No Letters.

>Day Observations in Equestria.

>You watched them from the brush.
>The ponies.  The multi-coloured little equines who thought they were so smart.
>You knew.
>You fucking knew.

>”Heeey, Twilight!  Watcha dooo-in?”
>The pink one was the strangest.  How could she possibly keep herself in line for so long when her natural state was so bouncy?
>”Oh hey, Pinkie.  I've got to get all these books to the library.  Thankfully Spike found a pallet, so I don't have to carry all the books individually, just the pallet.”
>The purple one beamed at the pink pony, speaking her strange equish language.    You had picked up enough of it from observing to know a few basic words, but it was a complex combination of nickers and whinnies mixed in with the more humanoid sounds.
>”Well that's good! I'm off to Rarity's to see if she can make my cool new costume!  There's a party at BonBon's and I wanna be a clownicorn!”
>Twilight paused, holding the pallet still while looking at Pinkie.
>”A 'clownicorn'?”
>Pinkie shaked her head vigorously.
>”Mhm!  A clown that's aaaalllso a unicorn!  I'm gonna do clown magic!”
>The pink one was as frantic as ever.  Whatever they were discussing must have confused the unicorn, as she had left her mouth open.
>”Pinkie... a clown that's a unicorn would still just be a unicorn.  Or called a clown.  There's not some subspecies distinction.”
>”Well what about the Clownagus?”
>”The what?” Twilight deadpanned.
>Pinkie produced a flyer from behind herself.
>”This!  The Clownagus, performing at Fillydelphia Square!”
>Sure enough, the flyer had a clown-coloured pegasus in a polka dotted, skin tight suit to simulate a polka dot hide.  It read “THE CLOWNAGUS!  Born from the loins of a proud pegasus and the loving care of his clown mother, the CLOWNAGUS is the epitome of high-flying, enthusiastic fun!  For ONE NIGHT ONLY, see the CLOWNAGUS perform at Fillydelphia Square!  Ticket prices 10 bits for adults, 4 for the fillies.  The CLOWNAGUS, nature's wibbly-wobbly wonder!”
>Twilight could only stare, dumbfounded that someone would create such a thing.
>”Pinkie...that doesn't-”

>This was it!
>Books, two ponies caught out in the open, and an entertainment flyer!  Printing capability of two kinds, only possible by an advanced species, and the culprits were right there red-handed!
>You burst through the foliage, rushing through the treeline on the outskirts of town to get closer to the ponies.

>”Shhshshsh, Twlight!”
>”Pinkie, what-”
>As you closed the gap, the pink one's ear began twitching madly, the vibration carrying on to her torso and down her legs.

