An Alien Walks Amongst Us: C.S.E. - Part One

Prologue – You Have To Believe



If someone were to ask you to describe nothing, how would you respond?  It’s a difficult question to answer, admittedly. Since the moment we are born, there has always been something, and not a nothing.  To feel something, to see the places you travel. Taking it all away and to leave one in a state of absolute nothing.

Truly picture that, if but for a moment.  Your senses, gone. Any emotions you may have possessed, taken away.  Thoughts of future tomorrows and dreams of past yesteryears, all vanished.  Not even darkness was permitted, as darkness was too strong of a defining feature to hold.  Just imagine it. A wide, expansive nothing.

It’s in this nonexistent space where our story begins, where we find some poor fool currently residing.

“Where am I?” he spoke out.  Or at least, he felt like he had spoken those words.  His mouth hadn’t moved, just opened wide enough to allow the barest of air to trickle down his greedy throat, yet words came out all the same.

Adrift in a sea of nullity, the man silently mulled over his own voice.  He had been alone for quite some time, if that was something he could even define.  Not once had anything given him such a feeling. And those… words was it? Why did he choose those ones?  What were their importance? Should he try again for more words? The nothing allowed his mind rest of ease, yet the words thrilled him.  Yes, he would try once again.

“Why am I here?”  What a fascinating thing to behold.  Speaking out and hearing those words.

“Is anyone there?”  Why hadn’t he done this sooner?    Why did they even start to come out in the first place?

“I want to go home.”  Perhaps they were simply bottled up inside him.  His mouth was a gateway and he was the captain of the vessel.
“Please.”  He wondered if anyone would want to claim his words.  They came from him, so clearly they belonged to him.

Blasting into the man’s ears, a scream tore out, silencing the man’s voice.  He wasn’t sure where it came from. Was it from someone else? Perhaps it was him?  Before he could work on the new sensation, another one seemingly invaded his mind.

Something tugged on him, tried to pull him away.  It started with a few, small nudges. Some apparitions of unknown familiarity, a number of seemingly unimportant faces that pulled on his heart.  Easily avoidable, he’d claim. Be that as it may, it drew him forward, his muddled mind forming a clarity that it seemingly had lost, only now being reclaimed.

Without fanfare or warning to prepare, things had seemingly returned to him.  His state of mind felt fractured, yet it was slowly forming back. The feeling in his body was returning, something he wasn’t even aware of missing.  A cursory, mindful examination helped clarify he could feel things were correctly in place. There were two legs, two arms, nothing felt out of line, save for his eyes.  They were closed. Nothing wrong with that, but they didn’t seem to want to open.

Moving his hands up to his eyes was a useless endeavor as he couldn’t control his limbs.  He could wait for them to work, but he was quite eager to know just where he was located if possible.

With a clenched jaw, he forced them to peel open, getting the first real look at his surroundings.  He slammed them shut immediately in pain, the light burning into his retinas, attacking his raw senses.  Ignoring the encrusted sleep that irritated his sight, he forced his eyelids open once more, accustoming them to what was around him.

White.

Nothing but white.  The blank, anemic void pained his eyes.  It unnerved him.

He floated in the white, staring at it all.  It made his presence somehow feel like the abnormality in the area.  The white made him feel wrong.  He didn’t belong, his form of odd colors and shapes an abhorrence to the space.

A thought wormed its way into his head, something that he had voiced not so long ago.  Just why was he there, in the white? Was there a reason for his stay?

Something rushed back to him, a memory that was neatly tucked away, something that pushed itself in the darkness.  Yet his questions forced the thing thing to stick out, as if nudging him to look at it. This one thing was the core fault of why he was there.  It was very important. It held answers.

With a hesitant step, he sought out the memory, taking in what he had lost and forgotten.

And then…

The taste of salt in the air was the first sensation to hit him.  A tilt of the floor kept him rebalancing his legs, a motion he was not fond of.  His hands held on to a railing, allowing him some form of purchase. Off in the distance was a deep-water drilling operation, barely visible in the fog of the oncoming night.

He was starting to remember what was so important about the drill.  The company that was working on the site had been forced to shut the drill down due to a massive spilling disaster.  That event had fed the media for some time. No one could traverse the oceans due to the oil spill, so much of the sea life had died as a result, and plenty of it washed on the shores of nearby lands.  And yet, against all odds, the drill was back in business several years later, along with empty promises of bettering their safety protocols.

The ship he was on was there to help garner media attention.  He admired the garish colors, sliding a hand over the hull beside him.  Cloth could be heard flapping in the wind, the flags on display showcasing the crude words aimed at the drill.  A successful protest was one that caught the eyes of everyone around them: the abomination that he was standing on was a helpful aid.

At the moment, only two members of his group were on the ship, the others dealing with other ends to shut down the drill.

“Hey, Anon,” a sharp pitched voice called.  “Ya still got your eyes on those money-grubbing monsters over there?”

A sigh escaped Anon’s lips.  He wondered why he bothered bringing Gleekman along with him in the first place.

Ah, right, he knew how to run the ship…

A thin, string bean of a man, holding an air of a man ready for action, Gleekman had a habit of causing trouble.  It wasn’t a good mix to have along with the man’s more violent tendencies towards public destruction.

Sadly, Gleekman was a necessity for the trip. Excellent skills in all forms of life, a charismatic tongue that could woo anyone within a beat of their heart, and his massive funding from his own pocket to help with all their ventures.

So, everyone dealt with Gleekman, and Gleekman in return got what he wanted, delusional as a man making history.

“Trying to get some air is all, Gleek.”

It was Anon’s turn to babysit the man while the others got to sit in a nice, cozy room discussing matters with people on the drilling operation.  Bunch of backstabbing friends, the whole lot of them.

“That’s a bit hard to do with the amount of stink being shoved into the air, don’t ya think?”  The railing rattled as Gleekman leaned against it, glaring at the drill. “My hatred has no limits for those smug rats, killing off so much of the sea and destroying things without a care in the world.  And those ditzes thought they could just set things back up like we wouldn’t take notice.”

Gleekman turned his head toward Anon.  He gave him a smile as he stood up, patting Anon on the shoulder.  “This sure is a special trip, this one. Might be the biggest thing we’ve done yet!  I promise you won’t regret taking me along for this.”

A shiver ran down Anon’s spine.  He knew the man had ulterior motives when he involved himself.  Anon was not in favor of being a part of such things.

“Gleekman, you better not be planning something,” Anon warned.  “We don’t want another incident to turn out of control by you.”

Gleekman’s smile disappeared as he stared, looking through Anon, his eyes glazing.  His focus returned, the smile he previously broadcasted only widening. “Nothing to worry ‘bout, just got to show them we mean business, is all,” Gleekman said, walking past Anon.  “We’ll show them all.”

Sweeping his hair back, Anon groaned in frustration, watching Gleekman walk off.  Whatever he may be planning, hopefully, it wouldn't do too much damage. Right?

…Something brought Anon back to the white.  Despite his deadened senses, he could feel his throat burning, struggling for air.  Why had that particular memory felt important to him and his current situation?

Letting in a raspy breath, Anon delved right back into the memory on the ship...

He was currently inside his cabin, reading a book, trying to relax.  It did nothing to help him from being on edge, waiting for whatever Gleekman was attempting.  Yawning, he flipped a page to continue reading, just as he heard a loud thump and a muffled curse outside his door.  Sitting up, Anon set his book down to check on the noise.

Peeking outside, he could see the silhouette of Gleekman in the dark, carrying a rather large package.  The man juggled the object in his arms, shifting the weight before continuing. The dim lighting on the ship removed any chance at identifying what was going on.  Furrowing his brow, Anon wondered how he managed to get that on the ship without him noticing. Most likely one of the crew handlers they relieved of their duty helped it on before the two left port.

Making it up some stairs, Anon saw the thin man standing by an illumination of whites and pinks.  Beside him was a computer terminal, of all things. How he had the time to set all that up, Anon wasn’t sure.  As Gleekman fumbled about with his work, Anon watched him in silence, having difficulty seeing anything in detail.  I better stop him on whatever he’s working on, this does not look safe.

“Gleek,” Anon called out, making the man jump.

Gleekman looked at him with a clenched jaw and a heavy breath, nearly dropping what was in his hand.   It looked cylindrical in shape, a pink liquid sloshing about. “You idiot!” Gleekman screeched. Placing the object inside his setup, Gleekman swiped his brow with a shaky hand.  “Well, seeing as you’re out here, there's no point in keeping this hidden from ya.”

Anon took a step forward. “What exactly are you doing, Gleeks?”

Even in the dark, he had no trouble seeing a large smile from Gleekman.  “Why, I’m fixing our problem here! No oil drilling operation, no more pollution!”  He flicked something, the deck exploding in light. “No more killing the animals!” Anon’s eyes widened.  A sense of dread hit him as he looked at what he identified as a missile. “And most importantly,” he said with a mad grin, “no more ugly rats!”

“Gleekman, are you out of your mind?!” Anon was terrified of what Gleekman seemed to be attempting.  “Why would you think a missile would solve our problems?”

Gleekman looked at the missile with a smile, patting the colorful warhead.  Pressing a button, it lifted itself as it started to turn on the platform. “This ain’t no ordinary missile Anon,” he said, ignoring the question to admire the object, “no siiirreeeee it ain’t!  No, see I—” He patted his puffed out chest, “—I got this thing from a… outside source.  Had it made to destroy something massive, something large!  They promised the destructive power of over six thousand sticks of dynamite, and it’s all thanks to these experimental chemicals and doohickeys attached to this, giving it an extra kick!  And the best part is, it’s all natural! Nothing will get into the waters or anything! In fact, they stated it would simply make it all—” Gleekman flashed his hands in the air, making a poof sound.  “Disappear.”

Anon looked at the missile, now aimed at the drilling operations.  Examining it, he saw some oddities that looked rather queer on the thing.  The thing was surrounded by fins, with a pink hue glowing in several places.  If he didn’t know any better, he’d think this thing came from a B-rated Hollywood flick from the fifties on what future tech should look like.

“Gleek,” Anon said in a calm tone, inching toward the man, “think about what you’re doing.  This isn’t the right way to go about things. We’re in talks with the local government. We even got the media on our side, keeping an eye on this for as long as we have, and you know how difficult that is.  We’re in a very good spot; we don’t need to resort to violence.”

It took a moment for Gleekman to process what Anon said, so focused on his current work.  His face distorted from the previous smile, teeth bared and eyes glared. “You’re joking,” he spat.  “You can’t be serious. You honestly think that the government isn’t already in their pockets, or that they’ll be of any help in stopping these people?"

“That’s not true,” Anon said with a shake of his head.  “In fact, most of them don’t like the idea of it operating without proper measurements to prevent another catastrophe.  The oil, it hurt a lot of people the last time. We’re very close to having it all closed down.”

“For how long?!  They’ll be up in operations soon enough!”  Gleekman gripped the railing by him, lost in his anger.  “And why would you think the media would be of any help?!  They’re already owned by those idiots that are in charge of the drills.”

Gleekman slammed his fist against the panel, forcing Anon to a stop, his breath coming to a still.  “No, we need to make a stand right here, right now, so they can’t continue these operations." He turned to the contraption, his back hunched over the panel of the missile.  “At any cost,” he added with a terrifying finality.

A nightmare, that’s what this was.  Of all the things that could have happened, when things were going so well, why did this have to come out of nowhere to ruin everything they’ve worked on?  It was a mistake, thinking Gleekman’s paranoid actions could be dealt with. Anon knew that one day the man would blow up on all of them. Who knew it would be so literal.

This was the end of it all.  The destruction of the drill wouldn’t stop anything.  It’s going to take the lives of people drilling while dumping more oil into the ocean, if it didn’t wind up being a dud and blowing up the ship along with him.  Not to mention having them all imprisoned. Their group would wind up on multiple terrorist lists.  It was the end of everything for Anon. All their hard work, gone.

Gleekman’s hand hovered over the panel; he turned his head, giving Anon a toothy grin, eyes devoid of rational thought.  He turned back to the oil drill, grin widening.

“Say goodnight, you pompous, money-grubbing rats!”  Slamming his fist down, the missile started to unleash smoke as the lights on it began blinking erratically.

Anon wasn’t sure what made him take action at that moment.  It felt like something was guiding him. In any normal circumstance, there was no way he’d try to thwart a missile by jumping on it, hoping it would stop the takeoff.  Yet, there he was, grabbing hold of its body, ignoring the yells coming from the deranged launcher.

“Get off there you dung slinger!  You’re going to ruin everything!”

He had some hope he could stop it by throwing it off its balance, perhaps having it drop in the ocean before liftoff.  It was simply bad luck for him that not only was the missile strong enough for his weight, soon after jumping on, the missile launched, taking him with it.

It took his entire focus just to stay on the horrid contraption, uncertain about how he should proceed.  How would one even think of a plan in such a situation? His ears felt like they were crushed with hammers from the force he was dealing with.  Looking up, his bleary vision gave him just enough detail to tell him that he was barely skimming across the water, likely his weight keeping the missile so low.  Yet its aim stayed true, heading for the drilling.

How do I stop this thing?!  He couldn’t see any kind of control panel or something that could stop the thing from its destination.  Odd looking hieroglyphics were embedded all over the body, with gaps filled with pink lights. None of it made sense.  He couldn’t open any of the panels or hope to try and rip something important from it.

Looking for some way to divert the rocket, he spotted the wing flaps surrounding the missile.  If I can bend one of these, I can have it veer off in another direction, he thought, kicking one closest to his leg.  Barreling down at it with his foot, he could see it starting to move at an angle, forcing the missile to wobble.  He kicked at a few other flaps, trying with all his might to force the missile away.

His entire world went topsy-turvy as the missile zigged and zagged.  Looking ahead, he could see it had gone in a different direction, likely to miss the drill entirely.  Mission accomplished, Anon had hoped to let go and make a chance at survival. A small chance was better than none.  That was not meant to be as one of his leggings was stuck on a bent wing. Before he could even think of ripping his leg free he hit the water, his breath escaping him as his senses jumbled about.

The missile’s thrusters sputtered out, the momentum carrying the missile further away from the surface as it continued to frantically beep, clearly still armed.

Anon reflexively gasped, his need for air forcing him to do so, water flushing into his lungs.  Within seconds, it was all over; his body started to shut down, unable to continue. At least I… stopped… the miss… ile…

Hazy as his sight was, Anon could see several schools of fish gathering toward the missile.  Their curiosity drew them to the pink lights. That was the last thing he saw as his mind closed up shop.  And then, there was nothing.

…It all came back to him.  Anon closed his eyes in thought.

“So.  Gleek managed to kill me.  Or perhaps I’m in some kind of coma.  Regardless, I’m in this void of, whatever it is.”   A hum left his aching throat. “So what happens now?  Am I simply damned here for all eternity?”

Nothing would answer him.  Whatever was happening, he was helpless as he was.  Lacking anything to focus his attention on, Anon started to relax, deciding to go along for the ride, wherever it was taking him.  He had his memories along with his answers. He saved plenty of people over his heroic, yet stupid actions. What more could he do?
He simply drifted, taking in past memories.  Wondering how everyone was doing. Trying his best not to focus on what had happened.

Before long, Anon eventually had something new to bring his attention to.  A sound. It started off as a little hiss that slowly grew in volume. It sounded like something was suctioning through a hose, growing in intensity.  Looking around, Anon could see himself heading toward something. It was sucking through the white, pulling him toward his new destination.

And then, he was there.  No white, no nothingness.  He was floating in a sky full of brightest stars he had ever seen with wisps of clouds that floated in the air, giving an ethereal feel to his surroundings.  It was mesmerizing taking it all in. He could find himself enjoying the stars as his final resting place. Now that felt like a more fitting place to him.

Anon felt a chill surrounding his body, the first real amount of interaction he felt in so long.  The wind started to buffet his body, pushing against him at a fast pace. Turning his body around, Anon could see he was falling toward some land.  He could see a grouping of trees that looked like a forest. Off in the distance was what appeared to be an old-fashioned looking town, along with some farmland in the other direction.  If he tried hard enough, he could even see a castle off in the distance.

What an interesting place I find myself in.  Closing his eyes, Anon awaited for his eventual crash in the ground.

Falling to the ground in such a fashion.  What a way to end it all.  He internally chuckled.  And once I land, maybe I'll wake up.  I’ll see my friends surrounding me, my mom will chide me over my actions, and then we can all have a grand laugh about all this.

Yes, that was a more welcoming thought.  Certainly better than him blowing up and floating in a void for an eternity before being vomited back out in the sky.  This was all a dream. Had to be. How foolish he was taking everything so seriously. It was a comforting thought. So, clearly, he had nothing to worry about.  Anon simply waited as he fell, feeling nothing as his body hit the ground.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

A yawn stretched out in the quiet room, the unicorn smacking her lips.  She tapped her quill against a piece of parchment, the ink drying on its tip.

“Just what do they expect from this?  Slime creatures are not supposed to come in contact with salt.  Those purveyors already know of this.”

Another assignment, another problem.  So many beings on her planet and she was charged with ensuring the races kept in a form of harmony, if one could call it that.

“What incident number was this anyways?  Number eight? Why do they keep trying to feed them salty beverages?”

It was nearly impossible to do her work.  Meetings with new tribes of beings was quite common, and having to send out packets to help alleviate their troubles was constantly keeping her busy.

“Perhaps if I send out to the local guard on warning them about banning salt in the area could keep them from trying this again.  We can’t simply keep the ponies there from the slimefolk, the trade agreement for the black rocks are too important.”

With her world still mostly uncharted, there was a need to plan for everything they could, even things they didn’t know about.  Scenarios about possible events, what actions they should take if they come across something they couldn't deal with, and referencing it all with what was already known.  It was a daunting task, but one she was more than willing to do.

“Perhaps we could simply tax the salt higher, raising the prices.  Most ponies out there wouldn’t want to pass around something that cost so much.  Yes, that could work.” She dipped her quill in a bottle of ink, writing down the response along with some notes about why it was a bad idea to give slimefolk any form of salt.  “Finally finished!”

The unicorn let out a hum of satisfaction, placing the quill down.  A small green glow bloomed out from her horn, lighting up her desk. Her papers glowed with a similar green color, levitating in the air before being neatly packed inside a large envelope.

“The fellas over at the academy can finally stop bugging me about this darn problem, something I’ve already told them about several times.”  The unicorn shook her head in frustration. “Now I can finally work on my own project! I’m hoping the princess will like this weeks packet.”

“Lyra,” a voice called out.  “Are you going to work all night or are you going to come out here with me?”

Lyra shook her head, just now realizing she had forgotten about stargazing with her friend.  “One moment, Bonnie,” Lyra yelled back. “Let me finish down here!”

Lyra had wanted to further work on her own personal packet, tidy up her ideas before sending it off to Princess Celestia.  The idea of alien threats and problems was certainly something that past komlas’ had never considered. Finding herself having no time, she packed away her packet, hoping it was good enough.

The unicorn levitated it into a small lantern, the green fire dancing along the papers.  It quickly crumpled, turning into a powdery mist twinkling of green particles. The remains then flew off to the nearest escape out of the house, heading directly for the princess back to her castle.  Satisfied with her work, Lyra walked toward the upstairs hall where a ladder could be seen, leading up to the roof. Up top she could see Bon Bon sitting on a cushion, playing with the telescope.

“You took your sweet time,” Bon Bon teased, looking at Lyra.  “For a moment I thought you’d rather hang out with your work than me.”

“My work is very persuasive at times, Bonnie.”

“No doubt about that, though I’m confident your work can’t contend with somepony like me, who can create such delicious sweets.” She pointed to a bowl of wrapped candies, likely a recent batch made from her, “Or has the patience needed to deal with you.”

“I suppose there are a few valid points in choosing you over some sliced up pieces of tree," Lyra said, making her way to Bon Bon.

The two sat beside one another, gazing upwards toward the starry sky, winding down from the day’s events.  The stars twinkled in the sky, their constellations on full display as always. It was a peaceful evening for them, scoping out the stars, discussing what the constellations meant, and the occasional peeking in on someone in their home.  For fun’s sake, of course.

A pretty good night, Lyra thought to herself as she closed her eyes, sitting back and relaxing in her cushion.  I doubt anything could ruin it.

“Hey, Lyra," Bon Bon spoke out as if to challenge her unspoken thoughts, “is there supposed to be a star shower scheduled tonight?”

“Not that I’m aware of,” Lyra answered, opening an eye to look at Bon Bon.   “Princess Luna doesn’t have anything set up for that. Why do you… ask…”

Trailing off, Lyra looked  in the direction that Bon Bon had the telescope pointed at.  A dull, pulsing light hovered in the night sky, located over Everfree Forest.  Making her way to the telescope, she stared at the anomaly, trying to glean off just what was happening.

“Perhaps somepony’s spell went awry?”  Bon Bon said, looking at the light. “It’s happened before just a few months back.  Someone all the way from Manehattan appeared in Las Pegasus. Was the topic of discussion for a full two weeks.”

Lyra noticed something coming from the light.  “Yeah, I think I see something coming out of it.  Looks like it might be our turn now for some related shenanigans.  But there’s something wrong with it.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, the person’s in an odd shape.  Not exactly pony-like at all. In fact, it’s bipedal.”

Bon Bon’s eyes widened, “Really?  I wasn’t aware we had minotaur enchanters in our lands.  Those beings are extremely rare to come by.”

“I’m not sure it’s a minotaur either.  It’s not bulky at the top like they normally are.  No small legs either. The limbs seem almost proportional to one another.  How odd.”

What could this be?  Nothing from my catalogs have anything that could help explain any other race being here.

She went through the list of bipedal creatures she knew of on record, none matching the figure. Humming in thought, the unicorn lit up her horn, using a simple magnifying spell alongside her telescope.  It helped with Lyra seeing more of the figure that floated in the night sky. Examining the being once more, it appeared to have pink skin? Definitely not fur. It was also clothed in strange garb. The limbs were oddly specific sizes.  There was something very familiar about that figure to her.

An image appeared in her head, reminiscent of past dreams of faraway lands.  Dreams that took her to places that held many different races in so many different shapes.  It was the reason why she even had the job she had, those dreams. If she didn’t know any better…

“No.”

She swore she was looking at one of those hoomans.  There was no possible way that this was happening, not something from her dreams.  It was absurd! And yet…

The telescope revealed the figure had started its descent to the ground, falling directly toward the forest in the distance.  It was a rather dangerous place to be dropped into for anyone, especially at that time of night. All manners of beasts lurked the area in that foul place, the only ones brave enough to traverse it confidently were those shamanistic deer and even they tended to stay in their fortified homes at night.

Lyra immediately made her way down from the roof, heading to her closet.  Rummaging inside, she found her ready-made travel pack for such an occasion.  Getting the pack strapped on, she could hear an audible groan coming from Bon Bon who watched her from the ladder.

“So I guess this ends the night.”

“Don’t be like that, Bonnie,” Lyra replied.

“Be like what?  Annoyed that you’re going off to do something dangerous once more?  That you’re likely to get yourself stuck in a situation that I’ll probably have to reel you out of?”

Lyra turned to Bon Bon, a sheepish smile directed at her.  “And you’re a great friend for it, Bonnie.”

“Or a foolish one,” Bon Bon deadpanned as she followed Lyra to the front door.  “Every time you’ve gone out, it’s with you coming back with nothing to show for it or with trouble following along.  How many times have you done this now?”

“Eighteen.”

“And each time it ended up with nothing to show for it.  It wasn’t an alien the other eighteen times, I highly doubt it will be the nineteenth time.  Why do you keep persisting?”

“The possibility, no matter how small, is worth going out and hoping for the best.  Besides, it’s clearly someone out there that got lost, or it might just be a new race being dumped here.  They still need help.”

“We both know what it is you’re really hoping for.”

“Regardless, I need to check it out.”

“Lyra, please.  Just think about ignoring it, just this once!”

Lyra turned to her with a grin full of confidence.  “It’s not something I can simply ignore. In the end, all that matters is pursuing that dream, Bonnie.  I believe in it.”

In no time, Lyra had left out the door, running toward where she saw the figure drop.  Bon Bon stood out the door, watching her departing friend making her way toward the Everfree Forest.

“We were having such a good evening too,” she grumbled, a frown present on her face.  “Better prepare for whatever trouble she brings back with her.”

~End Prologue~






Chapter One - A Curious Introduction

The dimly lit streets of Ponyville were quiet that evening.  A single green unicorn, barely visible from the moonlight, trotted away with a click of her hooves against the cobbled streets.  She intentionally stayed away from any lampposts, lest anyone spot her in some form. It was imperative she remained hidden until she could ascertain just what happened out in the forest.

It took little effort making her way out of the town, standing on the edge of the trees that was the Everfree Forest.  She took a step forward, then returned it. A chill ran down her spine. No matter how many times she came out, the place spooked her.

A noise came from the darkness, raising the hairs on her back.  She couldn’t identify it, as was typical. Perhaps a manticore, or a cockatrice.  Something about the forest messed with the magic in their world.

“I hate this place.”

As was routine, Lyra lit up her horn with a flash; another flash of her horn turned it a deep red, easing her eyes in the darkness.  It took no more than a few steps to find herself enclosed by the darkness. She was familiar with most of the forest, in a manner of speaking.

The place clearly had a mind of its own, Lyra had worked out long ago.  Trees moved, bushes shifted, the ground would rise or lower: it was clearly trying to keep visitors from moving too deeply into the place.  Most would be lost soon after entering. Lyra knew how to navigate through such places, having delved into magical workings of the forest often enough.

A noise hooted out of a bush, Lyra jumping from the suddenness of it.  ‘Just remember, it’s mostly mundane animals that live here. Magical beings are likely asleep by now.’

‘We can only hope for such things,’ a familiar selfness spoke out.

‘Oh don’t you start up.’  Lyra jumped over a log, looking around for any more debris on the ground.  ‘Why not keep things on the positive side?’

‘Like if this is actually an alien?’

‘Exactly!  I know it’s probably not one, but what if it is this time?  Just think of what that would change!’

‘No one would claim of you being mad anymore.’  Laughter echoed in her head at the self-made joke.

“Oh ha-ha,” she spoke aloud, the red light of her horn helping guide her from a line of vines that would have easily ensnared her.

‘Do you wonder about how the alien would think of this place?’

Lyra rolled her eyes.  ‘Of course, I do, you would know that.’

‘How does the sun move for them?  How many senses do they have? How would magic work on their world?’

The unicorn listened to the voice ramble on, used to such things.  It allowed her to focus on it rather than the terrible place she was delving through.

‘What would an alien even think of coming to a new environment, like ours?  Would it be too strange? Would it even know what a tree was?’

That gave the pony a pause.  ‘How could it not know what a tree is?  That’s one of the fundamental things to a living planet, having a breathable source available.’

‘And who are we to think that it doesn’t have something in place of trees?  Or that it even needs to breathe?’

The strange question easily distracted the unicorn from the rock directly in her path.  She found her face down in the dirt, her horn flickering out. A cough escaped her as she cursed the forest.  Dusting herself off from the embarrassing blunder she relit her horn.

No sooner did a roar sound out, this one being close; Lyra quickly shut her spell off.  A flash and she found herself high up on a branch.

It didn’t take long for a creature to walk out of the bushes.  It was her luck she came across a manticore, an amalgamation of a lion, scorpion, and some other creature she couldn’t seem to remember.

‘Think it’s a bat?  Though sources like to claim dragon, to make it seem more dangerous than it really is.’

Lyra would agree on those sources.  The thing unnerved her a great deal.  It was, lacking a better descriptor, unnatural.  Just another creature that no one knew how it came to be, but it is.

‘Didn’t you use that repellent spray on the way here?’

‘I did!  Why isn’t it working?!  Oooh, there’s a certain merchant that’s going to have a talking to when I get back that’s for certain!’

‘If you make it back.’

‘Oh don’t start with this.’

‘It’s not my fault you’re feeling such things!  I swear!’

Ignoring the voice Lyra watched the manticore sniffing around the tree, likely trying to find what used to be there.  It was pure luck it hadn’t tried to look up. The thing had wings and it would make escaping it difficult.

The voice started to laugh.  ‘And would you look at that. It was sniffing for a place to sleep!’

Indeed the beast was currently at the bottom of her tree, circled on itself like a cat, sleeping with a loud growl of a snore.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she spoke quietly.

Lyra was in a peculiar state.  If she tried using magic to leave, the thing would know immediately.  And she couldn’t just crawl down or jump to a different tree, the noise from the activity would simply wake it up.

‘You’re not really going to be scared of a simple little manticore are you?’

‘I have the strangest definition for little.’

‘Please.  You’ve seen much worse.  I mean come on, you can’t let something like this stop you.  You’re Lyra, the alien investigator! Lyra, the extraterrestrial master!  Foreign beings and entities beware, you better watch out for that mare! Clearly that manticore doesn’t realize it’s messing with someone as awesome as you!’

Lyra felt pumped from the internal cheerleader.  ‘Yeah, you’re right!’

‘And you know just what can solve this situation!’

‘Of course, I do!’

Carefully taking off her pack she searched through its many pockets before uncovering a favored toy of hers: a sound cracker.  A prankster’s delight, they were very good at scaring the ever-loving wits out of others. Simply record what you want and it would replay it in different settings.  Lyra’s was a special sound cracker. She had managed to get a dragon’s roar.

A cackle filled Lyra’s head as she slowly twirled the sound cracker into the settings she wanted.  ‘Running a day and a half from that thing almost seemed worth it!’

‘...Almost.’

Levitating it in position, she dropped the cracker directly beside its head.  A loud, piercing screech of a dragon on the hunt reverberated around the area.  It was instantaneous, the manticore shooting up into the air to look for the threat.  Not seeing anything the creature ran off, not wanting to stick around where the sound came from.

Moments later a hoard of creatures ran into the area, shrieking and hollering as they ran past the tree to get away from the area.  It took some time for the place to finally clear out. Lyra sat for some time, wanting to be certain nothing else would run into the area.  Feeling safe enough she teleported herself down to the ground. Picking up her cracker she placed it in her pack before heading back off, feeling more courageous than before.

Lyra was left to herself for some time, the voice going quiet.  It allowed her to focus more on the encounter. Regardless of if it was an alien or something from her world, it was going to need medical attention.  She doubted it was dead, anything with that kind of spell power to teleport would have massive magical defenses not even counting its natural ones. But the longer it was left alone, the more likely something else would come across it.

The smell of freshly turned dirt filled the pony’s nose.  Typically nothing to take notice of. The small hints of burnt wood gave way to something important.  She slowly made her way forward, steeling herself for what she’d find.

A small clearing met her, filled with destruction and magical essence littering the air.  Trees were blown away in a circular pattern, where a crater was entrenched in the ground. Clearly, she had found her crash site.

Digging through her pack with her magic Lyra levitated out a camera.  Flashes of light flickered out with each snap, evidence of the impact collected for safekeeping.  Everything needed to be documented regarding the situation.

Taking a shot of the impact site the unicorn scrunched up her brow.  The camera lowered as she examined the area closer. It was missing something very important, she had realized: its inhabitants.  Dirt trailed away from where she was standing, with grass being flattened from a heavy weight the further it went out.

Her camera flashed, taking images as she followed the trail leading her to wherever it ended.  Whoever it was didn’t seem to have the strength to walk. Worry filled her from the seriousness of the situation.

The trees started to thicken once more, following away from the disaster zone.  She could see they took as straight a path as possible.

Only a little further ahead, past a few more trees, and she found the being, resting with its back up against the tree.  It did certainly look like it had been run through the wringer. The unicorn blinked, looking at the being.

Ah, and it was clearly not a pony she had noted.  Nor a minotaur. Nope. None of those. Nada. She was looking at an alien.  Yep.

It took the unicorn a moment to process what she was seeing, her eyes widening.  This wasn’t something Lyra was imagining. She was in front of something clearly not in her catalogs.  No, this was an actual alien.

“Eeeeehhhh!”  She squealed, unable to control herself.  Slapping a hoof to her mouth, she looked at it.  The alien didn’t appear to have noticed her.

Heavy breaths worked their way out of the shocked mare.  ‘Okay Lyra,’ the voice spoke up, ‘just remember your breathing exercises.  Take calm, steady breathes. Breath in…’

“Haaaaaa.”

‘And out.’

“Ooohhh.”

It took a few turns before she felt more in control of the situation.

‘It’s a hooman.’  Lyra walked closer to it.  ‘A real one. I can’t believe my dreams were real all along!  Bonnie is going to be so surprised when I come back with it!’

First things first, she had a job to do.  Levitating her camera out she switched the flash off, not wanting the sharp light to stir the alien.  Her horn flared out, forming from it a ball of light, dimly lighting the area in a low red glow. It flew up to the middle of the area, giving some low light to work with.

She proceeded to take as many shots as she could at different angles, from the area around it to the tree it was leaning on.  Satisfied with the pictures she placed her camera beside her bag, set up on a timer to collect more images so she could closely examine the creature.

Upon first glance, one could see similarities to a minotaur, the closest thing resembling the being in front of her.  Examining the body, she could see the surface skin had a soft appearance, with its pores showing should one look hard enough.  Not a lot of hair to cover its body, it seemed, with the most dominant traces of that being on top of its head.

‘So it probably needs the clothing to keep warm and as a small form of protection, most likely.  Fascinating.’

The legs and arms were, as she had first noticed, nearly identical in length to one another.  The torso itself was quite bulky, yet almost geometrical to a rectangle. She’d clearly have to study it more to really understand what she was seeing.

Even the paws on its arms were peculiar.  It had an additional digit on it compared to the four from most digit-held species on her planet.  She noted some scratches on its skin, light traces of blood leaking. Lyra grimaced, she’d have to try and clean that when she got back with some disinfectant.

The voice in her head piped up.  ‘Using odd chemicals Lyra, who knows how that would react to its chemistry?’

‘Good point.  I can check what’s safe when I get back.  It’ll just have to heal on its own for now.’

Examining its body, Lyra would have to say that the strangest part had to be the head.  She hadn’t seen anything like it before. Its ears almost appeared to be made of its own flesh, simply hanging off but clearly being firmly attached on the sides of the head and not on top.  It had no snout or nose protrusion she had seen before on her planet; its nose seemed to come off to a tip angled downward, along with two nostrils directly at the bottom. The eyes were much smaller than theirs, the glimmer that shone off its iris—

She froze.  Only then did Lyra realize the alien had been staring at her.  For how long, who knew? It had seemed to be inspecting her, as she had been doing.

‘Likely trying to understand what manner of awesome stood before it.’  Lyra mentally waved the voice away, feeling annoyed from its presence.

So far, it wasn’t reacting negatively to her presence.  ‘Or was it stunned in silence from the level of magnificence in its presence?’

‘Seriously, not right now!’

‘It’s not my fault the only thing going on in your head is you wanting to impress the darn alien!’

‘...Okay.  Fair enough.’

It was time for her to make first contact.  She had to show she meant no harm. Clearing her throat Lyra thought over what she should say for its first meeting.

“Hello there.  I mean you no harm.  I come in peace. Do you come in peace?  Do you like pudding?” The voice berated her, yet she ignored it.  The words shouldn’t matter what exactly was said, more the manner of how it was said.

The alien’s eyes widened hearing her voice.  It seemed to stiffen up. Dread began to fill Lyra, worried she had made a mistake.  Swirling its tongue around, the being attempted to speak to her. It came out… wrong.  She reeled back, not expecting such a thing.

Staring back at Lyra, it seemed unsure of itself.  Or at least, that was how she had interpreted its facial language.  There wasn’t much to really tell her about what it was feeling. It smiled back at her, confusing Lyra.  Were smiles the same for it as it was for her kind? She hoped it was a friendly smile and not a malicious one.

The smile vanished, its eyes fluttering before the alien dropped its head.  Panicking, Lyra inspected the being as close as she could without touching it.

“It’s just asleep,” Lyra said with a sigh, wiping a bead of sweat off her brow.  “Likely exhausted from its trip.”

Walking back to her camera she examined the pictures taken.  Many of them were unusable, too out of focus or she was blocking the view.  There were still some good shots, even with how hard it was to see details. Happy with her work she packed the items away, strapping her pack back onto her side.

Lyra thought about her available options.  She knew there wasn’t much she could in treating any injuries it may have.  Taking it to the hospital was a terrible idea. Panic would quickly consume everyone around and who knew what would happen then?  That would be the least of their worries if it tried anything that could hurt anypony.

No, it was obvious she had to take it back home and keep it locked up until she could process things more thoroughly.

“I can’t wait to work on my report about all this!”

Levitating the alien, Lyra walked off with a large smile.

Sneaking her way out of the forest hadn’t been difficult for Lyra.  The sound cracker from before must have scared most of the animal life into hiding.  To ensure the alien was safe during transport she had wrapped a survival blanket over its body, preventing stray branches or anything else unaccounted for from possibly damaging it further.  For her, it was a very uneventful trip out of the forest. A welcome respite.

Reaching the exterior of the Everfree, Lyra could feel her smile growing.  It was just a straight trip over the bridge and through the streets to her house and she’d have all the time in the world with the alien.

Having reached the bridge, she slowed her pace, noticing a small gathering of ponies making their way toward her.  They slowed, having noticed her walking their way.

“Lyra.”

“Junebug.”  Lyra nodded, turning to the other two. “Wild Fire, Lily Lightly.”

“What are you doing out so late?”

“I could ask the same of you.” Lyra retorted.  “Me, I’m just coming back from the forest.”

“Strange,” a pegasi, Wild Fire, said.  “We were just on our way out there. Wouldn’t happen to know anything about that odd light from earlier, would ya?”

Lyra let out a nervous chuckle.  “Light? What light? I hadn’t noticed any light.  Ahahahaha…”

The three narrowed their eyes at Lyra.  Lily Lightly looked behind Lyra, giving notice to the bundle floating in the air.  “What exactly is that behind you?”

“What do you mean?”

“The floating blanket.”

“Oh.  That? Pffft.”  Lyra waved a hoof in the air nonchalantly.  “It’s nothing, really! Just some silly stuff from the forest.”  A muffled groan could be heard coming from the bundle. Lyra let out a forced laugh.  “Nothing to worry about!”

Wild Fire, ready to question what was going on, was held back by Junebug.  “Wait,” she told her in a hushed tone. “She came from the forest!”

“So?  I want to know what that spell from the sky was and she clearly knows about it.”

“I think it may have come from her,” Lightly spoke up, adding to their silent huddle.  “She was out in the forest, so it’s likely she was using some of her spells out there. I don’t really care to know what she was up to in the forest.”

“I still want to know.  We came all the way out here and I don’t want to return without something.”

“Wild Fire,” Junebug started, “you do remember this is Lyra, right?”

“I—” Wild Fire hesitated.

Lily Lightly hummed, “Ah, right!  Lyra likes to bring things back from the forest.  Remember when she brought back one of those deer’s thinking it needed help?”

“Or when she tried bringing back odd plants?  She somehow managed to get her hooves on some poison joke and the plant was spread all over the town.” Junebug winced.  “That was terrible when it hit the bakery.”

Lily stuck her tongue out.  “I tasted pink for a full week!”

The three slowly turned their heads back toward Lyra, giving her awkward smiles.  Lyra shared an equally awkward smile back.

Junebug started, “So.”

“Right,” Lyra said quickly, stretching her smile.

“Yes, well, it seems everything is fine and dandy!  We’ll ah, we’ll be heading back.” Junebug slowly walked backward, the other three mimicking her.

“Quite tired from how late it is,” Lightly added, stretching a front leg in the air, forcing out a yawn.

“True, true!”  Wild Fire bobbed her head.  “We need to get back and tell everyone there’s nothing to worry about from the forest!  Just Lyra is being Lyra is all.”

“Ehr, right!  I need to get myself back, got to…”  Lyra looked at the alien. “Yes, I have to get settled in for the night!  Lots of work tomorrow, yep!”

The three slowly back away, giving plenty of space between them and Lyra before running off back into town.  Lyra sighed, happy to have gotten away without revealing the alien to them. She had to hurry home before anyone else came upon her and tried to peek at her guest.

Once back home Lyra cracked the door open, checking for anything in the way.  The entire house was dark, telling her Bon Bon had likely gone to sleep. It would be easier to slip the alien in without notice from her friend.  Walking in she juggled with her alien bundle, working her way through the entrance to get it in undamaged. Only then did she feel fatigued, the spell she used taxing on her reserves.

“So tired,” she said, panting from exhaustion, making her way up the stairs toward her bedroom.

‘Now, how do I keep something like this secured for the time being?  I don’t want it trying to escape the first chance it gets.’

A fleeting thought to tie it up was quickly discarded.  In her experience, anything waking up tied down would be difficult working with.  Lyra knew she simply had to keep it locked away in a safe location. And the only place she knew of would be her own room.

Levitating it to her bed, she gently laid it down before taking the blanket off its body.  Nothing appeared wrong with it. She proceeded to empty the entire room of anything that it could get a hold of.  The window was immediately barred up, magically glued from broken chair pieces. She made sure to double-check the bathroom as well, leaving a few simple toiletries that felt safe to leave behind such as toilet paper and soap.

It didn’t take long for her to strip her room, only the bed being left behind.

“There’s so much work to be done.  Cataloging everything I’ve done, keeping the place from outside eyes, not to mention telling the princess about everything.”  Just the thought sent her into an excited state.

Walking down into the now very cluttered living room, Lyra sat down at her desk.  She wrote a carefully written scroll detailing things that had happened, along with what she felt would be needed in learning about the alien and supplies.  Adding some of the photos to accompany the scroll, she rolled it all together for transport. Levitating it into the magic lantern, the scroll quickly turned into green dust, flowing off toward Princess Celestia.

“Now all I have to do is wait.”

The unicorn got up from her seat, kicking her items out of the way, making her way to the couch.  Clearing the couch, Lyra got comfortable, wanting to get some sleep. It would likely be the next day before the princess would reply and she wanted some proper rest before dealing with the alien.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ Canterlot ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

In the heart of the capital of Equestria stood a mountain, colossal in stature, towering into the sky.  On the mountain stood grand structures, of towers and domed constructs that jutted off its body. While seemingly cramped together at a glance, the inner workings spoke of a different tale where a sprawling network of beings lived, of a kingdom that took the dirt given to them and made it into diamonds.  Shops as far as the eye could see, institutes of magical marvels, stadiums to entertain the masses: these were but a few spectacles one would see upon entering the famous city of Canterlot.

Arguably the most important place stood the Canterlot Castle, a palace that housed the leaders of the lands: Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.  And on a balcony, attached to a tower of the palace, stood the rulers of Equestria who stared up at the night sky, ready for a turnover in shifts.

“Dearest sister, it is time for our night to be laid to rest and arisen elsewhere.”

Celestia smiled, turning toward her.  "Indeed, Luna. Shall we begin?”

It was time to lower the lunar body and raise the sun for everypony, welcoming another bright and wonderful day.  It was a slow process, using their magic to ease the large entities around their planet, but for beings such as them, it was like breathing air.  Compared to the unicorns of yesteryears, their magic was attuned to such activities, what with them embodying the sun and moon respectively.

The two watched as the moon glided with ease across the sky, tucking itself from their sights and for the reappearance in other lands.  It was best for them to properly time things just right, never rushing their tasks. It was a hard-learned lesson to remember. Eons ago, having put out a rushed job, resulted in terrible consequences and mass hysteria.  It took a great deal of work convincing the world that, no; they were not obliterating their lands. The two were quite ashamed of their actions, having scared everyone into self-submission for some time following tales of their lineage, legends of them descended from gods.

Celestia blinked, wondering just where that memory cropped up from.  She examined her sister, staring at her prone form, fully concentrated on the task at hoof.  Quite a few of her past memories were resurfacing at the oddest moments, ever since her sister had returned from her thousand-year banishment.  The princess wouldn’t begrudge such things; it was important to never dismiss such events as unimportant, lest one forget the lessons learned from such matters.

Just as the sun was starting to appear over the land, spreading its rays upon the slumbering minds over their land, the two princesses dropped the spell simultaneously.  It would slip into place on its own from the pull the spell aided it in.

Luna turned to her sister, affirming her job complete.  “And so, another week passes on for the celestial satellites to turn in place.  As it is time for my rest sister, I wish th—”

Without warning, something misted into the air in front of the two, forcing their focus toward the anomaly.  They quickly recognized the spell for what it was, lowering their guards as a scroll materialized into place.  It hovered in front of Princess Celestia, its intended receiver. She merely looked at the levitating scroll.

“Now who would send me a message at such an odd hour?

Grabbing it with her magic she unfurled the scroll, moving the attached packet to the side before going over the first page.  Her sister, tilting her head, seemed confused. “Who is the sender? Surely not one of those Elements?”

Celestia stared down at the scroll, intrigued by what she was reading.  “It comes from Lyra, my current Kommunelegatusionist .”

“Ah, the komlas,” Princess Luna spoke dryly, a frown spreading on her face.  “What word does she send to you in such an ill-timed manner?”

“Oh don’t be that way, she means well.”  Celestia smiled at her frowning sister. “It’s quite interesting. She lays claim to an alien she had sighted outside of Ponyville, having captured it from the Everfree.”

The sun princess’s smile grew wider, watching her sister rolling her eyes.  “If she wanted to send the message,” Luna started, “it could have been received when I was far away from such nonsense.”

“It’s really not as bad as you think it is.  She seems to have put a lot of work in this, Luna, and Lyra typically wouldn’t have sent such a thing for another two weeks.  This came out of the blue, timed just as we were rotating our celestial bodies. From a glance, it reads off like she’ll be sending even more in the next few days.”

Princess Luna dully stared at her sister.  “And?”

“Oh sister, don’t you see?  She’s setting up one of those scenarios like past komlas, likely meaning for the two of us to take part in!”

“Ah.”  Luna looked hesitant.  “I have some… recollections of those.  Are you sure you don’t mean just you? Surely it wasn’t meaning to have me involved?”

“What other reason for the timing?  And besides, I think it would be fun to have you working this with me!”

“Oh.  Joy.”

Seeing her sister’s disliking of the situation made her hesitate.  She took a moment, choosing her words carefully. “I think it would be fun for the two of us to have something to bond over.”  Luna lost her frown, turning to Celestia. “It would certainly be a great diversion from normal affairs, don’t you think?”

“Perhaps,” Luna acquiesced.  “Just please don’t let this get out like last time.”

Walking away from the balcony, the two of them proceeded down the long halls of the palace to their personal study room, guards following close behind.  A click with her magic unlocked the door, revealing a room full of shelves, stacked with documents and books collected over the years. A musty smell filled the air, showing just how out of use the room was.  A large, sturdy table made of fine wood and engraved delicately with magical scripture sat in the middle with cushions placed around on the floor.

Wiping the area of dust with a simple spell, Celestia took a seat, spreading out the scroll on the table.  Luna sat on the opposite side, coughing at the air-born filth, flashing her own horn to get rid of more dust.

Once settled Luna levitated the packet that came with the papers, seeing Celestia entranced by the scroll.  “This is a lot more dedication than originally thought,” Luna spoke, staring at the images.

Celestia turned to her sister, realizing she had forgotten about the second packet that came in the scroll.

Luna squinted at an image, turning the pictures in the air.  “While hard to make out, she seems to have made an impact crater in the Everfree.  See here, there are even some pictures of the ‘alien’ she had captured.”

Celestia, realizing the packet was just as interesting as the scroll, magically grabbed the image, turning it to herself.  “How strange. I wonder where she got all the materials to make this happen.”

“Not from funds I hope.”

“Certainly not, I hadn’t approved of anything.”  Celestia levitated a scroll to Luna, “Here are some interesting descriptions she gathered so far.”

Princess Luna hummed.  “Bipedal, possessing a five-digit paw with nubbed claws, presumed fully clothed from having no hair to cover the body from the cold.”  Princess Luna read over the paper as thoroughly as possible. “Basic information about the beast, but once again, more than I would have given credit for.”

“She’ll be collecting more in the coming days.  Lyra even stated the being spoke to her.”

Princess Luna arched a brow.  “Oh? And what words did this creature have for us?”

Her sister laughed, “We don’t know!  She has to translate its speech to our language and plans on teaching it our own for communication.  Currently, she has it locked in her house, or more precisely, her room.”

