Winter Butterflies (WIP)

The night air was cold and it burned your throat as you ran wildly through the woods, the pursing creatures following close behind. For days you wandered trying to find somebody, aside from those big wooden wolves and some birds you found nothing. It was only for a second but the moment you dropped your guard, those damn things came out for you. There were no trees you could climb up, there were no rivers to swim, just tightly packed trees stood between you and those flesh craving monsters. Were it not for those trees, they would have killed you already. Darting between them, you make a mad dash for the only light you can see beyond the trees. Flying out of the woods, you tumble down a hill and into a clearing. Looking up you see the wolves from before, they stare at you for a time before looking off into the distance and turning back into the woods. You turn and see a town in the distance, hoarse laughter and tears emerge as you pick yourself up and head for it.

On the outskirts of town you come across several horses, if horses are here, there has to people. You run into the direction of the horses and they are alerted to your presence, they all look at you and it doesn’t go unnoticed that some of them are wearing clothing. Just as you are pondering this one of them speaks.
“Get a load of this thing.” The pale horse says, a fear similar to the one in woods overtakes you. Did it really just talk?
“Ew its ugly.” Said a brown one
They sound like teenagers; the pale one gets close to you and investigates. Before the wolves came, you were trying to rest off a serious cold and sore throat. The nonstop running did little to improve your condition. Even now it was all you could do to stand up, you grunt and gurgle in some vain attempt to speak. The horse laughs
“What’s his problem?” He says poking you with his leg, weak as you were it sends you crashing to the ground. This sends the others into a riot, laughing at your sad state.
“Maybe he’s stupid or something.” One says as they all surround you, they watch as you squirm and twitch on the floor.
“He looks like he’s dying.”
“Well let’s not let him suffer.” One of them says with sadistic tone, you can feel for just a moment they consider this, it can go anyway now, and it’s up to them.
WHAM, a hoof comes down on your side, letting out a garbled cry, you hear another laugh.

Blow after blow, all of them take jabs at you, kicking, biting, and stepping, they hold back just enough for it to hurt but not enough to grant you a quick death. You cry and fight with all you can, but it’s pointless, you’re at their mercy now. It drags on for what seems like an eternity
“Stop! Leave him alone, you’re hurting him!” A female voice screams, it brings the assault to a stop. You try to crawl away, towards wherever that voice came from; right now she is you’re only ally.
“Hey where do you think..”
“If you put one hoof on him, you’ll be sorry.”
“Oh yeah?”
A sudden whistle pierces the night followed by a loud growl; you can hear the horses panic and run away. Fear, sickness, and confusion compel you to continue crawling; you want to escape this, for the nightmare to be over.
“Its ok, they’re gone now, you’re safe.”
Exhaustion takes you as you collapse, you can feel yourself being carried on the back of a huge animal. A door opens and you hear a commotion of several animals all going off at once as you’re placed on a bed of some kind. Opening your eyes you see a yellow horse and a white rabbit, she smiles when she locks eyes with you.
“Oh thank goodness, I had thought we lost you. Don’t you worry, I’ll fix you up.” The rabbit hopes up onto you and curiously starts sniffing “Angel, get off him this instant.” he looks annoyed as he dismounts
“My name is Fluttershy and..oh you’re going to bed now.” She says as you drift into sleep.

You awake to the sound of multiple voices talking at once; it’s beyond you to open your eyes or talk so you just listen.
“What is it?”
“He looks funny.”
“Pinkie his face is swollen.”
“He still looks funny.”
“Fluttershy, where did you find him?”
“I went outside to feed the owls and saw some stallions hurting him. I couldn’t just let them do that, if it weren’t for Mr. Bear, I don’t think I could’ve saved him.”
“You can communicate with all kinds of animals, did he say anything?”
“No, he’s said nothing this whole time.”
“Is it an animal?”
“No, he has clothes on.”
“Maybe somep0nys pet?”
“Pinkie, what kind of “pet” is that?”
“Is it a mare or a stallion?”
“Pinkie, it’s not even a pony.”
“No, no, don’t be silly Twilight, I mean..you know.”
“…….”
“Oh…well…I didn’t check or anything…I..I just made sure he was all right.”
“Only one way tah find out.”
Feeling some tugging on your clothes, you feel your pants begin to slide down. (They can’t be fucking serious) You think
“Yup, he’s a male all right.”
“Teehee, he must be a baby of his kind.”
“Pinkie!”
(God just kill me now)

They continue to talk amongst themselves and you’re honestly to embarrassed and beat up to try joining them. You never once open your eyes and rest, hours later you hear all the voices saying goodbye and the door close. Curious, you open your eyes and see the yellow mare from last night trotting towards you.
“Oh..you’re awake…I’m glad. As I was saying, my name’s Fluttershy, what’s yours?”
 “arruro.” Looks like your throat isn’t any better than last night, and that hurt like fuck.
“You can’t talk?” She asks as you shake your head slightly
“You can understand me? Oh that so wonderful, I was worried you wouldn’t be able to tell me what’s hurting you.” She lightly flaps her wings and gets airborne with a smile.
She flaps over to you and begins to examine you,
“Umm..could you remove your clothes? I..wont be able to do it.”
She looks away as you remove your shirt, guess they have a sense of decency after all. Naked as the day you were born, you lay on the couch without any feeling of shame. They all saw your “baby dick” so really why bother at this point? She scans your body and can see all the bruises, trotting away and returning a short time later, she applies some ointment gently with her hoof on them. It burns but begins to feel better; she pours a cup of water and leaves it nearby for you.
“Now just let that set for a bit, I’m gonna go wash your clothes because…well they’re dirty.” She tosses a blanket over you and grabs your clothing before trotting off, giving a deep sigh at how warm and toasty it got under the blanket you find yourself going back to sleep.

Whatever she spread on you really did the trick, the bruises don’t hurt anymore and they have gone down in size. You can still feel a horrible burning in your throat but aside from that your cold has gotten better. Hearing a pleasant humming overhead, Fluttershy soars over cleaning the high counters. She notices you awake and floats down
“Good morning and how’re you feeling today?”
You tap on your throat and try to gurgle out a word but it’s too painful, she seems to understand the message.
“Oh I see, wait here.” She says while flying off into the kitchen, returning minutes later with a teakettle, she pours a warm concoction into a cup and gives it to you. A soothing sensation shadows the pain from before, after finishing the cup you pour yourself another. She smiles before leaving you to continue cleaning.

After downing several cups, you recline on what turned out to be a couch. The night she rescued you, you weren’t in any real condition to know what was going on. However it’s a different story now, alert, rested, and in safety, you can take in everything. Getting up and wrapping yourself in the blanket, you go to find Fluttershy. Hearing her humming a tune, you go into the room you heard it in and find her fixing up a bed.
You grunt deeply as your throat tries adjusting to speaking again,
“Eeep!” She peeps as she stands up rigidly in fright; she trembles for a bit before turning around to face you. Her eyes soften as she realizes who called her.
“I’m sorry. That just startled me a little.” She is silent for a moment before continuing “Your clothes are in that room, and if you want to take a shower you can.”
You nod as you make you’re way over to the room for a shower.
Sitting on the couch, you see the purple pony known as Twilight pacing herself in front of you. Fluttershy had called for her friends while you were getting ready; it appears they had some questions for you.
“Is he dangerous? Has he been showing any signs of aggression?” Asks Twilight
“Not really, he hasn’t spoken but it looks like he can understand us. He even took a shower without me telling him how it works.”
“Where are you from?!” Asked Twilight loudly as though she were speaking to a child or a slow person, thinking about this for a moment, you point up towards the sky. All the ponies begin to murmur at seeing this.
“That’s impossible; nop0ny has ever made it up there.”
“But Twilight, you said he isn’t a pony.” Pinkie says as Twilight shoots her an irritated glare
“What I mean is, if he is really from there, how did he end up here?” You shrug as soon as she said this.
“Wow, so you must be like, some super smart creature from another planet, *gasp* do they have pie and parties over there? Is the food good?” Pinkie Pie bounces as she gets up close in your face.
“Now Pinkie, don’t get so close, ya might spook him.” Warned Applejack, out of all the ponies, she seemed to be the most afraid of you. Your stomach growls loudly, as Pinkie falls back on her hind legs startled by the sudden sound.
“Oh sweet Celestia it’s hungry, what does he eat?!” Panicked Applejack as she seeks shelter behind a sofa, Rainbow rolls her eyes at her cowardice.
“Lighten up AJ, look at Pinkie.” Rainbow points at Pinkie who is giggling in front of you “She isn’t even the least bit afraid, or even Fluttershy, and she’s afraid of everything. No offense.”
“None taken, but to be honest, I have no idea what he eats. I only saw him drink some honey tea I made.”
Not wanting to bother explaining anything, you get up and head for the kitchen, opening the fridge you see some animal food, fish, and eggs. Helping yourself to the protein, you start the oven and begin cooking. Its amazing how similar everything is to back home, it’s almost like a bizzaro Earth or something.
“Amazing.” Twilight says softly as she examines you’re every move “He appears to eat meat and have a working knowledge and understanding of our everyday appliances.” (That’s a fancy way of saying I have common sense.) You think while grilling the fish and boiling the eggs. After you finish cooking and preparing the meal, you throw yourself onto the couch and start eating. The ponies stare in awe and it’s unnerving to see them so invested in just you eating. After the meal you let out a content sigh and rest on the couch.
“So what should we call him? I mean, we have to call him something, we just can’t keep calling him “it”.” Asks Rainbow
“Anonymous, one of the definitions, “not named or identified”. We don’t know his name, or what to identify him as. I think anonymous is the perfect name for him right now.” Twilight proudly proclaims as she displays her textbook knowledge.
Fluttershy looks at you, “Is that ok? Can we call you Anonymous until we know your real name?” You ponder for a moment before giving a nod, it has a nice ring so whatever.
“Then it’s settled, for now, you’re Anonymous.” Decrees Twilight

After bestowing you with the name Anonymous, Twilight gathers her friends all together and clears her throat. “Allow me to formally introduce everyp0ny, this is Rainbow Dash. She’s a Pegasus pony who works on the weather team, if you have any questions about the weather or needs with it talk with her.”
“Also if you just want a generally awesome pony around.” She boasts while puffing out her chest.
“Next is Rarity, she specializes in…”
“The pony with a passion for fashion!” Pinkie interrupts, “She can make all kinds of wonderful and beautiful clothes, I bet she can even make some for you! So be sure to visit her A.S.AP, or as soon as possible, whichever you can do first, just watch out for her cat Opal, she can be a bite bitey.” She laughs “Right Twilight?”
“Yes, that. Now if you don’t mind Pinkie…”
“Oh, sorry Twilight.”
Twilight clears her throat again, “You’ve met Pinkie already.” She said dryly.
“Howdy Do Anon!” Chirped Pinkie
“She can out bake and out party just about any pony in Equestria. Best talk to her in small doses though, now Applejack here can…Where is Applejack?”
“Over here.” She says a few feet away from everyone; she seems to be hiding herself. “I just dropped mah hat is all. Well if ya need anything apple related, I’m yer gal, aside from that I wont be much help.” She chuckles nervously
“As for me, I’m Twilight Sparkle, and as of today, you’ll be living with me and Spike by order of the princess.”
(What?!) You think, though it’s true, you hadn’t really thought about where you were going to live.
“I’ll be sending letters detailing how you’re adjusting, and what lessons you’ve learned about friendship; it’s been so long since we’ve done one of those.” She smiles happily, as Fluttershy inches herself closer to Twilight
“Um, Twilight…” She mumbles
“We will have to do some renovations when we get back, but I think I can squeeze you into the basement.”
“Twilight?”
“Or maybe I could just have you live in the 1st floor, but you wouldn’t have much privacy. Do you need lots of privacy?”
“Twilight!” Fluttershy slightly yelled, it was enough to break her out of her thoughts
“Ca…cant he…I mean..if its ok…cant he live with..me?”
(Yeah, that’s a good idea.)
“I don’t know Fluttershy, the princess did ask me to be in charge of Anon, I wouldn’t want to go against her decision.”
“Please Twilight…cant you just ask for me? I..I want to make sure his wounds heal..and that he’s understood. I can communicate with all kinds of animals, if Anon starts talking again..it would be hard for you to understand him.”
Twilight puts a hoof under her chin, “I’ll ask the princess just to be sure, Anon, if you ever need anything from any of us, don’t be afraid to ask.” All the mares say a goodbye and head out to run their own business. Twilight also heads for the door but turns to you “Fluttershy, I know you wanted Anon to stay with you, but I’m gonna have to take him for now in case the princess says no.”
Fluttershy looks devastated and tries to say something but cuts herself off and shakes her head “W.well let me pack him..some supplies first.” She trots over and begins to pack a small bag with some ointments, tea and honey, gently giving you the bag, she looks up at you. There has to be a way you can stay with her, Twilight isn’t bad or anything but.
“Now be sure to apply this before bed and get lots of rest, if you run out, I have more. Oh but don’t stress yourself if you don’t have to, I can deliver it if you want.”
“It’s all right Fluttershy, its not goodbye forever, Anon will be here tomorrow.” Twilight says reassuringly. Walking towards the door, you get an idea, taking a dive, you exaggeratingly groan in pain.
“Anon!” They both say darting towards you,
“I thought he was fine!” Twilight says in shock
“Oh please Twilight, don’t force him to go out like this, his injuries probably haven’t healed properly.” Fluttershy pleads as she holds you in her front legs; Twilight debates this for a moment.
“Well I would hate for him to suffer, all right, he can stay, I will just have to inform Celestia that he can’t make the trip.” Fluttershy places you back on the couch, and you pretend to sleep. After Twilight had gone, and Fluttershy went upstairs, you fold your arms behind your head and stretch out on the couch (Sucker) you think.

The morning was unusually hot when you woke up, feeling your body covered in damp sweat you angrily wake up and head for the shower. Using one of her scented soaps, you lather both body and clothing. Hope she doesn’t mind, but really that clothes needed a washing. After drying up and wringing out the clothing, you head outside to set it to dry. Wearing nothing but a towel and an indifferent smile, you find a rack and set them. Looking off to the side you see Fluttershy returning from you guess feeding some animals. She doesn’t seem to notice you as she enters through the front; a few minutes pass by until she comes outside again.
“Morning, I see you found the clothes rack...would you like to join me for some food…if that’s ok?”
In the kitchen she sits at the table nursing a cup of coffee she had prepared in silence, while you cook up a couple of fish. No luck yet on getting your voice back, the best you could do is a few garbled words like some chain smoker who needs that machine to talk. During the beating, you hadn’t felt nor were aware that one of the stallions had hit you in the throat. It’s was a fucking miracle you didn’t die, but your voice paid the ultimate price.
Setting her cup down she wipes away the residue “I’m glad you’re feeling better, I was so worried last night.”
“….”
“The worst should be over in terms of pain, and you look much better than you were the night I found you.”
The white bunny from before comes hoping along and starts to impatiently point at his arm as though a watch was on it,
“Oh that’s right, I..I forgot. I have to go feed the other critters.” She follows the rabbit as he hops over to a swarm of other animals all eagerly waiting to be fed. Fluttershy grabs a nearby bag of feed and starts serving. More animals begin to pop up at the windows; she notices them and goes for more feed. The number of animals both inside and outside was astounding, and more just keep showing up. Forcing the food in your mouth down, you go over a grab a nearby bag of feed.

Its almost lunch time already when the last animal, a pig of all things, walks away with his distended belly and content look as he throws himself into a bush before falling asleep.
“Awww, he looks so cute when he sleeps.” Leaving her to fawn over the sleeping animals outside, you collect the empty bags and stow away the unused ones.
“Umm..so I have to go to town to get more feed for the critters…I usually go with Rainbow or Applejack, but would you want to go with me today?” She looks away a bit but keeps an eye on you, when you nod; she smiles and makes for the door.
In town, she cheerfully tells you what’s what, where they eat, where they shop, and where they live. It’s quaint and peaceful enough, not unlike the woods you had called home for a time. The ponies made no effort in hiding their curiosity, all around they gathered and some would even nip at your clothing. It was all in good fun, so you let it slide, even though deep down you were terrified.

Both you and Fluttershy approach the pet store, after the initial urge to see you, they naturally had questions to ask. When Fluttershy made it clear that you could not speak and they knew nothing about you, the ponies understood and left you be. All the unwanted attention isn’t your scene anyway so whatever, coming in a little bell rings off.
“Good morning Fluttershy, are you here for some more feed?” An older mare says kindly from over the counter by the door.
“Oh yes, the usual would be nice.”
“Why sure thing.” She nicely says while turning the opposite direction “Hey Breeze! Get off yer lazy flank and get the usuals for Fluttershy!” She angrily shouts
“Celestia be damned, I can hear you just fine woman.” A burly Pegasus comes flying from the back aisles and looks over at you and Fluttershy “Why Fluttershy, I haven’t seen you in a while, you’re looking prettier than the flowers in your garden.”
She shyly smiles and looks away,
“Who’s your friend there?”
“Oh well this is Anon, he is new around here..and comes from…a really far away land.”
“Is that right?” He asks as he floats over you eyeing you curiously
“Umm…If it’s ok, could you help us with the feed?”
“Ya sure you don’t want my son to help you? He will be back real soon, we can have some pop while we wait and get caught up.”
“Oh I’m sorry…but I..really have a lot to do today.”
“Ah I understand, maybe next time then, I will meet you in the front with the feed, just give me a few minutes to get it ready.” The Pegasus says while flying off and collecting bags of feed from the shelves.
“It was nice seeing you again, be sure to visit us soon.” The mare sings as the both of you head outside.

