The Lively Adventures of Anonymous

by Aetherpony

Rating: mature
Tags: Comedy, Queen Chrysalis, Sex, Random, Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, Dark, Zecora, Alternate Universe, Human, Main 6, Gore, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 74362

You've been living in Equestria for a month now. Your life looks to be going in a positive direction. The ponies love you, your jobs keep you busy, and love may be in the air. But is it really as peaceful as it seems?

A sequel to the story: Living the Good Life
The story picks up a month later where Anon has integrated into Pony Society.
He's been proclaimed the Hero of Ponyville, he's gotten the praise of ponies far and wide. He's even managed to get a job.
Thanks to the efforts of Discord, he's truly living the good life. He'll even have a home to call his own soon.
But, shady characters loom in the shadows.
Bug creatures that can change their form at will are seen spying on him.
Gryphons have been sizing him up for something beyond his understanding.
Even nobles close to home have been watching his actions.
Another delve into chaos throws the populace for a loop when a certain Draconequus returns.
Why has this character returned, why is Anon in danger?

Find out...

Edited by: Detective Pingles http://www.fimfiction.net/user/DetectivePingles
(Will update cover art as soon as I find someone willing to make it)

Published 2013-03-06 20:10:02 UTC
Last updated 2013-09-17 01:58:18 UTC

Chapter One: A Month in The Making. What Happened to Anon?

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// Chapter One: A Month in The Making. What Happened to Anon?// Story: The Lively Adventures of Anonymous// by Aetherpony//------------------------------//

One month has come and gone since that moment in time. Thirty-one days that seemed to have passed by in a mere blur of activity. With Discord, Eris, and Screwball gone, their chaotic magic went with them. The problems within the territories of Equestria that involved chaos were resolved upon their departure. The ponies and other creatures living within the borders had you to thank. What started as a mere game to a chaotic god has evolved into something much more: Friendship. Genuine friendship with creatures from beyond the planet you were born and raised on. Ponies by the names of Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Lyra were among the many that you befriended within your first week.

It was thanks to their companionship that Celestia granted you citizenship within Equestria. That day she walked with you the two of you discussed quite a number of things. Your bonds with her subjects played a major role in that conversation. You’ve come to understand just how motherly an alicorn like Celestia can be. Despite the fact that you caused her distress during your first week, she took her subject’s side in their opinion of you. She saw the potential you had to help others, just like how you helped Twilight. She discussed that you were to have a home built within Ponyville, so you could remain close to the friends you’ve made. You were more than happy to accept her gracious offer.

You mentioned the home Discord provided for you, and what the bed in Twilight’s basement did. Celestia still insisted on giving you a proper home. Your bed was to be placed within your new home should you want to return there. In a way this would be a quick way for you to go between Canterlot and Ponyville. When your little journey around Ponyville came to an end she thanked you, and to your surprise she hugged you. Not in the way one human would hug another. Her embrace involved her nuzzling your cheek with hers and with a wing wrapped around you. Her warmth, her soft plumage and smooth coat filled you with comfort.

You could honestly say that moment was the most relaxing one of your life. You hoped that hugging Celestia around her neck was acceptable. She didn’t seem to mind the gesture, when the two of you put an end to your little display she brought you back to the crowd around Town Hall. From there, Celestia officially announced your citizenship. The ponies around you cheered with fervor, they were in favor of their ruler’s decision to have you close to home. A Carpenter by the name of Crafty Crate offered to help lay the ground work and he, along with his crew, were more than willing to have your house built to fit you comfortably.

This was a kindness you really weren’t used to. Before Discord came into the picture it’d been years since someone showed any sort of genuine concern for you. It was like a breath of fresh air, something to help ebb away at the remnants of your old life. After that your first week was spent in Town Hall discussing your home in specifics with Mayor Mare and Crafty Crate. Your home was to be place along the border to the Everfree Forest at your request.

When they asked as to why you’d want to put a house close to that place, you told them you’ve come to like what the forest had to offer. Once that was squared away the carpenter ponies got to work earning the title their cutie marks gave them.

The longer they worked on it the more you began to see the ramifications of the location of your home. Admittedly it would be quite a journey to go to and from your house to Ponyville’s marketplace. They decided to build your house near the edge of town where you’d be able to border the forest.

You didn’t mind, you felt as though you’d need the exercise. Pinkie would often join you in standing around while you watched Crafty Crate and his ponies work. The others made little to no interaction with you during that week. You just assumed they were busy having to catch up on the time they lost while being under Discord’s influence. During that time you would ask how she has been and she’d tell you about what she’d been up to. Typically she would do so in a very quick fashion leading you to either ask again or tune her out entirely. She seemed to have grown attached to your hooded coat.

You found that she’d wear it often, though putting on the hood itself was a bit of a hassle. Her mane was much too messy for the hood to be effective. It’d get about half way around her mane before it’d get stuck in her poufy curls. You have to admit that despite that fact she looked cute in your jacket. She probably knew that hence why she’d wear it when she was around you. Maybe her little remark on Hearts and Hooves Day was accurate, though if it was she hasn’t done much to act upon those words since that day.

Sure she’d bring you a cupcake or something along those lines, and there were times when her daily hugs would linger for a few moments longer than what you believed a normal one would. Other than that you really had no indication. You figured she probably did things like that with her other friends, just like her parties. Speaking of parties, Pinkie threw an official one for you. A “Welcome to Ponyville Party” she called it. After your first week had reached its seventh day she brought you to Sugarcube Corner at around noon.

From Noon until night you, Pinkie, and all the friends you’ve managed to make partied to your heart’s content. There was plenty of dancing, singing, and all around merriment, though you have to say that you were at a pony’s version of a child’s party. Pin the tail on the pony, duck duck goose, and of course games like hide and seek, along with tag. Whether it was children’s games or not back on your planet was irrelevant, you still played all the same. You could never catch Pinkie though; no one could beat Pinkie at any of the games. It was like she was sugar in its purest form. Pinkie was always on the move, cheerful, and of course affectionate. That was her attitude throughout each and every day. It changed when night hit. When the majority of the party goers made their way back to their homes a handful stayed.

You, Berry Punch, Big Macintosh, Mocha, Rainbow Dash, and of course Pinkie were in attendance when the moon began to rise in the sky. It was then the childish games were put away for what Pinkie called “Big Pony Games.” Turns out big pony games are the sort of games teenagers would play back on your world. The party was then taken to Pinkie’s room where the six of you sat in the floor of her balloon and confetti filled space. Pinkie produced an empty bottle out of thin air, and then she had everyone in attendance sit around in a circle. Her idea of a big pony game was spin the bottle.

Pinkie set the bottle in the center of the circle, spun it, and took a spot next to you. While everyone else eyed the bottle wearily she leaned in and watched in anticipation. You believed she was hoping it’d land on you because when it landed on Berry she groaned. Regardless, they still did the deed and the bottle was spun by Berry. After that it was Berry kissing Rainbow, then Rainbow and Mocha. When it was Mocha’s turn the bottle landed on you. It was that night you learned that Mocha’s name meant more than just her occupation. She had a fair hint of it when she brought her lips to yours in a quick peck of a kiss.

Once she pulled away it was your turn and of course you’d land on Pinkie Pie. Now when it came to her, she was a bit too eager to do the deed. Her squee, coupled with her leaping onto your chest was enough as it was. Her jumping ended up knocking you on your back. While she remained on top of you she closed her eyes and leaned in. Her soft, velvet like lips tickled yours as she pressed in. Like with Eris, Pinkie made no motion to deepen the kiss. While you longed to trail your hands through her pink coat she wouldn’t have it. Instead when she felt that a few seconds was enough she leaped off of you and took her place next to you. This time her cheeks were a deep shade of red.

After six or so more rounds of the game it moved from spin the bottle to just drinking a bottle of Applejack Daniels that Big Macintosh managed to “sneak” into the party. Now that was a party favor you could really get behind. The same could be said of Mocha and Dash. The next hour was spent with you passing the bottle around in a circle with Berry taking more than her fair share. When everyone felt that the party had gone on long enough they started to make their ways back to their respective homes. Unfortunately for Berry Punch, she drank too much alcohol and ended up being unable to leave without some sort of help. Knowing that would leave Berry Pinch alone for the night, you took it upon yourself to bring the drunken mare home.

Pinkie helped you pick her up and put her in your arms. When Berry was situated comfortably in your grip you thanked Pinkie for the party and made your way into the cold night air. Berry did nothing more than mumble and slur while you took her to the home you nearly broke your neck at trying to catch Rarity and Sweetie Belle. After knocking and waiting for a minute or two Pinch opened the door to greet you, only to sigh when she saw the state her mother was in. It tugged on your heartstrings to know that a mere foal could understand when her mother was off the wagon.

To you that meant Punch drank way too much for her own good. You wanted to give Punch a stern talking to, but with her being inebriated she’d probably forget everything you told her anyway. Once you set Berry down on her bed and made your way back out into their living room you found Pinch in the kitchen. Apparently Pinch knew a remedy that would help her mom when she got up in the morning. A very smart little unicorn if you do say so yourself. As you made your way out of their home she was sure to thank you for bringing Punch home safe and sound…

Your second and third week wasn’t spent around your normal friends. These fourteen days were spent in the Everfree in the company of Zecora the zebra. You told her that you’d help her out and you felt that it was about time you did just that. Also you felt that if you were going to be living near the Everfree it was best to learn a few things about it.

Nearly every day you’d walk the path leading from Fluttershy’s Cottage to Zecora’s Hut. Not only was it great exercise for you, but you started to become familiar with the local fauna that grew around the single solitary dirt trail. The trees didn’t seem as menacing as they were the first day you entered these woods. Then again, you’re in a sane state of mind unlike the first time. At first Zecora didn’t seem too keen on keeping you around. She felt that you would be putting yourself in unnecessary danger were you to remain in the Everfree. You wouldn’t have any of that though. You were going to start repaying this zebra for all the help she gave you when you needed it. When Zecora realized that her rhyming words of warning would not deter you she conceded.

The first few days were rather slow. The two of you would only wander a few miles around her hut. During that time you and Zecora would only pick through common ingredients for hours on end. Zecora may have allowed you to help her, but she wasn’t going to have you go through the thickest parts of the Everfree if she could help it. Still, even though she was looking out for your safety, and thus holding back on her more important concoctions, the two of you were at least able to talk. As the two of you gathered various plants the two of you would share stories from your various pasts, among other things.

She told you of the lands of Zebrabwe, a nation comprised entirely of zebras, much as the name would suggest. As you’ve seen from shows back on Earth before your “incident”, her description of her home land is fairly accurate to what you’ve seen. Vast, rolling plains filled with tall grasses, solitary trees dotting the landscape, various villages comprised of huts, the works. She told you that she comes from a long line of potion makers; that wasn’t surprising in the least to you. What you find surprising is that you’re able to retain all of this information despite her rhyming every other line. But it’s starting to grow on you, you aren’t grinding your teeth together when she speaks for hours on end anymore. While you found her earlier years interesting considering the dangers she’s have to overcome like cannibalistic zebra tribes or feral predators. You couldn’t help but feel you’d bore her on your end. You didn’t have much to tell, but she did say what you thought she’d say: That your sister was a terrible person. To you it seemed like everyone agreed when it came to that subject.

Well, the time came for something dangerous to emerge when on your fifth day you ended up at the bottom of a waterfall. The roaring torrent that poured over the side was deafening, the misting waters that were thrown around sprayed the two of you, soaking you to the bone in the process. You recall finding the particular plant Zecora needed along the underside of the waterfall itself. Aurora’s Embrace was the name if you recalled correctly. The way the water arched gave the plant a small gap with which to flourish, and you were going to get it.

Taking off your shoes, socks, and rolling up your sleeves, you started to climb up with what little crevices within the rock you had available, much to the dismay of your traveling companion. She latched onto your pants leg as you started your ascent. Zecora insisted through her fabric filled maw that you needed to stop what you’re doing and that it wasn’t worth it. Your answer was to keep climbing, forcing her to drop back down to the grass below. So there she sat and continued to rant, telling you to come down. All the while you slowly made progress told your goal, the water left the rocky surface slick and you lost count with how many times you slipped. Luckily you were able to keep your grip upon the rock and continue all the same. When the plant was finally within arm’s reach you stretched your limb out and pulled it from its roots.

It was at that point your luck just ran out. You yanked a little too hard, and that caused you to lose your grip. With a sharp yelp you plummeted twenty feet to the icy waters below. As you fell you flailed your arms around helplessly, losing the Aurora’s Embrace in the process. You don’t remember anything after hitting the water and nearly drowning from the rushing waters that poured pushed you further into the depths.

When you woke up again you found that you retained quite a bit of water from your little venture, which you promptly expelled next to your head. That caused Zecora, who was currently pressing her hooves on your chest, to stop. When your senses came back to you, you found that you were on the embankment yet again safe and sound. Apparently Zecora managed to save you from your watery fate. When you tried to sit up Zecora struck the side of your head with a hoof calling you a reckless fool for doing what you did, and then she thanked you for putting forth an effort to help her. That’s when she motioned to your side and showed you that your dumb luck continued to play in your favor. It turns out that when you flailed your arms you actually tossed the flower onto the embankment, thus saving it from being torn apart by the rushing waters.

After that moment at the waterfall Zecora started to trust you with more daunting tasks. In fact the two of you became something along the lines of roommates. In order to save time, Zecora made you a more permanent place to sleep in her room so that way you wouldn’t burn so much daylight getting to her hut. Twilight seemed a bit wary, but she knew you were in good hooves when it came to Zecora, she just hoped you wouldn’t be too reckless. Unfortunately reckless became the better part of each day spent within the Everfree. With the extra time added into your assistance the two of you were able to go twice to three times the distance into the thicket than you normally would.

This new area coverage seemed to introduce a side of the Everfree you never thought you’d see. Thickets of briars, dome like enclosures formed by bending trees, serpent infested rivers and lakes. You marveled at all the unique sites this vast expanse of trees had to offer. Thanks to this you’ve learned that there were more to the animals within the Everfree aside from just manticores, parasprites, or timber wolves. Fruit Bats, Serpents, and even cockatrices found their home within this place.

Even though you didn’t learn much as far as making the potions were concerned you knew where the necessary ingredients grew and how to get to them. It seemed like a lot of those ingredients were a daunting task to obtain, you’ve done more than your fair share of rock climbing, swimming through serpent infested waters, and running through fruit bat caves all in hopes of getting Zecora what she needed. Even though she could do the majority of her foraging herself there were things that required your expertise, mainly because she wasn’t as great at climbing. You were more than happy to do what she couldn’t, you owed her that much at least for what she’s done. It’s because of her you were able to rid your mind of what plagued it for so many years.

All in all aside from the occasional torrential downpour from the clouds that reside above the forest you have to say that each hike through the woods held its own unique wonder to you. To think Zecora had all of this to herself, not even Twilight, Applebloom, or Fluttershy have gone through the parts of the wood you’ve gone through with her. You were happy to be experiencing this with her and she seemed to feel the same way about you. Though when your days with her were drawing near their end you couldn’t help but notice the gradual change she started to go through.

There were times where you’d open your eyes in the morning to find her staring down at you with nothing more than a content smile playing upon her features. Other times she’d brush up against you while the two scoured the Everfree floor for ingredients. Those would always end with you looking at her in confusion and her giggling. There was even the lingering grin she’d have on her face whenever you watched her work over her cauldron making Celestia knows what. There were even times where you’d see a pink tint on her cheeks whenever you’d compliment her cooking. Despite the limited tools she had to work with she could make some of the most fulfilling meals you’ve ever tasted. You could say you felt spoiled by these ponies and the meals they provided.

When your last night inevitably came you could see the disappointment clear as day upon the zebra’s features. You reassured her that you’d come back to visit another time and that she was more than welcome at your home whenever it was finished, that did seem to cheer her up a bit. You just hope she didn’t grow too attached to your presence here in her hut, after all it can be quite lonely living in the forest like this, at least that’s your assumption. With your things packed up and ready to go you trudged along the forest path alone, leaving Zecora to her own devices.

When you made your way back into Ponyville you made your way to your homes site, and you had to say that you loved what you saw. It was starting to take on the appearance of every other home that you’ve seen within the town, only this one was built to your scale. Naturally it was larger than the others, almost as if your home would be a giant in comparison when all was said and done. You hoped they would be finished soon…

During the fourth week your days were spent doing various odd jobs in order to pass the time, and get a few well-earned bits. Thankfully, the ponies believed you when you told them that despite lacking a cutie mark for a specific field you could perform a wide array of simple jobs. It wasn’t easy to find a job at first despite that fact. It seemed like a large amount of ponies didn’t need the extra help and those that did couldn’t be helped by you.

As for working with Rarity, it seemed she helped you more than you helped her. Because you were so forward with her she was able to work things out with Sweetie Belle, so she felt that she was obligated to give you free clothing should you ever need it. You did take advantage of that during the fourth week. After she got your measurements she informed you that it’d be a while before you got your orders. Unfortunately when it came to actual work she didn’t need you, it seemed like you’d get in her way rather than actually help, so Rarity politely declined your offer.

When it came to Applejack, well, despite the two of you coming to terms with what happened neither of you were really on speaking terms. Sure, the two of you would greet each other whenever you just so happened to walk through Ponyville, but other than that there were little to no interactions between the two of you. Neither of you seemed intent on changing the relationship you had. As far as Big Macintosh was concerned, he didn’t seem to make a single trip into Ponyville, and if he did you weren’t around to spot him. Because of that you never asked to help her around Sweet Apple Acres nor did she or he ask you for any help.

Fluttershy insisted that she do her work alone. She didn’t want to risk you getting hurt. At least that’s what she told you. She had a good point; you had zero experience when it came to animal care. It was probably for the best to seek work elsewhere. Besides, you didn’t like the way her little white rabbit was glaring at you.

Mocha, while she was a sweet heart and tried to get you a job working at the café, couldn’t get her manager to budge. He said that it didn’t matter how much you wanted to work in his café, they were fully staffed. Even though you helped saved Equestria from Discord, and as a result got the princesses back, it seems like that wasn’t enough to get him to bring you in. But because you did those things, you didn’t have to pay for your meals. So there was a silver lining to the lack of employment.

You would have tried working for Twilight, but she already has Spike. There’s no need for you to get paid while he does the exact same thing for free. In fact, you didn’t really spend that much time with Twilight. Aside from going to your bed in her basement to get to your first home, or whenever you woke up to leave you never saw her. It seemed like she had her head in a book or she’d be out doing something. That mare always appeared busy or distracted.

Pinkie Pie was all too happy to give you a job, but you were only able to work with finding ingredients and cleaning up at the end of the day. When it came to baking you weren’t qualified. That was a nice way of saying that you’re no longer allowed near an oven after nearly setting the bakery on fire with it. You accepted the role you were given, you were happy to at least be useful to someone. So here you are, diligently working as an ordinary member of Equestria. What lies ahead is a mystery.

Author's Note

Here's the basic summary of what occurred over the month.
Hope to have the same amount of people stick around, if not more.
Though, the updates for this story will not be anywhere near as fast as Living the Good Life's

Chapter Two: Exhausted Applejack, Anon's Reknown, Mac's Vacation Proposal, and an Angry Insect

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// Chapter Two: Exhausted Applejack, Anon's Renown, Mac's Vacation Proposal, and an Angry Insect// Story: The Lively Adventures of Anonymous// by Aetherpony//------------------------------//

As you sit up to yawn and stretch your mind slowly starts to process reality. It takes you a moment before you remember to clap your hands in order to turn on the interior lighting. As you do, you immediate regret it. Your room is immediately illuminated with bright white light, it causes you to curse and throw your blanket over your head. You have a tendency to forget that your room gets rather bright when the light first comes on. You would change the bulbs to something less powerful, but there aren’t any. You figured out early on that your room was enchanted to give off light and to get rid of it with a simple clap of the hands.

You give yourself a moment before removing your blanket and getting used to the light. Your room is the same as its always been, except you notice your dirty clothing pile starting to add up in the far corner. You’ve yet to find a Laundromat and you don’t have the items needed to wash your clothes. You’re either going to have to talk to Rarity about washing your clothes, or you’ll have to just dump them in the pool and pretend the chlorine will clean up your clothes. Regardless you need to hurry up and get out of bed. You have another day of cleaning and prepping with Pinkie today and the last thing you want to do is be late for work.

Not knowing the time, you realize you have to rush to get ready. Your shower, teeth brushing, toilet time, and dressing took you all of thirty minutes. Soon you’re running down the hallway and crawling out of the bed in Twilight’s basement. When you poke your head out you take a look around the room to find various beakers set upon a table in the center of the room. You see Twilight currently pouring the contents of two beakers into one thick container. The combination causes the liquid within to turn indigo in color. After a few seconds light starts to pulsate from the container, bathing the room in an eerie indigo glow.

“Mornin’ Twilight, what’s up?” You make your presence known as you climb out of bed. She turns to you, her eyes unreadable, due to the goggles she’s wearing, “What you working on?”

“Science,” She doesn’t elaborate upon it further, instead she turns back to her experiment. She seems intent on seeing this through. When she picks up a third beaker full of green liquid using magic, you think it best to simply leave. She seems pretty busy with her work. The last thing you want to do is interrupt her, she’s probably working with something dangerous. With that mindset you climb the stairs and walk out onto the main floor of the library.

As you take a quick look around you couldn’t imagine the state it was in just a month ago. Parasprites and Timberwolves tore this place to the ground, yet Twilight was able to repair her home and replace the destroyed books within a month. You assume being Celestia’s Protégé must get you a lot of perks, hence the library being fixed in such a short amount of time. When you’ve had your fill of looking around you make your way to the front door. You find Spike sitting at a desk right in front of one of the windows. He’s eating a gem encrusted muffin while watching ponies go about their day.

“Sup,” he turns his head to face you when he hears you walk by, “heading out to work?”

“Yup.” you duck down, place your hand upon the door, and freeze. Your stomach rumbling has stopped you dead in your tracks, “hey Spike, you wouldn’t happen to have a muffin without gems would ya?” You’re filled with disappointment when you see Spike shake his head.

“Nope, sorry Anon, nothing but sapphire muffins here.” He says showing you the gems beneath the delectable chocolate muffin top. You curse under your breath.

“Thanks anyway,” you say before heading out into the busy Ponyville streets.

“You’re welcome!” Spike calls as you shut the door. When you disappear down one of Ponyville’s roads Spike turns to his muffin, “I got the day off, I should really do something today,” he turns his gaze towards the kitchen, “But I’ve got three more of these babies sitting in there, tempting.” His voice trails off as he downs the last of his muffin. He heads into the kitchen to grab another…

“Excuse me, pardon me, coming through.” You weave around mobs of ponies as they go about their day. Some are polite enough to move around for you, others you’re stuck having to squeeze around. You’re in a hurry. You assume you’re already late for work so you have to sprint in hopes of getting there without being too late. You have to admit this is a pretty decent workout, especially since you have to hurdle over low objects every now and again.

“Hey!” You hear a mare call angrily.

“Sorry!” You have no time to stick around. After a few minute pass you finally see the gingerbread building come into view. You pump your legs for the home stretch, you’re sweating and your breathing has become ragged, but you don’t care you’re almost there. You burst through the double doors leading into the dining area. You’re panting at this point and you find your legs looking to give out on you, but you made it.

“Oh Dearie, please sit down,” you hear Mrs. Cake call from behind her register. You nod weakly before lumbering over to a nearby table. You take a seat and try to catch your breath. As soon as you do you find a blue hoof setting a glass of water on your table. You turn to find Mrs. Cake looking over you disapprovingly.

“How late am I?” You ask between raspy breaths. She responds by shaking her head.

“Anon, you would’ve been thirty minutes early, if today wasn’t your day off,” Your go from exhausted to totally and utterly confused.

“What, no one told me that,” You say before grabbing the glass and taking a hearty gulp of the contents within.

“Didn’t Pinkie Pie give you your schedule?” You shake your head before drinking more of your water, Mrs. Cake sighs before going back behind the nearby counter and picking up a piece of paper with her mouth. When she trots back over and sets the paper down you pick it up and look it over. At this point you realize two things: number one, you really need to invest in both a calendar and a watch. And two, Pinkie Pie needs to remember to give you your schedule so things like this won’t happen again. Better to take care of this problem early then months down the line.

As you read over your schedule you realize that you have both today and tomorrow off. You start back on Wednesday. Your attention is torn from the paper when you see a sack of bits land on the table. You turn to Mrs. Cake to find her smiling.

“As you can see you aren’t needed today. Here’s your pay for last week, go ahead get some breakfast and enjoy your day.” This married mare has to be one of the sweetest in Ponyville. After you’ve caught your breath, and with your glass empty, you look over your pay. You open your sack to find forty bits figuratively staring back at you. Unfortunately you have no idea how much money you actually have. You’ve seen things priced for five bits here that you’d see for ten or more dollars back on your world. This is yet another thing you have to get used to here.

At least this world is similar to yours. You’re thankful Twilight taught you what she could, but there are still some things she hasn’t covered yet. You’re due for another tutoring session with her, but with her doing her science business that’s out of the question for today. So what are you going to do? First, you’ll probably stop by Mocha’s Café and pick up some coffee, and then you’ll just wing it from there. After thanking Mrs. Cake and recovering from your run, you get up and head out, bits in hand. As soon as the door shuts Pinkie rushes down the stairs in a blur of pink.

“Hi Nonny!” Pinkie shouts excitedly. She’s got a wide grin on her face, she’s standing on her hind hooves, and her front hooves are open for a hug. But with her eyes being closed she doesn’t see that you’re not in the room. Mrs. Cake clears her throat.

“Uh Pinkie, Anon left.” Pinkie opens her eyes and looks around to find that Mrs. Cake is right.

“Aw, drat. Oh well! I’ll just get ‘em when I get off work!” With that gleeful proclamation Pinkie bounces off into the kitchen in order to get started on her day of baking. Mrs. Cake takes her place back behind the counter…

Your walk to the café was fairly uneventful. All in all it was an average day both for you and the town ponies. You would return the occasional wave or say good morning to those you’ve seen before, but other than that there wasn’t much to do other than look around at the same homes you’ve passed by time and time again. As the café comes into sight something does surprise you enough to cause you to stop.

You find Applejack making her way through town, she’s currently stuffing rolled up pieces of parchment into a pair of brown saddlebags. You assumed this would be something normal, that is until you saw her tussled blonde mane and baggy, blood shot eyes. It looks like she hasn’t gotten any sleep in days. Needless to say you’re a little worried for your acquaintance. As you approach she turns to you her eye lids close for a few moments before she yelps and smacks herself awake.

“Hey Applejack,” you wave, “What’s up?” You squat down to her level. She has to shake her head in order to keep herself awake. She squints before answering.

“Oh! Well ya see I’ve been working myself to the bone bucking these apples. Big Mac hurt himself last week so I’ve gotta do it alone.” That explains why she hasn’t been getting to sleep. If she’s got to do hers and her brother’s work then that leave little time to sleep. You don’t know much about apple bucking, but you know that apples will eventually rot if left alone.

“That sucks, I’m sorry to hear about that. Send Mac my best wishes.” Applejack nods.

“If I can get home, I was supposed to come to town to pick up some papers for Granny, but everypony’s seems to need me for something! Did ya know Dash had me catapult her outta town?” She yawns and smacks her lips before shaking her head rapidly.

“Weird.” Seeing Applejack in the state she’s in is cause for alarm to you. You remember how large Sweet Apple Acres was from your first visit. She can’t possibly do all of that work alone.

“You know, if you need any help you can ask me.” She raises a hoof to stop you.

“No can do Anon, gotta do it on my own!” She can’t possibly expect you to just accept that as an answer.

“Applejack, seriously, look at you, when was the last time you got some sleep?” You cross your arms and wait. It takes her a moment to register what you’ve just said. It only aids to drive your point home.

“I’m gonna tell you what I told Twilight yesterday, I don’t need any sleep! I just need to get my work done!” Her angry tone and glare startles you. Perhaps you’re not the first one to tell her this. Instead of snapping at her you hold up your hands dismissively.

“Calm down AJ, I’m just worried about you,” Her eyes widen when she realizes just how she came off as.

“Oh shoot. Sorry about that, just been a little stressed lately.” She turns her back to you and trots off in the direction of her home, “I gotta go, see you later, sorry again!” she shouts back. Her little back and forth with you has done little to put your mind at ease.

As Applejack disappears from sight you can’t help but think you should walk after her. But if she was like that at the mere mention of getting assistance, then being forced to take on support might make things worse. You decide it best to just leave things as they are. She’ll probably overwork herself to a point to where she’ll be forced to ask for aid. When that happens you’ll be waiting to lend a hand.

With that in mind you head towards the café. The closer you get, the more ponies you see hanging out outside the building. Dozens of them eagerly await their orders and from the windows you can see that it’s virtually the same inside as it is outside. Utter chaos has swept up the little café as employees inside rush from patron to patron. Each carries their own enlarged tray filled with various items. You find Mocha standing on a single, solitary table in the center of the café. She’s barking orders to every employee that comes by her. Judging by that crazed look in her eye it seems she’s not used to this and she’s starting to lose it. Where could the manager be?

As you push through the crowds and enter the building the compilation of various voices nearly deafens you. Their banter causes so much noise you’re not even able to hear your feet as they step across the tile flooring. You’re forced to cover your ears in hopes of deafening the sea of clamor. As you get closer to Mocha you can feel ponies tugging at your jeans.

“Hey there hero,” some exclaim, “Hey, its Anon!” Others shout. Suddenly the ponies that were enjoying their time with each other seem to swarm you. Each has their own comment about how you helped them get rid of their problem. It’s been a month, you were hoping that the glamor would have faded, but apparently it hasn’t for everyone.

So you do what you do best, you smile and wave. As the crowd draws closer you notice that in places where the ponies were standing there are quite a lot of broken dishes and spilled liquids. You motion to Mocha who simply nods in response. The staff that hasn’t been overwhelmed comes into the room with mops and buckets. They clean at the speed of Dash, using your appearance as a distraction. Once the messes have been taken care of, and the signs placed, the staff heads into the back to take care of all the orders that have been neglected.

For twenty minutes you’re standing there shaking hooves, holding foals, and trying your best not to run out the door. Mocha sees your distress from behind your strained smile. Lucky for you she has your back.

“Okay everypony, your orders are ready!” There must have been magic somewhere in that kitchen, because sure enough pony after pony comes out of the double doors in the back. Each has a tray of food in hoof. The ones who’ve already gotten to talk to you make their way back to their tables in order to eat. Inadvertently you’ve helped out the café by simply being here. Bit by bit the ponies slowly leave you and go back to their meals, some insisting that you join them, while others are hurriedly trying to fill their bellies.

With the floor being clear again, and with the drowning on of various conversations filling the air yet again, you make your way over to a sweating, exhausted looking Mocha.

“You picked the best time to show up,” she says, panting.

“Yeah, what the hell’s going on?” you ask as you motion to the crowds of ponies hanging out in the café.

“Them, they’re here for Applejack. She’s getting a trophy for being the most dependable pony. While you were off doing Celestia knows what she saved the town from a stampeding group of cows. The Mayor decided to give her a ceremony to go with the trophy.” Well that explains the crowded streets this morning. Mocha decides to sit on the table and stretches her wings. As she looks over them you find that she’s managed to make a mess of them. At some point it looks like she spilled some coffee on her wings. Sticky black liquid drips from her feathers, causing some of them to stick together. Mocha lets out a whimper before collapsing on the table, “I just want the day to end so I can go home, preen, and soak.”

“You’ll be fine Mocha, this can’t be worse than the day Discord left, and I had no idea Applejack stopped a stampede. How’d she do it?” One of the other employees cuts your conversation short.

“Hey Mocha, table nine said Vanilla Bean got their order wrong, since I’m taking care of eight and ten can you take care of that?" She groans in frustration before folding her wings back and getting off of the table.

“Fine, I better get a promotion for this,” she turns to you before adding, “Listen Anon, if you want something you can go ahead and order, but you’ll be waiting about an hour or so.” You don’t like the sound of that at all.

“Yeah I think I’ll just wait for the ceremony to blow over before getting something to eat, good luck.” You hear her mutter her reply under her breath.

“I’m gonna need it.” When she heads over to what you believe to be table nine you make your way back outside. You wave goodbye to the conglomeration of ponies that wish you a good day. You sigh as you get back outside and right into yet another crowd. They part like a sea for you. You walk through them rubbing your temples all the while. Your day off is shaping out to be an annoying one and it hasn’t even hit noon yet. You take to the streets on Ponyville, hoping to find something to do that doesn’t involve you having to deal with too many ponies…

To your misfortune there are more ponies out and about now than there were an hour ago. As the multi-colored crowds pass you by you can see they’re heading in the direction of Town Hall. As you pass over one of the bridges you find Twilight setting up a podium on a stage in front of the mayor’s building. As she works on setting that up you find Rarity putting decorations on the trees around the area. She’s thrown glitter onto the leaves of the trees, multi colored streamers hand low from the branches, and she tops them off by wrapping red ribbons around the bases of each. Rainbow and Fluttershy are doing their part to prepare as well. The two are working together to put banners on Town Hall, each has a symbol of an apple stitched into them. If Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash are busy setting up then Pinkie probably isn’t too far behind.

“Hi Nonny!” Pinkie’s ecstatic voice coming from right behind you causes you to yelp in fear. You nearly jump out of your skin when you feel Pinkie’s hooves latch onto your shoulders from behind. She repositions herself so she’s facing you from the front. You’re forced to place your hands on her flanks in order to keep her from falling. She giggles happily before nuzzling your cheek.

“H-hey Pinkie, what are you doing out here? I thought you had to work today.” Pinkie nods.

“Oh don’t be silly, I AM working, see?” She removes a hoof and points toward the stage. You find a long, rectangular table with dozens of sweets and drinks laid out for whatever pony wants them. Cakes, muffins, cupcakes, brownies, soda, milk, and various other treats decorate it. Of course it’d have something to do with baked goods. Pinkie’s voice brings you back to attention, “Don’t those look great, Nonny?”

“Yeah they do, it reminds me that I didn’t get to eat yet.” Pinkie gasps at your simple comment before leaping out of your arms. Her single front hoof seems to stretch as it wraps around your hand.

“That’s no good at all! Come with me, I’ll solve that in a jiffy!” she exclaims as she drags you closer to the ever growing crowd of ponies. A few stragglers in the back turn to you and wave, others laugh at your misfortune. If these ponies could understand what giving them the middle finger meant, you know you’d be using it to its fullest extent right about now. You try to pull away from Pinkie but it’s like you’re caught in a bear trap. There’s no way you’re escaping from her grip. Slowly but surely the two of you wade through the crowds and up to the snack bar. From there she finally releases you to show you what all she has available.

“We’ve got cupcakes, marshmallows, chocolate, cake, muffi—“Here’s where you start to tune her out as she goes on and on about the nearly endless selection of sweets. You like Pinkie’s enthusiasm and near eternal state of happiness, but you have a limit. You’ve thought it once and you’ve thought it again, this mare is sugar in its purest form. From her pink cotton candy mane and tail to her bubblegum like body, and even her bright pink coat. Everything just screams happiness and excitement.

You act fast when Pinkie finally stops talking long enough to give you a paper plate. In a blur of pink she starts stacking confectionary goods on your plate at the speed of a bullet train. Soon you have to balance a leaning tower of cupcakes and muffins, along with a bottle of soda. Just by looking at the variety of muffins and cupcakes on your plate you feel yourself developing diabetes. There is no way Pinkie expects you to eat all of this alone. If you set this plate on the ground you’re fairly certain this tower would rival you in height.

As you’re pondering just what you’re going to do with all of this food you feel Pinkie pushing you in a random direction.

“Pinkie, you do realize I can’t eat all this right?” You look between her pushing you and the tower of food nervously.

“Well duh! It’s for you and me!” She answers you as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. You lean and look around your tower to find that she’s leading you to a picnic table. Thankfully it’s pretty far away from the crowd so you’ll be able to eat in peace. With a sigh of relief you finally get to set down your tower and soda. When you take your seat Pinkie takes a spot next to you, “So what do you wanna try first?”

Not the most nutritious breakfast in the world, but at least it's filling. You squint as you look over the tower. A single blueberry muffin seems to call out to you along one of the sides of the tower. You point to it and before you can say anything Pinkie swipes it. The tower of treats makes no indication of having ever been disturbed. As she hands you your muffin your curiosity gets the better of you.

“Pinkie, how did you do that?” You look at the area were Pinkie grabbed your muffin, and it looks like it was never even there to begin with. You know that if you pulled it the whole thing would have come toppling down on top of you.

“How did I do what?” In the time it takes you to answer her she manages to scarf down three cupcakes in a single bite.

“How did you grab my muffin and those cupcakes without knocking anything over?” She looks to the treats, and then she turns back to you and shrugs.

“I don’t know, I just took them,” She takes another cupcake from the tower and eats it, “See, that’s all there is to it.”

“That’s it?” Pinkie nods, “Really?” She nods again, “You know what, I’m just gonna go with it.” Pinkie smiles.

“Good, hurry up and eat if you wanna get a good spot. Applejack is gonna be here any minute.” With that in mind you take a large bite of your treat and revel in the taste that follows.

While you’ve been busy in Equestria, Discord, Screwball, and Eris have been doing their own brand of work. For in the time you’ve been gone Discord, with the aid of his daughters, have brought Earth an entirely new brand of chaos the likes of which humans have never seen. At least, that’s what Discord was hoping he would bring. As it turns out, Earth is already bathed in chaos. The Middle East continues to wage war with itself. Rome, Italy, and France have become bankrupt. Looting in the streets has become a common sight within their borders. China is looking to cash in on the debt various countries owe it, with force if necessary. The world is already burning…

“Woo hoo!” Screwball screams from atop her Abrams Tank. She’s currently holding onto the main gun for with all she has while Eris operates from within. The two speed through the sand dunes of the Sahara. The hot, dry air is masked by the wind whipping past her face. Both are having the times of their lives. Screwball surveys the area before a particularly large sand dune comes into sight a few miles off. She licks her cracked lips before turning to face the tank itself, “Hey Eris!”

“Yeah?” Eris calls from inside.

“See that big hill over there?” Eris’ head pokes out from the top of the tank. She looks over to where Screwball’s pointing and slowly but surely a smile starts to form. She ducks back inside the tank and makes a sharp turn towards the dune. The tank speeds up, Screwball watches as the area around her becomes a mere blur of tan. Her cheeks start to puff out to comical proportions, exposing her teeth and gums to the harsh, sand filled wind. She hacks and coughs as sand starts to get stuck in her teeth, but the thought of flying through the air keeps it from distracting her from what’s to come.

“We aren’t going fast enough!” As if on cue a purple aura forms around the tank and soon it doubles in speed. Screwball’s grip tightens as the dune quickly draws near. At this point their vehicle is having trouble maintaining the speed, the sound of metal cracking under stress can be heard as the treads of the tank start breaking, but with the magic keeping it going the tank doesn’t slow down. The tank takes to the air after it hits the dune, now more of a sled than an actual vehicle. The two scream with joy as they go higher and higher into the air, then all at once their fun comes to an end when the tank slams face first into the sand. The impact launches Screwball many yards into it. Eris ends up crawling out of the top in a dazed state. She limply falls to the sand and she tries to set her eyes straight only to fail. She can’t even stand in her state.

“W-whoa,” Eris manages to crawl a few feet before collapsing. As she recovers from the impact Screwball manages to climb out of the hole she made. Once she manages to pull herself out she crawls over to Eris, climbs on top of her, and flops down in a heap.

“That. Was. Awesome,” Screwball says with a wide grin. Eris opens an eye and looks up to her sister.

“Get off of me,” Eris snakes her way out from under Screwball and gets to her feet. She wipes off the grit that managed to collect upon her coat and scales. When she feels she’s removed enough sand she looks over the remains of the tank. Over half of it is buried and the remaining parts of the treads lay strewn across the area. The longer she looks over the tank remains the more her mind starts to process possibilities with which to do with them. Her thoughts are a blur as she starts playing scenarios in her head.

Maybe she can set it ablaze and set off the ammunition stored within, see what sort of ‘fireworks’ come about as a result. She could turn it into a flying turtle and fly through the skies. Perhaps its excrements would be the ammunition. That way they could figuratively bomb a place they fly over. Or she could just pick up the shredded pieces of metal and fling them into the sky, just to see where they land. Eris could even ignore the mess. Instead she, along with Screwball, can go mess with something else. What manner of mayhem could they cause? All of these possibilities whirring about cause her to grimace. She rubs her temples in hopes of quelling the headache that’s come about from her thoughts.

She’s been experiencing these for the past few weeks now since coming to Earth. Whenever she thought of something fun to do, it was as if her mind would auto pilot a nearly endless supply of options, each one more tempting and violent than the last. But, the intricacies of these plans were not something she’d want to take part in. That was her father’s territory. She liked simple pranks where no one would end up hurt as a result. But ever since coming here the thought of the repercussions involving human victims became less of a priority. Just an hour ago the two of them ran over a soldier when they stole the tank. It didn’t kill him but with those legs being nothing but jelly he’ll never walk again.