“It’s locked away in her room?  Could she not think of a better place to put it?”

“And where would you put such a thing without warning?  I’m surprised she was dedicated enough to tear apart her own house to make this work.”

“As far as the letter says, that is.”

“I’ve no doubt she did in fact do such a thing.  Lyra is very… thorough on such manners.” Celestia coughed, a few memories popping up involving the mare.  “Yes. Well, as of now, she wants to know what we would recommend with the information we currently have.”

Celestia paused, wanting her sister's input on the project.  It wouldn’t do if she couldn’t have her sister a part of the project, only a bystander.

Luna, hearing nothing from Celestia, saw she was staring at her, waiting for a reply.  She fumbled around with the images, trying to come up with something. “Um… O-Obviously, we need to know why it’s come here to our lands!”  She nodded her head, feeling it was the right answer. “We have no idea if it has plans to harm our people in some manner, whether purposeful or not, so we need to question just why it is here.”

“It will take some time for us to figure out how to communicate with it,” Celestia noted.

“True.  Then the first order is to make sure it is properly secured in the room, incapable of escaping.  Perhaps even placing anti-magic enchantments might be in need.”

“Then Lyra wouldn’t be capable of using her spells to work with it.”

“What of placing them on the alien?”

“It’s an idea, but Lyra has strictly given that she doesn’t want to provoke it in any manner, uncertain of the consequences.  Could doing that make it angry?”

“It might, though I don’t see why that would matter.”

“We might be making an enemy out of such actions.  That would ruin any form of communication we’d prepare in the future along with relations to an unknown entity.”

Luna huffed out, “This is more difficult than I thought.”

“Something of note, Lyra had mentioned she was unsure if it could use magic or if it even knew what magic was.”

Luna looked incredulous. “That doesn’t make sense.  How would it get here in the first place? It even stated it looked like a massive teleportation spell.”

“Clearly there’s more to this puzzle than we can see.  That’s something we need to figure out.”

Princess Luna licked her lips, staring down at the work.  At the mere idea of a puzzle showed her competitive side. “So we’re essentially working on very little information while having to treat the beast as delicately as the foreign visitors which frequent our palace.”

“Even more so,” Celestia answered.  “We also need to consider future funds on the simulation.  While she hasn’t said she needs it at the moment, purchasing necessary things like food to needed materials will be necessary.”

“Are we really going to approve her bits for this?  I’m fine with working on the scenario, but providing funds seems a tad much.”

“It’s not a problem.  There are funds set aside for the komlas on such manners.  And before you ask, no, she hasn’t abused such things in the past.”

“Well, that’s good.”  Luna tapped the paper, thinking hard on the subject at hoof.  “Okay. Here’s what we need to do. She needs to ensure that it is fully secured before collecting whatever data she can on simply observing it.  A weekly report will be provided for us to read over, on top of whatever work she already has. Any emergency that occurs needs to have an immediate report written as soon as possible and quickly sent to us.  And the primary objective should be on communication.”

“That seems reasonable.  And from what we have here, we can ascertain more on the alien's biology and perhaps even its culture.”

The following hour, the two princesses sat in their study, discussing a scenario that would have them pulling at their hair, laughing at their absurd observations, and simply enjoying their time with one another.

‘I’ll have to give a personal note of thanks to Lyra at some point.’  To Celestia, ever since the Nightmare Moon fiasco, she had tried to find an appropriate time to reconcile with Luna.  It had been slow progress. ‘Having a weekly discussion with just the two of us is the perfect opportunity I’ve been waiting for.’

Wrapping up their talk, Celestia stamped the scroll they had written in reply, sending it back off to Lyra.  “And that is that. I simply can’t wait for her next response!”

“And I am just as anxious as you are, sister.”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ Ponyville ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Hearing something foreign in the vicinity, Lyra jolted from her nap.  It sounded like something was banging against metal. Upright on the couch, she searched the room, wondering what had just happened.

Making a dash for her bedroom, she could see that the door was still locked in place.  Confused, she walked back down the stairs, wondering what had just happened to make that noise.

Stopping at the foot of her stairs she could see her lantern light was on, along with a scroll inside of it.  Even more confused she approached it, observing that it had the seal of the sun and moon stamped clearly on it.

“She replied!”

Lyra grabbed it with her magic, quickly unfurling it.  She read every word carefully, worried about what the outcome of the alien would be.  Having finished reading Lyra sat down at her desk, staring at the seal that was marked in the letter.  Rolling it back up, Lyra tightened it against her chest in a hug, smiling with glee.

They would not only allow her to work with the alien, but they were also giving her a full-on assignment dealing with it as the head researcher.  The delighted mare felt ecstatic enough to cry.

“I’m going to do the best job anyone could ask for!  I won’t let them down!”


~End Chapter One~








Chapter Two - Hi, My Name Is…

Something was agitating Lyra’s body, jabbing into her back.

“Hnhrurhg… hhnn…”

Trying to ignore it only made the issue worse, the prodding coming one after the other.

“Hnn… quit it.”

Trying to kick at it only had it dig into her back toward her side.  With a grumble she tried to whack at the annoyance, only to find herself thrown off the couch.  Now fully awake Lyra aimed her unfocused eyes at the figure above her.

Bon Bon held a large frown, a glare directed at her.

“Hey, Bonnie.  I hope you’re having a good morning?”

“Why is everything trashed down here?”

Lyra appeared confused; Bon Bon sighed, waving a hoof around the cluttered room.  A guilty look flashed across Lyra.

“Oh, that.  Right, sorry ‘bout the mess, Bonnie.”  She pushed herself upright, jumping to her hooves.  “But listen, I’ve got something to show you.”

“I don’t have time for your shenanigans, Lyra,” Bon Bon said, walking past her.  “I have to open my stand and I’m already late as it is with opening preparations.  I expect this place to be cleaned up by the time I get back.”

“Wait, you don’t open your shop up until ten.”  Bon Bon stopped, giving her a sharp look, turned toward a clock on the wall.  Looking at it, Lyra saw it was ten past nine.  “Oh.”  Bon Bon let out a huff before turning back to the front door.  “Hold up, Bon Bon.  I wanted to tell you about last night in the forest.”

Stopping at the door, she turned to Lyra.  “Is the unicorn or whatever it was alright?”

Lyra gave her a questioning look before realizing what she meant.  “Silly, I didn’t find a unicorn.”  She ran up to Bon Bon, a smile stretched across her face.  “It was a real, life,alieeen!”

Bon Bon stared back.  “Oh?  And what did this alien do when you found it?  Is it planning on taking our stallions and ruling over us?”

“How would I know that?  I can’t understand its language.”

“Of course you can’t.”

“It was unconscious in the forest, so I brought it here to the house.  It’s asleep in my room, so that’s why all my stuff is down here.  Didn’t want it having access to any of my stuff.”

Bon Bon, hearing that, flattened her ears as she looked toward Lyra’s room.  “It’s in your room, right now?” she asked in a cracked voice.  Lyra nodded her head affirmatively.  Bon Bon slowly walked back out the door.  “I see.  I suppose I’ll leave this one to you and come back later with something to handle your—” Bon Bon forced a smile, “－alien.”

Before Lyra could respond, Bon Bon ran off, a dust trail left in her wake.  It took little effort for the unicorn to understand her friend's actions.  Letting out a huff she slammed the door.

“This isn’t like all the other times.  I’ll just have to show her when she gets back.”  Thoughts on the alien turned the unicorn giddy.  Circling around to start her day, she could see the full extent of the mess she had made.  “Okay, I can understand why she’d be upset.”

A spell formed, the previous disorder quickly organizing itself into boxes in a corner.  Lyra smiled, watching her magic make quick work of the place.  She allowed her magic to continue in the back of her mind, giving some thought toward the alien.

“So much to do, so little time to do it all.”

She had an exhausting amount of plans she wanted to do involving the alien.  Before she could attempt them she had to start with her first orders: observe the alien and form communication.

Lyra had an advantage that she felt would allow her to quickly work through her orders.  Her dreams of different life forms, to which she had always felt had some sense of realism, gave her some insight on the hoomans.  It wasn’t perfect, she knew there were a lot of holes in her knowledge.  But it gave her a baseline to work with.

“My first observation will be when I go in to feed it.  I can see what it needs for food while trying to prod it to speak to me.”

The only stipulation the princess gave her was to keep her magic usage to a minimum, something she could agree with.

“Right.  The first meal I’ll be serving it.”  She walked into the kitchen with a skip.  “What should I try first?”

A tray was assembled full of assorted food goods, from freshly picked flowers to fried eggs.  There was a chance that the alien simply couldn’t eat their exotic foods, preferring to eat rock minerals for all she knew.

A hot cup of cocoa, stuffed full of sprinkles and marshmallows, helped to finish the meal.  “This should make a good first impression,” Lyra said, smiling at her work.

The platter was levitated onto a tray with wheels, already prepared with her writing equipment to take notes.  Lifting that up to the second floor, she flared her horn, the doorknob glowing green.  The magical glue oozed out, pooling onto the ground, before fizzling off into a harmless cloud.

Lyra stared at the door.  Just behind it was the alien.  This would be her first true opportunity of introducing herself.

‘Okay Lyra, just remember.  Appear to be nice and friendly to the alien and keep that confidence revved up.’

“I’ll be nothing but smiles and thank yous.”

‘Don’t spaz out.  You don’t want it thinking you’re a weirdo, Lyra.’

“Right.  I’m going to be calm and collected.”

‘This is history in the making.  Everyone is counting on you.’

She could feel herself panicking, her breath catching up before she found herself hyperventilating.  She sat down, trying to calm herself.

A sigh could be heard in her head.  ‘Take your time.  We don’t want the first thing it sees is a pony having a mental breakdown.’

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Letting out a gasp, his body jerked upright, panic-stricken toward his predicament.  He surveyed his surroundings, looking for the horrid monsters enclosing on him.  He saw nothing but a normal-looking room and the bed he was lying on.

Feeling he wasn’t about to be mauled by a beast,  he fell back into the mattress.  He hissed, the aches in his body starting to feel more pronounced.  Pulling the sleeve of his jacket back, nothing was visibly shown to him.  He felt confused, as it felt like there should be a large, purple bruise marking his entire arm.

While it may not show the damage, he could feel it.  “That’s going to take some time to heal,” Anon said, trying to ignore the discomfort in his body.

His recollection of the forest was hazy.  He remembered crawling through a dark forest, a loud roar, and animals running all around him.  The last, vague memory had him up against a tree, staring at what looked like a short, green horse glowing red.

Clearly, he wasn’t thinking straight.  Perhaps the white void from before was another fit of imagination he conjured up.  A fever dream?  It was possible.

“No.  That doesn’t make sense.”  Anon rubbed his eyes, feeling a slight headache.  “I know the thing with Gleekman was real.”  He looked around the room.  “So why am I not in a hospital?  Or horribly maimed, for that matter?”

He was in a room, completely barren, leaving him with only the bed and his personal effects.  The window looked to be barred down, the small cracks the only thing lighting up the dark room.  There were two doors on either side of the room, leading to who knows where.

“Who put me in this room?”

No matter what he thought of, every single name he could conjure, no one fit the bill.  Anon’s mind couldn’t help but imagine that Gleekman was the likeliest reason why he was in the room.  With his plan having gone bust, he managed to find Anon and place him in the room, for whatever reason he had., likely finding a way for him to learn a ‘lesson’.

His back now up against the headboard, he only just noticed the odd patterns etched into it; flowers and leaves along with musical notes stringed on lines.  Sheets of frilly patterns and a green comforter full of sheet music lied below him.  His feet hung off the bottom of the bed, the bed too small for his frame.

“Leave it to the man to purchase some kids bed for me to sleep on.”

He forced himself to stand up.  The room needed to be checked out.  He was hoping there would be some way out of it, or at the very least something left behind in the room.

Standing up was painful, his body reeling with a throb, wanting nothing more than to lay back down.  Against all protest, Anon stretched his limbs out.  He quickly noted how small the dimensions of the room were.  The ceiling was easily reachable, the palm of his hand laying flat against it.  Strangely the length of the room was quite large, allowing him plenty of walking space.

Everything had a hint of green in it.  Why all the green?  It wasn’t unpleasant, just odd.  Even the wood looked like it was stained green.  Who makes a green stain for wood?

His body wobbled toward the window, the gaps in between the boards just barely giving him something to look out of.  All he could see were clouds and hints of a tree nearby.  It felt like he was up high, likely a second floor.

As he turned, something caught his eye.  The boards on the windows weren’t boarded down.  There were no nails or screws, they simply hung there.  A tug on one held tight, the board refusing to move.  He took a step back, staring at the wood.

“It’s not being held down by anything.  How is it doing this?”  He scratched his chin.  “Gleekman did manage to get a missile.  I wouldn’t doubt he just has some weird adhesive that can do this.”

There wasn’t anything left for him to look at other than the two doors.  The first one, which he felt likely to lead out of the room, was firmly locked.  No amount of force could turn the knob even a hair.  That left the other door to check out.  Turning toward it Anon stumbled, nearly falling to the ground before finding his balance.  He bent to where he tripped, spotting a strange indent where he nearly fell.

Anon rubbed his hands over the oddity.  “You’re a clue, aren’t you?”  It, of course, did not respond, as it was a hole in the ground.  It looked worn out like something had been repeatedly worked on at that spot countless times to make the well dug out hole.

At the other door, he gave the doorknob a jiggle, finding it loose.  Looking inside was a bathroom, one that was darkly lit and clean looking.  It had all the essential needs for a bathroom, yet everything was squashed low to the ground and widened out.

He disregarded the strange lavatory, likely Gleekman collecting weird pieces.  The sink at least provided him with some water to drink and clean up.  In the mirror, his hair look knotted, eyes appearing dark and baggy, along with a few cuts that managed to collect on his chin.

Outside the room, Anon paced around.  What did the place tell him?  Not much.  It was green, spartan, and kept him locked up.  Mulling on his predicament, all he could do was curse Gleekman.

“What am I supposed to do?”  He leaned against the wall beside the window, feeling trapped.

The only solution he had was to wait things out.  He knew some people would start wondering where he went.  Gleekman would be easily tied to his disappearance, which would hopefully result in someone finding him.

“He might even slip up and then I can make my escape.”  The man had an issue with nosediving into plans, but they were never foolproof.  “I’ll just have to brave whatever he has set up for me.”

Thumps echoed outside his room, alerting Anon to someone’s presence.  Was that Gleekman checking on him?  Standing straight, arms crossed, he awaited him at a distance.  The door made noises that he could not discern, something fizzing on the other side.  Nothing happened for some time, his jaw clenched and arms pressed tight against him.  With a creak, the door slowly opened.

Anon was not prepared to see a unicorn walking in.  It looked at him, stopping only two steps into the room, staring back.

‘Didn’t I see this thing in the forest?’  A faint memory of red appeared.  ‘So Gleekman is responsible for the forest?  Would that also mean Gleekman is responsible for that white void?’  Anon felt a chill run through him.  ‘He probably drugged me and the white room was to disorient?  But what was with the forest?’

He calmed his breath, trying to keep his body under control.  Taking a look at the unicorn it looked worried.

“~+Are you okay, Mr. Alien?+~” it sang out with a whistle and a chirp.

‘I’m being held hostage by Gleekman, using a musical horse to communicate with me.  Great.’

The unicorn, he quickly noted, had a green coloring scheme, matching the rooms aesthetic.  Something of importance?

“~+I come in peace,+~” the horse sang in a sweet tone.  “~+I hope that we can learn from one another and be friends.+~”

Finally, the unicorn slowly backed out of the room.  He could try and escape, yet he felt that was a foolish route to take.  There was very little he knew about his situation, only that there was a horse to interact with.

“But why a whistling horse?”

Anon figured it was another one of Gleekman’s toys, something he had made or found interesting.  His gut told him there was something else at play.  But what?

His brow scrunched up, seeing the unicorn returning, now standing upright on its back legs.  The horse was pushing a cart into the room, full of what appeared to be a mug of some sort and animal feed, shaped to look like a smiling horse.

“~+I brought something to eat, Mr. Alien!+~” the green unicorn chirruped at him. “~+I hope you enjoy it!+~”

He watched the thing take its time pushing the cart forward.  Unfortunately for the two of them, they had both missed the indent in the ground, the green horse tripping a leg on it.  With a stumble, it pushed the tray toward Anon.  It bumped right into him, the tray simply shifting around.  The mug, on the other hand, flew right onto his crotch.

“AAAHHH!”

Thinking fast he turned around straight into the bathroom, slamming the door shut.  His mind was on auto-drive, throwing his clothes off to cool the region with the sink.  He was thankful it only hit his thighs instead of his more precious bits.

Having composed himself he grabbed his clothing, trying to clean it off to the best of his ability.  A sweet smell wafted off the pants, reminding him of chocolate.

“Was I seriously served hot chocolate?”

He shook his head, finished cleaning off his clothing.  A tight squeeze, the water dripping off, right before he put the dirty garments back on.

“Great.  Now I feel even dirtier.”

Anon turned to the door, hesitant about interacting with the animatronic.

“I have to go out there.  If I don’t, he’ll likely make things worse for me.”  In his mind, he knew never to underestimate a man, especially one that tried to blow up and kill multiple people.  “I’ll just have to play along for the time being with the horse, thing.”

He peeked out the door to gauge things.  The tray of food was where it was left with the mug on the ground in a small puddle.  Beside the tray, at the foot of the bed, Anon could see the unicorn with its back turned from him, singing.

“~+Stupid, stupid, stupid!+!”  The unicorn hiccuped, wiping its eyes.  “~+That was a horrible first impression!  Now how are you going to do your job, and the reports, and be friends with it, and…+~” The singing died down as the unicorn tilted its head to the ground.

The animated creature confused Anon.  Why did it look upset?  Just what games was Gleekman playing?

‘Just play along.’

“Unicorn?  Hello?”  Hearing him speak, the green equine jerked in place.  It rubbed its eyes, turning toward him, blinking widely.  Anon coughed, “Ehr… I know you can’t understand me.  I assume you can’t that is, what with you speaking in bubblegum pop.  So－ God I feel silly saying this.”

‘I’m going to strangle Gleekman when I find him!’

“I just hope my intentions come through, mostly through the tone of my voice.  The drink spilling on me?  I’m not, well, angry at you.”

He stood still, watching what the unicorn would do next.  Standing up, it wiped its eyes once more before breathing deeply, slowly letting it out.  Having alleviated whatever upset it, the unicorn walked to the cart, pushing it toward the bed.  Looking at the bed, she stared at Anon, waving a hoof at it, whistling to him.

Letting out a sigh he walked to the bed, sitting on the edge of it.  The unicorn stared at him, whistling some more, pointing at the food.

“Okay, okay.  I’ll eat.”

He picked up the apple, examining it.  It looked bright red with an unnatural shine to it.  Hoping Gleekman wasn’t stupid enough to poison him after everything he set up, Anon took a bite.  The unicorn tilted her head, watching him chew the piece.  He noted it had a very rich, sweet taste.

The unicorn seemed interested in what he was eating, letting out cheeps and chirps.  Turning back to the food he looked at the things that seemed edible.  The fried eggs were enjoyable, seasoned with a spice he wasn’t familiar with.  Rich people and their foreign spices.  If only he had utensils.  Eating with his hands was not pleasant.  The sunflower seeds were odd but manageable, and once more seasoned with a strange spice.

Seeing a flash of something in the corner of his eyes, Anon quickly turned to the unicorn.  There was a barely noticeable glow to the horn that mysteriously vanished out of sight.

The horse gave him a smile.  He looked at what she was doing, seeing a pad of paper in front of her with a quill and ink bottle, along with something scribbled on the papers.

“How are you taking notes?”

The unicorn whistled, forcing a large smile.  ‘Likely magnets,’ he thought with a shake of his head.

The last item looked like hay.  The horse waited for him to eat some.  Anon had never eaten hay, and he wished he never had.  He let out a cough, disgusted, wiping the food off his tongue and back on to the plate.

Anon glanced at the unicorn, watching it write down on the paper with its mouth.  He blinked.  Such an unnatural act, yet it worked.  Shaking his head he looked back at the tray.

Nodding to itself the unicorn fluidly wrote a final passage before letting out a whistle.  She placed the work underneath the tray, getting up, and taking the tray back out of the room.  Staring at the door Anon got up to follow, to see if he could get the door open.  He came to a halt, staring at the floor.  The mess from before had vanished.

A chill ran up his spine.  “How did she clean up the spill without me noticing?”

Walking to the door, he found it once again locked.  “Not unexpected,” he spoke, walking back to the bed.

He laid down, hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling.  “None of this makes sense.”

Why would Gleekman kidnap him and force him through all these trials?  And why was he using an animated green horse?  The more he tried to think about it the more confused he was.  Before long his thoughts turned sluggish, his eyes feeling heavy before he drifted off.

…A shuffling outside of the door woke him up.  He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he looked around the room.  Not much had changed, other than the light from the window seemed to have moved.  A yawn escaped him.  He sat up, straightening his clothing to feel more comfortable.

Before long, the unicorn walked in, armed with a smile.  She took a seat at the entrance, keeping its distance from him.

Slowly, it raised a hoof to herself, patting her chest.  “~+Lyra!+~”

She repeated this process a few times, singing the same thing to him.  All Anon could do was stare at her, confused.  Was it a greeting?  A code?

Pouting, her ears twitched as she brought a hoof to her chin in thought.  It seemed she had a eureka moment as she pointed to herself, singing once more.  She then pointed at Anon, doing nothing.  Then herself once more, singing her song.

‘Ah.  She’s introducing herself, I think.  So let me guess: I’m going to have to learn how to sing to talk.’   He sniffed, looking unamused.

So, singing.  It would be a difficult act to pull off.  He was a terrible singer, simply couldn’t hold a proper tune.  His first attempt had the unicorn flinch, ears flattened against her head.  Anon, admittedly, found her reaction funny.  Clearing his throat he practiced once more, trying to pull off his best serenade.

Unfortunately, he was never a man meant for the stage.  Every single note was torn apart under his vocal cords.  He just could not hold a melody to save his life.  How terrible a fate one must have, in need of a tune to speak.

It took some time, and a great deal of effort, but he felt he was making some ground.

“~+Lee,res.  Ly-yy-,ra.  Ly,yrie.  Ly… Ly-rah.  Lyira.  Ly-ra.  Ly-ra.+~”

The unicorn seemed happy at his last attempt, clapping her hooves in delight.  It was a butchered existence, his garbled singing.

She pointed a hoof at him, then at her mouth.  It didn’t take much thought for him to know she wanted his name.  He pointed a finger to his mouth, trying to be as calm and clear as possible.  “Anon.  Anon.  A…nooon.  Anon.”

Her ears twitched, frowning at what he said.  He agreed with her expression.  Compared to her singing his form of communication sounded like someone was beating their face into the ground.  She moved her jaw around, trying to form the words.

“Aaaaaccckck—” She coughed, unused to her throat making such forced movements.  “Aawiwwnnmuuuunn.  Aaahhhhnnnnooooeen.”  She continued coughing, straining her chords to perform.

“Close enough?” he shrugged with a small smile.

The unicorn gave him a wide grin.  She continued practicing his name, trying to repeat it without choking on her tongue.

Happy with her progress she stood up, exiting the room.  It returned immediately with the tray before, only this time it was filled with nothing but apples and eggs piled on it.  On the side was a simple glass of water.

As previously occurred, she took out her parchment with a quill and ink bottle and stared at him.  It was creepy, in his eyes, how it wanted to record him eating.  Or at least, how it appeared as such.  Looking at the tray, he once again saw no utensils.  Was he really going to be forced to eat with his hands again?

Grumbling in annoyance he picked up an egg in his hands.  He attempted to eat as much of the eggs as he could, taking in apples on the side and drinking all the water.  His hunger was apparent as he had eaten almost the entirety of the tray.

Finding himself stuffed he pushed the plate away on the tray, hoping it would signal that he had had enough.

A purr was heard from the unicorn as it finished up it's writing.  Placing its tools on the tray she gave him a wave before leaving the room once more.  He was feeling much better after getting something in his stomach.  Still feeling exhausted he laid back down on the bed.

Anon gave his predicament some thought.  The house, from what little information he had, was tied to the unicorn, which had appeared in the forest of red.

He frowned.  “Am I still in the forest?”

Even if he wanted to escape, he’d simply be running around trees, and who knew what was out there for him to stumble upon.  More freaks of nature and whatever else could be cooked up for him to encounter.  Leaving would be quite a challenge.

“Gleekman’s own little Fantasy Island, and I’m it’s sole visitor.”

His situation looked dire.  Anon hoped for a way to get out, or for someone to find the place and collect him before Gleekman started to ramp things up.

Until then, he simply had to go along with whatever Gleekman has planned and stay as proper of a guest for the unicorn.

Closing his eyes he could feel himself nodding off to sleep.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

“Do-do-do-do-doooo!  Do-do-do-do-doooo.  Hmmm-hmm, hmmm-hmm…”

Lyra nodded her head to the song, engrossed in her writing.  She was writing down an extended account of the observations that had taken place.  The morning meal was a bit of a mess, she would make sure not to serve any hot liquids again.  Its evening meal was much better, and it told her a good measure of how much it could ingest on a regular basis.  The alien looked full so there would be less served to conserve on funds.

Her third meeting with the alien was a memorable one for her.   A warm, fuzzy feeling spread through her, knowing the alien knew her name.  Or at least could say it.  Kind of.

Its name was difficult to pronounce in its language.  Lyra had to slow down a lot of her normal speaking patterns just to say it appropriately, and even then it came out stilted and garbled.  It was clear she would not be going anywhere with trying to learn its language, it genuinely hurt her throat.  The alien though seemed quite capable of learning how to speak their language.

A door could be heard being slammed open, she jumped from the sound.  Turning around she could see Bon Bon standing at the front door.  Excited, and wanting to share her day, Lyra jumped off her seat to greet her friend.  Her steps slowed, noticing Bon Bon was standing on her hind legs with a rather large golf club in her front hooves.

“Okay, where’s the monster?!”  Bon Bon looked around frantically, taking a few steps in.  “Just point me in the direction so we can wrap this up and I can get the local guard to help and—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!  Wait!”  Lyra held a hoof up in defense.  “What’s going on?!  What are you doing?!”

“I can ask you the same thing Lyra.  Bringing another creature into our house, are you mad?”

Blinking, Lyra let out a chuckle, realizing where the confusion was coming from.  “Bon Bon, there’s no monster here.  It’s a real alien!”

Her friend glared.  “Oh, sure.  Right.  Just like the time you thought that costumed pony last Nightmare Night was from the ‘Nether’ and you foalnapped her for a week!”

“A small mistake!”

“Or the time you brought back that naga and all its friends came to the village looking for it!”

“I remember that!  That was really funny when they were hollering at Mayor Mare.  Heh…”

“Look, Lyra.  I get it.  You’ll always be pursuing your dreams.  It’s just who you are.  But you know the drill: I tolerate your actions and you help me drag the creature back to wherever it came from, hopefully before anything happens.”

She walked past the amused unicorn, deciding to head up the stairs toward their rooms.  “Now let’s go and get－”  Bon Bon squeaked, feeling herself being lifted into the air.  A green hue could be seen around her, giving an indication that it was her friend doing the heavy lifting.  “Let me down THIS.  INSTANT.  LYRA!”

The unicorn levitated her friend toward her,  “Look.  Bonnie.  I get it.  You’re used to me messing up on these kinds of things a lot.  It’s just who I am.”  Her friend glowered at her, unamused at Lyra’s words.  “But this time it’s the real deal!  I have proof to show you I’m not making all this up!”

Moving her friend with her she walked up to her desk, taking out the scroll from the princesses.  “See?  I got permission from Princess Celestia to work with it and everything!”

Bon Bon stared at Lyra, barely giving the scroll a glance.  Lyra rolled her eyes, “Just look at the scroll, Bonnie.”

Levitating it to her face Bon Bon, forced to read the scroll, turned to shock, slowly realizing it wasn’t another false alarm she was used to.

“So the thing you brought here…”

Lyra shook her head up and down.  “Yep!  It’s a real alien!”

“Not something fake, nor costumed up or mistaken identity?”

“It’s the genuine deal!”

Bon Bon was lowered to the ground.  “How did you manage to bring it back here?”

“The hooman didn’t seem capable of much when I took it out of the forest.”

“It’s a hooman?!  But I thought those were just dreams you had!”

“Eh, yeah.  So did I.  Never imagined they could be real.  Maybe I’ve actually been dreaming of other worlds this entire time?”

“You can’t tell the princesses about your dreams in your reports.”

“I know that!  They would think I’m some crazy nutter and put me in the stablehouse!  No, all my information has to be done by scratch, unfortunately.”

The two of them walked over to the couch, taking seats beside one another.  “So there’s really an alien in your room right now?” Bon Bon asked.

“Yep!  It’s very tired for some reason, probably from how it got here in the first place.  Not exactly sure how just yet, didn’t see any kind of transport vehicle or runes.”

“An accidental teleport?”

“That’s what I’m thinking,” Lyra agreed.  “I’m not getting a sense that it knows much about magic.  So I’m thinking something or someone mistakenly pulled it from somewhere and dumped it out in the forest.”

“We can always ask it once the hooman wakes up.”

The unicorn shook her head, “The hooman can’t understand us, nor can I understand it.  Our language is too incompatible at the moment, though I hope to teach it ours.  Its language hurts to speak.”

Bon Bon frowned, staring at her friend.  “I remember what you told me about your dreams, you heard them speak about their ways and who they are.  How did you understand them there but not now?”

“I－” Lyra paused.  “I’m not entirely sure.  Maybe the dreams just allowed me to hear things from their perspective?”

“I guess that makes sense…”

“I’ll learn their language in time.  At the moment I’ll teach it ours so it can communicate with more than just me.  I’ll be getting basic data from it for my reports to the princess.  I bet I could even get you assigned as my personal assistant.  She did mention the possibility of bits to help with things should they be needed.”

“Do you really think they’d pay you for this work?  I can’t exactly take time off from my job to help without knowing we’ll be financially fine.”

“They’ll totally be fine with it!  Every awesome project, led by an equally awesome mare, needs an awesome assistant.  Sadly for me, I couldn’t find any awesome assistants but you’ll surely do for the time being!”

Bon Bon playfully shoved Lyra, forcing a chuckle out.  “It would be nice to take a break from making and selling candy.  Never did care for doing it during the fall.”  She let out a grunt, feeling her friend hugging her.

“This’ll be so much fun!  The two of us, working on a new frontier no one else has ever done before!  Just make sure to listen to my very professional words as I AM the leading expert on aliens around these parts.”

Bon Bon laughed, just as a growl came from her stomach.  Looking at the table in front of her she took an apple slice from a plate conveniently placed there.

‘Should I tell her the alien was eating from that?’ Lyra watched her friend enjoying the apple slice without much thought.  ‘Maybe I’ll keep that to myself.’

“So,” Bon Bon started, having finished her third apple slice, “can I see it?”

Lyra blinked.  “Um… sure?  I don’t see why not.  It’s probably sleeping though so be very quiet.”

The two mares silently made their way up the stairs.  Lighting up her horn, Lyra unlocked the door, cracking it open for them to slowly make their way in.  It was semi-dark, making it hard to see much of the place.  In the far end toward the middle of the room was Lyra’s bed with the hooman napping.

Walking up to it Bon Bon stood toward its head, staring at the face.  “It’s so… ponylike.”

“It was weird for me too, at first.”

The two of them stared at the alien, its chest slowly rising and falling with each breath.  Lyra nudged her friend, motioning her head to the door.  She got the gist, following her friend back outside.  Locking it up once more the two of them returned to the couch downstairs.  There, Lyra gave a quick explanation of what was needed from her friend should she decide to help as an assistant.

“And at the end of every week, I’ll send a report to Princess Celestia.  You’ve seen me do this with my normal work so you know what that’s about.  I should get a reply from her soon after she works over what I sent her.”

“This doesn’t seem so difficult from what I initially thought.  You’ll likely need help teaching it our language though.”  Bon Bon patted her chin in thought.  “Maybe if we talk to Twilight－”

“NO!” Lyra hollered out.  “We are NOT letting that crazy mare here!  I still remember some of the things she’s done with her magic learning and experiments.”

“I don’t think she’s that bad.”

Lyra narrowed her eyes.  “There have been numerous accounts of her doing odd things with her magic.  Remember the time she turned that tree sentient?  All it would do was yell about its praise to the sun, whacking any pony that came near while throwing apples all over the place.”

“Applejack did have a hard time for a few weeks with that.  Never had a tree buck her back before like that.”  Bon Bon cleared her throat.  “Okay, Twilight probably isn’t a good idea from past experience.”

“We’ll work with the alien for the time being by ourselves, learning from it and teaching what we can.  Then, when needed, we can find help as we hit roadblocks.”

“What exactly is the point to all of this?  What are we leading to?”

The unicorn gave her friend a confused look.  “We’re going to try and bring it out into our society.”

“Why?”

“It’s a showing!  We do this, it’ll show we ponies can truly adapt to just about anything!  We can help assimilate others into our culture with just a little work on our end.  And who likes the idea of merely holding the alien away in a cage?  What if for some reason it has a purpose for coming here?  Or perhaps it’s lost and scared?  We shouldn’t treat it like some wild animal in a cage.”

“Fine, alright.  I get your point.”

“I’ll be trying to talk with it some more tomorrow, see what its limits to our language are.  I’m hoping you’ll be there to introduce yourself.”

“That might not be possible Lyra, I’ll need to tell certain pony’s I’ll be taking time off from my business.  I will be back as soon as I can afterward.”  Bon Bon stopped, yawning as she stood up from her seat.  “Right now I think I need to get some sleep, I want to get an early start in the morning to get this all done as soon as possible.  I’ll hopefully see you sometime in the afternoon.”

“Enjoy your night!” Lyra said, watching her friend walk to her room.

Cleaning up her workspace Lyra sat down at her desk, continuing her current project dealing with the alien and what she had done so far that day.  It was another two hours before she eventually finished her work, finding her focus starting to wane.  Rubbing her eyes she placed her quill down and got up from her seat.  Turning the lights off she settled into her couch, letting out a yawn as she drifted off to sleep, plans on the alien being the last thoughts on her mind.

~ End Chapter Two ~







Chapter Three - Mare Look At That Body



A loud slam rang out in the room, abruptly shaking Lyra from her sleep.

“Whaa!”  She screamed out, falling to the ground from the couch.

Looking at the clock on the wall, Lyra saw it was too early in the morning to be waking up.  ‘Darn it Bonnie’, Lyra thought, getting up with a groan.

Shaking off the sleep she sniffed the air, having noticed an unpleasant smell that was coming from her.  “Yuck…” Clearly, it was time for a bath.

She walked over to her belongings, going through it for her soaps.  ‘Thank goodness Bon Bon did wake me up’, Lyra thought. ‘Now I have some time to bathe’.

Thinking about her friend, she found herself enjoying the idea of having her helping alongside the alien.  It would be fun, ordering her around, doing just about anything that she wanted. Lyra cackled, wondering what she could get her to do.

Clearing her throat from the silly thoughts, she found her toiletries.  Gathering it all, Lyra headed up the stairs toward her friend's room to use her bathroom.  Trying to enter, she noticed that Bon Bon had the room locked in a more conventional manner: A lock requiring a physical key.  Rolling her eyes, Lyra lit her horn up, forming a lock picking set in front of her.

Ten minutes later, a bedraggled and irritated Lyra eventually popped the lock.  It had been some time since she had broken into a door with a lockset lined with magical defenses.  Standing up straight Lyra felt triumphant in her work as she walked in the room. ‘Hot bath, here I—’

“Aaaah!”  A twang, a snap, and Lyra found herself hoisted in the air, trapped in a net.

Bon Bon was likely paranoid with the alien so close and found a reason to set them up in her room.  ‘Although, Bonnie also doesn’t like me in her room, something about going through her stuff.’

Forming a spell, Lyra fashioned a pair of scissors, cutting through the netting that was thankfully devoid of magical anti-charms.  Lyra, having cut a hole, dropped out of the net—

“Gyaaah!”  A trick, a second snatch; Lyra found herself back in the air once more.  “DARN IT, BONNIE!”

She kicked her hooves in the netting, flinging herself about, screaming in anger at being caught again.  As unhelpful it was with the current situation, it did make her feel better about it.

‘Bonnie always did believe in having backups to everything’, her inner voice spoke as she tried calming herself.   Actually looking around, she spotted several more traps that were partially hidden. Those were likely decoys to the ones hidden.

“It might be a better idea to try showering in my own room until I can talk to Bon Bon about this.”

Shredding the net into little strips, feeling all the better for doing so, she dropped to the ground in a crouch, ready to jump to the side should another activate.  Not seeing anything coming out to grab her, Lyra left the room exactly as she entered, heading toward her own.

Unlocking her door, she quietly opened it, noticing the hooman had not woken up.  Locking the door behind her, Lyra silently moved forward toward her bathroom. ‘Just a quick bath and I’m out of there, then I can fig－”

“Whaaah!”  A trip, a squawk, and Lyra found herself on the floor.  “Whyyyyyyyyy?” she muffled, face against the floor.

Looking at where she had tripped, she noticed a small indention in the floor, the exact same one she had tripped on yesterday.  A hateful glare was shot at the culprit responsible. She could feel the fear oozing from the floor, her menacing expression clearly too much for it to handle.



‘I will repair you and end your existence foul one!’

Lighting her horn up for a simple reparation spell, she stopped, having heard something creak.  Turning towards the noise, she could see the alien looking at her.

Caught in the act, Lyra deactivated the spell, chuckling at the alien.  Grabbing her toiletries in her mouth, Lyra stared at the alien as it stared back.  She blinked at it, with it blinking back in response.

Smiling at the hooman, nearly dropping the towel in the process, she slowly walked backwards towards her bathroom door, bumping into it.  She kicked it open before entering. Slamming it shut, she locked it with magic, preventing it from coming before slumping to the ground.

Sighing from relief, she rubbed her forehead in frustration.  “Maybe it didn’t see my magic?

Filling the bathtub, she was ready to cleanse the filth from her.  Lowering herself in, Lyra could feel her muscles started to relax, the heat melting into her body.

“Hmmm.”

‘Oh yeah, just soak it all in, Lyra.’

Humming, she levitated over the soap, scrubbing it into her fur, getting rid of all the icky dirt.  She could practically hear the grime crying out in agony, their wails filling her with glee. A splash from her tail threw water onto her body, drowning their pleas as they gurgled in anguish.  Their cries for mercy remained unheard by her wicked aquamarine ears.

Feeling clean, Lyra stepped out of her tub and proceeded to pamper herself, drying her mane, brushing it plenty of times, and making sure it glistened in just the way she liked it.

Grabbing all her soaps, Lyra cleaned the bathroom up before exiting with a jaunty step.  She halted, having forgotten about the hooman in her room. It sat on her bed, staring at her with… was that amusement?  Standing there, Lyra waved at the alien; the hooman proceeded to imitate her actions. The hooman, just then noticing her towel, looked at the bathroom, then back to Lyra with a furrowed brow.

“~+Um, unicorn?  Is there a…+~” It exhaled, smacking its forehead, confusing Lyra.  “~+Have to play along, it supposedly can’t understand me.+~” The hooman started moving its paw to its chest, rubbing it over itself before pointing at her, then to the bathroom.

It didn’t take her long to understand what it meant.  “Oh, you want to bathe too!”

‘There’s probably no harm in allowing that, right?’

Undoing her towel, she took the soap out of it and placed it on the ground, pushing it forward.  Lyra, backing up, watched it grab the soap with its soft digits, frowning at the bottle’s image, a pony with bubbles surrounding it.  It then walked to the bathroom, closing the door behind it.

‘I hope the image didn’t upset it’.  She started to wonder if certain iconography could offend hoomans.  Something to look into.

Dropping what she had downstairs and grabbing a spare towel, she came back to the room, hearing the sound of water running.  Opening the bathroom as quietly as she could, she walked in, the steam making it difficult to see.

She noticed the alien's garments strewn about the floor.  It was an odd thing, seeing a being wearing clothing so much.  Was it really necessary for the hooman? She noticed in her dreams every single one of them had something on at all times.

Humming to herself, she placed the towel on the counter, heading back downstairs to grab her hamper.  It was best to collect its clothing to get them cleaned, not wanting to risk it getting sick.

Walking in she saw the alien now out of the shower, looking at the towel in a curious manner.  Quickly noticing Lyra, the alien hollered, jumping back inside the tub while trying to cover itself.  She also learned the gender of the hooman.

‘Yep’, Lyra thought with a blush, ‘that is definitely a he, no doubt about it one bit’.  Not that she was… looking or anything.

She quickly grabbed his nasty clothing, slamming the door right behind her to give him privacy, barely giving notice to him yelling at her.  Taking the bedding's before leaving, she locked the door behind her and hopped back downstairs, heading straight to the kitchen.

Throwing the alien’s clothing to the floor, Lyra started up an old spell of hers, watching as the beddings went to the sink and began cleaning themselves.  Making sure to carefully clean each article of the alien’s clothing, she started to document each piece, taking pictures and writing down anything worth noting.



There were many similarities to their own garments, but what she saw before her was incredibly fascinating.  The stitching was of different styles and the material felt denser to her. Many more pockets as well. Everything was also a shade of blue, perhaps a dominant color in their society or preferred color.  Excitement coursed through her, seeing the writing on tags, finding alien language. She wrote it all down, hoping to decipher it later.

She was on the final pieces, the bottoms of the alien.  “These hoomans sure do love their pockets.”

She could see a pocket bulging out.  It revealed a few items: A flat gray rectangle with strange noodle-like appendages, a cylindrically shaped item with a bottom-top, and a folded piece of cloth with things stuck inside it.

“Alien gear!”

Just what could they be?  Did they do anything special for him?  Did they make cool things cooler?

She looked down at the items, frowning.  The alien would probably notice if she did anything with them.  It’s likely she would injure them in some way examining the items.  She pouted, upset with the thought of returning the items untouched.

Taking some pictures, thinking it’ll have to do, for the time being, she levitated the rest of the clothing over and attached them to the cleaning spell.  She sat down, watching all the clothing being scrubbed, soaped, rinsed, and dried.

Seeing the magic wrapping up, the last pieces of clothing were deposited on top of the pile now sitting inside the clothing hamper.  Levitating the hamper back up to the room she headed straight to the bathroom. Inside, she saw the hooman, leaned against the far wall with the towel wrapped around its lower half.

The alien gave her a look as a slight flush of red appeared on its face.

“It’s clean, Mr. Alien.”

Lyra pushed the hamper forward, giving him a smile, before returning downstairs.  She grabbed her scrolls on the work she had just done, placing them in her work area.  Thinking of what she should do next, her stomach rumbled.

“The alien’s probably hungry as well,” Lyra reasoned, as she entered the kitchen to prepare something for the both of them.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

A few hours had passed by after Lyra had fed the hooman, giving it eggs and bread.  She had noticed he immediately made a sandwich out of them, showing what she thought might have been disgust at touching the eggs with its bare paws.  She wrote down to look into some proper eating utensils for him.

Other than that, she checked up on him roughly by the hour while she reorganized her work.  The hooman had started to look bored out of its mind, but there wasn’t much Lyra could help preoccupy its time.

“Hmmm…”  She tapped the desk.  ‘Maybe I could give it some puzzle games.’

Without fanfare, the front door opened, Bon Bon having come back.  “Hey Lyra, I just got—” A face full of Lyra’s lettuce and tomato sandwich was thrown into her face.

“Why’d you set up all those stupid traps up in your room?!”

Bon Bon wiped the mess off, throwing it in the trash.  “Is it so wrong of me to think ahead should the alien go on a mad rampage?”

“…Why’d you only trap your room then?” Lyra asked with narrowed eyes.

“...Why’d you go into my room, to begin with?”

“I needed a bath!  I can’t be going into my room to do that, Bonnie!”  Lyra shook her head. “After taking my bath he went in after me for a shower as well, just so you’re aware of that.  Got some good pictures on the clothing he wore.”

“He?  How do you know it’s a male?”

“He physically looks like a male, right?  So I’m going with 'he'.” Bon Bon lifted a brow as Lyra turned her head with a blush.  “I may have also mistakenly seen him without his clothes on. He didn’t seem to like being seen nude.”

“Not the weirdest thing I was expecting to hear,” she said, looking at the pictures.  “I don’t get it, they look like regular clothing if you ignore who they were made for.”

“The materials don’t look like anything on our planet, especially with most of our fabrics having magic weaved in them.  And look at the patterns, and the stitching.” Lyra pushed some more pictures forward. “I also got images on its devices.”

“Do you know what they are?”

“No, but I’m certain I can figure it out once we teach the hooman our language.”

“If that’s even possible.”

“He managed to learn my name in one day so I’m certain he can learn our language!”

“It managing to say your name doesn’t mean it learned anything.”  Bon Bon stared at the pictures. “Have you considered how we’ll get more clothing for the alien once it starts to wear out or when it needs something new?”

“I’ve thought about Rarity being involved in making some things, though, I’m worried she might say something to others.  Can you imagine if Twilight got word of this? Or the media?”

“Let’s just focus on what the princess needs for now.”  Bon Bon sat there, watching Lyra as she wrote away. “I’m assuming you already figured out its dietary needs?”

“Yes, I brought it up some food to try out and went with the flow of things, watching what it liked and didn’t.”

“That’s…”  Bon Bon stared at her.  “Is this really all there is to it?  I was expecting to see some of the instruments from those old fogies up in Canterlot you always talk about using.”  Lyra noticeably slowed down in her writing, her head tilted away. “Like this food, we’re feeding the alien. Just because it can eat it and have some semblance of enjoying it, does that really mean it’s good for it?

“And what about things like the water here or if it had used other products of ours; who’s to say if that’s any good for it?”  Lyra flattened her ears. “And hay, what about magic? I know you mentioned in your dreams they don’t use magic like our world.  It’s any wonder something hasn’t randomly hurt it somehow. Isn’t there some way to check things over more appropriately?”

Lyra put down her quill and looked away, “There is… but there’s a problem with it.”

Bon Bon looked at her questioningly.  “So instead of using methods we know work, you’re just going to wing it until either something does or doesn’t happen?  That’s rather reckless.”

“The method I’m talking about involves using a spell designed to fill into the target and examine it as thoroughly as possible, checking over its body along with a plethora of other things.  Think of it like those checkup spells at the hospital but vastly improved and more difficult to use.”

“I’m surprised you know of such a spell,” she admitted.

“It’s sort of a requirement for me to know, but that’s beside the point.  The problem is it was designed for our planet's inhabitants, not alien beings.  I don’t know what magic will do to it so it’s a risk. I’m not sure how I should go about this.”

“But Lyra, you already levitated it here with your magic, or am I to believe you dragged the alien all the way to your room from the forest?”

“That’s completely different and you know it.  All I was doing was grabbing the particles around him, not him directly.”

Bon Bon placed her front hooves on Lyra’s shoulders as she looked directly at her.  “It’s understandable you want to keep it safe and sound. But here’s something you didn’t take into account: its own pathogens.”  The neutral, calm face of Bon Bon started to strain itself, tightening on her words. “That is the one thing worrying me out of everything as it’s becoming very clear it doesn’t have any magic and isn’t very strong or it’d have escaped by now.

“And honestly, I could care less if it implodes on itself moment you begin using your magic on it so long as it means nobody else catches whatever it may be carrying!”

Lyra bent her head back at that.  ‘Eesh! That’s pretty morbid, Bonnie!’

“So let’s go upstairs so you can finally perform your darn spell already and we can be done with this!  Grab whatever you need for this and let’s go!”

Lyra reluctantly agreed with her friend, “Okay, you’re right.  We’ll have to make a report about this since we’re using magic.”

“And the princess will be thankful after knowing the circumstances.”

Lyra looked underneath her desk, opening a secret compartment holding different documents and magical implements.  Taking a rather large folder that involved the spell she would use, she slowly made her way to the room.

She knew she should have done the spell from the beginning but was too frightened at what could happen.  Yet, Bon Bon had made a good point; not doing this could, in fact, have dire consequences on their people.  Finally reaching her door, she saw Bon Bon walk right beside her.