At the front of the store, both you and Fluttershy are waiting on Breeze. She doesn’t say much and it’s not like you can say anything, so the two of you sit together on a courtesy bench they have at the front. It takes several minutes of awkward silence before she finally says something.
“So…about what happened in there…”
She is abruptly cut off by the sound of a wagon bumping and squealing along with its rust coated wheels and overall aged appearance, packed to the brim with animal feed. The Pegasus pulling it stops short of Fluttershy and looks down at her,
“You ready?”
Fluttershy replies with just a few nods and off you go. Walking along the trail back, the only sounds you have heard the whole time have been the squeaking of the tires and rhythmic bumping of the wood as it hits rocks and holes. It’s uncomfortable to say the least,
“You know, my son has been doing great, he recently got a job at Cloudsdale and is making some serious bits.”
“Umm, that’s..nice.”
“Haha, yeah it is, you know he’s been asking about you a lot lately, wondering what you have been doing and the sort.”
“Oh well…The same.”
“Really the same? Nothing has changed at all?”
She shakes her head, this is clearly not a conversation she wants to have.
“The last time I really got to talk with you, you didn’t have a special somep0ny, has that stayed the same?”
She nods
“Hmm, how about that.” He ponders, as though to play coy, but he couldn’t have made it anymore obvious.
After another silent spell, the three of you reach the house and you all start unloading the feed. Some small talk is made and he brings up his son again, if it wasn’t obvious then, its painfully so now. Helping him get hitched back into the wagon, he turns as though heading back but stops.
“You know Fluttershy,”
(Here it comes) You think
“You and my son should get together for dinner sometime; it’s been forever since the two of you talked, it could be nice to catch up.” He smiles
Fluttershy looks down with a troubled and worried expression on her face; the Pegasus does not miss this.
“Well it was just a suggestion, don’t worry about it.” He says understandingly as he trots back. “You all have a good day now!”

Inside, Fluttershy trots around restlessly and deep in thought, every so often she murmurs things to herself. She stops for a moment and looks at you,
“Would you like to join me for some tea?”
Setting a pot to boil, she starts setting the cups, sugar, and honey on the table. You take a few lemons out of the fridge and set them on the table. Looking across she just sits there quietly and fiddles with her empty cup. Hearing the pot make that distinctive screech that the water is ready, she goes over and begins to pour it. You dab a couple of teabags several times to really get the flavor mixed in. After it’s settled you add some honey and lemon, Fluttershy is already taking a drink and it relaxes her as she sets it on the table.
“As you’ve probably noticed…I’m very shy.”
You’re first reflex is to face-palm and shake your head,
“No really I am, so its hard for me to…you know..talk with others ponies, especially stallions. So every so often ponies try to set me up…I appreciate the good intentions but I don’t know, I’m just not looking right now. Even Rarity tries to find stallions for me...” She returns to sipping her tea as you stare at her, you want to comfort her in someway, but lacking speech really limits what you can do. “Mr. Breeze’s son is a nice stallion and a very handsome one at that, but I don’t think it would work, I wish he would understand that.”
This catches your attention, as you stop drinking. Fluttershy looks at you as you make the motion of punching an open hand; she smiles and shakes her head.
“No he just wants to find somep0ny nice for his son; he isn’t a bad stallion for that, just a persistent one.” She laughs

About a couple hours later, Rarity had showed up and taken Fluttershy out for some girl time at the spa. She explains to you where to find it in case you need her for anything and the both of them leave. That was several hours ago, (It’s starting to get late.) You think looking out the window; (How long do they stay there?)  a sudden howl sends chills down your spine. It’s that same howl from the woods, the ones from those creatures, (Have they come to finish the job?) Feeling your legs shake, you grab the closest thing to a weapon you can find, a stick, and hide. With the lights off and looking out the windows, you can see shadows in the distance. They don’t seem to be heading here so that’s good, but now you’re thoughts turn on Fluttershy. What’s taking her so long anyway? Another howl tears through the night, (God fucking damn.) You think as you get up clutching the stick tightly, she would do the same for you.

Leaving the safety of the house, you step out into the cool night. Remembering back to what she had said earlier, you head for the spa. Not a single pony is in sight as you walk through the town, it’s starting to feel more like when you first got here. A sudden shout startles you,
“The Timber Wolves are a howlin! The Timber Wolves are a howlin!”
Looking around you see an older mare running around with pots and pans clanking loudly. Not far off, are several of those wolves. (That mare is crazy!) You think, passing her you head towards the wolves and start swinging the stick like a maniac. They growl, bark, and snap at you angrily, yeah they aren’t buying it. The old mare runs up bucking her pots, it makes the wolves retreat in fright. As you watch them run back into the woods, you fall onto the ground in disbelief that her pots and pans worked. Walking up to you, she stares down.
“That was a swell plan if you were looking tah get urself killed.” Laughs the old mare, “The names granny Smith, I take it yer that Anon fella AJ is always talkin about.”
You nod as she plops down in front of you, didn’t know Applejack talked about you, guess she isn’t as afraid as you thought.
“That was mighty nice of ya tryin to help me out, not many ponies stand up the Timber Wolves ya know.” She yawns loudly “Well it was nice meetin ya, but I got ta get back to bed.” Picking herself up, she trots loudly back to the barn as you dust yourself off, no time to waste; you still need to find Fluttershy.

The spa is just a mad dash away, so you give it your all and rush for it, finally at the door you look at the bold red letters printed on the sign. “Closed” (Well that’s just fucking great.) You think as the door swings open unexpectedly, two spa mares emerge and they both have the same surprised expression. You start trying to communicate using hand motions and they are completely at a loss, how do you try to say Fluttershy using only hands?
“Isn’t he?”
“You’re right he is, I’m sorry but Fluttershy just left. They went all out with the pampering today.” She said with a smile.
You grunt and start running back, worry turned into frustration pretty quick, but at least she is all right.

Swinging the door open, you see both Rarity and Fluttershy on the couch; it looks like neither of them knew you had not been home.
“Oh Anon Darling, come have a seat, you must try one of these cakes, they’re simply divine.”
Grabbing a cake, you have a seat on the couch; the force slightly bumps them out of place. Fluttershy lets out an out of character giggle as she lands and rests herself on you, she lets out a small sigh before going to sleep. Upon closer inspection of the table, you see a bottle of wine as well as boxes of treats.
“The poor dear, such a lightweight, only two glasses in and she is already out.” Rarity comments as she sips from her glass and exhales contently, she floats you over a glass and smiles, you decline.
“Aww, its no fun drinking alone.” She teases, “Well I should get going then.” She says as she gets up and walks to the door, Rarity is on her way out until she stops
“One last thing Anon, Twilight was with us at the spa, it looks like this is going to be your new home from now on.” She closes the door and you look down at Fluttershy, you gently stroke her mane before leaving her to sleep on the couch, you can get used to this.

The sound of soft groaning wakes you up, looking over at the couch you see that white rabbit on top of Fluttershy. He’s nudging her nonstop,
“Oh Angel please not right now, I’m not feeling so good.”
This only makes him nudge her harder, (Oh fuck this rabbit.) Getting up as fast as possible, you grab him from the back and head for the kitchen. Throwing him on the table, he hops over at you and starts motioning with his paws. He makes a gesture as though sticking food in his mouth, while you counter by pointing at him and making the gesture of breaking something in half. It takes away any attitude he has and he salutes to show he is in line. You grab some of the food he likes, and serve it to him. He stares at it clearly not happy but fuck him, Fluttershy has a hangover to sleep off. You motion one last time to him, to Fluttershy, and then the breaking motion, he gets it and leaves.

A loud knock at the door catches you’re attention (Fuck! Just let her sleep, damn!) You angrily think while you rush to the door, on the other side is Applejack
“Now I don’t know what you said or did last night, but now my granny wants to talk with ya. Come by the farm when you have a moment.”
“Ugh who is it Anon?” Fluttershy softly says while walking up next to you, her mane a mess and looking tired. Applejack has a look of shock then disgust as she looks up at you, seeing how this looks; you shake your head wildly. Applejack with an annoyed expression, walks away and you close the door.
“What did she want?”
You smile and gently pick her up; you walk back to the couch and place her down to rest. She doesn’t inquire anymore and instead goes back to sleep, leaving a glass of water for her, you head upstairs, its time to take a shower.

All squeaky clean and shit, you head back downstairs. Fluttershy is on the couch drinking the water you had left behind. She lets out a loud but cute yawn before she gets up.
“Oh morning Anon, or…is it afternoon? Well I’m going to make breakfast all the same, do you want any?” You give a nod as she is off to do her own business, looking into the kitchen you see that rabbit going crazy with his hand motions. Fluttershy looks distraught, and trying her best to apologize. (How can she just take shit like that?) You heard of girls like her, but you never thought you would end up living with one. Walking up to the rabbit you grab him by his ears and dangle him.
“Oh Anon, please don’t hurt Angel, it was my fault for sleeping late.”
You shake your head and point at the rabbit; he crosses his paws as though he has done nothing wrong.
“Just give him another chance, he’s a good bunny. Please?” You grunt and drop him back on the table and he hops off into another room. Fluttershy now relived, continues with making breakfast.
“I have some wonderful news; the princess said you can live with me, isn’t that great?” She says while serving you a plate of eggs and toast, you give a nod and begin to dig in. Best not waste anytime, Applejack had asked you to come over, so you finish up quickly.

Fluttershy notices you getting ready,
“Are you going out?” She asks as you nod “Where?” Looking around you open the fridge and take out an apple, making a motion of tipping a hat, she puts two and two together.
“Oh I see, can I come with you?”
As the two of you walk over to Sweet Apple Acres, you can’t help but notice that she has a spring in her step. Well whatever, its nice to see her happy. Finally coming up to the farm, Fluttershy leads the way to the house. A few knocks and Applejack opens the door,
“Howdy Fluttershy…and Anon,” She sighs “Come on in, let me get granny.”
The both of you have a seat while Applejack escorts granny from the kitchen area, she has a seat across from you and Applejack remains standing by her side.
“It’s ok dear, you can go.”
“Are ya sure granny?” Applejack asks as she gives her an ok, she heads upstairs and into her room.
“What you saw last night was a Timber Wolf, they’re pretty mean but not very bright as you saw.”
“You saw a Timber Wolf?” Fluttershy asks worriedly
“Saw? Why he tried to take a swing at a few, haha I aint never seen something so brave and foolish in mah life…well except for when I go out an keep em at bay.”
Fluttershy has a grim look on her face as she tries to comprehend you standing up to one of them.
“Every so often, around Zap Apple season, they start showin up around town. I’ve been single hoofedly keeping them out, but things have changed, I can’t keep doing this every night now. I’m gonna need somep0ny to take up the slack fer me when I can’t do it.”
Fluttershy has an even more grim expression than before; she begins to tear up and covers her face.

“So I wanted ta know, would you fill in fer me when I can’t do it? I have been asking in the past, but not many ponies are brave enough fer the job. Big Mac does it an so does AJ, but they got lots of responsibilities already, I can’t add more if I can help it. You will be paid mind ya, I don’t expect ya tah work fer free.”
(Whoa.) You only just met the mare and she is already asking so much of you, still its not just her farm. If these things really go into Ponyville, they could harm Fluttershy and her friends. No need to think about it, you give a nod to her and she smiles.
“Thank ya. Some ponies may fear ya, but I know ya have a good heart, I can tell.”
Fluttershy begins to cry, “I…I had..no idea you were..gonna..gonna…die!” She wails
“Say what now?” Granny asks with a confused expression “I never said I was dying.”
“Bu..but you said “things have changed.” ” She sniffles
“Yeah, they changed; I have a special somep0ny now. I’d rather spend some nights with him than those dusty old wolves.”
“Huh?”
Granny Smith laughs wildly “That was a hoot! You actually thought I was” She keeps on laughing while you look on in silent rage, that damn old mare. Well guess you’re a part-time wolf hunter now, whatever.

Walking back home Fluttershy has lost all her happy attitude, and is back to her usual worried and uncertain self.
“Anon, you’re not really going to go out there against those big scary wolves are you?” You give a nod looking forward, and this makes her stop in her place. She looks like she has something to say but keeps it to herself.
“I know I shouldn’t worry about you so much, but every time I look at you. I keep seeing that helpless and scared animal that I rescued…and it makes me…” She looks up and notices you’re not even listening, but you have a look of horror on your face. In the scattered groups of ponies, one in particular caught your attention. It’s the same stallions that you met when you first stumbled into Ponyville, and they noticed you too.

They all share a few words, and begin to trot towards you. A gripping fear overtakes you as your legs begin to shake, you try to control your breathing but it’s no secret with you so visibly shaken. Looking around for anything to defend yourself with, you see a cart with a large stick on it. The stallions finally make their way and are just inches away from both you and Fluttershy.
“Well, well, well looks who’s still alive, guess we went too easy on you, that’s too bad.”
“You leave him alone.” Fluttershy says
“Ha, you’re actually gonna let this mare fight your battles again? I’d like to see her try without that bear around.”
(Cocky bastards) You think while snarling at them,
“What’s the matter, cat got your tongue?”
“You ponies hurt him badly, and now he can’t talk anymore.”
“Is that right?” The brown one says while turning towards you “Good, I’m just sorry we didn’t kill you.”
Fluttershy looks astonished and then angry “You take that back, nop0ny should be that cruel.”
“Make me.” He says while pushing her back, Fluttershy gasps landing on her rear; you dart for that stick you were eyeing.
“Look he’s running away.” the pale one laughs “What a wimp.”
(Just you wait.) Grabbing the stick you run back full force and deck the one who pushed Fluttershy on the side of the head. He goes down instantly and his friends scatter, you start beating him relentlessly knowing his friends won’t come to his aid. He cries and screams much like you did that horrible night; it felt good showing him no mercy.
“Anon no, please stop!” Fluttershy screams as a crowd of ponies begin to gather, you look down at the bloody and crying stallion. Tears are rolling down your eyes as you drop the stick, a stallion tackles you and holds you down, explaining this wont be easy.

At the mayor’s office, you sit in a corner as two of the biggest Pegasus ponies you have ever seen watch you. Fluttershy and friends are meeting with that mayor lady and a princess in the next room; (It’s a miracle they haven’t thrown you in jail yet.) You think.

“We don’t have a jail; there was never any need for one.” Said the mayor to Celestia
“I see, well my guards can escort him to the holding cells back in Canterlot, he wont cause any problems there.” Applejack trots back and forth
 “Didn’t I tell ya’ll, that thing can’t be trusted, since day one I had a bad feelin about him.”
“Applejack, you’re not helping” Twilight says irritated “Right now we need to focus on clearing Anon’s name, not persecuting him for something that wasn’t his fault.”
“Not his fault?” She says angrily “He almost killed a young colt, if it weren’t for that stallion subduing him.”
“Oh for the love of Celestia, you’re letting your fear of Anon cloud your judgment.” Rainbow says as she flies overhead
“I have a right to fear him; he is not from this world, are you tellin me that yer gonna side with some dangerous monster rather than yer best friend?”
“When she’s being a fear mongering bigot I will.”
“Why of all the!”
“You’re wrong about him; he was trying to protect me.”
Everyone looks at her waiting for an explanation.
“When I found Anon, he was almost dying; it was several stallions that beat him. The one from today was one of those stallions...and even then he didn’t make any attempt at hurting him. It was only when he..he knocked me down that Anon reacted. Please Celestia don’t take him away.”
 Celestia looks deep in thought as she tries to figure out how to go about this,
“I will speak with the town.”

In the town center, all the ponies gather to hear what is going to be done with you. You can see the parents of that pony you beat, giving you the evil eye. Understandable, but it’s a sure bet he didn’t tell them about what he had done to you and Fluttershy. Celestia walks up on the stage and greets everyone kindly, they all applaud and cheer, guess they think she is gonna bring the hammer down on you, they’re wrong.

“Greetings my little p0nies, it has come to my attention that a disturbance has befallen this town. Before I tell you all what is to be done, I spoke with those who know the accused well. It has come to my attention that when our guest first arrived here, he was beaten and shown nothing but hostility by several stallions that shall remain nameless. I will not punish them, but they should be ashamed of themselves, for treating a creature in such a way. Having that as a first impression, he was frightened and reacted violently when he feared for his life again. What he did, though not right, is understandable given those prior conditions. I will personally see to it, that the innocent stallion who was hurt is fully healed and compensated for being at the wrong place, at the wrong time. I ask that you treat our guest as a friend and give him another chance, I assure you, he will not cause you any harm.”
Celestia walks off the stage and you follow close behind, you don’t bother to look out into the crowd, but you can feel all the angry eyes looking at you.

