It seemed almost impossible how much her life had changed in the past week, one day she would dread the morning and the 8 hour shifts that followed, the next she was counting down the seconds until she could wake up again. Every morning she was like a foal on Hearth’s Warming Morning, having gotten very little sleep the night before in hopes that morning would soon come. When the morning finally came for the young mare, she would giggle like she used to as a filly as she hopped and danced around her room while waiting for her toast to pop. She had little patience in the morning, calculating the fastest route to the “condemned” Archives so she could get to her little Anthro as soon as possible.

“I wonder what we’re going to do today, Darwin!” she said gleefully as she caressed her feline companion. It seemed as though Celestia herself could feel the positive energy from Lyra and made the days shinier and happier every morning. Her room was ablaze with beautiful light, her cat sprawled in the window’s sunlight only to be awoken by the energetic mare.

The cat gave a simple meow, digging its nails into her couch as it stretched before hopping off. Lyra gave Darwin a puzzled look as she said, “Just because I am excited to see Anthro doesn’t mean I don’t love you any less.”

The cat gave another meow before it began to claw at Lyra’s desk. She furrowed her brows as she responded, “Don’t you use that kind of language with me Mr. Grouchy Pants! You know I’m still taking my studies professionally.” She watched as the cat closed its eyes and rolled over onto its side to which she replied with a snicker, “Okay so maybe I am excited to see him, if you were in my horseshoes you’d feel the same way.”

When the toast popped, Lyra quickly dashed into the kitchen to eat it plain, no peanut butter, no jam either, that takes too much time. She grabbed a notebook and writing utensils before kissing her little fuzzy grey cat as she said with a scrunching face, “I wuv you!” Lyra took no time to wait for her cat to reply and dashed out the door and into the glimmering world of Canterlot, ponies were trotting their way to and fro as they went about their business. She noticed that the mailmare of this district of Canterlot, Ms. Letterlove, had delivered her something today.

The unicorn decided to take a few minutes to gather the mail and sort through the assortments of bills and junk ads, yet one small envelop stood out from the rest. It had a name that seemed familiar to her, a name she hadn’t seen in what felt like forever, Bon-Bon. Her eyes widened with surprise as she wondered what she had written her. Was it a simple “how do you do” letter or was it an angry “why haven’t you mailed me” letter? She decided to open it later once she had made it to the facility on time.

Today was a bit different, today she was running a few errands as well knowing that Anthro was not only hungry but he also seemed to be ashamed of being naked. The thought about the piece of cloth that had been dug up potentially matching his foot never escaped her mind; it could be a sign of even greater intelligence and maybe even a culture similar to Equestrian. She was to make a stop at a small grocery store to pick up some snacks for the three of them at the facility as well as make a stop at any stallion fashion store in hopes of maybe finding something that could kind of fit Anthro’s unique complexion.

She set off to the merchant area of Canterlot, looking all around for a clothing store as fast as possible and get anything to fit the naked monkey, she definitely had the extra couple of bits to spend thanks to her job. But with all these thoughts of Anthro’s secrets, her letter from Bon-Bon, and food to get for the day, she wasn’t paying attention to what was in front of her as she galloped through town.

Suddenly a tall purple mass collided with Lyra, knocking both her and whatever she hit off balance. Her vision was doubled for a moment as the world seemed to spin around; her head was going to hurt in a few seconds once the pain settled in. When she got back on all fours and went to check what she collided with, it was to her shock and horror that she ran straight into Princess Twilight Sparkle. Stuttering with nervousness and embarrassment, Lyra tried to help the alicorn up as she stammered, “I-I am so sorry your majesty!”

Giving her head a shake, the slightly taller princess regained balance and said with a smirk, “It’s okay, you just knocked the wind out of me.” When Twilight set her eyes on the smaller embarrassed mare, her eyebrows raised and her smile grew as she exclaimed, “Lyra? Is that you?”

Lyra raised her head as soon as she was reassured that Twilight was in fact not angry, smiling awkwardly she replied, “Yeah… how’s it going?” Lyra knew Twilight as somewhat an acquaintance, they never really hung out but Lyra was always at the library renting out the anatomy books on primates. They spoke occasionally, but that was as far as that went in terms of their friendship.