>”Twitch-a-twitch, Twilight.  Twitch-a-twitch!”
>Twilight looked around, trying to figure out what could possibly-
>”Oh no.”
>The human was running right towards the town.  She only had seconds to raise the alarm.
>”ANON'S COMING!”
>The sound, thankfully, was mostly in whinnies.  Hopefully Anonymous wouldn't make the stretch to-
“I fucking know.”
>Oh god he's right in my face, thought Twilight.
“I FUCKING KNOW!”
>The human flared his hands up above him.  All Twilight had to do was stay calm.
“Both of you!  You can't hide it!  It's clear as day!”
>Anonymous turned to Pinkie Pie, who had made a point of looking very interested in the blades of grass around her feet.  Her wobbling still continued down her back legs, but she did her best to hide it.  Still, Anonymous leaned down, speaking directly at Pinkie's ear.
“Every time I come down here, everything stops.  You don't talk. You don't work.  You don't even try to run away.  You just fucking stop!”
>Though he'd yet to hurt anyone in town, Anonymous was still intimidating.  Pinkie moved to graze grass in a direction away from Anonymous, but he pulled her head back towards him.
“Oh no you don't, you're going to listen.”
>Their eyes met for a moment, and Pinkie quickly shot her glance elsewhere.  She whinnied in frustration, what she thought her best option for staying incognito.
“How do you even put up with it?  I know you, jumpy one.  You're always super bouncy going around town, waving to everybody, passing out envelopes.  I've seen them!  They're stamped, manufactured goods.  You even put stickers on them!  No simple horse is capable of that!”
>As Twilight watched from behind, she saw Anonymous pantomiming several shapes.  He seemed to be arguing with Pinkie over something she'd done, but it was hard to tell through his harsh language.
“Letter, I see! You!”
>Twilight could barely contain herself as the human spoke /her/ language.  How did it ever manage to teach itself Equish?  As it continued verbally jabbing at Pinkie, it became apparent he only knew commonly used words.  “Letter” must have been from Pinkie constantly asking folks around down if they got the invitations she sent them.
>Pinkie was having an exceptionally hard time staying cool.  She flared her nose, looking back at anonymous with a half-glazed stare, and trotted some a few feet away.
“You can't ignore me forever!”
>As Anonymous focused on Pinkie, you tried to sneak away, slowly taking steps towards the next street-
>until you accidentally kicked the books on the pallet.
>Anonymous swirled around, his angry impatience making you a new target.
“And you!”
>Oh please just leave me alone, Twilight thought, hiding her grimace by looking away.
“You, books!  All time!”
>Anonymous picked up one of the books for emphasis.  With his other hand, he reached for the flyer.
“And this!  Eh... small book!  I know!”
>With the lack of a reaction, the human sighed.  It placed the flyer on top of the book, holding them to his side.  Kneeling down, he took a softer tone, reverting to his strange language.
“Look, you're smart.  Really smart, I get that.  Out of all the weird horses here, you seem like the one that should be the least afraid of me.  Do you guys really think I don't know what's going on?  Look at you.  I mean seriously, look at you.”
>Anonymous patted Twilight's withers lightly.  Instinctively, she looked up from the ground, her eyes moving onto and past Anonymous' eyes as she walked past him to the other side of the pallet.  Anonymous knelt there, staring at Twilight for a moment, before letting out a heavy breath and laying his back onto the pallet, book still in hand.  He opened it, browsing the strange symbols that were its content.
“This is amazing, you know.  Truly amazing.  A whole new, intelligent race.  A new world, new everything!  I wish I could share it with someone, but I can't.”
>He closed the book, leaning over his shoulder to look at the town around him.
“House.  All house, everyone.”
>He sputtered more words in Equish, switching between looking at Twilight and the town's structures.
>Turning towards Pinkie, Anonymous pointed between her and the houses.
“You, all houses.  I know.”
>Pinkie raised her ears to the sound, but quickly dropped them again, trying to stay in character.
“Good.”
>Pinkie fumbled, a snort coming out of her and spraying dirt from the rode as her eyes widened.  Unable to stop herself, she looked towards Anonymous.
”You good.  All houses, letters.  Good.”
>Anonymous smiled weakly, not showing his teeth.  His eyes held pain in them, the wrinkles of his face showing the strain he'd undergone living alone.  Twilight had moved to sit down on the side of the pallet to the right of Anonymous, with Pinkie on his left, and Anonymous' spot on the pallet on the far corner from Twilight.
>He sat like that for some time, back braced on the books, lolling his head left and right between the two, with his mouth shifting between a smile and a frown.
“Me... no house.”
>Twilight was unable to stop herself from flaring in disbelief.  The thought of the human surviving the month he'd been near Ponyville without proper care from anyone, without shelter, was unthinkable.  Pinkie was doing her best to not deflate next to the human.
>Anonymous looked at the book and flyer in his hands.  Leaning forward, he placed the book, spine facing up, onto the ground and fanned it out.  He then took the flyer and pressed it onto the book, leaving the white backside showing.
“House”, he said, pointing.
>As Twilight and Pinkie stole glances at it, they began to understand what he meant.  He had been living in a makeshift teepee of some kind.
“Trees...Everfree.”, he said, waving his hand towards the woods.
>Anonymous took his hands and made chopping motions, then wrapped one hand around the other, as if tying it, then made a teepee shape with his fingers.  The expression was understood – Anonymous had bound branches and covered them with what material he could find to make his shack.
“Small house.”
>Pinkie scuffed the dirt with her front hoof harshly.  She moved opposite of you, sitting to the other side of Anonymous, but still some distance away.  Anonymous watched her settle, then stared out into the woods for a while.  When he came back from wherever his eyes took him, he picked the book and flyer back up, and began drawing in the dirt.