Twilight and the gang all trot up to greet you and Celestia,
“Thank you princess.” Said Twilight
“Its all right, I’m just glad I was able to clear this up.” Celestia says with a warm friendly smile, but that smile and demeanor quickly leave and replaced with a serious one as she turns to you “Anon, promise me that you wont do anything like this again, I was able to help you this time, but if you do it again, I cant support you, even if its not your fault.” She looks down and turns to Twilight. “I leave the rest up to you.” She says as she flies off into the sky with her entourage following behind.
“Well, we need to…”
“Twilight, if its ok..can me and Anon just head home..I’m really tired and just want to rest.”
Twilight looks around and sees that everyone has a look of fatigue on their faces, she sighs and hangs her head.
“Sure, we’ll talk about this later.”
The door swings open as you and Fluttershy enter; no animals are there to greet you which is a nice surprise. Fluttershy takes a seat on the couch as you sit next to her, she looks up at you and smiles.
“I’m glad you get to stay here, I..I was afraid they would take you.” You lean in and hug her tightly before crying. She lets out a little cry and jumps up a little before relaxing and hugging you back “It’s all right..I..I won’t let anyp0ny take you away.”

>Some months later

A clanking noise echoes through the cold night air as you walk along the empty roads of Ponyville; you blow air into your hands trying desperately to warm them up. The pans you have tied together on your pants continue to clank about with each step you take. Rainbow Dash forgot to mention to you that a cold-front was coming tonight, but then again, she didn’t know that you would be patrolling for wolves today. Granny Smith and her pony friend, decided to call you in on the spot so they could go and snuggle up by the fire, oh well at least she is enjoying herself. You run up to the side of a house and climb up on the roof to get a better view, the wind blows against you causing your clothes to start flapping around wildly. Looking down at your side, you draw the long sword from its sheath and hold it up at an enemy that is only there in your mind.

(This looks pretty bad ass) You think as you examine it, the sword reminded you of the ones you would see in those movies about knights, long silver blade, plain and practical black grip, and a black sheath. It was love at fist sight, and you practically had to beg Fluttershy to buy it for you, while visiting Canterlot a few weeks ago. The stallion that was forging the weapons, said you had good taste and that sword was one of his finest works. You just kept pointing at it until she figured out you wanted it; the guy was real nice about it and even let you hold it. Feeling the power and durability the moment you held it, you knew you had to have it. Going toe to toe with those wolves every month was also another incentive. Fluttershy was really reluctant about it, both with cost and safety. The stallion nailing the final nail in the “I’m fucking awesome” coffin, offered it to her real cheap, and told her that the blade is only as dangerous as the one who wields it. Hearing this made her sure about it and she trusts you, so she agreed to buy it. You hugged the stallion in pure joy and he seemed to be ok with, though you could tell he wanted it more from Fluttershy.

Looking at your clothing as it flaps about; you think this would look even cooler with a cape, guess you can see if Rarity can make you one later. Sheathing the sword back in, you work your way back down and continue the patrol. From what granny Smith has told you, the wolves only come in from Sweet Apple Acres side. Finding them was easy, they always gave themselves away by howling, but tonight there were no signs of them anywhere. Its no surprise you’re walking around the town trying to kill time till sunrise. As you sit on the roof of Applejacks barn, the sun begins to rise and with it ends another night of quite patrols. It figures the wolves stop showing up the moment you get this kick ass sword.
“I take it no wolves gave ya no problems last night?” You hear Granny Smith call out to you on ground level, something like a morning report, you would wait on Granny Smith to come out and basically show her you were all right. Looking back at her, you shake your head and start descending down. Hitting the ground with a thud, you see her boyfriend come out from the house. He was an elderly Pegasus who got grounded by age, you know they met when she was selling that jam stuff but that’s about it. He was a kind and nice enough pony though, and one of the few to actually trust you after that whole ordeal a few months ago.
“Glad to see you made it out ok, I really appreciate you picking up the slack for my little Smithy here.” He says while they nuzzle a little, and start with the baby talk, you give a smile and start to walk away.

“Whoa hold on there, I wasn’t finished.” Granny calls out to you “Come inside, I’m gonna make breakfast for ya, it’s the least I can do for helping us out on such short notice.”
(Breakfast does sound good.) You think as a strong cold gust causes you to shiver, (A nice hot breakfast in a nice warm house sounds even better.) You conclude before walking inside with them, arms wrapped around yourself.

Inside you have a seat at the table next to Apple Bloom, and Big Mac, both granny Smith and her boyfriend serve everyone before retiring to the living room.
“Aren’t ya scared to be out there all alone with those big scary wolves?” Asked Apple Bloom as you shake your head, “I would be scared.” She admits before going back to eating her oatmeal.
She fiddles with her food a bit before turning up and looking at you again, “Why don’t ya talk much? Is something wrong with ya?”
“Apple Bloom.” Interrupts Big Mac “I don’t talk much, don’t mean nothing wrong with me, sometimes words aren’t needed to make a point.”
Something catches Apple Bloom’s eye so you turn and see Applejack behind you; she walks in and has a seat at the table before serving herself some food. You recline in the chair for a few minutes enjoying the warmth from the meal and house before you get up and wave goodbye to everyone.
“Anon wait.” Applejack says abruptly “Can ya come up with me to mah room?”

In her room, you look around and see it’s just a pretty plain room as she grabs something from the table.
“Here, I asked Rarity to make it for ya.” She says as she tosses you a brown cloth clump, picking it up, it unfurls and you realize it’s a thick cloak. “Winters comin soon, and I know yuv been helping granny an awful lot, and I’m mighty thankful fer that. I wont lie, ya scare me…but if granny trusts ya, and you been doing all this fer us, then that means yer all right with me.” She uneasily smiles as you give her a hug “All right, all right” she laughs “That’s enough of the mushy stuff.” She says while gently pushing you away.

Walking back home, you love the sound the cloak makes as it flaps in the wind. (I’m just like a fucking superhero.) You think as you draw your sword for no reason other than to look bad ass, and start swinging it around. Looking to your side, you see a little blue filly; she looks at you expressionless before she starts smiling and laughing.
“Again, again!” She cheers, though it was embarrassing she caught you like that, it didn’t stop you from doing an encore. Swinging the blade around, you do fight poses and stances that you saw in the movies hundreds of times. It all for show with no real life advantage in a fight, but the filly loves it and more young ponies start showing up and join in on the cheering.
A shrill scream jolts the sword right out of your hands
“That thing is gonna hurt my baby!” A mare screams several feet away,
This catches the attention of several stallions and mares and they all come running towards you. Grabbing the sword you sheath it and make a mad dash in the first clear direction you see, looking back you can see they’re still chasing you. Frantically trying to find the direction of home, you see Twilight’s house and run to it. Reaching the door you try opening but it’s locked, instantly you jump up and try to scale the tree, but you get pulled down and land on your back. Before you can open your eyes, a barrage of blows come raining down, all you can hear is countless angry voices, all you see is black and white pulses, and all you can feel is pain.
“Enough!” Lightning flashes and blinds everyone as thunder booms loudly startling everyone, the ponies start looking around at what caused this when Rainbow Dash swoops down in front of you. “What is wrong with all of you?!” She shouts
“That thing was gonna hurt a foal, we’re just doing what needed to be done the first time he did this!” A yellow stallion shouts as the other ponies behind him start to agree.
“Shut up!” Rainbow stomps “I know your lying because I was on a cloud seeing it all! He was just playing with them and you all overreacted!” She points to everyone in the crowd and is breathing heavily “If any of you, lay one more hoof on his body, I will personally take you down.” Rainbow says low and serious as the door behind you swings open.
“What is going on here?!” Twilight screams as you crawl into the house
“These dunderheads all got the bright idea to hurt Anon for no reason.” Rainbow says while pointing to the crowd
“No we..”
“Shut it!” Rainbow screams and growls before claming herself down “I’ll get Fluttershy.” She whispers before flying off.
Twilight looks at the crown angrily and her horn begins to glow, “I want everyp0ny to go back home….now.”

Twilights door bursts open as Fluttershy comes running in; Rainbow comes flying in after and closes the door behind her. Almost instinctively she darts to the back and finds you curled up in a corner with Twilight finishing up a healing spell. She runs up and begins to inspect you for any injuries,
“He’ll be fine Fluttershy, I cast several healing spell on him.”
Fluttershy picks herself up and looks down at you “Let’s go home now.” She says weakly as you get up and follow her outside,
“Rainbow Dash, Twilight, thank you so very much for today, I’m glad to have great friends like you.”
“Ahh its nothing.” Rainbow said as she flies onto a cloud “But you owe me a ticket to a Wonderbolts show now!” She screams as she darts off
Twilight sighs “Well I’m just glad Anon is ok, but you be careful from now on, don’t go doing anything reckless.” She warns “See you two later.”

Opening the door, both you and Fluttershy enter as Angel greets you two with his bowl in hand.
“Oh let me feed you, you poor thing.” Fluttershy says caringly as she trots to the kitchen, a few minutes later she heads upstairs. You begin to hear her cry softly, you head upstairs and enter her room. She is lying on her bed crying into her pillow, you have a seat next to her and begin to stroke her mane.
“I..I’m o..ok *sniff* p..p.please don’t w.worry.” She stutters through the pillow, you breathe in deep and look down.
“Don’t be sad.” You hoarsely croak, Fluttershy grows rigid as she slowly looks up at you with her eyes and mouth fully open
“A..Anon…you can talk?”

Picking herself up, she wipes the tears from her eyes and sniffles a bit.
“You can talk right; I’m not just hearing things?” She asks as you nod once, she smiles “How come you’ve never talked before?”
You tap on your throat “It hurts.” you strain before coughing, Fluttershy puts a hoof on you
“Don’t overdo it Anon. Take it easy and let me get you some tea.” She says as she moves off the bed and goes downstairs. You follow her down and into the kitchen, she starts to gather all the ingredients while you set a pot to boil.
“I’m glad I got to hear you talk, even if it was only for a little while. But please don’t do anything that causes you pain, I don’t want you to suffer like that.” She says as the both of you take a seat next to each other, the both of you sit in silence waiting for the water to boil. Looking at some random animals running around the house, the steam from the water can be seen and Fluttershy starts on making the tea. Sitting on the loveseat, you stir some of the heat out for several minutes until it’s lukewarm. Taking a drink, you look over at Fluttershy.
“The tea is good.”
“Oh Anon, I said it’s ok if you don’t want to talk.”
“I’m fine, the tea helps.” You take a pause “So long as I take it slow.”
Fluttershy looks up at you with a concerned expression as you continue,
“Thank you for taking care of me this whole time…and for trusting me.”
Going quite, you drink tea while she looks at the ground
“It’s all right; I just did what most ponies would do.”
“I also hate that fucking rabbit.” You say looking across the room at Angel
Fluttershy gasps “Anon! How can you of all ponies say you hate a creature?!”
“But he treats you badly.”
“It is true Angel can be...difficult at times, but he’s not so bad.”
You smile “All right, he’s not so bad, but I will make sure he stays in line.” You tease as she gently shoves you “There’s still so much I want to talk with you about, can we do this again sometime?” You say looking at her
She wipes a tear from her eye as she grins “I would love that.”
Though you wanted to talk with Fluttershy more, you’re beyond exhaustion and you were fighting to keep your eyes open. Dragging yourself upstairs, you head into your room, dropping the sword on the floor as you throw yourself on the bed. Sleep comes soon after.

(Anon has been sleeping for a whole day, he must have been so tired. Poor thing.) You think while feeding the animals outside, a sudden tap on the back of your neck startles you as you turn to see nop0ny there. Another tap and you realize its Angel on your back; he jumps off and produces a flyer with a yummy looking dessert. He points at it and smiles.
“That looks delicious Angel, do you want one?” You ask softly as he nods excitedly, how can you possibly say no to such a cute face like that? “All right Angel Bunny lets go get you some.” You smile

No sign of those mean ponies anywhere as you trot to the market with Angel on your head. Looking at all the nice booths with different items for sale, you reach the ones that sell food. Sweets, breads, feed, they have just about anything you could want, and…Rarity? You stop as you come face to face with your old friend; she looks just as surprised to see you.
“Fluttershy, how wonderful to see you. What brings you here? Looking for a nice dessert like I am?” She asks sweetly as you smile
“Oh no, not for me, I’m here to pick up something for Angel, and maybe Anon if I can find something.”
“Dear you really must spoil yourself from time to time; it’s not bad you know.”
“Maybe another time, well I really should be going now, but are we still up for the spa tomorrow?” You ask while trotting off into a crowd
“Of course, see ya then!” She sings as you loose sight of her in the crowd, after some sneaky dodging and weaving, you find the booth you were looking for. Walking up the earth pony, you look around and see she has a couple of the cakes left.
“Umm I’ll have one.” You ask softly, though it appears she didn’t hear you, “Ummm excuse me, but uhh…” She still doesn’t pay any attention; you inhale and exhale, (Ok, remember not to loose control, but still be assertive.) You think before looking at her “Excuse me!” You shout out loud, causing several ponies to drop things they were holding, looks like you overshot it. The mare is looking right at you now almost trembling, “I would like one of those cakes please.” You shyly mumble

Walking back home happily, with Angel hugging the cake on you, a stallion walks up to you and smiles
“Uh Hey Fluttershy, hi.” He says
“I’m sorry, d..do I know you?” You ask
“Sorry, it’s been awhile since last time, it’s me Funnel, Breezes son.”
“That’s right, my you’ve grown, I was bigger than you last time.”
He laughs awkwardly placing a hoof on the back of his head “Yeah, I was ugh I I mean you were,” He breaths in to get his bearings again “Listen, I’m gonna be in town for a while, and I…want to..you know talk some more…maybe over…dinner tomorrow?”
You lock eyes with him for a second before darting your gaze at the ground,
“I..I’m sorry, but I..” Before you can finish, Rarity wraps a hoof around your neck and draws you into her shoulder
“She will be busy with me tomorrow, but she would LOVE to go out the next day.”
Funnel dawns a wide and boyish open-smile “R..Really?”
“Oh most definitely, isn’t that right Fluttershy?”
You struggle to get a word out as you see a crowd of ponies all looking on at the free show courtesy of Rarity. How could you crush his feelings in front of all these ponies? They would think you were some kind of monster, but you can’t agree to something you never wanted to do. All eyes are on you as Funnel waits for a reply and you begin to see some doubt in his face.
You meekly reply with “Sure.”

Entering Rarity’s home, you sit on the couch as she sets her bags in a corner. She has a seat next to you while she floats over a tea set and sets it on the table. You raise a hoof violently up in the air before swinging at her and missing completely, the force was equal to that of a newborn kitten.
“Fluttershy dear what are you doing?” Rarity asks
“I didn’t want to go out with him Rarity, why did you put me on the spot like that?” You cry as she takes a sip
“Darling I did it for you, you’re too shy and its time you changed that. Besides did you see that stallion? He was gorgeous, how could you even think of turning him down?!”
You angrily look at Rarity and open your mouth about to unleash all the assertiveness you can muster, but she cuts you off.
“Listen dear, even if you don’t feel anything for the boy, at least give him a chance. Who knows he might just grow on you, and if not then at least he and you will just have a nice time and it will end at that.”
“……All right, I’ll give it a chance.”

By the time you leave her house, it’s already getting dark. Rarity was having you try outfits all day; the hardest part was finding one that she approved of. You can feel the dress bounce around in the sack you have strapped to your side; Angel is also nestled in there on top of it, sleeping off the dessert he ate all on his own. Poor Anon, you really wanted to bring him back something nice. As you open the door you see Anon asleep on the couch with the tea set across from him, guilt overtakes you as you hear Anon’s words repeat about wanting to talk with you again sometime. You find a blanket and toss it over him, looking around you see no critters, leaning in close to his face you pucker your lips for a few seconds hovering over him, but return them back to normal. Instead you nuzzle his forehead and whisper
“I’ll make it up to you tomorrow.”
Trotting back upstairs and out of sight, Anon picks himself up from the couch to look at the stairs before going back to lay down.

