drive that someone like Twilight had for magic. The idea that she had made an automaton and invented new tools seemed so far-fetched, yet they went along with it for so long.

“...Oh no.”

The idea that it was real kept kicking around in her head. She wanted to refute it, yet after seeing it, nothing would allow her to think otherwise.

“No-no-no-no…”

And then there was the repercussion should this get out. Not even the council was on her mind, but of other nations. So many different treaties and trade deals revolved around the treatment of newly integrated beings.

Yet here they were, treating the alien as a thing. Thoughts on how they took away funding to force him to get a job, ignoring any kind of decorum that would normally be held to an ambassador floated around her head.

Luna closed the diary, placing it back down on the desk, staying her calm facade as she began to work. She went over to the windows, magically locking them before closing the curtains. The door was also locked with magical seals. A soundproofing ward was erected, along with an anti-magical scrying spell.

Another spell had her hoof glowing a dark blue. She started to write a magical scripture on the ground, her spell sticking to the ground like ink. It took no more than half a minute to prepare the runes needed. Old magic, but reliable.

Flashing her horn once more and the spell erupted with a swirl, a circle now forming over the area. In but a second, she could see Celestia’s form, currently sitting at a table, eating some sweets while reading a book. A piece of gentle sounding music played on her phonograph, a lulling scene taking place.

The scene was shattered as her sister shot up into the air, forming an ethereal champron and peytral before turning to Luna. Noting just who it was, Celestia seemed to hesitate, her armor formation halting. The spell flickered, fizzling off into nothing.

“L-Luna?” She looked around at the spell in front of her. “What is the meaning of this? Using a gate like this, and you even inscribed the ground? How could you thi－” Celestia clicked her jaw shut, seeing her sister barely holding herself together. “Luna, what’s wrong?”

“HE’S REAL-HE’S REAL-HES’ REAL-HE’S REAL－”

She started to run around the room, incapable of holding back the turmoil inside her, flinging herself around with reckless abandon.

“HE’S REAL-HE’S REAL-HE’S REAL-HE’S REAL－”

Things were thrown around the room, most of them somehow ending through the port. A chair, some books, and… Celestia was confused about the bowl containing fire, and why that existed in the first place.

“HE’S REAL-HE’S REAL- HE’S REAL- OH SISTER WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO!”

Luna collapsed in front of the port. “Every single nation is going to hear about our blunder and they’ll demand re-negotiations for breaking our treaties as they’ve oh so wanted those foul beings and we’ll lose so much face and the council will vie for more power and we’re gonna look like cretinous leaders of oath-breakers!”

Princess Celestia watched her sister let out an agonizing groan of despair, waiting for her to calm down.

“Luna, please. Explain to me what has happened that has made you so… volatile.”

She spat out a laugh, “Oh sister, you don’t want to hear this. I must say it, but to know what I say will fill you with such anguish you will have wished for King Neigh-Say’s return than to know of this truth.”

Celestia shuddered, hearing that name. “We have agreed to never speak of that name.”

Luna ignored her words, slowly explaining what had transpired that night involving the alien. She went into agonizing detail of how she had attempted to derail the previously thought automatons spell matrix, and then coming to the conclusion of its validity as a true being, watching it interact with others and move around as it had.

Her sister refused it at first, but Luna merely had to provide how impossible it was for anyone but master workers and beings with high magical outputs, not someone like Lyra in the latter, to even come close to creating something as intricate as the alien in golemancy.

“What are we going to do?” Luna asked. “If anyone finds out about this, we won’t be able to live it down for generations. Imagining the grandkids of some ruler just bringing this up in future negotiations irritates me to no end. I swear if that happens I’ll suffocate them in their sleep! Until they’re dead－”

“Luna!”

“Fine, I’ll only suffocate until they’re partially dead!”

“Luna, stay calm. Remember the Bucking-Ham Palace incident? Or perhaps the twiddly-winks event? We’ll do what we always do in these situations.”

“...Talk out of one’s behind and pretend we were doing things on purpose?”

“Exactly.”

“The alien is real, how are we supposed to convince that individual that what we said was not a cause for concern? I’ve read his journal and he thought we were going to banish him to the moon! Or at least he believed you were. You do have a good history of that, I seem to recall. Surely a cause for concern.”

Celestia glared at her sister.

“We’ll think of something like always. Perhaps he’ll even work with us on this. I’ll think of something while you finish your night there. Just come back afterward and have a good night’s rest. I have a feeling you’ll be needing it with all the work we’ll have to do in covering all this up.”

“Yes… right, you’re right. I’ll just continue as if things are fine. But if I may ask, how are you even holding up so well as you are?”

Princess Celestia let out a light chuckle, “Oh, I’m not. The moment this call ends I’ll lose my composure and probably throw some things around like you. Speaking of which, take these back,” she said, levitating the previously thrown items back through. “Clean up before you leave, and enjoy your… horrifying run.”

“Okay, and enjoy your not-so-relaxing-anymore time off.”

Just as Luna was collapsing the port, she saw a glimpse of Celestia throwing her head back, running around and throwing things as a scream was quickly cut off on her end.

Cleaning the room up, she noticed a clock on the wall. It was thirty minutes to midnight. She knew the alien had the vial, and perhaps if she was fast enough, she may be able to finish the run with some kind of win.

Removing her magical hoofsteps from the room, she went to the door. She could see the door down the hallway open. Opening it slowly revealed one of the Elements, Kindness, currently tied up in rope, hanging in the air.

“Fluttershy?”

The mare jumped in fright from the sudden voice. Swiveling her body, the pony turned her head to the princess, surprise clear on her face. “P-Princess Luna! W-What are you doing here?”

“I could ask the same of you.”

Fluttershy cowered at the princess. It was a pain to dealing with Fluttershy from her lack of confidence and ease of frights. Seeing she wasn’t going to answer back, the princess spoke herself.

“As you should be aware of the run going on, I am currently looking for the cure myself along with the… alien…”

“Anon? Oh, he’s um, downstairs right now taking a break from things. I came up here because he told me it would be a good idea to do so if I wanted to hide.”

“You chose the wrong room to hide in, it seems,” the princess said right before levitating the ropes down to the ground.

The pegasus immediately unraveled herself out of her bindings before scampering toward the bathroom of the room, likely to hide once more.

A twang, a snap, and Fluttershy once more found herself hoisted in the air from more hidden ropes.

Rolling her eyes, the princess once more brought her down to the ground in annoyance. This time Fluttershy managed to not get strung up before locking herself inside the bathroom.

“At least I don’t have to look all over town for him,” Luna said, walking down the stairs to the alien.

The character in question wasn’t particularly difficult to miss, what with his tall stature and unique costume. Sitting in the kitchen, the alien was currently drinking some kind of drink. Finding some reluctance with being around what was becoming clearer to her was an actual alien and not some fake tool or dressed up being, Luna pushed it down and made her way to him. Upon noticing the princess, he slowly set his drink down, wiping his mouth.

“Hello, Princess Luna,” he greeted her calmly and without the odd, growling voice from before.

“I am here for your part in the cure for the run.”

He looked quite shocked to hear that. “Oh wow, I honestly did not think the clues Peppy put out would help anyone in finding that! Really, I find the whole thing a tad convo-luted with the cure mixed in the run.”

Opening one of his clasps on his belt, he pulled out a vial with a blue liquid inside.

“I don’t get how giving this to the first zombie would make things alright. It’s not like how it is with vampires and killing off the head honcho could recon-vert some of the others. Anyways… I just have to administer this to the original infected and you’re all set. Have you f—”

“It’s Lyra.”

He chuckled at her answer. “Yeah, that was too obvious wasn’t it? I told Peppy about that and all but he just wouldn’t change it, not with how little time he had left to plan things. Oh well, there is always next year if there is another one?”

Finishing his drink, Anon stood up, placing the vial back in his belt before readjusting his costume. Before the two of them could do anything else, a banging on the front door could be heard.

“So maybe there were others that figured out the clues?” Anon said, looking out the window. “Oh, never mind, the zombies are just banging on the door. Maybe they saw you coming in, princess?”

“Or they saw you coming in and wanted to see who else would follow?” she answered back.

He simply shrugged at her answer. “Who knows? So where do you want to go now?”

“…Obviously wherever Lyra is right now.”

“I haven’t the sligh-test idea where she is at the moment. I sort of thought you would have her located already.”

“So where would she usually be right now?”

“Dunno, she is a zombie right now. For all I know she is eating someone. Though in fairness, most everypony is likely either doing what I am right now, hiding or had already changed.”

Princess Luna mentally sighed to herself. “Why not take a guess where she is right now. Unless you have any obligations to keep me from her yourself?”

“No, I think I can take a fair guess where she’d hole up right now,” he said, rubbing his jaw for a moment before heading to the door.

The moment he walked outside, the zombies crowding around the door shuffled back, giving him a wide berth to wade through them. The princess followed closely by him, keeping the zombie's plenty of space as she stuck close to him.

“I thought that there would be a few more ponies for me to be bugged by,” he said, rubbing his jaw. “Peppy’s plans didn’t go as well as he hoped it seems; at least you’ll get a prize at the end of this, whatever that is.”

“Why are you rubbing your jaw so much?” the princess asked, feigning a nonchalant attitude while trying to observe the alien now that she had a chance.

“It is… still somewhat difficult for me to speak for too long without being sore in the jaw. Your language is rough on it, you see.”

“I can certainly hear it.” The princess moved closer to Anon after a zombie attempted a jump at her, much closer than she was comfortable with. “So how has your time in our lands been?”

“It has been… interesting. Certainly not something I would ever imagine going through in my world, especially with all the magic. But I cannot say it has been horrible, Lyra and Bon Bon have helped with my stay here. Speaking of Lyra…”

Walking to the center of the town where they hold their marketplace, Anon walked up to a particular stand, making the princess confused at what was going on. Pushing himself over the counter, a grunt could be heard from him before he grabbed at something. Coming back up with him was a hideously deformed Lyra, covered in what appeared to be cut up fruits and smoothie blends. Her engorged belly showed just how much she had spent devouring the drinks.

“Of course you’d be here. Well, Princess Luna, I guess now you—”

A loud clanging could be heard all across the area without notice. The zombies that were surrounding them immediately stopped their groaning and stumbling at the noise.

“Well… that sucks. You almost had it there, princess.”

“There’s always next year!” Lyra spouted with a waving of her hooves.

Staring at her disgusting costume, Luna could see it now grotesquely moving around her body. Morphing her body, the costume could be seen dripping off her and onto the ground, accompanied by a few sparkles showing that the magic in her form was dissipating, returning the pony to her original form.

Within moments, the costumes remnants shriveled up until they turned into a floppy puddle at their hooves. Looking at the others, the same thing could be seen happening to everyone else.

A loud cheering roared from the ponies all around, dancing and laughing as if the previous scene was nothing to get worked up about. One pony, in particular, walked up to Princess Luna, holding some kind of package tied to his side.

“Princess Luna! Who would have thought that you would get so into this zombie run!” The cheering died down to allow everyone to hear the pony. “Now for anyone still not in the know, these zombies were based on Anon’s design from his world.”

Understanding could be seen on their faces, many had wondered just why they looked so different and hideous.

“Now, everyone should know that to win the grand prize you needed to find the cure and administer it to the original infected!”

“Still think that’s a stupid idea,” Princess Luna could hear Anon mumble to himself.

“Sorry you couldn’t get the cure to the zombie, but with how close you were in the end, I think to give you the prize should be perfectly fine. What does everyone say to that?” Many ponies cheered to that, congratulating the princess on winning. “So here’s your prize: The specially made human ingenuity of socks! Made especially by Rarity’s Boutique, you’ll get some unique colors not even out for order yet!”

Luna wasn’t sure how to respond to receiving a clothing article, let alone… socks. Levitating the box over to herself, Peppy nodded before turning back to the crowd.

“I hope that next year’s run will go better than this year!”

“And with more of us knowing what’s happening beforehoof!” a voice yelled out. Many ponies laughed at that.

“True, true,” Peppy acknowledged. “I will also have several more costumes prepared based on the human’s ideas up for sale in due time for anyone interested!”

Many cheered hearing that, talking about what exactly the costume pony had made up for sale. With all the hysteria gone from the previous zombie activity, everyone quickly went back to their stands for games and their houses to give out candy once more. Peppy had a group of volunteers collecting the odd goop that used to be the costumes.

Thinking back on the run, it was an entertaining event if somewhat contrived on many parts of it. Luna had to admit the alien was right on the cure part, which would hopefully be changed up in some way for the next year.

Her thoughts came to a stop, realizing she now had to deal with the alien. Luna had nothing to work with the problem she was in. Never would she have thought the scenario would have turned literal in any way.

Deciding to hold back and think on a solution to her current predicament, Luna proceeded to watch the alien interacting with the ponies for some time. As much as she wanted to ask him a thousand and one questions, she knew that holding up her current facade of calm would be crucial.

It wasn’t until the festivities were finally dying down that the princess decided it was time to confront the alien, forming some kind of plan involving everything so far. Currently, he was alongside his caretakers, speaking about their night from what Luna could guess. Walking up to the group, the three of them turned upon noticing her approaching.

“Anon,” she greeted,” once again I must mention that it is to my pleasure to finally meet you here tonight.”

“I am glad to have met you too,” he said politely.

“You previously mentioned that it was strange either I or my sister had done anything to see to you especially with what had been going on. As for an explanation…” She cleared her throat, trying to pull things off as smoothly as possible. “…We have been having to deal with certain things that made it difficult to speak to you at all.”

“It is not a huge deal; I understand that you would have things to do over talking to me.”

“Still, it was something that we should have set aside time to get to meet you and help you better transition yourself to our world. And seeing as we have some time tomorrow to properly sit down and speak with you, I’d like to invite you to the castle as my guest.”

There wasn’t time to set aside the next day, but it was of the utmost importance that both princesses get this out of the way and cover their tracks as much as they could lest certain individuals learn of what happened.

“Really?” the alien said, surprised to hear that.

“Yes, really,” Luna replied with a smirk. “We always have guest rooms set up for such things so there is no hassle in having you come right now. I know my sister especially would like to speak to you in the morning when she is up.”

A clapping of hooves could be heard to the side of Anon, Lyra looking giddy about the situation. “Eeeeh! We get to go to the castle, Anon! Won’t that be fun?!”

Before the princess could correct her, meaning the trip for him alone, Bon Bon jumped in. “We better pack some clothes up for him, Lyra. He’ll want to be as presentable as possible when he finally meets them in a formal setting.”

“We got to be quick girls, I do not think the princess wants to be kept waiting on us.”

As much as Princess Luna wanted to correct them, she thought doing so now would seem quite rude. Thinking on it though, it would make sense for his caretakers to come as well.

It didn’t take long for the three of them to return with a single travel case for the trip to the castle. Luna noticed that the alien had not changed out of his costume for some strange reason.

“Why are you still in your costume?” she asked him.

“It would take too long to change out of the costume,” he answered, “there are so many pieces I’d have to take off, and that’s not including putting on new clothes.”

“Could you not just go naked? Certainly, that would save you time in things.”

His face slightly flushed at what she said. “That’s not something nearly all humans would be comfortable with, Princess Luna.”

“If you say so,” she said, turning away from them. Walking toward the outskirts of the town, she looked around to where her carriage should be.

It was missing.

“…Ah, poo.”

She had forgotten her previous orders which prevented her from the access of said carriage. Luna had to think on the spot how to get them there without alerting the three on her big goof.

“…I will now perform an ancient spell which I came up with myself that will give the three of you pseudo-flight while it is up. It will be more like you are hovering in the air while being moved forward. You’ll have some level of control over it but for the most part, you will be tethered to me during the trip.”

Lyra’s eyes widened as a grin spread across her face. Bon Bon looked indifferent to the whole thing. Anon, it was hard to tell from his costume to read how he was feeling.

“It is safe to do this, right?” Anon asked, clearly uncertain about this.

“It’ll be fiiiine,” Lyra said, “besides, now you get to shove it in Dash’s face on how you got to fly! Oh!” She turned to the princess, concern on her face. “Just make sure to keep your magic from entering his head; that would be really, really bad!”

Turning away from them, the princess inhaled deeply, preparing herself to start up the ancient spell. It took some time to make sure she had it fully working from how little it’s been used for such a long time.

Aiming it toward the three, she enveloped their bodies in the magic, taking care to make sure none of it entered the mind of the human. Not that the spell needed to enter their bodies to work, but it wasn’t something she had needed to previously keep an eye on for her work.

The three of them yelped, being thrown up in the air without warning. “I hope you three don’t mind,” The princess said, a small grin appearing on her face, “but I want to get there quickly.”

Before they could respond, the princess shot off into the night air, forcing a scream out of them. It had been quite a while for the princess to travel at such speeds. Feeling a sense of freedom from it, she tried to enjoy herself on her trip while making sure the tethers were secured to them.

Taking a glance back at them, she saw three very amusing reactions from them. Lyra seemed to flail about, trying to find something to hold while she flew about. Still, she seemed to enjoy things. Bon Bon looked indifferent to everything with a blasé face, her body tilting from side to side. Anon, from what he was wearing, appeared as if he was truly flying, both arms stuck out and trying to keep some sort of pose. He looked quite impressive, the princess admitted.

It took only a few minutes to arrive at the castle for her, though she had to circle a few times to make sure she had her passengers settled before landing. It would be bad if they weren’t prepared for touching the ground.

“Oh crap, remember the superhero landing,” Luna barely heard, uttered from the alien.

Once on the landing pad, the three of them stumble about, trying to get their leggings. The human, comically, seemed to land with an arm shot to the ground. He then slowly stood up, putting up the imposing figure he presented back at Ponyville.

“That. Was. AWESOME!” Lyra declared, still trying to stand up straight. “Do it again, do it again!”

Her guards were already there, waiting for her return. They had been staring at the human, their jaws unhinged. Sunshine Smiles of all seemed uncertain about what to do, slowly turning to Luna. “P-Princess. I see you have returned. Everything with your previous orders has been completed.”

“That is good. Captain, as you can see I have brought guests to the castle. I need you to have someone escort them to their rooms and to be treated as ambassadors would.”

“Uh… Y-Yes, your highness,” he said, saluting her. “I will personally volunteer to take the… the group myself.”

“Make sure you have what we discussed ready and in my chambers after you have looked after them. I will be resting in my room for the rest of the night.”

Sunshine Smiles gave her one last salute before the princess walked past him, making her way down the hall and off toward her room with her box of socks. The two guards standing at her door saluted, opening it and closing behind her.

Princess Luna placed the box down, putting up a sound ward up to prevent any prying ears, just as she let out a loud groan and collapsing on her bed, exhausted. She hadn’t expected so much to happen, and for nothing to go her way.

A few minutes pass by, her head shoved in a pillow in thought.

‘There’s so much work to do. I don’t even know where to start. We’re going to need to reread every single report and take it seriously now.’

“What a night…”

“That hasn’t ended just yet, Princess Luna!”

Shooting her head up, she looked around for the eerily familiar voice. Horrifyingly, she saw that many places seemed to be covered in some kind of cracked, crumbly substance. The windows, the mirror, and even the door.

It was near the door she saw the small culprit, using some kind of magic to use her body to finish its work. A hoof pointed up toward the end of the door, its body forming outward into a kind of liquid substance that quickly dried into the same, crumbly substance like everything else.

“See, I was keeping this skill hidden from Pinkie Pie until I was done training, but I think it’s okay if you know it since I don’t plan on you leaving juuuust yet~”

“W-Wait, who are you?”

It turned around, throwing sprinkles in the air. “Yay! I am Crumble! I have returned for the deal!”

“Deal? Wait, how did you get in－” She looked at the box of socks, now seeing the lid off the top.

“Now a deal is a deal, princess!” She slowly walked up to the princess, the thing’s body getting slightly larger. “I can reform myself in so-ho-hooo many forms and shapes and sizes. And you are going to eat. Me. Up. Aaaaallll night!”

“No… NO!”

“Yay!”

Princess Luna’s cries throughout the night could not be heard, the guards standing there unaware of the horrors that were Crumble taking place in the room behind them.

~End Chapter Eleven~

Chapter Thirteen - The After Party

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X~ The Previous Morning ~X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

‘Why must Luna stress me out so much? I know she’s a smart mare. She can make smart decisions. So why must she act like this?’

Luna’s recent activities had been irking Celestia for quite some time now. The ‘sensual rooms’ were just one more thing to add to the large pile of annoyances she’s had to deal with since her sister returned. She did enjoy having her back, but from trying to modernize her to keeping an eye on her activities, and she was a bit more than irritated.

The moment they got within a far enough distance from the alien and his watches, Celestia cranked up her telepathy spell and blasted it full force at her sister.

~“What in the world were you thinking?!”~

The mental link shoved at her sister made the moon princess jump, losing her composure. None of the guards reacted to it, knowing better than to do so.

Luna connected to the link, confusion on her face. ~“Sister, is something wrong?”~

~“Of course there is! A sensual room? Why would you have one of those put into the castle?!”~

~“One? I had a dozen set up.”~

Celestia continued walking forward at an even pace, trying to not look upset at that little tidbit. ~“Luna, that kind of stuff is not acceptable!”~

~“Why is that? I don’t see anyone having problems with them, and before you say anything, anyone that I’ve put into them is too embarrassed to say they’ve been in one if that’s what you’re worried about.”~

~Celestia mentally sighed, which Luna heard. ~“Do you remember how the ponies viewed us as gods long ago?”~

Luna nodded, ~“Quite the annoyance that was. I still see it here and there, but for the most part, it doesn’t seem to be as widespread as it used to be.”~

~“I’ve worked hard to get that out of their mindset. Regardless, when you were gone ponies started coming up with what kind of gods we were. Putting a long story short, being called a sensual god of estrus for over two hundred and eighty-nine years is not exactly something that I found very pleasant.”~

The moon princess smiled hearing that. ~“I wish I was there to see that.”~

~“Just, could you please come to me before you do something like that?”~

~“I will try to remember it in the future, though I would prefer if they’d stay.~” Celestia didn’t answer back to her. ~“Speaking of years gone by, I had noticed many things that appeared to have slipped out of the minds of everyone that I may attempt to bring back.~”

~“…Such as?”~

~“There were the yearly cheese-rolling festivals, those were some great fun to have with the commoners. And how could Tea and Hats Day disappear like that? Or what of Global Species Day?! I am surprised that one had gone away seeing as you pushed to have that on created for the longest time.”~

~“Those are fine, they just fell out of fashion. The last one was because of some problems we had with the multiple kingdoms. If you’ll remember, many of those species disappeared out of nowhere or simply can’t find any manner to make contact with us in a reasonable manner.”~

Celestia was still uncertain who made all those beings vanish or divided from them and their lands. She had some suspicions it involved Grogar, the last bit of spite from the vile being in his defeat.

~“Just make sure you talk to me before doing anything so I can help with things.”~

The two slowly made their way down the halls, neither wanting to meet with the council as much as it was needed.

~“So the meeting between you and the alien went better than I expected,”~ Luna mentally said, trying to find something to say.

~“It’s not like I would have any kind of spaz attack, Luna.”~

~“I know you still have some problems stemming from the similarities between him and those Bleuh Bleuh Bleuhs.”~

~“Yes, well, ehr… can we move the topic over to the council ponies? How are we going to explain the scenario is real without us looking stupid?”~

~“Just do what I’m used to doing.”~ Celestia gave her a confused look. ~“Make it out like they were the ones misinterpreting what we were saying the whole time.~”

Celestia tried to hide the widening smile on her face. ~“I never liked you doing that.”~

~“Well now you’re joining me with that,”~ Luna said, a chuckle bouncing around Celestia’s head with her words.

Arriving just outside the council room, a pony levitated the documents for them. Grabbing them with her spell, Luna opened the doors for the two of them to enter. The ponies already there were seated on either side of a large table, now looking at the two.

~“Now we just have to tell them we need to let the other nations know of him, not much to that,”~ Luna said to Celestia.

~“Yes, and tell them about his job as a masseuse…”~

~“It’s not like things can get any worse than this.~”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Princess Celestia sat in her throne, having just gotten done listening to another pony talking about something she barely remembered. It was nothing but the same thing spoken countless times over and over in a million different voices. Her mind was back on the meeting she had just gone through with.

Following her sister's advice, things went through quite smoothly. She didn’t like fooling ponies like that, but she disliked looking like a fool even more. After that, many of them wanted to invest in more products from the alien, while others were upset with relaying back to the other kingdoms on what was going on. It was work she didn’t have to do, so she could care less about how they felt on that subject. The subject on his job was the most annoying bit of it all, but declaring it as the alien’s choice settled things quite quickly.

Moving onto the final bit of that meeting, she recalled Luna mentioning some activity involving the rebels around Ponyville as of recent. She would need to send some guards under disguise to keep an eye on things. They were likely after the Elements, something that made her worried. Luna, in private, had told her there were already watchers around the area keeping an eye on things but they needed some proper muscle to help if things to out of hoof.

Her head tilted down, a small frown on her face thinking about the Elements. She would need to check up on them, especially Twilight. What Anon said troubled her dearly.

‘She should know better, that mare.’

Finishing the last of the petitioners for the morning, she had one of her advisers cancel everything on her agenda that day before standing up from her throne with a sigh. Her most trusted adviser walked beside her, awaiting any orders from her.

“Ink Blot, I need for you to send for a chariot ride to Ponyville. I’ll need Twilight Sparkle picked up and brought here as soon as possible.”

“Should I arrange the usual for her, princess?”

“No need. She will not be staying the night. We will be having a long talk about some things that have come to light about our little foreigner and her. And… let that little bit of info slip to her if you would.”

Ink Blot eyes widened, not knowing what it meant but getting the message clear: whatever she did, Twilight messed up big time, and Princess Celestia wanted her to know of this before she came.

“I’ll also need some time alone, speaking to the apple farm from my room. Tell me when Twilight arrives here if you would.”

That was an even bigger shock, hearing not one but two Elements involved. And to use contact from afar was no simple manner, Ink Blot knowing she’d have to set up a two-way portal just to speak. Celestia would be just as exhausted as her sister currently was, her magic reserves dry from such activities.

Dismissing the adviser just as she entered her private quarters, Princess Celestia walked over to her desk, taking out a box holding Star Swirls cutie mark on it. It held Star Swirls private book that she had been holding on to all these years, along with a few of his mementos. It held the final spells that he was working on, things he never got around to completing.

The sun princess was hoping to give the book to Twilight as an initiation test soon, hoping she would know what to do with it.

Sighing, Princess Celestia placed the book back into her desk. She didn’t want to do this, but she had to find some kind of punishment suitable for what Twilight had done. Looking at her desk, in the corner was a picture that was taken a few weeks before Twilight had first left for Ponyville. She was smiling in it, standing there with Spike and Celestia. The princess let out another sigh, turning from the picture.

“It appears… she’s not ready.”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X~ The Following Morning ~X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

“Uuuugh.”

Groaning on the ground, Anon let out a cough, trying to wake up. For some reason, he was feeling cold at the moment along with his back dampened by the ground. Unable to recall what had happened or where he was, Anon rubbed his eyes to clear them.

He could see clouds through some branches, along with a pattering of rain that originally woke him up. Trying to stand up, he tripped on something, tumbling back on his back. Instead of meeting the ground, he continued falling, forcing a scream of surprise.

Landing with a thump, Anon groaned on the ground, limbs spread out. Pushing himself up, Anon grabbed his shirt and wiped his face from the dirt as best as he could. He could see he had fallen off the roof of what looked like a hut. Why was he up there to begin with?

“Where am I?” Other than the hut, he couldn’t see anything but trees and shrubbery. “Okay, just think, what do I remember last?”

There was him playing the music on the iPod, which Vinyl liked. Octavia was there. He went up to the roof—

“The brownies,” Anon groaned out. “Those stupid brownies.”

He remembered seeing the star shower looking like streaks of paint across the sky. Octavia came up after a while, then some more star watching. And then…

Nothing. He couldn’t remember any specifics about the other night, something he wasn’t happy with. Slowly standing up, he could feel a bruise forming on his back, most likely from the fall. Anon felt a chill, tugging his jacket closer to him.

“Where did I wind up this time?”

Thinking about the places that he could be, the conclusion left him feeling on edge. He was likely in the Everfree Forest.

‘How did I get here? Why was I sleeping on a hut out here in the forest?;

“What happened last night?”

Hearing a shuffling noise behind him, Anon swerved to the side, hoping that wasn’t a manticore. Looking at his attacker, he came face to face with a zebra.

“I see you are awake at last,” the zebra spoke, “and are in a state of confusion about last night’s past.”

Anon blinked at the zebra’s odd wording. “You could say that. I have no idea what happened.”

The zebra walked past him toward the hut. “Come inside so that we may speak, if memories forgotten you truly do seek.”

The zebra walked in, leaving Anon staring at the door. Shaking his head, Anon followed her in, hoping to get some answers and to get out of the cold.

“You came just in time in the early hour; the rain is reported to soon begin its slow lived shower.”

Anon couldn’t help but think of an African tribal hut as he looked at the interior.

“Wish I had my iPod to play some Toto right now,” Anon said to himself before turning to the zebra. “Yeah, thanks for letting me in. I kind of have no idea why I’m out here in the first place. You said you had answers?”

The zebra chuckled, motioning him to take a seat on a wicker couch. “I am Zecora, the Everfree zebra. As for your night of strangeness and forgetful thoughts, it is the fault of the consumption of your subjected ‘pony pot’.”

Anon frowned hearing that, “I didn’t do anything stupid, did I?”

Zecora smirked at that. “You were acting bonkers, crazy, weird; it’s as if your mind was a fogged mess so uncleared.”

“That’s just great.” Anon swept his hair back, “I don’t know why I’d act like that. The most pot did in my world was make people more relaxed or unable to tell what’s what. This seemed overboard last night from what little I remember.”

“While many beings take the ‘pot’ as a recreational act, the more that is taken the stronger the impact.”

“I get that; it makes the effects bigger the more you take. And I did eat quite a few brownies. But I can’t remember anything from last night. I saw some really weird things that don’t make sense. Pot doesn’t do that as far as I’m aware.”

Humming to herself, Zecora tried to think of some way to reply. Anon just thought she was trying to make her reply rhyme.

“I can’t come up with anything since your reactions are not the norm; it may be due to your unique, alien… form.”

“So, because I’m not a pony or anyone from this world, the effects affect me differently than most?” Anon let out a sigh, rubbing his face. “That’s great; I hope I didn’t do anything too stupid last night.” Standing up, Anon zipped his jacket up all the way, “I should head back to Lyra’s, I can’t stay out here all day.

Walking out of the hut, Anon looked around, trying to figure out where to go. The zebra followed him out, looking up at him.

“Hey Zecora, just how do I get out of this forest?”

“Walk straight along that long and worn down path; do not stray or you shall feel the forest’s wrath.”

“Right, thanks. And sorry about sleeping on your roof.”

Zecora waved it off with a smile. “A favor might I ask before you go? When you see Vinyl, tell her I expect her to show.”

“Did Vinyl do something last night too?”

She shook her head, “The plant she got from me was that hash; she has yet to pay me with the cash.”

Anon deadpanned at the zebra, unhappy to find out that she was why he got drugged up last night. She merely smiled at him.

Turning around, Anon started to walk away from the hut, ignoring the zebra. It was only a minute in the walk when he heard a roar that had him running down the path as fast as he could. He didn’t want anything to do with whatever was out there at the moment, not then, not ever.

He couldn’t recall running as hard as he had in a long time. Anon didn’t stop until he saw the first house outside of the forest. He recognized it as Fluttershy’s home. Arriving at her door, he collapsed on his hands and knees, panting for air.

“Screw… that forest…”

Sweat and rain covered his body, with his clothes clinging uncomfortably to his skin. After calming his poor heart down, he stood up and knocked on the door. He was hoping to get someplace to dry for a bit, maybe see if Fluttershy heard or knew of anything that happened last night.

He knocked again, wondering just why she hadn’t answered. She usually had a note up to tell of anyone she would be gone for any reason.

‘I might as well just walk into town and head straight to Lyra’s after I get my cloak from Vinyl.’

Anon needed to figure out just what he did last night. The only thing not making this worse was that he didn’t have any work that day.

Walking up to Vinyl’s place, he pounded on the door to get someone’s attention. It took only a few seconds for him to hear something on the other side of the door. The door creaked open where Anon saw Octavia staring back at him.

“Anon? What are you doing here so early in the morning?”

“Hoping my cloak is here; it wasn’t with me after I woke up in the Everfree Forest, so I’m hoping it’s still here.”

Octavia frowned at him. “Why were you sleeping in the Everfree Forest?”

“I’m going to blame Vinyl on that one,” he answered. “Can I come in?”

Octavia sighed hearing her friend's name before opening the door, inviting Anon in. After wiping his shoes off he looked around the room from where he stood, not wanting to dirty the place up.

“I’ll go wake up Vinyl so she can help dry you with her magic.”

“You don’t have to bother with that,” Anon said, looking at the couches. “I just need my cloak and I’ll be on my way.”

“No, from how it sounded Vinyl is responsible for whatever you went through last night; she’ll at least help with getting you dry. Though I’m curious, just why were you in the forest? I’m coming up empty to how you wound up there because of Vinyl.”

“I wouldn’t know either, all I do know is she drugged me with pony pot, which is why I don’t know much at all,” Anon answered.

Octavia raised an eyebrow. “Pony… Oh.” The realization was seen on her face. “Darn it, Vinyl. I’ll just go get that stupid mare.”

Not wanting to walk around too much lest he tracked in grime around the place, Anon stood there, waiting for the two to get back.

Octavia returned with a stumbling Vinyl, groaning in protest. “Tavi, I want to sleep,” she groaned out, rubbing her eyes. It was strange to see her without the goggles on, as attached as those were to her.

“How about you help our guest before you do that?”

“Who would be pinheaded enough to visit us this early in—” She stopped, noticing who it was. A small smile spread on her face. “Anon! Duuuude, what brings you here this morning?!”

Anon simply stared at her expressionless. Vinyl, confused, looked to Octavia who only mimicked his expression.

“…What?”

“You don’t remember I was here for the star shower last night?”

“Yeah, how could I forget all that silly dancing last night?”

He didn’t remember any dancing.

“I remember you also fell off the roof several times. N-Not to worry though, I caught you just before you hit the ground each time! Well, except the first time, but I was ready after that one.”

“Vinyl, I don’t remember anything from last night. Right now, I just want to know why you left me sleeping in the Everfree.”

“I don’t recall doing that. But I DO remember that you wanted to walk through the forest!”

“And why would I want to do that?”

“You said something about looking at where you dropped from the sky?”

Anon looked exasperate. “Why would you let me wander off by myself like that?”

Vinyl chuckled at him, “Screw that! I went with you out in town! And boy did you draw in a large crowd wherever you went! At some point, it turned into a wicked party over by the forest. We even set up a bonfire over there! That sure was a good time, everypony jumping around and whatnot. I honestly thought you forgot about the forest thing and went into the party full speed. Lost you somewhere in the crowd pretty early, hehehehe.”

“This is what you get for trusting Vinyl in having a good time, Anon,” Octavia said.

“Please, he looked like he needed to relax like crazy. Besides, he appeared to enjoy his time out!”

“I don’t remember any of it though,” Anon mumbled.

A sudden, warming sensation could be felt across his body, baking his clothing. Looking down, he could see all the dirt and water gone, with the clothing being clean. A cloak floated out of nowhere, dropping in Anon’s arms.

“See? All better!” Vinyl said with a smile.

Inspecting further, he couldn’t find any dirt on any of his clothing. It was all on the floor at the moment around his feet.

“You’ll be lucky if Anon here doesn’t tell Lyra about all the partying from last night,” Octavia commented.

Vinyl rolled her eyes, waving a hoof at her friend. “Bah! I doubt that she’ll care a—”

“Or how you drugged him with something that could have potentially damaged him in some way, or worse, killed him,” Octavia added in.

Vinyl stared at Octavia for a few seconds, right before dashing at Anon’s legs, wrapping her legs around them. “PLEEEAASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE DON’T TELL LYRA! She’ll tear me to pieces if she finds out!”

“I don’t like knowing my friends would drug me like that..”

“I’M SOOOOORRRRWWWWYYYY!” Vinyl cried out, hugging his legs tighter. “I promise to NEVER drug you without your consent from now on!

Anon glared at Vinyl for a bit longer before letting out a sigh, “Just… make sure you keep that promise.”

Vinyl jumped off his legs, “Trust me I’m never going to forget this headstart!”

“Head… start?” Anon mumbled.

“Tavi! Where are the emergency bits?”

Octavia narrowed her eyes at Vinyl. “And just why would you need to dip into our little emergency fund?”

“Duh, to pay for all the enchantments I’m going to put up around this house to keep out the wrath that is Lyra. Do you want her tearing into this place when she finds out what happened?!”

A sigh escaped her, “Vinyl, Lyra would be able to tear through any enchantment put up. That was her one huge mark passing Princess Celestia’s school. You’d have better luck just confronting her and apologizing than running away.”

Vinyl’s ears flattened, lip quivering. “W-Will you go with me?”

“No.”

“...Please?”

“Your crocodile tears don’t work on me, remember? And besides, this is your fault. Let this be a lesson the next time you try to get someone “baked” through your confectionery goods.”

Vinyl walked out the front door, looking defeated. “I suppose I should just face the music now and get it over with.”

The two stared at the door, waiting a few moments before turning back to one another.

“I guess I should probably go back to Lyra’s as well. She’s likely wondering where I’m at.”

Turning around to leave, Octavia called out before he could take a step forward, “Hey, Anon.”

“Yeah?” he questioned, turning to her.

“I just have to ask, but you don’t seem too upset about being drugged last night. That really could have hurt you after all. If it was me, I’d have torn her a new one. You seem to be more passive about all of this.”

“I… don’t know,” he said, scratching his head. “I suppose I should be madder at her. I don’t know why I’m not though. I guess it’s not as big of a deal right now?”

“Maybe the drug is still in your system, Anon. I just thought I should mention that to you, it could still be altering your actions right now. You almost seem too mellow.” She poked his body, forcing him to sway in the opposite direction. “See? Even your body seems to have no resistance. It’s really weird.”

“I highly doubt that the drug is still in my body. That kind of stuff should be filtered out by now, right?”

“Maybe, but our stuff clearly affects you differently from us.”

Anon hummed to himself, “True.”

“Just be careful of your actions today. I think you should just get home and sleep this day off.”

“Yeah, that does sound nice. I do appreciate you looking out for me like this.” Walking up to her, he bent down and hugged her, inciting a little ‘squee’ sound that he associated with every hug from these ponies.

“S-See?!” Octavia squeaked out with a red face. “I barely know you and here you are, giving me hugs!”

“So?” Anon said, shrugging it off. “I still consider you a friend though we haven’t done much together. And I’m used to the hugging thing by now, blame Lyra and Bon Bon for that.”

She blinked hearing that. “I guess I can see Lyra, but Bon Bon?”

Once more, he shrugged it off.

“Fine, I won’t bother you too much. Just be careful with what you do. Oh, and remember last night when you showed that music?” Anon nodded his head. “Is there more of that on your gray box?”

“Yeah, there’s plenty of orchestral stuff on that thing. I’m not sure about there being any more electrical stuff, heck I barely know most of what’s on it. But I do know there’s more electric violins and guitars if you look hard enough just look under the genre tab. Ah, right, before I forget…”

Anon walked over to their table, grabbing some of the paper on it. He quickly wrote down a list for them that he promised. “Okay, here’s a list of things you and Vinyl should check out, along with some you two should probably ignore.”

Giving her the paper, Anon proceeded to walk toward the door out of the house. Just before he did, Anon stopped, remembering the message from Zecora.

“Oh, and tell Vinyl that Zecora wants her to show up and pay for that pony pot she sold her.”

Octavia narrowed her eyes. “So that’s where she’s been getting it.”

“She’s been hiding it from you? Maybe you can keep her from the stuff then now that you know.”

“Nothing like that, I just wanted to know where the supplier is for myself.”

“…Oh.”

Turning around, Anon put on his cloak and walked out the door, heading back to Lyra’s. The rain was at a drizzle at the moment, keeping him from getting too wet before getting back to the house. Thinking about things, Anon thought he should try and get Rarity to make winter clothing for him since that was coming up soon.

Noticing the rain around him coming to a stop, yet continuing in most of the area, he looked up, seeing a white cloud that prevented the rain from hitting him.

“Hey there, Anon!” Rainbow Dash called from the cloud.

“Hey back,” Anon waved her down. “You’re a total lifesaver with that cloud. Walking in the rain isn’t my idea of a good time.”

“It’s no big deal; the rain was going to stop in a few minutes anyway.” Rainbow Dash rubbed her neck, trying to say something, “I was looking for you since I kinda need a favor.”

Anon raised an eyebrow. “You need a favor from me?”

“Yeah, I sort of… need you to talk to Twilight for us.”

He stared at her, confused. “What?”

“She’s been acting weird ever since she came back from Canterlot after talking to Princess Celestia the other night. She looks like somepony burnt down her entire library and convinced her magic wasn’t real!”

“Okay, so Twilight is down about something. But I don’t know how I’m supposed to help with that. I’m not exactly that close to her compared to you or some of the others.”

“I know that, but for some reason, all she’d do since coming back was talk about failing a major friendship lesson that involved you. The girls and I have been thinking of ways to get her out of her place, and my plan involved you helping out. I mean, you’re the only thing she’s commented on so it only made sense, to me at least.”

Anon scratched his chin in thought. “I’m not sure what’s going on, but I guess I can go help,” he said, deciding to put off going to Lyra’s and sleeping things off.

Rainbow Dash smiled, keeping the cloud above him as they move forward to the library. “Thanks! I knew you’d be cool with helping us out.”

He waved it off, “It’s fine, Dash. Though since you’re here, you wouldn’t happen to know of anything that happened last night would you?” he asked, walking forward.

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know, possibly about a party going on? I’m trying to piece together some things I forgot last night.”

Dash hummed in thought. “I do remember hearing about a party I missed, which bummed me out. I wish I got an invite; I probably would have gotten someone to take my spot for work to make it. But I do remember hearing that some crazy dude was all over the place.”

“Did you hear what occurred perchance?”

“Umm.” Dash scratched her head, rolling in her cloud for a few seconds, trying to remember some things. “I remember that this guy started some massive bonfire near Everfree. He was talking about some weird stuff as well, though I don’t know what exactly it was. I know some friends were telling me he was singing all over the place, something about starting a riot and repeating that over and over.”

Anon’s face turned red hearing that.

“That turned into a mini-riot that had everypony going nuts in town. They painted the town red, which surprisingly no one is upset about. I guess plenty of ponies like the new look.”

Passing by Lyra’s house, Anon could see something odd occurring there with all the strange machinery and ponies he wasn’t familiar with. A flagpole was also sitting in the yard for some reason. His eyes widened, seeing Vinyl was tied to the top of the pole.

“Anon, you’re slowing down!” Rainbow Dash flew her cloud lower, nudging Anon forward. “We need to hurry up! The sooner we get there, the sooner we can have things back to normal.”

“Define normal,” he said, walking faster.

The moment the rain stopped, Dash poofed her cloud out of existence, dropping down beside Anon to walk alongside him. On their way, plenty of ponies waved to Anon with laughs and yelling praise to him.

“What’s that about?” Dash asked an eyebrow raised.

Anon rubbed the back of his neck, “I may have been that guy you were talking about doing those things last night.” Rainbow Dash whipped her head at him. “I don’t remember anything that happened though.”

“That must have been some party if you can’t remember much! Darn, I wish I could have seen you go crazy out there.” Her large smile froze, turning into a frown. “Wait, that’s not good at all. The girls and I were at Twilight’s all last night so none of us knew about what was happening.”

“And why’s that a bad thing?”

“Pinkie will flip her lid once she finds out not only did she miss a party, but a party hosted by you.”

“How did you all miss that last night then if you were so close to it? You all must have heard something?”

“We all dismissed it, thinking it wasn’t worth leaving Twilight for.”

“Maybe Pinkie won’t be upset if it involves her friends?”

“Dude, I see it more as she’s going to force you to do another at a later date, only even crazier.”

Hearing that, Anon could only hope that it wouldn’t be a terrible ordeal to go through in the future.

Arriving at the library, the two of them see the rest of the ‘Elements’ all standing there, looking at the door.

“Hey girls!” Rainbow Dash called out, gaining their attention. “Look who I found!”

“Anon!” the girls yelled out.

“Hey there,” he replied. “Dash here tells me that something’s wrong with Twilight that might involve me somehow?”

They all look to one another before turning back to Anon. “You can say that darling,” Rarity said. “She seems quite down at the moment and you’re the only thing she’s coming up with whenever we can get her to talk.”

“I keep trying to cheer her up somehow, but she just won’t respond to anything!” Pinkie sat down, looking sad. “I don’t know what else I can do…”

“I might have some idea why that is,” Applejack spoke out.

“You?” Dash walked up to her, giving her the stink eye. “Did something go on between you and Twilight?”

“Nothing like that, no. I got a… talking to from the princess last night, used her fancy magic to talk all the way from Canterlot. Serious business, my family reckoned when she requested me using such extravagance.”

She walked up to Anon, taking her hat off. “I guess there’s no easy way to say this, so I’ll be upfront about it. I’m, well… I’m sorry with t’ way I treated you when you were out on the farm.”

A small memory of his conversation with Celestia flashed in his mind, making him think that had something to do with everything.

“It’s fine, Applejack, all in the past.”

Her head shook, “No partner, that doesn’t make things fine with me at all.”

Some form of embarrassment could be felt, being the center of attention in the group. “We could… do this later perhaps?”

She frowned, “Ain’t as strong of an apology if I’m not willing to do it out in the open, baring my heart out t’ anyone in earshot to hear.” Her eyes directly stared into his. “Now, you were my guest and I should have treated you as such, not as extra labor. At the least I could have asked you, or even explained my feelings on the subject, but failed even such basic manners. And for that, I am well and truly sorry. I’ll find some way to make it up to you in the future, that I promise on the apple family name.”

“Alright I… we can talk about this, then, at a future time.”

Applejack nodded, placing her hat back firmly onto her head.

“Not to barge in or sound rude amongst this soul-baring moment,” Rarity spoke up, “but what does this have to do with Twilight?”

“Well, the way I reckon it, and with the princess having spoken t’ me just so soon after Twilight having left to Canterlot, it must have to do with Anon and his time here.”

A sinking feeling started, realizing what may have happened. Before he could react, he felt a nudge, Dash pushing Anon forward, making him stumble toward the treebrary.

“I’m certain Anon just needs to talk to her and cheer her back up, no problem!” Wanting to get things over with, Anon slowly made his way to the door. Dash, seeing him hesitate, clicked her tongue. “She won’t do anything stupid, I’m sure of it!”

Anon looked at her, very uncertain about that. ‘She wasn’t here when she broke my nose.’ He looked at the others, unsure about what to do to help their friend. ‘Of course, I doubt she’d try anything with them here.’

“Just promise me that if I don’t come back out in thirty minutes, you’ll kick the door down and make sure I’m fine.”

Dash rolled her eyes, nodding her head. “Yeah, sure, I promise.”

The others agreed to this as well, finding his condition silly. Walking forward once more, Anon raised his hand, giving it a knock. Nothing came of it. Turning to the girls, they motion for him to try harder.

Nearly pounding on the door, Anon called out, “Twilight! It’s me, Anon.”

After half a minute of nothing, Anon was about to call it quits before the door emitted a purple glow, opening for him. Looking back one last time at the five, he proceeded forward as the door closed behind him.

The inside of the library was difficult to see with how dark it was. Inching forward, Anon saw some movement on the couch. He could see it was Twilight, sitting there and staring at him. She looked like a mess with her hair and fur in disarray, her eyes puffed out and reddened.

“Hey… Twilight.” He moved closer to her, slowly making his way to the pony. “The girls told me that there was something wrong and that I might be able to help?”

She turned her head away from him hearing that. Thinking of a subject that could help move things along, Anon remembered someone was missing from here.

“Where’s that little dragon assistant of yours?”

It took a few seconds for her to reply with a cracked voice, “He’s at Canterlot, for… reasons.” She paused, trying to get the courage to speak. “Anon… do you… hate me?”

Anon involuntarily took a step back, not liking where this was going. “What exactly do you mean by that, Twilight?”

It took her a few seconds before she said anything. “W-When I went to Canterlot yesterday, I—” She closed her eyes, calming herself before proceeding. “I wasn’t sure what the princess wanted. Everything prior to me going there, I thought I was doing the right thing.”

The human frowned at her. “Where are you going with this?’’

“The princess wanted to… discuss my week with you.”

The princess must have decided to do something about his time with her that week. It was very strange for this to occur so far apart from when it happened. Thinking about her previous question, Anon wasn’t sure what to think. Taking a deep breath, Anon decided to just let things go with the flow as he had before.

“I don’t hate you, Twilight.”

“…But you dislike me for my actions, don’t you?”

“Things could have been better,” he answered, “that’s true. I have difficulty being around you, and I don’t think you’d make much of an effort to do much with me if it didn’t involve me being an alien.”

Twilight looked down at her hooves, a frown on her face. “I thought… I was doing the right thing. When you didn’t mention it, later on, I thought you knew that I was only doing what was needed. I… I should have been thinking about how my actions were affecting you and not how to impress the princess.”

“You were doing all that to impress the princess?!” Anon hadn’t meant to raise his voice like that. Any anger that bubbled up hearing that quickly dissipated.

“I-I-I-I-“ Twilight tried to find something to say, but with nothing coming to mind she shrunk into herself until she was balled up, sniffling and shaking.

Staring down at her, Anon felt guilt, for some stupid reason. He knew that he wasn’t in the wrong at all, yet he just felt… bad. If he was being honest, what she had done could have been a whole lot worse, especially back home.

Looking down at the pony, he decided to take things slowly with her. Walking over to a chair, he grabbed it and took it over to Twilight, sitting down in front of her. Anon sat patiently, waiting for her to calm down before attempting to talk to her.

“Twilight,” he started, “why did you want to impress the princess?”

“I… I don’t know.”

He waited for a few seconds before replying calmly, “It should be easy to answer if you give it some thought. Now, try again. Why did you want to impress her?”

Anon had thought that if he could get this out in the open, it could help with things in the future with her in general.

“I just, I just wanted to show the princess I can do whatever she needs of me. Any task given, I can do it and more! It might have… led to some problems in the past. B-But I feel like I’m not doing enough, so I have to go above and beyond what’s needed!”

“That led you to keep me being caged and attacking me for no reason.”

He barely caught her next words, “There was a reason for that.”

“What was the reason?”

“I’m… to embarrassed to say.”

“It can’t be any better than not having a reason to attack me.”

Twilight looked at him, puffy eyes staring. “Y-You’re right. Th-The reason was I was… impatient.” She turned to the ground. “I didn’t know what to do when you came here. I thought that the week was a time limit, not just how long you had here.

“I was barely making any headway with you, trying to communicate with a chalkboard. So I thought speeding it up with a language spell would be prudent in my work. Lyra hadn’t stressed how much of a bad idea it was to use magic on you, only one page declaring the usage as wrong.”

“I suppose I can see how things may have gotten stressful for you. You still shouldn’t have attacked me like that. Neither we or anyone knew what that could have ultimately done to me, should things have gone wrong.”

“I’m sorry, I really am! I just… I just don’t know why I do these idiotic things to impress the princess!”

For some reason, something in Twilight had flipped. She proceeded to spill a lot of her past actions, her doubts, and screw-ups. Anon simply sat there, consoling her the entire way. He wasn’t sure how long he sat there with Twilight. Time had passed quickly for them. Twilight seemed better than before with everything out in the open.

“Do you feel better now?” Anon asked.

“Yeah, I…” She wiped one of her eyes, clearing it. “I do feel better.”

“Twilight, it’s obvious that you shouldn’t be overworking yourself as you do. You don’t have to impress the princess. Instead of thinking about how to impress the princess’s view of you, you should be working on how to better yourself so they can see you improve.”

“That’s what Princess Celestia told me,” she commented with a hiccup and a small smile. “I don’t know why but how you said it, it felt… better coming from you.”

“I did take counseling classes back home, that might have to do with some of that.”

“You and your alien knowledge,” she said, smiling wider at that. Her smile vanished as she thought to herself. “I should probably tell my friends what I did.”

“Whoa there,” Anon said, standing up, surprised to hear that. Applejack was one thing, but Twilight? “Why would you want to tell your friends about all of this and what happened?”

“You said it yourself; I shouldn’t be bottling things up. That makes a lot of sense to me. I feel like I need to tell them if only to help me move on.” Twilight fidgeted in her seat, looking at Anon. “I… I really am very sorry for what I did to you. I wish I could change my actions if given the chance.”

“So long as we can move on, it’s fine. It’s not like we can go back in the past and change things.”

“Actually, I kind of already tried that with a spell. I could only go back for approximately seven-point eighty-nine seconds, and it sort of resulted in… why you got your tooth chipped. I’m sorry about that too.”

‘Freaking unicorns and their seemingly illogical ways to fix things. Or that might just be Twilight being Twilight. No, Lyra’s the same too. Speaking of Lyra…’

“I should probably go now, Lyra’s most likely been expecting me back my now. Just promise that you’ll do your best to improve and I think we can try to move past things.”

Twilight nodded to anon, “Okay, and thanks; for talking to me, I mean.”

Nodding back, Anon pushed his chair to the side before walking to the door to leave. Opening it up, he was immediately met with a pair of hooves, slamming into his stomach.

“HUUUURGH!!!”

He was now laying on the ground, groaning in immense pain. It seemed a certain Rainbow-maned pony had just flown high speeds right into him.

“Anon!” Rainbow Dash screamed out. “Oh boy, I am totally sorry about that. But you sort of DID say to come in after thirty minutes. It was just bad luck you opened it just as I was kicking it down.”

He was just happy the pony didn’t aim any lower. Rarity lifted him off the ground with her magic and placed him on the chair he had just gotten up from. Anon held his gut, trying to regain his breath.

“Twilight!” Pinkie squealed out, shooting off at her. She collided right into her, squeezing her body with a hug. “Please tell me you’re all better now!”

“Yes, Pinkie,” Twilight hugged back. “I’m feeling much better thanks to Anon. Though I have some things I need to tell you, girls, about.”

Anon knew he needed to leave, NOW. Unfortunately, his gut still felt like a semi-truck slammed into him, so he was forced to sit there until he felt better. Sadly, he was currently on the sidelines surrounded by the others, meaning he couldn’t just slip out and leave. Meaning he was stuck there as Twilight told everyone about her week with him.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Anon had just experienced one of the most awkward moments in his life. There was plenty of anger and crying, and then anger with crying, then more crying to help add to the situation. He wished that was all, but Fluttershy of all ponies had to point out as things were winding down that he was still there, sitting off to the side. It was a wonder how they managed to forget he was sitting through all of that. He wasn’t ready for the pony pile up that occurred soon after.

He knew that he was probably going to get chewed out by Lyra for being so late. The moment everyone started leaving, Anon was the first out of the door, trying to get there as fast as possible. Anon was glad to finally head back to Lyra’s with how stressful the day had been.

“Why, hello there, Anon!”

Slowing in his steps, Anon let out a sigh realizing things just couldn’t be simple. Turning around, he saw a pony he didn’t recognize but seemed to know him. She had a large, red hairdo with a hairband on it designed with cherries all over it.

“…Hello?’’

“I am so glad I managed to find you, honey. Last night’s little rendezvous outside of the Everfree was spectacular! Why I’ve never been to a bonfire before!”

“I’m glad that you enjoyed it?” He coughed in his hand, “I’m sorry, but I seem to have misplaced your name in my other coat pocket.”

She lightly chuckled at that. “It’s Cherry Jubilee. I’m just visiting here to sell my latest shipment and I was sucked into the festivities last night. Who could pass up the chance of seeing the—” She let out a cough, “—local foreigner last night.”

“So you just had to come over and get a look?” She blushed at his comment. “I suppose I can’t blame you, if this was back home I’d probably do the same thing.”

“Yes, well… It was more fun than I intended to have there. It was quite enjoyable how you danced with me last night and said we could do some things later today if I wanted.”

Anon felt like he wasn’t going to like what she was going to say. “Before I ask what that was, I am having difficulty with remembering what I did last night. It’s been a bit of a haze for me, unfortunately.”

Cherry gave him a questioning look. “Did you forget all of that? Ah, wait, I see. You must have had too much salt and got too tipsy. It’s understandable why you’d forget.”

Now Anon was giving the questioning look. ‘Salt? Oh, wait. Ponies get drunk off the stuff, along with some weird powdered sugar. It must not be known yet I don’t get affected by that kind of stuff, or at least I shouldn’t.’

He gave out a hearty laugh. “Yeah, I might have gotten too buzzed last night.”

“The way you were acting last night, everypony there would assume so!”

“Right…”

“As for last night, I got there near the end of everything when you showed me some fun. We were dancing for quite some time; you even showed everypony some of your foreign moves as you called them. Who could forget ‘the worm’ or ‘the Macarena’!” Anon groaned hearing that.” And who could EVER forget ‘the hammer’?”

“The hammer?”

“Why, yes! It’s where you stand on both hind hooves and shuffle back and forth on the ground. I recall you screaming ‘It’s hammer time’ whenever you did it. Why it’s already spreading everywhere these dance moves of yours.”

Anon facepalmed, hard. ‘I’m such a clod for showing that to them. Hopefully, they don’t emulate anything I did last night.’

“After all that dancing, you sat by the bonfire and talked to a few of us that stuck around, talking about some of your world and stories on your college. I recall you saying you found my hair absolutely phenomenal and wanted to stay near and look at it.”

‘I sound like I was a freaking idiot last night.’

“I don’t have a full story on what went on last night, just what I was involved with. This brings me to why I’m here. I saw you and figured I would speak to you before I left for my orchard.”

“What did you want to talk about?”

“I remember you invited me over for a night of fun, but you said you just had to go into that Everfree. I have no idea what drove you to do that, but you said since you couldn’t do that right then, you could do that today!”

‘That doesn’t sound so bad…’

“It sounded so fun; I was curious about this cherry popping event you humans performed.”

‘OH GOD! THAT SOUNDS REALLY BAD!’

It was difficult for him to reply back. His tongue felt like it was fattened up, making speech difficult.

“Since there’s enough time before I left, I figured we had quite a bit of it for some fun!”

‘Please… just stop…’

“I even brought a bundle of cherries here in my saddlebag. I’m very interested to find out how enjoyable you made this sound last night, so let’s go back to your place and proceed with the popping of cherries!”

Anon cleared his throat, “I apologize, but now is not a good time for that. I have to get back to Lyra’s since I’m horribly late for some things.”

Cherry let out a groan hearing that. “I am saddened to hear that. I hope we can reschedule in the future to do this some other time. I… suppose I should get to the train station and board it back home early with nothing else to do. You take care, okay?”

“…You too.”

He immediately turned around and headed straight to Lyra’s place, hoping to be done with all the strange crap for the day.

Arriving at the house without any complications, Anon stood outside of it, seeing a massive construction site taking place. He wondered what had happened for this to occur. Vinyl was, of course, still tied up to the pole, now asleep.

Seeing one of the construction ponies, Anon called out to him, “HEY! WHY ARE YOU HERE?!” It was difficult to hear with all the noise.

“WE’RE DOING SOME RENOVATIONS TO THE HOUSE!”

‘Renovations?’

Anon wanted answers, and seeing Lyra running at him with a smile, he knew where to get them.

She tried speaking but finding it hard to do so, they traveled some ways away from the site. “You’re back! I was wondering when you would get here!”

“Yeah, sorry for being out so late. Um… nice hat?” She was currently wearing a construction hat for some reason. She giggled at the compliment. “So what’s all this doing here?”

“I got them out here so they can make you your room!”

Anon scrunched up his brow, “What?”

“See, I asked the princesses if attaching a room to our house for you would be fine so you could have more space and she agreed to it! She’s going to be providing for the cost of whatever we do right now. It should be done in around two weeks or so!”

Anon rubbed the bridge of his nose, upset that Lyra likely just lost his one favor from the princess for this.

“Why, Lyra? Just… why?”

She tilted her head at him, confused. “What do you mean? I thought you wanted your own place and some space of your own? So they’re making a room up with your size in mind!”

“Lyra, I wanted to talk about this before any of these decisions were made.”

“I thought we talked about this yesterday.”

“No, we talked about what we would be talking about, later on, Lyra.” Anon let out a groan, “Can’t I have a week without any of this craziness happening? Even a day would be nice. Can’t I get a moment's rest from all you crazy ponies?”

He walked a few feet away, looking off towards the center of Ponyville. With the rain gone, he could see the ponies setting up their stands once more, trying to go about their businesses like normal.

“I’m not trying to vent all this out on you. I’m just… I’m still having difficulty getting used to all of this,” he said, throwing a hand toward Ponyville. “All of this: the strange magic, the crazy beings that live here, all this craziness. I just need a small break from things.”

He could feel something nudging his leg. Looking down, he saw Lyra staring up at him with a frown. “I’m sorry. I should have talked to you about all of this before starting it. I should have also seen how you were doing with everything .”

Anon bent down into a crouch, “Lyra, there’s nothing to apologize for. This isn’t something that can be perfectly planned. You’ve been the one helping me since I’ve been here.”

“No, I should! Even though you’re been here, you’ve also helped out with things yourself!”

“Well yeah, if anyone needed help I don’t see why I shouldn’t.”

“But no one’s helped you out at all!”

“Lyra, stop that. You’ve helped me with a place to stay, fed me, and kept me company alongside Bon Bon. You both helped to teach me things, getting a job—”

“No, I mean help you out. Nopo— no one’s helped you by just talking to you, trying to understand you as a being; only what you are. I’ve p-probably been like that too.” Lyra looked like she was about to cry saying that.

“Lyra, don’t put yourself down. You have helped me out with plenty of things.”

“N-No I haven’t, I haven’t been talking to you about anything at all like this room! I-I’m a horrible friend!”

‘Why do all these ponies have to be so darn emotional?’

“Look, I just wanted to discuss with you about moving in before a decision was made. I doubt that you want me in your hair all the time or living with you two long term.”

“Long term? Is that because… you want to go home someday?”

Anon blinked at her question. If he was being honest with himself, he hadn’t thought too much about that, oddly.

“I’m not sure if I can return, Lyra. Whatever brought me here seems to be a permanent solution.”

“But what if it was? What then?”

“I don’t really know. I’d be pretty strange to go back after all that’s happened to me. I’m certain everyone thinks I’m dead and has moved on by now. I’m… just not sure.”

The last thing he did was that protest of theirs, which lead to why he arrived in Equestria. Even if he went home and everyone somehow believed he didn’t die, what then? How would he explain his several month disappearance? All the craziness he’d gone through? Surviving a missile as he had?

Anon shook his head, finding a hundred questions popping up about something that may not even happen, that likely would not.

“Lyra, I don’t think that matters right now. Unless someone manages to find a spell that could bring me home, which I doubt is possible, you’ll likely be seeing a lot more of me from now on.”

“But if you ever did get back home… would you try and visit, or remember me? Would you… stay my friend?”

“Lyra, that’s silly. Of course, I’d stay your friend no matter what. And if that was also possible, I’d try and visit as well.”

Something felt odd with all of this, and Anon wasn’t up with asking Lyra about it since that didn’t seem like a good idea for the moment. Bon Bon could help fill him in on things later.

Lyra, rubbing her eyes, looked up at him. “So you’re fine with living here, with us I mean? Y-You don’t have to live here if you don’t want, you could go somewhere else if that’s what you want.”

“Although I would have liked to talk about this, I can stay with you. Maybe down the line, I can think of if I want to get my own place. I doubt I can afford my own place anyways at the moment.”

“R-Right! This is going to be the bestest best room you’ll ever have! I’ll make sure of it!”

“You go and do that, Lyra. I suppose I should let you go back to… whatever it was you were doing. I think I need to take a small walk before coming back here though.” A nice long breather from this seemed like a good idea to him.

“Right! And we’ll figure things out together. I think it’s needed, Vinyl kind of showed me we need to put some rules down on that one.”

The two looked up at the flag pole, Vinyl tied so it looked like she was sitting on it from an angle, still sleeping. Waving him off, Lyra walked up to the construction, continuing her work like before.

Just as he turned to leave, he saw Bon Bon walking from the corner of the house toward him. “Hello, Anon,” she greeted him. “I see Lyra went ahead with some construction of the house.”

“Yeah, the room we never discussed yesterday. Seems she just thought it was fine. Though from how you sound, you didn’t know anything about this.”

“No, I didn’t. I was out for most of the day, trying to get a head start to make some candy for my stand.” She looked over to the construction crew before turning back to Anon. “You’re not mad she went ahead with this before fully talking to you?”

“Sure, I’m upset about things but it’s not like there was any ill intent on all of this. Hopefully, in the future, I can get her to discuss things with us before going ahead with them. So yeah, I’ll be living here from now on, or at least the time being.”

“You plan on moving out in the future?”

He merely shrugged his shoulders. “Who knows what the future holds. I’m just going with the flow for the time being until I get acclimated with all of this, or as much as I can.”

“It’s nice to know you’ll be sticking around with us for a good while then.”

“Sure.” Seeing his opportunity, he decided now was as good as any time to ask about Lyra. “Hey, I’ve got to ask you about Lyra.”

“Oh?”

“Lyra just asked me if we were friends or not. What’s up with that? I would have thought she’d know we were. Along with how she acts, it’s all a bit odd.”

Bon Bon frowned at the question. “I wondered when you’d ask something along those lines.”

“Has this been going on for a while for you?”

“Eh… sort of. You remember those dreams she mentioned of hers? The ones with different aliens and worlds, the ones that coincidentally involved your people?” He nodded his head. “When she was younger, a filly, she wanted to share some of those dreams with others her age. Long story short, everypony made fun of her. For a good long while, no one wanted to be friends with the ‘strange one’, so they kept away from her.”

“Strange one? Every single one of you is strange… no offense.”

She hummed at that. “I suppose we all have our quirks. Lyra was just easier to make fun of than others. I stuck with her throughout all of that, so she at least had me.”

“So she’s just clingy with the friends she has because of all that?”

“No, nothing like that. She just has doubts about if her friends will stay her friends for very long. There were a lot of jerks in the past pretending just to mess with her. Things did get better, but it’s not like she can just pretend none of that happened.”

Turning to the construction site, Anon could see Lyra jumping around, talking to the workers as they continue whatever it is they’re working on. He turned back to Bon Bon, hoping to move the dour atmosphere to a better one.

“Is your plan on Lyra working out?”

“Plan?” she asked, tilting her head.

“The one we talked about. You know, in the living room.”

“Oh, that! Well, it… yes, I think it’s working on my end.”

“Your end?”

She nodded her head, her cheeks slightly reddening “Yes, I just needed to see things differently for this to work. I think it’s working. It sure feels like it might be. I just need to make it work on the other end too, somehow.”

It felt odd to Anon how cryptic Bon Bon was acting. Figuring she just didn’t want to explain things with how close Lyra was and could hear things, he simply smiled at her, which she returned.

“I hope things work out for you, whatever you’re doing.”

“…Yeah.”

“I think I’m going to go on a walk for a bit. It’s somewhat difficult to sit down and relax in a place being remodeled. I’ll be back later tonight.”

“See you later,” she said before heading towards Lyra, leaving Anon to walk in the opposite direction toward the park.

The walk around the park was fairly uneventful, if not irksome for the human. No one seemed to be around to remind him about last night or bug him about anything, thankfully. It did seem that his stalkers had returned. He couldn’t recall when they first popped up, but he always seemed to be trailed by one nowadays.

At least this time it seemed to him this one was alone. And much like many of the other stalkers, this one was terrible at hiding its presence. Though he did have to admit to himself, seeing them trying to hide while a portion of their body stuck out of the hiding spot was somewhat adorable.

Deciding to finally confront one of these stalkers, he made his way to a group of trees, forcing his stalker to follow him through if it wanted to continue stalking. The moment he passed by out of view, he dashed to the other side, waiting for the pony to walk toward him.

Just as the shadowy pony came by his tree, he jumped right out in front of it, forcing the pony to scream in fright. The pony was covered in black clothing as if to trying to emulate a ninja. It might be more effective if it wasn’t only starting to turn dark and the clothing wasn’t so pitch black.

Looking down at the frightened pony, Anon could see it was much smaller than he expected, likely being very young. He narrowed his eyes at the small thing, making the pony flinch back.

“What are you doing following me?”

The pony stuttered out, trying to find something to say, “I-I-I j-j-just wanted to-to get a good s-s-s-story for the Foal Free Press, muh-muh-mu—” He gulped air, shivering on the ground, “—Mr. Alien!”

Anon hummed to himself, trying to remember if he had heard of that before. “What is the Foal Free Press?”

He seemed to have calmed down, thinking he saw an opportunity. “It’s our school newspaper! I was trying to get something on you for it!”

“How long have you been stalking me?”

The stalker merely blinked at him. “I think it was since you came to our class?” That was a good while back, Anon thought. “Some of my classmates were following you as well, but we never got much from you.”

‘So I’ve been getting stalked by a few small ponies for their school newspaper. How… silly.’

“What exactly do you want?”

“Some info about you and your time here in our world would be great!”

Thinking on it, Anon did see a good chance to get some proper info spread about him around the place. And it’s not like the pony was asking much from him.

“Yeah, I got time to kill. Though I’d prefer to get out of the trees, maybe find a bench to sit down.”

The foal seemed quite excited hearing that. Standing up beside him, the pony introduced himself as Featherweight, a very enthusiastic pony just wanting a scoop for his little paper. The two walk off with Anon answering a few questions along the way.

Leaving, Anon missed the other shadow that had been following him along the way, listening to his every word.

~End Chapter Thirteen~

Chapter Fourteen - And Now For Something Unexpected

The talk with the colt went by fast. The little foal asked questions in rapid succession, getting some of the simple things down for his paper about who he was as a person, his likes and dislikes, and about his time being around them. Anon made sure to word things very carefully when answering, lest things are misinterpreted for any reason; he didn’t want to leave things to chance.

Just as it was getting dark, Anon returned to the house from his walk. Looking at the building, he saw quite a bit of it was torn apart with none of the construction workers around. The inside of the house was empty as far as he could see, likely put in some kind of storage unit. Or at least, he hoped that was the case.

Lyra and Bon Bon were sitting in front of the house, talking to one another until they spotted Anon walking up to them.

“Hey, Anon!” Lyra said, getting up from the ground. He waved back at her walking up to him with a few suitcases. “I’ve already got your stuff packed. We’re not allowed to sleep in the house until it’s fixed up, something about it not being safe. Can you believe that?”

“Oh nooo, how could they,” Anon said in a monotonous voice that Bon Bon giggled at.

“So until the place is good to go for us, we’ll be staying at someone else’s place!”

The two ponies walk past Anon, headed down the street. Anon picked up his suitcase, following them. “Where are we staying at?” he asked.

“Octavia’s,” Bon Bon answered. Anon frowned at the answer. “I asked her when I was out in town and she said there wouldn’t be any problems.”

“There weren’t any other solutions?”

“We only had three options: It was Octavia’s, Twilight’s, or Applejacks.” The last two were choices that he didn’t care much for at all, for various reasons. “Other ponies aren’t prepared to have you at their places for three weeks plus, or however long until the house is finished.”

“Three weeks?” That sounded surprisingly fast to Anon.

“Yeah, I know right! It would have been done faster but I talked to the princess about some things our house could do with on improvements.”

“Hopefully we’ll get some stronger walls and shatter-proof glass,” Bon Bon said with a small smile aimed at Lyra.

“It’s not my fault windows can’t withstand the awesomeness that is me,” Lyra said, head held high.

Taking no time arriving at Octavia and Vinyl’s home, Lyra gave the door a knock, sounding off a wapa-wapa-wapa sound with each hit. She let out a cough, giving a nervous chuckle from her knocking.

Bon Bon and Anon looked to one another, and then back at Lyra, shaking their heads.

It didn’t take long for someone to come to the door, opening up and revealing Vinyl. “Hey there, how can I—” Pausing, she stared at Lyra, then to Bon Bon, then turned her gaze up to Anon’s face. She then dropped to the ground, grabbing Lyra’s front legs. “I’M SOOOOOWWWRRRYYYY!!! I SWEAR I DIDN’T MEAN TO ALMOSTKINDANOTSUREBUTMAYBEKILL ANOOOOOWWWNNN!!!”

Lyra’s narrowed her eyes down, thinning her lips at the rave pony. “Even after this afternoon, I think we need to further talk about what is and is not acceptable to put inside his body. But we’re not here for you, specifically.”

“…So you’re not here to rip me to shreds for giving him hash and potentially hurting him in the process?”

“No, I wasn’t originally. Though we might take some time tonight to talk about that.”

Vinyl’s smile looked forced, letting out a stilted chuckle. “Well, come in, relax, and let’s forget about everything that has happened in the past!”

Vinyl hopped back in the house, right before letting out a squeak, being levitated in the air by Lyra. She gave Lyra a sad look, hoping that would get her out of what’s to come.

“The puppy-eyed look works better if you’re not wearing those goggles of yours,” Lyra said with a frown.

“…Crap,” Vinyl squeaked out, being brought in by Lyra.

Following them, the two passed by Octavia and straight into a bedroom in the back. Octavia shook her head, turning to the other two. “Come in and take a seat, I’m not sure how long this will take with Lyra.”

“Could be a while,” Bon Bon commented, taking a seat. “So what’s this about hash that for some reason Anon didn’t tell us about?”

Anon let out a sigh as he sat beside Bon Bon. Octavia took a seat on a chair across from them. “Vinyl thought it would be a good idea to give him some of the stuff in her baked goods last night. The results were anything but pleasant from what I imagine he went through, or if he could remember any of it.”

Bon Bon rose an eyebrow at that. “Hash doesn’t make others forget things.”

“It did for him, for some reason or another. He went out in the town, acting very abnormally from what I picked up amongst the partygoers last night. Anon here found himself in the Everfree at Zecora’s of all places. I still think it’s affecting him in some ways, and who knows what giving that hash to him could have done.”

The candy mare hummed at that. “That’s not good. Hopefully, Lyra doesn’t tear into Vinyl that badly. She seemed to have gotten most of it out of her, tying Vinyl to that flag pole.”

“Lyra wouldn’t do anything too aggressive, right?” Anon asked. “I get she can get out of ha— hoof at times, but she never seemed the overly violent type to me.”

“She really isn’t,” Bon Bon answered. “Lyra may play it up, but she wouldn’t go out of her way to cause harm. The problem is she never really had a lot of control over her magic, which is quite scary at times.”

“It’s why she stuck with enchantments in her work.”

“True, much easier to control.”

Octavia continued, “I’m not sure if it was explained to you Anon, but Lyra was attending a specially gifted class of magic users when she was young, even attended beside Twilight. She was never greatly gifted in the knowledge aspect of things, definitely not on the range that Twilight is, but, she has a massive amount of power that she has trouble controlling.”

“If she had better control, it’s likely she could have applied in any job and get it without any problem at all,” Bon Bon added in. “I’m convinced that her magic is partially the reason she’s working for Celestia in the first place.”

A massive bang could be felt throughout the house, followed by what Anon would describe as a round of cartoonish sounding screams and clangs. Octavia ignored this as she started to serve tea to them. Bon Bon also ignored it, sipping on her drink.

Anon let out a sigh, also taking a sip on his drink, hoping the following weeks wouldn’t be too stressful on him.

Another thump could be felt, this one shaking the walls quite violently. Bon Bon frowned, setting her drink down.

“I should probably go up and check on them. Lyra shouldn’t do anything too violent, but I’m afraid of us being homeless once again.”

“A proper fear to have, concerning Lyra,” Octavia remarked as Bon Bon walked off. Preparing to take another sip, Octavia observed Anon, staring down at his cup. “Is there something wrong with the tea?”

“Hmm? No, it’s fine. I just had this odd thought from this morning, concerning a comment you made.”

“Is it about the herb I wanted to acquire? Rest assured, you have nothing to worry about me slipping them to you in any manner.”

He laughed, “No I don’t think I would need to worry about you. It was more about you observing my attitude toward things.”

“Ah, your lackadaisical mood. I hope it hadn’t gotten you into any trouble, the prior night.”

“No, it’s also not that. It’s my whole attitude toward things here in this world. Something feels off, and it’s only now that I’m here with you, remembering those words, that it’s dawning on me. Everything that’s been going on, and how I’ve been reacting to it all doesn’t make sense.”

He placed his cup down, looking aside. “I like to think of myself as calm and collected, but being transported to another world like this should have had me or anyone else off the walls. Hell, I’m certain I would have run for the hills at least once or tried something out of sheer panic of the situation.

“I mentioned how I thought I was kidnapped for the first month or so, and even with being transported from place to place between Twilight or Applejack, I hadn’t had any strong emotions. I’ve just been going with the flow and even convinced myself it was for the best. But something right now is telling me that doesn’t feel right, like I’m being muted.”

Octavia hummed, taking a sip of her tea. “I’m not sure how to tell if there even is anything wrong with you. Perhaps this is just you adapting to a new situation. Or maybe you didn’t know yourself as well as you did.”

“That feels like complete hogwash. I was one of a handful of people that led a large group of people, taking charge of environmental disasters and trying to push for better standards with things like pollution. There wasn’t much I wouldn’t do so long as it meant forwarding my goals. Well, save for acts of terrorism or hurting people, I'd never stoop so low. I mean, dear Lord, I jumped on a bloody missile for goodness’ sake.”

Bending down, he placed his shoulders on his knees, cradling his head inside his hands. “So why have I been so passive this whole time?”

“Anon, I do hope this isn’t you leading up to a reason so you can have more hash. It’s not exactly cheap.”

“I want nothing to do with that stuff ever again,” he said, tilting his head up.

“So you say.” Octavia finished her drink, placing the cup down. “Joking beside, I’m not sure if transporting here in our world is affecting your actions. Perhaps our magic is doing something we are unaware of. And maybe you’re having difficulty feeling in control of your life as it is, which is understandable.”

“Do you have any idea what I could do? I’m just, I don’t know what to do.”

“I’ll try and talk to Lyra about this, maybe she’ll have some kind of idea. I’m not exactly well educated on the manners of magic or the mind. I know certain creatures and beings act well beyond what would be in the norm to ensure their own survival, and perhaps your mind is simply reacting to all this, and trying to keep you from making a mess of things before you can take stock of the situation.”

“Perhaps,” Anon muttered, uncertain.

“Regardless, in my own opinion, it sounds like you’re just in need of a relaxing period. It’s been a very stressful few months for you and you’re far away from home. As much as we see you as an alien, sometimes we forget that you’re not very accustomed to our cultures, people, lands, and who knows what else. We’re the aliens in your eyes, and that’s something we can all work on trying to remember.”

He sat back up, thinking over her words. “That does make some sense. I haven’t really been communicating about my feelings or what I’m going through.”

“Open up and talk to somepony, and you might find yourself in a better place afterward. Talk to us when you need to let it out. We’re here for you.”

Anon chuckled, “It does feel good just letting this off.”

“I have my own personal adviser I vent on from time to time.” The walls shook once again, a horn sounded out, followed by cymbals. “You should lay down for now. I’ll go check up on them while you get some rest.”

“Right. And thanks, you know, for listening.”

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It took some time for Anon to fall asleep on the couch, his new resting spot for the foreseeable future. Bon Bon was bunking with Octavia, leaving Vinyl with Lyra. From what he could tell the next day, the two made up for Vinyl’s idiotic decision. He could barely tell anything even happened yesterday with how they acted the next morning.

The five of them were currently sitting at the dining room table, enjoying their omelets. It was unfortunate that they were daffodil omelets, leaving Anon having to pick all the flowers out of it with a disgusted look.

“Ah shoot, I’m sorry,” Vinyl said, rubbing her head. “I didn’t know you didn’t like flowers in your food.”

“It’s fine,” he said, even though it wasn’t. “I can’t eat this kind of stuff or some other things as I hope you’re aware of.”

She let out a nervous chuckle at that. “So nothing like hay?” she asked.

“No, I can’t.”

“That really sucks.”

‘No, it doesn’t. Hay is nasty, no matter how many flavors Lyra tried to have me try out.’

“So Vinyl, how’s your music going?” Bon Bon asked, trying to incite some conversation. “I haven’t heard much about it so I’d like to know. It can’t be easy for you since it’s not exactly typical.”

“There’s a lot I’ve got to consider when trying to make this stuff. But thanks to good ol’ Anon here, a lot of those difficulties are a thing of the past!”

“Oh?”

“Yeah! He lent me his music box after we got it up and running and I’ve been listening to it whenever I can get the chance! There are so many ideas buzzing around up in here—” She poked her head, “—that it’s almost overwhelming! I’ve even got a small list of bands to try out later for an upcoming concert I have this month on the border of the dog lands and Ponyville. Need to hire some additional musicians to make this work, but I’m having so much fun!”

“There must be a lot to go through, from what I already heard on his music box. What’s the concert name?”

“I’m gonna call it Human Music. Use Anon’s people’s music and give everyone a taste of it. Octavia is going to help me with this as well, trying out some lightning instruments.”

Octavia blushed, twirling a fork around her plate. “I did agree to help, yes. Trying to widen one’s horizon, as one would say.”

Vinyl bumped Octavia’s shoulder. “Don’t be like that, you’ll be very important. Oh! I nearly forgot to mention it’ll be themed to dogs and ponies. Your box is so great at finding different kinds of music like that.”

A frown appeared on his face, uncertain about what bands she was referring to. “Just who, exactly, are you going to play?”

The fork scratched Vinyl’s chin as she thought about the question. “There’s so many to choose from, but I was going to have it somewhat themed by the band names to lands around. I had Temple of the Dog and Three Dog Night for the dog lands. For us, I saw Band of Horses and My Chemical Romance, the latter because well, friendship! Very popular mantra in these lands and all, and what better friendship than the romantic kind.”

“Vinyl,” Anon started, “did you perchance listen to any of these bands?”

“Hmmm, no? Not yet, but I mean it should be fine.”

“I’d recommend listening to them before you make a final decision on this.”

“I still got a month to do this, giving me plenty of time to go over all this.” Octavia glared at Vinyl, the latter having stuffed a mouthful of food in her mouth. “What?”

“You already made the fliers didn’t you?”

“...Maybe?”

Anon facepalmed. “Well, have fun with that one.”

Vinyl looked confused, shoveling more food in her mouth. “It’ll be fine, I can turn anything into gold. I already have this music set up in my studio to see what I have to work with. Loads of fun to be had there. Even got some electric drums tweaked to your people’s, that one was a tricky one to do.”

“Aww,” Lyra groaned out, “I want to listen to Anon’s music too!”

Vinyl grinned, “Just come over to my studio after you’re done eating!”

“I really, really, really want to… but I’m supposed to be at the construction site for the day.”

Vinyl tsked hearing that, eating the rest of her toast before answering. “Shame to hear, maybe you can listen to my sounds some other time.”

“What about you, Octavia?” Anon asked, trying to join in on the conversation. “I mean, do you have any plans for today?”

She looked over to the side at some music cases before turning back to Anon. “I suppose I’ll be working with Vinyl for most of the day－”

“Which is going to be totally radicalesome!” Vinyl interrupted, a large smile beaming at her.

Octavia slumped in her chair, “Sure, right.” Vinyl laughed before going back to her food.

“What about you, Anon?” Lyra asked. “Anything planned for your day?”

“No, not really. I don’t need to work today so my day’s blank.”

He had thought of some simple plans that didn’t involve staying at the house, such as another walk through the town, or possibly meeting some other ponies.

“Well,” Bon Bon said, “if you don’t mind, my day’s pretty empty as well. You can come along with me if you’d like.”

Anon thought that out of all the ponies, Bon Bon was the one not likely to get into any hectic situations. And he was interested in seeing what she had in mind for the day.

“You know what? Sure, I can go along with that.”

Bon Bon smiled, finishing her meal at a faster pace. Anon was still picking through his omelet, trying to get the flowers out as he ate.

In no time, everyone finished their meals, all except for Anon who was the last one sitting there as the others went to get ready for their days. Vinyl came back in with a new plate, placing it down beside his current one.

“Dude, I could’ve just made you another one if you asked sooner.”

“Thank you,” Anon replied, right before he started picking at the new omelet.

“There are no flowers in that one.” He stared at her for a few seconds. “Or grass.” He continued staring. “Or anything else that Lyra told me you couldn’t eat.” Still, he stared. “OR hash! Sheesh, I said I wouldn’t do that again without your permission!”

Grabbing his previous plate, Vinyl made a showing of being upset before smirking just as she left the room. Finding the new omelet not to be disgusting, he wolfed it down as fast as he could, not wanting to keep Bon Bon waiting on him.

A quick shower and some clean clothes later, Anon was nearly ready for the day. He grabbed a bag, filled with anything he thought he may need, just in case, concerning the ponies. Walking into the living room, Bon Bon was currently talking to Octavia.

Letting out a small cough, the two turn to him. “I’m ready to leave when you are. Did Lyra already leave?”

“She left ten minutes ago, something about wanting to see if she can ride the wrecking ball. I don’t know why they’d need one for the house, but knowing her, she’ll try to get them to tear down something with that thing so she can ride that thing. I’ll talk to you later, Octavia.”

“I suppose I should go off and start on… whatever it is I’m doing with this thing,” she said, looking at one of her instruments covered in wires.

The two of them headed out the house to the town center, Anon following behind Bon Bon. It was a fairly okay day with it not being too chilly or windy.

“What exactly do you have planned for today?”

“I don’t really have anything in particular set up. Since the major candy holiday is over, everypony is stocked up on sweets. I usually have some time off during then, so I typically take that time to relax and do whatever I want.”

“…So why are we out here then?”

“Do you really want to find out what those two had planned back at the house?”

“No, not really.”

Bon Bon smiled, “I just wanted to roam around Ponyville for a while. I figured with me you could take a small break from Lyra’s exploits and maybe… want to spend some time out here with me instead?”

That didn’t sound too unappealing to him. “Yeah, that sounds good. What’s our first stop on the Bon Bon train?”

“The first thing was to pick up a basket from a food stand. I thought a lovely picnic would be good with how the weather is going.”

“It’s likely better than anything I could plan for the day.”

It didn’t take Bon Bon very long to peruse through the various stands, finding what she wanted: a perfectly packed picnic purchasable. It was pretty cheap Anon thought to himself, even coming along with a blanket to sit down on.

“Hmf-kah, gut dew halp wheet dew vhasket?

Taking the basket from Bon Bon’s mouth, she smacked her lips, walking beside Anon away from the stands.

“Thanks.”

“Gotta love having hands, eh?”

“I wouldn’t know. Hooves seem to have been doing fine for me.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to how you all get along with just having hooves,” Anon said, following Bon Bon down the road.

“It’s not that difficult, we just work with what we have.”

“But how are you even able to hold forks? Or opening doors?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I dunno. Lots of practice?”

The walk was quite pleasant for the resident alien. It felt very… normal to him, which was saying something. He was used to having something flying at him unexpectedly. If he could ignore that he was walking right by talking, flying, magic ponies, and one toned down the colors, it’d almost feel like home to him.

Nearing the park, Bon Bon was talking about some of the processes she went through on a certain treat she made when her ears started twitching about, right before she turned to the sky. Turning himself, Anon was surprised to see an enormous bird-like creature veering right toward them.

“There goes our simple walk,” Anon mumbled to himself, right as the creatures landed in front of them.

Three of them could be seen, all wearing a strange kind of garment he wasn’t familiar with. Examining them, it didn’t take long for Anon to see that he was face to face with a griffon. They resembled the statues he remembered seeing at the park back home on Earth, though they looked smaller and not quite as menacing.

“Hello there,” one of them spoke out, “I am assuming that you are the Anonymous?”

“Yes. I am he.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you,” the griffon said. “I am Delano, of the griffon kingdom. The two behind me are Auctor,” he said, pointing a clawed digit to a bulky looking one, which nodded his head, “and Miss Jana,” he pointed to the other, arching her eyebrow with a tilt of her head up.

‘At least their genders are fairly obvious. And hey, normal sounding names, how quaint.’

“I apologize if this seems out of the blue with our arrival. We have come from the griffon kingdom, discussing things with Princess Celestia when the topic dealing with you came up. When the talks came to an end, we came directly here to meet you.”

“It’s nice to see the princess is allowing others around this “project” of hers, as she called it. And quite frankly, the pictures of you we were provided don’t do you justice at all,” the one named Jana said, eyeing Anon up and down.

“Okay…”

“So I heard you were good with your digits. Any chance of you working the salon for a session?”

Delano coughed from the female griffon's remark, walking in front of Jana who seemed flustered from being interrupted.

Auctor stepped forward, “I apologize for Miss Jana’s forwardness, ever since she’s heard of you from rumors in our lands, she’s had a strange… fondness toward you.”

“There are rumors going on down there?” Bon Bon asked.

The griffon nodded, “Most just take them are just that, rumors. But a few, like Miss Jana, have taken a great deal of interest in them. I apologize on her behalf.”

Delano and Jana returned, more proper than before, though Jana looked quite miffed. “We really should get going,” Delano said, “we’re due for our return and only meant to give greetings to you.”

Before Anon could question them on that, the three of them took flight, straight up into the clouds and quickly out of sight.

“That was unexpected,” Anon commented. “Do griffons normally come through here?”

“No, not really. We’re not a major attraction to visit for them, that’s more Fillydelphia’s thing.”

“I’m curious why they went out of their way to greet me. It seems like a waste of time.”

Bon Bon hummed to that. “I think they were simply curious. Sounds like the princess had blocked off meetings between you and others until you were settled in. Odd she’d call it a project though. I’ll have to remember to get Lyra and myself to give you some training on their customs, possibly minotaurs as well, just in case you come across any in the future.”

The rest of the walk was quiet for the two as they went to the park. Finding a more secluded area covered by trees, Bon Bon spread out a cloth from the basket for them to sit on before placing the food items for them to eat. Anon, seeing simple sandwiches and wrapped fruits, grabbed a pear, taking a seat.

“I know it’s not meat but it’s better than nothing, right?” Bon Bon said, taking an apple herself.

“I suppose so. I’ve gotten used to this by now.”

“I doubt it’s very enjoyable though. I don’t think I could do it myself, going to an alien world and being unable to eat any hay or things I’m not used to.”

‘Yeah… some chicken would be nice,’ Anon thought, taking a bite of his pear.

“You know, I can probably talk to Lyra about getting your own private fridge for certain food items, like meats.”

Anon held the pear from his mouth, thinking about what she had said. The thought was extremely tempting to him. “How would you two even go about that?”

“It’s really not that difficult. I know of a shop in town that orders meats in small shipments for special orders from Gryphonia. None of their meats are in any form sentient or sapient, so it’s quite ethical. Fluttershy even has a small business on the side, collecting fish for consumption. And then there’s the imitation stuff that is consumed by the more daring crowds around here. Probably a bit cheaper too, though they can get some wild tastes going on with those.”

“That’s certainly a thought to have once the house is done up,” Anon said, his mouth nearly watering at the thought of having some bacon or a steak once again.

Bon Bon, noticing his expression, let out a chuckle as she ate her apple. The two of them made small talk as they ate, sharing with one another about themselves and about their days. It was especially good luck with the weather that day, making things more enjoyable for them.

To Anon, Bon Bon was a huge contrasting change to Lyra or anyone else. Normally he’d be expecting something crazy to happen at least once, but nothing had come up at all throughout the day, disregarding the griffons which in no way she had any fault in.

For him, it was a relaxing day, talking to a candy-loving mare while having a pleasantly dull picnic. And Anon was having a good time of it.

“Anon,” Bon Bon spoke up, “why do you keep looking around the place like that?” It didn’t stop him from keeping an eye out from anything possibly happening. “Are those ponies still stalking you?”

It took a second for Anon to figure out what she meant by that. “No, I think that situation has been resolved, for the most part. Turns out it was just a group of foals and fillies just trying to collect some info on me.”

Anon looked around some more around the area, which made Bon Bon frown. “Then why are you scoping the place out like you’re expecting something to happen?”

“Can you blame me? Most days, something weird happens at least once a day. I’m just not used to how simple of a day this has been so far.”

The pony harrumphed. “See, I knew you being around all this was getting to you. That’s why I thought some time away from everything seemed like the right idea.”

“I thought you said you weren’t planning anything for the day.”

Bon Bon scrunched up her nose, looking away. “Yeah, that’s what I meant; it just turned out like this.” She cleared her throat, waving a hoof around the area. “This is where I personally go for some time by myself to get away from the others. You’re not likely to find much out here, so long as you keep away from the flower sisters over there.”

Looking to where she was pointing at, Anon could see the three flower ponies in their own shade, not noticing the two of them.

“They’re usually the only other ones out here, practicing their floral arrangements in the area. Time to time they’ll freak out over something, but that’s about all you’ll have to worry about here in this area of the park.”

“I think I have a new hiding place.”

Bon Bon smirked hearing that. “So just relax, there’s nothing that should bother you out here.”

The two of them laid around for most of the day, enjoying the peace and quiet the area allowed them. Anon and Bon Bon had a light conversation, mostly with Anon talking about things from his home. During a lull in their talking, the candy mare looked at Anon, trying to say something before looking away with a light cough. To him, it appeared she was trying to gain the courage to ask something uncomfortable.

“Hey, Anon?”

“Hmm?”

“Can I ask you something without you thinking I’m weird about it?”

“A little hard to do when I find every one of you weird to me, but go ahead,” Anon jokingly replied.

Not taking the bait, she let out a small sigh to herself, looking at him with a small blush. “Well, I was a bit curious about, well, just what do you think of us?” Anon looked at her, confused at the question. She realized she needed to be more specific, “I mean do you… find us attractive in any way? Do you think you can find yourself eventually being with one in the future?”

“That’s a bit of an odd question to be asking don’t you think?”

Bon Bon looked down at the ground, playing with her hooves. “I just want to know since I just… want to see you happy here. On the off chance this is permanent with your stay, wouldn’t you want companionship?”

Anon felt a small smile tug at him. “Companionship hasn’t been on my mind as of late. I’ve mostly been trying to adjust to this world.”

“I understand. But if you were given enough time, do you think it’s possible? I know that we’re a different species so there are some things to get over since it’s something you’re not used to, but if you do would you think it’s possible?”

Anon rubbed the back of his neck, “I really don’t know, maybe in the future?” Bon Bon blushed. “Why bring this up out of the blue?”

“I just wanted to know how you felt about us ponies. Most beings here click real easily when it comes to that sort of thing.”

“That’s something for later on though, I’ve only been here for a few months and I’m still trying to come to terms on a lot of things.”

“Later on… okay.” She looked at him, clearing her throat. “Yeah, sorry about the question, I was just curious.”

“It’s fine,” Anon waved off, trying to get comfortable again.

He had a feeling she might bring this up later on from how she looked at him. Being honest with himself, he wasn’t sure if he liked the idea of being with one or not. They did look cute in their own way and could be fun and interesting, but it was difficult to get over the fact they weren’t human.

Laying there, Anon felt content with things at that moment, hands behind his head and eyes closed. Bon Bon had packed the picnic up without his notice and was relaxing right beside him in silence. He felt he’d gladly spend more time with Bon Bon in the future with how the day turned out.

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A whole month had passed by for Anon. What should have been three weeks turned into four after Lyra got approval to add an extension to the house and adding some things they felt were needed, such as a bathroom his size. Every day that he passed by the house, the place looked more extravagant.

It was the most relaxing month he’s had since being dumped in the magical lands of mythical goofiness. Bon Bon had been with him for a majority of the time instead of Lyra on top of everything. It was strange not seeing so much of Lyra and more of Bon Bon, with their roles being reversed for the time. The sillier of the two were stuck working with the construction workers, something she didn’t enjoy once she realized it meant less being around Anon.

Bon Bon during the month was around him constantly. She was there before work, during lunch, and even after work. That didn’t mean Lyra wasn’t around, but for the majority, he was doing things with the candy mare.

Things fell into a routine with his days, making Anon feel more at home. Some would say it was a drag doing things over and over in a similar fashion, but to the human, it was something he oddly missed back home, not having to deal with things going out of whack every single day.

Wake up, eat, shower, do something with the ponies before heading to work, train in massaging, get out of work, and do something with Bon Bon before heading to his temporary home. It was a nice routine he settled into and hoped it would stay as such for a while longer, though he knew that wouldn’t be once the house finished up.

The last week was a bit hectic once he was declared fully trained and ready for full paying customers. He was booked for a full month by everyone around once word got out.

Having just finished cleaning up, he put away the broom and took off his spa clothing, dumping them in a bin before heading to the front of the shop. Lotus was there, taking stock of the day with Aloe.

“Alright, things are cleaned up in the back. Anything else you two need?”

Lotus sighed, looking at some papers with a frown. “You are done for the day,” she said, waving him off.

“Is there something wrong?” Anon asked, wondering just what had the two wearing similar frowns.

“It is our sister, Vera,” Aloe said, looking at Anon. “Things are not working out well for her and her business, so she asked us about working here as a masseuse once more. Though, that position is filled by you at the moment.”

“We can not blame her for leaving when she did,” Lotus said. “Her heart was in the workings of the hair, not the kneading of the body. While we are still upset about her leaving, she is still our little sister.”

“It is difficult to manage a shop by one’s self and training ponies to properly cut. No digits, you see.”

“I can imagine,” Anon said, trying to imagine a non-unicorn cutting anyone’s hair. “Why don’t you just combine her hair salon with your day spa then? She gets to continue cutting hair, you get an extra service you can provide and more customers coming in. Everyone wins.”

The two blinked at that, mulling it over in their heads. “That seems quite reasonable. Why did we not think of that?”

“We can get them for a haircut and tempt them to stay for a massage afterward! We would just need to clear out the storeroom on the side and extend it. The cost would be negligibly doing it that way.”

“Heck, I’ll even be her first customer,” Anon said, pulling on his ponytail. “I’ve needed a trim for a while anyway.”

The only reason he hadn’t gotten a cut was that the one time he tried to, Vera had shown him images she could give him. Fun fact: Male ponies don’t have a wide selection of hairstyles, typically sticking with either long hair, spiked hair, or no hair at all. The few places that cater to them are fairly expensive as well and in more populated areas.

He refused to get a haircut until she knew some styles that wouldn’t make him look terrible. She had promised to look into practicing on dummies his size, even thinking she could pull in some minotaur customers as not many places catered to them.

As the two continued talking about their sister and her business, Anon slipped his coat and scarf on before heading out. Rarity had him fitted into some clothing similar to his own and designed by her, using something called ‘faux denim’, even though to him it pretty much was denim. The thing was made to mimic how his clothing was stitched, instead of magically melded together like their denim was. It was slightly stiff, as Rarity said she was still working on it, but the clothing was warm all the same and felt good enough to him.