When she realized that this didn’t bother her, she was scared. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more she started to wonder just how versatile a human body can be when exposed to chaos. After all, you did a fair job when introduced to their magic, maybe they-

“Hey Eris, what’s up? Got another headache?” Eris nods while trying to rid herself of it. She never had to worry about feeling like this back in Equestria. That and she didn’t have to worry about seeing sentient creatures trying to kill each other with bigger and better toys. Maybe it was time for her to pay her favorite human a visit. After all he’s probably gotten so lonely without her there. As the discomfort starts to fade a lazy smile spreads across her lips. Yeah, she decides she’s going to see how you’re doing. She’s just got to get to Discord’s place of business and let him know where she’s going. She doesn’t want her dad to worry. Last thing she wants is for him to tear this planet apart in search of her.

“Yeah Screwball, I’m fine, and I’ve got a brilliant idea.” Screwball gasps as Eris snaps her talons and disappears from sight. She looks around the desert for a moment before leaning back and shouting into the air.

“I’m telling daddy you left me here!” She exclaims before her propeller beanie whirrs to life. Screwball hovers in place for a moment before flying off in a random direction. She’s a purple streak contrasting with the tan color of the sand below…

While Screwball makes her way off to who knows where Eris has made it to her destination. She appears upon the snowcapped mountain known as Mount Everest. Unlike the creatures she’s come to see, Eris is unaffected by the unbearably freezing temperatures or thin atmosphere. She stares on at the endless expanse of snow that covers the mount of Earth that dared to reach to the heavens. The wind whips her disheveled mane back and forth masking her vision of the chimera that’s taken to sitting upon a mound of snow.

Discord sits upon a single pile of the stuff. It vaguely resembles a throne of sorts. He chuckles to himself as he watches the blistering winds carry flakes of snow around the bleak landscape. When Eris makes her way over he turns his head to look at her.

“Hey there,” he greets her with a smile and a small wave. Eris pulls her hair back and looks at her father in confusion.

“What’re you doing here? There aren’t any precious humans here.” She raises a brow when Discord points to the throne he’s sitting on. He starts off with a chuckle.

“Oh I’m well aware of that, but think of it like this: I’m currently sitting on top of the highest point on this planet. That means that every living thing is currently under my flank. My ass is the highest point on Earth,” he trails off as his chuckling turns into full blown laughter. As Eris floats higher than where her father is sitting his laughter is cut short, “Eris you don’t understand. I need this, please sit.” Eris shakes her head in disappointment, “Bah you’re no fun,” he crosses his arms and leans back in his snow seat. “So why are you here?” He goes back to watching the snow fall.

“I’m leaving.” Discord’s eyes widen in shock.

“Where are you going, how long will you be gone?” And just like that he’s gone from a lunatic to a semi responsible parent.

“I’m going back to Equestria.” Discord opens his mouth to speak, but when he remembers why she’d go back in the first place he goes from shock to annoyed.

“Really, you’ve been gone a month. I’m sure he’s fine.”

“There’s more to it than that-“Eris is cut off when her head starts to throb. She grunts in annoyance before putting her claws to her temple, “These damn headaches are pissing me off. I didn’t have this problem there.” The constant pounding causes her to shut her eyes while she tries to remedy her problem. She doesn’t see the small smile creeping up on Discord’s lips.

“You know what, go right ahead.” Discord waves his talons dismissively. When the pain subsides, and when Eris opens her eyes again she sees her father has turned back to watch the snow fall. Eris grumbles to herself.

“Fine, see ya,” And with a snap of her fingers she disappears in a brilliant flash of purple light. When Discord is alone again he looks over the snow. When a single flake comes a little too close he reaches out and pokes it. Immediately it turns to a bright shade of green. Like a chain reaction each individual flake of snow soon becomes its own unique color until a plethora or frozen pieces of color fall in place of snow. The once pure white ground gives way to the madness that is sure to consume the once peaceful solitary mountain.

“It’s only a matter of time Eris,” he says to himself as he watches the ground around him become corrupted with the multitudes of hues. Slowly but surely the color bleeds out onto the snow, it snakes its way across the endless expanse turning the rock into a mere shell of its former self…

“Well, that went on forever,” you grumble to yourself. The entire ceremony for Applejack seemed to drag on for a while. At first poor Twilight tried her hardest to deliver a proper speech for her friend, but Fluttershy, Pinkie, and a few others interrupted her. Then the Mayor came up wearing a grin and Twilight couldn’t stand it anymore. The Mayor approaching the stage signaled that Twilight’s time was over.

Knowing that she let out a frustrated groan, and then she threw her speech into the air. You couldn’t help but laugh at the situation. Very rarely have you seen Twilight get into such a state. Unfortunately she saw you laughing and she cut her eyes at you. It’s too bad you’re twice as tall as the pony populace around you. You couldn’t hide that it was you chuckling. She is definitely going to chew you out when you head home tonight.

As of right now though, you’re aiding Applejack by carrying her trophy home. You can’t believe they actually gave her such a hefty item as an award. You figured she’d get a certificate or maybe a medal, but a full blown trophy that almost rivaled you in size? It was a bit much, at least to you it was. The worst part was that no one made a single move to help out the exhausted apple pony with it.

Maybe they knew how stubborn she was, or maybe they would have simple gave up if she told them she had it handled. She tried that with you when you walked up and plucked it off her back. Instead of acknowledging her you instead carried her trophy toward Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack gave chase, obviously angry by you blatantly ignoring her, but you didn’t care.

You weren’t about to have her carry a heavy object home while carrying apple baskets. It doesn’t matter if you still harbored some resentment for what happened your first week, it wouldn’t be right to have her do this alone. She’s already got enough weight to deal with as it is.

Admittedly you probably should have gotten a pony to carry it. Her apple farm is quite a ways off and your arms were starting to get tired. The trophy probably weighed well over sixty pounds and your arms were going to pay for it tomorrow. Still you trudged on, much to the dismay of Applejack.

“Dang it Anon, I told ya’ll to drop it.” You look to see the farm in the distance. It won’t be too long now, you’ve basically made it.

“Well too bad, you need help and you’re too damn stubborn to ask for it.” You turn to see her baggy, blood shot eyes stare angrily back.

“I don’t need anypony’s help! You’re just being overbearing, you dang human. “She growls before casting her eyes to the side. You chuckle to yourself when you see her blush. You get that she’s a proud pony mare who can take care of herself, but that doesn’t matter to you at the moment. It must be embarrassing to have someone assisting her.

“You’re right, I am.” You offer her a strained smile.

“Look at you, you’re sweating and your arms are shaking. Just let me—“you cut her off.

“No.” Applejack tries again, and you interrupt her with another no. The two of you continue back and forth for what little distance remained. As soon as your feet touched the front porch of her home you set the trophy down. A single, loud exhale escapes you before you start panting.

You were ignoring it for the most part, but when your body was finally given relief the fatigue of what you’ve just done makes itself apparently. Sweat pours down your face and your body feels as though it’s on fire. How you managed to ignore it for this long is a miracle. You find yourself taking a seat on her front steps in order to recuperate

“See, if ya’ll just let me carry it you wouldn’t be tuckered out,” she lets out a yawn as she finishes trying to reprimand you.

“And if you’d just ask for help you wouldn’t be either.” You retort before shooting a tired grin her way. She’s angry enough to start shaking. The muscles in her eye begin to twitch, and you swear you can hear a teakettle boiling.

“AND I TOLD YOU I DIDN’T NEED ANY HELP!” Gale force winds blow your hair back and the sweat off of your body. You blink a few times; shocked by the amount of volume she managed to blast in your face. You mat your hair back down before chuckling.

“Applejack, you seem really, really mad. I think you need some sle—“ now it’s her turn to interrupt you.

“And I don’t need no sleep neither!” She doesn’t give you an opportunity to respond. After a frustrated growl she grabs her trophy with her teeth, walks inside, and then slams the door behind her. You sigh to yourself before turning to look at the orchard.

“You’re welcome,” you murmur. As you catch your breath from the labor you just put yourself through, you can’t help but recall the events that led you to this exact orchard in the first place. You feel a bit nostalgic as you visualize yourself having Winona bound up to you, her leading you to the barn nearby, and Fluttershy tricking you into molesting her.

And how could you forget the fight with Big Mac that nearly cost you your life? You find it hard to believe that it’s been a month since that time. While you’re busy reminiscing, the stallion in question trots out of a nearby apples cellar. When he spots you he quickly approaches.

“Well howdy there Anon.” You shake your head of your day dream.

“Oh, uh, hey Mac, how’s it going?” You smile before scooting out of the way so he can grab a seat. As he trots past you can’t help but notice the bandages he has wrapped around his mid-section, “ouch man, what happened?” He winces when he takes a seat on the porch.

“Farming accident, I was trying to stack up the rotten apples we collected, and the entire pile fell on me. Put me out for the season.” He grimaces as he recalls the event.

“That sucks, sorry to hear about it. AJ gave me the short story, but she didn't tell me how severe it was. So what, did she think she could do, your share and hers this season?” This gets Macintosh to laugh. He shakes his head.

“My sister’s as stubborn as a mule. I told her it’d be too much for her to handle, but she insists she can do it.” You shrug in response.

“No offense Mac, but she looks like shit. She’s going to end up hurting herself if she doesn’t stop.”

“Eeyup. She’s been falling asleep while bucking,” he points to his noggin before adding, “ended up getting hit in the head on more than one occasion.”

“Why does she keep refusing aid? This is getting ridiculous.”

“It’s because she’ll compare herself to one of them dainty mares, the kind that can’t lift a hoof without someone around. She’s proven time and time again that she’s tough, but it just isn’t enough.”

“I can see what you mean, the only reason why she accepted my assistance was because I didn’t give her a choice.” You chuckle to yourself before gingerly rubbing your left bicep. You think you probably pulled a muscle from the constant straining.

“What did ya’ll help her with?”

“She got this huge trophy from the Mayor, and she was gonna carry that AND the apples on her back.” You shake your head as you think about how disastrous that could have been.

“Ya’ll pull something partner?” you find Macintosh looking at where you’re massaging.

“Probably, that thing was heavy- fuck!” a single spasm sends pain coursing throughout your entire arm. You turn to Macintosh with a pained expression, “Do you guys have any painkillers?” You curse again when he shakes his head.

“Nope, we can’t afford them fancy pills and prescriptions. If you went to the hospital I’m sure they could give you something?” You look at the bits lining your pockets. You could easily lose all of them if you bought pain medication. If you did, you’d probably have to ask Twilight for a handout.

“I think I’ll take my chances with a warm bath,” You get to your feet after that, intent on getting home as soon as possible, “it was nice talking to you Mac. We should hang out sometime when you’re not messed up.” Macintosh’s eyes widen when he remembers something important.

“Actually, me and a few buddies of mine were thinking of going to my Uncle Orange’s bunk- I mean cabin in a few days. We always go up there to celebrate the first week of spring. Wanna come along?” You start thinking of the potential bits lost in going on a vacation.

“I’ll see what I can do. If I’m broke then I got to stay. Need bits for food and such.”

Then Big Mac starts sweating, “Anon, I’ll give you enough food and supplies to last you a week if you come along.” You’re taken aback to say the least. What could be happening to make him want to bring you on his vacation so badly?

“Whoa, what’s going on Mac?” Macintosh gulps nervously before shifting his eyes.

“Let’s just say, the first week of spring in any town of Equestria is a bad place to be if you’re a stallion.”

“But I’m not a stallion, I’m a human.” You’re sure to point to yourself for emphasis. Having fingers alone separates you from them.

“You’re a guy ain’t ya? It might not matter.” That statement alone causes unnecessary paranoia to seep in.

“W-what are you talking about?” Big Macintosh leans in and you do in turn. Whatever it is he doesn’t want anyone else to hear.

“Ya see Anon, during spring there’s this thing called est—“Macintosh is interrupted by the front door swinging open.

“Dang it Anon, why don’t get on outta here! I said I don’t need any help!” Applejack comes wobbling out of the home. Her tired eyes stare angrily into yours.

“In a minute Applejack, your brother was trying to tell—“Applejack cuts you off.

“I don’t care what Macintosh was trying to tell you, if you don’t skedaddle I’m gonna sick Winona on you!” You don’t know if it’s the pain in your arm, her attitude, or the gravity of what Mac is trying to tell you, but for the first time in a month you lose it.

“You know, after nearly getting me KILLED I thought you would have had a little bit of leeway with me! But I guess I’m wrong there huh?” You walk up the stairs and kneel down to Applejack’s level.

“How dare you? You’ve got a lot of nerve bringing that up.”

“How dare YOU act like this? I even busted my ass carrying that trophy for you. I don’t need some god damn pony threatening me.” You lean in and she meets you half way. You’re nose to muzzle at this point, you and her are staring each other down with absolute hatred.

“I’ve been real patient with you Anon, you’ve been pushing it and pushing it, but no matter how many times I say “no” you don’t stop. You obviously don’t care enough to listen to me. “

“Well maybe if you weren’t so damn stupid I wouldn’t have to push. You’re running yourself ragged, and all because you can’t admit that you need support. Then you have the audacity to pull this? We get it Applejack, you’re a strong mare. Now swallow your pride and stop being an idiot.” She grinds her teeth at your statement.

“Ya know what? If you don’t leave now I’m gonna beat you myself.” Judging by how she’s glaring you know she’s more than willing to do so. And you don’t want to put your hands on your friend’s sister. You’ve got a lot more respect for Macintosh then that.

“Fuck. You. Cunt.,” your words are laced with malice. What few thoughts you had of potentially making a decent friend out of Applejack is long gone now, “I’m outta here. Fucking Stetson hat wearing hick.” You step off the porch and walk the dirt path toward the entrance.

“And don’t you bother coming back!” You respond to Applejack’s final call by giving her the middle finger. You know she doesn’t understand the meaning, but that doesn’t mean you can’t feel better about it. As you make your way down the path to Ponyville you try to take this time to calm down. Unfortunately for you it doesn’t work.

“God damn horse!” You wind up shouting before kicking a nearby tree. You can’t believe Applejack just did that. You tried with her just then, you really did. But it looks like there was no reason to. You were better off just letting her carry that trophy herself, and hopefully getting hurt from it.

Your day couldn’t get any worse, at least that’s what you thought. You had to assist Mocha with the pony crowds, you sat through a long ceremony, you volunteered to aid the ungrateful Applejack, and to top it all off you’re now hurt and no longer allowed on Apple property. You wind up kicking another tree out of anger.

This tree violently shakes from the impact of your foot. Suddenly a creature falls from the branches higher up, and you hear it start to scream as it falls. Instinctively you look up and to find some black thing falling towards you. Its face collides with yours, knocking you off balance.

You end up on your back and the creature ends up on its side in front of you. In no time at all you’re too your feet, the animal seems to be having a hard time shaking off the blow. You use this time to take in its appearance. After a few moments opens its pupil-less cyan eyes and looks up at you before scrambling to its hooves. You see insect like wings buzzing on its back as it tries to stand.

Like the ponies you’ve come to know this thing seems to be about the same size as them. It even has the same body shape, but its coat is pure black in appearance and from the impact you could tell it was anything but soft. It didn’t help that it had some bent horn sticking out of its head. In a way it was like some insect version of an alicorn. You spot two little fangs protruding from its muzzle. Whatever this thing is, it’s a carnivore.

“What the hell are you supposed to be?” you ask yourself more than it. The creature dons an angry glare and hisses at you. It seems like you’ve made it mad by knocking it out of its tree. When its horn starts to glow your eyes widen in fear. This thing was capable of using magic. Before you can react a solid beam of green light erupts from its horn and hits you square in the chest.

The force from the impact knocks you onto your back and immediately you can feel your skin burning away from the area you were hit. You shout in pain before rolling around, your hands frantically pat the area in a vain hope of stopping a flame that isn’t even there. As you do the creature slowly approaches you, its horn glowing again with that sickly green light. When it gets close you look up to see it lowering its head towards yours…

Author's Note

And here's chapter two.
Will Anon ever figure out why Pinkie Pie is Pinkie Pie?
Has Applejack permanently burned the bridge between herself an Anon?
What was Big Macintosh trying to warn Anon about?
And what was that thing that attacked him?

Find out in the next chapter.

On another note, I realized that I ended up using the word "help" a bit much.
Tried to alleviate the excess by using synonyms. Yay synonyms!

Chapter Three: Anon vs Changeling, Eris' Return, and A Surprise Manehattan Visit

//------------------------------//
// Chapter Three: Anon vs Changeling, Eris' Return, and A Surprise Manehattan Visit// Story: The Lively Adventures of Anonymous// by Aetherpony//------------------------------//

You see what you believe to be your potential death staring you down. The magic charging seems to grow brighter, as if charging for a massive attack. As your fear comes to be realized your adrenaline starts to kick in. The burning sensations and your pulled muscle seem nonexistent to you now.

With your pain numbed you clutch your burning skin, grit your teeth, and bring a knee up. You hear a satisfying thump when you connect with its jaw. It fires its spell, but instead of your taking the blow it grazes the top of your head. You bring a hand up to where it hit, you now have a bald spot where your hair was growing back. You were finally getting a full head of hair again and this insect ruined it.

Needless to say you’re furious. You bring your arm back and swing from your position on the ground. The insect backs away on its hind hooves; its front ones cover its now sore snout. You hurry to your feet and approach the insect. Its horn starts to glow again but a swift kick to the jaw disrupts its cast. The blow manages to stun the little bug. It wobbles around for a few moments, trying to maintain its balance.

That’s when you walk over to its side, bring your right leg back, and swing with all your might. The insect lets out a shrill scream as you punt it into the nearby woods. You watch as it slams into the side of a tree before slowly sliding down into the foliage.

“How’d you like that?” you walk over to the area where you saw it land. When you move the leaves and stems out of the way you see that the little insect has disappeared. You find it peculiar that after taking a hit like that it was able to escape. You were looking to stomp its brains out too, there goes your fun for the afternoon.

With the bug nowhere to be seen you make your way back to the trail and start walking to Ponyville yet again. You hope that this time there’ll be no interruptions. As you see the pony’s homes come into view your mind begins to wonder on just what that thing could be.

You remember Twilight giving you a list of creatures that roam the area around Ponyville, but you haven’t see any bug horses before. You would have definitely remembered those, especially with those sharp fangs and ability to use magic. You wipe the sweat from your brow as you come to terms with barely escaping death. That little thing packed a wallop when it came to spells.

Just thinking about it causes you to grip your chest, only to have you yelp and pull your hands away. Your skin is very sensitive from that attack; then again, a first degree burn will leave anyone’s skin sensitive. You’re going to have to get into some cold water or find ointment as soon as possible, that and you’re going to have to throw away your shirt. It’s useless now that there’s blackened hole in the center of it.

As you start passing by other ponies in town some turn you way, surprised at the angry expression and burned shirt you’re sporting. You don’t bother acknowledging them. You just want to get home and relax. The thought of a soothing bath, followed by a cold soaking seems like a jolly one indeed.

You don’t even bother calling out to Spike as you step into the library, open the basement door, and make your way over to your bed. Crawling under your sheets your mood finally starts to perk up. You’re home, and you’ll finally get to clean up and relax. You might even make a sandwich or two that might lead up to cider.

“Heh, that’s my whole night right there.” You murmur as you hit the familiar floor leading to your hallway. Even the decal of your walls, floor, and ceiling don’t deter you from your goal. You strip out of your dirt caked clothing and step into your bathroom. You’re happy to see that everything has remained the same. Admittedly you had a paranoid thought that your personal rooms would reflect everything else, thankfully that never happened.

As you step into your shower and turn the knobs you can’t help but think you should have probably tested the water first before letting it run over your bare chest. The ice cold water does nothing but exacerbate your burns causing you to shriek and run out of the shower. With your lesson learned you wait for the water to get to a somewhat decent temperature and step in.

Two hours later you’re stepping out soaked and miserable. Trying to bathe with burns is a very displeasing experience. You’re definitely going to consult Twilight sometime tonight when she gets back to her treebrary. While the warm water was soothing it felt like it did nothing more than irritate your skin. Same could be said of the cold water that you used afterwards.

They aren’t even that bad; you assume that the insect’s magic probably played a role. There’s a good chance that the after effects of its spell has damaged your nerves. If that’s the case then you’ll definitely need to talk to Twilight. As you’re contemplating your night’s activities you find yourself walking into your living room. You don’t even notice that you’ve got a houseguest sitting on your couch.

“Sup, Anon?” Eris calls from the sofa. Her sudden greeting disrupts your thoughts. You turn to her to see that she’s made herself at home on your furniture. As she reclines you see that her serpentine body takes up the entirety of your couch. Finally, she opens an eye and turns her head your way. As soon as she looks over your bare body her cheeks flush with a shade of pink.

“Looks like you made yourself at home huh?” She giggles before fluttering her eyes at you. A smirk starts to grow into a toothy grin upon her face and you start to slowly covering your lower body. When she glances over your torso and head her smile drops from her face, “What happened to you?”

You’re grateful for a chance to change the subject, “Oh, this,” you point to your hair, then to your chest, “is what happens when you fight a bug horse.” Eris raises a brow, confused. Obviously she’s trying to picture the creature you’ve described, and she’s failing miserably.

“A bug horse,” you nod, “did it have a small body and a horse head or what?” As you describe the insect that assaulted you she slowly starts to understand the concept. While talking Eris slowly shifts her body to where she sits similar to how a human would typically would, “sounds pretty crazy. Now hurry up and sit down.” She pats the cushion next to her.

“What, why?” She points to you.

“You’re burned and your hair is missing. Even with it growing back it still looks bad,” she pats the cushion yet again, “so come here so I can fix it.” You narrow your eyes.

“You just want to get a close up look of the goods don’t you?”

A sly smile graces her lips, “I consider it a bonus.”

“You’re a pervert, you know that?” She scoffs.

“And I’m supposed to feel bad about it? Come on now, hurry up, you’re wasting time.”

“Fine,” you sigh. You make your way over and take a seat. As soon as your back end hits the cushion she places her talons on your head and her paw upon your chest. Purple wisps of chaotic magic spring from her palms and entangle themselves around your body. Almost as if she was wrapping you in a cocoon. The wisps extend over the entirety of your chest, but stop at the neck and waist. The ones emerging from her talons wrap your head in a cap of sorts.

A feeling of heat radiates off of her spell as she slowly, but surely takes care of your minor ailments. In all honest you probably would have been fine after a day or two, but then again you’d be missing out on this blissful feeling. That thought didn’t sit too well with you. After a minute has passed her magic has not only healed your burned skin, but it’s managed to even out your hair length and relieve the tension in your arm from the trophy.

You could feel your anger for Applejack welling in your chest from the thought, but the last thing you want to do is blow up at someone you haven’t seen in a month. So you’re able to keep calm for the most part, that and it helps to have Eris’ tracing over your chest with her claws. You shudder under her touch as goose bumps start to line your skin. You shut your eyes, lean your head back, and allow your body to revel in a sensation it has yet to experience.

“Well isn’t this nice, you’re losing all that flab. Guess you’ve been running all over the place huh?” You nod weakly and make no motion to stop or correct her.

“I spent a few weeks gathering plants in the Everfree.” You sigh.

She hums in approval, “I see. I’m sure that Zebra appreciates your help.” You nod again as a single claw travels up your chest and neck, it stops when it reaches your chin. She cups your jaw in her paw and turns your head to face hers. You take this time to finally open your eyes, and you see her muzzle mere inches from your lips. You can see the primal hunger in her stare; her red irises trail over your body as though she were sizing up her next meal.

A single, quick movement is all it takes for her to take her place in your lap. Her warm body and soft fur feel wonderful against your lap and legs, a little too good for your tastes. Reluctantly you drive away the fog that seemed to be settling over your consciousness and you take a good look at what’s decided to use you for a seat.

Her half lidded eyes stare seductively into yours; her smirk is wide enough for her fangs to protrude. As her wings start to unfurl and wrap around you she wraps her paws under your arms and locks them behind your back allowing her to pull herself closer to you. She giggles as you gasp from the sudden warmth covering your chest.

Yet despite all of this, regardless of how she’s feeling, you can’t find any real enjoyment out of this. It’s a nice sentiment, but thanks to Zecora’s potion intervention last month she fixed the damage Eris caused when she read your mind. That moral wall that keeps your libido in check is back and it’ll take longer than a month for that to crumble away.

“I’ve missed you ya know.” She says before leaning in. As she moves in you squeeze a hand in between you and her. Then you push her away, not hard enough to force her from your lap, but enough to put some distance between the two of you. When you move your head away from her lips it’s as though you’ve flipped a switch.

“You have got to be bucking kidding me.” She growls before glaring down at you.

You shrug your shoulders in response, “It’s gonna take a bit longer than a month. Sorry.”

“That can’t be, I freed you from your morals. You should be ready to go!” She really doesn’t like her little plan being thrown back in her face.

“Zecora fixed all the damage you and Discord did to me. That was one of many things she made better.” She turns to pouting.

“Are you serious?” She sighs out of exasperation when you nod. Eris dismounts you and takes her place back on the cushion, except this time she’s got her arms crossed and she’s glaring at your floor. You hear her mumble to herself, “stupid Zebras and their voodoo.” Suddenly her eyes widen and she grins, “Wait I can just magic away your morals again!” You shake your head.

“Nope, you gotta wait three days remember?” And just like that her smile is gone.

“FUCK YOU CHAOS, YOU SUCK!” She shouts. You can’t help but laugh in response…

“Oh come on, Eris, it’s not that bad is it?” Her piercing gaze causes you to back away from her a little.

“Not that bad? I’ve been gone a month, I was hoping to get some relief, but I guess that’s out of the question.” She’s obviously disappointed, but she’ll get over it. Besides it’s not like it’s the end of the world.

“Eris you have to understand, It’s gonna take a while before I find something other than a human woman appealing. Even if I did find you attractive I wouldn’t just fuck on a whim.”

“But we’ve known each other for a month, come on most couples on Earth only go half that long before they do things like that.”

“Well, first we aren’t a couple. Second, we went on two dates, then I didn't see you for a month.” Her cheeks puff out and her eyes squint, "I thought I'd never see you again, Eris."

“I didn’t have a choice,” you merely shrug in response, “I can’t help what daddy decides ya know?”

“Do you think it would have been different if you stayed?”

She dons a cocky smirk, “definitely, you wouldn’t be able to keep your hands off of me.”

“You think very highly of yourself, but I bet you’re over exaggerating.”

“Oh really, big talk coming from a guy who’s never gotten any.” She sticks her long, serpentine tongue out at you.

“Just because I’m still a virgin doesn’t mean I can’t tell when someone’s bullshitting me,” you get off of the couch and look to the hallway, “now if you’ll excuse me I’m gonna go get some pants on.”

“Yeah, you do that.” Eris goes back to sprawling out on the couch. She definitely has intentions of making herself at home.

While you don’t mind the company, you were nowhere near ready to have one come by. It doesn’t help that you keep thinking someone in Canterlot Castle will find your room. All they’d have to do is lean against the right wall and they’d have access to your things.

You just hope Celestia doesn’t discover her. Sure she knew it existed and she knew how to get to it, but she didn’t know where it was located. So long as she or a Royal Guard doesn’t decide to take a little break on one of the outer wings of the castle you should be fine.

As you finish getting dressed in your gray sweat pants, blue slippers, and blue t-shirt you head back out into the living room to discover Eris rubbing her temples.

“What’s going on? Got a headache?” As you walk over to her she nods.

“Yeah, I’ve been getting em ever since I went to Earth. They suck.” She grits her teeth and adds pressure to where she’s rubbing. If she’s been dealing with these things for a month then they must be pretty severe.

“Do you know what’s causing them?” She opens her mouth to speak, but suddenly she averts her eyes.

“N-no I don’t, and it’s really pissing me off.” You step to the side of the couch and crouch down. She eyes you, confused by your actions, “what are you doing?”

“Well, you took care of my chest and arm. Consider this repayment, I’m no masseuse but I’m sure I can do something.” You move her hands away from her head, “first of all, you’re doing that way too hard. Grinding your fingers into your skull isn’t going to make the pain go away.”

“Then what do you suggest, smart guy?” You answer her by placing your thumbs on the nape of her neck. You start massaging in small circles and slowly work your way to her hair line. Immediately she silences herself and a lazy smile spreads across her lips. When you get to her hairline you continue your circular motions for half a minute before going to the front of her ears.

While you don’t know her anatomy, or how much pressure you need to apply, your winging it still seems to be having a noticeable effect. When you get to her temples she lets out a soft grunt, which in turn leads to a sort of purring as she figuratively melts in your hands. When you start to massage her scalp it appears as though she may fall asleep. You repeat the same motions starting from her neck to her scalp for a few minutes before she sighs happily.

“That’s nice,” she whispers, “can you go a little lower?” You scoff before pulling your hands away. She opens her eyes wide in shock.

“Yeah, you’re good.” Eris shifts so she’s on her stomach, when she looks up you swear you can see tears forming in her yellow and red eyes.

“Oh come on, please?” When her lower lip starts to quiver you can feel your resistance starting to fade. It seems like you have a bit of a problem when it comes to these creatures and begging you for something. With a sigh you nod, she giggles happily before lying on her back.

You spend the next half an hour spreading your hands to Eris’ shoulders, both limbs, her back, her tail, and even her legs. You should have really drawn a line somewhere other than the areas you knew she wanted you to massage. Just from massaging her legs you feel as though you’ve taken on a temporary role of a servant, and you can’t say you like it.

Once they’re done you finally pull away, having done enough. Eris stretches herself out and you can hear various joints popping about as she does so. She sighs out of contentment before looking your way.

“Now that’s something I could get used to.” When she gazes at you seductively you roll your eyes before shaking your head.

“Let me guess, you’re grateful for what I did, and you want to thank me in a “special” way right?” Within seconds her gaze is replaced with a deadpan glare.

“You’re not fun at all Anon,” She gets off of your couch and decides to take her place in the air, “figures.”

“Hey, I’m plenty of fun,” you retort crossly, “I’m just not into your kind of fun.”

“Really,” she leans in and pokes your nose with a talon, “prove it then.” She flashes you a toothy grin thinking you’ve got absolutely nothing to offer in terms of fun. Admittedly, you’re not as entertaining as you think you are so it takes you a few moments to come up with a few ideas.

The two of you could lounge in the hot tub, but relaxing does not equal fun. You can’t suggest using her chaos magic to make something fun. Celestia would be upon you in seconds as soon as Eris casted a spell outside of the room. If you go to the movies that’d cause problems considering you’d be with a chimera. The only thing you can really think of is a dinner for two. Even then you’d have to consult a pony you can trust. You doubt there’s a pony out there that’d accept Eris being around.

“Well,” your voice falters, “I can think of things, but we can’t do any of them.”

“And why’s that?”

You point to her, “you’re here and not on Earth. I doubt anyone will believe that just your father was supposed to leave. If we go out in public we’re just asking for trouble.”

When she slinks over to you and puts her lion’s paw around your shoulders you can feel a chill creepy up your spine. That evil twinkle in her eyes doesn’t help matters in the slightest.

“Ask me if I care Anonymous.”

“Whether you care or not doesn’t matter. If some pony sees you they’re going to think Discord was lying, and then they’re going to start thinking I’ve been lying,” she examines her talons as you explain your situation, “how do you think it’ll go if they believe I was hiding the truth from them Eris?”

You hope she understands that you don’t want to lose the friends you’ve made here. You know that her being spotted will start a long chain of events leading to something bad for you. You could picture it now. They start asking you why you were with Eris, and then they find out that they could come back at any time. That will lead them to think that your little choice didn’t matter.

Once they start thinking that then they’ll think your little spectacle in front of Town Hall was nothing more than a diversion to get the ponies to drop their guard for Discord’s return. Your friends will think that you were trying to get on their good side in order to make them think Discord was gone for good. They’ll abandon you after that, or they’ll brand you a traitor to Equestria. Even if these thoughts are based off of paranoia you know that there is a distinct possibility that will happen.

You wince when Eris’ grip on you tightens. You turn your head and as you do you the two of you look into each other’s eyes. Her smile widens before she snaps her talons. Your eyes widen when you see an oval shaped purple portal appears in front of you.

“Anon, come on. You’ve got to learn to take chances.” And with that Eris pushes you into the portal. She goes floating right in after you. Your body feels as though it’s being forcibly pulled to a location. Your screaming is silenced by the black void that surrounds you. When your feet finally touch solid ground you can feel the bile building up within your stomach. You manage to keep it down however.

You grimace when you see just where Eris brought you. You’re currently standing in front of a movie theater in the middle of a large metropolis. Skyscrapers that seem to stretch into the sky surround you. Any chance of seeing the stars tonight have been cast aside due to the many lights illuminating the area. Even at night you know cities like this are always bustling with activity.

And the noises, even at this time of night its deafening. Pony’s conversations come out in garbled meaningless sounds. The sound of hooves clopping upon the sidewalk can barely be heard over the crowds that go about their business. You notice just how diverse this city is when you see a small group of Gryphons and Minotaur pass on by. They cast a quick glance over you before one of the Minotaur starts laughing. You pay him no mind; after all, you probably do look odd to them.

As you look around the sidewalks you find dozens of ponies going about their nightly lives. Though, some of them freeze in their tracks when they see you. Unlike Ponyville no city pony has seen you yet. As more start to stop and look you can feel your heart start to pound in your chest. A cold sweat forms upon your brow.

You look to the theater and read the name: Manehattan Cinemas. Eris has just sent you to one of the largest cities in Equestria. It takes everything you have to not lose it right then and there. Instead of shouting about your misfortune you start to pace back and forth. You don’t see Eris with you so you have no way of getting back via teleportation.

And you don’t have any bits on you either. She didn’t give you time to get anything. Not that you would have gone in the first place, but still. You can’t afford a carriage ride back to Ponyville. Canterlot would cost even more, and you’re sure you wouldn’t even get into the castle. As you continue to have your breakdown more ponies stop and stare at you, confused as to what you could be.

Then they gasp in a collective group. Their eyes widen to the size of sauces and their pupils shrink to the size of pinpricks. You didn’t do anything to intimidate them so what could have… Your thoughts are interrupted when you feel someone take hold of your hand. The hardened talons of Eris’ talons interlock with your fingers.

You slowly turn to her, just as shocked as the ponies around you are. She sports a carefree smile. Eris is acting as though there’s absolutely nothing wrong. You couldn’t even begin to describe how bad of a move this was. Her presence was definitely going to cause a massive panic among the populace.

“So, wanna see a movie?” she points to the cinema before you.

You grab two handfuls of Eris’ coat and forcefully push her up against a nearby wall.

“Are you crazy?!” You shake your head trying to come up with a possible reason for Eris pulling this kind of stunt. Instead all you get from her is a half lidded gaze and a smirk.

“Oh, you’re into the rough stuff?” Your response is to groan out of disgust and pull away from her. When you turn to the crowd they whimper and start to give you more room.

“She’s back!” one of them cries.

“Everypony run!” You hold your hands up and motion for them to stop; you do not want to cause a panic in such a large city. Unfortunately your pleas for them to calm down go unheard over the mass screaming and stampeding hooves. What looks to be hundreds of ponies scatter off in different directions. Unicorns teleport, Earth ponies run, Pegasus ponies take to the skies, all in a mad attempt to escape.

“Oh come on,” you sigh before dropping your hands in defeat. You crane your neck to Eris when you hear her giggle. You can feel heat rising in your belly, a torrent of fire that wills to be unleashed upon her. But you’re not the loose cannon of anger anymore. Besides, she can just heal herself if you do anything.

“Look at em run!” she shouts with joy before looking around at the empty streets.

“How can you be happy about this?!” Your anger only causes her to laugh harder. Your hands begin to shake as you slowly ball them into fists. Heat rises to your face as your anger begins to boil within your gut. Her laughing dies down when she gets a good look at how mad you’ve become.

“Whoa, Anon, calm down.” She reaches out to you with her talons and you promptly knock them away.

“No, fuck you Eris. Don’t tell me to calm down,” her ears flatten and any traces of a smile disappear, “you think this is a joke? It’s easy for you, a simple teleporting spell and you’re in the clear.”

“Anon I—“you interrupt her. You’re definitely not going to let her get a word in edge wise.

“But I’m gonna have to deal with the backlash. Why is Discord’s daughter in Equestria Anon? I thought you got rid of them? Why was she with you? Is there something you’re not telling us?” As the reality of the problem she’s caused starts to sink in she finds it hard to maintain eye contact with you, “all of Equestria is gonna suspect I’m up to something now. They’re gonna think I was lying to them, Eris. Celestia is going to think I was taking advantage of her kindness. I’ve got a list of problems now I can’t even name them all.” As you speak you start backing away from Eris shaking your head all the while. ”Thanks, Eris, it was so god damn nice of you to visit.”

Having said your piece you turn around and walk along one of the many sidewalks. You don’t bother to glance back at her as you turn a corner and walk out of sight.

She reaches an arm out to you, “Anon wait!” You ignore her and continue to walk. Once you disappear from her field of vision any excitement she could have felt left with you. Her arms hang limply and her gaze is cast to the sidewalk. She sighs softly to herself before whispering, “Looks like I screwed something else up..."

For the next few hours you walk around with no particular destination in mind. Though, the darkened streets have become much quieter than you expected. The only sounds that are keeping you company are the soft steps of your slippers as your feet hit the sidewalk. Streetlamps help to illuminate your path. While on Earth this eerie silence would have you on your toes with a knife in hand, but in Equestria crime is next to non-existent.

Well, as far as you know anyway; a city could have its own corrupt underbelly. As you walk about the quiet city streets you start to picture grey ponies with white manes sporting mobster attire. You start to picture mages of pinstripe suits and fedoras, along with cigars and flintlock pistols. You chuckle to yourself before shaking your head. To you the thought of mob ponies was ridiculous, and it helped to stem the boiling rage you had for Eris.

It doesn’t help that with every echoing step you took you were reminded of it. The ponies in this section of the city fled when they caught wind of her arrival. Apparently Eris did something to this city that caused them to fear her to a great extent. That only drives the point home that you were seen with her. There is no doubt that the City Guards are probably searching the city for you or her. You growl to yourself as your anger starts to steadily rise again.

The life Discord wanted, no, the life you wanted has come to an end. Even if you explain why Eris is here in the first place you know these ponies won’t trust you so easily again. It’ll be years before they do, in fact you doubt you’ll even get that chance. Who knows how traitors are punished in Equestrian Society. Though, there is still a chance that you’re overthinking things, perhaps they’ll listen to you. You have to keep some semblance of hope or you really will lose your mind to your rage and paranoia.

Speaking of which, as you walk along you can’t help but catch the sound of hooves clopping upon the concrete as you wander on aimlessly. You turn to find that the first set of hooves are shortly joined by another set, and then another. Soon you see that there are five ponies walking the streets about a block behind you. They appear to be walking in the same direction you’re going.

As soon as your slow walk picks up to a brisk pace theirs does in turn. From the light of the streetlamps you’re able to discern that there are a total of five stallions tailing you. You see that it’s three unicorns and two Pegasi that make up the group; not a single earth pony in sight. All of them share the same steel grey coat color, amber eyes, white mane, and white tails.

Incredibly odd considering the unique color palette these ponies seemed to have. Unfortunately you don’t have time to think upon the subject further. As you move up to a jog they break out into a full blown gallop. Two of the pegasi take to the skies and you start to sprint. You curse yourself for jinxing the situation now at hand.

It appears as though a group of thugs are looking to take advantage of the lack of ponies around to prey upon those foolish enough to wander around alone. As you try to gain distance you start to think of ways you could get out of this. You could try searching for a guard, but the chances of you finding one at this moment are slim. You haven’t seen a single one out here. It’s almost as if you’re in Ponyville all over again.

You duck as one of the Pegasi ponies swoops down on you. He goes flying right over you, he curses before going back into the sky again. His partner tries to do the same thing, but this time you’re ready. When he flies low you suddenly stop and turn to face him. When he gets close you duck much as you did with the first, but this time you raise your arms up in order to grab hold of the little flying pony.

Each hand manages to grab hold of a wing and soon your feet leave the ground as he’s forced to glide with you.

“Get off me, you freak!” he shouts as he tries to flap his wings, it seems he isn’t used to carrying something weighing as much as you. Using this to your advantage you force the Pegasus to bank right, and right into a streetlamp. A satisfying clang rings out when his head smacks against the body of it. As soon as he hits you lose your grip and hit the ground. The perpetrator falls right on your chest. With the pony stunned you bring an arm under his neck and pull him up with you. Then you face the group of ponies that are currently running up to you. When they see you have their friend they come to a stop a few yards before you, the Pegasus that was flying overhead lands with his group.

“You know, I was having a bad night until you five showed up, now it’s turned to shit.” You scoff as your hold tightens. The Pegasus in your grip starts to cough and squirm, but you show no signs of letting go anytime soon.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” says one of the unicorns, “I’d rather come with us quietly.”

“Well, I haven’t started making noise yet, and if you guys don’t back off I will. I don’t mind breaking this Pegasus’ neck and using him as a club for the rest of you thugs.” The apparent leader of the group laughs before shaking his head.

“Two things: One, we aren’t thugs, and two, that isn’t a Pegasus.” He hisses at that end of his statement and thoughts of the hissing insect from earlier come to mind. Your eyes widen when green light fills your field of vision. As it becomes brighter you’re forced to shut your eyes. A sudden freezing sensation springs along your arm and chest. Without even opening your eyes you know that the unicorn was telling the truth.