“Everything is going super great, you know my friends right?” Twilight pointed towards the other five ponies behind her, the pink one seemed to be as happy as Lyra was at first, while the yellow one seemed to be as awkward as her at the moment. She remembered their names only because they almost always made headline news with their adventures.

She nodded her head as she spoke a little more confidently, “Oh yeah, hey Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Dash.”

Twilight pointed towards Lyra's saddlebag as she said, “So, you still working with Prince Blueblood? Is he giving you a hard time?” Twilight gave a grin as she spoke, she was already over the whole incident that had just passed from the looks of it.

Lyra chuckled, “Nah, he’s not that bad. Sure he’s a little annoying now and then but most bosses are like that aren’t they?”

Twilight giggled as well as she sighed while looking around at the many buildings of Canterlot, “Yeah, it’s been so long since you moved from Ponyville, Bon-Bon and I have talked about you every now and then.”

Lyra’s ears perked, “Really?” This was a bit of a surprise to her, it didn’t seem like the two would ever become friends, even more surprising was how it sounded as though Twilight was hinting towards Bon-Bon missing Lyra.

Twilight nodded, “She says that she sent you a letter, hopefully you get it soon. Anyways, I better let you get back to crashing into other ponies, have a nice day.” Twilight and the group turned around and headed their way, Lyra gave a quick wave goodbye and made her way towards the malls, hoping not to have wasted any time with that little encounter. Her mind was already back on Anthro only seconds after going their separate ways, she was already thinking at a million miles an hour on what else might happen today.

*****

As Lyra approached the facility she noticed that there were multiple stallions dressed in black suits that were making eye contact with her, all of them sharing the same fierce and intimidating look as she approached with every step, "Gonna have to turn around, lady," said one of the closer ones as he approached her, "this building is too dangerous."

Puzzled, Lyra tried to raise her head over the shoulders of the oddly over-dressed black stallion as she peeped, "But... but I need to get in, I work in the archives."

The monochromatic colt scoffed, "That is untrue, ma'am, I urge you to turn around now or I will have to use force."

Lyra wasn't willing to put up with this strange encounter, it seemed so odd and was now beginning to worry her when she thought of what was going on inside with poor Anthro. What if these ponies were from another higher part of the government that even Blueblood had no control over? What if there is a super secret agency that is above the law, and above Blueblood being above the law? Her mind immediately jumped into panic as she began to stammer in agitation, "I need to get inside, I'm sure you understand why."

Without moving a muscle, the agent spoke to her in a stern and extremely intimidating voice, "Lady this is your final warning before I put you to the ground, I strongly urge you to back up and go home now, this building is dangerous and has been found to be emitting a form of dark magic."

Suddenly, before any violence could occur, Blueblood's head popped from behind the abandoned archives as he said, "Oh, hello, Lyra." He quickly trotted up between the two conflicting equines as he said with a very calm and relaxed expression, "Don't worry, she's with us. She just didn't have her badge."

The agent looked at Blueblood, his eyes seemed so emotionless yet made him seem so dangerous, like he was a stone cold fighter. He nodded his head as he took two steps back, "My apologies, ma'am, you may proceed. Next time i suggest you wear your identification badge."

Lyra nodded, sighing with relief as she let out all her inner panicking energy inside her, she felt as though her limbs had become spaghetti when the thought of her getting taken down by a monster of a colt was dismissed. Using her shaking spaghetti legs, she trotted up next to Blueblood as he was making his way behind the facility as she quickly spoke, "Thanks for saving my flank back there, what's with these guys?" Lyra motioned her head towards the thirty some ponies that surrounded the simple grey box of a building, standing motionless much like the royal guards, only this time they sent thirty thousand volts of electricity through you instead of a spear (she had a hard time deciding which would be better). Blueblood showed no sign of worry or panic at all when he turned his focus to her, in fact he seemed rather tired as though he stayed up all night.

"I'll mention that in a few minutes, please enter through the bushes." Blueblood nodded his head towards another suited stallion that stood beside what appeared to be a simple green bush, the pitch black pony that was built like a tank turned his head towards the bush and lifted it with his magic before motioning his head for them to move into the newly exposed hole. Lyra gave an unsure look to her superior, it wasn't like him to have so much security for a normal day. What if there was something serious that happened last night? What if it was Anthro?