He appreciated her keeping the colors nice and dark, though it didn’t stop her from adding a few gems in certain places. It took some convincing her to not add any to the backside, not wanting to get poked whenever he sat down. Rarity even had a local shoemaker make him some nice, simple boots. It bugged him wondering just why they had a shoemaker, but he didn’t question it too much as he got something out of it.

Currently heading to Bon Bon’s stand, he was in high moods, wondering what simple thing she had cooked up for that day. It was a nice break from Lyra’s silly shenanigans. Speaking of the minty colored mare, he could see her beside Bon Bon, both of them wearing jackets that matched their bodies, discussing something with her. She turned to Anon, giving him a large smile.

“Hey, Anon!”

“Hey back,” he replied.

“Bon Bon was telling me she had something she needed to do so I wanted to spend some time with you!”

Looking to the other pony, he could see she already had things packed up. “Sorry for not mentioning it this morning, I need to talk to some of my suppliers and other candy makers.”

“Are those ponies still giving you flack about those lemonheads and atomic fireballs?” Anon asked. “Yeah, they’re not the norm but it’s still candy.”

When Bon Bon asked about ideas he could give her a few weeks ago, those were the first things he went about recreating.

“No— Well yes, kind of. But this is just business talks, more boring than usual and I doubt you want in on that. Boring is one thing, boring business meetings are something else. They are just the worst.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

“I guess we’ll hang out some other time then.”

Bon Bon waved them off, taking her bags before heading out. Lyra gave him a big smile. She had a tired appearance on her, but her perky nature kept that at bay.

“Ready to go?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Anon replied.

Giving him a nod, she turned toward the road with Anon following beside her, wondering just what she had planned for him.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Lyra felt like she could explode from excitement.

Everything was going great for her. She hadn’t told anyone yet, but the house had just finished that day, which was sooner than expected. They said it would take eight weeks to get it done, but with her constant helping of things, she got it done in four weeks! Sure, telling the others it would be sooner would be a difficult thing to promise, but she felt it could be done.

‘So what if you’re tired from juggling between your work and the house, you got the place all done ahead of schedule! Who’s an awesome mare?’

‘I’m an awesome mare!’Lyra replied to herself. ‘He’s going to be so surprised to see his new room!’

Lyra had been holding a grin for the entire day with what she had accomplished. It may have the others around her veering away from her vicinity in fear of what that smile meant, but they just didn’t know the greatness she had accomplished!

She just had to bide her time with Anon while the construction ponies moved their tools and vehicles, along with adding the grass back to the ground. Lyra wanted to show him the house, giving the grand tour before winding up in his room with a little present she had for him, delicately placed on his bed with a little bow and everything on it, just to show how much she appreciated him.

A month back, Octavia had spoken to her about Anon being stressed. While Lyra couldn’t visually see this, that didn’t stop her from wanting the best for him. It made her feel bad, being uncertain about how to discern his mental health. He wasn’t from their planet, so of course, he’d have different temperance or ways to react to everything. So, she made sure to keep him from the construction. The spa ponies were talked to, letting him have an easier time with things. And some of the ponies in town also helped whenever they could.

Keeping herself focused on the construction job, that meant someone needed to be with him to make sure he was always with someone. Bon Bon was the biggest help with giving him the rest and relaxation he needed. It irritated her though seeing how close the two had been becoming. Being able to take him to the park, spending time with him during his lunch, and even making candy with him. It was the only thing she regretted about taking the extra work on to get the house done faster.

Lyra was very happy to finally have some quality time with him at that moment. Only, there was a small, teensy, itty-bitty problem with it.

She had no idea what to do.

Lyra only told Bon Bon she wanted to spend some time with him and tell him about the house, but it was all up in the air on any kind of activity she could do. Planning wasn’t her strong suit after all.

The two of them were currently walking down the street, enjoying the briskness in the air. Lyra enjoyed the green jacket Rarity had made for her, coming from some sort of bundle deal involving Anon’s clothing situation a while back. It kept her nice and warm during the colder seasons.

Still walking, Lyra attempted to figure out what exactly she could do with Anon. ‘Maybe you could go on a picnic?’ her inner-voice brought up.

‘No, it’s too cold for that. Besides, that’s more Bon Bon’s thing with him at this point. We need to do something coming from us.’

‘Ah, then ice cream is out of the picture as well. And meeting up with friends to do something defeats the purpose of spending some alone time with him. ‘

‘And it’s too late to do something like hot air balloons or other fun things. Ah, I’m so stupid! Why’d I decide to go on a walk!’

‘You could have gone to a restaurant or something else, but now you’re too far away!’

‘And I can’t turn back now, I’d look really stupid to Anon.’

‘So find something at the park and hope for the best.’

Lyra, nodding her head, made up her mind to find something to do at the park with him. Taking notice of where she was, she just realized they had passed the park.

Hurriedly walking in front of Anon, she turned right past him, nearly tripping him from the suddenness of the action, and helping redirect him back. Confusion could clearly be seen on his face.

“And what was that about?”

“We kind of missed the park, so I went around.”

“Be a little more careful, I nearly tripped over you.”

“Yeah, sorry, I wasn’t thinking straight just then.”

Anon hummed to himself hearing that, right before hugging his coat tighter as a breeze passed through. “So why the park?”

“I thought it would be a nice place to talk and walk.”

Once they arrived in the park entrance, Lyra looked around the area, not seeing many ponies around at the moment. To her surprise, a vendor had set up shop, selling hot food just a ways away. She inwardly sighed in relief, glad to have something out there for them. Walking straight to the pony, Lyra proceeded to examine the images, trying to figure out what she wanted to order.

Anon, walking up, furrowed his brow in confusion, looking at the images himself, “That doesn’t look like Equestrian writing.” He tilted his head. “And those images seem oddly familiar. What exactly is this?”

“Ah, my food wording is of an older dialect of Equestrian that my family has been using for generations! It’s a tradition to use it for us, you see.”

“I wasn’t aware of other dialects,” he said, looking at the food. “Or the kind of food you’re serving.”

“The food is perfectly fine, I assure you.”

“I’m fine with it, glad to see it even. But…” He looked down at Lyra, then directly at the pony. “Isn’t this odd to sell?”

The vendor looked confused at what he heard.

“I’ll take one hotdog, with EXTRA mustard!” Lyra told the vendor.

“Coming right up!” he replied, setting up the food.

Anon scratched his head, shaking it slightly, “Make that two, though put those peppers on mine.” Pulling out money, he gave the bits over to the vendor, something Lyra took notice of.

“You don’t have to pay for me,” she told him with a pout.

“It’s fine, with the extra bits I get with my job it’s not going to hurt my wallet.”

“You mean your coin purse?”

“Yes, my coin pouch.”

Lyra hummed at that. “Well, thanks then!”

‘That sure was nice of him. It almost feels like I’m on a date now!’

The thought of such a thing slapped a red blush on her face. Looking away, she slapped both her cheeks, trying not to freak out realizing what was happening.

Calming herself as much as she could, the two of them grabbed their food and walked off into the park. The food helped to keep them nice and warm in the cold air. With how dark it was, the lamp posts were a great help keeping their path lit up. Once Lyra had finished her own food, she looked up at Anon, who was inspecting his food very closely.

“You should eat that before it gets cold,” Lyra commented.

“Huh? Oh, right. I’m just confused that you have hotdogs.”

Lyra tilted her head, “Yes, and?”

“From where I come from, they’re generally made from leftover trimmings of, well, meat. I’m just trying to figure out how you have them here.”

“OH! Is that it? History lesson time!” Lyra cleared her throat out dramatically. “Approximately seven hundred years ago, groups of ponies, griffons, and minotaurs had their merchants set up trade agreements with one another after ‘the vanishings’, a series of events that forced many other known sentient beings on our planet to disappear or become unable to meet for unknown reasons, though many believe the higher-ups have knowledge about such reasons.”

Looking up, Lyra saw Anon was hooked to whatever she had to say, making her feel quite giddy at the attention.

“After the vanishings, trade agreements were set up to help foster cultural exchanges. It was thought back then that the vanishings happened due to cultures being too secluded from one another. While no evidence is shown that this is, in fact, true and most believe it to be superstitious hogwash, it went on to help provide ideas and cultures of our united beings. It’s how we got such things like hotdogs, which is recorded to come from griffons and their processing methods on meats, though we reworked them for our own dietary needs. The vendor from before likely has old ties to those very agreements with his family.”

“That’s quite a lot to take in, though fascinating all the same,” Anon said. Looking at his hotdog, he took a bite, chewing on it. “It’s a little off, but still comes off like a hotdog to me, and that’s all that counts.”

“Yep, great to eat on the go!”

“Kind of wish I had known about this stuff sooner, I probably would have tried eating from this guy more frequently.”

“I’ll definitely have us coming back for more in the future!”

As the two continued walking, Lyra could see the night sky turning slightly darker, with the stars now twinkling to life. With it only being her and Anon there, she couldn’t feel any happier with how things are. It was quite a pretty sight, seeing the dew flickering from the surrounding lights like a natural light show, lighting their way through an enamored trail. Lyra badly wanted to find a bench to sit down, possibly having Anon hold her for warmth.

‘I really like that idea a lot,’ she thought to herself as her face once more burned red.

The two of them eventually walked to a pond, with flowers bordering all around it. The night sky reflected beautifully on the surface, adding an alluring quality to the scene. If only there was a bench, it’d make things even better for the mare.

“Lyra, why are we all the way out here?”

“Is there something wrong?”

“No, I was just curious as to why we’re out here in the dark. It’s getting a bit cold, don’t you think?”

Looking around, she could not find a single bench to save her life. She turned to Anon, who held his coat close to him. “Sorry, I thought it would be fun to be out here but you’re right, it is getting late.”

The minty mare couldn’t hide the small frown forming on her face. Anon, noticing this, patted her on the head.

“Maybe we can head back and do something at Vinyls? I think I can finally show you that chess game I just got done making. I think you might like that. Different rules from your own, pony version of the thing.”

She reluctantly nodded, upset at the current development. Lyra was feeling something awesome was forming right then. It was just the two of them, out in the moonlit night, standing in a field of flowers. The scene screamed to take chances!

‘Then take it,’ the voice told her.

Lyra paused in her thoughts. ‘Should I? Is it not too early to ask of such things?’

‘Don’t make excuses girl, just pone up and do it!’

Feeling the peer pressure she forced onto herself, Lyra, turned from the pond and straight at Anon. “Hey, Anon?”

“Hmm?” He turned to look down at her.

“Um… what do you, well, think of me?”

Anon blinked at her. “I think you’re a swell mare?” he answered, unsure of what to say.

“No silly,” she giggled, walking closer to him. “I meeean… do you like me?”

“Yeah, I do. Why wouldn’t I?”

Lyra smiled, uncertain if he was getting the point. Either that or he was intentionally not saying.

“So what do you like about me?”

“What I like about you?”

“Yes!” she said with a hop.

He stood there, staring down at her as she continued to smile. “Okay then. I suppose… I like who you are. Although you can be a handful at times, that’s just who you are. You can be fun, interesting, and you always have something to do no matter what.”

“…Go on.”

Anon scratched his head, “Right. You always put your best effort into whatever it is you’re doing, you’re always there for your friends, and… I’d have to say you have a pretty big heart.”

That big heart of hers was thumping around madly as she listened to him. “Do you really mean all of that?”

“Of course I do, it’d be terrible of me to lie to you like that.”

“W-What about my mane? Or, or my cutie mark? Do you like my special talent?”

Bending down, Anon petted her mane down on her neck. It made her shiver, feeling the warmth from his hand.

“Yes, your hair is always soft and fitting on you. Your cutie mark fits perfectly on you, and it’s always fun to hear you play the lyre.” Her smile grew hearing all of this. “What’s with asking me all of this out of the blue?”

It felt like such a perfect moment for her to finally ask about her future with him. Lyra could feel the prickling of tears with how emotional things were getting. She would finally come out and tell him about her feelings.

“Anon…”

Without warning, a sudden flash of light rocketed into the sky. Lyra’s eyes grew as she saw the sparkling scene befitting a romance novel.

‘Wait… why are Anon’s eyes widening like that? Why is he falling? Why does he look like he’s in pain?’

Time slowed down as Lyra stared at Anon, her smile disappearing to one of open shock. The look on his face appeared like he was trying to say something to her as he jolted forward at her.

‘That’s not fireworks,’ Lyra suddenly realized, ‘that’s a spell hitting Anon!’

Anon dropped in a heap, a crackling yellow skittering around his body that appeared to paralyze him. Looking behind him, Lyra could see three ponies sliding out of the shadows, heading directly to the two of them. A raging fire could be felt inside of Lyra seeing what had just happened.

‘How DARE they hurt Anon and screw up this night for me!’

Quickly charging up a spell herself, she threw a massive green beam at them. One of them couldn’t react in time and got slammed directly into their body, forcing them all the way back and into a tree. The other two didn’t react at what had happened to their comrade, making Lyra hesitant.

Of the two remaining, the only unicorn there and likely attacker from before already had a spell charged at Lyra. With how close they were, she couldn’t dodge in time as it slammed into her. She could feel the same paralyzing spell that was currently holding Anon motionless. It wasn’t painful thankfully, but it kept her from being able to move.

“Pick up the alien, now!”

“What about—”

“We don’t have time to get him; he should have dodged the blasted spell! Now hurry up, before anypony comes! They’ll be here soon after seeing the blasts!”

Lyra couldn’t do anything but lay there as the pony beside the unicorn, a massive earth pony, lifted Anon onto his back. The two quickly ran off with Anon, leaving Lyra staring at their retreating forms, tears running down her eyes.

After a few minutes of staring towards empty space, Lyra could see someone running toward her position. Her vision started to grow dim, unable to stay awake. She soon closed her eyes, seeing nothing but darkness.

~End Chapter Fourteen~

Chapter Fifteen - A Journey Awaits

Lyra grumbled to herself, feeling stuffed up for some unknown reason. ‘Where am I? And why is it so hard to move?’

“Ugh…”

‘Don’t panic, Lyra,’ a familiar voice spoke. ‘Just take a second and remember the last thing you can, then trace that to your last memory.’

Doing so, Lyra could remember… working with the construction ponies, finishing up their job and getting the house completed, save for a few things to tidy up on. Proceeding forward, she could remember talking to Bon Bon about getting some alone time with Anon, then walking to the park. There were hotdogs, flowers, fireworks—

She sucked in a hard breath, finally remembering what happened.

‘Anon!’

“He-dwer-whuu…”

She struggled with herself, trying to her best to move around in some fashion.

‘Open your stupid eyes! Darn it, move!’

But it was no use. With barely any effort, Lyra could tell she was still under the paralyzation spell from before. She could also tell she was moved, as something soft could be felt underneath her and the smell of grass was removed, replaced with the smells of a hospital room.

Muffled voices could be heard, their unintelligible conversation irritating Lyra. She ignored them, moving onto thoughts of Anon and his well-being. She had hoped that somepony had managed to stop the others in time and recovered him.

‘Why would anyone attack him? Why… at the park when I was… going to ask…’

Her thoughts started to drift off. She could feel something happening to her, possibly a counter-spell from what she could tell. Unable to stay awake, her mind drifted off once more.

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Starting to regain her consciousness, Lyra rubbed her eyes. This time, she was fully aware of what had happened, though she kept from panicking and running off. Lying on a bed, Lyra looked around and noticed she was in a hospital. She recognized this room quite well from the number of times she’s been there.

The previous spell made her feel stiff in her joints, but at least she could properly move. Taking better notice of her area, she saw Bon Bon on the side, sitting in a chair, asleep. A sigh escaped her lips seeing her friend.

“Bon Bon,” Lyra called out in a raspy voice.

Her friend shifted in her sleep, before returning to it once more. It took a few attempts at getting her awake. Looking at Lyra, it took her a second to realize she saw Lyra staring back, and one more to jump from her seat in response.

“Lyra!” She hugged her friend before moving back. “You had me so worried!”

“Bon Bon, what happened?”

She frowned hearing Lyra. “Hold on, let me get you some water.”

Running to a sink, she proceeded to fill a paper cup right before giving it to Lyra. She greedily drank it, feeling refreshed.

“Thanks,” she said, giving the cup back. “Bon Bon, what happened?”

Flattening her ears, Bon Bon directed her gaze at the floor. “It… seems you and Anon were attacked in the park. No one knows why it happened or who took him, though the one that you took down is currently in custody being interrogated.”

“They… got away with Anon?”

“…Yes, Lyra,” she answered quietly.

Hearing that hurt more than she wanted it to. “W-Why would they take him?” Lyra asked to no one in particular. Rolling on her side, she held her chest and proceeded to silently cry. Bon Bon soon after wrapped her front hooves around her in a hug. “Th-This is so stupid! Why did this have to happen?!”

The two of them stayed in that position for an unknown amount of time. The two of them shed their silent tears to one another.

Hearing someone knocking on the door, Bon Bon got up from her spot, wiping her tears away. Lyra did the same just as the door opened up, revealing Twilight. “Um, hi,” she said, walking forward with a frown. “I’m not intruding on anything am I?”

“No, it’s fine,” Lyra answered.

“Are you two okay?”

The two of them nodded at her. “I just came to tell you that Princess Celestia herself is here with a few chosen guards and are nearly done interrogating the pony you stopped. It shouldn’t take long until we find out what exactly happened.”

‘Finally, some good news.’

“After we get the info, the Princess is having me look over copies of the info. She’ll be entrusting the rescue mission with me and the rest of the Elements. We’re likely to be leaving sometime tomorrow or the next day.”

Bon Bon felt something was off. “Why are you telling us this? And why are the Elements in charge of this over the guards?”

Twilight didn’t take offense at what she said, “During the attack, most of the cities all over Equestria had rebels causing mass confusion, forcing nearly all the guards that the Princesses could put out to quash their activities. There just isn’t anypony else that can help during this time. As for why I’m telling you two this, I already know you two would want to know about this and thought it would be in my best interest to tell you now instead of having you bug me later on about things.”

“What rebels?” Lyra asked, surprised to hear that. “What are they rebelling against in the first place?”

“I don’t know much about their actions right now but even if I did, I doubt I’d be able to tell you.”

“Do you at least know why they took him?” Bon Bon asked.

“I won’t know anything until the report comes in which I’ll be getting later on today.”

Feeling frustrated, Lyra fell back into her pillow in a ‘fwump’ as she stared at the ceiling. Hearing a clanking, the three of them noticed a pony in sun armor walked up to Twilight, whispering something in her ear before leaving.

“I have to go now. You have nothing to worry about, I’ll return with Anon as fast as possible.”

Lyra continued her staring contest with the roof as Twilight left the room, closing the door behind her. Bon Bon moved beside her, a look of relief seen on her. “At least we know somepony’s going right after Anon.”

“Yes, it is,” Lyra agreed. “Though that won’t matter since I’ll be the one that gets to him first.”

Bon Bon blinked, staring down at her, perplexed. “What?”

“Twilight said they were getting the info from the pony I took down. So when that’s done, I’ll get the information myself and start heading out!”

Bon Bon let out a groan, rubbing her forehead. “And how exactly are you going to get that info?”

“I’m a very convincing mare when I want to be. And if anything, I’m certain I can sneak a peek at Twilight’s copies.”

The candy mare narrowed her eyes, “You can’t just go out on something like this without proper planning! What if you get hurt? Or what of the ponies you’ll be up against on this? It’s an entire group from how it sounded!”

“I’ll think of something when that happens.”

A long-winded sigh escaped Bon Bon’s lips, along with her brow furrowing up in annoyance. “Lyra, going out like that is dangerous, stupid, and so many other things I can’t even begin to tell you.” She proceeded to list off things that would, in her opinion, be needed to make any kind of attempt at a rescue mission for the missing human.

‘…I’m gonna have to sneak away from her,’ Lyra thought, not believing her friend would just let her go along with this. ‘I’ll just put up with her bugging, for now, then once I’m out of the hospital I’ll start getting to work. Just nod to what she’s saying and look like you care.’

A sudden frown could be seen on Bon Bon, then her eyes narrowed, making Lyra wonder if her friend had somehow gained the ability to read thoughts. She did her best to give a sweet, innocent expression on her face, hoping her thoughts were kept locked inside from her telepathic compatriot. Of course, Lyra couldn’t tell that Bon Bon could read her expressions quite well from past endeavors

“From how I’m seeing things, I know what to expect already. So… if you’re going out there, I’m going with you.”

It took Lyra a few moments to realize what she had just said. “You just said that what I was doing is very stupid, and you’re… giving me the go-ahead on this?”

“You don’t expect me to believe you’re listening to what I’m saying, do you? You were just about to nod and agree with me before leaving anyways.”

‘MIND READER,’ Lyra heard screamed in her head.

“I will say it’ll take more than just you to bring Anon back. And besides, Anon’s… also a very close friend of mine as well. So instead of arguing about this, we should discuss what’s needed and move as fast as we can.”

Lyra smiled at her, nodding at her. “Okay! So what do you think I should do first?”

“…You didn’t listen to a word I just said, did you?” A blush of embarrassment could be seen on Lyra as Bon Bon groaned in exasperation. “First we’ll need provisions, such as food and medical supplies. I suppose I’ll gather that stuff while you get the info and a map for our travels.”

‘That’s probably for the best,’ her thoughts told Lyra, ‘you’d probably forget something important anyway.’

“We’ll also need some additional help with us so I’ll go look for some ponies to come along with us. You have any ideas on that?”

“Vinyl and Octavia,” Lyra said without thought, “they’ve been helpful in the past and are likely to go along with us on this. They haven’t stopped traveling as we have so they’re still quite experienced, and we know them very well.”

“We need more than them.”

“…You could try Carrot Top?”

Bon Bon shook her head. “As close as we are, she hasn’t done a lot of traveling with us like in the past. Besides, she can’t take any time off from her work. Anypony else?”

“I can’t think of anyone that could just up and go with us.”

Bon Bon rubbed her chin in thought, and then looked at Lyra. “I think we can use the help of some pegasi, pegasi that Anon and us know quite well.”

Lyra didn’t look pleased, knowing who she meant. “Ugh, Flitter and Cloudchaser?”

“We need a balanced group, and those two could help with us. So unless you know of any other ponies?”

“Fiiine, so long as they’re helpful,” Lyra grumbled. “So I’ll check out of the hospital while you do your thing. Do you know when I can leave or should I sneak out?”

“You are NOT going to sneak out like all the other times; I don’t want to talk to the nurses about why you vanished. Again. Anyways, I already checked on that and you can leave now. You were only brought here to remove the spell. I’ll alert a nurse outside as I’m leaving.”

“Okay, once I get out I’ll go talk to the ponies we’re bringing and get the info.”

Bon Bon nodded, right before walking up to Lyra and giving her a small hug before leaving the room. Lyra proceeded to stretch out her legs, trying to get any kinks out of them. While trying to pump herself up for the day.

‘I’m going to bring Anon back home if it’s the last thing I do!’

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Once out of the hospital, Lyra headed straight for Vinyl and Octavia’s place, wanting to get them on board before any attempts at gaining the info she needed. It was a fair bit difficult walking as she still felt stiff, something she’d have to deal with for a bit longer as the spell got out of her system. Lyra ignored any odd looks directed at her from the way she walked.

Arriving at their place, she slapped the door with a bom-bom-bom. That meant she was hitting it especially hard. The door opened soon after, revealing Vinyl. “Lyra? Shouldn’t you be at the hospital?”

Lyra entered the house without any invite, Vinyl simply following along after closing the door. “Is Octavia here?”

“Yeah, she’s in the back.” Vinyl walked up to Lyra, poking her in the nose. “You should be resting right now after what happened last night! Just lie down and try not to worry about Anon, alright? I’m certain that the guards have already been sent out for him.”

“The guards aren’t going. Twilight and the other Elements are going instead, and hopefully, so will you.”

Vinyl looked confused. “Wha?”

“I’m going out there with Bon Bon before Twilight and her group leaves to retrieve Anon. And I’m hoping you and Octavia will come with us on this.”

Vinyl hummed to herself, looking off to the side. “I dunno dude, I mean, what help would I even be out there?”

“Vinyl, you’re a unicorn. I’ve seen you throw the crowds around with your beats. Do you remember the time that the crowd in Canterlot went ballistic and went after you?”

She scrunched up her face, “Yeah, not one of my finest moments. It’s not my fault everything shorted out and I had to leave early!”

“Not the point I was getting at,” Lyra said. “You handled yourself very well then and I couldn’t think of many others I’d like to have at my side going out there. We’d appreciate your help.”

Thinking on it, Vinyl clicked her tongue, giving Lyra a grin. “Well buck, I suppose it’d be like ol’ times back at the academy then wouldn’t it! Going out, causing a ruckus all over. I’ll have to put off the concert for a bit, but I’m certain everyone will understand. Sure, I can help bring him back. I’ll just have to get my travel gear ready.” She looked around her tools, throwing a few around in different piles. “I always did enjoy your little adventures, and this one is sure to be the biggest one yet!”

“You think we’ll get Octavia on board with this?”

“Aaaah, don’t worry about her. She’ll be coming along, one way or another.”

“Okay, just make sure you’re ready for anything out there. I’ve got to go find Flitter and Cloudchaser now.”

Vinyl poked her head out of a pile of wires she was currently digging through. “They’re coming along as well?”

“Bon Bon recommended that to me and I have to agree with her on that.”

“Yeah, I can see having those two pegasi along would be very helpful. Good luck with that.”

Exiting the house, Lyra took a moment to try and figure out just where she could find those two errant ponies. She didn’t know them that well, which made figuring out where they hung out in town difficult.

Rainbow Dash would know where they could be located, though Lyra would need to keep the reasons she was looking for them to herself lest Twilight find out what was happening. Before she went that route, it would be best to start looking in locations they frequented at. And what better place than where Lyra knew Flitter went to often: the spa.

Making her way there, Lyra noticed that most of the town seemed eerily quiet. There wasn’t much activity near the stands, and the few ponies she passed by gave her sad looks.

Arriving at the day spa, Lyra saw Flitter sitting in front of the entrance. There was a sign on the front, declaring the place closed, making her wonder why the pegasus was there. She went to Flitter’s side, looking at the spa, then at her.

“Hey, Flitter… why are you staring at the door? It says it’s closed so I doubt they’ll be opening up anytime soon.”

Flitter turned to Lyra, a frown on her face. “It’s closed because of Anon. Most everypony heard of what happened by now, with Lotus and Aloe closing up shop as a result.” She wiped her eyes, Lyra only now noticing she was previously crying. “I… was just going to wait here until Anon came back. If you want to talk to the sisters, you should speak to Vera at her shop.”

“I was actually looking for you and your sister.” Flitter turned to her, confused hearing that. “I was kinda making my own search party to bring back Anon and thought you two could help with that?”

Her eyes widened, “You’re going after them?!”

“Well, I’m not just going to stay here and do nothing, not after what happened! So can I count on you two in coming with us?”

Flitter looked at the ground, looking uncertain. “I don’t know. I’m not used to going out and doing that kind of stuff, it sounds like it’d be dangerous and…” Her words trailed off as she didn’t appear up to helping.

“Flitter, it’s not just going to be you and me, we’ll be going in as a group watching each other's sides. Don’t you want to help if it means getting Anon back?”

“Of course I do! I’m just not used to going out on my own like this, that’s more of my sister's thing to do the exciting stuff. I usually follow her when she does things, but this seems like a bit much for either of us. Everyone’s heard about the Princess telling the townsfolk us about the rebels that took him, and how dangerous they are.”

“It’ll be fine, Flitter. We’ll be there and back with Anon in tow right beside us. And your sister is invited as well, so she’ll be there too.”

She scuffed her hoof on the ground, staring at the dirt. “I… I’ll talk to my sister about this, but I think I can try to help if my sister’s going too. I’m not sure what I’ll be able to do, but I can try.”

“You’ll need to hurry and seek her out if we’re to make it out in time. Make sure you've packed up for at least a week’s travel to be safe. Go get your gear and be back at my place as soon as you can when you two are ready.”

The mare nodded, taking off into the air. With that done, that left Lyra with one last task: talking to Twilight. She hoped to try and get that information from her, somehow. It was already getting dark so she had to hurry if they were to make it out of town that night.

Arriving at the library, Lyra saw nothing appearing out of order, though strangely dusty. She couldn’t see Twilight anywhere down on the bottom floor.

“Twilight!” she called out, making her way in.

Hooves could be heard coming from the upper floor soon after. “Sorry, I can’t help you with any—” She stopped mid-sentence, noticing Lyra. “I suppose I should have expected you to come by,” she said, walking down the stairs to her couch. “I’m assuming you’re here about the information from the interrogation?”

“Pretty much.”

Twilight motioned for Lyra to sit down on the couch as she levitated a chair for herself. As they got comfortable, a folder levitated into the room, directly toward Twilight.

“This is all the info that we’ve managed to get. They’re still interrogating the rebel, to see if there’s anything else of importance before leaving, but it’s a good start with what we have.”

Twilight flipped through the pages, “The pony in custody was ordered to help capture Anon for their ‘cause’, whatever that is. He seems to be tight-lipped on that information, for the time being, but we do know that they want to use him as a bargaining tool against the princesses.”

“A bargaining tool? What would they bargain him for?”

“His safety, for one. He is a very important figure right now, especially after the princess announced his presence fully to outside nations, so anything that happens could result in some… difficult situations arising from everyone.”

“This is so stupid, using him like this. What are they even hoping to get out of this?”

“Different things depending on who you asked, but the main point seems to be having one of the princesses step down from their rule and allow the other full rulership.”

“One of them? They don’t care which one?”

“No, they do. Two rebel groups are vying to get the princess of their choice in full power. I’ve only been kept up to date on the bigger facts recently, only in the past told to keep an eye out for any being spotted in our town.”

“Do we know where they’re located and who took Anon?”

“Sort of.” Twilight went through the papers once more. “We know the general location of where they might be, from other rebels we have in custody. Their bases, from what we could discern, are fairly close to one another. That confuses me and almost feels like there’s something more that we’re not seeing. We have an idea where they took Anon, but since the pony you took down hasn’t identified which group he came from, it’s a split on which group has him. That’s why we need some more info from him before leaving.”

‘So it’s a fifty-fifty split on choosing where to go when we leave.’

“You’ll be leaving tomorrow then?”

“Hopefully, though like I said it could be the next day at the latest,” Twilight answered before getting up from her seat, feeling the conversation was closing up.

“That’s good to hear,” Lyra replied, getting up herself. “If you wouldn’t mind, can I take a look at the documents?”

Twilight gave Lyra a look. “Why do you want to look at them?”

“I sort of… want to read about the rebels that took Anon.”

She stared at Lyra for a moment more before turning away. “Sorry Lyra, that’s not a good enough reason to give these papers to you. If that’s all, you should get back home and rest up.”

Lyra started to panic, not sure what to do. Just as Twilight was heading up the stairs, Lyra ran up to her.

“Wait! I, I do have a reason to look at it, a good one!”

She slowly turned to her, raising an eyebrow. “And that is?”

“I might have… sort of… kinda was… planning on going out as well.”

Twilight groaned, “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”

“I gave you a reason, sooo… can I look at the papers now?”

“No,” she said without hesitation, “I can’t let just anyone read this. You should trust me and the others in bringing him back. There’s not a whole lot you can do on your own out there.”

“I’m not doing this alone; I’ve already got my own group gathered up getting ready. I feel I can make a huge difference in this. Hay, if you wind up finding him first I’m not going to complain one bit, but I want to help in this. He’s my friend and I won’t just stand back without at least trying!”

Twilight’s aggressive look disappeared, though she didn’t appear willing. “Lyra, I still can’t let you have them. I couldn’t stand the thought of betraying the princess’s trust by doing that. I shouldn’t even be discussing this stuff with you in the first place.”

“Surely you of all beings can understand why I need to do this,” Lyra started. “You're the Element of Friendship! You should know that friends stick with one another to the bitter end. Well, Anon’s my friend. A really great friend! I can’t just sit around, twiddling my hooves as my friend is out there being subjected to who knows what. I don’t think I can live with myself, knowing I didn’t give it my all to get him back.”

With a frown, Twilight looked away, her ears flattened. “I understand what you’re saying, I do. But I can’t Lyra, I just… I just can’t.” She started climbing the stairs to the upper floor. “I believe you should leave. Go home, get some rest. Just trust in us to do our job.”

Lyra couldn’t help grunting in frustration as she left the library. Standing outside, she paced back and forth, trying to figure out what to do next. Clearly, she couldn’t just leave without getting the information. The guard station wouldn’t just let her inside to collect the information from their interrogations, after all.

‘Okay then, I’ll just have to get creative. And by creative, I mean break in when she leaves.’

Walking around the treehouse, Lyra found a bush and hid in wait. It didn’t take long for Twilight to leave the building, a guard leading her away. As soon as she was out of sight, Lyra immediately headed for the door, only to find it locked.

“Yeah, I should have expected that,” Lyra said. “Now what?”

Lyra, in her great bag of ideas, came up with the genius idea of climbing the tree and going in through the upstairs window. That thing was always left open, she had observed in the past.

Once she reached the top, it didn’t take any effort to get inside. The moment she stepped inside, she had to dive to the side, seeing something coming at her.

‘Did Twilight set up some kind of defense system? Oh, I should have known Twilight would do something like this.’

Looking at what attacked her, she spotted a familiar animal compatriot, Owlowiscious, blinking off to the side, staring at her. Lyra harrumphed, dusting off her shoulder. She looked around, trying to figure out where the documents were.

“You wouldn’t happen to know where Twilight hid the papers would you?”

The bird tilted its head, “Who?”

“Twilight? The mare that lives here and manages everything. Do you know where she puts them?”

The bird tilted its head the other way, “Who?”

“No, no, I’m not looking—” Lyra stopped, narrowing her eyes. “Oh-ho-ho! I am NOT falling for this again like the last few times! Just stay there you stupid bird.”

“Jerk.”

Lyra turned right around to the owl. “What?”

“Who?”

‘…I must be imagining things.’

Lyra wasn’t even sure why she bothered with the owl, it never told her anything whenever she tried sneaking inside the library before. She went back to looking for the papers, uncertain on how much time she had to get the info copied

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“Darn it, Vinyl!” Octavia screamed, throwing another bow at her friend. “Why do you keep agreeing to do things and involving me WITHOUT EVER ASKING ME?!”

“Because this time we’re helping a friend!” Vinyl rubbed her chin in thought before going to her closet, full of her tools. “So should I bring with me my portable stage travel equipment or my experimental speakers?”

“Don’t you think I may have wanted a say in this at all! We don’t even know where we’re headed yet, and you just went ahead with agreeing without any thought! AGAIN!”

“…Maybe I should bring the stage equipment and replace them with my experimental speakers,” Vinyl said, grabbing said items and putting them onto her bed with magic.

Octavia slumped to the ground, her butt sticking in the air as she rubbed her head into the floor. “Why me? Why did I have to befriend somepony like you?”

“Because I’m too cool NOT to have as a friend!” Vinyl proclaimed as she neatly packed her gear together. “I better bring extra goggles, just in case.” Octavia continued to groan as Vinyl rummaged through her gear. “Come on,” she said, grabbing her friend's tail with magic, levitating her toward her room. “You have to go pack too. Make sure to bring additional bows. Oh, and instead of your usual cello, bring the new one!”

“That stupid thing isn’t even ready! I still don’t know how to properly use it yet!”

“You’ll learn on the go. Besides, that thing should give you a booster in your aiming AND it’s even foldable. It’s so much easier to travel with you have to admit.”

Octavia simply groaned once more, picking herself and walking into her bedroom. “I can already tell this trip is going to be a bothersome mess.”

“Possibly!” Vinyl agreed. “But it’s for a good friend that needs help.”

“Sure, right,” Octavia mumbled as she began to pack her stuff.

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“Flitter, do you know where my travel coat is?”

“For the last time, it’s my coat, and you can borrow it!” Flitter threw her jacket at Cloudchaser’s face before going back to her closet. “You better not rip it up like the others.”

“Heh, thanks.” She put the coat on before flapping up in the air in a loop. “Oh! I can’t wait to go on this trip. I wonder where we’ll be going off too! We’ve never traveled to many places,” she said as she glared at Flitter, “because of a certain somepony.”

“Hopefully it isn’t someplace too dangerous,” Flitter said, rolling up some bandages into a tin box. “We’re going to need plenty of these. Oh, and some healing cream, and some rubbing cleanser…”

“Yeah, you pack that stuff up, I’ll just pack the better gear we’ll be needing.”

“Every group needs a good first aid kit, just in case of injuries!”

“And every group should also have a good pegasus to back them up with awesome flying techniques!”

“We really should hurry up with this. Lyra said to meet her at her place as soon as we were done to discuss what’s going to happen and I don’t want us to be late.”

“I’ll just make sure my bottled clouds and the liquefied sun is packed up, along with some other things.”

A chuckle escaped Flitter's lips. “Don’t you mean Cel—”

“DON’T… even say that name.”

“It’s not my fault your little invention came out at the worst time and got that ridiculous name.”

“Uuuugh. Try and show off just one invention, and all of a sudden you’re the laughing stock of the local maker’s community.”

“Just hurry up! I want us out the door and all you’ve been doing is flying in the air talking about what may happen and what we may need instead of doing anything!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“And don’t forget to pack for cold weather!”

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“And how much is that, Rarity?”

“This one’s on me, Bon Bon,” Rarity replied as she walked over to the other pony, levitating over a box to her. “I’m sorry about what happened with Anon at the park. I’ll make sure to do my best when the girls and I go out to bring him back.”

Bon Bon smiled at her as she took the box and placed it inside the large bags she currently had on her. “I’m just lucky you could make these so quickly.”

“It was barely an issue for me,” she said, waving her words off.

“I suppose it also helped that your shop was closed up so you didn’t have to deal with anypony.”

“Bon Bon, everypony’s shops are closed today. Anon, being taken like he was, it shook a lot of ponies here.”

'Which made purchasing things difficult for me', Bon Bon thought.

“Thank you for the help, Rarity. I still have a few things I need to go pick up.”

“Do take care now,” Rarity said as the candy mare departed the boutique.

Making her way downtown, Bon Bon took a list out of her sack, scratching off another item on her list.

‘Anon’s going to need clothes when we find him.’

Thinking about Anon, her thoughts drifted to the past month with him. The two had grown quite close to one another, which thinking on that, could be seen as quite a shock. Bon Bon originally never understood how Lyra liked the human, only thinking it was due to him being an alien. It didn’t take long for her to learn the truth of the matter. He was kind, considerate, always around when you needed him.

The thoughts on Anon made her smile. Bon Bon was hopeful about her future with her two very close friends.

‘I’ll ask him about us as soon as we get back.’

Standing in front of a very small building, an older pony sat by its entrance, barring the way in. She looked up from her card game, smiling at Bon Bon.

“Have you come for another meeting with the bakery guild?”

“I have, Nanny Goodwill.”

“A bit early in the month for you.” She flipped a card, taking her time to position it on a pile. “Did you run out of ingredients early? Or are you finally accepting a relocation of your stand?”

Bon Bon rolled her eyes, “I don’t ever plan on moving my stand in the foreseeable future, Nanny.”

“Don’t get too attached to your customers, Sweetie. You may be a wonderful little cook, but you go where the sales are.”

A frown appeared on Bon Bon’s face. “I go where I feel I’m needed for my sales.”

Nanny Goodwill never let her smile drop, placing another card down. “A discussion for another time. I’ve already unlocked the door for you, Sweetie. Go right in.”

The door was now open, Bon Bon uncertain how she always managed to do that without her notice. It led into a dark shack with candlelight off over in the corner. Once the door closed, a hidden floor panel slid to the side, revealing a long stairwell.

Reaching the bottom led to a small room with but a single door. Entering it, Bon Bon could see Mrs. Cake talking to an Earth pony, garbed in a dark suit and hat, wearing a superfluous pair of sunglasses, and a saxophone cutie mark barely seen from his side.

Mrs. Cake was surprised to see Bon Bon. “Please don’t tell me it’s one of those meetings. You already know I dislike being part of that.”

“No, Mrs. Cake, she should not be here,” the unnamed pony calmly spoke. “Why are you here? We agreed to speak later tonight.”

“I don’t have the time. Do you have the packet I asked for?”

Mrs. Cake looked out of her depth. “This isn’t about those monsters, is it? Oh, don’t tell me Anon was secretly one this whole time!”

Bon Bon sighed, “No Mrs. Cake, I can assure you he’s not a monster. But we may be up against some when we go and retrieve him.”

The suited pony finally reacted, his lips thinning. “Agent Bon Bon, we were to anonymously drop off this information for the group that Princess Celestia would send. You did not speak of leaving for the alien yourself.”

“There’s been a change of plans, Agent Bell-Louche. It’ll be faster if I should leave now than wait for the next day or two for the others to head out.”

“I feel like I shouldn’t be here for this,” Mrs. Cake said, looking uncomfortable.

“Must I remind you of the consequences of leaving this area like you are? Your protection from the agency will drop and nothing can stop from your ties being revealed. We can’t protect you if you decide to leave this town as your little contractual loophole will be voided.”

“I’m just… I’m gonna leave.” Mrs. Cake stood up, making her way up the stairs. “When I agreed to a baker guild I thought it would grand. Have nice talks about our businesses, what to prepare for, and maybe some fun gossip. But if I had known it would be a cover-up for all this would I have joined? Probably not!” She continued to speak of her disappointments, getting quieter until she finally left the area.

The two remaining ponies stared at one another. Agent Bell-Louche shook his head, reaching into his jacket and pulling out a manila envelope that he placed on the table, sliding in her direction.

“Information regarding the pony being interrogated was hard to come by, but we did find out they’re located near the badlands This is all the information about recent activities in that area. There’s an informant there you can speak to for recent information on the area.”

Bon Bon skimmed through the pages. “There’s information about the hundred-year war here?”

“We managed to find out the two rebels groups have taken over old fortifications in that area. There are a few maps we purchased from adventurers in the area to help give us some idea of a path to either group.”

“This will help a great deal. Thank you, Agent Bell-Louche.”

“I suppose I’ll be taking over the bugbear case here in Ponyville. Prince Blueblood won’t be happy with you leaving the agency.”

She gave a smile, a memory driving its way up. “An agency that was supposed to be dismantled.”

“Lies to detract from infiltrated spies, lies that you helped cover-up.” The pony grunted. “The agency will have a hard time replacing you. Not many competent ponies out there that don’t need a partner to work in the field.”

Bon Bon’s features softened, looking up from the file. “Agent, you all will do fine without me. I’m certain you’ll perform exceptionally on the bugbear case. I may even drop by as a free agent to help out.”

Bell-Louche stood up, saluting her. “It was an honor working with you, Sweetie Drops.”

She shook her head, walking up the stairs. “That’s Agent Bon Bon.”

He watched her walk up the stairs, holding his pose. “…Not after today.”

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Lyra was currently walking back to her house with a fat stack of papers levitating in the air beside her. It took some time gathering it all with how well hidden they were. Lyra never thought that she’d try to hide the papers inside the books themselves. Hilarious, of course, finding it hidden in an odd book: The Great Trix of the Powerful Trade.

The owl made finding it additionally difficult with how it butted into everything Lyra did. She was just happy the dragon Spike wasn’t there, though she found it odd he wasn’t. He hadn’t been around for some time, making her wonder what was up with that. Regardless, now that she had all the information, she could work out where Anon was and set up a plan to retrieve him.

Arriving at her house, she entered the front door and stopped in her tracks. It took her a few moments to remember the place was completely rebuilt, making it so much bigger than before. Slowly moving forward, she looked at the remodeled home, remembering her times with Anon. Like them sitting over on the couch, playing her lyre. Or the dining room table with the three of them eating their meals. Looking up, she could see a beam that she had raised, the exact one that Anon repeatedly rammed his head into.

Placing her papers on a table by the couch, Lyra walked over to the far wall where Anon’s room was located. The door was cracked open, showing a somewhat sparse room that held an enormous bed, table, chair, and drawer. She had hoped to go shopping with him to try and fill the room with his wants. Looking on the bed, she could see the gift she had planned to give him as a welcome back. It was a framed picture of Lyra, Bon Bon, and Anon at the park with a little red bow on the top.

Smiling to herself, she closed the door before moving back to the work she had brought with her. Looking through it, most of it seemed like junk information that didn’t matter in the long run. Why did they think it was important that the rebel pony’s favorite candy was black licorice? Gathering the work, she placed them to her usual work desk, knowing it would take a good long while before she had everything she needed to move forward.

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“...Ah, crud,” were the first words that Lyra uttered, looking at where the work drew her to.

Looking at the map she had in front of her, there were two areas marked on the map. She didn’t think it would take long to get to where Anon was, but it would be a difficult trip with where they were going.

It had taken two hours for her to get everything ready. Bon Bon had arrived after the first hour, telling her she had gotten everything for the trip. She was the one to have gone out, purchasing six tickets for their train ride. It was only in the last few minutes that everyone had finally started to gather in the house, with Bon Bon leading two pegasus ponies in.

“What took you two so long?” Lyra asked as Bon Bon gave them a plate of food.

“Thanks, we haven’t eaten yet,” Flitter said, taking the plate before looking back at Lyra. “Cloudchaser here accidentally destroyed her bag after one of her bottled clouds got loose.”

Everypony looked at her as she quickly swallowed her sandwich. Noticing the attention on her, she gave out a nervous chuckle. “What? I have several jobs, one that includes work in the cloud factory. So I snuck some clouds out, big whoop. And don’t worry; I’ve packed things better this time around.”

“You’re lucky you didn’t destroy anything else at our home,” Flitter remarked, eating her sandwich.

“Now that we’re all here, you mind filling us all on what’s happening with this retrieval of ours?” Octavia asked, sitting at the couch with Vinyl beside her.

Lyra nodded, fully turning around from her desk. “Right. So the plan is obvious, to take Anon back from the rebels. I managed to get the information from Twilight’s place, and what I’ve read is not good. There are two major problems. The first is we don’t exactly know which group took him, as there are two rebel groups. The second is the location on where Anon is at right now.”

Pulling out her map for them, she laid it flat on the table in front of them. They all crowded around, looking at it.

“Whoa, there dude,” Vinyl spoke out, moving her goggles up and looking at the map more closely. “We’re going to The Forest of Dourness?!”

Flitter and Cloudchaser look up at her, confused. “The Forest of Dourness?” Flitter said. “I’ve never heard of that place.”

Vinyl ignored her, looking at Lyra. “Dude, I remember hearing stories about that place when Octavia and I were traveling around. That place is baaad juju with a lot of the strange junk happening down there.” She turned to the pegasi, pulling them close to her. “I even hear that anypony that goes there neeever comes back!”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Cloudchaser says. “How would anyone even know that if nobody comes back to talk about it?”

“Because they turn into gho-o-o-osts!”

Octavia took her bundled up cello and whacked it upside Vinyl’s head, sending her into the ground. “Vinyl, SO not the time for this!”

Vinyl groaned on the ground. “I was only… trying to… lighten the mood…”

“A-Are there r-really g-g-ghosts?” Flitter asked shakily.

“No, there shouldn’t be,” Lyra lied. She had no idea if there were any in there or not. “The place we’re going hasn’t been inhabited in a good long while.” She pointed to a location further down Macintosh Hills, tapping the map. “Over here is an unmarked settlement that’s currently attempting to get back in there and reclaim the lands around since they used to be part of Equestrian territory long ago. That’s our current destination when we board the train.”

Lyra looked around, making sure they were paying attention before continuing. “It’s the last stop before we enter The Forest of Dourness, so a lot of beings set up shop for any wandering travelers that go out there for adventure, riches, or any other reason you can think of. There’s also a research laboratory located in that town that sends me most of my work out of the forest.”

“Work from the forest?” Cloudchaser questioned. “I thought your work came from the princess.”

“It does, but when there isn’t much to analyze from her I’m usually sent stuff from other places, the badlands down there being a major one.”

“Which is why I don’t like that forest one bit,” Vinyl said, taking a seat on the couch while rubbing her head. “Lyra here told us too many terrifying stories about that awful, horrible place!” Vinyl shivered, staring at the map.

“I suppose that only means we’ll have an easier time going into the forest if Lyra knows what to expect,” Cloudchaser said in between a bite, trying to finish off what was on her plate.

“We’ll still need to be on our guard there,” Lyra told them. “Most of it is still unexplored so who knows what is out there.”

“Which makes me question just what made the rebels decide they would want to be out there in the first place,” Octavia said.

Rolling the map up, Lyra placed it inside one of her bags. “With that out of the way, we just have to decide which rebel location we’ll go to. The rebels go through Mercanville since it’s the only safe way into the forest without traveling through the badlands.

“We’ll find more info when we get there, but from the looks of things, I’m thinking the day rebels took them.”

“Is that what they’re calling themselves?” Flitter asked.

“No, they don’t have an official name so they’re being identified with what side they’re rebelling,” Lyra answered. Everyone gave her confused looks. “It’s a long story. I’ll explain on the train ride there. We have to get moving before we miss it.” Getting up, Lyra grabbed her packs, strapping them to herself. “Grab your gear and make sure you’re all good to go. If anything is missing that we need we can get it at Mercanville.”

“I’ve got plenty of rations for food in case we run out,” Bon Bon said, strapping herself up, “just so everyone knows.”

Lyra looked at her friend, confused at what she was seeing. “Bon Bon?”

“Yes?”

“…Why are you wearing your lab coat?”

Bon Bon looked at said lab coat, and then to Lyra, “It makes me fool good.”

Lyra shook her head, ignoring the silliness of her friend.

“You think there’s a chance we can catch up to the ponies that took Anon?” Flitter asked, tightening her straps.

“Doubtful,” Lyra answered, “they have a full day’s head start and I don’t think they had any reason to stop for anything. Though it shouldn’t hurt to ask at our location if they saw who took Anon and make a more informed decision on where to go.”

‘It’s going to be difficult, but I’m not coming back without him.’

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ Elsewhere ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

“When is the human to arrive?”

“Anytime now. They’ve already made it past the checkpoint with the alien.”

“Good. Once the human arrives and is caged, we can begin with the negotiations with the princesses along with any other goals we can proceed with.”

“Sir… are you sure this was a good idea taking the alien? We never even discussed this with our leader.”

“It’s a serious gamble I’ll admit, but I had to make a decision and the risks seem manageable in taking it. All we need is to put pressure on the princess and the—”

A knocking can be heard, interrupting the two figures.

“Come in.”

The door opened, shedding light inside the barely lit room, with only a candle previously providing light.

“Sir, the alien has arrived and is currently being held inside the cell that was requested.”

The two ponies looked to one another before getting up from their seats and walking out the door. They were quickly escorted to a cell that contained a large figure lying on the ground, turned away from them.

“Were there any problems in acquiring him?”

“Sir, we lost the pegasus that went with the retrieval of the human.”

The pony sighed, looking through the bars where the human was lying. “I have a feeling that will come back to bit us. Tell me, were they followed?”

“No sir, they were not.”

“Very well. Have them bring me a report on what exactly happened and why one of ours was left behind.”

“There’s one last thing to report. Cross Love noticed something odd about the human.”

“Cross Love… Isn’t that one of the leading healers in the country? How did you manage to come across that individual?”

“We noticed him in Mercanville when transporting the human and forced him to work for us. Though it didn’t take much effort on our part, allowing him to check on the alien as a side benefit.”

“So what exactly did he find odd about the alien?”

“Sir, there seems to be some odd foreign magic located near his head. We’re not sure just what it is, but it doesn’t seem to be doing much other than pulsing something out.”

“That might be a locator spell placed on him.”

“Near his head, Sir?”

“There had been reports on magic users being forced with leaving his head alone from magical use, perhaps to keep this under wraps. We’ll have to perform a magical delve to remove it from him, and soon. Bring in Cross Love to set up a room to perform this.”

The pony saluted, leaving the room. Two guards then walked toward them, taking a position on either side of the cage the human was in who was sound asleep and unaware of the world around him.

~End Chapter Fifteen~

Chapter Sixteen – Forced Into The Unknown

‘I feel like crap,’ was the first thought Anon had, waking up.

His neck was stiff, his head felt like it was in a vice, and his back was killing him from sleeping on the ground. Confused about his current situation, he rubbed at his eyes, clearing his vision. He quickly confirmed he was lying on the ground.

‘Did Vinyl drug me again?’

As his vision cleared, he looked around his immediate vicinity, finding himself in what looked like a room made of cement and metal bars lined up at the far end.

‘Why am I in a cell?’ Standing up, he could tell it was quite spacious. ‘Am I seriously in a jail cell? What did I do? I don’t recall Ponyville having any jail cells, though I could be wrong. Where exactly am I?’

Looking around for any clues to his whereabouts, he spotted a window in the back wall high up, also lined with bars. He was upset there wasn’t even a proper cot for him to lie down on.

Sitting against the far wall, he faced himself toward the open bars, trying to figure out why he was there. It was hard to see much of anything with how dimly lit it all was, his only proper light source being the barred window above him. He held his jacket close too him, finding the place colder than he’d like.

The only thing he could recall last was talking to Lyra, then nothing but orange and yellow sparkles all around. It didn’t really tell him much at all. Perhaps they’re keeping him locked off from everyone for some reason. Maybe he somehow was carrying pony aids and they couldn’t risk him being near anyone.

Feeling his stomach kicking him, he held it, finding himself hungry. He hoped someone came to check up on him soon enough to get him some food.

Hearing a shuffling of hooves, Anon averted his attention to the open bars. Anon could barely make out the shadows of what appeared to be ponies standing there.

‘Thank goodness, I can ask them why I’m here and get some food as well.’

Standing up, Anon made his way to the bars. “Hey there,” he called out, standing in front of the bars now. “Can you tell me why I’m here? What did I do?”

The two ponies immediately turned to him with wide eyes. They were donned in what looked like metal armor that was very plain looking.

‘That’s odd. Usually, their armor was colored something to pop out. Having them wear dull armor is strange.’

“Rocky, go report it’s awake.”

“I don’t want to, you do that Roller.”

“Look could either of you tell me why I’m here? Also, can I get something to eat?”

The two look up at him once more, and then back to one another.

“See! I told you to have its food prepared, but nooo!”

“Just shut up! I’ll get it later okay? Now go report he’s up.”

“You do it! You’re the one that should’ve fed the darn alien.”

“But I wasn’t the one that forgot to provide it the stupid blankets. See? It’s obvious that it’s cold.”

Anon listened to them bicker back and forth for what felt to him like a good five minutes. He leaned his head on the metal bars, watching them argue about trivial things he didn’t care about.

“Fine!” the one named Roller spat out. “We’ll settle this like old times!”

Rocky glared at Roller. “Very well then…”

They stared at one another for a few seconds, making Anon wonder if they were really about to get into a fight. Immediately, the two of them shot out a hoof toward one another.

“Hah!” Rocky laughed triumphantly. “Paper wins over rock!”

“Two out of three!”

Anon had never felt more dumbfounded in his life, watching two ponies attempting to play a game of hoof, hoof, hoof.

“Ah-hah!” Rocky roared. “Scissor beats paper! Now go report it's awake.”

The pony called Roller grunted, exiting the room, leaving Anon alone with the other guard. He was starting to become doubtful that they were royal guards of any kind. They were also a lot louder. And dumber. Was it possible there were other guards that he didn’t know about running around?

“So,” Anon started once more, “why exactly am I here?”

The guard just stared at him, staying quiet. It was unnerving seeing Rocky staring up at him, eyes wide and unmoving. He almost looked constipated with how serious he was taking this unofficial staring contest Anon wasn’t a part of.

Anon sighed, walking back to where he was previously, leaning against the wall.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed before the guard from before returned, with another guard with slightly more intricate yet still plain looking armor.

“Open the cell,” the pony ordered.

Rocky grabbed a key off its side, opening the cell door. Roller walked in with a bulky set of cuffs that were fitted for a pony, not for someone like Anon. Placing them on his arms, the two watched as it slowly slipped off his arms and onto the ground in a loud clank.

Anon and Roller stared at the cuffs, then the guard looked at his arms, then at the cuffs, right before walking backward out of the room. He whispered to the pony that appeared to be in charge. That pony looked quite miffed, harshly whispering back to the guard. Roller immediately left the room as Anon stared, blinking at the whole situation.

“So, can you tell me why I’m here?”

“Hold your questions until later alien.”

He scrunched up his brow, getting annoyed at the situation. ‘Can no one just tell me why I’m here?’

Roller returned with a thing of rope. Walking up to Anon, he proceeded to bind his hands up, which Anon found amusing to watch someone without magic do.

Once he was done, the pony moved right beside Anon. “Come, alien,” the pony in charge ordered as he slowly walked off.

Anon could only sigh as he followed the pony with Roller following close to him as well.

They led him through multiple sets of hallways, identical to the one he was previously in until he was led outside. It was day time which allowed him to finally see where he was. He wasn’t sure, but it closely resembled the Everfree Forest. Anon didn’t like that one bit.

Their group proceeded forward past a few buildings, with additional ponies walking around on guard. There wasn’t a lot of them around for the size of the place, almost appearing empty. Anon came to an abrupt halt, almost bumping into the pony in front of him from them slowing down in front of a building.

Going inside, they led him through a few more halls until finally he was placed inside of a room that looked like a medical room. There was a unicorn that quickly noted the group, letting out a surprised noise as he placed down his instruments.

“Fantastic, you have brought him here.”

“Just hurry and remove that thing from his head.”

“Wait, what thing from my－” He was interrupted as his body locked up, jaw shut tight and arms held against him, a yellowy haze surrounding his body.

“Yes, yes, of course. To examine such a thing, from such an alien mind, what a treat this will be!”

Anon was lifted into the air, brought forth to a table, and gently placed down on it. The others swiftly left as several straps went across his body, holding him tightly in place.

“When I had first heard about you, I thought nothing of it. Another anomaly amongst a world teeming with life.” A few odd items laid on a cart, several that made no sense on a glance. “The more I heard of you, the more I thought about just what I could be learning from you. I made a mistake, thinking you weren’t something to pay any attention to. A truly foreign being, not of our lands. Just what could be learned from you.”

“I’d prefer it if you didn’t lobotomize me,” Anon said, now seeing his jaw back in motion.

“Lobotomize? Lobotomize.” He repeated the words a few times, playing with something that looked like a cross between a magic wand and a can of coke. “What an odd word. I’ll have to ask you later on what that means.”

A surprised shout had Anon staring up at the ceiling, the table leaned back. He felt a tap on his forehead, what looked like that same instrument from before poking him repeatedly until it reached his nose.

“A peculiar thing, that nose of yours. So much cartilage inside of it. And those ears, just flat against your skull. How fascinating.”

“W-What are you going to do to me?”

“Hmm? Oh, nothing difficult, at least for the likes of me.” He tapped Anon’s forehead once more. “A foreign, magical intrusion into your brain matter, just sitting there, pulsing around. No one else would have seen it, not without bumping into its magical pulses. I know you’re not supposed to have any magic in you, or at least, nothing in your head. Yet here you are, with something there.”

A whirring sound came from the instrument, making Anon nervous. He tried to get off the table, finding his bindings keeping him tight against the table.

“All those reports on you, and I barely got a glimpse at them. Even my colleagues had more access to them and they’re several magical masteries lower than I! How I’ve been anxious to just get a chance to look at you. But here I am, stuck on the outskirts of this miserable place, heading off magical research from this forest.” The pony gave off a sound of disgust. “What a waste of my doctorate, of my talents!

“I’m going to force it out of you and examine the internals of it all. Then I can get a better close of you, as was promised.” The pony seemed to smile wide, lowering the instrument flat, an odd thrum sounding out. “This shouldn’t hurt one bit… as long as the pulse doesn’t have magical backlash as a defense mechanism. Let’s hope it doesn’t.”

At first, he couldn’t feel anything happening, the device simply moving up and down on his forehead. Some time passed, making Anon wonder if anything was even happening.

It started as a whining sound, slowly building up in intensity. Colors started to appear in his vision, little flecks of the rainbow smearing around; not an unfamiliar sight, but one that he wasn’t ready for. A sudden jerk spasmed in his head, slamming him into the table.

“Finally, I was wondering when the magic would pulse out once more.” Anon twitched around as something cold dripped down his nose. “A powerful magic, for sure, and one not even I am prepared to destroy. The trick to these kinds of nasty things is to wear it down and simply give it a path of escape, making it leave so it can perform its task. Not that it can once outside, mind you.”

Anon’s vision started to clear, yet his mind was working overtime. So many emotions started to run through him as if a cork had been released: Fear, anger, happiness, surprise, and so much more. It was hard to contain it all.

“What a disgusting bit of magic,” Cross Love said, holding a bowl with the collected drippings. “I don’t recognize this signature. Pink? How would pink be capable of sending out a signal? I was expecting a purple or blue, or even silver, but pink? I need to go over my notes in a bit, something doesn’t feel right.”

“Has the signal stopped pulsing?” a voice called out into the room.

“Yes, yes, you’ll find the magical intrusion is now gone,” Cross spoke out, holding the bowl up into the air. “Now if you’ll allow me what was promised?”

“Very well. Keep things from getting out of control or you know what will happen with you.”

“Bah, I’m simply interested in looking into his inner-workings, perhaps even what his magical potential could be in certain scenarios. Nothing too invasive, I assure you.”

It was like he was truly seeing the world for the first time, previously stumbling around in the dark without any notice or regard to anything before. How difficult it was for him to calm down from such a state of emotional euphoria, though in fairness, being tied down did help with one’s situation. And having let his emotions settle down, one emotion prevailed over them all: pure, unadulterated anger. Anon felt like he was capable of channeling that anger into a very… focused kind of activity, as he had never been more certain of himself and of his actions, and just what he was about to do should the opportunity present itself.

“I just need to move him over to the other table where all my other tools are and I’ll be ready to fully inspect his bits and bobs.” Cross Love started to unstrap Anon, working his way from the legs up. “How I’ve wanted to truly work on something so different. Why the research papers I can write on this alone will sustain me for many years to come!”

“Doctor Cross Love, should you not have him bound with a spell or perhaps drug him in some regard?”

“Bah, the previous spell works well enough with conking out any subject it’s worked inside.”

A microphone seemed to squeal out, something rummaging in the area before a new voice hastily appeared. “Doctor, I must inform you that the spell you just used has a habit of intermixing with any spell manifestation that exits out of a subject, thus removing the added spell matrix that puts the subject at rest.”

Having removed the last binding, Cross Love looked at Anon who stared back. “Oh. Oh, dear. I had forgotten that tidbit, not having used such a spell in so long.” The sight of Anon staring back unnerved the doctor. “I, ehr, do hope we can come to a happy medium, or an agreement of sorts that can satisfy－”

A fist was sent straight into the pony’s eye, the unexpected attack forcing him back and away from the table. It gave Anon enough time to sit up and get on his feet, pushing the table back to give him some room. The doctor still hadn’t recovered from the attack, allowing Anon time to drive an underhanded fist straight into the jaw of the doctor. His head shot up, Cross Love’s mental functions immediately shutting down with his body crumpling to the ground.

Anon hadn’t hesitated attacking Cross Love, knowing to do so would allow the magic-user time to shoot out a spell. He ignored the microphone squealing out noisily, orders of trying to subdue him spoken away from it, taking stock of what was going on.

He was in a facility, having been kidnapped (or foalnapped using Equestrian lexicon) for some unknown but clearly heinous reason, and was nearly experimented on by some two-bit character. Whatever had been done to him gave him some odd clarity that he wasn’t aware he needed. And in his mind-addled state, so many things had gone through it, demanding some kind of reaction from him: His time with Lyra and Bon Bon along with all their crazy shenanigans. Twilight’s odd little freakout and him being move. And how could he not remember Vinyl's little drug party; how unfortunate for him, as he now remembered. Every. Single. Thing. Boy did he feel like a horses ass, pun fully intended.

He managed to set aside those thoughts for future retrospecting, only one task taking his sole focus: escaping the facility full of crazy ponies.

The room didn’t seem to hold much in regards to his escape, though it was very spacious for him as it was made for a pony to roam around in. The two tables lacked much in the way of opportunistic weaponry, and he wasn’t inclined with taking up the tools the doctor had. He’d fight, but he wasn’t the kind of person to maim or perform lasting harm.

The sole outlier was some rolls of tape. He quickly bounded up his fists, making sure to keep it nice and tight so he could strike effectively and with as little damage to his hands. College for him, as he loved to recollect at times, gave him many opportunities to learn and widen his horizons. His boxing club was a fun activity to keep him in shape, albeit his skills always lacked compared to all the other members. He was no more a mascot to their club than a real fighter.

Still, it gave him basic rundowns on how to fight and what to aim for when it came to sudden bouts. And right then, right there, it would support him enough to take down some ponies and make his way back.

He decided to keep things as they were, even pushing the table further to him. He had plenty of room to move around, only needing to keep aware of his distance to the tables and stands, but for the ponies, it would be difficult to maneuver in. Anon ignored the voices on the mic demanding him to give up, pumping himself up for the inevitable fight to get out of there.

The door slammed open, showing his first opponent being a pegasus. The pony wasn’t even properly armored, only wearing a single cloak, flapping in the air with each beating of the wings. It was already in the air, though it took its time, trying to look intimidating, puffing its chest out as it slowly hovered in his direction.

“You have the privilege of being taken in by I, Rio! Give up now, alien, or face the wrath that is－”

Anon wouldn’t let the chance go, fists held up, head tucked in as he dashed forward. The pony wasn’t ready for the attack, getting an over-headed fist straight into its puffed-up chest, knocking it down from the air. He slammed his foot right into its cape, holding it down as he slammed the flat of his knuckles into its jawline several times, each hit rebounding to the ground before the pony finally relented, going unconscious.

The next two ponies came directly after the pegasus was knocked out, two burly looking Earth ponies standing side-by-side. These ones were more sensible, wearing what appeared to be some faux-leather armor along with dull metal helms. He could only see their faces and legs being exposed, wearing armor that he could now see wasn’t metal but really dulled leather made to look like metal. He assumed the leather was fake, refusing the idea the ponies would make anything of skins.

They looked at the pegasus, lowering their heads down and snorting out, rearing back to charge him. A mistake they’d soon find as Anon wasn’t confined to the limited movements they were, easily side dodging their attempts. A fist went into the side of a guard, its body shoved into the other as the two toppled down.

Instead of trying to take advantage Anon moved to their fronts once more. He knew that their back attacks would be quite devastating to him, and he also knew the Earth ponies were simply sturdier of the three archetypes, meaning more side attacks wouldn’t do much but perhaps wound them while leaving him open to counter-attacks. He wasn’t a well-trained fighter and was rusty on his skills, so he had to play it somewhat safe. Attacking their heads, mainly their jawlines would be how he’d take them down.

Shaking its head, one of the guards got back up and without thought, simply charged Anon. Clearly, no thought was put into the attack, thinking it would simply mow him down. A fist straight into its unprotected throat put a stop to it, the pony choking as Anon drove another fist into its jaw several times. The pony, just like the other two before it, went down.

A wince came from him, misplacing an attack with his fist. His knuckles throbbed, likely having fractured or broken them with the attack. Still, he held his fists up, awaiting the fourth pony.

It looked at him, then at his compatriot before snorting like before. It charged at him, yet at the last moment it slid, the momentum strangely allowing him up onto his hind legs, throwing a front left leg at Anon’s chest.

It truly was unexpected for Anon to see that, yet Anon felt this was a major mistake on the pony. Anon was already standing upright, ready for oncoming attacks, and now it opened its whole undercarriage open. A dodge to its right side and Anon slammed his good fist right into the stomach. All air was knocked out, the pony teetering to the ground. Anon wouldn’t allow such a thing to pass, jumping forward and wrapping his arms around the pony. Lifting him up high he slammed the body straight into the ground, a gargling scream coming from the pony.

The pony wasn’t knocked out, but it was out of the fight, the guard moaning in pain, unable to get up. Turning to the door he could hear the frantic clopping of hooves, a unicorn now standing in front of the door out of breath. Anon had no idea how to fight a unicorn properly, the only thing he could come up with was to get as close as he could to punch in their glass jaws. Intimidation was a powerful tool at his disposal, and one he hoped to capitalize on.

Slowly dropping his arms to his sides, Anon straightened his back, turning to the unicorn and slowly walked towards her.

The unicorn narrowed her eyes, still trying to control her breath. “Surrender thine self to us or face thy wrath, foreign adversary!”

Making a show of it, Anon shoved his foot underneath the pegasus in his path, picking him up with his foot and tossing the body aside. To the unicorn, it was seen quite differently, him monstrously kicking her fellow guardspony across the room. She only started to notice all the other guards were strewn about the room defeated while the human appeared in perfect condition, advancing on her position.

“S-Stay thy hoof or… or thou shall… shall…”

Keeping his composure, Anon walked right up to the now shivering unicorn, looking down on her with unblinking eyes. Inhaling deeply, he held it for a few seconds, building the tension of the situation before bellowing out at her, screaming deep from his lungs.

The unicorn screamed back, her wits at an end before her horn flashed, teleporting away from the scene. Just down the hall, a group of ponies was staring back, all looking at Anon like he was a demon sent from Tartarus.

Anon knew he was likely beat right there, not even he could come up with the strength or skill to take down the small group he saw. But he wasn’t about to give up, letting out another scream as he charged the horrified ponies who could only scream back in fear.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X~ ~X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The shaking of the sleeping cot jostled Lyra about as she read through the documents she had copied. She wasn’t sure how many times she had gone over it, but it helped keep her mind preoccupied with something. The six of them had been traveling for some time now, nearly closing in on Mercanville. The other five had been resting up, though Lyra attempted to keep them up and be more informed on the two rebel groups. After the first hour, they all unanimously decided to ignore her and got some rest.

Lyra had already gotten some sleep herself so she felt there was no need to rest up. Brushing her mane back, she looked back at her papers. The information only gave her a general idea where they’d have Anon, along with two different routes to take on where he might be. It was obvious they’d have to look around Mercanville for any info to help make a decision before they headed out into the forest.

The train shuddered about, a muffled whistle to accompany it. Quickly after, a knock could be heard at the door. It opened, revealing one of the crew members in their uniform, garbed of stitching mimicking bones and a stylish face mask appearing like a skull.

“We will be departing passengers in no more than ten minutes so be ready,” he said with a gentle voice.

“Ah, thanks,” Lyra said, trying to ignore the clothing. Tipping his little red hat, the pony left soon after. “I swear they’ll come up with the weirdest ideas for train rides.”

“What was that about?” Vinyl asked with a yawn.

“We’re arriving in Mercanville in less than ten minutes,” Lyra answered, putting her papers away.

“Oh thank Solaire!” Cloudchaser cheered, flapping her wings a few times before sitting once more. “My wings are so sore! I need to get out and properly stretch them in the sky.”

“Just make sure all of our stuff is packed and ready to go so we can immediately head out and go info searching.”

“Info searching?” Flitter questioned. “I thought we had everything ready?”

“Flitter, we only have a general idea where Anon went,” Lyra told her. “We should check around to see who came through here so we know which group to go after. I think we’ll have to stay in groups of three while we ask around. This place is full of weird stuff, so it’d be safer that way.”

“Where should we meet up and how long will this take?” Octavia asked, grabbing her case from the overhead compartment.

Looking through her pack, Lyra grabbed her timepiece. It was already closing in on five. “We’ll all meet back here at the train in approximately two hours’ time to discuss what we found. Depending on the info we’ll decide on what we’ll do next, such as leave or stay in the town.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to stay the night?” Flitter asked.

“It might better to get a head start out in the forest and camp out there, though once more it depends on what info we can dig up if that’s a good idea or not. The sooner we start going out, the sooner we can find Anon.”

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

“Just make sure not to stir up any trouble,” Bon Bon said.

Lyra spoke up, “And also remember this isn’t a tourist stop! We’re here to collect info and then come back here, got it!”

The train started to brake, rocking side to side as it slowed down at its stop. Grabbing their packs, the group made their way to the exit, departing off the train.

“Thank you for riding Monsieur Bones’ Fantastic Trip!” a crew member greeted them off. “May you consider us for future rides, ‘cause our train will forever run!”

Not taking too much consideration into what was said, the six of them looked around the place, amazed at what they were seeing. The streets were filled with stands selling different kinds of merchandise and oddities, foods they’ve never seen, full of smells that were both eerily strange and enticingly foreign.

“Wow, this place looks active,” Flitter said, looking at all the beings walking around the place.

“Lyra, I thought this place was just for travelers and such,” Cloudchaser said. “What’s with all this?”

“This is a hub spot for a lot of merchants to make some good bits,” Lyra answered. “So even though it’s a place for travelers, many beings take up shop to purchase what’s found in the forest and sell things that come from their homelands. There’s quite a bit imported in and out of this place as a result.”

Stands filled with different kinds of beings, from yaks to griffons to dogs, even the rare dragon could be seen in the area trying to make a bit.

“This place is so cool,” Cloudchaser said with a smile. “After we get Anon we have to check this place out.”

A murmur of agreement came from the rest of the group as they continued staring at the town.

“Just remember to stick by one another and keep an eye on your pack from any snatchers. We need to go around a lot of places asking about the rebels who came here and some of the beings here would love nothing more than to take advantage of newcomers.”

“Hold up a moment,” Octavia said, looking at Lyra, “you didn’t tell us who’s being paired up.”

“Ah, I nearly forgot that. Flitter, you’re going to come with me and Octavia. Bon Bon is with Cloudchaser and Vinyl.”

“W-Why are you splitting us up?” Flitter asked. “I mean, we can totally handle things on our own,” she said, grabbing Cloudchaser by her side in a one-sided hug.

“No, Lyra’s right to have you two split up,” Octavia spoke up. “Having our groups stay diversified will help in the long run. I know plenty of times when we could have used the help of a pegasus.”

“I’m agreeing with them Flitter,” Cloudchaser said, slipping out of her sister's hug and floating toward Bon Bon.

Flitter looked at her sister with a frown. “Are you sure about this, Cloudy?”

“Sure I’m sure, we’ll be back together soon enough alright?”

Flitter flattened her ears against her head, letting out a small whine before slowly making her way to Lyra and Octavia.

Lyra checked her timepiece once more. “Everypony, be back here by seven o’clock to discuss what we found. Try not to dilly-dally too much here.”

“W-Where should we start looking?” Flitter asked nervously, looking at the crowd.

“We should start in the central area where the more common trading is held and move out from there.”

Making their way down the busy streets, the ponies looked at all the fascinating things on display, doing their best to sidestep any pedestrians minding their own. The further down they went, the busier the street got. There were all kinds of things that kept trying to pull them away and distract their group, and once or twice a being would get a bit too close to their packs, reminding them to stay close together.

“We’re here,” Lyra announced, stopping them in their tracks.

“This place is stark raving mad,” Vinyl said, gawking at the scenery. “Why haven’t I been here for a concert?”

There were many large stands and areas set up to sell their wares, places to eat, and places of other oddities that were difficult to describe to them. There were even a few khajiits for them to see, which surprised Lyra seeing. It was very loud, from all the yelling and strange sounds being made, it was almost defining to them. Flitter scooted closer to Bon Bon, warily looking at the passers-by. The others were more open in looking around.

“I’ve always wanted to go here!” Vinyl said. “There are so many things you can only get here, and many other things that you can find dirt cheap!”

Lyra narrowed her eyes at the group, seeing them wanting to explore. “Hey hey hey! Don’t forget why we’re here.”

The group returned their focus to Lyra, their smiles vanishing. Vinyl clucked her tongue at her. “Yeah I know, you don’t need to be so strict about it.”

“If you all don’t realize it by now, this is the market place where all the major trades go on. Looking around here is a good start for us. As much as it bugs me to say, you may have to purchase a few things here or even pay off some of these beings to open up with the info, but do make sure you’re not wasting your time, you’ve got less than two hours so make the best out of what you have.”

Vinyl, who appeared to be the one taking charge of her group, waved Lyra off, “We can handle things on our end here.”

“Just don’t get lost or wind up in trouble, okay?”

She merely gave her a cocky grin before once more waving at Lyra and leaving her there with Octavia and Flitter. Looking back at the two, they simply stared at her.

“All right then. We should check in the opposite direction they just went,” Lyra said as she started her way slowly.

“R-Right!” Flitter yelped, squeezing between the two of them. “L-L-Let’s go!”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X~ ~X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Slowly waking up, Anon found himself once more inside the cell. A blanket was draped over him, along with his left hand being bandaged up, the wraps from his hands now gone. He winced, feeling a black eye forming, wondering why his hand wasn’t in pain.

“It’s because they put a spell on it,” Anon heard called out. Looking at the bars, he could see the two guards from before, both sitting in front of the cell, playing some kind of card game. “Your hand, I mean. Saw you looking at it. They healed you up before bringing you back here.”

“Did a terrible job of it,” Anon said, rubbing the side of his black eye.

“That one was due to Cross Love,” Rocky said, “something about him deciding to leave it there for the one you gave him. Though you’ll find him unwilling to be angry with you, fascinated with how you fought.”

“Thought I knocked him out.”

“You did, momentarily,” Rocky said. “Got any eights?”

“Go fish”

“Dang it.”

“Now see,” Roller continued, “Cross Love isn’t a fighter, but he’s not naive. Setting up an integument spell mitigated most of the damage and allowed him, his words mind you, a front-row seat to a Colosseum blowout of the century.”

Anon couldn’t help but blush, coughing into his hand. “I’ll have to remember to hit harder next time.”

“Please, do.”

“He is so annoying.”

“Like, the worst.”

“Regardless, that was one major fight you had. Managed to knock out a small chunk of us even. Wish we were there, sounded fun.”

“Cross Love healed you all up but was demanded to allow us to place you back in the cell for the foreseeable future, at least until he heals the ponies you messed up.”

“If he did come around I’d likely give him another shiner to match the one I already gave him.”

The two chuckled hearing that.

“Oh! Before we forget, we got you some food!”

That did not sound welcoming in the least. A bowl of something was set in the cell, being pushed by a long stick before being quickly retracted. Anon only had to stare at the contents before feeling annoyance.

“Please tell me you’re not serious.”

“What? Is it not up to your expectations?”

“Why, I can’t believe the alien is so picky about its food!”

“True to that brother! Why, not every fine dish needs to use the greatest ingredients out there.”

“That’s not it,” Anon said, looking down at what was supposed to be his meal.

It was a bowl, full of nothing but hay that was mashed up in grains that he had to assume was oats. It also had crushed up daffodils and… spinach? The concoction was still bubbling from how hot it was.

“Oh? And what’s wrong with your meal?”

“…It looks poisonous to me.”

“POISON!” Rocky screamed out, jumping from his position, cards flying from his hooves. He whipped his head towards Roller, before pointing a hoof at him. “You… you were trying to kill the alien! I knew it!”

“WHAAAAA?” Roller jumped back from the accusation, his cards flying off in a similar fashion. “I did no such thing, I did not! I swear I didn’t! I followed that recipe precisely as it was instructed, yes I did!”

“DECEPTION! Just admit it. First, you conveniently forgot to feed it to try and starve him, and now that that didn’t work, you’re trying to poison him!”

“LIIIIIEEESS! I did no such thing! Why would I want to kill it?!”

Rocky gave Roller a narrowed look, “Because you’d be jealous it would have all my attention!” Roller does not deny this one bit.

“Hold on there,” Anon tried to interject. “I said it looked poisonous, stop jumping to conclusions.” He picked up a piece of the slick hay out of the bowl, showing it to them. “I don’t know what you know of me, but I can’t eat hay or flowers like you ponies can.”

The two turned their heads at Anon, glaring hotly at him. “So,” Rocky started, “your wily ways come to light! It was YOU that tried to break our everlasting friendship, trying to make us fight with one another.”

“See brother? He’s trying to tear us apart! Ooh, I bet it’s got some nefarious scheme rolling around in its head, trying to use you for its evil deeds!”

Rocky looked shocked hearing that. “What a horrible thing to do! The alien is indeed evil!”

Anon held it in, doing his best not to blow up. “Look, I simply have different kinds of foods I can digest unlike you ponies. I am, after all, a different species from you all.”

“So?” Roller said. “Minotaurs are different and they can eat plenty of what we can eat as well.”

“I’m also not from this world? Remember? As in an alien?”

The two looked at one another, then back at Anon. “So?” they said in unison.

“You really shouldn’t be so picky,” Rocky told him.

“I can’t eat hay or daffodils! My palate would just make me throw up this, this, whatever it is, this mixture of spinach and oats!”

“…It’s actually grass and oats,” Roller corrected.

Anon groaned, sitting his back against the cold wall.

The doors could be heard slamming open, “Why am I hearing screaming coming from here?”

The two stood still, staring at the pony that walked up to them. It was the same one that escorted Anon from before. He looked at Anon, then at the bubbling mess of what the two before called food, then back at Anon. “What is this?”

“…I really don’t know,” Anon answered. “It’s what they call food apparently.”

The pony immediately turned to the other two, not looking happy. “The alien can’t eat this! Did you not read up on the info that was given about handling the human at all?”

Roller looked at the ground, looking ashamed. “W-We may have lost them.”

Rocky nodded, “Y-Yeah, so we improvised and served him something from our own mother’s cookbook!”

“Though, the alien doesn’t seem to like it.”

“How awful, how could he not like our mothers cooking?”

“I bet he doesn’t like our mother at all!”

“What a terrible thing he is!”

The one in charge stomped a hoof on the ground, forcing them to direct their attention back to him. “You are to give the alien proper food, not whatever in Tartarus this is! Now, go get a new set of handling documents, read them over once more, AND FIX THIS!”

The two hurried out of the room, leaving behind their mess of cards. Turning to Anon, the pony huffed out. “As it is, I have a different reason for being here. Be grateful that our leader has decided to speak directly to you. Should you do anything I’ll make sure you have what’s coming to you.” He quickly left soon after.

Not but a few moments passed before a new pony walked up to the cell. Examining the unicorn, Anon saw he had a light blue coat on it, a mane that was dark blue with baby blue stripped through it, and wore armor that looked like proper metal, ornately made yet dulled from the years. A cape helped add to its image, giving the look of a leader.

“Are you the one in charge around here?” Anon asked as he sat up.

“Yes,” he replied crisply. “For the time being that is, until our true leader comes back.”

“Okay then. Now I don’t know what your reasons are, but could you please tell me why I’m here? I don’t recall doing anything wrong that would warrant me to be placed in a cell.”

“Oh, it’s nothing that you’ve done. It’s what you are.”

It took Anon a split second hearing that, and the other portion of that second for him to feel anger.

“I’m here because I’m not a pony?” he asked heatedly.

The pony across from Anon doesn’t react, unperturbed at his anger. “Now there’s no reason to jump to conclusions, I never said it was because of your species. No, if it was, we could have just as easily taken a minotaur or any other species. No, you’re here because of your value.”

“So I was taken here because I’m an alien? What value would that hold for anyone, in a world full of races?”

“It should be quite obvious by now, but let me spell it out for you. We took you as a bargaining tool to be used against the princess. It really is quite that simple.”

Anon couldn’t help but sputter out incoherently, trying to form a response. “Bargaining tool. You took me… as a bargaining tool. Look, pal, I’m starting to doubt your intelligence. I’m just a human that got stuck on this planet, nothing special.”

The pony chuckled, “From the documents we procured, you’re certainly something special. Heading an environmental organization, being someone that everyone paid attention to. Several of your people's inventions came from you as well, such as the pens and seat-belts. Even if we dismiss the knowledge you hold or how big you’re becoming with other nations, your very presence here in this world is a very big thing. You are the very first of your kind, of any being, that comes from another world outside our own. You’re a representative of your species as a whole to us. It’s a very special thing that many nations are keeping an eye out on.”

“I don’t understand. Your world is covered in species that can walk and talk like me. What makes me so special?”

He tilted his head at Anon, humming to himself. “Princess Celestia didn’t tell you about the species laws, did she?”

“No, she hadn’t.”

“There’s a lot to be said about those laws, but I’ll give you a simple summary on it. It was made over seven hundred years ago when there was a lot of heavy tension between multiple beings. Many of them had simply disappeared or their borders seemingly walling up in odd fashions, and tensions led to a few fights here and there on top of racial issues constantly coming up.

“Princess Celestia and the leaders of the griffons and minotaurs gathered together to write out a very extensive set of laws for inter-species relations to help calm their people. Other nations soon added their own signatures to it, adding more strength to its cause.”

“And this has something to do with me because…?”

The pony leaned forward, giving a large grin. “Those laws apply to all species, sapient, sentient, dumb, and even including your own. Due to your circumstance and what you are, along with being under the princess’s hoof, she has to provide for you in multiple ways due to you being, as one would say, an endangered species.”

“Sorry to burst your bubble, but I’m not endangered in any form. There is a massive amount of my kind on my planet.”

“On your planet, sure. Here? Who is to say any more of your kind will ever come? You are the one and only human to be on our planet. The minotaurs and griffons have already made inquiries about you, wondering why there isn’t proper protection or how lacking they had been toward your well being for so long. Even the yaks are starting to take notice of this. Celestia’s replies on her little Elements having been there to look over things are starting to look weaker by the day.”

“So you think kidnapping me you can put pressure on the princess.”

The pony raised an eyebrow at Anon. “I had no idea that you were part goat, and a young one at that for your species.” Anon couldn’t help but roll his eyes. The pony ignored this, continuing off, “Regardless of these new facts, taking you will help put the princess in a bind, showing how weak she is to others. She’s always had a soft heart compared to her sister, and your circumstance can hopefully remove her for the true ruler of our lands, the one of the night.”

‘Did I seriously get kidnapped by a fanatical group of idiotic ponies vying for a princess that was already in rule?’

“I’m certain in time you’ll come to accept what is going on. So long as you cooperate with us, everything will turn out fine for you.”

Anon wasn’t sure what to say or do with how strange everything was turning out to be. Just as he was figuring out what he should say to him, the entire building shuddered, which the two noticed. Dust fell from the ceiling as odd flashes of light filtered into the room from the single barred window on the back wall. Seeing as the pony was preoccupied looking at the door, Anon made his way to the window, wondering what was happening.

Anon, getting on his tippy-toes to look out the window, pulled himself up, trying to see what was going on. And then he was shoved down to the ground by the pony from before, having somehow gotten in without his notice.

A bright flash of green light zipped by where Anon was about to pull himself up to, hitting on of the metal bars. It started to smoke where it got hit, turning red with heat, melting slowly down the wall.

“Stay down!” the pony ordered, shoving Anon’s body further into the ground.

The pony went back outside the cell, bending down as he stared at the entrance to the hall. He appeared to be ready for anything that could come in. The room continued to shake about, with more colors flashing. A few more beams did come in, but nothing like the previous green light. Yelling could be heard outside the walls, though it was muffled. Anon did as he was told, lying down on the ground, not wanting to get hit by a stray beam of magic.

“What in the blazes is happening?!” Anon asked.

“Isn’t it obvious? We’re being attacked! So stay down if you don’t want your head blasted!”

‘Did someone come for me?’

His hopes high, he looked at the pony guarding the door to his cell, thinking about his options.

‘I could try and run up to him and knock him out before he could react. I’m fairly confident in my strength over most ponies. Though… he seems to have good reaction time, from how he got me down from being blasted.’

Anon thought about his escape some more, realizing it would be difficult to slip past all the ponies, no matter how few there appeared to be. He wasn’t even sure if he was in the Everfree Forest, though he was very convinced he was with what little information he currently had.

‘No, right now wouldn’t be a good time to try and run, even with all the chaos happening to help me through it.’

The rumbling continued on for a good time, kicking up dirt in the air and the flashes of light sparking around. It eventually started to die down, and then silence. It stayed like that, with him on the ground and the pony standing guard, neither of them moving, the only sound heard is the two of them breathing.

After what felt like some time, he could hear a door slowly creaking open, and then the clicking of hooves. The pony looked ready to attack before relaxing, seeing the previously grumpy pony walking in. “So,” their temporary leader asked, “was it the Beasts of Dourness or the day ponies this time?”

‘Day ponies? Beasts of Dourness?’ Anon was very confused hearing those terms.

“Unfortunately it was the day ponies this time around. Their attacks are starting to wear down our ponies. It’s strange, Colibri. They only attacked whenever we went out for supplies, but why now?”

“I had word that they’ve found an interesting individual in the area, matching most of the descriptions on the alien, Liberum.” The now named Liberum snorted, looking at Anon. “All we can do now is hold out and wait for the commander to come back with additional troops.”

“What’s going on here?” Anon asked. “What are these day ponies? And what are these Dourness beasts?”

“Be quiet, alien,” Liberum said with a glare.

Colibri held up a hoof, silencing Liberum. He turned to Anon, staring at him before speaking up, “There is another group that opposes what we seek, wanting Celestia in rule over Luna. Don’t think though that they’ll help you in any way; they’ll gladly take you for their own purposes. And unlike us, I doubt they’ll be as kind as we are being. Now Liberum,” Colibri said, forcing the other pony to stand up straighter, “since everything here seems fine, I’ll leave things in your hooves. Though I must admit, I am surprised to find you here.”

“The R&R brothers didn’t follow proper protocol, again. They went out to gather proper food for the alien while I stayed behind near the kitchen, lest they do something stupid.”

“I see. It’s—” He stopped, just remembering Anon was there, listening. “We shall discuss things later on in private. Continue as you were.”

Colibri left the room soon after. Once the door closed, Liberum huffed out, looking at Anon, right before ensuring the door was closed shut. He then stood guard, waiting for his previous charges. It only took a few more minutes for the door to open once more, with the two ponies from before panting hard, carrying several items with them.

“S-Sorry we couldn’t be here sooner,” Rocky panted out.

“Yeah, s-same here,” Roller continued. “We were helping with what was happening so it took some time getting back.”

“As long as you have fixed your mistake, I couldn’t care less. Just give him his food. And you had better not make these mistakes again or you will regret it, the both of you.”

“Yes, definitely!”

“Of course!”

“Good,” Liberum said, walking past them. “Go back to your duties,” he grunted out, leaving the room.

“…He didn’t seem to be in a very good mood,” Roller said with a sigh.

“Is he ever?”

“He needs a hobby, something to wind down with after a hard day's work of yelling at us and ordering everyone.”

“I tried to get him to play some Skip-Bo with us but he confiscated the cards. Thank goodness I always keep backups on those things.”

“You two know how to play Skip-Bo?” Anon asked, surprised to hear that.

“Oh? So the alien knows of this game?” Rocky asked.

“Does he? It seems quite odd to hear that,” Roller added.

“I find it strange how much I recognize from my own world in yours,” Anon said. “God I haven’t played Skip-Bo in forever.”

“Hmm, maybe we should get the alien in on a game or two?” Rocky said, placing the items in the cell down.

“It could help with the dullness of guarding him,” Roller agreed. “Oh, I’ll… try and get you something to lay down on later. Sorry ‘bout that, should have thought of it when I got your blanket.”

Anon was just happy to get his long-overdue plate of food. A frown could be felt on his face, spotting a very familiar dish of eggs and bread, with a simple cup of water.

‘Of course,’ he thought, placing the eggs on the bread for an impromptu sandwich. ‘They could have at least given me a fork.’

Eating his food, Anon watched the two ponies discussing their games of Skip-Bo they’ve had in the past, along with some other things that have happened. The info seemed like it could be important should he ever try to make a break out of there, though most of it was focused on the recent attack. Thinking on that, Anon swallowed his bite and drank it down with water.

“So who exactly are these day ponies?” Anon asked.

“You don’t know who they are?!” Roller asked in astonishment.

“Of course the alien wouldn’t, Roller.”

“Could you two fill me on who they are exactly? And maybe tell me where I really am?”

“You don’t know where you are?!” Rocky asked in amazement.

“Why should the alien, Rocky?”

Anon couldn’t help but groan at their accompanied idiocy.

“Well,” Roller started, “the day ponies are just ponies like us but they think they’re better than us so they always want to pick a fight!”

“Stupid jerks, they even try to foalnap some of our own! Can you believe that?! Who would do such a thing, taking others for their own use?!”

Anon gave them the best deadpan stares that he could manage. Neither of them noticed it.

“They keep taking our own to learn of our plans,” Roller continued, “which makes us need to change our patterns when they do manage to dig their brains for info, which totally sucks!”

“I hear they dig around for blackmail material even,” Rocky mentioned.

“How horrible!”

Anon decided right then and there he didn’t want anything to do with these day ponies over the night ones, that was for sure.

“They’re almost as annoying as the Beasts of Dourness, those stupid things just don’t know when to give up.”

“Why do you have to deal with them anyway?” Anon asked, taking another bite of his sandwich. “And why are they called that?”

They blinked at Anon before Rocky answered, “They’re called that because this forest is called The Forest of Dourness. It’s an appropriate enough of a name, at least I thought so.”

"They’re, like, similar to other creatures but have oddities that make them stranger than normal So a rabbit in this forest could have really large feet to slap you with. Not fun, let me tell you.”

“And we’re not sure why they keep coming! This entire forest is covered in strange creatures.”

“Some of the ponies believe they’re attracted to something here but we have no idea what it is, if that’s even true,” Roller added. “And there have even been some sightings of some pink beasts that almost seem to be leading them here, though most of us think that’s just silly.”

“So you night ponies have to deal with all of that?” Anon finished off his sandwich, drinking it the rest down with his water. “I don’t know about you two, but this doesn’t feel like it’s worth the effort of whatever you’re getting out of this. Staying out here in a terrible forest, dealing with attacks left and right.”

“First off, we’re not called night ponies, only the day ponies call us that,” Rocky said with a frown.

“Hay, we don’t even know what the day ponies are even called, but we needed some way to identify them with so we just call them that now.”

“And what are you fellas called?” Anon asked.

“We don’t really have a name,” Rocky answered, “Colibri and the commander don’t want to give us a name saying that would only give us a face or something like that. That’s silly; we already have faces of our own!”

“I agree, which is why we’ve been trying to get them to change things and give ourselves a name! And it’s an awesome name!”

Before Anon could react, the two of them move side to side in front of him, standing in some odd poses.

“Luna Bom-ba-stic!”

“We Fan-ta-stic!”

“OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH!!!” they screamed in unison, waving a hoof in the air while doing so.

‘Oh good god, could they be any dorkier? Why are they guards for these ponies?’

“Because they were looking for volunteers and we were totally down with what they wanted!” Rocky answered.

…Anon hadn’t meant for that last part to be said out loud.

“And what exactly does your group want?”

“Well, they want Luna to be the ruler of the lands and to bring about an eternal night!” Roller said enthusiastically.

“And that means eternal partying!” Rocky added. “Seriously, eternal night would be so awesome. All the music, the food—”

“And don’t forget the mares!”

The two nodded, their nostrils flaring and air exhaling through them.

“That’s what made you two join up for this? Those are the reasons you’re working for these ponies?”

The two nodded their heads up and down quickly with large smiles.

“Totally!” Rocky said. “And hay, if you’re nice and cooperate with us… I’m certain we can also get some mares for you as well.”

And their nostrils flared out once more with another gush of air coming out of them.

“So you two just believe it’s going to be nothing but parties after Luna takes rule?” They nodded their heads eagerly once more. “…You two are idiots.”

“Hey there, what gives you the right calling us that?”

“Yeah, yeah! Partying is awesome and everypony would love that.”

Anon shook his head, “You seem to be under the assumption nothing would go wrong removing the sun; you can’t have an eternal night without ruining everyone’s lives.”

“Bah!” Rocky said, throwing a hoof in the air. “So some beings will be upset with the noise that comes from the parties, so what?”

“No, I mean things like food. How would anyone eat here?”

They look confused at Anon. “By… purchasing it at the market?” Rocky answered.

“Where does the market get their food from?”

“…The farms?” Roller said, not sure of his answer.

“And how is the food grown?”

“Ah! It comes from magic,” Rocky answered.

“Or at least that’s what mama taught us,” Roller added in.

“Mama knows best.”

“Oh, and also the sun I think she said.”

“Magic and the sun. Yes.”

“How are plants going to grow if there’s no sun?” Anon asked.

The two owlishly stared at Anon for a few seconds. “Ooooooh,” they said in unison.

“There’d be a lot of starving ponies if you were to do that. And without cultivation methods, there’d be no food or drinks, meaning no parties anyways.” The two of them looked like Anon had just kicked their puppy. “You didn’t think there’d be parties every day did you? Though, without sun, there wouldn’t be days anyways.”

“T-The unicorns could solve that though with their magic!”

“Yeah, yeah!”

“I highly doubt the unicorns want to be making food for the rest of their lives, being forced into constantly working forever. It’d also put a lot of other ponies out of a job, and force rationing of materials and foods. That’s not including how unsafe having no sun would be. From what Lyra told me, a lot of the more frightening creatures are more reactive to the night time life, and I don’t think anyone want’s to live in fear of things roaming around for pony meat.”

The two of them didn’t look very well off at the moment like they hadn’t thought things through. Anon, on the other hand, didn’t really care, thinking it was all stupid and couldn’t wait to get out of there.

“Maybe you two should think about this a bit more. Here,” he said, giving them the plate and cup. “Thanks for the meal, though I do hope you know I need to eat more than once a day,” he said jokingly.

Neither of them commented on what Anon said, deep in thought about their work. Roller grabbed the plate and cup before walking out the door. Rocky sighed to himself as he closed the cell door, standing guard.

Taking a corner in the back of the room, Anon laid down on his blanket. Staring up that the ceiling, Anon wondered just how he was getting out of there.

‘If the attacks are a constant thing, I think I can escape when it happens at some point. I’ll just need some more info and the perfect opportunity to leave.’

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X~ ~X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

It had almost been two hours since the six ponies had come to Mercanville and began their search on the rebels. Not many of the beings in the marketplace were of much help to Lyra’s group. Lyra was getting frustrated having to go through all this trouble and wound up with nothing to show for it. She had talked to the few bars around, the countless stalls, and even the few informants that sent documents to her in the past. Not a single spec of dirt concerning the rebels could be found.

Right then, Lyra was pointed in the direction by several beings to a strange place that could hold the info she was looking for. The three of them stood outside a fairly small tent located near the entrance to the forest.

“So this is the place?” Octavia asked. “It’s really out of place with all of the stands back closer in town.”

“The diamond dog said it was the best place for any info that anyone was afraid to speak about,” Flitter said, hovering in the air. “She said if anypony could help, it’d be this being. She’s supposed to be very informed about a lot of things.”

Lyra nodded, walking forward, “I’ll go talk to this being while you two stay out here.”

“What should we be doing while you’re talking to this person?” Flitter asked, landing and scratching the ground with her hoof.

Lyra sighed,” I don’t know, check out some of the stands close by I suppose. I doubt they’ll just open up when they weren’t before, but maybe they’ll say something by accident or someone around will know of them. We just need to know which group took him and what path they took. There are like, a dozen paths that lead to several bases, outposts, and who knows what.”

“Right!” Flitter said with a salute before flying off to the closest one. “Some super sneaky sleuthing, coming right up!”

Flitter walked away, trying to appear like she was sneaking away. Octavia held her head up high, unwilling to look as silly as she followed after Flitter. Turning around, Lyra walked up to the tent flap and pushed it back before going inside, hoping to find something useful.