Instead of a coat, you were now feeling something hard like a shell of some sort. You open your eyes to find a similar insect to the one you kicked earlier today. Its blue eyes look up to you and it sneers, you see the fangs it sports and you feel a shiver creep up your spine. Those things could do some damage to you if you weren’t careful.

“W-what, another one?” you ask as you look to the group only to discover that they themselves have become insect ponies. The one that was speaking to you before does so again.

“So I assume your day has gotten worse?” You nod, “I figured as such.” He takes a step towards you and you tighten the choke hold you have on his partner. Despite having to deal with a shell you’re still applying enough pressure to have the little insect gagging.

“The only thing that’s changed is your appearance. I don’t know if you have bones but I can still do damage.” You back away as the leader and his allies trot closer. When your back is to the streetlight you curse internally.

“On the contrary, our brother is perfectly safe even if you’re holding him. A single spell is all it takes.” The leader points to his curved horn for emphasis.

“So what you’re saying is I need to be faster than a spell?” He nods, “Well then, I’m more than willing to try.”

He holds up a hole riddled hoof as if to stop you, “Stop, if you release him now we can do this the easy way.”

“Well your little friend back in Ponyville didn’t want to do things that way. Why should I?” you ask through gritted teeth.

“I can assure you that I know nothing about that.” You don’t care whether he does or doesn’t. It makes no difference to you here in this city. You’re not about to let your hostage go and give them the advantage. As of right now you believe they’re bluffing about the spells, and you’re about to call it. If they could have freed the bug from your hold they would have already. Perhaps they only have offensive magic in their arsenal.

“You know what, I’ve got a better idea. You four answer a few questions for me and I’ll let him go.” You’d really like to know what they are and why these ones in particular were following you. They could sate your curiosity, and if you could keep them talking perhaps someone will stumble upon the scene? It’s a gamble but it’s worth a shot. The creature shakes his head in response.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that here, but if you come with us we will answer your questions.” You don’t have to think long to come up with your response.

“Fuck that, I’m not going anywhere with you.” The insect’s frown seemed to deepen.

“Fine, hard way it is. Ditto, if you would, please?” He looks to the bug you’re holding. Your eyes widen when you look down and see its horn begin to glow. On instinct you try to apply as much pressure in your hold as you can. As you do you find that it’s starting to struggle in a vain attempt to free itself. Slowly but surely the light fades from its horn.

Unfortunately you don’t notice the leader’s horn charging up for a spell until it’s too late. The green beam of light fired from his horn closes the distance in an instant. The sudden light causes you to look up at the worst possible time. Immediately your sight fades and intense heat radiates from your eyes. It’s as though you’re staring at a roaring flame from a few inches away.

A loud scream escapes you as you drop your hostage and bring your hands to your eyes. The searing heat and agony force you to your knees, and soon you’re flailing your legs about and rolling around while holding your hands over your eyelids. You lose your slippers in the process. As you voice your misery out to the desolate city streets the one who injured you steps forward.

He freezes in his tracks when he hears the sound of voices steadily growing louder. He looks to one of his comrades and one of them instantly takes to the air. He looks about for a few moments before gasping and flying back down to the ground.

“Sir, we’ve got town guards, six coming from the east and seven from the south.”

“We don't have enough time, leave him.” The group looks between each other, you, and their leader nervously, “I know she won’t be pleased. I’ll take full responsibility.” With those words spoken the five shift back into their pony personas and gallop away leaving you to your fate…

You can’t hear the sound of your assailants fleeing over your yelling. Your mind scrambles in a vain attempt at coming up with a coherent thought. The only thing you can think of is to continue the motions you’re in. There is no body of water, there are no flames, but the heat remains all the same.

Your loud noises help the City Guard find you rolling about in the middle of the empty streets. They’re reluctant to approach you considering they know all about your little appearance with Eris. They believe that you could be putting up an act in hopes of luring them into a trap. After a minute or so of listening to your feral cries of anguish one of the unicorn guards finally gets the courage to step forward.

When he gets close he uses his magic to help keep you on your back, and then he forces your hands away. He brings a hoof to his mouth and gasps at the blackened skin and black encrusted eye sockets. He turns to his comrades and they see how frantic he’s become. As he turns to his fellow ponies your mind finally starts to shut down. The aching finally seems to subside.

“Someone get a doctor!” is the last thing you hear before you slip into sweet unconsciousness…

You have no idea how much time has passed, but you start coming back to reality. Whoever was sitting in front of you gasps when you turn your head. The first thing you notice, aside from the fact that your eyes no longer burn is that there’s a bit of cloth wrapped around your head.

“Oh, well, that was a bit of an eye opener,” The mystery girl titters. You choose to ignore her horrible joke.

“Where am I?” you ask while turning your head left to right. Once you remember you’ve been blinded by that creature you don’t bother moving and instead listen in on what’s going on around you. You can hear a few what you assume to be ponies shuffling about in their seats.

“Anonymous, you’ve been taken to Manehattan City Hall. We’ve been forced to send new detainees here ever since you started those riots.” You’d do a double take if it wasn’t a useless gesture at this point. You’re quick to come to your own defense.

“What, I didn’t do anything I-“you hear magic being cast before your lips are pressed shut. You growl through your closed mouth.

“Dozens of eye witnesses say they saw you with Eris the Draconequus fourteen hours ago. Those same ponies spread that information around like wildfire. Ponies in the southern area of Manehattan fled in all directions looting anything they could before Eris could destroy everything again.”

You have no idea if she has really done anything at this point, but if her merely being here really caused mass panic you really don’t want to know what she did to make them so quick to do something like this. When the magic finally frees your lips from its hold you speak in a sensible tone.

“Listen, I-I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

“Save your explanations for the judge on Monday.” Your voices catches in your throat as you repeat what she said internally. When she sees the realization cross across your features she realizes you’ve put two and two together. “Yes Anonymous, you’re under arrest; for associating with a known criminal, and for enticing more riots than any other pony in Manehattan history. Thanks to you we’re dealing with property damage that’ll cost us tens of thousands of bits to repair and replace. We would arrest Eris as well, but we know how fruitless that’d be.”

Your grip on the bench you’re sitting on tightens with the news you’ve been given. Because Eris wanted to have a good time you’ve ended up in such a deep mess you doubt you’ll be able to climb through. When Celestia finds out about it you’re certain she’ll do nothing to help you. When these ponies put you away there’s no way you’ll be getting out.

Thoughts of Eris attempting to rescue you make you want to laugh. After that well deserved outburst you doubt she'll do anything to help you. Realization hits you like a swift kick to the stomach; you’re stuck here, for good.

You’ll never get to see your friends again. And if by some chance you do they’ll only see you as a lying scumbag. You’re sure the rumors won’t do you any favors to make them think otherwise.

“So, if you can punish one that’s good enough?” Your question is met with silence, “Let me guess, you’re nodding aren’t you?”

The girl laughs nervously, “Oh, uh, yes that’s what the City Guard believes is best.” You keep your angry outbursts in check. Since you’re already going to be punished for something out of your control, you’d rather not add on to it.

“Well that’s just fucking peachy,” you recline on the bench and accidentally brush your legs against the hooves of the mare in front of you, at least you know it’s a mare now. Immediately she moves to the side so you can stretch out, “so, what about my eyes? When can I take this off?”

“While you were unconscious we had a unicorn look over them. They’re a mess Anonymous, when I saw your eyes they were burnt black and crusted. We tried a few spells, but for some reason we weren’t able to fix the damage. We figured it’d be easier to numb the nerves running to your eyes so you wouldn’t feel any pain.”

Anger that could be compared to a raging forest fire was currently raging within your chest. It takes every single ounce of your willpower not to start swinging wildly.In your eyes they did nothing more than make your situation worse.

“Why not?” is the only thing you can mutter without screaming at her.

“Well, the unicorn that attacked you was more powerful than the unicorn trying to heal you. Every single time his aura covered your eyes a green aura forced his influence away. We won’t be able to do anything for you until the magic that damaged you dissipates. Anonymous, are you okay? Your face is getting rather— oh you’re mad aren’t you?”

You nod, “very, very mad. Give me a moment.” You use this time to take a few deep breaths and count to ten in your head. Slowly but surely you can feel the heat in your chest slowly start to flicker away. You sigh with relief, “okay, I’m good.”

“I’m sorry we weren’t able to do anything more, if you could give me a description of your assailant we could go looking for them. Though with the way things are now it’ll be a while before there’ll be a search, if at all.”

You spend the next minute or two giving her the physical descriptions of the ponies that assaulted you. You’re sure to leave out the part of them being able to transform from insect pony to regular pony at will. There was no way she’d believe you and the last thing you needed was to have another pony think you were lying. With that taken care of you get back to the matter at hand. The way she told you that they probably wouldn’t search for your attackers implies that the guard would intentionally let them off the hook.

“What did you mean when you were saying the guards might not search for them?”

She sighs, “Look Anon, you’re considered a criminal. They’re a bit biased towards you as a result. They’ll be negligent when it comes to helping you. Even the unicorn we brought in was reluctant to assist us when he saw it was you.

“But I didn’t do anything. All I did was just appear here with Eris. Everything else is on those ponies that chose to panic.” You hear the mare you’re talking to sigh.

“I know, unfortunately the guard doesn’t see it that way. They believe you and Eris came here with the intent to cause chaos in the city they’re supposed to protect.”

“That’s not true though.” You couldn’t possibly picture ponies abhorring you considering your status. Nor could you picture them rioting. Sure a stampede, or a panic, but something on the scale she’s talking about would involve a lot of ponies being hurt. Whether you meant to or not you and Eris probably injured a lot of ponies over the course of your stay.

“I personally think you don’t deserve what’s happening to you. But what’s one mare’s opinion compared to the entire City Guard?” When you hear here say that, you find a smile gracing your lips; despite your good name being slandered there are still those around that are willing to take your side.

“Well, I’m happy to hear you’re with me and not against me. It means a lot to hear a pony say that, thank you.” You sit up when you hear her get to her hooves.

“Well, now that we’ve got that out of the way I’ll take you into the waiting room.”

“Wait what? Where are we?”

“We’re in one of the meeting rooms.”

“Oh, alright then, lead the way please?”

“Certainly,” you hear the sound of wings unfurling and you can feel reluctance begin to rear its ugly head. The last time your hands touched the wings of a Pegasus you were providing pleasure. When you feel her feathers run along your hands you find yourself pulling it away.

“Uh,” you start.

“Is something wrong?” You really don’t want to tell her about Fluttershy, so you shake your head and get to your feet. “Alright then,” you reach out and she places her wing in your hand. You grab hold of her wing and you’re sure not to apply too much pressure. Neither of you say a thing as she leads you out of the room. You can’t help but feel you’re copping a feel regardless of how you’re holding her wing.

Due to lacking proper sight you have no idea who’s passing by you, but you’re able to tell how frantic they are by the rapid pounding of their hooves as they move about. They shout orders to one another and provide up to date information to other. It seems City Hall has been made into a base of operations rather than just a place to detain malcontents.

Suddenly you hear someone gasp from nearby before the rattling of chains can be heard.

“Oh my gosh, Anon it’s you! W-what happened to your eyes?” There’s no mistaking that voice, that’s Lyra greeting you. And by the sounds of it she ended up getting arrested.

“Pipe down criminal scum!” You jump a little at the sudden booming voice of a stallion from nearby. He chuckles when he sees that he scared you. A part of you wants to punch him, but you know for a fact you’ll miss and they’ll add attempted assault of an officer to your list of “misdemeanors.”

“Hey, buck yo—“You interrupt her before she can dig a deeper hole for herself.

“Lyra, shut up.”

“But Anon, he—“

“Lyra, seriously, don’t make this worse.” She stumbles over her response a few times before ultimately deciding to listen to you, “alright, you listen to reason.” The mare you’re with helps lead you over to Lyra. You hear the chains on Lyra’s shackles rattle as she gives you room to sit. As soon as your rear end hits the wood you feel Lyra’s soft coat as she nuzzles into your arm.

“I missed you ya big lug.” She sighs with contentment when you reach out and pet her.

“I missed ya too, how’d you end up in this mess?” You hear Lyra chuckle nervously before shifting away from you.

“Well, you see… there was this stallion right,” you nod, “Well, when everypony started going crazy he was spouting about how all this was your fault and he started calling you awful names.”

You bring your palm to your face and shake your head, “I can’t imagine why he’d think or say anything like that.” Your voice is heavy with sarcasm.

“I know right? Anyway, I know we’re entitled to our own opinions, but his was wrong. I felt like it was my duty to correct him.”

“So what’d you do?”

“I punched him in the face.” The joyful tone she had when she explained caught you off guard. You find yourself laughing rather loudly as a result. You definitely didn’t expect Lyra to say that nor can you picture her doing such a thing.

“You can’t be serious,” you say when you finally calm down.

“Yeah you’re right I’m not. I totally hit him more than once. Bucker wouldn’t shut up.”

“Good girl,” you pat her head for a few moments before she pulls away.

“Yeah, I get you’re happy I kicked some flank, but stop trying to make me forget what I asked. Tell me what happened to your eyes Anon, why are they bandaged up?”

You sigh to yourself before looking ahead. At this point you can’t tell Lyra the truth, or can you? Judging by how those insects were acting there’s no way they can be well known. If they can become ponies then how could anyone find out they exist? Yet there may have been an instance where one of them could have slipped up. But are you willing to sound like an insane buffoon in front of a friend?

Author's Note

The Changelings have made it clear that they want Anon for something.
What is their goal with him?
What will capturing Anon accomplish?
Will he be blind forever?
What ever happened to Eris?

Find out in the next installment.

Chapter Five: False Love, Terrible Lies, and A Hopeless Situation

//------------------------------//
// Chapter Five: The Lively Adventures of Anonymous// by Aetherpony//------------------------------//

Fifteen minutes your walk along the dirt path to Zecora’s is spent doing nothing more than listening to the life of the forest around you. Exotic birds chip along; animals stalking through the brush stir up the leaves hoping to catch a meal. It’s a symphony of constant activity the likes of which you’ve never heard back on Earth. Before coming here you were used to the blaring of horns and the grating sounds of yelling, along with the hustle and bustle that came with the city life.

Some would think that coming here and helping Zecora would be a chore, but not you. Her company, plus this enchanting yet dangerous forest has served you well those last two weeks you were here. Being without sight allowed you to really focus in on the sounds, you smile lazily to yourself as you keep pace with the soft clopping of hooves just ahead of you.

“Almost there Anon, I can see her hut from here.” She sounds like a mare on a mission.

“Alright, how’s the day looking?” You’re curious as to whether or not you’ll be able to make it home in the same night. While you’re sure Zecora wouldn’t mind the company, you don’t want to impose more than you have to.

“It’ll be night before we get back to Fluttershy’s. We’ll need to be careful on our way back,” you take her words to heart. You’ve heard some things prowling around on sleepless nights here in the Everfree. Sometimes you’d wonder how Zecora never had to deal with creatures invading her home. Then again, if she was able to frighten the timber wolves into running, then certainly she has other methods to scare anything else into staying away.

“Good to know. I’ll try not to slow you down.” She says nothing after that. It isn’t until the strong scent of Ninroot and Poison Joke pervades the air do you realize that you’ve made it to Zecora’s hut. Twilight helps guide you to the door before she herself knocks on it. You hear the sounds of hooves clopping on wood as Zecora makes her way over.

“Who could that be, is that Twilight and Anon I see?” You could hear the hinges creak as she opens her door. She appears before the two of you with a welcoming smile that immediately drops upon seeing you. “And what may I ask happened to you, that has your eyes concealed from view?”

“Long story short, I got attacked. Some insect pony hit my eyes with a spell and virtually melted them. I’m blind.” Zecora’s eyes widen with shock and her frown only deepens at the news.

“W-Well I,” Zecora seems to fumble over her words, “I don’t know what I can do. There is absolutely nothing I can brew for you. If I could I would without hesitation, to be unable to help leaves me feeling utter devastation.” Her ears flatten against the sides of her head and she casts a distraught gaze to the forest floor.

“Actually, there’s something you can do,” her hopeful eyes are immediately brought up to you.

“I will do anything I can to help you see, so what do you need of me?” You grin, happy to know that she’s willing to drop what she’s doing to aid you. She really is a dear friend, and you feel lucky to have her around.

“If you fix up that potion you used on me and Dash that would help tremendously. You know which one I’m talking about right?”

“Indeed I do. Here, come inside, both of you,” before she does so, she turns to Twilight, “But this particular brew of mine takes time to make, to have him travel in the dark would be a mistake. He should remain with me for the night. At least until the forest is filled with daylight,” Twilight puts a hoof to her chin in thought.

“I really don’t want to leave Spike alone,” she looks up at you, “And leading him blind through the forest at night is very dangerous. It might be best for Anonymous to stay.” You shrug your shoulders, you didn’t mind as long as Zecora didn’t.

“I don’t mind, do you still have my cot set up?” Zecora nods, though you can’t see it.

“Indeed I do, I always have it ready for you. And you might be in for a surprise to find that it has grown in size.” Typically you would stay in a small makeshift cot in her floor. It wasn’t the most comfy thing, your feet would be stuck on the cold wooden floor, but if she’s made it bigger you might have a more comfortable sleep.

Twilight gasps before looking up at the sky. The light was fading fast. “Oh no, I need to go, like, now. Sorry I can’t stay! Good luck you two!” You’re surprised to hear Twilight gallop off full speed.

“Well, bye,” you mumble before turning your head to where you heard Zecora’s voice. The feeling of her tail hitting your thigh catches your attention.

“Take hold of my tail and I’ll lead you inside without fail,” without thinking twice you grab hold of her thing extension. You’re sure to bend over as soon as you hear hoof upon wood, when you feel yourself crossing the threshold you release your grip on Zecora’s tail. Your ears flick as you hear her move around you and over to her door.

Upon closing it she helps guide you by softly pushing on your lower back. Thankfully you miss the cauldron altogether and you successfully make it to her room. She doesn’t even have to say a thing about your cot. You can feel it when you thighs bump against it. You bend over and feel around for a moment, and you find that not only did she help raise it off of the ground, but she’s widened it.

Though one thing you do notice is that it’s bordering Zecora’s bed. It’s as though she’s taken two twin size beds and pushed them together. When she removes herself from your back she is more than willing to explain.

“I forgot to separate them that much is true, but if you could feel the added comfort you would too.” You chuckle before shaking your head and carefully sitting upon your new cot.

“Its fine, Zecora. You don’t have to explain anything to me.” You try to use your body in order to make the beds pull apart, only to realize that you manage to maybe move it a few inches.

You do remember how small her bedroom is; in fact, if you could see it you’d probably realize that there’s little room for anything in here other than sleep. She already had to take care stepping around you if she woke up before you did. With things as they are you’re going to end up sleeping with her.

“But, uh, if you’d like to keep your bed I’ll just take a spot next to the cauldron or something.”

“Nonsense, Anon, our arrangement is fine; having you sleep with me is no problem of mine. I know it seems like a tight fit, but trust me we can share it. Now please lay back and rest, your potion will be ready soon, that much I can attest.” You gulp nervously before complying. While the bed does appear to be relaxing, and it does feel like it can fit the two of you comfortably, you can’t help but feel anxious.

You haven’t slept with anyone since Eris, and that was only because the two of you passed out drunk in her room. It doesn’t help that you know Eris likes you, and if she knew she’d probably be furious. That leads you to consider what Pinkie would think, and once you do pangs of guilt well within your chest. You sigh before rolling onto your side.

This was something you would have hoped to avoid entirely. In a way you were okay with the thought of being alone, at least in the sense of a relationship. But both Pinkie and Eris have made obvious contributions against that idea. Both have kissed you, you’ve spent ample time with both, and you’ve even been on a few dates with Eris. You’re sure Pinkie would want to do the same, especially when you go to work tomorrow.

And here you’ve spent quite a bit of time with Zecora too. You’ve shared many stories with one another as well, and you have caught on to how she was acting when you were nearing the end of your second week; after all, you’re not blind. Well, at the time you weren’t. There’s a good chance Zecora is feeling the same as the other two are.

Your grunt of frustration is covered by the sounds of Zecora as she empties the cauldron of its contents. The thought of choosing something like this is infuriating to you. For so long you were without a significant other, yet here you are with two and a possible third.

You were hoping they’d see you as what you are; an oddity, an alien to their world. At the same time you wanted to know that your bodies weren’t compatible. You were aware that the horses back on Earth were built differently in comparison to you. The ponies here are supposed to be no exception to that. You should be tiny in comparison to stallions. If you can’t provide both emotionally and physically what good would you have been?

Unfortunately with stallions being naked just as the mares are you’ve been able to compare sizes. You’re actually bigger than some of them from what you’ve seen. They should be much larger than your average sized tool, yet they aren’t. You’re perfectly capable of pleasing a mare and that knowledge makes should make you feel sick to your stomach, but it doesn’t. At least, not as severely as you would have hoped.

Perhaps you were starting to get comfortable with the idea of being with a mare, and maybe you weren’t against going further than simple dating or kissing. But the fact that they’re still ponies grates on your nerves.

You shouldn’t feel okay with those ideas, yet you are. You shake your head, disappointed with yourself. It appears as though Eris didn’t have to try to remove your inhibitions after all. It only took a month for you to become a freak.

Though, that’s not the main cause for worry. What happens to be is that you have three potential special someponies. The worst part is that you honestly wouldn’t mind any of them, all three have traits you find attractive. Each has played a part in making you who you are here, they’ve shown you kindness unlike any other, and if you were to name them all you’d be up all night.

Though, they’ve all got their faults, as do you. Pinkie’s incessant talking gets annoying, you’ve wanted to kill Eris on many occasions, and Zecora’s rhyming did get grating after a while. But you could easily outweigh those imperfections with all they’ve done and how they are.

But you can’t have them all, that wouldn’t be right or fair to any of them. And the last thing you’d want is to hurt anyone. But you’ll probably have to if it gets to that point. Until then you’ll stay as you are and hopefully avoid it for as long as you can. But you can’t string them along either…

As Zecora starts to add the ingredients necessary for your purifying potion your mind recollects each and every little thing it can about the three possible choices you’ve got. Pinkie was fun and eccentric, Eris has made herself out to be the dangerous and passionate type, and mysterious would be the perfect word to describe Zecora. Now, what do you like more? This is gonna be a long night…

Hours pass as you go over each and every possible thing you could in order to make a proper decision. Sadly for Eris she’s probably going to be on the ass end of that deal, especially if she doesn’t get her act together. She’s the one who put you in the most precarious positions. You lost her mind because of her and her father, and that's still feels quite fresh in your thoughts.

Your thoughts are cut off as a cold breeze blows through the open window. The soft pitter patter of rain follows close by. You were told that the Everfree had its own weather patterns, but honestly you weren’t expecting it to rain. Apparently neither was Zecora; she says something in her native language before scrambling for her open window.

When you hear the shutters slam you jolt a little at the sudden noise. At least you won’t have to deal with the potential of getting wet, or the risk of having your potion ruined. Speaking of, with the shutters closed Zecora makes her way over to you. The bed shifts a little as she jumps on top of it. After she’s situated she makes her way over to you. You sit up to meet her.

“It’s ready? Seems like it took a little longer than last time,” you say while holding out your hands. When you feel a bowl placed in them you bring it your chest.

“I apologize for making you wait. I understand it is a bit late. It took me a moment to find the things I needed, and if I rushed I would not have succeeded.” You inhale the concoction like you did a month ago. That same burning sensation returns, though it’s not as pronounced as it was the first time.

“I can see your disdain considering the pain. Just know that I am here for you, and will be until this is through.” She shifts until you feel her leaning into your side. Her soft coat against your arm alone is enough to bring your blood rushing to your cheeks. In your state however you have no idea if she can see it or not. Regardless, you have to admit that her presence is very calming. Without thinking more about it you bring the bowl to your lips and down its contents.

Like before you can feel the heat rise in your throat, it’s so pronounced it manages to completely clear your sinuses of any blockage. Then the wheezing starts, instinctively you grab hold of your throat in order to give some semblance of relief, but it never comes. Sweat appears to pour from you as the heat only rises in temperature.

Though, there is one thing that is comforting throughout this whole ordeal, and that is a single hoof as it gently rubs your back. While it doesn’t offer any real comfort, it’s something you can hopefully focus on rather than the burning sensations of Zecora’s potion.

Finally, after what seems like an eternity, it fades. You finally feel your body cool down as well. Surprisingly, you don’t pass out and hallucinate like you did the last time. Perhaps it’s because you weren’t corrupted this time around. Instead you only had the magic in your body that was used to heal your burns and aching arm. You breathe a sigh of relief before turning to face Zecora.

“Thanks, your hoof helped to distract me a little. Still hurt like hell though,” you wheeze before rubbing your aching throat. “You have any water?” Silence is your only answer. You know Zecora heard you; she’s right next to you, still rubbing your back. Though her strokes have become long and drawn out, more so than they were before. “Z-Zecora?” She clears her throat before pulling her hoof away.

What you didn’t see was that she was marveling at the fact that you seem to have no wounds on your person. With your wrapping gone she can see that the missing patches of hair and cuts are no longer there. She was admiring you in as it were; she’s not used to seeing you without some sort of injury.

“Y-yes I do, I shall get some for you. And I will empty and clean the cauldron as if you wish to bathe, and do not fret, I’ll behave,” the provocative way she accentuated the last bit caused you to inch away. You didn’t like that, nor did you like her enthralling laughter that followed. As she gets off the bed in order to get what you asked you find yourself wiping away the new line of sweat lining your brow.

“I uh, I think I’ll skip out on the bath.” You manage despite your heart starting to beat a mile a minute. “I’d probably need you to stand by me so you could get me what I needed anyway, and you would have had to help guide me in and out.”

“That is fine by me, I wouldn’t want to either if I couldn’t see.” Thankfully she understands your position. “Though I would assist you if you asked, I would not have felt harassed.”

Zecora is making it pretty obvious she’s got a thing for you, that much is certain. Despite knowing that she can be fairly direct you weren’t expecting this. Uncertainty, curiosity, and many other emotions seem to culminate as over think how she’s been acting. In fact, it distracts you so much you don’t even feel her hoof shaking your thigh as she tries to get your attention.

“Who, wha huh?” While that wasn’t the smoothest way to acknowledge her presence, you earn a giggle from her nonetheless.

“Here you go, please drink it slow. After you finish you need to rest, if you stay awake you cause your body stress.” You heed her warning with a nod before slowly sipping your refreshment. You grimace when you feel your stomach start to suddenly heat up. Zecora notices your discomfort.

“I put a little something extra inside, relief and comfort it shall provide. I know it seems a little strange, but your distress will disappear after this exchange. You slept through this part of the trial, if you don’t finish your drink your discomfort will stay for a while.” She flashes you a wide grin and her eyes twist into fury for a mere moment before being replaced with a stoic expression. You take a test sniff of the water before taking a rather large gulp.

You play with the water in your mouth for a moment before swallowing, your water tastes a little bitter, almost as though there were bits of sediment in it. It’s not too noticeable so you don’t comment on it. You’re happy to have something to replenish your body of its lost liquids. You do nothing more than nod, letting her know that you taste what she’s mixed into it.

When your glass has been emptied, you can feel the fire in your stomach start to die down. You breathe a sigh of relief before putting the empty glass where you heard Zecora. As she takes it you’re sure to thank her. She answers back with a silent smile.

As she takes care of whatever else she needs to, you lie back on the blanket and idly run a hand along her blankets. You can feel the one you’ve been using and hers. She really has combined the two in more ways than one.

Due to the unpredictable weather you do realize how cold it can get some nights, you can’t really blame her for using your stuff. Technically it’s her things, but she’s given them to you to use. Though, the more you run your hands along them, the more you can feel the weight of sleep approaching.

You guess that putting your body through that labor tired you out; upon realizing that you start removing your clothing bit by bit, starting with your shoes. The sound of them hitting her floor causes her to stop what she’s doing and turn to you.

“Getting ready for bed I see, I hope you don’t mind sharing with me,” You shake your head.

“No, not at all, just uh, you know I like to sleep, well, like this.” you accentuate your point when you remove your jeans, leaving you in nothing more than your boxers.

“Anonymous, I am naked all the time. Your preferences are no problem of mine.” She chuckles. She’s got a good point, the only time you’ve seen these ponies wear clothes is whether they’re on the job or at an event. With that in mind you casually toss your clothes into the floor, and climb under the sheets. You have to admit that the warmth provided by her blankets fills you with a state of calm.

A contented sigh leaves you as you lay on your side. Though, your tranquil state only lasts a few minutes as you feel the covers lift, and a source of heat joins you under them. Though Zecora spends most of her time alone, it doesn’t seem like she comprehends the concept of personal space very well.

Your fingers feel hints of her soft coat as she moves over to you. You can feel the heat radiate off her body as she closes what little distance her cot provides. Instinctively you move away from her and she in turn advances.

This little back and forth between the two of you has her laughing. Regardless she shows no signs of stopping until you feel your back hit the wall. Without anywhere to go Zecora closes the distance and puts her back against your chest.

“You’re a persistent one aren’t you?” you grumble before putting your arms to your side. Unfortunately you don’t realize just how much of an impact your words have on your host.

“Am I really that unappealing, or is this hesitancy you are feeling?” You’re granted reprieve from how upset she’s become from your actions. You know Zecora can be quite direct, but this comes as a surprise nonetheless. You stumble over a response that never comes. You honestly don’t know how to answer to that; at least not in a way that’d make her drop this.

“W-well, I mean,” it doesn’t help that you find this situation to be quite awkward. You’ve never had a conversation like this before. You don’t know how to proceed. “I-I’m not a zebra, I’m a human. How could you feel ANY attraction to me?” She sighs before turning around and facing you.

“This is something I’ve yet to tell, I guess it’s time to let you know as well. In Zebrabwe our tribe would have died if we did not have my mother as our guide. She brought us together with many things, Lemurs and Lions, both Shamans and Kings. "More than once we would elope, if both Zebra and Lion came together it gave our tribes hope. In turn we would thrive; because of her we stayed alive. Over the years we did many things,” she moves ever closer, you can feel her breath upon the nape of your neck, it sent shivers coursing throughout your very being, “more than once we would lie with our mates to see what pleasures each species brings…” She accentuates her point by running one of her unbelievably soft hooves down your chest. You clamp your mouth tightly in order to stifle a gasp.

Her smile widens as she sees your unwillingness start to fade. At first, you would cringe from her touch, but now, your body begins to relax. In fact, you find yourself wrapping your arms around her and pulling her closer.

For a month you’ve gotten to know this hermit of the Everfree. It’s a rare opportunity that only a few got to experience, and when it comes to this, the only one is you. No one else has scoured this vast expanse of forest in search of goods with her. Nor has anyone sat and spoke with her for hours trying to get to know more about her. No one other than Applebloom had the pleasure of helping her as she created whatever came to mind, or the sleepless nights that would come with it.

She had this mysterious allure about her, that much was certain. It was plain as day the time she rescued you from the timber wolves. The way she’d move about as though she tamed this wild beast of a forest, her seemingly endless knowledge on what it means to be both a Shaman and an Apothecarist, or the wisdom that she passed to you whenever you made a mistake.

And those blue eyes of hers, always alight with the hunger for discovery. You’ve seen the way she’d get whenever she was working out of her comfort zone. When she was mixing up something new you could vividly picture that excited smile on her face. And of course just how absorbed into her work she could be. She didn’t slack, she didn’t take short cuts, and as far as you knew there was nothing that could keep her from doing what she loved the most.

But despite all of that, her unique looks, her personality, you couldn’t bring yourself to go further than where you are now. Not because you’re blind, or unwilling, it’s because of the third reason. You’re a human, and she’s a zebra.

You know there’d be no pleasing her. As far as anatomy goes you’re too small to get the job done. Your bodies are too different, just thinking that a lion and a zebra could somehow work past that just doesn’t make sense, at least not for you. So, when you feel her hoof travel below your waistline you grab hold of it.

“Anon, is something wrong? Am I coming on a bit too strong?” You shake your head, “Then what may I ask is stopping you from wanting to see this through?”

“I’m too small… and I’m a virgin.” You can feel a huge loss of your pride from that statement. Especially since you’re positively sure you’re right. Your ears twitch when you catch her stifling her laughter.

“I have seen it before, many times in fact, what makes you think that? If I did not believe that you were up to par, then we would not have gone this far, though I am sure I would have made something to help you, I would make sure your “confidence” grew.” Laughter fills the air after that. You have to say you find it refreshing that was it an issue she’d help out regardless. When your laughter dies down to soft chuckling you find your lips inching closer to hers.

You could feel the hotness of her breath against your skin, just as she could feel yours against her fur. The two of you lie there, motionless. You can hear your heart in your ears as it pumps furiously with the quickened flow of blood. Your breathing starts to match its pace.

“As for your other issue if that’s all, then that is a problem I’m more than willing to solve…” You’re not sure if you heard right, but by the sound of it she didn’t rhyme that out.

“Wait, Zecora, that didn’t rhym-Mmmphf!” She cuts you off when you feel her soft, velvet-like lips press against your own. It’s then you realize what she’s said rather than how she said it. Naturally, you’re taken by surprise, so much so that she easily puts you onto your back and climbs on top of you.

Without your eyes you’re forced to play upon your other senses in order to know what’s happening, even without your eyes it’s quite powerful… the scent of soil, among lilacs, and even various fruits seem to culminate, it’s as though she’s really one with the earth.

While the two of you share this moment of bliss, Zecora opens her eyes to look over you. She smiles into the kiss and her eyes seem to take on a green tint, but as soon as she blinks they’re back to their blue hue.

The sensation of her warmth, and the softness of her coat as she presses herself into you does nothing more than fuel you for what’s to come. Her moist tongue trails upon your lips, seemingly begging for entrance. You’ve never done anything further than this, so admittedly you’re quite nervous. Yet, regardless of how you feel, you give her what she seeks. As soon as you part for her she takes advantage. You inhale sharply as you feel her long, wet tongue invades your mouth.

Her muscle runs wild within; it trails along the roof of your mouth, the back of your teeth, until it finally starts to run along yours in small strokes. You’re not experienced in this sort of thing, you find it hard to do nothing more than let her take control. Though, you’re not going to let a creature half your size dominate you without putting up a fight.

You lightly drag your fingertips along her back, causing her to shutter under your touch. Further your hands explore until they reach her thick curves. Deciding to throw caution to the wind you pull a hand back, and then bring it down in an open palmed slap upon her flanks. A resounding smack seems to echo throughout the room. Your action causes her to gasp into your maw.

It’s at this point you realize you flipped a switch. Her hooves seem to defy her body structure as she wraps them around your neck, deepening the kiss. Your simple action has unleashed a ferocity that you didn’t know the Everfree Hermit had.

Her tongue goes from playfully lapping and wrestling to a full blown assault. It takes everything you have to keep from choking on her as she forces herself down your throat. It’s much longer than you gave it credit for. The way she seems to moan with each breath she takes, it’s as though she’s kissing you with voracious desire. The years she’s spent without another like you must have left her body starved for this sensation. And Zecora intends to get her fill. Like a glutton she steals your breath away.

All you can do is wrap your arms around her push back, your fervor cannot hope to match hers, but you refuse to have her believe that this feeling is one sided. You’ve never been able to experience something like this. No girl would ever let you and you were in no condition for it anyway. You’ve denied your body this sensation for many years, and it seems to want to catch up on lost time.

You want desperately to savor her taste, her sounds, her scent, and her body. If you can’t experience it with your eyes, you’re going to do everything you can to make sure you can with everything else. It’s intoxicating; the knowledge that you’re a slave to every other sense but sight, you could even say it excites you. Your hitched breathing, and the way you dig your fingers into her coat could attest to that.

She writhes under your amateurish touch. Even without proper knowledge, the way her supple body moves on top of you excites you to no end. Unfortunately, it’s getting a bit hard for you to breathe. While you regret doing this you reluctantly part lips. The labor has left you both panting and gasping for air.

A single, solitary strand of spittle still connects the two of you. It’s not made known to you until it finally breaks away and lands upon your chin. You wipe it away as you try to recover from the enthusiastic efforts shared between the two of you.

Neither of you say a word; it isn’t needed. Judging from the blood rushing to your lower half, forcing it to stand at attention, and the scent of her need for you, it’s painfully obvious what both of you want. She leans in, her breath tickling your cheek as she does so.

“Anon are you ready? If you say yes I’ll be anything but slow and steady.” She whispers intimately into your ear. Your body shakes when she nibbles upon your lobe. “So, Anonymous what will it be, will you truly share this bed with me?”

CLOP PART BEGINS HERE

You only take a few moments to decide. Admittedly you’re quite excited. The prospect of physical intimacy with another, something you thought you’d live without, is in your grasp. You take in one last lungful of air. When you exhale you answer.

“Yes,” you chuckle nervously before grinning, “still a bit nervous though.” You don’t see the thin smile she’s sporting or the hunger in her gaze as she looks at you like a piece of meat. You experience a moment of sudden loss as she moves off of you, then anticipation as you hear her shuffle along the bed.

The only thing you can sense is her lingering scent and the sounds of her movement. Your nervousness seems to turn up a notch when Zecora roughly tears away your boxers. When your erection is on display for her to see, to use as she sees fit, you start having second thoughts. Those dissipate instantly when you feel her tongue lightly run along the tip.

Your body appears to freeze as a single crack of lightning seems to course through you for that moment. Your reaction causes Zecora to chuckle, as she repositions herself in between your legs you gasp as her hot breath washes over your dick.

“See Anonymous, your size is fine. And your taste is divine…” As you feel her warm wet lips wrap tightly around the head of your member you let out a sharp gasp before clutching her blankets. You’re in completely foreign territory now, and you think it’s best to let Zecora keep the lead she has. And there is no way she’ll disappoint you.

She was right to warn you. Zecora is showing that by no means is she a slow and steady lover. She’s nursing upon your slit like a child starving for its mother’s milk. It’s quite rough, but it’s enough to throw you into a torrent of ecstasy. You bite down on your hand to keep from crying out.

Her beautiful blue orbs cast a quick glance up to you. A smile graces her when she sees just how much you’re enjoying her work. While she finds it unfortunate that you can’t see, at the same time knowing that you’re blind excites her to end. She could give your other senses a run for their money, and that’s what she intends on doing.

Bored of barely bobbing upon your phallus and suckling your head, she parts her lips from it with a wet smack before pulling back and drawing an agonizingly slow, sensual lick from the base of your shaft to the tip.

You can’t stand it any longer, the wetness of her tongue and her warm breath causes you to bring your head back and moan. Zecora’s smile widens before she throws away any semblance you had that she was going easy on you. She positions her lips over your head again, but this time she takes the entirety of your phallus into her eager mouth.

When you feel her lips brush against the skin of your crotch you nearly lose it then and there. The only thing keeping you from completely losing yourself is the fact that you’re gripping her blankets. Your hand has such a tight hold it’s to the point of your knuckles turning white from the strain. It’s hard for your pleasure ridden mind to register.

The entirety of her mouth seems to tightly hug your erection in its entirety. She doesn’t wait long before she starts bobbing her head. Each breath comes out shaky as she quickens her pace. Each time she draws you in you find yourself holding your breath, but when she pulls back and nurses your tip you can’t seem to form a cognitive thought.

All you can do is lie there and let her do whatever she pleases; you’re at her mercy. She alternates between bobbing upon your phallus, and focusing on your most sensitive area. Whenever it seemed liked she’d part from your member, she’d swirl her tongue around the tip in a circle before forcing her lips back to your crotch.

As your breathing starts to pick up you can feel pressure begin to build within your loins. A sensation you’ve only felt whenever you found time to take care of yourself. That is something you’ve neglected to do since coming to this place. You’ve gone a good month and then some since the last time.

“Z-Zecora,” you hiss through your teeth, “Almost,” you manage between fits of breath. You can barely think, this zebra’s technique is leaving you with nothing more than white hot flashes of light and indescribable pleasure. Your forced words of warning do nothing to deter Zecora.

In fact, she increases her pace and her sucking becomes forceful. All the while the pressure amasses itself to the point where you can only grab hold of her Mohawk and force her to take you to your base. In that single, solitary moment you release not only a month’s worth of seed, but a few years of pent up frustration along with it.

You grunt each time your hardened member pumps your ejaculate down her throat. Though you may have her locks in between your digits forcing her to stay, you doubt you’d need to do that anyway. Zecora moans happily as she greedily gulps down bit by bit.

A wave of exhaustion seems to wash over you and you let loose a breath you didn’t even know you were holding in. That’s when you finally allow Zecora to move from your still throbbing erection. She releases you from her mouth’s grip; strands of saliva follow her in her wake. You can hear Zecora panting from her excursion.

CLOP PART ENDS HERE

Though you’ve just expended quite a bit, your body is still more than willing to go on. Naturally she notices this, her tittering attests to that. She moves away from her place in between your legs. She places her hooves upon your chest and pushes up. As soon as her fur comes into contact with your sensitive reaction you yelp and your hips buck involuntarily.

