Your hooves find purchase on the ground as you clear the top of the latest hill. You’d been walking for hours and you really can’t place why. But there’s no better way to learn then by asking.
“Princess, can you tell me why we’re walking instead of flying there?”
Princess Celestia tilts her head down to look at you and smiles slightly. ”We always walk to this place.”
That puzzled you, the Princess wasn’t one to stand on tradition when it was negatively effecting somepony.
“But that doesn’t make any-“
”Everything will be clear in time, Twilight.” Celestia interjects.
You’d been hearing that a lot lately ever since you became an Alicorn.
The last few weeks seemed like a blur of movement when you thought back to them. From emerging from the astral plane with a new pair of wings to being coronated as the Princess of Friendship and the litany of crash courses in politicking and decorum from Celestia and Luna that followed.
You hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in a while.
As the two of you crest another hill, you turn back to Celestia. “Princess, can you at least tell me why we’re out here?”
Celestia is quiet for a moment as she shuts her eyes and nods. “That much you deserve to know.”
”You and your friends have been at the epicenter of many world shaking events since you moved to Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle." she begins." I suspected the course you were on early but needed to be sure before I brought you here. Now with your ascension, I have no doubt in my mind.”
That was Celestia, always thinking how she could improve.
You listen intently as she goes on. “As soon as any of us, those who’s fates it is to alter the course of things, truly begin on that path…we are beckoned here, to insure we get the perspective we need to wield the power that we do properly.”
“Here?” you ask.
Celestia stops at the top of a hill and looks out over it towards a small cabin near the edge of a forest just beyond.
”Yes, home.”
The cabin was by all accounts normal. A single floor, a healthy chimney in the middle, illumination coming from the windows on one side and the dark windows of spare rooms on the other. So unremarkable that you couldn’t figure out why you were here.
You’re about to turn and ask when Celestia composes herself and begins to trot down the hill. Scrambling to catch you, you get her ear.
“Uhh…Princess? What is this?”
She’s silent again for a moment. “It will all be clear soon, Twilight.”
That wasn’t enough this time, though.
“Does someone LIVE all the way out here?” you ask.
Celestia nods. “A sage…of sorts.”
“Of sorts?”
”Yes. An ancient being who has resided here…for as long as I can remember.” She adds quietly. “This is where those with power learn how to wield it.”
That sounded impressive, Starswirl impressive. “So he’s a mage of some sort?”
Celestia shakes her head. “You’ll see, you will be coming here often for your lessons as opposed to what I did…you’re a bit of a special case.”
“Why is this sage going to help me?”
Celestia smiles warmly as she reaches the wooden door. “It’s just his way.” Celestia takes a deep breath and knocks on the door with her hoof.
”One moment!” comes a voice behind it.
You hear someone rummaging around behind the door before it swings open. On the other side was something you’d never seen before. A biped, clearly intelligent from the way its deep eyes were looking at you, dressed in soft looking clothes of warm colors while a healthy beard rested on its chin. It smiled down at you in particular. “Hello there.”
“Er, hello. My name i-“
You’re interrupted twice in the same day. ”DADDY!” Celestia screams.
Wait what.
Celestia bounds forward to the creature and nearly tackles him to the ground, indeed he takes a step back to brace himself as Celestia thrusts her had onto his shoulder.
”Whoa-ho! Hello to you too, my little sunbeam.” He says, running his hand through her mane. Celestia nuzzles her face into his shoulder.
You stand, mouth agape, in the doorway. “HUH??”
”Poozer, I think your student is confused.” He says.
Celestia looks over her shoulder and her cheeks turn scarlet. “Oh dear, I’m so sorry Twilight I simply got…caught up in the moment, yes.” She turns her head back. “Daddy, may we come in?”
”Celestia you know you never have to ask that. Come! Come, the tea is just about done.”
Celestia darts off his shoulder to the small kitchen near the back of the house. “I’ll get it!”
The creature chuckles and waves for you to come inside as he slowly heads over to a large faded chair.
You walk inside and shut the door behind you. “Princess Celestia what the TARTARUS is this?”
”Language.” The owner of the house says.