Once inside, the first thing that stood out to Lyra was the massive amount of lit candles all over the ground. A strong smell of incense was burning, something that smelled of vanilla and a fruit of some kind. There was tapestry hanging around the tent, colored purple and red with nothing too intricate on them. The thing that stuck out was the table that sat in the middle of the tent, along with a crystal ball on it and a set of chairs. One of the chairs had a very bright, pink pony, garbed in some kind of clothing that covered its face, which was also coincidentally colored pink.

The being looked at Lyra, rubbing her hooves, “I see I have a visitor! Please, come in and take a seat! I shall help to the best of my abilities.”

Lyra wasn’t expecting to meet with a fortune teller. Though looks could be deceiving, it may just be a front for all she knew. Walking forward, Lyra sat down, staring at the pony.

“Yes, every being that comes to Mademoiselle Tshilaba seeks something they yearn to find, to know more about.” She leaned over, tilting her head down while continuing to stare at Lyra. “Just what is it do you seek that which I may help you with? Hmm?”

“I’m looking for a friend,” Lyra told her. “You may have heard of him? The alien that was living in Ponyville? He was abducted by one of the rebel groups and I just want to know if you can tell me anything about which group took him and anything else that would help.”

“Hmm…” The pony rubbed her chin in thought. “My cards won’t be effective in this, and I don’t think taking you to my sweat hut will help either. I suppose going with the good ol’ crystal ball will give you the insight that you are looking for.”

Lyra rubbed her forehead in frustration, not wanting to deal with mysticism. It was a very fickle kind of magic that majority of its users couldn’t perform with even a ten percent efficiency rating. As she was about to get up and leave, realizing it was, in fact, nothing more than a fortune teller, the ball started to glow. Tshilaba waved her hooves around the ball which grew foggy with clouds forming inside of it.

Curious about what was going on, Lyra bent over, looking inside of it. Her eyes widened, seeing images of Anon in it. Many other images came, showing herself and Bon Bon as well. They were of different scenes that were difficult to interpret. In some, they were happy, and others crying. Anger, sadness, confusion, and other unreadable things that confused Lyra.

“W-What is this?”

“Thiiis… this is all the potential outcomes of your life that you are seeing. They are only glimpses, mind you, but if you have the proper training much as I do, you can put together these glimpses and tell a story.”

“A story? About what?”

“The story of life and all that is possible,” she replied, waving a hoof over the crystal ball. “Anything can be done with a hint of magic.”

“How is that even possible? Most magic outside of unicorns isn’t as intricate as what I’m seeing.”

“There is much that you don’t know about magic, Miss Heartstrings.”

Lyra looked up in shock. “How do you know my name?”

The pink pony merely smiled as she returned her gaze at the ball. Lyra did the same, seeing images flash by quickly in it.

“What an odd story I am seeing. Your life seems to be in constant motion, along with two others in your life. It’s an interesting tale I am seeing, one that has many divergences in what may or may not happen. And you are currently in one right now!

“Hmm… Yes. What happens in the following days will determine much of what happens to you and these two close companions of yours. I would strongly advise you to think carefully about any action that you partake when it comes to these two.”

The ball started to grow darker and darker as the images dispersed into nothing. The cloudy quality it once held was now completely gone, replaced with a simple, shiny ball of glass. Lyra blinked at the ball, unsure about what to say.

“…That’s it? What about the rebels? Or where Anon is or if he’s okay or, or…”

Tshilaba hummed, “I am sorry to say, but this is all I can provide for you. Unless you can get me the one that will be the major factor for your lives, this being that you call Anon, I cannot help you further with your reading.”

Lyra felt very aggravated, grinding her teeth in anger. Getting up to leave in a huff, she nearly made her way out of the tent when Tshilaba called back at her, “One moment Miss Heartstrings! Now, while I know this wasn’t of much help to you sadly, I do have something that you need to be told.”

“And that is?”

“The first, the ball told me of your… desires, and the desires of these beings as well. Think long and hard on this journey toward your Anon for any incorrect calls can lead to a terrible ending for you.” The pink pony paused for a moment, allowing these words to sink into Lyra. “And the second, the split in your group holds the information you seek. Do listen to them, won’t you?”

Unsure about what Tshilaba told her, Lyra slowly made her way out of the tent. She was unhappy that this didn’t lead her anywhere. Frustrated, she went looking for Flitter and Octavia so they could go back to the train stop. She soon found them looking at a stand, examining the wares being sold. She frowned at this.

“Okay, seriously?” she sharply said, startling them. “We’re not here to go shopping, we’re looking for info!”

“Flitter and I had already done just that,” Octavia said, walking up to her. “We’ve already been to all of these stands and didn’t think going too far from you was a good idea. We were just looking at some things to pass the time until you returned.”

“A-And besides, you did say a few trinkets would be fine to purchase,” Flitter commented, now wearing some odd goggles. “Being able to see in the dark is also, well, important…?”

“And they also reveal multiple kinds of trails, from slimes to goo’s, with the other setting!” the stand owner declared.

“Sold!” Flitter slammed some bits on the table, looking happier that a pig in mud.

A large frown appeared on Lyra’s face. “None of them had anything to say?”

“No, asking didn’t produce any results in our search. Though we did find out that due to the close proximity of the forest to these stands here, all of these stands close up shop quit early. It’s possible the group snuck out of here when that had occurred.”

A long-winded sigh escaped Lyra’s lips with their inability to find anything. “Let’s just get to the train. We’ve got—” She checked her timepiece from her bag, “—about sixteen minutes until we meet the others back at the train. FLITTER!”

The mare squeaked from being startled, nearly dropping whatever she was holding. Placing it carefully back down, she walked over to the other two with her ears flattened on her head.

“There’s no reason to be yelling Lyra,” Octavia said with a frown.

Lyra ignored her as she walked off toward the meetup spot with the two in tow. Arriving at the train stop, the train was clearly gone, and the crowds from before were sparse with the night starting to come in. The other three were also not there.

“Looks like we’ll have to wait on them,” Flitter said, taking a seat on a bench.

The minty pony was not happy with the lateness of their group. Sitting on a separate bench, she went through the documents once more to help keep her mind on something. Almost a half-hour goes by before the three of them see their missing companions. They looked very disheveled and dirty for some odd reason.

“What took you three so long to get here?” Lyra asked, very upset. “You’re late!”

“We were held up by some unexpected events,” Bon Bon answered, trying to get her mane back into its previous proper place.

“Did you guys find any info?” Octavia asked. “We came up pretty empty on anything ourselves.”

Vinyl smirked, “We sure did! We know exactly what group took him!”

Lyra was shocked hearing this. “H-How in the hay did you find the info?!”

Vinyl nodded her head, “Weeell, we got our info from a local minotaur that just so happened to know about the two rebels groups that reside in the forest.”

“How’d you get the info from the minotaur?” Flitter asked, hovering beside Cloudchaser.

“We found out after we beat the crap out of his gang.”

“…You what?” Octavia asked incredulously.

“Some rather unruly ponies and minotaurs thought it was wise to try something with us,” Bon Bon told them. “They left us a few unkind words, with these two by me having some equally rude words to give back. Long story short, it wound up in a tussle—”

“That we totally do-mi-na-ted!” Cloudchaser interrupted, throwing a few hooves into the air. “Guess they didn’t know that I am just that awesome in a fight! Though I do wish you were there Flitter, we coulda had a good ol’ tag team match down!”

Flitter giggled, watching her sister throwing punches in the air.

“Continuing on,” Vinyl said with a smile, “the gang leader saw how we completely trounced his posse of lunkheads and said our awesome awesomeitude of awesomeness was so impressive, he said he’d make sure not to mess with us again and he’d help us whenever possible. He was a pretty cool dude in the end.”

“Yeah, okay, sure,” Lyra said impatiently, “so what did he tell you?”

Vinyl looked perturbed at Lyra’s attitude, yet continued. “His gang constantly watches out for whoever and whatever comes in and out of this town. He sells info to whoever is looking apparently.”

“Huh,” Octavia let out. “I wonder why no one told us about him when we were asking for info.”

“None of the businesses want to step in on the gangs work so they turn a blind eye,” Bon Bon answered. “Most of the beings that are usually informed knew of you three asking around and left to tell the gang and, well… we kinda beat them up.

“I also managed to get some information from one of their… side members,” Bon Bon said, revealing a manila envelope. “It helps reveal some of the hidden bases around the area and even some monster locations so we can keep an eye out for them.”

“That is fantastic news,” Octavia said, looking through the papers. “…Why are there boxes of black hiding some of the information?”

Bon Bon scrunched up her nose, looking away. “I dunno, probably didn’t want to share some info I guess.”

“Vinyl, what about the rebels?” Lyra asked.

“I was getting there,” Vinyl answered with a roll of her eyes. “Anyways, they especially keep an eye on these rebels to keep tabs on them, not wanting them to try anything on their turf. Their gang saw somepony being taken into the forest about the size of a minotaur near the break of dawn. They said they went down The Dark Way, which means the night rebels took him.”

“Show me on the map,” Lyra told her, wanting to make sure about this.

Looking at it, Vinyl pointed to where they said the trail was located. The true name was Shrouded Leaves Trail. Comparing it to her map showed it did, in fact, lead toward the night rebels.

“Alright then,” Lyra said aloud, “we should probably go right now then into the trail.”

“C-Can’t we wait until tomorrow morning?” Flitter asked, hugging her sister close. “It’s really starting to get dark.”

Lyra shook her head, “If we wait until tomorrow morning that would give them an extra day to do whatever it is they’re doing to Anon. We should be getting a head start down the trail. There’s no reason not to go down that trail right now.”

They all looked at one another before turning back at Lyra with a nod. Lyra was simply happy none of them were going to argue with her. Making sure they had everything they needed, the six of them started toward the stands near the entrance of the forest. Arriving there, she noticed not a single stand from earlier was in place, only leaving imprints on where they used to be.

“I know they said they would be gone but I didn’t think they’d take everything with them!” Flitter said.

“Somepony left here?” Cloudchaser asked.

“Yeah, we were here earlier and the beings here said they would pack up when it starts to get dark enough, not wanting to be too near the forest with their wares and themselves.”

“That… doesn’t fill me with confidence about what we’re getting ourselves into,” Cloudchaser said. “But I’m certain we’ll do alright so long as we stick together!”

“Look, stop stalling and let’s go already!” Lyra said, walking forward.

“Sheesh Lyra,” Vinyl said as they followed after her. “What’s got you all riled up?”

“We should be focusing all our thoughts on Anon, not on these stands or anything else! So let’s get a move on and cover as much ground as we possibly can!” None of them said anything to Lyra, the group starting to look irritated.

Walking into the Forest of Dourness, it reminded Lyra a lot of the Everfree Forest. From what she remembered on the packets she received on the forest, it held much of what the Everfree did, with the animals having odd mutations in them on top of the strange sightings of unknowns. Dourness hadn’t been deeply explored until recently so it held many mysteries.

The further they walked in, the bigger the trees seemed to get. It was getting darker and darker, with the light of the moon the only thing helping their sight. The sounds of the forest denizens grew louder as the six of them ventured further down the path. Lyra was getting annoyed about the others talking to one another, breaking her concentration on walking the path.

“Could you five quiet down? I at least am trying to focus on the trail and where we’re going.”

“Lyra, seriously, take a chill pill,” Vinyl told her. “We’ve barely been out here for an hour and you’re already getting on everypony’s nerves.”

“I would chill if you all would just shut up so I can concentrate!”

“We’re not even that loud!” Cloudchaser said.

“T-The talking also helps us forget we’re walking in a spooky forest…” Flitter said, readjusting her goggles that she was now wearing.

“What do you even need to concentrate on?” Vinyl asked.

“Where we’re going and our current objective!”

“Lyra, the path we’re on is pretty straightforward,” Vinyl said, pointing at the worn down ground they were walking on. “You don’t need to be making us all stressed out here, you’re funking up our groove girl.”

“I have been doing no such thing!”

“You’ve been irritating since we’ve boarded the train!” Cloudchaser angrily said. “You nitpick on everything we’ve done and constantly reminding us over and over and OVER again on how we need to find Anon! We KNOW that already Lyra!”

“I just want us to be serious about this! Anon is in trouble and we need to stay focused on—” Something quickly slapped across Lyra’s face, forcing her to stop.

Blinking, she wondered what just happened. Looking at her group, she noticed Octavia now had a strange looking cello out, vibrating lightning sparks and had a bow notched inside a string. Lyra went to talk once more, but then Octavia let the bow shoot forward, hitting directly in Lyra’s side. She jumped at that, feeling a painful sting where she was hit.

Octavia notched another bow, this one pulled back even further. “Lyra… shut up.”

“W-What?! Octavia, what the—” Octavia motioned her bow at Lyra, forcing her mouth shut with a click.

“That’s better,” Octavia said. “Now, we’re going to say our bit, then I want you to reply in a rational and calm manner. Do you understand me?” Lyra nodded her head. “Good. Now, I understand why you’re acting like this. You’re freaking out about the whole situation. But you are currently acting way out of line. You need to understand you are stressing us all out. Do you really think yelling at us and ordering us about like you’ve been doing is the best course of action?”

Lyra looked at the others as they stared back, the group clearly upset.

“Lyra,” Vinyl said, walking forward. “You need to calm down. Like, a lot. We don’t need you to kill our mood. We all know that it’s important we find Anon and that it’s the reason we’re even here right now, but you’re literally sucking out the good mojo we have going on. We’re jovial beings at nature, Lyra, and you’re forgetting that.”

Looking at them once more, she saw them nodding in agreement to what Vinyl said. Thinking on it, Lyra had to agree she may have been getting a little overboard.

“I, uh…” She let out a sigh, “I’m sorry. I… I guess I was acting pretty stupid.”

Cloudchaser flew over to her, grabbing her in a side hug. “Yeah, you definitely were. But it’s cool so long as you’re not acting all nutso on us anymore.”

“Right.”

Everypony gave Lyra a smile, which she forcefully returned. Octavia immediately collapsed her instrument and packed it up, collecting her bows before they all continued on the trail.

“So Lyra,” Vinyl said, “now that you’re not going to try and chew us out for something silly, what’s next?”

Levitating the map out of her saddlebag, Lyra flashed her horn up with light so she could properly see. “From what I’m seeing, up ahead is a marker on the map called Sapient Rock. After we get to that, it’s just another hour until we get to the end of the trail where most beings set up camp. That’s the safe point for most everypony before venturing out into the forest.” Closing her map, she placed it back into the saddlebag. “So it’s obvious we’ll set up camp there and head out in the morning.”

“Thank goodness,” Flitter said with a groan. “I’m really tired from all this moving around.”

“I think we can all do with some rest as soon as possible so we’ll be fresh in the morning,” Bon Bon said.

A murmur of agreement came from the group as they all continued further down the path, now with better moods. They eventually made their way to a gathering of rocks that stood out by the trail.

“So this is the Sapient Rock marker?” Vinyl asked. “It’s not very impressive; I was hoping for something more than a bunch of rocks and boulders.”

Lyra nodded in agreement. “True, but at least we know we’re very close to the campsite.”

“YOO-HOOO~”

The six of them jumped in the air from hearing the very loud and high pitched voice, coming out of nowhere.

“W-Who said that?!” Flitter yelped out.

“Well isn’t that just rude of you six ignoring me like that? Are you just gonna leave little ol’ me without a proper talk? I mean, it gets sooooo boring out here by my lonesome!”

The six of them slowly turned their heads to the gathering of rocks, ears flattened against their heads. None of them noticed anything moving at all.

“Is… Is that a rock speaking?” Cloudchaser asked.

“I don’t know,” Bon Bon replied.

“Where are my manners!” it spoke out, making them all jump once more from the suddenness of it. “Everyone seems to call me Sapient, but you can all just call me Sappy, ‘cause I’m sooo sappy for the wilderness! Hehehehehe,” it chuckled, a small rumbling coming from one of the bigger rocks.

They all turned their sights to the one that moved. “H-How are you speaking?” Octavia asked.

“Why, by doing so of course. How else would one speak?”

Octavia opened and closed her mouth multiple times, unable to respond.

“Um… Sappy, was it?” Lyra asked.

“Yes, that is I! And who might you be my small equine?”

“L-Lyra.”

“And what a lyrically wonderful name that is, Lyra! How are you doing this fine evening?”

“Just fine Sappy…” She looked back at the others as they continued to stare in wonder at the rock. “…Not to sound rude, but we really do have to be going.”

“Oh dearie me! But I would love some company out in this lovely forest. Won’t you come and sit down beside me? I promise the other rocks won’t mind you too much.” The group now looked at the other rocks, starting to get weirded out.

“We would all love nothing more than to chat but we do have a lot of ground to cover, it’s to help a friend in need out in this forest.”

A loud gasp could be heard, obviously coming from Sappy. “My WORD! Your friend is out here, in this forest, all alone?! I do enjoy it quite a bit, yes I do, but there are things out here I would hope others best stay away from! It’s quite pleasant to see someone like you lot being such a good friend to venture out into this forest. Now you best be on your way, I won’t take up any more of your time Miss Lyra! Go, go! I won’t hold you up any longer!”

“Ah… alright then?” Lyra said, returning to her friends.

The six of them immediately quickened their pace down the road, trying to get as far away from the rock as possible. After what felt like a very, very, very, VERY far distance from it, they slowed down, looking at one another. “Okay, what was up with that?” Vinyl asked.

“I have no idea,” Lyra answered. “My reports told of strange things happening in this forest, so I just have to assume that was one of them.”

“Who thought we’d meet a talking rock of all things out here,” Cloudchaser said, looking over her shoulder where they came from. “What’s next? Talking trees?”

“Actually, Twilight sort of made one of those back in Ponyville,” Lyra started with a roll of her eyes.

Flitter giggled, following her sister as the others continued down the trail. The previous absurdity of what happened seemed to have livened them up for the moment.

“If things like that are what’s in this forest, I’m all for exploring more of this!” Vinyl said with a cheer.

“I think I’d much prefer a nice place to rest at the moment,” Flitter said with a yawn.

The rest of their trip they talked to one another about the most mundane of things or looking at what they passed by, wondering if there was a hidden Sappy in their midst. It didn’t take them very long to reach the end of the trail. The place they were now standing in was fairly flat, along with having a few places for campfires and convenient sitting logs.

“Score!” Vinyl squealed out, running over to a log and placing her rather large pack beside it. “Now all we need is some wood and to get a fire going!”

“Don’t worry ‘bout that, Flitter and I will get that in a jiff!” Cloudchaser said before grabbing her sister and flying off.

“It doesn’t look like rain so at least we’ll be dry,” Octavia said, unstrapping her pack. “No need for a tent thankfully. I suppose I’ll be readjusting my strings for the moment.”

“While you’re doing that,” Vinyl said with a grunt, placing her odd box on the ground out of her pack, “I’ll be messing around with this and configure it with some of that new jivin’ music Anon set me up with!”

“Oh please, Vinyl. No music right now! I just want to relax…”

Vinyl frowned at the request, “Eeeehhh… Fine, I guess. I suppose I need to save some of my juicy lightning for the time being anyway. I’ll just plug in my heads… as soon as I find them.”

Lyra was standing at her own log, taking off her pack, feeling relief at the weight being taken off her. She looked over at Bon Bon, noticing zipping all over their campsite. “Putting down your traps, Bon Bon?” Lyra asked, setting her sleeping bag down.

“Just some things to warn us if we get any visitors trying to be sneaky on us,” she answered. Lyra couldn’t help but inwardly flinch, knowing what she was putting up. Her warning traps tended to be somewhat painful, as the intruder was the one screaming and waking them up in warning.

Flitter and Cloudchaser had returned just as Bon Bon finished setting up her traps, with Cloudchaser dropping her load of wood into the pit and Flitter dropping some more to the side. “There,” Cloudchaser said, “plenty of wood for a good fire!”

Hearing that, Lyra lit up her horn, throwing a beam of magic into the wood in the firepit. It immediately erupted into flames, forcing the two sisters back.

“Alright! Now all that’s needed is to get ready for the night,” Cloudchaser said, grabbing her pack to and finding a place to lay down for the night. Flitter had, of course, followed her sister, setting it right beside her.

“We’re probably going to need to set up some kind of watch system while we’re out in these woods to watch for any creatures or even the rebels,” Lyra mentioned to the group. “I think setting it up for two watches should be good, so I’ll take the first watch.”

“I’ll help you with tonight,” Octavia said, still messing with her cello. “I don’t need a lot of sleep anyway so I don’t mind.”

“Flitter and Vinyl will take tomorrow then, with Bon Bon and Cloudchaser the next, and we’ll just rotate it like that.” Everyone agreed with Lyra before going back to their packs.

“So,” Flitter said, smoothing out her sleeping bag, “when we get Anon back, what then?”

“I think it’s obvious that we immediately bring him back to Mercanville and make sure he’s medically checked over,” Octavia replied, still tinkering with her cello. “It’s better safe than sorry even if he looks healthy when we get him.”

“I just can’t wait ‘till he’s back,” Vinyl said, still looking for her heads. “I’ve got so many tunes I want to listen to with him!”

“And I’ve still got some things I wanted to say to him before he was taken,” Lyra said to herself, looking at the ground.

Vinyl, having heard this, furrowed her brow. Having found hear headphones, she placed them down and shook her mane before getting up. “I need to go use the bush for a moment. Bon Bon, could you come with me? I don’t want to be left alone in the dark.” Bon Bon blinked at her for a few moments before scrunching her nose up. Getting up, she followed Vinyl out into the trees.

After making sure she was ready for her watch, Lyra immediately started rummaging through her pack, noticing a good opportunity just presented itself. Finding her toiletries, she got up and started walking toward the bushes herself.

“Lyra, where you going?” Octavia asked from her place by the campfire.

“I, ehr, kinda need to use the bush too,” Lyra said with a blush. “I’ll be right back!”

“Just watch out for Bon Bon’s traps, I know you have difficulty sometimes watching out for those,” she said as Lyra exited from sight.

Double and triple-checking her way for any traps, she followed in the general direction the other two went. It didn’t take long for her to find the other two; a smirk appeared on her face as she bent down on the ground and opened her pack.

Inside was, of course, her toiletry, but she also had something special inside: her trusty sound cracker. It even had the dragon roar still inside it. She, of course, turned it into the scream of a tiger, not wanting to force the forest into a frenzy of action.

Lyra giggled quietly to herself, twisting at something on it. ‘I better turn down the volume,’ she thought as she inched closer to them. ‘This should be a pretty fun way to end the night. Hay, they wanted me to relax, so they’re getting some of the ol’ cracker action!’

Sneaking closer in the bushes, she finally spotted the familiar curls of Bon Bon poking over some leaves. As she got ready, she hesitated, noticing it sounded like they were… arguing? She got a little closer, wondering what had happened in the short time they were away from the group to be fighting.

“I don’t know, Bon Bon. You still haven’t told Lyra about any of this.”

“I know! I just… you know I have difficulty with these kinds of things.”

Lyra could see Vinyl shaking her head at Bon Bon. “Of all the things… I just don’t know why you decided to get so close to Anon.”

“I know, right? It’s strange, but… I feel like he could help me with this. I don’t mean to sound selfish, but I just wanted to have everything turn out where I can be happy too. Is it really so wrong of me to have feelings for him?”

“Did you really have to wait this long though? An entire month, Bon Bon. You got lucky Lyra didn’t confess anything out to Anon yet or—”

“I know! I… I know. I didn’t want to take this long, but I just wanted to make sure my feelings could be genuine and not just something I was forcing myself into.”

Vinyl paused, “And are they?”

“…Yes.”

Vinyl stared at Bon Bon for a few moments in thought. “Just remember, you need to say something, and soon, or else this might turn out bad for everypony involved.”

“Now that you’re done lecturing me, can we go back?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m certain Octavia’s wondering what to do without my awesome presence around.”

“Aren’t we all?” Bon Bon sarcastically replied with a roll of her eyes.

The two of them chuckled as they walked away, back to the camp. A minute later, Lyra sat up, still shocked at what she had just heard.

“Bon Bon... likes Anon too?”

Her mind was completely blank, trying to find something to make sense of what she had just heard but came up with nothing. Looking down at her sound cracker, she placed it back inside her pack and returning to the camp with a small frown, a confused mind, and a painful tug on her heart.

~End Chapter Sixteen~

Chapter Seventeen - Out In The Open

The sounds of chirping crickets and hooting owls were the only things noticeably active. It had gotten fairly dark, but the light of the fire kept their little camp well lit. A shiver ran through Lyra’s body; noticing the fire growing dim, she levitated wood into it and shot a small spell to help ignite it. A whoosh of flames was the result, giving her the heat she desired.

Looking around, Lyra took a glance at everypony currently sleeping. Only a few hours ago they were active and talking, passing stories to one another while sharing laughs and scares. It felt more like the six of them were camping than trying to go out on a rescue mission. It was fun, in its own way. Lyra made sure not to stop any of it, remembering Octavia’s previous words.

Sighing, she took a glance at Bon Bon, soundlessly asleep. Lyra hadn’t joined in with the activities around the fire, only including herself when the others sought to, the others somehow missing Lyra’s mood. She was still too lost in her thoughts, unsure what had happened a few hours ago.

‘Why would Bon Bon like Anon?’ Lyra was terribly confused. ‘I’m sure she knows I like him, right? So if what she said in the forest made any sense…’

She was struggling hard with herself, trying to think of anything that would connect what she had heard.

‘When did this all start? When could this have first happened?’

Lyra thought about past events, connecting things to the best of her ability.

‘Was it when I was trying to get the two of them to be closer together as friends?’

Lyra had remembered talking to Anon privately a few times about it, knowing he was having problems with her friend such as her completely shutting him out.

‘But that couldn’t be it. No, there has to be more to this. Just how could she go from ignoring him to liking him in such a way?’

A sudden thought struck her, her ears popping up in the air in realization. Then, they flattened against her head. “Oh…”

It was the month that she wasn’t around Anon. A whole month with him and Bon Bon, spending their time together constantly on a daily basis, forming strong, fascinating connections with one another. They were together for every morning, for their lunches, after work, even special outings like going to the park while Lyra was left out of it all.

‘Is… Is that what really happened? Did Bon Bon get a hold of Anon while I was in the background? But is that enough time for something like this to happen, for them to connect so closely?’ Lyra hung her head down. ‘Who am I to argue with that… the same thing happened to me.’

Everything that had happened with them in the previous month kept appearing in her head: all the times she saw them hugging, talking, or going out. She was left out of everything, and this was what had happened as a result.

Looking over at Bon Bon, Lyra could see a small smile appear on her face as she rolled away from her. She wiped her eyes, doing her best to hold back from crying.

“Lyra—”

That startled her, making her jump from the log she was sitting at. She immediately powered her horn up, aiming it at… Octavia? The mare stood there, blinking at Lyra calmly. It took the shooken pony a few moments to realize her horn was lit up still, aimed at her friend. Breathing slowly to calm herself, she negated the magic in her horn, letting the spell dissipate.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” she apologized.

“No, I shouldn’t have walked up on you like that, so I’m the one that should be apologizing.”

“Um… Okay then. So why are you awake right now?”

“Do you not recall? I am the next watcher while you get some sleep.” She walked over to Lyra, nudging her in the side. Lyra got up as Octavia took her place. “I am a light sleeper, much like you and Bon Bon, or did you forget our time at the academy?”

“N-No, I remember well.”

She gave her a nod, and then looked at Lyra’s sleeping bag. “You best get some shuteye before the dawn breaks through.”

“Right,” she replied, walking to her bag.

Slipping inside, she tried to get as comfortable as she could on the ground as she stared into the fire. Watching the embers spark, they helped her forget her worries. The crackling of the wood eased the mare into a lull that soon found her fast asleep.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Lyra awoke with a fright, feeling something jabbed into her side. Fearing something was trying to eat her, she snapped her eyes open, kicking with all her might, trying to get whatever was attacking her. That did no good as her hooves met no resistance. Cloud Chaser was quite lucky for that, otherwise, she would be walking with a limp for the rest of the day.

“Hey sleepyhead!” she greeted Lyra with a load of pep. “Rise and shine! Time to get up!”

The pegasus flew away to a log her sister was sitting on before Lyra could respond. Yawning, Lyra slipped out of her bag and stood up, stretching her body out. Looking down at her bag, she quickly folded it up nice and neat before tying it back into one of her saddlebags. Finished with that, she looked at the campfire and saw Octavia walking toward her.

“Good morning, Lyra.”

“Morning,” Lyra greeted back with a nod.

“I hope you slept well last night.”

“Yeah, just need to get some kinks out of my side but I’m certain they’ll be gone when we continue into the forest.”

“Right,” Octavia said before moving closer to Lyra. “So, Lyra… are you doing okay?”

Lyra wasn’t sure what Octavia meant with that. “Yes? I guess so. Why are you asking me this?”

“Last night when I got up and went over to take your watch, you looked troubled. I don’t know, it looked like something you might want to talk about.”

She shook her head, looking back at Octavia. “It’s nothing; I was just lost in thought about something.”

“If you say so,” Octavia said before nudging her head at the fire. “You should hurry and get some food before it gets cold.”

“Okay,” Lyra replied, walking toward the fire. Taking a seat by the logs, Vinyl levitated a rock that had some cooked eggs on it. She stared at it, sighing.

“No one thought to bring any dishes, did they?”

“Nope,” Vinyl replied with a mouthful of food. “So I just took some rocks, cut them with my magic, and cleaned them all up!”

“Reminds me of when we got lost in the woods during that trip in the academy, right Lyra?” Bon Bon said, taking a seat beside her. “Lots of screaming and jumping at shadows.”

“Um… yeah, right…”

“Gah!” Octavia exclaimed, looking at Bon Bon. “I remember we were out there for three days straight! I nearly missed my important recital practice for the orchestra that was playing for the king of Gryphonia!”

“Oh yeah!” Vinyl sputtered, spewing some food in the direction of Octavia who jolted to the side. “You were having such a spaz attack the entire time! Oh boy, that was hilarious!”

“I was worried that I would’ve missed such a big opportunity, something that would’ve determined my entire career; my whole life, hanging in the balance because of you idiots and your decision to go find that stupid rabbit myth!”

“And look how that ended,” Vinyl said, poking a wooden fork she had made at Octavia. “The king couldn’t even make it due to some weird junk that was happening in his kingdom. I forget what it was about though.”

“Oh! I heard about that,” Flitter chirped in. “I think it was something about their borders being in complete chaos for almost an entire month.”

“Huh. Well, whatever it was, we wound up getting out of there by tree express!” Vinyl threw a hoof in the air, making a swoosh sound. “That thing sure did fly!”

“What, that was you guys?!” Cloud Chaser squeaked out. “I remember hearing about that. That thing was seen flying past Cloudsdale!”

“That sure was a whole mess of fun!” Vinyl said with a laugh. “Octavia wouldn’t stop screaming for a single second!”

“I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE!”

Vinyl and Octavia started to bicker at one another as the other four laughed at the scene. Lyra watched the entire scene with a small smile, remembering that event clearly. Looking to her side, she remembered Bon Bon’s part in it fondly, tying everypony together to the log. Staring at her friend as she laughed with the others, her smile slowly dropped, looking down at the eggs on her rock.

They eventually returned back to their meals, trying to get warm by the fire before heading out.

Lyra turned her head to Bon Bon, thinking it’d be a good idea to mention something, “Hey Bon Bon…?”

“Hmm?” She turned to her, a fork in her mouth.

“If, well… um… Well, if you ever have anything that you need to talk to me about, you know I’m here to listen, right?” Bon Bon blinked hearing that. “I mean, if you have anything you’ve wanted to say to me or just need to let out, I’m here to listen.”

She stared at Lyra for a few moments before giving her a small smile. “I appreciate the gesture, Lyra, and if I ever have anything I need to talk about I’ll come straight to you,” she said before going back to her meal.

A flash of emotions mixed around inside of Lyra after hearing that. She looked back at her eggs, swirling them around.

‘Maybe she’s waiting for a good time to say something to you?’ a familiar voice told her. ‘Try not to act out irrationally at her words.’

‘But from how it sounded last night, she’s been waiting for a good while to say anything at all. So what is she waiting this long for?’

Lyra could feel a thump on her side, forcing her from her thoughts. Looking over, she could see Vinyl poking her with her fork into her side. “Yes?”

“I asked what our plans are going into this forest.”

“Plans?”

It took her a moment to realize what Vinyl had meant. Placing her rock down on the log, she levitated the map to her, spreading it out in the air. The others stopped eating and came over, looking up at it.

“Okay, we are currently here,” Lyra pointed at the map, “and obviously we want to be here,” she said, trailing her hoof across the map. “Because of the information that Bon Bon procured, we can plan around some of the more dangerous places where the Beasts of Dourness are known to congregate.”

“I’m sorry, what did you just call them?” Cloud Chaser asked.

“It’s what the natives have been calling them. Just think of them as normal creatures or animals, but with weird mutations on them. Like a snake with two heads for instance.”

“That would be so cool to see,” Cloud Chaser commented, lost in her head about what she could see in the forest.

“Um… this looks like a really long distance to travel,” Flitter commented.

“It’ll take some time getting there,” Lyra said. “And we’ll have to make sure not to come across any posts the rebels have set up out here in this forest. We got the information on their location already, which I’ve marked in red here, here, and here,” she told them, pointing at the map in their areas. “So we’re going to go around these posts, in this trail I’ve already marked.”

“Won’t that mean it’ll take a bit longer than just going straight to the base?” Cloud Chaser asked as she leaned on Lyra’s shoulder, looking at the map.

“The time spent going around the posts is time we’ll be saving than having to deal with the rebels. Though we’re more likely to be met with the creatures in this forest, it’s safer than dealing with the rebels, especially since there are two groups of them to watch for. I’d assume that it could take anywhere from three to five days to get there, though if we hustle we could be there faster.”

“What?!” Cloud Chaser hollered, looking at the map. “But with how you have it mapped out, we should only be there in two days.” The others looked at Cloud Chaser, confused. “I know a thing or two about mapping, okay? I know what I’m talking about.”

Lyra shook her head at Cloud Chaser, “I’m estimating the time based on us going around the posts and any unmarked paths that we come across, along with if we at all need to backtrack or have to slow down for any reason.” She rolled up the map, placing it back into her pack. “I certainly would like it to be only two days to get there.”

“Same here,” Bon Bon agreed with a nod. “We should hurry up then with our meals and head out soon. We have a long day ahead of us.”

The others agreed, heading back to their logs to finish eating. Lyra picked up her own rock of food and started to eat quietly in thought. While she couldn’t figure out why Bon Bon hadn’t said anything about last night, she would rather get a move on toward Anon. That was their main priority right then above everything else. She would just have to think about things with her friend on the way there.

The six of them took no time finishing their meals and packing up. After extinguishing their fire, Lyra took the lead into the forest with the five following close behind.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X~ ~X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

‘Why can’t things be simple for once?’

Anon had noticed that there was a changing of the guards that night, two ponies that were extremely wary of him, having been two of the ponies he had previously confronted. It certainly made sleeping easier for him not having to deal with two annoyances all night, even though it was on the ground with a thin mattress, thin pillow, and a blanket. The moment he woke up though, he was met with the very creepy smiles of the previous guards staring at him through the bars. He nearly screamed in fright from how horrifying they looked.

That, apparently, was them trying to appear nice; it obviously didn’t work.

After calming down, the two went about giving Anon a fairly good breakfast: eggs, toast, a proper bowl of oatmeal, and even some OJ, freshly squeezed. He was surprised by the turnabout from the other day, but he was certainly not complaining.

Of course, the guards wouldn’t leave him alone. Their attempt at appearing ‘nice’ to him was their way of trying to butter up. They, of course, wanted to talk more about the other day, concerned about what he had brought up. They had also brought a pack of Skip-Bo cards because of course, they did. Anon was surprised seeing that they were identical to his worlds, and soon enough, a few games had gone by.

The two had been asking some questions they had been thinking hard on after their talk the other day. The questions on that topic were slow, as they were more enjoying the game more than really doing their job.

“So how about this?” Rocky said, placing down a card. “What if the unicorns made little magic baubles that could hold their magic, which we could then use for food. Would that work?”

Anon, placing a twelve down and discarding that pile, drew another five while thinking on the question.

“That would still require a lot of unicorns to make work, if not all of them. They’d also have to continuously make containers constantly, little to no breaks and no life, just to make the amount needed.” From what Lyra had taught him on magic, that kind of task would need everyone on deck at all times to make work. “It’d be the same result as enslaving them to work on food making only now you have to train them to store magic.”

He seemed dejected hearing that, still trying to figure out some way to make it work. “Maybe… Hmmm….”

Roller placed a nine down, then discarding a card into a pile, ended his turn. “What if Princess Luna was to do the farming!”

“Oooh, yeah! That could work!”

Anon gave them a deadpan stare, “Do you really think your own ruler, who has to deal with plenty of other things, could find the time do to all that work herself even if she wanted to?”

The two of them got into thinking poses, mulling over the question. Anon yawned, looking at his hand; saving two Skip-Bo’s and a one, he had the game in the bag.

“Even if the food was somehow figured out, along with figuring out how to get all the ponies to deal with living at night, there’s still needing to deal with all the beings that aren’t ponies, such as the griffons, minotaurs, dragons, camels, donkeys, dragons, and who knows what else. They’re not going to like you fellas screwing up the world that they also live in.”

“But we have a great guard to help with that!” Roller said. “And we even have the Elements! Surely they’ll help us if anything happens, right?”

Anon scoffed, “You’re joking. If it hasn’t occurred to you, it’s not Princess Luna that wants eternal night but that weird symbiotic host that had her, Nightmare Moon.”

Lyra had gone into explicit detail explaining that the two entities were not the same being, just so he didn’t mistakenly offend the princess when he had finally met her.

“So for your plan of eternal night work at all, you’d need Nightmare Moon, not Princess Luna. Even if you somehow managed to get that symbiote in the picture, if you could even locate it, the first thing it would do once in power is lock up those Elements up so they couldn’t fight her back as they did before. Oh, and to top that off, you’d only have half a guard to work with since the day guard would be disbanded as a result of all of this. And that’s even if the night guard sticks around and doesn’t fight back as well as it’s their princess they’re loyal to, not Nightmare Night.”

The moment that Rocky ended his turn, Anon placed down his one and then his two Skip-Bo cards in a row before he dusted off his hands. The other two frowned at his play.

“You’re really good at this,” Roller said, grabbing the cards before shuffling them.

“None of this makes sense to me,” Anon said, watching the cards being shuffled by hooves, which weirded him out. “Your group wants eternal night, but you’d need Nightmare Moon for that. But you’d have to turn Luna to get that, and I don’t think that’s possible at any time in the near future without her allowing it to happen, and from what little I’ve garnered she’d rather step down than let that happen. It’s kind of why I think your group, or at least your leader is after something else.”

Rocky looked at Roller with some concern on his face as Roller passed the cards out. “So you think we might be getting tricked? Or maybe everypony is in on this besides us two?”

“I don’t like that, Rocky…”

“It’s possible,” Anon said, looking at his hand. He frowned, noticing the crap hand he was dealt. “But it’s also possible the leader is the only one misleading you all, including Liberum and Colibri.”

“Let’s just say you’re right about all this. What do you think our leader is trying to do?” Rocky asked as he got his cards ready. “I mean, if he’s the one doing all of this, what’s he after?”

“What else would a villain want?” Anon shook his head, discarding a ten to end his turn. “I think the guy’s trying to get power himself, or whoever is leading him. It would explain why none of this makes sense, as I don’t see any way for anyone to remove Celestia or Luna from power.”

“So you think our leader wants power? And that he’s trying to get it by removing Princess Celestia?”

“How would that work, Rocky?”

“Maybe he has some special device to do that? Or a magical artifact that can control Princess Luna some way?”

“I don’t know of any artifacts that aren’t already locked up that could do that. Even some powerful and cursed amulets and artifacts wouldn’t necessarily guarantee a win to power.”

“Ugh! But why would he try and make it like he wants Princess Luna in power? Alien, do you have any idea?”

Anon sighed, readjusting himself as he tried to get comfortable. He looked at his hand, then discarded an eight. “First off, my name is Anon, not alien. Second, it’s kind of getting tiring with all these questions. Wouldn’t it make more sense to ask someone in charge of this stuff?”

The two of them looked at one another, and then back to Anon. “Well,” Rocky started, “when we first joined, we actually had some questions like these but nopony could or was willing, to answer them. Everypony either ignored us or changed the topic.”

“Eventually,” Roller continued off, “we just stopped asking and figured it would all work out in the end. But with you here discussing this kind of stuff and all… we think we probably should’ve kept asking.”

“So you two just want answers to things and I’m the only one that you can discuss this?”

They both bobbed their heads up and down with a smile. “Since we’re watching you anyway, why not talk about things as well?” Rocky said with a grin.

“We were originally just going to ask you things anyways about being an alien, like walking on two legs all day long or how it feels with no fur, but this is just as good.”

“Plus, you’re an alien! Even if it wasn’t about anything when’s the next chance we’ll talk to one?!”

“Probably not for a very long time, I’d reckon.”

“So let me get this straight,” Anon said, finally playing out his hand and drawing another five. “You two originally wanted to talk to me for no other reason than I’m an alien?”

“You’ve also brought up things we were previously interested in, so that’s another thing!” Roller reached behind himself, inside of a pack he had by him before throwing it into Anon’s cell. “Of course, we can also provide some things… if it’ll help you talk with us…”

Anon looked at the item, and then back to Roller. “Is that a brownie…?”

“Yes, yes it is.”

“And if we need to… sweeten the deal…” And now it was Rocky’s turn to shove something in from out of nowhere. It was a cup completely filled to the brim with milk.

“How’d you manage not to spill that?”

“I’m just that good.”

Anon placed his face into the palms of his hands at their shenanigans.

‘How did these two wind up here as guards?’

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Lyra had forgotten how intimidating the forest could be. Granted, she had only been out there once, and it was only for a few short hours, but still. While it didn’t have the foreboding feeling that the Everfree gave off, it still made her uncertain of what was to come; case in point, Sappy from before. Luckily, none of them had met anything bad so far, just an innumerable amount of trees and other things one would expect in a forest, along with a ton of noises that easily unnerved everyone.

The six of them had grouped in twos to help watch one another’s sides in case anything happened. As it would go, Flitter was with her sister, Vinyl was with Octavia… and Lyra was with Bon Bon. She had been beside her most of the trip, throwing a few words whenever Lyra had checked the map for anything or for direction on where to go.

It had been several hours since their last stop for lunch. Lyra had a good amount of time to stew around in her thoughts about Bon Bon. She still wasn’t sure what to do, or say. She had been attempting to slip in little questions to her pertaining to Anon. Bon Bon sidestepped most of the questions, turning it around to Lyra’s thoughts. Of course, she had plenty to say about that, but it still upset her Bon Bon wasn’t opening up about what Lyra had heard the other night. Why wasn’t she taking the hint?

Lyra had put out so many tells that the only thing left was to outright ask her about it. Though she felt it would be better if Bon Bon initiated things, Lyra wasn’t sure she would. Was she nervous about it? Surely they could have a civilized talk, right?

‘Maybe she’s waiting to talk to Anon first,’ the voice in her head said.

Lyra realized what that could mean. ‘Is… is she trying to get a chance to talk to him first before me so she can be with him?’

Looking at Bon Bon, she continued walking beside Lyra, right then stepping over a large branch lying in their path before continuing on. She looked behind her, noticing the other four babbling to one another about something or another.

‘You should talk to her without the others around to try and get some privacy.’

She was Lyra’s bestest best friend in the world, which made it hard to deal with this at all, so she didn’t want to blow up on her on something this sensitive, even if it was painful to hold back.

‘Yeah, surely we can talk about this later on without me doing something stupid, right?’

“HIT THE DECK!”

Lyra slammed her body into the ground without a thought after hearing Bon Bon scream out. A pink blur sailed right over their heads, trying to slam into their group. Instead, it slammed into a tree nearby.

Getting up, Lyra neared to the others who had already huddled together, getting ready for what was attacking them.

“What in the hay was that?!” Flitter screamed, looking around nervously.

“It looked like a pink manticore!” Vinyl answered back. “Lyra, do you know anything about them here?”

“I didn’t even know they came in pink!”

“So we just so happened to come across the only pink manticore in all of Equestria out here?” Octavia asked, staring warily at the manticore that was standing back up.

It gave them a really wide smile, wider than should be possible even for a manticore, as it showcased its row of razor-sharp teeth. The six of them shuddered.

“We’re not going to fight that manticore,” Lyra told them in a low whisper. “We… are going… to run away from it…”

“And how exactly do we do that?” Octavia asked quietly. “We have to get past that manticore to continue forward don’t we?”

“Maybe we can distract it somehow?” Vinyl joined in. “Then we can get around it and hightail it out of here!”

“Sounds good, but what do we do to distract it?” Bon Bon piped in, sliding in.

“Why are we all whispering?” Flitter asked. “Also, why hasn’t the manticore tried anything yet?”

They all slowly turned their heads to the manticore, who gave them all another large grin. It continued standing there, staring at them all.

“It must be toying with us,” Lyra answered. “Remember, it’s part cat, so it likes to play with its prey.”

“I hate being a prey animal,” Bon Bon harrumphed out.

“Don’t worry girls!” Cloud Chaser said with loud glee. “I’ve got the perfect distraction!”

She took flight above them, holding a jar filled with a yellow liquid.

“W-What the hay?!” Lyra was astonished seeing that. “Please tell me you haven’t been saving up your pee this entire time!”

“Nah,” Flitter responded, “that’s just Celestia’s Pee!”

Everyone’s eyes were on Cloud Chaser, jaws dropped to the ground.

“H-How did you manage to collect her pee?” Lyra said.

“WHY did you collect her pee?!” Octavia asked incredulously.

Cloud Chaser looked angered. “It’s not her pee! Stop calling it that, Flitter!”

She angrily threw the bottle at the manticore, shattering it at the ground and splattering the beast with whatever the concoction was. The manticore immediately dropped to the ground, wailing in agony, trying to rub itself in the dirt. The group quickly understood why it was acting that way as the smell of the extremely pungent liquid hit their nostrils.

“Now’s our chance!” Cloud Chaser screamed, flying behind them and shoving the group past the preoccupied manticore who continued to flop around the ground, trying to get rid of the smell. “Let’s get out of here!”

The manticore roared, clearly not happy with its current situation. The six blasted past it and through the trees, running for their lives from the very enraged creature that smelled strongly of terrible, terrible pee.

Somehow, Lyra had ended up in the back of the pack, watching the other five jumping over logs and rocks while diving through bushes without a care. Lyra kept checking behind herself, spotting the mad beast still hot on their tails as it roared at them.

Starting up a quick spell, she threw a large beam at a tree she was passing by, hoping it would slow the manticore down. The pink beast flew right over the tree in its way, though it did slow it down minutely. Lyra continued blasting more of the trees around, hoping to further slow down its progress on her. It did nothing to deter its snarling and speed.

Lyra spotted a rope, somehow slung to a tree in a peculiar manner. The manticore got a leg stuck inside of it, a branch quickly flinging it off into the air and out of the area. She looked ahead at Bon Bon who gave Lyra a large smile. It was quickly replaced with shock; looking behind her, Lyra saw the manticore was once again back on their tails as if it had teleported to them.

Bon Bon tried a few more attempts, yet no matter how she managed to throw the thing off their tracks, it somehow came back each time. Lyra wasn’t sure how long they had been running, certain though it must have been miles. Her heart was racing like crazy, her entire body covered in sweat and nearly on the brink of collapse from how exhausted she felt. But she continued on, knowing that to stop would invite herself into the belly of the beast, quite literally.

Lyra had to stop using her magic trying to stop the thing, starting to feel dizzy from overusing it too much. This granted the manticore to catch up to them all. It was so close, she could feel the roaring from it through her body.

‘It can’t end like this, can it?! I’m supposed to die of old age, or possibly from a binge on smoothies, not like this! There’s so much to do with my friends and Anon still!’

The manticore’s head was only a hoof away from her tail; she could feel its breath coming on her. She doubled her efforts, trying to get further away, not wanting its teeth sinking into her flank.

Without warning, the pink manticore slid to a halt. Lyra only noticed this as she was in the back and felt it wasn’t breathing on her anymore. Looking back, she could see it slowly falling from view as it sat on the ground, watching them. She could barely make it out, but the thing gave her a wink before whisking away like smoke. So completely flabbergasted by this, she didn’t even notice the others had stopped in front of her.

With her current speed, she rammed into the other five, forcing them down a very large hill. They all screamed out, balled up and now rolling down said hill. Eventually, the six of them collided against something that forced them to an immediate stop. They all laid there on the ground, groaning in pain.

“Is… Is the m-manticore gone?” Flitter asked, her head swirling about.

“I think so,” Vinyl answered before wobbly standing up. “Ugh, that’s certainly not something I found myself enjoying. We should keep an eye out just in case it decides to come back. Oooh, I hope my equipment wasn’t too damaged from that tumble.”

“My cello!” Octavia yelped out, jumping to her hooves. She immediately dropped back to the ground head first, still dizzy.

“Maybe you should take it slow, Octavia,” Vinyl said to the now groaning mare.

“Where are we anyway?” Flitter asked.

They all looked around, curious about their current location. Lyra could recognize the place immediately even if she hadn’t been there before. “We’re at one of the outposts that are marked on the map.”

“Weren’t we trying to avoid this place?” Bon Bon asked.

“Yes, we are,” Lyra answered.

It seemed that when they rolled down the hill, the six of them collided against an outpost tower coincidentally.

“It doesn’t look like anypony’s been here in a while,” Cloud Chaser said, flying around the building. “I wonder why that is.”

“M-Maybe they’re on patrol?” Flitter tried to answer.

Vinyl walked up to the open door, peering inside. “I don’t think so, fellas. This place looks like it’s been abandoned for a good while now, so I doubt we’ll be seeing any of those rebel ponies anytime soon.”

Looking inside the building, Lyra could see Vinyl walking to the staircase that led up to another floor. Cloud Chaser came from it, flying into the middle of the room, picking up all the mountain of dust from it into the air. The others ran back out, trying to clear their lungs out. Cloud Chaser flew from the top of the building, slowly lowering herself toward the group with a sheepish grin.

“Hehehe… sorry.”

Lyra gave her a small glare, still coughing about. Bon Bon walked to the building, looking in. “This doesn’t make any sense,” she said. “I thought these outposts would be full of guards, so why’d they abandon this place?”

“Maybe they’re all on patrol?” Flitter tried to answer again.

“All at the same time? And why would this place be so dusty?” Bon Bon walked back to the group, thinking about things. “This place obviously hasn’t been visited in a while.”

“There were a lot of outposts on the map, so who’s to say they could even have enough ponypower to fill them up,” Vinyl commented. “Hay, they could also just decided to not enter the building itself. The area does seem like it’s been used from the burnt campfire I see.”

“Place still looks like it hasn’t seen a visitor in some time,” Octavia added in. “Perhaps a good few weeks, a month at most.”

“Yeah, that could be it,” Lyra said, just getting her throat cleared. “I think it might be a better idea to stick with the outposts, now that we’ve seen what’s out there in terms of creatures. If we do come across any guards at any of the outposts we can probably handle them better than the manticore from before.”

“I like the outpost idea as well, fighting off ponies is definitely better than whatever else is out here,” Bon Bon said, right before chuckling. “That sure was an odd one though. What’s the likelihood of seeing that manticore again?”

“I wouldn’t know, but right before I crashed into all of you, I saw the pink manticore winking at me before vanishing.”

“It’s weird it would wink at you,” Octavia commented in a mumble. “Was it simply messing with us?”

“Vanishing?” Flitter said, tilting her head. “So it was super fast? Was it really just toying with us then?”

“If it was superfast it would have already gotten to us when we ran from it,” Cloud Chaser said.

“No, when I said vanishing, I mean by using magic, in a cloud of pink smoke,” Lyra said.

That got the group's attention. “I now fully agree to go to the posts from now on,” Cloud Chaser said. “I don’t mind fighting the guards, or even manticores if needed, but not pink, magic-using manticores.”

They all nodded their heads in agreement. Taking out her map, Lyra looked to see if she could identify where they were. The others closed in to see as well.

“So if I had to guess where we are now, I’d have to say it’s probably this outpost,” Lyra pointed out. “So we just need to head directly to the second post. We should be able to get there before it gets dark.” She rolled up the map, placing it back in the pack. “This will cut our time down by a large amount so long as nothing happens along the way.”

“Should we check the tower for anything important?” Flitter asked. “We might find something in there we could use.”

“No, anything left behind would be of no use to us,” Lyra said. “I doubt there’s anything of value to take and they wouldn’t just leave info about their plans behind.”

“So we should be going then,” Bon Bon said, walking beside Lyra.

“If you all don’t mind, I need to fix my cello first,” Octavia said, sitting on the ground with her cello case opened up. She turned to Vinyl, “Hey, can you come over here? I need your help with this.”

“Sure!” she replied, trotting to her. “Is it something wrong with the lightning box inside? Or maybe it’s—” Octavia interrupted Vinyl by pulling out some of her hair, which was soon followed by Vinyl screaming out, holding her head. “W-W-WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!”

“I need some of your hair to make a new string.”

“BUT WHY MY HAIR?!”

“Because the other strings are made from your hair, remember? So I wanted them to match.”

“Next time, ASK ME!”

“Very well,” Octavia said nonchalantly, going back to making the string.

Lyra never understood how Octavia was capable of making strings without any equipment, wondering how she was trained to do that or if she learned that on her own. Sitting down, Lyra took out her water and tried to relax for the moment.

‘This is going to take a while,’ she thought to herself, knowing they couldn’t move on without Octavia finishing her work.

“Vinyl, I need some more hair.”

“WHYYYYYYYY?!”

“I need strong hair, and I only got a few good strands that I can actually use. If you’d just take better care of your mane…”

The two started to bicker back and forth as the others in the group sat beside Lyra, trying to relax as well.

‘Yep, a good time to relax as any I suppose.’

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X~ ~X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Anon had regretted many things in his life: smoking, skipping classes or spending his very first paycheck on nothing but ramen noodles. These were things that stayed with him and reminded him to do better, to correct his course of future actions from such idiotic mistakes. Funnily enough, he could now add another thing to that long list of things he kept in the back of his head of regrets: ever talking to the guards.

Standing in front of him was none other than the prick, Liberum.

Fun little thing that wasn’t so much fun that happened, after talking to the guards, they thought it would be a good time to bring up these things with some others. And now Liberum was here as a result of that.

“I’m going to ask you once more,” he said with his forever frown. “Why are you filling our guard’s heads with this nonsensical drivel?”

Anon couldn’t help but let out a tired sigh as he stood across from the pony behind the bars. “Why does it matter what I say to them? It’s not like you really care about those two from what I’ve seen.”

His frown only deepened, “I care about my guards being manipulated.”

“Yeah, the problem there is I’m not manipulating them. I’m just speaking my mind about this whole situation, which I find completely absurd. Expecting Princess Luna to rule over the lands, especially the way you are going about it, is a plan destined for failure.”

The pony looked at Anon as if he was an imbecile. “I’m certain whatever our commander has planned will work out in the end. As for you, you are not here to chat up our guards but to act as a negotiation piece against Princess Celestia. After the negotiations, you will be given back, simple as that.”

Anon, disliking how he was being treated, decided to push some buttons, “Do you really think something this stupidly planned will work? Using me as a bargaining tool doesn’t make any sense. Expecting Celestia to step down makes even less sense. And thinking your plan for the ENTIRE population of the planet will go smoothly is foolish.”

If it was at all possible, Liberum’s frown grew further down his face. Anon knew his face was going to feel sore in the morning. “Not that it’s any of your business, but our commander has everything under control with his plans he has meticulously kept with for many years. It is not I nor anypony else’s place to question his plans.”

“None of my business he says,” Anon said, barking out a laugh. “You just want to keep yourself convinced this is all a good idea. And you have no proof of it at all it is, do you? How are you and your lot going to put Luna in power? She didn’t even want to have eternal night, the little pest that was Nightmare wanted that. Are you honestly sure of things, or are you following blindly like a fanatical nutjob?”

Liberum snarled at Anon, slamming the bars of the cell. “I have no reason to question my betters. They are convinced that Princess Celestia has her sister entrapped in a terrible situation, having come out of her sentence and it is up to us to free her from it!”

“Yes, she has her in the palms… ehr, the… middle of her hooves? I don’t know how to interpret that stupid saying.” Anon shook his head. “I don’t even know why this is being discussed. I really don’t care what you guys wind up doing. It’s not going to work anyway, the whole thing is too terribly flawed that anyone with a brain and a moment’s thought would pick apart whatever your lot told them. Those two guards before? Did you actually hear what I said to them?”

“I heard plenty.”

“And even after listening to all of that, you’re not going to question your superiors?”

Liberum snorted with a shake of his head. “Colibri would never allow such a thing to happen, so if he says it’s true, then I know it to be true.”

He was getting terribly tired of the conversation. He rubbed his forehead, “So your commander has plans for the things I mentioned, some kind of way to shackle the entire populace of the world coming after you all for this? You are certain they can keep the ponies from being ghosted, dusted out on route ‘Questria?”

The pony opened his mouth and then closed it. “I’m certain Colibri has a plan for things.”

Anon looked at him with a small smirk, “But Colibri isn’t in charge. He’s just a second to your leader that’s orchestrating it all.” He snorted, “Colibir’s probably a pawn in whatever game your leader’s playing.”

Liberum harrumphed, “Colibri is capable of making his own decisions,” he said with his head held high. “Whether it’s leading himself or ordering your capture, he knows what he’s doing.”

“Yeah, sure. Just face it; you don’t know how anything will work because your leader never planned for it to work. He’ll take what he’s after while your lot is led around in circles, Colibri leading that charge. But, go ahead. Continue believing that this all will probably work out, that Colibri is probably not a pawn and is probably not going to be thrown away at the last second and probably won’t lead to the eventual doom of everything you know.”

“Our… Our leader wouldn’t just get rid of Colibri. He’s too important to all this!”

“Important to you? Sure, I can see that. But your leader? You don’t think he wouldn’t just toss him aside if it benefited him? That’s what villains do, buckaroo. It wouldn’t matter if he had to rid of all of you, Colibri included, so long as he wins in the end.”

“You’re wrong. There’s, we’re all integral in this! Our leader wouldn’t just use us for such iniquitous deeds.”

“You sure aren’t sounding very certain anymore. Are you finally realizing that there is no real plan in all of this?”

Anon got close to the bars, sticking his head up against them and looking down at the pony.

“I’d seriously rethink things through, little pony. You’re being led astray from your flock by a wolf, garbed in false righteousness and sweet little lies. And you and Colibri will find yourselves led willingly down the belly of the beast soon enough…”

The pony seemed disturbed, concerned by Anon’s words. He refused to reply, instead opting to leave out the door as fast as he possibly could. Anon stood back up with his arms crossed, looking calm. On the inside though, he was cheering himself on.

‘Hell yeah, I sounded awesome! I swear I could have won an Oscar right there!’

Hearing some noises, Anon eventually saw the return of the previous two guards that had gotten him into the previous mess. “I’d have expected Liberum would have changed the guard out since he thinks I’m trying to manipulate you two for some reason.”

“We don’t exactly have a lot of guards here,” Rocky replied.

‘Handy info to have.’

“And we were ordered not to talk to you.”

“But we still have some things we’d like to talk to you about, so we’ll keep this between us,” Roller said with a wink. “We’ll just play some,” he winked again, “Skip-Bo,” another wink, “to pass the time,” and once more for good measure.

Anon wiped his face with a palm, letting out a sigh as he stared up at the ceiling. “Just great…”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X~ ~X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

After Octavia got her string fitted onto her cello, the six of them were back to walking, only with a new destination in mind. While it was risky going to another post, what with them being unsure about the rebels being positioned in them, it was definitely a safer alternative to meeting similar creatures in the forest such as the pink manticore from before.

Lyra was feeling paranoid, almost certain that the thing was following them, seeing pink flashes out of the corner of her eyes. She stuck closer to everyone as a result.

None of them had talked once they started walking unless it was to ask a simple question or point something out to the group. They were still too spooked about what had happened previously, fully on guard and alert for anything else. The only thing on their mind was to get to the next post as quickly as possible.

Luckily for them, they hadn’t met any other creatures getting to the post. And it was just starting to get dark once they arrived at it.

‘Perfect timing,’ Lyra thought as she squatted down in a bush with the others.

They all stood outside of the view of the large tower, watching for any signs that there was any activity inside of the place.

“What do you think?” Bon Bon asked.

“Not sure,” Lyra replied, “I haven’t seen anything happen so far.”

Cloud Chaser groaned, “We’ve been sitting in these bushes for almost half an hour. I’m just going to check it real quick so stay here.”

Before any of them could stop her she had already zoomed off to the top of the tower, going inside one of the windows. They all waited patiently, uncertain about what she would find. It didn’t take long for her to return, slowly flying back.

“So?” Vinyl asked.

“It’s empty, completely covered in dust.”

“Not if I have any say about that,” Octavia said, walking toward the post. “Vinyl, hurry up! I’m going to need your magic to clear out all this dust.”

Vinyl let out a low whine, following after Octavia who had already entered the post.

“So what do we do now?” Flitter asked, flying beside her sister.

“Go collect some wood, like last time,” Lyra answered. “Just don’t go too far, we’re not sure what else is out here.”

Cloud Chaser saluted Lyra, Flitter sloppily imitating, before they flew off into the trees. Turning to her side, Lyra saw Bon Bon had already gone toward the post to begin setting up her traps. That left Lyra with helping inside the tower. Walking to the door, she jumped to the side once the door slammed open from a huge wave of wind blasting it.

The wind turned into a miniature tornado of dust that swirled off into the sky before it dispersed itself off into the distance. Turning back to the door, she saw the two ponies coming out for the tower, coughing wildly with their manes sticking up at odd angles.

“Hey Octavia, you’re manes completely wonked out girl,” Vinyl said, still coughing but with a smile. “Should get that checked out at the closest salon.”

“Shut it, Vinyl.”

Shaking her head at them, Lyra walked inside the tower, inspecting it. It was very simple inside with only a few chairs along with a table and a desk remaining inside. There was a fireplace built into the wall, simplifying matters on where to start a fire for them.

Claiming one of the smaller desks that remained, she pulled it to the side and placed her pack down on it. Pulling her map out, she rolled it on the desk and started looking over it as she attempted to make some changes to their route while thinking of any places that she remembered being no-go zones. Lyra also planned to check the documents to see if there was any information on the rebels that matched up to why these posts were empty.

In the background, Vinyl and Octavia continued to bicker, cleaning the place and bringing some furniture down that was upstairs. Cloud Chaser and Flitter soon returned, placing a large pile of wood beside the fireplace. And finally, Bon Bon came in after she finished her traps outside.

With everything finished, they all walked up to Lyra, who was still looking at the map.

“Okay,” she started, “since we’ll be going to their posts instead of avoiding them, I’ve made some changes to where we’ll be going. We should be there much sooner as a result. I’d almost expect us to be there after tomorrow, possibly in the afternoon.”

“That’s great!” Cloud Chaser said, flying above everyone in a swirl. “And then we kick everypony’s butts over there and take Anon back!”

“Hold up on that thought,” Lyra said. “We still need to get there safely. We have to make sure each post we go to is safe and keep away from any rebels. We also need to case out the place a little to see what we’re up against.”

Cloud Chaser groaned at that, only wanting to run in cannon’s a blazing. Lyra decided to pack up her papers along with her map.

“It’ll be nice to be out of the forest for the night,” Bon Bon said. “Flitter, Vinyl, have either of you decided on who will take first watch?”

“Um… no, not r—”

“I’ll take the second watch,” Vinyl said, interrupting Flitter. “I don’t want you waking up for your watch half asleep so you’ll be taking first, okay?”

“Right!” Flitter said enthusiastically, happy in not having to make the decision.

She quickly flew over to her bag, pulling something out from it and started to put it on. Cloud Chaser slapped her forehead as everyone stared at Flitter’s new attire: a completely black, tight-fitting suit.

“Flitter, what are you wearing?” Lyra asked.

“It’s my clothing for when I want to be sneaky,” she said, getting low to the ground. “Now, nopony can see me when I’m on guard.” She started pattering around on the floor extremely quickly, chanting ‘nin, nin, nin,’ over and over.

As she continued to ‘nin’ around the room, everyone slowly turned to Cloud Chaser for an explanation. She raised her hooves in the air at her sister's shenanigans.

“Okay, look, she likes to dress up in things and apparently she brought one of her outfits along with us without me knowing,” she told the group. “Is it really any different from Bon Bon wearing her science coat?”

“…Yes, it is,” Bon Bon answered.

“And what exactly is she dressed up as?” Octavia asked. “And… why is she doing that?”

Flitter ignored the group, still in her own world as she ‘nin’d’ up the walls and the floor.

“She’s a ninja,” Cloud Chaser answered, “and she’s currently in stealth mode right now…”

“Wait, where did she go?” Vinyl asked.

Everypony was now just noticing Flitter wasn’t ‘nin’ing’ anymore and nowhere to be seen.

“Most likely hiding right now,” Cloud Chaser said. “While weird, she’s very serious when it comes to her getup’s and will fit the role she wears. She’ll come out if she’s needed.”

Cloud Chaser’s stomach rumbled right then, a red blush on her face appearing. All their stomachs growled in unison, reminding them all they were hungry.

“Let’s get some food cooking,” Bon Bon said, already by the campfire and throwing wood into it. “I’m starving!”

Vinyl flashed a spell up, lighting the wood on fire. The others quickly joined in helping to prepare the food, with Lyra staring at them, unable to really help with much. Thinking if there was some way to contribute, she looked at them all individually, right before her eyes were directed toward Bon Bon.

‘Now might be a good time to talk to her.’

With nothing that was in danger of getting them at the moment, she thought it would be a good time to talk to her while they were at the post.

“Hey, Bon Bon,” Lyra called out, getting her attention. “I want to talk to you for a moment. In private,” she said, nudging her head toward the door.

She tilted her head in confusion before looking at the others. “We’ll be right back,” she said, placing a rock-plate down, following Lyra.

“Just hurry your butts up or your food’s going to get cold!” Vinyl told them.

The two of them walked outside the post, only going out as far as Lyra though none of them would overhear the two. Thankfully for her, it wasn’t too dark out just yet so they could see where they were walking.

“So what did you want to talk to me about, Lyra?” Bon Bon asked.

‘This is it. Just try and talk to her about this to figure out what’s really up with her and Anon.’

“Lyra?”

“Bon Bon, I… wanted to talk to you about Anon.”

Bon Bon’s previous confusion turned to a small smile, “Is this about all those questions you’ve been asking me along the way?”

“Yeah, they are.”

“If you’re worried about Anon and me, then there’s nothing to worry about. I know I didn’t see him in a good light when he first came here, but we’re very good friends now, Lyra.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Lyra said with a frown.

“…Excuse me?”

“Bon Bon, just how close are you to Anon? You seem to like him more than just a friend.”

She took a step back, “I-I assure you nothing is going on.”

“Really? Nothing at all? So this whole month I’ve been doing things and been away, you haven’t gotten that close to Anon?”

“Just a-as a friend, Lyra!”

“I’ve just had a lot of time thinking back on things, remembering how you’d go out with him at any chance given. I’m not so sure about things between you two now.”

“Lyra, you can’t expect to believe that’s what’s been happening! It’s just two friends doing things with one another! W-Why would you interpret it like that?!”

“I suppose you’re right on that, it would be weird to do so even for me.”

Bon Bon was looking very confused and flustered at the moment. “So what’s with you bringing this up then?”

“Bon Bon… I heard you and Vinyl talking last night.”

She sucked in her breath, freezing on the spot and staring at Lyra with wide eyes. Lyra stared back, waiting for a response. She took her time, trying to process what Lyra had said. Her mouth opened and closed, trying to get something out.

“L-L-Lyra, I—” She took a deep breath, “I-I can explain.”

“Really? How are you going to explain you just lied to me a second ago? Why, Bon Bon? I didn’t expect you of all ponies to be that close to Anon and to lie to me about it. W-Why would you do that?”

Lyra could feel herself tearing up, trying to talk to her. It was a difficult task for the mare not to blow up with her racked emotions. Bon Bon herself was already in tears streaming down her face, dropping down onto the ground.

“I d-d-didn’t want you t-to find out like th—” She hiccuped, wiping her eyes before turning her direction to the ground. “-l-like this.”

A flash of anger hit Lyra. “What in the buck do you mean ‘not like this’? So you were planning on going behind my back with Anon?”

Bon Bon stuttered out, trying to say something.

“I thought we were real close,” Lyra gasped. “I d-didn’t expect you to do something so hurtful. J-Just answer me, why did you try getting with him, even knowing I liked him?”

Bon Bon wasn’t capable of words now, shaking like a leaf in the wind, staring at the ground.

“W-Why’d you have to like Anon?” Lyra asked, choking on air.

Bon Bon didn’t answer.

“W-Why?”

Still no answer.

“WHY?!”

“BECAUSE I WANTED US THREE TO BE TOGETHER!” Bon Bon screamed out, now staring at her while openly crying.

Rattled from being yelled back, Lyra lost her cool. “What the buck are you talking about?! You already live with us! Should I have been clearer about me liking Anon?! IS THAT IT?!”

“How can you be s-s-so s-stupid about this,” Bon Bon stammered out. “I wanted a relationship with us three, b-being together with one another!”

Bon Bon looked up at Lyra, tears still streaming down her face. In Lyra’s anger, she wasn’t taking in what her friend was telling her, only thinking of how Bon Bon tried to take Anon. In her own stupidity, she didn’t think out what she would say next.

“…I only wanted Anon, not you.”

It was like something shattered inside of Bon Bon when she had said that. Her face showed she was in an enormous amount of pain, hearing that. Turning around, she ran away from Lyra and into the tower, crying the entire way there.

Lyra, in her anger, still didn’t comprehend what was spoken to her. In the back of her head, that little voice spoke to her, saying something that would slowly make her realize she had messed up.

‘You’re such a terrible, stupid pony, Lyra.’

~End Chapter Seventeen~

Chapter Eighteen - Crazy Little Thing Called...

Staring at the door Bon Bon just ran in only a few minutes ago, Lyra replayed the words in her head over and over. Something in her words was nagging at her, but in her anger, it just wasn’t coming through clearly. That little voice in her head hadn’t spoken since, even with her trying to will it out, only adding to the seriousness of the situation.

When she had run inside, there was an enormous amount of commotion inside the tower. It only just died down a few moments ago, leaving nothing but the silence of the night. It had a calming effect on her, helping the anger simmer down to allow her to think better. She just needed some time to herself, to think about what just happened.

Wiping her eyes, Lyra noticed the door slowly opening with somepony standing outside of it. She wondered if Bon Bon was really coming back out. Lyra didn’t think it would help the situation at all if she did, only refueling what had happened.

Watching the pony walk over, Lyra quickly recognized that it was Vinyl that came out. Lyra just sat there, watching the unicorn slowly make her way toward her. Only standing a body’s length away from her, Vinyl took a seat on the ground in front of Lyra. She simply stared at her, making Lyra wonder just what she wanted.

“Is there something you need?” Lyra asked grumpily.

“Other than being curious as to why Bon Bon ran in there a few minutes ago?” she asked in return. Lyra let out a snort, turning from her. “So what exactly went down out here? We heard screaming and then saw her running inside, barricading herself in a room.”

“She didn’t tell you guys?”

“No, she came crashing in while crying before running up to the second floor. Octavia is trying to talk to her and I thought I should get your side of things.”

“What exactly is there to get? Bon Bon was trying to get in a relationship with Anon.”

Vinyl merely hummed hearing that. “So she finally came out and told you about her plan?”

“No,” Lyra grunted out, “I confronted her about it just a little bit ago.”

“Oooh. Hold up, then why was she crying? Did you really refuse her?”

“Refuse her? She was trying to take Anon! What in the buck are you talking about?”

“There is no way I can believe she wouldn’t tell you what was up with her and you if she told you about what she was doing. I… I just have to imagine you didn’t think things through before acting, once again.” She raised a hoof before Lyra could reply. “Just tell me exactly what happened.”

“…I confronted Bon Bon about her and Anon. She first tried to say it wasn’t true, but then I told her what I saw last night.”

“Last night?”

“I caught the two of you talking, in the bushes.”

“Oh. I thought I heard somepony crawling through the bushes last night.”

“Don’t think I’m not upset with you too hiding this from me.”

“Are you talking about how Bon Bon likes Anon? Or the fact she also likes you, and for a good long while now.”

“How she li—” It took her a moment to process what she was just told. “What?”

Vinyl sighed, looking tired. “Lyra, didn’t Bon Bon tell you about that? Or did you not listen?”

“I, um, well… She told me about Anon, and then…” Lyra took a second to remember what was said. “I… I think she may have said something about us three being together.”

“Really? How did you reply to that?

‘I only wanted Anon, not you.’

Those words replayed in her head. It’s not like what she said wasn’t true, but the way she had acted and the level of tact she displayed were tremendously poor.

“She… She shouldn’t have been hiding this from my Vinyl.”

“I’ve been telling her that for a good while now.”

“I really dislike how she wanted us three to be together so she could be with Anon. Why didn’t she even try to talk to me about this?”

Vinyl slapped a hoof to her face. “Darn it, Lyra! Did you not listen to what I or she had said?”

“What?”

“She wasn’t doing this for Anon, she was doing it to be with you, you stupid mare!” Vinyl let out a groan, rubbing her forehead. “This would be so much easier if Octavia was talking to you… Okay, so let me get this straight. You blew up on her because you thought she was after Anon. Which is only partially true because she was after you this whole time.”

Lyra wasn’t sure how to reply back to that. “That, that doesn’t, why would she...”

“Lyra, she’s been infatuated with you for a very, very long time now. I don’t even know how long, but I personally knew about it way back in the academy.”

“But… that doesn’t make sense. If she did like me like that, why hasn’t she brought this up before? Bon Bon’s not afraid of saying what’s on her mind.”

“Because whenever she did try to, she would turn into a stuttering mess, clamming right up,” she answered with a shake of her head. “I can’t believe you didn’t even see how bad she has it for you after all these years.”

“This is a bit hard to take in, Vinyl. I just… why would she even like me?”

“Who knows why. I mean, you don’t think things through, you can be very emotional at times, and your obsession with aliens back in the day was very off-putting, though it’s gotten better.” Lyra frowned hearing that. “But for as long as I’ve known her, you’ve had a major effect over her and the things she’s done. That gal’s done a lot just to be with you, Lyra.”

Vinyl had begun a very long list of things that Bon Bon had attempted to tell her about her feelings. All the times they went out during the festivals, all the star watching parties they did together, or even all the Hearts and Hooves days they’ve spent just being with one another, with them spouting about not needing anypony but the two of them.

With each addition to what Vinyl told her, it only made Lyra cringe, realizing how stupid she was throughout all of this.

“But… then why did she want to be with Anon then? That’s still not making any sense to me.”

“She knew you liked Anon, possibly as much as she likes you, though I’m doubtful on that. But she didn’t want you to choose between the two of them. I have a feeling she thought she would be on the losing end of that tug of war for your heart. Bon Bon thought the three of you together were her best chance with you. So for the past month, she was trying to see if it was possible to fall in love with him as you did.”

“...Did she?” Lyra asked quietly.

“That only took her two weeks to see she could have feelings for him before she started developing them,” she answered back with a sigh. “You know how we ponies are, Lyra. We have a lot of room in our hearts. Do you remember that friendship lesson in the academy, the line they had us memorize?”

“‘Friendship is the root of all things good, and should friendship flourish long enough, love is the outcome that binds us together.’ Yes, I remember that.”

Vinyl nodded her head, “Is Bon Bon’s friendship strong enough for you, Lyra, to take it to greater heights?”

“I… I don’t know. This really came out of the blue, being asked if I can love Bon Bon as she does for me.”

Vinyl looked off to the side in thought as Lyra stared down at her hooves, thinking about her argument with Bon Bon. Although Lyra still thought Bon Bon should have talked to her about everything with Anon, she couldn’t help but feel horrible about making her cry.

“I remember having talked to Bon Bon about this relationship deal with the three of you a few times,” Vinyl said, looking at Lyra. “I also remember talking to Anon about your feelings for him once or twice.” Lyra turned to her with shock hearing that. “Yeah, he kind of started to realize you saw him as more than a friend after some time. You really didn’t know about him knowing that?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“It was pretty obvious how you felt about him, almost as obvious as it was Bon Bon had feelings for you. As for Anon, there’s something there, just waiting to blossom for you Lyra, and even for Bon Bon. I’m certain he can learn to love you two. He just has a difficult time with the whole interspecies thing since he comes from a land of only humans. It’s not the norm for them.”

“Yeah… I remember him saying something like that a bit ago. But I’m confident that I can show him that even with our differences, we can still work things out.”

“So could I take that to qualify for Bon Bon as well?”

Lyra flattened her ears, looking down. “I… I’m not sure if I like her like that, Vinyl.”

Vinyl calmly breathed out, standing up. She popped her neck before looking down at Lyra. “You should definitely think this over real hard, Lyra. I’m certain you have feelings for her as well that Bon Bon would gladly know of.”

“I know I have them for Anon, these feelings, but… what if I don’t have these feelings for her?”

Vinyl looked up through the canopies of the trees, staring at the stars twinkling in the sky. “I remember a conversation I had with Bon Bon a while back. She had mentioned she was willing to let Anon be with you, even if it meant she was to be alone as a result. Her love is strong enough to sacrifice her own happiness for you. That’s a pretty powerful thing to do. I just hope that you all can work this out some way.” Vinyl turned away from her, walking toward the tower. “When you’re ready, come back inside and get some food. We still need to get ready for tomorrow to get Anon.”

She left Lyra there, sitting in the dark in thought about everything she had told her.

‘Do I have these kinds of feelings for Bon Bon? Can we really all be together?’

Lyra wasn’t certain of any of this.

“Why can’t things be simple for once?”

She thought long and hard on her feelings, uncertain about what she should do.

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“When are they going to get here?!” Rainbow Dash asked with a frown. “We should’ve been out of here yesterday!”

“Hold yer apples there, partner,” Applejack said from her bench. “We’re all a might bit cranky right now and we don’t need ya’ getting’ all riled up at the moment.”

The others nodded their heads at Applejack before yawning from how tired they all were.

“The princess wanted to make sure we had guards to accompany us on this trip, Dash,” Twilight Sparkle spoke up, trying to calm her hot-headed friend. “She’d have let us go on our own but with all the towns being attacked and the two sides vying for either princess, she wanted a show of force from both guards to help with things. So we’re waiting for the night guards to arrive and then we can head out.”

“And now look how that’s turned out; it’s past midnight! We’re going to get to that stupid place, only winding up having to go out late the next day! And besides, we already have a few guards here with us so why can’t we just go with them?!”

Just as Twilight was about to say something, a group of guards came up to them.

“Finally!” Dash said, flying down to them. “So are we ready to go now?”

“No, Miss Dash,” a guard answered, “we’re still gathering the conductor and the other ponies that run the train.” She groaned hearing that. “It won’t be much longer for us to get this train started up, where we’ll get a hotel before leaving at the earliest chance we can get.”

Dash hung her head, slowly flying over to the top of the train station before flopping on top of the roof. The others slumped back into where they were sitting, clearly not happy hearing that. One of the guards that were waiting at the train station walked up to the new arrivals, giving a brief salute.

“Sir, we have information from Mercanville. It turns out that six ponies from here in Ponyville have not only been through the town, but they’ve already gone into the forest in search of Anon themselves.”

Twilight heard this before walking up to the guard.

“And just who would be stupid enough to go out on their own?” the pony that appeared to be in charge asked.

“It was Lyra and Bon Bon, wasn’t it?” Twilight asked.

The guard nodded in confirmation. “Affirmative, along with four others: ponies named Vinyl, Octavia, Cloud Chaser, and Flitter. They have a large lead on us, but they seem to be headed for the night rebel’s base.”

Twilight frowned. “But our information tells us that it’s the day rebels who have Anon. Could our information be wrong somehow?”

The guard pony didn’t answer her. “The two guards we have located at Mercanville reported this two days ago,” the guard continued. “They happened upon them by complete chance, seeing them walk into the forest and gathered what information they could on what they were planning.”

“Why didn’t they attempt to turn them around?” the one in charge asked.

“The guards only found out about them at the last moment, preoccupied with the missing pony they've been searching for. Doctor Cross Love is the head of research for the area and is also a second objective to return him should we find the individual, as it’s presumed to also have been captured.”

The day guard hummed in thought. “We’re gonna have to collect those six on our way through the forest. I’ll be working out how we’ll go about this. Prepare the guards to be ready at a moment’s notice, we should be out soon enough.”

“Aren’t we missing somepony?” The two guards turned to Twilight. “I thought that Princess Celestia was going to bring somepony to help us with this. She told me that anyways. N-Not that the guard can’t help or anything, but I thought my brother was coming here too…”

“Your brother is greatly needed at the Crystal Kingdom right now. The princess… sent somebody else to help us.”

“Where is the other pony at then?”

The guards seemed to cringe, looking behind her. “The being here is currently talking to Fluttershy right now,” the one in charge said before turning around and going back to his group.

Turning around, Twilight looked at her friend. Her eyes widened, staring at someone she wasn’t expecting to see.

“W-What are you doing here?!” she shouted, stirring the others from their sleep.

“Why Twilight, is that how you greet someone trying to help you little ponies out? You’d think the princess would have taught you some manners along with learning about friendship!”

Discord gave Twilight a large smile, twisting his body in the air around Fluttershy.

“H-He’s here to help us get Anon back,” Fluttershy said, floating in the middle of the chimera.

“Not that your help isn’t appreciated,” Rarity started, looking the being up and down, “but I thought the princess ordered you to stay at the castle grounds after having released you.”

“Why I volunteered to help!” he said with arms wide open. “What better way to show you’re now a part of the goody-two-shoes brigade than to partake on an epic rescue!”

“So there’s no other reason you’re out here?” Twilight asked with a frown.

Discord rolled his eyes, hard, swirling them around in his head and returning his stare at Twilight.

“Okay, so sue me if I was a smidgen curious about meeting this alien that everybody’s talking about. But regardless of that, I’m here to help you, girls! Surely you could use the help of this magnificent being?”

“Could you teleport us to Mercanville?” Dash asked from the roof. “Like, right now?”

“Certainly!” Discord answered with a smile. “With just a snap of my digits a—”

“Don’t even think about it!” Twilight shouted. “You know your magic always pulses out chaos whenever it’s used. I’d rather not have you accidentally doing something after we reformed you!”

He blew out a raspberry, his tongue whistling in the air as he crossed his arms. “Spoilsport…”

Fluttershy floated up to him, patting his shoulder. “Don’t you worry, I’m certain you can use your magic on those naughty rebel ponies.”

“I suppose so,” Discord said. “Maybe I could increase their gravity, making them squatting on the ground as they’re trying to attack us. That’d be fun to see visually.”

“Oh! What if you made them breathe out bubbles? Their battle cries would be so cute!”

Discord laughed at the idea. “That sounds marvelous! That will be a good start before I turn their base into an ice rink!”

“And give them little bunny slippers instead of ice skates?” Fluttershy said with a giggle.

Discord gave a hearty laugh at the image before grabbing Fluttershy and ruffling her mane, producing a squeak from her. “See, this is some good ol’ fun that I’m used to!”

“And just how is this goin’ to help us fight those rebels?” Applejack asked.

Discord and Fluttershy looked at one another before turning to Applejack, shrugging at her. Applejack started to argue with Discord, telling him not to corrupt Fluttershy, who Discord was arguing back she was like that all along. Fluttershy was completely ignored in this conversation.

Sighing, Twilight took a seat by Pinkie Pie who was sleeping on her back, twitching a hoof at something.

“I hope they hurry up and get those train ponies so we can leave soon…”

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‘I am such a horrible, terrible pony.’

After Vinyl had gone inside the tower, Lyra -sat outside for some time, stewing in her thoughts about the whole situation. It took little time for her to realize she had fouled up, once again, only in a manner that may not be salvageable this time around. Eventually, she made her slow trek to the tower, her need for food forcing her inside.

Once inside, the others had looked away from her, uncertain of what to say, an awkward tension having been built between them. Lyra interpreted their actions as them acting disgusted by her own actions; she kept her head down the entire time in shame. Eating quickly, she soon found herself in a corner of the place with her stuff, still thinking about everything. None of them spoke to her, not sure what they could say at all.

Her thoughts could not stop drifting back to her friend. It was a lot to take, finding out her childhood friend, somepony who had stuck with her all her life, was in love with her the entire time. Past events with her friend seemed to flutter by in her mind: the times they went to the theatre, their schooldays and the classes they had, or just enjoying their time with one another on some mindless thing.

Bonnie was always there for her when things were crummy or she needed a helping hoof. She had always wondered how her friend would go so above and beyond what anyone else would do for her.

With each memory that surfaced, she always went back to a single question that stood out in her head: Did she have feelings, Bon Bon, as she does for her?

‘Do I actually love Bon Bon? Can I?’

She was doubtful many other beings out there could put up with some of the things she’s done in the past and still be with her like Bon Bon had. Just thinking about that made her feel horrible once more, thinking about her friend. Lyra cursed herself, wondering why she hadn’t tried to do better and listen to her.

‘Let’s face it Lyra,’ a familiar voice spoke, ‘you’re thickheaded, stupid, don’t think things through, and always manage to find yourself in trouble. Even with all of that, she stuck around for you, to be with you. Would anypony else put up with you as she has?’

Hearing that, it only made her want to redo what had previously happened. It still hurt to remember how she reacted to her words, and it was probably an iota of what Bonnie had felt.

‘She hadn’t deserved how you acted like such a buffoon to her. You really need to focus on this while you’re going out for Anon and make a decision before you get to him.’

In the morning, the six of them quickly packed up to leave with a dour mood. Bon Bon hadn’t spoken a single word to anyone, simply eating as fast as she could before going outside to collect her traps and waiting for the rest of them.

As soon as everything was ready, they all left for the next post with Octavia now in the front leading them. Lyra decided she should stick behind to continue thinking about things, uncertain she would be effective at leading them anywhere properly.

‘Bon Bon wanted us all three to be together. Could the three of us make this work out? Would Anon agree to it? And even if he didn’t, would I stick with her?’

Anon’s customs from his world, from what she had gathered, revolved around monogamy, so it would be even more awkward for a relationship on top of the whole interspecies thing. But… even if he did agree, Lyra didn’t want to leave Bonnie alone either, now that she knew her true feelings.

‘So maybe you should try to be with her then. You already have feelings for her, you just weren’t focused on it being romantic at the time.’

‘But is it something I really should do or would want? I’ve never considered that kind of relationship with her. And what if it doesn’t work out? I don’t want to lose her as a friend!’

‘Lyra, I think you’re already doing a swell job of messing up your friendship as it is. You might be able to repair it, with a lot of hard work, but I think you already know what you’re really feeling about all this.’

“L…”

All this thinking was hurting her head, only making her more confused about the situation. As cruel as it sounded, this wasn’t all about Bon Bon; it was also how she had felt. Is it something she was truly okay with?

“Hey… Lyra…”

‘It should be fine. Bon Bon was cool with giving it a shot, and she already likes you, so why not give it a go? Come on, you already find her attractive, can’t hide that kind of thing from me.’

A blush could be felt burning on Lyra’s face. Lyra shook her head, wanting nothing more but to sit down and think about this.

“Yo’ Lyra, you there?!”

She jumped, hearing Vinyl’s voice right in her ear, trying to get Lyra’s attention. Looking around, she only just noticed the others were nowhere in sight.

“S-Sorry, had my mind on some things…”

Vinyl frowned; likely guessing what was on her friend’s mind. “Cloud Chaser saw the guard post up above the treetops so it’s just up ahead.”

‘Did time really go that fast?’

She hadn’t been paying much attention to anything at all, lost in her thoughts.

“They went on ahead to check the tower out to make sure there were no guards there.”

“Oh, that’s, that’s good.”

“Lyra, I know you’ve got a lot on your mind, but don’t let it drift too much. We don’t need you being sidetracked with your head in the clouds as we’re traveling through this forest.”

“I… Yes, you’re right.”

“And, regardless of what I just said, well… Did you come to a decision concerning Bon Bon?”

“I’m still not sure. This is all happening so fast! Why couldn’t Bonnie tell me all this before we went out to get Anon?”

“I had been telling her to talk to you for a long time, so it’s partially her fault things came out like this. Still, she wants to be with you, even if you made a righteous idiot of yourself last night. So is being with her something you can consider?”

She hung her head down, “I’ve been thinking really hard on this. I mean, I… I don’t think I wouldn’t mind trying this out. I do like her, and it’d take some getting used to. I think it needs some time so I can develop those same feelings she has for me.”

“I completely get what you’re trying to say,” she softly spoke.

“I’ve known her for so long, and I really do enjoy her company a great deal. I just… I… I think I could try being with her.”

Vinyl smiled hearing that. “It’s not like it would be all that difficult; you already live with her and share the bills. So that’s one step out of the way.”

“Yeah, sure. But… what about Anon?”

“What about him? The three of you could still be together if either of you decided that and he’s down with it. But even if it didn’t work out, at least you’d still have Bon Bon there. I’d start with getting the two of you trying things out and then convince Anon later on.”

“S-So you think it’s possible, being in a relationship with those two?”

“I doubt you have to do much work concerning Bon Bon on that idea. But seriously girl, you need to go talk to her as soon as you can. Like right now would even be good.”

Lyra frowned, her ears flattened on her head. “J-Just what am I supposed to say? Last night was such a mess, I doubt she even wants to talk to me.”

“Just apologize for your stupidity and talk to her about trying things out.”

“W-What should I say? How do I say it?! WHAT DO I DO VINYL?!”

Vinyl shrugged her shoulders, “I dunno, go with what feels natural.”

Lyra felt her face tightening as she clenched her teeth. “But what feels natural me is normally the stupid thing to do!”

“And that’s what Bon Bon loves about you, your stupidity.” Lyra blinked at her. “Wait, that’s not what I meant. I mean, she likes your ‘do what I want, when I want’ attitude, heading into things full speed and going with your instinct. Doing it anyway else wouldn’t feel like you gave it your all for her.”

“Why would she like that about me?”

Vinyl once more shrugged her shoulders, “Beats me, I’m not the one in love with you. Though she always did like taking on dangerous challenges. What’s more challenging than you?”

Nervously shuffling at the ground, Lyra looked toward where the others went. “So, I just talk to her about this.”

“Precisely!”

“Go with what feels right. Apologize to her and try to make things better… Okay, I can do this... I hope.”

Walking to the tower, she started to think of ways to talk to Bon Bon. She really didn’t want to buck this up and act stupid as she had previously.

Making her way into the clearing, Lyra could see Octavia close by, messing with her cello. The two pegasus ponies were flying around for whatever reason. Bon Bon… she was over by herself beside the tower.

When she spotted Lyra coming into the clearing, she turned from her and went behind the tower. Lyra could only flatten her ears, obvious that she wanted to avoid her. Vinyl bumped into her, motioning for her to walk toward Bon Bon. Reluctantly, she slowly made her way there.

Walking around the tower, she easily spotted Bon Bon with her back away from her, staring at the ground.

‘Okay Lyra, make up with Bonnie so she won’t be sad anymore. Apologize, talk to her, and maybe give her a hug?’

‘Yes, hugs are always a good thing. She should be better after that right?’

Slowly making her way there, she noticed the flattened ears on her friend immediately twitched upright; she knew somepony was there with her now.

“…Hey, Bon Bon,” Lyra said, standing behind her. She didn’t answer back. “Um… I, I want to talk about what happened last night.”

“W-What else is there to talk about?” she asked in a quiet voice, wiping her face before sniffling. “You already told me everything I n-needed to hear.” Bon Bon stood up, wiping her face once more.

“Wait, Bonnie!” Lyra spoke out as she started to walk off. “I really need to talk to you about it, it’s serious!”

Stopping in her tracks, she stood still for a few seconds before sighing, turning her head to Lyra. “What is it?”

Lyra ran up, eager to patch things up with her. Bon Bon turned around toward her, staring directly at her face. She didn’t look very happy; Lyra was hoping to change that.

“I’ve been thinking throughout the night about what happened and I… I’m really sorry. I should have listened more clearly to you and instead, I acted stupid, like usual.” She paused, noticing that while Bon Bon still seemed upset, she was at least listening. “I didn’t realize what you were trying to say until after you left, and I feel like a complete jerk not listening to you as I should’ve. So I did a lot of thinking about you and Anon and, well…” Lyra rubbed the back of her head. “This feels strange saying to you. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I’m okay with trying to be with you too.”

“What?”

That got her attention. She looked very surprised with wide eyes. Looking down, Lyra pawed at the ground with her hoof, thinking of what best to say.

“S-So I was thinking maybe we could try it out. I don’t know how it’ll work but I, well—”

Lyra took in a gulp of air, trying to calm herself down.

‘This is really hard to talk about.’

“I just don’t want to see you upset anymore, Bonnie. Seeing you cry like that, I felt like a complete jerk after what happened. I still feel really bad for not thinking straight last night and I… I just want to make it up to you in some way. S-So I thought maybe I could try doing this with you as a way to do that? So maybe… we can…”

Looking up at her, she noticed that Bon Bon had tears in her eyes, but they were not tears of joy. Oh no, she looked extremely angry then.

‘What did I do this time?!’

“I… I do NOT want you to do this because you feel sorry for me, or because you feel bad about last night!” she screamed out, clearly not pleased with what Lyra had said. “I, I wanted us all to be together, but doing it out of pity for me?!”

Bon Bon tried to say more but was unable to find words to do so. Before Lyra could reply back to her, Bon Bon had run off toward the others, leaving Lyra feeling even crummier than she was before. Dropping to the ground, she slammed her head into the dirt and hit it with her front hooves repeatedly.

“Why,” left hoof, “can’t,” right hoof, “I,” another left, “do,” back to the right, “anything, “ before left comes back around, “RIGHT!”

With her head nice and sore, she continued to lay there, upset that she had done something stupid once more, even if she didn’t understand it very well.

‘I really should try some of those speech classes with Iron Will when I get back to Ponyville.’

Curious as to what had happened, Vinyl popped up from behind the tower, walking up to Lyra. “Soooo… how’d it go?”

Lyra simply let out a pathetic whine in response.

“That bad, eh?”

‘Why do I keep messing these things up?!’

‘You could always try again at the next tower,’ her inner voice spoke.

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“I am not going to use that bucket again.”

“But you used it yesterday!”

“I need to take a crap this time around! And no, once more, my poop is not acidic.”

The other day, the two guard ponies thought for some odd reason his pee acted like acid, forcing him to use a bucket they gave him. Of course, if it really was acidic, using a bucket wasn’t going to do much at all, but these ponies weren’t very smart.

“Look, I just want to use the bathroom so I can take a proper dump. No funny business, okay?”

“I don’t know if I can trust the alien with our bathrooms,” Roller said, looking at the bucket beside him. “I mean sure I suppose we can trust him enough, but he’s an alien so he takes strange, alien poops… right?”

“I poop like a minotaur, alright?” Anon told them.

“I heard that minotaurs like to take a pose and then squat when they poop,” Rocky said, eyeing Anon carefully now. “I don’t think our stalls are large enough for you to do that.”

“Don’t minotaurs also poop out large pellets?” Roller asked. “I don’t want to clean up the mess if he misses the toilet.”

“Okay, never mind! I poop like you ponies do!”

Roller stared at him for a few seconds. “…I like to sing when I poop.”

‘Why am I arguing with these two buffoons?!’

Anon thunked his head against the bars, doing his best to hold his bowels.

“That’s not a very good pose, Mr. Anon,” Rocky said, rubbing his chin. “I’d give it a two out of ten.”

Roller squealed, quickly opening the door to the cell before throwing the bucket at Anon’s side, hitting him before he locked the cell once more.

“Poop in that, not in your clothing!”

Turning to the bucket, Anon let out a scream before kicking it. The thing bounced across the floor, now with a large dent in it.

“Now how are you going to poop in that?” Rocky asked.

Before Anon could turn to yell at them, a loud noise was heard, followed by another guard entering the room.

“You two are to take the alien to the interrogation room at once.”

The guard immediately left the two now staring at one another.

“I don’t recall seeing that guard around here all that much, Roller.”

“Same here; it’s as if he only came here to move us along...”

“…Of course, that’s the case, we have to move along to the interrogation room now!”

“Not until you two knuckleheads take me to a bathroom!” Rocky went to say something before he was interrupted, “Don’t you DARE try and bring me another bucket!”

They quickly moved things along, tying Anon’s hands before moving him out of the cell. Of course, Anon refused to do anything until he was taken to a proper restroom. He also made sure to take his time as well.

When he finally arrived, Anon could see the second in command sitting there with an annoyed expression. “And why did it take so long for you two to bring him here?”

“He needed to use the bathroom,” Roller answered.

“And we had to make sure he didn’t break anything while pooping!” Rocky added with a salute.

Colibri gave Anon a questioning look, which he simply sighed at tiredly. Shaking his head, he motioned for the human to sit down on the bale of hay. The two guards immediately left to stand outside the room.

The pony didn’t say anything at first, content with staring at Anon. While the little guy didn’t really unnerve Anon in the slightest like he was probably hoping for, he couldn’t help but wonder why he was there.

“So what do you need to talk to me about now?”

He stared at Anon for a few more seconds before speaking, “Liberum brought up some interesting things about what you had said to him yesterday, and what he heard from the guards stationed at your cell.”

‘Aaah, great, here it comes,’ he thought, already feeling the oncoming headache that was inbound for his cranium.

“You see, it was an interesting discussion that was brought up about what you had said. They seemed fairly convinced that this is a bad idea, that what we are doing should be reconsidered. I am curious as to why you came to these conclusions.”

Anon was having difficulty caring about things at the moment as he placed an elbow on the table, laying his head on his knuckles.

“Seemed to make sense to me from what I can come up with. I don’t see it working out at all in the long run. Your guards don’t really seem to grasp what’s really going on, and Liberum seems to only be doing this because, from what I could tell, you decided to do it. This all seems to be a bunch of nonsense that a child would think could make drama for their poorly written stories.”

Colibri didn’t seem offended by what Anon said, merely leaning forward. “I can see that you need to be educated in some things.”

‘And that can only mean one thing: A bunch of stupid drivel is about to be explained. Great…’

“Far, far back in Equestria’s history, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna both ruled these lands. During their rule, there were many things that troubled them and the beings who occupied their lands: the tyrant god Discord, the mad king Sombra, and the great goat-lord Grogar, to but name a few.

“Many incidents would occur that seemed to provoke the lands, species would all but disappear, and bordering lands were poking at their sides for any weaknesses. It was a lot for the princesses to handle. Slowly, over time, they started to take control of the lands and made them a grand place to live, which you can see the results of to this day. Peace and harmony grew throughout the lands, and it was a prosperous age for all.”