“Impatient are we? Give me a moment, Anonymous.” You find it odd that she’s broken out of her rhyming mantra for a second time. In fact, you find yourself getting into a sitting position, much to the dismay of your partner. “W-what’s wrong? Don’t tell me you’re going to quit.”

“That’s the third time you didn’t rhyme. Two were one right after the other.” Your frown deepens when you hear Zecora gulp nervously. “You rhymed commands to me while we were fighting Timber Wolves two weeks ago. I didn’t think something like this would change that.”

“I-I,” she starts before becoming silent.

“You, you what, I brought it up when you first did it and you cut me off with a kiss. Now here you are doing it again.” As your member starts to soften you find it much easier to think.

She sighs to herself before shaking her head. Then, she cuts you an evil glare. Her eyes flash with a green light, and her body begins to change right before you. You can’t even see as the zebra you thought you were with turns out to be something much worse. Now, sitting in your lap, is an insect pony.

“Since you can’t see, I’ll explain this in a simple way,” the insect pony says using Zecora’s voice. Her horn begins to glow and your body does in turn. You feel the warmth that comes with that and all at once realization washes over you. You’re not with Zecora.

“Who are you?!” You’re answered with a feminine sounding hiss. You heart leaps into your throat out of fear. Despite exhaustion starting to take its toll on your body, you try to struggle. But the green aura surrounding you puts a stop to that.

“I’m the one you kicked into the bucking woods, assssssshole!” You open your mouth to speak but the creature forces you onto your back, cutting you off. She takes the spot back on your chest. She doesn’t look angry though, she’s giving you that same gaze she did before, as though you’re her prey and she’s the predator. “But, you’ll do more than make up for it, won’t you Anon?” You start to struggle again, but this creature’s magic is way too powerful. You do nothing more than wear yourself down.

“Why can’t I move?!”

“Oh, I’m much stronger than when we met the other day. You’d be amazed just how far a little love can go. And your zebra friend gave me plenty of it.” You can feel your blood boiling at this point.

“What did you do to Zecora?!” Her answer chills you to the core. She mimics YOUR voice.

“It’s funny how trusting a pony can be, especially when they believe what they see,” she cackles before shaking her head and going back to her true grating tone, “the stupid zebra thought that I was you! And just like you all it took was a few words, and a little action,” she accentuates her point by dragging one of her hardened hooves along your flaccid member. “Oh but don’t worry, she and I didn’t go too far. She figured it out before I had to. She is much smarter than you; I’ll give her that.”

You spit and grin when you hear her sputter. This earns you a swift strike to the jaw. You’re reeling from the blow, it’s as though someone sucker punched you with a brick

“That was rude,” her angry frown goes right back to her sinister smile, “But I’ll forgive you after I make you earn it,” She leans in and lightly pokes your nose, “and after you do that I’ll be taking you to see my Queen.” Fear wells in your chest from her implications. “But before I steal that last bit of purity from you, I feel like I should introduce myself. The name’s Duplicate, Dup for short,” her alluring laughter echoes throughout the otherwise quiet hut, “and tonight is gonna be the best one of your life.”

Some time later...

“I can’t believe you couldn’t get it up! What a useless human!” Duplicate jeers while carrying you through the Everfree via a green magic bubble. Luckily for you she was able to use her magic to put your clothes back on, and to re-apply your head wrap. As far as the force field you’re being carried in, she’s made it big enough for you to stand and move around in. While it allows more comfort, it makes you out to be a much brighter target among the beasts that’d love to eat you.

But, it still permits you to answer her comment in the best way you know how; by constantly swinging fist after fist at the orb that imprisons you. To you, it’s as though you’re punching bullet proof glass, but you don’t care what you’re slamming your knuckles into. You’re going to get out of her and snap that insect’s neck.

“You know, that’s hopeless. If you couldn’t get out when you were on the bed, then you’re wasting your time now.” Regardless of whether you’re wasting your time or not, there is no way you’re going to give up. You cry out in frustration with each blow that doesn’t bring you any closer to freedom.

Sweat pours down your brow and your body strains from the excess amount of force you’re putting it through. With a final roar you swing with all of your might for one final strike. It’s repelled just like all the others. It almost bounces off, leaving you no closer to freedom. With your energy finally leaving your tired body, you collapse upon your knees and pant.

“Good, you’re done. Now I can finally have some peace.” Dup smiles before turning back and walking back along her little path. The sounds of her hooves moving through the foliage, and your ragged breathing are all that seem to accompany you on your journey.

Many questions plague your mind. How you ended up in such a mess, what these insects are, what is she going to do with you, and even when this particular bug switched with Zecora is another question. It’s the one you’re dreading the most, the one that you don’t want to know the answer to.

The thought of believing that everything you’ve gone through with the hermit being a lie, you couldn’t take it. But you have to know, if you were falling for an imitation, or the real thing. You sigh to yourself, finally stopping your panting.

“Duplicate,” you hear her stop. She turns to face you, this time she’s without any petty insult.

“What do you want now?”

“How long?” She tilts her head in confusion.

“What?” You grumble before asking a bit louder than before.

“How long were you posing as Zecora?” You don’t see it, but the ends of her lips curl into a cruel smile. Duplicate seems all too joyful to answer your question.

“A month Anon, while you were busy spending time with the ponies in Ponyville I made the switch. I disguised myself as you, took what little love Zecora had for you, and then I replaced her.” You shake your head in disbelief, and this only fuels her to continue, “She’s been sitting in one of our hives since then, feeding our young. Though I gotta say, she made it easy to take her place. She had a few journals lying around, same goes for recipe notes. I was able to do a bit of homework before you went into the wood to make it up to her. It made it so easy for you to trust me.”

“No…”

“So easy for you to… love me.” You grind your teeth, and you can feel that familiar burning as your rage comes to a boiling point.

“You liar!” You bring your fists down upon the bottom of the sphere. This only causes her to chuckle happily. “There’s no way that was all you!”

“Oh, so you think it was Zecora that rescued you from the falls? Was she the one who’d spend countless nights teaching you to become better? Was it really the zebra that shared those stories with you, or was it me?”

She doesn’t stop there, she recounts all those times you and she went on little adventures through the woods. About how she thought it so funny how receptive you were of her, that you’d allow yourself to be so trusting while being so blind to the truth. You were a fool, and she only rubbed the salt deeper into your wounds. She was looking to rile you up, and Dup definitely succeeded.

“Let me tell you something Anon, the ONLY reason why you found out who I was, is because I get really excited at the prospect of mating. I didn’t mess up a bucking thing until tonight. It’s too bad you’re blind huh, you could actually do something about me taking your little zebra away.” Her laughter seems to grow louder, almost as if it were echoing throughout your very mind. It grates upon your nerves. You find your whole body shivering with anger, and with a primal roar you’re back on your feet and swinging your fists into the sphere yet again.

“What, again? Wow, and here I thought you were done. Huh, guess not, so much for having a peaceful walk through the woods I guess.” Dup’s disappointment is apparent as your renewed assault continues. You don’t know how much time has passed, nor do you know just where you’re going. But one thing’s for sure, you’re going to get out of here.

The thought of your two weeks here with what you thought was your friend is all the fuel you need to keep going. It feels just like the day Discord corrupted you. With each beat of your heart you felt as though it were being squeezed of life. Your lungs were burning, aching for air which only leaves it as you swing again and again. Still you press on, much to Duplicate’s dismay.

You don’t know it, but the more you assault your prison, the more power she needs to exert in order to keep you trapped. You are wearing away at her bit, by bit. As you move through the foliage she starts sweating and panting just like you are now. It’s becoming a labor keeping you imprisoned, after another three minutes she’s forced to stop completely.

“D-D- damn it Anon, stop doing that,” she breathlessly orders, “Y-you’re making this harder than it needs to be.”

“FUCK YOU!” you scream before bending backward a bit. You have both fists clenched so tight you can feel the warm fluid of life flowing from them. Suddenly you move forward and swing your fists as fast as you can without stopping. They’re a blur as you put forth what remains of your energy into this rapid flurry of blows.

In response, Duplicate tries to put you down by shocking you from within the sphere. Unfortunately for her she’s already exerted too much. Her electricity does nothing more than sting you, it does can’t stop you from trying to reach your goal.

As she tries to put you down she weakens the shield more and more until you hear a satisfying crack when one of your fists make contact. That drives you to press on; as you do you can hear it spread throughout the entire orb. For the final blow you bring both fists forward simultaneously upon a weakened spot. Your prison shatters like glass immediately after.

You yelp when you suddenly drop a few feet. Thankfully you’re able to keep your balance. You’re sure to stand as quietly as possible; you’re looking for your target. As soon as you hear her breathing you turn your head to face her.

You get to your feet and quietly walk over to her. Judging by how hard it is to intake air you’ve put your body through too much labor. But you can’t stop yet, not until you tear this bug limb from limb. Retribution for the lies, and the love you’ve lost.

She must find you intimidating, because the closer you get to her, the louder her whimpering becomes, and the more you hear the leaves and twigs under her get moved about as she tries to scramble away. Despite the adrenaline and murderous intent driving you forward, you find yourself smiling. Not at the thought of killing her, but how easy it’ll be.

She sounds like she ran a marathon, and if she could cast a spell she would have stopped you by now. You crack your knuckles and wince at how sore they’ve become. Only a little more abuse and your hands will finally have some rest.

“H-H-How did you do that?” she pants as she backs away. Duplicate keeps her eyes trained on you, not realizing that she’s backing herself up into a tree.

“Let me explain it in a way you’ll understand,” You stop when you think you’re right before her, “When you piss a human off, it’ll do whatever it can to get even. You just took the attraction I thought I had and stomped it into the ground. I think it’s only fair I do the same thing TO YOUR SKULL!”

She seems to have a bit of confidence despite wearing herself out. She dons a cocky smirk and looks to up to you with a smirk.

“You can’t even see me, what in Tartarus are you going to do?” You try punting from the sound of her voice, only to miss by a few inches. Dup’s smile grows wider as she steps around you. You’re embarrassed by the prospect of missing, but you’re far from deterred. You bring your foot up to stomp where you hear her shuffling around, but again you miss.

You let out a deep, angry growl before doing the same thing yet again. You don’t even know it, but you’re not even close. She’s just moving around to annoy you, and even if she didn’t, you wouldn’t hit her. You’d be off your mark regardless. You have no way of exacting your revenge, and that doesn’t do anything to make you feel any better.

But to say that your stomping and yelling wasn’t doing anything at all would be a lie. It’s doing a good job at attracting a small group of timber wolves that so happen to be hunting in that area. The louder you yell, the more the timber wolves start moving about in anticipation. They’re excited at the prospect of a meal that’s making so much noise, less work for them to find something.

It isn’t until you hear a predatory growl do you stop trying to stomp, kick, or otherwise kill the insect pony. Your whip your head around and listen to the sounds of the forest that has suddenly come to life. Twigs snap under the unforgiving paws of the timber wolves as they step out from behind bushes and into the little clearing the two of you are in.

You can fee a familiar weight rise in your chest. Utter fear of the unknown. You have no way to see them; you only know what they are by their snarling. You can’t tell how many there are, where they are, or how far they could possibly be from you. They’re coming from all around that much is certain.

“Anon you idiot, you’re gonna get us killed!” comes the shrill voice of Dup as she’s forced to back up against you. She does so to avoid being eaten by a rather gutsy timber wolf who tried to take a bite out of her. You look down when you feel her hooves brush against your leg. “Just stay behind me and I’ll get us out of this mess.”

“Wait, why are you defending me?”

“If I bring my Queen a corpse she’ll have my head. Now stay back and let me save us. They look pretty hungry,” she trails off. Her eyes seem to turn into slits as she concentrates on the wolves moving around. Even in the dark she can see the look of excitement in their eyes. She gulps nervously, thinking that because of you she won’t have enough magic to save herself and you.

Author's Note

Everything Anon thought he knew about Zecora is a lie!
A clever rouse that ends in betrayal and broken trust.
Now, he's held captive by heartless changeling Duplicate.
But at this point, the two of them may have to work together to escape their fate.

Will the Timber Wolves get a meal?
Will Duplicate save herself and her prisoner?
Find out in the next chapter.

Chapter Six: Duplicate's Punishment, Estrus Introduction, and Celestia's Reformation Agreement

But, while she tries to come up with a battle plan, you have a much different idea in mind. A devious smirk spreads across your lips. If what she says is true, then these hungry predators won’t discriminate between either of you. They’ll eat whatever they can get, and you start to think that you could help them with that. Right before you is the bug that took advantage of you, who did nothing more but toy with your emotions. You’ll give her the karma she deserves.

When Duplicate feels your shin shift upon her flank she looks up to you in confusion. When she sees your wide grin and your shoe hanging just a foot above her she starts to panic. Duplicate tries to move, but you don’t give her the opportunity. With all of the might you can muster you bring your foot down on what you hope is her back. When you make impact the sound of a satisfying crunch fills the air, it’s followed by the shrill screaming of your victim, music to your ears.

She falls to the ground in a crumpled heap, her damaged nerves cause her body to spasm, only worsening the pain. You don’t know if these things have vertebrae, but whatever you did damaged her body. You’ve done enough to leave Duplicate twitching and crying at your feet.

For her, the pain is immense, much more so than the swift kick you gave her just a few days ago. Everything each little spasm sends a new wave of agony coursing throughout her broken body. With each little movement she only makes things worse.

As tears stream down her cheeks she looks up to you, and for the first time in her life she’s scared of something other than failing her Queen. If you could see her face, you’d probably be more sympathetic towards her, but the cloth around your eyes serve as a heavy reminder that you can’t. Besides, she’s made her choice, as have you.

She manages to squirm a little bit in your arms when you pick her up, but she knows that her attempts at escape are fruitless. You’ve killed her, she just hasn’t died yet. She whimpers in a combination of agony and fear when she figures out what you intend to do.

“Y-you monster,” she strains through her sobbing.

“You’re one to talk. You take advantage of me, and you kidnap the one who saved me, yet you think I’m the monster? That’s cute.” You turn your head to the source of the snarling, “Hey guys I bet you’re hungry huh? Well, don’t worry. I’ve got your dinner.” Despite the injury, Duplicate is still capable of speaking.

“I-I saved your life,” she manages to say. You shake your head before gritting your teeth, to think that she’d be desperate enough to try and pull that card.

“You said you were taking me to your queen. How long did she want me?” Duplicate hacks before whispering.

“Since the day you made Discord leave,” she wheezes.

“So, you were only keeping me alive so you could capture me? If I were of no use to her, you wouldn’t bat an eye to me dying would you?” She says nothing after that. Relative silence looms over the area, aside from Duplicate’s forced breathing, and the growling of the timber wolves, there isn’t a sound to be made.

“I thought so.” You casually toss Duplicate in their direction. She manages a loud cry of pain when she hits the ground, but that’s all Duplicate is able to manage before screaming as they converge upon her.

While you feel a deep sense of satisfaction from knowing that she’ll die, you can’t help but cringe as you hear them tear into her. It isn’t long before her yelling start to die down as the damage becomes worse. The squelching of her innards as they’re crushed in their unforgiving does nothing more than makes the bile rise in your throat. The garbled moans that seem to come from her as she takes her final, fleeing breaths don’t help. You feel blessed to be unable to see the site that you’re sure is before you.

After a few moments Duplicate mutters weakly before finally passing. The only sounds you can hear now are the timber wolves as they feast upon their free meal. Each sickening crack of her carapace and the smell of her organs cause you to grip your stomach. A few gags escape you, and the acid seems to build, but somehow you’re able to keep your vomit at bay.

Regardless, there isn’t anything in your stomach to vomit. You can’t even remember the last time you’ve eaten, and that scares you. You assume that the reason why you haven’t experienced hunger pains is the fear that still looms in the back of your mind.

These timber wolves will be done with their meal soon, and you’re certain they won’t be full from Duplicate. There’s a good chance they’ll go for you after they’re done pulling off every bit of meat they can from her. That assumption causes you to start backing away from the loud, enthusiastic noises coming from the wolves.

You have no idea where to go. As far as you know, you’re in the center of the woods. There’s no way of knowing where any path could be, or how far away you are from the hut. The only thing you do know is the general direction you came from.

You don’t even know how far you were walking; it could have been miles, or a hundred yards. You’re lost in the woods with no way out now, and that’s when you start to regret your choice. If you didn’t tire Duplicate out, then she would have taken you to see her Queen. You’ve no idea if that meant your death; you just assumed that’s what would happen. But, at least with her you had some semblance of safety.

Now, you’re at the mercy of the forest and animals around you. It’s probably safe to say that there is no mercy. You’re going to die alone in these woods, and there’s a good chance your friends won’t even find your body. You find yourself curling into a small ball, afraid for your life, and what you’re unable to see. You can feel the hair on the back of your neck stand on end when you hear the wolves finish what they want of that little insect.

They lick their chops before turning their attention to you. What you can’t see is that they’re lowly growling among themselves. The one that appears to be their alpha is looking between his pack mates before motioning to you with his head. The other wolves look to each other silently before on gives an affirmative growl.

As he makes his way over to you, you cringe thinking one of them is about to take a big meaty chunk out of you. But, when it does nothing more than pull on the bottom of your shirt, you look to it in utter confusion. When you make not motion to move it growls and pulls harder, you can hear it start to rip. In order to keep things from getting worse you let it pull you.

“W-what are you doing?” you unwittingly ask. The wolf answers you with a soft bark, you turn your head in the direction you believe it’s walking, and then nearly fall flat on your face from tripping over a stump. When the timber wolf realizes you won’t be able to follow easily, it gets behind you and starts pushing with its head. The others pick up on its actions.

Within a minute the six timber wolves are walking on both sides of you; three are to your left and three are to your right. They force you to walk in whatever direction they’re trying to lead you. If you try to move to your left or right they snap at you. If you fall too far behind they snarl.

Needless to say, you have no idea how to respond to this, other than letting them take you wherever it is they’re going. You’re not as fearful as you were before, but your confusion has soared to heights you didn’t even know existed.

As far as you knew this kind of thing never happened, from what Twilight told you these wolves do show some signs of intelligence, but they listen to their stomachs more than anything else. Looks like they do more than that, at least that’s what you’ve come to believe given the situation you’re in.

You wish they would have taken a path though; the thorns and broken sticks that are in these woods are doing a number on your legs. The fabric of your jeans are long since ruined from the walk you’ve been forced to go on, and you can feel the heat from your blood as it trails down your legs in thin little lines. You wince as the open air and foliage stings your open cuts.

Finally, after what feels like an eternity, you’re no longer being harassed by thorns or bushes. That’s when your little group decides to stop. The two in front of you let out a near deafening howl that echoes throughout the area. They do so for a few seconds before you hear them take off into the thicket, leaving you to your fate.

“Hey, wait a minute!” you call back to them, “Where the hell did you leave me?!” No sooner than those words leave your mouth did you hear a large multitude of animals lose their cool. Possums, dogs, chickens, and many others start voicing their displeasure at knowing predators are nearby. You quickly realize though that there’s only one place you know that has a large amount of animals.

“You leave my babies alone!” The familiar timid, wavering voice of Fluttershy can be heard from nearby. Relief finally washes over you, and you let out a breath you didn’t even know you were holding in. Those things led you out of the woods and to familiar territory. It seem as though in exchange for the meal, they saved you from the fate of being lost in the woods. You cry out with joy before jumping in the air a bit. You are free, you are safe, or are you?

That Duplicate was able to mimic Zecora easily; does that mean that there are others among the populace? What if Twilight, or Spike, or even Fluttershy could be a fake? The beating wings of the Pegasus in question do little to sate your sudden bout of paranoia.

“Wait a minute, Anon, is that you? Oh my we need to get you inside, there are timber wolves around! Didn’t you hear them howl?!” She tries to grab hold of you when she gets close, but as soon as you feel her hoof on your arm you pull away and turn in her direction. “What’s the matter Anon?” She stops once she sees the frown your sporting.

“Fluttershy, when you broke into Twilight’s library on my first day, what did do to hurt me?” Fluttershy’s confusion is palpable; she doesn’t realize why you’re asking such a question. It was something she wanted to put behind her.

“W-why are you—“you interrupt her with a bit more yelling than you intended.

“ANSWER THE FUCKING QUESTION!” She shrinks away at your yelling and starts to whimper out of fright. Her eyes are already starting to well up with tears.

“What’s wrong Anon, what happened to you?” When her gaze turns to your feet, she sees the severed head of your captor. “And what’s that thing by y-your feet?” Queasiness wells within her when she sees the state it’s in.

Judging from the strings of meat that are still along the neck, she could tell that it was gnawed off the body. A single eye was missing from its socket, and only half of a horn remained on its head, the upper portion was undoubtedly chewed off.

“If you answer right I’ll gladly tell you. But God help you if you don’t…” While you wait for her answer she shakily gets to her hooves. She takes a deep breath in order to try to calm down; it’s a lot for her to take in. Seeing the head of a animal, coupled with your anger, is doing nothing to help.

“I-I, I think I tried to break your back.” She can’t seem to stop shaking, “I barely remember as it is I’m sorry!” Her answer causes you to finally unclench your fists, and your heart rate drops down to its regular pattern. You didn’t even realize how on edge you felt from your paranoia alone. Now that you know that you’re in good company you squat down to what you believe to be her level.

“Okay, you got it right Fluttershy. I’m sorry I snapped. I’ve had a horrible night. As far as what’s next to me, it’s probably something I fed to the timber wolves.” Fluttershy takes to the air in fright.

“Y-y-you were with them, and you gave them food?!” You nod.

“Yes,” as you get to your feet you continue, “If you could get me out of the open I’d be more than happy to tell you what happened. Also, what exactly is next to me?”

“It looks like it used to be a bug of some kind. It’s what’s left of the head.” You grimace at the thought, but regardless of what it is, you need to keep it.

“I’m going to need that for proof. There’s a lot going on that neither of us knows about Fluttershy. I barely scratched the surface of it tonight; let’s just say you need to make sure you lock up alright?”

“Okay,” a moment of silence lingers between the two of you, “a-are you—“your stomach answers the question for her before she has a chance to finish. “O-oh my, you are hungry. Here, let’s get you inside and get you something to eat.” You nod wordlessly, relieved to finally have a place to stay.

With a helping hoof not only are you able to find and grab the rather nasty, slimy feeling head, but she’s able to lead you into her rather warm cottage. You grimace when you feel your fingers slip into the empty socket.

“Ugh, do you have a bag or something I can put this thing in?” She flutters off without saying a word. Within a minute she comes back with a brown paper one, and now you don’t have to deal with carrying the dismembered part by hand anymore. As soon as it’s in the bag you feel Fluttershy take it out of your hands.

“Ew, ew, ew,” she says repeatedly before placing the bag on a nearby table. “H-here Anon, let’s get you cleaned up, and we’ll take care of all those nasty cuts okay?”

“That’d be amazing, thanks Fluttershy.” A goofy grin forms at the prospect of a bath. Fluttershy takes a gentle hold of your hand, and then she leads you up her stairs.

“B-be careful Anon, I don’t want you to trip.”

“Of course, thanks for the heads up.”

“You’re welcome.” Thanks to her, your ascent may have slowed, but it’s much safer. At least you make it to the top without stumbling.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

After an hour of her helping you wash up, she leads you back downstairs and sits you on her couch. Tonight’s meal consists of bread and butter, and you couldn’t be happier. Having to go so long without food, you don’t care what it is, as long as it’s filling. It isn’t surprising for you or for her when you finish the meager meal and politely ask for another plate. Thankfully, Fluttershy complies, though she’s eying you wearily due to having eaten like a malnourished critter.

Another two plates of bread, butter, and three glasses of milk fills the empty void you have in your stomach. When you feel that you’ve finally had enough, you breathe a sigh of relief before reclining. Once Fluttershy takes away the plates, she joins you on her couch, though she’s sure to keep some distance.

You’ve arrived on her property with a severed head so she’ll be nervous around you. The only reason you’re here now is because of her kind nature. With everything seemingly settled you take a deep breath, and explain everything to Fluttershy.

Twilight bringing you to Zecora’s, you drinking the healing potion, the hot and heavy moment that almost occurred in the bed, and the time that Duplicate revealed herself after. Then you describe to Fluttershy how the little bug tried to take you somewhere in the Everfree before you fed her to the timber wolves that came in looking for a meal.

When you finish, silence hangs in the air like a heavy blanket. You can even feel yourself begin to sweat. Why isn’t Fluttershy talking? You swallow the nervous lump in your throat before turning her way. You’re expecting to hear her say that she didn’t believe a word you said, or that you were making up an excuse to kill the bug yourself. But when she finally she decides to speak, those paranoid ideas seem to vanish.

“Anonymous, I believe you. It sounds crazy, but I do.” You wipe the sweat from your brow and smile. “Even though it’s a teensy bit morbid, I’m glad you have the head. Otherwise no pony would believe you.”

“Phew! Thanks Fluttershy, I just wish she told me where we were going. I could tell you guys, and we could get Zecora back.”

“I know, but with the way things are, I don’t think any pony would go in there. It’s way too dangerous.” You cast your gaze to the floor before gritting your teeth.

“I know I would if I could see. I told Zecora I owed her. And what better way to repay her than to save her?” you shrug before turning back to “look” at Fluttershy.

“Well, with the way things are now, who’s to say they’ll try again? If I were one of those bug thingies, I wouldn’t want to be around you, at least not for a while.” While her words seem comforting, they do nothing to keep that worry from etching itself into the back of your mind.

“Well, in Manhattan, a group of them attacked me. If they try again I’m sure there’ll be more than one. That won’t be any fun for me.” Fluttershy puts a hoof to your back and rubs in hopes of reassuring you. It’s not much, but it does help. Her kind and gentle nature has its effects, with each little movement you can feel your troubles chipping away bit by bit. You’re glad those wolves brought you here.

“Twilight told me about that while we helped Applejack with her orchards, it sounded so awful. But, you’ll be okay if you keep your friends close. They can’t hurt you as long as we’re around.” For once, she manages to make that timid, quiet voice of hers come off as confident.

“You really think so?”

“I know so. You’ve done so much for us. If you need our help we’ll do anything we can. Twilight, Applejack—“Your smile immediately disappears as soon as the apple farmer’s name is mentioned. “I-is something wrong Anon?”

“Applejack isn’t my friend. After the way she acted when I was only trying to help her, she can rot. Telling me I’m not allowed to come to her farm anymore, fuck her.” Fluttershy shoots you a disapproving glance while you cross your arms and slump your shoulders.

“Y-you know, she feels awful about how she acted. Twilight had to be forceful with her too before she accepted our help. Applejack said that you could come back anytime, and that she wants to apologize.” You scoff at the mere mention of an apology.

“I honestly don’t care. She burned that bridge. If you see Applejack, tell her she can take her apology and stuff it up her ass.” Fluttershy’s mouth is agape from your foul language.

“Anon, that’s not very nice!” You’re quick to retort.

“Neither is being threatened with a dog and a beating.” You can feel the blood boiling just under your skin, like a switch your mood has been flipped. “I know she was stressed, and exhausted,” you say through clenched teeth, “but, there’s no way I’m going to forgive her, then act like nothing happened.”

“Y-you know, you said some pretty hurtful things to her too,” she trails off before looking to the side.

“I called her stupid and an idiot because she was acting like it. I’m sure Twilight thought the same thing when she was being stubborn. I only called her a hick for being damn sure to let me know I wasn’t her friend.” The malice in your tone seems to have an effect on Fluttershy.

“I didn’t k-know you felt so strongly about this. I-I’m sorry,” she lets out a soft whimper before shuffling a bit further away from you. You take a few deep breaths in hopes of calming yourself down. Just because AJ made you mad, doesn’t give you the right to take it out on Fluttershy.

You sigh before speaking, “you didn’t do anything wrong. So don’t apologize alright?”

“Okay,” she whispers, “S-so—“

“Fluttershy,” you warn.

“I-I’m not sorry?” You chuckle before reaching over and ruffling her mane. You’re shocked when you feel just how well kept it really is. Your fingers easily slide through her soft, silky locks.

“Atta girl,” a rather random thought comes to mind. While on the subject of AJ, Macintosh’s proposal resurfaces. “Hey Fluttershy?” You pull your hand away from her.

“Y-yes,” she whimpers.

“What’s with the first we—“her whimpering is a little off putting. “Is something wrong?”

“Th-that felt so nice Anon. C-Can you do it again, please?” You can’t help but mentally compare her to a dog when she asks such a question. That causes you to laugh a bit before shaking your head.

“Sure,” you reach out and pet her again. This time, you’re met with her pressing the top of your head against your hand. “Now, what’s with the first week of spring?” You feel her ears perk up when your palm brushes against one.

“W-well, t—the,” she trails off before inching ever closer to you. With a bit more room to work with you alternate between massaging her scalp with your fingers and scratching under her chin. “O-oh my~” You pick up on her breathing as it stars to pick up speed, “W-well spring m-makes mares a-a little more confident in themselves.”

“What does that mean, and what’s with the stuttering?” You find yourself moving back when Fluttershy presses her side onto yours. Now, instead of petting Fluttershy, you have your arm draped around. As soon as your digits brush against her wing, her entire body starts to shiver.

“Estrus, I-it’s when mares go into heat,” she manages to explain, “A-and I’m stuttering b-because your hand feels s-so good,” she seems to ooze pleasure from your simple action. She nuzzles into your side after a few seconds.

“Whoa, wait a minute.” The apple farmer’s demeanor when it came to this week finally makes sense, “Big Macintosh was acting nervous about it.”

“Y-yeah, some mares g-get a little antsy w-when they want to mate. The outgoing ones are a bit forward with their feelings.” Her words come out breathlessly. After a few moments she uses a wing to push herself away of you. “I-I think I need to go to bed.” Your eyes widen when you hear Fluttershy leap off of the couch, toss you a blanket, then gallop upstairs. “Gottagetsomesleepgoodnight!” Her words come out too quick for you to understand, you cringe when you hear her door slam, then lock.

Well, that was unexpected. That is, until you remember the details of that massage you gave her just a few months ago. You were touching her wing and petting her, while she’s under the effects of estrus. You’re sure it’s Wednesday by now, and even if it wasn’t you wouldn’t be surprised if some mares were affected a bit earlier than others. Two days shouldn’t make much of a difference for this sort of thing. That’s when you realize you almost made a huge mistake with a friend.

Feeling a little dirty, and disgusted with yourself, you make a mental note to apologize to Fluttershy first thing in the morning. In all honesty you didn’t mean for such a small act to escalate into what it could have been. With a sigh you grab one of the pillows on the couch, position it on one of the arm rests, and lie down. While the couch is a bit small, you’re able to find some semblance of comfort when you curl yourself into the shape of a ball. As soon as the warmth of the blanket washes over you, sleep comes relatively easy.

You don’t allow yourself to dwell on the thoughts of what’s transpired over the course of your day; those idle fantasies about the Everfree confrontation would have kept you up all night. Especially if you put thought into estrus, you know that Pinkie Pie will be dealing with those issues as well. She may be innocent, but she’s a mare just like the others. And unlike Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie actually has a thing for you.

“Y-yeah, some mares g-get a little antsy w-when they want to mate. The outgoing ones are a bit forward with their feelings.” Fluttershy’s words echo throughout your mind and you find that sleep might not be as easy to come by as you would have hoped. Pinkie Pie definitely falls into the category of outgoing…

How you’re going to handle that is beyond you. Maybe she’ll give you some space if and when you tell her about Zecora, and the bug that impersonated her. Actually, if you tell her that she probably will leave you alone, permanently. She, along with Eris, both like you and you didn’t have the decency to let them know you weren’t interested before jumping in bed with the insect.

Well, Eris should know that you aren’t that attracted to her, as for Pinkie, you honestly don’t know. You’ve never initiated any sort of embrace, or kiss. It was always her. You sigh before turning to lie on your stomach. Maybe she’ll give you some time to re-evaluate how you feel about her before thinking about a relationship? Do you think you could like Pinkie as she does you?

“Why does this shit need to be complicated? Things were much easier when I didn’t care about relationships,” you murmur before shifting onto your back.

At least Zecora is out of the picture, if Duplicate was impersonating her the entire time, then whatever you felt for her wasn’t real. And even if you did rescue the zebra, you doubt such a thing could happen again. It’d be best for you to cut your losses, and not dwell on any what ifs or what could have been. Still though, this isn’t something you can just brush off, that betrayal is going to stick with you for a while… what if Pinkie’s a changeling too?

Some ponies, both mares and stallions, still hold you in high regard as a savior of sorts. Just how many mares will want to try and mate with Equestria’s Hero? Hopefully, the fact that you’re a human with an easy to anger sort of personality will keep them at bay.

You growl before forcing your eyes shut and throwing the covers over your head. The fact that Estrus is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to your problems doesn’t help anything. Celestia still sits in the forefront of your thoughts, there’s no doubt that she knows about what happened in Manehattan.

And those bug creatures will be pissed that you sent one of their comrades to their death. If their Queen still wants you, she’ll probably have you roughed up before having you captured. That is, unless you take what Fluttershy said to heart. If Celestia listens to you, then maybe she’ll be able to see the danger you’re in. Lyra was pretty confident that Celestia would offer you help if you needed it. You’ll place your trust in the mint green mare, for now.

With a heavy sigh, you curl your legs up, snuggle into your pillow, and try your hardest to get to sleep. Thankfully, you’re able to achieve your goal within a few minutes, rather than hours.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

“A-Anonymous?” Fluttershy whispers before lightly poking your nose with a hoof. Your curl your upper lip from the sensation and idly brush her hoof away in your sleep. “Time to wake up.” Her soft smile disappears when you turn your back to her and smack your lips. This time she starts shaking you a bit harder. She shrieks when you jolt awake and look around the room.

“Who, what, where?!” you cry before realizing that you’re still blind and you can’t see a thing. It takes your muddled mind a bit to recall the events that took place hours before. As of right now you’re still in Fluttershy’s house, and with her waking you up, you know what comes next.

“A-Are you okay, did you have a nightmare? Oh, I hate those things,” she manages after she’s able to catch her breath.

“No I didn’t, sorry about that, you just startled me is all.” You offer her what you hope to be a reassuring grin.

“N-no, I’m sorry, I should have been gentler.” The mood to argue with her about what she should be apologizing for seems to elude you when you remember a very important detail about today. It’s something that determines whether or not you’ll have bits by next week.

“Oh shit, I’m supposed to go to work today.” You grimace before getting to your feet.

“No you don’t mister,” Fluttershy says before putting you back on her couch. “You’re not in any condition to work. Mrs. Cake will understand. It’s not like she knew you’d be blinded by a bunch of critters.” She turns to look at the brown paper bag still on a nearby table, “Um that reminds me, you might want to keep that bag close. There might b-be other bugs disguised as ponies out there today. I’m sure they’ll want to take that away from you to keep their secret.”

“Thanks Fluttershy,” your smile widens, “and you almost made it through without stuttering.” You look off to the side, “And sorry about last night. If I knew my petting bothered you like that, I would have stopped.”

“It’s okay, you didn’t know. B-but now you do. Be careful Anon, t-those hands of yours are a dangerous thing during this time of year. Some Minotaurs don’t realize the effects of their petting until it’s too late.” She makes coupling sound so dark and risky.

“I’ll keep that in mind. Now, where did you put my clothes?” Fluttershy remains silent, and that does nothing to dispel the worry that seems to surface. “Y-you still have my pants at least, right?”

“Sorry, they were dirty, grimy, and covered in blood. So, I um, threw them out,” she chuckles nervously. And now you realize that you’ve got quite a problem.

“So, let me get this straight. Estrus is affecting some of the mares a bit early.”

“Uh huh.”

“And because of my reputation, I might turn a few heads.”

“Uh huh, some mares like heroes.”

“And you thought it’d be a good idea to get rid of the only thing blocking their view of my goods?” Again, Fluttershy says nothing. A visible line of sweat can be seen pouring down her face. “Fluttershy?” You try to keep your voice level in order to mask the anger slowly welling within your chest.

“I have an idea!” She suddenly shouts before you feel her take hold of your blanket. You get to your feet so she can have full access. As soon as you do, she wraps the blanket around your midsection, and then she ties it off in a rather tight knot. “That should work right?”

“It’s better than nothing,” you shrug, “but please let me know when you’re going to throw something out of mine. I wouldn’t mind dealing with dirty clothes if that meant I’d be covered. Did you at least keep my shoes and socks?”

“Yes I did,” she says with a nod, “those shoes were a bit dirty, but they look durable enough to be worn again and again.” You listen intently as she trots out of the room, and then back in. As soon as you feel the material brush against the side of your feet you sit back on the couch and put them on. At least you can put on these while blind. Albeit it’s a bit harder than it needs to be.

“Alrighty, I’m ready whenever you are.” The soft feathers of her wing manage to find their way to your hand. Instinctively you grab hold of it, though you’re sure to keep a rather soft grip.

“H-here you go.” She passes the paper bag along. With that in one hand, and her wing in the other, she guises you out of her cottage, down her stairs, and onto the single path leading into town. While the trip is spent in relative silence, Fluttershy couldn’t seem to stop grunting or gasping every couple of yards.

Time and time again you were told about the sensitivity of Pegasus wings, and during this particular time that sensitivity is probably made worse, but this seems to be the only way she can guide you without forcing you to be hunched over.

“We’re a-almost to the marketplace Anon,” she informs you of just how far you two have gone. You can already pick up the hustle and bustle of hooves, along with the varying voices that carry along with them. It seems like today is a rather busy one considering the loud volume and variety that comes with it.

“Pears, get your fresh pears right here!” comes the voice of a vendor.

“Cherries on sale, four for one, grab em while ya can!” cries another.

“Oysters, get your oysters! Surprise your lover with nature’s aphrodisiac, perfect for Estrus!” That particular salesmare seems to be having the most luck. You can make out the dozens of voices crying for the rumored affect those particular muscles have. While it’s false, it still manages to draw an enormous crowd. Unfortunately, the vendors aren’t able to catch the attention of every pony out and about.

“Hey there Anon,” you feel a mare bump her flank against your leg. “How about you and me grab a couple drinks?”

“I have no eyes.” You can’t see her look of utter confusion, or disgust when you let go of Fluttershy’s wing and pull off the cloth surrounding your head and open your black encrusted eye sockets.

“Ew, that’s so nasty!” You hear the mare gag before she gallops away. It appears as though your injury may have solved the Estrus, problem.

“Dude, what happened to your eyes?!” You’d recognize that scratchy tone of voice anywhere.

“Mocha, is that you?” You turn your head to the source of her galloping.

“It’s me,” you hear her trot over; “It’s freaky seeing you like that.”

“Yeah, I had a bit of an accident,” you reach out and grab hold of Fluttershy’s wing before adding, “I’m gonna go see someone who can fix them.”

“Well, that’s good. It’d suck if my favorite human couldn’t see me for the rest of his life.” She playfully jabs your leg with a hoof, causing you to chuckle.

“I’m the only human you know. Anyway, what brings you out this way?” You hear her chuckle before brushing up against your side.

“Well, there’s this mare I got my eye on. So, I’m gonna go buy a bunch of oysters and bring her back to my place for a little fun.”

“You know that thing about oysters is a myth right?” you frown. You resist the urge to bring your palm to your face when you hear Mocha growl.

“You serious?” she asks through gritted teeth.

“Yup, it’s been proven that they don’t do anything. It’s just like the placebo effect, you THINK it gets you in the mood, but it doesn’t.” Mocha stamps the ground angrily.

“That whorse is ripping everypony off! I’m gonna go give her a piece of my mind.” She turns away, but before she leaves, she’s sure to fill your mind with a few thoughts you’d do well without. “And Anon, I don’t mind a stallion every now and again, if you catch my drift.” Her voice seems to go from cheery to breathy all too quickly. “You should pay me a visit when you get your eyes fixed. My boss doesn’t care if I take a long break every now and again, and those customers sure love to stress me out. Besides, I need to thank you for your help yesterday.” Goosebumps form upon your skin, and a cold chill travels up your spine when you feel her tail tickle your exposed ankle. When she finally leaves you and Fluttershy, you turn to look down at your companion.

“I see what you mean about outgoing mares.”

“Uh huh, l-let’s get out of here before that happens again.”

“Lead the way.” You feel yourself being yanked along when her wing wraps around your hand. She seems adamant on getting you to Twilight’s as quickly as possible. But, she’s doing so for more than just you, what you don’t see is that mares aren’t the only ponies on the prowl.

There’s a few stallions watching from nearby, and each one that casts a glance over Fluttershy gives you the stink eye. To them, it seems as though you’ve taken Fluttershy for this year’s estrus. She’d rather not explain otherwise, or put you in any unnecessary danger. What you don’t know is that some stallions will fight for the mate they want, and they’d probably love to take advantage of her blind “suitor.”

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Despite the initial distractions caused by a few mares every now and again, you’re able to make it clear across town in no time. It brings joy to your heart to know that Fluttershy would go so far for you despite your past with her. She’s a true friend, and you’ll be sure to find a way to pay her back somehow.

“We’re here,” she calls before finally letting go of your hand.

“Alright, thanks for the help. Just get the door, after that I should be set.”

“Of course,” you hear the door to Twilight’s treebrary squeak from its hinges, “just let me… get that… for you…” she trails off before becoming dead silent.