“Food, eh... food food.”
>Anonymous had what looked like berries into the dirt.  Carrots were also visible, as well as apples.  Twilight assumed he meant to express his diet.  Anonymous had apparently been scavenging from the nearby farms.
“Small food.”
>He rubbed his stomach, unsure of how to continue.
“Small food, I... no good.”
>Anonymous pointed to his arms, which, if pony physiology was anything to go one, were lacking in fat and thin on muscle.
>He rested his arms and laid his head back on the books.  A minute passed, silent, save the breaths of Anonymous and the ponies near him.  Anonymous began blinking, with increasing rapidity.  He stirred, brushing his arm across his face, and made to speak.
“I, no good?  No house, no food?”
>He struggled with the language barrier, trying to make sense of his emotions.  With one hand, he waved towards Pinkie Pie, not bothering to look at her.
“No letters.”
>He spoke softly, a lump in his throat, and began to cry.  He cried with small, heaving breaths.  Still trying to contain what strength he had left.
“I good.” he said, pressing to his own chest with his free hand.
“I good!”
>It was best that he didn't look towards Pinkie.  She was on the verge of tears herself.  Anonymous made to speak again, but found the words caught in his throat.  He only pushed into his chest more, glancing towards Twilight as he did so, his book-holding arm limp to the side.  For a time, he only sat there, facing the pictures he had made.  His breathing became less ragged, and the tears slowly fell from his skin, bleeding into his shirt or evaporating as he rubbed them into his arm.
>The three of them sat there, sharing the silence of their strange encounter, the two ponies more ashamed than discouraged to speak.  Eventually, Anonymous rose, patting down the clothes he wore over his legs.  Taking the flyer, he pressed it onto the books and ran a hand over them, attempting to flatten the folds he had made.  When he did the best he could, he turned to his pictures, and lightly paved the dirt road with his shoe, erasing them.  He moved to put the book back on the stack, but paused, looking it over in his arm.  He glanced down to Twilight, who had been looking up to him, and she quickly broke eye contact.  He returned his gaze to the book, walking a few steps away from the ponies back to the forest.  Turning back to them, he held the book in his hands, trying to form words.
“I... book.  Eh, I book.”
>He took the book in both hands, motioning with his head and arms that he was leaving towards the forest.
”You book, I house.  No, you book.  Mmph.”
>His vocabulary, so horribly limited, begun to frustrate him further.  Motioning to himself again, he began to move the book towards him, then back towards the pallet, trying to symbolize his intent to return it.
“I book, you book.  I good.  I good you book.”
>He brushed the book of the dirt that had touched its pages when he set it down, then smiled, holding it to his chest.
“I good.”
>Anonymous looked to the purple equine for any sign of understanding.  It still avoided his gaze, and turned to the right, away from the pink horse, nodding her head slightly as she seemingly scanned the ground.  Anonymous patted the book, taking it as a sign, and turned away, slowly breaking into a jog with the book close to him.  The equines didn't move for some time, not until he was well out of their visibility, then stood.
>Twilight couldn't take the strain.  She laid her head on the pallet of books, squeezing her eyes together and rubbing them from the ordeal.  After a few moments, she went over the book pile, trying to figure out which tome it was that the human had taken.
>”Twilight?”
>The purple mare looked up from her books, staring into the eyes of one of her closest friends.  Pinkie was a mess.  Mane flattened and frayed at the ends from sitting, her eyes were two large baubles, barely able to contain themselves.  Pinkie brushed away the tears, careful not to touch her eyes with the dirt covered sides of her legs, and looked back towards Twilight.
>”Why do we have to be so mean to him, Twi?”
>The question caught her off guard.  Twilight's mouth moved, but was unable to make any words.  She eventually recovered, and spoke back to her friend.
>”I really don't know, Pinkie.  Celestia was certain, so certain that Anonymous was something terrible.  She told me that if we accepted him, it would be worse for all of us.  Something he knew, something about where he was from, that she said was too dangerous for us to get in contact with.”
>Pinkie barely nodded, taking in everything she was told.  It was hard for her, but she had followed the Princess' wishes so far.  Her hooves moved towards the flyer, slowly pulling it off the stack of books.
>”He doesn't seem dangerous,”  she said, knowing the audacity of her own words.  “He seems like someone who needs a friend.”
>Twilight couldn't respond.  She absolutely couldn't, because she knew her friend was right.  “I know,” was all she could muster for a moment.
>”I know, Pinkie, I really do, but Celestia wouldn't want us to exercise this much caution without a reason.”
>”What reason could there be?” said Pinkie, her eyes begging, knowing that whatever answer she received, it wouldn't be enough.  Twilight thought long and hard on what to say, and eventually came to a decision.
>”He said that he was good.  I know, I could feel it.  He said it, and I think he really knew, he meant what he said.”
>Twilight moved to the other side of the pallet to be next to Pinkie, placing a hoof around her.
>”But maybe that's not enough.  Maybe, whatever Celestia's concern is, is bigger than that.  I know you love new people, Pinkie, and I know he doesn't seem bad, but maybe being good just isn't enough for someone like Anonymous.  Maybe the danger is that much bigger than just him or us.”
>Pinkie leaned into Twilight's embrace.  Her soft sobbing was pressing into the mare's coat.
>”I know, Twilight, I know.  Celestia, she wouldn't do it otherwise.”
>Pinkie pulled back, smiling at twilight through her wet eyes.
>”I just wish I knew what it was,” she said, her voice cracking as she put on the largest smile she could.
>Twilight matched the smile, one of the saddest smiles she'd ever worn.
>”I wish I knew, too, Pinkie.  I really wish I did.”

End.