Sighing to himself, Anon attempted to get more comfortable, realizing this was going to take a while.

“Of course, not all was as it appeared. Princess Celestia, after her many conquests, wanted to control everything she could around her. It, of course, started with her sister; she wanted nopony to speak out against her in her rule and to do that, Princess Luna was needed to be dealt with. Princess Luna caught wind of this and tried to take control herself, finding no other alternative for her own well-being.”

Colibri looked extremely confident in what he was saying with a small smile on his face. Anon blandly stared back as he leaned against the table.

“Sadly, she was not as powerful as her sister and needed more power; Nightmare Moon offered it to her, hoping to help her in her time of need. But even with the extra firepower behind her, Celestia managed to eke out a win before banishing the princess to the moon, leaving her to rule the lands all to herself.”

“Okay, hold up a second,” Anon said while raising a hand instinctively, trying to say something.

“Please, let me finish,” Colibri politely said. “You wanted answers, so let me speak.”

Passively waving at him, Anon kept his mouth shut, allowing him to continue.

“As I was saying, Princess Luna was banished to her moon for over a thousand years. It left Princess Celestia to rule her lands as she saw fit. Of course, her hunger for power didn’t end there. She wanted more, and decided to either take it from others or remove them from the equation entirely.”

“First, it was the sea ponies. No one has heard of them ever since that hurricane that started up those vortex’s that deny anypony close to the seas they once inhabited. Then there were the deserts and those desert storms which run to this day, a force that managed to split off the beings of those lands from the rest of the world. Only the most daring minotaurs still roam those lands, speaking of wild outlaws and clan laws. Who knows what’s happened to them or if they’re even around still.”

Colibri continued to tell a very imaginative tale of how Princess Celestia took down species after species, making her the most powerful ruler in all the lands as a result. The only ones to contest that power were the griffons and minotaur clans, though Colibri didn’t give a reason as to why that was. The pony even gave a reason why Princess Luna was back; the spell could only last for so long and Celestia had already made plans for her to return to the moon after an unfortunate incident in the near future.

It was an interesting tale to listen to, and it was funnier to realize this pony believed it all without ever questioning it. Just who fed him all this nonsense? Sure, Anon didn’t know the full history of this world, but Lyra told him enough to realize what he was saying was so far fetched it was a wonder Colibri unquestioningly went with it all.

“So as you’ve no doubt realized by now, Princess Celestia’s been slowly taking rule of the world in her quest for power. Princess Luna was too much for her to deal with, so she needed to be rid of. That is why we want her back; she would make for a better ruler than Princess Celestia.”

Anon stared at Colibri with a blank expression as he continued to smile, quite confident in his stance.

“While it’s interesting to have heard all of that from you, I find it hard to believe you.”

“Oh?” he said, staring at him. “What exactly do you think is wrong with what I just said?”

“I know only a little of your history, but what I have been taught doesn’t side with what you mentioned. On top of which, you claim all this without anything to back it up. I am reluctant to believe your side of things without any proof.”

‘That and he sounded like a righteous nutter.’

“If I had any proper proof, I would have presented it to everypony already all over. Sadly, any proof that I could provide you has been covered up by Princess Celestia.”

“How convenient,” Anon said, earning him a frown from Colibri. “So, how exactly did you come by this info then?”

“Our commander has been able to find info relating to exactly what Princess Celestia has done in the past.”

“Is there any chance of seeing this info?”

“He has taken the liberty of making sure they’re kept safe and away from prying eyes. Commander has them in a safe place away from others.”

Anon closed his eyes in thought, rubbing his forehead.

“So this commander has all the proof locked up from others being able to see it.” Colibri nodded. “Wouldn’t it make more sense to show other ponies the truth than keeping it quiet? Surely even you can reason to that much. Spread the truth as far and wide as you can, share it with other nations, and force Celestia to a confrontation. Hiding it brings heavy doubts to your validity. Have you ever seen this proof of his?”

“No, I have not seen it. But I have no reason to believe he’s not telling the truth if that’s what you’re getting at.”

“This guy tells you all of this and doesn’t provide any proof of it being true. All you have to go on is his word. Why would you think he’s not lying to you?”

Colibri gave a smirk as if what he was about to say was the exact thing to turn all of this around on Anon.

“It’s because the commander is my own brother, and family doesn’t lie to one another.”

Anon was dumbfounded, simply and utterly dumbfounded. He gave the guy the best ‘are you shitting me?’ face that he could. He knew the ponies were very emotional and attached to one another when they have a relationship of any kind, some even opting into a relationship with but a hug on the spot, but to just believe someone willy-nilly like that?

“You’re joking, right? You’ve never once questioned his word because he’s family? So now I’m to assume he also has a plan to fix all the problems that come with not having a sun? Or anything else I’ve mentioned from Liberum?”

“None of that is either my brother or my own problem; as he had explained, Princess Luna wanted this to be and we’re confident she had a plan in place that would allow it to work.”

Anon wanted to slap whoever this commander was, hard.

‘He really couldn’t be this stupid. Why didn’t anyone question him at all on this? Oh, that’s right; the rebel group followed along blindly while the second in command, who just so happened to be the brother of the commander, and reassured them all to continue on because of his family devotion.’

There was just no way for all of this to be true, that someone was truly this stupid. Anon knew that the ponies were gullible, and the situations he found himself in were almost Saturday morning cartoon levels of craziness, but this is just something else!

Anon blinked. A thought passed him by, a small blip in his mind, but it quickly flourished as he just realized realizing something.

It dawned on him just how much everything did resemble a cartoon. The extra colorful world, the magical galore that was the world, even lessons on friendship. Even everyone’s actions would make sense if he visualized it as if someone was writing a script to entertain others. He had watched cartoons all his life, and to only come to the conclusion that he did felt quite silly, yet profound.

Were the ponies and all the residents of the world simply programmed to such a degree? Would magic do such a thing to them? Everything made more sense to him if he considered that as a truth. The world around him was all just one big, live-in cartoon that he had somehow gotten himself inserted into! He would be amused more with this hilarious revelation if he wasn’t stuck in the villain’s hideout.

‘Oh! This was a villain hideout! And all I have to do is think about how a cartoon writer would script it all out and I’ve got it. By golly, I’ve got it!’

Anon couldn’t stop chuckling, thinking about it all. He would later look back on this and realize how he came to these conclusions only from snapping at the pony’s mention of family, but that wouldn’t be for a good while into the future.

“This… this… I have finally figured it out!”

“Oh?” Colibri was feeling slightly disturbed at the alien sitting across from him. “From how you’ve been laughing, it must be something quite humorous. What exactly was there to figure out in the first place?”

“Why all of this is happening! It’s the one thing that makes sense in a place that makes no sense whatsoever! You see, you’re brothers the villain of the story! And, now hear me out on this it’s a bit of a doozy, your villainous brother has got you all completely duped into thinking everything you’ve been doing is to help ‘rescue’ the lands and return them to proper order!”

Colibri frowned, deeply. “You better start making sense right now because all you are accomplishing is making me angry.”

Anon pointed a finger at him like a gun with a smirk on his face. “You don’t see it, and no one else in this world does, but now that I’ve opened my eyes, I finally see things as they are. This whole world runs on cartoon logic.”

“…Cartoon logic? I don’t know what cartoons are.”

“They’re these magical creations made by hardworking, yet at times underpaid and underpraised, animators that work tiredly on their paper drawings to make the illusion of movement.”

It only took him a moment to narrow his eyes, a sneer directed at him. “Those silly flipbooks? That is why you claim my brother to be a villain?”

He shrugged at him, “Eh, that’s a pretty close description of how they’re made. But that’s not the point I’m getting at. Everything in this world seems to run on cartoon logic. It’s almost maddening for me to live through all of this, a normal person dumped into a place full of things such as the magic and strange physic breaking events, to how every single one of you acts, all the way down to your brother’s evil schemes.”

“You’re not making sense to me alien,” he spat out, “get to the point!”

“I doubt much of this will since you don’t know cartoons from my perspective,” Anon said, leaning forward. “Regardless, I’m going to take a shot at figuring out the plot of this motion picture we’re living. The script calls for your brother, the villain, to push his unwitting little brother that follows his every word to do all his bidding for him. To have the person that seems like a good chap to do their evil bidding. I’ve seen this used in other films; a tad overused, I’ll admit, but why mess with a formula that works?”

‘Oooh, he did NOT like hearing that,’ Anon thought, seeing his face was starting to redden with anger.

“Your brother doesn’t show any proof that would show he’s right, he leads a group of rebels to fight for control of the land that’s already peaceful, and from what I’ve already heard, he’s throwing your group out to sow as much chaos as possible in Equestria. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re currently in the final act and he’s collecting the last pieces needed so he can attempt to rule the lands for himself.” Anon nodded to himself, his arms crossed. “Yeah, face it: the guy’s evil.”

“He is NOT evil! It’s Princess Celestia that is the evil one! My brother would not lie to me! What proof do you have that my brother is in the wrong?!”

“And right back at you, what proof does he have to prove he’s right? He’s using Princess Celestia as a scapegoat for everything he’s doing right under your snouts! I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s lying about trying to bring Nightmare Moon back as well. I do wonder if Princess Luna is even remotely important to these plans of his or if it’s just some imagine goal to keep you all in the dark, something for you all to work toward.”

“GUARDS!” Anon barked out a laugh, watching him scream like that. The two very annoying guards from before came in and awaited their orders from the very unsettled Colibri. “Take this alien back to his cell this instant!”

Roller walked over to him and made sure his hands were tied properly. Standing up, he sighed, letting out a small chuckle as he was escorted out the door. He immediately stopped at the entrance of the door, turning his head to Colibri.

“I doubt you really believe much of what I just said, what with you being so sure of your brother’s innocence. But I’m almost one hundred percent certain that if you go into his room and do a search around, you’ll find his plans for whatever he’s been doing and probably even a journal completely painting him up to be the villain you don’t want to see him as. At least, that’s how cartoons work anyways; every stupid villain like your brother always keeps their plans locked away in a place that could so easily be found with some thought.” Anon shook his head, letting out a snort of amusement. “Seriously, how stupid can they all be?”

The guards started pushing him out the door and away from the screaming pony that was left in the room. They walked him very quickly back to his cell after hearing all the yelling coming from Colibri. Placing him back inside the familiar cell, they took the bindings off of him through the bars like before. Anon rubbed his wrists as the two guards let out heavy sighs.

“I’ve never seen him scream like that!” Rocky said with a surprised expression.

“Same here! I don’t know what you said to him, Mr. Alien, but he definitely did not like it!”

“He just didn’t want to accept anything I had to say,” he told them as he proceeded to lie down on his sparse bedding's.

The two proceeded to talk quietly to themselves about what had just happened. Anon simply ignored them, thankful for the peace and quiet he had at the moment.

‘It’s all one big cartoon world. Certainly a strange twist, but after being here for so long it’s not like I can’t handle it.’ Everything from Lyra’s silly actions to the townsfolk’s reactions to him just made this idea more fitting to him. ‘So long as I keep my eyes peeled I should be able to see signs of things coming and react accordingly to them.’

As Anon thought back on the previous conversation, something had slowly occurred to him: how exactly was he to get out of there? He could try and wait for the eventual rescue mission that he was almost certain was coming for him, if what Colibri said about his importance was anything to go by. And then there was the likely attempt being made by Lyra and Bon Bon. In the end, it might be a safer bet to get himself out of this place than to wait, who knew what would happen if he were to wait.

He would need more info about his surroundings from the guards, and he’d like to get some moderate supplies if at all possible before leaving. Thankfully for him, he had two ponies conveniently close by that would be of help to him.

“Hey there,” Anon called out, “so what exactly can you tell me about this base of yours?”

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‘Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid…’

Lyra continued to repeat these words over and over in her head. She had only wanted to talk to Bon Bon and see about fixing things and all she had accomplished was to make her even more upset. She had been thinking for the past few hours on ways to patch things up, but finding the task difficult.

It was already starting to get dark. The next post they came up to would both be the last one they’d travel to for the day and the last one until they reached their base. Lyra was trailing the group as before, and now Bon Bon was taking the lead, being the furthest away from her as possible.

It did give her time to talk to Vinyl on some advice. Act normally like she does, yet don’t act stupid; those two things are contradictory to one another when applied to Lyra.

The only thing that had been going her way so far as they had not met a single rebel or menacing creature out in the forest. There were a few creatures that roamed the place they saw here and there, though they all disregarded them. Lyra had been expecting something to occur similar to the pink manticore from before but was grateful that she was wrong on that end. It was almost eerie how things had gone for them since meeting the manticore in fact.

“Girls, the final post is up ahead,” Bon Bon said in a monotonous tone of voice, looking past a bush up ahead.

Moving forward, Bon Bon watched ahead to try and spot any movement like they had been doing when coming across a tower. There wasn’t much room this time around for the others so they stuck behind her a good way away, waiting for her to give the okay.

After approximately ten minutes, Bon Bon motioned for Cloud Chaser to fly up and go through the top. Only a few seconds later does she burst through the front door with a frightened yelp. The group feared for the worst until noticing a whole nest of mice running out of the door, scattering into the woods.

“Well, that’s settled,” Octavia said, walking toward the tower. “I highly doubt any sane being would be in a tower full of mice.”

“Fluttershy would,” Flitter said, stopping Octavia in her tracks.

“I don’t really regard her as fully sane with what we know of her,” Octavia mentioned, getting a nod from everyone. “Besides, the likelihood of meeting someone like her is slim to none.”

With that being said, the others slowly made their way to the tower after Octavia, getting ready to stay the night there. It didn’t take very long for them to spruce up the place a bit and move things around for a more comfortable night there.

“So why are we staying here for the night?” Cloud Chaser asked, putting some wood down beside the fire pit. “We still have some good daylight and could make it to the base early.”

“While true, by the time we do get to the base, it would be nighttime,” Lyra answered. “I don’t think us fighting against the night rebels in the night would be a very sound idea.”

“They’d have a serious advantage during that time, likely active during the night” Octavia continued. “On top of that, we wouldn’t be able to scope out the place at all during the night, and even if we managed to get to Anon, bringing him back through the night in the forest is very dangerous.”

Cloud Chaser crossed her front legs, grumbling about wanting to go anyways. The others let out their own sighs as they worked on getting things prepared.

“So we’re nearly done with this all,” Octavia spoke. “I do hope everything turns out fine when we grab him. I’m quite beat from being out in this forest.”

Vinyl lightly punched her in the shoulder, “Ah don’t be such a whiny mare, we’ve been through many stressful moments in the past.”

“Those other times didn’t involve rescue missions, Vinyl.”

“Actually, there was that time where your violin and cello were stolen. You and I went out to rescue those, remember?”

“Please, don’t remind me. Those jerks wound up using them for pieces in their ‘art’.”

“And they got what was coming to them in the end!”

The two continued to talk back and forth about their tale of the music bandits as the others listened in fascination. Lyra, on the other hoof, was still trying to come up with some way to not fudge up her talks with Bon Bon. She felt confident enough to not muck things this time around, but there was a small problem: how exactly to get Bon Bon and her alone to talk.

She was likely to decline if she tried to go up to her again, so that left with tricking her to go outside somehow and having Lyra out there as well. Thankfully for her, it didn’t take long to figure out how to do this.

‘Yes, it’s a foolproof plan,’ Lyra thought to herself, walking over to Vinyl. ‘I’ll just get Vinyl to do it! Surely she wouldn’t expect anything so sneaky!’

As the tale of musical grandeur came to a close, Lyra found an opportune time to slide up to Vinyl. Getting close to the now alerted mare, Lyra whispered into Vinyl’s ear about trying to find some way to get her outside and alone before she snuck up to the top of the tower without the others noticing.

Walking over to a window in the tower, Lyra peered outside of it. Right below the window was a nice, large bush. Lyra thought it was perfectly placed as she climbed outside onto the ledge.

Without any thoughts about the consequences of her actions, she jumped off the ledge, aiming herself toward the bush. She picked up speed very fast, immediately regretting her idiotic decision. Kicking her hooves in the air, Lyra was about to let out a scream before she hit the bush. Instead of a scream, she let out a muffled grunt as the wind was knocked out of her.

“Eeeeeeeeehhhhhhhh,” she whined out.

‘Why did you do that you stupid mare?!’ a familiar voice spoke in her head, somehow crying in anguish. Lyra rolled around in pain, slowly making her way out of the bush.

‘Nothing feels broken, but there’s soooo much paaaaain.’

‘Yeah, maybe you should lie here for a bit until you feel better. No wait, you have something that needs to be done. Have fun with that, you moron!’

Lyra ignored her inner voice as she stood up on wobbly legs, leaning against the tower walls for support. After regaining her breath, she slowly made her way around the tower, spotting Bon Bon currently gathering what looked like additional pieces of wood nearby the trees.

‘Vinyl must have gotten her to get some more for the fireplace,’ Lyra thought. ‘Perfect. Hopefully, I don’t screw this up like last time.’

Lyra waited until Bon Bon had her back turned to grab some more wood before she walked up to her. “…Hi, Bon Bon,” Lyra greeted, standing directly behind her.

She let out a squeal, quickly turning around and throwing her bundle of wood at Lyra. All attempts of dodging the projectiles failed as they all hit her in the side, knocking the wind out of her once more.

“Whyyyyyyyyyyy?” Lyra squeaked out, laying on the ground.

Bon Bon was holding her chest in fear before noticing it was Lyra. Calming herself down, she let out a breath before calmly staring at Lyra with indifference.

“What do you want, Lyra?”

“I just wanted to talk to you about before,” Lyra wheezed out.

“Haven’t you already said enough?” Bon Bon said, turning around. She went to her previous task of collecting wood, seemingly finding it more important at the moment. “I don’t know why Flitter dropped all her wood out here instead of picking it up,” Bon Bon said to herself.

“Bonnie, you know I suck at words and doing things. I can be pretty stupid sometimes.” She didn’t answer back, continuing her task of picking up wood. “Okay, okay! Most of the time!

“Look, I’ll just come out and say it: it was really weird to find out you had these feelings for me. I didn’t know how to react at all when I found out! I… I was stupid for being a bad friend last night, and even dumber for not realizing any of this after all this time.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore, right?” She stopped by a tree, looking down. “It was stupid of me to think the three of us could work it out anyways.”

“B-But we can! I even tried to say so this afternoon!”

“I don’t want you doing things because you feel bad for me, Lyra!”

“Bonnie…” Slowly, she walked toward where she was. Bon Bon didn’t move from her spot, keeping her head down. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this sooner?”

She took a few moments, thinking to herself before answering in a quiet voice, “I didn’t want to know what would happen if you rejected me.”

“Why would I do that?”

“I… I know you don’t remember much of it, but I remember all those times in school when you’d stick up for me or would be by my side whenever I was down. Even though you were picked on all the time, you still took the time to stick up for me or be there when I needed some help. I was never really confident growing up and even nowadays I don’t feel very confident. But you, you were always out there doing what you wanted, regardless of what others thought. You were so spontaneous, and I felt that was kind of… attractive to me. I always looked up to you for everything you did… even if some of your actions were stupid.”

She sat down, looking away from Lyra. The unicorn sat directly behind her, listening to her words.

“But… I still looked up to you, always being there to help me. You gave me confidence in myself whenever I started to doubt about things. You really have no idea how much you mean to me as a friend when I was growing up, helping me with things all the time when I needed it.”

Lyra hadn’t forgotten any of it; it just didn’t feel like something that was important to her, only that it was something that she felt anyone would do for their friends.

“It wasn’t until our first year in the academy that I realized what you meant to me. You weren’t just some childhood friend I grew up with or somepony I could always rely on. You were someone… I wanted to be with, somepony I truly cared for.”

Bon Bon hiccuped, wiping her eyes.

“I t-tried telling plenty of times in the past about this to you, but… I could never get the words out right or I’d always get scared! All my thoughts ever did was doubt the things I would s-say to you, so I always fell flat on my face when I ever did try.

“I… I guess I was too afraid of what would happen if you said no to me.” She sniffled as she wiped her eyes once more. “I was content with just living with you, being around you, but I always wanted more. I wanted to be with you.” She snorted, wiping away her tears that wouldn’t stop flowing. “You probably think this is all really silly to hear.”

“N-No! This is definitely not silly at all; believe me when I say that! I really wish you had told me all of this a long time ago.”

“Why? Would it have made a difference then?”

“…Who’s to say,” Lyra said, looking away. “I don’t know. But I definitely would have given things a chance!” She scooted closer to her, almost touching her with the close proximity they held. Bon Bon kept her head from her. “Bonnie… I care about you. I hate it when you feel sad whenever I do something stupid or because of me.”

“Then stop feeling b-bad about it! I said I don’t want to be with you because you f-felt bad for me!”

“Bonnie, I do feel bad, but how else am I supposed to feel when you just unload all of this from out of nowhere on me!” Bon Bon sobbed, making Lyra feel bad about the situation. “I know I feel bad about this all, but as I said before, I’m at least willing to give it a try. I’m certain if we work on this, the three of us can work something out.”

“N-N-N-No! NO! Y-You’ll just wind up saying no to me w-when we get Anon a-and just be with him!” She stood up, forcing Lyra to stand up as well, backing up. “You’re just lying to me. YOU’RE JUST LYING TO ME! You don’t care about me, y-y-you just, y-you just—” It was clear she was now in hysterics about everything, her mind going to the worst-case scenario, not thinking things would work out for her at all.

“BONNIE!” Lyra yelled, “when have I NEVER cared about you?! We’ve stuck beside one another nearly our entire lives and you just think I’ll dump you without a moment’s thought?! Well, I like you too!”

Bon Bon stood there, trying to say something, incapable of speaking coherently at the moment.

“When I said we can try and make things work, I meant it! I won’t dump you for only Anon, and you better get that! He’s not even here for this! This isn’t about him, got it? It’s about you and me. You went through all this trouble for both of us just to be with me, so I have no problems trying to be with you darn it! And for how much I really care about you, well… well….”

‘COME ON YOU STUPID MARE! THINK OF SOMETHING!’

Lyra was panicking, desperately trying to come up with what she should do right then. Bon Bon looked like she was about to fall apart and she wanted to show her she really meant everything.

‘Go with the flow?’

‘…Sure, go with the flow.’

Walking up to her, Lyra grabbed Bon Bon, holding her tightly. Before she could act on trying to move or get away, Lyra slammed her lips against hers. Bon Bon immediately went rigid, completely surprised by her actions. She held her there for what felt like forever before stepping back.

“There!” Lyra yelled out, trying to catch her breath, “how’s that for spontaneous! And I don’t care how much I have to prove my feelings are strong enough but I will make sure to kiss you every day if I have to!”

Staring at Bon Bon, who stared back with wide eyes, she was shocked at what had just happened. Seconds later she started to shake, looking like she was about to cry once more.

‘Darn it! What did I do now?! I knew I should have hugged her instead. I am such a stupid, moronic, basket cased, nincompooped, imbe—’

She was immediately tackled by Bon Bon, interrupting her thoughts. Lyra let out a squeal of surprise. She tried to let out a holler but found herself unable to due to Bon Bon now squeezing her tight, kissing her back. The two of them tumbled to the ground with her on top of Lyra, not letting go. The kiss only lasted a few seconds before her head squeezed into the crook of Lyra’s neck against her shoulder.

Completely stunned by her actions, Lyra slowly lifted her hooves around her back, returning the hug. Bon Bon let out a muffled sob, squeezing tighter. Having a moment of clarity, Lyra decided to let her friend hold her there, allowing her all the time she needed.

Off to the side, Vinyl sat in a bush, silently watching the scene taking place. She nodded her head, smiling at the two.

“Finally got the girl. Good going, Bonnie. I hope your future works out for the two of－HURK!”

Standing behind Vinyl was Flitter, wearing her tight-fitting outfit, putting her in a sleeper hold. Quickly putting her out, Flitter dragged her away with a ‘nin, nin, nin’, leaving the two lovebirds alone for the night.

~End Chapter Eighteen~

Chapter Nineteen - This Is The Part Where Things Get Hectic

Lyra had finally managed to get out of the room from the second floor of the tower, trying to get up early for the day. It was a struggle for her, prying herself away from Bon Bon’s grip. The girls had decided to let Bon Bon skip her watch due to her being physically and mentally exhausted from the recent events. That and they didn’t think it felt appropriate to have her on the watch.

Bon Bon had easily managed to convince Lyra to sleep with her for the night. That turned to her snuggling up against Lyra as the two talked to one another, mostly about what she wanted to do when they all returned to Ponyville.

The talk was cut short quickly in the night from her falling asleep on Lyra. Awake, she thought about what her future would be like with what had just occurred. It would be an awkward time when they all went back to Ponyville that was for sure.

Shaking her head from the memories of last night, Lyra walked downstairs, seeing Octavia by the fireplace, putting more wood into it. Spotting her coming down the stairs, she hummed to herself as she continued to feed the fire.

“Good morning, Lyra,” she greeted. “I was just getting ready for our meals before we head out.” Nodding, the unicorn took a seat beside Octavia. The two of them stared into the fire in silence, listening to the crackling of the wood. “So, Bon Bon finally came out.”

Lyra sighed, “How many ponies knew about this?” she asked, hanging her head down. “I feel so dumb about how oblivious I was to her feelings.”

Octavia tilted her head at Lyra. “I would personally say there weren’t that many which knew of her feelings, though I highly doubt it will surprise anypony the two of you hooked up.”

The minty pony rubbed her front leg. “Okay then. I’m, well, sorry you four had to see all this drama.”

“I’m just happy that it’s finally over after so long.”

“I just want to get this all done so I can go back home. Take a nice hot bath and relax for a while.”

“I concur with that,” Octavia agreed with a nod.

Hearing someone yawn, they turned and saw Vinyl stretching her legs out, letting out a small squeak in the process. As if on cue, Flitter and Cloud Chaser also wake up at the same time, stretching their limbs out.

“I should get the food started,” Octavia said, getting up from her seat and over to her bags. “I’ll prepare the eggs; you should go get Bon Bon up.”

Grunting in acknowledgment, Lyra stood up and headed up the stairs. Walking into the room, she saw that Bon Bon was already awake, placing things back into her pack.

Turning around, she blinked at Lyra before smiling at her, “Good morning, Lyra.”

“Morning,” she replied, walking up to her friend. “Octavia has breakfast being made downstairs.”

“Alright,” she replied, putting her pack on. “I suppose I should disarm my traps while she’s doing that.” Bon Bon clasped the pack onto her sides, making sure her lab coat was perfectly fine while doing so. As Lyra turned to leave with Bon Bon in front, the candy mare stopped, right before turning back to Lyra. “Oh, um… I’m sorry if I was overly emotional last night. I sort of lost my cool, a—”

“It’s fine, Bonnie,” Lyra interrupted, “you just wanted to get some things off your chest, I understand. We can talk more about this once we get back home, okay?”

“R-Right,” she said in embarrassment. “I-I’ll go now and get those traps.”

Watching her quickly go down the stairs, she sighed out. Things were going to be awkward for quite some time for the two of them, Lyra just felt it. She shook her head, making her way downstairs to get some food and make sure the group was ready to head out as soon as possible.

It didn’t take long for them all to eat, though for some odd reason they had to help get Cloud Chaser out of one of Bon Bon’s traps: she had gone outside to use a bush, unknowingly stepping into one of her traps. Flitter wouldn’t stop teasing her the entire time as she saw her sister entrapped in a net, stating how she needed to believe more in the ‘nin’ in her. It ended with the rest of the group holding Cloud Chaser back from throwing ‘Celestia’s pee’ at her…

Once fed and packed up, the six of them sat around a map placed on the ground, once more examining it.

“We should be there in a few hours following this route,” Lyra said, pointing it out to the others. “Once we do a cursory inspection when we arrive at the base, I’ll be taking Cloud Chaser to the left side of it while Bon Bon and Flitter will be taking the right. We’ll be directly searching for where Anon is being held.”

“Which will leave me and Octavia to throw down some sound waves into their virgin ears, blasting their ‘drums with our combined forces of awesome!” Octavia let out a groan while Vinyl pumped her hoof in the air.

“Right, you two are the distraction at the front while we search the base. We have to hit hard and fast, we don’t know how many are there so we don’t want a long-drawn-out battle. The moment we do find him, either myself or Bon Bon will stay with him as Flitter or Cloud Chaser flies back to the others, alerting them we found him. On the way back we’ll head directly to these towers as resting points, though I’d like to try and travel to the second or third tower beyond this one to give us some distance.”

“It seems simple enough,” Cloud Chaser said, swiping a hoof in the air.

“So long as nothing, in particular, goes wrong,” Bon Bon stated.

“Is everypony packed and ready?” Lyra asked, putting her map away. They all nodded their heads after double-checking their bindings. “Then let’s head out. The sooner this is over, the sooner we head home and celebrate our success!”

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The shuffling of papers could be heard along with a labored breath coming out of the second in command. Sitting in the commander’s room at the commander’s desk, Colibri stared at the papers he found in his brother’s room, displeased at what he had read.

He lost count of how many times he’s gone through the papers, barely believing them to be true. And yet, here they were; everything that his brother had planned out.

It was the captive’s own words that forced him to do this. Colibri never doubted his brother once, never had reason to, and yet, something about what the alien had said kept returning, forcing him to become… too curious, too anxious just to prove to himself that his brother was, in fact, a hero.

So he had searched his room carefully, looking for anything that the human had described. He was truly feeling like a fool nearing the end for even searching the room when happenchance occurred: a painting of him and his brother had fallen as he was cautiously moving things around. Behind it was a set of plans for things that had occurred and was yet to come, along with a journal explaining everything.

‘The alien was right,’ Colibri thought, looking down at the journal of his brother. ‘To find my own brother…’

The door slammed open with Liberum walking in, panting hard. “Sir! We’re currently under attack from an unknown force up above!” Colibri ignored this, simply continuing to stare at the papers. Liberum frowned at this. “Sir? Did you hear me?”

It was only then that Liberum truly realized the state of the room he was in. Everything was torn apart as if some being had ransacked the place. Walking forward, Liberum looked at the papers that Colibri was ignoring him for.

“Sir?”

Sighing, Colibri calmed himself, turning to Liberum,” The alien, he was right.”

“What… what exactly do you mean by that?” Liberum asked. “Please don’t say the alien’s words from yesterday encouraged you to do this?”

“His words… They only helped me want true confirmation about my brother’s actions. For some reason, what he said would not stop bothering me.” Colibri looked down at the papers, and then around the room. “The room was my own doing after finding what I had. He had no part in my actions at that point.”
Liberum stared down at Colibri, uncertain where to go with this conversation. “You found something, didn’t you?”

“Of course I did,” Colibri sharply replied, “otherwise I wouldn’t be sitting here, trying to find a reason why he did this. All our sacrifices, the work we’ve put into this… all for nothing.”

A small rumble could be felt in the room, forcing Liberum to look back at the door, and then to Colibri. “So everything we’ve done is all for naught?”

“Indeed,” Colibri muttered, closing his eyes. “Everything that my brother had convinced me of was nothing but a pile of lies. We were used for my brother’s nefarious schemes, planned to be tossed aside when he was through with us.” He laughed, looking at the papers once more. “He’s supposed to give word a few days from now to have us confront the opposing forces in targeted cities so he can slip in while we create chaos. Things would come to an end in a few months from now after this week, his preparations finished. He’s so close to completing them, all he needs is some misdirection from what he’s doing. It doesn’t look like he had a contingency plan if anyone ever found out about this.”

“I simply can’t believe I’m saying this, but it looks like luck was on our side when we foalnapped the alien,” Liberum said with a frown. He placed a hoof on Colibri’s shoulder, “Sir, I can’t say I understand how you’re feeling. It must be horrible to know your brother would do such a thing. But now that you have, we should prepare for the outcome of our actions.”

Colibri chuckled, looking at his friend, “So easy to move away from what we’ve been doing without a thought, Liberum?”

“You know I’m only here because of you, Colibri. If you truly believe we shouldn’t be doing this, I will follow through.”

“And how exactly do you expect I go about this?” Colibri angrily asked. “What should I prepare for? My brother’s already near the Crystal Empire, waiting to give us the command for the distraction he needs to get into some guarded cavern, something about a powerful artifact in there that will help him complete his plans.”

“Do you know what his end goals are?”

“…No. He was stupid enough to write everything he’s been doing, yet never wrote down a reason for it all. Only that it was to help further empower some kind of draconic artifact” He stared at the papers, “I know of your commitment to stay by my side. You’ve stuck beside me for a long time. But what should I do with the others? I doubt they will come along on whatever we’re doing; they’re here due to false preaching. Why help the ones willing to fix it once they find the truth? Many will outright leave and I doubt any are willing to help stop my brother.”

“But sir… Colibri. Everyone here, they respect you. We all look up to your leadership, to your dedication and well being of us all. We may have been duped but I don’t believe the commander should be allowed with getting away with manipulating us, and I doubt the others will want that as well. So some may leave, that’s up to them, but has that ever stopped us in the past? Even if it was just the two of us I would still follow you into the depths of Tartarus. Should we truly give up now, when our actions are in dire need of correction?!”

Colibri sat there in silence, looking down at the papers. The room rumbled once more, neither of them moving from their positions.

“It truly sickens me knowing all our actions amounted to nothing. Even if our intent wasn’t to hurt anypony, we’re still in the wrong. Ultimately, we should give ourselves up and hope for leniency from the princesses. It’s… for the best.”

Grief-stricken to hear this, Liberum stood still as Colibri got up from his chair, packing his brother's journal and papers into his side pack before slowly walking past him.

“But.. before we do that, we have one final mission,” Colibri said, stopping at the door and looking at Liberum in anger. “We’ve got a wayward commander on his own, thinking he can use us like this. I believe he needs to be shown he’s wrong in this thinking, don’t you think?”

Liberum turned to Colibri with a serious look in his eyes, staring at his longtime friend. “What do we do if we’re not able to get to him in time?”

“No, we will get there even if it means we run without sleep for the entire trip. He will not be allowed to do as he pleases any longer. And then, after we finish things up… who knows? But for now, we’ve got my brother to track down.” The room shook, causing the two to look up at the ceiling, watching it crack and leave trails across the surface. “But first… let’s deal with this problem we’re currently facing.”

Liberum gave a nod, trying his best to hide a smile.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X~ ~X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The moment Anon woke up, things started to get hectic for him. It all started with the entire building vibrating from some unknown force, shaking the entire foundation. It unnerved Anon just how strong it was. He could hear a multitude of voices screaming outside the thick wall, along with something in the background that felt very familiar: a droning of some kind that repeated its actions.

It seemed like they were being attacked once again, only this time it was a more aggressive attempt at them.

Climbing up to his feet, his first thought was to look out the barred windows to see what was happening. He stopped himself, remembering what had happened the last time. He wanted no part of the magic that would likely go through and blast right into his face.

The place he was being held in would not stop pounding away with a low thump that shook the building. Dust flew in the air, forcing a choked cough from Anon. It seemed that neither of the guards had arrived at his cell just yet, having been told by Liberum to stand outside the room itself to keep him from talking to the two anymore.

Liberum didn’t seem happy hearing how Anon had made Colibri all worked up. He had made some threats about moving in unicorns to help with any interrogations they would have shortly. Rocky and Roller appeared worried hearing that, and Anon certainly wasn’t having any of that if he could help it. If given the chance, he would certainly try to escape, regardless of what he may find in the forest. Waiting for someone to help him wouldn’t do much good if his mind was turned into a vegetable from their actions.

Thinking about his chances of escaping, he got quite a bit of info from the two guards, enough to give him a fairly decent idea of how to get back to civilization. All he needed was to follow these supposed guard towers. As for any supplies, he would just have to forgo looking for any as it was in his best interest to just get out of there.

As the shaking continued, Anon stood there, waiting for any opportunity to get him out of there. He was hoping for some opening that would allow him a way to get out. Possibly a stray beam of magic could destroy the wall to his cell, or the bars get melted off somehow.

The building shuddered once more, stronger this time around, with Anon nearly dropping as a result. The odd but familiar sounds didn’t appear to be louder, but they did seem more chaotic. It felt like whatever was attacking was upping their game. A bit worrisome if he got in the thick of it, but it kept the night rebels occupied with things.

Standing there for some time, Rocky eventually came within sight of the cells. He looked reluctant being there. Anon could hear the keys on the pony jingling on his side.

“Okay,” Rocky said, looking up to him, “I know we’re supposed to, well, watch you and all. My brother and I had been talking and didn’t think you being here was a good idea.” He turned to the side, looking away. “You see—ECK!”

Anon had quickly gotten to the bars and pulled the pony against them, raising him in the air as he choked him. He felt bad, hurting the dopey guard, but he had the keys to his freedom.

“N-N-No, you n-need to be a l-little lower,” Rocky struggled out.

Unsure how to react to that, Anon did notice he was squeezing at the armor more than Rocky himself. Wiggling his arms in the proper position, he squeezed his neck with better ease.

“M-Much b-b-better.”

Anon gritted his teeth, “Oh god, you’re getting off on this, aren’t you?! I swear to god if you’re getting a pony boner over this…”

“W-what's… a… b-bo… nn…” He didn’t finish, slumping into Anon’s arms, unconscious.

Anon let off the pressure, not wanting to cause any permanent damage to the creepy little pony.

As he was slowly kneeling to put him on the ground Roller just so happened to walk in just at that moment. Both Anon and Roller stared at one another, before the pony looked down at his brother, then back at Anon. A sudden realization hit the pony, “Oh! He must’ve told you before I got here huh? Well, I couldn’t find a spare bucket or anything useful, sooo… How am I going to do this? Hmm… Well, I guess there’s always the wall!”

Getting into a running position, Roller charged the wall to Anon’s right, ramming his head right into it. He immediately bounced back, going into a spinning swirl before slamming into the ground, knocking himself out. Anon could help but stare at what the guard had done, utterly baffled by both of their actions.

Ignoring the idiocy of it all, he turned back to the guard he choked out and unclasped the keys from him. Unlocking his cell door, he got out and made his way down the hall, anxious to get out of dodge. A rather large quake hit the building he was in, forcing him to grab some nearby bars for support.

“Yeah, definitely time to leave,” he said to himself, waiting for the shaking to stop.

Once outside, Anon didn’t notice any of the ponies outside of the room, thanking his lucky stars. Or would he be thanking Luna? What a confusing thought to have at the moment for Anon.

Taking a calming breath, Anon ran down the halls and past all the empty cells until he reached the far door. Looking into each room and not seeing anything, he ran past them, searching every door he came across, trying to go by memory on how to get out of the place. He was glad to not have met any guards around, likely all distracted at the moment.

“WAIT!” he heard being screamed from behind him just as he was about to leave the next room.

Letting out a curse, he immediately went through the door and threw a nearby stand in front of it before running to the next door. Attempting to go through it, he found the door locked; the final one he needed for his freedom.

He was not wanting to get caught after getting so far, not believing there would be another chance to get out by himself. Looking around the room, he noticed he was in an office of sorts. It also happened to have a convenient window, cracked open already.

Acting fast, he ran over to it, slammed it all the way open, and jumped out without thought. He dropped only a few feet from the ground, kneeling as he fell and landed, quite happy to have managed all of that so well. Thinking fast, he sprinted to the trees closest to him in hopes to get as much distance from the place as possible.

Finding the guard towers he was told about could come later; right then, he needed to make sure none of the guards could recapture him.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X~ ~X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Bon Bon was not a happy pony.

When the six of them arrived at the base, they all went to their respective positions, waiting for what was about to happen.

Making sure they didn’t get caught, Bon Bon and Flitter started to sneak through the trees and diving into bushes, keeping out of sight as they moved through the area. Finding a good spot to wait, Bon Bon stayed in a bush while Flitter went up into a tree to hide.

Waiting at their spot, it didn’t take long to hear an obnoxiously loud boom, followed by a pattern of additional thumps, zaps, and whatever else the electrifying musical mare could come up with. The rebels quickly reacted to the sounds, running straight toward it. It was a lot fewer than she thought would be at the base. Would they hold some in reserve for some reason? It was a worrying thought, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it.

Keeping to the shadows, she snuck around the trees, making her way up to the buildings, all the while watching for any rebels running past her. Flitter kept to the sky, zipping through the area as she wore her suit, ‘nin’ing’ through the area. Bon Bon was quite surprised to see how competent she was at keeping out of sight.

Stopping at a building, she looked in and couldn’t spot any ponies in the room. Thinking it was as good a place to start as any, she jumped into the window and hoped for the best. Ducking once she landed, she immediately looked around.

There were only a few desks, chairs, and some cabinets along with a map placed on a wall. There didn’t seem to be much in the room at all. Doing a quick search for anything that could help her she hummed, finding nothing of interest.

Walking to the window, Bon Bon signaled to Flitter to see if it was okay to jump back out. It took a minute before she flashed something bright in Bon Bon’s direction, giving her the okay to leave. Once out, she went straight back into the shadows before running off to the next building.

It took a few tries before she eventually spotted two fairly large buildings in the back of the base. Deciding they were a good place to try her luck, she motioned Flitter that she was going in, making sure not to get spotted on her way.

As she was moving forward, the ground shook violently before a particularly loud string of music hit the air. It didn’t sound like something typical of Vinyl, so Octavia must have joined the fray of musical warfare. It was played at a rapid pace; it kept up with the fast beating that was coming from Vinyl.

Returning her direction to the task at hoof, she looked up to Flitter, noticing she had flown into the air and was returning toward Bon Bon. Landing in a tree, she slid down the base before hiding in the bush Bon Bon was currently in.

“It seems like Octavia did that,” Flitter said, confirming her thoughts. “I have no idea what that was, but right now she’s shooting off bow after bow like crazy at the rebels! You should have seen it; her cello was glowing all weird-like and had lightning sparking off of it!”

“Vinyl’s interactions with it, no doubt,” Bon Bon said. “Alright, I’m going to go into that large building right there. I’ll need you to keep an eye out while I’m inside.”

Flitter nodded to her before ‘nin’ing’ off back into the trees. Shaking her head, Bon Bon ran out of the bush and directly toward the building. Getting inside a window, she opened it up and slid in. Ducking down once more, she looked around for any signs of danger. Finding herself safe enough, she stood back up before looking for any clues to Anon’s whereabouts.

It didn’t take her long to find some information on him on a desk. It had a picture of him pinned to some papers, along with some directions to where he could be found. She was quite happy to find she didn’t need to do something crazy to get to him. Stepping out of the room to go check on the location she read about, Bon Bon immediately noticed sounds coming directly in a room next to hers.

Worried it was a pony, she took one of her ropes out, ready to deal with the rebel before it could sneak up on her. Peeking out the door, she wasn’t expecting to see Anon walking out of the room.

“WAIT!” she screamed out, trying to get her rope back into her pack.

Her scream must have spooked him, Anon having run into a room, slamming the door closed behind him. Running up to it, she attempted to slam it open, only finding resistance. She continued to slam up against it but found herself incapable of getting in. Still, she continued to pound against it, hoping it would give way so she could reach Anon.

Immediately, the window to her side opened up, revealing Flitter. “Bon Bon, Anon jumped out the window! I saw him run in the forest, come on!”

“Why didn’t you follow him!” Bon Bon asked, following Flitter out the window.

“I’m not going to leave you here alone with all these rebels around, now come on!”

As they were about to run off into the forest, a spell blasted off between the two, rocketing past them; a rebel had found them.

Without warning, Flitter threw something down onto the ground. Bon Bon identified it as one of those weird nin balls Flitter showed her. It quickly enveloped the two of them in dark smoke. Before Bon Bon could react, she felt herself being pulled by something, and with no time she found herself at the edge of the forest.

“W-What the—” Bon Bon was surprised at the huge distance she just traveled. “Did you just teleport? Those ball things work?!”

“Just go after Anon, I’ll stop anyone from coming after you and catch up when I’m done!” Flitter turned to the unicorn that had slid to a stop. She let out a yell, throwing another ball down. When the smoke cleared, Bon Bon could see her now on top of the guard. “MAY THE POWER OF NIN CONSTRAIN YOU!!!”

Shaking her head from what just happened, she quickly ran off to where Anon had gone, hoping to catch up to him.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X~ ~X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The further Anon went into the forest, the more muffled the sounds from the commotion coming from the base came to be. Not once did he try to stop or slow down, unsure if anyone was still following him or not. He was just happy he wasn’t dying from exhaustion from all the running: all that work on the farm and doing the odd thing here and there was paying off.

Still running at full speed, he leaped over rocks, barreled through any bushes in his path, and dodged around every tree that he came upon. Sure, he gained a few cuts along the way, his clothing was looking worse for wear, water seemed to attract to his feet and pants too well, and his body was telling him to slow down, but for the moment he was high on adrenaline and had a great need to get away from those ponies.

Something was feeling off about his run. He wasn’t breathing hard at all, and it almost seemed unnatural how well he was traversing through the area.

Without understanding what his actions had done, he felt himself turning completely right, nearly ripping his feet off the ground. Something in him thought it was a good idea to run this way. He wasn’t sure why, but it just felt like the correct choice for him.

He started to feel nauseated as if something was pounding away at his head. He chalked that one up to the amount of running he was currently doing.

Anon continued to run through the forest, feeling that odd sensation in him, almost guiding him about the place. It felt like safety was at hand when he followed through with it. He thought his instincts had sharpened up to him, something he was happy about.

Eventually, he found himself standing in front of a strange cave, holding his head from the horrible headache he was feeling, all the while sweating like mad. Anon hummed, thinking a cave would be a great place to hide for a moment’s rest.

“I do need to sit down for a moment, my head’s killing me,” he said, right before wiping something dripping down his nose. “Hmm?”

On his hand was blood. He frowned, wondering why he’d get a nosebleed at the strangest time. The place certainly wasn’t dry enough for it to occur naturally. Deciding not to think about it, lest he allows the ponies time to catch up to him, Anon walked slowly into the cave, doubtful the rebels would know of where he was located there.

Stepping inside, he noticed how much warmer it felt. The heat was surprisingly comforting to him, nearly making him forget his growing headache. Walking further in, he attempted to look around for someplace to sit and dry off.

Without warning, the cave went dark. Sensing something was wrong, he turned around to leave the cave, only now finding the entrance was gone, as if vanished due to magic.

‘Was it possible the ponies had found me? But why would they hide the entrance?’ A light chuckle could be heard, stopping his inner thoughts from continuing.

“Alright, who’s there?”

Another chuckle rang out, echoing off the walls. Trying not to panic Anon assessed the situation the best he could. It was difficult to see in the cave with no proper light source. There was nothing to defend himself with either. If it was just him and a single pony, he felt he might be able to handle it, but it was clearly a magic-user; that did not bode well for him.

Something shuffled right beside him, making him jump in fright. He squeezed against a wall, trying to focus on his current surroundings. Something snickered in the dark, only making him angry.

“Show yourself!” Anon yelled out, doing his best to put out some bravado.

The only response he was given was more chuckling. Anon immediately grabbed his head in pain, feeling dizzy. He placed his back against the wall once more, trying to keep himself steady on his feet. Whoever this was, it didn’t appear to be with the guards; why go through all of this when they could simply take him back?

“What do you want?!” Anon yelled out to the cave.

The moment he yelled that he felt something closing in around his neck, lifting him high into the air. He attempted to pull at whatever was holding him up but his body felt locked in place, unable to move. Whatever was around his neck pulled back before slamming him into a wall; he let out a grunt, feeling the wall jab into his back.

Anon could hear footsteps nearing him, a small ball of light appearing in front of him, floating midair.

Holding his breath, Anon was finding it difficult to comprehend what he was looking at: a tall, bipedal being that was completely covered from head to toe in pink hair. There wasn’t much to help identify if it was male or female with the lanky body it had. The one feature that unnerved him the most was its face that held a hideous smile that seemed to stretch across its face unnaturally, with jagged teeth gleaming in the light, and its horrid, black beady eyes staring back at him.

The arm of the creature stretched to his neck, holding him in place. And then, it let go. The arm retracted back to the creature, with clear-sounding pops resonating in the cave as if the arm was being shifted to fit its body. Anon held a hand around his neck, finding himself unable to move from where he was standing.

“Hello there,” the creature spoke out with a raspy voice. Somehow, its smile only grew wider, staring at him. “I have been waiting for a very, very long time to meet you human.”

“W-Who… what are you?”

Its jaw unhinged as the creature let out a screech of a laugh through the cave, bellowing its terrifying howling through the cave. The pink being ended its laugh with a low hum, tilting its head from side to side, inspecting his prey against the wall.

Anon felt himself being pulled toward the creature, being spun in the air as he flew right past it and into the darkness. He slammed his behind into something that had him sliding across the ground, teetering to fall over before it eventually landed upward.

Looking at what he had landed in, he could see it was a wooden chair. He looked toward where he was moments ago. Spotting nothing, Anon quickly took notice that the creature was now sitting in a large, ornate chair across from him. More of the glowing light balls floated in the air, illuminating things for the two of them.

The creature continued to smile at Anon in silence before it brought its elbows to the armrests of the chair, bringing its knuckles up to rest its chin on.

“You have no idea how love I have wanted to have this moment. It nearly drew me mad, having to be so patient with my actions. There was much temptation to speed things along, but no…” He dropped his right limb, letting his left hold his head up as he leaned into the side. “Everything had to be precise or it just. Wouldn’t. Work.”

The creature sighed, placing its left arm down as it leaned forward. The smile dropped, turning its long mouth into a stretched frown with little effort.

“You know, as I examine you, I found you a slight bit… grotesque.” The irony wasn’t lost on Anon hearing that. “I was expecting more. A pity. But your looks are not something that I require from you, thankfully.”

Leaning back into its chair, the pink beast crossed a foot onto its knee, putting both hands into its lap as its eerie smile returned.

The two of them sat in awkward silence, staring at one another. It made Anon nervous staring at whatever abomination this thing came from.

Scratching its head, the pink beast cracked its neck a few times. “So… to move things along I suppose, I’m certain you have some things you’d like to ask. I have time to spare, after all, what are a few minutes to someone like me? Oh, and you can stop thinking I’m going to do anything to you, for the moment that is.”

Anon let out an unsteady breath, trying his best to keep calm in his current situation. Repeating what he was told in his head, he attempted to appease the thing, giving it a question.

“Who, and what, exactly are you?”

It scratched its hairy chin in thought. “I don’t have a name, not one that was ever given to me that is. I suppose you can call me by what my siblings tossed my way. You may call me… Momus. As to what I am, that is not important. You had already been answered, as I had seen in your line. It should be blatantly clear just what I am from what you have been told, or is your feeble mind still hampered?”

Anon scrunched up his brow, uncertain what the beast meant by already knowing what it was. The being chuckled for whatever reason, waving its arm in the air as it went back to playing with its short, pink beard. The thing was toying with him for some unknown reason. Anon wasn’t sure how to go about this.

“Why am I here?”

The thing tilted its head to one side, letting out a small yawn. “You’re here because I want you to be here.”

“I mean, could you explain why?”

Momus hummed, turning its head toward Anon. “You are here because I, the one that holds your life currently, the one that so forced the lines to its will, wanted you here. I can’t simplify this anymore to appease your curiosity.”

It sat there in silence, a bored look appearing on its face as it stared down at Anon.

“I, um, hu, erm…”

Staring at Anon, a disgruntled look appeared on its face. With a snap, the entire cave lit up, the dreadful atmosphere lightening up.

“There was so much I had planned for you. You would have remained autonomous in your actions, and I would have had the outcome I had desired.” Momus clicked its tongue, “The only thing that needed to happen was for you to NOT have your blasted mind tampered with!”

“Do you mean Cross Love fixing whatever was wrong with me?”

Momus snorted, “Fixing you? I needed you to remain muted like that for only a little while longer until your magical potency increased to an acceptable degree. But no, now I’m left with you.” It leaned forward, narrowing its eyes. “And now I have to figure out how to fix my plans for you.”

“You keep saying that; what plans? Are you the reason I’m here in this world?”

“Of course I’m the reason you’re here. Who do you think gave that imbecile the magical essence needed to bring you here?” With a twist of its hand, a bottle with but a few drops of pink liquid appeared. “Do you know how long it took to drain my essence into a pure form? I barely have any left as it is!”

Another twist and the bottle disappeared. It flew up into the air, the chair disappearing as Momus stood on its legs, walking around the cave.

“The lines all matched up, and no matter what you did after this little fiasco, so long as your mind remained muted things would be fine. But now I have to work around this.”

“Why exactly are you doing all this?” Momus paused, scratching its chin. “I don’t understand why I’m important to any of this.”

“It’s not necessarily you that is important. I could have plucked so many other beings. But you gave me the highest degree of success, simply due to what you brought to the table. You’re a man that is, ultimately, quite boring. You’re simply normal, having once accepted going through the motions in life. But you always wanted more for yourself, such strong desires you held, and during college, you managed to push yourself with that little environmental group.

“You did so much for so many people; what a strong hero-complex you have. Ultimately, for me, I think the thing that solidified my choosing of you was that mugging you prevented.” Anon winced, remembering that event. “You still have a small scar right underneath your right armpit from the stabbing. Could have died right there, but you didn’t care about the consequences, only wanting to help once again. You managed to stop that woman from what would have happened to her, and trust me, pal, I knew her future was short-lived had you not appeared there.”

The chair appeared once more, Momus taking his time to sit back down. “Looking at the lines involving you, I have the best chance of success. Or at least, I did. Hmm. Should probably find some way to pay back Cross Love for that.”

It unnerved Anon how much this being knew of him. It was clear this thing had some major plans in store. “Can you please tell me what you have planned for me, whatever it is?”

Leaning back, Momus tapped the arm on his chair. “Your purpose to me is to be an end game piece. My time in this world has dwindled out and you’re the last thing I need to complete my goals.”

“And just what are your goals?”

The creature halted in its movements, turning to Anon as its smile stretched from ear to ear. “Why, to destroy the goals of another being,” it answered, right before slamming both of its arms down on the chair, its smile vanishing and turning into a snarl full of rage. “THAT SHAGGER DARES TO NOT ONLY OUTDO MY SIBLINGS WORK BUT HAVE THE GALL TO THINK HE HAS ME TRICKED INTO DOINGS HIS BIDDING! I WILL NOT STAND FOR THAT!!!”

The cave shook violently at his anger boiling over, nearly toppling Anon out of the chair. Forcing himself as far back into his chair as possible, he held the arms of his chair tightly, his knuckles turning white. He felt as if his entire form was bellowing in a tornado from the infuriated creature, it seemingly pushing a force into Anon.

As quick as it came, the shaking went away, along with the enraged Momus. Taking panting breaths, Anon willed himself to calm down from what had just occurred. Momus on the other hand simply stared at the human without any emotions showing, sitting there as if nothing had happened.

It let out a slow breath before going back to playing with its chin hair. “So, to my own goals, you’re of great importance. The lines I’ve read have shown many ways to go about all of this, but seeing as you’re now a part of this one, you can give me the best success rate to completing it than anything else I can do. I only have to… alter a few things, and then I can feel confident for the future.”

“S-So,” Anon stuttered, still trying to collect himself, “you want me to stop someone from completing their goals for your own reasons. Why would you think I would want to help you out?”

“Oh? Feeling rebellious?” Momus chuckled. “It doesn’t matter whether or not you want to, because, in the end, you’re going to do it anyway! I’m just… upping the success rate and ensuring it’s on the path I want it to be.”

“Can you just give me a straight answer?” Anon wasn’t ready to anger the thing but he was getting tired of this. “Who is this person that you want to be stopped? Why me for all this and not someone else?”

Momus tapped the arm of its chair, looking at him in thought. “I… suppose I can at least explain some of this; although it’s not as much fun for me, it would be nice to have shared this story with someone.” It coughed, trying to clear its throat dramatically. “Long, long ago, I lived wild and extravagantly, doing whatever I wished. It was me and my siblings, and we had a fun time doing whatever pleased us.

“Still, we knew we weren’t meant for longevity. Me being here is a fluke as it is. Truly, it was the end times for us and we did what we could for survival. After altering some things around, having seen the lines that would occur, I went into hiding as I could not follow my siblings where they went, something guiding me to stay. Around that time, I was simply trying to figure out what I should do now that things had changed in my life. And then… he came,” it hissed out, anger apparent on its face.

“He found me and somehow tricked me, ME! Oh if my siblings ever knew of this I’d be the laughing stock, me having been fooled into helping anyone! I had done his bidding unwittingly for many years, and when I eventually found out I was being used, I—” Looking as if he was about to blow up in a rage, he took a moment to calm himself down, humming some tune to do so. “I hadn’t used the lines all that often, finding predictability boring. But if I had done it more often as my siblings advised…

“As it is, I have a rather great disliking of this character. The only thing I could do at the time was to stall his plans, but it hadn’t stopped them. He’s going to finish them, and I am greatly interested in stopping them.”

He tugged on its chin hair, looking off into nothing as he reminisced over something or another, before looking back at Anon.

“I knew that it was temporary, and I intended to find a more permanent manner to screw with his plans, to have the last laugh. Unfortunately for me, the hero in my story, I had gone ahead and used some forbidden magic. It was a grave mistake, quite literally!” Momus let out a chuckle. “As a being made purely of magic, using such forbidden magic ate at my very core, which sapped me of many years in my life. But it allowed me the tools needed to spoil his plans, and all I needed were the last pieces of this plan: you.”

“I don’t even know if I want to help you,” Anon grunted out.

“Would it help if I said that his plans, should they come to fruition, would spell disaster for this world and all your little silly friends? Besides, I told you that you would help me whether or not you wanted to. I’ve already seen it all, now I just need it to be.”

Getting up from its chair, Momus appeared in front of Anon. It cupped his face with its hairy hands, making him feel queasy from the very touch. “Cross Love fixed your mind, and now you’re extremely potent to magic. Much too potent. You could even potentially outshine the future Princess of Friendship should you be left alone. I intend to fix that.

“What… exactly do you mean by fixing?”

“Why, I’ll be readjusting you so that you may be of some use to me. My magic is dying, drying out, and that means I’m going to die very soon. I will be depleting my magic to do some things that will gather his attention away from you as you sneak under everything I have done!”

Something about this had Anon morbidly curious, just why it would create such plans that would wind up killing it. “You’re willing to kill yourself for revenge? Aren’t you afraid to die?”

“What being isn’t afraid to die? We all have to accept it at some point, and I have already done so.”

“Won’t there be things you’ll miss?”

“Oh, of course, there are plenty of things I’ll miss, like how I’ll never again ask questions about things or be asked of things myself.” It let out a sigh, looking wistfully in the air. “I do love my questions. They are such wondrous things. They hold so much power, being capable of unraveling things and yet keeping away treasures at the same time. And there is a steady supply of them, always in demand. The only thing that truly makes them so fun is, of course, the answers you get, even the wrong ones! Oh dear, I shall miss them. Why recently I was contemplating if Celestia could have ruled these lands looking malformed, with a bucktoothed smile and a large zit forever planted right on her snout.”

Anon wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “Why should her appearance affect how she ruled her lands? Would that have even mattered in the end?”

“That’s precisely why I bother with such questions!”

“Look, isn’t th—”

Momus shushed him, holding out its hand in the air. After a few seconds, it leaped out of the chair, using its magic to throw Anon onto his feet. “No more questions, for now, is the time of action!”

Anon looked at where the cave entrance used to be. Momus looked in that direction before snorting, “No one’s here Anon, and no one is coming to this cave. I’ve already used a magic-heavy spell to slow down time while we talked. I would have used a full time stop, but that would have drained me too much,” it mumbled out.

“Why did you shush me then?”

“Because I tire of hearing your voice and your uninteresting questions,” it answered. “Oh to know that these are the last questions I shall ever be given; what a terrible way to die!” Momus instantly popped in front of Anon, giving him another one of his terrifying smiles. “Now let’s get down to business! Oh, word of notice: the effects of this spell won’t immediately settle in you, but it will most assuredly hurt, a lot.”

“W-Wait!” Anon sputtered out, backing away. “I, I, I’ve still got questions! L-Like who exactly is this guy you want to be stopped? What did he do to you?”

“Sorry, I can’t tell you everything little human,” it said before grasping his head, “that would ruin the story! Now hold still so I can kill myself.”

An immense amount of pain jolted through his head, forcing him to scream out in shock. His body spasmed in the air as Momus held him up, tightening his hold on Anon’s head.

“Oh stop screaming, I’m just pinching your brain!”

Anon’s vision started to blur from the agony he was being put through, unable to bear it. The last thing he saw before blacking out was the smiling face of Momus, madly laughing at what was happening.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Groaning, Anon grasped his head in pain. It felt like something had clawed its way through it.

‘Oh, right. Momus quite literally did that.’

He found himself back outside in the forest, once more surrounded by trees and foliage. Looking around for the cave and the strange being, Anon turned toward where the cave was, only finding a smooth stone in its place. Examining it, he noticed a pile of pink hair only a few feet away from him, which he assumed used to be Momus. Did it simply poof out, with this being all that remained of it? That’s of course if it was telling the truth on it dying.

Rubbing his head, Anon wondered just what Momus had done to him, fearing it was something that could do long-term damage to him if left unchecked. He wanted to get back to civilization to get help on what had happened. For all he knew, the person Momus was targeting was one of the princesses, so they at least needed to be informed on this.

Ignoring the pounding that was going on in his head, Anon stood up, making his way once more through the forest. He soon found himself holding his clothing tighter, the cold making him shiver. The exhaustion from before was finally setting in, but he pushed on, hoping to find someplace to properly rest.

Just as he was about to head off, something loud could be heard to his right, alerting him that something was close by. Anon wondered if the guards had finally caught up to him. He had nothing to defend himself with to help get away and he was uncertain he could run if needed.

He looked around, hoping for someplace to properly hide, only to curse at his current area lacking such places. The bushes were too small, the trees too thin, and no ground to hide behind or in. All he could do was stand there, forced to confront whatever was coming his way.

Gritting his teeth, he got ready for whatever charged his way. But of all the things to come at him, he wasn’t expecting to see Bon Bon jumping out of the bushes, looking winded as she stared at him.

“Anon!”

“Bon Bon?

The mare ran up to him, jumping up to her hind legs to hug him. Seeing this, Anon bent down, weakly hugging her back.

“What are you doing out here? No, wait, stupid question.” Taking Bon Bon off of him, he placed her in front of him. “You should have stayed in Ponyville. Those rebels are out here a—”

“I already know about them, Anon,” Bon Bon interrupted. “The girls and I wanted to help bring you back s—”

“Wait, Bon Bon,” he interrupted back, “we can talk about this later after we get out of here, okay?”

She nodded, agreeing with him. “The girls are likely still at the base but I can send Flitter back while we head for the first tower back to Mercanville. Heading back to the base with you would be, well… stupid.” Giving her a nod, Anon stood back up before walking beside Bon Bon.

Hearing some sounds coming from where Bon Bon had come from, Anon turned around in that direction. “Did any of those ponies follow you?”

“Nah, I’m doubtful with Flitter having taken care of any that tried. I bet it’s either her and she’s coming down or maybe Lyra saw me running off for you a—”

She stopped, noticing a strange pony coming out of the bushes. Neither of them recognized the pony that was garbed in bright-colored armor.

“Ah, I knew that the night rebels had foalnapped somepony of importance, but for it to be the alien of Ponyville! Why now that is something.” The one that spoke walked toward Anon with a smirk. “How lucky of us to have stumbled upon you out here in the woods on one of our patrols near their base, and all alone…”

Anon stared down at the pony, a frown slowly forming on his face. “…You have GOT to be kidding me.”

It seemed that their luck had run dry, the day rebels stumbling across Anon and Bon Bon. Looking behind the pony in front, half a dozen more came out of the bushes, slowly surrounding them. There were too many of them to escape, especially with quite a few of them being unicorns. Things just couldn’t get worse for the two of them.

“Hold on, Anon!” Bon Bon screamed out before throwing something down at the ground in front of him.

The black smoke quickly enveloped the two of them in an instant, forcing the day rebels to step back in shock. Anon was surprised that Bon Bon had something like that, and that she was even attempting something that was more in line with a ninja movie. The candy mare immediately grabbed a hold of his leg, confusing Anon a fair bit.

“Uuuuuh… shouldn’t we be running away now?” Anon asked her.

Just as quickly as the smoke came, the smoke cleared out with the two still standing there, now with very confused ponies staring at them.

Bon Bon started to look around, confused as to what had happened herself. “DARN IT, FLITTER! IT DIDN’T WORK!!!”

Anon could only smack himself in the forehead, realizing she thought their getaway would be instantaneous. And so, with their prize in sight, the day rebels made their way to the two for capture…

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X~ ~X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Flitter could only let out a sigh, watching what had just happened to take place. “You’re supposed to nin away when you throw that down,” she murmured to herself. “It doesn’t just work with making you disappear instantly; you have to believe in the nin to make it work.”

Watching the two being taken by the group of day rebels was not something she could help with by herself. Anything she could try would just wind up with her being captured as well. The best thing she could do is go back to the base and get help, fast. She had hoped getting to Lyra and her sister in time could allow them to give chase before they got too far away.

That thought went right out the window when she saw the entire group teleporting out of sight.

“…Ah, crud.”

‘That sure makes things more difficult,’ Flitter thought as she threw a smoke ball down in front of her.

She was now in the sky, flying off into the air at nin speeds.

‘Lyra can get us to the next base quick enough to get him and Bon Bon back. I’m just hoping she won’t be too upset about what happened…’

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X~ ~X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Lyra was a very upset pony.

She had been looking for Anon all over the base and still hadn’t found a single clue as to where he might be. Building after building, and there was absolutely nothing to where he might be in the base.

‘Did they stow him away in some weird underground passageway, only accessible by some crazy spell?’

‘Or did they turn him invisible so you’d never be able to find him, even if he was directly in front of you?’

Lyra slapped herself, shaking her head furiously as she attempted to keep those idiotic thoughts away for the moment. Anon was likely just in a building she hadn’t checked, that was all.

Going up to a window she had just jumped into, Lyra motioned toward where Cloud Chaser should be to see if she could go back out. The only thing going her way at the moment as she hadn’t run across any rebels as of yet.

Waiting for a reply, she paused, realizing something wasn’t right about the situation. Looking around the room, she noticed the problem: nothing was shaking. Why had Vinyl and Octavia stopped their music? Did something happen to them? Did they have to retreat?

Looking back out the window, Lyra could see Cloud Chaser was in the sky, looking around above the trees. Seemingly finished, she flew back down and landed beside the building Lyra was at. She appeared quite worried.

“Lyra, the music stopped playing,” she said.

“I kind of noticed that.”

“Yeah, I figured. So I flew up in the sky to see why that was and noticed two ponies talking to Vinyl and Octavia for some reason. I don’t know what happened, but Octavia pointed me out in the air and one of them flew up, just close enough to speak to me. He told me to come over and bring you to talk with them.”

She furrowed her brow, “Did he say anything else?”

“No, just to come over. It doesn’t look like they’re willing to fight anymore though, so that’s something?”

‘This could be a trap,’ she thought, pacing the room. ‘But then, why would they set something up when they already have those two? Is it possible they’re willing to give up Anon and have us leave?’

“This is so confusing,” Lyra grumbled out, looking at Cloud Chaser. “How many ponies were there?”

“I only saw a few of the rebels still standing, with the majority around them either too exhausted to do much or are on the ground, knocked out.”

Lyra hummed before slowly making her way to the window. “There isn’t much we can do with Vinyl and Octavia over there with the other rebels. We need to make sure they’re safe and to see what they want.”

“Right,” she said, jumping out the window.

Jumping out herself, Lyra followed Cloud Chaser back to where she saw them last. Once there, Lyra could see there weren’t a lot of ponies surprisingly. Right now, she could only see six in her vicinity knocked out, with two indeed looking very exhausted. There were currently two pegasi that Cloud Chaser had mentioned, standing in front of Vinyl and Octavia. Making her way up to them, the others turned to her direction.

“So… you’re the one that’s messing with my ponies,” a unicorn spoke, someone that Lyra quickly took as the leader. He looked at the four of them before speaking up, “Aren’t there supposed to be six of you?” None of them responded as Lyra simply glared at him. “What exactly do you ponies want, attacking us like this? It’s clear you’re not with the day rebels.”

“You foalnapped someone important to us and we’re here to get him back, you jerks!” Lyra was not wanting to be very civil.

“That alien?” one of the earth ponies to the side said. “What makes you think we—”

“You can locate him in the far building in a cell,” the unicorn leader said. “Tell Rocky and Roller the alien is to be released, code passage for them is Chindi, Omega, Odyssey, Cauldron. They will proceed to release it and you can be on your merry way.”

“S-Sir! You’re just releasing the alien, just like that?!” The earth pony beside the one that spoke glared at the earth pony, who immediately shut up.

“…Why are you giving him up so easily?” Lyra asked, uncertain about his actions.

“We have no reason to have him here any longer.”

“How do we know you’re not tricking us?”

By now, Vinyl and Octavia had already made their way around the other ponies and stood beside Lyra, their equipment packed but on either side of them, ready to be used if needed.

“We have no use for your alien friend any longer. Our priorities have changed due to recent information that has been discovered. Now, if you would be so kind as to collect the human and leave us in peace…”

“Lyra, let’s just go get Anon,” Vinyl said, trying to move her along.

Looking at the rebels once more, Lyra was still uncertain about what was happening. The ones still conscious were attempting to stir awake the ones previously knocked out.

“Why are they even giving up,” Lyra asked herself. “We’re just to go along as we can… trust them? I don’t it, it’s just… I…”

“It’s odd, I know,” Octavia said, placing a hoof on her shoulder, “but in the end, we’ve got what we came for, so let’s go collect Anon and get out of here.”

Vinyl helped turn Lyra away, forcing her in the direction where they said that Anon was being held. Holding back her tongue from the rebels, Lyra simply followed with them. She too wanted to get it all over with and go home with Anon.

Nearing the building, the four of them slowed down, spotting Flitter flying toward them. She hit the ground at an angle, sliding to a stop a little ways away from them. “G-G-G—”

“Whoa there,” Cloud Chaser said, flying up to her. “Take a few breaths and calm down.” She looked at her sister, then around her vicinity. “Uhhh, where’s Bon Bon? YO BON BON, YOU CAN COME OUT!”

“Bon Bon… she… she was…” Flitter tried to catch her breath to the best of her ability as the rest of the group walked up to her. “She… was taken.”

“WHAT?!” Lyra yelled. “Who took her?! I knew those darn rebels here were up to something when they were just giving up Anon like that!”

“No, n-not them,” she answered. “Bon Bon… ran out into… the forest after—” Flitter took a large gulp of air, finally getting her breath back. “She went after Anon who somehow escaped when we got to the base. She got to him and was returning when the other rebels, the day rebels… they took them.”

‘Don’t scream, Lyra. Keep yourself focused and clear-headed.’

Lyra, of course, was feeling extremely upset and angered hearing this. And besides, Lyra didn’t need to necessarily add to Octavia, who was doing quite enough screaming at the moment.

“What do you MEAN they were taken by the rebels?!” Octavia yelled out, shaking Flitter by the shoulders. “We were so close, SO CLOSE, to being done with this excruciating trip, AND NOW THIS?!”

“We shouldn’t be arguing, Octavia,” Vinyl grunted out, pulling her away from a dizzy Flitter. “We should be heading out and getting them back! They couldn’t have gotten too far from here with those two after all!”

“Actually,” Flitter mumbled out while shaking her head, “they teleported the two away from here with magic, likely directly to their base…”

NOW Lyra was screaming.

“How are we supposed to collect him now?” Cloud Chaser asked, plopping her butt on the ground. “We just got done with the rebels here; now we have to deal with another group of these ponies?!”

“It’s also going to take a while to get there,” Vinyl added, gaining a loud groan from Octavia. “I only know basic teleportation and unless Lyra has upgraded her teleportation skills as of late, I doubt we can pull any of you along for the ride, let alone past a few trees altogether.”

‘Think Lyra, think! There has to be some way to get to the base quickly and retrieve the two as soon as possible before they do anything to the two of them.’

Looking at the others interacting with one another, Lyra came up blank for options to go by.

‘What should I do?!’

Walking there would take at least two days to travel if we ran, and she wasn’t coming up with any other options to get there.

‘Alright then… what would stupid Lyra try and do right now?’

Pausing, a series of ideas came to her on some rather absurd things she could try. And just like that, the answer came to her. A slow smile spread across her face, which the others noticed quickly.

“You’ve got a plan to get us there, don’t you?” Vinyl asked.

Lyra simply gave her a larger smile. “I’m thinking that we could always take the tree express to their base…”

Octavia’s eyes widened to extreme levels, reacting immediately upon hearing that. “No, NO! NOO! Please, no! I’m not going on another one of those idiotic trips! Solaire please no!”

“But T—”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

“…But Tavi, it’s the only way!” Vinyl told her, levitating the reluctant mare in the air.

Octavia squealed, kicking in the air. “Let me down this instant! I refuse to go!”

“Nope!” Vinyl responded, following Lyra into the forest. “So we just need a really large tree and we can blast our way there!”

“It’s not as simple as that,” Lyra replied, examining a tree before passing it up and continuing forward with the others following along. “It might need two trips with how far away they are, so we’d have to recuperate and find another tree for a second trip.”

“Lyra, my speakers are much more powerful than they used to be. And our magic can easily push things to the limits since we’re older now.”

“I… suppose that’s true.” Looking at another tree, Lyra also passed it up. “There also won’t be as much weight with just us three since Flitter and Cloud Chaser can fly along. Though I hope they can keep up.”

“Puh-lease,” Cloud Chaser said, flying up to her. “We’re plenty fast, we can keep up! Why I can easily keep pace with Dash herself!”

“Are you sure about that?” Flitter asked with a smirk. “Last I recall you talking to her you mentioned you could lap all of Ponyville in a minute. She only told you it was “fifty seconds too slow for me” and flew around the town in ten seconds.”

“Sh-Shut up!” Cloud Chaser sputtered out, to which Flitter giggled.

“I don’t wanna goooooo,” Octavia groaned out, still kicking in the air.

“We’re not going to just leave you here all by yourself, so you— EEEEH!” Vinyl ran up to a large tree, clamping herself around the trunk of it. She unconsciously forced Octavia to do the same, still stuck in her spell. “It’s PERFECT!” Oh, you are SO going to get us to great places, tree of largeness and funky flight!”

“I, I’m not so sure I trust your judgment here at all!” Octavia screamed, or more like muffled out.

“It’s the perfect size though, AND the bark looks wicked awesome!” Vinyl took a large sniff, smiling afterward. “Plus, it also smells like the stuff I get from Zecora.”

“…Oh sweet Solaire, it does! Why does it smell like that stuff?” Octavia let out a groan as Lyra sized up the tree, agreeing with Vinyl.

Flashing her horn up for a spell, she pulled the two mares off the tree before proceeding to cut it at the base. The moment it started to fall, Vinyl helped with catching it with her magic, slowing it down to the best of her ability. It soon dropped to the ground in a loud thump. Lyra had Flitter remove the limbs of the tree while Vinyl and Lyra proceeded to move the other trees around them for the room, leaving Cloud Chaser to figure out the direction they would need to go.

Soon enough, they had the tree set up so it was hanging in the air by the surrounding trees, suspended by ropes and magic. It took a few hours to get it done, but it would hopefully wind up with getting them there in around thirty or so minutes to their base. It would have been easier to work all of this if Octavia had stopped complaining to them the entire time.

Cloud Chaser soon flew back, dropping down to the ground. “Point it left about twelve degrees and we should be ready to go!”

Lyra and Vinyl together flared their horns, the ropes tightening, angling the tree in the direction needed.

“Alright everypony, get on!” Vinyl yelled out, teleporting to the back of the tree.

Octavia sat in the middle while Lyra took the front. The two pegasi got on opposite sides of the tree for their positions.

“Are you sure this is going to work?” Cloud Chaser asked, tapping the tree. “I don’t see how you managed to get this to go up in the sky the last time.”

“Well, it worked, so we should be able to do it once more,” Lyra answered, trying to get comfortable. “Alright then!” she yelled out, grabbing a rope that was tied around the base so she had something to hold onto. “Grab your ropes and get ready!”

“Y-You know what? I think I can p-probably just… go back and… get things ready at Mercanville f-for all of you,” Octavia stuttered out, “get things r-ready so when you all get back, I—”

“RELEASE!”

The tree dropped from its place, falling to the ground. Vinyl immediately started her speakers up as Lyra balanced her end to continue pointing up. The tree quickly rocketed off into the air, gaining speed as it climbed into the clouds.

Octavia’s screams filled the airs as the five of them tore through the sky like crazy, ready to drop a hot load of tree bombardment onto the base of the day rebels.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X~ ~X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Sitting down, Anon stared across from the cell he was now sitting in. It was much brighter than the other cell he was previously in, and the ponies here almost seemed somewhat more intelligent. Though he knew if he gave it time, he’d find them just as idiotic as the others.

‘I sure wish they’d stop staring at me,’ he thought. The guard on duty hadn’t left her eyes off of him since he had arrived, taking her task very seriously.

Oddly, she had barely taken a glance at Bon Bon, who was sitting a few feet away from him. ‘She probably doesn’t feel she’s a big of a threat as I am.’

He stretched himself, trying to get comfortable as he leaned his back against the wall.

“A-Anon, I d—”

“For the last time Bon Bon, it’s not a big deal. So you goofed up with your escape plan, so what? It’s not the end of the world.”

‘As far as I know anyway.’

“I just feel so stupid, not realizing what that ball Flitter gave me was for.”

“Sure, it sucks things didn’t turn out as we wanted it, but there’s nothing we can do about it now.”

“I just hope Lyra and the others get here soon,” she muttered quietly so the guard didn’t hear her.

Anon scooted closer to Bon Bon, something the guard narrowed her eyes at. “Not too close to one another,” the guard ordered, something Anon blankly looked back at. Looking at Bon Bon, then back to the guard, he gave her the middle finger. “I don’t understand your alien paw junk, stupid head.”

“…Bon Bon, how do I properly translate this over?”

“Ah, like this,” she said before looking directly at the guard, and then sticking her tongue out at her, slightly crossing her eyes.

The guard jerked away, offended at the sight. “You’re going to regret that prisoner…”

Anon then proceeded to mimic Bon Bon, watching the face of the mare guard redden in anger.

Anon smirked, turning back to Bon Bon. “I’m not so sure if I like the idea of them following us back to this base. I also don’t like how you all came to the last base either, putting yourselves in danger. You did mention there was another group out here to rescue me, so why did you all have to get involved?”

“I… we all just wanted to help, not stand by and wait to hear if you ever come back or not! Besides, we did come out before the other group to get you first. It… sort of worked. I mean, we did find you first.”

“I suppose you did,” Anon agreed, rustling her mane. She shook her head, twitching her ears about before looking up at him with a pout. “Still wish you had let the others deal with this instead of dealing with it yourself.” Bon Bon harrumphed, shuffling in her spot. Anon figured a change of topic would be good. “Though, did you need to bring your lab coat along? A bit… odd don’t you think?”

“…It makes me feel better.” He chuckled as he laid back against the brick wall. “Do you feel better now, Anon? I mean, is your head hurting or do you feel tired? I don’t know what the other guards did, so…”

“Nah, they didn’t do much at all. Though I am feeling much better with some rest, almost like that headache was never there.” Anon sniffed, “That stupid creature in that cave sure did mess me up good.”

“W-What?” Oops, he hadn’t wanted to bring that up. “What creature?”

Anon rubbed the back of his head, “It’s nothing, Bon Bon. I can worry about whatever he did to my head when I get back.”

“Your head? Did someone fight you?” she asked worryingly. “Are you sure it doesn’t hurt anymore?”

“No, I’m all fine Bon Bon.” She continued to stare at him. He rolled his eyes, “Something out in the forest… used magic on my head.” She gasped, knowing what that meant. “It’s nothing. I mean that weird doctor at the other base did something to my head as well. That's another thing to add. I’ll have it checked out when we get back.”

Bon Bon was about to say something when the cell door opened with two ponies coming in. They both looked at Anon, slowly walking forward. “The alien comes with us.”

“I have a name you know,” he said, standing up. “What do you want with me?”

The ponies did seem intimidated with the size he dominated them over with, “S-Somepony wants to ask you some questions,” one of them answered. “Now get over here so we can get going.”

Walking up to them, they tied his hands with some rope before gesturing for him to follow them out. It didn’t take long for Anon to find himself in a brightly lit room with a unicorn sitting down at a table. It looked like someone poured a ton of white paint on him and his extremely shiny armor and white cape. It nearly hurt to look at him.

The two ponies reacted with astonishment at seeing the pony sitting there, quickly saluting him. “S-Sir Luminesce! We didn’t know you’d be back so soon!”

“I couldn’t just let our guest not be properly left unaddressed. I’ll be taking over the duties of the… interview with him. Untie him and then go about your duties as usual.”

“S-Shouldn’t we stand by outside and await further orders after you’re through with the prisoner?”

Luminesce glared at the pony who questioned him. The guard gulped hard before slowly walking out with the other pony, closing the door behind them.

“I certainly am glad to have gotten back sooner than originally planned. Oh, where are my manners? Please, take a seat,” the unicorn pleasantly said, waving a hoof at a chair that was just his size. Doing so, Anon sat in silence as the pony examined him. “What a fascinating being you are. I had had my eye on you for quite some time, curious as to whom and what exactly you are. You… yes, you can be of use to me.”

“Oh? You plan on trying to ransom me back to the princesses as well?”

The unicorn chuckled, “No, nothing as silly as that. Why would I ransom back someone like you to somepony that won’t be in power much longer?”

Anon went to reply and then paused, replaying what he just said. “Don’t you mean to put Princess Celestia as the main ruler?”

Luminesce smiled wide, sitting up taller before leaning forward. “Ah, how much fun it has been, leading everyone astray like little puppets. No, I don’t mean to put her in power.”

“…So is it Luna? Or what am I missing here?” Anon could already tell where this was going from what the previous rebels had gone by.

“Why I plan on ousting the both of them, and soon, I shall be in charge of all Equestria!” The unicorn let out his version of a villainous laugh, “Geeeeh-ge-ge-ge-ge-geeeh!” It was stupidly hilarious.

“So… all that fighting with the night rebels—”

“All planned from the start!” the stallion giddily interrupted. “Their “commander” over there works with me in keeping our activities out of the light. Oh, how fun it’s been pitting the two groups together in secrecy!”

“Why do you want to take the two princesses out of power then?”

Luminesce shrugged, “What else for? The power they control over everything of course! Simple, no?”

Anon frowned, “Why are you telling me all of this?”

The pony sat back in his chair, still smiling. “Multiple reasons, I admit. You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to reveal all of this, just to let it all out! It truly feels good, right?”

“That’s… not a very good reason…”

Luminesce sighed, ‘True. Yet, it matters not if you know this or not, it’s not like you can do much with the information. The second reason, of course, is quite important, and that is to convince you to work for me.”

“…What?”

“You heard me. I know that you have a massive collection of knowledge about your world, far advanced compared to our own. Such a wealth of power, all up in that noggin of yours. Add to what you represent to the nations of this world, and it’s an extremely desirable thing to have you! I want that to help rule the empire I will plan to build for a better, more prosperous Equestria!”

“I—”

“Yes, I can see it now: Equestria would prosper greatly into a new age of achievements so wild, so powerful, giving us a clear advantage against all the other races! You, of course, would be one of the few privileged in our new lands.”

There was quite a bit Anon would love to point out to the buffoon currently sitting across from him who aspired to be the future leader of Equestria. Anon didn’t have a whole lot of knowledge that he thought would be of use. Sure, with time he could work out certain things they could recreate, but magic trumped a lot of things in that regard.

Regardless, the guy wasn’t exactly the brightest in Anon’s eyes, which was ironic given who he was. As it was for the night rebels, Anon couldn’t see things going his way on Equestrian domination. Anon, of course, didn’t care about any of this. He was just tired of it all.

“Look, if you knew anything about me you’d know I wouldn’t want a part of any of this.”

“Are you worried about the outcome of your friends? I ensure you that they’ll be taken care of as well, though the Elements might have a touch of imprisonment for a good while.”

“No, I’m certain they can take care of themselves. Regardless of that, all the problems that crop up from you taking over are too countless. Can you raise that stupid sun and moon? Can you fight off the countless attacks that seem to happen every few months, from what I’ve heard about? I don’t think you can do any of that at all. Even still, there’s nothing you can do to convince me to help.”

He tilted his head at Anon, looking blankly at him. “I can be very convincing to get what I want, Anon the human. I can either get your cooperation in this or eventually rip the information from your skull. In time though, you’ll change your views and turn to my side. Now that I think about it…” He got up from his chair and walked up to him, his horn glowing white. “Maybe I should show you that I’m being serious…”

Standing up himself, Anon slowly backed away from the pony. “Look, I can’t take magic like that in my head. You should know that if you read the reports, right?”

Luminesce stopped momentarily, thinking on that. “Hmm. I do recall something about that in some papers. Still, I am a very curious pony. I’m certain it won’t damage you that much and I do have to prove a point to you. I hope you understand, right?” Luminesce walked slowly to him, his horn glowing brightly. “Juuuuuuust a peek.”

Backing up against the wall, Anon watched as the tip of the pony’s horn started to sparkle before shooting straight toward his head. He closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable pain that was soon to come.

…Yep, aaaaany time now, to tear his brain asunder and all that horrendous crap.

Opening his eyes, he stared at Luminesce, who was giving Anon a funny look. Shaking off his confused state, the pony attempted to blast him once more. Watching it this time, the spell blasted up against his head before fizzling away into nothing. Anon hadn’t even felt the magic at all when it touched him.

“What trickery is this?” Luminesce asked. “Do you have some sort of magical defense set up you’ve never spoken about? No, no that can’t be it, the ponies teleporting you would have brought it up, so what—”

Without warning, the entire room shook, throwing the two of them at the ground. The room felt much, much colder than before, with the entrance door and the wall looking frosted over.

“W-What is this?!” the pony screamed out, looking around in confusion before looking at Anon. “Yoooouuu… What spell is this?! I knew my reports couldn’t be trusted! You, YOU did this!”

During this time, Anon had already gotten up on his knees, grabbing a chair to help him stand up. Luminesce saw this and threw spell after spell at him, only to have them fizz away into nothing upon touching his body. Red, green, yellow, white: none of the colors, whatever they were to the unicorn, seemed to be working. “WHY AREN’T MY SPELLS WORKING ON YOU?!”

Grabbing the chair, Anon swung it directly at the pony, slamming it into his body before he could react. Luminesce slumped to the ground, groaning in pain. Starting to feel the chill getting to him, Anon threw the chair he was holding at the unicorn once more before making his way out of the door.

Noticing the door had frozen, Anon hoped he could muster enough strength to break it down. Once he grabbed the handle, the door immediately started to unthaw, the ice accumulated on the door turning into water that dripped down and away from him. He could only look on, astonished at what was happening, only to put it aside so he could get out of there. Closing the door, it started to freeze once more.

“That’s… something to look into,” he muttered to himself before running back toward the cells.

The run there didn’t take very long with how close they were. Arriving, he noticed the cell door was open and the pony guard’s unconscious legs were tied up much like cattle on a farm.

‘Bon Bon must’ve already gotten out somehow,’ he thought, running back down the hall. ‘It’ll be a pain looking for her around here since she’s likely looking for me as well.’

There was nothing he could do about that, only hoping to run cross her as he looked for a way out. Running down the halls, he could see they were all frozen or in the process of being frozen. None of the ice impeded his escape, quickly vanishing upon his touch as if it was trying to escape his vicinity.

Stopping for a moment, he saw a row of windows in the hall he just went into. Looking out to see what there was and how his chances held up when going out, the sight he was greeted to shocked him as he tried to make sense of it.

There, out in the distance, was something that slithered about in the sky, using its magic with glee. It reminded Anon of Trogdor as it skated on an ice rink, throwing the rebels around while laughing like crazy. Anon could see most of the buildings were frozen over, with animals on top of them cheering at the spectacle, some of them even holding scoreboards.

That was when a very large tree of Armageddon came out from the sky, crashing straight into the building he was in.

Braced for impact, Anon wobbled about as the building shook, nearly knocking him off his feet. Waiting for it to subside, Anon looked back out of the window for a few moments.

“Go outside to meet that, or look for another exit… Yeah, let’s look elsewhere.”

“YOU!!!”

Turning around, Anon saw Luminesce standing at the end of the hall he had come from, looking beat up and extremely angry.

“I have NO idea how you managed to stop my magic OR how you brought this destruction upon my base, but it’s not going to stop me from the payback that will ensue!”

“Wait, you think I had anything to do with this? Man, screw you!”

“You WILL submit to me, one way or another!”

Just then, Anon noticed a very large pile of chairs floating behind the pony. Luminesce took one from behind with his magic before blasting it forward at Anon. Dodging it to the side, the chair hit his left arm, being unable to get away fast enough. The chair immediately slowed down once it touched him, but it still felt like someone had body-slammed his arm.

“How do YOU like chairs being thrown at you?!” he screamed, getting ready for another. “Sucks when you’re on the other end, DOESN’T IT?!?!?!”

Grabbing his arm in pain, Anon looked at the pony preparing another chair. Deciding he didn’t like being hit, he turned around, running down the hall.

What followed next was nothing more than a very long chase, going from hall after hall, with Luminesce throwing miscellaneous objects at Anon. Though it was mostly chairs, lots and lots of chairs. His only saving grace was that the icy rooms gave way to Anon while giving the pony trouble navigating through.

Eventually, Anon found himself in a very large room with crates all around the wall, with a skylight on the roof illuminating the place. Looking at his surroundings, Anon couldn’t seem to find any other way out of the room other than where he came from.

Letting out a thousand curses, he turned around to confront Luminesce who just happened to have come in. The pony, breathing heavily, levitated the last chair that he had beside him, glaring at Anon with anger.

In an instant, a smile appeared on his face. “As you can see, I get what I want in the end. If I want something to satisfy my needs, I get it. If I want to be a ruler, I get it. And if I wanted someone to kneel to me, beaten down into submission, well, I’m going to get it one way or another.” His smile quickly dropped. “AND GUESS WHAT I WANT RIGHT NOW?!?!?!”

“…A belly rub?”

The pony was shocked, uncertain how to reply to that, giving Anon a few seconds to figure things out. There weren’t many options he had at the moment: he could either take a rough beating or attempt to take a stand and maybe only get beaten a little.

With that in mind, Anon ran at the pony, getting ready to block the chair that he would throw at him. Luminesce didn’t even attempt to move out of the way, overconfident in himself as the chair flew at Anon. The chair, like before, impacted his left arm, forcing him to yell out in pain. It slowed him down momentarily but he continued.

Luminesce looked at the human in surprise, clearly not expecting this. He threw a spell at him instinctively, forgetting they did not affect him as the spell fizzled upon contact. The pony attempted to turn away and dodge, but Anon was able to get him before he could react. Quickly grabbing his horn, Anon held the pony in place before he could get away.

The first thing Anon did was kick him in the gut, knocking the wind from him. He then proceeded to pick up his body, lifting him in the air and slamming him over his knee.

Luminesce squealed out, kicking his hooves about for a few seconds. Anon wasn’t done, not by a long shot. Ignoring the pain in his arm he lifted the pony into the air once more, positioning him so that his body was suspended in the air, head nestled into Anon’s shoulder, with Anon holding his hindquarters apart.

“Ready for a trip to pain town?!”

“I’m not ready for a trip to pain town!”

“ALL ABOOOAAARD!”

Jumping into the air, the pony screaming the entire way, Anon twirled around before slamming straight into the ground. Throwing him behind his shoulders, the pony dropped to the ground, wheezing in pain. Anon took a few moments to regain his breath, completely exhausted.

The pony wheezed out in his unconscious state, making Anon feel relieved he was unlikely to be getting up. Swiping off some sweat from his brow, he let go of the horn, sitting up.

“This is so stupid,” he said to himself, wincing at the pain in his arm.

‘First I was kidnapped not once, but twice. Then some weird magical molestation from my worst nightmare happened in a dark, spooky cave, and then there was this chase sequence before I had to fight off a pony that wanted to take over Equestria.’

“This does feel like a stupid cartoon. I’ve got to start remembering that so I can better plan things out. Man, can’t things be simple in magic pony land?”

Standing up, he let out a sigh of relief, hoping to find Bon Bon and get out of the place. Walking toward the door, he immediately flew across the room, the wind knocked out of him from a chair hitting him out of nowhere.

“I’m… not finished with you… human…”

Of course, Luminesce was still conscious, why wouldn’t he be?

Grimacing in pain, he turned to the unicorn, watching him wobble to his legs, standing upright as he turned to him. Slowly walking forward, he levitated the broken chair over Anon in a threatening manner.

“Looks like… I… win…” he panted out with a smirk.

It started with a smile, that turning into a chuckle before Anon let out a boisterous laugh. Tears streamed down his face, looking at the confused pony, who only seemed to be getting angrier as Anon laughed.

“And what exactly do you find hilarious about this situation?”

“B-Because－” He wiped away a tear, trying to avoid the pain in his arm “－this is clearly the part where you’re defeated by some completely random action out of nowhere!”

He simply went back to laughing, the pony confused by Anon’s words. At that moment right above him, one of the windows exploded with something coming straight down. It only took a moment to realize what it was: Octavia, careening downward with her cello, screaming the entire way.

Luminesce, once more caught off-guard, didn’t have any time to act before the cello slammed down on top of his head with a resounding ‘BONK’.

Octavia did a flawless somersault in the air from the impact, landing perfectly on her hooves. Her cello, on the other hand, was a complete mess being broken in half. The unicorn that was hit had stars in his eyes as he teetered to one side, and then the other, right before slamming to the ground, completely out of commission.

A second window above Anon could be heard smashing open. Looking up once again, he could spot a mint colored pony flying toward him.

“AAAAAAAAAAAANOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!”

This time, he was the one caught off-guard as Lyra body slammed into his gut, knocking him out on the spot…

~End Chapter Nineteen~

Chapter Twenty - Reunited

“There we go! I do hope the patient’s doing well.”

Moaning, Anon woke up to someone stirring him awake. His left arm felt like it was stuck in some contraption, like a cast. Something was poking around at his body, slowly making its way from his stomach up to his chest.

“Perhaps the patient would like… a treat?” someone said sensually. “Hmm, yes he would.”

Shooting his eyes open, it took a moment to see straight. Even still, as his eyes started to clear, he could see something quite unexpected: It was Crumble, attempting to give him a sultry look while it wore a cookie nurse outfit.

Screaming in terror, the cookie made a jump for his opened mouth. He turned his head to the side just in time, blocking the cookie access to his mouth. It merely bounced off his cheek and onto the bed, which then climbed right up the linens in an instant to try once more.

“I know nobody likes hospital food, but I can assure you I’m quite scrumptious!” The cookie walked up to his head, pushing against it. Anon shook his head, trying to get the cookie off. “Oh come on now! I got dressed up and everything for this!” The cookie jumped on his chest and turned around, shaking her tail at him. “I know you want soooooome!”

Turning his head at the cookie, Anon inhaled deeply through his mouth before throwing a mighty gust of air at the cookie. It flew off away from him with a squeal, rolling away down his chest. It was just then that the door opened with the room filling with ponies he recognized, coming in and looking worried.

“Anon!” Vinyl exclaimed. “We heard you screaming and—”

Everyone’s eyes were directed at the cookie, trying to stand back up. The cookie looked around the room at the ponies, chuckling.

“There you are!” Pinkie squeaked out, rushing to the cookie. “I’ve been looking all over for you!” She bent down with her head near the cookie. “Didn’t work, huh?” she whispered.

“Nooo,” it whispered back.

“Pinkie, why are you trying to help this cookie molest my mouth?”

Pinkie did her best to look offended, failing of course. “Whaaaaat? Nooooo, I would never do such a thing!”

“…Why does the cookie have a nurse outfit baked on?”

The pink mare looked off to the side, scrunching her face up. Anon could only sigh, watching Pinkie swipe the cookie away and backing off from the rest before leaving the room.

“How are you doing?” Twilight asked, walking up to the foot of the bed.

“Fine, I suppose. Feeling pretty stiff at the moment.”

“It’s probably due to the effects of our treatments,” a nurse piped in. “We had to use herbal remedies on you.”

Looking at her, Anon could see she was examining some weird machines that were hooked up to his head, something he only just then noticed.

“Why is my head—”

Anon paused, remembering the creature from the cave. Bon Bon likely told them about it and they’re looking over it to ensure he was fine.

Feeling something on his right, he looked over and saw Lyra staring at him with watery eyes. “I’m sooooooowwwwwrrrryyyyyyyyyy,” she whined out.

“For what?”

“…Kn-Knocking you out.”

“Oh, that,” he said, remembering her slamming into him. It was a slight pain to go through all of that and to have Lyra giving him the KO in the end. “It’s not like you meant to do that, though warn me next time you decide to try and pile drive me into the ground.”

Bending down toward the floor, Lyra came back up with a bowl, pushing it toward him. “I made you some pudding…”

“Oh, um… thanks…” he said, grabbing the bowl.

‘There’s no spoon,’ he thought to himself, staring at the dish.

“If everypony could leave the room, I would like to talk to Anon alone,” Princess Celestia spoke out with a strange, motherly tone attached to her authority.

“What should we do now, princess?” Twilight asked as everyone started to leave, all but Lyra who only continued to look at Anon sadly.

Bon Bon walked up to her, taking a bite of her tale before tugging on it, pulling her out the door. “Nuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu,” Lyra whined the entire way.

“I’ve already told you that you should take a break from all the work you’ve been doing,” Celestia told Twilight with a small frown.

“I just want to be helpful, princess. I don’t have much to do right now anyway, what with no library here.”

“You should probably go out and visit the area with your friends then; this is a place where traders from all across the world happen. It would be a great learning experience. There should also be a research facility here that Lyra is very familiar with. You might convince her to take you there.”

“Okay, princess,” Twilight said dejectedly, making her way out the door.

“I do remember a certain assistant coming along on the ride here, Twilight,” Princess Celestia said, something that perked Twilight up. “He should be at the hotel where we’re staying.” Twilight gave a large smile hearing that before running out the door. The princess chuckled before turning to Anon. “So then, how are you feeling Anon?”

“As fine as I can be with a banged-up arm,” he replied, looking at his casted limb.

“The nurses tried their best to heal you, but there were complications that came up that forced them to use mundane healing methods over magic.”

“That’s strange, last time I was in ta hospital they used magic. Why did—”

Pausing, Anon noticed something popping up at the side of his bed: it was the thing that looked like Trogdor from back at the base.

“AAAAAAHHH!!!”

“AAAAAAHHH— Hehehehe, I do love yelling! Oh, you’re yelling at me…”

“Discord, leave the patient be,” one of the nurses told the chimera as she continued to look over the machines.