“F-Fluttershy, is everything okay?” There’s still no response, “Seriously, you’re starting to scare me, stop.”

“H-H-Hi Princess Celestia, I-I didn’t know you’d be s-stopping by.” Flutteshy is quick to kneel, and your heart seems to stop. The sound of Fluttershy’s creaking bones as she shakes does little to dispel your abject horror. What you can’t see sitting, just a few feet away, is Celestia.

She and Twilight have taken their seats upon one of the couches, and they are sifting through a few books that lie upon a table just before them. Dozens of varying sizes and colors lay open around furniture. Twilight, along with Celestia, are currently searching through one. While Celestia manages to maintain an air of calm, Twilight is the exact opposite.

You hear Twilight groan when she doesn’t find the information she’s looking for. She tosses the book away before levitating another one over to the table. Fluttershy’s greeting at least catches Celestia’s attention.

“Oh hello Fluttershy, Anonymous, I was wondering when you would arrive. Please, come in and have a seat, there is much to discuss. And Fluttershy, you do not need to bow, we’re in a private setting. Same goes for you Anon,” you swallow the lump in your throat before walking forward. “And watch your head Anonymous. You and I both know Twilight’s doorway is a little short.”

“O-of course,” you manage before bending down and walking through. Using your free hand as a means of getting a feel for where you’re at, you make it through the threshold without bumping your head. Fluttershy follows in closely behind you. A million thoughts and possibilities race through you mind. How much does she know? Did she find out about Eris? Is she going to punish me?

“Oh goodness,” Celestia gasps when she sees your damaged eyes, “I didn’t think the injury would be so severe.”

“Well, it is and it sucks. I believe Twilight told you everything?” You wait about twenty seconds before sighing, “Celestia, are you nodding?”

“Y-yes, I apologize.” As she explains herself you walk over to her, being sure to keep a hand out while you do. “I’m not used to speaking face to face with someone who can’t see me.”

“It’s fine, how close am I to you two?” you ask.

“You’ve got another three feet or so before hitting the table.” Celestia answers. With that you take a seat in the floor. “But, yes Twilight gave me the same explanation you gave her.”

“Then you know about Eris?” you grimace.

“Yes, but I didn’t learn about her from Twilight. I found out by using an ancient spell on the city of Manehattan. I was able to see your entry, the little squabble the two of you shared, and even the fight you had against those Changelings. I only asked her to see if you would try to keep that information from your friends. I’m glad you placed your trust in my student.”

“Changelings, so that’s what they’re called? That name seems fairly obvious, since it basically implies they can shape shift. And of course I’d tell Twilight, sure I had my reservations about it, but I’m not gonna keep secrets like that from everyone. I’m not going to announce it to the world though.” The next thing out of Celestia’s mouth comes as quite a surprise.

“It’s a good thing you didn’t. Had you let word spread it’d cause a panic. I’d like to avoid that if at all possible. And I must say I’m quite impressed. Despite losing, and knowing nothing about them, you did a great job of maintaining control, until the shot to your eyes of course.”

“Y-yeah, thanks.” You can feel the heat rise to your cheeks, you’re not exactly used to praise from someone of her caliber. However, there’s something more important that needs to be discussed, more so than your incident. “But, what about Eris, are you going to arrest me, are you going to banish her, or what?” Celestia lets loose a long, drawn out sigh.

“I know about the loophole, and frankly I’m a bit agitated. I was hoping that she’d stay gone, along with her father and sister. But, the agreement is with Discord, not her. She’s free to stay.” You let out a sigh of relief before wiping the sweat from your forehead. “But,” you may have felt respite all too soon. “I’m perfectly capable of punishing her for all the damage she caused to Manehattan. And of course for blowing up that guard post.”

“SHE DID WHAT?!” Both Twilight and Fluttershy screech at the same time. Their high pitched shrieking causes you to jump a little. You swear your heart stopped for a moment.

“Although, I think I have a much better idea.” Celestia smiles slyly before giggling.

“A-and what’s that?” you ask, afraid of the possible outcome.

“You help rehabilitate her. Show her the magic of friendship, and the error of her ways. If you succeed, and make reparations for the harm she’s caused my little ponies, I’ll gladly let her stay.”

“Well, I’m sure I can figure some—“Celestia cuts you off before you can finish.

“But, if she refuses, and if she doesn’t leave for Earth, then I’m afraid I’ll have to take matters into my own hooves. She has not reached Discord’s level; I don’t have to use the elements to stop her if the situation happens to arise.” Her grim tone is a cause for worry, you’ve yet to see Celestia in action, but if she’s able to make such a claim, you’re sure she’d be more than happy to prove it. But, you know you’re more than capable of rehabilitating Eris, you think.

The least you could do would be to convince her to stop using her magic in a negative way, at least to the ponies. You might be able to come to some sort of agreement so she’d listen. As for making her a “good” individual, you doubt you could make her change her ways, at least not immediately. Besides, you’re in no real position to say no. If you did, and if Celestia did confront Eris, you doubt she’d go down without a fight. You could imagine just how many might get caught in the crossfire…

“You know what, fine. I’ll do it. She’ll probably make me agree to some ridiculous thing, but I’m sure I can make something work. But, don’t expect a miracle. Eris won’t turn over a new leaf overnight.” Celestia giggles at your response.

“Anonymous, I have lived for centuries. Surely you believe I have the patience to wait on something like this. As long as you keep her in check I’ll consider it a success.”

“Well,” you sigh, “As they say back on my world, Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Celestia tilts her head in question.

“What does that mean?”

“It means that if she’s tempted, or angry, Eris will definitely relapse. Then I’ll have to start over, and hope she doesn’t do it again.” Her smile disappears just as soon as it appeared.

“I’m afraid she won’t have another chance if that happens. I won’t tolerate her using a petty excuse to harm others.”

“I understand where you’re coming from. Now, would you like to come with me so you can tell her about this yourself? Besides, I’ve got to get my eyes back anyway.”

“S-she can do that?” You nod, “W-well then, lead the way. I’ll tell you what I know of the Changelings when we arrive. The more informed you are, the safer you’ll be.”

“What about you Twilight, Fluttershy?” Twilight shakes her head before realizing you can’t see it.

“I can’t Anon. I’m trying to find any book I can on Changelings. We don’t know much about them, and I’d like to have a reference I can read and understand.”

“Fair enough, Fluttershy?”

“U-um, I’m not going. E-Eris is very scary.” Even mentioning Eris causes Fluttershy to hide behind her mane. You sigh before getting to your feet.

“I understand,” you turn in what you hope to be Celestia’s direction. “Shall we?” You smile and hold your hand out to the Princess.

“Shouldn’t I be the one guiding you?” Celestia covers her mouth with a hoof to suppress her snickering. You blush out of embarrassment and your confidence waivers quite a bit.

“Y-yes, to Twilight’s basement.” The feeling of Celestia’s velvet like locks as they wrap around your fingers causes you to gasp. Where she not pulling you in the right direction, you wouldn’t be able to tell her mane was even there. As she gently pulls you towards Twilight’s basement she and Fluttershy call out to you.

“Good Luck!” Twilight shouts happily before putting her nose right back into a book.

“G-Good luck.” You barely manage to make out Fluttershy’s words before you hear the basement door shut behind you…

"So, what's in the bag?" Celestia randomly asks.

"You really don't want to know."

"Is it a Changeling?" She just had to pry...

"Yes it is, well, what's left of it anyway."

"Lovely." Her sarcasm is palpable.

"I'm glad you think so," you snicker.

Author's Note

And here's the end of Chapter Six
Will Eris agree to Celestia's Plan?
What will the Changelings do now that Anon has killed one of their own?
Will Mrs. Cake Fire Anon?
Will Macintosh seek out Anon to try and "save" him from Estrus?
Find out in the next chapter!

Chapter Seven: Anon's Sight Returned, Changelings Explained, and Eris' Terms of Agreement

“It’s like looking into a kaleidoscope,” Celestia dreamily states while looking around your hallway. She marvels at what you’ll soon realize to be the sudden change. True to her statement, the walls have taken on the appearance of multi colored stained glass. While patchy, the sight is truly a wonder to behold as the pieces constantly shift about thin their confined space.

“I call it a headache,” you retort. “Come on, the living room should be a straight shot. Do you see any doors in the hall?”

“Yes, we’re at the central set.” She looks at each door curiously. “So, which pair of rooms are yours?”

“Oh, uh, the ones closest to the exit,” you point a thumb behind you for emphasis.

“After I finish my business, I’d like to take a look around. Would that be alright?” She turns to you with a smile.

“Be my guest. Just don’t go into the other bedrooms or bathrooms without the owner’s permission. I doubt they’d like anyone snooping through their things.” When you hear Celestia giggle, you turn in her direction.

“Did I say something funny?” you ask, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. You’re not exactly mad, if anything you’re curious.

“Well, this is a section of Canterlot Castle. So, if anything, you’ve been snooping in MY rooms.” And just like that, the figurative jig is up. And it only took her two minutes to figure it out.

“Fuck, how did you know that?” You can feel the sweat starting to form upon your brow.

“Anonymous, as I said, I have lived for centuries. In that time, I’ve learned every nook and cranny of my home. Of course I’m going to know about every little secret section. Besides, this room is based off of one of my personal designs. Those that harness magic can essentially use these walls as a canvas if they so will it.”

“Huh, I guess that explains why the décor always changes. You’re not mad about us staying here, are you?”

“Oh no, not at all, I haven’t visited this part of the castle in quite a while. I’d rather someone make use of it than no one at all.”

“That’s an optimistic way of looking at it.”

“Indeed, and I guess you could say I’m happy the four of you took residence here. At least now it serves a purpose. And I’m glad I could share the simple wonders this section possesses, even if the ones I share it with aren’t the finest bunch.”

“Aw, I’m hurt Celestia,” you feign, being insulted by frowning and sticking out your lower lip a bit. Celestia’s eyes widen when she realizes how she managed to come off as. But, instead of realizing that it was a joke, she stammers out a response.

“Not that I have a problem with you, Anonymous. As far as I’m concerned, you’ve done nothing wrong. But, Discord and his daughters on the other hand,” she trails off before turning her gaze to the end of the hall leading into the living room. What she finds floating there leaves her at a loss for words.

Eris is floating a few feet away, and she’s sporting quite a nasty glare. It’s obvious she’s heard what the sun princess has just said. Her uneven, blood red pupils seem alight with malice as she stares you two down. You swear you can feel the temperature drop, and the now cold, crisp air lightly covers your exposed skin.

“Oh, don’t let me stop you Princess.” You could feel the venom oozing off of her words. “Please, finish what you were saying.” While Celestia is momentarily taken aback by seeing Eris that stunned silence doesn’t last long. The princess promptly shuts her mouth and returns the Draconequus’ glare with her own.

You on the other hand, allowed your mind to picture the rather vivid image of Eris the last night she decided to stay in Equestria before leaving for Earth. Those razor sharp teeth, that calculating, spiteful glare…

“In order to keep this from devolving into petty insults, I shall hold my tongue. I have not come here to criticize your behavior. I’ve co—“ Eris cuts her off with a dismissive wave of her lion’s paw. Almost like flipping a switch, she goes from furious to nonchalant.

“Yeah, I get it. Anon told me you’d stop by after you saw what happened to Manehattan.” You don’t hear Eris approach, so the instant you feel her griffin claws, you yelp, dropping your bag in the process, “And I’ve got him from here. So you can let go.” You grimace when she grips your hand, and when the bag hits the ground, the sickening crunch of the contents inside could be heard by all present, but that doesn’t seem to distract the two around you.

Her eyes never left Celestia’s, not even for an instant. While Eris’ voice would indicate that she had no problem with her, the way her eyes bore into the princess’s as if she were searching for a weakness, would tell an entirely different story.

Unfortunately for you, with your eyes being as they are, you can’t see anything that’s going on. But, you can certainly feel the tension in the air, and it’s causing your sweating to intensify. Despite the rather chilly conditions, your body manages to heat up in anticipation of what might occur.

When you feel Eris pulling, you decide to go with it. But, before you get too far, you feel Celestia’s locks tighten around your hand, keeping you from going any further. That does nothing to help your nervousness. If you didn’t know any better, you’d consider yourself to be the rope in a rather odd game of tug-of-war. Why am I here and not in bed sleeping? Why won’t Eris stop being a cunt?

“Forgive me. After your antics in Manehattan, I’m a little reluctant to release one of MY subjects into your care.” Eris scoffs before smirking.

“My family took good care of him when you were stuck on the moon losing your shit.” As soon as that leaves her mouth, Celestia huffs indignantly, causing Eris to snicker and shake her head. “Get that stick outta your ass and calm down, Anon’s a big boy; I’m sure he’ll be okay with little old me.” Eris’ smirk soon turns into a mocking grin. The Draconequus is sure to show off her fangs to the alabaster alicorn. My eye crust hurts, and I’m hungry. Your stomach matches your thoughts perfectly. You hope that you’ll get something worth eating after all is said and done.

Knowing what lies just beyond those crazed eyes and smile causes a fearful chill to travel down Celestia’s spine. This does not go unnoticed by Eris, and her smile widens as a result. But, despite feeling rather insulted by her snide comment, and afraid for your safety, Celestia still decides to release you from her mane.

You breathe a sigh of relief, hoping that this moment would soon pass. The thought of being caught in the middle of a power struggle between two incredibly powerful beings didn’t sit too well with you. In fact, that thought chilled you to the very core. While you’ll never admit it openly, being handicapped like this has left you rather fearful, especially in high stress situations like now and in the Everfree, but thankfully that time will be over as soon as Eris takes care of you.

“There we go. Now, did you ever get the medicine from that zebra? And what’s with the bag?” Eris asks with a raised brow; she sniffs the air before recoiling in disgust. “Okay, I smell blood. Anon, what dead thing did you bring in here?”

“Remember those bugs I told you about? That’s the head of one, as it turns out, she took on Zecora’s appearance and has been her for a full month. She gave me the medicine, she took advantage of my trust, and she,” you sigh, feeling reluctant to tell her about the rather saucy even that occurred.

“What else?” Both Celestia and Eris ask at the same time. You’re rather taken aback by their interest. At this point, you hope a less than subtle hint would sate their curiosity.

“Well, it’s not appropriate. All you need to know is it was one of the factors that led me to feeding her to the wolves.” You clear your throat before continuing, “Anyway—“ Eris stops you from getting another word out.

“You lost your virginity to an insect, didn’t you?” And now you don’t really care if they know.

“Eris!” Celestia hisses. “He didn’t feel comfortable saying anything about it, don’t try to pry it out him!”

“Oh come off it, Ms. High and Mighty. You’re just as curious about it as I am.” What you don’t see is Celestia’s eye twitching from rage. Thankfully, you take the time to step in before it devolves into a potential argument.

“To answer your question Eris, nope, but I got to find out what her mouth felt like.” Eris chuckles before waving her paw in a dismissive fashion.

“See, it wasn’t that bad. It could have been worse.” Celestia looks at her in disbelief.

“Not that bad? Eris, these bugs feed off of love. She used that ability to rape him. You can’t tell me you’re okay with something like that. I know I’m not!” The more you hear the alicorn talk, the easier it is to tell that she’s losing her composure.

“Neither am I. I would be mad, and I’d have killed the bug myself. Oh sweet chaos, I would have torn her limb from limb. But,” she points to the bag, “he killed her and used timberwolves to do it. I’m assuming Anon brought what was left.” Eris scowls at the thought of what mangled mess you managed to bring. “She’s already dead; he got her back for what she did. What’s the sense of getting angry over something that’s out of my control and resolved? It seems kinda pointless.”

While Eris’ nonchalant demeanor over what happened doesn’t sit too well with you, you find yourself unable to refute her point. The situation has been taken care of, you saw to it. There really is no point in her getting angry. However, you find it nice to know that she at least cares enough to be willing to do what you did. Same goes for Celestia; it’s refreshing to hear that some ponies care.

Celestia huffs again from Eris’ offhanded actions, but when she realizes her point, she manages to prevent herself from having an outburst. She still manages to maintain a rather intimidating glare.

“Be that as it may, that doesn’t change the fact that it happened. He’s not the only one who’s experienced it, nor will he be the last. That brings me to the other reason why I’m here.”

“Oh, do tell,” Eris starts. When Celestia’s mouth opens, Eris raise a paw to silence her, “on the couch. I’m tired of just floating around here.”

“Fine.” As soon as the words leave her maw, Eris hands you the bag, and then virtually drags you into the other room. Celestia follows in close behind. The living room reflects the hall’s kaleidoscopic appearance, though it’s on a much grandeur scale. The pieces of stained glass have shrunken considerably, almost making the wall appear to be vibrating as they colors shift about. Celestia decides to take a seat upon a rather large, stark-white cushion in front of your couch, while you and Eris take a seat upon the now zebra-striped piece of furniture.

“You know, your home doesn’t match at all,” Celestia absentmindedly states while looking over the various sized and multi-colored furniture that seemed to litter the room. Overturned sickly-green chairs, polka dotted bean bag chairs, and various tables make up the rather cluttered space.

“Huh, I didn’t notice.” Eris is sure to make her sarcasm as obvious as possible. “So, let’s get started, shall we? But first,” she turns to you; her features show concern as she looks you over, we need to fix your eyes.” Her eyes widen with a sudden realization, and her confidence seems to be sapped from her body. “But, if the bug mimicked the zebra, how are we so sure she gave you the right stuff?” You’re quick to respond; you were anticipating a question like this.

“She told me that she was going to take me to her queen. I doubt she’d make anything that’d potentially put me in harm’s way. Besides,” you sigh as the memories come flooding back, “I remember that burn. Trust me; she gave me the right stuff to purge your magic from my system. Besides, once she did, and after the wolves brought me to Fluttershy, I was starving for food and desperate for water, just like the first time.” Eris looks to Celestia, obviously hesitant to act. The alicorn merely shrugs in response and adopts a small smile.

“Don’t look at me. I didn’t even know Zecora could make a potion like that. Maybe you should trust Anon. I’m sure he knows what he’s talking about, right?” You nod without hesitation. At this point, Celestia relaxes her posture and adopts a more hopeful gaze in order to try and dispel Eris’ anxiety.

“Now, I know you don’t want to risk hurting him, but sometimes you’ll have to go for it and hope for the best. Besides, isn’t taking chances in your nature as a Draconequus?” Eris chuckles while shaking her head.

“You’re right about that Princess, but I’m not so sure. I don’t wanna give em extra limbs, or turn him into a fish or something like that.” She flashes a nervous grin while looking off to the side. “My magic is risky, Princess, I know you know that. So I’m sure you can understand why I don’t want to end up making things worse.”

To hear her say something like that comes as a complete and utter surprise. Eris comes off as a rather petty creature who wouldn’t mind messing with someone if it made her laugh. She reminded you of her father in many different ways. She forced you into that precarious position on Hearts and Hooves Day without a second thought, same goes for what happened the day before yesterday.

But, then again, you do remember the rather sweet moments she could have. However, those were a bit too far and few in between, so why would she suddenly care? What made you so special that she’d take caution with her magic? You know she likes you, but that’s never stopped her before. Instead of questioning it, you decide to reassure her.

“Eris,” you feel her shift upon the couch so she can look your way, “you won’t hurt me. I promise, let’s just get this over with, alright? I’m sick of being blind.” Silence resides over the room for a few moments before Eris lets out a long drawn out sigh.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this. Alright Anon, don’t say I didn’t warn you. Oh, by the way, it’ll probably burn a little bit, but the feeling will pass.” Celestia’s eyes widen, and she scoots back a little on her cushion when she watches Eris’ talons light up with a sickly purple glow. You have no time to react when you experience the sensation of a hot iron poker being pressed into the side of your temple.

“Fuck that hurts!” you shout before trying to pull away. Eris realizes this, and before you can make your move, she’s already got her lion’s paw on your chest. She applies enough pressure to keep you from getting away. You’re forced to endure the feeling of your skin burning away. You grit your teeth to try and keep from screaming, but that doesn’t last long.

Your body decides to join in with you voicing your displeasure. Your legs spasm uncontrollably, your body twitches and tries its hardest to escape. But, no matter what, Eris’ single talon does not move away from your temple, nor does her hold lose any strength. Physically, she’s much stronger than you gave her credit for. Even when you bring an arm up to try and pull away her limb, she doesn’t budge.

Unfortunately, those little movements of yours don’t last long. Comforting warmth that contrasts the searing heat wraps snugly around your neck, wrists, waist, and ankles, keeping you from moving. With Eris concentrating on her spell, the only other culprit is Celestia…

“I’m sorry Anon, but it’s for your own good. I can’t have you moving around or we’ll have to start all over again in three days. Please, just try and endure a little longer, I can already see the progress Eris is making with you.” Her words would have been comforting, if you could hear them over your own screaming.

What should have taken only a few moments seems to be dragging on for hours. Despite being unable to move your limbs, you can’t stop your body from twitching and wiggling around in its restraints. Your nerves are being overloaded from the ever constant sensation that seems to spread from such a tiny focal point, and there’s absolutely nothing you can do but to wait it out.

But, there truly is a silver lining to it. When you feel what seem to be tiny bubbles rapidly popping within your sockets, you start to realize that the spell is really working. The scabs start to fizz and crumble away, revealing the white lens beneath. The moment the nerves reattach themselves, you start looking around rapidly as the darkness soon gives way to light. And the more your eyes reveal, the lesser the intensity becomes, until finally…

Eris pulls away her talon, and Celestia dismisses the golden rings binding you. As soon as you’re free to move, you place your palm against your temple to find that any harmful sensations have completely vanished. It was almost as if you weren’t touched at all. Knowing that there’s no scarring or damage that can be felt, you move on to the more important thing: your eyes.

While there was still plenty of scabbing and charcoal like substances covering the lenses of your eyes, you could see through the gaps. You blink a few times and the sizzling and crackling increases in number. The scabs break off into tiny pieces, and soon you’re able to rub the particles out of your eyes.

The sudden lights increased strength causes you to squint. These are new, so of course they’d have to get used to lighting. You probably won’t be able to walk about outside without squinting or using sunglasses. Thankfully, you’re still able to make out Celestia and Eris, along with the horrible design for the room. You’ve truly been fixed…

Pure joy courses through you. You want to jump and shout, to run around and show all your friends, and above all you want to use them to see everything you can. You didn’t truly realize just how much sight mattered until it was forcibly taken from you.

Trapped, alone, vulnerable, these among others would perfectly describe how you felt these last few days. Relief from the unfortunate crippling injury is all that remains. Your grin spreads from ear to ear as you look around the room.

Even the kaleidoscopic patterns aren’t pissing you off. In fact, you say you could get used to looking at something like that. After realizing the two sitting with you are waiting with baited breaths on how Eris did, you decide to let them know that their worries can be put to rest.

“Well, that hurt like hell, and it stings when I open them all the way, but I can see!” You let loose a cry of joy before letting your impulses get the better of you. Eris manages a small ‘eep’ before you wrap your arms around her neck and pull her over. “Thank you!”

After going so long without seeing you, and with her being the one to initiate the hugs you shared in the past, having you suddenly bring her into a rather strong embrace comes as a complete surprise. Eris doesn’t know how to respond and opts to simply stammer out her reply. It takes her a few moments to realize that you’re really hugging her before she can speak.

“Y-you’re welcome,” she stutters before using her snake tail to give your waist a halfhearted squeeze. Her cheeks are aflame with a pink tint, and it only worsens when she glances over to your alabaster companion. Celestia looks over the both of you, a rather small smirk grace her features as she does so.

“Well, I didn’t know you two were so close,” she states before crossing her front legs and adjusting her posture. Eris tries to play off your affection with a short laugh and smile.

“Of course,” the instant she finishes the two of you part, “he can’t get enough of me.” Your rather wide smile drops slightly. She thinks she can save face by playing off as confident. There’s no way you’re going to let her get away with that. This is a rather rare occurrence and you intend on taking advantage of it. Who knows when this side of her will come to light again?

“Eris, isn’t that the other way around? Last time I checked, you were the one who got into my lap when I wasn’t wearing a damn thing.” If Eris’ cheeks could get any brighter, you swear they’d be on fire. The piercing glare she gives you does nothing more than make you laugh. Celestia joins in, but covers her muzzle with a hoof to try and muffle her giggling.

“H-hey, what’s so funny?!” she asks before turning back to Celestia. The alicorn removes her hoof from her muzzle and waves it dismissively.

“It’s nothing at all dear I assure you. Now, since Anon’s eyes have been repaired, let’s get down to business.” Celestia points to the bag by your feet. You nod before bringing it up and setting it upon the table before you. Eris grumbles before crossing her arms.

“This isn’t over,” she mutters under her breath. Thankfully she decides that Celestia’s reason for being here is a higher priority than the little squabble she was hoping to start. The Draconequus has come to realize that the Princess is quite a challenge to tease or start an argument with when her subjects aren’t in any danger.

“Since Eris referred to them as insects, I’ll assume she doesn’t know about Changelings either.” As she speaks her horn starts to shimmer with a bright, and the top of the bag starts to open.

“Change-what’s it now?” Eris asks with a tilt of her head. As she asks the remains of Duplicate’s head comes floating out of the bag. All three of you seem to be holding back bile while taking in the misshapen features of the victim. The jaw hangs slack and a half eaten tongue lolls uselessly out of the side of her mouth. “Well, there goes my appetite.”

“Indeed. Ugh!” Celestia turns her nose up to the bug’s head before letting it drop on the table, “Anyway, these are the insects Anon was referring to.” During her explanation, you can tell the princess is bothered by the “distraction” on your furniture. “Using a spell I was able to see the ones who assaulted him. As you’ve already seen Anon, they’re capable of using magic to not only change their appearance, but to attack as well.” You nod to let her know you’re paying attention before she continues, “They can also use their magic for defense. In the past they’d create barriers around themselves, and ram their bodies into buildings in order to do as much damage as possible while remaining unharmed. Their strength varies among their types, and how much love they consume.”

“Yeah,” you point to the head, “Duplicate mentioned something about a Queen. So, what other types are there? And, what’s with the feeding on love thing?”

Celestia sighs, “Well, we have the drones, or the workers. They’re the ones that live as their architects. They create underground chains of tunnels, and they make the housing areas that they all use. Drones can’t take in as much love as the others, nor are they that strong, but what they lack in strength they make up for in numbers. They’re also the most common form of Changeling, and typically the easiest to dispose of. You won’t see them outside of their hives considering they’re horrible at disguising themselves and fighting. If they’re used in a combat role their life expectancy plummets.”

“So, what does Duplicate fall under? And what about the ones who attacked me, what are they as far as type goes?”

“She was a soldier class. They’re a step above the drone, and their specialty is adapting. It’s a rather scary notion to think about. Even my little ponies in the Royal Guard aren’t as versatile. Changelings like her can take any profession: Infiltrator, Scout, Infantry, etc.”

“Wow, that’s something.” You comment before leaning in. This conversation is starting to get interesting, and you intend on remembering everything, or at least as much as you can.

“However, the soldiers can only fulfill one position at any given time. Their bodies adapt to fill the role chosen. However, when they choose a role they are stuck with whatever they decide. The infantry are tough to take down, while a scout can be easily disposed of. Infiltrators know how to keep themselves from being caught while being disguised as another creature. You may never know they’re near you until it’s far too late.”

As she finishes mentioning that detail, your thoughts fall upon the question you asked Fluttershy last night, and to the ponies in Ponyville. Knowing that there was at least one in your town and a squad in Manehattan, there’s no telling just how many are hiding in plain sight. You could have a rather horrible problem on your hands.

“Well, when I first met her, she was in a tree near Sweet Apple Acres, and she’s been disguised as Zecora for quite a while. What would that make Duplicate, a scout or an infiltrator?”

“Are you sure about that? There weren’t two different Changelings?” The way her eyes widen doesn’t sit too well with you. When you shake your head frown deepens and her mood worsens considerably. When her ears droop you can feel cold sweat starting to form upon your brow.

“Anon, you may have dealt a rather devastating blow to their hive.”

“What makes you think that? It seems like there are plenty to go around. B-but doing a lot of harm is a good thing, right?”

“Not in her case, it’s rare for a soldier to be able to fulfill two or more roles. In fact, it’s very rare, almost unheard of.”

“What are you saying, did I get a special case killed or something?”

“Fulfilling multiple roles can only be done by Changelings capable of becoming Queens. So yes Anon, you really did. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was next line for the throne. Though, now there’s a problem, a huge one.”

“I’m almost afraid to ask,” you say before chuckling nervously. A rather uncomfortable feeling forms in your gut. You have a feeling you know what Celestia is going to say before she says it.

“Anon, when the Queen finds out you did this, she’s going to be furious. Capturing you will be far from her mind. She’s going to try and kill you, and she’ll do anything she can to see it through, even if she has to be the one to do you in.”

You swallow the lump growing in your throat, but that does nothing to calm you. The sweat comes pouring down your face, the shivering starts after that, and your heart starts to race a mile a minute.

You haven’t felt this way since the first day Discord revealed himself to you, knowing that you’ve messed up this badly fills you with fear that you wished you’d never have to experience again. Dealing with those Changelings in Manehattan was hard enough, but having their ruler angry with you, and trying to kill you…

The ones in the city were only trying to capture you, and they would have succeeded if the guards didn’t intervene. There won’t be a second chance like that again, and you’re sure the Queen won’t make any mistakes in getting to you.

And, there’s a possibility you’re not the only one in danger. She might use Twilight and the others to try to lure you out. By killing off Duplicate you may have just sealed Ponyville’s fate. Knowing that does nothing more than adds guilt to your growing terror.

“Yo Anon, you okay?” Eris places her talons upon your shoulder and gives you a little shake to try and snap you out of it. Her attempts go unnoticed as unspeakable horrors begin to play in your head.

Ponyville, up in flames, as Changelings move about the skies and the ground, laying waste to any ponies trying to escape. All of them chant the same question.

“Where is Anonymous, where is the human?!” they cry while sickening green bolts of magic cut down the citizens. What little guards the town has stand no chance against an angry swarm of insects. Citizens turn on citizens as their forms melt away to show the blackened carapace and glowing green eyes underneath…

“Snap out of it!” A resounding smack fills the air. Your cheek stings from Eris bringing a paw across your face. You’d be angry with her if she didn’t just bring you back to reality from the strike. You shake your head of that horrid fantasy and look around the room.

“Who, wha, huh?” you ask before turning to find Eris smiling at you.

“There we go. You kinda spaced out for a bit, you okay?” Her smile slowly starts to fade the longer it takes for you to answer.

“I’m a bit scared for myself and Ponyville.” When Celestia speaks up the two of you turn to her.

“And rightly so, the Queen will stop at nothing to get to you. I’m going to increase the amount of guards stationed in town, I’m going to assign a squad to look after you, and I’ll bring in a few of Luna’s ponies for nightly patrols.”

The added security does make you feel at ease, but even then Celestia’s preventative measures won’t stop everything. The Queen might see her ponies as a minor inconvenience if she’s as strong as you believe.

“While I can’t predict every possible outcome, I can at least give my little ponies a chance if something happens. And, it might be best for you to remain here, in Canterlot. I may even disable the link between your bed and the hallway just to be sure. I’ll let Twilight and the other Elements know what’s going on.”

“I guess my job and Macintosh’s vacation will have to wait huh?” You chuckle before looking off to the side.

“That it will, but you won’t lose your job over this. I’ll personally let the Cakes know that you won’t be available for a little while. I believe they’ll understand that if it involves me, then it’s something important.” With that final bit of confirmation, you allow yourself to relax.

While you may not have any control over your situation, you can at least have some reassurance that some sense of normalcy will remain. That is, if the Cakes are really them and not insects.

“Thanks for that, now, what else do we need to know about those Changelings? Is there any particular way to tell them apart, can we force them to drop their disguises?” Celestia nods before responding.

“Yes, but it isn’t easy. Changelings will study who they plan on mimicking in order convince those around them. But in some cases, an interrogation by someone who knows the pony on a more intimate level will more than likely expose the insect. That’s the non-violent way to find out what they really are. The other way is much more barbaric.”

“And what way is that?”

“Electrocution, some unicorns know spells that produce lightning, or at least static electricity. The shock will be more than enough to disrupt their disguise. For changelings disguising themselves as unicorns, a simple flick of a horn is all that’s needed.”

“What about the other species? From what I saw all changelings have horns, so wouldn’t it work for the others?” Celestia shakes her head, “Why not?”

“It’s rather odd, but when they become a creature lacking a horn, it’s as though they don’t have one. You can wave your hoof around their heads, but you’ll meet no invisible protrusion.” You mull over this bit of information. “Now, I need to get back onto the subject of changeling classes. The one I’ve yet to mention are the most dangerous. This type of changeling is the one who took your sight from you.”

“H-he wasn’t a soldier?” you ask, mystified by her ominous words.

“No, not at all, I can’t seem to recall the proper term. But, my Guards coined the term “Gladiator,” and I have to say it’s a fairly accurate title.” The word plays in your head a few times and images of muscular warriors, bound in little to no armor, participating in a bloody display of strength. You try to compare those thoughts to the changelings you ran into in Manehattan. The one who took your eyes was the same height as the others; he had no defining features, at least none that you could easily see.

“Are you sure about that Celestia? I mean, he didn’t seem big or bulky, and he wasn’t out for blood. Before he hit me, that changeling was trying to keep the others calm.”

“Anonymous, I know we don’t speak often, but trust me on this. If the situation was different, the damage you incurred would have been the least of your worries. Those types don’t get larger until they gorge themselves on love. When they do, it’s a nightmare. They may not be as powerful as their queen, but they’re in a league all their own.” As she continues to explain she leans in and you do so in turn. “If you ever run into a gladiator, don’t try to fight, or hide, you get as far away from it as possible.”

“Why would I do that? They’re half my size. All I gotta do is watch out for their magic and try not to let them swarm me right?” She shakes her head.

“They’ll dwarf you if they get enough love. When that happens their title becomes apparent. Under normal circumstances they prefer to use magic when they fight. It allows them to be subtle. But when they gorge themselves they lose most, if not all of their magical ability and flight capability. In its place their physical strength is second only to dragons and serpents. A single gladiator can turn any one of my towns into a crumbling mess.”

“If that’s true, then how come no one knows about them? Something huge capable of rolling through towns would garner a lot of attention.” Just imagining one of those insects being so large and powerful causes the blood to run cold in your veins.

“That’s because it’s been nearly fifteen hundred years since their last public encounter. They’ve gotten better at hiding among the populace.”

“I don’t even want to know how strong their Queen is.” You shake your head before sitting straight. If the Gladiators are that powerful, then their leader probably dwarfs them both physically and magically.

“As far as she’s concerned, she’s the perfect Changeling. The Queen can do everything any member of her swarm can do, only better. Her strongest Changelings cannot compare to her when it comes to magic. But, as far as her physique is concerned, she’s weaker than her Gladiators, so at least you have that working for you.”

“It’s better than nothing right?” You chuckle nervously. I’m so fucked… Celestia pauses for a moment to take a breath before continuing.

“I guess you could say that Anon, and that’s everything off the top of my head,” a smile graces her features when she adds, “But, I’ll give you this little snippet, if the eyes of a creature flash with green light, even for an instant, do not trust it.”

“Noted, thanks for the heads up Celestia.”

“You’re welcome, now, on to the next order of business.” both she and you turn to the third member of this little discussion. “Eris?” Celestia calls.

You resist the urge to strike her when you realize she’s fast asleep. How she managed to stay sitting up while napping is beyond you. Almost as soon as you thought that, she slides along the couch and the two of you bump heads. While it did nothing but nudge you, it certainly startled the Draconequus.

“Stop churning the butter!” She screams out in horror before swiping her hands around herself. Eris looks around the room breathing heavily for a few moments before wiping away the sweat upon her brow. Both you and Celestia scrutinize her, wondering just what kind of dream she could have possibly been having.

“W-what the hell was that?” you ask as she yawns and stretches out.

“Oh that, it was a dream, your conversation was so boring I fell asleep.” She shoots the two of you a cocky grin, and then she decides to recline on the couch. Using you as a foot rest she props her legs up in your lap, and decides examining her talons takes a high priority.

Because Celestia was so caught up in making sure you knew everything she did about the insects that pestered you, neither of you noticed her falling asleep. You figured she was an apathetic creature, but not to this extreme.

“B-Boring, is that what you think? You need to know about this just as much as he does.” Celestia’s jaw drops when Eris plays off her worry with a dismissive wave of her paw.

“Bah, I’ll just wing it. That always works for me.” Celestia grits her teeth to try to prevent an outburst.

“WORKED, you mean. That attitude was what got you turned to stone in the first place!” Some of her anger manages to slip out; Eris doesn’t even bat an eye to it.

“Whatever Sunbutt, now, what’s up with me being in your little castle? Are ya gonna kick me out or what?” Celestia groans, knowing that it isn’t worth getting so worked up about all of this. She takes a deep breath and you watched through squinted eyes as Celestia takes on a more relaxed posture.

“No, I’m not.” The answer catches Eris’ attention.

“You serious,” when Celestia nods Eris’ smile widens, “Well isn’t that nice of you?”

“Oh, you’re not going to stay without doing something for me.”

“And there it is: the ultimatum! Tell me Princess, what am I gonna have to do to appease you?” She turns her upper body so she can face Celestia. The alicorn’s smile widens as she unveils her plan.

“Nothing much, you’re just not allowed to hurt any pony with your magic, nor are you allowed to run amok. Also, Anon is going to show you the magic of friendship. Hopefully, you’ll learn the error of your horrible ways and turn over a new leaf.” Immediately after the words leave her mouth Eris bursts out into a wild fit of laughter. It gets to the point where the Draconequus has to wipe away tears in order to see. The two of you sit in silence and wait for Eris to finally get the picture. When she sees neither of you are joining in she realizes that Celestia isn’t joking.

“Wait, you’re serious?” Celestia nods, “do you really think I’m going to agree to that?”

“It’s either reformation, or I send you to Earth myself.” Eris puts her paw under her chin in thought for a few moments.

“Ya know what, sure, why not? But, if you want me to buy into this “magic of friendship” garbage there’s one thing I want in return.” Please don’t let it involve me.

“I don’t mind giving you incentive Eris, though the threat of being banished should be enough, what do you want?” Her smile takes no a more sinister appearance, and when she points a talon at you, you feel your heart stop for a moment.

“Him,” she states.

“Me?” you ask while pointing to yourself, “what about me?” Oh God she’s going to make me be her boyfriend I just know it.

“You’re going to be my special somepony, and you’re going to do everything that title implies,” when she leans over and runs a rather sharp talon under your chin, you swallow the growing lump in your throat, “everything. And if you refuse, then you can forget about me being nice.” You glance between her and Celestia for a few moments before standing.

“Hey, Celestia, can I talk to you for a minute?”

“I’m right here.”

“Alone?”

“Oh, alright then, Eris do yo—“

“Nah, just hurry up so we can shake on it or whatever,” she waves the two of you away. When Eris does you stand and make your way down the hall, Celestia follows close behind. As you open the door to your room, you’re trying desperately to figure out just how you’re going to convey your displeasure at Eris’ terms. You opt for the simplest way. As soon as you hear the door shut behind Celestia you turn to her.

“I can’t do it.” She eyes you curiously as you speak, “there’s no way I’m going to be her damn special somepo— coltfrie— whatever.”

“I figured, but, you know what will happen if you refuse right?”

“Yeah I do, she’ll make your life a living hell.”

“Not just me Anon, every pony in Equestria will be at risk. I can send her back, but I doubt she’ll let me do that easily. Eris will probably do everything she can to harm Equestria before I banish her. In that time there’s no telling what the Changelings will do. It’d be the perfect distraction, my sister and I would be busy with her, the elements would be dragged into it, and that’d leave them to do whatever they want. I’m sure you’d be thrown into the mix too, I couldn’t guarantee your safety if that happens.”

“So, what you’re saying is, I have to grin and bear it?” When she nods you can feel your already poor mood worsen.

“I don’t see any other way around it. I’m sorry Anon.” You take what you hope to be a deep, relaxing breath, and then you flash Celestia a half grin. If you’re going to be forced into this, you’ll at least try to be optimistic about it.

Though, nothing irks you more than being unable to prevent something like this, this feeling of powerlessness is not something you want to grow accustomed to. During your time with Discord you had to play his little game, and with being blind you had to deal with being a bitch to anything with magic that could see. Now, you’re stuck being Eris’ boy toy. Despite the smile you’re giving Celestia, you can’t hide the sound of your knuckles popping as you ball your hands into fists.

“You know what, its fine, there’s no problem here. Eris gave me my eyes, so she probably won’t be a greedy, manipulative bitch. She won’t be that bad, right?” Celestia shrugs; thankfully she’s ignoring your rather rigid posture.

“You’ll be figuring that out. I know it sounds like a terrible time, but you do have one thing going for you.” You can’t seem to figure out why she’s smiling.

“And what’s that?”

“She likes you, a lot. Eris won’t admit it, but you’re probably the only reason she came back to Equestria. And now that she has this chance, I doubt she’s going to make your life miserable. In fact, I believe she’ll try to do the opposite.”

“Do you really think that?”

“Yes.”