“…Did you just run into your room to put on a lab coat?”

Bon Bon shrugged her shoulders, “Yes, it makes me feel better about this.”

“How did you get a lab coat in the first place?  And why a lab coat?”

“Because,” she replied.  She then proceeded to stare at the door, waiting for Lyra.

Shaking her head, she unlocked the door, the two of them entered the room that hopefully wasn’t filled with bacterial death.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Dull, tedious, uneventful… quiet.  Too quiet. Anon laid on the bed, staring at the ceiling.  With a lack of stimuli, his thoughts kept coming back to Gleekman, and that was something he wanted to clear his head.  It made him angrier the more he thought about the man’s moronic, harebrained actions. Worrying about what happened and what he might be going through was doing him no good.

He tried to keep his mind preoccupied with other things.  His iPod had died already and with nothing to charge it, he was left with no music.  Any attempts at looking out the window failed, the boards not allowing him to see anything.  The unicorn checked on him at brief intervals. Gleekman had to make sure he was still breathing, after all.  Or to screw with him, as evidenced by the bathroom scene.

His thoughts halted, having heard the noise at the door.  ‘The unicorn must be checking up on me again’, he thought, sitting up for her arrival.

Watching the door, it opened with the green unicorn walking alongside an additional horse.  It had similarities to the unicorn, just without the horn. It also had a change in color, being a pale-yellowish coat and an irregular hairdo colored different hues of purple.  On top of it all, she wore a white coat, adding to the oddities Anon had seen.

He internally shook his head at Gleekman and what he was seeing.  The fascination with little horses was concerning.

The hornless horse gave Anon a strange look, keeping her distance near the door.  “~+Go ahead Lyra, work your magic.+~”

“~+Just hold on, I need to do it slowly!  I don’t want the hooman to freak out.+~”

They started to chirp at one another, Anon enraptured by what was happening.  Sitting still, he watched as the unicorn walked up to him. She placed a folder beside her, turning to him.

“~+Please don’t be scared,+~” she tweeted.

Head tilted forward, Anon felt him involuntarily arching his back.  The coated horse looked at him, as if ready to jump at him from any signs he’d move.  Was her role to guard the door?

‘Just what is going on?’

Anon’s attention turned to the unicorn as her horn began to glow a tinted green.  It then changed to bright white, pulsing around her horn. Before he could comprehend what was happening, the light jolted out from the tip, hitting him square in the stomach.  He shut his eyes, reeling back for what was assuredly going to be painful.

…Not feeling any harm, Anon opened his eyes.  He looked down at his body, seeing the light pulsating from her horn into his body.  A strange tingling sensation could be felt slowly building in intensity.

Abruptly, the tingle spread throughout his body.  Whatever she was doing, he could feel it relaxing everything in his body.  From the tips of his fingers to the bottom of his toes, it was as if she commanded the very cells in his body to sleep.  Another light pulled away from him, entering the folder with strange scripture, the pages flipping wildly.

He started to lull off, yet something kept him awake.  A quick, sharp dose of pain could be felt around his head that forced him to sit upright, yet almost immediately whatever tinkered in his head drew back as his body relaxed once more.

His muscles then started to contract in small doses.  It added to the odd sensation he felt. It was as if he was relaxed yet active, lethargic yet hyper.  He couldn’t describe whatever was happening to him.

And then, it was done.  Everything vanished. Anon slumped over, eyes shut as exhaustion settle in.  He gulped down heavy breathes, barely feeling in control of his body from whatever the unicorn had done.  Clicking noises could be heard along with a soprano that felt directed at him. Forcing himself, he opened his eyes and tilted his head up.  The unicorn stood inches from him with teary eyes.

“~+Are you okay?+~” she tweeted.

Unable to do anything, Anon let out a groan before he closed his eyes, hoping to catch his breath before he responded.  His last thoughts were of kicking the crap out of Gleekman for everything.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

“Oomph!”

The hooman landed right on top of Lyra, falling unconscious.  “Lyra!” Bon Bon yelled as she ran up to her, thinking she was in danger.

Lyra waved her off before she levitated his body off of her and onto the bed.  “I’m fine Bonnie, the hooman fell unconscious after my spell, that’s all.”

“Sorry, it… looked like it was attacking you,” she muttered, looking embarrassed.

A smile spread across Lyra’s face before a giggle slipped out.  Bon Bon sighed as Lyra stood back up. The two of them made their way downstairs, Bon Bon turning to Lyra.  “So what did the spell say?”

“Silly, spells don’t speak!”

She gave her a deadpanned look at her remark.  “The papers, Lyra, what did the spell write down?”

Lyra rolled her eyes at her friend's refusal to play along.  Flipping through the pages, her brow furrowed confusion. She passed through each page, her confusion growing.

“Uuuuugh…”

“Lyra, words!  You can speak them!”

“I-gher,hwhaaa—”

“You can do it, girl!  Speak!”

“I… Uh…”  Lyra slowed down her page-turning to look at Bon Bon.  “The pages… they’re nothing but gibberish.”

“…What?”

“I mean, look!”  Lyra turned the folder toward Bon Bon, showing a page that was supposed to be filled with words about the hooman’s biology.  Instead, large black blocks sat in the empty spaces where information should be. Bon Bon looked at Lyra, then to the folder, and then back to Lyra.

“Uuuuugh—”

“I know!”  Lyra flipped through more pages in utter disbelief.  “These pages are supposed to be filled with descriptions on the target.  From its biology all the way down to describing its genetic makeup! It should have been very thorough in its work, telling us about all the inner workings inside him!  This… I don’t know what this is!”

Bon Bon grew worried.  “So we have no idea what to do.”

“…Yeah.”

“Is there anything we did wrong?”

Lyra rubbed her forehead.  “The only thing I did differently was stopping the spell from reaching his head.  I could sense it was hurting him the moment it tried touching his brain, so I pulled back.”  She threw open her folder once more to flip at more pages. “That might have been what stopped some of the spells to work correctly, but even then I should still have more here.  What is going on h—” She paused, looking at a page.

“What now?!”

She looked at Bon Bon, then the folder.  “Some of the pages are filled.” She read a page, working out its contents.  “It’s about the magic in his body.”

“What about his magic?  Is it doing something wrong?”

“That’s just it; he has no magic in him!”

“Lyra, that’s not exactly that abnormal.  I don’t have any magic, as do many other beings.”

“No, I mean he has absolutely no magic in him, absolutely.  There’s not a trace of it. That's just… it defies logic!” Lyra sat down at her desk as she read the papers thoroughly.  “Everything has magic in them, everything. Why didn’t he have magic coming here?”

“Could that be why your papers aren’t filled?”

“It’s possible.  Or it’s just because he’s an alien.”  She let out a groan. “I’m not sure. The spell was meant to collect data from whatever is targeted, but it was never really meant for things so alien, as it appears.”

“What does this mean for us, the alien not having magic?”

Lyra dryly laughed, “Oh, it has magic.”

Bon Bon looked both confused and angered, “You just said it didn’t have any.”

Lyra continued to read at her work for a moment before answering, “His body is adapting to our world.  Magic is slowly being absorbed, forming a small pool in him to better integrate with things .” She read some more before continuing, “It appears to be boosting his immune system.  Our world’s magic also seems to be removing any kind of pathogen that can hurt him, or us.”

“So it’s, what?  Harmonizing with our world?” Bon Bon asked, giving pause to Lyra.

“I think that might be it.  I just don’t know how to explain the magic of the world adapting to him.”

“Or more like the magic adapting him to it.”

Lyra looked at her work, going through it more closely to see if there was anything else she might have missed.  “It’s not like the hooman will be capable of using it, it doesn’t have any way to channel it out of him properly.”

“So it’s safe?”

“As far as its germs and whatnot for us, yes.”  Bon Bon let out a sigh. “And I don’t think our germs can really hurt it due to its alien biology.  It might be capable of catching colds, but that should be about it.”

“Is there anything else that your papers say, or what should we do next?”

“Any magic should be avoided for the time being; at least until he’s better adapted to whatever is happening to him.  And we need to avoid any kind of mental magic on him.” Lyra tapped a hoof on the desk, looking at her work.

“So we need more info on the hooman’s body, right?”

“Anything other than what we have would be helpful.”

“This is going to sound strange, but what about getting Fluttershy’s help?”  Lyra blinked, looking at her friend. “She deals with a ton of animals all the time.  She can easily spot things about a creature just by looking at them. And most importantly, she’ll stay quiet about all this.”

“She helped me quite a bit back at the academy with my ethology and zoology classes.  She might be able to steer us in the right direction.” Lyra nodded her head, getting up from her seat.  “Good idea, Bonnie! We’ll just need to fix up some eggs real quick before we head out and ask her for help.”

“Why do we need to make eggs?” Bon Bon asked as she followed Lyra to the kitchen.

“It’s for the hooman in case it gets hungry while we’re away,” she answered, starting up the stove.  “I can’t wait to talk to her. It’s been a while since we’ve spoken!”

“We’ll have to be sure we ease her into this so she doesn’t freak out, Lyra.”

“Pshh, I know that.”

“Let’s just hurry with the eggs before it gets dark.”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Fluttershy’s cabin was on the edge of the Everfree, giving her a great deal of privacy from the townsfolk.  The trip through the town was relatively quiet for the two. As late as it was, no one was out and about to share a hello or give a wave, as the townsfolk generally would.  Lyra wasn’t exactly in the mood to talk to anyone at that current moment, preferring the nice simple stroll to the outskirts of the town. It certainly gave her some relief to not be seen at the moment.

“Bonnie,” Lyra droned, “why are you still wearing the lab coat?”

“Because.”

Walking up to the house, animals could be seen running about the place.  A little haven for all the critters, it was practically a vacation home for the occupants of the forest.  The two kept their distance as they looked around, spotting the yellow pegasus feeding the animals in her yard.

“Hey, Flutters!” Lyra hollered.

Fluttershy turned her head, appearing surprised to have visitors.  Depositing the rest of the food, she walked over the two. “Hello Lyra, Bon Bon,” she greeted with a smile.  “How are you two doing today?”

“We’re doing just fine,” Bon Bon answered.  “We came over because we thought you could help us with a problem.”

“A problem?  I’m not sure what you’d need my help, but it’d be rude to not help a friend in need.”

“We should probably tell you about it inside your home,” Lyra said, “it’s not something we can let others know about.”

“I… okay?”  Fluttershy looked confused as she turned to her home, inviting them in.  Walking inside, Lyra could see more animals scurrying across the floor. Upon noticing the newcomers, they ran into their holes, hiding from the new faces.  “Have a seat please, I’ll be right back,” Fluttershy politely spoke, leaving the two alone.

Bon Bon and Lyra took a seat on her couch, watching the animals slowly come out of hiding.

“At least that bunny’s not here,” Lyra commented.  Bon Bon hummed at that, finding their little ‘feud’ silly.

Fluttershy returned shortly with a tray held in her mouth, a kettle of tea and cups balanced on top.  Pouring the three of them tea, she sat down on a stool across from her visitors.

“So, um… you mentioned needing my help with something.”

Bon Bon took a sip before starting,  “We need your expertise on animals and couldn’t think of anyone as good as you.”

“You can’t tell anypony about this!” Lyra started.  “We have to keep quiet about this; it wouldn’t be good if anyone knew what we have at our place.  Like, seriously, it would be absolute havoc if anypony knew what was there!”

Fluttershy looked taken back from how dangerous Lyra made things appear.  Bon Bon turned and glared at Lyra. The unicorn gave a nervous grin before going back to her drink, relishing raspberry flavors.

Bon Bon continued, “We just can’t allow anypony from knowing about what we’re doing until Princess Celestia allows it.  There’s a… new species in our home that we need assessing.” Fluttershy’s eyes widened hearing that. “While Lyra typically deals with this sort of thing, we’re not fully equipped or knowledgeable on how to proceed with assessing the creature as you would.  We thought if anypony can help us with this while staying quiet about it, it would be you.”

“You really have a new species in your home?” she asked, her excitement clear.

“Yes,” Bon Bon answered.  “It’s nothing that anyone has ever seen or ever encountered before, we guarantee you that.”

It was obvious Fluttershy was elated hearing about the very unique opportunity.  While it wasn’t uncommon to see a new species come out of the woodwork, to have one so close to civilization and to be the first one to encounter them, that was a truly special experience.

“We needed you to come over and analyze it the best that you can.”  Bon Bon took a sip of her tea. “Assess it so you can help tell us about feeding and caring for it.  Also, magic is a no-go for us, so we need you to work with more mundane practices.”

“Um… well you could just let it live here and I can watch it for you?”  Fluttershy looked eager at the thought of constant access to the creature.

Lyra shook her head, “No, it needs to stay in our house.  We’re still studying it and it’s up to me to report things to the princess.  I also don’t think it would be very happy being treated like an animal.” Confusion could be seen on her face, wondering just what they meant by that.  “We can discuss this, but you need to agree not to speak about this to anypony, not even Twilight. Especially Twilight.”

“I’m not sure why you need to keep this a secret, but if it’s to help a creature in need, then I’ll do my best to help.”

“Glad to have your help,” Bon Bon said with a smile.  “We can talk more about things when we get back to our place so no one can overhear us.”

Cleaning up and ensuring all her tasks were done for the day, the three of them headed out the door.  Animals crowded around the yellow mare as they chattered, probing for what they were doing.

“Don’t you worry, I’ll be back very soon.”

Lyra nodded, walking forward, “We have to hurry before it gets too d—”

A trap, a collapse, and Lyra found herself face-first into the grass.  “Whyyyy?” she cried out.

Turning her head, she noticed her hooves on a taut piece of string.  Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw a familiar-looking bunny hopping away.

“Lyra, stop being so clumsy all the time,” Bon Bon said, annoyed.  “Now let’s get moving.”

Standing back up, Lyra grumbled under her breath as the three of them hurried to their destination.  The first thing Fluttershy noticed upon entering the house was the contents of Lyra’s room.

“The creature is in my room for the time being.  It was the only place I could think of to hold him and I had to take everything out of there.  I couldn’t exactly have anything around for him to play with.”

“Why would you need to do that?  It’s not that dangerous is it?”

“Not… exactly,” Bon Bon said.  “See, the reason we couldn’t discuss any of this outside our home is be—”

“Because it’s an alien!” Lyra exclaimed, wanting to be the one to announce it.

Bon Bon glared at her friend before looking back at Fluttershy, who was uncertain what to do, likely reconsidering coming to the house.

“What Lyra said is in fact true.  We saw it two nights ago crash in the Everfree and she brought it back.  She’s been put in charge of studying it and reporting back to the princess.”

“I even got Princess Celestia’s seal of approval if you need proof.”  Lyra levitated a scroll and unfurled it, shoving the paper in Fluttershy’s face.

Backing off at the unexpected intrusion to her space, she looked at the scroll.  “So there’s really an alien creature in your room?”

“Totally!  And we need your help to check over it and helping us with its health and diet.  We can even get the princess to help pay for things if it’s needed.”

She looked to the side, looking concerned.  “I, um… don’t know about this. I thought that this was, well, an animal and… this isn’t… a…”  She trailed off, her previous eagerness slipping away.

“We really need your help, Flutters.  Taking him to anyone else could endanger him in some way.  No one else has the expertise or skill that matches yours! Besides that, without your help, there’s a possibility we won’t be capable of keeping him, well… alive for very long.”

Lyra honestly didn’t think he would die, personally, but there was a possibility of it happening.

Fluttershy took a gulp of air.  “I, O-Okay. I’ll d-do my best and help it,” she stuttered out.

Smiling, Lyra walked up to her and patted her side.  “Just follow me up so we can do this quickly. And Bonnie, you should get rid of your traps.”

“What traps?” she questioned.

“I saw you put up at least two traps before we left for Fluttershy, Bonnie.”

“…Four.  It was four traps.”

“Just… go take them down.”

It didn’t take long for Bon Bon to take down her traps, being so proficient at her work.  Lyra walked up the stairs as Fluttershy followed with shaky steps.

Outside the door, Lyra turned to Fluttershy.  “So what we need is anything you can on him, the whole shebang here.  The analyzation spells we used on him won’t work, and we can’t reliably use more spells on him due to reasons of it possibly damaging him.   It’s all up to you on how we proceed with the alien so we’re really counting on you.”

Before Fluttershy could have second thoughts Lyra opened the door.  They both saw the hooman on the bed, his back against the frame as he looked in their direction.  He looked worn-out, though appeared in good spirits. The hooman waved at Lyra before staring directly at Fluttershy.

Fluttershy’s eyes widened, examining just what was on the bed.  “That’s, um, a very big alien.”

Lyra nudged Fluttershy in the hooman’s direction, making her jump from the contact.  “We need you to do your job, okay?”

She looked back to Lyra, clearly worried before she walked to the hooman.  Swallowing a gulp of air, she shakily stood there in front of him, doing her best to lift her head up at him.

“C-C-Can you please sit up, M-Mr. Alien?” she asked as she waved her hoof around.  The hooman stared at her for a moment before he moved from the wall, scooting up to her.  “W-We should probably start with what he can eat.”

“I’ve fed him eggs and fruits so far, but he doesn’t seem to like the hay or flowers.”

Fluttershy frowned, thinking about what he was fed.  “Please open your mouth, M-Mr. Alien.”

She waved her hoof once more to her mouth, opening it, then to the hooman.  He blinked before he opened his mouth for her. More motioning of her hoof had him bending his head down.  Fluttershy seemed to have gained some courage she peered inside his mouth.

The examination on the alien continued for some time.  His ears, nose, eyes, paws, and feet were checked thoroughly by her.  It amazed the two how Fluttershy was capable of having the alien follow along as she needed him to.  It wasn’t until Lyra saw her try and get him to take more of his clothing off that she stepped in.

“Uuuh, hold on there, Flutters.  I don’t think the alien will appreciate having its clothes off.”

She turned to Lyra as she blinked in confusion.  “I… I don’t understand.”

“He doesn’t have any fur on his body.  And he also feels embarrassed being naked.”

“No fur?  That could explain why he’s wearing so much clothing.  But why would he feel embarrassed about being nude? We, uhr, I mean, well, we’re not clothed.”

“I think it’s because of their societal norms, or something along those lines.”  Fluttershy still looked confused. Lyra sighed, “It… also doesn’t have a way to hide… down there like other beings.”

“Down… there?”

“You know… his, um… stallionhood…”

Fluttershy took a moment for that to process.  Her face immediately erupted in a fiery red blush.  Lyra could practically see steam wafting off of her.  She stuttered, trying to find words. “W-W-W-W-W-Why n-not?!” she squeaked out.

Lyra could feel her face slightly adopting a similar glow.  “It’s an alien, Flutters. A-li-en. It’s going to have some oddities to it, and one of them appears that he can’t hide his pieces away as we can.”

“That’s horrible,” Fluttershy said.  “I fully understand why it has clothing on now.  Its, um… it’s going to make checking him difficult until I can examine his body in full.  You’ll need to work out how to get him to allow me permission later on, for a more… thorough examination.”

“I’ll make sure to get that as soon as I can figure out how.”

Taking a moment to compose herself, Fluttershy went back to ordering the hooman around, having him do all sorts of things such as laying down to stretching in multiple angles with his limbs.  Some additional calisthenics and a few breathing exercises Fluttershy finished with her work just as the alien started to look irritated.

Ensuring the alien would stay put in the room, they exited the room and headed back downstairs, Lyra eager to hear the results.  “Well, is he fine?”

“It wasn’t as thorough as I would like it to be.  If he’s really from another world－”

“－And he is.”

“...Right.  Well, some of what I know might not actually work as it could be completely wrong.  It’s hard to say, at the moment. You’ll have to check up on him quite often to make sure his health stays normal, or as normal as can be.  He doesn’t appear to be in any pain, though he did look very exhausted and sore.”

“That’s probably from his crash landing in the forest, along with the spell I had to perform on him..”

“The… alien is going to need all the basic amenities that we need as far as I can tell.  His dietary needs look similar to an omnivore, so he’ll need some variation but keep up on his protein.  I imagine he’ll need bigger proportions than us due to his size. I don’t know how you can afford that.”

“Nothing to worry there, the princess is going to hoof the bill on that.  We can also send out to have you paid for your work you’re doing here.”

“Y-You want me to come back?!”

“Of course!  We can’t have him checked in to a proper doctor.  You’ve nearly got all the training of one!”

“For animals!”

“It’ll be fine, Fluttershy,” Bon Bon stepped in.  “We don’t have anyone else we can trust with this. Just believe in yourself and we’ll do fine.”

She took a moment to think things out.  “…O-Okay then. I suppose I can help if you really need it.”

Lyra patted her side, “Awesome!  We’ll just need you to come back every few days for checkups, we’ll figure out a time schedule for you.  Oh, and you should probably start writing down your examinations the next time you get here, the princess will want to have that.”

“It’ll be like the academy then,” Fluttershy said.

“Yay!”

‘Wait, the academy sort of sucked Lyra.’

“Boo!”

Fluttershy giggled at Lyra’s strangeness.  “I really should get back to my house, I’m certain the animals are getting worried I’m not there.  I’ll make sure to bring some of my tools next time so we can check his internals better.” Just as Fluttershy started out the door she stopped, turning back to Lyra.  “By the way… how did you figure out he was a, well… a he?”

“Eh?”  Lyra quickly realized what she meant.  Now it was her turn to have her face turn red.  “A-Accident. A complete accident.”

Deciding it wasn’t worth the effort to find out she left to return home.  Lyra decided to sit down at her desk, writing about the day’s events for her report.  Fluttershy was going to be a great help with the alien. She’ll worry about the clothing later when she could get the bits for it.

Lyra was feeling happy with how things were going.  By the end of the week, she should have a nice, fat document all tidied up and ready for the princess.  ‘She’s going to be so impressed with my work and how much I’ve done,’ Lyra thought as she continued writing.

A breeze of cold air whisked by Lyra that made her shiver; she turned around, seeing Bon Bon at the front door placing a saddle bag stuffed with food down on the ground.

“Lyra, have you been sitting there since I left?”

“…You left?”

“Yes, Lyra,” she answered with a shake of her head as she walked to the kitchen.  “I left after Fluttershy went back home. You been writing down what happened today?”  Lyra nodded her head, going back to her work. “Did you remember to feed the alien its dinner?”

“What?”  Looking out the window, Lyra saw the darkness of the night.  Her clock told her it was a little after eight. “I forgot to feed the alien!” Lyra cried out loud.

She flung all her stuff with magic to the side, emphasizing how badly she felt about forgetting the hooman’s meal.  She then flipped their table over in a huff. It performed a triple somersault before it landed on the ground, table-side down.  She screamed to the sky, showing the importance of her anguish she felt. After looking at the cluttered mess, Lyra felt she got her point across.

“Quick Bonnie, to the kitchen!”

She trotted off to the room, followed by a groaning Bon Bon.  ‘Fluttershy did say to vary what he should eat. Would it like a lettuce and tomato sandwich?’

She had all week to try and figure out what to feed him.  She just hoped the hooman wasn’t too angry at her if it was hungry.  If he was, she’ll just make it out like it was Bon Bon’s fault! Yeees, she’ll take the fall!

“Lyra, hurry up,” Bon Bon said, “I wanna start on our food  too.”

Lyra nodded, deciding to try another platter but with some vegetables added.  Then after feeding him and trying to teach the alien a few more words, she could go back to her writing before heading off to sleep.  Hopefully, the next few days will go smoothly in her attempts at teaching him.

~End Chapter Three~







Chapter Four – The Alphabet For Dummies


Inside a house, in a room stained of green shades, there was a man that had a horrifying thought. It took him a few days, held in the room to have the thought, but for it to truly become clear, it had taken five. Each day in the room of green pigments, he was given time to himself, to think about his situation and what it meant for him.

The first day he had an odd visit with a unicorn that seemed to be wired up on a sugar craze each time he encountered it. The second introduced two additional horses, one with a lab coat as if to play dress-up and another with a bright coating of yellow with winged appendages. His meetings with the equines were perplexing to him, but no harm came of him, so long as you didn’t count one’s pride.

It wasn’t until the third day that the horses came back did he understand that this was going to continue with them for some time. Playing dress up or forcing him to do odd sets of calisthenics. The fourth day made him irritable and wondering when the big reveal would occur. The fifth gave him some realization as to something he didn’t want to admit as possible.

Gleekman wasn’t responsible for his current kidnapping.

If he was, the man wouldn’t have waited as long as he had to jump out and throw some dialogue at Anon, probably on how he got one over on him. He knew Gleekman well enough; the man couldn’t help himself from holding off on a big reveal, one ‘AH-HA!’ moment before acting superior to him in every manner. That’s just the kind of man he was.

Whoever was holding him had nothing to do with Gleekman. And for that, he grew both scared and annoyed.

It was a terrifying thing to wonder why anyone would hold you in a garish looking room, being toyed with for whatever reasons they had. Yet, it was a monotonous, boring ride through it all, watching the horses pop in, perform their acts of shenanigans, then leave him alone for hours at a time.

It felt like a cartoon special that he was being forced to deal with each time they came around, and as an active participant, he wasn’t having much fun. Not even their lessons, if they could be called that, of teaching him their whistling language helped stave off his boredom.

At the current moment, the man was dealing with the horses once more, sitting on the ground, a tray to the side, staring at the unicorn. It was clear she was the one in charge of things, seeing the lab coat horse assist it and the pegasus performing checkups as a doctor would. They had their roles and they stuck to them.

As it were, the pegasus was once again doing some form of tomfoolery, appearing to set up the current scene that would make Max Fleischer giddy with what slapstick hilarity would ensue.

“~+Puuuuuuddddiiiiiiinnnnggggg!+~”

Yes, the unicorn was just… weird.

“~+Say it with me now, puuuuuddiiiing!+~” The unicorn shoved some strange goop in his direction, the contents jiggling.

“~+Come on, I know you can do it! Puuuuddiiing!+~” She moved the unknown substance around in a circle. “~+You can have some pudding if you say it! Good pudding, yummy pudding, yaaaay pudding!+~”

He wouldn’t say he disliked her presence. If anything, the unicorn was nothing but friendly to him, if quick to anger at the oddest things. The horse was one of the few moments that interested him in his situation as it always came packed with a horned arsenal of hilarious acts. The act of levitation alone was such a grand thing to witness, the tech set up to make it work mind-boggling for him. It certainly helped remind Anon that whoever was holding him was well prepared for any form of half-baked escape he might have planned.

All the unicorn ever did, it seemed, was poke and prod him while trying to teach him to sing/speak their language. At the moment, she was singing to him about the substance on a spoon, a constant loop of the same sounds over and over. It should have been clear by then that he wasn’t going to go anywhere in their language without some form of basics to learn from. You’d have more luck trying to teach him how to construct a ten-story building without giving him the fundamentals of math. The unicorn was quite bullheaded in her ways.

“~+Lyra, I don’t think the alien likes pudding… or what you’re doing at all,+~” the lab coat wearing horse whistled. “~+And why are you trying to teach it that word?+~”

“~+I don’t know!+~” the unicorn chirruped. “~+I got hungry from thinking how to teach him our language and thought, ‘Hey, maybe the alien would like some pudding!’ So I tried to make him learn and eat at the same time!+~”

Anon could hear the lab-coated horse put out a bass-toned solo, “~+Lyra, it’s been five days of this and all the alien’s picked up was some words you weren’t even trying to teach it, like bathroom.+~” Anon turned his head to the bathroom, recognizing the tune being sung. “~+As he is showing my point.+~”

The unicorn blinked in confusion, “~+So what you’re trying to say is, we should give him a bath while teaching him?+~”

The horse choked on her tune, “~+NO that’s not what I’m saying! How would you even come to that conclusion?! I think whatever you’re doing isn’t working and we need to think of something else to do!+~”

“~+I don’t know what to do! The protocol would have me ease the information into his head so that we can communicate without any problems. But he can’t handle that, remember?+~”

The unicorn flopped to the ground, her hooves splayed out as she continued floating the spoon of goop around in a circle. “~+What else can I do? Bonnie, why aren’t you helping me! Assist me Bonnie, assiiiiist meeee!”

As the two bickered at one another Anon sat there, hoping to understand the situation. Looking at the floating slop in the air he could feel his stomach grumble, a reminder they hadn’t fed him yet. It was clear the goop was edible, or at least he hoped it was. The mess didn’t look all that appetizing.

Picking up the container that sat on the ground full of the stuff he gave it a sniff, finding hints of what closely resembled exotic smelling vanilla and oranges. Scooping some out with his fingers, he gave it a lick. Pudding. The gloop was some strange form of pudding with a very creamy texture and hints of something very organic, none of that artificial stuff. A high-end attempt at a healthy alternative for the foodstuffs. He could certainly get used to it.

Something whacked him against the head, forcing Anon to drop the dish to the ground. “What the heck?!” he yelled out, rubbing his dome.

The bowl levitated from his reach, floating up to the cart beside him. A rolled-up piece of parchment glowing green was in the air, being directed by the unicorn. “~+No! Bad hooman! You don’t get any until you say the word.+~”

Out of everything he had been through, the horse would on occasion treat him like a common house pet. He was getting tired of it.

“~+Lyra, you didn’t feed the alien so it’s probably pretty hungry.”+~”

“~+No, he needs to learn how to say pudding before he gets any!+~”

Looking at the cart he could see a cup of water on it. He narrowed his eyes at the unicorn, lifting his hand toward the cup. ‘Treat me like a pet, I’ll start acting like one.’

The unicorn narrowed her own eyes, giving him a sharp whistle, “~+Don't. You. Dare.+~”

His hand slowly made its way to the cup, inch by inch—

“~+Keep your paw away from that water!+~”

—fingers tapping at the cup, teetering it away from him.

 “~+If you don’t retract it right now Imma gonna bop ya!+~”

Anon looked at the unicorn, smirking at her.

“~+I’m warning you mister.+~”

Using a small amount of force, he tipped the glass, its contents now spilled across the cart.

The unicorn stared at the cup, then at his hand, and then at him. A large frown comically appeared on her face as the horse raised her paper, rearing it back at him Thankfully, the other horse grabbed the scroll in the air, bopping the unicorn in the head in turn.

“~+Okay, you get a time out.+~”

“~+But he’s the one that spilled the water!+~”

“~+You’re at fault for not feeding it and making the alien grumpy. So here’s what’s going to happen. We’re going to give it the food and then we are going back downstairs to discuss how we should appropriately teach it. Got it?+~”

“~+What? No! I wanna stay here! I’ve still got some time to try and teach it some more words.+~”

The lab coat horse walked over to the unicorn and bit on the end of her tail, dragging her out of the room. The unicorn flopped down onto her stomach, trying to dig her hooves into the hardwood floor.

“~+Nooooo! I wanna stay and talk to the hoomaaan!+~” It now sounded like she was lyrically whining.

“~+It can’t even understand you! Now lock the door on our way out.+~”

The two exited the room with the unicorn chirruping something fierce the entire way out. The door clicked to a close, telling Anon it was locked once more. He shook his head at their antics. ‘Whoever decided to have them act like that was off their rocker.’

Looking back at the tray, he saw a small stack of eggs, as usual, along with the leftover pudding from before. He was getting tired of all the eggs, but it was better than them trying to feed him hay.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

“Let me go!”

“No!”

“Nyaaaa!!!!” Lyra wailed out in protest.

Bon Bon ignored her as she continued dragging the unicorn down the stairs, each thump meeting her stomach. Once in the living room, she threw Lyra in the air on the couch. Upon landing, Lyra sat up and crossed her front legs, letting out a harrumph, pouting.

“Lyra, you asked me to help assist you in your work. This is not the kind of work I was expecting to do.” Bon Bon walked to the couch, plopping herself beside Lyra. “I know you’re an intelligent mare, but you don’t know how to teach.”

“It’s not my fault that the stupid manuals don’t have anything on this.”

“I’ve been trying to help you all week and I, for the most part, had taken a backseat and doing what you asked of me, even when you had me doing some pretty stupid things. Like really, really stupid things. Things I disliked…” Lyra sheepishly grinned. She had been ordering her around to do things she was too lazy to do. “But I gotta be honest, what you’re doing is just not working.”

“Well, fine,” she muttered out. “What would you suggest I do?”

“I think we need to find somepony that can give us some advice on how to teach the alien.”

“Who could help us with that?”

“Well… there’s always Twilight—”

Lyra hissed at Bon Bon hearing the name.

‘How dare she mention that mare in your presence,’ her inner voice growled.

“Or we can talk to Cheerilee about this.”

She quickly calmed, thinking about the suggestion. Yes… that could work. Cheerilee knew a thing or two about teaching, what with her being a teacher after all.

“I suppose Cheerilee would be a good option.” Lyra jumped from the couch, heading toward the door. “I’ll head over to Cheerilee for some advice while you go out and get us some snacks!”

“Lyra, remember how I just said I disliked how you’ve been ordering me around on stupid errands?”

“Ugh, fiiine. I’ll get the snacks and you can talk to Cheerilee!”

“Wait, that’s not what I—”

Lyra already had the door slammed shut with her now hopping down the road to the market.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

“Uuuugh.”

‘Too, many, mango smoothies.’

Lyra was currently sitting on a bench, groaning from the nasty tummy ache she had. She wished that smoothie vendor hadn’t talked her into the very delicious smoothies. So there she was, sitting on a bench, waiting until the pain went away.

She watched as everypony walked by, giving her odd looks at how she sat.

‘What?’ her inner-voice spoke. ‘It’s a perfectly reasonable way to sit.’

Lyra nodded in agreement with that. She thought the ponies shouldn’t be judging her for picking a better sitting position. ‘Yeah, that’s right. Stop judging us!’

“Don’t you judge me!” she screamed, frightening a filly and her mother walking by. They gave her a look before speeding up their pace away from her.

A sigh escaped Lyra’s lips before she went back to sipping on her smoothie. ‘Why do you still have this stupid drink? It’s just gonna give you more tummy aches so maybe you should, I dunno, stop drinking it?’

Nope, Lyra continued slurping her drink. It’s as if the drink wouldn’t allow her to stop. ‘Stupid, delicious smoothies.’

As she lazed about, she spotted Fluttershy. She was trying to purchase something in the market, no doubt related to her furry friends. She had wanted to talk to her.

Jumping off her bench, her stomach lurched. She took a moment to wait for her stomach pains to ease before walking over to Fluttershy, levitating her bag of purchases and smoothie.

“Hey, Flutters,” Lyra called out.

Fluttershy jumped, her wings fluttering about. Noticing Lyra she let out a sigh, walking up to her. “Hello, Lyra. And how are you doing this afternoon?” she asked quietly.

“Not bad, not bad, just picking up some munchies for later on.”  Lyra took another sip from her floating drink before turning back to Fluttershy.

“You’ll get a nasty tummy ache if you drink too much of that,” Fluttershy said worryingly.

‘I know, but I can’t stop.’ “Listen, I needed to tell you something after you left from the checkup this morning.”

“I apologize. I had a lot of errands that I had to attend to, such as getting more food for the animals.”

“That’s fine, I just need you to come by later tonight.”

Fluttershy looked around the sparse crowd for any eavesdroppers. “Is it about the… alien?” she asked in a hushed tone, failing to look inconspicuous.

“Yes, it is. Just come over tonight at your earliest convenience, we need your input on what you’ve been working on before we send our work off to the princess.”

“R, Right! I’ll do my best to help with whatever is needed.”

Slurping on her smoothie, Lyra thought if there was anything else she needed. Since Bon Bon was talking to Cheerilee, that left a lot of free time for her.

“…Hey Fluttershy, just how long are you going to be here?”

“Oh? I suppose a good while; there are a lot of great deals going on today. Why do you ask?”

“No reasons, no reason at all…”

Lyra chuckled to herself as she began to walk off, doing her best to ignore the pain in her stomach. She had time to kill. A nice little meet up with a certain long-eared rodent sounded like a good way to spend it.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

A loud slam could be heard downstairs, jolting Anon from his nap. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he stretched and sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for another round with the horses. He was getting used to them coming at odd hours of the day.

Hearing the clopping of hooves alerted him to their quick arrival, somewhat unusual but not unwelcome. What he hadn’t expected was to see the doorknob shaking, with the door banged up against repeatedly. He could hear what sounded like a kettle blasting steam from its spout on the other side. This troubled Anon. Why would the horses attempt to break down the door like this?

‘Unless it’s not them.’

Had someone found him? Is this a rescue attempt? Or had one of his captors decide to take action against Anon, for whatever reason they found? Perhaps they found his actions as of late to be lackluster for their pleasure and wanted to ramp things up, scare him a bit?

Then, the noises stopped. After a few seconds, he started to relax, thinking the intruder had given up. His worries grew exponentially when a new, grinding noise started. It sounded as if something was eating away at the door, or the doorknob to be precise, as he saw it rattling like crazy. He quickly stood up, fearing for the worst.

The grinding stopped; the doorknob wiggling before being sucked through the other side. The only place he could think of going was the bathroom to hide, but that would block him in even worse with less room to work with.

The door swung open, revealing the creamy coated horse with the lab coat. Anon, confused at the situation, looked at her, wondering why she had done that. He could see her lab coat was bulging with materials. She walked in the room cautiously, leaving the door ajar, unable to close properly without a doorknob. Looking past her, he also saw a bag on the floor with tools sticking out of it. Why did she do that? Where was the unicorn?

She walked over to where Anon and the unicorn typically sat down, staring at Anon. The horse seemed to be waiting on him for something. Getting the message, he slowly made his way to his normal spot, sitting down, staring at her cautiously.

“~+Guess I’m lucky enough Lyra hasn’t come back yet, I need to work fast,+~” the horse whistled before she took a seat. She then stared at Anon with a frown. “~+So, I don’t fully trust you yet, so you better keep to yourself or I’ll, I’ll do something.+~”

The horse paused, and then slapped herself in the face with a hoof. She then dug inside her coat, pulling out scrolls along with ink bottles and quills. Along with those came what appeared to be pictures. Not normal pictures, but ones with images that looked like they were taken with a Polaroid camera.

“~+I know you can’t understand me, so I’ll mostly be talking to myself. I find that completely fine, preferring my own company to most others, especially aliens like you.+~”

The horse dug around some more, coming out with sheets of paper filled with scribbled, unintelligible notes. “~+Let’s see here. Cheerilee said to try and find common ground between both parties, so those images should help. With Lyra likely to be upset when she gets back this had better work or so help me, I’m throwing you out the window, consequences be darned!+~”

She slid a piece of the scribbled paper over to Anon before sitting upright. He looked down at it, seeing cursive-like writing, evenly spaced out with each character. It looked like a sheet of music. Because, of course, it did.

He saw her shoving a stack of papers in his direction along with a quill and ink bottle, with an image of an apple. Right beside the apple was a string of cursive-like characters and an empty line right underneath it. The horse pointed at her, tapped the cursive, then pointed at him, and then the empty spot,

Anon immediately understood what she wanted. Dipping the quill in ink, he wrote down his word for apple. It wasn’t very clean, what with his difficulty using a quill. Finishing, he passed the paper back to her before he stared at their alphabet once again. Its squiggly, flowery writing appeared confusing at first, but he thought he could translate it if given time.

The horse thumped her hoof against the floor, gaining Anon’s attention. She passed another piece of paper over to him, this one with a tree on it. He could only wonder why he was being forced to translate a language as he continued writing down words with each page passed to him.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Over the past two hours, huge strides had been made. Although some things were difficult translating, it felt rather simple once he worked out the patterns. It at least offered him some chance of communicating with the horses.

As it turned out, the horses preferred to being called ponies. Because of course, they did. Whoever was controlling them certainly wanted to have things feel like a set display to a little girls show. They even had ridiculous names, of which he was able to translate.

“~+Bonnie!+~ Anon heard twittering out.

The lab-coated horse, named Bon Bon, jumped in the air before she turned to the door. There stood the unicorn, looking stunned, noticing the paper and work all over the ground. She then turned her sights back to Bon Bon, an angered expression appearing.

“~+We were supposed to do this together, Bonnie! Why didn’t you wait for me?+~”

“~+W, Wait,+~” Bon Bon sung out, standing up and backing away, “~+I can explain!+~”

Anon, while not understanding them, could see that the unicorn wasn’t happy with whatever had happened. Did she not want him to learn? But she had been attempting to teach him on a prior occasion, so that couldn’t be it.

Looking at the situation, it appeared she was about to throw a tantrum. He still wasn’t sure just why they were acting in such a manner. Did the person controlling them think it was entertaining?

Seeing that he needed to help diffuse the situation, he grabbed a piece of paper and quickly scribbled down a simple greeting he hoped translated properly to ‘Hello, Lyra’. Perhaps if he could show that he had learned something it could help calm it down.

Anon waved the paper in the air, hoping to gain her attention. Seeing him the unicorn scrunched her face up, levitating the paper right out of his hands with eyes squinted at his butchered attempt at writing their language.

The unicorn immediately flipped her behavior. “~+EEEEEH! Bonnie, he knows how to spell my name!+~”

Bon Bon dropped her head with a sigh of relief as the unicorn rolled around the ground in glee.

“~+Yes, I had been teaching him how to write our language with what Cheerilee told me. I even got him to learn my name.+~” She then passed a piece of paper to Anon, pointing at herself. “~+My name, write my name. Myyyy naaaame.+~”

Anon already figured that she wanted him to write her name. After looking at the paper by him with their translated language, he attempted to write her name down as well.

The smiling unicorn grabbed the paper from him, eager to see his work. Her smile disappeared only for a moment, now replaced with a smirk and what sounded like snickering. Bon Bon looked confused. “~+What’s wrong? He did spell my name, right?+~”

“~+O-oh yes, quite clearly Bam Bam.+~”

The pony grabbed the paper from her, examining it. She clicked her tongue, grabbing a new piece of paper that she shoved toward Anon. “~+No, do it again like I taught you.+~”

Anon wasn’t sure he remembered how to spell her name, even with the paper. More work would be needed. He wrote down the pony’s name once more before he handed it to Lyra.

It read Bam Bam.

Lyra couldn’t stop from letting a loud, squeaky chirp from slipping out as Bon Bon looked at the paper, fuming with anger. Bon Bon paused before she closed her eyes, letting out a slow, controlled breath to calm herself.

“~+Okay, it’s obvious its intelligence isn’t that high so it needs more practice. So let’s try this once more.+~” She grabbed more paper, slipping a piece to Anon before she grabbed her quill for her paper.

“B, O, N, B, O, N.” The horse pointed at the letters repeatedly, trying to drill the work into his head.

The pony nodded her head, content with his work. “~+Now… wriite myy naamuuh+~”

Nodding his head, Anon wrote her name down before he passed it over for Lyra and Bon Bon to look at.

It read Bam Bam.

Anon simply couldn’t help himself, finding it too amusing. Lyra burst with laughter as Bon Bon stiffened. Lyra dropped to the ground, her warbling guffaws unable to be controlled. Bon Bon looked at Anon and then turned around, heading straight to the window. She then grabbed a piece of the wood, attempting to rip it off.

“~+W-W-W-What are you doing?+~” Lyra wheezed out with a whistle, seeing what Bon Bon was doing.

“~+I’m, eeeerg, going to throw, yeeeergh, that alien… OUT THIS WINDOW!+~”

“~+Nyoooo!+~” Lyra squealed, her laughter now turned to a light giggling. “~+You need to tell me how to teach him to say pudding instead!+~”

The unicorn tried pulling Bon Bon away, who held onto a board attached to the window. “~+GRAAAAAHHH!!!~+~”

‘Maybe I shouldn’t have done that,’ Anon thought, watching the scene before him. But with how dry his days had been recent, he needed to find something to amuse himself with.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

‘Darn Bonnie, trying to do things by herself! Ooh!’ Lyra was upset at her going ahead with teaching him before she could get back.

‘It was also annoying having you repair the doorknob.’

‘Stupid Bonnie, I should’ve made her put it back up.’

‘She did do some good work, teaching him so quickly. The ‘human’ as we now know, is already picking up how to write our language. He might even be able to teach himself on his own time.’

‘He does seem very intelligent.’

She turned to her friend who was writing down what had transpired in her report. A great deal of progress had been made, just as the reports were due to be sent. Sending a semi-complete working of the human’s language was the icing on the cake. They only had Fluttershy’s work left to add before sending off.

A light knocking on the door could be heard. “Right on time,” Lyra said. “Come in!”

Fluttershy walked in, looking worried. “I’m very sorry for not coming sooner. I was held up because I couldn’t find Angel anywhere! It took a while but I found him climbed up in a tree and having wrapped himself in a lot of rope. I don’t know why he would do such a thing.”

Lyra chuckled to herself. ‘Worth spending two hours there.’

“It’s cool, I’m just glad you made it right before we sent our work on Anon to the princess.”

“Anon?” Fluttershy blankly looked at the two. “Oh! Is that the alien’s name? It sure is strange sounding.”

“That’s because he’s an aaaliieeen!” Lyra strained.

Fluttershy giggled as she pulled out a folder out of her side pack, “I hope this is everything you needed. You should take a look at it to make sure everything is fine for the princess.”

Levitating the folder, Lyra looked through it, seeing a very thorough amount of work on the human. She even saw some diagrams on his body, along with drawn images of things like his ears and teeth.

“That’s awesome, Flutters! After all this, I’ll make sure you’re credited so you can get paid for your work. Why you could even become famous for this!”

Fluttershy blushed from your praise before picking up something she wasn’t too pleased to hear. “F, Famous?”

“Well, yeah. Everypony is going to know about you and your work after this eventually gets published to the public.” Or at least, Lyra expected that to happen eventually.

Fluttershy seemed alarmed. ‘Ah, right, she’s not one for being in the spotlight,’ her inner voice said.

“I d-don’t meant to be rude, but I don’t want a repeat of the modeling thing, so i-if you could leave me out of—”

“You were a model?”

“EEP!” Fluttershy clamped a hoof over her mouth, regretting her previous words.

Bon Bon turned away from her work, now giving Lyra a frown. “Didn’t you see those magazines that were published a while back? She was on the cover of them. There were even quite a few posters of her. She still has a small following, hoping for more work from her.”

“I wasn’t paying attention, don’t exactly read fashion magazines. But now that you mention it…”

Fluttershy started to turn red, fidgeting at the unwanted attention and praise. Lyra sighed, looking down at the papers she had given her. It seemed wrong to take credit from someone else.

“I don’t like the idea of claiming I’m the one doing this work, Flutters.”

“It’s fine! Really. I’m just glad to have helped at all. Seeing a new species, even one not from our planet, was rewarding enough.”

“You could just say that it came from an anonymous source that didn’t want to be named, for now, Lyra,” Bon Bon said.

Lyra thought that over for a moment. “That might work, so long as the princess doesn’t directly ask. Okay, I’ll try that, but if the princess asks I can’t hold the information back.”

“R, Right. That works,” Fluttershy said with a smile. “I should be getting back to my animals, I still need to feed them and, um…”

“Right, right. Thanks for the help once again, Flutters.”

She nodded before exiting the door, once more leaving Lyra and Bon Bon to their work. Lyra started to make a copy of Fluttershy’s portion for the princess, taking the original copy and storing it away. Lyra soon found herself immersed in her work, scribbling away, making sure it was all neatly documented.

“Hey, Lyra.”

Said mare jolted, messing up on the current paper she was working on. Looking at it, she could see a nice, large ink smudge. She let out a sigh, grabbing a new piece of paper and setting the destroyed work aside.

“Sorry about that, just wanted to show you something.”

“What time is it?” Lyra asked.

“It’s been about an hour since Fluttershy had come by.”

‘Wow, time went by really quick for you.’

  “I was finished with the paperwork, so I was going through some of your stuff to help arrange it a little and saw some of your old books.” Lyra looked at a box beside Bon Bon, seeing the school books she had from the academy.

“I nearly forgot I had those. What exactly did you want to show me?”

Bon Bon passed a thick book over to Lyra. The Creatures of Yesteryear could be read on the cover. Lyra remembered that book; it was a part of her lessons studying on different creatures and beings. She could barely remember anything from it, the material dry and boring, not what she expected from a book with such a great title. Not many ponies are issued such books either, so when she found out she was one of the rare few to get a copy, her excitement went into the trash finding the book so bland to read.