Celestia returns with a piping hot teakettle and pours the contents into a cup on and end-table. “Of course, I’m sorry again, Twilight. This is Anonymous, the “sage” I was talking about earlier. He was Luna and mine and…other’s cartaker for much of our early lives.”
Anonymous looks at you again and smiles, offering a wave. “Hello.”
”Daddy, this is Twilight Sparkle.”
”It’s a pleasure, Twilight.” he offers.
You blink twice.
“But Princess, the legends always say you and Luna were the daughters of Queen Galaxia and King Cosmos!”
Celestia pours some tea for you and finally herself. “The truth is slightly more complicated, Twilight.”
Anonymous chuckles. “Not THAT much more complicated! I still remember it.”
Celestia gets excited and sits on a couch next to Anonymous. “Oh! Can you tell the story? Twilight hasn’t heard it and it’s been FOREVER since I have. Please? Twilight, do you want to hear this story to clear things up.”
You just silently nod your head, you really wanted things to make sense now.
Anonymous nods and strokes his beard. “It’s as clear to me as if it were yesterday…”
-A long long time ago-
You stand in your doorway and stare down at the two little fillies hiding behind a pair of legs in front of you.
“What the hell is this.”
”THEY are two little fillies, alicorns, and they have big destinies ahead of them. Their names are Celestia and Luna.” The red maned alicorn at your doorstep explains to you.
“AND?”
”And I’d like you to take care of them for me.”
You blink twice. “For how long?”
She rubs the back of her head. “How long do you have?”
You blink twice more.
“I’m sorry, it sounds like you want me to raise your kids for you.”
”They’re both good fillies, but I think this is the best home for them.”
Your mouth nearly hits the floor. “WHAT?”
”I’m involved in so many other creations…I don’t know if I can give these two the guidance they need for their destiny.”
“What makes you think I can?”
She chuckles a bit. “Anonymous, how long have we known each other?”
Since you ended up in this world.
“A while…”
”And in that time I can already tell you’ve got the heart for these two.”
You look down at the two. One looked barely old enough to walk and sucked on a pacifier, the other had pink hair and looked up at you with big trembling eyes.
It broke your heart.
You sigh and step out of the way. “Say your goodbyes and let them in…I’ll watch them for you.”
After their mother had left, you have the two fillies sitting on your couch while you sat across from them in your favorite chair. The clearly older one, Celestia, hugged her sister close to her and stared up at you. The babe looked around as she suckled her pacifier, interested in every glittering surface of your home.
You didn’t know what the hell to do with kids, man…
You clear your throat. “Celestia?”
The girl jumps a bit and hugs her sister that much closer. “Y-yes?”
“What uh…what was her name again?” you ask, pointing to the smaller one.
She looks down at her sister. “Woona.”
“Huh?”
Celestia straightens. “Woona. Her name is Woona. L-U-N-A.”
You work that out in your head and suddenly your heart hurts.
“Nnngggghhhh…are you two hungry?”
Celestia just nods. “Woona needs her food mashed up!”
Right…
You get up off your chair and go to the kitchen, grabbing a few apples to cut up and beginning to mash a few up into a bowl. When you return, Celestia seems to have relaxed a bit, but she still looks at you like prey would a hungry predator.
“…I know this is strange.”
Celestia is quiet for a second. “Anon-e-mous? Do you…know why we are here?”
Now you hold your thoughts for a second. "You’re here…because your mom wants the best thing in the world for you, and sometimes that means letting you go…”
Celestia hangs her head. “Oh…”
YOU WERE NOT GOOD WITH KIDS.
“Hey…”
She looks up at you.
“Ever seen shadow puppets?” you ask.
The filly shakes her head. You take the shade off a lamp next to you and fold your hands into shapes that appear on the wall. The story of two dogs who walk into a bar, only for one to say ouch, plays out on the wall.
Some giggles and laughs come from the mouths of the fillies and when you next look down, you see them sitting next to you, enthralled by the tale you spun now.
It made you feel…warm.
The rest would come later, for now you were breaking the ice.
-The present-
“So…you were left here as a filly, Princess?”
Celestia nods. “Yes Twilight, Anonymous took Luna and I in when we were just little fillies. I wouldn’t be the ruler I am today if I didn’t live here.”