“It’s not like I knew he’d be offended with how I look! Hmmm… Maybe you’d prefer female company?” he asked, snapping his digits. Aaaand now he was a she. The princess frowned at him, something Discord rolled his/her eyes before snapping her/his digits once more, returning to his previous, still horrible to look at form. “Fiiiiine.”

“Discord, what are you doing here?” Princess Celestia asked with a frown.

“I was simply curious about the alien we were coming out here to retrieve and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about!” Getting up close to Anon’s face, Discord’s eyes bulged out in a cartoonish fashion. “I can see why you were upset with him coming here in the first place, princess. He does look somewhat similar to how they looked, though not as hairy nor having such a grand smile that they did.”

Confused at hearing that, Anon looked at the princess who had her face scrunched up, looking peeved at the chimera. “Discooooord…”

“I seem to recall being told about some kind of familiarity of something you disliked,” Anon said.

Looking at him, she let out a sigh, taking a moment to collect herself. “When you first arrived here, there was some… confusion to what exactly you were.”

“Ha! Understatement of the year!”

The princess narrowed her eyes at Discord before continuing, “The descriptions on you that I had read described something that we had to deal with over a thousand years ago called the…” Princess Celestia let out a shiver,” Bleuh Bleuh Bleuh.” Discord giggled hearing that. “I do apologize if I ever came off as antagonistic toward you.”

“The… Bleuh Bleuh Bleuh,” he said to himself. “That does sound familiar. Lyra had been telling me about them and ways to not have you compare them to me.”

Princess Celestia blushed, letting out a couch. “That, of course, is not what I wanted to talk to you about. I wanted to hear what you’ve gone through and to know what Bon Bon brought up to us.”

“Bon Bon?”

“She said you mentioned being attacked with magic in the head somewhere in the forest. But please, start at the beginning when you were first taken. I’d like to take full account of everything that’s happened.”

Giving her a nod, Anon started retelling her nearly everything that he went through, or at least a condensed version of it: from him being at the park to Lyra, to getting, and spending his time in a cell, and of course not forgetting his little event involving Cross Love. Princess Celestia had said they had collected the doctor and would most assuredly talk to him about his involvement in everything.

Discord, for the most part, had been floating around the room, occasionally dropping down to ask something himself or to be a nuisance. Celestia had been paying careful attention to his words, patiently waiting for him to finish. She abruptly stopped him once he started to discuss the cave, looking particularly rattled.

“Please, describe the being that attacked you once more…”

Anon nodded, “It was bipedal just like me, around the same height and build as well, though it could stretch its limbs from what I experienced. The thing was completely covered in pink hair, had a creepy smile, and had black beady eyes.” He shivered, remembering all of that. “And as I stated, it could use magic, even mentioning it was purely made of the stuff.”

Princess Celestia looked paler than before, not liking what he had said. “Anon, what you just described sounds suspiciously like the Bleuh Bleuh Bleuh.”

“But how is that possible?” he asked. “Couldn’t it have been something else? I remember Lyra told me your world has many unknown beings out there, so it may be just something we hadn’t seen before.”

“Oh?” Discord snaked his body close to Anon, snapping his digits. In his hands were a picture frame, showing a creature very close to what he had seen in the cave. “Something like this?”

“…Yeah, something like that. The one I saw was much lankier though.”

The chimera lifted an eyebrow hearing that, looking at the picture. “He must’ve done something strange to change his body like that; they’re not normally thin beings.”

“Wait, so they do have genders?” Anon asked. “I couldn’t tell at all.”

Discord merely shrugged, “They could be male, female… or even both! It’s hard to tell their genders unless—” He chuckled, looking at Anon, then at the princess. “Unless you shave their bodies completely bald! I remember a group of them did that to Celestia once, can’t recall why. It unnerved her for some reason or another at the time.

“See, now that was a group that did some fun chaos around the place, quite the creative lot!” The princess did not like hearing this; Discord ignored her, hugging the picture close to him. “How it makes me reminisce those times. Too bad they went overboard as they did. I will say they kind of resemble you in a way once they’re stripped of hair.”

“That’s not something I rather like hearing,” Anon muttered.

“Is there anything else I can do to fix this picture,” Discord said, now showing a pink beast that looked thinner. “Maybe I’ll hang it up in sunbutt’s room after it’s done.”

“You will do no such thing!”

Anon continued, “There wasn’t much else other than it stated how it liked to question things. Oh, and it had a name it said its siblings called it: Momus.”

“It was a named one?!” Discord exclaimed with giddiness. “That certainly explains how it managed to slip by us all this time!”

“Is there a difference between a named one and one not named?” Anon asked.

The princess decided to answer, “Most of the Bleuh Bleuh Bleuh didn’t have any real intelligence. They simply went across the lands to wreak havoc and madness anywhere they went, to varying degrees. The named ones, however, were different. Somehow they had gained proper intelligence that allowed them to think. In a strange twist, they caused the least amount of problems for me, though it didn’t mean they weren’t causing them.”

“Ah, the memories with those ones,” Discord said with a sigh. “I remember Momus, always wanting to question every little thing, mostly to annoy everyone around him. He specifically loved asking Luna things all the time: How much cheese does she process in a week? Why did everyone veer away from her? Does anyone truly appreciate her nights? Oh, how his questions annoyed us all!”

“Anon,” the princess started, ignoring Discord, “what exactly did Momus say or want with you? Anything can be of great help, possibly stopping whatever he has planned.”

“He mentioned wanting to get back at someone who used him a long time ago and somehow had outdone his siblings in something.” He paused for a moment to remember what had transpired. “Momus mentioned that… that I would be the one to stop whatever it was. He said he had viewed some lines, whatever that meant, and that I was his best bet to doing whatever he wanted. So he… did something to my head that he said would wind up killing him.”

“He… died?” Discord asked. “But… but how?”

“I don’t know. Momus only mentioned using forbidden spells and draining his magical essence to make his plans work, which used up all his magic. I didn’t even know you could run out. He wound up using the last bit of his magic when I was in the cave. He started with whatever he did to my head, and the second part was what he had done to cause some kind of distraction.”

“And for someone made purely of magic…” Celestia left it at that.

Discord stared at Anon for a few seconds before looking back at his picture, turning it left, and then right, staring at it. “Oh. I… I see…” he said, losing some of his energy all of a sudden.

“Are you sure he specifically said he viewed these lines, Anon?” The princess asked. Giving her a nod, she closed her eyes in thought. “I see. It appears that Momus likely used a powerful scrying spell. These lines he mentioned are likely the multiple possibilities that could happen. He must have used whatever spell he did to alter things around and change any instances he wanted. And you’re a part of it all.”

“So that’s it? I’m just stuck with this?” Anon let out a sigh. “I suppose you’ll want to lock me up somewhere. He did say whatever he planned I would be the one to head it all.”

The princess gave him a quizzical look, “Is that what you want?”

“Honestly… no. But what else is there?”

“Anon,” Princess Celestia said with a smile, “we’ll do no such things to you. I have dealt with many things in my past, including many oddities in magic such as these scrying spells. What I’ve learned about those is that no matter what we may try to do, it’s quite difficult to change whatever was predicted without using the same level of scrying spell. Locking you up would do you no good and make everyone around you miserable.”

“Couldn’t you just use whatever spell he did and see what he wanted to do?”

Celestia shook her head, “While I could, it would drain me of my magic for a long time, and even then I wouldn’t truly know of what he would have planned for you. Scrying the lines aren’t just something you do; even Starswirl would be hesitant about using such spells. It can drive one mad. Though, I’m not interested in attempting such a spell. What I am curious about is what his second spell could be.”

“So this scrying wound up killing him,” Anon said, more to himself. “I don’t understand why he died of magic depletion. I thought everything here was made of magic.”

“Not really,” Discord said, still looking at the picture. “Everything here is filled with it to different extents, but the Bleuh Bleuh Bleuh was truly made of pure magic. Magic depletion is a death sentence for them. It’s… something I neglected to plan on when I created them; I simply gave them massive supplies of magic, not giving regenerative powers any thought. I should have been more attentive to that little detail.”

“Regardless of him depleting his core, what currently worries me is who he was after. Could it be he was targeting me or my sister?”

“No,” Discord flatly answered. “If he was, he would simply cause some chaos here or there, and being a named one, that gave him more sensibility and reasoning of things. They were forces of chaos, but they wouldn’t just act out on silly revenge on things like their banishment, especially if it meant their core being wiped out. No, Momus wasn’t the type to hold a grudge over something that he so rightly deserved.” Discord rubbed the face of Momus in the picture.

“So it’s something that even he would act out on, meaning it’s a massive threat to us,” Celestia said with worry.

Discord did not reply, still looking at his picture. The room remained silent as everyone stewed around in their thoughts.

“Where is this cave, Anon?” the princess asked.

“It’s not a cave anymore; it turned into rock last I saw. It’s right outside the night rebel’s base if you need to know.”

“Yes, I should send somepony down there to look at it, just to be sure he’s gone and he didn’t leave behind any nasty surprises.”

Humming, the chimera snapped his digits, the picture disappearing with a pop. “I think I’ll go take a look myself. I’ll speak to you later human.” In a swirl, Discord disappeared into himself with a flash.

“That’s one way to leave,” Anon said before turning to the princess. “Sorry if all this has troubled you.”

“You have nothing to be sorry about; it’s not your fault any of this happened.”

“I suppose,” he mumbled to himself before moving onto other things. “Now, you mentioned something about my head a bit ago. Could you tell me what you all found about it?”

“Ah, yes… that. We didn’t know for sure what we were dealing with until you told me about the cave, but it seems that Momus has done something to your head, rearranging the shapes in there, making it so you can nullify magic.”

“Shapes? Wait, nullify? I don’t know what either means.”

“Our magic is based off units of shapes and lines that we formulate in our heads, though that’s a very basic gist of things. It takes a good while to learn how to properly form it. We take the shapes and lines and make intricate works out of them which we conjure to do what we wish to happen. The more intricate and complex, the more taxing it is, but also more effective. Truly powerful spells require incantations, scriptures, or artifacts to be added, but that’s a more advanced topic.”

“Right…” Anon said, sort of getting what she said but having difficulty with it.

“There’s obviously more to magic than that, but it’s what I can explain to you at the moment. Momus had somehow rearranged the few that were developing in your head, which was forming around who you were as a being, and inserted an innumerable amount of them. It somehow changed who you are as a being when it comes to magic that is, and it’s allowing you to nullify magic entirely. It’s quite a conundrum that’s baffled everyone that’s looked at your head.

“A magic to nullify said magic is, well, contradictory to what we know. There are artifacts and even some spells, but what we’ve seen from you is a completely new branch of magic being formed. So far, all we could determine about it is that you can turn it on and off at your own will if given enough practice. We’re not sure what the boundaries are with what you have, or even what uses it may have other than the most obvious.”

“How do you know I can control this?”

“Magic, even something as bizarre as what you have, is still magic. It’s something you learn early on in magic theory. It is still magical in nature and thus can be controlled, so long as you practice at it.”

“It sure would be nice to turn off magic whenever I want, knowing that people can’t read my mind whenever they want.”

Princess Celestia frowned at him, “Anon, I can assure you that without permission we wouldn’t look into your head. There are laws in place to ensure it won’t happen.”

“That sure didn’t stop Luminesce from attempting that.”

“Did it now,” the princess said with a blank expression, terrifying Anon with how unreadable it was. “It just so happens that he’s in our custody at the moment. That was something he neglected to tell us, which will reflect poorly on him. I shall have to buff our security dealing with him, along with adding charges.”

A knock alerted the two of someone entering. The door opened with a sun guard of Celestia’s saluting the princess. “Princess, I have urgent news from Canterlot.”

“I am currently dealing with something of importance right now. Surely it’s something that can be handled by my standby?”

The guard, looking unsure of himself, walked up to the princess. Moving her head close to her guard, Princess Celestia listened to the whispered words of the guard: the more he said, the more worried she looked.

“This might be connected to Momus,” she said to herself, Anon barely catching it. “Guard, please alert Luna about my absence. She will know what to do after that.”

With a salute, the guard left the room immediately. The princess stood up regally, making her way to the door. “It looks like I must go, for now, Anon. I do hope you get better soon after all that you’ve been through. If you need anything, please have either my sister or me informed so that I may help you to the best of my abilities.”

The princess left the room, leaving him alone to think about everything he had just learned. He leaned back into his pillow, staring up at the ceiling. Hearing a door creak open soon after, Lyra, Bon Bon, Rainbow Dash, Cloud Chaser, and Vinyl walking in.

“Hey Anon,” Cloud Chaser greeted, flying beside the human as the other ponies came in. “How ya doing?”

Anon merely shrugged, “I’m feeling sore, but other than that I’m doing okay. What brings you all here?”

“We just wanted to see how you were doing,” Bon Bon said. “The others are looking around town before we all head back to Ponyville. They were told you needed rest but we just wanted to see you before we did our things.”

“It sucks how that Lumi-turd guy got the drop on you forcing you to stay at the hospital,” Dash said with a shake of her head. “We could’ve had some fun out in town here if you were fine; gosh that really sucks! But I’m certain you gave that jerk the ol’ one-two right back there. Why didn’t you tell us you knew how to kick some awesome butt?!”

Anon was perplexed at what she just said. “…What?”

Dash furrowed her brow before looking at Cloud Chaser. “We overheard some things from everypony and put two and two together. Everyone’s saying how you had an epic showdown with the guy that totally destroyed everything around you!”

“There’s also rumors going around about you taking down some night rebels as well,” Bon Bon said. “We have one from the other base in custody and he seemed terrified just hearing your name.”

“Come oooon,” Dash said, moving closer and nudging his uninjured shoulder. “Tell us about the awesome fight!”

He scratched his head, using his good arm. “I guess some context is needed. Back in college, I took up some boxing lessons as a way to keep in shape. I was never very good, but everyone insisted I keep practicing."

‘I also picked up some wrestling moves, to entertain myself mostly. Watching all those WWE Showdowns and fighting cartoons wasn’t a good idea at the time.’

“I went all out and beat down a few night rebels. As for the day rebel leader, I kind of just threw some chairs at him and ran away. Oh, but I did manage to fight him in one last showdown. Even managed a kinniku buster on him; the guy was the right size for it and everything.”

“What’s that?” Dash said, her eyes sparkling. “That sounds awesome!”

Anon coughed, not wanting to reveal it was from an old cartoon he used to watch and only replicated on mannequins.

“It’s kind of like a suplex, but you lift them above your body and tuck their head beside yours before you slam them downward.”

“That sounds so rad!” Cloud Chaser said with her own sparkling eyes.

“Yeah, but Octavia managed to wind up knocking the guy out, right before I got KO’d by Lyra— no, Lyra, I’m still not upset at you, stop that,” Anon told her, hearing her starting to whine.

“I really am sorry…”

Bon Bon patted Lyra’s shoulder before looking at all the ponies, “From what I recall, the others didn’t get there in time before Anon and I got out, being split up. Discord was the one that trashed the place ultimately. He plowed right through it all before moving onto another spot and repeating his mayhem. He didn’t even see us there.”

“Oh… Soooo I guess we were wrong then,” Cloud Chaser said, rubbing the back of her neck. The others gave her a look, which she rolled her eyes at. “Dash and I may have said some things out in town after what we heard and, well… everybody maybe, kinda, sorta believes you may have beaten up the guy singlehoofedly.”

“As well as beating down the night rebels so badly they pee themselves seeing you,” Dash added.

“Is that why I heard some rumors about Anon taking on the entire rebel group himself?” Bon Bon asked, looking at the two.

“I heard some things about him having ‘funky kung-fu powers’, among other things,” Vinyl added in.

“Just what I needed,” Anon groaned out.

“At least you look cool in the end?” Cloud Chaser said with a forced grin.

Anon simply stared at her before turning to Bon Bon. “Where were you exactly? I went back to the cell we were at to get you and only found a tied-up guard.”

“I always keep something hidden in my coat, that’s one of the reasons I like to wear it so much.”

“But how did you get out of the cell in the first place.”

“I may have tricked the guard and then blinded her…”

“Bonnie, you didn’t,” Lyra said. “I thought you weren’t going to carry that stuff around anymore!”

“Figured it might help out on our trip, and I was right.”

“What exactly are you talking about?” Anon asked, quite curious.

Bon Bon looked back at the closed door to check on it before digging into her coat pocket, pulling out…

“Oh wow! That looks like some high-grade stuff!” Dash said, flying close to her.

“It was hard acquiring it but so worth the costs.”

“Isn’t that like, illegal in several places?” Vinyl said, lifting her goggles to take a look.

“…It’s just sand,” Anon said nonplussed.

“Pocket sand,” Bon Bon corrected, “and the good stuff too! Not some regular school playground sand.”

“You should put that away before anypony gets hurt from the stuff,” Lyra said, eyeing the sand warily.

“Regardless of how Bon Bon got free, I’m just happy this is all over with and we can go home,” Anon said.

“I think the princesses wanted to keep you here for a little while longer for some reason, probably about your head?” Dash said, looking at the things hooked to him. “I hope nopony bonked it too badly.”

“Alright, so I’ll be going back in a few days then.”

“We’d all stay and keep you company, but most of us are probably going to head back since we’re needed back at Ponyville,” Dash said with a grin. “I’ve been missing out on work too often and they’re not happy about it.”

“If you didn’t sleep so often—”

“Shaaaduuuup,” Dash told Cloud Chaser, who snorted at her.

“We should probably let you rest,” Bon Bon said before turning and walking to the door. “Come on girls, let’s go find something to eat before we meet up with Princess Luna in a few hours.”

Dash and Cloud Chaser flew out the door without a word with Vinyl following close by. Bon Bon stared at Lyra who eventually turned, walking away.

“We can catch up on some things when we get back to Ponyville,” Anon told Lyra.

She turned around, staring at Anon before smiling. “Right! I still have to show you around the house!”

Returning the smile, the two exited and closed the door. His smile vanished as he laid against the pillow, once more staring at the ceiling.

‘So, I can nullify magic. That’s kinda interesting, I suppose. The rumors are going to be a pain dealing with, Momus and his plans are going to be annoying, and who knows what else will happen in the future.’

He hummed, rubbing the cast on his shoulder. His thoughts floated back to what had happened only a few short days ago, leading up to his fight with the rebel leader.

‘Maybe I was jumping to conclusions about that cartoon logic. They’re still people and I shouldn’t treat them any differently than I already had been doing. Still, everything that has happened probably could have been dealt with if I had thought about it as a cartoon. Why would that make sense though? Does the magic in their world alter them to such a degree?’

Lyra had explained how magic has a mind of its own, not thinking per se, but as it functions in a manner that still can’t be explained. Everything in this world that lives has a magical shield, like a second skin on it. Magic allows more elasticity to be forced into things, so if someone like Rainbow Dash collides with a tree at full force, she walks off with the barest of injuries. Only in direct combat does this kind of thing fail, and even then they’re still not getting the full brunt of the damage that he’d expect to see.

As a result, he had seen ponies acting almost mindlessly on what they did. So what if you fall down that ravine? So what if you get an anvil dropped on you? It’s not going to kill you.

Does magic behave in that manner forcibly, putting up all the shielding and odd phenomena that forces the world to act in accordance to a scripted animation slot, or do the ponies and other beings act willingly in that manner because magic allows such behaviors to occur due to lacking repercussions?

‘Lyra mentioned that weird dream thing of hers. What if our world was seeing a few other worlds in their dreams? Wouldn’t that mean that magic acts naturally to a cartoon?’

He barely remembered anything from how tropes worked concerning cartoons. Pinkie pulling things out of nowhere: That was… hammerspace. He remembered seeing a pony being flattened in town once, only to pop back up like an accordion. Twilight could also fit into a mad scientist trope, albeit one that is magically inclined and nerdier than what he’d expect.

‘I just need to keep an eye out then, watch and predict what happens so I can counter them. I’m clearly some kind of MacGuffin for this Momus being. Things are about to get even wilder, and I’m smack dab in the center of all this. I refuse to just sit back and not have some semblance of control.’

Anon grumbled, leaning his head back as he stared at the ceiling. “Why does everything have to be so complicated?”

“I know what can cheer you up!” Anon heard that at the foot of his bed. Looking down, he could see Crumble, now wearing a cheerleader outfit. “A snack!”

“PIIIINKIIIIEEEE!!!”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X~ ~X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

“What do you mean everything’s blocked off?!”

“There have been massive storm surges that popped up everywhere, making any travel rather impossible and scaring multiple countries into closing off their ports. They may have just ceased several hours ago, but they want to keep them closed, fearing a magical resurgence.”

Inkwell passed over some of the documents he had prepared, looking tired. “It seems your return back to Canterlot would be full of work, princess,” he said jokingly, something the princess huffed at. “All the sea, air, and magic ports outside our lands have been temporarily blocked until it can be assured that travel through these regions will be safe.”

“Under whose orders are these from?” the princess asked, looking through the papers.

“The griffon kingdom and the minotaur clans are in agreement with pushing this blockade for the time being, though it only appears to be a token showing of force. The hippogriffs are helping with ensuring that all sea travel is returned back to ports, for their safety they claim. And the yaks are completely closed off from everyone, though they are allowing magical ports to leave their lands, not to come in. As for our ports, the merchants are enforcing the closing of these as they do not wish to be seen as instigators to any other country, or to be blamed for anything that occurs.”

Perusing through the documents, Celestia couldn’t help but feel that Momus was responsible. It couldn’t have just been a coincidence. But for what reason?

Stopping on a page, Princess Celestia kept her face clean of any strong emotions. On the inside, she was stricken with shock, rereading the words over once more.

“The passages… they’re open…”

“Princess?”

“Guard, I need you to report to the captain that I want three dozen strong for all air and seaports to keep guard there for the time being. Hopefully, that should appease any beings there until we can assure them it’s safe to travel once more.” She then turned to her assistant, “Have Princess Cadance informed that I need her assistance in bringing crystal ponies as guards for the sea and land ports—” She stopped, sensing something in the air.

The guard does as well, stepping back and charging his horn for any unwelcome surprises. Stepping back herself, Celestia waited for the built-up magic to make itself known in the room.

A flash of blue light popped in front of her, followed by a harmonic array of tinkling that played a soft, yet energetic melody.

Just as quickly as it came, the melodies drifted off, leaving her staring at an extremely bright and colorful scroll. She caught it with her magic before it could drop, examining the intricate art engraved on it.

Unclasping the lock, she unraveled the scroll, hearing more melodic tinkling being played. Reading through it, a smile appeared on her face.

“Inkwell, I need you to first call the council together. Something just came up that needs discussion.”

“Princess, the council is, well… they’re already together and are currently waiting to talk to you.”

Rolling the scroll back up and clasping it shut, she turned to her assistant with a raised eyebrow. “And why wasn’t I informed of this?”

“As soon as things happened, they knew it would take some time for you to come back and read things over. They’ve been collecting all the information they can and having it brought to them as a way to discuss what is occurring. At least, until you were available to meet with them.”

Princess Celestia took a moment to think about what she was told. “Very well. You two have your orders.”

The guard saluted her before exiting the room. Inkwell simply bowed, following after.

Standing there, she gathered her document papers along with the ornamented scroll before teleporting outside the council chambers in a flash. The two guards outside the chamber didn’t budge from her sudden appearance, already accustomed to it happening.

They powered their horns, opening the doors for her to enter. Stepping inside, the doors slowly closed behind. The princess could see the entire council standing patiently by their chairs, waiting for her. They all gave a bow. Returning it, the council took to their chairs just as the princess sat in her seat.

“As we are all aware, there have been several disturbances around the world,” the princess started. “Many of which have stopped the travels of beings from entering and departing from our lands.”

“And quite suddenly,” the councilpony Mackerel said. “I’d have to assume that it must have been something rather large to stop all travel as it has.”

“Please tell me this can be resolved, and fast,” Sky High asked. “I’ve got Cloudsdale up in a roar with beings not being permitted to travel into griffon lands. I fear this may have hurt trades to our weather factory for their wares as well.”

A snort could be heard, “I doubt this has hurt as much as the minotaur caravans that are expected to come over in two weeks!” Merlin spat out. “They’re already considering forgoing the entire trip!”

“I thought the minotaurs were supposed to be made of sturdier minds than to allow such a thing to stop them,” the representative from Manehatten said.

Sky High narrowed his eyes at Merlin, “As it just so happens, a very important visitor that you all are already aware of, from the griffons, was visiting in Cloudsdale and is currently stuck there, worried out of her mind.”

Merlin clicked his tongue. “I suppose that may be a tad troublesome.”

Celestia spoke up, “Rest assured, the problem has already calmed down and seems to be resolved.”

“Will there be anything that can harm any of the towns near the seaports,” the representative from Baltimare asked.

Princess Celestia shook her head, “I’ve already sent out guards to every sea and airport to ease any concerns for the merchants and travelers coming in and out of our lands.”

The mare sighed, seeming to relax after hearing that. Merlin though frowned. “I noticed you disregarded any mention of my magical ports.”

“I will be needing your unicorns to take positions at the locations in these papers in a few days to search for any lingering magic’s in the air, along with providing a guard for the travelers and merchants as well,” Celestia answered, levitating over a certain pack of documents. “We’ll have your ports back up soon enough but this is of extreme importance that must be addressed immediately.”

“The porters aren’t going to like this one bit,” Merlin grumbled, taking the papers before looking through them.

“Princess, is there anything you can tell us about why all this happened?” the representative from the Crystal Kingdom asked.

“I cannot divulge the full details due to the information being dangerous in the wrong hooves, but I can say that the rebels will no longer be a problem.”

“That is great news to hear,” Mackerel said with a sigh. “Those darn ponies mucked up some of the shipments that came in a few months back, destroying all our tea and throwing it in the harbor!”

The representative of Baltimare chuckled hearing that. “I remember that particular incident. Our mayor tried saving the day by announcing the harbor drinkable. He forgot that the ocean was salty,”

The princess, along with the council, laughed remembering that. “At least it wasn’t refined salt or that might have been a really bad day,” Celestia said with a small smile.

Merlin slammed the table, making the council members jump. He looked shocked, looking at the papers before turning to Celestia. “P-Princess! This is saying that the old passageways are now cleared! How?!”

“It’s related to the storms that blockaded off the old passageways,” she answered. “Somehow, they’ve managed to also take the obstructions away, clearing them once more.”

“But those passages were blocked off by some unknown magical force for… I don’t even know how long ago it was. Surely a few hundred years, minimum! And now, they’re just… gone?”

“Are we talking about those dangerous passages that haven’t been safe for anyone outside a few daring individuals?” Sky High asked.

“I remember those Saddle Arabians being able to get through the one by them, but it took a great deal of care to manage any proper travel,” the Las Pegasus representative said. “So how do we know for certain that they’ll stay gone for good?”

“We don’t know,” Princess Celestia answered. “That is why I need Merlin’s unicorns to check out the passageways for any lingering magic that may still be around and to ensure that they are gone.” She levitated the ornamented scroll to the middle of the table where it could be seen. “We’re already getting calls from the blocked off kingdoms, wishing to reconnect to us for trade and travels once more.”

Merlin levitated the scroll over, examining it with the utmost care before unclasping it open.

“That scroll appears to be made from collected corral only available in the Ghibli Oceans,” Mackerel said with awe, staring at the scroll before turning to Celestia. “You’re not implying that the Kingdom of Ponyo has returned to us, are you? And you say they want to reconnect our trade routes?”

“That and much more,” she answered with a smile. “The storms may have caused much confusion, for some, difficulties,” she said, looking at Sky High, “but they are a blessing in disguise, reopening the passageways. I believe we can try and reform old alliances and treaties with nations and beings we haven’t been in contact with many a year.”

“A small problem with that, Princess Celestia,” a pony said, gaining the attention of everyone. It was the representative from Van Hoover: Horton Von Whoosie. “We still need representatives of our own to go to said locations, and even current ones to get do their job. While that job title hasn’t been around for a very long time, officially, I remember a certain someone that currently holds that job’s title.”

“Please tell me you’re joking,” William Wright, the representative of Ponyville spoke up. “That mare does not suit a proper ambassador that we can ensure won’t muck up the job!”

“She’s rough around the corners, but she’s trained in knowledge pertaining to the different species and cultures outside of our lands.”

“Lyra Heartstrings is a suitable candidate due to her knowledge, she’s just… lacking in proper etiquette,” Celestia added, keeping a calm demeanor.

“When we voted her in for that role, none of us thought she’d have to partake in any of its responsibilities,” Sky High said. “Can we not choose somepony else? Like your student, Twilight Sparkle?”

Princess Celestia shook her head. “She knows very little outside our own culture, being solely focused on magical studies and what I have personally taught her.”

“But she has a good judgment making skills and can easily take the time to learn for this position,” Sky High added. “All you have to do is give her a book on different cultures and away she goes!”

She shook her head once more,” I cannot have Twilight enter that position; she’s already being groomed for something else.”

“What of our current ambassador for the griffons, Haze Friction? Could he not perform this role?”

“He is currently talking to the griffons at the moment about matters concerning the weather factory, and that’s not something we can pull that stallion away from,” William Wright said, looking at Sky High.

“W-What about the ambassador for the minotaurs then?”

“You know we have to have him moving from clan to clan to do his job; replacing him would be quite difficult,” Wright said.

“I agree with Sky High,” Mackerel said, “I’m not sure Lyra is a good fit for this job. But, if we cannot have someone else work in her stead, at least get her somepony to work with that can support her, working as joint kommunelegatusionists.” The others nodded their heads with murmurs of agreement.

“There’s that mare that lives with Lyra,” Sky High said. “I believe her name was Sweetie Drops?”

“She goes by Bon Bon,” Celestia corrected.

“Doesn’t Prince Blueblood have her under his hoof?” Merlin said. “Even if she’s close to Lyra Heartstrings, why would he give up one of his top personnel?”

“I believe you’ll find her a bit more… freeing as of late,” Princess Celestia spoke. “She should have no problems with working beside her friend.”

“Our reports wrote of her working as Lyra’s assistant multiple times in the past. She’d easily fit the bill with what we need for Lyra. Her ties to the mayor in Van Hoover will surely be a great boon to us.”

“I’m certain we can convince them to go,” Merlin said, still looking through the scroll. “What of that alien? He would also be a good addition to the group.”

“I recall him being something called an ‘ecologist’, dealing with the land and how to make things better,” Horton said, rubbing his chin. “On top of him being an alien aligned with us… Yes, having him along can certainly help.”

“He’s also becoming a very well-known being that we’re associated with; many refer to him in a hero-like status regarding those rebels,” Wright added. “Some of those rumors I’ve heard are quite fascinating! That alone would be reason enough to have him along.”

The rest of the group started adding in their thoughts to the discussion as Princess Celestia sat there, taking it all in. She would eventually make her final decision when everything died down, but for now, she could find no reason not to have the beings in question as joint ambassadors, being quite happy with their choices.

As she sat there in her seat, her thoughts slowly drifted to Momus, thinking about what his plans may be.

‘This is likely all connected, knowing the unblocking of the passages had to have been his work. Maybe Momus meant for Anon to leave eventually to these other places. It might be a good idea to have someone tagging along with them and help keep an eye on him, just to be safe. It’s too bad I can’t add Twilight; she certainly would be a good addition to this.’

Thinking on Twilight, she mentally sighed, remembering that pony’s previous actions concerning the human. She had some regrets punishing her as she did.

‘Twilight must have learned her lesson by now surely. I could give her a simple test, just to be sure, before I give her the book like I planned.’

Giving herself a small nod, she went back to listening to the group talking about the joint ventures and the unblocked passageways on top of the different beings they would soon be dealing with once more.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X~ ~X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

It had been a few hours since Anon had talked to everyone in the room. After the nurse heard him and removed the despicable cookie, he didn’t have much else to do other than rest.

The nurse returned soon and explained a few things to him, such as how he had been in the room for a few days. It worried him he was out of it for so long until the nurse explained it was due to the herbs they used.

Princess Luna had also come by, telling him about some things that certainly did not please him in the least. They’re going to have some ponies trying to help him learn how to control his ability. It was mostly so that he could know how to turn it off and control the output on what he could do; it would be bad if everything magical around him just suddenly stopped working. It was easy to understand why they’d want that under control, with a world filled to the brim in magical works.

Hearing a knock at the door, he lifted his head and saw a nurse walking in along with Princess Luna and one of her guards.

“Did something come up?” Anon asked as the nurse lifted his bed, getting him into a sitting position.

“We’re going to get you to the chariots and have you flown out of here and back to Ponyville where you can rest there.”

“I thought that I was supposed to stay here for a little longer.”

“Plans changed; they want to start immediately on helping you with your problems along with other things that need addressing.”

The nurse walked over, placing some clothes down along with a pair of shoes before walking to his bandaged arm and removing it from its holdings. She placed a sling by the bed, showing Anon how to put it on.

“I hope nothing is going on that’s pushing me to go back to Ponyville so soon,” Anon said, grabbing a shirt with his good arm. He groaned, realizing Rarity made it and that it had quite a few gems on it. “Why are there gaudy gems on this?”

“That’s some thank you for the clothes,” he heard coming from the door. Pulling the shirt over his head and carefully down his body, he could see Rarity staring at him with a pout. “I figured you’d like to try some of the smaller gems I managed to gather for your clothing.”

“I prefer wearing things that can’t potentially poke me in the chest or other body parts,” he said as the nurse helped him put the shirt on over the cast before also helping with the sling.

“The shirt and clothing are prototypes for something I was working on with the minotaurs,” Rarity said, before letting out a sigh. “It’s hard marketing to those beings, so I figured maybe if some of them saw it on you…”

“I get where this is going,” Anon said, grabbing his pants and spotting the gems lined down the legs.

‘She wants something to market to those beings. Kind of like selling toys to kids. They just need some kind of ‘action-figure’ feature to make them work.’

“Why don’t you just make some tight-fitting clothing for them that’s hard to rip? From what I hear of minotaurs, they like to show off their bodies, so having clothing that they have to forcibly rip off could appeal to some of them.”

Rarity blinked, mulling the idea around. “That sounds like an interesting idea. I could add in a few interwoven bind and stretch threads and it might just take off.”

“So not to sound rude,” Anon said, still examining the pants for anything that could hurt him, “but why are you here? Shouldn’t you be gallivanting off with the rest of Sparky Spark and the Nutty Bunch?”

“Don’t like my company nowadays? How’s that for friendship…” Rarity harrumphed before walking a little way into the room. “Everypony is going back with you to Ponyville. I came here to give you some clothes and to see you before you left.”

“You’re not coming along?”

Rarity turned her head away, scrunching her nose. “I, um… I’ve got things I need to do here before I leave…”

“Oookay then,” he said, grabbing his underwear and pants.

‘Her words didn’t sound ominous, so I doubt it’s going to affect me. Probably some side gag I’ll see later on.’

“Can I have some privacy now?”

“What for, Anon?” the princess asked. Anon nearly forgot she was there, what with her simply sitting there and staring at him putting his shirt on.

“Reasons…”

“And what reasons are those?” Luna asked.

The nurse walked in, whispering something to the princess’s ear. She raised an eyebrow, to where Rarity also walked up to her and whispered something.

Luna looked at him with a blush, “I forgot all about that, hahaha…. I’ll just go.”

He sighed as the others left in giggles, closing the door behind them.

Getting his clothes on, carefully working around his arm being in a cast, he felt better with clothing on. It may have gems on it, but they looked identical to all the other clothes he had been wearing. Every single day he had been there in pony land.

‘Oh. That’s another trope, isn’t it? Wearing the same thing over and over. Well, ain’t that a kicker.’

Walking out, he could see Rarity had already left, the princess and her guard still there along with the nurse, who checked over him one last time before going into the room he vacated.

Princess Luna coughed out, “We should get going. I will bring you to the chariots that will be taking you all back to Ponyville before resuming my current duties here.”

“You’re also not coming back?” he asked as they walked down the hall together.

She shook her head, “I still have much that needs to be done down here with my guards, such as combing through the bases and outposts for anything that may still be there.”

“Ah, okay. And why can’t I take the train I was told about instead of the chariot?”

The two of them walked out of the building, shielding their eyes from the bright sun. It felt like early afternoon to Anon. “You don’t want to take a train with the condition your arm is in, especially one full of ponies.”

Anon was confused, “I don’t see myself being reckless with my arm cast as it is,” he said, walking down the street with the princess.

“You’ve never been on a train full of ponies, have you?”

“Can’t say I have.”

“Then trust me when I say it’s not something you should be doing with that cast on.”

He simply shrugged at that. Following Luna, they eventually arrived at an open field filled with chariots and ponies standing around them.

“That’s a lot of chariots just to get a few ponies here.”

“They transported the guards that will be watching over the rebel prisoners, along with additional guards for the town.”

“Ah,” Anon said. “And with the chariots now empty and needing to be returned anyways, transporting us with them takes care of things pretty well.”

“Exactly.”

“ANON!”

Turning where he heard his name screamed, he could see Lyra running up to him with Bon Bon trailing behind. Upon arriving, she stopped directly in front of him before jumping up to his stomach, hugging him. Or at least trying to, right before the princess caught her in a spell, stopping her midair.

Luna frowned at the mare, which Lyra sheepishly smiled before letting out a squeak, being placed on the ground. “You do realize you could have injured his arm even more than it is?”

“But hugs can help the healing process!”

“Be as it may, I doubt magical hugs will be working on him in the near future.”

“Wait, hugs can heal here?”

Neither party said anything to that. Princess Luna dropped Lyra down, walking over to a chariot, motioning Anon to come over. “We need to be sure this will work in the first place, so please get in and hold on.”

“Anon’s coming too!” Lyra said before squealing. “This is so great. We all get to go home at the same time!”

“Come on, Lyra,” Bon Bon said, walking beside her, “we need to get into our chariots.”

Nodding, the two went away with a skip. Anon chuckled, shaking his head at them. Returning to the princess, he did as he was told getting into the carriage and holding his seat. Two pegasus ponies in front put on their harnesses and stood at attention, ready for liftoff.

“First up in the air will be Anon’s chariot,” Princess Luna spoke out loud to everyone. “Hopefully, his magic nullification will not affect the pegasi carrying his load. Everypony else will follow him afterward in a v-shaped formation! You all already know what needs to be done after arriving at Ponyville. Now, raise it out!”

The ponies attached to his chariot looked unsure of themselves hearing that as they started to flap their wings. Running in a straight line, they took off into the air with Anon holding on for dear life.

Resisting the urge to scream, he saw that the ponies were, in fact, capable of lifting him into the air with no problems. It still made him queasy being so high in the air and without anything to properly secure him to the chariot, such as a seatbelt.

‘Why aren’t those on these chariots yet? I already made up the schematics and everything.’

It took what felt like an hour of excruciating riding to get to Ponyville. They landed right in the park where Anon was first abducted, making things slightly ironic for him.

‘Or was that coincidental? I blame Alanis for confusing an entire generation on that word.’

Upon landing to a full stop, Anon wobbled out of the carriage, falling to the ground on his side. Luckily he didn’t fall on his injured arm.

“Would you like us to deliver you to the hospital?” a guard asked.

“No… right here is good,” Anon answered back just as the chariots started landing around him.

He could see a pony jump out of their chariot just as it landed, flying over to him. “Dude, are you alright?” Rainbow Dash asked, flying above him.

“Yeah, just don’t feel very comfortable riding those things.”

Dash snickered, “You should get used to it if y—” The pegasus poked him in the side, which immediately shut her up. Her wings went flaccid as she dropped to the ground, landing beside him in a squeak.

“…Heh.”

The other ponies walked up to them, staring at Dash in amusement. “We already told you what might happen if you touched him, Dash,” Twilight said flatly.

“Y-Yeah, yeah,” she said, flapping her wings a few times. “I’m going to head home now and get a hot shower before getting some sleep.”

“I, um, also need to go now and check up on my animals,” Fluttershy said as Dash flew off. “We’ll see you when you’re feeling better, Anon.”

“Come on, Anon,” Bon Bon said, at first going to help lift him when remembering what had just happened to Dash. “We should get back home.”

“Awww, I wanted to set up a party for our return!” Pinkie said, bouncing beside her.

“Maybe some other time, but right now I’m pretty certain we can all use some rest after all we’ve been through.”

“Before everyone goes,” Anon said, sitting up on the ground, “I’d just like to say thanks for everything.”

“You’re a friend of ours and we help our friend’s in need,” Twilight said, gaining nods from the rest of the ponies.

“Well, thanks anyway.” Anon looked around, noticing something amiss. “Where’s Vinyl and Octavia?”

“They stayed back for some reason,” Cloud Chaser said, flying by Anon. “Not sure exactly why though.”

“Maybe Octavia is getting Vinyl to purchase her a new cello before they leave?” Flitter mentioned.

“Maybe, they were at the marketplace,” Cloud Chaser said. “Well, time to go for us two. You take care Anon, we’ll see you soon.” And just like that, the two flew off, headed back to their home.

The other ponies said their goodbyes as Anon, Lyra, and Bon Bon walked back to their home in Ponyville.

“This was some crazy adventure,” Bon Bon said, shivering from the cold wind passing by. “I’m glad we’re finally back just before the snow was scheduled to fall.”

“That’s right, the pegasi around here make the snow fall don’t they?” Anon asked.

“Yep, and it’s going to be deep when it hits,” Lyra answered.

“The town’s pretty dead right now,” Anon mentioned, seeing not many of the stalls were open. The ones that were seemed surprised seeing him back, giving him a friendly wave before immediately closing their stalls and leaving.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them were waiting on word for when you got back,” Lyra said, looking at an empty stall. “Many of the ponies here were worried and upset when they found out you were taken.”

“Really?”

“Yep! I won’t be shocked to hear a party is being planned for tomorrow on your return home!”

It didn’t take long for the three of them to reach their newly made home. Anon was surprised by how strikingly different it looked in comparison to before.

“I never got to show you around the place!’ Lyra said, jumping in front of him. “I can’t wait to show you your new room!”

Anon chuckled, scratching his chin. “I hope there’s something to shave this hair off me as well.”

“You could always go to the barbershop for that, Anon,” Bon Bon said, walking toward the door.

“I could try and cut it for him!”

“Your magic wouldn’t work, Lyra. And besides, you’d likely mess it up somehow.”

“Would not!”

Watching the two talking back and forth, it made Anon feel relieved to have something that felt relatively normal in this world, which was saying a lot.

Hopefully, he could get some peace for a little while until something new popped up that pulled him back into more of this crazy world. He knew the thing with Momus wasn’t over. The event back with the rebels didn’t feel very climactic for him.

Whoever Momus had his sights on, Anon knew that being would come out with some fanfare in the future. Anon had to make plans for the upcoming future and prepare for what was in store for him.

~End Chapter Twenty~

Chapter Twenty-One - Silly Pony Life

It had been a month since he’d returned to Ponyville. One full month of healing, recuperating, and watching the snow pile up. Apart from the ponies that the princess sent over for his training on his ‘nullification’ powers, he tried not to have too many interactions with them until he could get things under control. Having an entire population with magic gathered inside of them made his odd powers a dangerous hazard to be around.

Not that it stopped anyone from trying to visit him or get him out of the house when they could. It certainly helped with livening up his dull training. Having trainers around him constantly was getting on his nerves, no matter how much the princess was paying him to cooperate.

Currently sitting at the kitchen table, eating some leftover food from the day before, he watched as the trainer for the day scribbled down notes. With a hum to herself, she passed over another bowl, cut from fine gems.

“Okay, like last time but this time try to work it out as slow as you can manage. I’ll be working a spell to analyze what is occurring, focusing on the bowl once again.”

“Sure, alright,” Anon said, licking off his fingers.

With his finger pointed out, he tapped the crystal bowl, focusing on his inner power. He was taught to imagine it in a visual form, finding the idea of putting it behind a door the easiest for him. The door slowly creaked open; the crystal bowl started to drain of its previous luster. His trainer flinched, finding the spell flickering from its horn, struggling to keep it active.

Only a few seconds passed before the unicorn sighed, extinguishing the light. “Okay, you can stop. I just don’t know how spells can’t seem to work around your null presence even when it’s not aimed at you.”

“Are we nearly done here?” Anon asked, finger still touching the bowl. “I kind of had plans to leave the house today. Want to see what’s going on in town, get out, stretch my legs.”

“Yes, with this at least.” His finger retracted, the crystal bowl starting to regain its previous shine, albeit at a slow pace. “I don’t think I’ll ever get over that. Oh, I should probably ask about your second power and if there are any new developments there.”

Anon groaned, face-palming. “That’s not a power. That’s me observing you ponies.”

“And yet, you’re observing something about our lives that we can’t seem to identify. It’s concerning that you’re able to predict outcomes or simply know certain amounts of information that you, by all accounts, shouldn’t know.”

His ‘cartoon’ logic idea had, in turn, come back to bite him. Keeping his eyes peeled, he could see odd things that just didn’t make sense. From ponies leaving items in strange places, to the ways they’d act that seemed to defy logic. And instead of keeping his nose out of things, like a smart person, he intervened whenever he could. He stopped a few Goldberg machines early on, talked a few ponies out of making mistakes, and pointed things out that, when shown in the light, seemed to dissolve its wackiness and made things resolve peacefully.

If he had simply kept his mouth shut when his trainers asked why he was involved in so much the few times he was allowed to leave the house, when previously he stayed out of things, then the ponies would have likely not put a magically binding contract on themselves from ever revealing such knowledge. On top of, Princess Luna and Celestia wouldn’t have made that bit of his ‘powers’ a Triple S as they called it, or Super Serious Secret, that no one could know about.

Thus, he now had top individuals in the country believing he was some kind of magical non-magical human-exclusive seer that could pierce the veil of their reality. He tried to explain numerous times that, no, he was simply making guesses and predictions on what he’d expect a cartoon to do. None of that seemed to matter to them and had, in fact, the complete opposite reaction, only solidifying their views on him.

“It’s not something to get worried about.”

“Ah, ah! That’s where you’re wrong! What if someone else out there could learn of how you’re able to predict all of this or see what you can? Then we’d have a crisis on our hoofs!”

“Oh no, whatever will you all do if someone sees through all the silly shenanigans you’re pulling off.”

“I am being serious here, Mr. Anon. Ponies or other beings could use these powers for evil. For example, what of the incident involving those CMC children? Someone could have turned those bullies to true evil if it was anyone but you interfering.”

Anon wished he could have forgotten that little incident that kept coming back to haunt him. When he got his cast removed a party was involved because of course, they needed one for that. After talking to the cutie mark crusaders, he saw the little snots that were Diamond Tiara and her crony Silver Spoon talking to them, pretty much bullying, and yet not a single adult seemed to take notice.

The whole thing reminded him, as did many things as of late, of cartoons he’d watch. How he hated seeing kids being bullied around, and how infuriating it was that no adults seemed to step in at all. So, of course, he stepped in, settling the problem as best he could that didn’t involve kicking the little bullies across the party scene.

“Look, if any of the adults at the party had stepped in to help them then I wouldn’t have done anything. Seriously, their reasoning of ‘Oh I was enjoying the party so much I didn’t even notice these children being picked on’ doesn’t sit right with me. And come on, clearly, this was a setup for their stupid talent show they were having the following week. How many of those do they even need? They have one like every month.”

“Our talents are an important part of our lives, Mr. Anon.”

“Hey, at least I didn’t punt them. That’s something, right?”

She rolled her eyes, “The little things, I suppose.” He had a talking to about punting ponies around the place, the ones that needed it. Apparently, they didn’t like that. “The reports I read showed that you not only dispatched the two individuals bullying the CMC’s but also guided the two afterward into… paranormal studies.”

“If I didn’t do anything then it’d go back to the status quo when I wasn’t around. By the way, I didn’t guide them to that, that was all them.”

Talking to the scary alien after the party on his way home at night didn’t help them in the least. The petty little threats they made, which wouldn’t affect him in the slightest, only made him laugh.

Opting to try and change their attitudes, he steered them toward veiled dangers and spooks that many other ponies had been afraid of, as he had noticed in past encounters. He allowed their imaginations to fill in what those could be. Who knew it’d fill their minds with ghosts and vampires along with other secrets they were sure were out there, that Anon was a part of in their minds.

“Yeah, that’ll veer them to a horror setting. Maybe I should have thought that one through, I don’t want to deal with wendigos or specters any time soon. Still, with how things have gone here, I doubt it’ll be gory, mostly just some good spooks. It could be fun.”

“Excuse me?”

“Sorry, speaking to myself.”

“No, step back, what’s this about wendigos?”

“It’s nothing. That kind of thing won’t be for a long while, not until they’re well trained to take it on.”

“Can you please not involve yourself with those two? We’ve already got enough problems to deal with. Having two children with a building obsession with paranormal activities, while having rich and influential parents, is not a fun combination to deal with.”

“Why does it sound like you’re personally involved with that?”

“I am! Sort of. I mean, those two as of late keep paying ponies off to get into our files, which in turn brought out our division to the area to investigate why there’s been a lot of paranormal activities stirring up, which THEN, in turn, shows those two being responsible, and by omission, me!” She let out a wail of frustration. “I shouldn’t have gotten involved when I first saw them try to summon something from Tartarus for hidden secrets. Because I’m already here for your training, the division now sends me out to deal with this. I keep having to chase them down so they don’t get into any trouble. The fact that you’re instigating this makes this whole ordeal even worse!”

Anon shrugged with a chuckle. “Can't promise to stop. I kind of set myself up as the mentor to their little adventures. I can’t just back out of all that now.” The unicorn looked like she was about to cry. Anon merely laughed. “So we’re done? I’d like to do stuff when everyone’s still out and about.”

The unicorn huffed, placing her papers in her side bag. “This will be our last session for some time. The princess is recalling the other trainers in the area and I have to deal with those little nuisances; it seems they got something planned in the following week and I can’t allow them to run off by themselves.”

“So what about the plans the princess has involving me and the other two?” The unicorn froze, eyes widening. “Oh come on, it was so obvious. I overheard Lyra saying she had no further duties for the time being and Bon Bon’s entire stock was bought up by some random person, clearing out well over a month for her to kill. Mind sharing what she has in stock for us three?”

“I, uh… I am not at any liberty to discuss… confidential matters that… GOODBYE.” She popped out of the house, a quick teleport taking her away.

“Hmph. Rude.”

Finishing up his meal, Anon grabbed a few essentials along with his coat, heading out the door. He was immediately met with white everywhere. It had snowed two weeks back, all the snow quite literally dropped from the sky in a blanket, covering the entire town within moments of its arrival. It was quite a sight to see.

‘At least the roads are cleared, along with a path from the door.’

Putting his hands inside his coat pockets, he started walking down the road toward the town.

The sight of all the snow was putting him in a good mood: he always did like winter. And in this world, it looked exactly like how Hollywood interpreted it in their movies. Anon could see a flurry of activity throughout the place, with the ponies running around, throwing snowballs at one another, or tobogganing down the hills.

There were ponies building snowponies or snow forts, giggling at the silly constructions they came up with. Anon could even spot plenty of vendors about, selling their wares such as hot drinks or snow-related snacks. He hoped to cross the hotdog vendor to ask him about his order, and to pick up some on the way.

A chuckle escaped his lips, spotting Rainbow Dash with a cloud in the sky, shaking it vigorously up above Scootaloo with snowballs somehow coming down from the cloud, hitting the small pegasus. Scootaloo ran away from the cackling mare, trying to make it over a hill and attempt some form of retaliation with her snowballs.

Rainbow Dash freaked out when a massive snowball came at her, barely dodging it. It seemed Scootaloo was acting as bait to get her near the catapult Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were manning, somehow moving it forward with what Anon would assume was magically powered. They then proceeded to chase the rainbow-maned mare with cheers.

“Anon!”

Hearing his name, he turned around and saw a very large minotaur running toward him through the snow. He slid up to him, kicking snow right at Anon’s body. Wiping the snow off his chest, he deadpanned at the minotaur, who gave him a sheepish look.

“Sorry ‘bout that, boss.”

“Is there something I can help you with, Bolder? I’m pretty certain you’ve been fully trained in what to do so you don’t need to keep coming to me for questions.”

During the time his arm was in a cast, the spa sisters had been out one employee. It had hurt their business quite a bit. Anon felt bad, knowing they couldn’t just hire and train someone like him again. As luck would have it, a minotaur had come across Ponyville, originally challenging him to some odd macho competition or whatnot.

The rumors running around about him had quite a few minotaurs looking up to him, for some reason, and a few challenged him to whatever they could come up with. Bolder challenged him to throw stuff. Anon had a good laugh, activating his null and grabbing the minotaur who was helpless, chucking him into the air. Guy only landed a few feet, but seeing as he couldn’t grab Anon, his null powers forcing weakness into the guy, he had won that competition.

After talking him down from that, along with Lyra threatening to magic him like crazy, he explained that he was taking lessons from another minotaur close by named Iron Will. The rumors surrounding Anon were running wild, and Iron Will wanted in on that, telling Bolder to challenge him in some way to make a name through it; Iron Will thought that would give him more business.

Bolder just seemed like someone that wanted to find something he could be good at. Anon to put two and two together, thinking he could take his place at the spa. It wasn’t difficult to convince the spa ponies, though they weren’t impressed with his hairy hands in comparison to Anon’s smooth, oily digits.

They had created strange gloves that mimicked his skin. It was… revolting when they showed it to him, and it wasn’t perfect, but it allowed the minotaur to give massages, Anon style.

Feeling a tap on his shoulder, he looked over to Bolder. “Head in the clouds, boss?”

“Yeah, precipitation in exposition it seems. So what did you need, Bolder?”

“I just wanted to give you the final product on the gloves that were made,” he said, handing over the skin gloves that made his stomach churn. “They made some recent revisions and while it can’t replicate the oils out of your skin or how the digits work, it’s much closer to how your skin feels.”

“Oooh… thanks…”

“No problem, boss!” Bolder said with a thumbs up and a smile. “They’re thinking of marketing it to other minotaurs, using me as their model for it!”

“That’s great to hear,” Anon murmured, uncertain how to feel about that. “Is there anything else?”

“Nope, that about covers things for now,” he said, right before dodging a massive snowball coming from a fight being formed. “I should get going; I need to have some of the griffon mead ordered soon. This place is just too dry for my throat!”

“Just make sure you save some for me when it comes in. I didn’t even get some the last time you imported it.”

“Of course! We’ll drink the night away and have a blast!”

“So long as you don’t invite me on your ventures like the last time,” Anon said with a chuckle. “I don’t know how you wound up trying to stick your dick in that manticore.”

“Th-That’s not my fault, it was that darn pink pony’s fault! I knew I shouldn’t have invited her with my drinking.”

Saying their goodbyes, Anon walked away from the snowball fight that was happening around him, making it to the stalls near the middle of the town. The place seemed as lively as ever, with them all bundled up for the cold weather. There were some stands dedicated to game stalls involving the snow or other odd things about their culture, along with some music playing in the background.

It was a festive he got seeing it. Looking around, Anon had to hold back a sigh, seeing Pinkie eagerly waving a hoof at him, calling him over to her stall.

Walking over, he spotted large cups and a steaming kettle. “Hey, Anon! It sure has been a while since anypony’s seen you out and about!”

“I’ve been cooped up in the house learning how to control that stupid magic nullification ability of mine,” Anon told her. “I doubt anyone around here really wanted to deal with the mishaps from it and the whole not being able to use magic very well around me.”

“Not everypony uses magic!”

“Doesn’t matter, it’d still be a hindrance to your day-to-day activity around the place.”

“But you missed out on all the fun and adventures when you were locked up in that house. Think of all that could have been if you were with us!”

“I think I’ve already had enough of that to last me a long time. Besides, it didn’t stop anyone from visiting the place.”

“True, true,” she said, nodding her head. “The few times you’ve been out have been pretty funny too! Like that one time, you saved like, twelve people in town! There was Tapioca Lovelies nearly having that piano dropped on her head, and you just pushed her out from under it right on time from that doom! Or when that runaway cart came by and you directed everypony away in such an odd pattern. It’s almost like you can see the future!”

“Better be careful with such accusations like that; you might find me butting in and ruining some future surprises involving you.”

“Ooh, yeah, wouldn’t want that. So to get back on to the main script, since you’re here, would you like to purchase some of my super-duper, totally awesome hot cocoa? Only five bits!”

“So long as you add in extra awesomeness into it,” he replied, placing the bits down.

Pinkie giggled before messing with her kettle and mixing things around, placing it all into a cup, along with a tall stack of whip cream and powdered cinnamon on top.

“Would you like a cookie as well?” she asked as Anon grabbed the cup. He gave her an expressionless stare. “Soooo, no?”

“Definitely not,” he answered, taking a sip from the drink. The warmth that went down his throat and into his gut was a welcome feeling.

“It’s just a plain sugar cookie, see?” she said, showing a plate of star-shaped cookies.

“…Not talking antics from the stars?” he asked, taking one and looking it over.

“Nope! Crumb was the only one made like that and she’s off doing something else at the moment.”

“Wait, she’s not around here is she? I’d rather no interactions with her for some time longer, if at all possible.”

Pinkie waved a hoof at him. “Nah, she’s too preoccupied with the fillies and colts over there,” she said, pointing behind him.

Looking, he saw the cookie pony now adorned in a cookie scarf, little cookie booties, and a cookie beanie. Crumb was currently bouncing on top of a xylophone, entertaining the young ponies that crowded around her little stand.

“I think I should leave before she notices me,” Anon said, walking away in the opposite direction of Crumb.

“ENJOY YOUR DRINK!” Pinkie yelled out, making him wince, doubling his speed.

Walking around the stalls, he was offered more items to purchase, from icicle-popsicles to the classic snow cones. Anon thought it would be good business to recreate the coconut treat, Snowballs, for Bon Bon to sell. She would likely be happy selling such things, after the month-long break.

“Hey, Anon!” Looking down, right off to the side was Vinyl giving him a smirk, or it appeared to be one since the bottom half of her face was covered by a scarf. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you out and about.” She paused, examining his head. “Wow, you look different without all that hair on you.”

“I’m glad it’s gone, the stuff was bothersome.”

“I dunno, the hair looked good on you, giving you a wild look. Anyways, I was just heading home; wanna accompany me back and catch up?”

“Yeah, why not,” Anon answered, not having much to do and wanting a break from the cold.

“So is there anything on your mind at the moment?”

“Not really, I was just thinking about some treats that were sold back home. Thought I could remake them with Bon Bon’s help and have them sold off.”

Vinyl turned her head at him, “Sounds like an interesting idea if you go through with it, though you’ll make some ponies upset with that decision.”

Anon gave her a questioning stare. “Why would they be upset over treats of all things?” he asked, taking a sip from his drink.

“There’s a betting pool going around on what you’ll recreate next from your world. I believe Lemon Hearts and Rose have their bet on you making treats.”

“Are you a part of this pool?” Anon asked while dodging a very large rolling snowball, followed by Silver Spoon running after it.

“I decided not to get into any future pools since you already brought your pod out. I don’t have much more interest in anything but that at the moment.”

“Why are you telling me this? It seems like something that would need to be kept hidden to be effective.”

Meeting her to the door of the house, she looked around, not spotting anyone close by. “Some of the ponies in the pool are getting desperate with you coming up with something. I heard that some of them might try something about that to get you to make things.”

Opening the door, she invited him inside the warm house before motioning him to sit on the couch. Doing so, Anon sipped his drink as she went off into the kitchen for refreshments.

“So you just wanted to warn me about the others?” he called out loud enough to reach Vinyl’s ears. “It’s a little useless unless I have names to watch out for.”

“That’s just it,” she called back. “I don’t know who’s in it, could be everypony here in Ponyville. Giving you a heads up was the least I could do.”

Vinyl came back out with a tray of snacks and two mugs along with a steaming kettle. She served out some simple tea for Anon, which he gladly accepted as his previous drink had just emptied.

“So how have you been?” Vinyl asked as she removed her glasses and her scarf from her mouth. “Being stuck in that house had to have driven you nuts.”

“Kind of used to it, in a sense. At least I wasn’t stuck to a single room like when I first arrived. It was the whole learning how to control my null powers that made things miserable.”

“I remember when you managed to pull that off; those unicorns were whooping and hollering about being successful,” she said with a smirk. “I bet you were happy to get your arm healed by magic soon after. So can you do any nifty tricks with it, like teleport or whatnot?”

“My power revolves around me neutralizing magic, so I doubt I can do anything useful.” Anon took a sip of tea before continuing. “It’d be absurd if I could teleport, and I doubt I’ll ever be able to do much of anything specialized..”

“Okay, so nothing super radical with your newfound powers,” Vinyl said, taking a rather large gulp of her tea, “yet. So how have you and the other two lovebirds been?”

Pausing from his drink, he set the cup down, remembering how the two had been since coming back with him. “Bon Bon and Lyra haven’t changed at all as far as I can tell. Though as always something is going on around those two.”

“Nothing major’s changed?” she asked, finishing up her cup before filling it once more. “They’re officially hooked up so surely something’s different around there.”

Anon shrugged, “Those two are more awkward around one another when it comes to the lovey-dovey. Bon Bon seems happier, and Lyra is her normal peppy self, though she tries to be a romantic with Bon Bon now and then.”

“I know of one thing that would especially make her romantic,” Vinyl said, wiggling her eyebrows at Anon.

“I’ve already said I’m not interested in that kind of thing, Vinyl.”

“Sure, sure,” she said, waving a hoof. He then noticed her giving him a more serious stare. “How have you been, personally?”

“I’m doing good. Other than the whole weird skill thing and being stuck inside a house most of the time, I can’t complain. I do wish I had something to do, like a job. The bits from the princess is great and all, but being cooped up so often is making me antsy.”

“That’s not what I meant, Anon.”

He looked confused, “Sorry, I’m not sure what you mean.”

“How exactly are you doing on the inside? Like, emotionally.” Anon quirked an eyebrow at her. She placed her cup down. “A lot of other ponies see it, or the ones that have been around you long enough to notice. You’ve gotten very good at hiding it recently; almost everypony just thought it was some alien thing.”

“Ah man, am I being therapy’d right now? I forgot that’s kind of what you do.”

“Uh… what?”

“No, nothing. Forget I said anything.” He tapped his knees, humming. “Okay. What would I be hiding? I’m not scheming or planning anything, especially with how cold everything is. Though I could try and build an ice fort somewhere and take over a little section for my people. I bet I could get Lyra and Bon Bon to join in on that.”

Vinyl didn’t grab onto his joking. “Anon, you don’t have to hide your emotions. We’re extremely understanding and won’t make fun of you. I just feel like I need to ask to make sure, to see if you’re doing fine.” She tried to find the right words to say. “Anon, how are you dealing with being here in our world and away from yours?”

Lyra and Bon Bon had tried asking him about that but he kept sidestepping the topic. ‘They must have asked her to try and talk to me if she ever got the chance.’ Clasping his hands together, he bent over his seat, giving it some thought.

“I won’t lie, it’s had its ups and downs. I miss being around people I recognize, interacting with things I’m used to. Everything back in my life is kind of… just gone. My career, my goals, the few people I had close to me. Though that’s mostly referring to my mom more than anything. We were pretty close.”

He chuckled, “She’s probably wondering why I’d do something so stupid, jumping on a missile. ‘Oh that Anon, always so dramatic. He should have known he could have defused it in some manner if he just took a second to look!’ I know she’d say something like that, always joking about things like that. Heh…”

A cough, clearing his throat. “But I think I’ve gotten over it plenty well. I’m done crying about things. If… If I can’t get home, I should make the best out of this situation. I’ve already got plans on how to turn my career into something I can use here; I’ve been hearing about black rock usage and other things that could be prevented to help your world and future generations. By the way, I call black rock, coal. Some info for you. But yeah, there’s nothing to worry about.”

“So you claim,” she said, before rubbing her chin. “Thought it was strange how you acted before has changed since that trip.”

“Vinyl, I’ve already explained that weird guy from the forest had some kind of spell on me, muting me on my emotions. This ‘me’ is the real me, or it’s the me that isn’t held back.”

“So now that you’re back to ‘normal’, you now go around, drop-kicking ponies around the place?”

“Okay those ponies deserved it and you know that. Seriously, asking me those lewd things or getting specist like that. Not cool. Of course, I was going to defend myself, the jackasses.”

A laugh escaped Vinyl. “I remember seeing you do that in the marketplace. Scared the crap out of everyone for a while; they all thought you would go on a pony-kicking rampage.”

Anon blinked. “They did? How’d I miss that?”

“Bon Bon took you away from the place before you could find out. Seriously, a lot of ponies kind of got in your personal space or did something really stupid toward you for the first few months you were here, and with you not doing anything about it for the longest time, they just thought you were fine with it. Finding out differently, well let’s just say it scared quite a few about getting kicked themselves.”

“I wouldn’t even be kicking them around if it wasn’t called for. But everyone should know I wasn’t just going to come at them for some petty revenge. I’ve already forgiven them.”

“Still, when you live in a society where any weird fella from the past can crop up for some form of revenge or other baddie works, you kind of expect it in some fashion.”

“Kind of sad.”

“It sure is.”

Anon swirled the tea around in his cup, taking a sip before placing it back down. “This is my life now, isn’t it? Living among all these different people and species, expecting some odd adventure that reminds me of a weekly monster-of-the-week fest, full of magic and some lesson to learn around every corner.”

“Don’t forget living with two awesome mares that are willing to reciprocate the loving back if you ever want it.”

He rolled his eyes, “Yeah, that too.”

“So while we wait for whatever this next ‘arc’ you’ve told me about comes, whatever that is, why not just have fun with life and do what you want here?”

“What I want?”

“Sure? You’ve always done what others wanted or gone with them. What exactly does Anon want himself?”

“I’ve… never really thought about it. All I’ve ever wanted was to have a fulfilling career before finding some woman and settling down. But now, living here? I kind of still want to do that. As I mentioned, coal usage could be regulated, some practices like deforestation should be considered, and possible pollutants you haven’t come across could be warned about to prepare you all. I don’t know… I think I just want to help everyone in that regard.”

Vinyl looked confused, “Okay, I don’t know what some of that means but all the power to you. Is that all? Surely there’s something you’ve wanted to do.”

“I’m fine with going along with everyone’s trips. I’m a foreigner after all; what would I do if I was given the freedom to do whatever I wanted? Visit places? Meet the locals? I’m already in a strange enough place as it is, trying to lead myself through that hazard is a headache in itself. I’d rather have someone there leading the charge until I can get my footing, which won’t be for a while longer.”

‘The null powers sure did give me a proper step in that direction, finally having some level of control once again.’

“If the opportunity did present itself, I’d certainly try my own thing. But right now? I just want to chill out with my friend Vinyl and maybe listen to some music with you.”

She smiled, “Now that I can get down with! What you got in mind?”

“What have you checked on there so far?”

“I’ve gone through most of the electronic bands, which by the way, that Pendulum band? Sick! I was in awe at what they produced.”

“You should check out Knife Party. It’s the same people, just a different direction. But if that’s all you listened to… Yeah, I kind of feel like something melodic right now. Let me show you the musical world that is, Blackfield.”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

He wasn’t sure how long he sat there with Vinyl. Going through the few albums he had on it was relaxing for him. The two talked about his time in Equestria, Anon slowly opening up on some issues or letting things out.

Vinyl had some interesting reactions to the music. She got teary-eyed on the self-titled song, and The Hole In Me got her choked up. Surprisingly, she wanted to hear them a few times over, wanting to ‘capture the mood’ as she said.

“You can let go of me now.”

“S-Sorry. Just needed a hug after that music,” she said, wiping an eye behind her goggles. “That stuff was really strong. I didn’t even know you could make music that emotional.”

“You silly ponies are too emotional,” he said as Vinyl moved off of him.

“You silly humans need to open up more.”

A snort came out of him hearing that. He wasn’t sure how to be more open, but he’d attempt it in some way.

“Before you leave, is there anything you do want to talk about right now? Anything you miss or just want to let out?”

A smile crept across his face, “I really, REALLY miss meat. Proper meat that isn’t from an animal that can talk back to me.”

Vinyl chuckled, “The griffons can send in meat if you want that imported. I remember reading Lyra’s reports on you, and I think the calydonian over in Gryphonia will be perfect for you. It’s kind of like pigs, but they’re used for food.”

“I remember hearing about them, but it’s expensive to import. The last time I’ve had proper meat was at the castle with the princesses. I would kill for some of that again.”

“Th-They served you meat?”

“It wasn’t real, just some fake meat made by magic. But it was very tasty.”

“So those rumors are true then! I wonder what the princess is doing making fake meat up there.”

Before Anon could say anything, a rather harsh coughing came from the side. They turned to see Octavia, standing out of the hall, looking sick.

“Where’d you go?” Octavia asked, looking relieved to see Vinyl there. “I thought you disappeared on me again.”

“I told you I went to the doctor. She said she’d be over later this evening for you. Go lie back down.”

“Don’t—” She let out a loud sneeze and sniffled. “Don’t g-go disappearing on my, Vinyl.”

“Would never dream of such a thing.”

Octavia stared at the unicorn for a few seconds before turning around and heading to her room.

Anon turned to Vinyl, looking confused. “What was that about?”

“It’s a long story I doubt you’d believe. Besides, she’s just sick and is likely hallucinating something or another.”

There was something odd going on between those two, but he decided not to push into it, not wanting the drama of it all.

“I should probably leave,” Anon said. “The other two will be back at the house soon. Besides, I wouldn’t want to get sick.”

“Can you even catch a cold from us ponies or anyone in this world?”

“I wouldn’t know and would rather not find out.”

“I should probably comfort Octavia anyways, she could use the company. Just don’t forget what we talked about.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Anon mumbled, standing up and making his way to the door.

Standing outside, he could see it hadn’t gotten any darker. It must be sometime in the late afternoon; he did wake up quite early when he went out for the day.

Walking back to the house, his thoughts drifted back to what Vinyl said. While he didn’t like opening up, who did, after all, Anon had to admit that he felt much lighter, like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. It still hurt to think about home. He hadn’t realized how much he missed things, like his mom and some other people, on top of his entire life.

For some odd reason, Anon was starting to realize that his past life was starting to look odd like there was something off. He wasn’t clear what that was about. Shaking his head, he put those thoughts aside for the time being. Keeping things clear and optimistic was a better view to keep his sights on.

Right before he could continue, Anon had to stop, spotting something very odd even for him in pony land.

“Rarity?” he asked, uncertain if it was her.

She turned to him, looking surprised. “Anon! Darling, it’s been so long since I’ve seen you! How have you been?”

“…Fine,” he answered, walking up to her. “Sooo… what have you been up to?”

“It’s the norm for me, with my designing and such. I’ve had a lot of orders on scarfs as of recent, of course, along with some warmer wears. Booties are of course back in season, and you have no idea the difficulties I had obtaining proper enchanted wool to line those with.”

“Okay then, alright. And… what about that?”

“About what?”

Anon pointed at the rock Rarity was currently perched on top of. “The rock you’re sitting on.”

A light laugh could be heard, with Rarity shaking up and down. “Do-ho-ho-ho! Aren’t you going to introduce me to your fabulous friend?”

His eyes widened at what appeared to be a talking rock Rarity was sitting on. The unicorn coughed to herself. “Anon, this is Benny Alicia Grimmoid.”

“Everyone just calls me Sapient for some reason, but I prefer Sappy my tall friend,” the rock said.

Uncertain about how to react, he turned his direction to Rarity, disbelief clear on his face. “So, Rarity. You’re friends with a talking rock.”

“Yes, yes I am.”

“How in the blazes did that happen?”

“She met me out in the forest as she was going out to save a friend of hers,” the rock said cheerfully. “How valiant she was! And from the description I was given, I do believe that friend of hers was you!”

“Ah, I see…”

“Yes, well, she came back afterward and we had a nice, delightful conversation with one another. One thing led to another, and now here I am with her on a great adventure of discovery and wonderment!”

“So Rarity brought back a talking rock with her from that forest I was in.”

“I personally prefer it if you see me as a large boulder over a simple rock,” Sappy said with a weird, sultriness, making him feel nauseous and wanting to gag. “Why, I see myself as a boulder-sized kimberlite. I hide all my best adamantinos on the inside, do-ho-ho-ho-ho!”

“R-Right. Well, I really should get going—”

“As should we!” Sappy spoke up. “We must go find my brother; that dastardly draconequus brought him out here and I’ve been ever so worried about him! Poor fella, he’s quite shy and most likely to not speak up no matter how much you try to open up a conversation. I worry about him.”

“I hope you have a good day, Anon,” Rarity said, “but we really should get going.”

“Yes! Let us be off to find Tomathan!” Sappy said.

Right before his eyes, the rock started moving slowly forward, guiding Rarity through the snow as it started to pick up speed.

“I don’t even know what that was. Is that a reference from something I should know, or perhaps something here in the past? I don’t get it…”

Anon wasn’t sure how he was supposed to react to what just happened, so he decided to head straight home and meet the other two to see what they were doing.

Getting home, he saw Lyra and Bon Bon in the kitchen area, enjoying some fruit while talking to one another. Lyra saw him and gasped, “Anon! We’ve been waiting for you! Come over and take a seat!”

Taking off his jacket, Anon hung it up before seating himself. Lyra looked giddy, about to blow up from excitement while Bon Bon looked happy with a large smile. Looking at the table, Anon could see an array of papers strewn about it.

“What’s all this about?”

Lyra patted the table with her hooves excitedly. “Princess Celestia’s giving me a paid vacation!” She let out a squeal after saying so.

“I also got all the candy that I had for this month all sold off,” Bon Bon added in, “so I have no obligations for a while!”

“It’s good to hear that from both of you,” Anon said, keeping a straight face. “Why is the princess giving you a paid vacation?”

“I dunno? Should it matter? PAID! VACATION! EEEEEEEHHH!!!”

“Being cooped up in a house as you had would drive any stallion— ehr, I mean man, mad.”

Lyra clapped her hooves, still giddy. “Soooo, Bon Bon and I were talking and we were planning on going somewhere, just the three of us.”

“You’ve got someplace picked out for us to go?”

“That’s where we wanted you for this,” Bon Bon said, shuffling some papers toward him. “We had a lot of different ideas on where to go, but we didn’t think it was right to not have you in this decision.”

“This is a huge list of different places and ideas that we came up with. Take a look and see if anything interests you and we’ll go there!”

“Are you two sure about this? I might choose someplace that may not be what you two want.”

“Think of this more as a way for us to let you have more autonomy when it comes to decision making.”

“Besides, all these places are awesome! We’ll stand by whatever you decide.”

Looking at the papers, Anon picked one up, seeing the griffon kingdom on it. It listed a count of places to go to and what they could do there, along with stops on the way should they choose.

‘If I recall, there’s been some hints about something big happening there. A few characters leaving some ominous warnings about the place when I was around, and that’s not including those ambassadors that came by two months back.’

Anon, in his mind, was looking at a list of possible locations that would pick up a new adventure, another storyline arc to progress in the world.

There was a paper on the minotaur lands dealing with their various clans. Another talked on the crystal kingdom and some ‘adventure spelunking’ in the region for special gems, with hidden artifacts hinted at. A few new ports had opened up in various lands, and one for directly in the ocean to some weird fish kingdom. Another couple of papers had different places like the Yak lands or other Equestrian cities, but they didn’t have the same ‘excitement’ as others did, clearly trying to downplay their cities.

‘Clearly, it’s trying to perk my interest in some of these places. So how do I go about making this as hard as I can for it trying to reel me back in while still being able to enjoy myself.’

He went over what he knew and had written down, the small clues and foreshadowing that he’d overheard. There was one that he remembered being interested in but hadn’t had a chance to ask or figure out how to get them to volunteer the information.

“How’s about this?” Anon pushed a small paper forward, something that seemed intentionally set aside from everything else. “This sounds interesting.”

Lyra looked at it, frowning. “Van Hoover? Why there?”

Bon Bon froze up hearing the town. “Y-Yeah, there’s a lot of other places we could check out. Like Las Pegasus! Lots of fun games there and plenty of celebrities on stage. Or what about Saddle Arabia,? I hear it’s got great food and we could check out the minotaur clans afterward.”

“I kind of like the idea of Van Hoover,” Anon said, rubbing his chin as he looked up. “It’s one of the oldest cities in Equestria and plenty of old fashioned attractions, so it has a lot of cultural value. The place also has quite a few ports, being a center of griffon meats which I am very interested in.”

Anon scooted closer to Bon Bon, “There’s also your parents living there. I am quite interested in meeting them.”

“Why would you want to meet my parents? They’re not that interesting.”

He had, by complete chance, overheard her talking to some random pony that stood outside her window, whispering to her. It was odd, so of course, he eavesdropped on the whole thing. It was about her parents being in a particularly highly privileged area and her having to take over in the future, something about an inheritance. Anon wanted to nip this in the bud as soon as he could, lest it festers, and become a bigger problem than he’d likely be involved in at a future date.

“I beg to differ. After all, they brought up such a great person like you. And besides, it gives us a place we know in town and can come back to after a long day of sightseeing.”

“I kind of… haven’t told them about me and Lyra yet.”

“Oh, we are SO going to tell your mom all about me,” Lyra interjected with a large smile. “I want to go now!”

“You just want to rile up my mom.”

“Well, duh.”

“So, it’s settled!” Anon gathered all the papers to put away for them. “I’m certain this will be a fun trip for all of us.”

“Yeah, fun…”

“We should get packed as soon as we can; we might be able to leave today for the last train heading out.” Lyra clapped her hooves. “This is great, now Bon Bon can show her parents both me and our future partner!” Bon Bon gave Lyra a look, making her nervously laugh. “Eeeh-heh-heh-heh-heh…”

Anon stared at the two for a few seconds as they scrunched their faces at him.

“Let’s all have a fun, safe trip to Van Hoover.”

“An exciting, super-wonderous trip!”

“Yeah… fun.”

~End Chapter Twenty-One~

Author's Note

The two songs I referenced with Vinyl are linked here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF79zvZok48

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkZe4Gg2phU

Chapter Twenty-Two - Meet The Relatives

“Relax, we’re nearly there.” Lyra patted Bon Bon’s side, trying to calm her nerves. “Why don’t we go over some fun activities that we can do while we’re in Van Hoover?”

“S-Sorry. It’s hard to focus. The closer we get the more nervous I feel.”

“Your parents can’t be that oppressive, can they?” Anon asked.

“No, mom and dad are great people. Dad’s pretty chill about life in general, and my mom is always there for me, though she can get a bit… thorny at times.”

“She’s more than a bit unbearable if you ask me.”

Bon Bon glared at Lyra. “Don’t you start.”

“I don’t see the problem. Is it because I’m an alien? Or that Lyra is with you now?”

“You’d be nothing more than an oddity to them.”

“Gee, thanks.”

Bon Bon shrugged, “They deal with so many things every week so having me bring home an interstellar visitor wouldn’t surprise them. And no, they wouldn’t get worked up over Lyra, though mom will cause a scene with her.”

“She might get physical. I’ll make sure to keep an eye out should she try to maul me.”

“Lyra, stop it.”

“Why are you so on edge then if you think things will be fine? Is there something else going on in town that I don’t know about?”

For a few moments, Bon Bon tried to speak, only coming out in sputters and uneven pauses. Rubbing her face with her hooves, she dug into her bag, pulling out two small paper sheets the size of a mint.

“I’m not allowed to say due to certain restrictions I’m under, but if I bind you two then I am free to say what I want.

Anon held a piece of the paper, seeing an odd plastic-looking sheet on the top that was peelable.

“I don’t understand what this is, and the word ‘bind’ has so many implications I’m not comfortable with.”

“It’s a standalone magical binding contract that ensures you won’t say anything about the topic being mind-projected from its originator, that being me. It’s connected to my signature so it’ll work for at least ten minutes after ingestion.”

“Uh-huh. Will this even work on me, what with my null power?”

“Oh. I hadn’t thought of that.”

Anon peeled the sticker back, “So if I’m understanding this, you, for some inexplicable reason, have some kind of magical contract that prevents you from speaking out secrets. And this little thing helps circumvent that?”

“Kind of,” Lyra spoke out, peeling hers back. “These are secondaries to the primary, where taking these allows the primary and secondaries to speak to one another. Saying anything after taking this will alert the primary. The primary saying anything outside of her group will alert the controller. Though on examination, I can see these are an older version that still uses the ‘pony’ tag inside its runes. Major flaw when you’re dealing with other species. Seriously, did you get this thing three hundred years ago or something? Heh, and here I thought only nobles used these things."

Bon Bon scrunched up her nose, looking aside. Anon saw this, frowning.

‘Ah, crap. I’m about to be dealt with a twist concerning her right now.’ Anon looked at his paper. ‘I triggered this event early didn’t I? Should have gone to some other town.’

“Funnily enough, Princess Celestia has me under a few of these. Got a nice collection from embarrassing secrets like- Oh, and it activated. Thank goodness mine buzzes me before I say anything so the princess isn’t alerted all the time. I bet Twilight has a few dozen herself.” She placed the sticker on her tongue, swirling it around before looking disgusted. “Bleh! Limes? Why limes?! Ugh.” Lyra smacked her tongue around, clearing the taste. “Okay, I’m ready to hear this awesome thing. Anon, hurry up and eat yours.”

Placing the sticker on his tongue, Anon tasted something akin to a key lime pie. A tingling sensation could be felt as if he had stuck his tongue to a battery and held it there.

“That was slightly unpleasant. Okay, so what have you been hiding from us?”

Bon Bon chuckled nervously, rubbing her shoulder. “Lyra already knows this, but my parents are kind of big deals at Van Hoover. They own a merchant company that buys and sells things to a lot of the businesses in the area from outside our lands. My dad is also the mayor of the town, so he’s got a lot of responsibilities concerning Van Hoover.”

“Ownership of a major company and having power over a town is a dangerous thing to behold. Your father isn’t abusing things is he?”

“No, no! He’s fantastic! Dad is the kind of guy to lend a helping hoof when you need one. There have even been times he’s taken a hit to his company if it would affect Van Hoover.”

Lyra nodded her head, “That guy is cool. He’d never use his powers if it meant hurting someone in the process.”

“Then, your mom－”

“Is all about showboating the town in Equestria.” A sigh escaped Bon Bon. “It can get tiring at times. She loves to shove in everyone’s faces how well Van Hoover is doing compared to everyone else. Weekly banquets, a monthly food stipend that is freely given from taxes, and free transportation are just a few things she has managed to make work under her budgets. My parents love showcasing how prosperous everyone is. Everyone practically treats them like royalty.”

“I can bearly stand it when I’m here with Bonnie.”

“Really Anon it’s－” Bon Bon turned and glared at Lyra, who squeaked back a smile.

“So why are we doing all this?”

Bon Bon went back to fidgeting. “I’m kind of… technically the heir to their company.”

“Yes, everyone sees her as a kind of princess in that town,” Lyra said with a nod.

The candy mare groaned, “I’m not interested in leading their company. I keep pushing them to have my younger sister do it but they keep insisting I should be the one to do it. So I may have found a way to get out of being able to inherit it.”

Lyra gasped, tapping her hooves on her seat. “I get to finally hear how you did it! So what was it? Did you secretly disown yourself somehow? Is it juicy blackmail against your parents?!”

Bon Bon’s ears drooped down. “I… went into service with Prince Blueblood as part of his spy network.”

Silence filled the room. Anon wasn’t sure what that exactly meant, but from Lyra’s slack-jawed response, it must have been something big.

“WHAT?! Prince Blueblood?! That jerky noble that uses all his bits on parties and photo shoots?”

“That’s an image he’s presenting to the public. Though he can still be a bit snobby, I’ll admit.”

“I need some explanation about what all this means,” Anon said, “on top of how this gets you out of your role as an heir.”

Lyra was the one to answer, “Anyone under the employment from royalty is allowed exemptions from family, clan, or inheritance laws should they wish or it is needed. It’s a very old law that I don’t think anyone remembers or even uses.”

“Thank goodness I have a friend that just so happens to have books on old laws like that?” Bon Bon smiled at Lyra.

“But why Prince Blueblood?”

“It was completely by chance that happened. I had helped with an incident over in Baltimare when I was still in my first year of college.”

“You’re not talking about that cloudy sea serpent incident are you?”

“The very same. I managed to keep its attention while they bottled it back up. The agency, S.M.I.L.E., talked to me afterward and we made a deal. I stick with the agency as a full agent and they, in turn, keep my parents from forcing me from inheriting our family business. Work wasn’t bad either. I got to use my cover as a candy maker and went around spying on different groups or solving problems behind the scenes. I kind of liked it.”

A long-winded sigh escaped her. “After Anon got foalnapped I gathered all the intel that we could and left to retrieve him. Going outside of their control as I did, that revoked my status to now being a free agent. I’m still a part of the agency, but I’ve lost a lot of privileges on top of being able to use those royalty laws.”

“To wrap things up,” Anon started, “you are an agent that works for royalty, while also being from a background that comes from an influential family that is treated like royalty.”

“Yes. And you have no idea how good it feels to get that off my chest.”

“Why are you telling us this?” Anon didn’t like how this all sounded. This made her importance skyrocket. “You could have just not told us and things likely wouldn’t have happened or mattered.”

“My mom would have said something. I don’t know how, but she has ties in just about everywhere, including S.M.I.L.E., and likely knows already about my downgraded status. She’s been against this from the whole start and would have gloated about finally coming back into the family. Also, bringing you two into the fold allows me a few perks like not having to hide so many secrets.”

Lyra hummed, “So all this time, whenever you went out to make candy or those long trips to collect ingredients…”

“That was me getting updates and being sent out on missions. Though I still made candy and treats to sell, just collected from places I went to typically.”

“Revelations now out in the open, is this going to affect our time in Van Hoover?” Anon asked.

“No, it shouldn’t. S.M.I.L.E. is still dealing with the rebel’s mess they left behind along with a few outlying monsters in certain towns. Van Hoover hasn’t been affected by any of that so we should be good to go.”

“Oh! Winter Wrap-Up is tomorrow.” Lyra clapped her hooves, already moving on to another topic. “I like doing that here, it’s so over the top. We might be able to find a part for you to play in.”

“What exactly is Winter Wrap-Up?” he asked. “I only have a bit of information on it.”

“Oh, right. You don’t need those in your world,” Lyra said. “It’s where we put our winter away for another year. It takes all the ponies to get everything ready for it, and I thought maybe you’d like to try it out with us.”

Anon was confused, “Shouldn’t winter last for at least another two months for you all? We’ve only had it for one.”

“Princess Celestia needs the snow to go away earlier than usual, for some reason,” Bon Bon said. “I think I heard something about opened passages from a few acquaintances. This also means we’ll have some more rainy days during the summer to balance things out, so be ready for that.”

“Must be nice to turn the weather off whenever you like,” Anon said. “I have no problem helping with things but I’m not sure what I could help with.”

“Not to worry!” Lyra said, pumping a hoof in the air. “We’ll find something you can help with. And if anything, you can join us in whatever we do.”

Anon was genuinely curious as to how winter was wrapped up in this world. Do they just shovel the snow away or are there some odd procedures for it?

A jerk in the train could be felt, an announcement declaring from behind the door they were nearing the station.

“Fantastic! We can head off this train finally.”

Anon stood up, stretching his back. “I need to walk around a bit myself.” He flared his null power towered his tongue, feeling the binding dissipating. “Feels cramped in here.”

Bon Bon went cross-eyed for a few seconds before shaking her head. “And that answers if your null powers would affect a binding contract. I’ll have to inform the higher-ups on that one. And yeah, sorry we couldn’t get a larger train to Van Hoover,” Bon Bon said, now preoccupied with checking her pack. “It’s not exactly built with anything larger than a griffon in mind.”

“I’ll talk to some figures back at Ponyville about this, make some compartments human friendly,” Lyra said, holding up her itinerary. “We need to check out that sandwich shop over by the piers. They have a lot of minotaur imported meat and yak cheese. Hmm. Cheese. So good.”

“I’ll start heading out then before you make me too hungry, stretch my legs a bit. Meet you two outside.”

Walking outside the cabin he was in, he started down the hall with his luggage in hand. A door could be heard slammed open, Lyra’s head popped out looking worried. “Anon! Get back in here!”

He turned around, confused. “What’s wrong—”

Then… it happened. He wasn’t prepared for the train to lurch around, nearly making him fall. He had to hold on to the sidewall to keep his balance. His suitcase dropped out of his hand, with Anon staring straight ahead in a stupor at the sight in front of him.

Ponies. Ponies everywhere. From the rooms on either side of him to the train cart in the back, they all started coming out in droves. And they all let out a massive roar, a call of their arrival.

“SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!”

It was a mass of squealing ponies, tumbling like crazy, rolling around and over one another, heading in his direction. It was as if he was witnessing a sea of ponies, and it was barreling straight at him.

Still in shock, he had no chance as he was swept up with the smiling ponies, squealing with glee as they tumbled toward the front of the train. His screams couldn’t be heard over the ponies. They sped down the halls, taking him along for the ride, gathering more and more of them; it almost appeared like there was an endless stream of them.

It eventually wound up with them all rushing out of the train’s front entrance in one massive pile. The pony’s let out squeaks and squeals, with barely a word being said. All Anon could do was lay there in shock at what just took place.

‘Did that seriously just happen?’

Trying to get out of the mound of ponies, he spotted one of them that looked suspiciously like Applejack, who turned to him with a cherubic smile. “Apples!”

“Hey there bud,” he heard. Turning around to the voice, Anon could see a minotaur covered in some sort of garb that hid his body and head. He laughed at the sight of Anon. “You need some help?”

“If you could,” he said, giving him a hand.

Grabbing it, he pulled with all his might, getting Anon out with a few tugs. He chuckled, looking at the ponies, then back to him. “You don’t seem like you were expecting that.”

“Why would I?” he answered, straightening out his clothing.

“Most beings around here know not to get on the pony trains because of this, and when they do, they know to stay out of the way until the pony stream passes by. This is the first time I’ve been to these lands and I know this.”

“Just another thing I need to learn about, great.”

Anon looked at the minotaur, noting that he had been hinted at for quite a while about them. Bolder left hints left and right during his parlor training, and the recent reports Lyra had from their clans only showcased how much narrative progress there would be if he interacted with them. Going by that, this individual had to be important in some manner.

“You wouldn’t happen to have some affiliations with the clans, would you?”

The minotaur seemed shocked to hear that before narrowing his eyes. “Now why would you ask such a question?”

He waved an arm at the minotaurs’ body. “Your clothing is quite rich in colors, and the craftsmanship is superb. If this is your first time here, I doubt you bought any of that here in town. And from a friend of mine back in Ponyville had mentioned about your wares, clothing is not something your people are particularly good at. It must have cost quite a bit to get one from your lands to make something for your travels.”

The minotaur continued to stare at Anon before a grin spread on his face. “Ha! I told Hera I should have gone as a traveler.” He grabbed his cloak, staring at it. “I bet others saw right through this as well. Yeah, I come from some of the clans back home. I’m out on an expedition to see what’s going on in Equestria. Most of the clans have sequestered themselves for quite a long time, and with the passages back open, they want to try and see the state of lands and work out where to go from there.”

‘And there’s the mentioning of passages once again. I don’t know which is worst, the idea of going to the minotaur lands or these passages.’

The minotaur lands consisted of mostly deserts and mountains past the Bad Lands and the Forbidden Jungle. And the passages consisted of unknown lands that were sequestered off until recently, obviously hinted at Momus’ doing, and was full of unknown beings cut off for some reason long ago.

‘No need to be rude, on the off chance I have to go there. This guy is a key character for a future conflict.”

“Name’s Anon,” he said, sticking out his arm. “Human from another world.”

The minotaur let out a hum, “Kamos,” he said, shaking the limb. “I just figured you were some new species looking around. So you’re that alien everyone’s been talking about. It’s nice to meet you,” he said.

Kamos noticed something behind Anon which made him grimace. Turning around, Anon could see two other minotaurs in similar garbs down the street looking peeved based on their body language.

“What a bother. While I’d love to know more about these rumors surrounding you, I need to get going. It’s nice to meet you; I hope great things come for you in the future!”

He then bolted down the street toward the other minotaurs, leaving Anon standing there by himself beside a pile of squeaking ponies.

Some of the ponies working for the train finally came out, holding large poles while trying to pry away at the ponies in the pile, getting them loose and back up on their hooves. Looking at the train, he could see some of the ponies coming out looking exhausted, along with some griffons that looked disheveled.

Lyra and Bon Bon walked up to him with his suitcase, looking like they ran through a marathon.

“Thanks,” he said, grabbing his case.

“I’m sorry,” Lyra said,” I should’ve remembered to warn you about that.”

“It’s hard to hold back on the stream,” Bon Bon said, still trying to catch her breath as she looked at the pony pile behind Anon.

“The stream?” he questioned.

“That’s what everypony calls what just happened,” Bon Bon answered. “No one knows why it happens, but trains just make us do… that, when we gather in large numbers.”

“…I see.”

‘It’s as if this world doesn’t know if it wants to be slapstick cartoon or some weird story-based serial.’

“We should start heading to my parent’s house before it gets dark; they’re probably waiting on us to arrive any moment now.”

“I hope your dad set up some awesome food to eat!” Lyra said. “I’m really hungry and I don’t feel like going out to eat, though it is an option away from your mom. Hmm…”

Along the way to Bon Bon’s parent’s place, the three of them took in the tall buildings that made up the scenery of Van Hoover. Many of the shops had beings advertising outside of them, trying to get passerby’s to come in, while some beings had stands selling their wares. While most were ponies, he could see a few griffons and minotaurs, selling and purchasing things like fish.

The entire place was made of bricks, giving it an antiquated look. The snow-covered the entire city, with the streets lined up with light posts to help brighten the paths. Van Hoover had a charming appeal to it, almost like one of those Christmas specials he’d seen on television. Lyra and Bon Bon certainly seemed to enjoy the walk, talking to a vendor they passed or any odd person they recognized.

Every time they stopped for any reason, others around them gawked at Anon, whispering things around. Anon could hear some of them bringing up those rumors he heard from back in Ponyville. He ignored their whispers, moving on as if he’d never heard them. He did hear some about something happening in the Crystal Kingdom, hinting at the rebels.

This was accompanied by plenty of individuals walking up to Bon Bon, talking to her, or asking for some kind of photo with her or even an autograph. He saw her looking flustered, simply going with the flow as they slowly made their way to her house.

It took some time, but he eventually made it to a large mansion, possibly the largest public home he’d seen of any pony yet, barring the princesses. Walking up the stairs, Anon rang the doorbell with the other two standing on either side of him patiently. A minute went by before the door opened with a unicorn in a maids outfit standing there. She was staring at his legs before slowly looking up his body to his face.

Her eyes widened. “I-I-Is there something I-I can h-help you w, with?” she squeaked out.

“How have you been, Rosie?!” Bon Bon said, walking up to the maid and hugging her.

The now named Rosie seemed to give the hug back but still confused about the situation. “I, I’m doing fine, Miss Sweetie,” she said before letting go and taking the three in.

“These two will be staying with me for the duration of my time home, Rosie,” Bon Bon said.

“I see… Oh, right! Let me just—” She levitated the baggage from the three of them and took them inside. “I’ll deliver your personal effects to your rooms. Oh,” she turned to Bon Bon, “we only have one guest room, Miss Sweetie.”

“That’s fine, Rosie. Lyra will be in my room and Anon will have the guest room.”

“Very well,” she said, making her way up the stairs. “Then this will be much like those sleepovers the two of you used to have when you were younger and sleeping together.”

“Yeah, something like that,” Bon Bon said with a smirk as Lyra held back a chuckle. “How are my parents doing, Rosie?”

“Your father is doing well as can be, though the early Winter Wrap-Up is giving him some trouble. As for your mother, well… she’s still doing her best to stay awake. She’s trying out a new method concocted which has her taking daily potions instead of her usual remedies.”

Hearing that had Anon worried there was some sort of family drama he wasn’t aware of, so he prepared himself for the worst to come.

“She’ll be quite happy to have the season change so early,” Bon Bon said, following the maid.

The halls were massive in size; Anon would figure it’d be fit for a pony, but it was roomy enough for several people to walk side-by-side without any complications. The place had extravagant décor, livening things up. He took some time to examine the different photos on the wall, finding some amusement at the younger images of Bon Bon.

“You certainly had an interesting array of pets when you were younger,” Anon said, looking at a picture of her and some animals.

Lyra immediately busted out laughing, falling to the ground and kicking her hooves in the air. Bon Bon walked up and looked at the picture, blushing in embarrassment.

“Ehr, yes, some of those are pets.”

“I’m surprised you were allowed to have a bear as a pet, those are pretty dangerous don’t you think?”

Anon didn’t think Lyra’s laughter could get any louder as tears streamed down her face.

“Anon, that’s… not a pet…” Bon Bon sounded very flustered.

“What do you—” He paused as his eyes widened, seeing a massive bear coming up at the four down the hall. “Coincidentally Bon Bon, your bear is behind you.”

Turning around, Bon Bon gave a large smile and ran up to the bear. The bear opened up its arms and grabbed the mare in a large hug, letting out a rumble of content. After letting go, Bon Bon turned around and walked alongside the bear. It glared at Lyra as she stood up, wiping some of her tears away.

Bon Bon cleared her throat, looking at Anon. “Anon, I’d like you to meet my mom, Halas Curskie. Mom, this is Anon.”

“Rar ra raah,” the bear, who also appeared to be Bon Bon’s mom, growled at Anon, giving him a paw.

Accepting the handshake while looking stupefied, he was shaken pretty hard, nearly thrown to the ground. “Mom! Remember, control your strength!”

“Rer, ra ra gurder rara.”

“I know he looks big but he’s not strong enough to take on a bear!” Bon Bon paused, looking behind Halas and squealed, running around the bear and jumping into a pony. “Daddy!”

“Hello, Sweetie!” her dad said, giving her a large hug. “It’s been so long since you’ve last visited. And is this your alien friend you’ve written about?” he asked, walking up to him.

“Yes, daddy. Anon, this is my dad.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Anon. You can call me Eddie.”

“Uh, right… yes.” He was still somewhat unnerved by being shaken by a bear, who was apparently Bon Bon’s mom.

“Mr. Eddie,” Rosie the maid said, “I was just getting them to their rooms a—”

Eddie held up a hoof, cutting the maid off. “Say no more, Rosie. Proceed with what you’re doing and then bring them down so we all can have a meal together; it’s already supper time and I am quite famished.”

“Rah, reda r ager ra ra.”

“Hahahaha, why yes, we will make sure of that, honey. Rosie, do please to make sure my little Sweetie Drops don’t scamper off somewhere after I leave.”

“Yes, Mr. Eddie,” Rosie said, making Bon Bon scrunch her face up with a grunt.

Eddie and Halas continued talking to one another as they walked away from the group and down the stairs.

Anon turned to Bon Bon. “See, your mom being a bear, that is something you should have mentioned ahead of time.”

“S-Sorry,” she said, flattening her ears against her head. “It sort of passed my head; I’m just so used to it.”

“How can you be used to your mother being a bear of all things? Wait, a better question: Are you part bear?”

Lyra snickered,” N, N, Nooo, she… she was cursed with that!” She started giggling, attempting to hold back her laughter.