“Page four-hundred and nine,” Bon Bon told her.

Turning to said page, Lyra could see a bipedal creature that eerily resembled the human, only with more hair and brightly colored. “Oh wow! That’s neat!” Lyra said while looking over the descriptions.

There wasn’t a lot of information about the creature, which Lyra found odd. There was a surprising amount of stern warnings regarding the being, yet no information about its life or what it was? All it had was a few sparse details on it.

“I should add this in,” Lyra decided. “We could use this as a good reference point for a species that used to live on our planet. Good find, Bonnie.”

Lyra made copies of the pages from the book, adding them alongside some nice, clear images of the human posing.

Examining the entry once more, Lyra looked at the title on the creature’s name. “The Bleuh Bleuh Bleuh?”

“Yeah.”

Something was tugging on the back of her head reading that name, something really important…

Sadly, it had slipped away. Silly as the name was, she made sure to write it down beside the human species. It would take another hour for Lyra to work over the document, packing it all up neatly to send the princess.

“Aright, everything’s ready for the delivery! Wanna read it before I send it off?”

“Nah, I’m good!” Lyra heard yelled from the kitchen.

Walking to her lantern, she slipped the papers inside, watching it condense into its magical form for takeoff. She didn’t expect a reply for a good while, likely not until the next day. Hopefully, it would come along with the bits she requested.

“Lyra, I made you a sandwich!”

Lyra walked in the kitchen, ready to devour the sandwich with gusto. She always did make the best sandwiches, making sure to add extra mayonnaise. Who doesn’t like extra mayo with their tomatoes?

After eating, the two of them sat down on the couch, discussing things they could be doing with Anon and his lessons when the lantern started kicking about. Lyra looked over at it, seeing a scroll had been deposited from it.

“Didn’t you just send that a little while ago?” Bon Bon asked. “That’s a quick response from them.”

“Yeah… it is.” Another shake and the lantern dumped out a bag that clanged against the holder. “And she sent the bits! Alright, now we have money for clothes and food!” Bon Bon cleared her throat. “I didn’t forget about you either silly.”

She nodded as Lyra went over to pick up the heavy bag. Deciding to look at that later, she opened the scroll, reading it out loud for Bon Bon and herself. It was mostly a formality on how the two of them (three if she included the unnamed helper) were doing a good job on their work, along with other manners such as the bits.

Lyra started to slow down, noticing an oddity. “That’s weird. The last part is written with a block around it.”

Bon Bon merely shrugged. “Maybe it’s just something she felt was important enough she wanted to make sure she had your attention on it?”

“Huh. It’s concerning the Bleuh Bleuh Bleuh. Weird.”

‘Well, whatever,’ her inner voice said. ‘It surely can’t be that bad, right?’

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X ~ Canterlot One Hour Ago ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

There she was, getting ready to sleep after her royal duties were finished for the day when she felt a spell directed at her. Princess Celestia hadn’t felt anything malicious from the magic, so she waited for it to form to see what was being sent. She quickly recognized it as a transportation spell, one with similar flames to Spike the dragon. ‘Why is Twilight sending me a letter so late tonight? Did something occur?’

“Oh!”

Princess Celestia saw a tightly bound folder along with a single scroll that she caught in the air with a spell, immediately noticing the seal of a sun servant placed on them, quickly realizing it was Lyra. While late in the day, it was better than receiving it in the morning.

“If I hurry, I might be able to get Luna in on this update.”

Taking the scroll, she looked at it, seeing it was a simple rundown on things that Lyra had done. Celestia, while wanting to get her sister, was too curious to leave just yet, wanting to know what the next session in this scenario would entail.

“Interesting. They’re having difficulties teaching it to speak our language, so they’ve turned to teach it to write.”

 Celestia grew curious just why they went with that. She saw that Lyra had indeed requested bits, needing funds to help supply food, clothing, and outside help.  ‘I’ll look to see if her request is reasonable,’ the princess thought to herself, gathering the papers.

Getting up from her bed, she proceeded to leave her room, two guards following behind respectively. Entering the throne room, she saw her sister sitting there, talking to a bat pony that she typically dealt with during the nights. It was rare for Celestia to interact with the nocturnal equines. As it were, they made up a majority of Luna’s forces, and while smaller than her own, hers was more diverse with other beings. She even managed to get griffons in her guard, how quaint.

Celestia waited to enter once the conversation ended and the pony left, the two guards standing outside the entrance.

Luna turned to her sister, an eyebrow raised. “Hello, sister. We, I had thought I sensed your presence. How are you doing this evening?”

“My evening so far has been quite well, thank you for asking.”

“Sorry if I sound too direct, but why you’re still awake during these hours? Is there something important you need my services in?”

“No, nothing of the sorts,” Celestia confessed. “Just as I was lying down, another scenario had arrived for us.”

Luna perked up hearing that. Walking down from her seat, she motioned one of her guards over to her. It was another bat pony, a unique armor signifying a Captain. Whispering something to the pony, Celestia could see the look of surprise on their faces. Celestia’s sister nodded to the guard as it made its way up to the throne, sitting down. Luna walked up to Celestia, noticing her surprised reaction.

“Well, you did say that I should try and change with the times. So I am, as our subjects would say, shaking things up.”

Celestia still felt gobsmacked at this action. This is not what she had meant by change and she was very certain Luna knew of that.

For just a moment, Celestia saw a mirthful expression out of the corner of her eyes. ‘So it’s like that,’ Celestia thought, keeping her face as calm as she could.

Luna gave Celestia a smirk hidden behind a gentle smile, having already seen the reaction she wanted off her sister. “Why, there’s nothing to worry, dearest sister. He is only there to stave off any visitors in my absence while I am away with you.”

“How… creative of you to think of such a thing,” Celestia replied, not wanting to indulge Luna. “Since that’s been dealt with, let us head off to our work.”

Her sister gave Luna another smile, “Lets.”

The two of them walked down the halls toward their study, two sets of day and night guards following closely behind them. Reaching their study, the guards stood their watch outside the door. Upon entering she levitated the scroll to Luna. She started reading as Celestia sat herself down, getting herself comfortable.

“So, she is asking for bits,” Luna hummed. “Even though we allowed requesting, I did not think she would do so. Should we refuse?”

Celestia shook her head, “No, I see no reason not to. She’s gained the assistance of her friend named Bon Bon, along with another that would like to remain unnamed.”

“How curious hearing that.”

“Indeed. Along with that, the bits are for ‘feeding’ and ‘clothing’ the alien. The anonymous pony is helping them figure out the alien’s dietary needs and using old fashioned work to create some diagrams of the creature's body. They will also be acquiring someone’s assistance later for creating clothing as it’s body requires constant coverings. Bits are also needed for anything that might come up they aren’t sure how to deal with but within reason.”

Princess Luna read some of the reports, thinking about her sister's words. “I am still uncertain with trusting the unicorn with these bits, sister.”

“It is fine, I doubt she would try any conning in her work.” Celestia opened the document, showing Luna its contents. “She’s not the type to just try and steal like that. And look, it seems they were arduous in their work.”

Luna examined what was shown to her. The two of them started splitting up the document, reading it in sections together as they conversed on the scenario. Celestia was having a great deal of enjoyment with Luna.

Starting on the portion of the diagram of the folder, titled Health and Biology, Luna frowned. Celestia paused, looking at her sister as she flipped over her pages, looking at the images she had floating beside them.

“How strange; there is something familiar about what I am seeing, but for the life of me… I cannot trace my memory for what it may be.”

Her interest peaked, Celestia turned from her work and slid over to her sister's side to get a look at what Luna had floating in front of her. ‘Oh how lovely, it seems Lyra also had images taken of the alien! They were very clear this time around, allowing her to see the alien in－’

Her thoughts ceased, seeing the images beside another set, displaying a being she had all but forgotten about.

A scream ripped out of her throat. She threw the floating document away from the two, her back flinging away from the table and the horrible images. Celestia’s heart was beating at an irregular pace as Luna stood staring at her sister, clearly seeing something had upset her sister but unable to say why.

Hearing noises outside the door, Luna quickly used her magic, keeping it closed. Thanks to her quick actions, the guards were unable to tear the door down. They continuously banged up against it, trying to force it open. Celestia was thankful for her sister; she didn’t want the guards to see her like this.

“PRINCESS! IS EVERYTHING ALRIGHT?!” More banging could be seen hitting the door.

“We are fine, you may return to your posts,” Luna ordered them.

A pause of silence occurred before the two sisters heard what sounded like an argument happening outside the door, then more banging. Luna seemed pained from their lack of respect for her orders.

Celestia, trying to collect herself, spoke as clearly as she could, “Guards! Do as you’re ordered! Now, return to your posts!”

The banging stopped after hearing Celestia’s voice. It was quite obvious that it was her guards, not Luna’s, which continued to bang on the door. Even so, their lack of taking orders was not surprising. Celestia may have just gotten her sister back, but it was still apparent some of her guards did not trust her. That’s something she’d have to deal with another time, but for now, she needed to talk to her sister. Luna had a worried expression, focused once more on Celestia.

“Sister, are you alright? What happened to frighten you so?”

Luna’s worry made Celestia happy she cared enough to ask. Standing up, she slowly made her way back at the table, staring down at the document now strewn about. She sighed, levitating everything back in order before looking at her sister.

“Luna… do you perhaps remember the Bleuh Bleuh Bleuh?”

Luna had a curious expression, “No, I can’t say I do.”

Celestia dropped her head down, another sigh escaping her. “I can’t blame you for not remembering. They only came out typically during the daytime, and at first, that was it. They slowly ramped up their actions over time. They were… creations of Discord from long ago.”

She looked down at the pictures, giving her chills along her spine. “He had created them to help him spread chaos of their choosing across the land.” Celestia paused, calming herself before she continued. “They were too good at their jobs. Discord, when I confronted him, admitted they went beyond what he had intended. Things got out of hoof for even him; so much destruction and chaos came from them.”

The chaotic creatures were one of the few things to truly scare Celestia in her long-lived life. They could turn the simplest, most innocent of things into something so horrific, so maddening. Anything they came into contact with was soon tainted with their horrid, black chaos.

“All our little ponies were afraid to do much during the day. But soon, the creatures turned to the night, finding more enjoyment in their work during then.”

Luna’s head popped up at that, “I remember now. That was the start of when so many of our ponies started to stray from my night.”

Celestia nodded her head in acknowledgment. “You only remember a small portion of it since their night raids lasted a very short time, near their end. I, we had agreed to not interfere with one another’s affairs during then, which is why I kept so much of it from you. I deeply regretted that decision.”

Her sister lowered her head, nudging herself beside Celestia in a hug in an attempt to make her feel better. Celestia reciprocated in kind, feeling her fear ebbing away.

“How did you manage to get rid of them?” Luna asked, sitting back up.

“That, once more, was because of Discord. As much as he adores chaos, this was not what he wanted. He felt terrible seeing just what his creations were capable of. So, he helped me sweep across the lands, gathering them all up until the two of us could properly banish them away. Of course, I then used the elements on Discord before he could flee.”

She remembered Discord barely put up a fight that day. She still remembered his roaring laughter at the transformation, all the while trying to force an imposing pose; always a being for dramatics, that one. The draconequus felt bad about what he had done, as Celestia saw. And if it wasn’t for those beings he had created, she wouldn’t have felt a need to keep him locked up.

It wasn’t as if he had meant to hurt anything. He was somewhat enjoyable to have around from time to time, causing some fun scenes here and there. If only he wouldn’t get into so much trouble all the time.

Luna looked at the documents, thinking about what she was told. “Do you think Lyra knew of this before she sent her work to you?”

“…It’s a possibility,” the princess admitted. “Out of anypony I know in this day and age, she would be one of the few to know of such creatures. Though, I am quite surprised she found enough information to know of such things.” Celestia rubbed her eyes with magic, feeling tired from the night’s events. “From everything I know of her, I imagine she may have sent this over as a test of sorts.”

“A test? Surely not!”

“I meant in testing our work in this scenario, nothing more sister. It’s quite possible that, because she knew of my prior association with them, she wanted to look beyond its image and continue dealing with this.”

“Or maybe she wants you to look beyond that? She sent you enough similarities between this ‘alien’ and a past menace. An alien that may very well have nothing to do with this, yet there’s enough of a relation to give one pause and think. You should not set things aside and give this being the benefit of the doubt.”

Celestia thought about her sister's words. “Yes, that is true as well. It might be both those things, and something else. But right now, I’m seeing a challenge that Lyra has just issued us in dealing with this ‘alien’.”

A smile could be seen growing on Luna’s face. “I do hope that means you’re going to reply accurately to this supposed threat.”

“Oh yes sister, I most surely am,” Celestia replied with a smile to match her sisters. “Why, it would be seen as rude if I did not come up with... an appropriate response to this.”

Her actions could stop this scenario sooner than she’d like, but she was NOT going to let this stand without proper retaliation. Especially with Luna being involved.

The two of them read the rest of the documents, looking over everything they were sent as most of their talks were set aside. Finishing, they took out a scroll, Luna neatly writing their acknowledgment on her work and some proper feedback. She started with the acceptance of bits and the usual congratulatory filler areas of their ‘teaching’.

“So, just how should we address the alien situation?” Luna asked.

“Why the alien and the Bleuh Bleuh Bleuh do seem to resemble one another fairly well, don’t you agree?” Celestia paused, taking a moment to herself. “It’s too similar for my liking. That ‘alien’ could be related to them somehow, and that makes them a possible danger if such a relation was true. So we need to set up precautions in making sure the safety of our ponies is met.”

“And if this ‘Anon’ is not proven safe?” Luna asked.

Celestia smiled at those words, which Luna returned in kind. Oh, how much fun it is to bond.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X ~ Ponyville ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

“—alien known as ‘Anon’ must be proven within two weeks not a danger to our ponies in the manner previously stated. If not, the alien will have to be…”

Lyra choked on her words, feeling faint. The color drained from her face, reading the last few words. Bon Bon looked at her with worry.

“What does it say, Lyra?” Bon Bon asked in a hushed tone.

Lyra gulped air, looking at the scroll once more. “If not… It will have to be b-b-banished… or terminated, for the protection of our subjects… and all of Equestria.”


~End Chapter Four~









Chapter Five – Innocence Is Always Inconspicuous


The dark, cold draft of the night flew through the open room that housed two doleful ponies. A broken window littered the ground with glass, allowing the biting wind in. Papers cluttered the floor with ink blots spewed across the walls, a couch flipped over, along with a mountain of boxes trampled around. Off in the corner, a single book stood out, or what once appeared as a book; charred remains were all that was left, smoke wafting from the ashes. Only a single, dim light of yellow gave away what happened, originating from an untouched kitchen.

Near where the boxes of forgotten junk and past memories were, there could be seen a pile of shredded blankets, shuddering about. A unicorn laid in the middle with her back turned away from the room, curled up. The convulsing gasps of Lyra’s raspy breathes were the only audible sound left.

In the middle of the hazard zone stood Bon Bon, staring at her friend with worry. She had attempted to calm her down yet could not find the words to do so. The tantrum produced a wild side the candy-pony had never seen in her friend; it was the first time she had seen anyone truly threaten a princess.

She could understand her anger. Lyra herself had devoted a great deal to the princess, going to great lengths to keep the sun princess content. Any requests from the princess, no matter how strange and dangerous, and she had done her best to complete them.

For Lyra to have seen the letter sent from the princess, it must have torn her apart.

Looking at her tear-stricken friend, she could see her having calmed down. Her crying had slowly ceased to a low whining, accompanied by an occasional sniffle. Readying herself for whatever may come, she waded through the sea of torn devotion to help a friend in need.

Twitching of the unicorn’s ears gave away her friend's movements; flattening her ears down couldn’t muffle the clicking hooves on the hardwood floor making their way to her. Staring down at the unicorn, she could see the red, puffy eyes that gathered tears, pattering in droplets that pooled on the floor. Bon Bon sat down, pushing herself close to the mare. Noticing the close proximity, Lyra reached her head upon a welcoming shoulder, tears flowing freely. Bon Bon simply sat there, allowing her as much time as was needed, rubbing Lyra’s back in reassurance.

A hiccup, a small winding of air, and Lyra spoke, “W-Why would the p-princess want to do this?”

Taking a moment of silence, to allow some clearing of the air, Bon Bon responded, “Princess Celestia is only looking out for her ponies, for us. It’s a hard position to be in, having to choose such hard decisions.” Lyra shoved her head further into Bon Bon, a softened sobbing her reply. “We have some time to help show that it’s not a threat to us, at least directly. How long do we have, Lyra?”

Lyra took in a gulp of air before replying. “T-Two weeks…”

‘It that really enough time to judge something like this, with something that can’t properly communicate with us?’

Bon Bon wasn’t sure of their odds against time, but she would continue to stay optimistic, if only for Lyra.

“Okay, so here what we’re going to do. I’m going to set my bed up so you can get some rest. In the morning, we are going to do our best to show the alien is not a danger to us.”

“…But how?” Lyra questioned, her words muffled in Bon Bon’s shoulder.

‘That’s a good question. Just how do we go about proving its innocence?’

“I’m not entirely sure,” she answered truthfully. “But I figure with you on the job, we’re certain to find a way. You… you’ll think of something. You always do.”

Bon Bon can feel the Lyra slumped over her shoulder, her exhaustion setting in. A glance revealed her nodding off. Bon Bon slid her up to her hooves and helped her move forward toward her bedroom.

Setting her down, Bon Bon sighed. Taking her time, she deactivated any trap that was left in her room lest her friend trip into one waking up. Walking out, she helped the barely conscious Lyra to her bed. She immediately slumped to the side, passed out. Bon Bon threw on additional comforters to keep her warm.

Standing by the door, she looked back at Lyra’s disheveled form. Her breathing was at a steady pace, yet wheezed out from its overuse. Bon Bon, thinking on what was needed, thought the next two weeks were going to be a major pain. But she would toughen it out for Lyra.

Not that she cared too much about how the alien ended up, she was more concerned about Lyra than the things predicament. Lyra’s been her best and closest friend for as long as she could remember, practically family to her… a pony she treasured dearly. And friends like that stuck with one another to the bitter end.

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“Uuuugh.” Bon Bon could feel her body aching, dealing with the last night’s troubles.

It was an exhausting job, cleaning up all the glass and broken objects. It took even longer rearranging everything to a more presentable manner. After everything was finished, she was just too tired to make it to her bed. Plopping down on the couch seemed like a good idea at the time, but now she had quite the sore back.

“How does she deal with sleeping on this thing?”

Getting up, she cracked her back, feeling a draft from the boarded window. She’d have to call maintenance for the window, as soon as Lyra could handle being on her own. Bon Bon let out a grunt before she slipped her lab coat on, making her way to the kitchen, intent on fixing Lyra and herself a nice, big breakfast.

Balancing a plate on her back and another in her clenched teeth, she deftly made her way up to her room. Once in, she saw Lyra still asleep, a slight snore whistling out. A few strays of light shined through the partially covered window to help light up the room. Bon Bon could see Lyra had herself balled up with the bedding's rolled around her.

“Hey, Lyra,” Bon Bon softly said. “Time to get up. I have food for you.”

Ears twitching to the sound of her voice, Lyra started to stir. The two of them were fairly light sleepers, so it didn’t take much to wake her up. She stretched her legs and body out while yawning. Looking at Bon Bon, Lyra sat up, spotting the food.

“Are you feeling better?” Bon Bon asked, watching Lyra take a bite of her jammy, buttered toast.

Mid-chew, Lyra tilted her head to the side in thought before lightly nodding back.

Lyra spoke through her sore throat, “Did you remember to feed Anon?”

‘Ah crap!’ Bon Bon berated herself, she knew she forgot something!

“Uh, y-yeah! I have the alien’s food right here!” she answered with a smile, pointing at her own plate of food.

Lyra smiled at her, going back to her food. She took a few more bites at her own food before stopping mid-bite once more. “Aren’t you going to feed him?”

Bon Bon, with a forced smile, picked up her plate and walked out. Her smile dropped once she knew Lyra wasn’t looking; a twitch in her left eye could be felt. Walking up to the door, Lyra formed a quick spell to unlock and open the door. The alien was already awake and sitting on the ground, looking over the papers from before

‘I must have forgotten to take some of this back out with me yesterday before we left.’

Anon looked at her, having already heard the door open, noticing the plate in her mouth. She could clearly see its eyes widening, a small smile appearing on its face. Taking the quill in its soft digits, it scribbled something down before giving it to her. A somewhat legible ‘thank you’ was offered to her; it seemed to be picking things up quickly.

She nodded at the alien before returning to Lyra’s side by the bed. Her stomach grumbled quietly as she stared at Lyra’s half-eaten plate of food.

‘I was really looking forward to that jammy toast.’

“Okay,” Bon Bon started, ignoring the delectable smells. “I’ve been thinking of some ways to prove this alien is harmless. The few ideas that I came up with don’t seem to be in line with what the princess will allow, such as allowing him outside and meeting with other ponies.

“I was thinking we can get around her restrictions by simply having ponies come to us. We introduce the alien, keep things under control, and it should at the very least give us some extension, if not outright removing any issues of it staying. What do you think of this?”

Staring back at her friend, her eye could be felt twitching once again, seeing her attention elsewhere. Turning to what was holding her attention, Bon Bon’s face fell. A mental scream tore through her, realizing she had forgotten to close the door holding the alien. Worse, it held the silverware that was on the plate. The only saving grace being the alien was too enraptured in eating its food to realize the door was open.

“Eeeeeh…” Bon Bon heard mumbling from her friend.

Turning back, she noticed an eerie smile. She knew what that smile meant; Lyra’s about to do something very, very stupid. Bon Bon hoped whatever was running through her head wasn’t too dangerous.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

A yawn escaped Anon, rubbing his bleary eyes. The previous night was a tiring ordeal for him, the noise keeping him up. He had the bed overturned, giving him some form of barricade should the rowdiness decide to pay him a visit.

Having fixed the bed early in the morning, he had taken to working on the paperwork left behind by the two ponies. He made a personal vow to choke whoever made him learn such a thing. Just who comes up with a language that uses whistles and music sheets?

That was all set to the side the moment the pony named Bon Bon walked in, placing a plate of food down. A full-fledged meal with hash browns and an omelet, even including utensils of all things. He wasn’t sure what he had done to be offered such things.

Speaking of such things, they had left the door wide open. Looking out, he could see the unicorn and science-pony up on a bed, squeaking and whistling to one another. The unicorn was simply staring at him. Anon gave a wave, wondering where they were going with this.

‘Did they seriously make a whole house and give the two ponies their own rooms?’

Taking another bite of this toast, he could hear a low-whining coming from the unicorn. It slowly crawled out of its bed, past her bewildered assistant, flopping to the ground in a thudding head first. Anon winced seeing that, wondering how much that would cost them in repairs. Picking herself up she shook her head, walking up to Anon, the other pony following close behind.

The unicorn looked at him, her eyes quickly directed to the ground full of papers. “~+You left him with the papers?+~” she tweeted, her voice skipping like a scratched record. “~+Good idea! He can do his own studying while we’re away now! We just need to make sure he has enough materials to continue on when we’re not here.+~”

Bon Bon twittered, looking to the ground with a forced smile. “~+So what exactly were you thinking when you saw, well, whatever it was you saw?+~”

“~+Well… I noticed you left both our doors open, and that let off a lot of alarms in my head. What if he had escaped? And he even had a fork! He could have done something with that, right? But look! He hadn’t even tried to stab you when your back was turned!+~”

Whatever the unicorn said made Bon Bon fidget about, looking at Anon warily. “~+R, Right… your point?+~”

“~+Okay, so hear me out. The way I see it, we need to show he’s not a danger. So why not make it so we introduce dangerous substances to him! We can record everything we do and, with enough work, paint him in a manner that would show he’s not as dangerous as the princess think he is!+~”

The only thing Anon got out of that was the word ‘dangerous’, a familiar word that the lab pony had provided to him as she continuously used it the other day teaching him. ‘What’s dangerous? Are they going to do something dangerous to me?’

“~+Lyra, that might be a bit too dangerous, don’t you think?+~”

“~+It’s not like we have anything else we can do with the restrictions the princess gave us. Besides getting other ponies in on this. I mean, it’s a start.+~”

“~+Yeah, I suppose.+~”

Anon slowly took a bite of his omelet, keeping an eye on the two. Whatever Lyra had planned, he felt he was going to regret it. Best to enjoy his meal before they started.

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As luck would have it, his initial assumption was way off. All they had done was place items around the room: a dresser, a rug, even a desk full of papers, inks, and quills. That didn’t stop them from adding more worrisome things to that list, such as a full set of knives. It was a frightening thing to have the ponies simply giving him such things. All he could do was stare at the two ponies, wondering why they would do such things. Were they testing him? Screwing with him? Likely, both.

In all likelihood, they wanted to show how little of a threat he was, considering he was up against autonomous, mechanical horses. Here, have this wonderfully high-risk cutlery that could hurt someone if used in such a manner. As if he would do such a thing. How much clearer did they have to be that he was no threat to them?

Having gone through a round of ‘gift-giving’, they left him to be in the now furnished room, sitting at the desk in a chair much too small for him, learning an aggravating language of lyrical melodies as they continued to pass him items slowly over the day.

Learning enough of their language, he felt confident enough to ask some questions. Queries on why they were holding him in the room or how they were performing their levitation acts were put off, feeling his captives wouldn’t share such information. Asking them about their current actions would do for the time being.

Carefully writing it down, he handed the paper to them. Lyra’s horn glowed, her green aura levitating it to her. Reading it, her previous smile dropped. Bon Bon looked at it before whinnying.

“~+Should we tell him about what’s going on with the princess?+~”

Taking a shaky gulp of air, the unicorn looked like she was about to cry. A mistake, it seemed, asking her such a question. Grabbing some paper, Lyra scribbled a reply. Bon Bon read it, letting out what clearly sounded like a tea kettle groaning. Being given the note, Anon had difficulty working out what it read. He had to cross-reference the note to translate it, the ponies remaining patient, taking considerable time just to work out the single sentence.

**I just wanted to prove that you can be friendly and trustful.**

He hummed to himself, figuring it was something like that. Everything was simply a test, holding him in the room, seeing how far they could go and what he’d do. Perhaps the people holding him wanted a willing test subject, showing him glimpses of what they had. Something felt off, in the back of his mind, a tickling sensation that he wasn’t seeing something that felt almost too outlandish to consider.

“~+Lyra, could you not have chosen a better excuse?+~

“~+It’s sort of true Bon Bon. An alien pops up for the first time in, like ever, and I want to be his friend!+~

“~+I don’t think it’s a good idea to get too close to it, Lyra. And even though I don’t really agree with the princess, we don’t know if he’s here for something that could harm us in some manner.+~”

“~+He, he wouldn’t do anything wrong…+~”

“~+Lyra, a mysterious being comes up out of the blue for no reason? No matter how you look at it, that just doesn’t seem right.+~” Lyra frowned at whatever Bon Bon had chirped. “~+The princesses have been around for a long time, they’re more knowledgeable in these kinds of things. They’re probably considering him dangerous enough to warrant those threats.+~”

The unicorn’s ears flattened against her head, looking away. “~+For all we know, he might just be acting complacent until he can get out of sight and take over the world, or something else equally as vile!~+” Bon Bon shook her head. “~+Why would we even believe he would want to be our friend right now? We’ve kept him locked in a room over a week, poking and prodding him without much thought. Would you be quick to befriend somepony who did that?+~”

The unicorn looked upset, a small whimper being heard. Bon Bon, noticing Lyra’s reaction, only now realized her melodic words weren’t helping things. To Bon Bon, she knew that she was only trying to reassure her own thoughts. To Anon, he only heard garbled whistles and tunes, incapable of knowing what was really going on. Before Bon Bon could try fixing the situation she made, the unicorn levitated some of the materials surrounding Anon, startling him. Writing a note, she placed it down in front of Anon to read.

He slowly started translating, trying his best to ignore the unicorns watering eyes. Why would they create these things with such emotions? How did they even go about creating such an AI?

Ignoring such questions, Anon looked at the translated note in full: **You are not here to take over our world, are you ?**

His mind had blanked out. What a ridiculous question to ask. How was it related to him being tested? Were they simply testing how he’d answer, to see how far he’d gotten with his language skills? Or was he missing something else pertaining to everything he’d been going through?

Letting out a sigh, he wrote down his reply for her, taking his time to write as cleanly as he could before handing it over.

**No not here to take world**

He had to save time writing additional words, finding it difficult to write them with ease. Anon could only hope the message was legible enough for them to understand. Lyra frowned, pointing at her note once more, showing a bent section. Bending it back, he saw more words he translated.

**Can we be friends?**

He found the question strange. Looking back at her, he saw her obviously worried about his reply. That tickling feeling came back, telling him things were not as they seemed. For what reason would they ask to be his friend? Weren’t they… Didn’t they kidnap him?

….He put that to rest, something to think about later when given the chance. He wrote a simple response to her once more.

**Yes**

A little white lie wouldn’t hurt anyone; if it was a test or not, the answer should suffice. He just wasn’t sure if answering honestly would do.

The unicorn didn’t seem to react, reading his message. Was she expecting a stronger message? They wanted to be friends or tested his capability to be one. An ally? Regardless, his body reacted before his mind could catch up, reaching out for a handshake. Ah, but what if that was taking things too far?

“Oomph!”

Lyra tackled him, wrapping her hooves around him as she squeezed tightly. It was truly unexpected. Why would she do that? Laying on the ground, arms splayed out, he looked at Bon Bon, hoping she would do something. She only raised a brow at him, letting out a sigh, shaking her head. The pony pointed at his hands, then to Lyra. He immediately got that she wanted him to hug back.

He reached his arms around and gave her a light squeeze, a trill sounding off. Lyra quickly let go and jumped back to where she was, a wide smile appearing on her face. The unicorn then turned to Bon Bon, her smile widening.

“~+See! He totally likes me!+~”

The other pony rolled her eyes at what was said. As she went over to more papers, likely to write more things to him, Lyra paused. She looked like something important had been forgotten. Looking at the wall, she examined the clock, another recent addition.

“~+Wasn’t Fluttershy supposed to be here by now?+~”

Bon Bon rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof. “~+Remember when I said I thought it would be a good idea to get some more ponies to help?+~”

“~+Yeah?+~”

“~+You see, Fluttershy had already arrived earlier in the day when you were moving things up for Anon. When she came by, I sort of told her she should come back tomorrow+~”

“~+What does that have to do with bringing more ponies here?+~”

“~+I may have told her to come by along with Rarity as well.~+”

“~+YOU WHAT?!+~” the unicorn trumpeted. “~+Why would you make that decision?! He doesn’t need additional ponies seeing him right now! What if she were to spread word about him? Or, or she upset him in some way?!+~”

Bon Bon horned something out as if scoffing. “~+Lyra, the thing needs proper clothing anyways, so we may as well do this sooner rather than later. I doubt meeting another pony will upset him in any fashion, especially after living with us. And on top of that, she may be helpful to us.+~”

Anon watched the two converse, slightly unnerved at what had transpired. Not from the physical contact, but how real the horse felt. There was heat radiating off of her, and not a single bit of metal could be felt.

‘...They aren’t real. They can’t be. It’s simply not possible.’

He didn’t want to even begin on that route of thinking, pushing it to the back of his mind. He grabbed papers, going back to writing down each letter and doing his best to pronounce the ones he knew. He needed to learn to speak as soon as he could so they could move on to why they were holding him.

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Bon Bon did not like Lyra’s plan involving the human. It seemed like a good idea the day before, giving it items and taking pictures of it, and recording what the alien did with them. They also got around to helping him speak their language, one letter at a time.

Thinking on the previous day’s works geared her up for what was to come. Fluttershy had just come by with Rarity. The fashionista was carrying a small bag of measuring tools Lyra couldn't recognize.

“So Miss Lyra, just where is this fashion emergency that, for some reason, needed to be put off until today?”

“Fashion emergency?”

“Why, yes! Fluttershy came by stating that there was a wardrobe in need of a touch-up yesterday and mentioned you were the pony in dire need of such work. It pained me to hear you wanted to hold off for another day to do so, why the audacity! These kinds of things should be immediately dealt with as soon as possible!”

Lyra looked at Fluttershy. “Did Bonnie say something like that yesterday?” Fluttershy, looking confused, nodded her head. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but the clothing isn’t for me.”

Rarity appeared stumped. “Oh? Then is it for your lovely maref—” She choked on her words from the expression Lyra gave her. Coughing, Rarity tried to regain her composure. “R, Right then, so I mean are the clothes meant for your friend Bon Bon?” she asked with a forced smile.

“No, they are not,” Lyra answered. Rarity blinked, uncertain of the situation. Lyra looked at Fluttershy, whose eyes widened in realization. “Rarity, I need you to promise me that what you are about to see is not spoken about outside this house. Not to any of your friends, nor to any associates. I can’t have you blabbering about what I’m about to show you.”

Rarity scrunched her face up, looking toward the door. “I am uncertain I find myself wanting to be a part of whatever it is you have planned for my work.”

“It’s nothing worrying,” Fluttershy added, “they were just ordered by the princess not to let this get out.”

“…Eh?”

“Just come over and sit down so I can explain some things,” Lyra said, ushering the two over to the couch.

Sitting down, the three of them sipped on tea that Bon Bon made for them as Lyra started to summarize the past week involving the alien. Lyra would have liked Bon Bon’s help but she stated she had things to do out in town. Not thinking much of it, Lyra made sure to emphasize the importance of keeping quiet until the princess allowed things to progress.

Having finished her wild tales, Rarity, taking a sip of her tea, placed it down and looked at the bag she brought. “I suppose I can take a gander at our alien, but I am uncertain I can make it any garments. I barely have any experience making minotaur fashion as it is, so I’ll need to study its clothing for some time”

“That’s fine, as long as Anon has something to wear. The princess will also be paying for this. Once you’re done I’ll have the bits ready for you.”

The conversation moved on toward some small talk as the three of them relaxed for the moment, drinking their tea. Rarity seemed hesitant about meeting the alien.

Finishing the tea, the three of them made it up the stairs, already finding the door wide open. It didn’t matter if it was open or closed, only that they accentuate the importance to the human not to leave the room. He had complied with little trouble.

Walking in, Lyra saw the human sitting at the desk, going over paperwork from last night.

‘The chair he sat on looks much too small for him,’ Lyra thought, ‘I’ll need to get him a custom made one soon or magic him one that fits.’

And thankfully, none of the items they brought up there were in sight. Lyra didn’t want to explain why their kitchen wares were in the room.

Noticing them, Anon turned from his work and waved up one of his arms before waving it. “H-ei-llo,” he said, surprising Lyra and the others.

“Oh my!” Rarity said, walking up to him curiously. “What a strange, exotic-sounding accent!” She looked at his clothing, her interest growing. “And just look at his clothing! Why I’ve never seen such fabric. And that stitching!”

She started prodding him, circling around where he sat. Any fear she previously had, melted at the sight of the otherworldly garments on display. Anon simply stared at Rarity as she poked and tugged on certain pieces of clothing he wore.

Anon, looking confused, wrote down a note and held it in the air. Lyra levitated it over to her, **Who other uonicourn why poke me**

Lyra felt flabbergasted. ‘He knows what a unicorn is?’

She knew that she had never stated what that was, only that they were ponies! That’s something she would have to ask about later on.

“She’s examining your clothes,” Lyra answered.

Looking a little amused, he pointed at his ear, shaking his head. Lyra slapped a hoof to her face.

“Lyra, ask him if I can borrow his top clothing if you wouldn’t mind. The patterns in the cloth, the way it’s designed! Why these humans must be very advanced in their fashion trends from what I’m seeing! I simply adore how they thread the clothing.”

Writing a note, Lyra passed it for him to translate. He was getting surprisingly good, seeing as he’s only had a few days’ worths of training to do so. Reading the translated note, he stood up for Rarity. She quickly backed away, only now noticing how tall he was. Slipping his arms out of the heavy article, he held it in front of Rarity.

She stood there, jacket now levitating from her horn, staring up at Anon. Placing the jacket in her pouch, she now has a measuring tape in her magic. “Lyra, I’ve never prepared clothing for such a—” She eyed him up and down, “—tall figure before. It shall be a challenge, but I find myself eager for it. Now, if you could kindly ask him to take off his fascinating garments for me so I can properly measure him and look at his clothing, that would be much appreciated.”

“He doesn’t like to go nude, Rarity,” Fluttershy said, remembering that detail from last time.

“And why is that?” Rarity asked. “Is he that attached to his clothing? Oh dear, is he hiding some kind of scarring or some other outlandish ordeal?”

Lyra replied, “Here’s the thing. See, he doesn’t have a way to cover himself down there, if you catch my meaning.” Rarity frowned, confused. “His, erm… stallionhood can’t be tucked away, he doesn’t have any inherent magic like we do, so…” Lyra left the remaining words open, having no difficulty getting her words across.

Rarity blushed, “I, I see. That would answer why he wears so much clothing.”

“He really is an alien,” Fluttershy said, gaining their attention. She fidgeted with the attention on her. “I mean, all beings are capable of hiding themselves instinctually through the magic they have in themselves. N-Not him though, he doesn’t have any internal magic before coming here…”

Rarity hummed to herself, the shading in her cheeks staying a vibrant red. “This is going to be an odd measuring for us then. I… I must be thorough in my work if I am to help fabricate him clothing proper for a species like him. So, Lyra, just tell him this is nothing more than business and we can leave it at that.”

Would the human be alright with that? Writing out the note, she floated the message to Anon. He read it, his face turning slightly red, his claw clenching. Looking down at Rarity, she gave him a smile with a nervous chuckle. He wrote back a message, this one Lyra noticed more sloppily, **If she make me new okay -------- please thank-----**

Most of the note was unintelligible but it got the message across. Relaying the message to Rarity, she opened up her sack and started placing tools and paperwork for the job. “Thankfully I always make sure to keep any tools needed for such a job in case of emergencies.”

Nodding in agreement, Lyra noticed Fluttershy did the same thing with her bag, taking out tools she couldn’t recognize along with her own stack of papers. “Oh, um… I never, well, got a, um… I never got a chance to write down details I need on his body as thoroughly as before, so, if you d-don’t mind…” She let out a cough, her cheeks growing red in embarrassment.

‘…Screw this,’ Lyra thought.  ‘I may as well collect data as well. Yes, collecting data and nothing more…’

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

One hour later, the three of them walk out of the room, all with matching faces flushed red.

“Darling, I don’t think the human liked you chasing him around, taking pictures of his—” She cleared her throat, “—nudity being out and about.”

“If he had stopped trying to dodge me after the first one I wouldn’t have needed to chase him,” Lyra replied.

“I do hope that’s all these pictures are used for,” Rarity said with a smirk. Lyra sputtered at her accusation. “Why, from how it appeared, I almost confused you for a mare in heat,” Rarity chimed with a purr.

“Now you know that’s not true,” Lyra said with a blush. “Besides, from how Flutters looked, she was about to jump him!”

“You make a good point,” Rarity agreed. “She sure was quite close to him during her little examination.”

“How she poked and prodded at his muscles for much longer than one would think is needed.”

“Why from how her wings couldn’t keep down, you’d think he had an intoxicating smell coming off of him that made her—”

“IGOTTAGOFEEDMYANIMALS!” Fluttershy screamed, dashing straight out the door and into the sky.

The two remaining ponies stood there, watching her soar in the sky from the open door. Laughter trickled out of them.

“I never knew Fluttershy could fly off so fast,” Lyra said. “She could give Dash a run for her money.”

Rarity chuckled, “I do say this has been an interesting day for me. As I said I’ll be borrowing his jacket for a while to work as a template to help prepare clothing for him.”

“Just make sure nopony knows of him being here.”

“I will keep my word and not sound off a single peep from these mare’s lips,” Rarity said, raising a hoof and showing a zipping motion in front of her mouth. “I’ll be by every once in a while to ask more questions about his clothes. The ‘denim’ is quite fascinating, mimicking something we have and yet, so much sturdier. I would love to learn more about his world’s fashions!”

Closing the door, Lyra looked at the clock, wondering just why Bon Bon hadn’t come home. With nothing better to do, Lyra walked back up to Anon’s room. He was sitting back at the desk, eating an apple Lyra had already stocked for him to snack on. Anon looked at Lyra, a blush forming from what had previously taken place, shuffling in his seat. Putting the apple down, he wrote a note for Lyra.

**was that needled*

Taking a stack of papers for herself, she sat down on the chair she brought up for herself by the desk.

**Sorry, my friends got excited meeting you and may have gone overboard.**

Anon passed another note, Lyra noting his notes were becoming faster to write down. **okay i am putting lots trust**

That made Lyra smile, knowing he was doing so. Lyra wrote a note back to him, **Is it alright to ask you some questions about yourself ?** She still barely knew anything about his world or himself.

Working through his notes he gave a nod to himself, giving her his reply. **see no problem i ask tooo**

Lyra rubbed her chin, thinking of what to ask first. **How did you know Rarity was a unicorn?** Lyra watched him as he thought about the question.

Anon hummed, writing Rarity’s name to the side as a reference before returning a reply. **old ancheent storys of unicorns and other creatores**

‘Ah, so like a mythological creature.’ Lyra wrote back, wondering just what his species viewed unicorns as. He hesitated, looking at his own paper in thought.

**unicorns are beings of magic of clean things with horn to make better  some my people want horn to do same take force unicorns in tails always attack our kind only fine with young i forget why**

Lyra could feel herself pale reading that. ‘That… doesn’t really help things at all,’ she thought. He gave Lyra a new note to read, **old stories not real magic not real but fake same with unicorn and other beings**

Reading the note, she could see he didn’t really mean them harm. Why would he reveal these things to her? Taking the note, she ripped it up and using a small flash of fire, burned the note immediately.

Anon looked at her with a flinch, thinking he did something wrong. Lyra wrote a reply back to alleviate such worries, **It’s fine, just don’t tell anyone about that. Would be very bad.**

If word got out that his people had such tales, it’s likely the princess would more likely put him in observation for all eternity. They would need time to get to know him before he was to say anything about his species’ stories.

Lyra noticed a new note from him, **ask are there other ponies and creatures in your world like old tails**

**Yes there are. Along with ponies we have beings like dragons, diamond dogs, minotaurs, griffons, hydras, and more.** It took some patience from Lyra to allow Anon time to translate the words, each one a new expression of fascination and astonishment. Lyra wrote a question for him, **What other beings are on your planet?**

Lyra could hear him hum to himself, reading the note. **we only beings that can think on whole planet we have other species like lions and such but we are alone in our world**

‘That’s… depressing.’ Just thinking of being the only species on their planet, it made her feel selfish wanting to meet an alien with how much they already had.

He wrote another question for her, **what markings on your behind**

She looked at her mark, showing her lyre imprinted on her body.

**They are called cutie marks and they tell us what special talent we have. Mine is a lyre, as you can see. That means I am especially talented with them. Lyres are used for music.**

After reading the message, he turned to the side and looked at her mark once more. She bent a little to let him look. With that done, he scribbled another note for her.

**can i hear lyre it would be nice to hear music**

“Um…”

It had been quite a long time for the mare, her lyre simply collecting dust. It wouldn’t hurt to grab it and show him.

She made her way downstairs and into her pile of belongings. Pushing things aside, she eventually came across her old lyre case. It was, as she thought it would be, dusty. Opening it up, she could see the strings gleaming in the light as the well-polished wood reflected her face. Adding the upkeep enchantments surely did wonders. It would need a tune-up later when she had the chance to sit down with it.

Closing the case, she brought it back up where Anon was sitting. Lyra was nervous playing the lyre, wondering if she would be any good how out of practice she felt. Taking her seat, she set the case down and got the lyre out. Butterflies started buzzing around her stomach as her forelegs started to tense up.

‘Darn it Lyra, calm down,’ her inner-voice chastised.

Breathing to ease herself, she plucked a few strings to test the sound. Taking stock of the number of songs she knew, Lyra went with something she made up at the academy. It was a song of lyrical whimsy, full of happy thoughts. It was her interpretation of the freedom of the air.

Her hooves moved back and forth, never missing a beat, feeling as if she never stopped playing. It felt nice playing once again, remembering the good times with her lyre. She wanted to make sure Anon also enjoyed her performance.

‘This might be the only time he’ll be able to see me play if the princess…’

She shook the thought out of her head, shoving the sad feelings aside. No, right now, there was nothing but her, a lyre, and Anon.

Plucking the last few notes in a jovial finale, she took a pause, letting out a gust of air she had been holding on to. Looking up, she saw Anon had a note written for.

**you very good at your music thank you for playing**

A smile spread across her face reading that. She wondered just how she compared to his people's works. Setting the lyre back in its case, she wrote a note to him asking such. Reading her note, he slipped his paws into the pockets on his clothing, taking out a little gray box with the white strings. Lyra remembered it was the same thing she saw when she cleaned his clothing. Showing them to her, he wrote a note before passing it to her.

**this has over three and five zero songs from many different musics in my world.**

It took her but a moment to realize what he had said. ‘That little box holds that much music in it?!’

**i prefer hearing you play your music right now  never heard anyone play a lyre so well would you play more**

Lyra could feel a warm, fuzzy feeling growing inside of her. Putting the box away, he sat there, waiting patiently on her answer. She replied with the plucking of her lyre that lasted throughout the night.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

It had been almost a full two weeks since the princess’s letter. Tomorrow morning was when Lyra was to report back to the princess.

Over two weeks, she had felt they were becoming close friends. Her trust in him increased as well, enough to let him down the stairs. After she boarded all the windows up, that was. Lyra was amused by seeing his reaction to the appliances. He had similar items in his own world, just not magical.

The two of them spent a lot of time downstairs on the couch, with Bon Bon on a chair to help with things, teaching Anon how to write and speak. Fluttershy would come by daily alongside Rarity. The two had helped Anon understand things in their world after they were told what information was allowed.

Rarity, as annoying as she was at times, helped Anon speak up about his world. She was fast, already prepared with two sets of clothing for him. He seemed happy, having something else to wear. And Rarity was equally happy, especially after seeing her payment.

Even after she brought his clothes over, Rarity would come by just to talk to Anon. They were becoming pretty good friends, perfect for what Lyra had planned for the princess. Fluttershy on the other hoof was still shy around him. More work was needed there.

As for Lyra and Bon Bon, those two, of course, spent the most time around him. Bon Bon usually had business out in the town, either bringing back things that were needed or some other ‘important’ errand Lyra sent her off to. She did her best to teach him how to talk, write, and simply understand what they said.

Everything he wrote was fascinating to Lyra. His world, while troubling to read at times, was an interesting place to hear about.

The nights were reserved as a relaxing period, to put things aside. Lyra started to play her lyre more often as a result, with Anon and Bon Bon sitting there to listen. Lyra taught Anon to learn how to play a little, thinking with his ‘hands’ and ‘fingers’ that he would have little trouble.

The past two weeks were some of the best she’d ever had. So why did they have to go away so quickly?

“Lyra, Rarity and Fluttershy are here,” Bon Bon said.

Lyra sighed, walking to Anon who was sitting on the couch, going through papers on their table. “Anon, we need you to up to your room,” Lyra said slowly, pointing in the direction and sounding things out so he could clearly understand her.

He barely recognized anything they said, but did catch on to key words and understood intent quite well.

Nodding, he grabbed his papers, standing up, and went to the room. Once inside, Bon Bon opened the front door, allowing the two mares in. Lyra led them straight to the couch, already prepared for their arrival with tea. Bon Bon started to serve it out as they all took seats.

“Lyra,” Rarity started after taking a sip, “you told us that you needed our help today involving Anon. I confess I am confused. What more could we do to help than what we already have?”

Lyra looked tired and moody. She let out another sigh, putting aside her tea as she began explaining what the princess had her doing in full for the past three weeks. This also included the threat against Anon. The two were shocked and appalled to hear what the princess ordered.

“Th, There has to be something we can do! This, this is just, well, bad! And mean! And… just plain not right…” said Fluttershy, barely a whisper at the end.

“Bon Bon and I have been thinking of ways to help but so far all we’ve come up with is giving him a lot more control over his environment and gather some data on his world and people.”

