Anon in Equestria Chapter 3: Bug Horse and Eris' Return

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

You shrug your shoulders in response, “It’s gonna take a bit longer than a month. Sorry.”
“That can’t be, I freed you from your morals. You should be ready to go!” She really doesn’t like her little plan being thrown back in her face.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Now that’s something I could get used to.” When she gazes at you seductively you roll your eyes before shaking your head.
“Let me guess, you’re grateful for what I did and you want to thank me in a “special” way right?” Within seconds her gaze is replaced with a deadpan glare.

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

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

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

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

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

“And why’s that?”

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

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

“Ask me if I care Anonymous.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As you look around the sidewalks you find dozens of ponies going about their nightly lives. Though, some of them freeze in their tracks when they see you. Unlike P0nyville no city pony has seen you yet. As more start to stop and look you can feel your heart start to pound in your chest. A cold sweat forms upon your brow.

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

And you don’t have any bits on you either. She didn’t give you time to get anything. Not that you would have gone in the first place, but still. You can’t afford a carriage ride back to P0nyville. Canterlot would cost even more, and you’re sure you wouldn’t even get into the castle. As you continue to have your breakdown more ponies stop and stare at you, confused as to what you could be.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“She’s back!” one of them cries.

“Everyp0ny run!” You hold your hands up and motion for them to stop; you do not want to cause a panic in such a large city. Unfortunately your pleas for them to calm down go unheard over the mass screaming and stampeding hooves. What looks to be hundreds of ponies scatter off in different directions. Unicorns teleport, Earth ponies run, Pegasus ponies take to the skies, all in a mad attempt to escape.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” says one of the unicorns, “I’d rather come with us quietly.”
“Well, I haven’t started making noise yet, and if you guys don’t back off I will. I don’t mind breaking this Pegasus’ neck and using him as a club for the rest of you thugs.” The apparent leader of the group laughs before shaking his head.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Wait what? Where are we?”

“We’re in one of the meeting rooms.”

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

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

“Uh,” you start.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“But Anon he—“

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

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

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

“Well, you see… there was this stallion right,” you nod, “Well, when everyp0ny started going crazy he was spouting about how all this was your fault and he started calling you awful names.”

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

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

“So what’d you do?”

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

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

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

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

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

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