To her surprise, Lyra watched as Blueblood moved into the bushes first, not minding at all that his hair was getting slightly out of place when he turned to invite his trusted side-kick to follow him. To Lyra, it didn't seem like Blueblood to crawl into a dirty hole without a full suit, much less insist on entering first. Lyra quickly follows him, her mind searching for an answer to all the questions arising from these situations, she quietly asked the unicorn leading her, "What's going on?"

Blueblood took no time to answer, "I'll brief you when we get inside." Blueblood eventually exited through the other end of the tunnel to expose the locked up inside of the archives, all the books had individual plastic covers to protect them from the dust, and planks of wood had been nailed over the doors and windows to allow only slivers of light through. It was strange how sudden these changes were to the facility and it raised only more questions for Lyra. Blueblood opened the basement door, filling the room with a warm and calming light as he said, "Right this way, ma'am."

Lyra jerked her head upright and fixed her gaze on Blueblood, her brow raising in curiosity. Did he just use manners? Lyra slowly complied with her boss, trotting into the basement that seemed completely different from the rest of the building. As she entered the basement, she noticed the brown stallion that sat next to Anthro. She watched as the two almost had a full conversation between each other, the Doctor being extra patient with the linguistically challenged creature.

"Name?" The naked pinkish creature asked with wondering eyes.

"My name is Doctor Whooves," he spoke with a smile and joy in his voice, "what is your name." The doctor pointed a brown hoof towards Anthro.

He took a few seconds, trying to think of how he would speak, but before he could say anything he was stopped by Lyra's and Blueblood's entrance. Blueblood motioned for Lyra to sit beside Anthro, opposite of Whooves. Blueblood waited for the small crowd of three to calm down before he began, "Good morning, lady, gentle colt... and you," Blueblood motioned towards Anthro who barely understood what they were saying before continuing, "today I'm sure you noticed the new guards outside. That won't be the only thing that's different around here, in fact almost nothing will be the same anymore from hence here forth. Last night a news reporter asked about the possibility of your presence," Blueblood again pointed towards Anthro before continuing, "whether this was mere coincidence or some pony got some information she wasn't allowed to know, I will let this incident slip because these changes will prevent any further speculations to arise and further keep our secrecy present. The first change is the need for identification badges when approached by the special operations guards outside, they will be surrounding the building for 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. The second change is this very room, because of rising concerns brought up by Lyra and the creature's behaviour, renovations will begin starting tomorrow to improve the living conditions and further improve cooperation with our subject."

Before he could continue, Lyra sheepishly asked, "What made you change your ideas about his living conditions?"

Blueblood nodded, "I was about to inform you on that, it's the biggest change too and needs to be stated." Blueblood slowly paced from side to side before sighing, "I'm sorry, everypony, for everything that I have said and done, it was wrong of me treat you like any less of a pony than I am. The deities made us all equal and as a strong believer I must uphold this point, so starting now I will treat all ponies as equals to myself." Blueblood turned to look at Anthro as he nodded, "As for the subject, I will not hold any anger or resentment in case I am wrong and that he is in fact a gentle and kind creature."

The doctor raised a hoof as he asked, asked, "You mentioned that this place was to be renovated, what is going to happen to the subject, he can't be seen by any outside carpenters or renovators? What is the plan to keep the secrecy strong amongst us?"

Blueblood smiled as he replied, "The plan is simple, at approximately midnight to five in the morning, the subject along with all books in the upper level will be moved to my personal house while the renovations take place, if the subject is to behave accordingly I will grant him permission to live in the private gardens to give him freedom and open air. Only if he can prove he will not run away."

Lyra nudged Anthro's side as she whispered to him with a grin, "You hear that? If you are nice, you can stay in the big garden."

Anthro paused and searched for the right word to use, after a moment he replied in a whisper, "What is garden?"

"A garden is a big place with lots of flowers and trees," Lyra motioned the shapes of the flowers and trees to help Anthro better understand, "but only if you are nice."