“Could you not have other ponies come in and help with this?” Rarity asked.

Lyra shook her head, “We can’t. The princess’s orders are to keep him in the house until we can prove him harmless. In fact, even having you two around was stretching what the princess allowed. She doesn’t even know you two are specifically here, or how much you two are doing, only that we have outside help.”

The four of them sat in silence.

“You, well, mentioned you wanted us to help somehow?” Fluttershy asked with a barely audible voice.

“Yes,” Lyra replied, “I was hoping I could get written statements from the two of you about your involvement with him. Bon Bon and I are going to do the same, so we had hoped you would add more support.”

“Of course we’ll do it!” Rarity spoke out. “I would be devastated if a friend were to be banished off without a fight!”

“Did the princess, say, um, how she was… going to…” Fluttershy looked away, embarrassed at her unfinished question.

“No, she never mentioned much on that subject. I imagine it’ll involve her sending guards here.” Lyra started passing papers around with ink and quills. “I just hope this persuades her enough.”

The two of them took their time, writing what they could think of about their time with Anon. A collected stack of their responses sat on the table, Lyra clipping them together with the other papers she needed to send out.

“When will you be sending these out?” Rarity asked.

“In the morning, around when she needs to bring up the sun. I don’t know why she wanted to wait until then, but it’s something I didn’t want to bother asking her about.”

“In the morning when the sun goes up?” Fluttershy hummed in thought. “Um, do you think that she, well, might be sharing your work with Princess Luna?”

Lyra froze hearing that. What if she was? Things could make more sense to her if that were true. Bon Bon let out a groan as well, coming to the same conclusion.

“D-Did I say something wrong?” Fluttershy asked.

“Princess Luna doesn’t exactly get along with Lyra,” Bon Bon said. “If she’s also seeing the work, then—”

“Then that might mean she’s the one that set this all up!”

‘I know that Princess Luna dislikes me, but for her to go out of her way to do this is just evil!

“Now let’s not go jumping to any conclusions on this just yet,” Rarity said. “We don’t know if that’s even the case or what made Princess Celestia decide all of this.”

“True, it might have been that book,” Bon Bon muttered.

“Book?” Fluttershy asked.

“Um… forget what I just said.”

Lyra looked at the ground, her thoughts swirling as they tried to connect things together but failing.

“Well look at the time!” Rarity said, getting up alongside Fluttershy. “I would love to stay and chat on this but we have other things we need to deal with. We’ll see you tonight gals!”

Lyra paused in her thoughts.

“Tonight?” Lyra asked. “What do you mean?” Looking up, she saw they already left.

Bon Bon gave Lyra a forced smile. “It’s nothing to worry about, just some plans for later. Now, why don’t you spend some time with Anon? I’m sure he’d like that.”

Lyra shook her head as she got up to take a seat at her desk. “No, I need to go over these papers. I’ll probably be looking over them all night. If there’s something I can add or possibly improve… Look, I just, I need to work on this. Okay?”

“Sure Lyra, I’ll just go feed Anon,” she said, walking off slowly to the kitchen.

‘Okay, so with the work of Fluttershy and Rarity, I just need to rework some of my own stuff to fit in with what they said. Add to…’

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Loud knocking could be heard from the front entrance. Lyra was going over her work for the twenty-second time that night. She rubbed her head from the headache she could feel coming.

Looking at her clock, she saw it was well past bedtime. ‘The two must be here for Bonnie,’

Stacking her papers aside, she got up from her seat and walked to the door. She greeted Rarity and Fluttershy inside.

“Bonnie, it’s the girls!” Lyra screamed up the stairs. “They’re here for you!”

“Actually, we’re here for you,” Rarity said, standing close to her.

“What?”

Bon Bon descended the stairs, running up to the two of them. “Oh good, you’re early. You have everything you need, Fluttershy?”

“Yes, everything I might need is packed right here,” she said, pointing to her side pack.

“You mind filling me in on what’s happening?” Lyra asked as Bon Bon shoved her toward the front entrance.

“We, are going out, to have some fun, drinking,” she said, having to continuously shove Lyra toward the door.

“Hold up! I need to stay and keep working on this, Bonnie! What if I missed something or—”

“Lyra,” she interrupted, “I don’t think there’s much else that you can do right now. But I do see that you’re extremely stressed out from all the work. You’ve barely had any time off. And as your friend, I’m going to force you to have some time off to relax.”

“But I can relax here with my work!”

“No, you’re just going to work yourself to death. Fluttershy is going to stay here with the alien while you go out with us for some fun.”

The girls dragged Lyra off into the night, her protests heard the entire way through Ponyville’s streets. They eventually made it to a building that they shoved her into. It smelled… dirty. Lyra could see ponies lounging about, drinking and spouting off nonsense to one another. She didn’t want to be anywhere near them.

“Come on, have a few drinks and relax,” Bon Bon said, shoving her up to the bar.

The bartender looked over to Lyra, rubbing a glass with a rag. “What can I get you?”

“I don’t wa—”

“A salty ocean for us three,” Rarity ordered, taking a seat beside Lyra, “and heavy on the salt.”

Lyra slumped onto the bar, groaning in defeat. ‘This sucks,’ she thought as a drink was brought over to her.

Taking a look around, she could see Bon Bon and Rarity on either side of her, waiting for her to start drinking. Grabbing it, she quickly slammed it down, ignoring the salty taste hitting the back of her throat. Slamming the mug down, she slapped the mug back to the bartender. “It needs more powder,” she commented.

“I think you need to lay off the hard stuff for a bit,” Bon Bon advised, taking a sip from her mug.

Lyra grunted as the bartender came back with another drink along with a bag of powdered sugar. Layering the top with a good amount, he slid it over to her. “One snowy beach for the gal,” he said as Lyra licked her lips at the drink.

‘Screw it,’ Lyra thought. ‘If they’re going to make me drink, I’m going to do it right and hard.’

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

“Aaaaagh!” Lyra roared out, taking another drink.

So far, Lyra had been hit on by around a dozen or so stallions, finding her actions throughout the night alluring, for one reason or another.

‘Pfff, yeah right,’ she thought. ‘I can do so much better than them stinky heads! Though, that last one was pretty nice looking.’

She started having second thoughts on having her drinks powdered, thoughts that were quickly thrown out the window after the first two drinks. Lyra had lost Bon Bon and Rarity amongst everyone in the crowd; Lyra thought they were roaming around to pick someone up

‘Eh, screw em’,’ her inner voice said. ‘You got your drinks and are having a blast! Why were you even so stressed out before again?’

…Oh, right. It was because of the alien. Her brain scoffed at that. ‘That darn alien, making you stressed out.’

“Hey, watch it!”

“You watch it!” Lyra said, bumping around the other ponies as she made her way to the bar.

She took another gulp of her drink, sitting down at the bar to think to herself. The alien sure made her life more hectic than it previously was.

‘And here you were, trying to save his life when all he can do is barely say hello!’ Wait, that didn’t make any sense…

‘Brain, you’re home, go drunk.’

Taking another sip, she recalled the previous few weeks with him. A smile appeared on her face as she closed her eyes, remembering those times. ‘They sure were fun,’ she thought, just before slapping her head on the counter.

‘He sure is a great friend! And you’ll be able to do a lot more with him in the future… Hopefully, the princess doesn’t do anything, it might be his last day here.’

Lyra shot her head up. ‘WHY AM I HERE?!’

‘You should head back home with Anon so he can spend his last day with his great friend, Lyra!’ her inner voice told her. ‘Stupid-headed Lyra just had to go out for drinks when she could be doing that instead!’

Lyra took another sip, noticing her mug was empty. Thank goodness Bon Bon was paying for these. Or was Rarity? Placing her mug down, she slipped off her stool and made her way to the door with only one thought on her mind: spending time with her good friend Anon.

The walk through Ponyville was a struggle for the tipsy unicorn. Her legs wobbled all over down the streets. She had a tumble or two along the way.

She felt relief seeing her house. A gasp of surprise came out, seeing she owned three of them now! Walking to the left one it started vanishing, making her grunt in annoyance. Leave it to vanishing houses to ruin one’s night. Walking up to the middle one, she opened the front door, seeing a yellow pony sitting on her couch, reading.

“Oh!” Fluttershy gasped in surprise. “I didn’t expect you to be back just yet!” She looked behind Lyra. “Um… where are the girls?”

“They’re at the bar, wai, wai… w-waaiting on yoou!”

“Really?” she asked, unsure of Lyra’s words.

“T-Totally! I’ma just gonna spend some time with, with the alien alone! Yes, alone…”

Fluttershy looked like she’s about to protest. “No, look Flutters. I gets you like the aliens thinga-ma-bobbers—” She turned red hearing that “—but tonight might be his very only completely last night here! So I’m gonna spend time with him and, and… and go UP to his room and, and have some fine with him aaall night lonk, okays?”

“Um… well…”

“The girls are watings for you, Flutters! Hurry! Flyyy!” Lyra grabbed her with magic, lifting her and throwing her into the night air. “FLYYYYYY!” she screamed at the now airborne Fluttershy.

She seemed confused at the situation, looking behind her as she flew off toward the bar. Lyra let smirked as she reentered her house. Barely making it up the stairs, she opened the door to where Anon was. She could see he was on the bed, sleeping without a shirt. She smiled at him, closing the door behind her as she made her way over to him.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

“Where the buck is she?!” Bon Bon screamed out to no one in particular, looking around the bar.

Lyra somehow slipped past her and Rarity, walking around the place as she heckled ponies. She had tried to stop her several times but it was difficult to do when she had a mare that could teleport without much thought.

Walking around, she saw Fluttershy sitting at the bar.

“Is that you, Fluttershy?” Bon Bon asked the pony.

She turned around and stared at her, unsure of what to say. “Oh, um, yes it is, Bon Bon.” She looked around the room for a second. “Have you seen Rarity?”

“No, I haven’t. Have you seen Lyra?”

“Lyra? Yes, I have.”

“Where is she?!”

Fluttershy let out a squeak, startled from the yelling. The drink in her hoof spilled across the bar, eliciting a groan from the bartender. “S-she's back home!” she answered. “She said sh-she was going to spend the night with Anon when she got back. I thought you knew since Lyra said—”

Bon Bon stopped listening as soon as she heard where Lyra was. She dashed out the bar straight back home, worried about what Lyra would do. A drunken Lyra was a very obsessive and random Lyra. That was not a good combination. The last stallion that came across that mix, their previous next-door neighbor, wouldn’t come out of the house for a full month, mumbling to himself until he eventually moved.

She hoped the alien was alright. Lyra would be devastated if she did anything to it in the morning. Slamming the front door open, she quickly ran up the stairs… right before plummeting back down them. Her head started seeing doubles of doubles from the tumble. Deciding to slow down so she didn’t slip, she carefully made her way to the room.

Opening the door, she had to let the darkness adjust so she could see. Taking a breather, she looked to the bed where she could see movement. Lyra could be seen on top of Anon, curled up in a ball fast asleep on its chest. Anon had an arm wrapped over her, which she snuggled her head into.

‘Thank goodness, that could’ve been so much worse. Seeing as there’s nothing wrong, I probably should leave them alone for the night,’ Bon Bon thought as she stared at the two, closing the door.

‘Of course, some pictures of this for later on would be pretty funny.’

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Last night had been troublesome for Bon Bon. She had to pay for all the damages from Lyra along with her tab. Many of the ponies there were trying to have her kicked out for good. Bon Bon made a vow to make sure Lyra could be kept in better control before she was ever given salt on that level again.

Morning came quickly for her. Nudging Lyra awake to deliver the message on time was amusing. Telling her what happened the previous night, even more fun.

Back downstairs, the two of them deposited every single thing they had prepared right into the lantern. After that, they sat on the couch, eagerly awaiting a reply.

“I really hope she changes her mind,” Lyra said, looking down at her hooves.

Bon Bon rubbed Lyra’s neck with her head, hoping to calm her down. “We’ll find out soon enough, Lyra. Just, don’t be upset if it’s not the answer you’re looking for.”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~Canterlot~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The past two weeks had been a troublesome mess for the princess. Ever since the fiasco involving the meeting in the study and the guards, Princess Celestia thought it would be a good idea to… reeducate them on how to properly take orders. Luckily for her, Shining Armor was around to help that out, quite disgusted to see such insubordination in his guards.

It was a tiring time at the palace, with her weeding out the unruly guards along with her duties. Plus, there was her sister ‘modernizing’ herself when she could. It was clear Luna was messing with her. Celestia allowed it, for the most part, finding it nice to see her opening up, but she was starting to get annoyed.

Currently, it was the end of Lyra’s two weeks where she needed to prove in her ‘scenario’ that the alien was harmless, or as harmless as could be. She found herself entertained at the end of the first week with what Lyra had reported back. Her attempts were quite ridiculous, allowing the alien more freedom around them and trying to teach him to speak. Thankfully, Lyra and her little assistant kept this realistic and only allowed the ‘human’ barely capable to write.

It was quite obvious to Celestia that Lyra was really trying to keep things going. She and her sister had a fun moment when she even said she was having clothing made for it. They humored her with playing along. Now, Celestia wished she hadn’t.

The restrictions, while hard, felt fair. And yet, she couldn’t help but feel anger at the pony having found a way around it in a manner she hadn’t considered; her sister’s laughter hadn’t helped things.

“She, she, she—” Luna attempted to say, only for her to go back to laughing.

‘I should have expected something like this’, Celestia thought, ‘Lyra is quite a clever little pony.’

Lyra got her elements involved.

And not one, but two of them! Just how she had convinced them to be a part of the scenario vexed her. She figured that Rarity was likely to help with the clothing, but the extent of her involvement was much greater than she originally anticipated. Adding to that, the anonymous stranger, now identified as Fluttershy, was fully involved with the whole thing, perhaps even from the beginning.

Having one of the elements involved in this was bothersome enough, but she could have dealt with it if anypony had asked questions. But now, she had two fully working alongside Lyra. Kindness, or Fluttershy, had spoken of the gentle nature the human had, while Generosity spoke of the being in a very good light. Reading both of their reports, along with Lyra and Bon Bon’s work, immediately shot down any attempts to shut the scenario down as she had originally attempted. A victory she and her sister could have won together.

Princess Celestia knew she should have sent a guard. Now she was stuck with playing along, on top of the ridicule that her sister was mirthfully cackling about. That was… embarrassing, having her plot thrown right back into her face from Lyra’s little comeback.

“M-M-Maybe you should have her get the other elements in this as well, just to round it all off!” Luna gasped out in between her bellowing laughter.

“…You know what? That sounds like a terrific idea!”

‘I can get the others involved and try to work this out as a win. And if anything, I’ve got Twilight as my ace in the hole. She would just need a little… nudging in the right direction.’

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~Ponyville~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The response letter back hadn’t taken long to arrive. Snatching the scroll before Lyra could get to it, Bon Bon read over the princess’s message. Lyra jumped on her shoulders, frantically trying to read alongside her. A smile stretched across her face, clapping her hooves together in glee. Lyra jumped off her shoulders, letting out a squeal as she jumped around the room.

“He’s going to be fine!” she excitedly said, giggling about the room. “I’m gonna wake him up and give him a hug!”

Bon Bon yanked her tail, her body thumping to the ground. “Lyra, read the rest of this before you run off.”

Lyra harrumphed as she made her way back to Bon Bon, reading the rest of the message. “So we just need to get the rest of the ‘elements’ to accept him? Ah, no problem! In the baaag! Easy-peasy! I totally have this covered, Bonnie!”

Bon Bon stared at Lyra, wondering if a certain detail would come up.

“What?”

Clearly not. “Is there anything interesting about the elements that you might find yourself having any difficulty with?”

“…Twilight,” Lyra gritted out.

“Yes.”

Lyra closed her eyes, taking small, calming breaths. “Well, at least Anon is safe for the time being. We just have to convince the other six elements—”

“Four, we already have Rarity and Fluttershy.”

Lyra blinked. “Ooh yeah, forgot they’re elements.” Bon Bon slapped a hoof to her face. “Okay, so four more to go then. How long do we have for that again?”

“A week per pony, and we have to convince them so we can have it interacting with others out in town. Otherwise, she’s going to send the guards here to take over.”

Bon Bon started to think about the current situation. Why, exactly, was the princess ordering things in such a strange manner? It felt off to her. Was this really about the alien, or was there something else going on they didn’t know about? Or was all of this simply just Luna’s involvement in the mix?

At the moment, Lyra didn’t seem to care with Anon safe. With a full month away to really start worrying, it didn’t seem like things would be a problem. Bon Bon would just have to keep her friend in line and ensure she didn’t mess up anything.

“So Lyra, who should we first go and… talk… to…” Bon Bon trailed off, looking at the vacant spot Lyra was just at.

Yelping could be heard upstairs, telling her just where Lyra went. ‘I better make sure she doesn’t harm it,’ she thought, making her way up. It might be better to wait on things until they’re done celebrating the victory.

~End Chapter Five~









Chapter Six - Gettin’ Dirty



“You’re early,” Bon Bon said, inviting the two ponies inside.

“We were anxious to hear what the princess had to say about our extraterrestrial friend,” Rarity replied, taking a seat in front of the couch.

“S-So is everything going to be fine?” Fluttershy asked, taking a sip of tea.

“Yes, the princess agreed that our work was enough for her to have second thoughts,” Bon Bon answered. “But there’s been a slight addition to what we need to do.”

“What does the princess expect him to go through now?” Rarity asked, dropping a cube of sugar in her tea before swirling it.

Lyra cleared out her throat, “Now before I say this, I just want to point out that it totally slipped my mind you two were elements. Not that I think it’s a huge thing, I mean, I’ve never heard you two ever bringing such things up.”

“Small details,” Rarity replied, gently drinking her tea. “To parade such things around, why would I want that to be the defining factor of who I am?”

Lyra nodded, “I get that. The only reason I bring it up is, well, It seems that it actually helped the princess in her decision with Anon.”

“How so?”

“There’s a lot that no one knows about, the counsel at Canterlot being such an example. They’re a kind of a system of checks and balances that the princess set up long ago for looking into different beings in power in our lands, the princesses being included.

They would normally ignore this whole alien thing, even with me being a direct employer of the princess as it doesn’t have anything to do with them. On account of the Elements being directly under Princess Celestia’s power, however, that changes things.”

Lyra chuckled, “I don’t know if you gals know how much they keep an eye on you all. They took what you said about Anon very seriously. The two of you pretty much helped stop the princess just from your letters.”

Fluttershy turned to Rarity surprised. “I, well… I didn’t know we had that kind of influence… Did you, Rarity?”

Rarity blinked. “No, I didn’t. I wasn’t aware us being Elements truly amounted to much,” she said, trying to sound nonchalant, clearly failing from having her ego rubbed.

“Anyways, the princess has included your statements and is reconsidering everything,” Bon Bon said. “But now she wants the statements of the other elements, to prove without a doubt that he’s harmless through their eyes.”

“So,” Lyra said, slamming her teacup on the table, “here’s the plan! We need you two to ‘convince’ the others of Anon’s innocence! He needs to be with each one for a week, so having a jump-start would be really helpful.”

“And… how exactly are we going to go about this?” Rarity asked. “He’s barely able to understand us as it is, only just recently learning how to write.”

“I don’t think it’ll be that difficult, so long as we move things around in the right manner.” Lyra brought out a board, showing off her ingenious plan that was sure to work. None of the others commented on how it looked like the drawings of a three-year-old.

“The first one will be Applejack. She’s more judgemental toward actions than words, which will help with Anon’s current difficulties in speaking.” An image of Applejacks, eyes enlarged, was pointed at. “She’ll need the least amount of work out of the four. Keep him around her, get them to know Anon, and it’s quite simple with her.”

“The next,” she tapped on an image of a pegasus, sleeping on a cloud, “is Rainbow Dash. So long as we keep him near the farm, Applejack should be able to help convince her. Though I am afraid of her flying off if she gets bored. She’ll need behind the scenes prodding to keep her around.”

A tap of the board showed a grumpy unicorn, glaring at the viewer. “Twilight will be third. Out of them all, she’ll be the most difficult to convince. In fact, it’s quite likely the princess will have already told Twilight about everything and has something prepared to foil things.”

Rarity harrumphed, “Don’t be absurd, I highly doubt the princess of all ponies would sabotage this whole ordeal.”

Lyra held her tongue, wishing to share her side of things concerning the moon princess and how things have already been meddled with. Stirring that hornet's nest wouldn’t help. Trying to sip from her tea, she noticed that she cracked her cup, the tea puddled on the table. Shrugging, she took the teapot, drinking directly from it.

“Regardless,” Lyra continued, wiping her mouth, “Twilight will still be very strict about her work, possibly going as far as to treat him similar to a wild beast. She may even keep us from doing anything during that time, so that’s why we need Pinkie to be last.” Lyra tapped the board, showing a pink pony jumping around.

Fluttershy looked confused. “Why would Pinkie being reserved for last help with Twilight?”

“Pinkie tends to do what she does: Be super friendly and try to bring a smile to others. If Twilight has any notion that Anon might not be all that he seems, Pinkie should be able to help convince her otherwise, along with everyone else at the time backing her up.”

“The plan isn’t difficult, but it will take a lot of work to perform as we want it to,” said Bon Bon. “We want this to be off to a good start. The first pony we planned on him meeting was Applejack. Are there any arguments for that?”

Fluttershy continued drinking her tea as Rarity rubbed the bottom of her chin in a thinking pose. “Applejack would be a very good place to start. Out of the other four, I don’t think she would have much trouble around him.”

Rarity took a sip of her tea, failing to ignore the sloppy gulping coming from Lyra. ‘What? I’m really thirsty!’

“Just out of curiosity but, well, why wasn’t Rainbow Dash considered first?” Fluttershy waved her hooves in front of her, “I mean, not that Applejack’s a bad pony to start with! I just, well…”

Finishing her teapot in a loud gasp, Lyra threw that over her shoulder. Bon Bon dived for it before it could hit the ground. “We figured that if we can get Applejack on our side, she can easily help and saddle Rainbow Dash to look positive toward him. I mean, seriously, what do you think the first thing Dash will do seeing Anon?”

“Tackle him,” Fluttershy and Rarity said in sync.

“Exactly,” Lyra said with a nod, “then she’ll start hollering at Anon, which might result in some things we’d like to avoid. But if Applejack is around, someone already used to him, she could help convert Dash to our side! So your side of all this is quite simple: We just need you two to try and keep both Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash away from the farm until the end of the week.”

“How do you intend to introduce Anon to Applejack?” Rarity asked, placing her cup on the table.

It was still quite full. She barely drank anything in it. Lyra licked her lips. ‘She’s not going to finish that, is she?’

Rarity, seeing this, rolled her eyes, pushing the cup forward. Lyra gladly accepted the cup, levitating it up to her before slamming it down. The drinks from the bar really dehydrated her.

“Anyway,” Rarity continued, disgusted at Lyra’s lack of etiquette, “she can’t take time off from the farm. And if I recall, Anon can’t leave this house.”

Bon Bon spoke up, “After reading the message over, it ultimately states we are to have it shown it to the elements in a manner that does not deviate from their normal routines. Normally this would be difficult to do with since after they’re done with their tasks, it would be getting quite late for them to do anything with Anon, leaving little to no impact on their views toward him. But with how she wrote her orders, we can interpret them as being allowed to invite the alien to their residences and introduce them over the course of a week.”

Lyra slammed her cup down, still feeling dry. She started to eye Fluttershy’s drink as she sipped on it.

“Won’t it be a problem if any other pony other than Applejack sees him?” Rarity asked.

“We thought of that. Sneaking him when there’s little activity out in town won’t be that difficult, we’ll make the trip either early in the morning or late at night.”

Fluttershy seemed to have noticed Lyra eyeing her cup. She pulled it back, worried she’d want it as well. It was her favorite flavor, Lilac Springs. It was difficult coming across that flavor. Lyra had it imported a while back; spendy, but worth every bit.

“It sounds like you have everything already planned. I suppose I best keep Sweetie Belle away from the farm for the time being.”

Lyra was staring at the drink Fluttershy was very adamant with keeping away from her. ‘Ooh, if only I could—’

Her thoughts were interrupted as Bon Bon smacked her hooves, sending her a glare. “Lyra, I already served you, Anon, and the girls. You are being rude right now. If you want more, you just have to ask and I’ll go make some more.”

The unicorn rubbed her hooves, sending a pout. They’re the ones that forced her to go to the bar, they knew how thirsty the next day would have been for her.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

“~+Now… Whaaat is thaaat?+~”

Lyra pointed at, of course, the stick with fire on it, placed around some kind of box to prevent it from burning things.

**Fire on a Stick.**

“~+Good! Now… Whaaat is on myyy riiight?+~”

He looked where she directed, letting out a sigh before writing the answer down.

**Fire on a Blade.**

“~+Yes! Now… Whaat am I loooking at nneeooouuww…?”

Rubbing his eyes Anon looked where Lyra was. Oh, he definitely remembered that one. He looked back at her, seeing a large smile that waited for an answer.

**Fire on Fire.**

Lyra clapped her hooves. They had been testing dangerous things on him for some time. His worries never abated, seeing them bring out more hazardous and weird items each time.

The pony went back to her papers, writing something down. It was the last day they were supposed to be doing any of the dangerous item testings, as they called it. They had mentioned that he would be leaving the building later on to visit someone for a week. He, of course, was nervous.

Sitting at his desk in his small chair, Anon looked at the paperwork in front of him. A bunch of nonsensical scribbles that made up a language was written down. He had been hard at work, trying to learn as fast as he could. Whoever they were taking him to was likely to test him on what he had learned.

Continuing his work, his thoughts kept drifting to a reason for it all. Why would anyone want to kidnap him in the first place? Sure, he was the leader of an environmental group, but if anyone wanted to kidnap him for those reasons, why put him through everything?

He had been surrounded by small horses for the entire stay, being taught a musical language, seeing all acts of nonsense such as levitation taking place, and nothing seemed to be adding up for him. How did they even manage to make robotic horses that intricate? Who would do all this?

**You are not here to take over our world, are you?**

He kept remembering the odd message, the thing prodding at him, trying to tell him how it all made sense. He refused to acknowledge the ridiculous thing.

He felt a tug on his arm, the one called Rarity measuring him once again. They were making him a cloak to cover his body and she wanted to make some last-minute adjustments.

“~+Are you almost done?+~” Lyra sang out.

“~+Nearly there darling, simply want to give his arms some more drape.+~”

“~+They’re covering well enough don’t you think?+~”

“~+Goes to show what you really know. If it is covering his entire body, it needs to look stylish! His arms will droop down, the bottoms just barely touching the ground yet completely hiding his legs, and a hood concealing his face, a dark foreboding look to anyone daring enough to peer inside.+~”

“~+Are you trying to make him look like a creep?+~”

“~+Why, no, I am not. I rarely get to do this kind of work and I admittedly am finding it fun, trying to give it my all to designing such a thing.~+”

It didn’t take much longer for her to finish. He now stood in front of the door, a cloak covering him, with a rucksack strung over his shoulder carrying some small supplies and extra chalk, alongside his board. Lyra and Bon Bon wore matching cloaks, strapping their bags to themselves, the other two having already left long ago.

‘I hope they’re not making me a part of some strange horse cult.’

Anon could feel his heart thumping in anticipation, wondering just what awaited him outside. He watched as Lyra used her horn, slowly opening the door. Looking around, he could see many different buildings around him with various shapes, forms, and colors. Off in the distance, Anon saw what looked like a gingerbread house and a merry-go-round that looked fit for a fair.

He wasn’t sure how to react. His expectations were blown out of the water. How was he to know he would be located smack dab in a town, full of horses. It was still early in the morning, but he could clearly see more horses walking around near the town center or flying in the sky. He had never seen the yellow one using her wings to fly, thinking it was merely for show; it shows how much he knew, now seeing they were fully functional. How did they even keep their bodies in the air with so little force being used?

Feeling a bump in his leg, Lyra motioned for him to follow her quietly. The different houses he passed were interesting to look at, each one being its own unique design. He was quite impressed with the one made entirely out of a tree.

They had to hide in bushes every now and then, waiting for any passersby to leave. It appeared they were leaving the town and were hiding him from the other horses.

‘Why are they going through with all of this? Hiding away from the others as if it was dangerous to be known by the other horses. Who would be insane enough to design an entire town of ponies to show off, just to hide from them?’

…Unless he was thinking in the wrong direction this whole time. A coldness settled in, some form of realization finally dawned on him. He watched Lyra and Bon Bon guiding him forward, twittering softly to one another.

‘No. They can’t possibly be real.’

But why make everything up, all just for him?

‘They were levitating things! And they’re horses! None of their actions make much sense either.’

Perhaps he was the one not making sense. How would anyone make advanced pieces of technology, invent a completely new language of such intricacy, and be using him of all people to use them on? In the grand scheme of things, he was a nobody. Just some schmuck that wanted to make the world a better place.

‘Oh god. OH GOD. Where am I? These are freaking real?’

He couldn’t control the beating of his heart. His mind felt dizzy, a sickening numbness spreading inside him.

‘No, no, no. I… I have to stay calm. I can’t freak out right now, I just need to take things slowly.’

His mind preoccupied, he never noticed them slowing to a stop, now standing in front of a massive apple orchard.

He wasn’t sure how to handle everything. It was too much to take in all at once.

His tolerance nearly broke seeing the sun making an appearance. At first, he thought perhaps his mind was finally breaking down with how bright it was getting. Anon instead saw the sun gliding through the sky at an alarming rate over the horizon.

‘THE SUN’S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO DO THAT.’

The moon followed the sun’s actions, only drifting down past the horizon. He wasn’t even aware that he ran off in a random direction in a panic. His journey was short-lived, running straight into a tree.

He could see white spots blinking in his vision. Many little thumps began to hit his body soon after. Groaning, he leaned up and saw apples covering him. Rubbing his head, he could hear a pony saddled up beside him, looking down at him in amusement. It was a new horse, having an orange coat and freckles that don’t make any sense in having. The pony also wore a cowboy hat, for some reason.

The pony gave him a smirk. “~+So, this here be that alien I was told about? The fella ain’t very bright in the dome, is he?+~” Lyra merely groaned.

The orange pony chuckled, “~+The name’s Applejack, partner. We here at Sweet Apple Acres be expectin’ you to not run around slammin’ into trees too much around here.+~” The pony eyed around his body at the apples. “~+Unless this is how you aliens go about gettin’ yer apples?+~”

Anon continued to stare at her, uncertain what she said. It sounded like the language Lyra and the others spoke, but something was off.

“~+Applejack, he can barely understand us as it is. The most he can do is read and write.+~”

Lyra pointed at the bag on Anon’s shoulder, motioning they wanted to communicate. With some hesitation, he pulled himself out of the apples, sitting beside them before grabbing the chalk and board. Looking up at the sun, he saw it floating still, brightening the day. Forcing himself not to freak out, he wrote her a message.

**Sorry, the sun scared me. Not used to seeing it do things like that.**

The cowboy pony raised an eyebrow. Giving her the chalk, she wrote a message back for Anon to read. He stared at it, unable to understand what she wrote. Showing the board to Lyra, hoping to find what it said, she smacked her face with her hoof, giving the still-unnamed pony a deadpan expression.

“~+Applejack, how many times do we have to say this to you? Stop writing in your accent!+~”

“~+And I keep on tellin’ everypony to get those rocks outta their heads ‘cause I ain’t got no accent!+~”

The two ponies started to bicker back and forth as Anon sat there in the pile of apples, contemplating his life, wondering how he wound up in such a situation.

  X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Sitting inside the barn, Anon tapped at his chalkboard with some chalk. His stay on the apple farm was if nothing but exhausting. He was on break, going through a grueling amount of work, picking up barrels of apples and hauling them around. Working on his language skills was extremely important if only to simply speak with the… Equestrians.

Anon bottled up his emotions, going along for the ride if only to keep his sanity. He had already been there for a few days, having to go back and forth from the house to make visits. After a few too many close calls, they decided it would be best for him to stay at the farm. Applejack was not one to let him simply stay there with nothing to do, regarding him more as extra labor.

“At least she doesn’t see me negatively,” he muttered.

It took some prodding but he got Lyra to finally tell him about how the princess of their land was, in fact, having him under her supervision. Depending on how things went, he was told he could simply live with them or wind up being banished. To the moon. And apparently, it was not the first time for that to happen.

Anon made sure to work twice as hard, putting in twice as much effort in whatever was asked, knowing it would likely be the factor on his fate. Applejack immediately took a shine to him, appreciating all the hard work he put in. The other two, her brother and grandmother, were just as enthused with all the extra help and no fuss coming from him.

He wiped a bead of sweat off his brow, clearing the chalkboard before beginning once again. With Lyra disappearing halfway through the day, he was left alone to study. She had mentioned something about keeping others away from the farm. It gave him time for practice. His numbers were starting to look crisp and clean.

Hearing something scraping, he turned to the door, seeing Applejack walking up to him.

“~+Okay ya big galoot, I know ya can’t really understand us but I’m gonna need to have you tidy up before ya sit down and eat with us.+~”

Placing his chalkboard down, Anon followed Applejack to the back of the barn. He could see a wooden tub there, filled with water and bubbly soap.

He knew where this was going, and he didn’t want any part of it. Looking behind him for an exit, he saw Big Mac standing right in his way, nudging him forward. Anon attempted to get out of there but the two overpowered him, forcing him toward the bath.

“Darn it Lyra, where the hell are you?!”

  X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Sitting at the table, the two apple siblings shared red faces, looking at the ground on opposite sides. Lyra, who was sitting beside the very upset human, held her head down. Anon was peeved.

They had hung his cloak up so it was easy to see the emotions on his face. He held his hands together on the table, patiently waiting for what he assumed was a meal being made.

Feeling something poke him on the side, he saw Lyra nudging his board on the table. He could see she wrote a note for him.

**I’m sorry Anon. I forgot to tell them about your clothing situation.**

The earlier bath had ruined his mood; he felt violated as they stripped him down for his involuntary bath. He could forgive the one time at the house, not really understanding things, but Lyra simply forgetting to tell his patrons something that important? During their silence, an older pony was loading the table with food, keeping an ear out to what was said.

Applejack turned to Anon, “~+We’re mighty sorry about what we had done. We promise we’ll ask ‘fore we do anything like that again. Guess we forgot you’re an alien and all with your alien habits and whatnot.+~”

The unicorn translated what they said on the board. Letting out a sigh, Anon wrote a reply back.

**It is fine you were not informed of it so I can not get too mad at either of you.**

Applejack let out a sigh. “We do appreciate your help around the farm, really. And you don’t seem like a bad sort of fella. Could get used to having another hoof, or paw-thing, around here.”

The elderly pony finished setting the table finally she took a seat at the head. “~+Now, even though we may have some strangeness currently at our table, I’m hopin’ to have everypony here to act as they would normally any other day.+~”

The others nodded while Anon could only guess what was said. He saw everyone there starting to pass some of the food around, putting it on their plates. Examining the food, he saw a wide assortment of apple products all over the table. There was an apple salad, apple quiche, and apple kabobs to name a few. He also saw some things he’d pass on, such as what appeared to be meatloaf, only take the meat and replace it with hay. And apples. He was curious about how they managed that one.

Looking at a bowl of what he thought was potatoes, he eagerly pulled it over. Some mashed potatoes sounded fantastic after all the eggs he’s been served for so long with barely anything to break up the monotony of them. He was wondering how they’d taste.

With no warning, his head was forced straight into the bowl, something now sitting on the back of his head. Anon could clearly taste a rich potato flavor with just a hint of apple that was surprisingly appealing to his taste buds. Now if only he could enjoy it without being shoved into them.

“~+Applebloom! What are you doin’ here?! And get offa him this instant!+~”

The weight quickly vanished. Lifting his head from the bowl, he looked at a chair on the other side of him, seated now by a very small pony, adorned with a very large ribbon in her hair, giving him a very large smile.

Applejack looked at her with a frown. “~+I thought ya were gonna be havin’ a sleepover at Rarity’s place with yer friends.+~”

“~+Well, I was until Rarity let slip that there’s an ALIEN HERE!+~”

“~+Darn it, Rarity,+~ Lyra grumbled, “~+I told you not to tell anypony! But does she listen? Nooo!+~”

The little pony prodded at his clothing, her eyes twinkling in wonderment. “~+Wow. Your clothes are so weird! What’s it like being an alien?+~”

“~+Apple Bloom, he can’t understand you,+~” Applejack said while passing Anon a napkin. “~+He doesn’t understand our language; he has to write everything down on that there board to speak to us.+~”

The little pony groaned, “~+I forgot Rarity said that. This sucks.+~”

Anon cleaned the mess off his face, and not wanting to let the food go to waste, he scooped some of it out of the bowl and onto the plate.

“~+Does he have any weird, alien powers or things he can do?+~” the little pony asked. All the other ponies at the table looked at Anon, and then at Lyra.

Lyra rubbed the back of her neck, “~+He doesn’t have any powers. In fact, his race doesn’t have magic in any form. Not a drop of the stuff where he comes from.+~”

The others widened their eyes at that, the table gasping like kazoos. Anon ignored them, trying out some of the food they had prepared. He knew they were talking about him, but it wasn’t like he could hear what they said or do anything about it.

“~+How is that possible?+~” Granny Smith asked. “~+Everything has magic in them.+~”

“~+Not humans,+~” Lyra answered. “~+They’re completely devoid of it in them or in their world. They get around that by being extremely advanced in their technology. Anon here told me they had things that could allow them to fly across the lands in hours, or talk to another being with only the click of a few buttons.+~”

“~+That… sounds like magic to me, Lyra,+~” Applejack said.

The unicorn shook her head, “~+No, it’s all technology powered by other things. He even brought with him a small box, right in his pocket right now, that carries over thirty thousand songs of all kinds!+~” The other ponies oohed at what Lyra had said. “~+It’s currently dead, but he said it just needs some juice and it can get up and running.+~”

“~+Juice? I gots some apple juice if that’ll help ya.+~”

“~+I don’t think that’ll work granny, it probably needs special human juice.+~”

“~+Lyra, why don’t you ask your friend here what kind of juice he needs. Perhaps we can ask our neighbors up the hill, they gots some carrot juice they store away.+~”

Lyra gave her an awkward laugh. “~+I don’t think he needs real juice, but I could ask what he meant by it.+~”

“~+What d’ya mean by ask?+~” Applebloom spoke up.

Applejack placed her cup down. “~+Lyra here can ask him questions on that chalkboard and he can write back, it’s the only way he knows how to communicate with us.+~”

“~+…Entire sentences?+~”

“~+How else would you have a conversation?+~” Applejack said with a chuckle.

Applebloom gave them all a skeptical look. “~+How’s that possible? Rarity mentioned he only knows how to write for like, two weeks. Even I have problems writing certain words. So how does he know how to write so well?+~”

Everyone blinked at Applebloom, then looked at Lyra. “~+I’m… not sure? I didn’t even think anything of it until now.+~”

Applejack narrowed her eyes. “~+I don’t know, Lyra. That sounds suspicious, being able to write so quickly in another language. You sure he’s not hiding anything from you?+~”

“Well, the reason－”

“Now I mean no offense but I want to hear what he has to say.”

The others twittered agreements, nodding their heads. Lyra seemed worried, grabbing out her chalkboard. “~+I-I’ll ask him real quick, just give me a moment!+~”

Pausing from his bite of apple rolls, which he was greatly enjoying, he saw Lyra had a message written out to him.

**How are you able to learn our language so quickly?**

Placing down his roll, he took the chalkboard, thinking of a reply. His initial thoughts when he was first learning was that the people holding him hostage were simply lazy and created a language that translated easily to English. Sure, there were some odd spelling mannerisms like adding some flourish to show capitalization or the weird differences to their punctuation marks, but it still felt simple enough to translate.

Now that he knew better? He wasn’t sure. How was he capable of translating their language without any problems? It was both irritating and frightening to him, how things coincided with one another. Anon knew how to translate words that they hadn’t taught him, like tambourine or unicorn. Language doesn’t work like that, it shouldn’t work like that, and yet it was seemingly working like that.

**I am not sure why. Your words transfer from my people words easily. It is like stoves or pies. Things that are same that should not be.**

The others read the message, clearly confused.

“~+What’s he mean by stoves and pies?+~” Applejack asked. “~+What’s he on about things being the same? Why shouldn’t they be and what’s that got to do with language?+~”

Lyra replied, “~+The real question is, shouldn’t they be different?+~” Everyone merely looked more confused. “~+From talking to him, while it’s a bit early to say for sure, I’ve come to the conclusion that the two of our worlds are tied together in some manner.

“~+We have similar foods, similar tools, and even similar societies, in certain respects. They know of magical creatures from our world, taking them as myths. We have a lot of products and ideas that they have which we take for granted or don’t give much thought about. Somehow, we’ve been trading ideas back and forth without ever interacting with one another.+~”

Apple Bloom let out a gasp. “~+Are you talking about the dream theory? Miss Cheerilee was talking about that recently.+~”

“~+Dream theory?” Applejack frowned. “I don’t seem to recall that being taught in schools when I was a filly.+~”

“~+It’s only a recent theory from the magical community,” Lyra spoke. “With how our population is growing, we get to truly see the wider variety of what our people are capable of, both in works and magic.

“~+For example, hundreds of years ago, Grampy Tracks was a pony that was said to be able to communicate with animals, helping disputes between ponies and the wildlife. It was a very rare phenomenon and most thought of like a fairy tale. But with our numbers increasing, it’s pretty common to find a few animal whisperers around.+~”

“~+What’s this have t’ do with dreams?+~”

“~+There are numerous incidents of ponies or other beings with special abilities that crop up from time to time, and one of those reported on ponies that could dream walk, similar to Princess Luna, but on a wider level, dreaming of places that seemingly don’t exist. A theory last decade came up that we’re tapping into other realms, and those realms were tapping into ours, sharing ideas back and forth.+~”

“~+I sure would love to be able to do that,” Apple Bloom said. “Explore other places, see new faces, interact and have fun with all kinds of races!+~”

Lyra looked to the side, coughing. “~+Uh yeah… so would I. Anyways, there’s something weird going on, and yet we don’t have any answers. Ultimately, I think he’s saying his language is also similar to ours, and that there doesn’t seem to be an answer; for the time being, until something presents itself that can answer this, it is what it is.+~”

Everyone hummed a choir of flutes as Anon finished his last apple roll, ignoring the symphony of sounds around him as he ate. He frowned, not finding anything to help sop up the apple gravy with for his apple potatoes. Oblivious to the tone everyone had regarding him, he wrote a message to the Apple matriarch.

**Are there more apple rolls? They are very good.**

The older apple family member seemed elated at the message, happily moving from a subject she wasn’t comfortable in. “~+Of course there is! I made a whole batch of them for everyone, and yet, none of the others seem t’ like it for some reason or ‘nother.+~”

“~+Granny, we like the roles, +~” Big Mac said with the tone of a saxophone.

“~+Don’t be lyin’ through your teeth or someone might see that wooden smile of yours! You eat everything off your plates but the roles!+~”

Lyra let out a sigh, seemingly relieved from whatever had transpired. Once things calmed down, Anon was given a whole plate of rolls. He wasn’t going to argue, the look from the others telling him he better eat it since he asked for them.

For the remainder of the night, Lyra told them about the humans and their advanced world. The Apple family was sucked into everything she had to say about them. Anon, barely catching words that Lyra had said, simply ignored the whole thing, eating his food, only replying when urged to.

Soon after the meal, he was brought out to the barn by Lyra where he’d be spending his nights at. It looked like someone had tried setting things up for him to sleep relatively comfortably on the hay, placing a rather large blanket and a decently sized pillow.

Lyra looked at him, giving a hesitant smile. She grabbed his chalkboard, writing a message.

**I hope things have been going well on the farm.**

“So do I.”

He was still nervous about the thought of being banished. He had to stay civil with everyone. If all he had to do was some hard work for a week, then he would push it as hard as he could.

**I’m going to leave you for the night since the Apples don’t want me ‘freeloading’ here.**

Anon easily understood that. They worked him hard around the place, carrying buckets of apples or running around doing odd chores. Lyra gave him a wave goodbye, leaving him alone in the barn.

He laid down under his blanket, left alone to his thoughts. He was still coming to grips about being in another world, a small part of him refusing the silly idea. And yet, he had nothing that could convince him the idea was wrong. No one in their right mind would put so much effort into tricking him otherwise.

“I’m not going back home, am I?”

His friends, family, everything he had was gone. Something pinched his heart, thinking about his life.

“I… I really shouldn’t think about that right now. I need to stay hopeful for the future and get through this. Just… roll with the punches.”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The rest of the week had been a hassle. The ponies at the farm had him carrying bins of apples along with whatever chores they needed doing. Lyra had been around him more often, explaining things when she could about him to the others.

Applejack didn’t seem to mind him one bit, something Lyra was ecstatic to see, only questioning about his taste in apples or farming from his world. He did enjoy the exercise on the farm, feeling he needed to get in some shape for some time.

The only other thing of importance would have to be the smaller ponies who called themselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They had attempted to sneak him out of the farm one day. Anon talked them out of it but had difficulty preventing them from their shenanigans at attaining their marks. Applejack found it entertaining and allowed them free run, seeing as he helped keep them out of her hair.

He was just happy things were going well for him if one didn’t include him being ripped from his world and being forced to do chores in an effort to save his life from being banished to the moon.

Lifting up what he would think to be his fiftieth bin of apples, Anon turned around and noticed something was off. No one was around. Lyra had been making a habit of sticking close to him, and one of the other ponies typically sung at him in some fashion, trying to talk.

He made his way to the barn, trying to figure out where everyone went. Stopping, he heard a whistle in the air. Anon looked up, his eyes widened, seeing a mass of colors swirling around in the sky.

He attempted to stay cool so he wouldn’t freak out like he did the first day on the farm. Anon reasoned this was just another oddity in the land of magic and talking ponies, much like the sun and moon were. Slowly walking to the barn with the apples, all the while watching the colors shoot about, they made an immediate sharp turn in the air, now aimed at Anon. The whistling grew louder as the colors came closer and closer.

Thinking fast, he dropped the apples and dove to the side just as the colors came to him. He successfully dodged, seeing the colors shooting right past him and into the sky, only to make a quick stop. Anon frowned, seeing it was a pony with wings. It was rearing up, showing it was coming back for him.

‘Why is it attacking me?’

He turned around from the pony, making a run for Applejack.

“APPLEJACK!” he screamed in English, hoping it would draw her attention.

Her head coincidentally appeared around a corner of a tree, her legs dropping to the ground from the mid-buck. Looking up in the air, she shook her head before going back to bucking.

“Darn it, Applejack! Help me!”

The pony slammed into his back, sending him tumbling to the ground. Laying still, the pony dropped onto his back.

“~+Aaaaw yeeeah! I totally just stopped that monster from taking your apples, Applejack+~” Anon groaned in pain as Applejack walked up to the two of them. “~+So, for my reward, which I definitely deserve from such a heroic action, I wouldn’t mind some of that cider I know you’re already cooking up.+~”

Applejack could only smirk. “~+Now Rainbow Dash, why would I reward ya rammin’ into my guest?+~”

“~+…Guest?+~”

“~+Yes, my guest. This here’s that alien the princess told us that Lyra would be showing around. It’s so nice that ya got to meet the fella early, making such a great first impression and all.+~” Applejack laughed at her words.

“~+Th-Th-THIS is the alien?! B-B-B-But he doesn’t look like, all weird or anything like I thought he would!+~”

“~+Ya thought he was a monster.+~”

“~+Yeah, so?+~”

Lifting a brow at her multi-colored friend, Applejack chuckled before turning around to return to her work. Rainbow Dash blinked, just before realizing she was still sitting on his back. She jumped off of him, landing right beside him. Anon finally sat up, looking at a very worried blue face.

“~+Oh my gosh, I am so sorry about that! I thought you were a monster and was trying to run with her apples and, gah! Why didn’t you say something!+~”

Anon slowly blinked at her; he couldn’t understand a single word she said, especially with how fast she spoke. He pointed at his ears, hoping she would get the message.