“We can walk and talk to the guest room, Miss Sweetie,” Rosie said as she proceeded down the hall.

The three of them followed as Lyra continued snickering, something Bon Bon rolled her eyes at.

“So, Bon Bon, is Sweetie some sort of nickname for you here?” Anon asked, trying to find something to talk about.

“No, that’s my name.”

Anon stumbled hearing that. “Hold the phone, that’s your name?!”

She looked at him in confusion. “Um… yes?”

“That’s, just… it’s a pretty big thing to not know, Bon Bon. First your part bear and now you have a different name?”

“I’m not part bear.”

“Lighten up,” Lyra said. “Some ponies have multiple names. Like how Sweetie Drops here is called Bon Bon, or for another instance, Derpy. Her real name is Ditzy Doo.”

“…This is one of those weird pony things, isn’t it?” he asked, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“Yes, yes it is,” Lyra answered with a nod of her head.

“And something that, apparently, Lyra forgot to teach you about,” Bon Bon said. “Once again.”

Lyra had the decency to look embarrassed. “Hey, hey! Teaching the first-ever alien without any knowledge of how is hard! I’m surprised I did such a good job!”

“Is there anything else I should be told about so we can get any more surprises out of the way?”

“I can tell you that your room is right here, Mr. Anon,” Rosie said, poking her head out of a room.

Opening the door, something shot straight at Bon Bon, landing on her face with a plop. “Sweetie!”

“Bella Belle!”

The little thing dropped to the ground, showing an incredibly small pony the size of a head. She smiled back up at Bon Bon. “It’s been so long since you’ve been home! And wow, what’s with the tall… whatever you are!”

“Bella, this is Anon, our alien friend.”

“Hi,” he said with a wave. “So what’s with the adorable little pony?”

“Thanks!” she said with a jump.

“That’s my sister and the true heir of this company.”

A gentle laugh tickled out of Bella. “Silly, you’re clearly the one that should lead. What would anypony say of someone they had to look down on leading their company?”

“Bella,” Rosie started, “I’ve been looking for you all day. Why have you been hiding here in the guest room?”

“I like to study in here instead of the actual study room, remember? I don’t know why mom and dad don’t build in a window for that place, it’s so stuffy in there.”

Looking inside, Anon could see it was quite spacious with a massive bed, just his size. A desk off to the side had a lantern on, papers and books were strewn about. Books were neatly stacked up to the chair, like stairs to get up to, with more books stacked on top of the chair for more height.

‘So cute.’

“I will have to clean this all up before you can come in, Mr. Anon. I’ll be depositing all of this in the study room.”

“Aawww.”

“Is there anything I should be aware of that you need while you’re staying here?” she asked, placing his luggage on the bed.

“Nothing off the top of my head I can think of.”

“Should you need anything just ring that bell and one of the live-in maids will assist you,” Rosie said, walking past him and toward the other two. “Now if we could, Miss Sweetie, your parents are waiting on us for the evening meal and it would be nice if you all could go directly there with me.”

“Why do I get the feeling that Bon Bon doesn’t like to listen to her parents,” Anon said as Rosie led the four of them.

“She has difficulty with following directions, that’s all,” Rosie said, turning her head and looking at Sweetie Drops with a grin. “It’s gotten her in trouble more times than I can count.”

Lyra chuckled, “Hey, remember when we went out to that part over at Clemens?”

“Yes, I remember that very well,” Bon Bon answered, gritting her teeth.

Lyra let out a laugh, looking at Anon. “Bon Bon here kicked the crap out of five stallions trying to hit on her while attempting some other lewd things. A few of us at the party tried to help but Bonnie here managed to deal with them very quickly. It was hilarious seeing it go down!”

“When we came here, I was hoping to leave a better impression on my life…”

“Don’t worry, Bon Bon” Anon said patting her head, “you’re still the most normal pony I know.”

“Is that supposed to be a compliment?” she asked, eyebrow raised.

“Coming from me, it should.”

She smirked at that. After Rosie deposited their baggage’s in their room, she escorted them to a dining room with a rather modest-looking table where both Halas and Eddie sat at.

“It’s great to see you all here together,” Eddie said from his seat. “Please, seat yourselves.”

Anon took a seat at the farthest end of the table, with Lyra and Bon Bon sitting on either side of him. The little pony sat beside Bon Bon in a very high chair, clearly built for her size.

“I hope you’re fine with the meal we’ve prepared, Anonymous,” Eddie said, pointing at the many soups and loaves of bread around him. He then clapped his hooves together loudly. “May we commence our bountiful meal with one another in a friendly manner.”

“A friendly feast to be shared with friends,” the rest of the ponies said together, with Halas growling something alongside them. They all let out their claps together before digging into their food at the table.

Sipping on the soup, Anon couldn’t help but feel impressed on how flavorful it was with the spices and how creamy it came out.

“So Anonymous, how are you enjoying your stay in our world?” Eddie said, brushing away some crumbs from his lips.

“It’s been something, that’s for sure. Dealing with everyone’s antics is an adventure in itself.”

“I bet. I’ve heard quite a few rumors going around, not just what happened in Mercanville but also in Ponyville where you stay with Sweetie and Lyra. I do hope you’re keeping my daughter out of trouble out there,” he said with a smirk. “Lyra here always seems to get into the oddest situations.”

“I do seem to be dragged into quite a few,” Bon Bon admitted, “though not all of them are because of Lyra.”

“Rar rah rehr ra, rada ra ger rara,” Halas said, right before going back to daintily eating her fish.

“No, that doesn’t mean I’m done with the agency,” Bon Bon said with a roll of her eyes.

“But you can’t use it to not lead the company now!” Bella said, nibbling on a piece of bread. “Thank goodness, I thought they’d have to have me lead it.”

“You still are, I’m not suited for that kind of work like you are Bella. Hay, my special talent is making candy.”

“One of our businesses involve candy making,” Eddie said, smearing butter on some bread. “As does import candy. Which by the way, I do have to thank Lyra for that tip regarding the sapphire dogs. Trying to sell me tainted fish would have hurt my business, and I’d never know about it without knowing of their involvements with the medical wards.”

“Rah ra, rada ger rar rara rada ra,” Halas said with a huff.

“Why yes, I can agree with that!” Eddie said, making Lyra narrow her eyes at Halas.

“Please, I’m better behaved than you take me for!”

The bear snorted, “Re erh ra ram rarg ra!”

“As if you’re any better! Trying to end that deal with that gypsy and look where that ended you.”

“Lyra, behave,” Bon Bon said.

“Rad-der rada redr rada!”

“Mom, you too.”

The two continued arguing, leaving Anon confused about what was going on. Eddie took it all in stride, sipping on his soup. Bella Belle was trying to spread butter on a role, tongue sticking out as she paid excruciating detail to her task. Bon Bon herself ignored what was currently happening, also enjoying her meal.

“Is this common?” he asked Bon Bon.

“Yes, it is,” she answered while breaking off some bread and spreading butter on it.

“Shouldn’t we stop it?”

Bon Bon merely shrugged, “It’s better to let it run its course.”

It was an awkward meal, sitting there and trying to eat as the two fought, throwing their words at one another.

‘Better than them throwing food, I suppose.’

Things decided to take a turn for the worst, or more accurately, being more annoying.

“Rah! Ra ger rara rerger rar rarder ra!”

“Hah! Jokes on you! Bon Bon’s in love with me!”

That forced a silence that permeated the room. Bon Bon stared at Lyra, her eyes as wide as dinner plates. Halas had her mouth wide open, astonished to hear that.

Bella Belle looked at everyone, astonished to hear that. “I knew it!”

Eddie coughed a few times, “…Well then. I, myself, am quite happy to hear that Bon Bon has somepony she can be with, and am not too surprised at this happening. I always thought something was up with you two, quite amazed it took so long for this to finally happen in fact.”

“RAH-RA! RADA RADRA RARA, GER GRADUR RAAA RANA!”

“Halas, honey, you should remember your early years before we even met! Why, for a long time, I personally thought I was going to be stuck with two mares!”

Halas sputtered as Eddie chuckled. The bear calmed down before pointing at Lyra, “Reder-rader-ra-ra-ra-ra-raerdersr-raaa!” she growled out.

Lyra blinked a few times before she pointed at Anon, her face turning slightly red, “W-Well, at some point… he could help w—”

“LYRA!” Bon Bon squeaked out, her face a fiery red. “SHUT UP! THAT’S TOO EMBARRASSING TO TALK ABOUT WITH MY FAMILY!”

“Now hold up Lyra, I thought you said you were the one with Sweetie—” Eddie paused, turning from Lyra to Anon with a smirk. “Oh, you sly stallion! To think those rumors about you were true after all!”

Anon rubbed his face with the palm of his hand. “Eddie, there’s n—”

“I do hope you treat them both well, especially my daughter,” Eddie said as Lyra and Halas started to argue once more.

Anon could only place his face into the palms of his hands, letting out a groan.

“Hey, leave Anon out of this!” Lyra spouted.

“Rader rada rada ger ra na-rana, radierraner ragaera!”

The others at the table gasped in shock at whatever Halas had just said, looking at him for a reaction. Anon simply sat there, unsure what to do about the turn of events.

“Halas!” Eddie said, upset with her. “Don’t be rude to a guest like that! You should apologize for your behavior!”

“Hehr, rader, ra ger rada.”

“So stop making a jerk of yourself and treat him nicer!” Lyra said with anger.

“Anon, why aren’t you defending yourself?” Bon Bon asked, looking humiliated from her mom’s actions and looking at him with concern.

“If you could clarify for me what exactly is happening, I might be able to do that… I think?”

Bon Bon looked at him with a furrowed brow, confused. “My mom just called you a bluthering-balueth!”

The others looked at him, wondering what his reaction would be. “Okay, first off I’m an alien, remember? I have no idea what a bluthering-baleuth is or even how offensive that is. Sounds silly if I’m being honest. Second, I can’t understand your mom at all, Bon Bon.”

She gave him a deadpanned look, “Anon, I know my mom has an accent, but—”

“No, I mean I can’t understand her words at all or anything she’s saying.” They gave him questioning stares. “She sounds like… well, a bear to me. A very cartoony bear, but a bear nonetheless.”

“Rader-rada reder rara?”

“Anon, can you perhaps tell us exactly what she sounds like?” Eddie asked.

“It’s just a bunch of rada-rada junk that I can’t understand.”

“This is quite odd,” Eddie said, looking at Anon. “Why would you hear that when we can hear her quite clearly?”

Bon Bon had a sudden realization, “Anon has an ability that allows him to nullify magic completely, so it doesn’t work on him,” she said. “It’s kind of like those curses that some of the people have out in town. Though, how come the hearing isn’t working?” she asked Anon. “I thought you had control over your power.”

“The trainers said the full capabilities of my ability weren’t fully understood, but they mentioned things may present itself in the future.”

“So maybe sound can’t affect you either,” Lyra said, rubbing her chin. “That’s so OP. Never to have sirens calling affecting you, to have no magical words influencing you.”

“So Halas’s curse is tied to her speaking somehow, yet we can still hear her. How peculiar.”

“Oh!” Bella waved a hoof in the air. “Perhaps her curse is tied to animals as well? Maybe she speaks bear in the background but the curse isn’t strong enough to prevent her from speaking Equestrian?”

“That curse is taking all it has keeping her in that form,” Eddie said, humming to himself.

‘I can already see where this is going,’ Anon thought, taking a bite of his delicious bread. ‘This is supposed to show off my skill in a real-life scenario. I knew I’d have to use it eventually, but for something like this feels so weird.’

“Halas, I want to try my powers on you. If I’m correct, I might be able to nullify them, at least for a time.”

“Redr radr ra da rara?!” Halas said, waving her large bear arms in the air while looking at Anon.

“I think Anon should rethink his offer. Why should he help you after what you said?!” Lyra spoke loudly with an angered expression.

“Rader ra ger, ra-ha-haaaar!”

“Apologizing only because you want something isn’t a good apology to give in the first place!”

“Anon,” Bon Bon said, getting his attention, “I know my mom hasn’t been a good host, but… she’s been like this for a very long time. It would mean a lot to my parents and me if you tried helping her.”

Scooting his chair back, he stood up and slowly walked over to the large form of Halas. She stared at him with hope in her eyes. Lyra murmured something about not deserving this; Anon ignored her, getting himself ready for the first true usage of the skill.

“Well, here goes nothing,” he said, placing his right hand on her shoulder.

Finding his inner trigger, he turned on his nullification, feeling it course through his body. A few seconds go by in silence as the table watches the bear. With no warning, she immediately shrunk in size, now in the air where his hand was. He caught a glimpse of what she looked like, closely resembling Bon Bon but with different hair color and slightly darker fur. Halas fell right after changing, unable to stay in the air and falling right back into her seat. She turned back into a bear after a few seconds of being away from his hand, pushing her on to the ground.

Eddie gasped, seeing what had happened and astonished it worked in the first place. Halas sat back up, amazed at what had happened. Getting her back in her seat, he aimed his hand for around her waist this time so she didn’t appear in the air like last time.

Once again, she changed back into a pony, blinking at everyone around the table. Halas stared down at her front legs, turning her hooves over and looking at them. Eddie got up from his chair, walking around the table to his wife. “Halas… honey?”

“E… Eddie?”

Eddie wrapped his hooves around Halas, giving her a large hug, which Halas returned. Anon had to move his hand to her back to keep out of the way.

“Oh Halas, I never thought I’d see you like that again!”

“It feels so great to be a pony once more. You have no idea how heavy it feels, being a bear.”

“Uuuum…” The two departed from one another before looking at Anon, with his hand still on her back. “It’s not exactly permanent, as you saw the first time. So long as I’m touching her, she’s fine, but once I let go she’s going to turn back into a bear.”

“So… it’s not permanent,” Halas said, looking sad.

“But isn’t it great that you’re getting this opportunity to be back to your old self?” Eddie said, trying to cheer her up.

“Yes, I suppose that’s true.” Halas turned to Bon Bon and stared at her daughter for a few moments. “Sweetie… he’s a keeper.” Lyra and Bon Bon groaned hearing that.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The rest of the dinner involved Anon sitting beside Halas with his hand on her back so she could continue being a pony. She was extremely cheerful during the meal, even laughing at how wrong a certain gypsy pony was, whom Anon assumed was who cursed her in the first place.

The meal was awkward for Anon, as, at the end of it, Halas and Eddie started kissing, right before full-on making out. He could do nothing but sit there with his hand on her back. Halas had, of course, changed her mind about Anon and thought he was a perfect match for Bon Bon. She, of course, wanted to have him around more often. He could easily guess why she’d want that.

Once the dinner was done, Anon was able to remove his arm to the ire of Halas and followed Bon Bon and Lyra outside to her backyard. Lyra, wanting to let off some steam, started to build a large snowbear with her magic, right before tackling it to the ground in a fury. Anon and Bon Bon sat on the bench, watching her antics.

“Anon, I do appreciate what you did for my mom,” she said with a smile. “I haven’t seen her like that since I was a young filly.”

Anon wasn’t sure how to reply, still at odds with what had happened. At that moment, Lyra did a high flying jump kick at the snowbear, its head flying off from the kick. She then, once more, began building the bear.

“Bon Bon, about that whole thing about me being with you two—”

“I… I know, Anon. I know you feel uncomfortable around that thought. Lyra and I, we wouldn’t mind of course if you gave it a shot, being with us. But I still understand you have difficulties with that idea.”

“Lyra seems to think she can change my mind on this.”

Bon Bon laughed, “If anypony can convince you we’re worth being with, it’s her.”

“Can’t my friendship be enough for you two? I mean, you’re with Lyra already; surely that’s enough for you?”

Bon Bon fidgeted in her seat, “I originally thought just being her friend was enough for me, even though I wanted more. I was fine so long as she was happy. But, looking back on it, I can’t believe how stupid I was. Is it wrong for me to want more out of life, to be greedy and be with both of you?”

“I don’t see how you two even like me. I’ve been here for only a few months.”

“Love can’t be measured in time, Anon. Love is measured with how you feel, with what you do with that time, and how much you treasure it.”

“It still doesn’t feel right to me, Bon Bon…”

“That’s perfectly fine with me, Anon. We’ll give you all the time you need. We just… we hope that you try someday being with us.”

“I don’t think it’ll be easy if it even happens.”

“Love isn’t easy, I learned that lesson the hard way.”

Shaking his head, he leaned back into the bench, watching Lyra forming a fairly convincing bear head out of the snow before placing it on the body. Walking a good way from it, she charged straight at the bear with a yell, slamming right into it and throwing snow everywhere.

“See,” Lyra said, with a cough as she lay on her back, “I can totally take on a bear.”

Bon Bon giggled at the sight, smiling at the scene. Lyra got up and shook off the snow before rebuilding the bear once more.

“Sooo… what exactly did your mom say back at the table about me anyway?”

“The bluthering-balueth thing?”

“No, the part when Lyra was pointing at me for some strange reason and you flipped out.”

Her face reddened like mad, looking down at the ground. “I-I’d rather not say, and you don’t want to hear about it.”

“If you say so,” he said, thinking about bringing it up with Eddie later to find out.

“Switching topics, how has your little… power thing been going? The other one Anon, not the nullify power.”

“Is… she going to be a problem if I say anything out loud?” Anon asked, pointing at the small form of Bella Belle who was sitting off to the side with a score placard, scoring Lyra’s attempts at tackling the snowbear.

“Shouldn’t be. She’s very good at keeping secrets, right Bella?”

“Uncy Blue already told me about his super-silly-secret! I also still know all the safe combinations to Uncy Blue’s house and haven’t told anyone yet!”

“Uncy Blue?” Anon asked Bon Bon.

“It’s Prince Blueblood. I don’t know why but after I joined the agency, he encountered Bella and dotes on her like a little filly.”

“...Isn’t she a little filly?”

“She’s in college right now, the first year. She’s just really, really small.”

“It’s not a cursed thing is it?”

“No, that’s just how she is. She was born so small they were afraid she wouldn’t make it the first month. Oh, how wrong everyone was. Bella has the energy of ten mares and five times the cute powers.”

“Is that why her cutie mark is a small, cute face?”

“It is.” Bon Bon shook her head. “Getting off-topic, your little cartoon powers haven’t been bothering you have they?”

“I keep saying it’s not a power. A lot of your actions and how things work just fit with cartoons in my world. At times it is mostly slapstick, while other times I feel like I’m part of some serialized storyline but as a side character. If I only had some access to the internet I could look up a tropes page.”

“Momus isn’t still bugging you is it?”

“Of course it is. The guy could see into the future and saw multiple possibilities. He has plans for me, for us. Only… it doesn’t feel like I’ve got any control over the narrative. I don’t understand it. I’ve looked into a lot of the events that have happened around us for the past few months, and so far, nothing seems to add up.”

“Lyra and I, outside our jobs, are just normal ponies. It’s almost common to find a pony here or there, winding up in some kind of adventure. Cheerilee last week was on a field trip that wound up with the class going back in time four hundred years ago, and upon returning had solved ways out of the cave they were stuck in originally.”

“That’s not exactly what I－ They went back in time?”

“Yes. I hear that Diamond Tiara was instrumental in getting them back in fact.”

‘So my training is paying off with her. Good.’

“All I’m getting at Anon is that perhaps you’re not looking at the right ponies for this ‘main story’ you think is happening?”

Anon went to say something and then paused. Perhaps she was right. He had been thinking this whole time that Momus had chosen him because he was instrumental in everything for his plans to work. For some reason, he interpreted that as being important to the main plot of what was happening and had imagined him as being the main character.

‘But what if I have that wrong? What if I’m just a side story that leads up to the main event in the future?’

It dawned on him what he thought he was and had refused to acknowledge.

“Oh god… we’re background characters.”

“I’m sorry?”

“We’re not needed for the plot, at least not for a while. I’m a MacGuffin that Momus had created, and will be hinted at in future events. You and Lyra haven’t done anything that involves the world at large, not unlike a certain pony and her friends.” He placed his face into the palms of his hands. “It’s Twilight. Twilight and her friends are the main characters. Dammit, I feel like such a fool.”

“Twilight does make some sense. She’s the apprentice of the princess, runs the town library, is a magical prodigy, and is an Element alongside the other five of her close friends.”

‘Why did I think I was the main character? It was so obvious. Lyra and Bon Bon are a side plot if they even get an arch of their own.’

“So what does that mean for us?” Bon Bon asked. “I’m still not sure what this ‘cartoon’ means but it doesn’t ruin things for you does it?”

“No, it doesn’t, though my pride sure took a hit. This means I don’t have to worry about my actions as much. Whatever happens, until it somehow involves Twilight and friends, I’m probably safe. I should be able to plan a way for us to avoid a lot of conflicts. We just need to stay out of her way as much as we can until certain points of her plot are developed. Easy-peasy.”

“Ah, speaking of Twilight, that reminds me, one of my associates had leaked to me about a package the princess is planning on sending to Twilight soon that involves Star Swirl the Bearded. He was a mentor to the princess that－”

“And we’re staying away from that mare for until she finishes with her bearded business!”

“But, I have some books I want to check out from the－”

“Far, faaar away!”

~End Chapter Twenty Two~

Chapter Twenty-Three - Pesky Piping Ponies

“Okay. I give up.”

Bon Bon placed a marker in the book she was on, looking over at Anon on the bed. “You give up on trying to sleep?”

A squeakish humming was heard from Bella Belle, sitting beside Bon Bon. “You give up on avoiding my sisters love?”

“You give up on the meaning of life?”

“You give up on avoiding all the fun we’ve been having?”

“You two know what it is.”

“But I want to hear it out loud.”

Bella Belle nodded her head. “It’s good for you to open up, Mr. Anon the alien! Ah, Sweetie, I’m still not getting this equation here in the assignment.”

“Look at the examples on page two ninety-four, right there.”

“I’ve spent the last three days keeping my eyes out on every single individual I could, preventing incidents, and keeping us out of trouble like I’ve been doing in Ponyville.”

“Which you have done a surprisingly good job at,” Bon Bon nodded.

“You’ve also missed out on a lot of the festivities,” Bella Belle noted, chewing on a small pencil eraser nub. “It’s not as much fun doing Winter Wrap-Up if everyone isn’t working together.”

“That’s what I’m getting at. I’ve done nothing but deprive myself of what little enjoyment I could have been having, keeping things calm and organized and from snowballing into a bigger mess than it could have been. I’m tired of this mindless work. I can’t keep doing it.”

Anon sat up, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Sure, it helped a lot of things, but it’s boring and exhausting. I don’t even think half the time I’m doing a good enough job, not without some kind of wiki to look up all the different ways things could go wrong. Why can’t you ponies have invented the internet?”

“First off Anon, I don’t know what a wiki is or what you’re referring to other than your weird power－”

“It’s not a power.”

“Second, and I know you really don’t like this idea about you not being the center of attention－”

“You’re reinterpreting my words again. All I was saying was that we’re not the focus of attention to whatever forces that are in control of your world. We’re side characters to the main plot, which I should have seen was revolving around Twilight Sparkle and her group of friends. That’s not to say we don’t have parts in it, or that we can’t have adventures of our own. Stories just love to have side projects for spin-offs or new series or something, even having a way to tie into the main plot organically.

“But that’s beside the point. We’re some kind of catalyst in the future for a lead up to something that Momus created. It’s going to have a twist baddie, Twilight will come in to save the day, and then something happens to me and you and Lyra. I’m… I guess I’m just scared that I’m not in control, knowing full well something will happen.”

“That’s just how life is. We know things will have its twists and turns, regardless of how well we can predict it. Please try not to stress out yourself over things. We can talk it out whenever you want.”

Bella Belle flipped her book closed with a giggle, “Finished my work for college! Thanks for the help, Sweetie.”

Bon Bon turned to her sister, “You really should do your work somewhere that isn’t in this guest room.”

“Nah, I like it here. So cozy.” She turned to Anon. “I still don’t understand your powers or why it needs to be a secret, but I don’t get why you need to fix all these ‘problems’ or worrying about things for your maybe future. Isn’t it more fun to just… embrace it? So what if this ‘plot’ thingy-ma-hoozit is doing things or might be working us toward some end goal. Magic is magic, and our lives are chaotic at times.”

“Which is ironic, as your whole life philosophy revolves around harmony.”

“It’s not much fun living a dull, plain life if things don’t spice it up.” Bella Belle jumped from her stack of books to the ground, making her way out of the room. “I don’t agree with that Discord fellow on how he does things, but he is right about everyone needing some form of chaos around us. I can’t think of anything more miserable than playing everything safe. Just think of all the adventures you could have been having! We still have one last day of Winter Wrap-Up so you better make the best of it.”

Walking out of the room, Anon stared at the door, taking her words in. Bon Bon got up from her chair to Anon. “Bella has a… well, she－”

“She’s right.” Anon sighed. “I should try to be a part of everything instead of being such a worrywart. I guess some of my past fears about all this magic kind of crept back up. Having a sense of control of things pushed me to this.”

“Will that mean you’ll try to enjoy things with us instead of moping around or being paranoid about potential hazards?”

“I’ll do my best to keep things on the down-low, but don’t expect me to not butt in things from time to time.”

“As long as you try, that’s all anyone can ask for. It hasn’t been a fun past few days with you watching your side every few minutes for whatever it is you’re looking for.”

“Misplaced items that look set up, odd conversations that imply certain things to come, and et cetera. Really, your world is a disgusting hodgepodge of a serial story and a gag cartoon. Not fun watching out for, especially without an online guide.”

“So don’t watch out for it. Just let things come.” She shook her head, turning away. “I should probably let you finally go to bed. Sorry that my sister uses this room for her studies.”

“Bah, it’s fine,” Anon said with a wave. “She’s too adorable to say no to.”

“Which is why I think she’d be the perfect person to lead our family business. Who would ever say no to a face like that?”

“What a horrifying thing, having to make a deal with someone like that. Though now that she mentioned it before leaving, I thought Winter Wrap-Up was only one day.”

“It is in Ponyville, but that’s because they’re a smaller locale over there. Here, it’s a huge festivity we have that runs four days. Tomorrow is when we let it all out, so you get some rest so you can enjoy it along with us.”

Bon Bon chuckled, making her way out. It took little time for Anon to fall asleep. Rosie woke him up the next day, telling him about the breakfast that was being prepared and to be ready. Taking a hot shower, he felt it relaxing his muscles and helping wake him up. Once done, he made sure he was clean-shaven and his hair was in order.

“Ready for another day of oddness in magic pony land,” Anon said to himself as he stared at his reflection in a mirror.

Heading downstairs, Anon was expecting a loud spectacle to be occurring, if only from how the past few days were anything to go by. Instead, he was greeted with a cheerful-looking group of ponies, who were full of smiles and being pleasant. Anon could tell they were forcing themselves to be nice, or at least Halas and Lyra were with one another. What he wanted to know was why.

“Morning, Anon!” Lyra said cheerfully with a wave. “You have to try this pumpkin pudding, it’s really good!”

Looking at the table, Anon saw a large assortment of dishes full of pudding of various bright colors. He had a great urge to scream bangarang.

“Regur! Radr raga!” Halas said as Anon took a seat.

“Anon,” Bon Bon said beside him, “my mom wanted to know if you could help her once more.”

“I don’t see why not,” he said, walking over to the conveniently placed empty seat beside Halas.

Sitting down, he looked at Halas who was all smiles for him. Finding that familiar sensation in him, he placed his hand on her side; in seconds, Halas had once more turned into a pony.

She hummed, rubbing forelegs and straightening out her hair before turning to Anon, “Thank you, dearie, it feels so great to be back to myself, even if it’s a temporary solution.”

“Just how did you gain such an odd power?” Eddie asked, eating some strawberries.

“It’s a very long story, though I’m not allowed to get into specifics since the princess ordered me and everyone involved not to.”

“What a pity,” Eddie said. “I would have liked to see if it could be replicated.”

“That would likely be difficult for all you ponies.”

“How so?” Halas asked, sipping on her tea. “It doesn’t seem to affect you or I that badly.”

“As I was explained about your world, everything has magic inside of it. I doubt you can make any spell that could take away magic safely the way I can do it. In fact, the unicorn trainers that I was with already thought of ways to do so, only coming to the conclusion that with their current knowledge, any attempts would likely make the user incapable of using magic ever again.”

“That sounds quite horrible,” Eddie said with a frown.

“It’s not so bad,” Anon said with a small shrug. “I certainly will never be able to do it now, although I wasn’t sure if I could in the first place. But magic can’t be used on me if I wished it, so that’s a good trade-off.”

“I agree that a unicorn would feel devastated with such things, but I right now am feeling perfectly fine!” Halas said, swirling some cream into her cup. “I’d imagine anything other than a unicorn learning that ability would be able to handle it.”

“I don’t know about that,” Bon Bon said, “I recall when he was still learning to control his power he had touched me and I felt slow and sluggish, along with a feeling of dread. Maybe your curse is overriding that at the moment? Letting it take the full brunt of what his power is doing.”

“OR, maybe he’s not using enough of whatever he’s using on her to get that effect!” Everyone looked at Lyra, who was then eating some purple pudding. “I mean, Anon did learn to control his power so it’s probably not at full power. He might need to use more of the stuff to get through it?”

Anon hummed, “I’m not sure if my ability works like that, Lyra.”

“How do you know?” she asked, poking at some black and white striped pudding. “It’s not like the trainers worked out your capabilities with that skill, what with you being the first-ever with this ability in our world.”

“…I suppose that’s true,” Anon said.

“So why not try and push your powers a bit, see how much you can actually get out of it,” Lyra asked, giving Halas a devilish smirk. “Surely Bonnie’s mom won’t care if you do it. Just think of it as helping him!”

“Um—”

“I mean, he is helping at the moment, so it’s the least you could do.”

Halas nervously chuckled, forcing a smile on her before turning to Anon. “She is right, I am quite thankful for all your help and I am doubtful it would affect me too much. I’ve handled worse things than what you’re doing right now.”

“I don’t really need to do this,” Anon said.

“No, no! It’s perfectly fine.”

Sighing, Anon closed his eyes and looked inside of him. Finding what he needed, he proceeded to push more of his power through his hand into Halas. At first, he let out a trickle, the bare minimum to make his power work. This didn’t feel like much was happening, so he pushed a little more through his hands, slowly building up more and more as he pushed his ability. It was then he started feeling something familiar touching his ability; magic.

Pausing from her drink, Halas’s eyes started to widen, finally feeling something. “Ah, okay. I’m feeling— Yes, I’m not particularly enjoying whatever you’re doing, please stop that.”

Finding it difficult to do, he had to pull his hand off of her. It felt as if his hand was stuck for a second there, like a very strong magnet pulling off of metal. Shaking his hand a few times to get that feeling off of him, Anon realized there was more to learn about his ability and how to control it. Looking back at Halas, it was only then that he had realized his hand was off of her and she hadn’t changed back.

Placing his hand on her once more, he looked relieved nothing bad happened. “So it does look like I can push more into you. I felt your core touching as well, which seems to be past your curse, which is surrounding it… I think?”

“She also didn’t turn back into a bear after you removed your hand,” Lyra noted, fascinated by what was going on. “So your nullification might have a buildup effect. The more you push into something, the longer the ability stays around. That’s interesting.”

“Not sure how that’ll come in handy down the line. That just makes me warier about using this on others. What if something happens like they can’t use magic ever again?”

“It just means you’ll have to learn more about your capabilities,” Bella Belle said, eating some buttered toast.

“Are you alright, honey?” Eddie asked Halas. Anon, examining her, saw she appeared a tad paler than before. “You’re not in too much pain I hope.”

“No dearie, I’m doing just fine, I just didn’t expect that to happen.” She then leaned forward, a hoof over her stomach with clenched teeth. “Ooh, I am a tad queasy in the stomach.”

“Hmm…” Eddie rang a bell beside him, calling for a servant who arrived quickly. “Please, go prepare her bed ready to lie down after she is done eating, and stay by her side should she need anything.”

“Darling, I’m not hurting that badly, just a bit off is all. I should be fine soon enough.”

“Regardless, I don’t want to take risks. Please go and rest.” Eddie looked at Anon, not with anger but more of curiosity. “Don’t think I’m upset with you, I’m just concerned for my wife is all.”

“No, I understand that.”

Eddie then looked off to the side in thought. “I wonder if your ability can be transferred to an object. It would be nice to bypass that curse of hers when you’re not around.”

“We could check that out when we return to Ponyville,” Bon Bon said, sipping on some tea. “So Anon, our plans are to be out in town for the day. Make sure you’re bundled up and to have your coin purse on you.”

“Pouch,” Anon corrected, “coin pouch.”

“It’s called a purse here, stop being silly. And eat some food, it wouldn’t do you good leaving with nothing in your stomach.”

Harrumphing, he grabbed some pieces of bread and something that suspiciously looked like blood sausage. It had a woody taste to it, quite appealing for him.

“So,” Anon started, swallowing his food, turning to Eddie “these two mentioned Winter Wrap-Up would be finishing today.”

“Ah, yes. How peculiar that Princess Celestia wanted the lands to have the snow cleared out earlier than is normally scheduled,” Eddie said, not looking too pleased. “It’s caused some headaches, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.”

“I hear she offered all the kingdoms close by a free service with changing the weather as well,” Halas said, seemingly better than before.

“Yes, I’ve heard those rumors as well,” Eddie said with a nod, “along with continued support throughout the year. I have to assume she’s attempting stronger efforts with better relations with beings outside our lands.”

“The minotaurs lands are worrying to me,” Halas said as she wiped her mouth from her drink. “Something enormous is going on in those lands, and with no news coming out from there, it’s difficult to know what may be happening.”

“We ponies never did have great relations with the minotaur clans, even though we’ve never had any major disputes concerning them,” Eddie said. “Those clans have always preferred their seclusion and find our continuous attempts at interactions and trade an annoyance. Regardless of individuals that may travel, they’re not representable to their clans. I just hope whatever may be happening over there doesn’t spill over into our lands.”

Eddie shook his head, looking at Anon in embarrassment. “I apologize; you were talking about Winter Wrap-Up.”

‘I swear the exposition here is going to kill me.’

“Yes, I just wanted to know more about what it is and how it’s done,” Anon said.

“It’s a fairly simple but important day that we ponies do every year. It’s got some history that relates to when Equestria was formed, but that’s a bit too long for me to explain. If you’re worried about whatever part you’d take in it, it’s not difficult at all. You could even join us at the head of it.”

Bon Bon squealed, smiling at what her father said. “That would be so much fun having him join us!”

“I think it would be good to have him participate,” Halas said. “Not many other beings partake in our wrap-ups, so having you could help show more interrelations with others.”

“Yes, but could someone explain to me what exactly you all do?” Anon asked.

“Hmm?” Eddie hummed. “Ah, we all enjoy a great celebration as we wrap up our winter, removing the snow for another glorious year.”

“It’ll be difficult trying to top last year’s wrap-up,” Lyra said, eating some orange pudding.

“True, but we have Anon here!” Bon Bon said. “Surely it’ll be one of the biggest in Equestria with him!”

“Okay, could someone just tell me what happens during it?” Anon brought up once more.

Anon was getting annoyed not getting a proper answer. Before Anon could attempt at getting it, a bell chimed throughout the building in repeated intervals. Eddie placed down his tea, getting up from his chair.

“It seems our representative has returned. I must be off now for important business. Halas, we should be going, with you taking a proper rest before you’re needed later.”

She looked at him, frowning. “Could I not skip the meetings this one time and spend my day with Anon? I wouldn’t want to miss out on what’s going out in town either. I am a very important part of it, after all! It would be worrisome if I wasn’t there!”

“Not exactly true,” Lyra mumbled.

“After all, I should get to know somepony who’ll be with my daughter!”

Lyra gritted her teeth as Bon Bon simply continued eating her meal. Eddie shook his head at his wife, “They will have to do without your presence this year, honey. You have important work that doesn’t involve being around our guests. Besides, we should leave them to their day, darling. While they may be staying here with us, it’s also their vacation time. Let them enjoy it.”

Halas’s frown deepened, holding onto Anon’s arm, very clear she didn’t want him leaving her vicinity.

“Well be back later on tonight, mom,” Bon Bon said, hoping to ease her mom off of Anon.

The mare-bear sighed, letting go of him and getting up from her seat. Moving from his hand, she immediately turned back into a bear with a pop before walking alongside Eddie as the two moved out of the room.

“Your mom’s a bit too forward,” Anon said, rubbing his arm.

“She just really likes you,” Bon Bon said with a smile that wasn’t all that convincing.

“Gee, I wonder why that is,” Lyra said as she sipped on a smoothie that none of them had noticed being at the table until just then.

“So I noticed that things were much calmer than they were last night,” Anon said as he saw Lyra eating some Polkadot looking pudding. “What’s with the change in demeanor?”

“We had a talk this morning and decided to have them play nice,” Bon Bon said while smiling at Lyra, who Anon noted turned away, her ears flattened down. “We’re vacationing; fighting defeats the purpose for us to enjoy our time together.”

“That’s the same for your mom?”

“Daddy talked to her a bit ago, and as it appears I’d believe she’s also behaving.”

“Alright then,” Anon said. He finished off his toast, wiping the crumbs off him. “So what’s the plan for today?”

“Lyra and I were talking about heading to the park in town for a while before heading off for lunch at a local restaurant.”

“What’s happening at the park?”

“We have some festivities that happen the day of Winter Wrap-Up. It’s the one thing beings other than ponies will be a part of, right before disappearing for the actual celebrations.”

“I wonder why the other beings don’t like your holiday,” Anon said as he finished off his drink and stood up, wiping off any crumbs on him.

“I don’t know why,” Bon Bon said with a shake of her head. “Maybe it’s because of their cultures? Or it’s not something they like to do?”

“Yeah, it’s really weird,” Lyra agreed, finishing off a second smoothie that had appeared out of nowhere much like the first.

“Come on Lyra,” Bon Bon said, getting up herself, “we should head out while it’s still early.”

Lyra gulped the rest of her drink down before slamming the cup on the table and jumping from her seat. Heading back to their rooms, they all started to prepare for their day out in the town. Anon had grabbed his coat and beanie while making sure he had his coin pouch. He didn’t care what anyone said, he wasn’t calling it a purse. Walking out to the foyer, Anon saw the other two with coats on, colored one shade darker than their bodies.

“Come on, Anon!” Lyra said energetically said, ready to leap out the door. “They have ice sculpting going on right now and I want to see who’s going to be the idiot this year to sculpt out a bear!”

“Why would that make them an idiot?” he asked, walking up to them.

“My mom seems to be offended whenever she sees those,” Bon Bon answered as the three of them headed out the door. “She’s normally out on the day for Winter Wrap-Up as a judge for the competitions going on.”

“It’s always entertaining to see which being’s suckered into making a bear. Bonnie’s mom always finds out and goes ballistic.”

The three of them walked down the streets full of different beings, whooping and hollering around. There were a lot of decorative pieces set up around the place, with everyone helping with snow and ice sculptures at every little place they could.

There were a few attempts at making something that looked similar to him, he was surprised to see. They were all in a heroic pose, something Anon didn’t agree with at all. There were quite a few creative pieces though. There were ice carriages, a flock of snowbirds, castles, and even a few large murals.

Anon stood in front of one that he particularly liked: ice cream cones that hung upside down that were shaped from ice drippings, hanging off a shop.

“You like those?” Lyra asked.

“Yeah, using what’s already there for your work like that, it’s pretty neat.”

“You should really look at the ones at the park then; those are going to be really awesome!”

“I’m not sure how much better they can get from what I’ve already seen.” Watching all the beings laughing and working on their projects was quite enjoyable for Anon. He wondered what they had planned for the actual celebrations. Speaking of which, Anon turned back to his two friends. “Hey, since I just remembered, you two mind finally telling me more about Winter Wrap-Up?”

“We could tell you more about it, but I think it would be better if you just experienced it without any expectations!” Lyra said.

“Lyra, something is telling me I really should know more about this.”

Lyra huffed, giving him a pout. “It’s not like it’s dangerous or anything, Anon. We’re going to be removing the snow from the place, reawakening the animals on the edge of our city, preparing the land with plants and whatnot, and finally ending it with a large sing out at the end!”

Anon stared at her for a few seconds before returning backing off. “Alright, that doesn’t sound so bad.”

“It really isn’t, Anon,” Bon Bon said. “As holidays go, Winter Wrap-Up is our safest on out of all of them.”

“So long as there’s nothing crazy about it all, I’m good.”

“Nope, nothing crazy at all!” the two said in sync, giving him matching smiles.

It was a little unnerving seeing that. Still, it didn’t sound like it would be bad, and it would be fun seeing things go down. Everything should be fine… right?

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“Whoosie, a pleasure to see you arrive just in time for today,” Eddie said, staring at the pony just entering his study.

“It’s good to be back. All the talks in Canterlot have made me quite worn down, yet excited for the future.”

“Have you talked to Mackerel about our transports?”

Horton took off his jacket before taking a seat directly across from Eddie and his desk. “He seems agreeable with allowing our town as the access point into the Kingdom of Ponyo. It’s quite fortunate we got it; our town can use some more tourism. Los Pegasus gets enough of it already.”

“I was more worried about Merlin’s unicorns,” Eddie said, looking at some papers on his desk. “If you recall, he was proposing to do the transportation work with possibly cheaper labor.”

“Yes, that did come up but Princess Celestia felt that the Ponyonians would feel more comfortable seeing something familiar to the last time we ponies had access to them. The unicorns weren’t on very good terms with the fish last we saw them.” Eddie poured a drink into two glasses, giving one to Horton before slowly drinking his own. “Merlin tried to argue that having his unicorns doing the work would show they have no ill will to our odd brethren in the sea, but I had no difficulties showing we were the better choice in the matter.”

“I can only imagine what would happen if Merlin was the first to meet them.” Eddie took another long drawn out sip from his drink before continuing, “Anything else that came up which might be of interest to me?”

“Yes, there is. While the plan is to have our town being the ones transporting and trading with the Ponyonians, they want to send somepony directly to speak to them throw, as Princess Celestia called it, a unification of all species.”

Eddie was confused hearing that, “What exactly do you mean the unification of all species?”

“Sir, all of the access ways around the world that was previously blocked are now clear for passage. It’s been several hundred years since we’ve had contact with any of them. The princess wants to send a… representative to help bridge things between all of us.”

“A representative?”

“The princess felt someone that was trained with the knowledge of the lands and their species along with their cultures should be the one that we send out. They’d visit the lands and their people, send and collect information, and to help with renewing our friendships between beings.”

“I assume it is her student, that Twilight Sparkle, that will be undertaking this responsibility. It will be interesting to hear what comes of that in the future.” Eddie looked at Horton who was gritting his teeth. “There’s more to this, isn’t there?”

“Twilight Sparkle was deemed too valuable as an Element and doesn’t have the proper training in what is needed. She may be brought with them, but she won’t be heading things. The princess instead presented somepony else that she had tutored but in a different manner than she deemed perfect for the job, seeing as it was her job in the first place. It’s… Lyra Heartstrings.”

He rubbed his temples, feeling what would be an oncoming headache forming. “Sweetie is not going to enjoy hearing that. They’re currently visiting here with her and a friend. Did you know she told us the two were finally together?”

“I wondered if that would ever happen. And if it makes you feel better about the situation, the princess actually wants her and their alien friend to join Lyra on her trips.”

Eddie sputtered out, “W-WHAT?! Why does she want my little girl to go along with them?!”

“Lyra is quite brilliant in her work, knowing the things needed with interacting with the beings, but she has a habit of getting sidetracked and, well… she needs an anchor. Bon Bon is to be that anchor for her. Along with being her bodyguard as well, for obvious reasons.”

“But she shouldn’t be traveling around like that! No, she should stay still in a nice, friendly town like Ponyville! That’s why I agreed with her going there in the first place without any fights, to stop that silly monster-hunting nonsense! There’s no telling what she may encounter out of our lands!”

Horton couldn’t help but feel it ironic, Eddie thinking Ponyville was safe. “Sir, I’m going to have to disagree with you on that. She’s had intense training in dealing with taking down monsters and knows how to stay focused on things. Bon Bon can adapt to whatever is thrown at her very well and is the only one I know of that can keep Lyra from being, well, idiotic on their trip.”

Eddie glowered at Horton, clearly not happy. “I dislike this a lot, Horton.”

“I know, sir.”

Tapping his desk, Eddie thought about his little girl. “I better make today a very special day for her. There must be something I can also help with her on this…” Turning around in his seat, Eddie stared out the window looking out into the town. “Whoosie, I can understand Lyra and my little Sweetie going, but why the human?”

“It’s due to his reputation, along with his alien status.” Eddie turned around, interested in hearing this. “He’s a true alien to our world and is aligned with our ponies. So far that’s been going very well from what we’ve been seeing. On top of that, the rebel event last month made Anon a hero just as popular as the Elements of Harmony with the ponies, but also with other beings as well.”

“Ah, I see. She wants to parade him around like a trophy.”

“Nothing of the sort! She—”

“Horton, you really need to lighten up,” Eddie said with a chuckle. “You’re always so defensive about the princess.” Horton harrumphed at that. “I get what she’s doing. Having the human along, she can showcase his recent accomplishments on top of showing he’s getting along with our people.”

“Along with being a… neutralizer for if things go wrong, she thinks he needs to visit others and see what is out there. He was reported as going stir crazy and depressed, being without any of his kind. On top of that, she’s led some hints to him about some of the lands from ponies around him, hoping to pique his interest in these places.”

The two sipped on their drinks, thinking about the future. “I have a question: has he really done all the things I’ve heard about him? About those rebels?”

Horton coughed, “Some things were… stretched, as to say, but there’s certainly kernels of truth in it. He most assuredly pummeled a great deal of their cast, and with his new powers, he’s not someone I’d ever want to go up against.”

“Interesting.”

A bong rang out, followed by several more. “I think we need to move on with things,” Eddie said. “The final day of Winter Wrap-Up is about to commence soon.”

“Are the stages set up?”

“Yes, with no complications thankfully. Why… Anon himself even volunteered to join us in this.”

Horton had a smile slowly creep on his face. “It’ll be fun seeing him with us.”

“True, true. I’m certain he’ll have fun in it.”

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Anon was not having fun.

He was having such a good day too. After going to the park, they nominated him on the spot as one of the judges for the sculpting. It was interesting walking around with the other judges and examining the creations.

For the snow sculptures, there plenty to see and judge. A vote with the other judges went to a massive caterpillar that was undergoing metamorphosis into a cocoon and then into a butterfly. It was extravagant with the details put into the piece.

He disagreed on a vote the others gave for one involving a minotaur holding a pony, which held a griffon. It was impressive, he agreed, but Anon’s vote went to the miniaturized town of Van Hoover a griffon had made. The amount of work and detail put into it was massive and he felt it deserved his vote. The griffon was quite happy to hear of that, not expecting much from his work.

Afterward, Anon had an enjoyable lunch, eating some local delicacies that involved fish of all things. The two girls were in great spirits, having done a little shopping here and there for clothing. They of course wanted Anon’s opinion on what they bought and had him give his opinion on their choices.

It really was a good time, up until the celebrations started to ramp up. The beginning wasn’t all that bad, watching the ponies starting to shovel certain areas and trying to wake up the animals; that was pretty neat. It wasn’t that bad until the ponies started to sing…

It came out of nowhere, something that quickly built up in volume. Instruments soon joined in, adding to the cacophony of madness that was overwhelming the town. Anon could see why the other beings wanted nothing to do with this; the singing almost got to him, forcing him to join in on their dancing and the chorus of the damned. He had already been informed it could be upwards of an hour, though it could be as long as four or five. The thought of him dancing and singing for that long sent a chill down his spine.

Luckily for him, his ability allowed him to snap out of the horrid magic that engulfed the town, but just barely. Anon ran as hard as he could away from it, but everywhere he turned, it followed him as if searching him out.

At the moment, he was running down an alleyway, hoping to get away from the singing that was attempting to suck him back in. He had barely made it out the last time it crept upon him, he wasn’t sure if he could get out of it if caught up to him again.

“HEY!”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a griffon yelling at him from a door he had just run past. Turning around, the griffon motioned for him to get in. Hoping to find some refuge, he dove through the door as the griffon slammed it shut.

Sweating heavily and breathing hard, he looked around from where he was laying and saw a group of griffons and minotaurs, along with a few beings he didn’t recognize. And of course, no ponies. Some of them were playing cards, while others were talking to one another. This all stopped once Anon dove into the room, with them all curious about their new arrival.

“I see we meet up once more,” he heard from his side.

Looking over, he could see the familiar face of the minotaur from yesterday. Kamos was smiling down at him, giving him a helping hand up.

Accepting it Anon got pulled up to his feet. “Thanks,” he said, wiping his brow from the accumulated sweat.

“No problem,” he answered. “It was quite funny to see we are experiencing a day of their singing and joyous celebrations just as we arrive in these lands.”

“And this is why I think we should just all avoid these places,” one of Kamos’s hooded friends said with arms crossed.

“It is a learning experience, Thane,” a female sounding minotaur said. “We were sent out to learn more about them and to try and open relations. It would have been a matter of time we would get stuck in something like this.”

“Can I conclude that they are all crazy and we go home?” Thane asked.

“What exactly are you trying to learn from the ponies?” Anon asked, brushing the dust from his clothes.

“I do not think that’s any of your business,” Thane asked, sounding annoyed.

Kamos glared at Thane, “I think you should be nicer to the Rebel Stomper, Thane. You would not want to sully our ties now, would you?”

Thane’s body shook from surprise, his hooded head turned to Anon. “I… I was not aware… I just thought—”

“It does not matter what you may think, there’s never a proper reason to outright be rude to others,” the still unnamed female said. Thane grunted out once the female minotaur bumped him in the side, turning to Anon. “I am sorry about my spoiled apprentice. My name is Thera. We’re simply here to observe and learn more about how they view us, their lands, and their own customs.”

“I do not think any of us expected to be involved in something as crazy as this!” Kamos said, letting out a loud guffaw.

“Neither did I,” Anon said with a sigh. “I wasn’t even informed about this. It’s difficult, learning about the ponies and their… oddness.”

“Does this deter you from them at all?” Kamos asked, genuinely interested.

Anon shook his head, “On the contrary, it just has me wanting to learn more about them. They’re quite friendly and have been nothing but helpful, so I have no doubt they’ll be there when I need them.”

“Yes… they are almost too friendly,” Thane commented.

“Yeah, they can be at times,” Anon agreed. “Coming from where I came from, they’re very, VERY open. But I just take it as a quirk of theirs. I’ve made plenty of friends from the ponies.”

Anon could see Kamos smiling, hearing that. “Then let me be another friendly being to add to that list.” He stuck his hand out. “Let me reintroduce myself more properly. My name is Kamos Fizzleknob, Son of Fizzleknob Clan, and current heir to the newly united lands of Minothesa.”

Thera freaked out, looking at the other beings in the room to see if they had heard; they had, in fact, not. “Should you really be telling him that information?” she asked in a low whisper as the two shook hands.

“We are trying to be friendly and open; hiding such things as who we are would not do well for us.”

Anon raised an eyebrow. “Then why are you cloaked?”

“It is somewhat difficult to walk anywhere without a minotaur or someone else spotting me for who I am at times,” Kamos said. “Before, I was just a chieftain child of the strongest clan, but now with my new role, it is not something I want to be constantly bugged about. It would defeat the purpose of seeing how my own integration into the pony lands and seeing them without any bias.”

“Ah, I think I get what you’re saying.” Anon rubbed the back of his head, looking at the door. “Sucks we all have to be locked in a place like this though. Not much of a place to experience things.”

Thera barked a laugh, “On the contrary! We get to see how the others in these lands handle such things when they come up!”

“Yes, having places designated for this and to hide from is a good idea,” Kamos said. “We may need to set up some things like this ourselves if we ever have them living on our lands.”

“Do ponies not live outside of Equestria?” Anon asked.

“Some do,” Kamos answered, “but never in large amounts. Minotaurs and griffons get agitated when they congregate in too large of a group for… reasons, this being one of the bigger ones.”

“I just say keep them out and we’d all be fine,” Thane said.

Thera thumped Thane’s head with her fist, “Keeping us segregated will do nothing but damage our people. We can not keep holing ourselves off from the rest of the world, especially with all the races coming out of the woodworks, as the saying goes. Even the griffons are doing better from their closer relations to the Equestrians, and they barely cooperate with them as it is!”

Thane rubbed his head, huffing to the side. “I still don’t like their culture. This singing is no less than torture!”

“We knew of the dangers when coming here, Thane,” Thera said with crossed arms.

“It’s not that bad, just a… cultural oddity of theirs,” Anon said. The three gave Anon looks of disbelief that he had said that with a straight face. “Okay, fine, this live musical of theirs is horrible.”

“Them saying ‘everypony’ is a cultural oddity,” Thane said. “This singing is a cultural nightmare.”

“Now,” Kamos started, “to be fair, this is a rarity for them to have such large celebrations for singing. It happens, what? At least ten times a year. Surely we can prepare for those times.”

Thane grumbled to himself as Thera hummed, “Hmm, true. I remember being in a… sing-a-long in the past, but it was only three of them. It only lasted a few minutes. It was more of an annoyance than anything.”

“And to think the human here has not been a part of a single one since coming here,” Kamos said before laughing out. “The luck this one has!”

“Everyone, hush up!” the griffon from before harshly whispered as the entire building held their collected breaths, standing still. The griffon, holding her head to the door, had the color draining from her face before looking at Anon. “Oh… Oh no,” she whispered to herself.

“What is it, Gloria?” a minotaur nearby whispered to her.

“They’re… they’re singing about… the human…”

The others, with their sharpened ears, could pick up what she said easily. Anon was sadly out of luck from his normal, human hearing. The others slowly moved back from him, moving into a back room without him noticing luckily.

“The song has already claimed him,” the minotaur said, backing away from the door. “He’ll… he’ll take us all with him if he’s caught here!”

The griffon at the door slowly turned to Anon before a thought struck her. “Excuse me, Anon was it?” the griffon said loud enough for him to hear. “I, um… I think someone’s trying to talk to you but I can’t reach the peephole without making too much noise. Could you check it out?”

“Couldn’t you just look yourself?” Anon asked.

“It’s not for me and I wouldn’t want to intrude on anything!”

Maybe it was simple naivete, or perhaps it was him remembering his earlier words with Bon Bon about not looking too into things like before, but Anon just shrugged and walked up to the door. The griffon slowly walked backward before silently scurrying into the backroom with the others. Anon, cautiously, looked through the peephole. There was only one problem here: there wasn’t one.

“…I’ve been snookered,” Anon muttered out just as the door behind him slammed shut.

“We are so very, very, veeeerry sorry!” Anon heard someone screaming through the door.

“Your sacrifice will be remembered!” the voice of Kamos shouted out.

Anon, attempting to turn around to try and get away found the front door slammed open. A mass of pony hooves came through the door, grabbing onto Anon’s back to pull him out with them. He attempted to dislodge the hooves from him, desperately trying to flee. But it was hopeless for him; the ponies had already claimed him.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

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Princess Celestia sat at her table, penning a letter that would be sent to Lyra’s house. In it was the next assignment that she would be sending her off to. The princess told the mare in the letter that she could bring along two beings with her on this first trip, though Celestia strongly hinted at her bringing Bon Bon and Anon. She would also send a stack of documents for Lyra to read through about the different beings she would be encountering on her trips and what to prepare for.

Sitting back, the princess had to wonder if Lyra could truly handle it all. The Kingdom of Ponyo, Gryphonia, Minothesa, and Camelot just to name a few were four of the more important nations she needed to secure better ties with. Certain places like Yakiyakistan could be held off until the less traveled lands were addressed. Ponyo was being extremely open with her, and Camelot strongly wanted to have their ‘heroes’ face off against their own. Anon would be integral to all of this, as would Lyra and Bon Bon.

Thinking on the human, she was glad that there was little issue with getting him back from the rebels when they had. While she may have sent off Twilight and her friends to go get them along with Discord, in reality, she had sent two large armies around both bases, just in case anything didn’t go her way. Luna was quite happy that they didn’t question why there were so many chariots in the town when they left. That wouldn’t have been a fun conversation with Twilight to have.

It was quite embarrassing for her to have the first-ever alien foalnapped right under her nose. While Minothesa was quiet on the subject, Gryphonia certainly wasn’t. Her only saving grace was that she ended the entire ordeal within a few days of it happening.

Celestia knew she had a hoofful of work to get through dealing with this all. She still needed to figure out what was happening in Minothesa and needed to work out why the king of Gryphonia was being so aggressive as of late. She had thought long and hard about where she would first send Lyra to while talking to her sister and what her little spies had gathered up.

Ending the letter with a wax seal on the envelope, Princess Celestia worked up a spell before the letter and the documents went out the room in a green slither of mist, to be deposited in Lyra’s house.

“At least she’ll have a few days to relax before she goes out,” Princess Celestia said before standing up to find Inkwell. She still needed to work out why Cadance was having trouble with a cave near her lands that just wouldn’t let anypony in. There just wasn’t any time for her to relax, she found.

~End Chapter Twenty-Three~

Chapter Twenty-Four – Decisions, Decisions…

Anon was a tired, broken man. There was nothing more to say to that statement, for it was a fact. The torturous endeavor he had gone through was something no man should have ever been forced to endure for any reason. He was certain it would be classified as a war crime back on his planet what had transpired.

The ponies were not the cute, cuddly things they were made out to be. On the inside of that bubbly exterior was a hideous interior full of barbs and needles, ready to strike out at their foes. It could be your sweet little sister or your sickly grandmother, possibly your childhood friend or even your neighbor Bob. Of course, no one liked Bob, so he was an exception.

He was but a plaything to these ponies, Anon had realized. Their torture was the kind that would stretch for as long as it could, surgically cutting into you, slicing deep at an insanely slow speed, to allow one to feel every bit of the pain it produced. Every muscle in your body would ache in pain from overexertion. Your very throat will feel like hot coals were thrown down them as it screamed in agony.

“Anon, it wasn’t that bad.”

If one could survive what they put you through, it would be an uphill battle to return to your life as if nothing had happened. They had ways of making one feel helpless and small like you were nothing. And they made promises on returning, to continue the job with an eagerness one would find disturbing.

“Seriously, get up.”

In the end, you would find yourself realizing you were surrounded by a pony-driven mad world.

“You’re being silly.”

And they were inviting you to join them…

“He’s not going to listen to you like that, Lyra,” Bon Bon said, watching Lyra poking at Anon’s prone form on his bed.

He hadn’t moved from the bed ever since the pony sing-a-long the other day. The moment it had ended, he slowly walked back to the house, went into the room, and laid on the bed, staring at the ceiling. The others thought he was being over-dramatic about the whole thing; they just didn’t understand.

“Come on, we only sang and danced for a little while!”

‘Over four hours does not equate to a little while.’

“Surely you had fun with us?”

Lyra’s attempts at opening Anon up were futile. He was a broken man, one that would lay shattered to the ends of time. There was nothing that could salvage this broken vessel, nothing to mend the pieces together once more.

“Lyra, you’re doing it wrong,” Bon Bon said, walking up to Anon with something beside her. Bringing it up to Anon, she lifted the lid, placing it near his face. “Why, look at that! It’s Calydonian! Straight from the griffon lands themselves.”

The smell that wafted from the tray nearly made him drool on the spot. Slowly sitting up, Anon could see something that looked eerily reminiscent of a… ham steak!?

He didn’t need an invitation, picking it up with his bare hands and biting down into it. The thing didn’t taste at all like a ham steak; it was even better! It was as if the meat gods had descended from the heavens and blessed his meal, feeling pity for his terrible life. A small tear wept from his eye, trailed down his face at truly tasting heaven.

“Guess we’re picking up more Calydonian when we get home,” Lyra said with a pout, upset her attempts had failed.

It was only after half of the steak was done that Anon felt satisfied, and dare he say, happy. There was nothing like meat after so long of nothing that could make one perk up with joy. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t have night terrors about what had happened, but he could at least live on knowing there would be meat in the near future.

“Huh. I didn’t even have to bring this out,” Bon Bon said, obviously meaning the second dish Anon hadn’t even noticed.

More out of curiosity to how he’d react, Lyra lifted the tray, revealing—

“BACON!”

Oh, it appeared that Anon was now on the ground, eating at the mound of bacon that they had hidden from him. How DARE they do that! Hiding such a thing from him, they were truly monsters…

Sitting on the ground, eating his meat, Anon was content at the moment, not caring about what was happening around him. As it so happened, there was a knock at the door, alerting the two ponies to it. Opening, Rosie peered her head in. “Is every—” She stopped, noticing Anon on the ground, eating the food with his bare hands. “Are… why is he eating on the ground like that?”

Bon Bon didn’t answer, “I’m assuming our carriage is ready for the train home?”

Rosie didn’t take her eyes off of Anon. “Yes ma’am, along with your personal effects being stored on it. The train will be departing soon so you should… probably start heading out soon.”

“Thank you, Rosie. It pains me to know I won’t be able to say my farewells to my parents.”

“They are currently talking as it is about some new trade routes that will be direct to our port, but they do wish you would write them more often.”

“I’ll make sure to remember when I get back to Ponyville.”

“If there is anything else that you need,” Rosie put out, still staring at Anon munching at his food.

“No, we’ll be down to the carriage once Anon is done here.”

“…Very well. I am needed elsewhere at the moment. I do hope you have a safe trip back.” And with that, she was gone.

Anon hadn’t heard a single word that was spoken, too focused on the bacon. Once he had devoured every last bite, he licked his fingers and let out a satisfied sigh. He then blinked, looking around the room. “Wait, what’s going on now?”

“We’re leaving back to Ponyville,” Lyra said, helping Anon up. “We should go now so we don’t miss the train.”

Brushing his pants off, Anon followed behind them out the door. Exiting the building, they walked down the steps before stopping at a carriage out in front. It was currently attached to two ponies that were the draft horses, or ponies, for it. They didn’t even look in their direction as the three of them got into their seats, only taking off once they had done so.

It was only halfway into their trip that Anon turned to Bon Bon. “Where did that come from?”

“Did what come from?”

“The meat.”

“Oh, that?” Bon Bon didn’t look amused for some reason. “It was a gift from a griffon that gave it to me to pass off to you. I almost forgot about that, she said it was an apology for something that happened yesterday. Do you know anything about that?”

Anon rubbed his chin. “The only thing that comes to mind is—” He stopped, remembering the place he was hiding in. How they abandoned him to his fate…

Shaking his head, Anon forced those memories deep, deeeeep into the back of his mind, hoping to forget what had transpired the other day. He then looked at Bon Bon, who appeared worried, smiling at her. “Nope, not a clue!”

“Are you s—”

“Nothing trauma-inducing happened at all! Nope!”

Lyra and Bon Bon looked to one another before shrugging it off, uncertain they wanted to know.

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His trip from the train was better prepared, now that he knew what to expect. Inside his cabin, he made sure the door was closed tight so when the rolling tide of ponies came through, there was no chance of him being swallowed up. It was entertaining watching Lyra and Bon Bon through that ordeal; they stood stock still, jittering in place before slamming up against the door. It attempted to open itself, but Anon was capable of easily keeping it shut. The only thing that worried him was that it didn’t appear to open by magic, but as if by a supernatural force. Perhaps getting his two little investigators to look into it would give him some incite about why it happens. And if anything, he’d at least be amused by the results.

Once he got back to his house, Anon threw his suitcase at the foot of his bed, not caring about unpacking. Right then, he just wanted to sit down in the living room, maybe read a book, and relax for the remainder of the day. The trip was tiring and he was simply happy to be back in someplace that wasn’t psycho, groupie, cocaine, crazy.

Okay, well, not so bonkers at least. While Van Hoover had some interesting places to go to, and he was quite interested in their food, that place will forever hold bad memories for him. Bad memories…

Feeling something shift on his side, Anon saw Bon Bon taking a seat, having just placed down a tray of tea and cups. She gave one to him, already served up. “Thanks,” he said, taking a sip. “Gingerbread?”

“The Cakes were selling them for cheap a while back,” she said, taking her sip. “I guess they’re still experimenting on making that flavor, it’s not perfect.”

“Yeah, it’s got a… what would you say? Something is off like it’s got a woody taste to it.”

“I can agree with that. Still, cheap tea is cheap.”

“True that.”

Sipping on their tea, Lyra came over and sat beside Bon Bon before serving herself some tea as well. “So, we’ve got a few more days before my little vacation runs out. While all the snow is gone, there isn’t going to be much of anything happening out in town. Some businesses will be closed, trying to fix their stocks for Spring weather and there won’t be any events happening for some time. Early springs suck.”

“It’s nice to have the grass back,” Anon said. “While I love the winter, returning to warmer weather will be nice.”

“It just sucks there isn’t going to be anything to do for my vacation. I was expecting tobogganing and ice fortresses and such, but now there’s just early Spring.” Lyra said, taking a sip. “Still, I c—” She spat out her drink, a disgusted look on her face. “W-Whaaa? Bonnie?! Why are you serving dirt flavored tea?!”

“I didn’t think it was that bad…” Bon Bon said.

Lyra started to pull on her tongue with her hooves, trying to remove the flavor.

Anon sighed, setting his cup down. “Okay, yeah. The tea is pretty bad.” Bon Bon mimicked him, grumbling to herself.

At that moment, a twinkling noise appeared, reverberating through the air. A green glow started to pulse over on the wall, over where Lyra usually worked. Her lantern was the culprit for all of this.

“Oh!” Lyra exclaimed, jumping from her seat and walking over. Slapping the top, she pulled out a fat stack of papers and a letter. Turning around, she looked at the two before letting out a chuckle, “I’ve got that thing to go off every hour whenever I get a package and I haven’t checked on it yet. But the only one that has its receiving signature is Princess Celestia…”

“Gee, I wonder who it was from then,” Anon sarcastically said.

“I don’t know!” Both Bon Bon and Anon deadpanned at her as she inspected the letter. Looking at it, she gasped. “It’s from the princess!”

“No way,” the two said in unison.

“Right?!” Lyra went on to read through the letter with gusto. “Dear Lyra, yadda-yadda… documents… yeah, yeah, okay…” She let out another gasp at what she had read before looking up at the two of them. “Princess Celestia… she wants me to do my job!”

Anon slapped his hands to his cheeks. “Gasp! How horrible!”

Bon Bon couldn’t help but giggle. Lyra shook her head, huffing out. “No! I mean she wants me to do what my job is meant for! I… I never thought this would ever happen!”

“What your job was meant for?” Anon was confused. “I thought it was to collect information and the whole, well, alien thing.”

Lyra shook her head, “No, the alien thing was just my work that the princess was fine with. And while my job is to collect and help to both order information given to me and help give suggestions where needed, that’s merely something attached in the past to give my position busywork. My position is primarily meant as a kind of, well, a go-between for the other races.”

Bon Bon frowned, “I remember you saying something about this. The job was created as a way to cross bridges between beings and outside nations. While you’re not an ambassador per se, since you don’t stay in a foreign country as one would, you go between the nations to help settle disputes, collect information, and act as a dignitary for our nation amongst other things.”

Anon looked at Lyra, surprised. “I knew that your work was important, but I wasn’t aware that you were such a bigwig. Having similar powers, if not more, than an ambassador is enormous.”

“I’m not anyone important,” Lyra said, scratching a hoof on the ground.

“You stop that,” Bon Bon interjected. “Lyra here not only went through the School for Gifted Unicorns, something a VERY select few are allowed but was also tutored by the princess herself.”

Lyra lifted a hoof in defense, “Princess Celestia only taught me so much before I needed proper tutors for my job! Everypony knows that Twilight was her protege.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Lyra,” Bon Bon said. “No, you’re not Twilight special, but you’re still extremely magically gifted. I don’t think I know of anyone that can take apart runes better than you, and your magical capacity is massive, like the top one percent in the world alongside Twilight. And your job is difficult to even acquire, no single pony knows how the princess chooses them and there can only be one at any given time for any nation.”

“So other ponies have had this job?” Anon asked.

Bon Bon nodded, not giving Lyra any time to respond. “Other nations also have Kommunelegatusionists that go out on such roles, but after all the other nations closed ties or disappeared, it left very few nations with the position with an active role. I think the only other active role right now would be in Aquastria and… I can’t remember the other one, something about talking cats.”

Lyra let out a sigh, “It’s a title that didn’t have any power at all like it used to. I was simply happy to have something that allowed me to do what I’ve always wanted. I never thought I’d be in a position where I’d go out and do what this title was made for.”

“What is the princess expecting you to do?” Anon asked, leaning over in his seat.

Looking back to her letter, Lyra read through it quickly once more. “She wants to send me out to the other nations, of course, and to check on some for each of them. Nothing too difficult there, check-in on the people, see if there’s anything fishy going on she should know about, help out when needed, et cetera. I’m also supposed to keep this information to myself and my party.”

Bon Bon and Anon slapped their foreheads, Lyra completely oblivious.

“Oh! I can choose two beings to be with me!” She looked at Bon Bon and Anon, a large smile present on her. “Eeh?! Eeeeeh?!”

“I don’t see any reason why I can’t go along,” Bon Bon said. “I’ll just sell my wares to other stands to sell themselves. It’ll cut on the profits but I’m assuming the princess is paying the two you’re taking.”

“Yep!” Lyra then turned to Anon. “Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh?”

Anon frowned. He knew something was going on with the princess. “Never such a thing as a free lunch.” A sigh escaped his lips, “See, I knew she was up to something. I feel like I don’t have much of a choice in this matter.”

Lyra tilted her head in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“The princess and her “gifts”,” he said with air quotes. “On top of the whole paying for this house, she’s also been paying me a stipend while being here with you, gave you a paid vacation, and was extremely lenient on any kind of punishment on your group for going out to get me. I just don’t feel like I have much a choice in this. Saying no would be equivalent to spitting in her face for all she’s done.”

Now it was Bon Bon who looked at Anon in confusion. “One, ew. Two, while I don’t agree with some things the princess has done, she’s the type to help others because she wants to. You shouldn’t feel like you’re being forced to do anything.”

“Excuse me for thinking she’s had an ulterior motive this whole time,” he said, crossing his arms. “Even still, it wouldn’t look right if I decided to bow out after all she HAS done for me.”

“So you… don’t want to come with us?” Lyra asked, ears drooping down.

“I didn’t say that, just that I feel like I can’t exactly say whether I want to or not.”

“So you are coming?”

Anon grumbled, “There isn’t much else for me to do here anyways other than sitting around now that I don’t have a job to go back to. Besides, might as well see what’s out there in the world.”

“Yeah, I doubt you’d want to be bugged by the trainers the entire time we were gone,” Bon Bon told him as she stood up to remove the offensive tea.

“Why would they come back?” Anon asked.

Lyra let out a nervous chuckle, “I sort of, kinda felt I had to report about the whole curse thing back in Van Hoover and one of them is coming out to look at how it can remove curses like that, along with the whole not being able to hear Bonnie’s mom.” Anon groaned, sitting back into the couch with a hand over his face. “Sh-she’ll only be around for a little while for a few days before we leave though! I couldn’t just say nothing!”

“When’s she coming?”

“Tomorrow in the morning. He’ll check things out and then leave you alone for the rest of the day, I swear! Princess Celestia even said so!”

“We can still relax and have some fun before we leave,” Bon Bon said, returning with a new pot of tea. “It won’t be a few more days until we have to do anything.”

Anon stood up, stretching his back before making his way to his bedroom. “That sounds fine. I’m beat from everything so I think I’m gonna call it early today,” he said with a wave behind his back.

With the door closing behind him, Lyra looked at Bon Bon. “Do you think he’s upset with something?”

“Maybe he’s hesitant on going outside our lands,” Bon Bon said, serving another cup for her and Lyra. “Plus, we did say it was supposed to be a vacation for this week yet he’s still got a trainer coming in tomorrow. We don’t know how long he’ll be here, no matter what was assured previously; the trainer could decide he needs to stay longer.”

“Oh…” Lyra looked at the ground with a frown. “I ruined our vacation, didn’t I?”

“Why would you think that?”

Lyra placed the letter and documents down, sitting down at her desk. “I don’t know, isn’t it always my fault when something goes wrong?”

Bon Bon walked up to her, rubbing Lyra’s back. “No you goof, why would it be? I bet he’s just tired from yesterday. I won’t say he’s not upset about the trainer, but I’m sure he understands that you had to tell the princess about it.”

Lyra stared down at the letter and papers she hadn’t looked at. Bon Bon could see she was thinking about something, and with her face making different expressions, she was developing something to do in her head like she usually does. “What are you planning?”

“Something for Anon of course,” she said, jumping from her seat and walking to the front door. “I’ve got a lot of ponies I need to talk to for this to work.”

“For what to work?”

She turned around, smiling at her, “To give Anon a party tomorrow, of course!”

Before Bon Bon could figure out what that amounted to, Lyra left the house, jumping down the street to her destination. “Hopefully Anon survives whatever she’s planning.”

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“How fascinating!”

The pony across from Anon peered at his ears for a bit, looking at it through some odd device that flashed different colors. It was quite obviously magical, from the gem that was set inside the middle of it all.

“It seems the colors turn back to a bright white the moment it starts to get near your ears!” She scratched something on a notepad before returning to the ear. “What’s interesting about this is the nullification is acting outside your body instead of on or in! By my measurements, it’s about half an inch away from your ear, forming a dome-like shield around it.” More scratches on her pad, “I’ve never seen anything like this! Our magic inhibitors truly have nothing on whatever you are.”

“Magic inhibitors?” Anon asked, keeping his head straight. “So you ponies do have something that stops magic like me.”

The trainer hummed, still trying to measure the exact size of the dome she was seeing. “Not quite. Our magic inhibitors simply stop magic from being used. You not only do that but from what the trainers before had documented and what had happened in Van Hoover, you can actively neutralize it entirely! It’s why when you have that nullification coating around your body activated, the magic simply goes away when it touches you in any form.”

The pony placed her device down, messing with her notepad before turning back to Anon. “The trainers that came before me only thought the nullification was a defense mechanism that reached across your body like armor and turning magic off when you touched things. But seeing as you can push it out and into others, it’s clear that we’re dealing with something much more dangerous. How exciting!”

“You’re not scared of this?” Anon asked, watching the pony bring up the instrument at an angle.

“Certainly! But if I was to shy away from every little thing that scares me, I wouldn’t be where I am today!” She placed her tools down, scratching on her notepad one more time before taking out a tray of cooked bacon. “Now, I had heard that you prefer this over what we normally eat, so I brought some over as a way to show some form of goodwill, along with helping in the next part of this.”

Taking the bacon, Anon was pretty excited seeing it so soon. It died down a little, looking at its state. “Is there something wrong?” the pony asked.

“It’s cold…”

“Ah,” he mumbled, writing something down. “…Prefers hot… hmm… hmmm… Okay, so this next part I want you to eat a piece.”

“That’s it?” Seeing the pony nod, Anon took one and happily shoved it into his mouth.

While it was cold, the taste was still as fantastic as it was the last time. Anon took his time chewing the piece of bacon in his mouth, savoring the flavor as long as he could. The pony simply wrote down his observations into his pad, not wanting to interrupt things.

When it was clear Anon was finished, the pony gave him another piece of bacon. “Okay, eat this piece as well, but this time put your nullification on your tongue while doing so.”

Not seeing any reason not to do as he was asked, especially since he was being given bacon, he looked inside himself and activated the trigger. It took a bit to work it into his tongue, finding the sensation odd. Immediately, he felt something… off, like there was something horribly wrong going on. He smacked his lips, trying to get that wrongness out of his mouth.

“Is there something wrong?” the pony asked.

“Something feels strange in my mouth, I don’t know why.”

“Try eating the bacon, maybe that’ll help?”

Following his directions, Anon started to chew on the bacon. Immediately, he felt something had gone wrong, and now he knew why. The bacon had lost its previous shine in flavor. It tasted duller, like whatever was there had vanished. It still tasted of high-quality bacon, but it didn’t give him that great feeling of fullness and satisfaction like it did previously.

Anon told the pony this, her eyes widening. “How thrilling! So it does appear even organs inside of you can be individually affected, like your tongue! Oh, as to why the flavor had gone, the food still has bits of magic you were digesting inside of yourself.”

“Can I stop?”

“Hmm? Oh, yes, I’m quite done with everything for today. We’ve learned so much in the hour I’ve been here haven’t we!” The pony continued scribbling things down into her pad as all the tools she brought with her were levitated into her pack. “You can keep the bacon; I have no need for it.”

“Gee, how nice of you.”

“While I am helping you to train and collect information from you, I do hope that we can extend some branch of friendship, Anon.”

“A little hard to when the simplest of things, such as giving out names, are forgotten…”

The pony had the decency to look ashamed of herself, blushing in embarrassment. A cough before she reached out a hoof. “I do apologize; the pursuit of knowledge had gotten ahold of me once more. My name is Smoky Ditz.” Anon shook her hoof, making sure to keep his ability turned off.

“So same time tomorrow?” Anon said as the pony started getting up.

“Yes, we’ll likely be looking more into how your senses work on curse magic and that dome of yours, curious about you projecting that from yourself.”

“Projecting?”

“Why, yes! That dome of yours proves that your ability can extend off of you, so it’s likely you can put up a kind of field around yourself if given practice.”

“What use would there be in teaching me that kind of thing?”

“There are a few practical uses I can think of, such as working them into our inhibitors to learning more about how your ability works. Fascinating stuff to look at, your nullification. I’ll be out of your hair now, certain you want to go back to whatever it is you do. I must go find my lodgings with the previous trainer. Strange that she’s been delegated to foalsitting instead of working with you. How peculiar."

And just like that, the pony was gone with one final wave, leaving Anon sitting at a table with a small tray of cold bacon. It was still bacon, which Anon was slowly eating as he sat there, thinking about his ability.

“I wonder what else I can do with this,” he thought, pushing a little onto his hand as he ate with his other. “Maybe it could work on other things besides magic? I could do something like nullifying someone’s movements? Yeah, that’d be rad.”

Hearing the clopping of hooves, Anon turned his head, watching Lyra make her way up to him. Taking a seat right by him, she looked at the bacon, confused.

“Trainer gal brought it here for her work.”

“That’s awfully kind, and strange, of her.”

Anon shrugged, “Don’t care, free bacon.”

“Alright… Anyways! I’ve been doing some things out in town and I have something fun planned for us to do today.”

He paused in chewing his bacon, turning to Lyra. “Oh?”

She shook her head up and down, “Yep! It took a lot of work but I got somepony to help me out and it’s going to be so much fun!”

“I, uh… What about Bon Bon? Couldn’t she go instead?”

“Bonnie said she had to talk to some ponies about her candy,” Lyra said with a pout. “I told her she should just sell it all to Pinkie, but then she kept arguing why that was a really stupid idea.”

“A hopped up Pinkie on that much candy is kind of a stupid idea, Lyra.”

She harrumphed, continuing, “So she’s going to do things out in town while we go out and have some fun! Don’t worry, it’s relatively safe even!”

“I suppose relatively safe is better than not safe at all,” Anon said, swallowing his bacon.

“So come on and get ready for a fun time!”

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“This does NOT look like a fun time, Lyra!”

Parked right in front of Anon was a hot air balloon.

“Oh come on, you sounded interested in this the first time I brought it up!”

“That was before I knew you ponies had barely any safety regulations for anything at all!”

The pony that was working the balloon looked at Anon, confusion on her mind. “What are safety regulations?”

“Anon, at least try it out! It’ll be fun! Going up in the sky, seeing everything from high up, and look!” She brought up a basket with her magic in the air. “I also brought snacks!”

“She did already pay for the ride,” the pony balloonist said, “along with getting me out here in the first place. I don’t even open this up for another few weeks for rides.”

Looking at Lyra, giving him the puppy-eyed look, he inwardly groaned to himself, feeling it was a bad idea to do this, before slowly walking to the balloon. Lyra looked overjoyed, skipping up to the balloon and getting inside it. Getting in himself, Anon felt that it was too low of a wall for him, already regretting his decision.

“I better not die up there or I’m coming back to haunt you, Lyra.”

“I don’t know why you think my balloon is so unsafe,” the balloonist said, closing up the entrance.

“This thing was made with ponies in mind, not humanoids.”

“Huma-what now?”

“A term from back home; mean beings similar to my build. Just think bipedal. There aren’t even any guard rails on this thing. What if this thing buckles in the air? I don’t hit a wall, I hit air and fall!”

“Hmm…” The pony rubbed her chin, thinking about what he had said. “Guard rails…”

“At least it’s pretty wide, though it’d have to be for ponies now that I think about— why are we going up?” Anon could already see he was a few feet in the air, just then feeling the balloon moving, and it was gaining height.

“I already unhitched the balloon for y’all once you got on,” the pegasus said, watching them slowly raise into the air. “Just remember to bring that back in two hours!” The pony started muttering something about guard rails, walking away from them.

Anon on the other hand was holding on for dear life, already a few meters too high in the air to reconsider jumping back out.

“It’s fine, we’re going to have so much fun!” Lyra said, patting his shoulder. That only made him more nervous. “Are… you okay?”

“Oh, just peachy! I just get a tad nervous over very unsafe things I’m a part of,” Anon said, looking down at the ground which was getting further and further away from him.

Lyra, hoping to cheer him up, grabbed her basket, and opened it up. Inside was a few glass bottles of some kind of drink along with a few pieces of fruit and hotdogs. Lyra levitated one over to Anon who shakily grabbed it. Lyra frowned seeing this while also levitating over an apple.

She then smiled, trying to keep up appearances. “We’ll be over all of Ponyville soon! You’ll be getting the best sight of it up here in the sky. Won’t that be great!”

“Maybe. I don’t know.” Anon just held his hotdog while sitting down on the basket floor, trying to keep calm about the situation.

After a few minutes, the balloon had gotten quite high. Lyra peered over, letting out a whistle.

Looking over himself, Anon had to agree with that. It was interesting seeing the entire place from up high.

“Okay, that’s some view,” he said. Lyra smiled hearing that.

The two of them sat there, enjoying their meal, and looking at things in the sky. Anon had even calmed down considerably, though he was still anxious to get down.

“Just out of curiosity, but how do we get to the ground in this thing?”

“Oh, that’s easy! See, right up there is a—” She paused, looking scared. Anon also looked, mimicking her fears.

There, flying right beside the balloon itself, was a pig with wings. As shocking as that was for Anon, what made him afraid was that the pig was, for whatever reason, clamping onto the balloon for dear life.

“Why… is there a flying pig… on our balloon?”

Lyra gulped, trying to find answers to that, “I don’t know. Pigasus are usually found in packs, so if there’s one, you’re bound to find more in the vicinity. Maybe it got lost from its pack?”

“And why is it holding onto our balloon?”

“It’s afraid of falling if it lets go?”

“Tell me you’re joking. It has wings.”

“They’re not very smart, okay?!”

Anon, standing up, slowly made his way to the thing while hunched over. Luckily, he was able to stand upright while on the edge, though the sight from down below made his stomach churn.

Only a foot away from the flying pig, he turned around, looking at Lyra, “How do I get it off?”

“I… I don’t know! I’d use my magic but I’m afraid the pig would freak out!”

Looking back at the stupid creature, Anon tried grabbing one of its wings to pull it off.

“SQUWEEE!”

Okay, so that didn’t work. It just held on tighter. Anon then tried to grab its body and pull it off.

“SQUWEEEEEE!”

That didn’t work either, the darn thing just didn’t want to let go and Anon didn’t feel confident enough with his position to fully grab around its body. So, Anon in his vast intellect and great wisdom concluded what to do next.

He slapped it.

“SQUWEE!”

And again.

“SQUWEE!”

It jiggled with each slap.

“SQUWEE!”

The hindquarters on this thing were almost like gelatin.

“SQUWEE!”

“Is this really better than my magic?” Lyra asked.

“SQUWEE!”

“Do you have any better ideas?”

“SQUWEE!”

“…Can I slap it next?”

“SQUWEE!”

“No, I’ve almost got it I think.”

“SQUWEE!”

“Wow, that fella just doesn’t want to let go.”

“SQUWEE!”

“I really, REALLY dislike your magical creatures.”

“SQUWEE!”

“It’s turning dark red.”

“SQUWEE!”

"You're not trying to cook it through friction are you?"

"SQUWEE!"

"Of course not, that' silly."

"SQUWEE!"

“Maybe it likes being slapped?”

“SQUWEE!”

The two of them were starting to get annoyed by the pig with wings. Anon, rearing his hand back for a massive slap, swung at the pigasus once more. Seeing this, pigasus let out a squeal of fright before dropping from the balloon. Immediately, it realized that it had wings and started to flap, readjusting itself before wobbly flying away.

“Sheesh! That thing was annoying!”

“Uhhh, Anon?”

Looking up, he could see the pigasus had left behind cuts inside the balloon itself. The moment he realized that was trouble, the balloon started to deflate fast with them plummeting to the ground.

Anon fell backward into the basket as Lyra yelped from the sudden jerking of the balloon. The two of them started screaming as they plummeted to the ground, holding onto one another for dear life. They weren’t sure how this would turn out, not likely to be a pretty site for them when they stopped.

Suddenly the entire form hit something, making them slam into the basket. It then bounced back into the air lightly, jumping up and down for a little while before finally stopping. Anon, sitting up, let out a groan of pain as Lyra kicked her hooves, trying to stand back up.

Once he had some semblance of control over his body, he attempted to stand up, only feeling the entire basket swaying to one side. Looking around, he didn’t see any trees, so he wasn’t sure where he was. For some reason, he thought he might still be in the air, though that couldn’t be right as the balloon was deflated and hung on something that looked suspiciously like a cloud.

“WHAT IN THE HAY ARE YOU DOING TO MY HOUSE?!” A familiar blue pony popped its head above the basket, looking quite peeved. “What do the two of you have to say for yourselves?!”

“…Pigasus suck,” Anon said, flopping back down onto the basket. Dash simply looked confused at what he had said.

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After explaining the situation, Dash couldn’t help but laugh at their predicament. Then she laughed even more at the mentioning of the pigasus. Lyra had used some sort of spell that allowed her to walk on clouds. Anon himself wasn’t convinced to leaving the balloon using such a spell on himself.

“I don’t think this is such a good idea.”

“Don’t worry, so long as that spell is working and you don’t turn on your ability, you should be safe,” Lyra said, walking up to the basket. Dash looked amused at the entire situation, watching Lyra convince Anon to walk on a cloud.

“So no jumping to my death or anything? I’ve not had good interactions with clouds in the past, mind you.”

“Bah,” Dash said with a wave of her hoof, “if that ever happened I’d just catch you.”

“And, if for some reason, you don’t?”

“…The fall will only hurt a little?”

“Yeah, I suppose death will help with that.”

Dash looked confused at that statement. Lyra walked up to her, whispered something in her ear, right before paling slightly. “Oh, yeah. Okay, that explains a lot. Maybe you should just try and get him down in the basket then?”

And now the two were slowly bringing the balloon down from the air, with Rainbow Dash holding onto the deflated balloon and Lyra helping levitate it still. Once on the ground, Anon stumbled out of the basket and collapsed out.

“God almighty why did you think that was a good idea?”

“It’s not like I thought that a pigasus of all things would come around and pop the balloon!”

In no time, Dash had laid the balloon flat on the ground, landing near the two. “Kinda sucks you didn’t want that spell used, would’ve liked to show you around the place.”

“Maybe if your house wasn’t so high in the sky I wouldn’t mind that.”

“I’ll just have to remember to bring it down low enough for you next time!”

“You can just move that thing around whenever you want, can’t you? Man, it must be pretty nice being able to move whenever you want.”

“Totally! Even better, I can shape whatever I want up there. Need a new wardrobe? Just shape those clouds and I’ve got one.”

“You’ll have to show me how you do that someday.”

“Sure! But right now, I just want to head back up and return to my nap.”

“Hiding from your coworkers?”

Dash stuck her tongue out before flying back up to her cloud. Lyra sighed, turning to Anon. “So, problem. I have to go and find Cherry Berry to tell her what happened. Could you stick around and watch the balloon while I go do that?”

“I don’t want to move at the moment anyway,” Anon said, still lying down.

“Okay, I’ll be back soon.”

And with that, she ran off back toward town, leaving Anon to watch the balloon.

‘God, I could have died up there. I’m not going back in one of those awful things until there’s something to ensure I don’t die like higher walls or guard rails on hot air balloons. Maybe talk to Twilight about those seatbelts on the chariots while I’m at it, still don’t know why it’s taking so long to install those everywhere. Bet it’s because of tradition. Stupid traditions. I know she’ll enforce them somehow if I asked.’

Anon was enjoying the silence, lying on the ground, eyes closed, and loving the cool breeze. It didn’t last long for him as he heard the clopping of hooves and a smattering of quiet conversations. Sitting up, Anon saw a small crowd starting to form around him. He figured it was due to the balloon crash that had happened, along with him being involved. Standing up, he dusted himself off, noticing they were all talking to themselves, whispering as they looked at Anon.

The circle of ponies that were growing in size split apart as a minotaur walked up to Anon with a confident smirk on his face, popping his knuckles as he approached the human. “So you actually came out here!”

Anon furrowed his brow, confused. “Well, I’m definitely out here…?”

The minotaur laughed to himself. “I didn’t think you would show up so quickly after I had appeared out here in this little town an hour ago, spreading the word about my challenge. I had thought you’d run away instead! After all, who would want to face me, The Bombastic Boom Bill? But it seems I was wrong.”

The crowd started to cheer as Anon looked around, eyes widening, not sure what was happening. “Wait, hold up. Why is everyone here?”

He laughed once more, “They’re just here to witness the fight of the century is all! The Bombastic Boom Bill facing off against Anon The Alien.” Boom Bill swirled an arm, trying to warm up. “I respect that you came out here, and in style no less! A hot air balloon of all things? What are you doing trying to one-up me here?!” The minotaur laughed heartily at this as the ponies grew louder.

The crowd only grew larger with all the ponies cheering. There were quite a few he didn’t even recognize from Ponyville, making him wonder where they came from and why he was a part of this spectacle.

Boom Bill, now properly stretched, stood five feet across from Anon, slapping a fist into his hand. A loud boom could be heard from it, making the crowd grow louder. “Hope you’re ready ‘cause The Bombastic Boom Bill is comin’ at ya!”

Rocketing at Anon, it was all he could do to dodge the minotaur and its fist. Pivoting on its small leg, the minotaur once more charged at Anon, fist held back and ready to slam into his body, a smile spread across his face.

“Couldn’t we just talk things out—” Anon dodged another fist, not having any problems as the minotaur wasn’t exactly that fast.

“Ha! I wouldn’t dare to give you time to think!” Another fist was thrown at him, once again dodged. “I think our fists will do plenty of talking for us!”

Whenever the minotaur got close, he would dodge or slide out of the way, though most times he could predict where the minotaur was going.

Another swing flew in his direction, easily dodged with how slow the minotaur was. Anon wondered if Boom Bill lied about his abilities he had boasted about. He had no trouble with dodging the minotaur at all.

Taking a step back, the minotaur kneeled, giving Anon a smile before letting out a roar and jumping into the air. The surprising thing about that was Bill’s tiny little legs managing to get him in the air at all, let alone what looked like ten whole feet. Arm cocked back during his flight, the minotaur once more threw it at Anon as he dropped in his direction. And once again Anon dodged it without any problems.

‘Really, this whole thing is silly too—’

A massive boom shot into the air, following the minotaurs landing into the ground. Anon stumbled back, looking at the crater which formed around Boom Bill’s fist.

The fist that was aimed previously at the human.

The very same fist that held a massive amount of power behind it.

Standing back up, the minotaur turned around and shook his tiny hand before giving Anon another smile. Anon now realized he was all power in his attacks, and a single hit could take him out with little trouble. Anon wasn’t having any of this at all.

His current options were limited. Escaping was hopeless as the crowd didn’t have any proper openings to let him escape without taking a hit or possibly being thrown back in. And he certainly didn’t want to let things go so easily as the minotaur could just come back around in the future. He hoped that the fists were nothing more than some magic in the things’ hands. Examining the minotaur, Anon thought coursing the thing with his ability would be the best way to stop him in his tracks.

Boom Bill, seeing the human taking a strange stance, let out a laugh. “OOOOH! NOW THE HUMAN SEES ME AND FEELS HE WANTS TO FIGHT?!” Boom Bill splayed his arms out, pumping them up in the air with the crowd cheering around him. “HE MUST NOT HAVE FOUND ME A WORTHY FIGHTER UNTIL HE SAW MY TRUE POWER! OOOH! LET’S GIVE HIM SOME MORE OF THE BOOM IN THESE BLAST POWERED FISTS!!!” The crowd grew louder hearing that, wanting to see more of the fight. “I WILL NOW STOP HOLDING BACK HUMAN, SO BE READY FOR FISTS OF FURY!!!”

Once more the minotaur charged at Anon with a fist held back. Anon had to think about this to figure out just how he’d finish the fight, and fast.

‘Okay, likely Boom Bill is charging his fist with magic, somehow. Thought only unicorns could do that. Perhaps internal magic? Runes? Mental note to ask Lyra later. My nullification should be able to disable that so long as I hit him directly in his core. The only way I know to deal with that is by throwing it all around his abdomen. Best bet I have here.’

Activating his nullification completely around his body, he continued to push it as hard as he could into himself. His clothing fluttered about, gaining a dullness to them that started to grey out his clothing. The minotaur ignored this, continuing its charge.

‘Next,’ Anon thought, ‘I’ll just have to wait until he’s close enough and grab him in some way. I don’t think I’ll be able to do much with holding him in place with how top-heavy it is; I’ll only be able to do one hit to his chest before I dodge back from any counters he could throw back.’

As soon as the minotaur came near, he threw his power charged fist at Anon. Instead of dodging away, Anon threw himself right at the minotaur with his shoulder. Boom Bill was surprised seeing this, unable to move out of the way as the human went right by the fist.

Due to its outreached hand and position, it allowed Anon to slam into his chest and position the minotaur on his shoulders quickly. Boom Bill grunted, confused about how he should react. He’d never had anyone go at him like this before.

Anon, immediately after his slam, grabbed the arm connected to the charged fist with his full nullification power on; he felt something immediately deactivating in the minotaur, likely the power that was in his fist. Boom Bill, feeling this, started to panic inside.

Immediately after, he slung him right over his shoulders, with his other hand grabbing a leg in the air. Boom Bill, feeling something sickly entering his body and body propelled into the air, had never felt so terrified.

The body now fully in the air, Anon flung him completely over his shoulder, slamming the minotaur as hard as he could into the ground. The minotaur felt the air escaping him, confused by his position and what was happening. Anon, now bent over him, immediately charged what he could into his palms and slammed it into the guy's chest. Not wanting to see the result and preferring to be safe, he rolled away as fast as he could before standing up, ready for whatever would come next.

…Apparently, nothing. The crowd had grown quiet, stunned by how quick Boom Bill was taken down. Boom Bill himself looked out of the fight, not ready for his own core to being nullified like it was. His body looked grayer all of a sudden like it lost some coloration. He tried standing up, finding the act difficult to accomplish before falling backward on his back.

Attempting it once more, he stood up, hand on his chest as he panted, looking at Anon. There was a great deal of fear in those eyes, staring at Anon and what he had done to him.

Looking around, the minotaur realized there were spectators witnessing everything. He closed his eyes, attempting to regain his composure as he stood up straight. “It… seems the rumors about you were true…” Rubbing his chest, he breathed in, regaining his breath. “I heard of your ability but didn’t think you had so much control over it.”

‘I don’t, or at least I don’t think so.’

“Why I barely have the strength to fight anymore,” he said with a whimper of a laugh, attempting to lighten the mood. It seemed to have worked, ponies standing around the two starting to smile. Boom Bill gave Anon a thumbs up, “You have some good skills, especially that brilliant takedown of yours!”

“Um… thanks?”

‘Seriously? I didn’t do much at all. That was just a basic throw.’

It seemed everyone realized the fight was over and started to cheer for Anon’s victory. Anon was confused about everything that had just happened, wanting to know why it occurred.

“While I admit defeat, this certainly won’t be the last you see of Bombastic Boom Bill!” he loudly proclaimed, regaining some of his previous colorings. “I hope to see you at the Camelot Challenge!”

With that, the minotaur walked over to some bushes that held a flock of pigasus strapped to a chariot. The minotaur let out a yell, flying low to the ground and away from the place.

“…That explains the pigasus,” Anon said to himself.

The crowd started to disperse, some going back to town or wherever they came from, others walking up to Anon, asking for autographs, or about how he had fought. Anon took it all in stride, not really sure what to do about what had just happened.

By the time Lyra came back, there were a few ponies still around talking about the fight or trying to imitate Anon’s throw. She was confused, walking up to Anon. “What’s going on?”

Anon scratched the back of his head, “Some minotaur challenged me to a fight.”

Realization struck Lyra, “Oh no, I was too late! I heard about that in town that some stupid minotaur had come to town on a flock of pigasus just after we got on the balloon looking to challenge you!” She ran up to him, patting him down. “You’re not hurt are you? Please tell me you’re alright!”

He grabbed her, placing the unicorn on the ground. “Yes I’m fine; he wasn’t able to hit me at all.”

She blinked at him, confused. “Really? I thought he was supposed to be some hotshot back in Minothesa, one of their roving champions. How’d he lose?”

“The guy was too slow, more into power shots,” Anon said with a hand wave. “I was able to throw him down and shove some of my ability into his chest. Stopped him in his tracks immediately.”

“How were you able to throw him down at all? I’m confused since the few reports I’ve read with him in them talked about his fights; he’s not just someone you can do that with.”

Anon looked to the side, staring at two fillies throwing one another around, trying to imitate what Anon had while laughing. “I’m not really sure. Maybe your reports made him out bigger than he is, or perhaps he didn’t take me seriously enough and lost on the first opening I saw. Doesn’t matter in the end, still beat him.”

“No, definitely matters. Other minotaurs are likely to challenge you in the future since you just beat one of their bigwigs.”

Blinking, Anon mentally slapped himself. ‘He mentioned the Camelot Challenge as well. I’ll bet I’m going to wind up in that thing somehow and this just set it up. But why me? Shouldn’t one of the other six Elements be involved in that?’

“Hoo-boy that was some fight there Anon! Ya’ impressed me with them there throwing skills.”

“Speak of the devil,” Anon spoke, watching Applejack walking up to them. “Where’ve you been hiding?”

“I was over there by the cart, selling candy apples for the fight. Fluttershy’s over there as well, in case someone got hurt.” The three of them saw Fluttershy trying to convince some of the fillies to not throw one another around, looking frightened at their acts of bravado. “Poor gal was scared stiff of the whole thing. But I knew you’d come out of that just fine.”

“I bet you would’ve loved to have joined if you had the chance,” Anon mentioned.

Applejack scratched the back of her head, looking aside. “Those kinds of thoughts are best left alone, got too much t’ work at the farm to be thinking such things.”

“But not too much time to help us walk Anon back to the house, right?” Lyra said with a slight worry in her voice. “We should make sure he gets back in one piece, who knows what that fight may have done.”