It was now dawning on you why you were here.
“What did he teach you?”
”Well as a start-“ Anonymous says, before holding a teacup out to you with fresh tea “-food and drink are an excellent icebreaker, along with a story.”
He sets the saucer down. “We’ve moved onto tea in our older years, but the story part has stayed, hasn’t it, poozer?”
Celestia nods enthusiastically.
“Okay, and the rest?”
Anonymous looks up at you. “Hmm?”
You present yourself forward the same way you used to at Unicorn School. The rest of the lessons? I’m ready to learn whatever you can teach me to be a good ruler.”
Anonymous chuckles again. “Lesson two, Twilight, is patience. There will be time to learn all the rest later, now is the time for meeting! All friendships are built on the first moment two people meet, after all.”
Anonymous takes a sip of his tea and Celestia motions for you to sit back. Another tale starts getting spun and you silently wonder what this will teach you about magic, but you can’t help but feel comforted in the presence of this oddity in this little house at the edge of the world.
Interested, I am. Track, I will...
I think I found 2 mistakes
Wait what.
Add a question mark at the end
“What the hell is this.”
And add another question mark
The adorabeties... Help me...
I think this one is a keeper.
7515813
No, those were intentional. They were supposed to be head flat instead of with the upwards inflection a question mark would have.
7516600 ah oh, but it still sounds like a question
I don't see any endlessly storming waterfalls or mountains of red skystone.
Only thing I'm left wondering is why you didn't bother to give a name to Anonymous.
I know it's a trend used frequently in HiE fics, but this just feels like you should have given him an actual name. He's just enough removed from the general human thrown into Equestria tropes that it just doesn't really fit.
I suppose it's just that I've always considered the name "Anon" to be lazy as hell and an automatic detriment to whatever story I'm reading unless implemented very well (Not the Hero comes to mind),. You might as well just call him "Placeholder Name"-has the same impact as far as I'm concerned. Honestly, there's no real reason not to name the character, so it just comes across as half assed more than anything else.
ooooh~! i likey!
woot!
From what I've read so far, the story is ok but I tend to dislike 2nd person narrator. But you really are breaking the grammar by using 2nd person in the flashbacks with a 'different' 2nd person in the framing story. Pick one narrator and stick with it.
8151675
While I myself can enjoy a second person narrative, I agree with you that it should probably be limited to anonymous. I am indeed a random, nondescript human after all. I don't need my own identity confused with a magic flying royal purple bookhorse.
I find the one dislike on your comment disproportionately annoying, as you offered fair criticism while still viewing the story in relatively positive light and suggesting you would continue to give it a try. I know it is a silly thing that matters little, but I do wish people would encourage constructive criticism more while disapproving of other, more destructive or counterintuitive forms of criticism and comments.
7624864
As of the first chapter (I might very much be proven wrong in coming chapters) I can understand naming him Anonymous as both a nod to the meta joke, but also as an abstract. If he were just some human who ended up in Equestria, and had a whole life's history prior, it would be different. However should he just exist as a nondescript individual who's history holds no barring on the events of the story, then naming him Anonymous could function in a similar way to naming Discord after his chief trait. An anthropomorphic abstraction or a characterized principle. Doubtless his own character will develop over the course of the story, but I hope it will only be self contained without using some unknown back story as a crutch.
8541840
An interesting perception of it, I never thought about the similarities in nomenclature between Anonymous and Discord before, I'll have to use that line when this inevitably comes up again. I suppose it's fairly similar to how most characters in this story call him some variance of "daddy".
The real reason he's named Anonymous is because it's one of the two rules I had to follow in the thread I wrote him for.
It must feature Anonymous.
He must be in Equestria.
That's. It.
While I appreciate and actively encourage people to find the deeper meaning in a name, as names can tell us so much about a character, the official reason will always be "Them's the rules, bruv."
Interesting start.
Woona, nnnnnngh.
'used to at Unicorn School. The rest of the lessons?' - School. "The
i.pinimg.com/236x/f6/65/a7/f665a762ead8b4b66dc7f1260866cb86.jpg
Gah! Oh, I'm gonna hurl!
'This little house at the edge of the world'
Best line, love this fic so far. Let the binge commence!