The next day, Fluttershy, Rarity and you are walking to the spa together, Fluttershy invited you this morning, and she was very insistent on you going. As you reach the front door of the spa, the ponies who work there open it and greet you all.
“Its so nice to see you both, we will be having another guest with us today. I hope that won’t be a problem.”
“Not at all, please this way.” One of them says as they escort you all to a room with a big hot tub, awesome. You walk up to it and look around as Rarity turns to one of the spa ponies,
“Would it be all right if you got us a bottle of your finest wine?”
“Oh and some fruit pie tarts too.” Added Fluttershy
The spa ponies nod and leave the room to get the things they asked for, Rarity walks up to you.
“You do know that clothing isn’t needed in a hot tub?” She smiles as she magic’s your shirt off “Make yourself comfortable.” She finishes as she trots over to a little room with a couple of showers in it, you hear the water start running and look curiously.
“Umm..Well before we get in the bath, its best to take a shower first..you know..so we don’t dirty the bath water.” Fluttershy says looking up at you, you take off what remaining cloths you have, place them in a storage area of some kind and wrap a towel around yourself. Walking up to Fluttershy, the door opens and Rarity comes out swinging her soaked mane around like some super model and exhaling refreshingly.
“That was simply delightful!” She exclaims trotting past you both, gently she slips into the water and exhales again before looking at you. “Well what are you waiting for? Both of you get cleaned up and join me this instant, I would rather not indulge myself alone.” She smiles as you both head into the shower room.

You stand there with Fluttershy looking at you nervously; her eyes keep darting back and forth between you and the ground.
“Umm, I’ll just..use this one.” She points to a shower
Rinsing yourself off, you get all the nooks and crannies that needed cleaning, looking around, you didn’t see any toilets, and your not going to ask. When you think its safe, you relive yourself in the shower, it lasted longer than you expected. Fluttershy was the first to finish up and she trotted out while you were under the water, turning it off, you also head out and see that the drinks and food have arrived. Walking up to them was a bit embarrassing, but you felt at ease when you submerged yourself into the water. Fluttershy inches herself closer and using her mouth, she passes the bottle of wine to you. Grabbing it, you pour yourself a cup and offer it to Fluttershy; she smiles and takes it from you before taking a little sip. Her cheeks get rosy almost instantly as you pour a cup for yourself. The bottle magically floats out of your grip and over to Rarity, who serves herself.
“Rarity, could you pass me one of those tarts please?” Fluttershy asks, when the tart lands on her hoof, she passes it over to you and offers it. “Here, I had wanted to get you something like this yesterday, but I didn’t get a chance.” You take it from her and smile before tossing the bite sized morsel in your mouth; she rests her head on your shoulders as she takes another drink
“Do you remember how Mr. Breeze had a son?”
You nod as she shifts herself a bit,
“When I went to the market yesterday, he found me and…asked me out. I really didn’t want to go but Rarity insisted I give him a chance.”
“Well you should.” You strain as Rarity looks in surprise
“My my, you had told me he could talk, but I didn’t think I would hear it.”
You look over at her and smile
“See Fluttershy, even Anon thinks you should give him a chance, really Anon, you should have seen him, young, handsome, well mannered, and very tall. If I were a more shameless mare, I would have taken him for myself.”
Both you and Rarity laugh as Fluttershy blushes.

>The next day
The day of Fluttershy’s big date is here, she woke up especially early to get all of her chores done on time. You assisted her with the more heavy tasks and after it was all over, she took a long shower. Hearing her trot about upstairs, you tease Angel by dangling a carrot out of his reach as he tries to jump up for it. Fluttershy comes down the steps wearing a simple but elegant red dress, its nothing fancy but it still looks good on her.
“How do I look?” She asks as both you and Angel clap simultaneously and Angel follows it up with a whistle. Fluttershy hangs her head to hide all the red, “Oh boys.”
After a few minutes of checking herself in the mirror and making sure it was all in place, she heads for the door.
“Now I’ll be back before it gets too late, Anon please don’t give Angel a hard time while I’m away, make sure he gets his meal and brushes his teeth. I also left some food for you so you won’t have to cook. Well see you later.” She says as she hugs you and heads for the feed store, as you close the door you look down at Angel who is looking at you.
“Sup.”

Hearing only the sounds of your hoofsteps, you think about the night ahead, what did he have planned, and what would you talk about? Funnel has grown so much, its hard to believe he is the same little colt who would always make puppy love promises about marrying you one day. You thought it was just a phase and he would move on, but he has been persistent in trying to keep in contact with you. Looking at the store, you walk up and tap on the door. Several voices are talking at once and it’s the nice mare lady who answers the door.
“Oh Fluttershy it’s so nice to see you, and you look so pretty! Funnel will be out in just a minute.” She smiles as Breeze walks up next to her
“Is that human fella still living with you?”
“Umm yes, it’s his home.”
“That’s real dangerous, if I were you, I would send him packing.”
“Oh breeze not this again.” The mare says while poking him “Don’t do this now.”
“Why would you say something like that? Anon isn’t dangerous.” You ask sadly
“Haven’t you heard? A pony went missing the other day, that stallion kid he beat up just up and vanished. His mother has been worried sick.”
“Well it wasn’t Anon, he was with me all day yesterday.”
“Ya see Breeze? You’re just blowing it all out of proportion.”
“Don’t ya think it’s a little strange that the one he beat up goes missing? Not only that, he goes stalking around the town at night, it can’t be a coincidence.”
You can feel all the uneasiness from before getting multiplied, you groan to yourself unsure of how to continue this.
“Wow you look amazing.” Funnel says from behind his parents, they move away to let him through and you’re actually happy to see him.
“Oh umm thanks…shall we get going?”
“Sure.” He smiles as he trots forward, the mare keeps her husband in check and nudges him inside.
“You two kids have fun!” She shouts before closing the door.

“So, where are we going?” You ask turning to Funnel
He walks forward and turns back to you “It’s a secret, but it’s not too far.” He says as he begins to fly into the air, flapping your wings, you try to keep up. After flying across the town, he lands in front of a little restaurant near the outskirts. It’s a place you’ve seen, but never went into; it’s not really the kind of place you want to go. Even from outside, you can feel and faintly hear the booming of the music. You groan softly a little before trotting through the entrance. Instantly you’re hit with the sounds of loud music, and you can see lots of ponies all drinking and socializing with each other. Funnel introduces himself to a unicorn waiter and he motions for the two of you to follow him. Nervously you sway your heard side to side, you’re not sure what, but you know something’s coming. A tipsy stallion bumps into your rear and you instantly dart past Funnel and the waiter, catching your breath, you look around at all the ponies looking at you, all those eyes glaring, the room getting smaller, you feel a heavy pressure in your chest, you have to get out, you can’t stay here, you…
“Hey are you ok Fluttershy?” Funnel asks softly as he places a hoof on you, flinching from surprise you turn to face him and start mumbling nonstop, it may not even be a language. “Its ok, take it easy.” He says before turning to the waiter, “Can we get the more private booth?” He asks as the waiter nods
Getting escorted to the back, you see a small room with a little table and some cushions on the floor. Funnel guides you in and sits you on a cushion, as he goes to close the door. It really makes a difference as the noise is almost entirely drowned out, you breathe in and out loudly trying to get centered again.
“I’m sorry about that, I..dont do well with groups like that.” You say while he has a seat across from you.
“Don’t worry about it, I really should have asked, but I wanted this to be a surprise.” He smiles as the waiter lets himself in and brings them some water.
“What will you two be having tonight?”
“Can we get the house special?” Funnel asks as the waiter nods
“Sure thing, give us about 30 minutes.”

>As Funnel
Fluttershy sighs and look down at the table; it’s obvious something is bothering her.
“Something on your mind?” You ask as she pulls her head up
“Ah..I..um well..I was thinking about what your dad said.”
“Oh yeah.” You sigh, (Thanks dad for throwing that at my date.) “Dad was not happy when he heard that stallion kid went missing.”
“Why?”
“Well aside from the fact that a pony went missing, he thinks that creature is the one who did it.”
“Oh no, Anon would never do something like that, not even to the ponies who hurt him.”
“Hurt him?” You ask tilting your head
Fluttershy told you everything, from the moment she first saw him, to now. The stallions that beat him near death, the one who bullied her and caused Anon to retaliate, and why he stalks around at night. You take a drink and look across at Fluttershy
“After hearing all that, I can see why he does those things.”
Fluttershy looks at you surprised and smiles “I’m glad you trust Anon, not many ponies do.”
“But are you really sure he wont hurt anyp0ny?”
“Mmmhmm I’ve known him for a long time, and he is very kind though at times a bit childish.” She laughs, (Finally a laugh.) You think (At least she is smiling again.)
The door opens as the waiter comes in and floats the food over to you both,
“Here you are, the house special, if you need anything else, give me a call.” He says closing the door. Fluttershy looks at the food and sniffs at it
“It smells good.” She comments as you’re already chewing a mouthful
“Itsh real gud.” You say before you realize your talking with your mouth full, and proceed to swallow it all in one gulp. Embarrassed, you cover your face with your hoof and look down. Fluttershy giggles cutely
“You eat just like Angel.”

>As Fluttershy
The meal progressed just like any other, the depressing vibe and talks have long since gone, and a joyful upbeat atmosphere surrounds you both. Talking with Funnel showed you just how awkward and funny he is, it felt nice. (This isn’t so bad.) You think looking across at Funnel, who is laughing at a funny joke he told, (It’s good to know you have another friend who trusts in you and Anon.)
“Say are you ready to go?” He asks
“Well I guess so.” You reply getting up and stretching out, leaving the room, you look around and see that mostly everyone is talking. The loud and party like environment has calmed down and even the music is turned off. “I..I’ll be right back…I have to use the mares-room.”
“Sure, I still need to pay for the meal." He smiles
Inside the mare-room, you remove the dress before doing your business. Nature always calls at the most awkward of times, after it’s all done, you wash up and put back on the dress before heading back out. Walking back home, you and Funnel continue random conversation.
“Would it be ok if I meet him today?” Funnels asks out of the blue
“Anon?”
“Yeah, I’ve never seen him before.”
“Well..if he isn’t asleep and doesn’t mind..I don’t see why not.”

>As Funnel
As the two of you walk up to Fluttershy’s house, your heart races in anticipation. For one you’re going to be meeting that human everyp0ny is afraid of, the other is that you’ll be going inside her house. She trots up to the door and lets herself in; she turns around and holds the door open for you as you come in. Looking around, it’s a nice and calm place, and it smells very feminine, you could get used to this.
“Anon I’m back!” Fluttershy shouts, it catches you off guard since never hear her speak out like that. “Wait here please.” She asks as she trots upstairs, you sit on the couch and look around. You can hear her calling out to Anon, but nothing else. A white rabbit hops up on the couch next to you and has a paper in his mouth, dropping it in the couch, he hops away. Using a hoof, you open it up and read what it has to say.

As Fluttershy comes trotting down, you look over at her.
“I can’t find Anon, I wonder where he went.”
“It says here he went on another patrol.” You say as she walks over to you and examines the note.
“Oh..it looks like we missed him.” She says as she sits next to you. “He won’t be back until morning.” She sighs “Sorry, but you won’t be able to see him today.” As she turns to face you, your heart skips a beat at how beautiful she is.
“Its all right, at least I got to see inside your home.” You comment light heartedly but it falls flat as she makes no comment, instead she just looks at you concerned about something. “Well its getting late, I should be heading home.” You say getting up; don’t want to overstay the welcome.
Outside, Fluttershy and you are wrapping it up for the night
“Thanks for tonight, I had fun.” She says
“Likewise, I had a good time.” You reply
An awkward silence is being shared between the two of you; a feeling of anticipation surges through you. She looks around scuffing a hoof on the floor, (Ok Funnel this is it.) You think, (Just go for it, like dad said.)  You gulp down any saliva you have and walk up to her; she turns to face you, giving you the perfect angle. Without another word you lean in and lock lips with her closing your eyes. Gently you bite down on her lips with yours before you feel them pull back, opening your eyes you see a hoof come flying at your face before everything goes white then black.
Taking a few steps backs, you shake off the initial shock and look at Fluttershy, she is standing there with tears in her eyes before she runs back into her house and slams the door. You try to stop the sniffling from coming out, but its too late. Tears roll down your face as you start to wail like a little filly, both from the pain and rejection. You turn around and fly off into the sky, embarrassed and heartbroken.

>As Anon
Celestia finally raises the sun as you cap off another day of patrols, the long drought of wolfless nights came to an end a few hours ago. This one was far more brazen than any of the ones you’ve encountered; neither pots nor pans had any effect on him. He snarled and chomped at you, but soon learned that you were far from defenseless. Plunging the sword deep into his eye, he yelped out in pain before running away. It’s the last time you’ll be seeing him around, and he won’t be seeing anything from his eye. Finally reaching your home, you open the door and walk upstairs. It looks like Fluttershy isn’t up yet, you want to go in and check up on her, but you would rather not risk walking in on her sharing a bed with that stallion. She would die from embarrassment for sure, entering your room; you undress and crawl into bed.

THUMP, THUMP, THUMP! The sound of banging wakes you up as you groan out of the bed. Your eyes burn as they adjust to the light, the banging continues in rapid succession. You dress as quick as you can before heading downstairs to see what it’s about. Halfway down the steps you see Fluttershy at the door, she looks distraught and is trying to calm down an angry Pegasus,
“There he is!” He shouts pointing at you “What did you do to my son!?” He screams trying to come in but Fluttershy blocks his path,
“Mr. Breeze, please calm down. What happened?”
Breeze is breathing heavily at this point but he slows it down and looks at Fluttershy, “My son didn’t come home till just an hour ago, he avoided me and trotted straight up to his room. It took some time, but I finally got to see him, and he has a giant bruise on his face that he refuses to talk about. Now what did he do?” He says sternly looking up at you, walking down the rest of the steps, you head to the door and look him in the eyes.
“Nothing.” You strain,
“Liar!” He shouts as he lunges towards you, the both of you come crashing to the ground and he tries attacking you with his front hooves.
He caught you off guard, but you won’t make the same mistake twice, he tries to stomp on you, but you curl up and roll away from him. Popping back up on your feet, you dash at him full force and knock him down. Grabbing the nearest blunt thing you can find, a block of firewood, you pick it up ready to send it crashing into his skull. He looks at you terrified, just waiting for it to happen; he knows there is nothing he can do. You shake your head and toss the wood away,
Getting back up, you look down at him “I did nothing.” You say before turning around and heading upstairs.
“M..mr. Breeze, I..I’m so sorry, but…I have to tell you something.” You hear Fluttershy say before getting out of earshot, as you enter your room, you feel a sharp pain on your back. Throwing yourself back on the bed, you try to go back to sleep.
About half an hour later the door opens, Fluttershy trots around the bed and lays herself on it next to you.
“I’m sorry Anon, it’s all my fault, I..I hit his son.”
She told you everything that happened the previous night, after she was finished, you place a hand on her side and smile.
“It’s ok.” You say lowly before yawning, “I’m tired.”
She wipes a tear from her eye before putting on a strong face “Then you should sleep.” She draws you in and begins to hum a pleasant tune; it works as you drift away.

The next day, you and Fluttershy are feeding the animals their lunch, every week the numbers keep getting bigger. She doesn’t seem to mind though, and always welcomes the new editions. Grabbing the last bag of feed, you open it up and start serving the animals. Fluttershy looks at the empty storage room, and that old worried expression comes back.
She looks up at the sky lost in thought, she sighs and starts walking inside, you follow her and see her gathering some bits and wrapping a carrier bag around her flank.
“I..need to buy some feed..for the critters, I..I think its best if I go alone.” She says looking up at you, “I’ll be right back.”
As she opens the door, a stallion is on the other side,
“F..Funnel?” She asks in shock,
“Hey Fluttershy, can..can I come in?”

Fluttershy and Funnel are sitting in the living room, while you prepare some tea. Neither of them has said anything, its not surprising. After it comes to a boil, you bring the pot and start serving everyone.
“Thank you.” Funnel says as you give him a cup, he blows on it and takes a little sip before averting his gaze to the ground “I’m sorry.”
“About what?” Fluttershy asked
“I should’ve told my father, but I..I just couldn’t at the time. By the time I came down, it was too late...”
Fluttershy and you both lean in as he looks at you.
“My dad left for Canterlot yesterday, he’s going to talk to the princess about the missing ponies, and what happened to me.”
“But..but..I..” Fluttershy looks down not wanting to finish what she wanted to say, you can see she realizes something “Wait, what do you mean by..missing ponies? I thought only one was missing.”
“Didn’t you hear? That night when…I last saw you..another stallion went missing. He was friends with the first missing pony.”
(In other words, one of the ones who beat me when I first got here.) You think (This is bad.) Fluttershy looks really concerned now.
“I thought I should at least tell you as soon as possible” He gets up and starts walking to the door,
“Funnel wait.” Fluttershy calls out “I’m..I’m really sorry…about hitting you..”
He stops in his tracks for a second before continuing to the door and leaving, Fluttershy looks upset but this time she fucked up.

The rest of the day is spent in low spirits; you lay on the bed wondering what the princess will have to say about it all. Before you know it, it’s already in the evening. Though you don’t feel like eating, your stomach gurgles out in hunger anyway, you grumble before getting out of bed.