“I dunno, he did fine in the fight I think.” Applejack scrunched her face looking at Lyra, then at Anon. “Although I wouldn’t want to take anything t’ chance with him.”

“I think I’m perfectly fine girls.”

Applejack clucked her tongue. “Nonsense! Concerning you, I wouldn’t doubt something comes on by just to fight you once more, and we can’t be having that.”

“That’s… a good point.” With his luck, he’d be fighting another minotaur just around the corner. “What about the air balloon?”

Lyra spoke up, “I brought Cherry Berry and she’s already wrapping things up with the balloon so we have no reason to be here anymore.”

Looking at the balloon, he could see the pony from before flattening out the balloon, trying to get the air out while marking where the cuts had occurred. Thinking things were covered and wanting to leave, Anon followed the two back to the house, hoping no one else would try and start some stupid fight challenge with him.

Along the way, Anon could see Lyra giving him glances, making him wonder if she was still worried about him. Back at the house, Lyra was now right beside him, letting Anon up to the door first. He didn’t think much of it as he opened the door and walked in.

He was immediately assaulted by a cacophony of noises with a blinding light flashed into his eyes. Blinking rapidly, he regained his sight, seeing ponies now milling about the house, laughing, and having fun. Streamers and balloons were littered about the room with a few games placed here and there. The kitchen table had quite a few snacks and drinks on it, ready for consumption.

“Surprise!” Pinkie shouted at Anon, blowing a party blower in his face. “Did we get you, did we, did we? Huh, huh, huh-huh-huh?!”

“Pinkie, slow down or you’ll give him a heart attack,” Applejack said, pulling the pink menace back.

“What is all this?” Anon asked.

“It’s a party silly!” Pinkie said, still being held back by Applejack.

“But why?”

“Lyra’s the one that set it up!”

Looking down, Lyra gave Anon a nervous smile, “I thought having some fun would be good since we’re going to be gone for a bit. It’d be nice to talk to everypony before we left, right?”

“I suppose it’s better than a surprise fight,” Anon said with a smirk.

Lyra let out a small chuckle before going into the sea of ponies, likely to try and find Bon Bon. Pinkie looked at Anon, confused. “What’d ya mean by that?”

“Got into some fight with a minotaur a bit ago,” Anon said, making his way to the food. “Some guy named Boom Bill, challenging me to the Camelot, whatever that was.”

Pinkie gasped, swirling around his body before appearing on his shoulders. “You’re going to the Camelot Challenge?!”

“Uh, no. I don’t even know what it is.”

“It’s something that Camelot had set up a long time ago since they love a good ol’ fight,” Applejack said with a nod. “It used to be a massive challenge just to get into their lands so barely anyone could actually get there to compete. It’d take ages before we knew who won that thing! But with them passageways now cleared out and such, they’re throwing up a huge tourney a full year in advance that’s acceptin’ all challengers. Guess that fella Boom Bill wants t’ see ya there and such.”

“I’d rather avoid that if at all possible.”

“I thought Lyra said you were going to be traveling all over the world!” Pinkie said, still sitting atop his shoulders.

“Then that means ya’s likely to be headin’ to Camelot at some point,” Applejack said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if ya manage to get in there as they’re cuttin’ down on the challengers for their tourney.”

“Look, even if I wanted to be a part of that, which I don’t, I doubt I’d make it in time for their roster.”

“I’ve heard they make exceptions to certain parties, such as some fella’s in the E.U.P. or certain rep’s in the Minothesian clans. Very certain of you being part of those exceptions as well, doubt they’d not let you join if you were there.”

“So I’ll try not to be there when that happens, got ya.”

Applejack let out a laugh, “I wouldn’t mind seeing ya in a tussle out there, definitely getting’ myself a ticket to see some action! Why, if ya really got Boom Bill of all fellas down without much problem, I might even bet some bits on ya winnin’ the whole thing!”

“WHOOO!” Pinkie twirled a noisemaker in the air with a holler. “Anon the destroyer!!!”

A loud roar of the ponies around him bellowed out, some clearly having listened in on his conversation. All Anon could do was let out a groan at the turn of events.

After getting away from those two, Anon was treated to some goofy little things set up, such as pin the tail on the pony to a piñata that was designed to look like him. How disturbing. There was even a silly pony that attempted to set up a table for an Anon Massage Game and tried to convince him to be a part of it. Guess which part he was supposed to do? Yeah, he wasn’t fooled in the slightest.

Eventually, he wound up sitting beside Bon Bon who had a head full of glitter and confetti, a drink in her hoof, and appearing to have a good time. Anon had a drink in hand and a small smile on him, something Bon Bon smiled back at. “Good to see you’re enjoying yourself.”

“It’s a little hard not to with everyone here shoving cheer right down my throat.”

“Well, I hope you choke on it then.” Anon barked out a laugh, taking another drink from his cup. Bon Bon took her own sip, looking at the activity coming from the others before turning to Anon. “So, something completely off-topic to this party and I hope I don’t regret bringing it up but you are fine with going with us?”

He paused with his drink at his lips, lifting up an eyebrow. “Why you ask?” he questioned before drinking.

“You didn’t exactly seem happy yesterday hearing about us going. Lyra and I didn’t want it to come off like you were forced to go, even if it did seem like Princess Celestia would like it if you did, so if you really do want to stay—”

He patted her head, making her squeak out in surprise. “Bonnie, it’s fine. Yeah, I’ll admit I’m not really caring about this whole thing and would just prefer staying here. But I shouldn’t just coop myself up in this place. I should go out and see the world. I realized that even if I’m in a world I don’t belong, that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try and enjoy myself, see what’s out there.”

“I’m glad to hear you say that,” Bon Bon said, taking a larger gulp from her drink. “…Wait, what’s this about not belonging? Don’t be stupid. Who’s to say who belongs and who doesn’t? Why should it matter that you’re not a pony or anything from this world?” She poked Anon in the chest, “You’re Anon the human, and your friends want you to belong.”

Anon couldn’t help but hum to himself, a smile still on his face. Yeah, he definitely liked this place more and more as time went on. So what if he was the only human on this planet and he was technically alone in his own way? He could find some way to belong, probably.

Before Anon could delve more into these thoughts, a loud whoop went into the air. A scream shot out, right before he heard something slamming above him. Bon Bon and Anon looked up, seeing Rarity’s horn stuck in a wooden beam with her struggling to get loose. “Why’d I listen to Pinkie?! This is so embarrassing, what would anypony think if they knew of this!”

A flash shot out to the side. Rainbow Dash was taking pictures, a Cheshire grin on her face. “I think you’ll have more problems with us forgetting it!”

“RAINBOW DASH! YOU, YOU, YOU WILL STOP THIS INSTANCE, GET ME DOWN, AND DESTROY THOSE TERRIBLE IMAGES IMMEDIATELY!”

“Hmmmm naaaaaaaa!” More pictures were taken as Rarity struggled to get out, to the amusement of the crowd.

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It was the end of the week and Anon was feeling jittery. Sitting in his cabin at the train station, he thought about what he was going to see and do. Lyra had already explained their roles, for the most part. She herself was to help with the ambassador that was there in their lands already, someone named Hazy Friction, while also collecting information and seeing what was happening at the ground level. Bon Bon was more or less to help in anything regarding her work, as she was an assistant of hers. And Anon was... some kind of representative of the princesses?

He still wasn’t sure what his exact role was. Anon knew that because he was an alien tied to the Equestrians, it gave them some more power in some fashion. It was all a confusing matter for him. In the end, it all came to him being an ambassador of his own people and world, as unofficial as it felt to him. Lyra explained having him apparently helped move them faster through things, just because many beings didn’t want to appear like they were being offensive in some manner. Appearances mattered to certain people, after all, unless it was behind closed doors.

Lyra had just finished placing their baggage away as Bon Bon was looking through some reading material Lyra was given to by the princess, making sure she was read up on everything. Anon was sitting there, looking at the crowd of ponies taking pictures and waving at him. He gave a small smile, waving back. More flashes and cheering could be heard.

“You probably shouldn’t wire them up, Anon,” Bon Bon chastised.

“They’d just get themselves worked up anyways,” Lyra grunted out, shoving their packs in an overhead compartment. “Anon’s a celebrity at this point.”

“Not my fault, I didn’t know fighting Boom Bill would’ve done all this.”

“You’re also the local alien and “Rebel Wrecker”,” Bon Bon added. “Expect to see a large party of ponies for your arrival back.”

“Great…”

Lyra jumped up beside Bon Bon, taking a seat. “The train should be leaving soon. I can’t wait; I wonder what we’ll see over there!”

“I thought you knew already, what with all these documents,” Bon Bon put out.

“Hey,” Anon said, “I just realized I don’t even know where we’re going. You never did say, only that it was several different locations.”

Bon Bon gave a pointed glare at Lyra, who could only chuckle at her mistake. “Princess Celestia doesn’t want us to go inexperienced to the newly opened passageways, and we still don’t know much about Minothesa and what’s going on down there with them having closed up a lot of traffic through their lands. So we’ll be going out to Gryphonia.”

“We’ll be heading directly to Griffonstone,” Lyra continued. “We’ll have an easy time getting there with how close it is so we won’t have to travel too far into their lands.”

“So we’ll be talking to the griffons then?” Lyra nodded. “I barely know anything about them, though I remember those griffons from before.”

Lyra looked confused while Bon Bon realized what he meant. “Anon and I had a talk with some griffons that said they were just flying back to their home after talking to Celestia.”

“There might be a chance you’ll see them if they were coming back from Princess Celestia,” Lyra said. “I don’t know of many griffons that go and talk to her, but the ones that do tend to be for the more important business. ”

“Wouldn’t anyone talking to Celestia be for important business?”

“Not… necessarily,” Lyra said. “She talks to everyone when she has the time. I remember reading through the recorded sessions involving the princesses a while back. There was one where she had to talk to somepony wanting to ban cabbages of all things. I’m not sure why, but from what little I remember of it the pony had some sort of feud with a cabbage seller. That would spark the event that created the Cabbage Patch Wars that lasted a hundred days. Lots of innocent cabbages were slain during that time.”

“Oh… Well, never mind about anyone having important business to talk to Celestia about,” Anon said. Bon Bon giggled as Lyra snorted hearing him.

The train rocked slightly as it started to depart the station, all the cheering ponies waving flags or waving at their group. It wasn’t just for Anon, their entire group was doing something that hadn’t been done in over nine-hundred years, or so he was told. It was a bit of a historical moment for everyone involved and many wanted to witness it.

~End Chapter Twenty-Four~

Chapter Twenty-Five – Griffonstone Welcomes You, Now Get Out

“I was expecting… more.” Bon Bon looked around outside the trashed building that was the train station.

“Where exactly are we supposed to go from here?” Anon asked, not seeing much in their vicinity. “This doesn’t look like much of a town.”

“You can’t call this one station a town, Anon,” Bon Bon pointed out, making a show to look at the rundown area.

“From what Princess Celestia said, we’re supposed to head to an area that has a large tree.” Lyra looked around, pointing up at the sky, “Somewhere up there. It’s reported that the griffons congregate there.”

“Of course the griffon’s had to live in a tree, up at the tallest place,” Anon said with a groan.

“It’s not so bad,” Bon Bon said, strapping her pack on. “It’ll be fun going up there I bet.”

“Easy for you to say, you have hooves. I’m stuck with my human feet.”

“At least we have a clear path to our destination,” Lyra said, tightening her straps. She started forward in the lead as the other two followed.

“I swear if it’s seven thousand steps up there I’m going to lose my mind,” Anon muttered, kicking a rock in his path.

Lyra looked nervous. “It’s actually around… triple that?” She hovered a book out of her as Anon let out a loud moan of annoyance. “Yeah, it’s about twenty thousand or so steps.”

“How would you even get a book for that?” Bon Bon asked just as they started up the slope.

“I got it from Twilight. When I went looking for info about where I’d be going the library seemed to the best place to start at. She tried giving me a dozen books on their history and other miscellaneous junk but after profusely explaining I wouldn’t be able to take them all, and only wanting current knowledge as I’m already well versed in their history, she quickly went about writing a quick summary of the griffons as fast as she could for me. She still managed a good chunk of info here, but it’s all over the place.”

“Was there anything we should know beforehand?” Anon asked, kicking more rocks in his path to the side. “Like why this place looks like it hasn’t had anyone near it in years?”

“Unfortunately, no,” Lyra said with a frown. “Even Twilight had little on them. There’s just no recent info on them, only tidbits on a few select things that don’t matter. All I have to work with is a generalization on their history, as griffons aren’t ones to open up about themselves outside their lands.”

“Oh?”

Lyra hummed, “They had once been as greedy as dragons when the three pony tribes had just started to be united. It wasn’t until a king of theirs had united them under some odd relic of theirs that they started to come together. It was an important griffon artifact though I didn’t get a name for it. Other than the griffon’s bit of cultural oddities and some really old history on their people, there isn’t much else that I could think would be very reliable to help us on our trip for recent up to date information.”

Rounding a bend, Anon pursed his lips, looking at what appeared to be a deep gorge to their side. He made sure to pay special attention, not wanting a bad spill down that hole. “You don’t find it odd that there hasn’t been any recent information on them?”

The minty pony harrumphed, “Of course I do. But we haven’t had a whole lot of contact with their kingdom in a long while. As I said, they’re not open to others and keep to themselves. Even the ambassadors that come out don’t share too much inside the country, though there are hints that they’ve been trying to fix their infrastructure and keeping it quiet.”

Anon hummed, rubbing his chin. “So a blackout on all information, and we are coincidentally going at just the right time when all the other countries are now opening up. How much you want to bet we have to take down some baddie that’s making this all happen.”

Lyra didn’t find his words appealing, “Please don’t jinx us, Anon. .You’re putting bad juju on our trip just as we’re staring.”

Bon Bon started, “You’d think Twilight would have found something that could help us out on this, what with her being an apprentice to the princess herself.”

“Tell me about it,” Lyra agreed. “I am glad I didn’t push too much with her trying to get info for us.”

“Did she have one of her spells again?” Bon Bon asked, turning slightly to Lyra as she continued to walk.

“Pretty much. The moment I bring up that we’re headed to the griffon capital, she starts to pack up and practically demanded she comes along.”

“Seriously?” Anon was surprised to hear that. “Seems odd for her to just want to drop things and go with you on a trip.”

“If there’s one thing that mare’s all about, it’s learning something new, and what’s more new than going to a place where ponies haven’t been to in some time? She was totally ready to go until, out of nowhere, the princess ordered her that she stay in Ponyville. I didn’t get why, but I did hear that Princess Celestia is preparing her for something.”

“Joy, something fun to encounter when we return. Maybe the princess even has us leaving to keep us out of the way for whatever she has planned for Twilight.”

“Anon, if the princess wanted us to not interfere with things all she had to do was ask.”

“I was thinking more along the lines of the narrative keeping us out of things than her doing it intentionally.”

“Oh, that,” Bon Bon huffed. “Probably best that we left then.”

“True, true.”

Lyra, immediately stopping, let out an audible gasp before flaring up her horn and digging through her pack. Out came an old fashioned camera that looked par for the eighty’s. “I almost forgot! Stay still, everyone!” Levitating the camera forward, she gave a large grin before snapping an image, blinding the other two, unprepared for the visual attack.

“Darn it, Lyra!” Bon Bon said, rubbing her eyes.

“What? Did you expect me not to take any pictures on our first adventure together!”

“First willing trip, you mean?” Anon corrected, blinking his eyes clear.

The unicorn ignored him, flapping the picture in the air that was spewed from the camera. Looking at it, she curled her lips at the other two in the image. Lyra sighed before putting it away, vowing to get it right next time.

‘Darn them and their totally un-photogenic selves!' her inner-voice cried.

‘I swear that we’ll get them next time, no need to worry.’

‘You better! We need to have an awesome scrapbook that we can share with all our adoring fans in the future!’

‘It will take time, but rest assured I will get them, no matter how difficult a task it may be.’

“Why is Lyra waving a hoof in the air and nodding her head like that?” Anon asked.

The two of them watched said mare bobbling her head about as she mumbled incomprehensible words to herself. “It’s nothing, she’s just talking to herself again,” Bon Bon answered. “The better question is how are you only noticing this now of her?”

“You mean with every little thing that I could point out being in character to the Lyra we know, I’m supposed to notice this one thing out of a hundred?”

“…Fair point.”

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It had taken the three several hours trekking along the perilous path to reach Griffonstone. It was an oddly quiet trip for Anon, notwithstanding Lyra’s random bouts of picture taking. He had half expected some random event to crop up sometime during their walk to the griffon town, as was common for him in his new life of pony adventures. He knew it would come eventually.

Reaching the end of their trail, the three of them stood side-by-side, staring at their destination.

Anon spoke first, “This can’t be the place.”

It was a massive dump. Decrepit buildings littered the supposed capital as hay blew over in the wind every which way. Various pieces of trash could be seen spewed about the place. Not a single griffon there seemed to care about the state of their town as they appeared keener on bickering at one another. A town full of frowning faces was what had awaited them.

“Maybe we got dropped off at the wrong station?” Bon Bon asked, dumbfounded at where they were.

Lyra merely shook her head, “That was the only stop to the griffon lands. The train rounds about further down the tracks and heads back to our lands. This is the right place, it’s just in shambles.” Taking a quick picture of the scene, Lyra deposited her camera back into her pack, turning to the other two. “We should head directly to their castle to see about introductions with the king.”

“Where’s that?” Anon asked. Lyra pointed directly up. Looking, Anon saw a massive tree that soared into the sky. It was hard to see anything so high up, but he could make out dwellings in some of the branches, along with a very tall structure near the top of it. “All the way up there?”

“Eeeeyup,” Lyra answered, looking up herself.

“…Can we not go up there? We could try asking the locals more about the place first.” Anon did not like how high up the place looked, wanting to put off going there.

“I think we should try the more direct route first Anon,” Lyra said, walking toward the base of the tree.

“How do we even get up this tree?” Bon Bon asked, looking at either side of it. “I don’t see any kind of built-in steps leading us up.”

“Perhaps a pulley system?” Anon suggested.

Looking at a passing griffon, Bon Bon turned to him. He glared at her, clearly not wanting to be bothered. “What do you want?”

Bon Bon, slightly taken back, pushed on, “I was hoping you could help us.”

“What’s in it for me?”

The candy mare wasn’t sure how to take this. “Ehr, um… what—”

“If there’s nothing in it for me I don’t see why I should be wasting my time with you.” And with that, he stomped off away from the pony.

Blinking, she turned to the others, unsure about what had just happened. “What was that about? That’s even gruffer than I’m used to for a griffon.”

“That was very odd,” said Lyra, walking to her friend. “It’s as if they regressed to who they were before uniting.”

“Into jerks?”

“Yeah.”

“There has to be some way to get up to their stupid castle of theirs,” Anon said, walking straight up to the tree, brushing a hand against the bark. “I doubt the only way to get up there would be to fly.” The three of them stared at the tree in thought. “Maybe there’s something built into the tree itself?”

“Like a room dug into it that lets beings up and down?” Bon Bon added, tapping the wood. “We could walk around the base and see. Maybe there’d even be a griffon willing to help us somehow.”

Walking right, they kept as close to the tree as possible, watching for anything that could let them up the tree either in or outside of it. There were plenty of griffons about, giving their group looks as they went about whatever business they had. They had attempted to ask a few close walking griffons for help, but like before they held a snobby attitude, unwilling to help as they flittered away from them.

It wouldn’t take long for them to reach one end of the base, being forced to a stop. “It just ends here,” Bon Bon said, looking at the large drop that was a mere body length away. “Guess we have to turn around and try the other way.”

“Shouldn’t Twilight have written down something about this?” Anon asked as they walked alongside the base once more.

“I’ve checked my papers already on this and there doesn’t seem to be anything.” Lyra hummed, taking a moment in thought. “Now that I think about it, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a pegasi transport for them to go directly to the castle. Maybe they just didn’t see a reason to mention something like that.”

“You should make a note of this for any future trips people have to this town,” Anon said, watching a pair of griffons bickering to one another. “I don’t even understand why there isn’t any info on any of this before we came here.”

Walking around to the other side of the base took much longer than they had thought. The thing was central to the entirety of Griffonstone, and as such, they had to walk around a few houses and crowds to continue. They were constantly treated with leers from the griffons or the cold-shoulder wherever they went. It was draining on the three, not seeing a single friendly face.

“This seems promising,” Bon Bon spoke up, looking at something at the base of the tree.

Indeed it seemed that there was a large hole built right inside. Walking up to it, the three saw a long, massive chamber that once looked like it was a great communal, now worn down from the elements and neglect. Ladders and rope could be seen lying against the walls, and looking directly up they could see more ropes and ladders. In the midst of this, a large griffon in the back carved out something in wood. He looked their direction, letting out a grumble before putting his work down.t

“What suppose two ponies and their tamed beast want coming here?”

“He’s not a beast,” Lyra spoke up. “He’s a human.”

“Bah, what’s it matter? Now speak up or get lost, I got my work to tend to.”

Lyra, deciding the friendly approach would be for the best, let out a cough before a smile could be seen on her. “My name is Lyra,” she said, offering a hoof. The griffon stared at it, then at her with aloofness. Her smile strained on her, placing her hoof down. “I’m from Equestria and I require help to get to the castle up above.”

The griffon stared at her for a few seconds before huffing out. “Name’s Gilligan.” He looked at the others, then at Lyra. “It was a mistake for you to come here.”

“I’m sorry?”

“The griffons here, we’re not exactly friendly on many matters nowadays. You’re lucky to not get a look from just breathing the same air as one of us.”

“I don’t understand why everyone’s acting like this,” Bon Bon said with a frown. “Even the griffons back home weren’t such jerks.”

“It wasn’t always like this. Oh sure, we’re nearly as greedy as those overgrown lizards and our pride is hard to outmatch. But we used to have something to care for, to be united with.” He paused, looking out at the entrance. “It’s like a gluttonous miasma we produce affecting ourselves, making us greedier and arrogant that spews out from the seams when we don’t have something to tie us all together.”

Gilligan shook his head, scratching at his beak. “I’ve no reason to speak of my woes to you lot. What was the reason for your coming?”

“…We need to go to the castle up above,” Lyra said, just wanting to move on.

“Ah, you want to climb up there?” He scratched his beak in thought. “I can lend you a ladder. But, ehrm… how much can you offer me?”

“You want us to pay you to go up there?” Bon Bon asked.

“Hay, of course, it’s not free! I have to build all these things myself and you want me to just offer my services without charge? Downright rude, really!”

“Fine, how much for your services?” Lyra asked.

Gilligan gave it some thought, still scratching his beak. “Well, you look up there and see? You see all of those ladders and ropes and platforms up there?” They all looked up, indeed seeing them. “I can offer you different ladders. The first is simple and will get you to that first ledge, but you’ll have to get up the rest on your own. Five bits.”

“That’s a short distance to travel up, just for us to try and climb up the rocks the rest of the way,” Anon said, seeing that ladder being pointless. “We need more.”

“I s’pose the second could work. It’ll take you almost halfway up to that ledge up there,” Gilligan said, pointing to a ledge with a torch on it. “That’s thirty-five bits.”

“Do you have anything that leads us directly to the top?” Bon Bon asked, wanting to get straight there.

“Ah, I do, but that’s my personal system. See, this room used to be a pulley room to lift but I outfitted with ladders I build in my spare time once that thing went out from disuse. I have a room directly up there, and I won’t even charge going down. But that’ll be a hundred plus twenty bits.”

“…And it leads all the way there?”

“Of course.”

“Guess we have no choice,” Lyra said, pulling out the bits and giving them to the outreached claws of the laddersmith.

Standing up, he walks over to a wall and smacks it. Sounds could be heard, activating whatever mechanism was in place before sliding it out of the way. As soon as the dust settled, Gilligan walked back to his spot on the ground, motioning at the room. “Go on ahead.”

Looking at one another, they slowly made their way to the room. Inside they could see a well-made ladder, better kept than the others in the previous room. Up above were ledges that had similar ladders, encircling straight to the top.

“Let’s get a move on,” Lyra said,

Anon took the lead, making sure that his pack was strapped tight to his back before slowly making his way up the ladder. Once he got to the top, he looked down at the other two, standing now on top of a built-in platform made of rock.

“It seems safe enough; just need to take turns to make sure we have enough room on each platform.”

“Coming up then!” Lyra said. She awkwardly grabbed the ladder, walking up to each rung with a clacking of her hooves.

Nodding to them, Anon started up the next ladder, only slightly off to the side of the previous one. He made sure to take his time, not wanting any mistakes from falling from the height they were traversing. Anon didn’t like the idea that he was currently climbing up such a large tree with nothing to prevent him from falling.

After the second ladder, he paused, hearing a whistle down below him. Looking down, he could see the two smiling and laughing at something, pointing up at him.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Nothing!” Lyra replied. “Just enjoying the view from here!”

“Enjoying the—” He gave the two an unamused look, something that only made them laugh louder. “Can we be a little serious here?”

“The only thing serious here are those buns! Have you been working out?” Anon ignored Bon Bon, moving faster up the ladder.

It was a long, agonizing trip for Anon having to listen to the two catcalling him the entire way. Lyra wouldn’t stop trying to get him to hold still on a ladder to take pictures, of which he would have to figure out how to destroy later on down the line.

Having finally gotten to the top, he ignored the snickering ponies, moving forward toward what he had to assume was the castle. It was quite impressed with how the griffons managed to build something that large on only a tree. Sadly, the place looked like no one had been in it for quite some time.

“What a dump,” said Bon Bon, not looking impressed at all. “The king lives in a place like this?”

“It would surely reflect how the griffons down below act,” Lyra said, walking up to the door. “So weird, there are no guards here.” She banged on the door, hoping to get someone to come out.

Ten minutes passed with Lyra knocking on the door every so often. It was clear no one wanted to open the door for her.

“Why are they ignoring me?” Lyra huffed, lighting her horn up. “I’ll just open the door myself!” The moment she tried opening the door, it falls inward, slamming into the ground with a resounding smack. “…Oops?”

“This place is just falling apart,” Bon Bon said, walking forward into the castle. “It doesn’t even look like anyone’s been in here for ages.”

“What are you three doing?” a loud voice spoke up, making the three jump. They turned around, seeing an old looking griffon, peering into the castle, then at them. “Trying to wreck the place up, eh? We get enough hooligans trashing the place down below, so now you want to come up here to do more damage?”

“We’re not here to do anything of the sort!” Lyra jumped away from the door, looking worried. “The door just… fell on its own!”

The griffon glared at the three, swirling a tongue around in his beak. “Why you three even up here in the first place if not to vandalize the place?”

“We need to talk to the king,” Anon said. “So why wouldn’t we go here to his residence?”

A sputtering came out of the griffon, sounding like a hoarse laugh. “You came up here for the king of all things?!”

The three looked surprised hearing that. “What do you mean by that?” Lyra asked, not liking where this was going.

“There’s no king here! We haven’t had a king in ages living in this castle!” More of the strange laughter came from the ancient griffon. “And you three just came up here wanting an audience with the king?!”

“Gandervalt, what ya talking to these strangers for?” another old griffon asked, flying up to them.

“They… They wanted to have an audience with the king!”

“What? Why would they come here then? Aren’t they aware there’s no king here?”

“Apparently not! Coming to this town, climbing this tree, all to see an empty throne!”

The two started laughing even harder, having difficulty staying up in the air.

Lyra was shocked to hear this. “…No king?”

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“He could have told us there was no king up there!” Bon Bon said angrily. “We wasted a huge chunk of our time, AND bits, over nothing!”

“We really should have asked him about it before going up,” Lyra said, though it was clear she was equally frustrated.

“To be fair, how would we have known to even ask that question?” Anon motioned. “‘Hey, just curious if you could tell us if the king lived in his own castle?’ Doesn’t make much sense.” The other two grumbled at that. “So we just need to find where the king is currently in this town. We could try to ask Gilligan if he knows anything.”

“Gilligan can suck marbles for all I care; I don’t want anything to do with the guy.” Bon Bon was a very mad pony.

Anon coughed in his fist, “Okay, do you have any associates yourself in this town from your organization?”

“No, if I did they’d have told me to avoid the tree. Stupid tree, stupid Gilligan.”

“Fine, let’s just walk around and see if there’s anyone that won’t ignore us directly can help us.”

Nodding in agreement, the three of them made their way down the unkempt street. Most of the griffons seemed to ignore the group, with a few sneering in their direction. A scant few looked interested in them yet shied away from the presence of the strange creature in tow of the two ponies.

Having passed several blocks, Lyra was starting to get fed up with the looks directed their way. Seeing a griffon walking down the road, not having noticed them, she decided enough was enough and took action, changing her path to meet the griffon directly. Noticing the unicorn headed her way, the griffon slowed to a stop, examining the strange group that walked their lands.

“What is it you want stranger?” the griffon snapped in a rough voice. She winced back, seeing what appeared to be a new species narrow its eyes at her.

Lyra, ignoring the behavior, approached with a smile, “We’re new to the lands and seem to be a bit… lost.”

“More confused than anything,” Bon Bon muttered just loud enough for them to hear.

The unicorn forced a laugh out, “Yes, that’s a more apt description! I was hoping you could answer a few questions for us.”

The griffon, staring at the group, sensed an opportunity here. “You got any bits?”

Lyra merely blinked at her. “Excuse me?”

“Bits. For answers.” Lyra continued looking confused. “You don’t expect me to waste my time with you lot without any compensation?”

Seeing her friend wasn’t sure how to respond, and not wanting to see her do so in her typical manner, especially what happened with Gilligan, Bon Bon stepped forward. “How much are you asking?”

“Five bits,” the griffon responded immediately.

“Three bits,” Bon Bon countered.

The griffon narrowed her eyes. “It’s nonnegotiable.”

Bon Bon lifted an eyebrow, “I’m certain we can take our business elsewhere to some other griffon that is willing to answer a few questions for some easy bits.”

A flash of a snarl could be seen on the griffon before she recomposed herself. “Fine… What are your questions?”

Lyra, looking briefly at her friend, turned to the griffon. “I’ve wanted to know this since arriving but why is Griffonstone in such a mess? I was expecting a busy city full of trade and griffon culture, not… this.”

A clawed appendage appeared, with three bits dropped into them. “I don’t know what you mean by trade or culture, but I’ve lived here my whole life and it’s always been like this. No one in this town cares if it’s like this, so who would clean it up? It’s every griffon for themselves here.”

“O-Oh. Well then… I guess I should get straight to the point. Do you know where we can see the king? We can’t seem to locate him for some odd reason.”

Depositing another three bits, the griffon huffed, placing the bits behind her wing, “We don’t have a king here.”

“No, we already know that the king isn’t in his castle. We just want to know where.”

“No, I mean there isn’t a king at all in Griffonstone.”

“…What?”

Her claw came out once more, three more bits dropped into them. “I repeat, we have no king here.” Lyra frowned at her. “You asked what,” the griffon said with a smirk.

“How exactly do you do anything around without one?”

“We’ve been fine by ourselves here,” the griffon answered, placing another three bits under her wing, “haven’t needed a ruler in a long while and don’t want one. “All for one and one for me” is the motto ‘round these parts. All a ruler around here would do is force taxes or some other nonsense. Who wants that?”

Anon hummed, “The place is a dump. No one seems happy and there’s no commerce going on to provide anything. Feels like the slums in a third world country.”

“And that’s home to us.”

At a loss on what to do, Lyra pulled out the letter holding some of the things that the princess had mentioned to her. “Is there anything we can do to help here?”

Another three bits passed to the griffon. She inhaled a large amount of air, unleashing it all in one blast, “NO!” The griffon immediately left, leaving a perturbed Lyra sitting on the ground.

Watching the griffon walk away in a huff, Anon and Bon Bon walked up to Lyra. “A bit ruder than I thought was necessary” Anon muttered.

Lyra rubbed her head before standing up, shaking the dirt off her rump, “Twilight had mentioned I should bring bits with me on this trip of ours, something about the griffons being willing to help as long as I “shared the wealth” with them. I wasn’t sure what she meant by that but it’s starting to become clear the griffons around here may have reverted to how they used to.”

Bon Bon frowned, “Should we head back to Equestria? I’m not sure what much we can do here if there’s no king or any way for us to do anything.”

Lyra frowned, shaking her head. “I’m not giving up on my first assignment on the job.” She harrumphed, looking around before slowly walking down the street. “We’ll look for the library located in this town. At least there we’ll be able to find out something about this town.”

“I hope they don’t make us pay a fee,” Anon said.

“I’ll pay any fee needed to get my job done! And once I check off the things I’m needed for, I’m going to go back to Equestria proud of my work with a very large smile for a job well done!”

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Lyra had a very large frown on her face. “You’ve GOT to be kidding me!”

They were currently standing in front of a ruined building that was supposed to be the library for the town. Books laid in tatters on the ground with shelves tilted, spewing their contents out.

“Are you sure this is the library?” Anon asked, kicking a shredded book by him.

“Twilight told me to look for the statue of their founding king, which is right there,” Lyra gruffly said, pointing to a statue that looked ready to keel over.

“How can this be the library?” Bon Bon asked, poking through some of the books on a destroyed shelf. “Could this have happened recently? A lot of the books seem to be in good condition, ignoring the ripped pages out of them.”

“Preservation runes,” Lyra answered, ears turned down and looking through the books. “These are some really old books to have them, probably two hundred years old from what I’m seeing in their designs. So long as someone doesn’t intentionally rip up the books, these things should hold through just about anything, even being left out in the rain. Some good work here.”

With a sigh, Lyra dropped the book she was reading. “There isn’t anything here I can see helping us with our situation. I don’t see any of the griffons wanting to aid us, not with how they’ve been acting, and I don’t know if I can do anything without any kind of authority in place.”

“Why can’t you do your job without their king?” Bon Bon asked.

“A Kommunelegatusionists is a pseudo-ambassador that has more privileges than one would normally have and is sent around to different destinations as they're needed. But with the griffon’s saying they’re kingless, I can’t establish myself and get started on anything the princess wanted.”

Bon Bon shook her head, walking over to Lyra. “This doesn’t make any sense. I know there’s an ambassador that works for the rulers here, my dad has mentioned him a few times.”

"I've had a few reports dealing with that ambassador. He's not allowed to share information involved with the griffons, nothing that the princess doesn't allow anyway."

“You're sure they have a king?" Lyra nodded her head. "How is that possible?” Anon asked, rubbing his chin. “Maybe they have a different form of government now and the ambassador has to keep it quiet?”

“The griffon could have been lying, saying they had no king here.”

“What reason would she have to lie to us?”

“She’s a greedy little snot, what more reason do you need?”

An exaggerated sigh from Lyra directed the two to her, “I don’t know what’s going on but I’m going to bring it up with whoever is actually in charge.” Looking up, she could notice the sun starting to vanish over the peaks of the mountains. “We’ll figure something out tomorrow but for now we need to find a place to rest for the night.”

“They’re going to overcharge us heavily aren’t they?” Anon spoke up as they departed the dilapidated library.

“Most likely,” the two ponies spoke in unison.

Having walked around a few blocks and quite a few bits lighter from some simple directions, they stood outside a building that had seen better days. Most of the windows were boarded up to the point where no one could see anything in the building. A large, heavy door was bolted at the entrance, menacing swirls of brass embedded into it forming what should have looked like a griffon toasting with a goblet, now a demon clawing out to the sky. Dimly lighting the entrance was a lantern held in place by a hook right above the sign announcing the building: The Golden Egg.

“Doesn’t this place look inviting,” Bon Bon dryly said, walking in the front entrance with the other two following close behind.

Once in, the three of them looked at the dingy establishment. Worn down chairs and tables could be seen in plenty, all dusty and empty. The room was lightly lit from the fire of the far wall, the crackling the only thing being heard. A sole griffin, large and imposing, stood at the bar eyeing the group that came in.

“What is it you threes want?” the griffon asked the group as they walked up to him.

“We’d like a room for the night?”

The griffon let what sounded like a low growl out of its clamped beak. Leaning under the bar, he grabbed for something before slamming a key down. “Hundred bits.”

Anon looked appalled hearing that. “That’s pretty steep for a room for the night.”

“You’re welcome to go elsewhere,” the griffon graveled out, pointing to the door.

“What does the room come with?” Bon Bon asked unhappily, digging out the bits from her coat pocket.

“A place to sleep and to keep prying eyes off your bits,” the griffon huffed out. “If that’s not good enough for you then beat it.”

“We’ll also need a meal for the night,” Lyra said with a small smile.

“Meal cost extra,” the innkeeper squarely replied.

Lyra didn’t look amused. “I’m pretty sure I saw the seal of King Grapper beside your sign. You are required by your laws to provide us with a secure room, proper bedding, AND a meal for all of us.”

The griffon looked like he chewed down a bucket of lemons, staring at the group with a glower.

“On top of that,” Lyra continued, “I’m quite certain we’re also paying for the above standard dwellings pricing, last I checked.”

Clamping his beak shut in anger, he let out a low growl, “What. Do. You. Want?”

“I won’t ask for much: We need to be woken up two hours after the crow along with a map of the place. I might have some questions to ask you in the morning before we leave as well.”

The innkeeper stared at Lyra for a moment before bending down and looking at his papers before coming back up with a dusty article. He blew on it, wiping off the accumulated particles before handing it over to Lyra. “That all?”

“That should do for now,” Lyra answered, taking both the map and key before making their way to the stairwell to their room.

Just as they were to leave, the griffon called out to them, “Hold up a second there.” He looked at the three for a few seconds to memorize their faces. “Just who are you three coming in here? We don’t get much in the ways of ponies and… whatever hole you come from stranger.”

Before Anon could reply to the comment Lyra spoke up, “Us? Nothing much, just a komlas going out on an errand of her princess.” The griffon frowned as he watched Lyra walk away with her head held high.

Once up the stairwell, Lyra looked at the key, noting the number six on it and heading directly to the room with the same number. Once inside the room, Lyra threw her pack to the side before letting out her held breath, smiling to herself. “I totally got that darn griffon!” she said, pumping a hoof to herself.

“Cheering like that isn’t so awesome,” Bon Bon pointed out, making Lyra sag.

“Why do we need that other map anyways?” Anon asked.

“To see if anything has changed or if we have any faulty information,” Lyra answered. “These inns are required to have up-to-date maps normally for purchase.” Walking to the bed, she flopped on it beside Bon Bon who was trying to get comfortable on the stiff-looking mattress.

“There’s only one bed,” Anon complained.

“Be lucky there’s even a bed and not a nest,” Bon Bon said. Lyra lightly tapped her on the shoulder, her eyes narrowed as she shook her head. “What? Birds have nests, it’s a fact.”

“Don’t say that around the griffons or you’ll get more than a bop.”

Anon, now sitting on the bed popped his neck before turning at the other two. Bon Bon, trying to fluff a pillow, looked a little more than haggard though she tried to hide it. Lyra made no effort to do so, lying on her back, legs flopped on either side of her as she lightly groaned looking through the map lazily.

“I think we did some good work here today,” Anon said, trying to keep spirits up.

“What work?” Lyra mumbled. “We don’t have a single thing to report back to the princess other than the griffon’s being a bunch of snot heads—”

“Something I’m sure she already knows,” Bon Bon spat out.

Lyra nodded in agreement, “And I still have no idea how they’re running as a country! Where is their king? They can’t just run without a ruler, not the griffons. I know they have someone leading them, I just need to figure out where he is and start my work.”

“And that’s still some good headway. We’ll be better prepared to take on the day’s events tomorrow with what we’ve learned today.” Leaning back on his arms, Anon directed the conversation elsewhere, “Just what was that back with the innkeeper there? That seal nonsense?”

Tilting her horned head at Anon to look at him, she replied, “As a Kommunelegatusionist, I need to know about the laws of the places I could be sent to. So that seal nonsense was just me pushing the guy to obey his laws. The princess has all the up-to-date laws on every country sent to me to memorize so I’m able to understand how to operate.”

“Or get your way it seems.”

Bon Bon nodded, “You’d be hard-pressed to find another pony as knowledgeable as her when it comes to other species and kingdom laws.” Lyra smiled hearing that.

“So if the princess knows about the laws, why wouldn’t she know about what’s going on and tell you about it? And just to add to that, why are we here anyway?” Anon asked.

“That’s pretty easy to answer,” Lyra answered, rolling back on her stomach. “My main job is to gather what info they know about the passages and chum up to the ruler, establish myself if you will. Additional objectives include looking around the kingdom for anything to report back on and checking in on the ambassador, though if there’s anything I should respond to that is important I’m allowed the leeway.

“As for why we don’t know about what’s going on, the griffons have made it a point to seclude themselves from everything. Nothing of interest comes from these lands, so why would these things be talked about or shared? “ Lyra grimaced, straining out a groan. “The princess… may have also signed an incredibly and miraculously stupid deal with the griffons fifty years back that involved keeping their nations from interacting with one another, with their only main point of contact being between ambassadors.”

“Let me guess, the deal just so happened to end just as we’re arriving in these lands?”

Lyra blinked, “Wow, that’s exactly what happened!” Anon slapped himself in the forehead. "They ended only a few months back, so ponies are slowly trying to see what there is in the form of trade or travel here. Princess wants to know how it is on the ground level, so I'm checking in on that. Not liking what I'm seeing so far."

“I don't understand why wouldn’t they just kick you out or regarding whatever is going on that we are no doubt in the dark about.”

“So long as it doesn’t involve something truly heinous, I'm allowed to do as I please without them being able to kick me out. It’s like that with the other Kommunelegatusionists; they’re allowed leeway to do as they please, within reason. Still need to follow their laws and certain decorum for each nation, of course. Too bad for the griffons they don’t have one at the moment, but with the passages open and other komla’s going around, that should change soon. Even the yaks are getting in on this.”

Anon settled down, letting out a long-winded sigh. “Okay, fine. I will suspend my sense of disbelief to allow this nonsense.” Lyra gave him a large smile. “So, why don’t the griffons have their own komlas? Seems like a good position to insert a person and interject whatever actions you want to be done in another kingdom without too much reprisal.”

Lyra sighed, looking at the two maps back and forth. “The griffons wanted to keep to their own a good while back, discontinuing certain programs and titles which included the komlas in the process. The princess agreed to such things which meant any previous komlas would be kept in our kingdom. For a while, the komlas was an empty title to hold as it was agreed the kingdoms would keep them in their borders. Now, with the passages cleared, Princess Celestia wants to have a return of the treaties, including the Kommunelegatusionist position. She still has the idea of trying to connect our peoples.”

Anon hummed, thinking about the information. The princess would like her “friendship” ideals to spread. The komlas were likely created as a way for the princess to help push the locals into being more friendly and welcoming towards other species on a much more personal level without her involvement.

“It seems like a really strong position to have,” said Anon. “Why would the other kingdoms discontinue that?”

“You already know the passages blocked the other kingdoms out, so we have no idea what happened with them. Minotaurs were and are still a bunch of roving clans. A komlas from them would need to be from the leading clan, and even back then the clans didn’t get along, not wanting to share that top spot with the others. They were always fighting for which clan was on top. It wasn’t a surprise for their komlas to be completely replaced when a new clan rose to the top.

“Soon enough, they just outright rid of position instead of deal with the extra hassle. Griffons on the other hoof wanted to return to their isolationist ways several hundred years back. Removing the komlas pushed fifty years back seemed to signal all the other nations to do the same together, though once more that ended just recently.”

“It’s only due to the princes not wanting to push back that they returned to their old ways,” Bon Bon commented before sighing. “So much for trying to bridge our peoples together; I’m surprised the other kingdoms would keep such treaties around if it’s barely benefiting them.”

The unicorn folded up the map, not finding anything of note to help her with what she already knew. “Little known fact: The old treaties, the one that also involves the Kommunelegatusionist, was one of the few that the leaders, especially the princess, signed in blood.” Bon Bon looked at her friend in shock, not having known that. “The princess really wanted it to work out.”

A knock on the door came with Anon getting up for it. The innkeeper was standing outside with a covered platter. “Your meal,” he said, presenting it.

“Uh… thanks.” Anon grabbed the platter as the griffon brusquely walked away. Closing the door, he turned to the other two, opening the tray: it was hay. “Seriously!”

“Ooh, I could go for some hay,” Bon Bon said, grabbing the tray and jumping back on the bed. The two started to chew on it, humming to themselves. “Not bad, though it has a slight staleness to it. Still, it’s good quality. I’m surprised he had this here.”

“Yeah, what am I supposed to do?” Anon asked, crossing his arms. Lyra paused in her chewing, looking at Anon, then at the hay, and then once more at Anon. “No, I am not going to eat griffon hay. Or pony hay. Or any hay at all!”

Swallowing her piece, Lyra lit up her horn, searching her pack. She levitated a package in front of Anon. “I had something packed away, just in case.”

Examining the pack, he could see eggs cooked in multiple ways and toast. He then looked at her pack. “How did this fit in there?”

“Hmm?”

“This food. It’s almost half the size of your pack. I refuse to believe you packed mostly eggs and toast in your pack.”

Finishing her hay, she levitated her pack over, showing the inside of it being pitch black and bottomless. On the wall near the top, an odd grouping of squiggles could be seen. “Void rune, of a high-tier work mixed with cloth essence. I have quite a few things packed inside, just in case.”

Anon looked at the tray of food in his hands, then at the pack. “…Maybe I could－”

“No,” the two interrupted him in-tandem.

“What’d you even know what I was going to say?”

“Can’t learn runes,” Bon Bon said. “Even the basic ones require over two years of study along with knowledge into the arcane. And those only allow for crude usage of runes.”

Lyra swallowed her hay, “On top of needing a catalyst to cast them, you’d also need to learn how to mold essences and form second and third dimensional visualization spells, or at least be capable of extreme visualization of said items to an nth degree.”

Anon pouted, looking down at his food. “I bet I could learn it…”

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A loud banging on the door woke the three up immediately. “WAKE UP CALL,” the griffon screamed out, loudly stomping away.

Groaning, Anon scratched his head and yawned. Trying to get up, he noticed Lyra was on his stomach belly up. He picked her up, a squeak emitting from her, before placing her aside and getting up. Bon Bon was already up, brushing her mane in place, looking at the other two. “We should hurry up and get started,” she said, still brushing away.

“I’ll go and bug the griffon real quick,” Lyra said, getting up. “He might have some info about the going-ons around here.”

“And what about your mane?” Bon Bon asked, trying to get her own as she liked it. Lyra lit up her horn and her hair looked as it usually did. “You didn’t brush in any oils though…”

“Girl, with a mane this fine I don’t need my oils,” she said with a hoof waved back, walking out the door.

Bon Bon snorted as she continued to brush. “She’ll be back. Lyra doesn’t do the day without no oils.”

“Uh… right.”

Anon merely started to stretch, writing a few entries into his journal and using up his time before Lyra returned. When she did it was with a frown. “So the innkeeper is a jerk.”

“What’s new?”

“What did he do?” Bon Bon asked, pausing from brushing her tail.

“It seems he sold out who I was to some people he knew and now we have three griffons outside that want to escort us someplace.”

The two paused their activities, turning to Lyra. “Did they say where that would be?” Anon asked, getting his gear ready.

“They said they could take us to where the king was. I’m not sure if we should trust them.”

“I’m in agreement with her,” Bon Bon said, putting her brush away. “Should we really follow them to who knows where?”

“I’m not sure about this either, but it might be better than looking around town for what might amount to nothing. If anything, they’re a possible lead to consider.” The other two didn’t seem very convinced. “Why don’t we just go down there and see where things lead to. It’s not like we need to follow them anywhere if we don’t want to.”

“I suppose that’s true,” Lyra said before walking over to Bon Bon, sitting right beside her. “But first, this girl needs her oils.”

“See! I told ya! The oils came calling for you.”

“I swear I will get the oils to magically form someday!”

Anon rubbed his face at the antics, watching Lyra getting her mane brushed by Bon Bon as they spoke in their childish voices. It took them a quick ten minutes (after a lot of push from Anon) before they finally made it to the door of the inn, staring at three griffons. They stared back, first looking at Lyra inquisitively before looking surprised at the other two there. “Well if it isn’t Anon and Bon Bon.”

Crossing his arms, he tapped a forearm in thought staring at them. “I swear I’ve seen you three back in Ponyville.”

“See? I knew he’d remember us!” A female looking griffon started to walk up before being held back by another of their group.

“We were told there was a Kommunelegatusionist here,” a male griffon spoke out, taking the lead. “By the description given I would assume it is the greenish looking pony here.”

“I prefer it being seen as a minty coat,” Lyra said with some lip. “But yes, I am the komlas.”

The griffon hummed, and then looked at the other two. “Why are you two here accompanying her?”

“They’re my assistants for the journey here,” Lyra answered for them. “I’m allowed to bring two with me wherever I go.”

“No, I understand that I mean why is the “Rebel Wrecker” and first alien of our lands along with the daughter to the mayor of a major port and heir of a global trading company doing assisting you?”

“She’s the individual that found me and helped introduce me to the lands,” Anon said, rubbing the back of his head.

“As for me, I’m a longtime friend of hers,” Bon Bon said, saddling up right beside Lyra. “We’ve known each other since we were fillies.”

“It’s a strange coincidence having you three in one spot,” the griffon said. He merely got shoulder shrugs in return. “Oh, and yes Anon, the three of us met you back in Ponyville quite some time ago after our visit with the princess.”

It took him a moment to remember before snapping his fingers, making the others jump. “Oh right! Actor, Delany, and Jana!”

“Ehr… close enough. It’s Auctor and Delano by the way,” the one named Auctor said, ignoring Jana’s superior smirk.

“So what was this about leading us to our destination?” Lyra asked, wanting to move things along.

Delano spoke up, “We got word that you were out here last night. After talks, it was decided we should direct you to where the king is currently residing.”

“Is there a new castle here we weren’t aware of?” Anon asked. “It doesn’t exactly pop out like I thought it would.”

The three griffon’s looked at one another before Jana spoke up, “You are aware you’re currently in Griffonstone?”

“Where else would the king reside?” Lyra asked.

“Ah, so you don’t know. At least our information-halting tactics seem to be working."

"Though with the passages open and borders being cleared that's going to change soon," Delano mumbled.

"We relocated a hundred years back through the mountains. Our capital is now at New Griffonstone.”

Instead of arguing about their wasted day, as she wanted, Lyra moved on, “How exactly do we get there? I don’t think you’d just fly us there.”

“Yeah, not happening,” Jana spoke up. “We have a road that goes through the mountain. You can take the Speedy Cart through it no problem. We’ll arrive there in a few hours where you can do whatever it is you’re here for.”

“It can’t be any worse than staying here,” Lyra spoke up before sighing. “Okay, lead the way.”

The three griffons nodded before turning around and walking down a street, with Lyra and her group following. After a few turns, plenty of sneers, and tripping over debris a good few times, they eventually stood in front of the base of the mountain. A massive tunnel could be seen dug inside of it, with lights trailing the roof of it lighting the entrance. On the side of it could be seen a large wagon with a few contraptions strapped on the back of it.

“It’s large enough for all of us to get in,” Auctor spoke up, walking up to one of the vehicles. Speaking to one of the griffons in charge, he got inside the front before starting it up. Coughs of black smoke poofed from the back smokestacks. “Hop on in.”

Getting them all in wasn’t very difficult as it was a large, long vehicle. Wheeling the thing forward, Auctor started it down the tunnel. “We should be there in a few hours, so relax and enjoy the ride.”

“I wasn’t aware the griffons were quite so advanced,” Lyra said, examining the Speedy Cart. “I swore your people shied away from such things in the past.”

“Times change; this is only a recent thing we acquired,” Jana spoke up. “Got this from some ponies coincidentally, they tried to sell some cider up here for some reason while singing."

“Ah yeah, I can see why that didn’t work out for them,” Lyra said with a nod.

“So the two dunderheads overheard we were trying to install a train here and decided to sell the schematics of their powered Speedy Cart as a replacement. We’re still testing it out but it’s doing wonders for us!” Jana turned around to look at Anon who sat in the back. “What do you think of it? I’m curious what a being from another world would think of this.”

“It’s a car,” Anon replied. “We have these back on Earth in spades. They’re all over the place, though ours have come a long way.”

“Really?!” Jana seemed pleased to hear that. “That’s exciting to hear we have the technology you seem to have!” She then frowned, staring at Anon. “You don’t seem pleased…”

Indeed, Anon was frowning, looking behind him at the engine of the vehicle. “What does this thing run on?”

She blinked at him. “It runs on black rock. We don’t exactly have a steady supply of magic like the ponies do.”

Anon narrowed his eyes, staring at the black fumes that puffed out of the pipes. “Been a while since I’ve seen someone using coal to power anything. We’ve stopped using it almost entirely where I come from. How much would you say your people use this stuff?”

“It’s at the forefront of all our recent works,” Jana said, watching Anon examine the vehicle. “We can’t do a lot without it.”

“In a world full of magic, you’d still use such crude methods.” His words confused the griffons, with Lyra and Bon Bon sharing worried looks. “It seems I finally get to share some worldly knowledge that might have some good. Let me explain some things to you about your… black rocks.”

~End Chapter Twenty-Five~

Chapter Twenty-Six – New Griffonstone Welcomes You, Now Beat It

Feeling something shifting in the vehicle, Bon Bon turned from her half-asleep state, having been lulled into it from the carts surprisingly smooth drive, and saw one of the griffons climbing over to a set of seats that sat across from hers. She turned to look at Lyra, seeing her friend fully engrossed in writing down notes about what they had already found out about the griffons. The information was important no doubt, the fact that their people had moved their entire capital and population over across the mountains.

Bon Bon saw the one named Jana sitting, having smoothed out a few ruffled feathers before turning back to her with a smile. “Was Anon getting to you?” Bon Bon questioned.

Jana’s smile looked strained, a nervous chuckle creeping out. “Why would you think that?”

“He’s been talking to the three of you for the past few hours about your people’s economy and your usage of black rock, or coal as he calls it.”

“The human is certainly passionate about it,” Jana said with a frown. “Is he like this with you back in your lands? Picking apart things about safety regulations or the environmental impacts we have?”

“Not really.” Bon Bon shifted her gaze to the side, a small smile coming from it. “Ah, wait, he’s very much about the safety regulations. From seat belts and speeding regulations to trying to set up some kind of Oh-Cha, whatever that is. He called that one a necessary evil to keep people safe.”

“When he mentioned wanting to talk about black rock, I was kind of hoping he’d have some interesting contraptions to share ideas about. It just feels strange, how he seems oddly concerned about our safety,” Jana said, turning to Anon who was still talking to the other two.

“－is not a trifling matter you should ignore. You’ve already explained that you’ve advanced to using fast-acting drills and tools to get to the coal, which will kick up a lot of dust. Dust that your workers will be breathing in. Black lung disease will be especially troubling with your species being avian. The coal coats the lungs over time, leaving them damaged and slowly being incapable of normal breathing later in life. With the health of your workers…”

The three of them watched Anon conversing with the two griffons up front, Auctor trying to point out that things will surely be fine but being unable to reason why, while Delano had a haunted look on his face, a muttering of ‘acid rain’ coming out of his mouth every so often.

“I can’t blame him for being concerned,” Lyra said, injecting herself in the conversation. “He used to do environmental work on his planet, something I’m still struggling to understand what that exactly is. Hearing your people are going through some sort of revolution, he likely feels he could help some kind of problem before it starts.”

Bon Bon nodded, “In fairness, we barely use most of the fuel sources his people did. Black rock, lightning, dead plants, the wind, gasses, and the sun where what they mainly used. No magic in his world, so they had to make do with what was available.”

“Our planet self-regulates itself to clean up the bad particles whenever we did use them, like on our trains.” Lyra shuffled some of her papers, writing something down. “We’ve never used it to a massive degree as his people have so we don’t even notice any major effects.

“There are of course other things he worked toward, such as cleaning the oceans of garbage as an example, but he seemed most prominent on promoting different sources of clean energy, as he called it when he could. He even had a few big hogshot many-bit-ilionaires working to make it all possible.

“Until one of them blew him up and he wound up here on our planet.” Lyra snorted. “Moron.”

“So none of that should affect us, right?” Jana looked between the two of them nervously. “That was his world's problems, not ours.”

“That’s true,” Bon Bon said.

“So long as we don’t use those fuels excessively,” Lyra added. “It’s not like we have huge swathes of trees being cut down or massive black rock mining operations to quickly burn all of it into the air.”

Jana shuffled in her seat. “We may… kind of use it in a lot of our current day contraptions. I mean every house burns the stuff in their fireplaces for one.” Bon Bon hoofed her face while Lyra looked bug-eyed. “It’s not like black rock acts like his world will, right? So we should be fine. And it’s cheap and available to everyone.”

“You need to stop burning coal in your fireplaces,” Lyra said shaking her head. “Even I know that’s a horrible idea.”

“It’s going to be hard to convince an entire population to stop doing something they’ve been told is fine for some time. We don’t even have any alternatives for them to use.”

“We’re about to reach the tunnel’s entrance!” Delano yelled out to gather their attention to the front.

“Look, we’ll talk more about this later when we get a better picture of what your people are going through.”

Lyra quickly snatched up her camera, taking a few snapshots just as they were reaching the exit. Massive pillars of trees scattered everywhere with buildings littering the thick branches all about. A bustling city of griffons scattered around, wearing odd garments and using oddly-shaped instruments and geared implements all around.

A massive canopy of leaves hung over the town, the sun’s rays streaking through the town. Up in the trees could be seen long, massive, ornate bridges tying all the trees together, forming a sky roadway for the inhabitants to walk upon. It was truly a grand sight to behold. Almost everything was made out of wood, giving it a very surreal sight.

“Dear God, it’s a steampunk’s wet dream,” Anon said, staring at it all.

“Impressive isn’t it?” Jana spoke, clearly happy with the shock and awe placed on their faces. “Welcome to the city of New Griffonstone, capital of Gryphonia.”

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The six of them were walking down the gray cobbled streets, taking in the sight around them. Every single thing they looked at was, as they were told, made out of a wood substance. Even the streets underneath them were made of a highly dense wood, something only native in the griffon lands.

“There are a few varieties of our dura-trees, but the thing that makes them grand is their inability to burn and their strong bodies, acting as if they were made of steel. They are even able to change colors with some work, giving us many different fashions to choose from.”

The hustle and bustle of the city were pronounced, captivating their group. Steam was thrown out of every corner, working some kind of contraption into motion. One served ice cream as it whirled out jolly music from its pipes, while another had its foundations floating in the air, the thing slowly moving down the street trying to sell curios. Throughout it all, griffons worked at repairs to preexisting buildings or coordinating groups around.

“As you can see, we have a lot of masons that work in our city all around the clock. Every single piece of wood is always improved upon where needed and intricately worked and refined over time, imparting our inner energy to strengthen it as we work.”

“Inner energy?” Anon questioned.

“Another way to say mana that’s inside one’s own body,” Lyra answered. “Every being has it in them as you already know. Griffon’s learned to use their inner reserves and work it into their flying manipulations. It also seems like they’ve learned to guide this into their dura-wood. Interesting.”

Delano puffed up his chest. “It was a proud day for us griffons when we learned of our gifts. We have grown to great heights in the past hundred years to the powerful beings that we are today. The fabulous works surrounding us are proof of this!”

“Maybe that’s why the princess signed that document,” Bon Bon whispered to Lyra’s ear. “They wanted some time to learn of their abilities on their own.”

“Makes sense,” Lyra whispered back. “It happened with the minotaurs long ago when they learned about physical enhancements and they were left alone to study for some time.”

“That sounds awesome,” Anon said, taking it all in. “Wish I could do something like that.”

Jana walked up with a smile, “While it’s a griffon ability, we could try to see if you could learn with some private lessons?”

Anon chuckled, getting the hint. “As… fun as that sounds, I genuinely don’t think I can learn it. Or runing, or anything magical. I’ve got this weird negative energy in me that disrupts magic completely.”

“We’ve read the reports on that from the princess,” Delano said with a frown. “We’re still confused about what that is.”

“She just gave you that information?” Anon asked surprised. “What am I talking about, of course, she would. There isn’t much to it. I stop magic by touching it and magic can’t affect me. Oh, I’m slowly learning more I can do with it, like this nifty eye ability I learned it just before we left Ponyville.”

Feeling around inside his inner domain, Anon focused it toward his sight, feeling the weird ability swirling around inside him. The group gave him some room, seeing his eyes now emitting a gray smoke.

“It’s not much, but I can see the magic through this, and also through illusions made of magic.”

“That is so cool looking,” Jana said, unable to look away.

The smoke went away, leaving Anon with smokey gray eyes. “Still trying to learn how to control this. I’ll be stuck with these grayed eyes for a few hours until it fades away.”

Their group stared at Anon, thinking of a multitude of ways such an ability could be useful. Or harmful.

Lyra coughed, gaining their attention. “Moving along, why did you change your capitals location? I thought there was some historical importance to the previous area.”

The three of them stared for a second more before Delano spoke up, “We changed our capital due to griffons believing the place to be a cursed land. It held us back, being tethered to such an area that held nothing but past haunts and no future. The few fools that remain are stuck in their ways as we have moved on to greater pastures.”

“Ah. I, uh, see things have worked out for you all.” Delano nodded his head as the group returned to their walking.

The three griffons escorting them would point out many of the places as they walked by them, hyping their capital up to no end. Lyra and Bon Bon, for the most part, seemed to be eating it up. Anon was keeping an open mind to what he was being told, especially as he didn’t like how the people around him were giving them looks quite similar to Griffonston’s inhabitants.

“Why is everyone giving us the stink-eye?” Bon Bon asked, fed up with the glares.

“I don’t know what you mean by that,” Auctor replied.

“They are, very obviously, distancing themselves from our path.”

Indeed, the group could see griffons keeping out of their way, intentionally leaving what almost looked like a circle around them voided of any traffic.

Auctor cleared his throat, “There has been some… recent talks with the higher-ups about wanting to simply stay isolated and many see your group as a manner of trying to interfere with that.”

“You don’t honestly want to stay isolated from the world?” Lyra asked. “A lot of nations are uniting once more with trades and peoples; keeping to yourselves won’t help your people in the long term.”

“Or even the short term,” Bon Bon said.

Lyra nodded, “The signed treaty keeping you isolated for a hundred years, as stupid as it was in my opinion, has ended. The feline nation, your biggest trade partner, has been wanting to enter your lands for a while now for direct trades and if you renege on reopening your nation, it may sour your dealings with their people.”

Delano sniffed, “Darn cats should be happy we’re dealing with them in the first place.”

Lyra looked nonplussed. “Those ‘darn cats’ are the reason you have so much wealth in the first place as you refuse to do any trades with other nations close by. We have to go through that nation just to trade with you in the first place.”

“I like your calydonian,” Anon whispered to Jana.

“The more popular wild-farmed calydonians are much further inland and harder to come by here. But we have a farm on the outskirts of the capital.”

“I want to check it out.”

“The discussion on the trading of our peoples and our treaties can be held off until later tonight,” Auctor spoke out. “Let us get you to the castle grounds so you can get acquainted with the royals.”

The rest of the trip was dealt with in silence with tensions building as they were guided through the busy streets of New Griffonstone. Everyone around seemed to be enjoying life as it was, yet gave a wide berth from their group, word had already spread about their arrival and what it could mean.

Something the group had also noticed was the odd shape many of them seemed to be in, as if tired, with heavy bags under some of their eyes. They even saw one of them drop, quickly scurried off from the extremely fast aid that came with it. No one seemed to pause or take notice as if used to such actions.

The further they walked, the more they noticed this in many of the griffons. It wasn’t until they were nearing the coal mines that it could be seen in nearly every individual there. Most of them were pushing carts out of the mine or working some kind of machinery. What could be seen in them all was a tired, haggard appearance.

“Isn’t it a bit extreme to be pushing your people to such states?” Lyra asked, seemingly worried.

“It honestly isn’t as bad as it looks,” Delano spoke. “They only work for a week, then rest for the next three, yet get paid for a whole month’s wage. Sure they work hard, but three weeks rest and high pay very well make up for it in my opinion.”

“Can one week's work really exhaust someone to needing three weeks to rest?” Bon Bon asked Lyra, who merely shrugged back uncertainly.

Anon hummed. “I’m not seeing any respirators of any kind. Not even a cloth to cover their beaks with. There’s barely any safety equipment either. I see hardhats, but what about coveralls or thick clothing to prevent cuts and abrasions in their work? And just how are you checking the oxygen levels in your passageways or venting out dust? The very few that even have cloth covering their whole body look sickly and barely recognizable from griffons. Why do you even have those ones covered in so much gear along with those weirdly bent poles attached through their helmets; to hold lanterns? Yep, there’s one with a lantern. That’s especially dangerous to do. With the amount of work－”

Auctor interrupted, “Can we please move on? You can discuss this at a later date and give us some more… foreign insights on how we can do better.”

Forcing the group past the mines they moved further into the city, the buildings starting to look positively ornate in their design. The griffons standing around appeared posher than what they had seen before. And more annoyed, giving their glares openly at the group.

They eventually saw the massive base of a tree, the size of a castle, interwoven, and cut into to give it windows and spires. It was only then they realized the huge canopy above their heads was coming from the very tree they were staring at, amazed at how far it reached out into the capital.

“This is where we shall depart. Perhaps we’ll see you if they have you needing an escort.” Their group flew off, leaving Lyra, Bon Bon, and Anon to walk up to the castle entrance.

Guards stood at attention, eyes staring ahead in a thousand-yard stare as their group walked right by them and into the tree castle. Inside was a massive foyer that could hold a hundred griffons, now only holding a few guards and two well-dressed figures, one a griffon and one surprisingly being a pony.

“Welcome to Sootworth Castle,” the well-dressed griffon spoke. “Please, follow me to your rooms to drop off your items.”

The foreign pony that stood beside the griffon went to their group as they followed through the long halls, mostly full of doors and griffon guards standing attention.

“How has your stay here been, Haze Friction?” Bon Bon asked.

“Tiresome. The griffons are notoriously hard to deal with, even worst than the yaks. I swear taking up this ambassador job is not what I thought it would be. There have been talks about staying isolated and simply kicking everyone out of their lands. That clearly includes me!”

“Do you know why they’re doing this?” Lyra asked

“I don’t! Things started to build up about a year ago when some gung-ho griffons decided they wanted to keep their people to themselves. Many of them had the backing of the black rock mines, which is fueling the entire economy right now and has the public’s interests at heart. They managed to make the mining process cheaper and easier to come by. Everyone in this town is siding with them, making this difficult to deal with.

“Most of the dura-wood handlers and miscellaneous trade partners are trying to fight back against the black rock faction, but each passing week another one seems to randomly turn over to the isolationist side.” Haze Friction sighed. “If things continue, trade between the griffons will all but cease as they’ll close off their borders entirely. Who knows what will happen if that comes to pass.”

The rest of the walk was in silence as the griffon led them through many corridors. It eventually led them into a hall lined with doors, two guards on either side of each door. The leading griffon stood in front of a set of doors, inviting them in. A spacious room, with one massive bed and several sets of wardrobes, could be seen. A window allowed them a grand sight into the capital, showing just how high up they currently were.

“No jumping out of that,” Anon said.

“Your group will be staying the night here. Dinner will be at seven tonight, please make sure you are presentable. Or as much as one can be with the lack of clothing you are wearing.”

“Griffons in the capital sure care about their clothing,” Anon muttered, pulling at his jacket.

“When can I go out in town?” Lyra asked. “I wanted to check out some of the establishments close by and ask about some of the dura-wood operations.”

The griffon gave her a flat stare. “There will be no going out in town while you are here.”

“Excuse me? Uh, no. As the komlas, I have every right to go out.”

“You are here as a guest, we could care less about your,” he sniffed, “little title, pony. The guards will ensure you abide by staying in the room. A good day to you all.”

He left promptly after, leaving Lyra gobsmacked. “He… He can’t do that!”

“I think he just did,” Anon said.

Bon Bon hummed, “We were informed before arriving that the princess sent out a letter discussing this very thing and being told there wouldn't be any problems. What’s going on, Haze?”

“As I said, there’s been some tension between the griffons here,” Haze Friction said. “They won’t even allow me to talk to anyone for the past few weeks about this. Things look like they’re coming to a head, just as their borders were supposed to start opening up. Look, for the time being just follow along and don’t do anything stupid. Our best chance to find things out is during the dinner scene where we can discuss this with you there.”

Haze Friction left soon after, leaving their group now locked inside the room.

“They can’t just keep us in here!”

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Several hours passed by in irritation, Lyra trying her best to leave the room. Each attempt was met with failure as the griffon guards would stop any attempts to leave. From trying to impersonate a griffon to simply jumping out the window using a featherfall spell didn’t work.

They were eventually let out, led down the halls once more into a massive banquet hall where a long table could be seen. Many griffons stood by their seats, not even taking a glance at Lyra and her group who made their way to their chairs. They all stood, waiting for the king to be announced in by trumpets, taking a seat only as he did, eating only once he had taken his first bite.

The dinner meal was an awkward setting. A multitude of foods sat on plates, steam rising from their meats and vegetables, many decadent dishes showcased, and sparkling from some kind of light setting. Barely anyone dug in, small bites being taken, whispers shared between one another. Everyone seemed to ignore their guests, pretending they didn’t exist.

Fed up with the quiet scene, it left Lyra with starting a conversation directly with their ruler, making her voice loud enough to be heard. “I noticed that you were preventing me from leaving my room so that I could go into town since we’ve entered this castle, holding me in like a prisoner. Is there a reason for this?”

Quite a few griffons were shocked by Lyra’s directness. A female griffon sneered at her. “Did anyone give you permission to look around our lands?”

“Are you the type of people that likes to break treaties and deals with other nations?” Lyra threw back hotly.

Bon Bon looked worryingly at her friend. “Lyra…”

Lyra glanced at Bon Bon, slightly shaking her head before turning back to King Cyrus. “You already know what my position is and what it entitles me to with our treaties. Unless you want to declare that you are breaking treaties with all the world’s nations, I demand you allow me the freedom to do my job.”

A griffon off to the side tittered, “And who said we were preventing you?”

“I’d say it was whoever had guards stand outside our door and keeping us inside for several hours.”

A huff from another, “We have a komlas finally out on their excursion and decided to come to our lands as their first stop, the heir of one of your largest trading companies strolling alongside said komlas, and the… foreign entity from another planet that is making waves coming to our lands. We’re a bit wary of what your intentions are. Maybe you should explain yourself and what you want to look at first.”

Throughout all this, Anon was noticeably getting more agitated, his eyes lightly smoking gray as he looked around the table. A rather large griffon, sitting across from him, wouldn’t stop staring at him, not having taken a single bite from the delicious smells invading Anon’s nose.

“Are you examining me with your alien ways?” the massive griffon asked him.

Anon blinked, trying to clear his eyes. “No, sorry. I’m ah, still learning to control that ability.”

“Is that what you used when you defeated Bombastic Boom Bill?”

It took him a few seconds to remember the odd name, ignoring the building tensions with Lyra and the table. “That minotaur that challenged me? No, I learned this after that fight.”

The griffon smiled at him. “So you did fight him. I was wondering how much of a challenge he was to you.”

“It wasn’t too hard fighting him off. Dodging him was easy enough. He couldn’t fight after I negated his attacks and threw him down.” Anon frowned. “Why are you asking about him? Do you know the guy?”

A dry laugh, “We’ve fought in the past several times. Generally, it ended in a stalemate between the two of us, with an equal amount of victories for us both. Hearing how you easily trounced him, even when he had the upper claw in the exchange with the challenge… I feel an exciting chill I hadn’t felt in a long time from you.”

“I’m not sure where you’re going with this.”

A menacing grin overcame the griffon. “It should be clear then: I want to fight you.”

A tug was felt on his jacket, Bon Bon having him lean to her. “Things aren’t looking good.”

“You’re telling me. I’ve got a behemoth wanting to fight me on top of me seeing… something seriously wrong with the griffons.”

“Really?” she deadpanned before moving to his ear to whisper. “I think you should take Giant Gil up on his offer.”

“His name’s really－ Wait I should what?!”

“Shh! Yes, take him up on his offer for a fight.”

“Are you mad?!” he harshly whispered back. “Do I look like the kind of guy that likes to start fights or even be in them?”

“If you take him on his offer, they’ll have to allow it. He’s one of their heroes, and him challenging you would mean we can set the time three days from now. And if we don’t do something soon they’ll be kicking us out in three minutes. Whatever is happening in these lands, it has them wanting to break blood-binding treaties. We need to stall for time.”

“And a fight will do that? I repeat, how will I fighting him give us time to look into this?”

“He’ll challenge you to a fight that we’ll postpone for three days in their arena, and we’ll also force in an allowance for Lyra to do her job as part of that agreement. It’s that or we’ll walk away.

“Why would they even care if we walked or not?”

“Anon, everyone knows of you. If you hadn't noticed, a lot of griffons were pointing you out in the town, discussing your fights. The public would be enraged if they ever found out a fight between one of their biggest names and you were blocked.”

“But a fight? Seriously? It’s like you’re TRYING to set me up to fight at this Camelot thing!”

“It’s the only chance we have at keeping us here for Lyra to investigate things. Just let me talk and we can get some time for Lyra to look into this. Are you willing to help us?”

The two of them stared at one another, Anon mulling over the idea of taking on the giant griffon. Turning back to Giant Gil, who was nibbling on his food in boredom, Anon narrowed his eyes.

“I better not regret this,” he mumbled to himself before speaking to the griffon. “So why exactly do you want to fight me? I’m not sure I understand the circumstances.”

The griffon paused, looking at Anon. That mean glint came back to his eye. “I’ve fought many minotaurs several times, always a grand spectacle with those people, trying to sneak into our lands just to fight us. We always kick those minotaurs back out, knowing they’d try once more in the future to rechallenge whoever beat them.

“Bombastic Boom Bill was different, one of the top fighters from their lands. He was the only one that ever gave me trouble when I fought. I found myself over time enjoying each confrontation we had. To hear of you beating him with just one round, and barely a scratch on you has me… shivering in excitement with just the thought of fighting you.”

“Freaking meathead,” Anon mumbled before clearing his throat.

Bon Bon started, “It’s unfortunate you won’t be able to fight him then.”

Giant Gil frowned. “I don’t see why not. I’ll be at the Camelot Challenge like everyone else.”

“Anon won’t be going to that. He’ll be traveling around with both of us to other nations so unfortunately, we’ll miss out on it. And from how it looks, I don’t think you’ll ever get the chance to fight him in the future at all, or at least, be the first to.”

Bon Bon turned her head to the others arguing with Lyra. “Too bad, they’ll be kicking us out of your lands soon. Anon not only fought Bombastic Boom Bill but also took on an entire rebel army all on his own.” Anon froze, giving a nasty glare at her. “He doesn’t like to talk about that one, how he took down everyone in his path and their leader. Why, there’s even been rumors around he’s been sneaking out into the Everfree Forest, just so he can fight the hydras and chimeras in there for sport.”

Anon was grinding his teeth, hearing Bon Bon pumping up his abilities far beyond what was reasonable. The griffon was hunching over the table, leering down at Anon with an eagerness that made him uncomfortable. A few griffons sitting by him finally took notice on Giant Gil’s ruffled form.

Bon Bon shrugged both front hooves in the air with a look of indifference. “Oh well, guess the fight of the century will have to happen somewhere else and not here, with you, in New Griffonstone, surrounding all the griffons to spectate and－”

Giant Gil slammed his claws into the table, pulling them back as claw marks trailed behind on the table. He jumped up on it, pointing a clawed digit at Anon. “Alien dignitary! I challenge you to a showdown of combat in the arenas!”

The entire room was in silence, watching the display. A griffon screamed out, realizing what had just transpired. “OH COME ON.”

“Tomorrow evening－”

“DON’T ALLOW THIS,” another griffon screamed.

“We shall perform glorious combat－”

“SOMEONE SHUT HIM UP.”

“For all of griffon-kind to witness!”

“We need three days to prepare ourselves,” Bon Bon said. “To give you the best fight between the two of you, that is.”

The griffon stared at her, then turned to Anon, jabbing another pointed claw at him.

“In three days－”

“IT’S CLEAR WHAT THEY’RE DOING.”

“We shall encounter in the arena for maximal conflicts－”

“HE’S BEING BAMBOOZLED.”

“For all of Gryphonia to spectate!”

The griffon flew off away from the table and through an opening in the ceiling, drawing gasps at his departure.

A few seconds of silence before Lyra coughed in a hoof. “Looks like we’ll be staying for another three days then! We’ll have to postpone our break-the-treaties talks to a later date.”

Across the table, a griffon growled. “If you think we’ll allow you to roam around as you please then you’ve got another thing coming.”

“I suppose we’ll have to leave then,” Bon Bon said, giving off fake-devastation. “Oh, woe is us, for the griffon public will know that an epic fight could have been taken place, if not for the griffons here preventing such actions.”

A clink could be heard, King Cyrus placing his goblet down. He took his napkin, wiping his beak. “It seems I will have to allow the komlas her freedom then if we are to keep the public happy. Is that not right, Mordecai?”

“Ooh,” Anon whispered to himself, “dat’s an evil name right there. Yup. That’s a good one alright.”

“But my king, we can’t allow them the freedom to do as they please in our lands.”

“It is in our signed treaties to allow such actions. Besides, they can walk away as it is, and that would upset the public knowing such a fight was taken from them. You’re always about making the public happy, are you not Mordecai?”

“...Yes, my king.”

“Then let us make the public happy. You’ll have your three days, komlas. Then I expect a grand showing in the arena for all our troubles.”

“Why, of course, King Cyrus.”

She gave off a smug smile at the griffons that were previously arguing at her. The griffon across from her growled, snapping his wooden utensil in half. King Cyrus throughout this all merely sighed, taking a sip of his drink.

“Can’t have a single meal in peace, can I?”

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“That was awesome!” Lyra was jumping around their room, brimming with excitement. “I’ll have three days to explore around the area and figure out what is going on, and it’s all thanks to you!” She gave Anon a large hug. “Thank you!”

He rolled his eyes, reciprocating the hug. “Yeah, I just have to fight a steroid-abusing griffon. Hurrah.”

“...What are steroids?”

“I’m not getting into this conversation.”

“I don’t see this as a victory!” Haze Friction was walking in circles, looking tired. “We’re going to be kicked out in three days regardless! All you’ve done is held off the inevitable. We’ll be going back to our lands with the griffons breaking their treaties, and when the other nations hear of this, it’s going to be a living nightmare! We’ll have to reroute trade routes, have additional eyes on griffon travelers which could promote some of the griffon blockages we’ve been trying to deal with in court, and my name’s going to be attached to all of this!”

“Everyone, chill.” Anon waved his hands up and down. “I’ve got this. I already know what’s going on.”

Everyone looked at him. “You do?” Bon Bon said.

“Sort of. Lyra will have to look into why the griffons are being possessed but that should be doable in three days.”

Their eyes widened at his words. “Possessed?” Lyra sputtered.

He pointed at his eyes. “My sight allows me to see magical things and right through magic. I was wondering what I was seeing out in town and at the table, but it occurred to me that the griffons are probably being led by some weird plan to take them over through possessing their leaders.”

Anon looked smug, crossing his arms. “I saw them out in town over by the mines leading up to the castle as well, so that’s a good starting point for you Lyra. Probably has to do with the coal mines. Bam! Probably some dead spirits being dug up or something in there. Hmph. Yeah, ruined this plot didn’t I?”

“They’re possessed?!” Haze Friction was tip-tapping around the room now. “What am I supposed to do about that?! I can’t leave this castle like you can Lyra, I’m stuck with griffon-possession and WHAT IF THEY POSSESS ME NEXT?!”

Lyra didn’t look as pleased about hearing that, also tip-tapping around. “I don’t want to go into town with possessed griffons! I hate ghosts! They give me the heebie-jeebies!”

Bon Bon turned to Anon. “You saw the griffons being possessed? As in you could see the spirits themselves?” Anon nodded his head. “Not the griffons there with the ghosts in them, but just the ghosts themselves?” He nodded once more, looking confused with what this was leading to. “Wouldn’t that mean that it’s something taking their place, and the griffons are not there?”

Anon rubbed his chin, thinking that over. “Good point, I will correct myself: The spirits have kidnapped the griffons and are taking their place.”

Bon Bon and Anon ignored Lyra and Haze Friction running around the room, freaking out as they thought over what he saw. “Why would spirits foalnap them when they could possess them? Why even pretend to be them? Anon, could you describe the ghosts to me. Depending on what kind they were could lead us to what is going on.”

“The ghosts looked weird, like they were, well… ponies. I assume they came from some old pony burial grounds or whatever. Probably mistakenly dug them up in the coal mines or someplace close.”

“I’m only remotely familiar with spirits in my work, but I don’t think there’d be any burial grounds close to griffon lands.”

“Surprised you would know of them at all.”

“I’ve had a run-in with spirits once in the past, and that was by accident. If ever given the chance to see a real mummy, don’t have your colleagues touching the tomb to check for clues to their investigations.”

“...Duly noted.”

“Okay, I don’t think it was windigos, they’re usually vicious and congregate more in our lands than outside. Perhaps you saw a púca, they like to teach lessons of humility. Anon, was there anything noticeable about their appearance? If we can narrow down the spirits that are foalnapping the griffons, we might be able to turn this all around and exorcise them.”

“I remember they all had crooked horns on them. Buggy eyes, with a lot of holes taken out of their bodies. Kind of freaky to look at. I noticed wings as well, on top of the weird fangs coming out of their mouths. Their bodies－ Why are you all looking at me like that?”

“Anon, those aren’t ghosts,” Lyra said with a shiver in her voice. “Those are changelings. The griffons are being taken over by changelings.”

~End Chapter Twenty-Six~

Prologue - You Just Have To Believe

If someone were to ask you to describe nothing, how would you respond? It’s a difficult question to answer, admittedly. Since the moment we are born, there has always been something, and not a nothing. To feel something, to see the places you travel. Taking it all away and to leave one in a state of absolute nothing.

Truly picture that, if but for a moment. Your senses, gone. Any emotions you may have possessed, taken away. Thoughts of future tomorrows and dreams of past yesteryears, all vanished. Not even darkness was permitted, as darkness was too strong of a defining feature to hold. Just imagine it. A wide, expansive nothing.

It’s in this nonexistent space where our story begins, where we find some poor fool currently residing.

“Where am I?” he spoke out. Or at least, he felt like he had spoken those words. His mouth hadn’t moved, just opened wide enough to allow the barest of air to trickle down his greedy throat, yet words came out all the same.

Adrift in a sea of nullity, the man silently mulled over his own voice. He had been alone for quite some time, if that was something he could even define. Not once had anything given him such a feeling. And those… words was it? Why did he choose those ones? What were their importance? Should he try again for more words? The nothing allowed his mind rest of ease, yet the words thrilled him. Yes, he would try once again.

“Why am I here?” What a fascinating thing to behold. Speaking out and hearing those words.

“Is anyone there?” Why hadn’t he done this sooner? Why did they even start to come out in the first place?

“I want to go home.” Perhaps they were simply bottled up inside him. His mouth was a gateway and he was the captain of the vessel.

“Please.” He wondered if anyone would want to claim his words. They came from him, so clearly they belonged to him.

Blasting into the man’s ears, a scream tore out, silencing the man’s voice. He wasn’t sure where it came from. Was it from someone else? Perhaps it was him? Before he could work on the new sensation, another one seemingly invaded his mind.

Something tugged on him, tried to pull him away. It started with a few, small nudges. Some apparitions of unknown familiarity, a number of seemingly unimportant faces that pulled on his heart. Easily avoidable, he’d claim. Be that as it may, it drew him forward, his muddled mind forming a clarity that it seemingly had lost, only now being reclaimed.

Without fanfare or warning to prepare, things had seemingly returned to him. His state of mind felt fractured, yet it was slowly forming back. The feeling in his body was returning, something he wasn’t even aware of missing. A cursory, mindful examination helped clarify he could feel things were correctly in place. There were two legs, two arms, nothing felt out of line, save for his eyes. They were closed. Nothing wrong with that, but they didn’t seem to want to open.

Moving his hands up to his eyes was a useless endeavor as he couldn’t control his limbs. He could wait for them to work, but he was quite eager to know just where he was located if possible.

With a clenched jaw, he forced them to peel open, getting the first real look at his surroundings. He slammed them shut immediately in pain, the light burning into his retinas, attacking his raw senses. Ignoring the encrusted sleep that irritated his sight, he forced his eyelids open once more, accustoming them to what was around him.

White.

Nothing but white. The blank, anemic void pained his eyes. It unnerved him.

He floated in the white, staring at it all. It made his presence somehow feel like the abnormality in the area. The white made him feel wrong. He didn’t belong, his form of odd colors and shapes an abhorrence to the space.

A thought wormed its way into his head, something that he had voiced not so long ago. Just why was he there, in the white? Was there a reason for his stay?

Something rushed back to him, a memory that was neatly tucked away, something that pushed itself in the darkness. Yet his questions forced the thing thing to stick out, as if nudging him to look at it. This one thing was the core fault of why he was there. It was very important. It held answers.

With a hesitant step, he sought out the memory, taking in what he had lost and forgotten.

And then…

The taste of salt in the air was the first sensation to hit him. A tilt of the floor kept him rebalancing his legs, a motion he was not fond of. His hands held on to a railing, allowing him some form of purchase. Off in the distance was a deep-water drilling operation, barely visible in the fog of the oncoming night.

He was starting to remember what was so important about the drill. The company that was working on the site had been forced to shut the drill down due to a massive spilling disaster. That event had fed the media for some time. No one could traverse the oceans due to the oil spill, so much of the sea life had died as a result, and plenty of it washed on the shores of nearby lands. And yet, against all odds, the drill was back in business several years later, along with empty promises of bettering their safety protocols.

The ship he was on was there to help garner media attention. He admired the garish colors, sliding a hand over the hull beside him. Cloth could be heard flapping in the wind, the flags on display showcasing the crude words aimed at the drill. A successful protest was one that caught the eyes of everyone around them: the abomination that he was standing on was a helpful aid.

At the moment, only two members of his group were on the ship, the others dealing with other ends to shut down the drill.

“Hey, Anon,” a sharp pitched voice called. “Ya still got your eyes on those money-grubbing monsters over there?”

A sigh escaped Anon’s lips. He wondered why he bothered bringing Gleekman along with him in the first place.

'Ah, right, he knew how to run the ship…'

A thin, string bean of a man, holding an air of a man ready for action, Gleekman had a habit of causing trouble. It wasn’t a good mix to have along with the man’s more violent tendencies towards public destruction.

Sadly, Gleekman was a necessity for the trip. Excellent skills in all forms of life, a charismatic tongue that could woo anyone within a beat of their heart, and his massive funding from his own pocket to help with all their ventures.

So, everyone dealt with Gleekman, and Gleekman in return got what he wanted, delusional as a man making history.

“Trying to get some air is all, Gleek.”

It was Anon’s turn to babysit the man while the others got to sit in a nice, cozy room discussing matters with people on the drilling operation. 'Bunch of backstabbing friends, the whole lot of them.'

“That’s a bit hard to do with the amount of stink being shoved into the air, don’t ya think?” The railing rattled as Gleekman leaned against it, glaring at the drill. “My hatred has no limits for those smug rats, killing off so much of the sea and destroying things without a care in the world. And those ditzes thought they could just set things back up like we wouldn’t take notice.”

Gleekman turned his head toward Anon. He gave him a smile as he stood up, patting Anon on the shoulder. “This sure is a special trip, this one. Might be the biggest thing we’ve done yet! I promise you won’t regret taking me along for this.”

A shiver ran down Anon’s spine. He knew the man had ulterior motives when he involved himself. Anon was not in favor of being a part of such things.

“Gleekman, you better not be planning something,” Anon warned. “We don’t want another incident to turn out of control by you.”

Gleekman’s smile disappeared as he stared, looking through Anon, his eyes glazing. His focus returned, the smile he previously broadcasted only widening. “Nothing to worry ‘bout, just got to show them we mean business, is all,” Gleekman said, walking past Anon. “We’ll show them all.”

Sweeping his hair back, Anon groaned in frustration, watching Gleekman walk off. Whatever he may be planning, hopefully, it wouldn't do too much damage. Right?

…Something brought Anon back to the white. Despite his deadened senses, he could feel his throat burning, struggling for air. Why had that particular memory felt important to him and his current situation?

Letting in a raspy breath, Anon delved right back into the memory on the ship...

He was currently inside his cabin, reading a book, trying to relax. It did nothing to help him from being on edge, waiting for whatever Gleekman was attempting. Yawning, he flipped a page to continue reading, just as he heard a loud thump and a muffled curse outside his door. Sitting up, Anon set his book down to check on the noise.

Peeking outside, he could see the silhouette of Gleekman in the dark, carrying a rather large package. The man juggled the object in his arms, shifting the weight before continuing. The dim lighting on the ship removed any chance at identifying what was going on. Furrowing his brow, Anon wondered how he managed to get that on the ship without him noticing. Most likely one of the crew handlers they relieved of their duty helped it on before the two left port.

Making it up some stairs, Anon saw the thin man standing by an illumination of whites and pinks. Beside him was a computer terminal, of all things. How he had the time to set all that up, Anon wasn’t sure. As Gleekman fumbled about with his work, Anon watched him in silence, having difficulty seeing anything in detail. 'I better stop him on whatever he’s working on, this does not look safe.'

“Gleek,” Anon called out, making the man jump.

Gleekman looked at him with a clenched jaw and a heavy breath, nearly dropping what was in his hand. It looked cylindrical in shape, a pink liquid sloshing about. “You idiot!” Gleekman screeched. Placing the object inside his setup, Gleekman swiped his brow with a shaky hand. “Well, seeing as you’re out here, there's no point in keeping this hidden from ya.”

Anon took a step forward. “What exactly are you doing, Gleeks?”

Even in the dark, he had no trouble seeing a large smile from Gleekman. “Why, I’m fixing our problem here! No oil drilling operation, no more pollution!” He flicked something, the deck exploding in light. “No more killing the animals!” Anon’s eyes widened. A sense of dread hit him as he looked at what he identified as a missile. “And most importantly,” he said with a mad grin, “no more ugly rats!”

“Gleekman, are you out of your mind?!” Anon was terrified of what Gleekman seemed to be attempting. “Why would you think a missile would solve our problems?”

Gleekman looked at the missile with a smile, patting the colorful warhead. Pressing a button, it lifted itself as it started to turn on the platform. “This ain’t no ordinary missile Anon,” he said, ignoring the question to admire the object, “no siiirreeeee it ain’t! No, see I—” He patted his puffed out chest, “—I got this thing from a… outside source. Had it made to destroy something massive, something large! They promised the destructive power of over six thousand sticks of dynamite, and it’s all thanks to these experimental chemicals and doohickeys attached to this, giving it an extra kick! And the best part is, it’s all natural! Nothing will get into the waters or anything! In fact, they stated it would simply make it all—” Gleekman flashed his hands in the air, making a poof sound. “Disappear.”

Anon looked at the missile, now aimed at the drilling operations. Examining it, he saw some oddities that looked rather queer on the thing. The thing was surrounded by fins, with a pink hue glowing in several places. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think this thing came from a B-rated Hollywood flick from the fifties on what future tech should look like.

“Gleek,” Anon said in a calm tone, inching toward the man, “think about what you’re doing. This isn’t the right way to go about things. We’re in talks with the local government. We even got the media on our side, keeping an eye on this for as long as we have, and you know how difficult that is. We’re in a very good spot; we don’t need to resort to violence.”

It took a moment for Gleekman to process what Anon said, so focused on his current work. His face distorted from the previous smile, teeth bared and eyes glared. “You’re joking,” he spat. “You can’t be serious. You honestly think that the government isn’t already in their pockets, or that they’ll be of any help in stopping these people?"

“That’s not true,” Anon said with a shake of his head. “In fact, most of themdon’t like the idea of it operating without proper measurements to prevent another catastrophe. The oil, it hurt a lot of people the last time. We’re very close to having it all closed down.”

“For how long?! They’ll be up in operations soon enough!” Gleekman gripped the railing by him, lost in his anger. “And why would you think the media would be of any help?! They’re already owned by those idiots that are in charge of the drills.”

Gleekman slammed his fist against the panel, forcing Anon to a stop, his breath coming to a still. “No, we need to make a stand right here, right now, so they can’t continue these operations." He turned to the contraption, his back hunched over the panel of the missile. “At any cost,” he added with a terrifying finality.

A nightmare, that’s what this was. Of all the things that could have happened, when things were going so well, why did this have to come out of nowhere to ruin everything they’ve worked on? It was a mistake, thinking Gleekman’s paranoid actions could be dealt with. Anon knew that one day the man would blow up on all of them. Who knew it would be so literal.

This was the end of it all. The destruction of the drill wouldn’t stop anything. It’s going to take the lives of people drilling while dumping more oil into the ocean, if it didn’t wind up being a dud and blowing up the ship along with him. Not to mention having them all imprisoned. Their group would wind up on multiple terrorist lists. It was the end of everything for Anon. All their hard work, gone.

Gleekman’s hand hovered over the panel; he turned his head, giving Anon a toothy grin, eyes devoid of rational thought. He turned back to the oil drill, grin widening.

“Say goodnight, you pompous, money-grubbing rats!” Slamming his fist down, the missile started to unleash smoke as the lights on it began blinking erratically.

Anon wasn’t sure what made him take action at that moment. It felt like something was guiding him. In any normal circumstance, there was no way he’d try to thwart a missile by jumping on it, hoping it would stop the takeoff. Yet, there he was, grabbing hold of its body, ignoring the yells coming from the deranged launcher.

“Get off there you dung slinger! You’re going to ruin everything!”

He had some hope he could stop it by throwing it off its balance, perhaps having it drop in the ocean before liftoff. It was simply bad luck for him that not only was the missile strong enough for his weight, soon after jumping on, the missile launched, taking him with it.

It took his entire focus just to stay on the horrid contraption, uncertain about how he should proceed. How would one even think of a plan in such a situation? His ears felt like they were crushed with hammers from the force he was dealing with. Looking up, his bleary vision gave him just enough detail to tell him that he was barely skimming across the water, likely his weight keeping the missile so low. Yet its aim stayed true, heading for the drilling.

'How do I stop this thing?!' He couldn’t see any kind of control panel or something that could stop the thing from its destination. Odd looking hieroglyphics were embedded all over the body, with gaps filled with pink lights. None of it made sense. He couldn’t open any of the panels or hope to try and rip something important from it.

Looking for some way to divert the rocket, he spotted the wing flaps surrounding the missile. 'If I can bend one of these, I can have it veer off in another direction,' he thought, kicking one closest to his leg. Barreling down at it with his foot, he could see it starting to move at an angle, forcing the missile to wobble. He kicked at a few other flaps, trying with all his might to force the missile away.

His entire world went topsy-turvy as the missile zigged and zagged. Looking ahead, he could see it had gone in a different direction, likely to miss the drill entirely. Mission accomplished, Anon had hoped to let go and make a chance at survival. A small chance was better than none. That was not meant to be as one of his leggings was stuck on a bent wing. Before he could even think of ripping his leg free he hit the water, his breath escaping him as his senses jumbled about.

The missile’s thrusters sputtered out, the momentum carrying the missile further away from the surface as it continued to frantically beep, clearly still armed.

Anon reflexively gasped, his need for air forcing him to do so, water flushing into his lungs. Within seconds, it was all over; his body started to shut down, unable to continue. 'At least I… stopped… the miss… ile…'

Hazy as his sight was, Anon could see several schools of fish gathering toward the missile. Their curiosity drew them to the pink lights. That was the last thing he saw as his mind closed up shop. And then, there was nothing.

…It all came back to him. Anon closed his eyes in thought.

“So. Gleek managed to kill me. Or perhaps I’m in some kind of coma. Regardless, I’m in this void of, whatever it is.” A hum left his aching throat. “So what happens now? Am I simply damned here for all eternity?”

Nothing would answer him. Whatever was happening, he was helpless as he was. Lacking anything to focus his attention on, Anon started to relax, deciding to go along for the ride, wherever it was taking him. He had his memories along with his answers. He saved plenty of people over his heroic, yet stupid actions. What more could he do?

He simply drifted, taking in past memories. Wondering how everyone was doing. Trying his best not to focus on what had happened.

Before long, Anon eventually had something new to bring his attention to. A sound. It started off as a little hiss that slowly grew in volume. It sounded like something was suctioning through a hose, growing in intensity. Looking around, Anon could see himself heading toward something. It was sucking through the white, pulling him toward his new destination.

And then, he was there. No white, no nothingness. He was floating in a sky full of brightest stars he had ever seen with wisps of clouds that floated in the air, giving an ethereal feel to his surroundings. It was mesmerizing taking it all in. He could find himself enjoying the stars as his final resting place. Now that felt like a more fitting place to him.

Anon felt a chill surrounding his body, the first real amount of interaction he felt in so long. The wind started to buffet his body, pushing against him at a fast pace. Turning his body around, Anon could see he was falling toward some land. He could see a grouping of trees that looked like a forest. Off in the distance was what appeared to be an old-fashioned looking town, along with some farmland in the other direction. If he tried hard enough, he could even see a castle off in the distance.

'What an interesting place I find myself in.' Closing his eyes, Anon awaited for his eventual crash in the ground.

'Falling to the ground in such a fashion. What a way to end it all.' He internally chuckled. 'And once I land, maybe I'll wake up. I’ll see my friends surrounding me, my mom will chide me over my actions, and then we can all have a grand laugh about all this.'

Yes, that was a more welcoming thought. Certainly better than him blowing up and floating in a void for an eternity before being vomited back out in the sky. This was all a dream. Had to be. How foolish he was taking everything so seriously. It was a comforting thought. So, clearly, he had nothing to worry about. Anon simply waited as he fell, feeling nothing as his body hit the ground.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

A yawn stretched out in the quiet room, the unicorn smacking her lips. She tapped her quill against a piece of parchment, the ink drying on its tip.

“Just what do they expect from this? Slime creatures are not supposed to come in contact with salt. Those purveyors already know of this.”

Another assignment, another problem. So many beings on her planet and she was charged with ensuring the races kept in a form of harmony if one could call it that.

“What incident number was this anyway? Number eight? Why do they keep trying to feed them salty beverages?”

It was nearly impossible to do her work. Meetings with new tribes of beings were quite common, and having to send out packets to help alleviate their troubles was constantly keeping her busy.

“Perhaps if I send out to the local guard on warning them about banning salt in the area could keep them from trying this again. We can’t simply keep the ponies there from the slimefolk, the trade agreement for the black rocks are too important.”

With her world still mostly uncharted, there was a need to plan for everything they could, even things they didn’t know about. Scenarios about possible events, what actions they should take if they come across something they couldn't deal with, and referencing it all with what was already known. It was a daunting task, but one she was more than willing to do.