Anthro paused again, staring at Blueblood without looking away, after a short silent moment he said in a hush, "He sorry say first."

Lyra turned to look at Blueblood as she calmly spoke with her warm smile, "Blueblood, he wants a personal apology for what you did to him. It was unforgivable how you treated him but if all he asks is for an apology then I suggest you do so."

Blueblood sighed, he still had very much patience unlike the previous days, he slowly lowered himself to get into Anthro's line of sight as he whispered, "Hey... I am very sorry, it was wrong of me to hurt you for reasons that probably aren't true. Can you forgive me?"

Anthro looked towards the prince, a small smile began to form on him and he whispered in return, "Yes."

Blueblood shot back upright as he exclaimed with glee, "Excellent, I'm glad we could work things out." He looked around the room to see strange marks on the walls that were probably done by using a broken piece of concrete against the concrete walls. He looked at the depressing room with the empty glass cylinder that still smelled like the creatures excrement (only now it wasn't as retched as it was a few days ago), taking a moment to gather his thoughts before continuing with his instructions, "As for today, we will just hang out I guess, I really didn't have any plans for studying unless one of you have an idea of your own."

Lyra pulled her saddlebag into view, "Actually I have a few things that can be counted as experiments." She then pulled from her saddlebag a few rolls of fabric, some string, and an assortment of different cutting utensils as she gleefully said, "Since I couldn't find anything that would fit you, I decided that maybe you could make your own clothing instead. Although I don't understand why you want to constantly wear clothes in the first place. So maybe you can make something to wear today while we learn some more words okay?"

Anthro simply replied with a, "Yes." as he was given all the fabrics, strings, needles, and cutting tools that Lyra had purchased.

As he began to look over them, going over the sizes of the fabrics and amount of string, Blueblood leaned towards Lyra as he whispered, "How do you know he wants clothing?"

"It's just a theory, and is a pretty far fetched one at that, but it could be that he has an advanced sociological development in his brain that is on par, if not better than, our own brains. He could have been taught to hide his skin in order to protect himself from weather and such, maybe even use it for the same reason as us which is fashion."

The doctor decided to join in on the conversation, "Being part of this facility, I've seen my fair share of creatures that the public still knows nothing of, and judging by all the differences and similarities they have had I wouldn't be too surprised if Lyra's theory was correct. Perhaps this thing is not the only of its kind and that there are more out there that uphold this idealism of clothing as a social standard."

The two other ponies looked over to the brown stallion, Lyra raised an eyebrow and spoke with curiosity, "Wait a minute, you have the ability to time travel right? Why can't you go farther back in time to when these things were maybe more present?"

The doctor was caught off guard by her question, it had never occurred to Whooves to ask that himself. He pondered for the answer but appeared to have trouble finding it, after a few moments of deep thought he said with a shrug, "I don't know. Throughout all my travels through time and space, not once have I found a race of these beings. I can only go as far back as creation along with the Changelings. It appears that that was the beginning of time and that these things were never present throughout history."

The three stood in a huddle with blank faces, having trouble understanding the mystery behind the creatures presence on the planet. Their silence was soon broken when the subject spoke up, "Lyra, look."

Turning her head to face Anthro, Lyra gasped when she saw him with what appeared to be makeshift pants and for some reason a loincloth over top. The group was aghast by his sheer speed in making his own clothes and watched as his hands moved as swift as a bee when stitching up his fabrics to form enclosed pants. Anthro used the string and fabric to make a belt to go around the waist and hold the pants up, using loops in the upper rim of the pants to secure the belt in place. When finished, Anthro looked towards Lyra with a smile as to say, "Waddya think?"

Lyra turned to Blueblood as she said with a look of astonishment on her face, "This thing is smart," she said quietly, "like really, really smart."

Author's Note

So I'm sure you noticed that there is a new cover to Anthro, I'd like to know what you think of it in the comments section. Also I'm gonna be sketching up an image of Anthro/Hunter and Brave Soul (I know he's not a major character but my idea for his design was hard to describe). Pretty soon ill whip up Anthro's sketches that he drew with Lyra and Blueblood the previous day. Also, have a Good Friday to all the Christians out there reading this and a good day off to all the atheists that read this as well.