“Well, putting it that way makes this seem more tolerable,” you let loose another breath of air, and your anger seems to deflate, “I guess I’ll go with it and see what happens. Though, all of this is a bit much. I mean, just yesterday I thought I was cementing my relationship with Zecora,” you make eye contact with Celestia before continuing, “It hasn’t even been a full day, and here I am I’m similar situation. I know I didn’t spend that much time with Zecora, but I kinda thought I was gonna have something with her, ya know? Zecora made me happy, and, well, I was hoping I could do the same for her. It sucks to know that all I did was waste my time.” Celestia places a reassuring hoof upon your arm, her gentle nurturing doesn’t do much, but it’s the thought that counts.

“Anon, I understand it’s a lot to take in, but the sooner you realize that what happened between you two wasn’t real, the easier it’ll be to move on. Just be thankful you found out early. There are those who’ve spent their entire lives thinking they’re with the one they loved, only to be drained of their emotions. Once they were used up, they were left to waste away alone, and forgotten.” There is plenty of truth to her words, and who knows how many ponies fell victim to one of those bugs?

“You’re right, I am pretty lucky, and it’s not like I’m gonna dwell on what could have been anyway. That won’t make me feel better, and it certainly won’t help anything.” Celestia smiles at your response.

“There you go, that’s the spirit. Now, how about we go back in there and let Eris know you’re fine with being her special somepony?”

“Or, I could just crawl out from under the bed. Either way works.” Both of you jump when you hear her voice, and when she slithers out into the open. The smug grin she’s wearing would piss you off if you weren’t so startled. “Wow, you guys are easy to scare, you know that?”

“Eris, you bitch,” you manage while waiting for your heart to finishing pounding in your ears. She merely laughs in response to your misfortune.

“Well that’s not very nice,” Eris gives you a look of mock hurt before making her lower lip tremble. It’s replaced with a look of indifference almost immediately, “Meh, you should expect stuff like this from me, there’s no such thing as a private conversation if I’m involved.”

“So, you heard everything we said?” you ask. She nods before crossing her arms and glaring.

“Yes I did, and I can’t believe you think of me that way! What the hell Anon?” You pinch the bridge of your nose between your index finger and thumb.

“You had me go on a date with you and Screwball by enticing me with the elements. You nearly killed me with a muffin, and you laughed when Lyra threw up on me. One of those three makes you manipulative, the other two a bitch.” You smile when you see Eris open her mouth to retort; only to find that she has nothing to say other than the occasional stutter. She gives up a few seconds later.

“That is some killer memory you got there.” She smiles nervously and yours widens in turn.

“Thank you, but if you heard that I’m sure you heard that I’ve agreed to your terms.”

“That I did,” her smile turns sinister, “and even though you’re right about what I’ve done, I’m going to make you pay for it. Trust me.” Her eyes flash red and you gulp, fearful of what she might have in store.

“W-what are you gonna do?” She chuckles.

“You’ll see,” she says before looking up and winking at Celestia.

Author's Note

And after forever and a day, here's chapter seven.

So, what does Eris have in store for Anon?
Will the Changelings find out about Duplicate?
Will Ponyville be safe?

Find out in the next installment.

Chapter Eight: A Grizzly Ritual, A Chaotic Cuddle, and A Curious Moon Princess Pt.1

Hundreds of miles south of the Equestrian Borders, a solitary, timeworn, dilapidated castle that lies upon a barren, craggy precipice is bustling with activity. The grey concrete blocks that once held strong as a bastion for its old occupants has instead been left to ruin. Pieces of the castle’s battlements lie cracked and crumbling; they reveal the mere shell of the once glorious shelter. Spires that once reached the sky now litter the ground with their dislocated sections, the unlucky pieces that fell and rolled were cast into the abyss below, to be swept away by the roaring current that lie nearly a thousand feet below.

To say that the castle was left to rot and fade from history would be a lie, for a certain species of creature has seen fit to occupy its walls. Changelings, a huge swarm of them, fly around the ramparts, using their magic to fix whatever they can. Sections of the castle have been “saved” by the green gunky residue left behind from their attempts. The ratio of old grey castle walls to the green glue like substance holding it together will soon turn towards the latter.

While the drones see to their work, soldiers move about the castle, crushing, burning, and maiming any small creature they can’t harvest for love. Giant spiders near your height of various colors and types flee in droves from the establishment, fearing for their lives.

“How much longer must I wait until my castle is rid of its pests Commander?” The double flanged voice of an irritated female Changeling resounds throughout the spacious room. She’s a rather tall and lanky thing that even rivals Celestia in height. This particular insect takes on an appearance that strongly contrasted her brethren. Unlike them, her hardened carapace was much more defined; her hole-filled hooves had sharper curves that would inspire fear into those unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of her physical blows.

Her long, seaweed green mane and tail sport a rather obvious holes like her hooves, but she pays them no mind. It doesn’t matter to her; the race she rules over see her as nothing less than perfection in their eyes, and she herself believes it to be true. It doesn’t matter if her fangs drool with anticipation that she hisses when she speaks, or that certain spots of her hardened shell are stricken with grey dots: she’s the epitome of beauty among her kind. Her sickly green slits scan over the soldier right before her, awaiting his answer. Her piercing, malevolent gaze does nothing more than make the Changeling quake in his hoplite armor.

“I grow tired of waiting. The changeling reaches out and trails a hoof along the Commander’s chin, causing his shaking to intensify. “If you cannot complete such a simple task within the hour,” she trails off when one of her jagged half-cut holes runs across his chin, “I’ll find a replacement. Do I make myself clear?” The Commander nods furiously.

“Y-yes your m-majesty,” he sputters, sweating profusely. Finally, a smile graces her features, showing off her rather sharp, protruding teeth.

“Good. Now go.” Chrysalis points a hoof towards the exit archway. The Commander salutes her before zipping away, leaving a cloud of smoke in his wake. “Ah, it pays well to have such hardworking subjects. Now, if only little Duplicate would report to me, today would be absolutely perfe—“ She doesn’t get to finish her statement before two ragged, out of breath changelings come running into her room. Her scowl returns almost immediately. “What is the meaning of this?!” One of the two manages to speak up after a bit of breathing.

“Queen Chrysalis, we’ve got a bit of a problem!” she manages to say before having to take another lungful of air. “We have found Duplicate.” Chrysalis’s eyes widen at the rather great sounding news, but judging by how her soldiers are acting, she’s hesitant to show any sign of joy or relief.

“But—” the Queen starts, waiting on her minion to finish.

“There isn’t much left of her,” the other changeling informs before looking out into the hallway. “Ditto, bring her in.” A third changeling, adjourned in the same hoplite armor as the Commander, comes in dragging a light green burlap sack. The Queen’s mood worsens when she sees the dark stain sitting at the bottom of the bag.

“Th-There was a complication in her mission. When we got there, we found her tracks, the human’s, and a pack of timber wolves’. After we searched the area, we discovered, well, this.” Ditto explains, motioning to the sack. He finds it hard to make eye contact with his Queen and he should. Her eyes seem to be glowing with a sickly green flame.

“So,” she hisses, being sure to draw out her words, “tell me, how did my number one end up in such a state?”

“W-we believe the human orchestrated a trap. Th-the tracks show him being led out of the Everfree by the wolf pack. And some of her parts were seen around where those same animals laid down to rest after their meal…”

“Are you telling me a blind human managed to convince timber wolves to eat her in the middle of that untamable forest, all by himself? And how did she manage to capture him when he was in Manehattan with Masquerade?” Chrysalis asks, rising to her hooves. The three changelings before her begin to huddle together.

“We don’t know what happened your majesty, but if there’s anything we do know, is that somehow, Duplicate managed to capture Anonymous, only to be eaten. Though, there’s one thing that seems peculiar to us. B-but I have to take it out of the bag to show you.” Ditto explains. Chrysalis raises her hoof as if to block the bag from sight before grimacing.

“If you must.” The queen immediately regrets those words as Ditto opens the top, and allows the chewed up bits of changeling hooves, wings, and the back of Duplicate to grace the still dirtied floor. Ditto, not even batting an eye, maneuvers Duplicate’s back so the queen can get a good look.

“If you look past the missing wings, you’ll see a rather prominent foot print on her back.” Despite her body’s protests, she leans in and looks to where Ditto is pointing. Sure enough, she finds the distinct pattern of your shoe, along with the bite marks from various timber wolves. “We’ve yet to see any species on this planet to have a matching print. So we assume it must be the human’s. We believe Duplicate may have been transporting Anon using magic, only to tire herself out. When she stopped to take a break, the wolves probably came for them. At that point Anonymous was capable of injuring Duplicate while she was distracted, insuring his survival, and her demise. Then there’s a good chance they led Anonymous out of the forest and to pony civilization. His tracks ended at a cottage on the edge of the woods.”

When he finishes, silence permeates the room for a few moments. Chrysalis takes this time to mull over the details; to put together the pieces in her own way. When she realizes that Ditto’s explanation was the most probable, it takes everything she has to keep from bursting into a fit of rage right then and there. Though, she can’t stop the shaking that came with it.

“I don’t believe this!” Chrysalis shouts before stamping her hoof down upon the grey bricks making up the floor. Bits of concrete chip away and the other changelings in the room back towards the door, away from their snarling Queen. “How can something so ridiculous be allowed to happen?! How lucky is this hairless ape?!” She grits her teeth before looking towards the group.

“I-I don’t know y-your majesty,” one of the changelings manages to stutter. With an angry hiss Chrysalis turns her back to them, and then she makes her way to an open window overlooking the barren wasteland around her home. For several moments she gazes upon the sterile dirt, trying her hardest to come up with a solution to her problem.

Her master scheme involves you, so despite her nigh incomprehensible anger, she can’t cut you out of the picture, you are much too useful; but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to rough you up. In a way she believes you to be quite fortunate yet again, any other creature would have been made a stain on the floor by her own hooves. When she looks down at her own appendages, is when she realizes what she can do.

It’s an ancient spell, one that’s forbidden for those outside of royalty to use. But, it can be harnessed in case of an emergency such as this one. Duplicate was the only changeling in her cluster capable of taking the throne when Chrysalis decided to retire, and there wouldn’t be another applicant like her for a long, long time. She could say that the little bug is just as lucky as you in that particular aspect. So, with a heavy sigh, Chrysalis turns back to her minions.

“Ditto,” the armored changeling immediately stands up straight and salutes, “has the Laz’uh’roos Cluster been delivered to the underground vault?” When he nods, she smiles. “Good, bring one of the eggs to me immediately, I do not care which one you choose. The rest of you, find a supply room, grab some chalk, and come back here. We’ve got a long night ahead of us.”

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~*~~~~*~~~~

Celestia’s little tour of her old wing of the castle came to a rather quick close, considering the fact that Eris hurried her along. She wanted to spend some alone time with you and she made it blatantly obvious. So much that Celestia was forced to stifle a giggle more than once as Eris dragged the sun princess along to view each room.

When her tour came to an end, she was sure to disenchant your bed. Celestia was also kind enough to remove Duplicate’s head and the bag from your home. When she departed for Ponyville, and after you watched as the dark expanse of your hallway become a solid white wall, Eris grabbed you by your wrist and pulled you into your room. That’s where you’ve been for the last ten minutes.

In all honesty, the last few days had kept you on edge, and you really needed to get some proper rest. The hours spent unconscious at the Guard Station in Manehattan, and the unknown amount of sleep you got at Fluttershy’s, did not do your body any good. Everything about you was in a state of pure exhaustion.

Your limbs became heavy, as did your eyes. Your yawning, as well as your need for sleep, became quite persistent. This nap you were hoping to get probably wouldn’t make things too much better, but you were determined to get at least some recuperation in; especially with the knowledge that Changelings far and wide will be looking for you.

Eris thought that you had a wonderful idea, and opted to join you, by force. That leaves you where you are now, in bed, staring at the ceiling, with a Draconequus snuggling into your side and your mind still racing despite your body’s fatigue. Thankfully, she had the decency to adjust her body’s size to better accommodate the bed, even though spacing held little meaning as soon as she decided to cuddle.

Admittedly, this wasn’t the worst position you’ve ever been in. She even retracted her horns so she wouldn’t gore you. But you couldn’t get over the inconsistency of her body. You figured that the last time this happened without you having any issues would have been due to the fact that you consumed quite a bit of alcohol that night. It didn’t help that you were out quite late pranking ponies.

Eris’s variety was too much for you to get used to: A combination of the softest coat, rustled feathers, toughened talons, a coarse paw, and a pair of red eyes that watch your chest with perverse curiosity as it rises and falls with each breath you take. All of that made for a rather uncomfortable time. You weren’t even going to get in to the odd sensation of her snake tail that was wrapped around your leg.

Despite all of that, the scent of lavender coming from her hair and the delicate way she traced her claw along your exposed chest, the warmth her body provided from under the covers did wonders when it came to soothing you. You wished Eris would have let you keep a few articles of clothing on other than your boxers: you felt a little exposed to say the least.

“This isn’t so bad now is it?” Eris asks, suddenly breaking the silence around you. Glancing down, you find her smirking up at you. You sigh before looking back to your ceiling and shaking your head.

“It could be worse.” That response earns you a light punch to your side.

“You’re supposed to say you like it, idiot,” she says playfully before nuzzling the side of your neck. Her snout sends shivers along your body as you try your hardest not to laugh. You didn’t think that part of your body would be sensitive. Then again you’ve never had that sort of sensation before.

“What was that?” Her smirk turns into a grin when you look away nervously.

“Nothing at all.” You try to keep your voice as even as possible, but she doesn’t buy it. When Eris nuzzles you again, and as soon as she achieves the same results, she giggles madly. The airy way her laughter carried causes your cheeks to burn up with embarrassment.

“I’m gonna enjoy abusing this.” You shoot her an irritated glare, unfortunately it doesn’t help. Her smile only widens at your misfortune. “Oh come on, lighten up. It’s like you’re saying that having me for a girlfriend isn’t the best thing ever.” Your expression doesn’t change in the slightest.

“It’s really not, especially since you can screw with my head with a quick snap of your talons. I wonder what you’re going to do when these three days are up?” Her smirk drops from her face rather quickly.

“Do you really think I’d do something like that?” You nod.

“Yeah, because you’ve done that. Did you think I’d forget the karaoke bar?” In all honesty, you were still against the ropes on that. The icy chill you experienced that night isn’t something alcohol could make you forget. But you still don’t know if it really was from Eris, or if that sensation was self-inflicted. You can’t be so quick to jud—

“Crap, I didn’t think you’d find out.” And there it is.

“I didn’t, you just told me,” you grumble, narrowing your eyes as you do so. Her eyes widen and she looks away sheepishly, a slight hint of red lining her now embarrassed features.

“L-Let me explain, I—“ When she turns to face you again, you interrupt her.

“Wanted me to have a good time?” She shuts her mouth and nods. “I figured. I’m not angry about it. It’s not like you were trying to hurt me. But the fact that you did it without showing any restraint is what worries me. So, if anything, I’m right to be suspicious.” Eris tries to speak, but cuts herself off before a word can be uttered. She looks up to your ceiling, planning on what to say.

“I...” She pauses. “I’m not gonna do that to you again.” Despite not believing her for a second, you allow her to continue, “I’ve got more respect for you than that. If I didn’t, I’d be ripping off your boxers, and binding you to your bed. But instead, I’m giving you some time. One of the worst things I can do to you right now is fuck your brains out after you were raped last night. I’m not even gonna get started on how messed up it’d be if I used magic on your mind.”

“Huh, didn’t think you could show restraint.” You smirk when her gaze travels south.

“Trust me; it’s pretty hard to do,” she sighs before adding, “after all, the only thing separating you from me is just a thin pair of underwear hanging, right, there.” You swear you can hear her growl under her breath. “But, like I said, I’m gonna be a good girl, and keep my claws to myself.”

“That’s great.” You wrap your arm around her. “I’m proud of you.” When you snicker, she grumbles under her breath.

“Yeah yeah, I get it.” She brings her paw to her mouth to stifle a yawn. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna get some sleep.” And with that Eris shuts her eyes and tightens her grip on you, leaving you with no room to move your arm. Because of that, you now know you’ll have to deal with a numb limb whenever you wake up.

“Well, goodnight to you too,” you mumble before finally closing your eyes to welcome the darkness back to your senses. Before sleep finally overtakes you, you find it great to know that when you come back from the land of dreams, you’ll actually be able to see something.

~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~*~~~~*~~~~

“Greetings Anonymous.” You gasp and jerk to attention when an eerie, disembodied voice calls from within the blackness of your sub consciousness. Though it mattered little as to where the source was coming from. You couldn’t even see the nose on your face, let alone what was around you.

That is until you’re assaulted with the bright beam of white light coming from what you believe to be the “ceiling” of this endless expanse. It spreads out into a cone shape the closer it comes to you until you’re able to see Luna sitting at a brown oak table a few yards away. She motions for you to approach and you do so, albeit hesitantly.

“Hey, uh, where am I?” you ask, drawing closer to the table. She smiles before answering.

“We are in a dream. Yours to be exact.” You look around from side to side, trying to process the information given.

“So, I’m dreaming right now?” She nods. “Then how do I know you’re real and not just some figment of my imagination?” Luna sighs, slightly irritated. When her horn lights up, and when you feel something pinch your bicep, your first response is to gasp.

“Do you still think I’m an illusion?” You shake your head while rubbing your now sore arm.

“Nope, dreams aren’t supposed to hurt. You’re the real deal.” When you finish your statement you take a seat, and that’s when you notice that while you’re stuck in a wooden chair, Luna is getting to sit on a large blue bean bag chair. She notices you looking.

“Is something the matter?”

“Why do you get the comfy seat while I’m stuck with this chair?” Any sign of a smile immediately leaves the moon princess’ face.

“You can’t possibly be serious. Do you even feel as though you’re sitting upon wood?” The immature part of your mind wants you to snicker at her question, but you definitely know better than to do that. Instead, you test your seat, and, sure enough, it’s like sitting on nothing at all.

“N-no?” you chuckle nervously, averting your gaze as you do so.

“I figured, now that we’ve gotten that bit out of the way. I’d like to get to the reason why I’m here. Celestia sent me to inform you that within the last few hours, Ponyville had an increase in guard count. The populace believes the Everfree’s inhabitants are to blame, and we are in no hurry to dispel that rumor.”

It puts you at ease to hear how quick Celestia was to act. While you’d like to have them know the truth, it’s much too risky. The last thing you needed to hear is that the ponies started trying to alienate themselves from each other out of fear. Even the mere thought of knowing those bugs are in their midst would have them panic. It’d be all too easy for the changelings to do damage after that.

“Better to have them think its wild animals, than to have them know about those bugs. At least that’s my take on it. Having ponies suspect one another wouldn’t help you guys, or the guards. Speaking of which, do the guards know, or are they in the dark too?”

“Yes, they know and they’ve been sworn to secrecy. Celestia gave the ones who transferred the information needed to discern between themselves and the changelings. After testing the ones that guard Ponyville, they’ll give them the information necessary in order to assist in our endeavors.”

“That’s great to hear Princess, is there anything else you need to tell me?” you ask with a smile. She shakes her head.

“Not at this moment no, but Celestia or I will be sure to let you know if anything new occurs.” And just like that, the conversation comes to an end, or so you thought. If she had nothing else to tell you, then wouldn’t your dream be at its end? Is that how it works?

Suffice to say, you’re quite new to this experience, so you have no idea how to go about ending it. It appears as though Luna would have to be the one to do that by leaving. Yet, there she remains. A heavy, awkward silence fills the endless void of your subconscious. That is until you decide to break it.

“Are you sure there’s nothing else?” Luna fiddles with her hooves nervously, her eyes shifting from side to side as she does so.

“Well, I have heard the embellished tale that involved you and Discord parting ways. As farfetched as it was, it made me realize that I know very little about you. In fact, aside from the bits you told my sister, I have to say I know nothing at all. It’s a little embarrassing.” You raise a brow in question before leaning in.

“So what you’re saying is, you want to get to know me?” You ask, surprised, “I assumed that I wasn’t on your mind at all, what with you and your sister being busy running a nation and all. And why do you feel embarrassed? I’m no one special.” Now it’s her turn to look at you with disbelief.

“I’m inclined to disagree. You’re the only one of your kind here. You know not the curiosity that has been brewing since my time on the moon. And I have to say, I’m quite eager to learn. I do know about Twilight’s research, but I’d prefer to speak with you face to face while you’re awake. Unfortunately you’re asleep, so what I’m doing here will have to do.”

Well, this comes as a rather nice surprise. In all honestly, you believed that after your citizenship neither she nor Luna needed anything else from you. But, as you can see, you’ve been proven wrong in that assumption. And, Luna isn’t like the average pony; you can’t just ignore her questions. Even if you feel like a broken record, you can’t brush her off.

Besides, you’re staying at her and Celestia’s castle. It’d be rude to not be willing to share at least a little bit of information. So, instead of grimacing and turning away, you give her a genuine smile.

“What would you like to know Princess?” For a few moments, the Princess puts a hoof to her chin in thought before merely shrugging.

“Just tell me about the first thing that comes to mind.” If that’s what Luna insists upon, that’s exactly what you’ll give her. But in return you’re sure to tell her that you want to know a bit about her as well, you really want to know how she’s able to appear in a dream. You start with your arrival to their colorful world…

Author's Note

Here's part one of the two parter chapter signaling my return to fanfic writing. I've kept you guys waiting long enough.
When part two is ready to be posted, it'll be separate from this part. But, when I combine both into one I'll be sure to alert you all so you won't wonder what happened to part two. I hope you guys enjoyed.

Chapter Eight: A Grizzly Ritual, A Chaotic Cuddle, and A Curious Moon Princess Pt.2

“Have you brought the egg?” Chrysalis turns towards the archway leading into her room. Her lips curve upward when she sees Ditto balancing an it on his back. With a rapid pulse of magic, it’s levitated off of him to the front of the Queen’s face. She casts a sudden glance over the changelings finishing up their part of the rune currently being drawn on the floor.

The sigil itself is unique in design. Intricate circles fused with double helixes make up the exterior of it, while the interior has nothing more than a lone square surrounded by rhombuses on all sides. The gap between both is filled with symbols that represent a language long since abandoned by the living creatures of this day and age. Only beings like Chrysalis, or Celestia could remember such a complex collection.

Every single bit of furniture has been removed from the area, leaving only Chrysalis, Ditto, the egg, and a dozen changelings standing at certain points at the edge of the circle. One could see that the last tenant of this particular castle spared no expense when it came to having space. The Queen could easily fit three dozen of her subjects in this place alone. As the egg floats over to the single opening in the center, she looks to her group of changelings one last time.

“Have you properly cleaned this space before putting down the chalk?” The changelings stand at attention, and then he nods. “Good, we don’t need to dirty her blood. Now, bring her over.” Ditto bows then leaves the room. He comes back a few seconds later carrying the bag containing Duplicate’s remains. Chrysalis motions towards the center, where the egg has been placed.

With his objective in front of him, Ditto carefully makes his way over, and dumps the contents of the bag on the egg. Coagulated green blood mixes with the almost translucent egg, giving it a rather sickly appearance; the silhouette of the embryo within quivers from the sudden contact upon its shell.

Chrysalis looks over her egg with remorse from a distance. Duplicate needed to live so that the hive may thrive if Chrysalis were to pass on. They wouldn’t survive waiting for another heir. This desperate move had to be done.

With a final sigh, Chrysalis closes her eyes; soon her horn starts to glow. Ditto is quick to leave the chalky symbol’s area, lest he meet the same fate as the egg. The other changelings around the rune mimic their Queen, and combine their magic with hers. Twelve translucent tendrils of green aura snake over the top of the sigil, creating a sort of dome, encasing the two objects within.

Each ethereal snake of green meets at the highest point of the dome, and soon a thirteenth joins it. Chrysalis herself is taking part in this ritual. As soon as hers joins the others a single, thick beam is fired at the corpse and egg lighting up the room in a pale green light. Any sources of light other than the spell being cast are immediately put out by the following gust of wind.

Ditto, who is now standing outside the circle, takes a few more steps back to watch the spectacle unfold in front of his very eyes. He sports a gaping jaw and a look of both horror all the while. A gasp escapes him when the egg slowly starts to sink into the carapace of Duplicate. The more the egg fuses with the corpse, the more the body starts to regenerate the parts lost to it. It almost looks as if the life stolen from the egg was being forcibly transferred to the corpse it was near.

Within a few minutes the potential life slowly fades from view. Duplicate’s body finishes growing and mending any injury she was put through. When the transition completes, the magic spreads to the rest of the rune, where any white remains of the chalk are converted to the same sickly green.

The next moment caused a shiver to travel down his insectoid spine. A few seconds after the symbol began to glow, Duplicate’s icy blue eyes shot open. Her jaw seemed to dislocate as she took in a very noisy breath. It was almost as if she’d gone much too long without air. Now her body is desperately trying to take in as much as it could.

With each intake of air, the green light began to shudder, inching its way towards the now revived changeling. When she takes in a breath that would have popped a normal changeling’s lungs, the magic infused with her resting area travels towards her gaping maw, and down her throat. When every last bit has been consumed, Chrysalis and the other changelings are able to finally relax.

The dozen that took part in the ritual either collapse from exhaustion, or are forced to sit and catch their second wind. The Queen however, is capable of not only standing, but is able to make her way over to the little bug. As she looks over the revived Duplicate, the changeling looks back up at her ruler, and when her breathing calms only one thing escapes her lips.

“I am going to kill that human…” her hissing is cut off when Chrysalis puts a hoof to her lips.

“Shush, you’re in no condition to even think about something like that. Besides, we still need him for my plans to follow through.” She removes her hoof from Duplicate’s mouth, and instead uses it to help her tilt her chin up. “For now, rest is what’s important. Anonymous will get what’s coming to him regardless, but you will have to wait.” Duplicate grits her teeth, and her frown deepens.

“I was eaten by that damned mutt Cerberus, left there to be digested for a full day. It would have been for eternity if I wasn’t from that disgusting prison.” Her voice starts to rise in volume and intensity. “You can’t expect me to just lie down and sleep while the thing that put me there stays free!”

Duplicate coughs violently at the end of her outburst, causing a bit of dribble to slide past her mouth and down her chin. It takes that moment for her to realize just how bad her circumstances truly are. It angers her greatly, but her queen is right, Duplicate can’t do anything right now. Chrysalis can feel the fury radiating off of her, causing her stomach to churn, and the bile to rise in her throat. But, she maintains her composure and tries to remedy the situation so it won’t get worse.

“I know you aren’t happy with the way things are, but when you recover, and when the time is right, you can fill Anonymous with as much despair as you desire.” She flashes Duplicate that sickly sweet smile of hers and continues, “Patience my precious subject, you’ll get your chance.” A rather dastardly idea comes to fruit attention, one that would not only remedy her subject’s irritation, but help secure your loyalty for what’s to come. “And don’t forget, we do have his dear Zebra friend in the dungeon. Maybe she can be your sponge for the anger you have towards him.” Duplicate manages a smile despite being in a weakened state.

“You’re right your highness. If I can’t get him, hurting someone he knows is the next best thing. When I’m better I think I’ll pay Zecora a little visit. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind some company.” She manages a weak laugh before erupting into another fit of hacking.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~

“Gr, not again,” Eris mumbles while sitting up in your bed. She manages to remove her limbs from you without stirring you. The throbbing associated with her string of headaches has increased in intensity, and she’s using her claws in a vain attempt at relieving it. It’ll take more than rubbing her temples to get rid of this one. With each wave of pain, the Draconequus sucks in air through her teeth and whimpers.

Being unable to stand it any longer, she swiftly gets out of your bed, and flies over to your door. Her magic allows her to phase through it, that way you can stay asleep. She wastes no time in doing the same thing to her bathroom door. Within seconds she’s face to face with her reflection.

“Sweet Celestia,” she groans before laying her head on the white porcelain sink. Another whimper escaped her lips as she goes to look back up at the mirror. What she sees next shocks her. Staring back at her from within is a culmination of stretched greens, purples, and reds. The way the colors moved about in her mirror image matched the heat waves one would see on an incredibly hot day.

She shakes her head rapidly, trying to dispel the hallucination in front of her, only to find that it did no good. With a quiet groan she shakes her head, turning her gaze to the ceiling.

“Sorry Sunbutt, but it looks like I can’t make it a day.” With a snap of her talons, an incredible amount of magic is sucked from her body, and the migraine quickly recedes. Ah, that’s better. But I wonder how long it’s gonna be before I gotta do that again.

Eris looks over her now normal reflection one more time. At least I can focus on other things now. To accentuate her thoughts, she flips her hair and gives her image a sensual gaze, and then she follows up with a wink. Yeah he won’t last a day with my charm.

Satisfied with what she’s seen in her mirror, she nods, turns to the door, and leaves. But, what she didn’t notice is that even though she left, her image didn’t. The Eris in the mirror giggles madly while her shape begins to change. Color’s blend and the form melds, soon what lies behind the mirror isn’t Eris, but a certain purple pony with swirling irises…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~

“Is everything alright, Luna?” you ask the obviously frightened alicorn. Your conversation with Luna was cut short when her eyes widened. Your eyes match hers when you watch one of the thousands of stars making up her mane shine with multiple colors and hues. The horrified gasp that followed did little to put you at ease.

“Yes Anonymous, I’m fine,” she finally says when she gets to her hooves, “but one of my red giants has… has...” she can’t bring herself to finish as she stares at her hair in horror.

“Has what?” You’re sitting on the edge of your seat. Luna peers into her mane to make sure she’s really seeing what she thinks she is.

“Turned into a Disco Ball, what?”

“What?” you echo.

“That’s not supposed to happen, ever!” Her frantic tone has you taken aback, despite her seemingly being fine.

“It’s not gonna affect us is it?” You release a breath of relief when she shakes her head.

“No, the star is much too far. I can’t say the same for the planets orbiting it. I’m sorry, but I must cut our conversation short. I need to look into this; we’ll pick this up another time.” She grimaces as the ever-changing light seems to spread. “I need to get this out of my hair.” You aren’t even able to say goodbye before you’re blinded by bright blue light.

Suddenly, you find yourself sitting up in your bed, covered in a cold sweat. It seems like Luna’s mood affected you more than you realized, your heart is beating a mile a minute. You wipe the perspiration away and throw off the covers.

Your mind is alight with various possibilities, but only one seems to persist over the others. Discord, it had to have been him. There’s nothing else you can think of that’d be capable of doing something like that to a star, unless there are other reality bending aliens in existence. You hope Luna will be able to find out why that Draconequus would do such a random thing if he’s the culprit.

You’re not even sure they can reach him for answers. For all you know, he and Eris are the only ones capable of traveling across the universe, or between dimensions. They never specified, and if he is easily capable of doing that, what else could he have done? What does Earth look like now?

Not a single thought passed your mind about your planet while you were adjusting. But now that you’re thinking about it, it just doesn’t seem to leave your mind. You were so quick to condemn Earth, to force everyone to deal with Discord and his daughters.

There’s no telling what he’s done. He could have flooded it, or crashed it into the sun. He might have made humans try to live with chocolate milk raining clouds. You envision Earth as a mess; various islands now float in the skies, residents now afraid for their lives. People run in fear or confusion as animals start to dance around, and as buildings begin to bend and twist.

And in the middle of all the chaos, is Discord sitting on his throne. His two daughters are at his side, and all of them are laughing at the mayhem. But there’s no evil intent, it’s just those three having a good time at the expense of others… you hope that at least your family is alright. Even after everything that’s happened, they don’t deserve to have something like him ruining everything.

But, you can’t allow yourself to dwell on this. You made your decision, and you’re stuck with it. There’s no changing it now. So, with a sigh and a shake of your head you try to force those thoughts from your mind in order to focus on something else. Like the situation you’re in now.

Leaving your little home would be against your better judgment, so that means you have to find a way to keep yourself and Eris entertained. You can’t help but let loose a chuckle at the thought of keeping Eris cooped up in here.

There’s no way she’d do that. It’d be like expecting Discord not to use his magic. You’ve got a bad feeling that after an hour or so she’ll be trying to convince you to sneak out using her chaotic spells. Then, you’ll have to remind her that you’ve still got around three days left. But, you’re sure Eris will figure out a way to get around that.

That reminds you, where did she even go? You noticed an incredible lack of warmth and comfort. As surprising as it may be, you didn’t mind her being in your bed after a while. So, you get up, get dressed, and make your way out of your room. Your ears twitch when you hear Eris talking with someone in the living room. You’re sure to shut your door quietly so as to not arouse suspicion.

Curious as to what’s being talked about you sneak your way down the hall, you stop at the threshold separating it from the living room. From there you see that the owner of the second voice is Screwball. Although she looks happy to see Eris, the same can’t be said of her. Both are talking back and forth on the now checkerboard patterned couch.

“What are you doing here?! You’re gonna ruin everything!” Eris angrily exclaims. She growls when Screwball snuggles into her side.

“What, didn’t you miss me sis? And what are you talking about?”

“Anon and I are togeth—“Eris is cut short when Screwball wraps her hooves around her neck.

“Aw congratulations sissy, I knew you’d get em.” Screwball as soon as she lets her go she waggles her eyebrows. Then she nudges Eris with a hoof. “So, did you fuck his brains out?” Screwball’s bluntness would have made you do a spit take had you been drinking. Eris grumbles, crossing her arms, shaking her head as she does so.

“No, I was going to try today, tomorrow, then next day, but with you here that’s not gonna happen.” Screwball pouts at the venom Eris seems to be spewing.

“Oh come on Eris, don’t be like that.” A sickly sweet smile graces her lips. “In fact I’ll help you!” Eris scoffs while rolling her eyes. She’s sure to lay the sarcasm on thick.

“Thank you Screwball, but how are ya gonna do that?”

“Oh I’ve got a few plans up my sleeve.”

“You’re not even wearing a shirt.” Screwball’s grin leaves her face rather quickly.

“Sh-shut up, you know what I meant.”

“Whatever,” she shrugs, “so, what can you do to help me?”

“Well, I did what you did, but with different videos.” Eris lets out an exasperated sigh.

“So all you did was watch human porn?” As Eris’ frown deepens, Screwball’s smile widens.

“No, I took notes too,” she answers without skipping a beat. It’s at this point you can’t hold it in any longer. You burst out into a fit of laughter and collapse on the ground, holding your sides.

“I can’t,” you inhale sharply;” I can’t hold it in oh my God!” Tears are starting to collect in your eyes. Both Eris and Screwball snap to attention and look over as you roll onto your back. “That’s too much!”

Screwball’s once happy expression quickly turns to anger, “Hey! Stop laughing! My ideas are totally fool-proof, just you wait Anon!” She points to you before adding, “I bet we’ll have your pants off in a week.”

“Screwball, please, I can’t breathe!” You manage to get to your knees, but your body refuses to let you get to your feet, at least not until you stop laughing. Her response is to scowl and turn her back to you.

While you recover Eris looks to the wristwatch she’s created just for the impatient gag. After a minute or two, you’re finally provided with relief as your laughter dies down. When you’re back on your feet you find Screwball giving you a deadpan glare, Eris is busy looking at the wall, disinterested.

“Okay guys, I’m done,” you breathe a sigh of relief before looking down at Screwball. Something in the pit of your chest hated seeing her in such a state. So you aimed to not only solve the problem, but to get them to forget trying to get you in bed. “And it’s nice to see you Screwball. I didn’t think you’d follow your sister out here.”

When you pat her mane, her attitude does a complete turnaround. Thankfully, you were able to change the subject to something that didn’t involve you. Though, that friendly contact forces you to be subjugated to a pearly white smile and a near neck breaking hug.

“It’s great to see you too, Anon! Did you miss me huh huh huh?!” You try to pull away, but you end up bringing her with you. Now you’re forced to hold her to keep from strangling yourself on her hooves.

“A little,” you strain to speak through her death grip of an embrace. As soon as you’re able to balance her with one hand you motion to Eris for help. All you get in return is a smirk and a shake of the head.

“You’re on your own with that one.” Frantically you tap on Screwball’s hoof in a feeble attempt to get her attention. Sadly, she’s too busy nuzzling your cheek. It isn’t until you’re pulling on Screwball’s coat does she realize what she’s doing. You can feel the pressure intensifying in your cheeks and head, your vision starts to blur.

“Oh my goodness!” she exclaims before finally releasing her death grip of a hug. With the path clear you open your mouth wide and take a lungful of air. Over and over again you breathe; your lungs have become desperate for relief. It takes another minute of this repetition until you’re able to speak again. “I’m so sorry, are you okay?” You manage to nod, when you do Screwball leaps from your arm and back to the couch.

“Y-yeah I’m fine,” you rub your now sore neck. I’m just glad you have a one track mind. “But, what brings you to out here? Did Earth get boring or something?” Screwball shakes her head.

“Nope, Earth is so much fun! President Daddy got me this—” you hold up your hand to stop her. You had to confirm what you’ve just heard.

“Did you just say President Daddy? Not Daddy Discord, or Pops?” You can feel sweat start to form upon your brow. Imagining Discord as the leader of any nation sounds absolutely horrible to you. When she shakes her head you swear you feel a weight in your stomach.

“Nope, President Daddy, he won an election! Fair and square too,” Screwball pauses, “Well, not really fair and square. He got really into it, and made a persona, and then he convinced a bunch of guys in suits to trick people into thinking he was a senator or primes minster or something for like ten years. But that’s beside the point! Daddy told me that I needed to check up on Eris cause of her headaches, and that’s why I’m here.” Eris growls nearby.

“You weren’t supposed to tell dad about that,” Screwball shoots her a sympathetic glance.

“I’m sorry sis, but daddy got worried when I told him. He thinks you might need to come home if they get worse.” This information is a lot to take in, so you decide to take a seat on the couch with them. They move so you have the room to do so.

“This is kind of hard to swallow. I thought the headache was a one-time thing. I didn’t know they were reoccurring.” You shift your gaze between the two, “And your father is the president of what country now?”

“Sweden!” Screwball says with a smile. You sigh as an image of Discord in a suit being sworn into office plays in your mind. They have no idea what they’re in for.

“I-I think I’m going to put that in the back of my head and forget about it.” You turn your attention to Eris, “Now tell me about these migraines, and why would Discord have to bring Screwball here? Aren’t they a common thing?” She shakes her head.

“Not for us they’re not.” With a snap of her talons a pair of reading glasses appears on her face, and a rather thick book is brought to her lap. She licks a claw and flicks through a few pages. “When a young Draconequus like me gets them that means we’re backed up. I would have gone through this a thousand years ago, but being turned to stone put a stop to that. My body is catching up on the time missed.”

“What do you mean by ‘backed up’ Eris?” She sighs before shutting her book.

“Basically means I need to cause chaos with my magic, or else they’ll get worse, and worse, and worse until,” she trails off, going silent.

“Until what?” Screwball answers for Eris.

“None of us know, all of the others cracked and went on a spell spree until the pain went away.”

“So, I’m guessing you’re here to make sure she doesn’t do that?” She nods.

“Yup.”

“Hm, I figured Discord would want something like that to happen.”

“Nope, not at all. He knows how it can get since he went through the same thing when he was her age. He doesn’t wanna drag you, or Celestia, or anyone else into it if it gets that bad.”

“That’s kind of him. But why, he doesn’t seem like he’d be one to stop anyone from causing chaos. Figured he’d do the opposite.”

“The reason he’s like that is cause our magic is supposed to be fun, not bad. Draconequus can’t tell the difference if their heads are hurting.” She knocks a hoof against her skull for emphasis, causing her swirling eyes to roll about. You take this time to go over what you’ve been told.

If what Screwball said is true, then Eris agreeing to Celestia’s terms will only make things worse. But, if Eris uses her magic, and if Celestia finds out, she’ll be banished. She really put herself into quite a pickle for your sake. Though, there is one question that plagues your mind at this very moment.

“Were you the one who messed with that star?”

Author's Note

And here's the second part to chapter eight. Finally I got it done! Now, on to the next one. After a week I'll be combining these two chapters to save space. Peace out guys.

Chapter Nine: Pinkie vs Eris Part 1

“Hey Twilight, ya’ll goin to Pinkie Pie’s?” Twilight smiles as Applejack approaches.

“Yes I am, I’m trying to get there early since I have nothing else to do today. Did she give you the singing telegram song too?” She nods, “Thought so, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to how eccentric Pinkie is, especially when it comes to parties.”

“Just gotta take it in stride. Gummy turns one only once ya know.” The two now walk side by side through the bustling streets. Ponies of all size and color seem to be moving at a brusque pace. Though, with the large amount of armored ponies now patrolling the roads, who could blame them?

Guards now stand watch at every other crossroad, while others trot about the perimeter. What was once a dozen or so guards have now become sixty. It didn’t help that they appeared almost out of thin air. This has caused the ponies in town to be on edge, Celestia wouldn’t order this many to such a small town if there wasn’t something dangerous around.

Any questions asked get the populace no answers other than to report to them if they see anything strange. What used to be a happy go lucky town of friendly ponies, now has an air of uncertainty and suspicion hanging like a thick fog. The sun doesn’t seem to shine as brilliantly in the sky as before.

The stress is so pungent that even the regular estrus cycles of the mares seem to have been made erratic at best. While some still try to court stallions, the majority seem to be too scared to do anything other than get to where they need to be. The smell of a light musk is in the air; it’s gone unnoticed by the rather distracted populace.