“Perhaps we could simply tax the salt higher, raising the prices. Most ponies out there wouldn’t want to pass around something that costs so much. Yes, that could work.” She dipped her quill in a bottle of ink, writing down the response along with some notes about why it was a bad idea to give slimefolk any form of salt. “Finally finished!”

The unicorn let out a hum of satisfaction, placing the quill down. A small green glow bloomed out from her horn, lighting up her desk. Her papers glowed a similar green color, levitating in the air before being neatly packed inside a large envelope.

“The fellas over at the academy can finally stop bugging me about this darn problem, something I’ve already told them about several times.” The unicorn shook her head in frustration. “Now I can finally work on my own project! I’m hoping the princess will like this week's packet.”

“Lyra,” a voice called out. “Are you going to work all night or are you going to come out here with me?”

Lyra shook her head, just now realizing she had forgotten about stargazing with her friend. “One moment, Bonnie,” Lyra yelled back. “Let me finish down here!”

Lyra had wanted to further work on her own personal packet, tidy up her ideas before sending it off to Princess Celestia. The idea of alien threats and problems was certainly something that past komlas’ had never considered. Finding herself having no time, she packed away her packet, hoping it was good enough.

The unicorn levitated it into a small lantern, the green fire dancing along with the papers. It quickly crumbled, turning into a powdery mist twinkling of green particles. The remains then flew off to the nearest escape out of the house, heading directly for the princess back to her castle. Satisfied with her work, Lyra walked toward the upstairs hall where a ladder could be seen, leading up to the roof. Up top she could see Bon Bon sitting on a cushion, playing with the telescope.

“You took your sweet time,” Bon Bon teased, looking at Lyra. “For a moment I thought you’d rather hang out with your work than me.”

“My work is very persuasive at times, Bonnie.”

“No doubt about that, though I’m confident your work can’t contend with somepony like me, who can create such delicious sweets.” She pointed to a bowl of wrapped candies, likely a recent batch made from her, “Or has the patience needed to deal with you.”

“I suppose there are a few valid points in choosing you over some sliced up pieces of tree," Lyra said, making her way to Bon Bon.

The two sat beside one another, gazing upwards toward the starry sky, winding down from the day’s events. The stars twinkled in the sky, their constellations on full display as always. It was a peaceful evening for them, scoping out the stars, discussing what the constellations meant, and the occasional peeking in on someone in their home. For fun’s sake, of course.

'A pretty good night', Lyra thought to herself as she closed her eyes, sitting back and relaxing in her cushion. 'I doubt anything could ruin it.;

“Hey, Lyra," Bon Bon spoke out as if to challenge her unspoken thoughts, “is there supposed to be a star shower scheduled tonight?”

“Not that I’m aware of,” Lyra answered, opening an eye to look at Bon Bon. “Princess Luna doesn’t have anything set up for that. Why do you… ask…”

Trailing off, Lyra looked in the direction that Bon Bon had the telescope pointed at. A dull, pulsing light hovered in the night sky, located over Everfree Forest. Making her way to the telescope, she stared at the anomaly, trying to glean off just what was happening.

“Perhaps somepony’s spell went awry?” Bon Bon said, looking at the light. “It’s happened before just a few months back. Someone all the way from Manehattan appeared in Las Pegasus. Was the topic of discussion for a full two weeks.”

Lyra noticed something coming from the light. “Yeah, I think I see something coming out of it. Looks like it might be our turn now for some related shenanigans. But there’s something wrong with it.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, the person’s in an odd shape. Not exactly pony-like at all. In fact, it’s bipedal.”

Bon Bon’s eyes widened, “Really? I wasn’t aware we had minotaur enchanters in our lands. Those beings are extremely rare to come by.”

“I’m not sure it’s a minotaur either. It’s not bulky at the top like they normally are. No small legs either. The limbs seem almost proportional to one another. How odd.”

'What could this be? Nothing from my catalogs have anything that could help explain any other race being here.'

She went through the list of bipedal creatures she knew of on record, none matching the figure. Humming in thought, the unicorn lit up her horn, using a simple magnifying spell alongside her telescope. It helped with Lyra seeing more of the figure that floated in the night sky. Examining the being once more, it appeared to have pink skin? Definitely not fur. It was also clothed in strange garb. The limbs were oddly specific sizes. There was something very familiar about that figure to her.

An image appeared in her head, reminiscent of past dreams of faraway lands. Dreams that took her to places that held many different races in so many different shapes. It was the reason why she even had the job she had, those dreams. If she didn’t know any better…

“No.”

She swore she was looking at one of those hoomans. There was no possible way that this was happening, not something from her dreams. It was absurd! 'And yet…'

The telescope revealed the figure had started its descent to the ground, falling directly toward the forest in the distance. It was a rather dangerous place to be dropped into for anyone, especially at that time of night. All manners of beasts lurked the area in that foul place, the only ones brave enough to traverse it confidently were those shamanistic deer and even they tended to stay in their fortified homes at night.

Lyra immediately made her way down from the roof, heading to her closet. Rummaging inside, she found her ready-made travel pack for such an occasion. Getting the pack strapped on, she could hear an audible groan coming from Bon Bon who watched her from the ladder.

“So I guess this ends the night.”

“Don’t be like that, Bonnie,” Lyra replied.

“Be like what? Annoyed that you’re going off to do something dangerous once more? That you’re likely to get yourself stuck in a situation that I’ll probably have to reel you out of?”

Lyra turned to Bon Bon, a sheepish smile directed at her. “And you’re a great friend for it, Bonnie.”

“Or a foolish one,” Bon Bon deadpanned as she followed Lyra to the front door. “Every time you’ve gone out, it’s with you coming back with nothing to show for it or with trouble following along. How many times have you done this now?”

“Eighteen.”

“And each time it ended up with nothing to show for it. It wasn’t an alien the other eighteen times, I highly doubt it will be the nineteenth time. Why do you keep persisting?”

“The possibility, no matter how small, is worth going out and hoping for the best. Besides, it’s clearly someone out there that got lost, or it might just be a new race being dumped here. They still need help.”

“We both know what it is you’re really hoping for.”

“Regardless, I need to check it out.”

“Lyra, please. Just think about ignoring it, just this once!”

Lyra turned to her with a grin full of confidence. “It’s not something I can simply ignore. In the end, all that matters is pursuing that dream, Bonnie. I believe in it.”

In no time, Lyra had left out the door, running toward where she saw the figure drop. Bon Bon stood out the door, watching her departing friend making her way toward the Everfree Forest.

“We were having such a good evening too,” she grumbled, a frown present on her face. “Better prepare for whatever trouble she brings back with her.”

~End Prologue~

Chapter Three - Mare Look At That Body

A loud slam rang out in the room, abruptly shaking Lyra from her sleep.

“Whaa!” She screamed out, falling to the ground from the couch.

Looking at the clock on the wall, Lyra saw it was too early in the morning to be waking up. ‘Darn it Bonnie’, Lyra thought, getting up with a groan.

Shaking off the sleep she sniffed the air, having noticed an unpleasant smell that was coming from her. “Yuck…” Clearly, it was time for a bath.

She walked over to her belongings, going through it for her soaps. ‘Thank goodness Bon Bon did wake me up’, Lyra thought. ‘Now I have some time to bathe’.

Thinking about her friend, she found herself enjoying the idea of having her helping alongside the alien. It would be fun, ordering her around, doing just about anything that she wanted. Lyra cackled, wondering what she could get her to do.

Clearing her throat from the silly thoughts, she found her toiletries. Gathering it all, Lyra headed up the stairs toward her friend's room to use her bathroom. Trying to enter, she noticed that Bon Bon had the room locked in a more conventional manner: A lock requiring a physical key. Rolling her eyes, Lyra lit her horn up, forming a lock picking set in front of her.

Ten minutes later, a bedraggled and irritated Lyra eventually popped the lock. It had been some time since she had broken into a door with a lockset lined with magical defenses. Standing up straight Lyra felt triumphant in her work as she walked in the room. ‘Hot bath, here I—’

“Aaaah!” A twang, a snap, and Lyra found herself hoisted in the air, trapped in a net.

Bon Bon was likely paranoid with the alien so close and found a reason to set them up in her room. ‘Although, Bonnie also doesn’t like me in her room, something about going through her stuff.’

Forming a spell, Lyra fashioned a pair of scissors, cutting through the netting that was thankfully devoid of magical anti-charms. Lyra, having cut a hole, dropped out of the net—

“Gyaaah!” A trick, a second snatch; Lyra found herself back in the air once more. “DARN IT, BONNIE!”

She kicked her hooves in the netting, flinging herself about, screaming in anger at being caught again. As unhelpful it was with the current situation, it did make her feel better about it.

‘Bonnie always did believe in having backups to everything’, her inner voice spoke as she tried calming herself. Actually looking around, she spotted several more traps that were partially hidden. Those were likely decoys to the ones hidden.

“It might be a better idea to try showering in my own room until I can talk to Bon Bon about this.”

Shredding the net into little strips, feeling all the better for doing so, she dropped to the ground in a crouch, ready to jump to the side should another activate. Not seeing anything coming out to grab her, Lyra left the room exactly as she entered, heading toward her own.

Unlocking her door, she quietly opened it, noticing the hooman had not woken up. Locking the door behind her, Lyra silently moved forward toward her bathroom. ‘Just a quick bath and I’m out of there, then I can fig－”

“Whaaah!” A trip, a squawk, and Lyra found herself on the floor. “Whyyyyyyyyy?” she muffled, face against the floor.

Looking at where she had tripped, she noticed a small indention in the floor, the exact same one she had tripped on yesterday. A hateful glare was shot at the culprit responsible. She could feel the fear oozing from the floor, her menacing expression clearly too much for it to handle.

‘I will repair you and end your existence foul one!’

Lighting her horn up for a simple reparation spell, she stopped, having heard something creak. Turning towards the noise, she could see the alien looking at her.

Caught in the act, Lyra deactivated the spell, chuckling at the alien. Grabbing her toiletries in her mouth, Lyra stared at the alien as it stared back. She blinked at it, with it blinking back in response.

Smiling at the hooman, nearly dropping the towel in the process, she slowly walked backwards towards her bathroom door, bumping into it. She kicked it open before entering. Slamming it shut, she locked it with magic, preventing it from coming before slumping to the ground.

Sighing from relief, she rubbed her forehead in frustration. “Maybe it didn’t see my magic?

Filling the bathtub, she was ready to cleanse the filth from her. Lowering herself in, Lyra could feel her muscles started to relax, the heat melting into her body.

“Hmmm.”

‘Oh yeah, just soak it all in, Lyra.’

Humming, she levitated over the soap, scrubbing it into her fur, getting rid of all the icky dirt. She could practically hear the grime crying out in agony, their wails filling her with glee. A splash from her tail threw water onto her body, drowning their pleas as they gurgled in anguish. Their cries for mercy remained unheard by her wicked aquamarine ears.

Feeling clean, Lyra stepped out of her tub and proceeded to pamper herself, drying her mane, brushing it plenty of times, and making sure it glistened in just the way she liked it.

Grabbing all her soaps, Lyra cleaned the bathroom up before exiting with a jaunty step. She halted, having forgotten about the hooman in her room. It sat on her bed, staring at her with… was that amusement? Standing there, Lyra waved at the alien; the hooman proceeded to imitate her actions. The hooman, just then noticing her towel, looked at the bathroom, then back to Lyra with a furrowed brow.

“~+Um, unicorn? Is there a…+~” It exhaled, smacking its forehead, confusing Lyra. “~+Have to play along, it supposedly can’t understand me.+~” The hooman started moving its paw to its chest, rubbing it over itself before pointing at her, then to the bathroom.

It didn’t take her long to understand what it meant. “Oh, you want to bathe too!”

‘There’s probably no harm in allowing that, right?’

Undoing her towel, she took the soap out of it and placed it on the ground, pushing it forward. Lyra, backing up, watched it grab the soap with its soft digits, frowning at the bottle’s image, a pony with bubbles surrounding it. It then walked to the bathroom, closing the door behind it.

‘I hope the image didn’t upset it’. She started to wonder if certain iconography could offend hoomans. Something to look into.

Dropping what she had downstairs and grabbing a spare towel, she came back to the room, hearing the sound of water running. Opening the bathroom as quietly as she could, she walked in, the steam making it difficult to see.

She noticed the alien's garments strewn about the floor. It was an odd thing, seeing a being wearing clothing so much. Was it really necessary for the hooman? She noticed in her dreams every single one of them had something on at all times.

Humming to herself, she placed the towel on the counter, heading back downstairs to grab her hamper. It was best to collect its clothing to get them cleaned, not wanting to risk it getting sick.

Walking in she saw the alien now out of the shower, looking at the towel in a curious manner. Quickly noticing Lyra, the alien hollered, jumping back inside the tub while trying to cover itself. She also learned the gender of the hooman.

‘Yep’, Lyra thought with a blush, ‘that is definitely a he, no doubt about it one bit’. Not that she was… looking or anything.

She quickly grabbed his nasty clothing, slamming the door right behind her to give him privacy, barely giving notice to him yelling at her. Taking the bedding's before leaving, she locked the door behind her and hopped back downstairs, heading straight to the kitchen.

Throwing the alien’s clothing to the floor, Lyra started up an old spell of hers, watching as the beddings went to the sink and began cleaning themselves. Making sure to carefully clean each article of the alien’s clothing, she started to document each piece, taking pictures and writing down anything worth noting.

There were many similarities to their own garments, but what she saw before her was incredibly fascinating. The stitching was of different styles and the material felt denser to her. Many more pockets as well. Everything was also a shade of blue, perhaps a dominant color in their society or preferred color. Excitement coursed through her, seeing the writing on tags, finding alien language. She wrote it all down, hoping to decipher it later.

She was on the final pieces, the bottoms of the alien. “These hoomans sure do love their pockets.”

She could see a pocket bulging out. It revealed a few items: A flat gray rectangle with strange noodle-like appendages, a cylindrically shaped item with a bottom-top, and a folded piece of cloth with things stuck inside it.

“Alien gear!”

Just what could they be? Did they do anything special for him? Did they make cool things cooler?

She looked down at the items, frowning. The alien would probably notice if she did anything with them. It’s likely she would injure them in some way examining the items. She pouted, upset with the thought of returning the items untouched.

Taking some pictures, thinking it’ll have to do, for the time being, she levitated the rest of the clothing over and attached them to the cleaning spell. She sat down, watching all the clothing being scrubbed, soaped, rinsed, and dried.

Seeing the magic wrapping up, the last pieces of clothing were deposited on top of the pile now sitting inside the clothing hamper. Levitating the hamper back up to the room she headed straight to the bathroom. Inside, she saw the hooman, leaned against the far wall with the towel wrapped around its lower half.

The alien gave her a look as a slight flush of red appeared on its face.

“It’s clean, Mr. Alien.”

Lyra pushed the hamper forward, giving him a smile, before returning downstairs. She grabbed her scrolls on the work she had just done, placing them in her work area. Thinking of what she should do next, her stomach rumbled.

“The alien’s probably hungry as well,” Lyra reasoned, as she entered the kitchen to prepare something for the both of them.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

A few hours had passed by after Lyra had fed the hooman, giving it eggs and bread. She had noticed he immediately made a sandwich out of them, showing what she thought might have been disgust at touching the eggs with its bare paws. She wrote down to look into some proper eating utensils for him.

Other than that, she checked up on him roughly by the hour while she reorganized her work. The hooman had started to look bored out of its mind, but there wasn’t much Lyra could help preoccupy its time.

“Hmmm…” She tapped the desk. ‘Maybe I could give it some puzzle games.’

Without fanfare, the front door opened, Bon Bon having come back. “Hey Lyra, I just got—” A face full of Lyra’s lettuce and tomato sandwich was thrown into her face.

“Why’d you set up all those stupid traps up in your room?!”

Bon Bon wiped the mess off, throwing it in the trash. “Is it so wrong of me to think ahead should the alien go on a mad rampage?”

“…Why’d you only trap your room then?” Lyra asked with narrowed eyes.

“...Why’d you go into my room, to begin with?”

“I needed a bath! I can’t be going into my room to do that, Bonnie!” Lyra shook her head. “After taking my bath he went in after me for a shower as well, just so you’re aware of that. Got some good pictures on the clothing he wore.”

“He? How do you know it’s a male?”

“He physically looks like a male, right? So I’m going with 'he'.” Bon Bon lifted a brow as Lyra turned her head with a blush. “I may have also mistakenly seen him without his clothes on. He didn’t seem to like being seen nude.”

“Not the weirdest thing I was expecting to hear,” she said, looking at the pictures. “I don’t get it, they look like regular clothing if you ignore who they were made for.”

“The materials don’t look like anything on our planet, especially with most of our fabrics having magic weaved in them. And look at the patterns, and the stitching.” Lyra pushed some more pictures forward. “I also got images on its devices.”

“Do you know what they are?”

“No, but I’m certain I can figure it out once we teach the hooman our language.”

“If that’s even possible.”

“He managed to learn my name in one day so I’m certain he can learn our language!”

“It managing to say your name doesn’t mean it learned anything.” Bon Bon stared at the pictures. “Have you considered how we’ll get more clothing for the alien once it starts to wear out or when it needs something new?”

“I’ve thought about Rarity being involved in making some things, though, I’m worried she might say something to others. Can you imagine if Twilight got word of this? Or the media?”

“Let’s just focus on what the princess needs for now.” Bon Bon sat there, watching Lyra as she wrote away. “I’m assuming you already figured out its dietary needs?”

“Yes, I brought it up some food to try out and went with the flow of things, watching what it liked and didn’t.”

“That’s…” Bon Bon stared at her. “Is this really all there is to it? I was expecting to see some of the instruments from those old fogies up in Canterlot you always talk about using.” Lyra noticeably slowed down in her writing, her head tilted away. “Like this food, we’re feeding the alien. Just because it can eat it and have some semblance of enjoying it, does that really mean it’s good for it?

“And what about things like the water here or if it had used other products of ours; who’s to say if that’s any good for it?” Lyra flattened her ears. “And hay, what about magic? I know you mentioned in your dreams they don’t use magic like our world. It’s any wonder something hasn’t randomly hurt it somehow. Isn’t there some way to check things over more appropriately?”

Lyra put down her quill and looked away, “There is… but there’s a problem with it.”

Bon Bon looked at her questioningly. “So instead of using methods we know work, you’re just going to wing it until either something does or doesn’t happen? That’s rather reckless.”

“The method I’m talking about involves using a spell designed to fill into the target and examine it as thoroughly as possible, checking over its body along with a plethora of other things. Think of it like those checkup spells at the hospital but vastly improved and more difficult to use.”

“I’m surprised you know of such a spell,” she admitted.

“It’s sort of a requirement for me to know, but that’s beside the point. The problem is it was designed for our planet's inhabitants, not alien beings. I don’t know what magic will do to it so it’s a risk. I’m not sure how I should go about this.”

“But Lyra, you already levitated it here with your magic, or am I to believe you dragged the alien all the way to your room from the forest?”

“That’s completely different and you know it. All I was doing was grabbing the particles around him, not him directly.”

Bon Bon placed her front hooves on Lyra’s shoulders as she looked directly at her. “It’s understandable you want to keep it safe and sound. But here’s something you didn’t take into account: its own pathogens.” The neutral, calm face of Bon Bon started to strain itself, tightening on her words. “That is the one thing worrying me out of everything as it’s becoming very clear it doesn’t have any magic and isn’t very strong or it’d have escaped by now.

“And honestly, I could care less if it implodes on itself moment you begin using your magic on it so long as it means nobody else catches whatever it may be carrying!”

Lyra bent her head back at that. ‘Eesh! That’s pretty morbid, Bonnie!’

“So let’s go upstairs so you can finally perform your darn spell already and we can be done with this! Grab whatever you need for this and let’s go!”

Lyra reluctantly agreed with her friend, “Okay, you’re right. We’ll have to make a report about this since we’re using magic.”

“And the princess will be thankful after knowing the circumstances.”

Lyra looked underneath her desk, opening a secret compartment holding different documents and magical implements. Taking a rather large folder that involved the spell she would use, she slowly made her way to the room.

She knew she should have done the spell from the beginning but was too frightened at what could happen. Yet, Bon Bon had made a good point; not doing this could, in fact, have dire consequences on their people. Finally reaching her door, she saw Bon Bon walk right beside her.

“…Did you just run into your room to put on a lab coat?”

Bon Bon shrugged her shoulders, “Yes, it makes me feel better about this.”

“How did you get a lab coat in the first place? And why a lab coat?”

“Because,” she replied. She then proceeded to stare at the door, waiting for Lyra.

Shaking her head, she unlocked the door, the two of them entered the room that hopefully wasn’t filled with bacterial death.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Dull, tedious, uneventful… quiet. Too quiet. Anon laid on the bed, staring at the ceiling. With a lack of stimuli, his thoughts kept coming back to Gleekman, and that was something he wanted to clear his head. It made him angrier the more he thought about the man’s moronic, harebrained actions. Worrying about what happened and what he might be going through was doing him no good.

He tried to keep his mind preoccupied with other things. His iPod had died already and with nothing to charge it, he was left with no music. Any attempts at looking out the window failed, the boards not allowing him to see anything. The unicorn checked on him at brief intervals. Gleekman had to make sure he was still breathing, after all. Or to screw with him, as evidenced by the bathroom scene.

His thoughts halted, having heard the noise at the door. ‘The unicorn must be checking up on me again’, he thought, sitting up for her arrival.

Watching the door, it opened with the green unicorn walking alongside an additional horse. It had similarities to the unicorn, just without the horn. It also had a change in color, being a pale-yellowish coat and an irregular hairdo colored different hues of purple. On top of it all, she wore a white coat, adding to the oddities Anon had seen.

He internally shook his head at Gleekman and what he was seeing. The fascination with little horses was concerning.

The hornless horse gave Anon a strange look, keeping her distance near the door. “~+Go ahead Lyra, work your magic.+~”

“~+Just hold on, I need to do it slowly! I don’t want the hooman to freak out.+~”

They started to chirp at one another, Anon enraptured by what was happening. Sitting still, he watched as the unicorn walked up to him. She placed a folder beside her, turning to him.

“~+Please don’t be scared,+~” she tweeted.

Head tilted forward, Anon felt him involuntarily arching his back. The coated horse looked at him, as if ready to jump at him from any signs he’d move. Was her role to guard the door?

‘Just what is going on?’

Anon’s attention turned to the unicorn as her horn began to glow a tinted green. It then changed to bright white, pulsing around her horn. Before he could comprehend what was happening, the light jolted out from the tip, hitting him square in the stomach. He shut his eyes, reeling back for what was assuredly going to be painful.

…Not feeling any harm, Anon opened his eyes. He looked down at his body, seeing the light pulsating from her horn into his body. A strange tingling sensation could be felt slowly building in intensity.

Abruptly, the tingle spread throughout his body. Whatever she was doing, he could feel it relaxing everything in his body. From the tips of his fingers to the bottom of his toes, it was as if she commanded the very cells in his body to sleep. Another light pulled away from him, entering the folder with strange scripture, the pages flipping wildly.

He started to lull off, yet something kept him awake. A quick, sharp dose of pain could be felt around his head that forced him to sit upright, yet almost immediately whatever tinkered in his head drew back as his body relaxed once more.

His muscles then started to contract in small doses. It added to the odd sensation he felt. It was as if he was relaxed yet active, lethargic yet hyper. He couldn’t describe whatever was happening to him.

And then, it was done. Everything vanished. Anon slumped over, eyes shut as exhaustion settle in. He gulped down heavy breathes, barely feeling in control of his body from whatever the unicorn had done. Clicking noises could be heard along with a soprano that felt directed at him. Forcing himself, he opened his eyes and tilted his head up. The unicorn stood inches from him with teary eyes.

“~+Are you okay?+~” she tweeted.

Unable to do anything, Anon let out a groan before he closed his eyes, hoping to catch his breath before he responded. His last thoughts were of kicking the crap out of Gleekman for everything.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

“Oomph!”

The hooman landed right on top of Lyra, falling unconscious. “Lyra!” Bon Bon yelled as she ran up to her, thinking she was in danger.

Lyra waved her off before she levitated his body off of her and onto the bed. “I’m fine Bonnie, the hooman fell unconscious after my spell, that’s all.”

“Sorry, it… looked like it was attacking you,” she muttered, looking embarrassed.

A smile spread across Lyra’s face before a giggle slipped out. Bon Bon sighed as Lyra stood back up. The two of them made their way downstairs, Bon Bon turning to Lyra. “So what did the spell say?”

“Silly, spells don’t speak!”

She gave her a deadpanned look at her remark. “The papers, Lyra, what did the spell write down?”

Lyra rolled her eyes at her friend's refusal to play along. Flipping through the pages, her brow furrowed confusion. She passed through each page, her confusion growing.

“Uuuuugh…”

“Lyra, words! You can speak them!”

“I-gher,hwhaaa—”

“You can do it, girl! Speak!”

“I… Uh…” Lyra slowed down her page-turning to look at Bon Bon. “The pages… they’re nothing but gibberish.”

“…What?”

“I mean, look!” Lyra turned the folder toward Bon Bon, showing a page that was supposed to be filled with words about the hooman’s biology. Instead, large black blocks sat in the empty spaces where information should be. Bon Bon looked at Lyra, then to the folder, and then back to Lyra.

“Uuuuugh—”

“I know!” Lyra flipped through more pages in utter disbelief. “These pages are supposed to be filled with descriptions on the target. From its biology all the way down to describing its genetic makeup! It should have been very thorough in its work, telling us about all the inner workings inside him! This… I don’t know what this is!”

Bon Bon grew worried. “So we have no idea what to do.”

“…Yeah.”

“Is there anything we did wrong?”

Lyra rubbed her forehead. “The only thing I did differently was stopping the spell from reaching his head. I could sense it was hurting him the moment it tried touching his brain, so I pulled back.” She threw open her folder once more to flip at more pages. “That might have been what stopped some of the spells to work correctly, but even then I should still have more here. What is going on h—” She paused, looking at a page.

“What now?!”

She looked at Bon Bon, then the folder. “Some of the pages are filled.” She read a page, working out its contents. “It’s about the magic in his body.”

“What about his magic? Is it doing something wrong?”

“That’s just it; he has no magic in him!”

“Lyra, that’s not exactly that abnormal. I don’t have any magic, as do many other beings.”

“No, I mean he has absolutely no magic in him, absolutely. There’s not a trace of it. That's just… it defies logic!” Lyra sat down at her desk as she read the papers thoroughly. “Everything has magic in them, everything. Why didn’t he have magic coming here?”

“Could that be why your papers aren’t filled?”

“It’s possible. Or it’s just because he’s an alien.” She let out a groan. “I’m not sure. The spell was meant to collect data from whatever is targeted, but it was never really meant for things so alien, as it appears.”

“What does this mean for us, the alien not having magic?”

Lyra dryly laughed, “Oh, it has magic.”

Bon Bon looked both confused and angered, “You just said it didn’t have any.”

Lyra continued to read at her work for a moment before answering, “His body is adapting to our world. Magic is slowly being absorbed, forming a small pool in him to better integrate with things .” She read some more before continuing, “It appears to be boosting his immune system. Our world’s magic also seems to be removing any kind of pathogen that can hurt him, or us.”

“So it’s, what? Harmonizing with our world?” Bon Bon asked, giving pause to Lyra.

“I think that might be it. I just don’t know how to explain the magic of the world adapting to him.”

“Or more like the magic adapting him to it.”

Lyra looked at her work, going through it more closely to see if there was anything else she might have missed. “It’s not like the hooman will be capable of using it, it doesn’t have any way to channel it out of him properly.”

“So it’s safe?”

“As far as its germs and whatnot for us, yes.” Bon Bon let out a sigh. “And I don’t think our germs can really hurt it due to its alien biology. It might be capable of catching colds, but that should be about it.”

“Is there anything else that your papers say, or what should we do next?”

“Any magic should be avoided for the time being; at least until he’s better adapted to whatever is happening to him. And we need to avoid any kind of mental magic on him.” Lyra tapped a hoof on the desk, looking at her work.

“So we need more info on the hooman’s body, right?”

“Anything other than what we have would be helpful.”

“This is going to sound strange, but what about getting Fluttershy’s help?” Lyra blinked, looking at her friend. “She deals with a ton of animals all the time. She can easily spot things about a creature just by looking at them. And most importantly, she’ll stay quiet about all this.”

“She helped me quite a bit back at the academy with my ethology and zoology classes. She might be able to steer us in the right direction.” Lyra nodded her head, getting up from her seat. “Good idea, Bonnie! We’ll just need to fix up some eggs real quick before we head out and ask her for help.”

“Why do we need to make eggs?” Bon Bon asked as she followed Lyra to the kitchen.

“It’s for the hooman in case it gets hungry while we’re away,” she answered, starting up the stove. “I can’t wait to talk to her. It’s been a while since we’ve spoken!”

“We’ll have to be sure we ease her into this so she doesn’t freak out, Lyra.”

“Pshh, I know that.”

“Let’s just hurry with the eggs before it gets dark.”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Fluttershy’s cabin was on the edge of the Everfree, giving her a great deal of privacy from the townsfolk. The trip through the town was relatively quiet for the two. As late as it was, no one was out and about to share a hello or give a wave, as the townsfolk generally would. Lyra wasn’t exactly in the mood to talk to anyone at that current moment, preferring the nice simple stroll to the outskirts of the town. It certainly gave her some relief to not be seen at the moment.

“Bonnie,” Lyra droned, “why are you still wearing the lab coat?”

“Because.”

Walking up to the house, animals could be seen running about the place. A little haven for all the critters, it was practically a vacation home for the occupants of the forest. The two kept their distance as they looked around, spotting the yellow pegasus feeding the animals in her yard.

“Hey, Flutters!” Lyra hollered.

Fluttershy turned her head, appearing surprised to have visitors. Depositing the rest of the food, she walked over the two. “Hello Lyra, Bon Bon,” she greeted with a smile. “How are you two doing today?”

“We’re doing just fine,” Bon Bon answered. “We came over because we thought you could help us with a problem.”

“A problem? I’m not sure what you’d need my help, but it’d be rude to not help a friend in need.”

“We should probably tell you about it inside your home,” Lyra said, “it’s not something we can let others know about.”

“I… okay?” Fluttershy looked confused as she turned to her home, inviting them in. Walking inside, Lyra could see more animals scurrying across the floor. Upon noticing the newcomers, they ran into their holes, hiding from the new faces. “Have a seat please, I’ll be right back,” Fluttershy politely spoke, leaving the two alone.

Bon Bon and Lyra took a seat on her couch, watching the animals slowly come out of hiding.

“At least that bunny’s not here,” Lyra commented. Bon Bon hummed at that, finding their little ‘feud’ silly.

Fluttershy returned shortly with a tray held in her mouth, a kettle of tea and cups balanced on top. Pouring the three of them tea, she sat down on a stool across from her visitors.

“So, um… you mentioned needing my help with something.”

Bon Bon took a sip before starting, “We need your expertise on animals and couldn’t think of anyone as good as you.”

“You can’t tell anypony about this!” Lyra started. “We have to keep quiet about this; it wouldn’t be good if anyone knew what we have at our place. Like, seriously, it would be absolute havoc if anypony knew what was there!”

Fluttershy looked taken back from how dangerous Lyra made things appear. Bon Bon turned and glared at Lyra. The unicorn gave a nervous grin before going back to her drink, relishing raspberry flavors.

Bon Bon continued, “We just can’t allow anypony from knowing about what we’re doing until Princess Celestia allows it. There’s a… new species in our home that we need assessing.” Fluttershy’s eyes widened hearing that. “While Lyra typically deals with this sort of thing, we’re not fully equipped or knowledgeable on how to proceed with assessing the creature as you would. We thought if anypony can help us with this while staying quiet about it, it would be you.”

“You really have a new species in your home?” she asked, her excitement clear.

“Yes,” Bon Bon answered. “It’s nothing that anyone has ever seen or ever encountered before, we guarantee you that.”

It was obvious Fluttershy was elated hearing about the very unique opportunity. While it wasn’t uncommon to see a new species come out of the woodwork, to have one so close to civilization and to be the first one to encounter them, that was a truly special experience.

“We needed you to come over and analyze it the best that you can.” Bon Bon took a sip of her tea. “Assess it so you can help tell us about feeding and caring for it. Also, magic is a no-go for us, so we need you to work with more mundane practices.”

“Um… well you could just let it live here and I can watch it for you?” Fluttershy looked eager at the thought of constant access to the creature.

Lyra shook her head, “No, it needs to stay in our house. We’re still studying it and it’s up to me to report things to the princess. I also don’t think it would be very happy being treated like an animal.” Confusion could be seen on her face, wondering just what they meant by that. “We can discuss this, but you need to agree not to speak about this to anypony, not even Twilight. Especially Twilight.”

“I’m not sure why you need to keep this a secret, but if it’s to help a creature in need, then I’ll do my best to help.”

“Glad to have your help,” Bon Bon said with a smile. “We can talk more about things when we get back to our place so no one can overhear us.”

Cleaning up and ensuring all her tasks were done for the day, the three of them headed out the door. Animals crowded around the yellow mare as they chattered, probing for what they were doing.

“Don’t you worry, I’ll be back very soon.”

Lyra nodded, walking forward, “We have to hurry before it gets too d—”

A trap, a collapse, and Lyra found herself face-first into the grass. “Whyyyy?” she cried out.

Turning her head, she noticed her hooves on a taut piece of string. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw a familiar-looking bunny hopping away.

“Lyra, stop being so clumsy all the time,” Bon Bon said, annoyed. “Now let’s get moving.”

Standing back up, Lyra grumbled under her breath as the three of them hurried to their destination. The first thing Fluttershy noticed upon entering the house was the contents of Lyra’s room.

“The creature is in my room for the time being. It was the only place I could think of to hold him and I had to take everything out of there. I couldn’t exactly have anything around for him to play with.”

“Why would you need to do that? It’s not that dangerous is it?”

“Not… exactly,” Bon Bon said. “See, the reason we couldn’t discuss any of this outside our home is be—”

“Because it’s an alien!” Lyra exclaimed, wanting to be the one to announce it.

Bon Bon glared at her friend before looking back at Fluttershy, who was uncertain what to do, likely reconsidering coming to the house.

“What Lyra said is in fact true. We saw it two nights ago crash in the Everfree and she brought it back. She’s been put in charge of studying it and reporting back to the princess.”

“I even got Princess Celestia’s seal of approval if you need proof.” Lyra levitated a scroll and unfurled it, shoving the paper in Fluttershy’s face.

Backing off at the unexpected intrusion to her space, she looked at the scroll. “So there’s really an alien creature in your room?”

“Totally! And we need your help to check over it and helping us with its health and diet. We can even get the princess to help pay for things if it’s needed.”

She looked to the side, looking concerned. “I, um… don’t know about this. I thought that this was, well, an animal and… this isn’t… a…” She trailed off, her previous eagerness slipping away.

“We really need your help, Flutters. Taking him to anyone else could endanger him in some way. No one else has the expertise or skill that matches yours! Besides that, without your help, there’s a possibility we won’t be capable of keeping him, well… alive for very long.”

Lyra honestly didn’t think he would die, personally, but there was a possibility of it happening.

Fluttershy took a gulp of air. “I, O-Okay. I’ll d-do my best and help it,” she stuttered out.

Smiling, Lyra walked up to her and patted her side. “Just follow me up so we can do this quickly. And Bonnie, you should get rid of your traps.”

“What traps?” she questioned.

“I saw you put up at least two traps before we left for Fluttershy, Bonnie.”

“…Four. It was four traps.”

“Just… go take them down.”

It didn’t take long for Bon Bon to take down her traps, being so proficient at her work. Lyra walked up the stairs as Fluttershy followed with shaky steps.

Outside the door, Lyra turned to Fluttershy. “So what we need is anything you can on him, the whole shebang here. The analyzation spells we used on him won’t work, and we can’t reliably use more spells on him due to reasons of it possibly damaging him. It’s all up to you on how we proceed with the alien so we’re really counting on you.”

Before Fluttershy could have second thoughts Lyra opened the door. They both saw the hooman on the bed, his back against the frame as he looked in their direction. He looked worn-out, though appeared in good spirits. The hooman waved at Lyra before staring directly at Fluttershy.

Fluttershy’s eyes widened, examining just what was on the bed. “That’s, um, a very big alien.”

Lyra nudged Fluttershy in the hooman’s direction, making her jump from the contact. “We need you to do your job, okay?”

She looked back to Lyra, clearly worried before she walked to the hooman. Swallowing a gulp of air, she shakily stood there in front of him, doing her best to lift her head up at him.

“C-C-Can you please sit up, M-Mr. Alien?” she asked as she waved her hoof around. The hooman stared at her for a moment before he moved from the wall, scooting up to her. “W-We should probably start with what he can eat.”

“I’ve fed him eggs and fruits so far, but he doesn’t seem to like the hay or flowers.”

Fluttershy frowned, thinking about what he was fed. “Please open your mouth, M-Mr. Alien.”

She waved her hoof once more to her mouth, opening it, then to the hooman. He blinked before he opened his mouth for her. More motioning of her hoof had him bending his head down. Fluttershy seemed to have gained some courage she peered inside his mouth.

The examination on the alien continued for some time. His ears, nose, eyes, paws, and feet were checked thoroughly by her. It amazed the two how Fluttershy was capable of having the alien follow along as she needed him to. It wasn’t until Lyra saw her try and get him to take more of his clothing off that she stepped in.

“Uuuh, hold on there, Flutters. I don’t think the alien will appreciate having its clothes off.”

She turned to Lyra as she blinked in confusion. “I… I don’t understand.”

“He doesn’t have any fur on his body. And he also feels embarrassed being naked.”

“No fur? That could explain why he’s wearing so much clothing. But why would he feel embarrassed about being nude? We, uhr, I mean, well, we’re not clothed.”

“I think it’s because of their societal norms, or something along those lines.” Fluttershy still looked confused. Lyra sighed, “It… also doesn’t have a way to hide… down there like other beings.”

“Down… there?”

“You know… his, um… stallionhood…”

Fluttershy took a moment for that to process. Her face immediately erupted in a fiery red blush. Lyra could practically see steam wafting off of her. She stuttered, trying to find words. “W-W-W-W-W-Why n-not?!” she squeaked out.

Lyra could feel her face slightly adopting a similar glow. “It’s an alien, Flutters. A-li-en. It’s going to have some oddities to it, and one of them appears that he can’t hide his pieces away as we can.”

“That’s horrible,” Fluttershy said. “I fully understand why it has clothing on now. Its, um… it’s going to make checking him difficult until I can examine his body in full. You’ll need to work out how to get him to allow me permission later on, for a more… thorough examination.”

“I’ll make sure to get that as soon as I can figure out how.”

Taking a moment to compose herself, Fluttershy went back to ordering the hooman around, having him do all sorts of things such as laying down to stretching in multiple angles with his limbs. Some additional calisthenics and a few breathing exercises Fluttershy finished with her work just as the alien started to look irritated.

Ensuring the alien would stay put in the room, they exited the room and headed back downstairs, Lyra eager to hear the results. “Well, is he fine?”

“It wasn’t as thorough as I would like it to be. If he’s really from another world－”

“－And he is.”

“...Right. Well, some of what I know might not actually work as it could be completely wrong. It’s hard to say, at the moment. You’ll have to check up on him quite often to make sure his health stays normal, or as normal as can be. He doesn’t appear to be in any pain, though he did look very exhausted and sore.”

“That’s probably from his crash landing in the forest, along with the spell I had to perform on him..”

“The… alien is going to need all the basic amenities that we need as far as I can tell. His dietary needs look similar to an omnivore, so he’ll need some variation but keep up on his protein. I imagine he’ll need bigger proportions than us due to his size. I don’t know how you can afford that.”

“Nothing to worry there, the princess is going to hoof the bill on that. We can also send out to have you paid for your work you’re doing here.”

“Y-You want me to come back?!”

“Of course! We can’t have him checked in to a proper doctor. You’ve nearly got all the training of one!”

“For animals!”

“It’ll be fine, Fluttershy,” Bon Bon stepped in. “We don’t have anyone else we can trust with this. Just believe in yourself and we’ll do fine.”

She took a moment to think things out. “…O-Okay then. I suppose I can help if you really need it.”

Lyra patted her side, “Awesome! We’ll just need you to come back every few days for checkups, we’ll figure out a time schedule for you. Oh, and you should probably start writing down your examinations the next time you get here, the princess will want to have that.”

“It’ll be like the academy then,” Fluttershy said.

“Yay!”

‘Wait, the academy sort of sucked Lyra.’

“Boo!”

Fluttershy giggled at Lyra’s strangeness. “I really should get back to my house, I’m certain the animals are getting worried I’m not there. I’ll make sure to bring some of my tools next time so we can check his internals better.” Just as Fluttershy started out the door she stopped, turning back to Lyra. “By the way… how did you figure out he was a, well… a he?”

“Eh?” Lyra quickly realized what she meant. Now it was her turn to have her face turn red. “A-Accident. A complete accident.”

Deciding it wasn’t worth the effort to find out she left to return home. Lyra decided to sit down at her desk, writing about the day’s events for her report. Fluttershy was going to be a great help with the alien. She’ll worry about the clothing later when she could get the bits for it.

Lyra was feeling happy with how things were going. By the end of the week, she should have a nice, fat document all tidied up and ready for the princess. ‘She’s going to be so impressed with my work and how much I’ve done,’ Lyra thought as she continued writing.

A breeze of cold air whisked by Lyra that made her shiver; she turned around, seeing Bon Bon at the front door placing a saddle bag stuffed with food down on the ground.

“Lyra, have you been sitting there since I left?”

“…You left?”

“Yes, Lyra,” she answered with a shake of her head as she walked to the kitchen. “I left after Fluttershy went back home. You been writing down what happened today?” Lyra nodded her head, going back to her work. “Did you remember to feed the alien its dinner?”

“What?” Looking out the window, Lyra saw the darkness of the night. Her clock told her it was a little after eight. “I forgot to feed the alien!” Lyra cried out loud.

She flung all her stuff with magic to the side, emphasizing how badly she felt about forgetting the hooman’s meal. She then flipped their table over in a huff. It performed a triple somersault before it landed on the ground, table-side down. She screamed to the sky, showing the importance of her anguish she felt. After looking at the cluttered mess, Lyra felt she got her point across.

“Quick Bonnie, to the kitchen!”

She trotted off to the room, followed by a groaning Bon Bon. ‘Fluttershy did say to vary what he should eat. Would it like a lettuce and tomato sandwich?’

She had all week to try and figure out what to feed him. She just hoped the hooman wasn’t too angry at her if it was hungry. If he was, she’ll just make it out like it was Bon Bon’s fault! Yeees, she’ll take the fall!

“Lyra, hurry up,” Bon Bon said, “I wanna start on our food too.”

Lyra nodded, deciding to try another platter but with some vegetables added. Then after feeding him and trying to teach the alien a few more words, she could go back to her writing before heading off to sleep. Hopefully, the next few days will go smoothly in her attempts at teaching him.

~End Chapter Three~

Chapter Twelve - This Chapter Had A Title, But Due To Copyright Infringement It Has Been Expunged

Up on a balcony, overlooking the castle grounds was the two princess sisters, Luna and Celestia. Neither of them had moved from their spot after speaking together for more than an hour.

Luna had just retold her harrowing tale to Celestia about her night at Ponyville. The lunar princess took her time getting to the truly important bits. At first, Celestia had been quite miffed hearing her sister had confronted Lyra and her project. Who knew where that could have led them? Having revealed that the alien was, in fact, an alien and she was more than thankful it had happened.

Lyra in past reports and talks had fantasized and written about aliens for so long, it came as no surprise that a scenario would be made of her desires. Past komlas were no exception to making scenarios in such regards, and as such, the princess had gone along without any thought to the realities of the situation.

The stars had already vanished, giving way to a slightly clouded sky, the sun's rays starting to break through to a new day.

“Luna,” Celestia finally spoke, “just how much trouble do you think this is going to be for us?”

“I’d say a fair bit.”

“Hmm.” Celestia breathed in deeply before letting out a long sigh. “We can’t let anyone know of our… communication error with the alien. Our interspecies treaties with the griffons and minotaurs would make dealing with them more than the simple nuisance it already is.”

“The griffons are currently tied up with those cat people as per that very treaty, along with dealing with some inner turmoil going on with their crown’s underlings and power struggles between themselves.” Celestia raised an eyebrow hearing that. Luna continued, “I have ears there to tell me as such, in case you are wondering. I know you dislike such… actions, but I feel it is important to have such assets. Besides, it is not like they do not have their people doing the same for them here in our lands. As for the minotaurs, they are still working things out between their clans and the leading heads over them. I think we can easily sweep this under the rug before any of their eyes and ears can hear of things.”

“We better, and soon. I’d rather not have to deal with this while dealing with our own problems.”

“It is likely things already look strange enough we’ve ‘put it off’, so to speak, on our meeting with this alien.”

“You wouldn’t happen to know how we should go about that, would you?” Celestia asked.

“Just go with what you do with everyone else: smiles and tolerance all around while putting up your ‘motherly charm’ as you do.” Celestia swung a hoof at her sister, making Luna chuckle as she dodged the swipe.

“You know my actions are genuine, Luna.”

“But that does not mean you don’t ‘ham it up’ as the commoners would say.” Luna turned her head away from her sister, seeing a glare aimed at her. “I know you find some repulsion in the alien, and it’s hard for me not to see why with his… similarities in those Bleuh Bleuh Bleuh’s from the images. But do remember we are dealing with something else and not those things.”

“I know that,” Celestia tensed out. A sigh came out of her. “We’ll just have to schedule an immediate meeting with the alien and get this over with.”

Luna smiled, “Not to worry, sister. I’ve already invited them as guests when I came back for the night so we’ll be meeting them in the morning.”

“W-What?!” Celestia stammered out. “That’s too early! I meant in a few days when I have some ideas on how to deal with this and after the council’s meeting!”

Luna blinked, just remembering about the meeting. “…Oops?”

Letting out a loud sigh, Celestia tilted her head down. “Not much to do about it now. I’ll try and think of something. We’re going to need to use that rejuvenation spell for sure to get through the day tomorrow.”

“We?”

“Of course. You don’t think I’m going to speak to this thing by myself, do you? You’re going to be there as… moral support!” Luna gave a deadpanned stare at her sister, to which Celestia ignored. “We’re also going to need to push the meeting with the council for tomorrow afterward for this.”

Luna mumbled to herself, not happy about her lack of sleep for the day. She barely got any sleep after dealing with that… horrid biscuit. It was still roaming around the castle grounds, not that she’d say anything, not wanting her sister or anyone to know of things that occurred.

“Come, sister,” Celestia said, walking back into her room. “We need to go to my studies and review all of Lyra’s work on the alien before we… talk to it.”

“Him.”

“Right, that’s what I meant. Him.”

The two of them quickly made their way down the halls toward the study for their work. Luna’s guards kept a stiff stance with a thousand-yard stare as they passed them down the halls. Celestia’s on the other hoof could be seen running down the halls, trying to get into their positions as they walked by, failing miserably to get into the correct areas before the princesses passed them by. When either of the princesses was up, their guard would be up as well no matter what.

Once there, the two proceeded to lock it as normal before placing the papers down onto the large, ornate table for the two of them. Splitting the work in half, they began to read over all of the papers, making sure not to miss anything that may have happened.

Hours had passed as the stacks of paper were neatly placed in multiple piles they made to order them out.

“Luna,” she said after passing some more pages into a pile. “There’s so much that Lyra’s done that is making me question why I appointed her to this without anypony looking over it.”

“It’s not that bad surely. She’s done a remarkable job dealing with things up until now.”

“Just look at this,” Celestia said, passing over some papers to Luna. “Here, she’s testing his intelligence on math using pudding. PUDDING!”

“It is quite queer to see things done so unconventionally,” Luna commented, taking the papers with barely a look. “But I see it more as an odd form of bonding between them. Besides, they did make up another, more proper test for this from what I previously read.”

Celestia threw another folder to her sister, being caught in the air with magic. “And here, she spent nearly an entire day discussing the benefits of human fashioned clothing, socks in particular!”

“I got some of those from the run. They are certainly unique things.”

She ignored Luna, going through more documents, listing the many oddities that Lyra had shown in her work. While they were some of the strangest ways Luna had seen for a report, it wasn’t as if she did anything wrong. Yes, things could have gone better, but it definitely could have gone so much worse.

“Maybe I should get somepony else to look over the alien.” A flash of excitement followed by a large smile could be seen on her. “I could give him to Twilight!”

“That would be a terrible idea,” Luna objected. “First off, you already gave Twilight her position as both an assistant and as an Element, so giving her more would be a bad call. Second, there really isn’t anypony else we could hoof him off to that’s trained enough to deal with this or that we could sufficiently believe would be a good fit with the alien much like Lyra is currently at. And third, we can’t just give somepony away, Celestia. I’m doubtful we could pull him away willingly to anyone else.”

Celestia rubbed her forehead, “He’s our first true contact outside our black zone! I don’t even know how he managed to break through the barriers to get here. He needs to be more thoroughly cared for and looked at. There’s a multitude of things that should have been done, such as giving him a proper residence, titles, and so much more!” She slapped a document in front of Luna. “For Solaire’s sakes, he has a job as a masseuse! Why is he working there? WHY IS HE WORKING THERE?!”

“That might be because of the funding you took from Lyra and them requiring the funds for him,” Luna reminded her.

“…Oh poo.” Celestia placed her head on the table, ruffling her head in anger before swinging her front legs out in full length on the table, resting herself on it.

“There’s nothing to get stressed out over,” Luna commented. “The only ones that could even possibly know of this should be the council and we can dress things up in our favor. Besides, it’s not like they’ll do anything to you… not that they can, that is.”

As much power as the council has, they can’t directly do much to the princesses. They can certainly find ways to annoy them and make things difficult, but it was in their best interest not do to so.

“This feels like a repeat of the dog clans all over again.”

“I seem to recall you telling me about that even when I was absent. What clan was it again? Ruby? Topaz?”

“The Sapphire Dogs.”

“So things got a little lost in translation then, it’s not like this isn’t capable of being fixed. The meeting between us should be fine. Plus, we can easily rework some of our previous evaluations of the last few months, just in case.”

“You’re saying we should cover up things?! I am unsure about that, I dislike the thought of… lying.”

“You know the importance of this. A small lie that nopony but a few will ever know about isn’t going to ruin lives. We’ll just have Lyra and the others keep their mouths shut and order much of what was written as top secret or some nonsense to lock these things away. No one will actually see these documents or what has been going on.” Celestia looked away from her sister, scrunching her face up. Luna frowned seeing that. “…Right?”

“I… may have permitted Twilight to look at the documents for some book she was planning to write about the alien.”

Luna shook her head hearing that. “So just tell her that things have made it so she can’t do that.”

“The council also thought the book was a good idea.” Luna thumped her head on the table. “B-But she won’t be seeing it for at least one more month. We can fix this!”

‘Why does my sister allow Twilight so much? She needs to reel that pony in and stop treating her like she’s her own child.’

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ A Few Hours Prior ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

With Princess Luna walking off in a hurry, it left the two mares and the human on the launch pad surrounded by a handful of guards. Anon inspected the one the princess left in charge of things, finding some peculiarities he wasn’t used to. With a sharp and angular gray body and wings shaped out like a bat, he was surprised to see a fourth pony variant.

Clad in dark armor with purple lining and a helmet decorated with a mohawk motif that matched their batty wings, they looked quite intimidating with their overly large size. The guards around them bore similarities, though it was obvious the one in front of them was special. Anon quite liked how they looked.

The guard cleared his throat, gaining the attention of Anon and the other two. “Princess Luna has ordered for me to accommodate you all for the night. It is quite rare for her to have guests as of late. I will make sure to give you proper quarters that I’m certain you’ll find to your liking.”

Turning around, the pony motioned his head to the three of them to follow before slowly walking off. The three of them went along down the stairs and into the building. Lyra was absolutely giddy, looking around the halls they walked down with a smile plastered on her face. Bon Bon saw this, shaking her head with a smile of her own.

“I have to say,” the large guard pony said, looking back at Anon, “I’ve never seen such a strange costume before, nor was I aware that minotaurs celebrated Nightmare Night.”

“That is because I am not a minotaur, um…”

The pony could tell Anon was attempting to get his name. “You can call me Sunshine Smiles.”

Anon raised an eyebrow at the ludicrous name. “Okay, Smiles. Once more, I am not a minotaur. I am a human.”

“Human? Oh, right, the being the princess had spoken of in the past. I’m still trying to figure out just where you came from, as is the rest of the guard. A kind of gamble going around, if you will, guessing just where that is.”

“Anon’s not from anywhere you’ve ever heard from,” Lyra interjected with. “He’s actually an alien from another world.”

Smiles gave her a flat stare, turning to Anon. “Sorry if I find that hard to believe. We’ve all studied the two princesses documents and their inherited roles, and there’s no way for anything to come forth into our bubble of－” He paused, catching his words. “Apologies, I sometimes… say such odd things. Forget what I’ve just said, perhaps… you did somehow get to our world. How did you make the travel?”

The other two didn’t seem to take notice of the peculiarity of his words, something Anon certainly had but chose to hold his tongue on.

“I sort of crash-landed here.” Lyra giggled at that. “And it was not voluntary, as I’m not even sure how it happened in the first place.”

“I suppose stranger things have happened before,” Smiles said.

Anon continued, “One day I am on a ship in the middle of the ocean, the next I am in a forest with a unicorn staring at me. Our technology is not advanced enough for any kind of travel, as far as I’m aware of. All I seem to recall is a lot of weird gibberish on the missile I was launched on and pink, glowing lights.”

“That almost sounds like you were involved with magic to get here. I’m sorry to hear about your predicament. I imagine you would want to go home when given the chance.”

“I am not sure if that is even possible, not without knowing how I came here in the first place.”

“Well, I hope your time here in this world has been good to you.”

Looking back at Lyra and Bon Bon, the two stare back, curious of his gaze. “Better than anyone could ask for, really,” Anon said, turning back to Smiles.

“That’s good to hear,” Smiles replied.

Walking in silence was an eerie feeling for the three, only hearing the clipping of the pony’s hooves. Littered with batty guard ponies and marble pillars, the place was massive to them. Sunshine Smiles didn’t seem to be in any hurry with the pace they were walking.

He turned back to Anon, trying to find some conversation with the odd guest. “Your costume is something I find interest in. What are you dressed up as exactly?”

“I am dressed up as a fictional character from my home planet called Batman.”

A small smirk could be seen on his lips hearing that. “Bat… man…?”

Anon nodded his head. “Yes. He is a superhero that goes out during the night, kicking crime in the teeth whenever possible using his gadgets and smarts. He was very awesome.”

“I-It’s inherited of course!” Lyra interjected. “This is a darker, gloomier Batman from the previous, more fun one!”

The guard pony inspected the costume some before looking back up to Anon. “I’m not used to seeing costumes modeled after bats, save for ones toward vampires.”

“I can see you have some bat qualities yourself,” Anon mentioned.

“…Yes, we are referred to as bat ponies. You’re not likely to see us unless it’s during the night or you’re over in Fillydelphia were a larger congregation of us are at.” The guard hummed to himself in thought, looking away.

Bon Bon shook her head aggressively while Lyra clenched her jaw, silently signaling him to hush. Clearly, this was a subject they wanted him to avoid for some reason.

The rest of the trip was done in silence, with only the clipping of their hooves sounding off into the air. It took some time for them to arrive down a particular hallway lined up with large doors on the walls.

“We are here,” Sunshine Smile announced, standing before a very ornate doorway. “There will be a maid coming in the morning that will lead you all to where you will be fed. I don’t think it needs to be said that it’s expected of the three of you to be proper for the princess tomorrow. Is there anything you require before I return to my duties for the night?”

The two mares shook their heads at him. Anon narrowed his eyes in confusion. “Where is my room?”

Smiles looked up at him in confusion. “It’s right here?”

“Should I not have a separate room from them, like one for males?”

The guard pony raised a brow in confusion before a smirk appeared on his face. “You prefer the company of males then? Although odd, someone that seems comfortable with bats isn’t something I’d turn down at least once. If I wasn’t on duty I’d escort you to my quarters for the night if that would help you. Maybe later on tonight when I’m off…?”

Anon stood stiff, not liking where things seemed to be headed in conversation. Glancing at the other two mares, he could see the amusement on their faces. “N-N-No! No, it is fine, I am fine. I am good here.”

“Are you sure? The night princess has more old fashioned ways to accommodate her guests and allowing the passions to run free is one such way. I could easily cater to you—”

“This room is perfectly fine, thank you!”

“That’s too bad, your uniqueness and love of the night interest me, as it does my subordinates… Call a butler if you ever decide to change your mind.”

Giving Anon shivers from how he was looking at him, Smiles walked off down the hallway, leaving the three of them standing there. The two mares are barely holding their laughter at the encounter, something Anon hadn’t found funny.

Anon walked past them, opening the door and walking in. The room was quite elaborate and spacious. Along with an opened balcony, there was a glass door that led to a bathroom, many pieces of furniture all around the room, and a single, massive bed.

“Crap.”

Sleeping on the ground wasn’t something he was looking forward to. Still holding his suitcase, he quickly made for the bathroom.

“I am taking a quick shower to get out of this costume.”

“Alright!” Lyra squeaked back in a giggle, jumping on the bed currently with Bon Bon staring at her.

Once inside, it took Anon a full ten minutes of struggling with his costume to get it off. He made a mental note to talk to the costume maker about finding a way to fix that problem when they got back. He had to scrub his face for a while, getting the black makeup around his eyes off.

Just as he was feeling his muscles relax from the hot water, a pair of shrieks could be heard outside the door, making Anon jump. He did his best to ignore it, trying to enjoy himself with his shower. A bath might have been better but he didn’t want the other two to wait on him.

It didn’t take long for him to dry up and get dressed in a simple shirt and pants. Walking out, he was met with two red-faced mares trying their hardest to look away from him, along with the room being slightly tinted red, and some orchestral music playing. That only made things more suspicious.

“Okay. What happened?”

Lyra, looking flustered, tried to answer. “I swear we didn’t mean to, Anon! I, I, I found a control box that was doing different things in the room like playing music or making things smell nice, b-but it also sort of, well…”

Lyra looked behind him, back at the bathroom. Narrowing his eyes, the two turned away as Anon looked behind him, seeing the entire bathroom wall now appearing completely see-through. He could feel himself turning red, realizing what had happened.

“I-I-I tried turning off the control box, but I—” Pointing at the box at the ground, Anon could see what used to look like a remote controller, only in a thousand pieces. “I broke it.”

“We’re sorry,” Bon Bon chimed in, unable to look Anon in the eyes.

“It… was just an accident, right? So let’s just pretend it didn’t happen and move on.”

“You’re not upset?” Lyra asked.

“No, I’m not. Wait, no, that’s a lie. Yes, I am, but this was just an accident, right?” The two nodded their heads at him. Anon walked past them toward the bed, grabbing a pillow from it. “So don’t worry about it,” he said, placing his suitcase down near the bed.

“What are you doing?” Bon Bon asked.

“Grabbing some of the bedding? I’ll be sleeping on the ground so you two can take the bed.”

Lyra didn’t appear to like hearing that, “What? No, you’re sleeping on the bed just like us.”

“It’s not like you haven’t slept with Lyra before, Anon,” Bon Bon said jokingly in an out of character manner. “It’ll just be the two of us now, and won’t that be an improvement?”

Lyra gave her friend an unamused stare, making Anon laugh. “Just hurry up and take a shower or bath, I know the two of you have been waiting to get in yourselves.”

Bon Bon raised an eyebrow at him, “Oh, so eager for us to leave? Or I bet you just want to watch us in revenge?”

Anon sputtered at her words, of which the two laughed at. Rolling his eyes at them, he jumped on the bed, ignoring the two of them. Turning back toward them, he noticed Bon Bon staring at him, then turned her gaze to the wall. Anon looked over, staring at the see-through wall as well. He swore he saw the candy mare giving him a wink before walking in beside Lyra.

Sighing, he turned around to give them some privacy. The bed felt heavenly to him, almost like they enchanted the bedding's themselves. He wouldn’t be surprised if they as he found it difficult to stay awake. The last thing he remembered seeing was of Lyra and Bon Bon laughing inside the bathroom shower.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Finding himself waking up, Anon let out a yawn. He suddenly found himself feeling trapped where he was laying. It was difficult to move his arms, making him curious as to why. Blinking his eyes clear, he started looking around, remembering that he was in the castle. Looking to either side of him, he could see Lyra and Bon Bon on his arms, squeaking out little snores as they slept. It was adorable if he was being honest about the situation. He thought it might be a good idea just to let them sleep for a while longer.

Hearing a knock on the door, Anon lifted his head, wondering who it could be. Creaking open, a maid walked inside the room, looking around for something before looking at the bed. Lightly tugging his arm out from under Bon Bon, he could feel his arms prickling from falling asleep. Bon Bon wiggled up to Anon’s side, resting her head on his chest before going back to her snoring.

Waving at the maid, she softly walked over to a side panel of the room, revealing a built-in panel that was hidden. A few clicks and the room turned from its red shade to a more pleasant, soft white. She then walked up to the bed with a smirk.

“I see you had a nice night with these two mares,” she said.

Anon’s face started heating up at the insinuation. “Nothing happened last night, we merely slept in the same bed is all.”

The maid didn’t believe him, looking at the wall. “Whatever guest says. Just so you know, nothing will come out of these rooms regardless of what you say, but I suppose some beings aren’t open to their activities as others.”

“Is there a reason you’re here?”

The maid appeared to look more serious once she remembered why she came. “I’m to escort the three of you to breakfast, which starts in forty-five minutes.” She turned to walk away back out the door. “I’ll return in fifteen minutes.”

“Thanks for the wakeup call. How did you know we’d need it?”

She let out a giggle, “Everypony from these particular rooms need a wakeup call.”

Anon frowned at the retreating mare, uncertain about how he should feel hearing that. Feeling his arm starting to return to normal, he gently shook Bon Bon awake on his chest. Shaking her head, she got up, letting out a yawn.

“Good morning, Anon,” she squeaked out.

“Morning,” he replied. “The maid came and gave us fifteen minutes before we need to leave for breakfast.”

Smacking her lips, Bon Bon rolled onto her side, stretching her legs before jumping off the bed. Making her way to Lyra, she started to poke her in the stomach. The mint-colored mare grumbled, rolling on top of Anon to get away. Lyra woke up immediately, staring down at Anon, her face mere inches from his.

“Lyra, mind getting off?”

Blinking at him, she rolled off the bed and onto the ground, scrambling to the bathroom and forcing it closed. Both Bon Bon and Anon proceed to watch Lyra freaking out through the see-through walls, talking to herself before collapsing on the floor and rolling about.

“She forgot we can see her, didn’t she?”

“Eeyup,” Bon Bon said in slight amusement.

Getting out of the bed himself, he walked over to the suitcase, brushing his hair and getting ready. Bon Bon was doing the same, trying to get the curls into her hair in just the right manner. Just as they were packing their cases, Lyra came out herself, a hop in her step, looking ready herself. Turning to levitate her suitcase, she froze, staring at the wall.

“That thing was still on, wasn’t it?”

“Eeyup,” Anon and Bon Bon said in synchronization.

Lyra sighed, her face turning red. “R-Right.”

Walking out of the room, the maid stood there, looking at them. “You can leave your suitcases,” she mentioned upon seeing them, “you won’t be needing those for when you eat and they’ll be delivered to the carriage before you leave.”

Lyra levitated the cases back into the room right before the four of them made their way down the halls.

Everything looked almost as it was the other day, save for it being much brighter and having the guards replaced with ones that were adorned with golden-looking metal armor. It was certainly different from the bat pony guards' appearance. Thinking of bat ponies, Anon turned to Lyra. “Hey Lyra, when I came here you told me about the unicorns, pegasus, and earth ponies but left out bat ponies.”

Lyra looked embarrassed. “Sorry about that, it never really crossed my mind. Not that I was trying to not tell you about them or anything. There isn’t much to tell you other than they have more batty appendages and some history on them. I’ll tell you more about them in detail when we get back alright?”

Anon merely shrugged, turning back to look at the new guards in the halls. He didn’t find them as interesting to look at as the bat ponies from the other night. They almost appeared too bland.

The four of them soon arrived in front of a large door with the maid turning back to them. “On the other side is another short hallway that connects to a few others. Just turn left when you see a new path and it’ll open up to the diner. If you see a door, you’ve gone the wrong way… somehow, so turn around. The princesses dine here and should already be seated. I bid you a good morning, and enjoy your meal guests.” She left them standing there, staring at the door.

Looking at one another Anon walked up to the door, pushing it open and walking through with the other two. Making their way to the dining room with little effort, they could see a very spacious room, with marble pillars, lined up on one side of the room giving the room natural lighting, and a massive table in the middle with chairs lined along with it. Two ponies sat at the far end of the table, one of which Anon recognized as Princess Luna. The larger, much more horse-looking pony, he did not recognize.

Standing in front of the table, Anon could see the two of them were staring at him. Luna seemed nonchalant about the whole thing while Celestia held a smile. Something felt off about it to him but he couldn’t tell what it was. He did his best not to feel too intimidated that he was about to have breakfast with the ruler of this land.

“Please, take a seat,” Celestia calmly spoke out.

Anon couldn’t tell what it was, but something about her had this effect of making one at ease around her. Oddly, that only put him more on edge.

The three made their way to the one seat that stood out from the others, the one that was perfectly Anon’s size. It was close enough for conversation but far enough away that they weren’t within arm’s reach. Taking their seats, Anon examined the sun princess more closely. Her fur appeared as if someone had bleached it, a very pearly white. Her ethereal mane was quite peculiar to look at; a continuous aurora that flowed in the air freely. She also wore gold adornments over her sister's ebony.

And of course, she was much larger than Luna was. If Luna reached up to his chest, Celestia easily reached his full height. She resembled a horse more than a pony to him, even though she was supposed to be a pony that didn’t look like either of those things. The princess didn’t seem to mind, or even notice, that Anon was inspecting her as it appeared she was doing the same.

“So I finally meet the alien that I’ve been receiving reports about for a few months now,” she said with a smile. “It’s a pleasure to meet you at last.”

Anon wasn’t sure what to say at her. “L-Likewise,” he said, giving a cough to help cover his stutter.

“The food should arrive shortly. For the time being, why don’t we talk about your time here?”

“Okay.”

He just couldn’t help but feel stressed out about talking to her. Talking to Princess Luna didn’t feel as awkward, and all he’s heard was how easy going Princess Celestia was in comparison. It likely had to do with how his entire livelihood was at stake, and anything that he said or did could easily make a mess of things for him.

“How has your time here been?” Celestia asked, clearly seeing that Anon would not initiate things.

“It’s… different. My world’s not full of the magical nature that yours is. Everyone here is so open about things, too open at times. It is trying at times, I admit. I do my best to get by regardless of what happens.”

“I know that my ponies can be quite eccentric to others. I can’t imagine how it would be to anyone not familiar to us. Why don’t you share some of those things you’re having trouble with?”

“I… don’t think that would be a good idea, telling you about my problems.”

“Please, it’s going to be a while until the food is prepared and I’m honestly interested to hear about your time. I know the importance of sharing things like this can be for people. I promise that I won’t have any hard feelings over whatever you have to say.”

Lyra, he could see on his right, was still smiling but appearing stiff in her seat, as if she was ready to hear about things being piled toward her. Anon thought about maybe starting small and working his way up; she did say nothing would happen and it wasn’t like she wouldn’t find out if she truly wanted to know.

“I guess there’s that time on the farm for starters.”

“Your time with Applejack?” Celestia said. “That seems peculiar you’d find anything wrong with her.”

“I don’t have any dislike of her, but try having to be around someone that has you do nothing but work throughout the day. It’s tiring and almost feels like I’m just labor to her at times. No offense to her at all, she’s a nice girl, but for someone that agreed to have me as a guest, it didn’t feel very honest saying as such with all the work I was put through.”

“Her, not being honest?”

Anon continued, “Once again, she’s not a huge problem, with how much time I’ve spent there it did irk me. At least I got some good exercise being there. The town is a more recent oddity for me. Recently, half the town has some form of weird closeness in one form or another because of how good I am at my job.”

“Ah, you’re job as a masseuse. I can’t see how being good at your job would stress one out,” Celestia said.

“Gaining a reputation as someone who can, as someone there put it, ‘rub any pony into a blissful state of euphoria’ gets me my share of wackos that I have to massage and at times deal with out in town.”

“The other half of the town was outright ignoring me up until recently where they formed a mob and chased me around the town for I don’t know how long, trying to stuff me into a cage and shove me into the Everfree Forest.”

The two princesses merely blinked, hearing that. “Oooh, that was the pie slinging that I heard about through my reports a bit ago,” Luna said, recalling the incident. “It didn’t say anything about how it started, just what had occurred.”

“At least they’ve finally calmed down, and most have been convinced I’m not there to take their… you know, I’d rather not say. I wish some of the ponies that are out there would stop stalking me though. I keep seeing them hide whenever I look in their direction. It’s getting annoying; I’m not even sure why they’re doing it.”

“My little ponies can be quite curious about things around them－”

“So long as they’re not running away in fear,” Luna interjected, earning a side glance from Celestia.

“Stalkers besides, your time in Ponyville has been alright and no immediate problems I hope?”

“I’m not even sure about that. There’s a few I’m still a bit on edge around for various reasons.”

“Such as?”

“I think the biggest culprit would have to be…” Anon paused, thinking of everyone he had met there. Lyra for some reason looked like she was about to cry. “No Lyra, it’s not you,” he said, patting her head. “Sure you’re a handful but your peculiarities I can get over. You’re a friend so stop feeling like that.”

“R-Right, thanks.” She rubbed at her eyes with a sniffle, smiling at Anon.

Celestia saw this, giving what Anon could say was her first, true genuine smile toward him. “I’m glad to see that you’ve made some friends here.”

“Yes, regardless of what’s happened I still made some friends. I’d say in comparison to the library pony, Lyra is a saint.” Celestia’s smile disappeared immediately while Luna gave her full attention.

“I’m sorry, could you elaborate?”

“Yeah, that library pony was not something I’d want to go through with again. Being locked up in a cage-like that was not fun for my week with her, and that spell she struck at me was not something I want to go through with ever again, whatever it was. I swear she was more interested in my world than she was me. She’s toned down since then, thank goodness, but I’m not sure I’d call her ‘friend material’, not with how much she’s merely interested in my people’s tools or products than myself.”

Celestia continued staring at Anon, looking quite tense hearing what he said. “I am… yes; clearly I’ll have to talk to Twilight about things.”

“Compared to most of the irksome people, she’s as bad as things got. Really, almost everyone else is somewhere between the spectrum of Bon Bon and Pinkie.”

Bon Bon scrunched up her face hearing that. “Excuse me?”

Anon, realizing how that might sound rude scratched his nose. “Well, you’re side would be calm and collected for the most part, while Pinkie’s is extremely off the wall and difficult to be around too much.” Bon Bon seemed happy hearing that, giving a nod of satisfaction at the description.

“I hope that Pinkie hasn’t done anything wrong either,” Celestia said, frowning at hearing a third Element being mentioned.

“No, there isn’t. She’s alright and at times is fun being around. But that’s a pony better taken in small doses. Everything she does is over the top all the time. Even the smallest of things are too much to take at times when dealing with her. Speaking of the smallest of things…”

Reaching into his pocket, Anon dug around for a small pouch he kept on him at all times filled with rocks. Aiming, he quickly threw a rock at a pillar, hearing a shriek of fright. “I know you’re there you little menace. I knew saw you here in the halls last night!”

“I just want you to eat me up!” a familiar cookie said, walking around the pillar into view. “Chew me into delicious chunks and swallow me whole! Come oooon, I know you’re hungry!”

‘I’ve already tried that you little demon.’

Sadly for him, the cookie kept rejuvenating all of its wounds, forcing him to eat more and more of the creepy confectionery. Even taking it all in in one go didn’t work as any crumbs quickly formed into a new cookie.

“You’ll come around soon enough for another bit of my sweet behind, just you wait!” it yelled out before jumping off the ledge of the building. “You and Princess Luna can’t resist the temptations of me for long!”

Everyone turned to Luna, who seemed to blush. Quickly, the five of them see what appeared to be a miniature hot air balloon made out of a cookie rising into the air, with the cookie laughing inside of it.

“How is that thing floating in the air?” Bon Bon asked.

The cookie pulled on a chord, forcing a spattering of sprinkles to shoot out of some contraption, raising the balloon into the air.

“It seems to be powered by helium sprinkles,” Lyra answered.

“THAT JUST RAISES FURTHER QUESTIONS!” Bon Bon yelled.

“Wait, could somepony please explain the cookie,” Celestia asked.

“Pinkie,” Lyra, Bon Bon, Luna, and Anon said in unison.

“Ah,” Celestia said as if understanding.

Celestia cleared her throat, “It seems that things have been a fair bit… stressful for you. I’m sorry to hear your time here hasn’t been as great as it could have been.”

“It’s fine. Those kinds of things, I’m kind of getting used to just expecting around me while I’m here. If anything, I am the alien here so I’ve just got to get used to things not being the kind of normal I’d expect.”

“Still, we should have been more accommodating in your stay here. I promise to help out in the future so long as it’s reasonable.”

“Thanks, I’ll remember that.”

Celestia went back to smiling as before. “At least your stay here at the castle should have been fine.”

“Yes, it has,” Anon agreed. “Though… what was with that bedroom we stayed in?”

“Was it not to your liking?” Celestia asked, unable to hide the sideways glance at her sister.

“It was certainly strange, what with walls turning invisible and the two here getting a free peepshow as I showered.” The two mares shuffled in their seats hearing that. “Also, there was some strange music coming out of nowhere, and the help here seemed odd about the room as well.”

“There were also candles that came out of nowhere,” Bon Bon said.

“And incense burning… and rose petals falling from the roof,” Lyra added in.

“And why were we all in the same room together anyway?”

“There seems to have been an honest mistake,” Luna said with a chuckle. “My captain must have given you the sensual rooms instead of the private rooms. Likely just a communication error, I should have specifically told him what rooms to give you.”

Celestia, smile twitching, turned to Luna. “Luna… what’s this about sensual rooms?”

Luna merely blinked at her. “How could you not know of pleasantries? It’s a room? For the sensual pleasures? My captain just mistakenly gave them those rooms for the night.”

“Why. Do. We. Have. Sensual. Rooms. Luna?” Celestia asked through clenched teeth.

“…For our guests? Don’t you remember? It’s for the guests that typically spent the night with their company?” Celestia groaned out, breaking her previous character. “Is something wrong?”

“Luna, I removed those rooms nearly nine hundred years ago. Just how many ‘guests’ have you invited to those rooms?”

“Only a few,” she answered honestly. “It’s rare for me to have guests. The few guests I do get seem to enjoy the rooms.”

“How many know about these rooms?”

“My captain, a few maids specifically trained to keep the rooms tidy, some of my guard, and of course myself.” Luna frowned at her. “Now that I think about it, I found it strange that no one was keeping to those rooms when I returned. Do you know how difficult it was to both train those maids and to get those rooms set up in the castle in the first place?”

“Luna, we’re going to talk about what’s acceptable now and what’s not later.”

“You’re saying the sensual rooms aren’t accepted in this day and age?”

“No Luna, they’re not.”

“Why not? The few here that were in them liked the rooms!”

“They just aren’t, I’ll explain later, Luna. Do not issue the rooms out to anypony else.” Princess Celestia turned to her three guests with a blank expression, giving them the frights. “This is not to be discussed out of this room, is that clear?” The three of them nod their heads quickly. Celestia immediately went back to her previous, smiling persona. “Right. Well I hope that any future visits for you will be better,” she said to Anon.

“…Okay.”

The five of them sat in an awkward silence for some time from what had just happened. No one really knew what to say at that point.

“…I must say, your time here has already had a huge effect on our lives, Anon,” Princess Celestia spoke out. “Those pens of yours are brilliant. There are quite a few here that are hoping you’ll deliver more contraptions in the future.”

“I know a few that would pay for work directly from you,” Luna added in.

“I’m not sure about doing that kind of stuff,” Anon said, rubbing his arm. “Twilight had mentioned that stuff before and I’m not sure if I’m comfortable with reworking my worlds work over here. Not that there’s a moral quandary or anything, I just don’t feel confident with recreating things.”

“There’s nothing to worry about,” Celestia said with a small smile, “I don’t expect you to do a whole lot. Most that would happen is a pony would come in every now and then to ask questions for a little while on anything you can come up with or they’d initiate things to work something out. The only pony I know that could help immediately with that is Twilight. I hope that’s fine.”

“I… suppose that’s fine,” Anon said with trepidation.

A side door immediately opened with maids, lined up with trays being pushed out. Plates full of food were placed on the table, piled with a variety of fruits and vegetables. One tray that was still covered was placed in front of Anon.

Once the maids left, Princess Celestia turned to Anon, then to the platter in front of him. “I know that it can be hard living in a foreign place like you have. While I can’t do much to help, I hope you will enjoy this nonetheless.”

The princesses then proceed to lift food onto their plates, giving the two ponies on either side of Anon the go to do so as well. Curious what the princess meant, Anon lifted the tray before his eyes widened in surprise.

It was a tray of meat, something he hadn’t seen since he had been there. He wasn’t sure what it was, as he doubted they would just kill off someone to feed their guests. Still, it was a shock to the system seeing this out of nowhere.

“Is it not to your liking?” Princess Celestia asked. She placed the piece of fruit she was eating back down on her plate, staring at Anon’s dish. Lyra and Bon Bon were equally surprised to see what was on the plate now that all attention was on it. “I recall reading the reports on you that you were an omnivore. I know she hasn’t been feeding you any meat since you’ve been here.”

The smell alone was making Anon salivate, looking down at the food. “That’s true, it does look quite tantalizing. But I’m almost afraid to ask, how did you get this meat? I was under the impression that everything in this world was sapient to some degree.”

“Oh dear, you don’t think I went out and chopped up someone to feed you, do you?”

“N-No, Princess Celestia, that’s not what I was… really getting at…”

Princess Luna nodded, placing a pastry on her plate. “That kind of thing is reserved for the people in our dungeons after they’ve been tenderized.” Their three guests felt some blood drain from them hearing that. Celestia glared at her sister. Luna hummed. “I suppose those jokes don’t transfer well in this day and age?”

Celestia sighed, looking back to Anon, “The meat is perfectly fine. Most of the meat that is out there is from the few creatures that are listed as being fine to eat. And even then, the food on your plate is only an imitation of the real thing, though it should taste just the same I am told. I believe the animal is called a Calydonian?”

“So it’s not meat?”

“No. We normally serve this kind of stuff to meat-eaters such as the griffons.”

Turning back to the plate, Anon doesn’t hesitate to finally try out the meat. Cutting into it was like going through butter, and the taste was something he would cherish to that day. He felt like he could cry from how delicious it was. The entire meal, Anon was completely focused on his food, trying to enjoy it as much as he could. He wasn’t sure when the next time he’d be able to eat meat would be, whether or not it was fake.

Taking his last bite, Anon let out a sigh of satisfaction, happy with his meal. A small cough could be heard, with Anon looking up at the princesses who merely smiled.

“I assume that you are done with your meal, or are you willing to lick your plate as well?” Luna asked jokingly.

A light blush could be felt on his face. He had, in fact, thought of doing such a thing. Noticing that everyone was already finished eating, Anon wiped his mouth with a napkin.

“Since it appears everyone is done with their meals,” Princess Celestia started, getting up from her seat, “I really should go back to my duties along with my sister. You’re more than welcome to stay the night if you so desire.”

“There’s going to be a star shower tonight and the castle will have festivities during it.”

“While I appreciate the offer, I’ve already made plans with some others out in town tonight and these two are doing things as well.”

Lyra nodded, “Yep! Bonnie and I will be watching it on our rooftop as always!”

“A maid will help escort you in getting home then. As I have important business to attend to, I must I bid you all a good day,” Celestia said, walking off the opposite end of the room with her sister.

Standing up themselves, the three of them go back out where they came from, finding the maid from before standing there for them. She guided them quickly through the halls back up to the launch pad from last night where a chariot was currently at, along with two pegasus sun guards already tethered to it.

Getting inside, Anon was glad to see the suitcases were there with them; he didn’t want to leave behind his awesome costume after all. Examining the chariot, Anon frowned. “Where's the seat-belts?”

“What’s a seat-belt?” Lyra asked

Before Anon could reply, the chariot shot off into the air, making Anon’s stomach lurch about. He held onto the seat as it continued to lift into the sky.

“Lighten up, Anon,” Lyra said, bumping into his side. “Try to enjoy this! Chariot rides are fun!”

“Just pretend it’s like last night with Princess Luna,” Bon Bon added in.

As odd as it was for him, Anon found last night was easier to deal with; the night helped cover up most of his sight, but now he had a clear view of everything below him. He vowed that the next thing he would come up for the ponies would be seat-belts, along with a myriad of safety devices they didn’t already have.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

“Anon, are you okay?” Lyra asked as she sat beside him.

“Yeah, I just need… five more minutes…”

“You’ve been lying here for a good while, Anon. You even fell asleep.”

‘I was exhausted from the trip you darn horse…’

Standing up, Anon stretched his body, feeling a satisfying pop in his back. He then fell right back into the couch.

“So what did you think of the princesses?” Lyra asked, taking a seat beside him.

“They were interesting. I wasn’t expecting Princess Celestia to be so large; she’s even larger than Luna. Are they really ponies?”

“Of course they are! What else would they be?”

“…Horses?”

Lyra slapped a hoof over her mouth, trying not to laugh.

“It seems like I will be doing work for the princesses now. At least it is better than being tested on like before.”

“Oh, that kind of stuff isn’t done entirely,” Lyra said, “but yeah, at least you should get paid some for that work. It just sucks Twilight’s going to be helping with that. Uuuugh.” Lyra flopped onto her back, continuing her groaning.

“It probably will not be that bad, she’s kind of been getting better.”

“I suppose…”

Anon sat back, thinking about the meeting with the princesses. It was certainly something he didn’t expect to happen, though he wasn’t sure what to expect.

Looking at where he was, he cursed himself, realizing something. “Dang it, I should have asked for a place to live before we left there.”

‘They did mention they’d help so long as it was reasonable, and that should qualify within being fine, right?’

“W-What?” Lyra sat up, looking at Anon with worry. “Why do you want to move away? Don’t you like it here?”

“It is n—”

“Is it us?! Am I bugging you too much, or—”

“Lyra, it is not you or Bon Bon.”

“Then why would you want to move out?”

“It doesn’t feel fair to have the two of you put up with me as long as you have. I’ve been living here for the last few months while you’ve been sleeping down here on the couch. I know you’d like your room back, right?”

“I’d prefer having you here than getting my room back!”

Before Anon could say anything, Bon Bon came out of nowhere adding her two cents from the kitchen, “What about having your own room instead, Anon?”

“How would that work?” he asked.

“I’m not certain the princess could build an entire home for you with your size. You’re even bigger than most minotaurs are, and that’s not including all the furniture and such. But a room attached to our house seems like it would work out, right? We can even hoof in some of the bills if it comes to that.”

“Yeah! You don’t have to move away and can still be here in your room!”

Thinking about it, while Anon desired his own place while he was in pony land, it would take quite a bit of land and money to get his place. And he wasn’t certain he liked the idea of owing so much back to the princesses if he did get his own place like that.

“Let me think this over some more, okay?”

Lyra forced a smile on her face hearing that. “Sure, we can do that.”

Something told Anon that she was about to attempt something quite stupid.

“Anon, you should probably start heading out,” Bon Bon said. “Vinyl’s probably expecting you by now.”

Looking outside, Anon could see that it’s gotten fairly dark by then. Getting up, he grabbed his cloak off the coat hanger and bid the two goodbyes before heading out the door to Vinyl’s place. It wasn’t exactly a long walk, only being on the other side of town.

Arriving at her place, Anon noticed that there wasn’t any music playing through the door. He knocked on it, wondering if they were even there. A few seconds later the door creaked open. Vinyl, looking out of the crack, immediately opened it up seeing Anon. She pulled him in with magic before closing the door once more.

“You’re here! For a second there, I didn’t think you’d make it!”

“I would’ve made it sooner but we got back from Canterlot on a chariot and it exhausted me a good bit.”

“Ah, air travel. It’s a killer way to disorient yourself.” Vinyl pushed Anon over to the couch, getting him to take a seat. “Just wait here. Octavia would have a nasty fit if I didn’t prepare something for guests.”

Leaving Anon there in the living room, he noticed everything seemed more arranged with all the wires now bundled properly and out of the way, for the most part. Though it felt less spacious with all the added equipment and tools he didn’t see there from last time.

It doesn’t take long for Vinyl to return with a tray of tea and brownies. Taking a brownie, Anon found it quite pleasing compared to all the cupcakes every single other pony seemed to always serve up for some reason. Vinyl took a seat right beside Anon, leaning into it and kicking her hind legs on the table in front of them.

“Aaahh, chilling out’s bucking awesome, dude. It feels nice doing so after all the work I’ve done, trying to figure out that godly little music box of yours.”

Throwing the rest of the brownie in his mouth, he washed it down with the minty tea. “To be honest, I figured you would’ve broken the thing by now.”

“…Why would you hoof that over to me if you thought that would happen?”

“It’s not like I can exactly use it for much if it’s already dead, Vinyl. I mean, if it did break then it wasn’t a huge loss on me. But if you managed to charge it up, then that would be pretty awesome.”

“Well prepare to be awesomized!” she said, slamming the tea she was drinking down her throat before jumping off the couch. She walked over to the strange equipment, messing with some of them. “See, I’ve been working on that joy toy of yours for a good while now, trying to figure out just how to put in the correct amount of lightning without busting the thing up. So I went ahead and made some prototype chargers to get things going, setting them at the lowest voltage.”

Clicking some things Anon couldn’t see, he could hear something turning on with a low hum.

“I didn’t use the music box at first, not wanting to risk damaging it. But after some time with it, and a few mishaps of the explosive variety, I got a few final products that I thought would work.”

Vinyl pulled some things out of a box before plugging them into some weird mechanization that looked like they crawled straight out of a schlocky sci-fi flick.

“SO, after duplicating your box, I proceeded to test out the chargers on those before I got the correct one. That one took a good while getting the correct charger.”

“You can make duplicates of the iPod?”

“Sure! I mean, I doubt it’ll have much anything on it; it’s just copying the object itself and that’s it so any weird human magic that was inside of it didn’t transfer over. I don’t have the proper knowledge for that kind of magic. Probably need Twilight, or somepony on her level, to fix that issue.”

She trailed off, thinking to herself as she plugged away at what appeared to be the music player. “They’re not true copies or anything. Think of it like I’m copying a tin full of cookies, focusing on the tin. The cookies don’t come along with that. That would only work if I knew about what was on the inside and focused on that as well, but I don’t know much about the inside of this box, right? Besides, the cookies would taste quite nasty.”

Anon hummed at her explanation as he ate another brownie, watching her mess around with her wires and instruments.

“Maybe I can figure out a copy with the junk on it later, but for now, we just have the original. So I don’t know how many copies I went through to make it work out, having to recycle them over and over, but I finally found one that wouldn’t blow up or melt. I think I charged it? I wasn’t sure how to turn this thing on to check.”

“You already tried charging it?” Anon asked, taking a sip of his tea.

“Yeah… I hope it worked,” she said, handing it over to Anon with her magic.

Looking at it, Anon flicked the lock off the top of it before holding the play button to turn it on. After a few seconds, the screen flashes on, booting up.

“Good job, music is a go-go baby! Ready for some hot jams?”

“Pump that crazy up ‘cause I am ready!”

Vinyl and Anon stare at the player with large grins, ready to try out some of his kinds of music.

After ten seconds, Vinyl turned to Anon, “Why isn’t it playing?”

“It kind of needs earbuds to work,” Anon sighed. “Forgot about that. They’re the white strings I lent you, the smaller headphones?”

“Yeah I copied those a few times too and they’re simple enough to have figured out.” Something flashed in her mind before she jumped off the couch. “I can probably hook them up to my speakers if I take your earstrings and use their connectors!”

She proceeded to flash her horn with spells, tugging at her wires and duplicating the earbuds. This went on for some time before she returned with a large smile and a speaker with one of the headphone plugins now attached to a wire on the speaker.

“See? Easy-peasy! Now let’s plug that bad boy in and feed our ears with some delicious music!”

Anon wasn’t exactly sure if connect the end like that to the speaker would work, but he wasn’t going to argue with magic.

“I’ll show you how to work this so you can play with this later on, but I still want to see the star showers so we can’t do this for too long. I haven’t seen one of those here before and from what everyone tells me it’s something that needs to be seen.”

He instructed her how to turn the wheel and how to flip through the selections in the player. “All that’s needed is to select what category to listen to. I’d recommend going to the genre section over the artist one so you can learn what different styles we have. I would advise you to steer clear from certain genres, like death metal. I’ll give you a list of genres and some artists later on.”

“Death… metal?” Vinyl looked quite confused. “Someone is trying to kill the metal? I… I don’t get it. Why would anyone want to kill metal?”

Anon laughed out, “Ah-ha! But they will fail as metal smites them to the ground!”

Vinyl blinked at Anon’s strangeness. “…What?”

“J-Just ignore that…”

“Whatever dude, just play something already! My lugholes have a sweet tooth for some ear candy!”

“Sure, okay. I remember last time I was here you were playing something that was almost like dubstep.”

“What’s that?”

“If I can remember, it’s a subgenre to techno music that you were playing. You played something that reminded me of more… Hmmm…” Anon snapped his fingers, trying to find the word, “Starts with a…. Ah, right! Synthesizers. Back in college, one of my roommates was into that kind of stuff as a hobby and that’s what your music reminded me of. I think I’ve got the perfect song for you to try out.”

Scrolling the wheel like a pro, Anon selected the song he wanted to play, making sure the volume was nice and loud before hitting the play button.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fvz-nNz0mc

“Interesting,” Vinyl said, seemingly enjoying it. “I guess I can see how this kinda sounds like my stuff. Hmm…”

“The pony sat back to relax and listen to the music play. Her ears twitched about, listening to the tune. Anon could see a smile stretched across her face.

Okay, this stuff sounds pretty cool. I love the part about them singing about harmony and such, everypony’s going to love that stuff! I hope you have more stuff like that on there!”

“I do, along with some things I doubt you’d ever heard of before. But I have a question for you.”

“Lay the words on me, Anon!”

“How in the blazes are you able to understand the lyrics at all?”

“Oh, that? Psh, I talked to Twilight and Lyra about some of your languages. I figured your music would be sung in your language and wanted to be prepared. So I gathered their work and figured out a simple translation spell.”

“Really? You?”

Vinyl sighed hearing that. “Okay, it wasn’t like I figured it out on my own, Twilight did the bulk of the work. I just kept bugging her and Lyra when I got the chance to help me figure things out.” Her horn started to glow before some weird scribing glowed around her throat. Coughing, Vinyl rubbed her throat softly with her hoof. “~+See? Now I can speak your language too! Neat, no?+~”

Anon blinked at her. “That is pretty odd, you have a Swedish accent.”

“~+Is that good?+~”

“Only that it is one of the hottest accents I can imagine.”

“~+Well no bedroom play with this mare, big boy,+~” she said with a laugh before letting out a rough cough. “~+Oh this is hard to speak in. Gonna stop now, clearly need more practice.+~”

“How are you doing that in the first place?”

She shrugged her shoulders, turning off her spell. “I dunno, it’s magic. Ain’t gotta explain crap, right? Talk to Lyra and Twilight about that stuff.” Vinyl hummed to herself, staring at the player. “I think I can probably rework the spell to work on the music player later on, just need to make sure it doesn’t affect the box itself when used on it. Probably won’t use it all that much myself either, it hurts way too much, so only those wanting to converse the mystical language of the human will even practice this.”

“So Lyra and Twilight.”

“Yep.” She closed her eyes, listening to the song once more. “The song is quite relaxing; it feels nice listening to. How much more music does that box of yours have?”

“I have about—” Anon looked at the song count, “—around thirty thousand songs it seems.”

Vinyl froze hearing that before shuddering in her seat. “I… I think my gray matter just climaxed violently.”

Anon didn’t comment on what she said, choosing to ignore it as the song played out.

“The song that just played could be, like, a theme song for us! Seriously, we have to get this thing on a record so I can play this for other ponies! I’ll give you full credit for bringing it here in the first place, of course.”

Anon merely smirked just as the song finished out. Vinyl let out a sigh, poking him in the side. “Next song-next song-next song-next song—”

“Just a moment, sheesh.”

“Make it something that would make me want to move about!”

Anon didn’t want to go overboard with the music selections, knowing quite a few that would but would likely not end up pretty for anyone. And he still wanted to have something she was relatively familiar with. Thinking on it, Anon flipped over to a song he thought fit that description.

“This one is a bit more advanced to what you listened to previously. I can’t exactly describe it, more out of fear of making an ass of myself, but I hope that you enjoy it.”

“I’m not sure what you looking like a donkey has to do with anything, but just play the track already!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuNjx_Q93tc

Vinyl immediately sat up, staring at the speaker. Her ears were twitching madly as the song started to play. Her body started to jitter, obviously her interpretation of how the song is moving about.

Another thing to thank his dorm mates for all those years ago. He could remember asking them for more varied music as all he had was orchestral works. Anon was glad he got to hear so many different genres.

Just as the song ended, Vinyl sat there silently for some time. “That. Was. AWESOME!” She jabbed Anon in the side, “Duuude, play it again!”

Anon grabbed his iPod and replayed the song once more. Vinyl went back to jumping along to the song, flapping her front hooves out to slap at nothing in the air. Anon merely sat back to relax as the song played. The pony soon got tired of sitting, deciding to jump off the couch and dance around was a better activity.

As soon as the song ended, she bugged Anon again to replay it a few more times. They hadn’t even gone on to any of the other songs and she was already loving the songs.

‘If she likes this song so much, wait until she hears some of the other stuff.’

Eventually, Anon could hear a door slamming open from somewhere in the house. Opening his eyes, he could see Octavia walking into the room.

“Okay, I’ve been hearing this weird junk for a good while now. What’s the big deal with all this?”

“JUNK?! Are you out of your mind calling this work as junk?! This is the next step in lightning music, Octavia! This is going to revolutionize everything!”

“I am not in the mood to argue with you on this right now. Just turn the darn crud off.”

“Anon is showing me some of his crankin’ tunes you ol’ ditty! How would you feel if you missed out on an awesome chance to hear stuff you’ve only ever dreamed of! Why I bet there’s even something in his music box that you’d like as well!”

Octavia sniffed, “I highly doubt there’s anything in that little box I’d care for, Vinyl. Now I’d appreciate it if you turned it off, the shower should start soon and I don’t want to hear anything that could ruin it.”

Vinyl turned to Anon with a frown. “Dude, show her some music that she’d like! Prove her wrong for me!”

“Actually, before meeting some old friends I generally listened to orchestral stuff, right before finding some more modern orchestral reworkings on modern songs. I think I have something you might like.”

While choosing a song, Vinyl attempts to force Octavia to sit down on another couch with her. Octavia, of course, stood, not wanting any part of the music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ_fkw5j-t0

The two ponies quickly stop arguing with whatever they were talking about once the song played. Octavia turned her head to the speaker, obviously intrigued by what she was hearing.

“Are those cellos?”

No one answered her as they continued listening to the piece. The song was something that Anon listened to quite a bit, as he greatly enjoyed the electric cello in it. Vinyl seemed to be staring at, well, nothing. She was mostly zoning out as she listened to it. Octavia, on the other hand, was staring wide-eyed at the speaker the entire time it was playing.

The moment the song ended, Octavia turned to Anon, “What… what was that?”

“The name? Let me check the—”

“No, not that! I meant that instrument in the song! It sounded like a stringed instrument but, different.”

“That? It was a cello.”

“That’s impossible, I know very well how a cello sounds and that was no cello!”

“That was an electric cello, something powered by electricity.” Anon smiled at her, “Of course, you ponies call that lightning.”

Vinyl’s face widened with a smile before she erupted with laughter. Octavia had dropped her jaw hearing that, surprised to hear of that.

“And you said my lightning couldn’t improve your instruments!”

Octavia turned to Vinyl, staring at her for a few seconds, unable to say anything. Closing her mouth, she slowly walked out of the room back to wherever she came from, shutting the door with a slam.

“That was strange,” Anon commented.

“But funny! I’ll have to deal with it later, but it was so worth seeing the look on her face!”

Unplugging the iPod, Anon wrapped his earbuds around them before placing it down on a table.

“Wait, why are you putting it up?! Come on, let’s keep dishin’ out those popolicious tunes!”

“The shower’s going to start any minute, right?”

Vinyl took a moment to realize what he had said. “Crap, I nearly forgot about that! Alright, follow me!”

Anon followed Vinyl up to a ladder that led up to her room. Once up there, Anon went over to one of the cushions, sitting down on the largest one, the thing completely engulfing his legs and behind.

“I’ll be right back,” the music pony said, walking back down the ladder, “need to go grab something.”

Looking around, he could see most of Ponyville where he was: from Rarity’s Boutique all the way Sugarcube Corner. Anon could make out the library from there. He even saw Lyra and Bon Bon’s house, though it was difficult making out.

It didn’t take long for Vinyl to come back with another plate of brownies along with some water. Anon eagerly grabbed one, taking a few bites as Vinyl does the same.

“Octavia going to be fine?” Anon asked, drinking some water.

“Yeah, she’s likely just thinking to herself about the song. She’ll be up here in a little bit. I wouldn’t doubt if she’s throwing down something on her music sheets as we speak!”

“Well, that’s good to hear. I di—”

Anon stopped, noticing something wrong with his sight.

“What was that?”

Everything was full of colors all of a sudden. Even more so than it usually was. And so bright!

Looking down at his hands, he moved them around in the air, noticing a distinct trail of paint that followed along with them. It almost looked like he was partially cel-shaded.

‘What’s going on?’

It didn’t take a genius to reach to the obvious conclusion. Looking at the brownies, Anon then turned to Vinyl with a glare.

“Vinyl, what did you put in the brownies?”

Vinyl smirked at Anon, taking another bite of her brownie. “They finally kicking in?” She let out a snicker, “I thought we could use some of these to help with an extra dose of relaxation for the night.”

“Noooeeuut cool, Vinyl!” Anon stretches out for some odd reason.

Said mare ignored him, going back to her brownie. As neat as it was seeing everything, Anon was not happy with the current situation.

‘Though, the colors…’

Anon shook his head, trying to get back to his previous anger an—

The stars right then started to streak across the sky without warning, making the entire sky looking like surreal art. Anon looked up, amazed at the sight before him.

He shook his head, trying to clear it. It didn’t help at all, with him focusing back on the stars.

‘I’m going to get Vinyl back for this, somehow. Darn pony pot…’

~End Chapter Twelve~