Anon and Amber Eyes 2: Repercussions (may continue)

>Be Anon.
>Day Cheeseburger in Paradise.
>You've been in a world of multicolored ponies now for about six years.
>You've done okay for yourself. You've got an official unofficial ambassadorship from a world you'll probably never see again, but oh well.
>It comes with a fairly generous stipend.
>Your house came with you. No good idea how that happened, but you've sworn off making Okinawan doughnuts on an electric stove.
>Not unless you're sober.
>ponies kind of dig Earth fiction and you've been rewriting your huge collection of novels and stories for a new audience.
>Luna reportedly loved the one with the evil shapeshifting clown that lived in the sewers and awoke every thirty years to feed on fear and murder, even if it did make more work for her dreamguard
>Changelings staged mass protests, even though Penny Wise was clearly not a Changeling, but an alien abomination from Todash Space.
>Twilight still sucked no matter what you did with it--no, not the pony, even though she has issues. We'll come back to that in a bit, it's important here.
>the other one.
>the one with the sparklepires.
>Teenage girls still love it though.
>They sold well, and you're pretty much set financially.


>Right now, you're in Twilight Sparkle's Fortress of Spergitude, where she's examining the Az'k'za thing that Amber Eyes gave to you last week.
>And you. It should probably be mentioned that your eyes turned from their normal green color to the same amber-gold Amber Eyes and her sister share, and they're reflective to boot.
>Twilight is--concerned.
>To be honest, you are too, since you initially wondered if that meant you were turning into some sort of weird bird-pony-human hybvrid-thing, but Twilight seems to have mostly ruled that possibility out.
>Mostly.
>But your night vision seems to have improved like no one's business. Which is nice.
>"I don't really understand it, Anon," she says. "It doesn't appear to be transformative magic, since that leaves a signature I'd recognize, and biologically, you don't seem to be any different. Still basically a bald, neotonous chimp."
Other than having night vision like a hawk and I haven't slept in three days, yet I feel fine, which I'd say is biologically different...
>"Yeah, I'll say." The Princess of Friendship regards the Az'k'za the two bird-ponies had made for you. It's sitting on the table. Taking it off doesn't seem to have had any kind of effect--or reversed the eye-color thing.
"You know, no pony really understands bird pony magic except them. I couldn't find many references to this under any spelling in any of my reference guides. Even Star Swirl the Bearded didn't seem to know very much"
>"Maaaaaaybe...you shouldn't wear this."
Why? You said you can't find any evidence of anything except some low-level protective magic, right? Honestly, I not only feel fine, I feel better than I have in years...

>"I'm not saying it was intended to be harmful," says Twilight. "I'm saying that Equestrian magic reacts strangely to you, and bird-pony magic is stranger than most."
"Strange" doesn't mean "dangerous," Sparkle.
>"No, but in this case it COULD. I'm saying that you probably shouldn't put this back on. >"And frankly, you'd probably be better off keeping your distance from them after this--"
Okay, before I let you go on--have you ever actually TALKED to one of them?
>"Yes, I--"
I don't mean a casual "hello," or a few words in the street, but I mean a real conversation. At length. Not forced pleasantries, real, actual conversation?
>"I.. uh, no." She looks distinctly uncomfortable.
>It occurs to you and not for the first time that, for such a brilliant scholar, Twilight Sparkle has to have the least amount of curiosity and the most narrow focus you've ever seen.
Then...how much do you actually know ABOUT them?
>"I've got an entire shelf devoted to them, and I've read everything about them--just like I have every other intelligent race we share a world with." She gestures at the massive pile of reference books on the magic flashy-table...thing.
>You pick one up at random. "Bird Ponies and Other Pests: The Parasites of Equestria." Seriously? Wow. Just...wow.
>"What's to know? Look, they don't build things, they don't farm, they don't have a writing system, they migrate when they overstay their welcome.
>"They steal everything that isn't nailed down and while they might talk a lot, but rarely *say* anything." That seems to finalize it for her.
Yeah? I wouldn't either. I can't believe it, the irony's so thick in here I can cut it with a knife and serve it like bundt cake.
>She frowns. "Irony? What in Tartarus are you talking about?"
The Princess of Friendship is a bigot.

>her jaw drops. Nice
Hey, it's fine, lots of the people I know are, it's cool, why should it surprise me that ponies are, too?
>I..." she looks lost, and just a little angry, and that's going to get a lot hotter. You struck a nerve? Interesting. Let's troll Sperglord a bit.
I don't actually GIVE a shit, mind you, but I just want to make sure you understand where it's coming from. It's cool though, no hard feelings.
>"Get. Out." Her voice is flat. Wow, that DID strike a nerve, didn't it?
>Seriously, though, what's got her so worked up about them? Did a bird pony bad-touch her when she was a kid or what?
>You pick up the Az'k'za and turn around.
Oh, just so you know, I'm working on a project--I'm writing a book about bird ponies, a definitive ethnography, and I'll dedicate it to you.
>"GET OUT!" she actually explodes into flames.
You saunter from the castle.