Walking downstairs you see Fluttershy on the couch holding Angel in her hooves, she was petting him when you went upstairs several hours ago. Looking at Angel, his eyes seem to cry out “Help me!” as he looks at you. Though he deserves to be uncomfortable, Fluttershy should not be sulking like this. Sitting next to her, you pour some of the tea from this morning; its long past cold, but it soothes your throat and makes it easier to talk regardless. Downing a cup, you turn to Fluttershy
“I’m hungry.” She looks up at you as though it was the first time you ever talked; she releases her death grip on Angel and hops off like mad as she embraces you instead.
“I’m sorry…sorry for all this. I didn’t mean to cause you trouble.” She cries “I’m sorry.”
Patting her on the back, your stomach growls out again and Fluttershy sniffles “I..I guess you’re really hungry.” She laughs as she breaks the embrace, “We should..make something.”

Fluttershy is cooking some fish for you, while you set the table and make a sandwich for her. It was easy enough, and she needed the busy work more than you, it seems to calm her down. Pouring some water, the front door slams open. Startled, you look and see Twilight trotting over as she magic’s the door closed.
“What did you do?!” She shouts from the living room, she floats out a paper and shows it “Do you know what this is?!” You shake your head “It’s a letter..no a royal order, from Princess Celestia, I’m to monitor your every move and await further orders!” She curls up the paper and throws it at you, as it bounces off your face you pick it off the floor and read it. Just like she said, Twilight is forced to monitor you.

“Anon, pack some things; you’ll be under my supervision, at my house until Celestia says otherwise. I can’t leave you here and shirk all of my other responsibilities for an undetermined amount of time, I know this is your home, but I have many other pressing matters to pursue.” Twilight says as she has a seat at the table, Fluttershy looks deadeyed as though she was in some horrible daydream, she didn’t say or mumble a single thing the whole time. You want to protest, but you know insubordination would only be digging the grave deeper.

After slowly packing some cloths and a blanket with Fluttershy upstairs, the both of you head downstairs and face Twilight. You sigh before walking with her and going outside, you turn to face Fluttershy and duck down to give her a hug, she wraps a hoof around you. The both of you stay like that but you slowly begin to break away, she tightens her grip once before letting go. As the both of you walk away, you turn back to check on Fluttershy, she remained at the door until you could not see her anymore.

Inside Twilights house, you fiddle around with a book you have no intention of reading. Spike has been placed in charge of looking after you, while Twilight went upstairs to use the bathroom. He stands guard with a pots and pans as armor, while holding a broom. It’s not like you can really just run away, that’s as good as shouting “Hey I’m guilty!” You scratch your back and Spike flinches as though it was an attack, when he realizes it’s no threat you can see the relief in his face. Your stomach growls out loudly, and Spike returns to his coward stance.
“Calm down Spike, he’s just hungry.” Twilight says trotting down, “Get him some leftovers or something.”
“Ok Twilight.” Spike salutes before waddling off into the kitchen; Twilight sits in front of you and looks you right in the eyes.
“Anon, did you have anything to do with the disappearance of the missing ponies?” You shake your head “I thought as much, but I still can’t figure out where they went. I have been talking with the towns folk trying to get as much information as possible, but nop0ny seems to know anything. I wanted to solve this without the need to bring in the princess, but it looks like she found out anyway.”
She hangs her head in front of you and sighs deeply, Spike shows up and inches the food towards you with the broom handle. You close the distance and swipe it up before devouring it, you weren’t sure what it was, but you didn’t care. Twilight gets up and trots over to a corner of the room,
“Sorry, but I can’t take my eyes off of you, if for whatever reason you leave my house and another pony goes missing, it won’t be in your favor. Spike ready some coffee for me, it’s gonna be a long night.”
Spike darts off as you rub your eyes, though you don’t really feel particularly tired, you see no point in staying up either. Taking out the blanket and some shirts, you form a makeshift pillow and drape the blanket over you. You lay there for as long as it takes you to sleep.

Waking up, you stretch out with a loud yawn and see that Twilight is still sitting in the same spot as last night, her manes a mess and she has bags under her eyes. She yawns herself before producing a quill and paper.
“9:00 am Anon wakes up.” She says to herself “So that’s an entire night of sleeping and not going out and killing ponies, I can confirm that.”
You pick yourself off the floor and walk towards her
“Shower.” You say deeply
“Sure, follow me.” She leads you to a room with a little shower and toilet; you walk in and close the door behind you. After undressing and turning on the water, gurgling some water in your mouth, you spit. Swallowing the remains, your throat doesn’t burn as bad as it used to, you practice your speaking exercise of inhaling and groaning. Every so often you use words until it hurts, today you got out about 13, that’s a record. With the throbbing and burning back, you rinse off one last time before turning off the water and stepping out.
Throwing on some cloths, you head out and see Twilight waiting by the door.
“The princess will be here in a few hours, I’m to gather the town’s p0nies and have a meeting just like the one from last time. You’re going to stay here with Spike, while I round up the girls to get everything ready. Understand?”
“Yeah.”

It was painfully boring just waiting as the minutes crawled by, you kept thinking about all the things she could say or do, they had no proof so what was the case going to be? After an excruciatingly long wait, the door opens as Fluttershy comes in and trots up to you. She has a relived look and nuzzles you affectionately before stopping; you wipe a tear from her eye as she sniffles
“I want you to know that no matter what happens, I’ll be by your side.”
(Well that added a whole nother level of concern.) You think, now its really sinking in just how screwed you could be.
“All right girls, its time.” Twilight says bleakly as the rest of her friends all agree and head out the door.

At the town meeting, which was in an auditorium of some kind, all the ponies from Ponyville have assembled and are talking amongst themselves. You peak at them through the curtain and have a seat on the floor next to Fluttershy. Pinkie leans in from the other side,
“So uhh Anon, I made this for you.” She says while turning around and pulling a package from your blind spot “It’s a cherry berry pie, I thought you would like it.” Opening it, you break some of the pie off and start eating it, its slimy and chewy texture combined with the massive amounts of sugar, instantly calm your nerves. It’s a nice little sugar high, and you can’t help but smile
“Thank you, it’s delicious.”
Pinkie gets an ear to ear grin
“Can I have some?” She asks as you laugh
“Sure.” You say offering her the metal saucer; she gobbles up a few bites from the actual pie and starts chewing loudly.
“Itshh guud.” She smiles through a mouth of food.
Both you and her start to laugh, turning back around you see Fluttershy smiling as well. (This is nice, we should do this more often.)

The side doors swing open as Celestia and three royal guards enter, behind them is a black unicorn with white splotches scattered around his body. He had a white circle encompassing his right eye that reminded you of a big monocle, which was confusing because he already was wearing glasses.

Celestia walks up to you and looks down at your pie covered face, she raises an eyebrow.
“I understand better than anyp0ny the need to consume sweets, but I feel that your sense of time and place could use some work.”
“Celestia!”
“Twilight, its nice to see you again, I only wish that the circumstances were more cheerful.”
“What’s gonna happen to him?” Rainbow asks concerned
“Oh forgive me, I must have made that sound terrible, I assure you I have the matter under control. Now Twilight, Anon, come with me.”
She says as she makes for the stage, getting up, you can still feel your face has pie all over it, you run up to the curtain and wipe it clean before you go to the other side to join the others. All the ponies were still cheering for Celestia but that changed the moment you came out, it grew quite as you walk up to the princess. You twiddle your fingers around nervously standing by her; this is the second time this bullshit has happened.
“It has come to my attention that some p0nies have gone missing the past two days, rest assured my best guards are scouting the areas for them.”
“Why don’t you just ask him!?” A mare screams as others join in
Celestia looks around at them all and you can see her expression is one of annoyance,
“There is no direct evidence to link him to any of the disappearances.”
“What about him walking around town at night?!” Breeze shouts,
“Now hold yer caboose!” Screamed granny Smith, “Ah hired him to keep the timber wolves at bay on the nights I can’t. He is protectin this here town.”
(At least not everyone hates me.) You smile
“Is that what you call beating my son?!” Shoots back Breeze as all the ponies shift to granny who is completely clueless.
“Eh what? He did what now?” Granny asks in confusion
“Dad!” Funnel shouts
“My son here got beat up by this thing because he got to close to Fluttershy, now should we really let an unhinged thing like this walk around?”
“I told you already what happened dad.” He whispers to him
“Perhaps you would care to tell me.” Princess Celestia tells him, at first she has an intimidating glare but it softens to and she beckons him up. Slowly, he flies up to her and lands by her side. She leans in and whispers “Now if Anon did this to you, all you have to do is tell me, and I promise, he will never harm you again. So what happened?”
Funnel looks at you and Fluttershy before he turns to face Celestia. He places his mouth next to her ear and begins to softly tell her what happened. You can barely make out what he is saying, and your close by, so it’s a sure bet everyone in the crowd has a snowballs chance of hearing him.

Celestia gives an occasional nod, and listens closely to what he has to say before she picks herself up.
“I see.” She says “That is most unfortunate.” She concludes before leaning in again and whispering “But when you’re ready, I know a mare or two who would be happy to meet you.” She smiles before nudging him off the stage; she composes herself before looking out into the crowd.

“Anon was not responsible for the injuries to the young Pegasus, and there is no evidence to link him to any of the disappearances, however, until we can find the stallions, it would be best if he remains under supervision. I simply can’t ask my protégé to watch him around the clock, and it would be a conflict of interests, to have Fluttershy do it. With that in mind, I will be leaving a royal representative who will be in charge of keeping track of Anon at all times.”
All the ponies start talking about how good an idea that is, and all seem to be happy with her decision.
“The royal representative will send me a daily report through Twilight, and in 6 months he will be replaced by another representative. Hopefully by then we will have this entire matter resolved. Thank you for your time and patience on the matter, now if you’ll excuse me, I’m needed back at the castle.”

 The meeting has been wrapped up, and all the ponies in the crowd have gone home. Celestia and her entourage are standing before you and the elements of harmony.
“Before I go, I would like to introduce you to High Tide, you will report to him, and he will be aware of your location at all times.”
“And if I refuse?” You ask annoyed
“Then I kill you.” He answers
“High Tide.” Celestia says quick-tempered before sighing “Anon please be patient with us while we work on clearing your name. Also High Tide, I really appreciate you making this sacrifice, it must be so very hard to be sep..”
He cuts her off abruptly “That’s fine princess, just doing my royal duty. You leave him to me; I can take care of the rest.”
“I know you will.” She says with her motherly tone, before she exits the building, leaving you and your friends alone with the new “enforcer”

High Tide trots around you, scanning from top to bottom; he gets closer and taps you few times with his hoof while you groan in annoyance.
“Deal with it beast, I need to assess you before anything else.” He says while continuing to poke and prod you. Pinkie Pie hops up to you, and begins to poke you as well.
“Tee Hee! This is fun!” She exclaims, High Tide stops poking and looks at her irritated
“Young lady this is very dangerous, please keep a respectable distance.”
Fluttershy walks forward “Umm e..excuse me, c..could you both stop doing that?

He looks at Fluttershy and slowly walks over to her,
“You must be Fluttershy, the one who he lives with right?”
“Umm yes.” She says looking away from him; Twilight trots behind her and gets his attention
“It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. Tide, I’m...”
“Twilight Sparkle.” He cuts her off “Yes I’m familiar with you and all your friends, I got the report from Princess Celestia, and I served with your brother in the Royal Guard.”
“My brother?” She asks confused
“That’s correct, despite appearances I serve as a body guard for Princess Celestia, I came to know your brother quite well in that time.” He smiles as you and Fluttershy try to sneak away. “And where do you think you’re going?” He says as he floats you into the air and draws you towards him. As you dangle upside down, he looks into your eyes and you avoid his gaze. “Remember, I’m your shadow, anywhere you go, I go.” He says placing you down.
You look at him angrily and he returns it with a cocky smile, Pinkie jumps in-between the both of you and places a hoof on High Tide
“Lets all greet our new friend here with cake and treats over at Sugar Cube Corner!” She declares as it breaks the tense atmosphere from earlier.

At Sugar Cube Corner, everyone is sitting on the floor at a round table as they consume different sweets and soda. Except for High Tide who is sitting a few feet away directly behind you, Twilight looks over at him
“High Tide you can come sit over here, I’d really like to hear more about what my brother has been doing over in Canterlot.” She says waving him over
“I’m fine over here, but thank you for offering.” He dismisses before going back to looking at you.
“You don’t have to worry about me doing anything.” You groan looking back at him “They’re my friends.”
“I said I’m fine.” He says holding his ground, thanks to Captain Bring-down; the party atmosphere goes back to being tense and unwelcoming.
Rarity dabs her mouth and gets up “Well I really should be getting back home.”
Applejack, Rainbow, and Fluttershy get up as well and all agree it’s about time to wrap it up. As you get up, so does your “shadow”.
“Thank you for throwing this party in my honor Ms. Pie, it was nice of you to do that.”
Pinkie smiles with her mouth covered in frosting “You’re welcome here anytime.” She sings.

The walk back home was annoying, High Tide spent the whole trip behind you and just silently observed. You don’t know how long it’ll take for them to clear your name, but you hope it’s soon. As you and Fluttershy enter, High Tide follows in. He looks around the living room scanning it from top to bottom.
“Umm..make yourself…at home?” Fluttershy says curiously not really sure what to make of the whole thing,
(“In fact where is he going to stay?”) You think looking at him
“I’ll sleep in whatever room the beast sleeps in.” he says as though reading your thoughts, he trots around you again and resumes his position as “shadow”
You try to ignore him because this is going to be the norm now, and you don’t want him to have the satisfaction of knowing he’s getting to you.
“Tea?” You ask at Fluttershy, having a task now, she seems more certain and agrees before trotting off into the kitchen. You follow and help her prepare some of the ingredients. The whole time Tide maintains a distance, and occasionally floats over an item or two to either you or Fluttershy. After the tea is set, and you both have a seat on the couch, Fluttershy pours a cup for you and Tide before serving herself. You offer the cup to him as he sits behind the couch. Using his magic, he pulls it towards him and proceeds to take small dignified sips.
“So umm..what should we talk about?” Fluttershy asks out of the blue
“Dun know.” You reply
“Do you think Funnel will ever forgive me?”
“Maybe.”
“Who’s Funnel?” Tide asks from behind the couch, you turn and glare at him. “Never mind.” He says going back to drinking his tea.
“Maybe one day, but it’s really up to him”
Fluttershy curls up and rests herself on your lap, you stroke her mane and she let’s out a sigh.
“Anon.”
“Hmm?”
“Can you tell me about your home…what was it like?”
You stop stroking her mane and look down at her, she looks up at you and smiles.
“Its going to take a long time, is that ok?” She shakes her head and goes back to resting on your lap.
“I don’t mind.”
You drink a cup of tea and inhale,
“I’ll start at the beginning.”

It took a long time, and you had to stop many times to rest your throat, but you were able to tell her a basic history of humans. You candy coated over a few of the more violent details. She had a weak will most of the time so you didn't want to burden her with your old problems. It’s already dark out and its getting kind of late, you turn around and sure enough Tide is still looking at you, but you can see fatigue in his eyes. You cough again and Fluttershy tries to comfort you, gently moving her away she realizes you’re ok.
“You should probably sleep.” She says getting off the couch, “Today was an exhausting day.”
Feeling no need to talk, you simply nod before getting up. Walking towards the stairs, Tide follows behind and into your room. He waits by the door for you to make your next move, you wanted to shower, but really all you want is sleep. Going into the bathroom, you wash your face and brush your teeth before stripping down to only boxers before jumping on the bed. Tide walks to a space a few feet away from the bed and throws himself on the floor, the thud shakes off any grogginess and you’re reminded that he doesn't have a bed.
“Take my bed.” You strain
“Forget it beast, I’m fine here.” You want to fight him, but talking is too much of a pain. Getting up you head towards the closes and throw a pillow and blanket on him before going back to bed. He Uses the blanket as a mattress while he rests his head on the pillow, you get up again and give him a proper blanket. You see him resting away from you and actually not looking.
“Aren't you afraid I’ll do something to you if you’re not looking?”
“I know you won’t.” He says tiredly
“Because you trust me?” You joke with a smile
“Because if anything happens to me, it’s as good as a death sentence for you. So I know you won’t do anything to me…if you like living anyway.”
You suddenly start laughing out loud and turn to look up at the ceiling, (“Fucking bastard has it all planned out.”) You think as your eyes begin to give in to their own weight, after some blinking, you fall asleep.