Colts and fillies now stick close to their mother’s side, while fathers keep on the lookout. The incredible change in attitude, though sudden, has not gotten by the attentive nature of the two mares. Both desperately want to say something, but due to royal orders, they’re forced to remain silent.

“This ain’t right Twilight, look at em.” Applejack whispers, “They’re trotting about all spooked. We gotta tell them somethin. It ain’t even been a day and they already look plum ready to start havin heart attacks. Besides, this whole mess is throwin everypony off. Ain’t no one gonna be getting a good ruttin with this goin on.”

Twilight’s cheeks turn a bright shade of pink upon mentioning what she thinks to be a vulgar act. This doesn’t go ignored by her friend. Her snickering and smarmy grin only cause Twilight’s blush to deepen in color. She furrows her brow and shouts.

“Applejack, that’s inappropriate! Chapter six of “Socializing Equines” specifically states in paragraph seven that estrus is meant to be private!” The farm mare’s response is to point a hoof towards a couple nuzzling one another for a few moments before a pair of guards tell them to move along.

“Oh come on Twilight, its natural. No one cares except the guards. It’s not like they’re doin the deed in the middle of the street.” She nudges her friend and a sly smirk spreads across her lips, “I bet you gotta colt friend waiting on ya’ll back at the library don’t ya?” This time Twilight’s embarrassment seems to spread across her entire face.

Applejack chuckles at her display before wrapping a hoof around her neck. Unfortunately, this action isn’t met with anything friendly from the unicorn. Instead Twilight grumbles while moving out of Applejack’s reach. The Stetson hat wearing mare shakes her head.

“Don’t be like that Twi, I’m just messin. Don’t get your mane in a bunch ya hear?” Twilight cuts her off so she can’t say anything else about it.

“Anyway,” she starts, trying to get back on the matter at hand, “The Princess said that if we told every pony what was going on, they’d panic. We can’t let that happen.” Applejack huffs, disappointed that her friend is so insistent on changing the subject. Regardless, Ponyville’s current state is much more important than what she was talking about.

“I know, but they look like they’d panic now. Besides, how they gonna help us if they can’t tell what to look for? I mean, none of us knew what a changeling looked like till the Princess showed us that head last night.” She gags before adding, “That thing was darn disgustin too.” Twilight places a comforting hoof around her friend.

“We have to trust her, Applejack. Celestia knows what’s best, I’m confident everything will be fine. Just try to keep your mind on Gummy’s party okay?” Her eyes widen when she realizes a very important bit of information. “That reminds me, Pinkie said she was going to give Anon an invite.”

Applejack scoffs, “How she gonna do that? Didn’t Celestia cut him off from Ponyville?” Twilight merely shrugs in response.

“I have no idea, but if there’s anything that’s certain, it’s that Pinkie Pie knows her way around things. If she’s going to give Anon an invite, she’ll find a way to get it to him.” As the two continue their chat, they slowly but surely make their way to Sugarcube Corner.

“Oh wait, ain’t it Pinkie’s birthday tomorrow?” Both mares stop in their tracks.

“Y-yes it is,” Twilight stammers out, “Is she really planning on having two parties so close together? That doesn’t seem like a very good idea.” Applejack waves a hoof dismissively.

“Poor thing probably forgot. She’s so focused on Gummy I wouldn’t be surprised if tomorrow went over her head.”

“We need to get her something! Pinkie’s our friend after all. It’d be horrible if we didn’t get her anything. But, what sort of gift do you give someone like her?” The two think to themselves for a moment, until Applejack shoots Twilight a smarmy grin.

“I know the perfect present.” Twilight gives the apple farmer her full attention, “We find Anon, strip off his clothes, and tie him up with a big red bow.”

Twilight shakes her head, “Applejack that’s not—”

“It’ll solve our problem of finding a gift—”

“Applejack.”

“And Pinkie’ll have someone for estrus.”

“Applejack!” Twilight screams, causing her to jump.

“What in tarnation?” She looks to her friend, eyes wide, “What’s the matter Twi?”

“We can’t do that. You're already on bad terms with him. Do you really think it's a good idea to do anything against his will?" Applejack sighs, turning her eyes to the road ahead.

“I know, it was a joke anyways. I still feel bad about how I acted the other day. I’m kinda hopin he’ll be at the party so I can talk to em. I want to apologize. Maybe he won’t hold a grudge since all we did was yell and throw out empty threats.”

She turns back to her friend before adding, “Don’t suppose you got any friendship advice or something on trying to make up with somepony do ya?” Twilight smiles, happy at the prospect of helping someone with something pertaining to friendship.

“Of course Applejack, you could always—”

As Twilight begins her explanation, something rather important evades their gaze. A small group of pegasi just a few feet away talks among themselves in hushed whispers. Their odd blue eyes dart back and forth as they speak, making sure that no one else can hear what any of them are saying…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Well, did you?” Eris’ silence and guilty look in her eye is only making you mad at this point. While you do sympathize with her current condition, that doesn’t mean she can do as she pleases. Eris opens her mouth to answer, but shuts it immediately. Her nervousness has caused her to start sweating.

She knows that as soon as she admits to transforming that star, the agreement she has with Celestia would be over. Nothing would stop the alicorn from forcing Eris off of the planet, other than the draconequus herself. The truth of the matter is she knows she’s made herself out to be the culprit. It doesn’t matter how she answers, Eris has made it obvious. The real issue is her inner conflict.

On one hand, she doesn’t show any concern towards ponies, or anything else. But the other is a different matter. A part of her doesn’t want to make your stay in Equestria any rougher than it’s been. She believes that you’ve dealt with enough.

Eris didn’t want to make it worse just because she’s selfish. Yes she talks big, but actually following through doesn’t seem like such a good idea anymore. For once, following the rules seems to have better rewards. But, she’s already broken them, and it’s time to confess. Eris may be a lot of things, but she’s yet to be a liar… today.

“Anon, I–” a series of sharp, rapid knocks stop her. It’s not because there’s a knock, there’s nothing off putting about those, it’s about where it’s coming from. All three of you turn your heads towards the hallway. The source of the noise is coming from the pitch black portion of it.

“There’s no door there,” you state, your voice full of worry. “That shouldn’t be happening.”

“What is this sorcery?!” Screwball cries while leaping over the side of the couch to hide.

“Celesetia told us we couldn’t use that path anymore. So who could be knocking?” Eris turns to you; Screwball looks up over the arm of the sofa. Your gaze shifts between them.

“What?”

“Are you gonna answer it?” Screwball asks.

“Why does it have to be me? Eris should get it.” You point to her.

“What?” She shakes her head, “Are you crazy? No! You do it.”

“No!”

“Yes!” The sisters say in unison while pushing you off the sofa, and towards the hallway. Their first reaction to something strange is to throw you under the bus. Typical of two siblings it seems. Though, as you get further down the hallway, your fear is quickly consumed by annoyance from being pushed.

“Alright, alright I’ll get the damn thing!” You shoo their limbs away. When you look to the door then back you find that both Eris and Screwball are watching from behind the couch. Only their eyes and manes are visible. “Thanks for having my back,” you mutter before turning to the abyss.

Your chest grows heavy and the blood runs cold in your veins as you approach. There’s no way that anything knocking from just beyond the darkness is anything normal. Only something that could defy the very laws of physics could be pulling this off, but what could possibly be doing that?

Your hands feel about, hoping to find a door of some kind. You scoff at the thought until your fingers trace along the hard brass of a doorknob. In fact, there’s hardwood separating you from your bed in Ponyville now. Celestia said she cut you off, she mentioned nothing about this.

When you open the door you’re greeted by a nearly blinding expanse of pure white. No objects, or sky, or anything else. Just the absence of color, it isn’t until you look down do you find your guest. The messy pink mane and wide smile give it away.

“P-Pinkie Pie?” she doesn’t bother answering. Instead, she takes in a lungful of air and bounces over you. You’re forced to duck in order to avoid her colliding with your skull. As you get to your feet you can hear notes of a piano playing in repetition. Is Pinkie going to sing or something?

“This is your singing telegram, I hope it finds you well!” she prances into the living room, grinning from ear to ear. Well what do you know, she is. She’s suddenly eye to eye with the sisters. “You're invited to a party 'cause we think you're really swell!” When she pokes Eris’ snout she suddenly disappears from sight, but you can still hear her singing. It echoes throughout the room.

“Gummy's turning one year old, so help us celebrate.” The sudden pop of a party popper goes off right behind Eris and Screwball, causing them to yelp and leap away. “The cake will be delicious, the festivities first-rate!” In a blur of pink, she closes the distance between you and her. She looks up to you, her eyes sparkling with joy. She moves from side to side with the piano.

“There will be games and dancing, bob for apples, cut-a-rug!” As soon as the words leave her mouth she leaps into the air, opens her mouth, and somehow manages to produce a kazoo from the back of her throat. The following noise scares you, and you hold out your arms on instinct in order to catch her. “And when the party's over, we'll gather 'round for a group hug.”

She wraps her hooves around your shoulders and nuzzles your cheek. Going with the motions, you hug her back. “No need to bring a gift being there will be enough.” She pulls away, and her eyes seemingly bore into yours with their cheer. ”Birthdays mean having fun with friends,” Pinkie pokes your nose and giggles, “not getting lots of stuff.”

The pink ball of fluff leaps from your arms and continues her song while bouncing to your sofa. “It won't be the same without you, so we hope that you say "yes.” So please, oh please, RSVP and come and be our guest!”

She ends her song by getting on top of your couch, standing on her hind hooves, and throwing up her front hooves in a celebratory pose. Streamers and balloons rise up from behind her, it isn’t until now do you notice Gummy hanging on for dear life on the end of her curly tail. He looks at you with those soulless eyes of his, causing a shiver to travel down your spine.

“P-Pinkie, I, what, but, how,” you can’t find the right words. How does one ask a pony how she managed to defy the laws of physics, manage to make balloons, streamers, and a kazoo appear out of nowhere?

“Tee hee, you look so silly Nonny! So, are you coming to Gummy’s party? You could totally RSVP right now since I’m right here. The party’s in a few hours!” You don’t return the smile. In all honesty, you didn’t need another bout of surprise or confusion today. Your stress addled mind can only take so much.

Pinkie’s reality defying stunt drove the final nail into the coffin. Changelings that want to capture you, your friends’ well-beings being at stake due to those insects, Earth having to deal with Discord, a lying draconequus that transformed a star, Screwball randomly coming back, and now this?

The lightheadedness you’re feeling intensifies, it’s becoming rather hard to stand. So, to stop yourself from falling over you make your way to the sofa. Thankfully, Pinkie notices and helps out by guiding you the rest of the way. As soon as your rump hits the cushion she takes a seat, her face marked with concern.

“Are you okay Nonny?” You manage to nod and answer.

“That was too much excitement. Give me a moment will ya?”

“D-did I do something wrong? Was it the streamers?” You shake your head, “What about the balloons?”

“It was a little bit of everything Pinkie. How did you even get here?” Pinkie puts a hoof to her chin in thought before a smile comes back. A shrug follows after.

“I dunno Non-Non. I just wanted to see you and I ended up at your door.”

“Is that it?”

“Uh-huh.”

“So, no odd unicorn magic to bring you to that place?”

“Nope!”

“What about the party stuff?” You ask while motioning to the discarded objects in the floor. Her giggling seems to resemble that of an excited school girl as she looks at the small mess she’s caused.

“I always have that with me.” In hopes of changing the subject she puts her front hooves on your thighs and her hope-filled eyes stare directly into yours. “So are you coming to Gummy’s party?” A small huff escapes you and that smile of hers seems to droop ever so slowly.

“Didn’t the Princess tell you what happened? I can’t leave my house.” She adopts the same thinking posture as before, though while one eye is shut in concentration, the other is looking to your ceiling.

“Yeah, you’re right.” There’s a slight pause, then she snaps her hooves. She doesn’t have fingers! “I’m gonna go talk to Celestia! I’ll be right back Nonny-kins!” She’s quick to hope into your lap and place her lips against yours.

Though, what you thought would be an innocent and awkward kiss turned out to be something much more. She’s pressing her muzzle against you a bit hard, keeping you from parting. Her breath comes out in short bursts as her tongue dances along your closed lips, then prods them, almost begging for a way to get past.

Eris’ and Screwball’s jaws hit the floor at such a display. And as it continues, Eris’ body starts to shake. While she may be reflecting utter shock, what is going on inside her is a completely different story. The rage seems to surge from her like a wild fire, and the only one capable of knowing this is the pony sitting right beside her.

The surprisingly passionate kiss didn’t last long, but it left quite the impression on you. When she parts and leaps off of your lap you’re left panting. Your heart’s left beating like a drum in your chest, and your senses seem to have trouble registering what just transpired. Though, one thing catches your attention quite quick: Eris didn’t like that little display one bit.

When you glanced her way you swear there was fire and brimstone lying within her eyes. Her posture is rigid, like she was ready to tear into the little pony. Sharp, pearl white fangs along with lion claws and griffin talons made for a very deadly combination indeed.

Pinkie didn’t even acknowledge it. In fact, she seemed completely oblivious to the furious creature right behind her. Instead she waves goodbye and starts to worm her way under your couch. Eris let out a low growl and flies after the pink pony. As soon as Eris’ tail disappears under it both you and Screwball look to find that both have disappeared.

“Oh no, she’s mad.” Screwball giggles nervously as sweat pours down her face. Her mannerisms, along with Eris’ are a cause of concern, especially if the two of them are going to be in the main portion of Canterlot Castle. With your head having cleared you get to your feet. Though, being able to stand did little to dispel the nervousness welling in your chest, or your hair starting to stand on end.

“Sh-should we go after them?” Screwball rapidly shakes her head.

“Are you crazy?! We’re not doing anything. I’m going to wait and so are you. Last thing we need to do is get in on what’s going on. Let the Princesses handle it.”

“But what about the—” She puts a hoof to your lips.

“Trust me Anon, it’s better to let Eris blow off some steam,” she lets her hoof drop. “Besides Pinkie will be fine, I think.” While you’re concerned for her sake, you know she’ll be fine.

“Pinkie’s not the one who’s in danger.” You mutter while staring at the crotch of your pants. A very prominent wet spot seems to cover the zipper and button area, offsetting the overall color. It seems like Pinkie wanted a bit more than she let on. Screwball’s voice catches your attention.

“Then who is?”

“Everyone in the castle…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You’ve got a lot of nerve you horse.” She locks eyes with the party pony and snarls. It took Eris less than thirty seconds to corner Pinkie. Then again, Pinkie didn’t struggle to get away. There isn’t a hint of fear on her face, even with Eris’ muzzle is touching hers, and her fangs mere centimeters away she’s got a goofy grin.

“What do you mean?” Pinkie asks innocently, “and I’m not a horse. I’m a pony!”

“You know exactly what I mean!” Pinkie’s response is to whistle. Eris gasps when Pinkie’s hooves stretch her mouth into a comically wide grin. It’s like looking into the maw of a shark at this point.

“Oooh your teeth are sharp!” Eris’ eyes twist in fury before slapping her hooves away. Her lips act like rubber bands and slap her, then they return to their normal shape. “I wouldn’t wanna get caught by those thingies!” When Eris shakes away the stinging sensation she finds that Pinkie is no longer cornered.

Now they’re a few feet away from each other, both have their backs to a rather extensive hallway. Canterlot Castle always impressed with its sheer size, and its majesty isn’t lost, even with a goofy pony and a chaotic creature having a standoff. It’s now Pinkie realizes that Eris is mad about something. She tilts her head to the side, showing she’s confused.

“What’s wrong Eris? Did somepony get you a bad cake? You should have gone to Sugarcube Corner, we sell the best ca—” The Draconequus silences her by pinching her lips closed with her talons.

“You kissed Anon you little shit!” She hisses. When she’s sure Pinkie understands what was said, she releases her lips. Her first reaction is to gasp.

“Oooh, you said a bad word!” The sound of a mirror shattering can be heard while Eris’ left eye twitches. Her body begins to shake with rage while Pinkie backs away.

“Don’t change the subject! Didn’t Celestia tell you why I’m able to stay?” The party pony nods. “Then you know Anon’s my colt friend.” She nods yet again, and the playful smile drops from her face.

“Yes I know, and I also know Anon doesn’t have a choice. Because if he isn’t your special somepony you’re gonna do all the stuff Discord did.” Eris smirks and nods, “I think that’s really really really mean Eris.” The draconequus’ smile widens, showing off her fangs.

“Well, I don’t care what you think.” Is her response, “The only thing I do care about is you getting close to him. He’s mine, not yours. So you better back off.” Eris shuts her eyes, crosses her arms behind her head, and reclines in the air. She thinks she’s won, but that’s not the case. Her eyes snap open when she feels Pinkie sit on her stomach. The pony leans in and pokes her snout, her smile’s back.

“Silly filly Anon isn’t an object! He’s a human, you can’t own him. And he shouldn’t be with somepony who thinks they can.” Eris’ smile slowly starts to leave her face as Pinkie continues, “So, no I’m not gonna give up and back off. Besides, I think I might be a teensy bit better for Nonny than you.” She giggles. As soon as she finishes, any semblance of tranquility Eris seemed to have dissipates.

“Okay, no more Ms. Nice Girl!” she growls while reaching out to try and grab Pinkie. The pony is much too quick for her though. She leaps off her stomach and takes off down the hall, leaving Eris with empty claws. She takes off after her. “You won’t get away you little pest!”

When she rounds the corner, she finds Pinkie looking back at her. She blows raspberries and turns back to watch where she’s running. Eris shrieks out in anger before speeding up her pursuit. Though, this anger seems to be completely ignored by the pink pony.

While Eris flies overhead bent on hurting her, Pinkie’s running with a huge smile plastered on her face. The two manage to stay just a few feet away from each other. Neither of them gains nor closes the distance.

Once Pinkie makes it to the end of the hallway she takes a sharp left down the next one. Eris, whose going a little fast, is forced to grab hold of the wall near the end in order to swing her body around the corner. She seems to slither through the air, her wings doing nothing more than just adding weight at this point.

Suddenly, Pinkie stops, opens one of the many doors along the hall, and runs inside. The door shuts just as Eris is getting to it, causing her to slam headfirst into the wood. She shakes off the stars surrounding her head and snarls. She opts to phase through the door rather than open it, in hopes of taking the party pony by surprise.

She scans the room, hoping to find any trace of pink, only to be disappointed by the lack of it. Eris managed to stumble upon one of the dozens of generic bedrooms placed throughout the castle. But, there’s no way Pinkie could have escaped without her noticing. When she slithers through the door she creeps upon the ground like a snake, trying to make as little noise as possible.

Under the bed and dresser she looks, trying to cut down on the improbable places she could be hiding. But when her search yields no results she decides to start opening drawers, checking in dressers, and of course under the covers and in the pillow cases.

But, Eris doesn’t find Pinkie anywhere, until she hears the faucets turn on water in the adjacent bathroom. An evil smile spreads across her lips as she sneaks over to the door. With her ear against the oak she can hear Pinkie singing while taking a shower.

“Heh, you’re so stupid,” Eris murmurs. With a quick spell she’s able to shrink herself down and slide through the crack under the door frame. As soon as she crosses the threshold she notices that the room is not only thick, heavy, and humid, but it’s in black and white. She rubs her eyes a few times to no avail. It’s almost as though something has completely sucked all of the color out of the room, even her own body is affected by it. From this point on, she treads carefully.

Grr, when I get my claws on you, you’ll be sorry you even showed your face around me, Eris’ thinks to herself as the moves through the room. And the best part of it is, I know exactly what I’m going to do to you too. Just you wait Pinkie, you and Lyra are going to be the best of friends. All it’ll take is a little magic.

Her twisted thoughts center around Pinkie, her coat grey in color, forced to bend to Eris’ every whim. No thoughts are her own anymore. Anything that made the party pony who or what she was, gone. She cackles to herself as she pictures Pinkie kneeling down, kissing her hooves, begging for forgiveness from her new master.

To her, the best part will be when she has the real Pinkie conscious for each and every happy moment you and Eris spend together. She’ll be forced to watch as your relationship blossoms. All the smiles the two of you will share, and it’ll be because of her, not Pinkie.

Author's Note

Hope you guys don't mind this being another two parter. Just wanted to get something out for you guys. The next portion of this chapter should be done soon. And I'll eventually combine the two... at some point.

Chapter Nine: Pinkie vs Eris Part 2

Chapter Nine: Pinkie vs Eris Part 2

It doesn’t make it easier for Eris to traverse the bathroom considering the steam filling up the area, but her claws eventually manage to wrap around the curtain separating her from the pink pony just beyond it. It isn’t until she’s about to swipe it away does she hear music in the background start to build up.

“What’s with the ominous music?” she whispers before shaking her head, “Nah it’s nothing, I’m probably hearing things.” With a short chuckle she swipes open the curtains. “I told you that I’d find yo—” She grits her teeth and folds her ears against her head when Pinkie starts to scream. The music has not only become deafening, but incredibly high pitched as well.

Pinkie is seen standing on her hind hooves in the tub; a shower cap covers her mane and tail from the steaming hot water flowing rapidly from the faucet head. As soon as the two make eye contact Pinkie covers her crotch with her hooves and starts screaming.

“For the love of Celestia, stop that!” Eris shouts, shutting her eyes tightly as she does so. Right when she loses sight of Pinkie her screaming stops. When Eris opens them again she finds a soaked tub, minus the pony that was standing in it a second before. Her ears flick with she hears the pitter patter of hooves, and the slamming of a door. She tricked me!

Eris takes off like a bullet after her, but when she moves through the door again she finds no trace of the party pony anywhere. She cranes her neck to look down both sides of the hallway to no avail.

“How does she move that fast?” she asks aloud. She continues to look from side to side while contemplating her next move. She never seems to notice the pink curly tail only a few inches above her. Pinkie’s currently balancing on the doorframe with her back against the wall. She eyes the one below her, waiting for the right moment to escape. But, what she feels is a better idea comes to mind.

Even with Eris helping him out, she still sees Anon as something far below her. Pinkie believes that she needs a little lesson in humility. If Eris thinks she’s going to get anywhere with you, she has to see you as an equal.

As Pinkie reaches into her mane, the sound of clutter rustling can be heard. Eventually, she produces what looks to be a black long sleeved shirt, a pair of night vision goggles, and a black ski mask. When she dresses up in her outfit, she quickly hides behind the curtains of a nearby window. She seems to have trouble stifling her giggles, and those do not go unnoticed by Eris.

“I can hear that, and I will find you.” She takes this time to look along the ceiling.

“Eris,” Pinkie calls. She cups her hooves around her muzzle to throw off her voice. Eris turns to look down the end of one of the hallways. “You’ve been a very bad girl.” Her taunting tone sounds as though it’s coming from the opposite end. The draconequus turns to what she thinks is the source to find nothing.

“Okay Pinkie, I get it, you can come out now.” Eris smirks, a small purple flame sparks to life in the palm of her gryphon hand. “Don’t worry. I only want to play a little game with you.”

“Oh, you mean like the ones you played with Anonymous? No thank you, I wanna play a different game.” Pinkie’s cheerful voice grates on Eris’ nerves, causing her to grind her teeth. “You know, you could have just tried to be his friend, but instead you forced him into something he didn’t want to do.” Eris chuckles while shaking her head.

“That’s not gonna work on me, Pinkie. Besides, he’ll come around.” Her smile drops slightly when the pink mare responds.

“I don’t know you might have to use your magic. No offense, but you’re not gonna get him with the way you are. Maybe if you tried being nicer,” Pinkie trails off.

Eris scoffs, “So fixing his eyes isn’t? Someone whose mean would have just left them the way they were.”

Pinkie’s quick to counter her statement. “Just because you do nice things doesn’t mean you’re a nice pony. Besides, you only did that since you like him. If you didn’t, I don’t think you would.”

“I don’t need to be a good anything to care about him.”

“Well you have a bad way of showing it. You’re the reason why he got hurt at all.”

“Hey I wanted to do something fun.”

“And he didn’t right?”

“Exactly, so I decided to persuade him.”

“By making him do something he said no to?”

“I apologized for what happened and made up for it. Pinkie, seriously I don’t know where you’re trying to go with this.”

“How did you make up for it Eris?”

“With magic of course!”

“There, there it is again! Don’t tell me you can’t see it.”

“See what? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yes you do, you just said magic.” Eris shakes her head again.

“What does me saying that have to do with any of this?” Her ears twitch when she picks up the sound of Pinkie sighing. Instead of brushing this off though, it starts to fester. To her, it was like the party pony saw her as someone being too stupid to figure out a simple thing.

“You don’t know how to interact with anyone at all, especially Anon. All you do is use spells to try and make everything work. If there’s an argument or if someone doesn’t want to do something you’ll use that before anything. You never try to talk things out!” Eris seemingly dismisses her explanation.

“Why would I do that if I have something to make it easier on me?” Despite her smile and nonchalant attitude, what’s happening inside doesn’t reflect that. Slowly but surely her lips start their decent.

“Because that makes it look like you see everyone below you.”

“That’s because they are. And when I get bored, I find something else to play with.” Eris grits her teeth after she finishes her bitter line. A surprising silence falls between the two for a few moments as her words sink in.

“I’m not surprised you feel that way, not at all. I guess that means you’ll throw Anon away when you get bored with him too, like he’s an old toy.” This is the first time Eris can’t seem to answer back. The words she wants to say are caught in the back of her throat.

“B-But I—“ Is all she can manage before Pinkie picks up where she left off.

“You made him be your coltfriend, but you don’t really care about his feelings. You showed him that on Hearts and Hooves Day and yesterday. If you did, there’s no way you’d make him go through with that agreement.” The search for Pinkie continues, this time Eris flies down one of the ends in hopes of finding her. The pony she’s looking for follows close behind, she’s sure to keep out of sight.

“You’re selfish Eris, really really selfish. You think the world revolves around you; if I could do what you can, I’d think the same thing.” Eris shows no signs of holding back her annoyance now. Her talons and claws are balled up into shaking fists of rage. And, the longer Pinkie goes on, the more her happy, bubbly attitude starts to fade.

“I bet its nice having everything given to you on a silver platter huh? You don’t need to work for anything. Just a quick snap and that’s it right? It doesn’t matter what happens as long as you get what you want. I’m not surprised at how spoiled you are.”

“Shut your mouth!” Eris shouts while throwing the flame she’s kept in her talons. Since she has no real target, the fireball ends up hitting one of the many banners hanging on the wall. Her spell is quick to burn away the lavish fabric until only burnt pieces of cloth remains.

“And the worst part about it is that poor Anon gets to experience it all. He shouldn’t be around somepony like you. It’s not like you care about what happens to him, you’ve done a good job at making Anon’s life miserable so far. You made Anon an outcast in Manehattan.” Eris visibly flinches at Pinkie’s words.

“He’s not an outca—“ Pinkie interrupts her.

“Oh wait, your magic made everything better. That’d be horrible if those ponies were allowed to remember huh?”

“I did that so Anon wouldn’t have to worry about it!” She screams.

“That’s what you tell yourself at least. But, I think the real reason is because if you didn’t, things would get a little too complicated for you.”

“Shut up!” Eris fires off another fire spell, the flames expand. This time, the entire frame of a window is reduced to rubble when her spell makes contact. Pinkie nearly has a heart attack from the draconequus’ display. Had she have chosen her window, she’d have been toast. The air becomes thick as smoke rises from the damage done.

“You shoved yourself back into his life when he’s trying to adjust. You risked him getting hurt because you wanted to do something. You forced him to cater to your wants and needs, and then you shackled him into a one-sided relationship!”

“Anon could have said no!” Eris growls through clenched teeth.

“And then what would’ve happened?” Pinkie asks.

“You know the answer to that already. I told you before this whole thing started.” Pinkie scoffs at her reply.

“Silly me for thinking it’d be different. And ponies call me childish.” As Eris readies another spell, Pinkie makes mention of what Eris’ anger has done, “That reminds me, I wonder what Celestia is going to think when she sees that you messed up her hallway.” The magic almost instantly dissipates, and Eris’ eyes widen at the mess she’s made.

She tries to play it off anyway, “Oh well, I’ll just use a spell and it’ll be good as new.” She manages to keep a straight face, but inside she’s trying her hardest to keep from outwardly panicking. When her talons begin to glow Pinkie starts backing up.

“If that’s how you always act when you get angry, I hope Anon never makes you mad. But I guess its okay since you can fix him like that window right? Go ahead.” When Eris’s magic takes hold of the bits of it, and when it starts to reform both notice at how it’s nothing like how it was. The frame is lopsided and the broken glass juts out from random places.

“Unless you can’t, it makes sense. You probably don’t know how it was before you blew it up do you? I bet Discord had to come behind you and clean up whatever it was you broke.” Pinkie smiles from her realization, and the anxious Eris starts to shiver.

“I believe it since he’s been using his magic way longer than you have.” The Draconequus visibly flinches yet again from her words, “I wonder, does that mean the only reason you were able to fix Anon’s eyes was because you know how they work?” As much as Eris’ pride won’t let her admit it, Pinkie is right. Whenever she wasn’t messing around, or trying to look up perverse videos, she’d be looking through books. She’d been planning this visit to Equestria for a while, and she wanted to be able to help you in case anything went wrong.

The words coming from Pinkie are leaving their mark upon her. The more she speaks the more Eris’ pride as what she is begins to be affected. Whether it’s intentional or not, Eris no longer feels anger towards the party pony. In fact, shocked would be a better way to describe what she’s experiencing now.

For too long Eris underestimated her, thinking Pinkie was nothing. Just an annoyance that could be tolerated, but she was wrong, dead wrong. She had more than that happy, bubbly part of her personality that much was certain. When it came to those she cared about, she dropped that giddy attitude and got serious…

“Discord probably had you memorize a human anatomy book on Earth. If you knew anything about carpentry you could probably make that window as good as new. Though, there is something I know you’re great at without having to study: mind control.”

Eris shows her frustration through growling, “And where are you going with that? What else can you possibly have to say?”

“I bet you’ll do that to Anon.” Pinkie barely has the words out when Eris shouts out her response.

“I’d never use that magic on him, ever!”

“Never? Not once? Well, I bet the thought has crossed your mind once or twice. We know that Anon doesn’t lie down and accept whatever life throws at him. Even though he’s forced into this with you, that doesn’t mean he’s going to do everything you say. He has his own voice, opinions, and thoughts.”

“I understand that Pinkie.”

“And I’m guessing his opinion of you, and the situation he’s in is pretty poor, but he’s stuck with you anyway. Anon is going along with it because he doesn’t want to see anypony get hurt because of your selfishness. If you really cared about him or making friends you wouldn’t have done this in the first place.”

Eris whimpers and her ears press against the sides of her head, trying to block out the pony’s words.

“I wonder how long it’s going to be before you get tired of him being miserable and make him be happy. And even if you don’t mess with his head I’m sure you’ll mess with ours. I know that’s what you’re going to do as soon as you catch me. You don’t like what I did, so I bet you’ll make me not like Anon the way I do won’t you?”

“When I’m out of the way, I bet you’ll do the same thing to his friends until all that’s left is you and you alone.” Eris slowly makes her way over to one of the walls, as soon as she puts her back to it, she slides down until she’s sitting, using the wall as her support. The weight of Pinkie’s speech lies heavy on her mind.

“But, I’m not scared of you, Eris. I’m going to stick around no matter what. And even if Anon decides not to be with me I’ll make sure he’s safe from you, because he’s still my friend. As long as I’m close by you won’t be able to do something horrible to him.”

“I can’t believe you think I’d do anything like that, to him or anypony else. I’m serious about wanting to change.” Her once confident voice has lost most of its volume, and even she doesn’t seem to believe the words coming out of her own mouth.

“Do you think that makes any of us feel better? Everyone thinks that’s a lie. It wouldn’t be the first time. We know about what you did in Manehattan and all those mean things you did with your dad and sister.”

Eris’ head hangs low. With a few words and phrases, Pinkie was not only able to figure out how Eris’ power worked, but she managed to figure out what she’d plan if things did end up going south. If you reacted negatively, she was planning on making sure you wouldn’t tell a soul about it.

When those three days of your captivity were up, you would have gone through what she has already done to Lyra. Eris would do anything to make sure you didn’t see her as a monster, even if that meant getting rid of your will. It’s in that moment a realization comes to her mind.

Pinkie is right, absolutely right. Eris really is a monster. In her eyes what she does is something common. She believed herself to be on top, so nothing else mattered. But, maybe that isn’t the right way to see things.

These ponies have done nothing to her, and yet she wouldn’t hesitate to put them in precarious situations just to get a cheap laugh. That’s when she recalls the moments in Manehattan, and the off-handed lie she told you.

To say she did the same thing her father did would be fairly accurate. But, Eris was quite different from her father in how she went about causing chaos. Those ponies in that city were hurt more often than not...

The hospitals were always full of new unfortunate victims that just so happened to get trampled, or crushed under something. The only reason why the hospitals themselves remained intact was so that when their patients were released, they’d get to experience Eris’ twisted version of fun.

All of her machinations were child’s play to make. Even grabbing Pinkie and bend her will to Eris’ would be the same if she could catch her. After that, systematically converting the others would be a piece of cake.

But, there’s no guarantee that even after all of that, Anon would stay with her. She would slip up eventually, it’s in her nature to be so cocky that she’d let loose information better left a secret. Then, she’d have to do to Anon what she’d do to his friends.

And then, the things that attracted her to you in the first place would be gone. That’s when the panic starts to set in for the draconequus. You being twisted and corrupted into a shell of your former self would be the least of her worries. With all those ponies being made into slaves, it wouldn’t go unnoticed.

Even if she just converted Pinkie, there’s no telling if Eris could keep Pinkie’s personality exactly the same. It’d be lucky for her if Lyra’s personality remained the same. Twilight and her other friends would find out something’s wrong sooner rather than later. When they do, they know exactly who to confront.

“Stop,” Eris says softly.

“I don’t believe a word you say, and neither does he, and everypony, including Anon, will remember you as the monster you are.” As soon as Pinkie’s words leave her maw, Eris fully realizes the severity of the actions she plans on taking.

When it comes to something like taking over Equestria, she can’t have you too. You’ve chosen Equestria over her already a month ago, what would stop you from doing the same again? Even if Eris managed to keep things under wraps until the most opportune moment, you wouldn’t choose her.

Making you into a slave isn’t an option. If she did, then she’d definitely grow bored of you. But, there’s no way she’d be able to keep her plans a secret from you for too long. Celestia would find out either through you or one of your friends, and then everything would come crashing down.

When Celestia came to pay the two of you a visit, it made Eris’ realize she wouldn’t stand a chance against her. Discord was the one who stole their magic and put them on the moon, not Eris. Even when the two were in a weakened state she had doubts about winning against either of them. So, she couldn’t properly gauge just how much power they had.

With the sun princess being back in peak condition, Eris was able to really feel the latent energies at her disposal. Eris was bluffing when she said she’d cause as much chaos as possible before being stopped. If Celestia really wanted to, she could beat Eris in an instant.

The draconequus knew that all too well, and she was sure Celestia did too. If anything she could possibly take on Luna in a fair fight, but there’s no way she’d stop the one who moved the sun or both sisters together. Nothing is in her favor if she went through with her plans. Unless…

If she were to be around either princess while they were weak, she could probably get to Celestia or Luna and make a slave of them. With one or both in her claws she could take over the country, taking over the world could even happen.

But that’d take a large amount of planning, and with only the changelings causing a ruckus every so often in random places, she had nothing to go with. Unless they did something drastic like attacking Canterlot, Eris would have to abandon her plans, at least for now. That leaves her with the forced relationship she’s in with you.

She already knows Pinkie is right when it comes to the draconequus, but, she also knows that the party pony can be quiet gullible. Sure she’s saying all these hurtful, yet true things, but if Eris made it seem like she was looking to change and make up for what she’s done, maybe Pinkie would drop her guard and give Eris a chance.

She might even help her out if Eris sounds really convincing. Besides, she could really use a few lessons in friendship, even if it’s from a source that’s infuriating and bubblegum pink in color. While admitting that she has weaknesses infuriates her to no end, she really doesn’t know a single thing when it comes to seeing something as an equal. Seeing something as a friend seems even more farfetched.

On the plus side, if Pinkie does help her, maybe she can convince her friends too. That leads to convincing more ponies, and eventually she’ll gain the trust of average ponies everywhere. Maybe even Celestia will trust her after a while. Eris would be smiling right now if she could. But, she’s gotta make Pinkie think her words hit her right at home.

With the punishment of being turned to stone again, the feeling of helplessness and psychosis inducing imprisonment rearing its ugly head, tears start to form in Eris’ eyes. The bawling doesn’t start yet, but the crocodile tears are quite clear. Pinkie’s eyes widen when she sees Eris wipe her eyes.

The party pony quickly picks up on Eris’ change in posture and overall mood. Admittedly, this catches her off guard. She has no idea how to react to something like this, she’s never made anyone cry in her life. Seeing someone hurt over something she’s done, even if it is a villain, doesn’t sit well with Pinkie.

Her ears flatten and her once happy attitude disappears. Judging by her posture and off to the side look, she feels guilty for what she’s done. Things only get worse when Eris starts to speak.

“You’re *hic* right Pinkie,” Eris manages, “I really am a monster!” As she continues to act, real tears start to form in Pinkie’s eyes. It’s tugging on her heart strings seeing Eris like this. “I’m trying to get better I really am, but I only make things worse.”

“Eris,” Pinkie stars, she’s immediately cut off by a rather loud sob escaping her.

“I did something so s-selfish to Anon and I bet he h-hates me too, just like all of you, I’ve done so many horrible things and I want to make up for it.” She curls up into a ball, “But it’s w-way too late, I can’t even make Anon happy, how am I s-supposed to get anypony else to like m-me?”

“I’ve never h-had a friend before. I don’t know what to do! I-I don’t w-want to get turned into stone again!” It’s here Eris can no longer get a word out without being forced to choke down her sobs.

Pinkie’s lower lip starts to quiver at the pathetic sight in front of her. The tears now flow from her eyes, same as Eris. With a low sigh, she steps out from behind her hiding spot.

“Eris,” Pinkie says softly while approaching Eris, “I’m sorry, please don’t cry.” She gets no response from her. Instead, it’s as if she gets louder. Though, when she’s no more than a few feet away, the draconequus’ sobbing finally seems to lower in volume.

“W-what,” she wipes her eyes, giving Pinkie her full attention.

“I didn’t know you were serious.” She takes a seat in front of her.

Eris nods, “I am, I don’t want everyone to lump me together with my dad. I want to make things right, but I’ve never tried to do something like that before,” she sniffles before adding, “if only I had someone who could help me. But, who would waste their time? You and your friends would be better off turning me into stone.” Eris turns her attention to the floor.

“But that’s not true!” Pinkie shouts, startling Eris. “Doing that won’t solve anything.” Using her hoof, she lifts Eris’ chin up so she can look into her eyes. “And if you really want to change, I’ll help you.”

“You will?” Eris asks, she shows a hopeful smile that Pinkie returns.

“I’ll make you into the friendliest draconequus in Equestria, it’s a Pinkie Promise. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” When Pinkie finishes her little ritual, she stands upon her hind hooves and brings Eris into a hug.

“Thank you,” Eris sighs, trying to hold back another wave of tears, “thank you so much for giving me a chance.” She wraps her claws around the pony in an embrace. The two hold each other for a few moments, and while Pinkie is beaming with joy.

Heh, what a sucker…

“Now we just need to talk to Princess Celestia!”

Fuck my life…

"And we gotta talk about this deal you have with Anon."

You've gotta be kidding me...

Author's Note

So, what's gonna happen to Eris and Pinkie?
Will the party pony really make a breakthrough, or will Eris strike when the moment is right?
Will Anon be caught in the mix?

Find out in the next update.

Chapter Four: Eris' Daring Rescue, Celestia's Visit to Manehattan, and a Plan to Reform a Draconequus

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//Chapter Four: Eris' Daring Rescue, Celestia's Visit to Manehattan, and a Plan to Reform a Draconequus(WiP)// Story: The Lively Adventures of Anonymous// by Aetherpony//------------------------------//

In the end you decided to tell her the same thing you told the guard mare. Needless to say Lyra was furious about it. Judging by the way her shackles rattled you could tell she wanted nothing more than to get out of her binds and hunt those ponies down.

But after a bit of coaxing from the guard Lyra decided that acting out and being angry for something out of her control is quite silly. Plus Lyra didn’t want to get shocked again for insubordination. As it turns out the unicorns in the City Guard know a low level spell which acts as a Taser for rowdy ponies.

After she managed to calm down the two of you took this time to catch up on a few things. After all you haven’t spoken to her since Discord left for Earth. As expected she and Bon-Bon continued working in their candy shop while you were busy with Pinkie and Zecora. For her and Bon-Bon things went on as normal, well as normal as things can be.

Time Turner is still with Bon-Bon and the two have gotten quite close over the last few weeks. Lyra attests to this by the grunting and groaning she can hear from Bon-Bon’s room at night when he comes for a visit. Then she mentions how long their session last. You can’t help but laugh, when she asks why you find it funny you tell her about humans and their stamina. You don’t see it but when you finish Lyra’s face has turned a new shade of red. The same could be said for the guards sitting nearby.