“~+I BROKE YOUR EARS?! OH NO!+~”

The rainbow-colored pony attempted to pick Anon up from where he sat, unable to move him a single inch. Surprisingly, Anon did have a single advantage over these ponies: his superior strength. He wasn’t sure why, but he could overpower these ponies without too much effort. He found this little bit of info out at the bath scene when he picked Big Mac right up off the ground. It sadly didn’t help one bit with him not taking a bath.

“~+What are you doing?! I need to take you to the hospital to fix your ears! Come on!+~”

She continued to tug on his jacket, trying to pick him up to his feet. The pony flapped her wings rapidly. Anon, frowning, looked over to the side, seeing Lyra and Applejack walking up to the two of them.

“~+Rainbow Dash, what are ya doin’?+~”

She let out a grunt, “~+I’m trying to get the alien to the hospital! I think I broke his ears!+~”

Anon looked at her, and then at the other two before he shook his head. He pointed at his ears, showing he couldn’t understand her.

“~+See!+~”

“~+Rainbow, he can’t understand you,+~” Lyra said, “~+That’s why he’s pointing at his ear.+~”

The pony stopped tugging, landing on the ground, looking at him.

“~+Oh. Well, why didn’t you tell me you couldn’t understand us!+~”

The two ponies smacked their faces, which the multicolored pony ignored. She walked around Anon as if to examine him for something.

“~+You don’t look like you’re up to something. Just what was the princess talking about?+~”

“~+Wait, what do you mean by that?+~” Lyra asked. “~+Did the princess say anything?+~”

“~+Ya mean ya don’t’ know?~+” Applejack asked. “~+The princess sent us all letters, explaining the situation. She just said some things to watch out for. I didn’t see much wrong with the fella, so I dropped it pretty quickly.+~”

Lyra looked to the ground, frowning at her words. “~+I didn’t think the princess would interfere that far.+~”

The winged pony continued circling Anon, uncertain what to take him for. “~+Well, the princess wouldn’t have sent those letters without a reason, right? So if there is something wrong with it, I’m gonna make sure for the next week!+~”

Hearing that, Lyra picked her head up. “~+You’re going to be here for the week?+~”

“~+Of course I am! I mean, I’m not going to just go back to work when I finally just talked them into letting me off for two weeks!+~”

“~+Wait, it’s only for a week,+~” Applejack said.

“~+Oh, I know, but they don’t know that,~+” Rainbow Dash said with a snicker. “~+So how are we supposed to do this? I mean, I still want to be able to do stuff and I don’t want to be all cramped up in your home, Lyra.+~”

“~+He can’t exactly stay up in your house for obvious reasons,+~” Lyra said.

“~+Yeah didn’t think he’d be cloud-capable.+~”

“~+There’s nothing to worry about,~+” Applejack said. “~+He can just stay here for another week!+~”

The three nodded their heads in agreement. Lyra translated things for Anon, to which he was not happy about.

‘Staying at the farm for another week. Fantastic.’

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Anon was at a grand looking lake, situated near the apple farm. The one called Rainbow Dash had forced him to come for some reason. Lyra had run off ahead of them, making sure no one was around and shooing anyone close by. Rainbow Dash was currently writing a message on a blackboard she had brought herself.

**Okay alien, now that we’re here I have some questions for you.**

Anon stood there, waiting for her next message. He didn’t think she’d try to do anything rash, but just in case he would make sure to answer carefully.

**First things first, you’re not here to take over our world and rule it as the Supreme Alien King Emperor are you?**

He couldn’t help finding the question absolutely ridiculous. He grabbed his own blackboard to scribble back a reply.

**No, I am not. I am not sure how I got here to your world.**

Rainbow Dash stared at Anon after he answered. **You’re not lying, are you?**

He sighed, scribbling on his board once more. **No I am not lying. I just appeared here falling from the sky. And why would I take over a world I know nothing of? I do not even have the power to stop a pony from tackling me from the sky.**

She chuckled, scratching the back of her head in a sheepish manner. **Next question. Why would the princess not trust you?**

Anon had to think on that one for a moment, **I do not know. I would have to guess she is just looking out for her people, you ponies. Though if she really thought I was bad, would she not have sent guards instead of having me meet you ponies? I would believe she is being careful of things.**

The pony hummed, thinking over the message. **That makes sense, I guess. But I’m still going to be watching you for a week, just to make sure.**

He nodded his head. Watching the pony, she started to write a message, right before rubbing it out. She tapped the chalk against her chin, thinking over what to write next. Anon remembered a few things Lyra told him before Rainbow could snatch him away. He wrote down a message for her instead.

**Since we are here, how about you show me some of your flying skills? I was told you were one of the best fliers around these parts.**

Rainbow Dash scoffed. “~+Best around these parts?! Try best in Equestria! Just watch!+~”

Putting her board down, she took a few steps back before shooting off into the air. Rainbow Dash flew around in streaks of color, showing off what she could do. Anon saw her doing some very interesting aerobatics he hadn’t seen before, such as her doing near-complete stops as she turned. It was very impressive that she could decrease her speed as quickly as she could. After a good showing of her skills, she came back down with a large smile.

“~+Hehehe, so what’d ya think of that, Mr. Alien?+~”

‘Seems she forgot I can’t understand her,’ Anon thought. He got out his board, assuming he got what she was asking.

**Your skills are very nice. I have never seen anyone move around quite like that before. Reminds me of something from my world called Blue Angels.**

Rainbow Dash frowned, making Anon worried he said something wrong. ‘Were there connotations I’m not aware of here from my world? Was it the word Angels?’

She scribbled a message back. **What do you mean by very nice? That’s it? Not awesome or super cool or anything, just nice?**

Anon groaned, writing a quick message. **Sorry, my word strength in your language is still weak.**

She huffed reading that with a pout. The pony then hummed. **Who are the Blue Angels?**

**They are people in my world that fly around in the sky at very high speeds, pulling off many different tricks and things in groups and by themselves.**

Her face lit up reading that. **That sounds like the Wonder Bolts! They fly around doing awesome stunts and maneuvers all over Equestria. I’m training so that one day I can be a part of them.** He saw her write another message to him. **I thought your people didn’t have magic.**

Seeing her face, she had narrowed her eyes, as if she caught him in something. He wrote back a reply, having to take things slowly to figure out how to write out certain words. **We do not. We have very advanced machines that allow us to do many things in replace of magic, flying is one of them. I have seen some of your machines, but what we have greatly does better everything I have seen here.**

“~+I think I remember Applejack telling me about that… Okay, you’re off the hoof for now.+~”

“Right. Whatever you said, sure.”

“~+I couldn’t understand you, what did you say?+~” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Seriously, I don’t understand you.”

“~+What was that?+~”

He rubbed a hand over his face. ‘This is ridiculous.’ Rainbow Dash paused in thought, thinking of something before smirking at Anon.

**So you said you don’t have magic? I take it you don’t know much about it then?**

**No, can not say I have too much understanding with it yet, Lyra only recently began teaching me.**

Her smirk widened. **Let me show you some then!**

Before he could ask her what she meant, the pony flew off into the sky toward a formation of clouds. Popping into them, she came back down with some of the clouds, pushing them in front of her. Anon took a step back as Rainbow Dash came back, his eyes widening at the site. “~+So whaddya think?+~”

**How are you doing that? I thought only unicorns could use magic.**

Rainbow Dash harrumphed, picking up her board once more. **Unicorns can use magic externally without too much of a problem because of their horns. But everything has magic in them in our world. Earth ponies are good on the ground, but us pegasi can do things with the sky and even the weather if we get good enough! That’s how I can control this cloud here.**

Anon was in awe. **That is amazing. Can you do anything else with this cloud?**

Reading that, she grinned before jumping on the cloud. She sat on top of it with no problem. **I can do many things, such as making it rain or shoot out lightning. I can even sit down on this cloud with little trouble. Why don’t you give it a shot?**

His amazement furthered reading that, and then he frowned. **I do not think I can do that.**

**How would you know before you try it?**

He was about to reply before he remembered something. Lyra had mentioned that he was currently gathering magic in himself somehow a while back. Thoughts of being able to do things like what Lyra or Rainbow Dash had shown started to swim around his head. Anon was eager to see if he could do anything like what a pegasus could.

**How should I do this then?**

The grin returned on Rainbow Dash. **I’d recommend you take a few steps back before jumping on here with your whole body so you can get up all the way.**

**Why would I need to do that? Could I not just climb up or you lower this down further?**

“~+Uuummm…+~” **There’s no way to really grab onto these things, you attach to them! And I can’t lower this further because it can’t touch the ground.**

“Makes sense, I suppose,” Anon said, taking a few steps back. Rainbow Dash jumped off, standing a few feet away from him, still smiling.

“~+What are you two doing?+~” Lyra asked, having just returned.

“~+Um… well, Anon was going to try and see if he could… get on a cloud?+~”

“~+Dash, he can’t use magic! He’s just gathering it inside himself, and even with that there isn’t anything that shows he can use magic!+~”

“~+Ehr, well… but what if he can?! Wouldn’t it be really interesting to know if he can use what he has already to, uh, jump on a cloud and land on it…?+~”

Lyra continued to frown at Rainbow Dash, making Anon wonder if there was something going on. She then sat down, waving at Anon to continue on. With a salute, Anon got himself ready.

He ran at the cloud, jumping in the air with spread arms. He could feel the cloud was cold to touch, but it had a puffy-like quality along with an odd, smooth feeling to it that made him think of velvet marshmallows. It was only a second he felt this as he slammed straight through the cloud and into the ground. He laid there, limbs spread out, face first in the dirt.

“~+BWAAA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HAAAAAA!!!+~”

Rainbow Dash gave out a belly laugh, rolling around on the ground, unable to stand. Lyra had her head turned away, a hoof covering her smile.

“…Uuughh”

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His week with Rainbow Dash had him somewhat on edge It was the same week with Applejack, only with the pegasus messing around with him. Supposedly, that was a good thing? If she was playing jokes, surely that didn’t mean she saw him as much of a threat.

All she really did was ask him some questions about planes and helicopters and other similar topics. Even bringing up space flight blew her away; Lyra got very involved with those stories. Other than that, she simply swam around or flew in the sky, or even bringing him the odd food to share.

By the end of the week, she was calling him a bro, hoping to spend more time when he was free. Lyra was in high spirits, having the two on her side.

“~+Well, the two weeks with ya’ was an interesting time ‘round here+~” Applejack spoke, nodding at him. “~+You come back now when your speakin’ troubles are fixed and we can probably put ya’ to some good work here at the farm.+~”

He was slowly starting to understand certain words. Lyra tried to rationalize that it was the magic integrating with him allowing his language skills to speed up. He felt doubtful about that explanation.

“~+And we’re going to build the most awesome plane that we can so you can fly up here with me!+~”

“~+I certainly wouldn’t mind seein’ that.+~”

“~+We’ll talk to you all later,+~” Lyra said, donning her cloak. “~+We need to get back so he can be rested up for the next visit.+~”

Wearing his own cloak, the two of them walked by to Lyra’s house, the dark of the night helping aid them. Back at the house, Lyra threw her cloak on a hook, taking a seat by her desk. Anon took a seat by Bon Bon on the couch, watching her eat an apple dish. He grimaced, being tired of eating so many apples.

A whoosh came from Lyra, documents she brought back with her burnt up in a green fire. The remains flew under the crack of the front door, disappearing.

“~+Okay, that’s two of them down. Now we just have to worry about Pinkie Pie and Twilight.+~”

From what Anon could gather, he was going to another place in the morning. He was wondering just where it would be this time, hoping he wouldn’t have too many problems.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~Canterlot~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Princess Celestia read the note that came in from Rainbow Dash, her Element of Loyalty. She had nothing but good things to say about the ‘alien’.

‘Just how did Lyra manage to convince her to play along. Applejack I expected, but Rainbow Dash?’

Applejack and Rainbow Dash had conjured up fascinating stories about the human. Some of what they had written was certainly amusing to read, such as how it managed to get catapulted by three fillies trying to attain their cutie marks. Those two absolutely adored the thing. In the end, it wasn’t what she hoped for.

Looking at the images, she couldn’t help but shiver in disgust. ‘How could something like that be any of those things? I’ll never understand why they modeled the alien after those beings from so long ago.’

The images, unfortunately, brought up ghosts from her past she would rather remain buried in the past.

“Sister, I am not sure why you continue with this scenario. Why not just finish this and let it be done with? Surely you understand we have more important matters to deal with.”

Looking at her sister, she could see she didn’t seem to be enjoying this as much as she used to. Of course, neither was Celestia.

The guards from weeks back were turned over to Shining Armor to deal with. This had the unfortunate action of showing more dissidents in their ranks.

Their argument, as puzzling as it was, made it seem like she was under a spell by Luna, and currently being used to achieve her plans quietly behind the scenes. If that wasn’t confusing enough, they even managed to find another guard by pure chance, arguing the opposite direction, that she was the one controlling Luna. To make matters worse, it seemed the pony had some ambition in bringing about Nightmare Moon’s old moon plan from a thousand years ago. Their first course of action was to dethrone Celestia and place Luna on the throne as sole ruler, as they thought she should be.

He was currently locked away, being interrogated by her most trusted guards for more information. She suspected there were more guards in their midst, planning something. Princess Celestia wasn’t certain how any of it came to be, but it was clear that there were two divisions going against one another in her palace. None of the ponies captured were speaking, tight-lipped with their information.

‘How quaint, Lyra having inadvertently made it possible to find these ponies before they could enact anything at their own discretion.’

Princess Celestia saw her sister still staring, waiting for an answer. She turned her head back at the documents on the table, seeing the ‘human’ smiling up at her as if to taunt her with her past haunts.

“If I were to quit, that would be me admitting defeat. That wouldn’t be a good message to have once this scenario gets out.”

“You just have difficulty admitting you don’t want to lose.”

“…I am currently trying to find a way to end it as quickly as I can without making it appear that I had too much involvement in it. Even giving those letters out was risky.”

“So what exactly do you have planned then?”

“Right now, I have my most faithful student primed and ready for her week. I imagine she will be the last one to be given her week. During that week, she’ll start to convince the others why this—” She pointed a hoof at the photos, “—is a danger to have around. That, and I’ve already given her all the information I could on the Bleuh Bleuh Bleuh’s. All we need is some kind of uncertainty from the Elements, and we can easily end this right then and there.”

“Won’t this appear like you’re sabotaging things?”

“Perhaps it will. But I can easily spin it around that Twilight was needed to be informed of everything due to her position, easily quelling any backlash this may have.”

“And just what will happen if Lyra gets through Twilight?”

“Lyra won’t get through her, I have a good amount of faith it will end with Twilight.”


~End Chapter Six~





Chapter Seven – What’s More Efficient Than Friendship?


Laying in his bed, Anon tried his best to relax both his body and mind. He didn’t want to get up, knowing that to do so would mean starting the day. That would mean he had to interact with the ponies, which would also mean he would have to leave the house for the next pony he’d be with for a week. This was not something he was particularly looking forward to.

Going two straight weeks of hard farm labor was exhausting, and having to quickly come to grips that everything around him was real and he was not kidnapped did not come easy. He did prefer it when he thought Gleekman or some other influential person was simply messing with him. At least it made more sense than having magical horses trying to integrate him into their world or be banished to the moon if they failed.

Prying an eye open, he saw the light from the window softly spreading through the room, indicating an early morning. He closed his eyes once more, wanting to have as much ‘me’ time as he could.

‘How did I even get here? The missile surely couldn’t have done it, right?’

He thought he remembered Gleekman mentioning something about a foreign source giving him the missile, or components to make it; he couldn’t remember, the details foggy. Did they somehow get a hold of a compound that rifted a portal to where he wound up, in that forest? Or was everything some form of reincarnation, an allowance of a second chance.

‘But… why horses? Why are they acting so odd? And they want to teach an alien to live with them? How bizarre.’

Anon turned in the bed, pushing his head into the warm, soft pillow. Wearing the custom pajamas that Rarity made for him, something he hadn’t had a chance to wear before, he could feel himself loosening up. He had to thank that one when he could properly speak.

As much as he didn’t want to, his thoughts continued to drift back to his new life. An odd, hollow feeling he had difficulty describing crept up, knowing that everything he knew was gone. He was the sole human on the planet that didn’t truly care about such things. Only his status as an ‘alien’ seemed to matter.

Turning on his back, he let out a grunt, frustrated. He was not getting any more rest, his mind too preoccupied with nonsense. Pulling the covers away he sat up, stretching out. He had another pony to meet for the week, and from what Lyra had mentioned, this one could be potentially dangerous.

“If she finds this pony dangerous, then that’s something I should worry about, considering what she finds safe.”

After a quick shower, he made sure to pack all the necessities in his rucksack. He made his way downstairs, Lyra already placing plates down for food. She gave him a hearty wave, motioning him to sit. It was eggs, and this time he was more than happy to eat after all the apples he was forced.

More things on his mind appeared. Anon wondered just why he was able to consume their foods. How could his diet be sustained off the nutrients of alien matter? That shouldn’t be possible. The unicorn reasoned that their world’s magic was adapting him to their world, but he had difficulty believing that.

Taking a bite of his toast, he watched as the other two sat down for their meals, Lyra scribbling a note to him.

**We will be leaving after we eat. Do not freak out with Twilight as she may overstep her boundaries with you. Her impressions of you are of great importance so try to make a good one during your time there.**

So the pony’s name was Twilight.

**Why should I be so careful with her?**

Lyra finished an orange slice before turning to the chalkboard. She twittered, tapping her chin before writing a reply.

**She’s not normally bad but has a habit of getting overexcited concerning magic or studies to it. To make things worse, she’s also a direct student to Princess Celestia, though I’ve always seen it more as an understudy relationship.**

He felt shocked, not expecting to confront such high authority, especially one so close to the ruler. His anxiety grew, knowing he’d be with her for a full week.

**Is there anything I should know of her?**

**Not much other than what I mentioned. She’s a magical prodigy, has a baby dragon for a helper, and enjoys reading books. Twilight also lives at the library in town, the big tree you asked about before.**

None of the information helped ease him, only exacerbate it. She liked books though. He could work with that. His studies in college had him writing poetry and reading things like Sherlock Holmes. Perhaps he could move some of their conversations to literary works?

Finishing their meals Lyra had him wearing his cloak and out the door, the sun and the moon slowly starting to make their rotations.

The two hurried through the town, making sure to stay out of sight of early risers. Standing in front of a large tree, Anon couldn’t help but be awed at the sight, knowing it was a fully functioning abode with its library.

About to knock, Lyra paused, motioning for him to do so. He gave it a hard knock, Lyra positioning him off to the side. A few seconds passed before he could hear a pattering of clicks behind the door. It opened, showing a small lizard-like creature just at the opening.

‘Is that the baby dragon Lyra mentioned?’

It let out a yawn, rubbing an eye. “~+Lyra? Why are you wearing a cloak? It’s kind of early to be up, don’t you think?+~” The dragon sounded like everyone else, having a tune-like quality, but it came out with a barely noticeable hiss. “~+Did the flame from your lantern go out?+~”

“~+Nah, that’s fine. I’m here for Twilight. She should be expecting us.+~”

“~+I was wondering why she was up so soon.+~” He took a moment on her words. “~+Wait, us? Sorry about that, let me…+~”

Widening the door, he could see the tall, cloaked form of Anon. He merely blinked before slowly closing the door once more. Lyra rolled her eyes, sticking a hoof in.

“~+He’s fine, and also the reason we’re here. Could you tell her we’re here?+~”

“~+Uh… Yeah, sure. Take a seat and I’ll, uh, go tell her.+~”

Walking in, he found an odd fusion of housing and library. The walls all seemed to be in one piece, nothing cut or made by hand. It was as if every piece of the place was molded into place using the tree itself.

Sitting down on a small couch beside Lyra, the dragon came back down, taking a chair to sit in front of the two. Anon continued to look around the place, fascinated by the idea that he was inside a tree.

“~+What brings you two here anyway? Twilight keeps fretting about something and seems too preoccupied to talk to me.+~”

“~+Anon, that’s his name, is supposed to spend some time with Twilight and… get to know her, if you will. Official princess business and whatnot.+~”

“~+Ooh, friendship lessons.+~”

“~+Pardon?+~”

“~+Princess Celestia has Twilight and all her friends doing friendship lessons that they send to her.+~”

“~+I was not aware they were doing that, which is odd. I know enough about the history of the Elements by now. Is this a role they have to do?+~”

“~+Actually, that’s because of Twilight and her friendship lessons that originated in Canterlot, coming from the princess. They’ve just moved her to Ponyville to perform her lessons better.+~”

Anon was barely able to decipher what was said, feeling frustrated being out of the loop. So, he took out his chalkboard and wrote a message.

**Is it alright if I read some books?**

At the very least he wanted to see what their books were like while they waited for Twilight to arrive.

**That’s fine,** Lyra wrote back, **just don’t make a mess.**

He quickly stood, walking over to the books to see what they held. There were quite a few to choose from.

“~+Why is he writing on a chalkboard? Is he a mute?+~”

“~+He can talk, just not in our language. We’re teaching him how to understand us but it’s been slow going. He can easily write our language though.+~”

“~+I see.+~ The dragon examined Anon more closely. “~+Why is he wearing a cloak? He’s not ugly or anything is he?+~”

“~+Nothing of the sort. We can’t let anyone see him at all for the time being. Princess’s orders, after all.+~” She lit up her horn, magically tapping him in the side before holding up his board.

**You can take off your cloak now.**

He nodded, taking it off and placing it over the arm of the couch. The dragon’s eyes widened seeing his full form.

“~+I don’t recognize what species he is. Is he something from one of those colonies you’ve told me about in your reports?+~”

“~+No, nothing of the sort. I know this will sound silly, but he’s an alien. He wound up here somehow and we’ve been helping him for a while.+~”

“~+An alien.+~”

“~+Yes.+~”

The dragon stared at Anon, watching him peruse the books. Anon grumbled, looking at each one.

“A lot of romance, history, and adventure. Even some fantasy and mystery books. But I’m not seeing any sci-fi.” He picked up a book, turning it in his hands.

The dragon gritted his teeth. “~+Was that him speaking? That sounds… weird.+~”

“~+It’s hard for us to speak like him so we’ve been teaching him how to speak like us.+~”

Anon laughed. “I wonder how they’d react to some Lovecraftian works or some dystopian stories. Maybe cyberpunk could be a thing here? Oh, steampunk would be some good fun.”

“~+I think I’ll wait upstairs until Twilight is ready,+~” Spike said before getting up, making his way up the stairs.

Lyra rolled her eyes, watching Anon going through the books. Letting out a sigh, she glimpsed at a stack of books off to the side, seeing something familiar. Levitating it away from the stack, she felt gobsmacked, reading the cover of the book: The Creatures of Yesteryear.

“~+W-Why is this here? There are very few of these books available to anyone. Did the princess give this to her?+~”

Hearing hoofsteps, she quickly levitated it back to the pile, seeing Twilight coming from the second floor with Spike following. She momentarily froze, seeing Anon looking through the books. Twilight slowly made her way to them, standing off to the side.

“~+Twilight.+~”

“~+Lyra.+~” Twilight turned to the human. “~+And you must be this Anon that I’ve heard of. I didn’t expect either of you for at least another week. Or to be so… lifelike.+~” Twilight looked confused when no reply came.

“~+He can’t speak our language,+~” Lyra spoke. “~He’s only been here for around a month and our language barrier is quite large.+~”

“~+No kidding,+~” Spike chuckled, earning a look from Twilight. “~+Hey I heard him speak his language just a moment ago. Wasn’t pleasant, too still and direct and… something else.+~”

Humming, she turned to Lyra. “~+Why haven’t you performed a knowledge spell on him to remove this barrier? I know what your packet sent said but I’m not seeing a problem if he’s absorbing magic.+~”

“~+He’s absorbing magic slowly, and it all seems to be concentrated inside his body. We might be able to learn more about the internals of his body when that all settles, but his mind is off-limits unless we want to intentionally hurt him.+~”

Twilight didn’t look convinced, staring at Anon who was staring back, now noticing the purple unicorn. “~+It certainly would have made this much simpler to do. I’ll be honest Lyra, he doesn’t look at all like what the princess described to me.+~”

“~+What exactly did she say?+~”

“~+Well, she spoke of something much… hairier. And less life-like, almost like a puppet.+~”

“~+The princess hasn’t met him formally so she can only go on information she’s provided, along with past experiences.+~”

Twilight glanced at the stack of books. “~+I assume you’re referring to the confidential book she sent me?+~”

“~+That book was required reading for my role as a komlas so I know all about it.+~”

Anon had already sat down, flipping through the pages of a mystery book he found interesting, ignoring the ramblings of the two.

“~+I really shouldn’t judge on appearances, but the princess wouldn’t have sent those warnings needlessly, so you’ll have to excuse me if I want to check him thoroughly.+~”

Lyra gave a wary look at those words.

“~+I say that because I may have a caged area upstairs where he’ll be staying at, just so you’re aware.+~”

“~+Is that necessary?+~”

“~+Aren't you the one that had him locked inside a bedroom for a few weeks before allowing him out? A week here won’t hurt him, and he’ll be staying where I normally sleep. He’ll be well handled.+~

“~+And as a side note, I’d also like to do most of this on my own. I mean no offense, but the princess felt something was odd concerning his stay with the others and had asked I did this without any outside influence.+~”

Listening to the two ponies chirp and squeak, Anon watched as Lyra appeared dejected. The purple unicorn looked like she was trying to reassure Lyra of something. The dragon simply stared at Anon, squirming in his seat, giving a half-hearted wave that he returned.

A tug on his sleeve directed him to the chalkboard Lyra held up. **You’ll be staying here for the week with Twilight by yourself. I will try to pop in when I can.**

‘Different from how others went, but I don’t see any problem here. At least there’s something to do here, reading books and all. I just hope I can manage to keep this pony happy without Lyra.’

Clearing his throat, he decided to give a small showing that he could somewhat understand them if only to present to the purple unicorn he was able to learn. “~+Bye. Lyra.+~” It was a struggle to remember the proper enunciation of singing to get that right.

Before he knew it, Lyra wrapped herself around him in a tight hug. With a shake of her head, Twilight performed a spell, prying her off. Wrapping Lyra in a purple haze, she popped out of sight, clearly being teleported by force.

‘And from what Lyra said, she knows even stronger spells that that. Great.’

Twilight and Anon stared at one another. “~+Alright then. So, I now have an alien in my home for a week.+~” She let out a groan. “~+Why did the princess decide this was a good idea?+~”

“~+Maybe she wants you to expand your friendship lessons even further?+~”

“~+Princess Celestia gave me a large list of things I need to check off when examining him, and none of them seem to be aimed toward friendship. If it was, she’d just let me work things on my own.+~”

Anon continued to stare at the two, uncertain on what to do. Should he continue looking at books? Try and interact? This was a subordinate to the princess herself. He couldn’t act rash about things.

“~+I’m just not sure where to start with him. I’m supposed to dig into things Lyra hadn’t breached with him, but I don’t know how to go about it.+~”

“~+You could always ask him about his world? I don’t see anything from Lyra’s reports that told us anything about his planet, save for a few pages.+~”

“~+I had wondered why there wasn’t anything on his people.+~” Twilight hummed. “~+Yes, I could do that. It could help provide some topics to discuss.+~”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Laying in his new bed, Anon tried his best to appear relaxed in both body and mind. He had been awake for some time now, having gone to bed after a night of odd questioning. Using his peripherals, not wanting to give away he had already noticed her, he saw Twilight in the corner, sitting on a chair, watching him.

He had slept in her bed, only it was fully caged all around with magical bars of some kind to keep him in. It was a fascinating, yet terrifying sight watching the unicorn bend the bars to allow him in. He made sure to stay well behaved after that showing.

As much as he enjoyed laying in bed doing nothing, he had to get up and start the day with the unicorn. She had explained the previous night he would be answering questions about him and his people. Twilight had been, for the most part, polite toward him. He did notice her irritation at how slow things were going, having a conversation between two chalkboards.

Sitting up, he made sure to look as nonthreatening as possible, giving a slight stretch and a yawn. The unicorn squeaked out something, seeing him up.

“~+Fantastic! I was wondering why you were staring at the ceiling for so long. Perhaps it’s a human action that Lyra hasn’t picked up yet?+~”

“~+Or he’s not much of an early bird? It’s six o’clock Twilight, can’t we go back to bed and do this later?+~”

“~+I need as much time as I can with him and go over the princess’s checklist. A week is simply not enough time to do much before I have to decide on if this human is a threat or not.+~”

The dragon rubbed his head. “~+I just don’t see how he can be a threat.+~”

“~+Weren’t you scared of him the other day, barely refusing to be around unless I was there?+~”

“~+And now that I’ve seen him from last night, I think he’s less of a threat than even Owlowiscious is.+~”

A trill of a hoot came from the far wall, making Anon jump in fright. He instinctually kicked the covers off, flopping to the floor, before feeling embarrassed at what he could see was an owl.

“~+Case in point.+~”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “~+He could be putting on an act.+~”

Anon already had his chalkboard out, a message written in greeting to the new guest. The thing merely blinked back, giving another hoot. He held up the chalkboard in the air, trying to pass the message back but the owl simply flew off; he looked dejected, the chalkboard lowered to the bed.

‘Another kind of intelligent animal, like on the farm? I just don’t know anymore.’

Spike held a claw up to his mouth, holding back laughter. “~+You think that’s an act?+~”

A groan escaped Twilight. “~+This is going to be a long week.+~”

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Dull, tedious, and boring is how he’d describe his time with Twilight. All he had him do was sit and answer questions, scarcely taking breaks when needed. It had been several days trying to work with the unicorn, trying his hardest to keep her pleased. He answered everything she asked, keeping it as clear and concise as he possibly could. With his life on the line, he wasn’t going to risk giving her a weak reply.

And yet, she still wasn’t happy.

Sitting at a table near his caged area, Anon stared across at the fuming unicorn. He hadn’t seen Lyra in the past few days, though that didn’t mean she hadn’t tried coming in. From Lyra’s attempted interventions to the slow work with conversing due to their language barrier, and he could see Twilight was nearing her limits.

“~+Finally going to admit you’re having trouble with this?+~”

“~+Spike…+~” She deflated, looking down at her table, covered in papers and her chalkboard. “~+I don’t know what to do. None of this makes any sense to me. Why is the princess having me do this? Why do I need to keep Lyra out of this? And why is it he’s not allowed to have magic used on him?+~”

“~+Well, the princess herself never specified what could or could not be done to him, Lyra said that.+~” Spike, realizing what he said, quickly waved his arms in the air. “~+Not that I’m saying you shouldn’t listen to what Lyra said! There’s likely a reason to that.+~”

Humming, Twilight pulled out a document Anon easily recognized as Lyra’s work on him. What it said he had no clue of, the pony keeping the thing away from him. Flipping through the pages, Twilight read through some of the passages.

“~+All it says is that his mind seems too delicate to touch with magic. I’m pretty sure I can get the spell to work quickly to teach him, and if anything goes wrong I can easily fix him up.+~”

“~+You do know you’re saying that you’re fine with hurting him so long as you have an easier time talking to him.+~”

“~+From how Lyra described it she barely even had any observations on it, only seeing his mind being irritated from the use. I doubt he’ll feel much, probably close to a small pinch.+~”

Spike looked at Anon, frowning. “~+This doesn’t seem right. You’re supposed to be learning friendship lessons here in Ponyville, so shouldn’t you use this opportunity to learn from this? Why even risk anything involving him?+~”

“~+If it came from anyone other than Princess Celestia, I wouldn’t even bother thinking about it. But, I have a schedule that needs to be kept on time from the princess.+~” Twilight lit up her horn, smiling at Anon. “~+A few shortcuts won’t hurt.+~”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Sitting at her desk, Lyra leaned her head on a hoof, tapping a report that was due by the end of the week. It certainly helped keep her mind off Anon, working on such things.

There had been a few incidents involving a group of odd fellows called the aarakocra’s that had set up a temporary base in the mountains, making the griffon's in the area nervous about the intruders. No one was certain where they had come from, only that they had been continuously snatching anything shiny from either side of the border, with them returning to Equestria’s side for their base of operations.

They had claimed to be lost, not even sure how they got to where they had, and that they were stuck until they could figure out how to get home. Lyra imagined they likely came from one of the uncharted continents on the other side of the world. Such things happen from time to time.

‘I’m going to have to advise that they send one of our wayward adventuring groups up there to figure out just what is going on,’ Lyra thought, scribbling down on her parchment. ‘They’ll also need a griffon or two with their party from our side to help any negotiations that are made.’

As she finished her work, her lantern let out a small ding. It belched out green flames, a crumpled piece of paper falling out.

Confused, Lyra picked it up, smoothing the paper out to read the message.

**Anon is in trouble. Hurry to the library. Do not tell Twilight about the message. Be quick.**

She doesn’t need to think twice about the message as she dashed out the door, straight to the town library. Arriving there she slammed open the front door, seeing the place was in chaos. The books were in disarray, paper and ink spread throughout the floor. Near the table was Twilight, reading book after book, the things hovering in the air. She looked miserable, a haunted look in her eyes which were previously crying.

The moment she saw Lyra, Twilight dropped the books, letting out a holler. “Oh, thank goodness you’re here!”

“What happened?!”

“I messed up. I messed up big time.”

Twilight recapped on what had happened earlier in the day. Frustrated by her lack of work the princess wanted her to do, she had reasoned that it would be fine to attempt a language implantation spell used in the fields for species encounters, something that Lyra was more familiar with than Twilight.

Things went awry the moment she activated the spell. Anon acted completely different from anything she had predicted. Her face paled, describing how he let out a strangled scream, as if holding his head in pain, trying to claw something out from it.  He then began throwing stuff everywhere as he bled out of his nose, with her trying to calm him down, the situation far out of her control.  And then, without any warning, he simply stopped, dropping to the ground unconscious.
“I don’t know what to do! I can’t take him out of here to a hospital, and healing spells won’t work effectively on him!” She slammed her face on the table, letting out a sob.

Dashing up the stairs, Lyra could see the chaos. The bars that surround the room had been ripped out, allowing anyone in or out. Spike stood in the corner with Anon, sitting on the floor, dabbing his nose with tissues.

Upon seeing Lyra, Spike let out a sigh, wiping his forehead. “I wondered when you would come here.”

Lyra walked to Anon, looking concerned. “How is he?”

“I’d say you should just ask him yourself.”

“I… I fine,” Anon spoke, shocking Lyra. “Just… tired.”

“Wait. The spell worked?”

Spike handed Anon another tissue, taking the one out of his nose that was covered in blood and replacing it.

“Ew,” he replied, wiping a claw. “Yeah, the spell worked. He kind of threw the chair and table to the side and was screaming at first. Twilight freaked out, trying to calm him down and heal whatever injury she thinks she did. When he finally exhausted himself he curled up in a corner to rest. Twilight ran downstairs, trying to find some kind of spell or thing to work with him.

“He’s kind of just tired at the moment. He doesn’t even recall the event. I’m helping him with his nose; this guy sure does bleed a lot.”

With some hesitation, Lyra performed a scanning spell. Nothing seemed wrong with him, though some of his muscles appeared to be pulled. Carefully examining his head, she saw his mind still had some of Twilight’s magical remnants left behind, slowly finding a way out of him through his nose.

“This is why I didn’t want to use magic on him,” Lyra said, dropping her spell. “His body is still adjusting, and I doubt his mind could cope with anything for a very long if at all.”

Anon mumbled something, drifting off again before shaking his head, dabbing at his nose once more.

“Is being tired a symptom of magic use on his head?” Spike asked.

“We’ve observed it the only time I’ve used magic near his mind.” Lyra let out a breath she was holding. “So far he doesn’t look like he’ll be in any danger from Twilight’s actions.”

“At least he can speak our language now?” Spike nervously chuckled, seeing Lyra’s unamused look. “Just trying to see the positives here.”

Seeing things were fine on this end, Lyra walked back downstairs. Twilight was watching her, a look of apprehension strained on her face.

“Is he okay?”

“Yes, he is, for the most part. You could have gone up and seen if he was yourself.”

“I… You’re right, I could have.”

“You treated him like something to study and pass some kind of test. Why would you use the spell at all? Instead of focusing on things we’ve already been through, why didn’t you try and be his friend? Surely you could have found any motives through that alone.”

Twilight looked down in shame. There was so much Lyra wanted to say to her, to just show how wrong she was. She certainly felt vindicated enough.

‘Hold up Lyra,’ her inner voice spoke. ‘This is a great opportunity for us!’

‘Yes it is, and everyone will know of what Twilight did.’

‘No you dunderhead. Twilight has to finish this week with Anon regardless of what happens. Telling everypony about her actions would only muddle the waters and allow the princess more intervention at a later date.’

‘...That’s true’

‘We can have Twilight instead write a glowing report on Anon and give him an easy week with her! We’ve practically got this assured so long as you do exactly as I say.’

Lyra walked up to Twilight, placing a hoof on the table. “Okay. This is what we’re going to do.”

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She had stayed at Twilight’s for several hours, setting up a new schedule and rules she had to abide to. Anon did seem alright, regardless of his nose still bleeding by the time she left. Spike had volunteered to keep an eye out for him for the time being, Twilight still too ashamed to try and say anything to Anon. It would take some time for the magic residue to leave him.

It was dark by the time she came back to the house. She let out a yawn, wanting nothing more than to finish her report, find a quick bite to eat, then hit the hay. As frightening as it was, she felt happy with the outcome of things.

Lyra quickly noted there was a ladder set up to the roof, something she knew she hadn’t set up before leaving.

“Why is Bon Bon up there so late?”

‘There’s a star shower scheduled tonight, Lyra. You’re supposed to watch it with her. How did you forget that?’

“Oh. Right.”

Climbing the ladder, she saw everything was already set up. Bon Bon was half-asleep at the table, a small bowl of candies on it with a burnt-out candle. A bottle of cider specially saved sat in a bucket of diluted ice.

“Hey, you made it!” Bon Bon drowsily said, wiping her eyes.

“Sorry for being late, Twilight held me up.” Lyra walked over, giving her friend an extra tight hug. Letting go, she looked around before turning to Bon Bon. “Cider’s a bit much just for stargazing. What’s the occasion for?”

“It’s kind of a special night for us.”

Lyra blinked. ‘Special night?’

‘Come on Lyra? This is like, the weird anniversary of yours. The first day you started stargazing with her, along with the first day you two became friends. The first day you two applied to college, and so on.’

She rubbed the back of her neck. “Ah yeah, I remember. The weird anniversary of ours, how things kept coinciding with this same day for us. How we first became roommates and friends and such.”

Bon Bon chuckled, “The little voice in your head had to remind you, didn’t it?”

‘She’s on to us!’

“Uh… no?”

Bon Bon shook her head with some mirth, pouring the two of them drinks. “It’s fine, I know you have some difficulty remembering things. It does make it simple for us to have a single day to remember it all, maybe even future events for that matter.”

Streaks of light started to tear across the sky, interrupting their conversation. The darkened sky lit up, the two watching the scene, forgetting about everything else save for what was around them, enjoying their own company.

As the night started to end, Lyra could only praise the night princess’s work.

Lyra turned to her friend, seeing her dozing off, leaning on her shoulder. “Bonnie?”

“Hmm…”

‘Yeah, she’s pretty much out.’

Being as gentle as she could, Lyra levitated her friend up in the air and down the stairs. She made it through Bon Bon’s room, placing her on the bed. Just as Lyra tucked Bon Bon in, she wrapped her front leg around Lyra’s head, trying to snuggle with her. She managed to slip in one of her friend’s stuffed animals, watching her nuzzle it.

“Hmm… Lyra…”

Lyra chuckled hearing that. She cleaned up the mess on the roof, starting to feel tired from the day. Stumbling to her room, trying to find her alarm clock, she placed it by her bed before flopping on top of it, immediately falling asleep.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

It was nearing the end of the week with Twilight. Anon was quite shocked with the huge turnabout the pony had made in regards to him. Where previously she was treating him like a biohazard, keeping him back with a figurative ten-foot pole, now she was treating him with a lot more respect.

‘She had to have felt bad for using the spell,’ he thought, thinking over that day.

Arguably, he felt no different from when Lyra had used it, though his lethargic nature stayed for awhile. He also had a bloody nose, reasoned that the magic was flowing through it and making it irritated.

The dragon was a pretty nice guy, after all, helping him with that whole ordeal. While he still had some hesitations with the unicorn, at least he wasn’t being treated like an animal. On top of everything that had happened, he could finally understand the ponies. Sort of.

He still couldn’t speak their language properly, the mere difficulty of singing in tune hard to grasp, but the chalkboard was being used less and less with him understanding their words somewhat.


The spell, in his opinion, was quite the godsend even if it amounted to him losing some memories of the event and a bloody nose. Twilight was extremely apologetic, now regarding him like fine china. It wasn’t like he remembered the incident well, but he most assuredly kept a close eye on her horn. The unicorn was quite astute seeing that, appearing regretful.

At the moment, Twilight had the two of them at a table, with her writing down things he had been telling her of his people. While Lyra was interested in how they worked in relationships and their bodies, along with him as a person or how humans lived their lives, Twilight had been on a nonstop barrage of questions asking about their cultures. She had found it fascinating to see how diverse people could be with only a single species on the planet.

“So these Canadians have an entire market cornered simply on the sap of their trees to make maple syrups?”

**Yes, in a manner. It’s a massive part of their culture, having been taught by the natives there hundreds of years ago. Even their money is scented with it, though that’s their bigger denotations. A popular treat for people is to lay down some syrup in the snow and place a stick in it, then eat when it freezes.**

“How riveting!”

He still had to write everything out, but so long as she was understood, she appeared happy. Twilight also genuinely sounded interested in everything he said about his people. As a plus, she had never veered towards wars or anything of the sort, merely wanting to know of their people and odd little facts. He did supply her with some of the problems they faced globally such as stripping of lands for resources or the oil disasters they’ve been met with, but these seemed so foreign a concept for her he dropped it quite quickly.

Writing everything down on her parchment, Twilight groaned, finding her ink dried up. She lifted her ink bottle, looking inside. “Come on, there’s a little more in there.”

Anon mentally shook his head. ‘They have all this magic and can’t even figure out pens yet.’

A sudden strike of realization came to him. He arrived in their world with only the clothing on his back and what has left in his pockets: His wallet, his old iPod, and a novelty pen. He had nearly forgotten the pen, having just recently been given the thing before boarding the boat with Gleekman by his friends and associates from the group.

Opening the inside jacket pocket near his breast, he found his elegant-looking pen. He was surprised to see the pen had no problems, scribbling a piece of paper quickly. The thing was supposed to be designed off what astronauts used in space, with a built-in light and refillable inks, though the latter was quite a useless feature where he was.

Tapping on the table to get her attention he passed the pen to her. She looked confused, looking at it.

**A simple tool we devised called a pen. Try it like you would a quill.**

He motioned for her to tap the button on the bottom, the nib ejecting for use. She hummed at the thing, writing down on the paper. Her eyes widened, staring at the quill, and then the pen.

“This is remarkable! It acts like a quill and a bottle of ink combined!”

She wrote her notes down at a remarkable pace, letting out a laugh. “Think of all the notes I can take with this! Why this changes things on a whole new level of academic work!”

The need to show up presented itself; he motioned for her to twirl the end of the pen, making sure to show she needed to be gentle. The thing flashed in her eyes, a yelp escaping her. Blinking, she could now see it was producing light from the tip.

“It produces light as well?! Whu, buh, uhh…”

“It is… easy to use… may-be you can… recreate it?”

He would love to see more pens around the place, getting tired of using quills and ink bottles all the time.

The unicorn stared at the pen for a while, in awe at what she was seeing. “Initially, I thought your people’s inventions as something to set aside, but I was not aware your people were so capable.” She had an odd gleam in her eyes. “We have so much to talk about.”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Standing outside the doorway, Lyra gently nudged him away from the library, leaving behind Twilight who was unwilling to let him go.

“Just give me some more time with him! Think of all the things we could do with his knowledge.”

“He doesn’t know how to make most of those things, Twilight.”

“But he knows rudimentary knowledge on things which we can use to create much of his people’s work! Think of what we could do if we managed to make these ‘bah-tauries’ of his. And the idea of ‘rai-diah weebuhs’ could change the entire landscape of our world! Think of how vast the changes would be if we could call anyone from anywhere in the world, without the use of magic!”

“Yeah, well, maybe some other time. See you later Twilight!”

Lyra ignored the screams of pleads from the unicorn, leading Anon into the dark of the night. She hummed alongside him, making their way toward their next destination.

“You… seem… ha-ppy?” Anon spoke, slowly working the words out.

“Very much so! With Twilight cleared to go, we now have nothing to worry about. The princesses don’t have any other way to take you now.”

“Why… do they not… re-gard-less?”

Anon never understood the whole getup with him needing to stay with others for verification. From everything he had heard from Lyra, it almost sounded like the princess just wanted him gone. Why not just go collect him anyways?

“What is… to stop her… just co-ming?”

“That’s not how things work around here. We have proxies in place, like Twilight and the Elements or something similar. On the rare instance she does decide to step in it’s usually because it directly involves her or there is without a doubt no other way to go about it.

“The Elements are a great example of this. Back a thousand years ago Princess Celestia wielded that power, but nowadays it’s been given down to her subjects to use. There are similar things around the lands like them. This is because back then, a lot of people abused the power they had, as they had so much of it. And those with the most power tended to have an iron grip on everything around them.”

Anon understood that. “Power is co-rupt-able… abso-lute power, abso-lutely co-rrupts.”

Lyra blinked at him, “Wow, that’s a really good way to put it. I’m definitely saving that quote to you.” She coughed. “But yes, during the era that the princesses came about, many other powerful rulers were appearing, more powerful than anything before them.

After a lot of infighting and talks, decrees were put out to place some of the powers they held to the people, though some historians will say they feel it was heavily aimed at Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. After all, she was capable of moving the sun, ruled an entire land, had the Elements and countless other artifacts; this just made for someone no one could trust to not abuse things.”

“What… does that have… to do with… all this?”

“To help solidify everything, each nation passed into law that certain positions would be made, including a council that would form for each of their respected lands to help deal with things on a more personal level, derived from leaders from each town and their chosen watchers. They’re aware of what is going on with you, and won’t allow the princess to just come in and nab you without making a fuss.”

“I… see.”

‘Even so, this all feels a bit convoluted.’ He put those thoughts to the side, thinking of something else.

“Were are… we going?”

“To the last pony for the week. You still need to spend some time with her.”

He looked at where they were walking. “At… App-le A-cre?”

“There wasn’t any other place that’s so out of town to do this, and Applejack is fine having you around.”

‘Of course, she is; it’s free labor to her.’

It had gotten dark just as they reached the farm. Standing outside a familiar barn, Anon had difficulty seeing anything.

“Before we go in, I just want to… give you a bit of a warning. Don’t go super crazy, okay? Please trust me that nothing is going to get you.”

‘Gee, when you put it that way, why would I think anything otherwise?’

“I will… stay fine.”

Walking inside, the back door was immediately slid shut, putting him into the pitch, black darkness of the barn. Chuckles could be heard as Anon inched forward, trying to figure out what was going on.

“Lyra?”

Suddenly, the barn lit up in a blazing light. Anon could hear what sounded like a roar of singing tones announcing themselves with a hearty surprise. Festive music played in the background as some chirps and tweets littered in the air. He could see streamers and confetti around the area, with a table full of treats he was accustomed to seeing at parties.

A very pink pony suddenly appeared in his face, forcing him to take a step back.

“You’re Anon! It's so nice to finally meet you!” She shook his hand up and down, nearly lifting him off the ground. “I was super upset when no one had me set you up with a welcome-to-town party but now that you’re here we can have a super-duper long one all week long!”

“P, Par-ty?”

“This is going to be so much fun! After I heard about you I knew I had to make an extra special out of this world party! But Lyra wanted to keep you a secret so I couldn’t even sneak into your place to do anything! Now that my weeks here I quickly planned a bonkers amount of things to do! Party games, dance-offs, and I even prepared different kinds of foods for the whole week just so you wouldn’t get sick of not eating it all!” She clapped her hooves, her grin widening even further. “This is so exciting!”