Waking up, you rub your eyes and look over at where Tide was sleeping; he made his “bed” and is sitting down just looking at you.
“You really need to stop doing that.” You groan
He makes no reply, so you get up and head into the shower; he follows you but stops just in front of the door.
“Are you gonna shower with me or what?” You say a little angrily
“Tsk, you’d want that wouldn't you? Just making sure you don’t try escaping.”
“Oh god.” You groan rubbing your forehead closing the door behind you.
You couldn't really enjoy your shower knowing that Tide was just outside the door, it was creepy. Finishing up, you dry off and head out, Tide is unsurprisingly still there. Walking past him, he walks into the bathroom.
“It’s my turn to shower, stay in the house.” He says before closing the door, you want to leave just to spite him. If you did that though, he probably would force you to shower with him. Doing the smart thing, you go downstairs and into the kitchen. Fluttershy has the table set for everyone; you sit down and start eating the eggs she had prepared for you. Fluttershy comes up next to you and has a seat,
“Rarity and I will be going to the spa today; did you want to go with us?” She asks
“Not today, I need to get my sword sharpened.”
“Oh…well..th..thats ok, maybe next time.” She says looking around before getting back up, “I’ll be going over to Rarity’s now, can you feed the animals for me before you go?”
“Yeah sure.” You reply as she trots to the door, after the door closes, Tide comes trotting down and up to the table. He sits himself down on and looks at the food, he licks his lip. Before he can do anything else, you get up and head for the closet in the livings room. Grabbing a bag of feed, you open the door and go outside.
“Where are you going?” He says turning around to look at you.
“Gonna feed the animals and then leave for Canterlot.”
“What?! That’s like 4 hours away!” He shouts as he gets up and beings to follow you out the door, you smirk knowing he didn't even get to eat his breakfast.

Riding the train to Canterlot, you sit and look at Tide who is sitting across from you. His stomach has been growling up a storm these past 3 hours,
*Rrrrrr* It goes off again as he looks down at it; he makes a displeased face and slightly rubs his stomach. You almost feel bad about making him starve, almost. Considering all that is going around you, High Tide’s starvation is the only joy from this whole trip. Several small foal children have been wailing since before the train even took off, and besides you is a sick stallion who doesn’t know how to cover his fucking mouth, and a chunky mare who rests her head on your shoulder. You groan in annoyance at having your personal space being invaded,

A mare comes walking in to your car a few minutes later, and calls for everyone’s attention.
“I’m so sorry, but we have made a mistake and this train will be docking at Manehatten.”
“Oh for the love of Celestia!”
“What?!”
“That’s another 5 hours!”
“I paid good money for these tickets!”
All the stallions and mares shout losing their temper,
The stewardess mare looks sad that everyone is blowing a fuse at her, but she speaks up again
“I’m deeply sorry, but mistakes were made, as soon as we arrive and restock our coal, we can depart towards Canterlot. Rest assured both the tickets, and food, will be covered by us.”
Tide waves over the mare
“Speaking of food, could I get the biggest meal you got?
“I’m so sorry sir, but we don’t serve food on this train, it won’t be until we reach Manehatten.”
High Tide’s stomach growls furiously as though protesting in anger, his face flashes red as he holds his stomach. The mare smiles at him almost in pity and turns around
“I’ll try to find you something.” She says leaving the car

About 2 hours later, Tide has not heard one peep from that mare, guess she couldn’t find anything for him. He hangs his head and occasionally rubs his growling stomach; suddenly he train slows down and comes to a sudden stop. All the ponies begin to talk amongst themselves in some effort to try and figure out what is going on. The mare from earlier comes in again, and all eyes are suddenly on her, nothing but silence fills the room as they wait for what she has to say. You can tell from her expression that it’s not good,
“I’m sorry but….were grounding the train for an hour for maintenance.”
All the ponies explode in an fit of garbled noise and fury, the mare tries desperately to calm them down. Tide gets up and again levitates you into the air and behind him, the both of you pass the as she tries to calm everyone down, she does nothing to stop you. In-between both cars, he looks out at a field of lush green grass, his stomach acts up again, and he dives off the train and runs towards the grass field with you floating behind him.
“What are you doing?” You ask as he keeps running
“I bucking starving, I need food.” He replies as he finally reaches the grass, he looks at it as though it’s the most beautiful woman in the world or something.
With the happiest smile on his face, you dangle in the air as he starts devouring anything he can get his mouth on. It looks funny seeing a pony act like an actual pony, instead of a human in a pony’s body. After a good 20 or so minutes of him stuffing his face, he sits down and sighs in satisfaction. He composes himself for a minute before getting back up and walking towards the train.

Taking only a few steps, the train begins to move on its own. His facial expression is one of terror and horror, as though he saw a gigantic monster that words alone could not describe.
“No,no,no,no,no.” He says to himself as he starts a mad dash for the train, “Stop! Stop the train!” He shouts as you basically sing backup and shout the same things, suddenly you fall to the ground and land on you’re back. Tide focusing his magic on a spell, trips and grinds his horn on the floor, he yells in pain and is powerless to get anyone’s attention. You strain to focus on the train, but you see it shrink until it is entirely out of sight behind a tree line. Tide curses a blue streak as he gets up,
“Oh buck me! Celestia be damned, what the buck are we gonna do now?!” He shouts rhetorically to himself “I’m talking to you beast!” Or at least you thought
“Hell if I know.” You strain getting up and rubbing your back, “I’m not the one who fucked by coming all the way out here to eat grass.”
“Well if you had just let me eat this morning we wouldn’t be in this mess!”
He has a point, but you would never admit that “Oh big tough royal bodyguard can’t go without breakfast!” You say as your stomach begins to growl, you grab a hold of it as it sends a rumbling pain inside you.
“Well it looks like the tables have bucking turned now haven’t they?” He says as his horn begins to glow, sparks flare out of it and he winces in pain. “Oh Celestia that hurts.” He cries as he gently rubs his horn “I can’t use my magic, I must’ve hurt my horn when I hit the floor.”
“Yeah because you using your magic would have made things too easy right?” You say to yourself as you pass him and walk to the tracks. Tide walks behind you, and you both stand there and look around.
You sigh and look down the path you came “We should probably head towards Canterlot; we still had a long way to go before Manehatten.”
“For once you and I are in agreement.” He says walking down the tracks, after a few steps, he gets off them and walks besides the tracks instead. He stops and looks back at you. “Lead the way beast; I don’t trust you to guard my rear.”
“Believe me; I’m not dying to see it either.”

>As Fluttershy
At the spa, you and Rarity relax in the hot water of the tub. Rarity floats over the bottle of wine and pours herself a glass. What started off as a sip turns into her downing the entire drink in one gulp, she lets out a satisfied coo as she places the glass on the side. She stretches out and lets out a moan of pleasure
“This is wonderful, I really needed a break.”
“Me too, but I hope Anon is ok, he went all the way to Canterlot with High Tide.” You say holding the glass of wine close to your face,
“Well why didn’t you go with him?”
“Oh well..we had this planned for so long, and..I didn’t want to cancel on you.”
“Well I appreciate you doing that, and I’m sure Anon will be just fine.”
The both of you go back to drinking the wine and eating some cake, Rarity swishes her glass before speaking up
“Fluttershy dear, can I ask you something?”
“Sure that would be fine.”
“Why did you hit that poor stallion?”
You look down at your reflection in the wine, and exhale sadly.
“Well we don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.” Rarity says understandingly
“No, no it’s all right. To be honest I was really upset, that..that was my first kiss and I.. really wanted it to be with somep0ny special.”
“Oh Fluttershy.” She says rubbing your back “I can understand, a first kiss is pretty special. Still I wish you would have hoofled it better.”
“I wish I did too, he probably hates me, and I really did like him as a friend.” You cry as Rarity hugs you
After you calmed down and the conversation changed a few times, you and Rarity are getting your hooves done. Lying on your back, Aloe takes care of you while Lotus does Rarity.
“So tell me Fluttershy, what kind of pony are you interested in?”
“Hmm?” You ask turning to her “Well I..I don’t know…why?”
“You told me that you wanted your fist kiss to be special, so that tells me you DO want to find somep0ny, it’s just a matter of finding the right one. So tell me who’s your type, and I will use all my resources to find a pony just like that. Even if I have to search all of Equestria.” She says in her usual exaggerative manner
“Tha…that’s ok..I..I’m fine.” You say looking down at your hooves
“Do you have somep0ny in mind?” She teases and you meep with a startled expression
“N..no..not..not really.”
Rarity gasps, “You do have somep0ny! Come now, dish girl, who is it?”
“N..nop0ny.”
“Is it Big Mac?”
“I..don’t think we’ve ever talked before.”
“You’re right, that’s silly.” She says rubbing her chin “What about Thunder Lane?”
“No..he’s too lively.”
“Caramel?”
“I think he’s seeing somep0ny else.”
“True.”
“Roid Rage?”
“No.”
“Soarin?”
“No.”
“Braeburn?”
“No.”
“Ugh.” She groans “Please don’t tell me you’re into mares, I don’t want to have to go down that list.”
“I’m not into mares.”
“Well then who is it?” She says annoyed but still enjoying the fun of guessing “Wait, I got it.” She says calmly like it just dawned on her, “It’s that High Tide fellow isn’t it.”
“I told you…its no pony.” You say thinking she didn’t notice your little play on words, she did.
Her eyes widen before getting serious, “Excuse me girls, but would you mind leaving us alone? I’ll call you when we’re ready.”
“Sure.”
“No problem.” They both say as they pack up their things and head out the door closing it behind them. Now it’s just you and Rarity alone, you avoid looking at her but she has her eyes fixed on you.
“Fluttershy..is it Anonymous?”
You say nothing, and look down, maybe she’ll
“It is isn’t it?”
“Wha…what would be so bad if it was?”
Rarity sighs “I knew it, I was afraid something like this would happen, it’s why I pushed you so hard to talk with other ponies. Oh Celestia, have you two..done anything?”
“No! I..don’t even think he knows.”
“Thank Celestia, that’s good.” She says relived before looking back up at you angrily “But Fluttershy he’s an animal! What could you possibly be thinking?!”
“Well..well I like animals better!” You yell looking away, “They don’t judge me or mock me...because I can’t do certain things. I relate to them better than any pony or stallion.” You pout
Rarity gasps “Fluttershy dear, please tell me you don’t really believe that? You were doing so well just talking and opening up, it’s not as impossible as you think. Think of all the friends you’ve made so far, did you ever think that was possible?”
“No…I didn’t think I would ever have so many friends.”
“You see?”
“Oh Rarity, I’m just so afraid of being hurt by other ponies…I don’t feel that way with Anon, I can talk and do things I would be terrified of doing in front of any other p0ny.”
“Yes but..its just not right Fluttershy.”
You start to break down crying and Rarity trots over and pats you reassuringly,
“As you’re friend, I won’t tell anyp0ny, it will be just between us, but you must listen to me, you and Anon can’t be together.”
“But why?” You say in tears
“Well for one, everyp0ny in town wants him gone; you don’t want to bring this kind of attention to him and you, also I don’t know how p0nies will react, they may not take it as well as I have, and finally, it goes beyond being unnatural.”
You shake and sniffle, but she still continues to hold you in her hooves
“You’re a bright and beautiful mare, but right now you’re just confused. In time you will find a special somep0ny and you two will be very happy together, but it won’t be with Anonymous.”

>As Anon
Both you and High Tide have been treading along for a couple of hours, walking over the wooden planks, you count them in a desperate attempt at killing time. You’re at 1492
“I suggest you get off the tracks.” Tide says abruptly
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want to scrape you off the grill of a train if it hits you.”
Not really wanting to start an argument with him, and tired of seeing all the wood, you hope over the metal beam and sprint to catch up with Tide.
“How much farther?”
“If we walk nonstop, we can be in Canterlot before morning.”
You let out a loud displeased groan, your sword is fucking heavy, and without any real food in your system, you’re having the worst headache of your life. The pulsing in your head was driving you crazy, and each step you took only intensified the pain.
“It hurts doesn’t it?” Tide asks “Having your stomach eat itself in some vain attempt at nourishment, crying out in hunger yet you can’t do a single thing to stop it.”
You groan “Shut up.” While holding your head
“Why? You were having so much fun watching me go hungry; you know what we call this?”
“Schadenfreude?” You ask dizzily
“No, it’s called just desserts.”
“I didn’t know you ponies believed in things like that.”
“Naturally, we believe that ponies should pay for their misdeeds, the world has a way of balancing itself out.”
“Ugh I need to rest.” You say walking off the path and going under the shade of a tree, you lay down and curl up.
“Get up; we can’t afford to waste anytime.” Tide says walking over, you ignore him and hold your head trying to will away the pain.
“Just let me rest for a bit, I got a really bad headache.”
High Tide groans and looks around, he spots an apple tree and walks up to it. He tries to use his magic, but pain surges through his horn, he shakes it off and starts bucking the tree. Knocking over several apples, he picks them up one at a time and drops them by you. Like a starving dog, you grab two and begin to chow them down. He sits down a few feet away and rests as well.
“Well no sense in both of us running ourselves ragged. We can spare a couple of hours, but we have to leave after that.”
You nod and try to sleep it off, Tide watches over you the whole time.

Waking up, you look around see you slept for a little more then a couple of hours, it’s almost sundown.
“We have to start moving; I gave you more then enough time.” Tide says from the side, you get up and dust yourself off, he gets up as well and the both of you start down the tracks again.
The birds continue to chirp and sing about in the trees, your eyes wander around bored at how little there is to do. Looking over at Tide, curiosity gets the better of you,
“So why did you let me sleep so long?”
“Well I was thinking about it, and this place isn’t safe at night, so the last thing we want to do it remain still. This way you’re well rested and we can walk through the night, and be in Canterlot by late morning.”
“I see.”
The two of you continue to trek along the side of the tracks, it’s been several hours already, and well into the night. Not many words were shared between the two of you, what would you even talk to him about?
“So uhh, what do you do for fun?” You strain as the cold air dries your throat, Fluttershy’s tea sounds real good right about now.
“Nothing.”
“Any friends?”
“Listen try to keep it down, I’d rather you not attract every monster and animal around us.”
(“Dick.”)

Another hour goes by and you just want to sleep, with every blink you leave them closed a little longer. Bumping into Tide, he turns around
“What?” He whispers
“Sorry, I’m sleepy.” You say rubbing your eyes, you look up at the moon, and it still has a ways to go before it reaches the other side. Tide’s stomach growls and he looks around, spotting another apple tree, you and him walk up to it. He turns around and bucks it hard, apples fall and he continues to buck until a good amount litter the floor. Picking up as many as you can, the both of you walk back to the tracks and sit.
“Cheers.” He says tiredly as bites into the apple, you and him sit and eat in silence for a couple of minutes until he speaks up. “So uhh that sword, it’s from Canterlot right?”
“How’d ya know?” You ask surprised
“The stallion who made it, is one of our associates who make armor for the royal guards.”
“Small world.” You look up and sigh “Oh god, I just want to sleep.” You say lying down on the floor.
“No get up.” He says sternly, “If we rest here, we’re as good as dead.”
Forcing yourself up, you drag forward with Tide.

After several minutes of walking, Tide suddenly stops.
“Hey…did you hear that?” He says quickly
“What?” Tide turns around and shifts his gaze at the tree line; you turn and look to see countless pairs of glowing eyes. Quickly you draw your sword and take a fighting stance,
“Put it away.” Tide says quickly
“Are you insane? They’ll kill us, look at em all.” You say looking towards the sea of glowing eyes
“If they really wanted to, they would have attacked us by now. They’re just watching us, making sure we don’t get to close to their turf. As long as we stay by these tracks, we’ll be fine.” He says confidently, looking further down his body however, you can see his legs shaking. “Take any hostile action, and they’ll rush us, let’s just keep going, and keep an eye on them. Between the two of us, we’d be lucky to take out even just one of them.”
Thinking about what he said, you sheath your sword. Tide takes the first step, and another, soon he is walking a slow pace with you behind. You keep a visual on the trees and see that none of them are rushing. It took over 2 hours of painstaking waiting for the eyes to disappear, the further and further you walked, more and more of the eyes would vanish. As the last one fades away, you finally let out a sigh. It looks like the worst is over.

You’ve never seen anything so beautiful before in your life, the castle grounds shown like a golden beacon on the horizon. The sun gracefully rose and illuminated the nightmare that was last night, as the last of nights shadow faded away, you and Tide drag yourselves to the entrance. A couple of royal guards are by the entrance, and instantly recognize him.
“Mr. Tide sir!” They both say while saluting
“What were you doing coming from that direction?! There is no civilization for miles out there!” One says surprised as you speak up sarcastically
“Yeah, we noticed.”
The guard stallion looks as though he is about to make a reply when Tide cuts him off, “Don’t bother with him, he’s mad and does not know when to shut up. Just let us in, and do NOT breath a word of this to the princess, understand?” He says firmly as he trots up to the guard pony, who obediently listens and opens the door.

