Au Naturale: Part 3

>You wake up the next day, groggy and hungry.
>You take care of both problems in the kitchen promptly.
>After breakfast and coffee you feed the animals as usual.
>Then you prepare yourself for another foray into the big, wild world.
>Well, at least until as far as Anon’s house.
>Anon... Today isn’t what you had hoped for, but you’ll still get to spend time with him.
>Time that you can use to express your feelings to him.
>So it’s time to remember those lessons from Iron Will!
>You have to be positive!
>You just have to show Anon how you feel by making his project become the best it can be!
>Your love will shine through. You’ll make something beautiful together!
>So no gloomy feelings today.
>Today is going to be a good day.
>You fly out to Anon’s house, confident that you’ll succeed.
>Then again, you always start out confident.
>You knock on his door, and he opens it with that charming smile on his face.
>You don’t think you could stay mad at him...
>”Hello, Fluttershy! Are you ready to get started?”
>You forgot how much of an effect his voice had on you.
>You struggle not to swoon and instead reply,
“Yes!”
>Perhaps a bit too enthusiastically.
>He simply takes it as excitement about the project and leads you through his home.
>It’s pretty sparsely decorated. But it’s still homely.
>It even has his glorious scent...
>No. You can’t get distracted.
>You have to do this properly for Anon.
>Whatever it is.
>He leads you through his house and into his back yard.
>Living outside of the town proper, he has a lot of land that ordinarily would just lay fallow.
>However, Anon has constructed some kind of enclosure.
>A wooden fence stretches around a sizable patch of grassland which is sparsely populated with trees.
>To your left you see a series of wooden stalls in a shed like structure.
>Stables?
>Lyra walks out of one with a great big smile on her face.
>She has a saddle and bridle on.
>She got all dressed up for this!
>You didn’t even realise this was going to be formal!
>Maybe you should have stuck around last night?
>Now you feel bad.
>”Oh, hi Fluttershy!” She calls, waving a hoof to you.
>”Lyra, remember what we talked about?” Anon chastises.
>”Oh, uh... Sorry, Anon!”
>She trots off into the field and just kinda... stands around, sunbathing.
>You’re really curious now as to what this project entails.
>Anon gestures for you to head over to the stables.
>You notice as you enter that there are about 8 cubicles here.
>They’re each pretty decently sized. Enough so that it’s about 4 p0ny lengths squared.
>He leads you to one a couple of doors in.
>He swings open the door to reveal a basically furnished room.
>The walls have been wallpapered with pink hearts on a white background.
>The floor is stone, but has a rug in the middle of the room.
>In the corner is a bed with some kind of straw mattress.
>At the end of the bed is a television set.
>On the other side of the cubicle is a toilet, sink and mirror.
>It’s... not awful.
>Does Anon expect you to live here?
>”So, this is where you’ll be staying for the duration of the project.”
>You look up at him pleadingly.
>He notices your anxiety about your living conditions.
>”Oh, it’s just a test... You see, on Earth horses and p0nies don’t usually live in houses... I tried to make it a bit nicer for you, but this is still just a test drive. We can always improve things if it’s unbearable. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
>You feel slightly better about it, but was he really serious that p0nies on his world didn’t live in houses?
>Did they live in the wild like animals?
>Well, you guess it would be like monkeys here in Equestria...
>Your mind is blown by the concept.
>P0nies living like animals...
>Wait, is that what this is about?
“Anon, what’s the purpose of this project? What IS this project?”
>”Well... It’s probably easier for you to experience it, but... Back on Earth, as you probably know, I raised horses and p0nies. It was kind of my life calling, I’d done it since I was a child. But since coming here, I’ve been surrounded by you p0nies without a hope of doing what I love.”
>Wow, that sounds kinda sad...
>You don’t know what you’d do if you couldn’t take care of your animals...
>It’s your special talent after all.
>”So Lyra had an idea. A kind of merging of worlds. She suggested that some p0nies might like the human treatment. You p0nies were all so receptive to my arrival, and you love the attention I give you. Well, for the most part.”
>You both giggle at the thought of Twilight’s indignation. You shouldn’t laugh at your friend, but she’s so funny sometimes.
>”So I set up the ranch. This is the test drive. I want to take care of p0nies like I did back on Earth and see whether they like it or not.”
“So... It’s kind of like some weird holiday resort?”
>”I guess you could call it that.”
>Well now you have some more insight into what Anon wants, you’re sure you can make this a success.
>With your extensive expertise in caring for animals, you’ll be able to tell him how to make this ranch the best it can be.
“So what should we do first?”
>”Well, first I’d like you to lie down on the bed.”
>You leap over to it and land on your back with a *pomf*.
>You hope you weren’t too eager.
>Because you totally are.
“What are we going to do on the bed, Anon?”
>He smiles broadly for some reason and stalks over to you.
>”Oh Fluttershy, you have no idea.”
>You think you might regret your actions.