“I do hope you’re not going to let things get too crazy up in here,” Applejack interjected. “There’s a farm I have to run and if he’s going to be here, I expect he’ll be helping around when he can. Do I make myself clear Pinkie?”

She shot ramrod straight into the air, giving her a salute. “Ma'am, yes ma'am! I’ll even help on the farm! Buck every apple and ensure all trees are apple-less, ma’am!”

Applejack ran a hoof over her face. “Just don’t do anything crazy, please?”

“I’ll be as well behaved as I always am!”

“That’s what I’m afraid of…”

Pinkie shot over to Anon, now suddenly on his shoulders. “We’ll just have to get our party on at night! Just you, me, and everyone here!” She brought out some kind of horn, blowing it into the air, Anon covering his ears in pain. “Let’s paaah-taaay!”

Toots and whistles shouted off in return as all the ponies he had met during his time there started to wander around.

“A party,” he spoke in English.

He stared at what was going on, trying to come to terms with everything. It was certainly something to end the whole thing with them. Yet, it didn’t feel right to him, seeing it all. Watching them all happily talking and sharing in the festivities, somehow, it all felt so meaningless to him.

‘Just how did everything I’ve gone through in this world accumulate to this party I’m at?’

Rainbow Dash started to talk to Applejack, trying to challenge her to some kind of apple dunking competition. It started to get heated when Big Mac brought a bin over to them, the two quickly shoving their heads in.

‘I’ve been in this place for nearly two months, having thought I was being kidnapped to finding I’ve been transported to a magical world of singing, talking ponies. And now they want me to party with them.’

Twilight was off in a corner, excitedly talking to Rarity about Anon’s time with them and the new ideas he had given them. Rarity was projecting some images of his clothing in the air, talking about his threads while Twilight illuminated her images of the pen he had shown her, along with a few brief items he had described.

‘How am I supposed to take all of this? I’ve always prided myself with staying calm on the surface, never letting anything show, yet this… this might be too much to handle.’

He continued to stand there, unable to move as everyone around was oblivious to the turmoil raging inside him.

Fluttershy was talking to the three small ponies that had spoken to him on the farm a few times, sharing their adventures with him and how they almost got cutie marks on many occasions. She seemed amused at what she was told, while also being polite with her time with them.

‘Am I really stuck here with these horses? These alien creatures in this alien world?’

He felt hollow, something catching his breath, looking at all the horses. They all looked like what they were having the time of their lives. Nothing was out of place to them in this party of theirs.

‘No, that’s wrong. I’m the one out of place here. They truly expect me to just party and have fun like them.’ He looked down at his hands. ‘I’m the alien, aren’t I? None of this makes sense to me, how they’ve been acting or what they do, yet to them, it’s perfectly normal to act like this. Here I am, walking among them, not fitting in the slightest, and I don’t know what to do.’ Something tugged inside him, watching the ponies jovial attitudes. ‘I don’t know how much longer I can do this.’

Something tugged on his leg, drawing him from his miserable thoughts. Lyra, now wearing a little party hat, was holding a cup out to him, looking worried.

“Are you alright? Do you need to talk?”

Anon paused, wondering what she meant by that. He then felt a tear, drawing from an eye; his jacket helped wipe it away before anyone else could notice, not wanting to know how they’d react to that.

“Just long… couple weeks.”

She wasn’t convinced, her frown remaining. “Here, I got you this drink. It’s punch.”

He grabbed the cup, staring down at the red liquid.

“If you want I can talk to the others, maybe try and hold all of this off for a later date? I’m certain we can have Pinkie tone this down, somehow.”

“...No, it is… it is fine,” he lied.

For the time being, he just had to treat things like if he was in a foreign country. There tended to be different rules and ways people reacted to certain gestures and actions. This was clearly on a whole other scale, but so long as he didn’t look into the details too clearly, he could make it work.

‘I’ll make it out of this, I always do. I just… need time to adjust. Yes, just some time.’

“Why don’t… you tell me about… that pi-ñ-ata over there?”

Lyra seemed eager to show him around, wanting to enjoy their time with one another.

“So a piñata is a fun little game where you take a stick and beat it, and candy comes out! Now, I know it’s a pony shape but that’s not because we like hitting one another. Well, some do, but they’re meanies and you shouldn’t be around them. Stupid meanies. Anyways, you need to get a blindfold and…”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~Canterlot: One Week Later~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

“How queer this is, having a quill and ink bottle put to one single entity. And yet, here it is, and with even further potential. It’s quite the marvel.”

Princess Celestia saw her sister twirling around one of the ‘pens’ her student Twilight had sent, courtesy of komlas Lyra. The thing was certainly ingenious and would revitalize their writing industry for more products of similar caliber.

Luna turned to Celestia, “Has Lyra ever produced such items in the past? Her creativity is, admittedly, a bewildering thing to see.”

“No, she has not. I’m not sure if this is a recent thing or something she has hidden for unknown reasons.”

“Perhaps to use when she felt most advantageous to reveal?”

If it was before the scenarios had started, she’d refute Luna. Lyra had never shown the capability, nor the character for such actions.

‘And yet, now I am uncertain.’

Celestia was confused, thinking Lyra’s true talent was her musical abilities, along with her magical potential being quite high and her studious nature to her work. To show off her inventive side perhaps was enough for her to change her views on the mare.

The reports on the table shared an account of the final two weeks, shared between Twilight and Pinkie Pie respectively. Somehow, Lyra had managed to convince them to side with her. Pinkie Pie was no real surprise; Twilight had been the one to shock her.

She had sent reports to her student about the alien ahead of time, detailing further information that what was given to the others, all the while pointing toward the Bleuh Bleuh Bleuh’s. Her reports spoke of confusion, seeing nothing but very faint visual similarities to the things, but none of the remarked characteristics.

‘If there was a time for Twilight to venerate me and to simply be guided by my words, this would have been it.’

The ‘puppet’ that Lyra continued to share in each image was as unsettling as she had seen the first time. And now, with the Elements on board and the council having a part in everything, the scenario would continue to the next step of integration. Even Twilight was involved, having requested to work on further inventions.

“I’ll say, regardless of our troubles with this, it had been enjoyable to the end, even with all that’s been occurring with the guard.”

Celestia couldn't agree more, feeling tired just thinking of it. More guards had been outed, which only made things worst. It seemed the groups leading them started to disturb the peace in certain towns, Canterlot being hit the hardest. They’d leave behind propaganda at the scene, vying for either her or her sister to be the sole rulers of the lands. It was becoming a bigger headache with each passing day.

“So,” Luna started, “are we going to do anything about the scenario?”

“No, I don’t see any point. Honestly, it’s the only thing that’s giving us time away from everything.”

Luna clicked the pen a few times, humming to herself. “You’re going to be petty about losing aren’t you?”

“Oh, Luna… of course I am.”

“How troublesome do you plan to be?”

“I’m not going to do anything too harmful or something that needs heavy involvement from us. Just a… nudge that will push her to the limits over time.”

“You better not keep me in suspense. What do you have cooked up for her?”

Princess Celestia smiled, “Why, I’m going to require her to get a job.”

“...A job?”

“To be more precise, her alien friend. She’ll need to integrate it into our town and have it start working there.”

“I see where you’re going with this. Take away some of the funding needed as a way to push the alien to get a ‘job’ to support itself and integrate, and we’ll have her on the ropes!”

A small twinge of guilt could be felt, knowing what she was doing to Lyra felt wrong, in a manner. It was quickly killed by her competitive side, seeking revenge over its loss.

Taking out a new parchment, she started to write a return letter when suddenly, her quill was yanked from her magical aura. Looking to where it went, she saw the pen now floating in her face.

“You may as well test it out.”

Rolling her eyes she grabbed the pen, returning to her letter. She was going to make it difficult for Lyra to continue working on her scenario. It should provide the two of them with some potential entertainment from the outcome.


~End Chapter Seven~






Chapter Eight – Introducing, Mr. Anon!


Sitting on her couch, Lyra took a sip of tea to wake up, already on her fourth cup. She hadn’t slept well the previous night, having sent in the packet that would determine Anon’s fate. As confident as she felt, she couldn’t help but worry that perhaps something could go wrong.

“Do you know how much longer this will take?” Twilight asked, taking a sip of her tea.

“Why would I know that?”

“It’s part of your job I thought to send off these packets and receive a response? Am I wrong?”

“I just send them off. I don’t usually get a response from the princess unless it’s urgent or sometimes as a thank you. The ones involving Anon are usually prompt so I’m not sure why it’s taking so long.”

“We just need some patience,” Bon Bon chimed in from beside Lyra. “I doubt the princess is putting off on sending her response.”

Lyra shook her head, taking another sip of tea. “Why are you here anyways Twilight?

“I’m here for Anon and to see what happens to him.”

“...His inventions got you that worked up?”

Twilight’s face flushed, “I uh, I won’t say it doesn’t, but I do still care for him okay?”

Lyra let out a heavy sigh, tired, not wanting to start on some tirade against her.

‘You should probably just let it go,’ her inner voice spoke. ‘She’s not exactly doing anything wrong, and it does help us having her on our side if things go south.’

‘I still don’t like it. She’s not exactly well remembered at school: Always reading books and ignoring everything around her that wasn’t magic, not exactly staying with her supposed friends, and her magical experiments were extremely dangerous.’

‘As opposed to the equally dangerous experiments we had to do in that school?’

‘Regardless, I just have difficulty trusting her. The others may like her around here in Ponyville, but I grew up with her in Canterlot.’

‘You just didn’t like school and have a habit of pinning your hate of it on Twilight. So you had some difficulties there along with a few bullies. We’ve moved past this.’

Lyra gritted her teeth. ‘Stupid bullies, none of them believed in my dreams and just made fun of me, calling me names like incidental unicorn number two. It drove me nuts! Why am I the second? Who was the first?!’

“Uh, Lyra? Are you alright?”

Twilight gave her a confused look, seeing Lyra staring at her cup for some time.

Lyra sighed, “You realize we’re not likely to get a lot of his people’s tools for a good long while. We need to prepare him to be around us and not focus on how we can benefit from him.”

“I understand, which is why I brought a few books to help us teach him.” Twilight pulled out a stack of books that somehow were able to fit in the small rucksack she had. “This one is about a history of Equestria, but it’s a version that doesn’t hide some of the more… immoral things that have happened. I’m still trying to get it approved to republish that one.

“And this one is a guide for magical theory and mundane workings of magic in our world. It was written by one of Star Swirl’s pupils who remains unnamed to this day, only going by the moniker Sunlight Dee. It was a revolutionary book for its time but there is barely any research that goes into magic-absence or the more mundane usages of magical workings today.”

A loud thump sounded out, the books deposited on her table. Lyra stared at the imposing stack of books.

“That’s… a lot of reading to go through. I’m not sure if we’ll have time to go through all this.”

Twilight waved a hoof, “I figured you wouldn’t be able to look through these. You’re already focused on him and the integration along with reports, which is a lot of work as it is. I’ve already read all of these and will have Anon reading them with my help. Get him up to date on some information about our world, if you will.”

“Which is the next step that we need to teach him to integrate Anon.”

“See? Very helpful!”

Sipping on her tea she thought it over, finding the idea intriguing. It would allow her more time to do what she wanted with Anon, that’s for certain.

A rattling from her lantern pulled her from her thoughts; it spat out in green flames a scroll, depositing inside its tray.

“She responded!”

Lyra burst from the couch, running to the scroll and cutting across the waxed celestial seal. Her face was glued to the parchment, reading each word carefully to see what their decision would be.

“He’s going to stay!” she hollered in triumph.

Twilight’s head hovered over her shoulder, reading the scroll. “You should read the last part Lyra.”

“...It says she wants him to integrate into our society as soon as possible. I don’t see anything wrong with that.”

‘In fact, that’s fantastic news! You can show him around, take him on meals, get him all dressed up, and even get to show everyone you’re not crazy!’

“Princess Celestia wants him to get a job, Lyra.”

She paused, looking at the scroll. “Ah, crud.”

“And to ensure this happens, she’s taking away her funds that helped pay for things.”

“Double crud.”

Something loud came from the kitchen, Bon Bon running up to them with food all over her. “Repeat that would you please?”

“She’s… not going to pay Lyra anymore for the work on Anon?”

Bon Bon’s eyes widened, her jaw slacked from the words. “No. NO!”

She ran up the stairs to her room, loud banging soon followed. She came back downstairs all cleaned up with several rucksacks tied to her, heading out the door.

“Where are you going?” Lyra asked.

“I need to go, NOW! I have to collect ingredients and get into contact with some sales reps for a fresh batch of treats if I want to get ready for the next seasonal sale!” She muttered to herself about things she had to do as she left the house, leaving behind two very confused unicorns.

The two stared at the door and then turned to one another.

“I get it being a pain, but what’s with her reaction?” Twilight asked.

“Bon Bon’s very strict about how the treats are made, and so she’s always out and about doing things, talking to ponies behind closed doors, and so on.”

“That’s a bit strange, just for making treats. Are you sure there’s nothing else she’s doing?”

“I doubt she’s hiding anything from me.”

‘Pretty sure.’

“Speaking of, I need to tell Fluttershy. She was being paid by the funds as well from her work.”

“She’ll be fine. Being the premier veterinarian that works with just about any creature, from bears to lions, and let’s just say she’s well paid for her services. Who I’d be worried about is Anon. It’s not going to be easy, finding a job for him.”

Lyra tapped her chin. “That’s true, he’ll be working with ponies, and he doesn’t have a lot of experience being around us.”

“Not to mention no one in town even knows about him. How would some of them react to a very strange looking being, walking around amongst them out of the blue?”

“And we need to get him a job by the end of two weeks.” A smile slowly formed on Lyra’s face. “So you know what that means?”

“That I need a new assistant for the library?”

“Would the princess even allow that?”

“...Maybe?”

Lyra shook her head. “No, I’m thinking he needs to be introduced to the townsfolk! Get out there, meet them, and see all there is in the town of Ponyville.”

“Is that such a good idea? There are quite a few skittish ponies out there. And he’s still not very familiar with being around us. What if he does something that is, well, too alien for them to understand?”

“I’ve been overprotective of him for the past two months, keeping him holed up here and sneaking him around. He’ll likely meet plenty of neigh-sayers and odd fellows in town, but he truly has to do some of it on his own. Otherwise, he may never feel confident around us, and the same for us around him.”

“I can see your reasoning with that. So how exactly do you want to go about with this?”

“I think I’ll take him out and try to direct him to places we’re familiar with, like Sugarcube Corner, but at his own pace. Let everyone see him, try and let him take control of the situation as they appear, and move on from there.”

“And you’ll stay in the background, watching him, and intervening when it’s needed so he’ll feel like he’s taking charge.”

Lyra nodded. “I genuinely think he needs this. Being around him, I can see he’s not doing so well around us, as if he’s restraining himself from something. It was most prominent at the party with Pinkie, how he was staring at us so oddly.”

“I think all of us noticed it in some way but didn’t think it prudent to say anything.”

“That was for the best. I managed to ask him later on and he seemed to completely clam up, appearing like he’s fine. I’m not sure how his people are, but I don’t think that’s healthy.”

Twilight sighed. “It might be him being away from his home and life, and perhaps a feeling of… loneliness.”

“There are no humans here. He must be feeling out of his depth, having no one he can confide in or having any form of normalcy to his life. We need to show we can be there to help him through things and hope he’ll open up.”

“So you’ll be taking him out today and have everyone get to know him. When are you planning on getting started? It’s going to be a lot of traffic in the afternoon and I’m not sure letting him out then is a good idea.”

“I think that’s the best time to let him out, have everyone see him and start getting used to Anon. Also… I’m letting him get some extra sleep right now; he seemed to need it after Pinkie’s shenanigans.” Lyra looked up toward her bedroom. “Besides, I think that would be the best time to take him.”


X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

A groan of pain slipped out of him, the week spent with the party pony from hell a tiring ordeal. Anon had not expected her to be so literal with a week-long party. Adding in all the farm work he had to endure, he was simply beat.

It only took roughly three days before he finally collapsed from exhaustion. Pinkie seemed to take pity on him, putting up board games to play for the last few days. Admittedly, he did enjoy them, albeit finding some of her choices unnerving due to the peculiar similarities to his world’s games: Life was now Stable, Catan was now Tribes of Three, and Apples to Apples was… well, that was the same. Applejack was enthused with that one.

They even had their variation to Dungeons & Dragons, Ogres & Oubliettes. Having played D&D during college, he had some fun explaining his version of the game and deciding to show them a new rule set, with a proper DM courtesy of himself, when he got some time to plan it all out.

For the most part, it was a great way to alleviate some stress since arriving in their world. He was nearly able to forget about living in a foreign world surrounded by magical, talking creatures.

Sitting up in his bed, Anon swept his hair back; it was starting to get longer than he was happy with, the thing needing a cut.

“Some-thing to men-tion later on,” he said in Equestrian.

His language skills were getting better, being able to pick up more complex words as time went on. He knew of them but simply found it difficult to speak. It would take time but he’d soon be a grand virtuoso of the spoken tongue.

Standing up, he started to get ready for the day. Taking a shower, getting dressed, brushing his hair back, and making sure he was somewhat presentable. Anon wasn’t sure just what Lyra and the others had in store for him next, but he wanted to ensure he at least looked ready.

At his desk, he went through his papers, writing in a few lines for his journal that they had provided for him to write in. He looked at it, tapping the paper in thought.

“I still can’t get over how Gleekman transported me here, accidental or otherwise.”

He had been doing his best to stay focused on his new life with the horses, but every so often he’d wander off in thought about the wrongness of it all. Just how did it happen? Did someone from this world go to theirs and provide it to the man? Was it some convoluted manner like the alignment of stars that brought him through a rift?

A knock on his door interrupted his thoughts. Closing his journal, he put it away as Lyra walked in.

“Hey, Anon! Ready for the day?”

“Yes?”

“Great! I’ll see you downstairs, we’ve got some things to talk about. Oh, and make sure you pack your rucksack.”

‘Ah, another day out with the ponies it seems.’

Taking care to pack a few things that he thought could be useful, he made his way downstairs. Lyra was sitting on the couch waiting for him.

“Come here and take a seat.”

He sat on the couch beside her, staring at an unfurled scroll on the table. It had a strange manner in its writing, compared to what everything he had seen was the norm; the thing came off as eccentric, and powerful.

“The princess had gone through everything we had given her and seems to think, for the time being, you’ll be fine here in town with us.”

“That… is good.”

‘At the very least I don’t have to worry about being hauled off because I looked at someone funny. Hopefully, this means things will calm down.’

“So the next step the princess wants is to see you get a job!”

‘Spoke too soon.’

“Why… a job?”

“She sees it as an opportunity for you to assimilate into our lands and to get to know everyone. Also, she cut off our funding so I have no way to feed you anymore.” She gave him a large smile after that.

‘What is wrong with these ponies?! I don’t understand. How could anyone think to give a foreign being a job even remotely appropriate? I’m only just starting to speak and now I have to hold a job in this place?’

Anon smothered his feelings, letting his thoughts die off.

‘No, don’t get upset. They’re just different. Their rationale is simply… distinct, and unique. Just go with the flow.’

“So what… do I do?”

“We need to figure out a few things you’re good at, and find the best place for you to be! Of course, we’ll also be walking around in town so everyone can get to know you. It wouldn’t do any of us any good if you couldn’t make friends.”

He pinched his glabella, irritation settling in. “Friend… ship.”

“Yes! So you’ll go out in town and get to know everypony, and while we’re out there you can see all the shops and maybe come up with some ideas on what you can do. But before we do that, do you have any kind of special talents we can work with?”

“Lyra, I was… envi-ro-ment-alist. I helped… try and make… world better. Oil spills, coal mines, air po-llu-tion.”

The unicorn scrunched her brow. “I know you’ve brought that up before but… I’m sorry, I don’t know what that is. I mean, I’m not sure how anyone can hurt air, that’s weird.”

None of the ponies, as far as he could tell, had any of the problems he had told them about in his world. To find that they were confused by what he described was quite frustrating for him, along with a hint of jealousy. Unless someone intentionally tried to do damage, things would generally be fine.

He took out his chalkboard, finding it needed to help explain some things.

**I recall you telling me about how your people regulated the weather in Cloudsdale. Could you explain that again?**

“The pegasi help move around clouds and control the weather. It helps water the plants, keeping things hot and cool when needed, and also gives us ways to schedule the weather around certain days.”

**Our world does not have such luxuries. It’s all maintained by its own environment responding to uneven heating. Over-burning our fuels and polluting our air have long term effects, from putting smog into the troposphere and triggering different illnesses to damaging our ozone layer.**

Lyra scrunched up her brow. “Ozone… layer? Troposphere?”

**It’s a barrier that helps shield the sun’s radiation from damaging the planet, and without it, every plant on our planet would start dying off. Not to mention the different ways we’d die, from cancer to lack of oxygen.**

“I… I don’t know what cancer is but it sounds ominous. But we don’t have to worry about such things, the princess controls the sun to regulate that, and magic does help prevent a lot of illnesses like those tumors you’ve mentioned before.”

‘Which makes my environmental science degree here useless,’ he thought.

“This is all very knowledgeable, and I certainly want to get this written down, but unless you know how to grow some nice plants, I don’t think your knowledge will be helpful. I’m sorry.”

It irked him, seeing all his knowledge would be wasted in their world. His urge to help the world felt smothered, knowing they didn’t seem to have many of the problems his world did.

‘Although they have to compete with multiple, magical end-of-the-world scenarios, so I’m not sure which world is better off in that regard.’

“Maybe you can juggle? Oh! What about dancing. I bet you would be a fantastic dance instructor!”

‘I just can’t accept that their world is this well off, not with how many species live here and use up resources. It’s certainly a problem they’ve never thought come across, so they wouldn’t know to look for it.’

“Whatever you decide to do, just put your heart into it! I believe in you, don’t forget that.”

“Uh… thanks, Lyra.”

She gave a nod, jumping from the couch. “I have plans for us to go around Ponyville and get some lunch while we look around. I can’t wait to show you around!”

After that, Lyra led Anon out of the house and toward the town. He had only seen glimpses of the place going back and forth to see either Applejacks’ or Twilight’s place. But this was different; everything was out in the open as ponies walked around, going about their business.

Quite a few of the ponies stopped what they were doing, gawking at him. He made sure not to try anything that could even remotely look threatening. Simply following Lyra was all that was needed, so why change that?

Lyra held her head up high, smugly walking down the street. There were quite a few gasps, seeing her beside him. It started a trend; anyone that was going about their day stopped to see what the commotion was about, only to reel back at the tall figure of Anon walking down the street.

Noticing something, Lyra let out a menacing chuckle, pulling out a scroll from nowhere with her magic. Anon recognized it as something the princess had given her, official papers about what was going on.

“I’ll be right back, I’ve got to share with those mares over there the lesson of never doubting others.”

She proceeded to bounce over to them, shoving the scroll in their faces while spouting off how she was right and they were wrong, whatever that had meant. The surrounding ponies could hear Lyra’s words, calling him an alien being, which only exacerbated the issue of them seeing him as something to avoid.

Alone in a gathering crowd of ponies, he could hear their loud whispers, wondering what exactly he was. He’s an alien? Why was he here? Lyra was right? It was difficult trying to hear them all.

One daring pony slinked up to him, freezing when his gaze focused on her. She looked around for support, only to find everyone moving back from her.

“I, uh, um...” Her legs started to wobble, any bravado she had fleeing, her eyes starting to tear up. “Uh, uh…”

Feeling pity for the thing Anon walked up to her, looking down. He let out a cough to clear his throat, of which all the ponies took as a menacing growl.

“He-llo. I… am Anon.”

Her pupils shrank at the massive being boring down on her, speaking his words in a stilted, foreboding manner. The thing smiled, showing off its terrifying incisors. It was going to eat her!

Full of fear the pony let out a garble of a scream before turning to run, only to slam its face right into a tree beside her. Everyone looked at the downed pony, and then at Anon.

“Sweet Celestia, he has special alien powers that make us hurt ourselves!”

“He made Tinklebell punch her face into a tree!”

“RUN!”

Ponies scattered from the area, hollering out nonsense that Anon could barely catch. Lyra walked back, clearly confused about what had happened.

‘Okay, that was a bad first impression.’

“They’re just… skittish,” Lyra said. “Give them some time. They’ll grow on you.”

“I… hope.”

Walking to the town square, many of the stalls were hesitant, halting their sales or hiding behind their stalls when Anon walked past them, uncertain what to do. Lyra merely acted like everything was normal, even humming to herself as if to show how calm she was.

“Okay Anon, I’ve got to go talk to Bon Bon at her stall. Stay here and get to know someone, make a friend! I’ll be back in a jiffy!”

Before Anon could ask her how she knew what a jiff was, or even try to get a reason why she was leaving him, Lyra had already left. Once again, he found himself standing by himself, ponies slowly starting to whisper about him. They gathered once more around him, questioning who or what he was, rumors from the previous incident already intermingled in their conversations.

‘I know what Lyra is doing, with her leaving me here. She’s trying to get me to do things on my own, and while nice to know she has my trust in that, it is not likely to work. Who in their right mind would try and befriend something like me, who is not like them?’

His ruminations ceased when he felt two thumps against his back, stumbling him forward.

‘Did someone just slap two pillows against my back?’

Two pegasi were on the ground, trying to figure out what had happened.

Most of the ponies, he had found out, didn’t have the strength to do anything to him save for a few rare ones like Big Mac. They’d need a lot of momentum to get him moving like Rainbow Dash could pull off. Magic was, of course, the exception.

“Darn that monster and his wily ways! He must have some kind of special powers to protect himself against our awesome might!”

“W, We’ll make sure you can’t have your ways against our stallions evil-doer!”

The two ponies flew into the air, trying to pull at his jacket to drag him away. They barely made any ground, sliding him an inch or two from his spot. They got red in the face trying to move him, but all Anon had to do was lean in the other direction, using minimal strength, and that alone seemed to stop them in their tracks.

They let go, huffing and puffing. “How strong is this guy? I had training in the academy to fight monsters so why isn’t it working?”

“Maybe we should get Snowflake to help? He’s got to be strong enough to move him away.”

As interesting as this was to him, he didn’t want more ponies to get involved with trying to move him. That would surely bring about a mob effect, and he didn’t want them doing anything to him, such as being thrown out of the town.

Thinking of a way to get them to back off from him that didn’t involve him physically doing so, he just so happened to notice the clouds in the air. Or to be more precise, a single lone cloud floating above them. A peculiar tuft of a rainbow was slung over the side, giving away to the identity of the pony.

Before the two ponies got up for a second attempt, Anon reached in his rucksack. He found some apples he put there, just in case it was needed. He reared back, throwing the apple straight up. The first one missed, some of the ponies wondering why he was attacking a cloud. Clearly, to them, it was such a hateful thing, wanting to get rid of such things.

The second apple hit its mark, a yelping kazoo sounding out in surprise. “What the hay?” Dash sat up, holding an apple in her hooves.

Looking where it came from, she saw Anon waving at him. A frown appeared on her face, throwing the apple back. Anon had no problem catching the return, watching Rainbow Dash slowly descend to the ground.

“You better have a good reason chucking that at me.”

Anon pointed at the two pegasi now floating toward Dash. “Help, please.”

The pony pumped a hoof in the air. “Alright, Dash is here, knew you weren’t a square. So you heard Roseluck say a monster was brought here?”

The second pony nodded her head. “We came here as fast as we could to put him back in that pocket he came from.”

“We couldn’t find anypony around here that could help so we decided to take action. He’s a toughie; he’s so strong, we couldn’t even budge it.”

“Way too strong.; he’ll ruin all our future plans, financial or otherwise!”

“Roseluck and the others said he gave her a look that spoke entire volumes to her.”

“Possibly a book or two’s worth!”

“She said he was here because he couldn’t find anyone to stay with him for too long and is now going to take over our mares and stallions.”

“He can’t even hold a stable relationship! How sad.”

“And that he’s going to take over our world and be the supreme ruler.”

“For a very measured amount of time!”

Rainbow Dash stared at them incredulously. “What?” She looked at Anon, and then back to them. “A monster? Girls, he’s not a monster.”

The two pegasi hovered in the air, staring at her before turning to Anon.

“He’s… not a monster?”

“Then what is he exactly? Someone from another continent? I’ve never seen anything like him before.”

“I doubt you would. He’s an alien from another dimension,” Dash answered. “Guy somehow got stuck in a teleportation spell or something and got dropped inside the forest. Lyra’s just been helping him out since he’s arrived here.”

As if a switch had been flipped, the ponies hearing that almost seemed to look at him with less hostility, talking about him in wonderment, growing more curious about him.

“He’s an alien? That’s so cool!”

Anon couldn’t believe how quickly the pony’s turned their views around with that being explained. Quite a few in the crowd were now talking to one another, very curious and wanting to know more about the alien.

Dash gave a small chuckle. “So if he was a monster he needs to leave, but as an alien and everything’s fine?”

“Yeah, totally!”

“Why would we think an alien would be scary?”

“What if he was an alien monster?” Rainbow Dash asked.

One of the pegasi rubbed her chin in thought. “Well… we’d be running away from the coolest thing ever, I suppose.”

Rainbow Dash tittered at her answer.

Seeing movement on the side, Anon noticed that Lyra was now a part of the crowd, drinking what he believed to be a smoothie. It was pretty impressive how easily she blended into the background without even trying. She waved at him with a smile before going back to her drink. Anon had figured she just wanted the crowd to figure things out on their own about him. It was either that or she abandoned him to get a drink, and there’d be no reason to think that, right?

Feeling something poking him, he went back to the two pegasus ponies hovering in the air.

“Hey, we’re sorry for thinking you’re a monster.”

“Yeah, super sorry.”

“It fine,” he said, waving them off.

“You speak sorta funny, Mr. Alien,” one of the two pegasi said.

“I like it!” the other exclaimed, floating up to his face. “He’s got a really cool accent!”

Before he could say anything about it, Dash spoke for him. “That’s because he’s still learning how to speak our language. He’s got this weird roll in his tongue when he says anything.” She turned to Anon, giving him a smirk. “So is there anything else this awesome mare can do for you?”

He shook his head no.

“Well then, I’m off to relax. Catch me later when you want to hang out.” She quickly zipped back up to her cloud, pushing it higher in the air before laying back down on it.

The crowd around Anon seemed to have dispersed once they realized he wasn’t a current danger to them, though a few lingered around, their curiosity not sated. He found it strange how the ponies immediately regarded him with indifference from how they previously acted.

…Except for the ponies that ran off. He hoped word would get around that he wasn’t hostile. Anon didn’t want a lynch mob chasing him around the place.

Feeling a tug on his shirt once again, Anon saw that the two pegasus ponies were still there, hovering in front of him.

“Since that’s over with, we… don’t have much to do today.”

“So we’d like to be your friends around here!”

“Two totally awesome pegasus friends, might I add.”

Hearing the clopping of hooves, Anon saw Lyra walking up to his side. “I don’t see the harm in you two coming along. I was just about to show Anon around the place and get some food at the Sugarcube Corner.”

One of them perked up hearing that. “We’d love to come! They’re having a sale on pineapple sundaes!”

“Oh! We never got to introduce ourselves!” the two ponies said simultaneously.

They started to do something that looked practiced with them spinning around in the air in the pattern of a sideways eight, looping around one another. All of a sudden, they collide together in mid-air, holding one another.

“I’m Flitter!”

“And I’m Cloud Chaser !”

“And we’re the two awesomest pony sisters in all of Ponyville!” they say together loudly.

“And I’m hungry,” Lyra said, moving past them. “Let’s get going before they stop serving lunch!”

“Alright!” the two pegasi say in unison.

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“I’m sorry Anon, I forgot about what their meals would consist of.”

The lunch was a bust, their entire menu consisting of every single sugary item he could think of, and then some. There was even sugar water on the thing. Who in their right mind would order that?

If that wasn’t enough, he had also found out Pinkie Pie both worked and lived there. She was upset he wouldn’t order anything, promising him he’d enjoy a pastry or cupcake. No amount of begging or even giving them away would budge him, he would refuse to eat such things for a meal.

Instead, the others ate there, awkwardly trying to enjoy their meals as Anon stood there, waiting for them to finish. He managed to get a lettuce sandwich at a stall, eating that as they walked to their next destination. Admittedly, it was quite good for such an odd idea for a sandwich; he’d seen lettuce replacing bread, but hadn’t seen lettuce replacing the fillers before.

Arriving at their next destination, Rarity’s Boutique, Anon found it was one of the more interesting places in the town, designed like a carousel.

“Ding-ding!” Cloud Chaser called out.

“I’ll be right the-eere!” the voice of Rarity trilled back. A few seconds go by before she opened the door. Seeing Anon, Rarity immediately jumped at him. “Ooh thank you, thank you, thank you, tha-ha-haaank you!” Rarity held him around his waist in a tight hug.

“…Your welcome?”

Rarity let him go, a large smile on her face. “Ever since I got those custom orders from Lyra and used the designs in my work, everypony has been ordering for their own nonstop!”

“Oh!” Lyra exclaimed. “Are they done?”

Anon was confused by what they were talking about. The two pegasi give him questioning looks, which he shrugged. Moving them to follow her inside, Rarity brings them to a room full of little mannequins with pony physiques.

Rarity grabbed a box that was put aside from a list of others boxes in the corner, her magic floating it over to the four of them. Lyra threw the box open, letting out a twitter as she removed the clothed item.

“Socks?” Anon questioned.

“Not just any socks, but the latest in fashion!” Rarity answered back. “They’re all the rage! The way they’re designed in the patterns to showing off all the nice stitching while allowing the colors through. They’re also comfortable, fit well on any hoof, and they’re very stylish. There are so many ways to design them, it’s been a great addition to my wardrobe!”

Lyra was giggling, putting the socks on. She squealed once she had them on, clapping her front hooves together.

“So awesome! They match my color and everything!”

“…I want those socks,” Flitter said, staring with envy at Lyra.

Anon found it weird they were enjoying them to such a degree. He required them, but they’re just using it for… fun?

‘What is wrong with these ponies?’

Taking her socks off, Lyra put them back into the box. “These are perfect! I can’t thank you enough.”

“Why darling, you should be thanking Anon for these wonderful little things.”

Right after she said that Anon found himself lying on the ground, being squeezed by Lyra. “Pony hug pile!” one of them said seeing that. And now he was covered in ponies, being squeezed in all directions.

Soon enough, the four of them said their goodbyes as they walked out the door, waving Rarity off. The minty unicorn was currently in thought where to go next as she floated her box beside her.

“Oh, oh!” Flitter said, trying to get their attention. “Can we show him Cloudsdale? I bet he would love to see that!”

“How is he supposed to even get up there?” Lyra asked.

Cloud Chaser waved a hoof in the air, “Don’t mind her, she just wants to show him our house likely with something else in mind…” She hovered in the air, nudging Flitter in the side.

“C-Cloudy!” Flitter yelled, face turning red. “That’s not true!”

“She has a thing for beings of high elevation if you catch my drift.”

“Stop telling people that. Next thing you know, everyone will think I’m into mountain climbing!”

“Always wanted a tall, built stud by her side.”

“In my opinion, you need a strong stud to build a good foundation.”

“Yeah, sure. It was pretty clear the moment you saw Anon that something was going on with you. Just admit it…” Cloud Chaser hovered right up to her face with a grin. “You have the hots for him!”

“AAAAAH!” Flitter screamed out in embarrassment. She started batting Cloud Chaser with her hooves, flinging them at her head. Her sister laughed it off, flying around her in circles.

Anon shook his head at the randomness before talking to her. “Lyra, what… what do now?”

“Let’s just leave. I got word some friends recently returned and I want you to meet them before it gets dark.”

She turned around, continuing down the road. Anon followed, leaving the two ponies behind to argue with one another.

Lyra herself had already shown him to quite a few places, with a few ponies getting used to his presence, though many still shied away from him. Going down the road, Anon saw that many of the ponies weren’t acting normal. At least, what he thought was normal. They seemed to be hiding around behind trees or in bushes, following him close behind. He told Lyra this but she didn’t think much of it.

“It’s probably just some curious ponies wanting to know more about you,” she said just as they made it to a house. “Here we are!”

It looked like someone split a house in half, coloring each side differently to their tastes. It was certainly one of the more interesting houses he had seen so far. He could hear a strange thumping coming from inside of it, making him wonder what was going on in there.

“When I was back in college, it was these gals here that were the greatest of buds I knew. Well, except for Bon Bon, she’s the bestest BEST bud.”

“You have… a co-llege? A hi-gher edu-ca-tion school?”

“Sorry I never got around to telling you that but there’s just so much to share about our world, some things just slip by. But, yes, we have our education system that works kind of like yours. It’s not until we get older do we start splitting off into different vocations, earlier than you do. Oh, but we also have special schools like the one I and Twilight went to when I was younger.

“Later in life I split off in a different direction from others I know, taking degrees in cultural studies, music theory, and some cryptozoology classes after the princess introduced me to some studies for my komlas career. I met these two in college during then and try to keep in touch when I can. And I’m hoping they’ll open up to you.”

Lyra walked up to the door, very slowly tapping the door. After a few seconds of no reply, Lyra let out a sigh, hitting it harder now. A peculiar sound came out, sounding much like wapa-wapa-wapa. Anon raised a brow at that, staring at Lyra and her funny knocking on display. A red blush appeared on her face, clearly embarrassed.

The door slammed open, revealing a very disheveled pony that wore purple glasses. A heavy thumping could be both heard and felt coming from the house. Anon thought he recognized it as a form of electronic music, possibly dubstep.

“Lyra! I thought I heard you! You’re the only crazy mare I know with those silly bonker sounds. So what has you stopping by?” Lyra motioned at Anon, with the pony letting out a whistle, looking him up and down. “So THIS is the devilish dog that everypony’s talking about!”

“You already know about him?”

“Sister, when an interstellar navigator drops by, word is going to travel far and wide. Well hurry up and bring that bodacious beast from the stars inside!”

The two of them followed the pony in, the place looking cluttered with strange wires and equipment. She shoved things to the side, getting the two to a couch. “I can’t remember the last time we’ve had time to yak about things.”

“Maybe if the two of you settled down we could hang out more often.”

“The traveling is too alluring to give up. You haven’t partied until you’ve seen a griffon bopping about, clucking their heads off.” The goggled pony walked over to a box, tapping buttons that were on it that turned off the thumping. “For a bunch of beak-heads, they sure do enjoy to party. Oh! Totally forgot to introduce myself to your otherworldly pal.” She stuck a hoof out to him, smiling at Anon. “Name’s Vinyl Scratch and don’t you forget it!”

He accepted her hoof with a shake, “Name is Anon.”

Vinyl gave a laugh hearing him. “That’s a peculiar accent you have there. I bet it would sound kickin’ as part of a mixin’ for some of my work.”

“What… do you do?”

“I’m a DJ. That’s another word for an awe-inspiring musician if you didn’t know. See, other DJ’s tend to just go around showing off some simple beats or a quick hash-up of something already done. But I have evolved beyond such mundane things! I have brought about a wave of frenzied noise to everypony’s ears in Equestria and helped refine the lightning-jabber that is the electronic arts!”

The techno pony stopped in her spiel, scrunching her face, appearing like she forgot something. A flash of recollection and she’s up from the couch.

“Ah right, I nearly forgot. I should probably get some refreshments. Octavia would chew me out if I forget something like that again.”

Once she left, it gave Anon some time to take a breather, and look around. The place on the inside looked like it was split down the middle and had things of the more sophisticated manner on one side, and the wires and electronic tools on the other. The wires were all over, making him stay on the couch, afraid he’d hurt something. He had no idea what any of it did and didn’t want to get zapped by some electricity, or lightning as it’s called here.

“I thought… you did not… have el-ect-ro-nics.”

“We don’t, or at least not like your people. Everything here is powered by magic, and Vinyl just transfers her magic into a lightning that can be intercepted by the wires, allowing her to control multiple things at once. Most other ponies that aren’t unicorns have to have one on-site just to power their setups.”

“I… see.”

‘So they have some form of electronics here but haven’t advanced it to anything meaningful. I understand that, especially with magic. Why figure out how to make an option to the wheel when it’s already working just fine as it is?’

“Vinyl experimented with how tunes could sound with lightning back in college,” Lyra continued. “She was inspired by past DJ’s that attempted to use lightning in some form for music and took it to a whole different level. At the time, most beings used lighting when it came to music for playing records or recording them.”

She waved a hoof around the room. Wires and speakers and many other unidentifiable things were haphazardly strewn about the place in a chaotic mess, at least on her side.

“This is the result of her work. Vinyl showed off her music to the world and soon, many other ponies started to emulate what she did, creating their works using her as inspiration.”

“A music… pio-neer?” Anon hummed to himself, looking at the large speaker in the corner. “That is… imp-ress-ive.”

Vinyl soon returned with a tray full of cups and a kettle, along with another pony walking beside her. She was of a simpler appearance, wearing only a pink bowtie with a white-collar.

“Vinyl here does not know what’s appropriate to serve to guests and, thankfully, I was in the kitchen when she was trying to bring something out.”

“Still think fizzy drink and hay fries are perfectly reasonable…” Vinyl grumbled out. She levitated the tray on the table in front of the couch. “This is Octavia,” she said with a wave of a hoof. “She can be pretty uptight at times but she’s cool in my books.”

Octavia remained blank-faced at her words before sitting down in a chair. She poured some tea into cups before passing it around to everyone. Anon took a sip, finding it fairly bland and in dire need of sugar.

“Is the tea not to your liking?” Octavia asked, noticing his grimace at the taste.

“No, need sugar,” he replied.

Lyra dropped a few sugar cubes in his cup, stirring it with her magic.

“That is a fascinating accent you have there… well, pardon my manners. I don’t know your name.”

“Anon.”

“Anon… what a peculiar name. Where exactly do you hail from?”

“He’s not from around here, Octavia,” Vinyl told her. “He’s a misplaced foreigner from another dimension. Surely you’ve heard of the rumors going around?”

Octavia took a sip of her tea, “I don’t try to believe in every single rumor that crops up around here. For all I knew, he was just a minotaur that held a preference towards a shaved body.”

“But… he has no horns,” Vinyl pointed out.

“Yes, you are correct there. Ah, I do apologize for thinking so oddly of you. I doubt you felt comfortable being compared to something so crass sounding.”

“OOOH! You’ll apologize for that but won’t apologize for wrecking that awesome upgrade I did for your cello?”

“That was no upgrade, that was an abomination to music itself.”

“It’s got a slick new sound and everything. Everyone’s going to want to hear that!”

“That is solely your opinion, which you should keep to yourself. What you did was destroy my beautiful instrument for your perverse pleasures. Do you know how much it’s going to cost me to fix that?”

“There’s no need to fix anything. Hooking up that lightning-pack made it so much sicker to listen to! It was… it was… It was wondrajestic and you should be lucky to have me do that!”

Octavia sputtered, “That is not a word, Vinyl. Stop twisting the Equestrian language to fit your needs, you fiend!”

“You’re a fiend!”

Anon stared at the two ponies arguing in front of him, feeling awkward at the situation. Lyra had a big grin on her face, watching the scene.

“They’re fun to watch,” Lyra said to him. He merely shook his head at her.

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The two of them started to return home after spending an hour at their house. With the argument heating up, he wanted to leave in fear of being brought into the fight himself. Anon felt confident in defending himself, just not around magic, or when they were throwing things around at one point.

“They do that… often?” he asked.

“Yeah, it’s sort of their thing. But they’re still pretty cool friends.” Anon found it strange they could stand one another. “It sure was an interesting day,” she said just as they walked inside their house, “I can’t wait to do it again tomorrow!”

Lyra started to put up her rucksack on a peg as Anon thought over her words. He knew that he would have to go back out, but the thought of doing so was making him nauseous.

“Lyra, why are we… doing this again?”

“Well, the princess wants you to assimilate into our town. I want everyone to get used to you so you can get a job and make some friends!”

She looked up at him with a smile, quickly turning into a frown noticing his dour disposition. “Are you okay? Did you not like going out? We can take it slowly if you need it.”

He placed his rucksack on the rung near the door, making his way to her couch and sitting. The entire time he had been trying to work things out, convincing himself he could get used to his new life. All the whispers, the stares. And knowing he’d be living with all those ponies didn’t feel right to him.

“I’m not sure… I can do this.”

Lyra sat beside him, placing a hoof on his shoulder. “Do you want to talk about it?”

A humorless laugh escaped. “I just… miss my nor-mal-cy, my life. I miss my mother who… always doted on me, pro-bably thinks I am dead. I miss riding my bike… going out, list-ening to my music. Every-thing, my ca-reer, all I had built up… is gone.”

He leaned on his legs, looking down. “I will never… have the chance to do any-thing I wanted before. Vi-sit Paris, write that book I wanted to, take a shu-ttle to the moon.”

Anon let out a long, drawn-out sigh. He chuckled, thinking about his life. “There was this place… Hangry Henry’s. Ser-ved the best co-ffee and cherry pie. Went there… for years.” He could remember the taste, the early morning mood the establishment held. “You never know… how much you take things for granted… until it is gone.”

Feeling something wrap around him, he saw Lyra hugging him, crying into his shoulder. “I’m so sorry. I want to be able to make things better for your life, but I don’t know how to give you any of that.”

Lyra’s head was lightly patted by him. “It is fine. I am just feeling… homesick, and lo-nely.”

“Y, you can make new friends here and have a new home and not be sad or feel lonely.”

“I do not think that… will work. It is… hard to ex-plain.”

“Well, I’m not going to give up! I want you to be happy here on our planet. Not just because it’s my job, but because I’m your friend. And friends help friends.”

He hummed, looking at her determined face. “No… fair weather friends here.”

“Right, we’ll hope for great sunny days for you!”

Anon withheld a chuckle at the misinterpretation, uncertain if the ponies even knew what that concept meant.

‘I just need to work on living here. Take my time, and try to live with them in some form. Lyra’s trying her hardest to help me. I should put more effort myself.’

Turning to the unicorn, he paused; Lyra had fallen asleep on him, sounding off small, squeaky snores. Smiling at her, he lifted her, carefully walking her up the stairs to her room. He gently placed her down, pulling the coverings over her before going back downstairs.

“I suppose I’m taking the couch tonight.”

His plans involved talking to Lyra about the princess’s demands, hoping to find out as much as he could. If he was going to get a job, he may as well find something he could do without any problems.

It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep, the day’s exhaustion sweeping over him.

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“How’s the situation?”

“Sir, he’s currently in Ponyville under the careful watch of Lyra. She is, as of now, taking him around and introducing him to the population there, sir. And… I think the other group may be onto us, sir.”

“Very well. Keep a careful eye on him. We don’t want the other group interfering with our plans.”

“And what happens if they do interfere, sir?”

“Then we’ll deal with the human. He’s to keep out of reach of them at all costs, do you hear me?”

“Sir, yes sir!”

“You have your orders… dismissed.”


~End Chapter Eight~




Chapter Nine – What’s Your Talent?


The following day, Anon sat down with Lyra in the kitchen, asking her to explain things to him about life in their lands. She barely worked with him on the topic, even Twilight provided more information than her. It was clear she was more interested in him and his life, skipping what he thought should have been obvious to teach him.

This lead to Lyra explaining more about her work than she had previously. Being directly employed by the princess seemed to have some perks, such as having restricted information given to her or knowing special magics, though having a job as a komlas didn’t seem very glamorous from what he had seen.

Regarding the princess, none of his answers on why they wanted him to have a job were answered. It was as if she simply followed along with authority figures. Or really, just about any pony from what he had seen so far. A dangerous route if anyone decided to do something dangerous like form a commune based around their ideals.

On the topic of her job and aliens, Lyra had shared something that she had been keeping a secret from others: her dreams. She had been having dreams of humans and their culture for a long time. From Star Wars to Sherlock Holmes, she experienced these places as she slept. It certainly explained how she knew things about humans.

“You know what my dreams are?”

“In a way? You are… just de-scribing a lot of stories and movies… we have from our world. I think… maybe you’re in-ad-vertently viewing them… while you sleep.”

‘Free tickets to movies while you sleep. I’m almost jealous of her.’

“I don’t know. It feels like I’m there, walking among them as things go on. You don’t think they might be places like your world? Like, their own contained realities?”