Both of you walk in and Tide takes the lead, he looks around at all the stone buildings and trots forward to look at a street sign. He turns back and motions you to follow him, for well over 40 minutes you drag yourself trying to fight off all the sleep you crave. This is way past the norm of your sleep pattern, the stress, exhaustion, and fatigue of not only walking all night but having to be on edge with those creatures really did a number on you. Its not like you were specially trained like Tide was. He stops at a modest red brick house, and trots up the steps.
“This is my house, we’re gonna go in, sleep, and leave for Ponyville when we wake up. Don’t touch anything, don’t talk to anyp0ny, and do exactly as I say.” He tells you,
He gently knocks on the door as you stumble up behind him, you can hear noise behind the door, before it swings wide open. A light blue pegasus mare with her white mane in a bun comes rushing out and nuzzles Tide affectionately. He has this ear to ear grin that you cant help but notice.
“Oh Celestia I’ve missed you.” She says “Have you been relived of duty?” She says excitedly
“No…I…it’s a long story, can we come in?”
“Sure.” She replies as he walks in and you follow not far behind, looking around, you spot a couch and instantly go for it. You throw yourself on it, and try to sleep.
“Whoa hey, who said you could rest there?” Tide says annoyed, “Get up; you’re going to sleep over here.” He says nudging you, getting up you groan annoyed and he walks over to a door and opens it.
You look down and it’s a flight of steps into a basement, not even caring about what is down there, you go down the steps and see a small bed in a corner. You walk up to it and throw yourself on it, hearing the door close behind you, sleep comes a second later.

>As Tide
Closing the door and locking the beast in, you turn and see Bonnet looking at you curiously.
“I’ll explain everything.” You say tiredly
Sitting on the couch, you rest your weary and exhausted legs. Bonnet sits next to you and looks up at you with a smile. You inhale in deep preparing to get her up to speed.

Bonnet looks over at the door that you locked the beast in,
“So that’s the creature you were sent to observe huh? He looks much friendlier than I expected, I thought it was some kind of horrible monster.”
“He’s a monster all right. He killed two ponies, just kids.” You say bitterly
“Honey please be careful, I don’t want to lose you.” She says resting herself on you
“I’ll be fine.” You say to her reassuringly, she looks up at places a hoof on your face
“You look awful; c’mon you need your rest.” She says getting up
“I thought those things were going to kill us, it was the first time in a long time I’ve felt fear, fear from the monsters in the woods, and fear of the one next to me on those tracks. I thought I would never see you again.” You say sitting on the couch, she sits back down and nuzzles you comfortingly. The two of sit on the couch in silence for a couple of minutes before you look down and kiss her, she kisses you back and it quickly turns into something more passionate.
“We should go into the bedroom.” She suggests as you brush her mane to the side
“No I’m not gonna wait anymore.” You say before the two of you kiss again and join as one.

>As Anon
Though it felt like only a second, you’ve been asleep for hours, and damn do you feel well rested. Getting up and stretching out, you yawn loudly and rub your face. Fixing the sword at your side, you head upstairs and open the door….open the door…
“God damnit he locked me in here!” You strain as you hit the door, you knock loudly and continuously trying to get his attention.
“Shut up I heard you!” Tide screams from the other side, you stop knocking and wait for him to open the door.
As he opens it you walk out and look around, you see his wife or whatever on the couch looking at you.
“I need to sharpen my sword before he closes.” You say holing it
“Then we need to leave now.”

Outside, Tide and his wife or whatever, are saying their goodbyes.
“I’m gonna miss you.” She says trying to hold back her tears, she hugs him and he does the same, you fidget looking up at the sky as it’s almost dark already
“C’mon we have to go.” You say impatiently
“Just give me a minute!” He yells looking back at you, he turns back and whispers something into her ear before they kiss for a long time. You can tell he doesn’t want to let her go, but they eventually do and he walks down the steps. As the both of you walk away, she waves him goodbye while fighting back her tears until you loose sight of her.

On a bright and warm sunny day, Fluttershy sits on a branch gently preening her wings. A bright multicolored streak flies past her, causing her to loose her balance. Falling off the branch, she slowly flaps back up and looks over at Rainbow Dash who reaches the very top of the tree. Holding a Frisbee, Rainbow looks around,
“All right, this ones going long!” She shouts tossing the disc,
“I got it! I got it!” Pinkie shouts looking up at the sky, running without looking where she’s going, she crashes into Applejack’s behind.
“Darn it Pinki.” She says getting cut off as the disc slams her on the side of the face, shaking it off, she growls at Rainbow as Pinkie laughs on the ground.
Taking in this whole scene, you sit under the shade of a tree with Tide in his usual place behind you. Rarity sits next to you wearing her large yellow sun hat and scarf, sipping tea quietly. Occasionally she glances over at you; this has been going on all morning.
“Something on your mind?”
“Oh, um..would you like some tea?”
“That’d be great.”
“Can I have some too?” Tide asks
“Absolutely, haha, tea all around.” Rarity says nervously floating teacups to you and Tide. Pouring tea and mixing in sugar, she stirs it in for the both of you.
“Thank you.” Tide nods as he sips it
“Yea, thanks Rarity.” You say as Rarity looks over at you,
“Anonymous,”
“Sup?”
“Your cloak seems to be in need of some…maintenance.” She says tugging at it, “I can fix that right up for you free of charge if you’d like.
“Oh well..sure, thanks.” You smile as she gets up and shakes off the dirt on her bottom.
“Tonight it is then,” She nods walking away,
“What about the cups?” You ask
“Just bring them when you come over.” She smiles

Trotting away, Fluttershy comes floating down and lands next to you.
“Umm..wha..what did she talk to you about?”
“Hmm? She just wanted to fix up my clothes.”
“Oh..ok…Anon?” She asks, looking back at her, she looks at you before shifting her gaze over at Tide. “..Forget it, I’ll see you at home.” She says flapping into the air,
“You leaving already?” Pinkie says to her as she ascends into the air,
“Yes, I..have to feed the critters…bye girls.”
Watching her fly off into the air, you get up and collect the cups.
“Aww, you too Anonymous?” Pinkie pouts, “We were just about to cut the cake.”
“Sorry Pinkie, guard duty.”
“Well be careful, I’ll save you a slice for when you get back.”
“Thanks.”

Walking around the outskirts of town with Tide in tow, you casually inspect the tree line and look for anything out of place.
“So tell me, what is the point of these “patrols”, day or night, all I do is walk around town, watch you stare into the woods, and not a single thing ever happens.”
“Look for Timber Wolves, they stumble over here once in a while, but are a big threat in Zap Apple season.”
“What exactly is that?”
“Long story, I don’t do well with those.”
“Hmm. You know, I’m familiar with Timber Wolves, I don’t exactly see you being able to take one on.”
“I do.”
“Have you had any formal training in hunting, or tracking?”
“No.”
“Any hoof to hoof combat experience?”
“No.”
“Survival training?”
“No.”
“Well then how in Tartarus do you stand up to those monsters?” He asks annoyed as you pull out two large black pots.
“These always often work.”
“You can’t be serious?”
“When I’m not doing this, an old mare keeps them away herself with these, I’m pretty serious.”
“Show me.”
“Sure.” You reply walking away “…if one shows up.”
Seconds, minutes, and hours, each one painfully crawled by as not a single wolf came from the woods. Adding to the pain was having a living, breathing, talking creature who rarely speaks a word to you. It’s like being alone, but not. With nightfall finally approaching, you head over to Sweet Apple Acres to greet granny with the daily report before punching out.

“So sunny, how’d it all go?” She asks sitting by a fence with her aged arm candy,
“I hope them wolves gave ya no trouble.” He strains with a laugh
“Quiet like most days.” You smile as Tide cuts in front of you.
“Excuse me miss, but is it true that you scare off those wolves using 2 pans?” He asks as granny looks at him curiously
“Like a charm, why do ya ask?”
“Seriously? Ugh…Nothing, that is all.” He says before going back to his usual position of behind you.
“Strange feller.” Granny comments before looking at you, “Well ya have a good night son.”
“Night, I’ll see you two tomorrow.”

On the way over to Rarity’s, you look back at Tide with his expression of annoyance, “It just doesn’t make any sense,” He speaks out suddenly “I’ve never heard of anything as ridiculous and simplistic, as smacking together two pans to be an effective tool for Timber Wolf removal.”
“It just works.” You shrug, “But not always, sometimes they try and fight back, but that’s why I have this.” You say patting your sword
Walking up to her door, you give it a knock.
“Coming!” Rarity sings muffled through the door, hearing some trotting come up to the door, it opens and Rarity greets you.
“Anonymous darling, so nice to see you, Mr. Tide.” She nods as he returns it, “Come in, come in.” She waves as you and Tide enter, looking around you spot Aloe and Lotus. The two spa ponies are waiting by a seat, and smiling with their best charming and charismatic smiles.
“Aloe, Lotus, this is the pony you will be servicing, while I take care of Anon.” She says nudging Tide forward,
“Whoa wait, wait,” Tide interrupts, “I have a job, I can’t let him out of my sight.” He says as the two ponies walk around him trying to coax him over to the seat,
“Dear, he’s going to be on the second floor, in a room with small windows, he won’t pull a fast one. Just relax, take a couple hours off, you’ve earned it, and Anonymous has been behaving exceptionally well.” She says sweetly, “Please, let these two lovely mares take care of you, I guarantee you wont regret it.”
“Also dude, I don’t like the idea of you looking at me naked.” You add
He furrows his brow while shifting his gaze from one side to the other, “All right, but if you do ANYTHING odd, I’ll hoofcuff us together.” He says pointing at you,
“Fine.”

Walking up the steps, Rarity takes you into her work room. Removing your cloak; she takes it into her invisible grasp, and floats it onto the little MANikin she made just for her only human client. Removing you sword and setting it on the floor with you next, Rarity glances over it and takes notes. Brining over some tools, she begins work on repairing the cloak, and adding more of the durable fabric to it. Making adjustments here and there, she looks about it and nods to herself.
“Anonymous,”
“Hmm?”
“Tell me..what do you think of Fluttershy?” She asks
“She’s really nice.” You smile
“Oh yes, she’s probably the nicest pony in all of Equestria,” Rarity says not looking at you, “but...is that all?” She says turning around, looking into your eyes
“I like her, she’s a great friend. I don’t know, I’m not very good with words.”
With an odd smile, she turns around and finishes up on your cloak.
“That’s all right, there we go, done and done.” She says “I also took the liberty of making you some new clothing, winter is coming up, and I figured some nice new warm clothing would be much appreciated.”
“Awesome, thanks.”
Downstairs Tide is getting his back massaged and is moaning from the pleasure of having his tense back worked over.
“I really needed this.” He sighs out happily as you come thumping down the steps, recognizing the sound, he gets up and composes himself. “Are you ready to go?” He asks professionally,
“Yeah I’m ready.”

Stretching out in bed, you yawn out before scooting off and heading for the bathroom. Brushing your teeth and washing up, you head down the steps leaving the sleeping at his post Tide behind on the floor.
“Morning Anon.” She says in her warm affectionate tone as you come down the steps to the smell of sizzling ham, eggs, and toast.
“Morning Fluttershy.” You smile sitting yourself at the table as she places the plate in front of you.
“Where’s High Tide?” She asks looking around setting his plate,
“Sleeping.” You say before stuffing a slice of bread into your mouth
“Oh..well I have to feed the chickens now, that’s his plate. I’ll have mine when I get back.”
She flaps away from you and into the living room, opening a closet; she grabs a bag of feed and trots past you and out the back door. You continue eating, for a few minutes before High Tide comes trotting behind you. His hoofsteps stop before coming into sight; you push his plate to the left
“This is your plate.” Magic envelops it and floats out of sight,

Finishing up breakfast, you wipe your mouth clean and let out a content sigh. Tide’s plate comes floating back and lands on the table.
“Thanks.” He says out of sight
Look over at the plate across from you, Fluttershy still hasn’t touched it, and it never takes her that long to feed the chickens. Feeling a little worried you get up to go check on her, opening the back door you scan the area. You spot Fluttershy by one of the chicken coups, letting out a relived sigh, you walk over to her. The closer you get, you notice she is remaining perfectly still and looking out into the forest.
“Fluttershy what’s wrong?” You ask walking up to her, a low growl stops you in your tracks, looking at the trees you see a timber wolf’s outline in the shadows; only one illuminated eye can be seen in the darkness of the forest, it takes a step forward and growls. Revealing its face, you see it’s missing an eye, you slowly walk in front of her; you can feel your heart racing and your breathing getting more intense. “Fluttershy.” You whisper “Get out of here, now.”
“But..”
“Now!” You say raising your voice as she yelps and runs towards the house, the wolf instinctively chases after her, as you jump at his face. Punching its dead eye, it snarls and turns to bite you, using your hands to shield yourself, you brace yourself as its massive jaws clamp down on your right forearm.
“Ah fuck!” You yell as it violently shakes its head,
A concentrated beam of blue explodes on its face, causing the wolf to yell in pain and dislodging your arm.
“GET OUT OF THERE!” Tide shouts, running in the direction of his voice, you never look back as you focus solely on making it home, its clearly still chasing you as Tide’s expression is one of fear and terror, continually blasting spheres of magic at an unseen nemeses. Running past him and into the open door, he falls back slams the door behind him. With the both of you panting and gasping on the floor, you glance down at the dark red quivering mass that was once your arm. Despite shaking furiously, you feel only a dead and numb sensation. Panic and fear set in as you begin to hyperventilate and try to do anything to stop the bleeding.
“Take it easy, don’t panic,” Tide says next to you, grabbing a cloth nearby, he applies pressure with his hooves while Fluttershy comes running up. “We need to get him to a doctor, he’s bleeding out pretty bad, and needs more than whatever natural cures and remedies you have laying around. I don’t know if that timber wolf is still out there, but he was chasing after him despite my assault with magic.” He thinks for a moment, “All right, you have to carry him; you can fly while I provide covering fire, in case that thing shows up again.”
“Ok.” She replies strongly without a hint of fear or uncertainty, reaching down, she scoops you up into her hooves, while you curl up clutching down on your arm to keep the blood loss at a minimum. Lifting herself into the air, she glides forward to the door. Tide checks the windows before opening the door and running out, looking around left and right in a blinding fast motion,
“Clear!” He shouts as Fluttershy takes her cue, and flies out the door.
Unlike her usual pace of graceful gliding, she flies more in charge and powerful, though straining to keep you in her hooves, her will or wings never falter. Getting a good safe distance into the air, you look down at Tide who’s running ahead and checking for the wolf. Over houses, open areas, and even Twilights massive tree, the building of the doctor is within sight as Tide rushes in to what you assume is inform them of the situation. Descending down, Fluttershy lands just as the door opens and a small crew of ponies comes out to assist you.

In the waiting room, Fluttershy sits in silence as the stress of all this eats away at her. Looking at her bloody hooves, thoughts swirl in her head as she runs through the scenarios of what could happen. What if Anon cant use his arm anymore, what if they have to amputate it, what if he..he..
The door opens to the hall as she instantly looks up expecting the worst,
“Mrs. Fluttershy..” The older stallion calls

At the bedside of Anonymous, he sleeps with his arm wrapped in cast and completely unaware of his surroundings.
“We had to sedate him to keep him from moving during the operation, it should wear off in a couple of hours, you understand right?” He asks
“Oh..well..how is he?”
“He lost a lot of blood and had some serious damage to his muscles, but we were able to patch it him up.”
“So he won’t lose his arm?”
“No, but he wont be able to use it as well as he used to, he’d be better avoiding any unnecessary stress on it as well.”
“……..”
“Be sure to dress his wounds, make sure he takes his antibiotics, and we’ll prescribe something for pain.”
“Thank you doctor.”

Opening the door to her home, Fluttershy comes walking in with Tide behind her, who is floating Anon in.
“Just umm..set him upstairs.”
After getting Anon tucked in, Fluttershy and Tide head downstairs to give him some time to sleep.
“I’ll make us some tea.” Fluttershy says walking into the kitchen,
With the tea ready, she pours a cup for Tide and herself before the both of them sit on the couch and drink in silence. With small sips, Fluttershy looks over at Tide with a smile,
“What?” He asks
“I’m just happy that you’re here.”
“Why? I thought I’ve been more of an annoyance and burden to your life.”
“At the start it was a little difficult..I’m not the best pony when it comes to meeting new ponies, but if you weren’t around..I don’t think Anon would have made it today…Thank you for your help, I’m grateful for you saving Anon.”
“Don’t mention it, just doing my job, can’t have him die on me when his guilt or innocence hasn’t been proven yet.” He says with a little smile before sipping at his drink,
“So ummm, who was that mare back in Canterlot?”
“He told you?” He asks annoyed, “I’m surprised he found the time.”
“We usually talk a bit before you wake up, nothing personal, but it’s one the few times we actually get to talk…you know..”
“I have been getting careless haven’t I?”
“Oh nono, I didn’t mean it like that, it’s nice that you trust him on some level, and we all need some time to ourselves.”
*sigh* “What I wouldn’t give to have some time alone to see her…”
“Who is she?”
“My girlfriend, we’ve uhh been going steady for a while now, I plan on asking for her hoof in marriage when this is all over.”
“Oh that’s so romantic, Anon suggested that we should go over to Canterlot, and have you visit her.”
“Sorry, but no.”
“But I really wanted to meet her, and..I’m sure you want to see her too.”
“Again I’m sorry, but no. Were it not for those dire circumstances, I never in my wildest dreams would have considered taking him there, and I won’t make that mistake again. I’m sorry.”
“Well…that’s all right.” She says sadly before sipping at her tea.