Surprising enough, Lyra was actually on vacation. She’s been in Manehattan for the last two weeks and tonight was supposed to be her last night. She intended on going to one of the many nightclubs that are scattered throughout the city, but Eris saw to her last night of joy. Lyra kind of took out some of her anger on the poor sap that insulted you.

As you tell her about how you’ve been keeping yourself busy over the last month you hear a pony rush into the room. By his rapid breathing it sounds like he either ran a great distance, or something big is happening right at this moment.

“She’s here!” the stallion shouts, you hear the sound of hooves rapidly beating upon the ground as the guard gallops towards the far end of the room. The mare that brought you in is close behind him. An eerie silence falls over the room.

“Lyra, what’s going on?” You feel her place a hoof on your lips.

“Shh, hold on a minute.” The wait isn’t long. A loud explosion rings out from the area where the guards ran off to. Wood and stone are torn from their foundation from the shockwave that follows. Without thinking you reach out, grab hold of Lyra, and put yourself in between her and the direction of the noise.

You expect large pieces of debris to hit your back. Instead only a single broken piece of wood lazily slaps against you. The smoke and dust that follows is much worse than that. As you’re hacking away you can’t help but think of how much of a wasted attempt that was.

“You know,” you say in between fits of coughing, “I was expecting more.”

“It’s the thought that counts!” She’s in about the same state as you. At this point if the two of you don’t find a way out you’ll probably suffocate. As you try to get a fresh breath of air screaming ponies can be heard from all around you. Whatever’s happening has caused quite a commotion.

“Lyra, can you see through the smo—“you can’t finish as another round of coughing hits you. It feels as though you’re about to hack up a lung. Thankfully she understood what you were trying to ask her. She nods before you let her out of your grip.

“Yeah, let’s go,” she manages to utter before succumbing to a bout of coughing. Once they subside she uses her magic to force your hand to her mane so you won’t get lost. With you in tow she slowly but surely manoeuvres around any debris in the floor and towards what you hope to be the exit.

The two of you only manage to make it a few yards before she freezes in place and refuses to go on any further. Even with you being low to the ground you’re not given any relief from the smoke pervades the room. At this point you can’t imagine why Lyra would stop now.

“Lyra, what’s wrong?” you wheeze. She doesn’t answer and instead remains silent. You’re about to ask again, but the sound of a single set of hooves as they approach you catches your attention. With your eyes out of commission you have no idea just who could be coming your way. If anything it could possibly be those insect ponies from earlier, or a group of rioting ponies that decided to steal from City Hall. As your mind frantically paints terrible images for you to see the sound of a very familiar Draconequus clears her throat.

“Ahem, was that a bit much? I feel like I could have toned it down a little— oh who am I kidding, that was awesome!” She shouts with glee before running your way.

Admittedly you’re surprised to hear her voice. But knowing that she just caused the explosion, coupled with all of this being her fault, you’re not exactly happy to know she’s around you. In fact, you’re a bit angry at how she managed to ruin something else yet again. You yelp when she pulls you and Lyra under each arm.

“Oh man, did you see that? Please tell me you saw—” she pauses mid-sentence when she notices the new accessory you’re sporting, “Anon, what happened?” You remain stoic and silent. Besides, it’s not as if you could answer her anyway, she should know that you can’t exactly breathe too well right now. You’re wondering why she’s unaffected by it.

“Of course you can’t answer, look at all this smoke and dust. Here hold on.” You want to scream as you feel forcibly thrown in a random direction. While you’re unable to see it your body remembers this feeling all too well. Eris has just forced you and Lyra through a portal. Hopefully she’s set the destination for home. If you’re going to yell at her again you might as well do it where you’re most comfortable.

You take a test breath of air in order to find out where you are. Judging by the familiar scent of dirty laundry you can only assume that you’ve been brought to your room. Unless, of course, Eris decided that she wanted to be funny and brought you to a Laundromat. So you take this time to feel around aimlessly in order to discern where you are.

You hear Eris’ voice from your side, “I brought you home, and your bed is a little to the right.” You nod before bringing your hands out and feeling about. When your hands brush against your sheets you breathe a sigh of relief before taking a seat. You hear Lyra hum in wonderment.

“So, this is where you live, huh? Looks pretty nice, Anon!” you hear Lyra’s chipper voice call from nearby. Unfortunately you can’t see Eris pointing to your door when she scoffs.

“If you think that’s something, you should take a look out there.” Silence hangs over the room when Lyra makes no motion to move, nor does she acknowledge anything Eris said. “Hey, what’s your problem?”

“My problem is that the Draconequus that messed up Manehattan is trying to talk to me like I’m her friend.” You commend Lyra’s bravery. You’re sure that there aren’t many ponies out there that’d talk to Eris like that. “And you blew up Town Hall to get us out!” So Eris was the cause behind the explosion?

“I did what I had to do,” Eris makes her way over to you, and then she drapes an arm around your shoulders. “If I didn’t this poor sap out he would still be in pony custody.” You grit your teeth before pushing Eris away. She lets out a surprised gasp of air before hitting your wall.

“Don’t, touch me.” Your voice drips with malice. You were keeping calm for the most part. Though, you were silently stewing all the while. Your anger was slowly building its way up through your system.

The entire reason why you’re handicapped now is because of her. Had she not of brought you here in the first place then this wouldn’t have happened to you. At first you could sympathize where she was coming from. After all, you guys wouldn’t have been able to do anything other than hang out. But for her to throw you under the bus, so to speak, without a moment’s hesitation pissed you off to no end.

You’re still willing to recognize the fact that you being attacked was your own fault. You were wandering around a city at night alone. But you should not have been in that city to begin with.

“Hey, what the hell, Anon, what was that for?!” She gingerly rubs her now aching back. You turn your head in the general direction of her voice. Then you take the wrapping around your eyes and remove it. As soon as you open your eye lids you can hear Eris voice her disgust. “Ugh, oh man what happened to your eyes?”

“God damn bug ponies that’s what happened.” Thankfully Lyra starts to reapply the wrapping for you via magic. “When I left you I got ambushed a couple of hours later.”

“Then you should have just gone to the movies with me, ya know, like I suggested.” You slam your hands on your bed and growl. Lyra yelps before losing her concentration, causing the wrapping to fall to your shoulders.

“We shouldn’t have been there in the first place!” Eris’ ears flatten against her head and she casts a shameful gaze to your floor. “I was dumb enough to go walking on my own, I get it. But because of YOU I’m fucked. Celestia is definitely going to be paying me a visit.”

“B-But I made everything better!” You scoff before shaking your head.

“And how did you do that? How did you make up for ruining me?”

“Before I leaped in after you two I went on clean up duty. When they all wake up tomorrow none of them will remember a thing,” She smiles like she accomplished a great task. While you feel some relief from her words, that does little to stem the tide of questions that come from you.

“Does that involve fixing the property that got destroyed? Or the items that were stolen during the riots? How about the fact that all those ponies are going to wonder how EVERY ONE of them slept an entire day? They’ll also wonder how some of them woke up in the MIDDLE OF THE FUCKING CITY!” You’re breathing heavily at this point.

“I didn’t think about fixing all of that,” Eris giggles nervously while flashing you an apologetic smile. Despite being absolutely livid you manage to keep your voice calm.

“Well, there’ll certainly be an investigation. Something city scale will probably be reported to the Celestia anyway.” With your wrapping secured you lie back on your bed before continuing, “That reminds me, since I was unconscious for almost a whole day that means any Town Guard would have been perfectly capable of sending Celestia a letter about us. Did you happen to stop any messengers?” Eris is silent for a few moments.

“Whoops…”

While you scream out your frustrations to the Draconequus, a single Manehattan Guard Pony has made his way into Canterlot Castle’s Interior. He adjusts his chest plate, and then looks over his helmet for any scuff marks or discolorations. If he’s going to personally meet with Princess Celestia he has to look his best.

With a short sigh he uses a wing to grab hold of multiple rolls of parchment from within his brown saddlebag. As soon as everything seems to be in order he makes his way over to the gigantic double doors that lead into the castle’s throne room.

Upon reaching them they open to reveal the lavishness that lied just beyond. Lovely red carpeting that stretched from the entryway to the deity that sits upon her pure white throne. Aside from various stained glass windows that depict events since passed. However, a window that was completely blank caught his attention as he made his way into the room.

“Good Evening,” Celestia’s voice is like honey to his ears. It causes him to bring his full attention to her. Despite the fact that the rather long day is coming to an end, she has lost none of her radiance. To him, it’s as though he’s approaching the sun itself. When he gets within a few feet of her throne he bows. “You may rise, sir guard.”

He does so without missing a beat, “Thank you, Princess. I’m afraid I come bearing troubling news.” Celestia’s small smile melts into a neutral expression.

“What news do you bring to me today?” The guard motions to the scrolls he’s carrying. Celestia picks them up in a golden aura and she levitates them over. Upon opening one and reading her eyes slowly but surely widen with shock.

Fires, riots, ponies stealing from others, the guard being stretched thin in order to help contain the chaos that seemed to burn away at multiple sections of the city. It’s a lot of information or her to take in. As she sift through each of the seven scrolls presented she’s greeted with various guard reports, eye witness sightings, damage costs, obituaries, and of course multiple entries specifically stating that you paid the city a visit with a certain creature.

Horror slinks throughout her very being when she finds photographs of you and Eris making an appearance in front of the theater. At least a good portion of her fears can be laid to rest. Were it Discord she would have immediately sent for Twilight and her friends to be brought to Manehattan, but with it being one of his daughters she felt that the situation wasn’t as dire as it could have been.

Still, the state that the city is in is dire. Celestia knows that the guards stationed there will not be enough to take care of what’s needed. She lets out a soft sigh before rolling up the scrolls and giving them back to the guard.

“Princess?” He asks while stuffing them back into his saddlebags. He steps away and to the side when Celestia steps off of her throne. When she turns his way he stands a attention.

“What is your name?” He clears his throat for a moment before answering in an authoritive tone.

“Steel Wing, your majesty,” she smiles before nodding.

“Guardspony Steel Wing, have you ever had the pleasure of riding in a Royal Carriage?” he shakes his head.

“I can’t say that I have, your majesty.”

“Well, that’s about to change,” she promptly walks past him and to the entrance; “If I am to pay a visit to Manehattan I’ll need a guide. I haven’t been there in quite some time, and I believe you would be best suited to fulfil that role. Do you object?” He shakes his head again, “Great, we leave as soon as possible. If you would follow me please?” The guard salutes before promptly following her out of the room.

As they trot along one of the many winding corridors a question seems to worm its way out of Steel Wing. “Your majesty?”

“Yes Steel Wing?” she turns her head to look upon him.

“Are you going to alert the Element Bearers?”

“I would if I felt they were needed. From those reports you presented it is Eris that has returned. While she’s very powerful, she cannot hold a candle to her eccentric father. I believe I can handle this matter personally.”

“If you insist, your majesty…”

An untold amount of time has passed since Eris left your room to let you cool off. Needless to say if she stayed you would have laid in to her and kept doing so until you said something you’d regret. Besides, you really didn’t want her to be around you right now.

She turned something that could have been fun into a full day of pain and misery for you. The thought of eventually talking to Celestia about this incident digs deep within the recesses of your mind.

When you do speak with her, how would she react? Will she listen to reason and see that it was Eris’ decision to come back, or will she believe you have a sinister plot in mind? You’ve come to care for these ponies deeply, and the last thing you want is for them to believe you have a scheme to hurt them, or worse. Lyra’s voice breaks your train of thought.

“Uh, if it makes you guys feel any better I won’t tell anyone.” Lyra informs while trotting about your room. “Your secret is safe with me.”

“Well, I’d be happy about that, if Eris were thorough enough to take care of loose ends.” Ever since Eris admitted to making such an error she’s left you and Lyra alone. In that time Lyra’s already moved about your apartment. Like you she had the same problems with the décor. Though she thought it was awesome that a single touch was all it’d take to make an entryway to your pool. After getting a feel for the place she came back to your room and dried off. Lyra suddenly stops at the side of your bed. You feel the weight of it displace when she leaps up onto it.

“I know I shouldn’t be saying this, but I think you need to give Eris a break.” You’re surprised to hear something like that coming from a pony’s mouth. Last time you checked Eris played her part in making them suffer just like Discord did.

“W-What?” You ask incredulously, “You can’t be serious Lyra.”

“You weren’t with me when I was trotting around, she’s an absolute wreck. I never thought I’d see a Draconequus cry in my lifetime.” You open your mouth to speak out against her. You wanted to tell her about the potential hell you’re going to be put through, but you stop as she continues.

“She thinks you hate her, Anon, and all she wants is to do something with you that’d make you both happy. But all she seems to do is make things worse.”

“Wait, did you talk to her or something?” Lyra puts a hoof to her chin in thought.

“Yes I did, and Anon, there’s something you need to understand. Eris is going to do daring things like that, it’s in her nature. She can’t change who or what she is.”

“But she can learn to keep that part under control.” You sit up and face where you believe Lyra is sitting on your bed. “I can’t let it go just because she’s a Draconequus.”

“She was able to accept your anger, and she didn’t turn away from you the day you went completely insane. Why can’t you do the same for her and her chaotic tendencies? I’m sure the two of you can find a middle ground, a way that suits both your wants and needs. I’m not saying that you’re wrong for being mad, your reasons are justified. But you’ve got to give her some leeway.”

As reluctant as you are to do so, you recall the day you destroyed a portion of your room. You could still feel bits of that day from within, that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach, the heart ache, and the torrent of emotions that raged within. You could also remember the fear Eris had planted on her face when you came a little too close to her.

Yet, despite that, she didn’t suggest to have you put back on Earth. No, she beat the living hell out of the guy who hurt you. She defended you when you were at your worst; if anything, you owe her a lot more than you would care to acknowledge. Though, you could certainly recollect all the bad things she put you through as well. Eris may have held your best interest in a lot of situations, but she didn’t exactly going about making that seem true.

“But that doesn’t change the fact that Celestia is going to be angry with me. Eris went way too damn far. Even if I were to do what you suggest, her actions have ruined that chance. There are some things that she shouldn’t do. She doesn’t realize the repercussions until after she’s cast her spell. If she could learn to think before doing something I wouldn’t be as angry with her as I am now, or at all, really.” Lyra shakes her head before sighing.

“Anon, do you even know Celestia?” You shrug your shoulders.

“We haven’t really spoken to one another since she made me a citizen. Twilight told me a few things about her too, but she’s Celestia’s student. Of course Twilight is going to have positive things to say about her.”

“Well, then let me educate you. She is very forgiving, and very benevolent. If you and Eris talk with her in a mature manor, explain the mistake, and offer to make the situation better, then she’s going to side with you. The two of you are going to talk anyway that much is certain. Even if Eris did erase their memories I’m sure Celestia has a way to see what happened regardless. She is the strongest magic user on the planet.”

You can’t help but think that Lyra offers very valid points. Assuming she’s right about Celestia, then you may have a shot after all. And if the ponies see you and Eris striving to make up for what happened, then maybe they won’t be as adamant about hating you or Eris for that matter.

Of course they’ll be suspicious, but the more the two of you put forth an effort to help, the more trusting they’ll become. You could give Eris a chance if she supports this idea, but you and she are going to be laying down a few ground rules. You can’t afford to go around fixing a mess like Ponyville was again. The second time around wouldn’t be as simple to solve.

She’ll have to learn to keep her chaotic magic in check, and she’ll have to be willing to side with ponies instead of messing with them. You doubt she’ll want to do either, but if she doesn’t then there’s no way to keep Celestia on your side. While she may be benevolent you’re sure she’ll do anything in her power to keep her subjects safe…

“If I can get Eris behind the idea, then I don’t see why not. It’s probably the best way to go about this mess. But what if Eris thinks it’s a joke? What if she isn’t willing to put forth the effort to make amends for what she did?” Lyra shrugs in response.

“Then Celestia is going to make her leave. If Eris shows no signs of regret then Celestia will see her as another Discord. That means she’ll do everything in her power to either banish her from Equestria, or imprison her again.” Lyra smirks before shooting you a half lidded gaze you can’t even see. “But you and I both know she likes you, and if playing nice means she’ll get to stay with you, then I’m sure she’ll put forth the effort. And if you give her a little “incentive” she’ll be more than willing.” She snickers and you tilt your head in confusion.

“What do you mean by that?” Lyra silences herself immediately.

“Are you bucking kidding me? Anon, I’m talking about pressing her buttons.”

“What?” You’re utterly confused.

“Ugh! Heavy petting?” You shake your head, “Bumping Uglies?” You shake your head again. “Getting down and dirty?” You repeat your previous action. “Give her the D?” Your face immediately lights up with blush. You’re embarrassed because you didn’t figure it out sooner.

“Are you serious?! Why do you even support that? Didn’t you like me too?”

“Yeah I did, but I blew my chance when I threw up all over you like a drunken party mare. Now I’m trying to be your buddy, and I’m telling you that you need to give her the man meat.” You can’t believe Lyra is suggesting that you do such a thing.

“But I can’t just do something like that.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’ve never done anything like that before!” Unfortunately Lyra didn’t understand what you meant. Instead of assuming you’re a virgin she thinks it’s something else entirely.

“I’m not saying you should do anal Anon. That’s something mares save as a trump card when we— Wah!” you reach out blindly and grab hold of her mane. You’ve heard enough out of her. You get up out of bed and drag her behind you. “Anon that hurts!”

“Don’t care, get out.” She doesn’t put forth much of a struggle as you make your way towards your door.

“But Anon I’m only try—“

“Out.”

“I’ve got another sug—“

“Out,” you feel around for the knob. When you find it you open it, and then slide Lyra out into the hall. “Come back when you’re mind isn’t in the gutter.” You promptly slam the door in her face.

As you try to feel your way back to your bed Lyra turns an apologetic gaze over to Eris; who just so happened to be floating her way over to your room.

“So, did it work?” Eris asks; her expression filled to the brim with hope.

“Yes and no. He’s thinking about giving you a chance, but as far as incentive goes he doesn’t seem to like that idea.” Eris hangs her head in defeat.

“Damn it,” she mutters under her breath.

“Don’t worry I’m sure he’ll come around, eventually.” Lyra lets out a soft grunt before getting on her hind hooves. She places a comforting hoof on Eris’ shoulder. “We’ll get em.” Eris cranes her neck to face Lyra.

“So, do I just go in there or what?” Lyra nods.

“Now’s as good of time as any, might as well let him know you’re serious. I’m still surprised you’re willing to do this.” Eris merely shrugs in response.

“If it’ll get him to stop getting so angry with me I’ll try just about anything. But, one thousand years of no consequences, it’s gonna be kinda hard to think about the repercussions when I haven’t cared in so long.”

“Well, you spent the majority of that time as stone, so I’m sure that consequence will be fresh in your mind.” Eris’ eyes widen and nervous sweat seems to form upon her brow. Anxiety is clear upon her features.

“That’s a very good point. I’m gonna go in there and tell him I’m all for the reforming thing. I do NOT want to end up in a stone prison again.”

“Yeah you do that. Good luck.”

“Thanks I’ll need it,” she places her claws upon the handle of the door and stops. She twists to look back at the little mint colored unicorn. “Wait, why are you being so cool?” Her smile turns sly, and then she snaps her talons. Lyra’s eyes open wide and her body seems to freeze in place. A single, tiny purple flame erupts from the center of her forehead. “Because chaos, how could I forget!” Eris snickers to herself before twisting your door’s knob.

As soon as Eris enters your room and shuts the door Lyra starts moving again. She shakes her head and bats her eyes as though she’s been in a deep slumber.

“Whoa, what happened?” When she feels something burning she turns her attention to her forehead. “And I’m on fire, weird.” She turns her gaze back to your door for a few moments. When it finally registers her eyes shoot open again and she screams. “I’M ON FIRE!” She makes a break for your swimming pool in order to douse the flame…

As your door creaks open you sit up and face the direction the noise came from. She sighs to herself before walking into the room and closing the door behind herself.

“Are you alright now?” You nod.

You’re about to answer, but suddenly Lyra shouts about something in the hall. The sound of her galloping away from your door can be heard echoing throughout the entire apartment. She continues to scream until you believe she reaches the pool area. Then all is silent.

“Is Lyra alright out there?” Eris takes a quick peek outside your door.

“Yeah she’s fine. I can see her from here. She went swimming again.”

“Ah, alright then, now where were we?” You hear Eris shut your door again.

“I was asking you if you were alright.”

“Of course, yes I’m alright. I don’t feel like choking you anymore.” You chuckle and she does in turn.

“That’s good to hear, you were pretty uh red in the face there.”

“Well of course, thankfully I can handle my anger better than I used to.”

“I’m sure the fact that I can heal your eyes helps as well.”

“That it does, but there’s a few things we need to discuss.” You invite her over by patting a spot of your bed. She readily accepts and takes her place next to you.

“If it’s about Celestia, I’m gonna take the blame on that one. I’ll stick around and let her know the details. Besides, she should have realized I’d come back. After all, Discord never said that Screwball and I had to leave, just him.” You chuckle before shaking your head.

“You know she’s gonna be angry about that Eris.”

“Yeah I know, and she’ll have to deal with it.”

“I hope you realize the ramifications that come with that state of mind.” Eris is silent for a few moments, when she takes a deep breath she continues.

“She’ll probably make me leave after I fix your eyes.”

“Indeed she will. Unless of course you make amends for what you’ve done.”

“Listen, I’m sure Lyra already told you this, but I’ve been using my magic as I see fit for as long as I care to remember. I’m not just gonna turn over a new leaf overnight ya know?” You nod, letting her know you understand.

“But if you put forth an effort, and let Celestia know that you won’t impulsively use your magic then I’m sure she’ll be lenient.” Eris chuckles before giving you skeptic glare.

“What happened to all that talk about me ruining everything for you? Or how she’ll think you’re a liar?” You smirk before shrugging your shoulders.

“Lyra instilled a bit of confidence in me. I’m just hoping Celestia stays as nice as she’s been… and maybe I overreacted a little bit. The more I think about it, the more it seems like it’d be silly to think all the ponies would hate me.” You can feel the sheets move about as Eris slithers closer to you.

“Oh really, what makes you say that? After all you’re hanging around me.”

“The ponies in Manehattan blew it out of proportion. They saw how I was acting, but despite that they thought I went to their city to cause trouble with you. I’m still not used to how skittish these ponies can be.”

“Yeah I know what you mean. That’s why messing with them was so fun, I’d do whatever I could to see what’d get a rise out of them.”

“And I’m sure whatever you tried worked, that reminds me. What did you do to Manehattan anyway?”

“Same thing my dad did to Ponyville,” she uses her talons and claws in order to keep count, “Checkered pattern roads and sidewalks, fuzzy dice carriages, cotton candy clouds, ya know, harmless stuff.” She flashes you a toothy grin, forgetting that you can’t even see it. When she does her smile drops from her face immediately. “Still, it sucks about your eyes, if I knew you’d get hurt I wouldn’t have brought us there… I’m sorry.”

You tense up when you feel her place her head upon your thigh, not because it was unwelcome, but because you couldn’t see it. Her eyes are seemingly void of happiness as she casts her gaze up to you. It takes you a few tries, but you manage to find her neck. When you place your hand upon it you trail a thumb along her soft coat and she sighs in contentment.

“I just wish we didn’t have to wait for two more days.” As she mentions the time limit your thoughts seemingly fall upon a certain zebra that lives fairly close to where your new home will be erected. You recall the potion she gave you that helped purify your body of the corruption it was forced to intake.

While it burned something fierce it did its job. It allowed that unicorn to teleport you to Lyra’s that day the Everfree animals attacked the town. If it worked then, it should work now. Upon realization you smile widely before looking down at Eris.

“You know Eris, I don’t think we’ll have to wait that long.” She tilts her head in question.

“We don’t? And why’s that?”

“If Twilight or Fluttershy could take me to Zecora’s then I could flush your magic out of my system. She made a concoction that forced the damage Discord did out of my body. If I drank it again then you could fix me right up. After that I could just take some more.” Your smile widens, “Eris, there’s a loophole with your magic, and I’m about to take advantage of it.”

Eris takes on a bored expression before looking your dresser’s way.

“Ya know there’s another hole you should be taking advantage of.” She mutters under her breath. Your ears happen to catch the last bit of her statement.

“What was that Eris?”

“Nothing Anon, so do you want me to go grab Lyra or something?” You nod; when you do Eris reluctantly leaves her spot on your thigh and makes her way out of the room. “Alright then, get ready or whatever.”

“Thank you,” you call out to her as she leaves.

“Welcome,” while her voice may imitate cheer, her cold, calculating eyes show anything but. The thought of there being a brew out there that could remove her influence doesn’t sit well with her. In fact, as she makes her way to the pool area she starts going over various opportunities that would cause the apothecaries’ potion to fail.

She suddenly stops when she makes it to the living room. This time, another head ache resurfaces. Eris sucks in air through her teeth before her claws take their respect places upon her temples. A low growl is emitted from her maw as she tries to rub away the throbbing torment. The pain is excruciating but it doesn’t last anywhere near as long as the one from yesterday

When it subsides she shakes off the light headedness that comes after. When she feels as though she’s with it she takes a deep breath before heading into the pool area. Upon arrival she finds Lyra floating along on her back. She occasionally pokes the blackened dot on her head. Eris cringes when she realizes she forgot to disperse the flame, but at least Lyra acted quick and doused it. When Lyra glances over the entrance she finds Eris floating there sporting a smug grin.

“Oh, hey Eris, what’s up?” Lyra turns over in the water, then she starts to paddle her way over. When she gets to the side Eris uses a little magic to get her out.

“He’s all for it Lyra. But, he let a little information slip. Something that I intend on ruining after it’s served its purpose.” Eris’ smirk turns sinister yet again. Lyra tilts her head to the side in question.

“And what would that be?”

“A certain potion made by your town’s zebra. After Anon drinks it I would like it to disappear. Then, I want you to tell that zebra that if she even thinks about making more then I’ll go into the Everfree myself and make her “forget” that potion even existed.”

“What is it even used for anyway?”

“It’s used to purge his body of chaos magic.”

“But, if it does that, then doesn’t that mean that you’d be able to heal him anytime if he has enough of it?” Eris nods.

“Then why cut him off from it? He ends up in a lot of risky positions Eris. What if he really gets hurt and you can’t help him? What then?”

“I-I’ll figure something out,” Eris seems to be reassuring herself more than Lyra. The mint unicorn shakes her head before giving Eris a defiant glare.

“That’s bullshit and you know it Eris. You can’t put Anon at risk like that, you said you cared about—“Eris didn’t appreciate Lyra’s outburst in the slightest. She bares her fangs like an angry animal before snapping her talons. Purple strands of light spring forth from the center of Lyra’s head and she freezes before she can finish. She visibly shakes and starts to whimper as those ribbons of light culminate to Eris’ open palm.

“I do care and I can handle his injuries myself. I just hate the idea of something being able to stop me. I don’t want some uppity zebra to think she’s better than me.” When Eris tightens her grip upon the threads of light tightens Lyra lets out a high pitched yelp. “And I really don’t like it when a servant talks back to me. Understand?” Lyra nods, hoping it’ll make the pain go away. She breathes a sigh of relief when the light dissipates and the discomfort fades.

“That felt weird Eris,” Lyra rubs her head with a hoof for emphasis, “Like you were holding onto a piece of my brain or something.”

“Did you learn your lesson?”

“Yes.” Eris smiles at her answer.

“That’s good. I shouldn’t have to do that again should I? You keep acting out like that I’m going to take away any ounce of freedom you have.”

“Yeah, yeah I get it. But keep your cool around Celestia. She’s got a six sense when it comes to that kind of stuff.”

“Noted, now, I’m going to leave Anon in your care. You’re going to take him to see that zebra. Or you’re going to hand him off to a pony that can.” Lyra salutes.

“I got it boss, you can count on me!”

“Good, now hurry up and get it done. I’d like to fix his eyes and be on my merry way as soon as possible.” She nods.

“Understood,” and with that a still soaking Lyra tries to scramble out of the room only to be stopped by a force field of chaotic energy.

“Dry yourself off first seriously you’re dripping water everywhere.” She turns back, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

“Of course, how silly of me,” she laughs nervously before casting a spell to dry her drenched body off. With that taken care of she makes her way to your room, intent on getting you to Zecora’s by any means necessary…

As Lyra heads back to your room a certain group of steel grey ponies are making their way through a cavern system that lies far below the surface streets of Manehattan. Though, their size has changed drastically. They were now much taller than the average pony. The only light that illuminates their way through the vast abyss is the sickening green light of their horns as they trek on.

The further they trot on, the more the cavern system begins to change around them. Green threads of hardened slime glow along the sides. They line the walls like an intricate web, bathing the area in a sickly lime glow. The group to take a break from keeping their prolonged spells going.

Their destination is soon revealed as they come across the source from the threads that line the walls. Each strand seems to be using a single sloppy, bubbling pool of glowing green goo that happens to be at the far end of an open chamber.

When they stand naught but a few feet from it they dismiss their pony forms, they get into a straight line, and stand at attention. The leader of the group acknowledges the pool.

“Your majesty, we come with our report,” His voice echoes throughout the area. As he finishes his statement a single, solitary glass orb rises from the pool. When it floats a foot above their heads an image is projected within it. A single, solitary green eye stares back at them. The sound of a grating female voice fills the cavern.

“Well, what are you waiting for? You know I’m busy,” The eye angrily glares upon the group of insect ponies. The leader clears his throat before beginning.

“We were able to get a count on the police force the town has.”

“Good work Commander Masquerade, with that knowledge I’ll be able to send enough drones to take over the city.” The eye looks between the five. “Do you have anything else?”

“Two things my Queen, the first is that Anonymous the Human paid Manehattan a visit. He was accompanied by Eris the Draconequus.” The Queen can be heard grumbling irritably.

“Were you able to capture the human? I assumed Duplicate would have been the one to do that.” Masquerade shakes his head.

“Unfortunately the guard intervened. We had to retreat before we could. I was able to blind him, but that’s about it. It was a bit of a struggle, he had managed to make a hostage out of Ditto here and I acted accordingly.” The insect in question mutters his displeasure at being captured.

“Then it’s safe to assume, that even in his weakened state, he’ll seek refuge in Ponyville. I’ll leave the capture to Dup then.” He nods in agreement, “Now, what was the third thing you wanted to tell me?”

“Eris cast a spell upon the denizens of Manehattan. They fell into a deep slumber, when they did we were able to collect the love of almost a thousand ponies today. If we had the necessary amount of drones we would have been able to take Manehattan for ourselves.” The Queen cackles as she looks over them.

“I noticed the five of you had a little growth spurt. When the time comes your unit will be joining me in Canterlot. Is there anything else?” Masquerade shakes his head, “Then let me end on this: your mission remains the same, but when my messenger makes her way to the city you are to drop what you’re doing and immediately proceed to Canterlot. Do I make myself clear?” They nod. “Good, you’re dismissed.” As soon as she utters these words the image dissipates and the orb drops back into the pool. Masquerade and the others look over each other for a few moments before going back the way they came…

“Hey Anon!” Lyra comes bursting through your doors. You leap out of your bed, shocked by the sudden intrusion. She watches with a smile as you stumble about in your blind state, ultimately ending up in the floor as you trip over an article of clothing. Her smile drops from her face when you clutch your elbow and curse. “Oh no, Anon I’m so sorry I forgot!”

“Damn it Lyra you need to remember shit like me being blind!” You shout as you roll about on the floor. When the discomfort subsides you rub the affected area before sitting up. “What’d you need anyway, what’s going on?”

“I’m here to bring you to Twilight’s. She’ll take you to Zecora’s. We’re gonna get you all fixed up. The sun should be getting ready to set in Ponyville though. No time for a shower.” You grimace, you’d have liked the chance to wash all the dust and such from your body, but it doesn’t look like that’s a possibility.

But you’re willing to go without so you can get rid of the chaos in your body. At least you’ll have your sight back shortly after. Besides, you haven’t seen Zecora in a while, and admittedly you miss her. To think, she could have done so much in the week you weren’t with her. All of those uncharted areas now known, new plants and animals discovered, ah the possibilities are endless. You just hope you could contain your curiosity long enough for her to do her work.

With a goal in mind you get to your feet. It takes a moment or two but you and Lyra figure out a fairly good way to act as a guide and follower. A quick spell that acts as a sort of leash connects your outstretched hand to her neck. In a way it reminds you of having a dog on a leash; you hope that Lyra doesn’t find this to be demeaning. With her as your guide she’s able to bring you out into the hallway.

As you’re about to turn towards the darkened part of it, you hear Eris make her way over.

“Hey guys, uh, don’t let the ponies know I’m here alright? I’d rather them not know about me until after we get to talk to Celestia. I know I already did something brash and impulsive and I’d really like to think this one out.” You nod and smile her way.

“Good you’re learning,” that earns you a playful punch on the shoulder.

“Yeah, yeah. Now hurry up and get going. The faster you leave, the faster you get back here so I can fix you.” As you turn to face what is hopefully the way to Twilight’s neither you nor Lyra move towards it.

“Is something wrong?” You turn your head down to where Lyra is.

“It’s kinda dark…” she trails off, she doesn’t seem willing to walk through. Eris groans from behind you and you can hear the slap of her palm as it hits her face. With a quick snap of her talons you feel an invisible force shove you from behind. Like a sling shot you’re flung through the abyss and don’t stop until you suddenly hit the headboard.

Lyra’s screaming can be heard from under your blankets as she comes rocketing up to you. She slams back first into your bed’s headboard before landing in a crumpled pile. She’s in a similar state of disorientation to you.

“Buck, my back,” she whines while rubbing the aching area.

“I guess Eris doesn’t have any patience,” you groan before turning her way, “I didn’t know you were scared of the dark.”

“I’M NOT SCARED!” she cries, “I was just nervous, yeah nervous.”

“Uh huh, sure, anyway we should be in Twilght’s basement right now. What do you see?”

“I see a couple of beakers, some open books, a big rectangular table, stairs leading up, and some machine in the corner.” You don’t remember there being any sort of contraption in her basement before.

“What does it look like?”

“Uh, I dunno, but it looks like it has things you put on your head?” She tilts her head in confusion while looking over this strange device. Unfortunately you can’t see it.

“Will it stop us from going up the stairs?”

“Nope, not at all.”

“Alright then, let’s just ignore it. Twilight will probably tell me what it is later. For now let’s get this over with.” With the magical link still intact Lyra helps you get out of your bed and to the stairs. You count each creak as you step your way up and to the door. In the end you lose count and curse internally. You aren’t the best at being blind.

When the door squeaks open you remember to duck on your way out. When Lyra leads you out you stand there for a few moments in silence. You don’t hear the sounds of books being shuffled around, nor do you hear Spike as he munches away on gems. Neither seems to be home, but if what Lyra says is true then Twilight and Spike might be at any moment. You shouldn’t have to wait long.

Suddenly, you hear a door open up nearby. It appears as though you didn’t have to wait very long.

“Spike, we’re here. Could you set them by the shelves please? We’ll sort them out tomorrow.” Judging by the sound of Twilight, she probably got another shipment of books at the post office. Even after a month has passed she’s still doesn’t have all her books back. Those wolves destroyed every tome she owned. Thankfully she didn’t lose it a second time, instead she cried her eyes out until you and the others were able to comfort her. She’s taking it well now, at least you believe so.

The sound of spike grunting can be heard as he shuffles into the library. With a low grunt he sets the package of what you believe to be books down. After a low, resounding thud graces your ears you’re shocked. You didn’t expect her to get so many books at once.

“Hey Twilight, got another shipment of books?”

“Yeah, Derpy couldn’t carry them herself so Spike and I…” she trails off before looking your way, “Anon, what happened and why is Lyra with you? I thought she was on vacation?”

While taking into account what Eris said, you find yourself unable to lie to the first friend you made in when you came to Equestria. You tell her everything, about Eris’ return, going to Manehattan, being attacked by the bug ponies, and of course the spell used to wipe their memories. You leave out no detail; at least you don’t believe you do.

As you expected, Twilight was quite angry when you told her about it. More so at Eris getting you hurt, and causing such a problem in Manehattan. Oddly enough she wasn’t mad that she came back. Just like Eris said she wasn’t a part of the deal Discord made. Celestia never made it clear that none of them were supposed to return. She still considered it a dirty underhanded trick nonetheless.

After she finished her little rant you ask Twilight if she could bring you to Zecora’s. As Lyra already told you, Twilight informs you that Celestia was starting to set the sun. If you wanted to get there, then going now would be the best idea. At least then it’d still be light by the time they got there. Lyra seemed like she wanted to go, but she wanted to let Bon-Bon know she made it back to Ponyville in one piece. You respected her decision, after she released you from the little spell she had on you she too her leave.

You and Twilight followed right behind her. Spike was left in charge of cleaning up the library, after that he’d be free to do as he pleased for the night. After wishing the two of you good luck he shuts the door behind you. With your goal set, Twilight leads you through the surprisingly empty streets and over to Fluttershy’s Cottage.

The walk is anything but silent. As you move you ask her how she and her friends have been doing since you’ve been gone. Pinkie’s been going about her business as normal. As it turns out she’s preparing a party on Friday. It’s to help usher in the first day of spring. Pinkie came by the Treebrary asking for you. She really wanted you to be at the party when she threw it. You honestly can’t figure out why she would, to you, the first day of spring doesn’t hold any meaning other than warmer weather, pollen, and humidity.

You remember Macintosh telling you about it, but all you remember him telling you was that if you were male, you might not want to be around that day. It’s unfortunate that you have no idea what he means by that.

“Hey Twilight?” You two stop and she turns to face you.

“Yes, what is it Anon?”

“What’s the big deal with the first day of spring anyway? Back on Earth the only thing it really meant was that we lose an hour of sleep.” Twilight tilts her head curiously.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Every year around that time we set our clocks ahead an hour; something to do with the Earth shifting its position in space or something I don’t know.” You end with a shrug. Twilight’s frown seems to deepen by your lack of knowledge.

“It sounds very interesting Anon, but that’s not something I can add to the info you’ve helped me collect. I wish you could actually tell me about it.” She does nothing to mask her disappointment.

“What can I say, I wasn’t the smartest human.” She loudly groans before the two of you set off yet again.

The subject then moves on to Applejack. As you expected Twilight wasn’t happy with how you left her yesterday. She, along with the other girls, helped her out by taking care of the remaining apple trees. After that Applejack explained about what happened between you and her. How you were trying to do what the girls did, but unlike them she readily cast you away.

You didn’t find it surprising that she felt guilty for how she acted, and how she wanted to make it up to you. Your response was to scoff and laugh it off, that earned you a very dirty look you couldn’t even see from Twilight.

Though, you could feel her displeasure that much was obvious. You let Twilight know that you had no intention of making amends with Applejack a second time. As far as you were concerned you were sticking by her telling you that you weren’t welcome there anymore. It didn’t matter to you if she was angry and sleep deprived, you had already dealt with that rape incident.

Twilight insists that you give the apple farmer another chance, and you readily refuse. You wanted nothing to do with her and that wasn’t changing any time soon. Every other member of her family was still okay in your book, just not her. Despite Twilight’s constant prodding you don’t budge and inch in your decision. When Fluttershy’s Cottage comes into view she finally gives up on her endeavors.

The sound of various animals moving about, or eating their meals can be heard as Twilight carefully leads you around them. You assume that it must be dinner time for Fluttershy’s animal friends. Your suspicions are proven true when you hear your guide call out to her.

“Good afternoon Fluttershy!” Twilight greets as you and her make your way through.

“Oh, h-hi Twilight, what brings you out here? Is everything alright…” she trails off a she looks over your dusty, blind self. What happens next is quite the surprise. Fluttershy lets out a small squeak of pure shock before zipping over to you. “Oh my goodness Anon, what happened?! How did you get hurt, are you okay, is there anything I can do to help?”

“Fluttershy, there isn’t anyth—“Before you can answer any of her questions she starts to take away the cloth you’ve got around your head. Upon removing it she gasps when you open your eye sockets to reveal the blackened remains.

“Oh no, you’re blind! What are we going to do?!” She turns to Twilight and gets a little too close; to the point that their snouts are touching and scrunching up. “Can you do anything to help him?” Twilight points towards the Everfree path.

“Yes, we were just on our way to Zecora’s. Long story short she can make a potion that’ll help him.” Fluttershy breathes a sigh of relief before wiping the sweat from her brow.

“Oh thank goodness!” You find it relieving that the pony that caused you so much strife during your first week is now acting like you’d hope your mother would have acted. “You poor dear, if there’s anything you need please come see me right away… um, if that’s okay with you?” You swear you can feel the kindness radiating off of her. Your grin hopefully reassures her.

“Thanks Fluttershy, I’ll keep that in mind,” before you and Twilight leave Fluttershy is sure to give you a hug before you go.

“Oh, be careful! Watch out for timber wolves!” She waves goodbye to the two of you as you walk down the solitary dirt path and out of sight.

Author's Note

And here's the end of Chapter 4
Any comments, questions, or feedback is appreciated.

So, what could Eris be planning?
What do the Changelings want with Anon?
What are The Queen's Plans for Canterlot?
Will Zecora really be able to help Anon?

Find out next chapter