“How would you explain… us knowing about them then? We don’t have magic.”

“Sure, but what say you are unconsciously receiving the thoughts of those worlds and realities? There’s a fascinating theory here about that. While we create our own stories or worlds in our arts and books, perhaps they are realities that are being reinterpreted.”

“Yeah, I guess? Can’t say… there isn’t a po-ssibility… what with a world of magic.”

Anon didn’t want to continue the conversation, feeling her reeling away from the whole point of talking to her.

“Can we refocus… on me living here?”

Lyra coughed, “Right, sorry.”

A louder cough made the two jump, Bon Bon standing off to the side. She went around to sit across from them, staring down at her already prepared meal.

“There’s no jammy toast.” She sounded sad, looking at her plate.

“Shoot, I knew I forgot something!”

Lyra got up, going to the counter, preparing just that. Bon Bon continued to frown at just about everything she looked at. Her plate, the floor, Anon. Even Lyra was subjected to the strong frown, of which she was unaware of as she prepared toast. Place some large, hairy eyebrows on that face and Anon wasn’t sure anyone could withstand such a frown.

“Are you… doing alright?” Anon asked.

She, of course, frowned back. “Why do you ask?”

“You seem… upset at some-thing, glaring at every-thing, even Lyra.”

Bon Bon blinked, not realizing that. “Sorry, that wasn’t my intention. And… yeah, it’s been a rough couple of days, trying to get some stock made up for this season. Thankfully I have something to show for it, but I’ll be up for many nights so I can make up enough stock to sell for next week. “

She continued, “It is the busiest day of the year for candy selling, so I need to make up as much as I can for everypony to purchase what they can from me.”

Lyra let out a gasp. “That’s right! I need to get my costume ready!” She turned to Anon, looking him up and down to size him up. “I should get one for Anon as well.”

“What is happening next week?” Anon asked.

Lyra blinked at his question. “I never did tell you about our holidays, didn’t think it was important to mention.”

‘Like a lot of things, it seems.’

“Next week is Nightmare Night. It’s a holiday that specifically has to do with ponies dressing up and going around asking for candy and playing games!”

Bon Bon rolled her eyes at what she said. “The holiday originated from Nightmare Moon. It’s a being from the past that had, from what everyone now knows, taken over Princess Luna’s mind and tried to force eternal darkness. There’s a lot more to it than that, but it’s the gist of things. The holiday was made to teach little foals and fillies to learn about our past and its rulers, while also having her steal candies from them at the same time. Just don’t question it.”

“That sounds like… a holiday I know called Hall-o-ween. People go around, collect candy, dress up, play games. Nothing about stealing candy… unless you count tricks?”

“Did you dress up for anything on Hay-low-een?” Lyra asked him with a wide grin.

“When I was youn-ger, yes. I still do for parties, usually as my favorite super-hero Batman.”

He had only given a quick rundown on what superheroes were just moments ago, Lyra having experienced them in her dreams. She squealed, hearing that.

“I remember that guy in my dreams! He wears long pointy ears, rides around in a funny cart, and has a bird for a sidekick!”

“Ah, yeah… that is him.”

Bon Bon took a sip from her drink to clear her throat. “She told you about her dreams?”

“It… came up yes-ter-day.”

“Oh, boy was he a fun one. He had so many weird things to say, and those gadgets. The Bat-melter, the Bat-fan, his Bat-tweezers, and my personal favorite the Shark Repellent.”

Anon let out a groan, wiping his face. ‘Of all the Batmans she could dream of, she got that one?’

“Bat-man… has changed in many years. Much… different from that one, Lyra.”

“So Batman retired and someone else took up the role? It must be some guy if he can take on villains like the Joker, or Clock King.”

“Yeah, that… sure is right.”

‘Who the heck is the Clock King?’

“He must have had so many exciting adventures. I can’t wait to see the new Batman from you! We should be able to find someone in town to make it up for you and you can share everything about him. This is going to be so much fun!”

“Lyra,” Bon Bon spoke up, “we need to get him a job before we plan on anything else at the moment. Plus, don’t you remember who would be showing up for that day? If it’s going to be a repeat of previous Nightmare Nights, then Princess Luna might make an appearance to our town this year.”

She realized what that meant, furrowing her brow. “Oh yeah, she’ll most likely want to see Anon for sure.”

Anon remembered his conversation with Lyra about the princesses. While the unicorn didn’t go into too much detail, she felt that it was Princess Luna that was giving her most of the trouble that she had gone through for the past several weeks, involving him.

He wasn’t too excited about meeting an all-powerful princess of the lands, one that could move one of the celestial bodies with but a thought. Thankfully, it was still another week before that would happen, so he could prepare for his inevitable introduction with her.

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“We are… going to the park?”

Walking down the streets of Ponyville, he was being led in the opposite direction of town by Lyra.

“We need you to get familiarized by everypony in town and we can’t do that unless you’re interacting around them. This should also give you some ideas on what our lives are like, so you could figure out what kind of job you could perform.”

“And… a fair is taking place? A holiday before a holiday.”

“Eh, kind of. There are several music gatherings held each year, and one is being held today. Ponies go there and share their music while stands are set up to sell odd things or as gaming booths. But I wouldn’t call it a holiday.”

“It’s pretty fun,” Bon Bon added. “You get to go around, enjoy some food, and hear a lot of different music playing. Just keep a friendly face and everything should be fine.”

‘Easier said than done.’

Walking up to the festivities, many of the ponies were in high spirits, laughing and drinking or eating something he partially recognized, but was certain was filled with things like hay or flowers. The few that noticed him paused, surprised to see him there. It had a ripple effect, everyone slowly realizing that the alien was there.

“Play it cool Anon,” Lyra whispered to him, placing a large smile on her as she walked forward.

“Hello everyone! We are here to show our foreign friend our festivities! Please do not be alarmed by his freakish height or odd appearance as he is an alien.”

Bon Bon slapped a hoof to her face as everyone gave Anon mixed looks.

“Is this… a good idea?” Anon asked Bon Bon.

“We’ll see if it was in a few minutes if Lyra hadn’t mistakenly formed a mob out for you.”

Quite a few ponies stopped to stare at Anon, whispering rumors about the other day, most wondering just what he was and why he was there. Lyra had previously told him they would open up eventually, as their world is so full of different species it’s hard to lay suspicion for very long. He still found it uncomfortable being around.

Anon was pushed slightly forward, feeling two oversized bags of marshmallows hitting his backside.

“See, we nearly got him to move that time!”

“We were so close we were!”

He held a sigh back, realizing it was only Flitter and Cloud Chaser, the former holding a picnic basket.

“Hey girls,” Bon Bon said. “You two out here for the festivities?”

“We go every year just to see all the acts that come here; finding all that great talent, playing their instruments on our backdoor.”

“The music is also pretty good, I must admit.”

Bon Bon coughed, “Ehr, yes. We were showing Anon around ourselves.”

Flitter seemed intrigued, floating over to him. “Really? That’s fantastic! We got a picnic and everything we can enjoy together!”

“We were just thinking of having a picnic.” Lyra stepped in, keeping her smile up. “Why don’t we find a good tree to sit under to enjoy the music.”

Flitter and Cloud Chaser went ahead as the three followed. Bon Bon walked up to Lyra, giving her an odd look.

“After everything you said dealing with Anon, wanting to take him around the place, I didn’t think you’d be interested in a picnic with him and others.”

“Oh, I’m not. But looking around and hearing of what others had to say of Anon, it’s not looking good. Can you believe some of them think I just went and tamed some beast from the Everfree? No, I think getting him to do something normal like a picnic would be for the best.”

“Get everyone to see he’s just here to relax, like them, and not up to anything?”

“Pretty much.”

Bon Bon hummed. “It’s been a while since we’ve had a chance to just relax. I wish I could stick around for that but I have to go back to my work.”

“Ah, I wanted you to hang out with us today.”

“I’m still way behind on my treats and I need to sell some to make up on costs. I’ll see you out in town tomorrow though, my stand should be up by then.” With a wave goodbye, Lyra was left alone to work with Anon.

Finding a tree was relatively easy for the group, most of the ponies wanting to be close to the stage left most of the outer areas alone. For Anon, he found it… surprisingly relaxing. Everyone was at ease, sitting around, eating food, and listening to music. The ponies that passed them by sometimes spoke, seemingly to see just who or what he was.

Lyra had him speak to every one of them, no matter who it was or what their question wound up being. She wanted him to interact with as many ponies as he could. The more ponies that he spoke to, the bigger the outcome. Or that was how she had put it. He didn’t want to argue, finding the issue nonexistent, his time there nice and simple, enjoying the sun and music.

Most of the music he heard was quite interesting to him, though in fairness, without having heard any for so long, he was glad to have anything. The current act, playing a barbershop quartet, had just finished their rounds, making room for a familiar face.

“Octavia is playing today?” he asked Lyra.

The music was certainly not what he was expecting her to play. It came off more like a fast-paced country than the classical music he was expecting.

“No, that’s not Octavia,” Lyra answered. “That’s just her biggest fan, Fiddly Faddle, but she also goes by Fiddlesticks. She’s quite obsessed with Octavia. Fiddlestick’s learned all the instruments that Octavia has and even tries to mimic her appearance at times.

“She’s not very good at classical. After a lot of attempts, I recall she had some stroke of inspiration and had started playing it like country, and ever since she’s stuck with it; still obsessed with Octavia though, for whatever reason she has.”

“She must have come out here to perform to possibly try and draw her out,” Cloud Chaser said.

“Who’d want to come out to a showdown on that kind of stage?”

“Does not Octavia only play the cello?” Anon asked. He had thought from what was explained before that was her main string to play.

Lyra shook her head, “She plays from the entire violin family: The viola, violin, cello, and double bass. She has a preference towards the cello, but honestly, if it has a string she’ll play it.”

He frowned, hearing about the violin family. ‘Just another thing from both of our worlds. This is too strange of a coincidence for our worlds to not be connected in some manner.’

Anon set these thoughts aside as Fiddlesticks started to play. He still didn’t know how the ponies could hold things with their appendages.

“We should probably go, I don’t want her knowing I’m here,” Lyra said, trying to pull Anon away as Fiddle finished her set, leaving the stage.

“Why is that?” Anon asked. He wanted to continue listening to music.

Lyra let out a sigh. “Look, Octavia doesn’t keep a lot of ponies very close to her nowadays, especially with how much she travels. I happen to be one of those few that she does. I just don’t want to be—”

“Hello there, Lyra,” Anon heard from his side.

The unicorn immediately halted in her steps, turning to Fiddlesticks who had somehow snuck upon them without their notice.

“…Ah, hello?”

“I noticed that you were in the crowd and I figured I’d come over and say hi and ask you some things. I mean, you still haven’t answered my questions from last time!”

Anon quirked an eyebrow up at this new pony, who barely even glanced in his direction. She even sounded like Octavia but with a slight southern twang to her. It was eerie how accurate she was going about this.

“Look, I’d love to chat and all but…” Lyra moved over to Anon’s side, “I’m showing Anon her around the place. It’s nothing I can get held up in and all, you understand.”

“It’s nothing huge,” Fiddlesticks said with a wave of her hoof, “I just wanted to know some things about Octavia I heard recently. Like, what stories she shared with you from her travels or your time in college with her. I hear there are interesting rumors regarding some things back then with your lot.”

“I uh, I don’t know what you're referring to,” Lyra nervously spoke.

Anon wasn’t sure if it was the weird looks she gave Lyra or how she mimicked Octavia, but looking at that pony, he was officially creeped out.

“Oh, my,” Cloud Chaser started, “Who do I spy with my dawn-tinted eyes?”

Flitter followed, “I see someone that wants to make a break for it.”

Cloud Chaser looked thoughtful, “While some say boring, I say it’s hard to miss that dark gray mane and light gray coat.”

Flitter poked Fiddlesticks, “Being around a boorish person like you turns any mood dark and gray.”

Cloud Chaser nodded her head, “With a pink that greatly highlights her character.”

Flitter nudged Fiddlestick's face aside, “You need to wipe the pink off your face, or others will be judging your character.”

“If I didn’t know any better…”

“And we all wish you didn’t…”

“Why that’s Octavia!” they both said in unison.

Her eyes widened like saucers, looking to where the two ponies pointed at. Octavia was now on stage, setting up her instrument with a few other ponies. The pony in front of him started to hyperventilate.

The moment Octavia started to play her music, something that Anon thought looked elegant, the pony let out a shrill scream, running up to the crowd, completely captivated by the music.

Lyra immediately pulled him away from the vicinity of the mare. “I didn’t expect her to be there or I’d have made sure Bon Bon stuck around. She usually has a way to get that creepy mare away from us.”

“Why did she act like that?”

She rubbed her forehead, finding a headache starting to appear. “When Octavia had just gotten a name for herself years ago she… made some bad decisions, one of them involving her fans. She may have gotten a little too close to some of them after some of the concerts she held and was a part of. Fiddlesticks was one of those fans.”

He pictured Octavia rather differently from what she had said. But he knew how stardom could get to some people’s heads.

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“These all look fantastic, Bonnie!”

“Thanks. It took a long time to get most of these done, the slimers being the most difficult. Sadly I couldn’t get the squishy beans or teeth crackers made up.”

“Aw, I really like the crackers. Think you’ll have enough time to get some done for next week?”

“No, starting a new batch with different ingredients will take too much time. I’ll just make some more of the current treats but vary the flavors.”

After the music festival, Lyra took him back to the house to rest so she could get ready for the next day, saying she needed to make plans for him out in town. He was currently in the town square, looking at many of the different stands set up for the upcoming holiday. Lyra wanted him to look around the place and come up with further ideas for potential careers he could work in.

Anon stood at Bon Bon’s stand, seeing a fairly wide variety of sugary treats, some familiar but in different shapes or makes.

“What do you think of Bon Bon’s treats, Anon?”

He picked up one, moving the candy in his fingers. “This looks… like a Mary Jane. Is there… peanut butter mixed in?”

Bon Bon’s eyes widened. “Peanut butter! That’s a good idea. I should mix some batches with that. And no, that’s mixed with dyed marshmallows.”

“Natural dyes?”

“...I don’t know how you’d make something unnatural. Is that a human thing?”

Before he could respond, a flash of light popped right beside them. Twilight stood there, looking around before spotting Anon. The ponies that were hesitant near Anon stepped back, wondering just what was about to go down.

“There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you. For someone so distinct looking you are not easy to look for.”

“Did you… need something, Twilight?”

“Did Lyra not tell you? You were supposed to spend some time with me so we can talk about your people for my reports.”

Lyra turned away, scrunching up her nose. “I… may have forgotten?”

Twilight let out a sigh. “I had requested the princess to let me put in reports with you Anon, specifically on your people’s works. Your pens are already getting into circulation and I can’t wait to see what else we can do.”

“He’s the one that made those pens?!” a pony hollered out.

“I love those things!”

“No more ink bottles or broken tips!”

The ponies all seemed in agreement with the pens, of which Anon had no idea were being made.

“Should have… patented those.”

“What’s a patent?” Twilight asked.

He hadn’t meant for her to hear that. “It’s… a human thing, forget it.”

She shrugged it off. “While Lyra should have spoken to you about us talking－” Lyra looked off to the side, “－I know it’s important to have you personally taking part in what we do, so I’ll just follow along for now. There’s still plenty of time for us to talk today after your done here.”

“Oooh.” Lyra sucked in some air, looking guilty. “I may have set him up for a presentation that’s going to start pretty soon at the school. Oops?”

Twilight looked nonplussed. “Okay,” she gritted out. “Then I’ll talk to him after that. So where are you going next?”

Before Lyra could reply, Bon Bon placed a hoof over her mouth. “She’s nearly finished taking him around here as it is. All that’s left is Pinkie’s stand.”

“Oh!” Twilight seemed thrilled. “She said something about having something special for this year and I am anxious to see what she made.”

A quick jaunt over to the stand, with Twilight ensuring Lyra didn’t get off track, and the three of them stood, mouths agape at what was at Pinkie’s stand.

Anon opened his mouth, closed it, and then opened it once more agape.“What… am I looking at?”

Pinkie threw some green and purple confetti in the air. “It’s your very own conjured cookie construct, Crumble!”

“Yay! I’m Crumble!”

Standing on top of her stand stood an animated confection in the shape of a pony. It walked, it spoke, it did a little jig.

“Uh, Pinkie?” Twilight spoke. “Why did you make this? HOW did you make this?”

Pinkie stuck a hoof under her chin, rubbing it in thought. “It sure was something. One day, I encountered a mysterious being that offered me ultimate power with ultimate muscles in exchange to take on an ultimate wrestler someday in the future, but I opted to ‘pretty okay’ power for pretty okay muscles and spent a pretty okay day with the guy. Poor fella, he looked like he needed a friend so I shared some treats with him, talked things out, and then introduced him to Cheerilee’s sister so she could help the guy with his vengeance. It was a pretty fun day! Oh, and I met a unicorn afterward that agreed to help me animate the cookie.”

Lyra opened and closed her mouth several times. “But… why?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I dunno seemed like a good idea at the time. It’s too bad I could only have one made up, but I did have a lot of copy-cookies made to look like her. Want one?”

“Ooh! Ohh!” Crumble jumped up and down, pointing at Anon. “I want him to try me out! I’m sweet and delicious and totally worth it!”

Pinkie smiled at Anon before leaning over, raising a hoof over her mouth. “Come on, just do it for her real quick, please? Nopony else had the courage to try it and it’s breaking her sugary heart she can’t get anyone to nibble on her!” She went back to sitting at her stand, a wide smile beaming off of her.

The other two ponies gave him reluctant looks as Anon, with some hesitation, picked up the sapient treat.

It let out a giggle, “That tickles!” She continued to giggle as Anon slowly opened his mouth, taking a bite of it. “Ooh, you went for my behind! Oh yeah, chew me up real nice and good! You don’t know how good this feels with your tongue sliding against my bits! More, chew me some more!”

Everyone stared at the gingerbread pony who was only getting more detailed with how Anon was chewing it. His face started to pale as the confectionery urged him to take another bite.

“…I wasn’t aware you could rewire an animation spell for it to feel it being eaten,” Twilight said.

“Or that it could enjoy it,” Lyra added.

“Hehehehe…” Pinkie nervously chuckled. “Ah, thank goodness there’s only one Crumble around?”

Placing the cookie back down, Anon slowly started to walk away from the group.

“Hey!” the cookie squeaked out. “Where are you going?!”

Anon continued to walk away.

“I still got so much more for you to chew on! Don’t you wanna try out my hind legs? Or what about my neck! I bet that’ll feel real interesting!”

He maintained his walk from the cookie.

“Oh?! Hey, my tooshie is regrowing itself! Hey come back, you can munch on it once more! Won’t that make you excited for another session with me?!”

His walking didn’t stop for the cookie’s wants.

Walking away from the traumatizing situation, Lyra and Twilight led him toward the school building. It was a quaint little thing, reminding him of some old photos his great grandparents shared of their time in school.

“Okay, I already talked to Cheerilee and she’s going to introduce you to the class today,” Lyra said, standing outside the front door. “We’re a bit early but it should be fine. Just wait here until we come back with the go-ahead to bring you in. All you have to do is introduce yourself and answer a few questions to them before we head back.”

Anon waited outside with Twilight as Lyra went in to talk to the teacher. It didn’t take long for her to return, motioning for them to come in. Walking inside, Anon could hear the gasps of the small ponies that couldn't hide their curiosity. He only recognized the three little fillies from his previous stay at Applejacks, all three giving him waves.

“See, told you he was real,” Sweetie Belle said, head raised high.

Standing in front of the class, Cheerilee gave him a nervous smile. She coughed, staring back at the class.

“Class, today I have a very special guest for you all. So please treat…” The teacher whispered to Lyra. She returned an expressionless face before whispering back. “…Him with respect. This is a being from another world, an alien, so he is still not accustomed to us or our world.” The class ooh’s and aah’s at what she had said.

Twilight sat behind the desk that was to Anon’s side, pen and pad in front of her, ready to write anything down that could be of use. Lyra sat beside her, mimicking Twilight’s actions. Coughing into his hand, Anon cleared his throat.

“I am named Anon. I… come from a world called Earth that… contains only humans, which is what I am. We are the only spe-cies on our planet that is sapient.”

He continued to state off facts about him and his planet, keeping it short and simple so his jaw wouldn’t cramp up from having to swirl his tongue around to speak so much. The little ponies seemed to eat up whatever it was he had to say. Anon was surprised to see them so well behaved, expecting them to be more unruly.

After he had finished, he started to answer a few questions for them. Most of them were fairly simple to answer.

“How are you supposed to do anything without magic?” a unicorn he had picked asked. Feeling the glares from the non-unicorns on him, he looked around, realizing his mistake. “I, uh… I mean most of what we have needs either magic or is black rock powered. How are you able to do that without magic?”

‘Black rocks?’ Anon took a moment to realize they must have meant coal. ‘Lyra did mention that they used it in very small amounts. Not enough to impact their world.’

“We use el-ec-tricity,” he answered. The foreign word was returned with questioning stares and a very hard look from Twilight who was interested in this subject. “You call it lightning. We use lighting and make it do many things.” Anon rubbed his jaw, starting to feel the soreness set it. His tongue was feeling heavy as well, not used to long talks.

“And just how is lighting supposed to do anything at all?” a pony with a tiara asked. “It’s hard to control and overpowers anything it connects to.”

Of course, it wasn’t a very widely used source of energy. Anon looked at Lyra who understood what it could do. Vinyl was a perfect example of what was possible with it.

“We humans have taken lightning and found means… to contain it and work for us. We convert natural energy… to num-erous tasks, from creating images of mass com-ple-xity with but a button… mass-produce items... have all our me-dia di-rectly… ported to us with only a screen the size of a choco-late bar… and so much more.”

He saw Twilight raise a hoof, “How do you get the lighting to be portable? I remember you saying it needed something called a bah-taurie .”

“Those are… energy con-tainers that store che-mical energy. It is then trans-formed into el-ec-tricity that powers a de-vice.”

Lyra rose her hoof. “What kind of devices? Do you mean like that music box of yours?”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “He only showed me his pen. He has more items with him right now?”

“It… is dead. Needs char-ging to work. Maybe, in the future.” Anon turned back to the class. “El-ec-tricity allows us to do many things… You may have magic, but we have in-ge-nuity, to do what-ever we please… should we put our mind to it.”

He started to explain a few items of interest to the class, from cars to planes to video games, explaining concepts like phones to how a satellite worked. It was mind-blowing for them to hear how an entire people could accomplish so much without magic. It’s certainly made them more aware of what was possible in the world.

Lyra and Twilight were scribbling everything he had to say, while also slipping in a question or two whenever they could. By the time they had left, the class had sparkles in their eyes, clearly inspired by his talks. He wondered if it would have effects on the future what he had done that day.

By the time they returned to Lyra’s it was starting to get dark. Twilight had forgotten about her talks with Anon, her mind filled with things of fancy from his world.

Lyra walked up to where they were sitting in the living room, placing a kettle and cups on the table before serving them. She took a seat next to Anon on the couch, sipping on her tea gently. “So Anon, tomorrow we’ll officially go out and try to look for a job. Did you see anything that appealed to you?”

He held his tea in his hands, thinking about the question. “I… didn’t see much. Maybe something… tomorrow will appear.”

The more he looked, the more it seemed he’d have to work some kind of retail job. He hadn’t done anything like that since high school. Surely the ponies would be less terrible to deal with than groups of hostile parents, trying to order meals while their spastic children ran off the walls.

“There has to be something you saw in town that you felt comfortable working in,” Twilight said. “What about that environment job you had, couldn’t that work beside a florist?”

“His world and our world are completely different from how their environments work. I even have trouble trying to fathom just how different it is without magic guiding them to grow luscious fruits or keeping everything alive. Can you imagine having to grow plants purely on sunlight and dirt?”

Twilight placed her tea down in thought. “Ah, reminds me of a book I read a while back about an incident over eight hundred years ago. Princess Celestia was out of commission and the sun was gone for two whole years, left on the other side of the planet. It was a bad time for that to happen, as a lot of unicorns started to get lazy thinking she could do all the work, and got lax in their training.”

“And now we have ‘The Magical Learning Conscription’ laws in place as a result.”

Twilight nodded her head. “And I’m in the camp that we are better with them enforced to this day. If we had trained unicorns around during that period, they’d at least be able to move it around slowly over time.”

“Wait,” Anon started. “Two years… no sun? Would that not… kill plants with no sun?”

“Quite a few plants, but many survived with the aid of unicorns supplying arrays that they had to keep supplying their magic to, helping keep things afloat.”

"They managed to place arrays around the known lands close by, and by amplifying its effects, wrapped the world around to provide the energy needed for the plants to live. We even have them to this day, though many are forgotten and lost out in the wilderness."

“My world… would coll-apse in less than a year… without the sun.”

The amount of work to keep any plants alive with electric lights, enough to sustain people to live, would be astronomical.

“Okay, we’re getting off-topic. So your profession isn’t all that useful here.” He felt a stab in his gut from Twilight’s remark. “Maybe you could try and recreate some of the workings of your world you keep mentioning? I’m certain the princess will allow a grant for you to start up a business if you ask.”

“The princess wants him to take a job in town, with other ponies. She took the funds away from us regarding Anon. I don’t think she’ll turn around and give them back if she’s working with you.”

“Maybe it can be considered a future job once he’s settled in. What do we have him do for the time being that he’d be good at?”

Anon didn’t know the answer to that. Retail wouldn’t work; trying to make a sale to any of the ponies would end up in failure. He was not savvy enough to sell anything to foreign beings. He could probably try and pick up a trade, but would anyone be willing to teach him a profession?

Lyra had been writing on her pad, reading it over a few times. “So we just need to find you a job you can do!” Lyra exclaimed. “You should be able to do so something on this list and later on we can figure things out for you.”

Taking the list, he read over some of the jobs she wrote down: Farmhand, shopkeeper, masseuse, food maker, inventor, and so on. “…It will have to do.”

It wasn’t like there was much he could do. He knew that at some point he would need to support himself in this world. The princesses all but demanded it, after all. And if he wound up disliking his work, he could always look for another at some point.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

For the rest of that night, Twilight and Lyra had talked to Anon about narrowing things down he could make a career out of. Or at least, use it as a temporary job. Lyra had thought she had some ideas, but with Anon’s skepticism, it took a while for them to find things to help accommodate him.

Twilight steered things toward the idea of recreating items, constantly reminding the two that he could simply work for someone that manufactures things, or who could finance his business as a partner like Filthy Rich; Anon simply agreed to look into it at a later date in time. When Bon Bon came back that night, Lyra had told her everything that happened and asked her to tag along in the morning.

While Lyra did want her friend’s help, she also just wanted the two to be friendlier with one another. There was something… wrong with their friendship and the minty unicorn wasn’t sure how to help push things in a positive note. She saw little things here and there, the small glares from Bon Bon, or how she’d try to find ways to make plans to be away when he was around.

It was unfortunate when Bon Bon had declined, saying she needed to make and sell more stock. Still, she held out hope for the two to have an everlasting friendship. Lyra just felt the two needed more time with one another to make things work out.

The next day, she had packed a quick meal to eat on the go in the morning, hoping to move things in a hurry to introduce him as places started to open up.

‘It’s a good thing Twilight couldn’t make it,’ her inner voice chimed in. ‘Too busy with all the work Anon gave her.’

She nodded her head in agreement. With Twilight bugging him about his lightning projects, all he had to do was remind her that his pen was powered by the thing and she ran off to go and collect it for studies.

“Anon, hurry up,” she whined. “We have to leave before everypony starts the day!”

“Alright, Lyra,” he grumbled, walking toward the door with her.

Grabbing her bag, Lyra set a trot down to Applejack’s farm. Not that she had any intentions for him to get a job there, what with him disliking that idea quite fervently. The carrot farm though seemed like a good place for him to start. His hands were perfect to help gather all the carrots from the ground, which should speed up the workload. That, and both her and Carrot Top were pretty good friends back in the academy.

It didn’t take long to get to the apple family farm. She could already see Applejack and Big Mac bucking apples. Upon noticing her, Applejack stopped, walking over.

“Well howdy there, Lyra,” Applejack greeted with a nod. “What’s gotcha comin’ out here this early in the day?”

“I’m just heading up to Carrot Top’s farm to ask her some questions.”

Applejack flinched hearing that. Lyra raised an eyebrow in confusion. She knew they were cousins and didn’t have any problems as far as she was aware.

“I reckon I best come along wit’ ya up there, just to make sure nothin’ goes wrong.”

“…Okay then.”

Nodding, Applejack lead Lyra in the opposite direction that was needed, Lyra slowly following confused.

“Applejack? Why are you going this way?”

“I figured a scenic route would be good. Get some fresh air, stretch out our legs.”

 “No, Applejack. I can’t just be gallivanting around right now.”

“It’ll still lead ya up to the farm wit but a bare moment to take a stroll through the Everfree.”

“What?” Lyra paused, quickly turning around. “I don’t want to go through that forest if I can help it at all!”

Lyra started back toward the road leading to the carrot farm. Applejack ran up to her, a forced smile and sweat dripping off her forehead.

“How ‘bout I go get her and you talk down at my farm? We can get some tea made up and we can make a day of it!”

“I need to talk to her about him getting a job with her up at her farm. It would make no sense for me to bring her here to discuss that.”

“W, Why not have him work here? There’s no reason to go up there and ask is there?”

“I want to work with him and I think he’d do better with her. I just don’t have time to—”

Something collided with Lyra’s head, making her wobble around. Shaking her head from the dizziness, she looked at what had hit her.

It was an apple. Somepony had thrown an apple at her! Looking around for the culprit responsible for it, she immediately spotted something very familiar to her.

“I thought Twilight was supposed to get rid of that thing!” Lyra yelped, dodging another apple.

“And she said she couldn’t because she’d feel bad for destroyin’ a sapient being like that!” Applejack dodged one, holding a hoof to keep her hat on. “It was stuck with intelligence for so long she didn’t think it was morally right to take it away!”

‘I don’t want to deal with Twilight’s stupid experiments.’  They continued walking down the road, dodging the apples thrown their way. ‘Stupid Twilight, stupid tree.’

“I say, I say, you must let out and praise the sun for its glorious luminosity that is descended unto us!”

“WE DON’T WANT WHAT YOU’RE SELLING!” they said in tandem. An apple was lobbed at them.

“I speak, I speak, do you not feel the basking glow of the light dancing upon you beings that which wraps us in its everlasting glow?”

“SAY IT TO SOMEONE THAT CARES!” they spat back in unison. More apples were chucked at them.

“I cry, I cry, it is a glow that caresses your body to grow in its ever candescent aura of luminous power that it grants each and every one of its followers!”

“GO FOLLOW IT DOWN A HILL!” they yelled together. A horde of apples was thrown at them.

“Make a run for it!” Applejack screamed as the tree continued its hail of apples.

By the time they made it to Carrot Top’s farm, they both felt battered and bruised from the apples. Pulling one stuck on her horn, she shuddered at the weird feeling, throwing it to the side. Spotting the pony she was there for, Lyra immediately walked up to her.

“Well hey there, Lyra! I haven’t seen you in a while!” Carrot Top said in her very feminine and attractive voice that Lyra was quite jealous of.

Honestly, everyone was jealous of such a mare. She had the perfect amount of sultry and country rolled into one package. A fantastic coat that was always in perfect shape, her hair that never had a bad day, and the way she always played so innocent in everything she did.

‘At least you have better ears than her,’ her thoughts spoke out.

‘True, true.’

‘And a terrific looking tail. Why you just have awesome all over you.’

‘While I agree, it’s just no match for her voice.’

‘Can’t argue with you on that one.’

Carrot Top waved a hoof in front of Lyra’s face to get her attention. “Are you okay? You were zoning out pretty hard there.”

“We had an unfortunate run-in with the tree down the road and got battered pretty well,” Applejack put out.

“Little Ol’ Barker? I don’t know about that, he’s always been so nice to me!” The other two mumble to themselves, clearly not convinced. “What have you two been up to? Is there something you need help with?”

“I’m just here to see if you can help my good friend Anon here a job! He was having difficulty finding work and I thought with his hands, he’d have an easy time grabbing all those carrots of yours.”

“That sounds mighty fine of you to help your friend, making sure he’s taken care of and all.” She looked around Lyra before giving her a questioning look. “So where exactly is this friend of yours?”

“He’s right—”

Lyra looked behind her, Applejack being the only being behind her.

‘...Where’s Anon?’


The unicorn took a moment to think to herself, trying to place where he might be. Back at the tree? Maybe the apple farm?

Then, realization struck her.

“He’s back at the house!”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~One Hour Before~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

“Hello?”

Anon was currently standing outside the house, looking around for Lyra. He had gone back inside for but a few seconds to grab some resumes he had made, thinking they’d help him with his job search. And now she was nowhere in sight.

‘She wouldn’t have left me alone, would she?’ He gave it some thought. ‘No, that can’t be it. She’s likely having me explore the area to try and get a job myself.’

Wandering around an area full of all-powerful unicorns and ponies that seem easy enough to get riled up sounded like a stupid idea. But he had to look around for a job. Backing down just because someone might get scared or try something felt ridiculous, as he was trying to reason.

“You can do it. It’s just some job hunting. No problems… right?”

Walking toward the town, Anon rummaged through his sack slung across him, taking out the list that was made the night before. The vending stalls seemed like a good place to start for him. Unfortunately, most of them were either still uneager with the idea of being in his presence for too long or just didn’t have work for him.

“Sorry, but I don’t really need any help working my stall.”

“Do you have any magic capabilities?”

“How good are your juggling skills?”

The ones that did have positions to offer merely wanted him as a sideshow, something to attract attention to their business. Although, that felt a bit negative; these ponies were quite… silly at times, so perhaps it was not such a dour reason he was making it out to be.

At the last stall, Anon saw Pinkie smiling at him, waving a hoof. The cookie was there as well, screaming at him, waving both hooves in the air energetically. He gave them a smile and a wave back before looking down at the list, crossing stalls completely off.

Skimming over the paper, he looked at where the next place for him to check out was. Sugarcube Corner stared back at him. Puckering his lips at the thought, that got scribbled out immediately. He liked the pony and all, but he couldn’t take all that energy around him for too long.

Slowly walking down the street, he went over the list for the next place. Rarity’s boutique was an interesting prospect, but he wasn’t sure if he liked the idea of making clothing for a living. Rarity would likely take him in if he offered the ideas he had of styles his people had, wanting to learn as much about him and his clothing in the process, even if he needed to be taught. It would be something to think about if he couldn’t find any other work.

Sadly, he had no idea where the other stores that they had listed are. They had names on their shops, but every store in town had a medieval-styled sign with nothing but images on them. He saw a shop that simply had some kind of bag or suitcase on a sign on the building. What was that supposed to mean? Did it sell bags? Was it a travel agency? Was it just someone’s home that coincidentally had a sign out front of it?

Deciding to check out each store one by one, he randomly chose one to walk into. He immediately ran back out from the angry stares. That was a shop with writing materials being sold, and they clearly didn’t want him there, still peeved about the pen situation.

Picking another building by random choice, he soon started to cross off more things on the list when he came across something on it. The café couldn’t hire him due to him being too large and unable to speak clearly to the customers. The flower shop was a bust, Rose and her two sisters screaming like he was about to eat them until he left the shop.

The costume shop wasn’t able to since they had a specific dress code to wear the costumes they had each day; it would be too expensive for them to tailor costumes to his specific size and shape. They did confess an interest to meet him at a later date once he mentioned Lyra’s desire for a costume for him.

The last one he just went to was another rejection, the eighth one when it came to the shops. He was really hoping for that one since he loved reading. The bookstore wouldn’t hire him unless he had a very good understanding of their language and literary works.

Crossing it off the list like the others, he noticed movement in the corner of his eye. Looking over, a pony hid before running off somewhere away from him. Those ponies were getting pretty annoying. He didn’t bother with them seeing they only wanted to look at him. It was reasonable; he was an alien and all.

Anon started to wish Lyra was there to help with things. Walking into another building by random, he recognized it quickly as a day spa.

‘There’s no way they’ll hire me,’ he thought, taking out his list with a sigh. Just as he was about to cross it off, someone called out to him.

“Yes, welcome to the day spa. Is there anything I can help you with?”

It was one of the ponies that worked there, quite obviously. He had briefly met them two days ago when Lyra took him around but never really got a chance to talk to them. Thinking about it, he thought it wouldn’t hurt to ask them before he crossed them off.

“I am… looking for a job. Do you have… a position?”

The pony walked out from behind her counter, inspecting the human with a hum. “You have an interesting accent. Customers like that; they feel it is very exotic, very unique. It helps with business, you see.”

Anon couldn’t help but feel she was relating to him since she also seemed to have an accent herself. Still, he felt it was off to a better start than the other places. If he was lucky, maybe they’d hire him to clean around the place.

“Your… what are these?” the pony asked, pointing at his hands.

“These?” He raised his hands, showing them to her. “They are my hands.” Anon wiggled his fingers in different directions, balling his hand and spreading them to show them off.

The pony’s eyes widened seeing this. “My, my! They are dexterous things, yes?” The pony paused, turning his hands from one direction to another. “They remind me of a minotaur paw, but it has an extra digit. And so soft! They seem very special.” She felt up his hands for a second more before letting them go. “Maybe we can do with some training, putting them to a good use. Come, follow me.”

She directed Anon to follow her to the back of the room where he saw an identical-looking pony, their coat and hair coloring reversed, who was currently cleaning the floor.

“I just realized I have not introduced myself. I am Lotus, and this is my sister, Aloe.”

“Ah, hello there,” Aloe greeted. “Sister, what do you bring him here for?”

“He has an interest in work and his hands look capable of many wondrous things.”

“Oh?”

Lotus walked up to her sister, whispering something into her ear. The sister whispered back, keeping their conversation to themselves. They would gesture toward his hands, clearly interested in them. Nodding to one another, they turned to Anon.

The two ponies directed him to another room, this one filled with spa equipment and bodyboards. Aloe went over to a drawer, grabbing some books while Lotus had him sit down in a chair.

“Our unthoughtful littler sister Vera decided she wanted a different lifestyle and quit, going to work at her hair salon,” Lotus said. “It just so happened we were looking for a replacement.”

“It is a great thing to have you here,” Aloe said, placing the books on a desk beside Anon’s seat. “The digits we feel could be something very special. They are so smooth, capable of so much. They may do wonders for our customers.”

“We were thinking of having you massage here as your primary work. But first, we must know if you are able to learn.” Lotus sat down beside him, giving Anon a book on pony anatomy.

The two ponies had kept him back there for a good while, teaching him the basics of massage. It was lucky of him that he already knew about some of the pony anatomies, what with Lyra and Fluttershy having taught him when he first arrived there. He wouldn’t know about everything, but it was enough for his work there.

Lotus and Aloe seemed eager to have him there, happy to see Anon picking up on what they were teaching him without too much of a problem. He wasn’t sure if he felt comfortable doing massaging, but he would at least give it a shot before making any decisions.

Hours went by with him barely noticing them. They kept trying to point out how they massaged with their hooves and showing the difference between them and his hands, along with how much more accurate he should be capable of applying pressure in certain areas.

The two taught him plenty of things, such as how to look for stress in muscles and how things differed between ponies of different races. It would take time for him to have things drilled into his head, but everything seemed simple enough so far. In fact, it almost seemed too simple.

“We will worry about other species in a future topic but for now we feel you could be of a great service to us,” Lotus said with a smile. “Some learning back at your home will help speed up the process, yes?”

“And as of right now, we have a way to help you with some on the job experience,” Aloe said with a matching smile. “A few hours back we had a volunteer to help ease you into things. She should be arriving any moment now!”

Anon did not like the sound of that. Just who would volunteer for a massage from a beginner?

A ding could be heard at the entrance of the spa. “Ah, that may be the volunteer right now!” Lotus said.

He was not feeling up to practicing on a live subject so soon.

‘What if I hurt them? Or something goes wrong?’

Before he could protest, Lotus placed a hoof on his arm, staring directly into his eyes.

“I can see you are very nervous, Anon. But I am certain you can do this. Some things may go wrong, but we are to be there and help things go as smoothly as possible.”

Anon thought about what she had said. On a positive note, he would likely have a job after doing this. The negative, he could really mess up a pony doing this…

Aloe came back to the room he was in with a very familiar pony that he most assuredly did not want to see there.

“Why, Anon! What a surprise seeing you here,” Rarity spoke with surprise.

He was now screaming in his head, asking why he was in such a situation.

“That is who you are volunteering for,” Lotus said.

Rarity looked very uncomfortable hearing that. “Lotus… Aloe… I’m not exactly certain that this is such a good idea.”

“But Rarity,” Aloe spoke up, “you said you would help us with our problem here. You do not even have a need to pay for our services! Anon desperately needs help if we are to get him to work here. Can’t your generosity extend to him for his training?”

Rarity froze with those words, staring off into nothing. Slowly turning to Anon, her right eye twitched, teeth clenched together. “I… I suppose I can help…” she forced out.

Rarity was moved to a body table, laying down onto it with her legs on either end. Lotus lead Anon over to Rarity who looked quite nervous.

“Now, do as we precisely say, okay?” Lotus ordered as she and her sister stood on his sides, watching him closely. “Try to remember what we had taught you. We will come in should we need to.”

Anon may be a fast learner, but this was certainly too much for the first day! Looking down at Rarity, he saw she was having difficulty relaxing. Thinking to himself, he wanted to get this over with without hurting his friend.

‘Right. So what’s the first thing I should do?’ He gave it some thought. ‘Can’t forget the importance of cleanliness.’

Going over to a sink, he lathered them thoroughly before rinsing them off. Drying his hands, Lotus pointed to the oils, reminding him what was next.

“Rarity… do you have… pre-ference in oil?” Anon asked, walking over to the shelf.

“…The jasmine oil from last week was quite pleasant,” she answered in a hesitant voice.

Grabbing the bottle, he brought it over to the table sitting beside the massage table. Anon applied a good amount on his hands swirling it around in them and adding some heat through the friction.

“Is there a… place you would like, me to start?” he asked, staring down at her.

“Just a simple massage will do, Anon.”

It was pretty obvious she wanted to get this done and over with. Standing over Rarity’s head, he made sure to remember what the spa ponies told him. They helped guide him in what was needed in the massage, showing him how to help soothe Rarity’s stiffness in different areas.

From kneading her body to how much pressure was needed, to what areas he should pay attention to when examining the body. The two made sure he worked on her shoulders, identifying the stress built up.

Lotus and Aloe did a back and forth conversation, talking about how her work in making clothing was the likely culprit while they attempted to talk to her. Anon realized they were helping calm her with the simple conversation, something they had brought up earlier.

The ordeal wasn’t as bad as Anon thought it would be, but he still didn’t like how they jumped into having him immediately using live subjects. He was surprised to have Rarity being as cooperative as she was not too long into the massage. Amazingly so, in fact; it seemed she was enjoying it the further he worked on her.

Before he knew it, Lotus stopped him, saying he was done with her massage. Rarity was barely awake, nodding in and out during the last part of his work.

“Oh my. For a first time massage, you have performed admirably. I am almost afraid to see what would happen should you improve on your techniques.”

“Not that we should, as it only benefits us that he does improve!”

Anon was already cleaning his hands, wiping it off with a towel. “So do I… have a job?”

“Of course you do! It would be madness not to offer you a position here at our establishment.”

“We’ll even pay you a bonus for today’s work.”

“That… is not needed.” He didn’t want to come off like he was swayed by bits the first day on the job. He needed to set some standards, after all. “I am fine with nothing for now.”

“No, no, no, no, no. We must pay you as it is only fair for all the work we’ll have your training and performing on today.”

He paused, replaying her words in his head. “There is… more?”

“Why, yes! After relaying some of Rarity’s－” Lotus looked at Rarity’s unconscious form, “－relaxed disposition, it has intrigued a few that have come in. We have others that have accepted a free massage from training.”

“More training is always a great thing, is it not?”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

It was after the seventh pony that came in that Anon was given the day off from his training. They had thanked him for all his work, saying the word should spread quite quickly to everyone’s enjoyment of his massaging. They were going to sell it off as some kind of human-secret techniques he was using; complete and utter crap, but they thought the intrigue alone would get customers in the door.

Aloe told him the basics of what to expect working there: He was to get paid at the end of every week, he needed to keep his workspace clean and tidy every day, the work hours, and a few other things. He asked for some of the books to help improve on his work when he got back at Lyra’s. Aloe seemed impressed at his willingness to better himself, happy to give him an old book that described things like pressure points and magical lines on a body.

Walking inside Lyra’s house, he closed the door just as something slammed into his gut. He fell to the ground with Lyra on top of him, holding his waist in a tight hug.

“WHERE WERE YOU?!” she cried out.

He found it difficult to reply, what with the air knocked out of him. Lyra continued to hold him to the ground, hugging him tightly, squishing her face into his chest while avoiding poking him with her horn.

Once he regained his breath, he slid himself up so he was sitting.

Lyra held on to him.

So he forced himself to stand up, hoping she would let go.

Nope, she’s only holding onto him tighter, dangling from his waist.

Walking to the couch, Anon took a seat before peeling her off, placing the pony beside him.

“Where were you?!” Lyra repeated. “I couldn’t find you anywhere out in town! Bon Bon said she hadn’t seen you either so she and Applejack had me stay here in case you came back!”

“I walked outside in… the morning and did not see you. I thought… you wanted me to look… on my own since you were not there.”

“Oh, I… well, buck.” Lyra sat there, red in the face from embarrassment.

She then jumped into his lap for another hug, profusely apologizing for leaving him behind. He pulled Lyra off once more, sitting her beside him.

“So did you find any work in town?” she asked.

“I went to all the stalls and no one was hiring. Most shops… did not want or need me. It took a while… but I found work.”

“Really?” She jumped into his lap once more, staring up at him. “Who’re you going to work for now?”

“I start my training tomorrow at the spa.”

“You work there?!” She seemed surprised. “But, they only hire the best they can find!”

‘Or someone with fingers.’

He started to explain how his day went up until the spa, going into detail what exactly they had him do there. Showing the books in his bag, he told her about how they were going to train him to do specialized massaging from how it seemed.

“Um, Anon… would you mind giving me a massage?” A blush formed on her face. “I um, well, I mean I could help you with learning.”

Lyra did appear stressed. He thought he might be able to help with that. And he could use the extra training for his work.

“Sure,” he answered with a nod. “There is… much I need to learn for work.”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~Canterlot~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Princess Luna was currently inside her sister’s study room, looking over some documents. Celestia had to attend another meeting with the guards, leaving her alone to herself for once. Luna had told her she needed to look over her own guard’s papers alone in a private manner in the study. She wasn’t sure but she had a feeling she was being watched by her own guards. Not that they couldn’t be trusted, but why should she take the chance, she reasoned.

Luna had just gotten done looking through the list of employed guards she had, seeing if there were any patterns from the traitorous guards she could discern, thinking it could be used to find more of their flock. Her sister hadn’t even begun combing through their guards for potential enemies, leaving it up to Luna to look into matters.

Sending the ones under suspicion to areas she could watch them for signs have already picked up a few more to place in the dungeons. Having her most trusted guards spread around the area could also pick up the slack that was Celestia’s own guards, running haggard with the troubles of the day on top of the ‘resistance’ ponies as they started calling them.

Her efforts were already paying off. Her guards had informed her that the resistance ponies, were starting to appear in Ponyville.

It worried her to read that report, but it was more worrying to see that none of them had made any movements there at all. They were complacent with doing nothing and keeping out of sight. Princess Luna was curious if they’re now focusing on the Elements for some reason. It seemed the most likely of reasons, after all.

Thinking about Ponyville, she recalled a certain mare that she was definitely going to see next week. Luna was certain that she could deal with the problem that her sister did not have the heart in stopping. Celestia was being too soft with her, she felt. Unfortunately, she was forbidden by her from making any contact with the scenario without a proper reason.

But she was going to Ponyville for Nightmare Night this year. Who was to say if she didn’t mistakenly bump into them during her time there? And who was to say what may come of it?


~End Chapter Nine~