Slowly opening your eyes, you feel some tugging at your arm, looking down you see Fluttershy changing the bandages. It’s a big bloody mess as your arm is covered in black stitches, and purple from the swelling. It’s a gory scene, and it’s a miracle Fluttershy can even stand the sight, given her delicate nature.
“My arm.” You say trying to move it; it feels like a massive cramp is blocking any attempt at moving the fingers.
“Anon take it easy!” Fluttershy says alerted, “You can’t be using it so soon, it’ll just make your injuries worse.” After hearing that, you stop instantly and look at her,
“Is it that bad?”
“Don’t worry about that...just get some rest and don’t use your arm, I’ll be right here when you need me.”
“Fluttershy how bad is it? I need to know.” You say with a trembling voice,
“…The doctor said if you’re lucky, you may be able to use your arm again, but that all depends on how much time you give it to recover. I think they’re going to give you a cast soon, so you can still move around without straining your arm.”
“Oh thank god.” You sigh in relief
“But I don’t want you getting your hopes up; he said you may never be able to use it well again.”
“Any hope is better than none.” You laugh resting your head back, “I’m so tired.” You mumble,
“It’s the pain medicine, he said it will make you very drowsy, but don’t worry, I’ll be right here watching you over you.” She says with her warm and caring smile, flashing her a little hopeful smile, you lean your head back and slowly doze off.

Watching Anon sleep, she thinks back to when she first saw the timber wolf, its dark haunting eyes and low growl shook her to the very core. The first thing to go through her mind was her friends and how she would never see them again. She also thought about the thing she would never get to do, the loves she would never get to experience, and when Anon came to her rescues, he was all she thought about then and after. Anon has been so good to her, and despite having an occasional conflict or two over insignificant things, he has a good heart. Nudging herself close to him, she looks over his face,
“Anon...are you awake? I’m, I’m going to make soup, do you want some?”
Though she had no intention of making soup, she simply asked the question to try and trick an answer out of him should he be awake. With no response, she exhales and becomes airborne by gently flapping her wings, hovering over his face; Tide is delivering his report to Twilight since Anon is bedridden, so for the first time, in a long time, the two are truly alone.
“I really thought I was going to lose you…and all that time when you were in surgery, I kept thinking about all of the things I would tell you if only I could see you one more time. I’m so happy that you’re alive, even if..even if you cant use your arm anymore, I’ll be your arm..I’ll help you no matter what.” She blushes beet red knowing what she has to do next, “There’s also something else…I wanted to tell you myself, but I’m..I’m afraid that you won’t like what I tell you..I..I love you..I love you Anon..and I want to be with you…I may never get this chance again…so I’ll..I’ll..”
Leaning closer to his face, she places her lips over his, and begins to gently press herself closer. Pulling away, her heart going a mile a minute, she plants another one on him and holds it for a few seconds longer than the first. With her second kiss done, she fights herself to stop from going in for another; instead, she flaps herself over to his bedside, and sits herself down. Feeling her lips, she smiles at how good it felt, maybe one day, she can kiss him for real.

Waking up, you look over and see Fluttershy resting her head on the side of the bed. Your first instinct is to reach over and pet her, but you can feel your arm jolt in pain the second you try to move it. It’s a brutal realization that this arm is really unusable, and it may never be normal again. Feeling fear and uncertainty, you use your left arm to feel your heartbeat, its already pounding like a drum. Looking to your left, you spot Tide awake and practically hiding in the corner of the room. He says nothing but instead nods, giving him a weak nod in return; you try to get up but are unsure of how to maneuver with your arm.
“Do you need to get up?” Tide asks softly
“I need to pee.”
“Here’s a bed pan.” He says floating over a round silver mini toilet, feeling offended, you move it away and get up slowly
“I don’t want that stupid thing, I’m gonna piss in the bathroom.”
As you get up you can feel every stitch pulse in pain as your flesh moves in a bending position, you wince at how unbelievably unpleasant it is, and you wish you could grip your arm and tear it off. The commotion is enough to wake Fluttershy as she sees you trying to get up in pain,
*gasp* “Anon! You need your rest; you can’t just be getting up so soon!” She pleads trying to hold you down without touching your arm, deciding not to risk any further pain, or cause worry for her, you lie back down and pant in exhaustion. “What happened?” She asks looking over at Tide
“He needed to use the bathroom, but he didn’t want to use the bed pan.”
Fluttershy looks down at you with those big caring eyes, “Anon..I know this isn’t easy, but you’re going to have to do this..”
Looking away, you sigh “Fluttershy, can you go for a bit?”
“Sure, I’ll get started on lunch for you.” She says warmly before trotting over to the door, as she lets herself out, Tide walks around to the other side of the bed.
“I don’t think you can do this by yourself, I’ll hold you up and keep your arm leveled, but you’re on your own with bed pan.”
*sigh* “Lets just do this.”

Focusing his magic, he brings you up into the air; in doing so the hospital gown pulls apart, exposing yourself to the cooler temperature. The bed pan floats over to your good arm and you grab hold, placing it underneath you, Tide lowers you back onto the bed. As the cold steel gets pressed against your exposed flesh, it burns and spreads out as you find a position of comfort. Comfortable, or as close as you can get to it in regards to the situation, you relax your body. Slowly but surely warm droplets come out of the tip before picking up flow and becoming that familiar stream. With your eyes closed, you sigh out feeling some relief. Feeling a pressure in your stomach, you groan out knowing that pissing is not the only thing you need to do now.
“You almost done?” Tide asks understandably impatient,
“I’m gonna be a while man…sorry.” You say feeling like the shit that is making its way out of your body, Tide thinks for a minute, but the smell hits him first.
“Ahh” He says in disgust more at the smell than at you, “I see, well take your time.”
Doing your business, Tide makes no small talk, and you focus solely on finishing this up. Finished up, you look around, knowing what you need, but to embarrassed to ask for it, Tide beats you to the punch and tosses you a roll. Squeezing it not really wanting to go through with what you need to do next, he floats you up to give you some room and looks away.

Finishing up, you toss the used up bundles into the bedpan and sigh,
“I’m done.”
Tide moves away the bedpan, before wrapping the gown around you and lowering you onto the bed. Brining the blanket over you, he walks slowly away,
“I’ll just uhh, take care of this.” He says gritting his teeth,
As he walks out the door, you hang your head. Tossing yourself back onto the pillow, you look up at the ceiling. Slowly moving over your good arm, you run your fingers alongside the bandages. Stopping at the end of the arm, you rest it back onto your side and exhale. A soft knocking at the door distracts you from the sour thoughts as you hear Fluttershy’s welcoming voice.
“Anon? Can I come in?”
“Yeah.” You weakly reply as she slowly lets herself in balancing Angel on her back, who is holding a round white plate. “I made you a nice yummy sandwich.” Walking over to the side of your good arm, Angel hops off her back and places the plate on your stomach. Darting off the bed, Fluttershy looks at him leave with a small smile on her face. “He may not act it, but he was worried. He’s glad you’re all right.” Picking it up, you take small bites and sigh tiredly. “Is something wrong?”
“I feel really bad.”
“For what?”
“I don’t know, it’s like I lost my arm for good.”
Fluttershy searches for the words to comfort you, but keeps drawing blanks. Instead, she sits there by your bed as a silent presence. In a way, its calming, besides, no amount of words could have lifted you out of that stupor. That is something that will take time.

The past two days have been excruciatingly boring, just lying in bed, eating, pissing, and getting constantly moved around to avoid bedsores. Like clockwork, Fluttershy comes trotting in for the bihourly bedsore prevention.
“All right Anon, just bare with me one more time.” She says as you groan. At the point of seeing no reason to protest, you slowly move off the bed as Fluttershy changes the sheets and fluff the pillows. At the very least, these checks are good indicators of how your arm is progressing. Despite not being able to really move it, it is healing well enough to not cause as bad a discomfort as when you first started. Lying back in bed, you wait for the doctor to come back for a follow up.

The day went by without much complication, Tide tends to you in the areas Fluttershy cannot, and luckily, he no longer needs to help you with the bathroom. The next day, you lay in bed when the window opens up. Looking over you see Rainbow Dash come crawling in.
“Hey Anon.” She says getting all the way in
“What are you doing here?”
“I came to read you a story, it must get pretty boring being cooped up all the time, believe me I know.” She says taking a seat next to you and producing a book she had strapped around her, clearing her throat, she flips it open to the first page, “Daring Do, and the temple of the forgotten king.”
“Uhh thank you, but I don’t really like those books.” You smile “But can you tell me what you all have been up to. I haven’t really seen much of you guys lately.”
“Oh, well, we had wanted to visit you as sooner, but Fluttershy said you needed your rest, right now Twilight and Spike left for the Crystal Empire. If your feeling better I can bring the girls here.”
“No that’s ok; I’ll come visit you all when I get the cast on.”
“All right, I’ll see ya later Anon.” Rainbow says walking over and giving you a small hug, “Try not to do anything stupid like punching a timber wolf again, got it?”
“I got it.”

It took a couple of days, but the doctor finally came by to evaluate you today. Resting in bed, he looks over the gash.
“The swelling has gone down, and it looks to be healing pretty well, you may not even need a cast so long as you take it easy.”
“Just give me a cast please; I’m tired of lying in bed all the time.”
“I see, if that’s the case, I’ll start the preparations.”
The doctor did a spiffy job in wrapping your arm up, feeling the hard outer shell; you look up at him as he packs his stuff up.
“With this you can move around more easily, but it’s still important that you get plenty of bed rest and DO NOT apply any pressure to your arm.”
“I got it, thank you.”

You can hear Fluttershy talking with the doctor downstairs. You wait impatiently for him to leave, as the conversation drags on. Hearing some thank yous, and goodbyes, the door opens for a minute before closing. Walking down, you see Fluttershy going over some medication and papers at the table. When she spots you, she sets them to the side.
"How are you feeling?"
"Better, but, could we go out for a walk?"
"Sure, but…we’d have to wait for Tide to get back.”
“Where is he?”
“He went to buy some food for us, he’ll be back soon.”
With a sigh, you sit on the couch next to her; Fluttershy breathes in deep and looks up at the ceiling.
"Umm Anon." She says as the front door opens, Tide comes walking with bags of groceries and a tired expression over his eyes. He looks over at the both of you before walking across the room into the kitchen.
"Hey Tide, we're going for a walk when you finish." You tell him
"All right." He sighs tiredly as Fluttershy leans in and whispers to you
"Anon, I know your anxious to get out, but Tide has been working really hard, he needs a break." Any other day, you would do it anyway, but he DID pull through for you.
"Hey Tide, never mind man. The pain killers are kicking in right now, I think I'm just gonna hit the hay."
"All right." He sighs again, placing the bags into some cabinets, getting back up, he looks over at you.
"Something wrong?" You ask him
"I'm waiting for you to go to bed."

Bright and early, that’s the time you woke up. Eager to go out and enjoy the day after having been bedridden and out of commission for so long. Being careful to wash up without wetting, or straining your arm, you got dressed and went downstairs. Tide followed behind like he always does, you could tell he was relaxed, like his heart wasn’t in it anymore. At this rate, he’ll probably finally let you walk around town by yourself, that’ll be the day. Fluttershy is already up, but you’re surprised to see Pinkie Pie there too. She notices you first and smiles at you
“Heya Anon! You ready?”
“For what?”
“For your “Glad you’re healthy” party!” She smiles in her usual hyper self “We got cake, ice cream, cookies, soda, and we all have a really big super surprise for you!” She yells as Fluttershy looks distraught
“Pinkie, he wasn’t supposed to know that.” She whispers peaking your interest at what it could be.
“Well when you put it like that, sure, I’m ready.” You smile “What time is the party?” You ask as Pinkie steals the answer from Fluttershy who was about to speak out
“Another 6 hours!”

After Pinkie Pie spilled the beans, she trotted out to run errands that had nothing to do with this super secret surprise party. Though at this point who were they kidding? Fluttershy made breakfast, and lunch, and the day was spent in the usual calm manner while you looked forward to getting out and seeing everyone again. The surprise was eating away at you though, what could they possibly surprise you with? Your existence was a surprise; you doubt they could top you. It’ll probably be some new cloak and maybe a sword.
(“Not like it matters.”) You think looking over your wrapped up arm. Finally with the final hour upon you, the three of you head out to the party. Fluttershy was flapping unusually high in spirits, most of the time she timidly flaps around, but her confidence has been soaring lately. It’s nice to see her opening up, most of the time it’s just you and her animals that see her like this. Reaching Twilight’s home, Fluttershy takes the lead and goes to the door,
“Just…just try to act surprise.” She says before opening the door, sure enough it’s dark, and when you come walking in the lights turn on and all the ponies yell
“Surprise!” And boy were you surprised, Celestia and her royal guard, as well as Twilight and her friends all surrounded a large cake. Twilight speaks ups,
“Congratulations Anon, they found them.”
“Who?” You ask as Celestia is the one who answers you
“The missing stallions, we found them, scattered at different corners of Equestria, but alive and well. This is more than a party to celebrate your health Anonymous; it’s a party to celebrate your innocence.”
“……”
The news hit like a ton of bricks, excitement wasn’t the first feeling however, it was a chocking sensation. Like you could no longer breathe and you were trying your best to breathe in as much air as you could without them noticing. Placing your good arm over your chest, you try to control your breathing. Rainbow Dash is the first to notice.
“Geez Anon we knew you would be happy, but I didn’t think you would cry about it.”
Fluttershy flaps herself up and rubs your back reassuringly, “Are you all right?” It took a few, but you nod to her.

Everyone sits at the table as Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy serve everyone cake and punch. Tide as usual sits behind you, and after Fluttershy places a plate of cake in front of you, you look over at Celestia.
“So how did you find them?” Celestia sips at her punch before answering
“It wasn’t easy, but I had a small team of guards search for the missing stallions everywhere they could. It was just a matter of patience and luck.”
Twilight places her fork down as she looks over at the princess “Do you know why they left Ponyville?”
“Apparently they were unhappy at the thought of living in the same town as Anonymous, so they packed what they could and set out to make new lives elsewhere.”
“Why didn’t they tell their parents?”
“Apparently they didn’t think it would be a big deal, kids have no concept of repercussions.”
Twiddling your fingers against the table, you look over at Celestia “It was a big deal to me; everyone thought I was some kinda killer.”
“I know, and I do apologize for you having to experience that. But no more, I’ve spoken with the town, and laid their suspicions to rest.”
“So..”
Before you can continue, Tide cuts you off “So it means you’re a free monster, I don’t have to baby-sit you anymore.” Tapping you on the back in a joking manner, he gets up and walks over to the side of Celestia “I’ll be leaving for Canterlot after the party, congratulations Anon.” He smiles as the other ponies get up and begin to congratulate you, little pats on the back, hugs, and words of inspiration.
Celestia and Tide simply watch as the ponies you have come to call your best friends all crowd around you in this most joyous of occasions. The last to approach you is Fluttershy, in her usual meek, and timid manner, she slowly walks up to you like a stranger would. Wrapping your arm around her, you embrace her as she you. Fluttershy moves herself closer brining her mouth to your ear, you can hear her gently inhale, and with the smallest of a whisper you can’t possibly make out she kisses you on the cheek. Feeling her soft lips and bristly fur connect causes a horrible sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach; anxiety or knots would probably best describe it. Looking around; nobody really seems to be bothered by it, facing Fluttershy she smiles and hugs you again. Patting her on the back, you can still feel the impression of her lips on your face.

With the party coming to a close, and the thoughts of the small kiss still fresh on your mind, Celestia and her entourage pack some leftovers for back home. Pinkie Pie hops over and offers Tide a boxed pie.
“I made you your favorite! Cherry!”
“I..how did you know?” He asks taking the pie
“Oh silly~ I asked Twilight, to ask Princess Celestia, to ask your wife, to tell me.” She grins as Tide looks over at the princess, Celestia nods confirming what she said was true.
“I see…thank you.”
Goodbyes were never something you particularly were good at, you try to leave feeling that the goodbye had already been said, but Twilight cuts you off.
“Hey Anon, I know you two never really saw eye to eye, but a proper farewell is just good manners.” She tells you as Fluttershy joins in
“And he did help you when you were bedridden.” both you and Fluttershy walk over to him.
Noticing you coming over, he waves the guards away and waits for you to say something. Fluttershy helps you out and breaks the ice.
“Anon and I wanted to thank you for everything.”
“For what? Being a royal pain in the flank?” He smiles “I thought you two would be happy to finally be rid of me.”
“Oh no not at all, without you Anon would’ve been more seriously hurt and I appreciate all the help you gave when he couldn’t move. You’re welcome in our house anytime, right Anon?”
“Yeah man, thanks.”
Tide nods and turns around, “I just may take you up on that one day, until then so long.” And with that he walks away and out the door, joining Celestia and her guards, they all board the carriage and fly off. Watching him as he becomes a small dot in the sky, it’s hard to imagine this is truly happening and just like that he’s gone.
“Are you ready to go home?” Fluttershy asks as you keep your eyes on the sky
“Yeah…”