Chapter Ten
Anon gave a small sigh as he trudged his way down the street back towards The Golden Oaks. a few bags of groceries in hand. It had been…a fairly big pain figuring out how to get the task done with minimal complications, but after a bit of back and forth with the vendor they had figured it all out and Anon was able to snag what he needed.
As he walked, the silver bells embroidered into the cuffs of his sweater sleeves jingled with a merriness that contrasted the dark colors of his outfit in a way Anon might have found humorous, were he not being subjected to the constant sound of jingling bells as a result.
But it was a small price to pay for the safety of the ponies in his immediate vicinity, who were able to move out of the way before he got close enough for his anti-magical properties to begin affecting them. It had been about three or four days, and everyone seemed to have gotten with the program by now.
Did it make him feel like some sort of leper or plague bearer? Yes, frequently. But it was better than causing fainting spells and mass hysteria every time he accidentally strayed too close to a gaggle of ponies for longer than a few moments. Besides, even if he wasn't an active arcanohazard, they’d probably still want to steer clear anyway. Racist ass little horses and their hyper-nationalist insular tendencies…
He tugged at one of his sleeves, more from slight nerves than discomfort, and looked down at the color of his new sweater rather than meet the curious, occasionally fearful eyes of the townsfolk. After a bit of convincing, he had decided to allow Rarity to make his sweaters in a few different colors aside from back, so long as they were not too bright and eye-catching. He was wearing one of them now, a very sophisticated shade of deep, regal purple.
He had drawn the line at including Twilight’s Cutie Mark as part of the design, however. As much as he enjoyed the company of his newfound and steadfast equine intellectual companion, he certainly had no desire to go gallivanting about with her soulbound iconography plastered across his person.
His brooding on the topic was interrupted suddenly when he felt himself stumble and almost trip as something collided with his shins. A small, adorable squeak could be heard followed by the sound of someone hitting the ground.
He looked down quickly to see he had accidentally bumped right into a little filly. A pegasus, with light pink fur, and a light blue mane, with a Rook as her cutie mark.
“Oh shi…oh man, are you okay?” he asked quickly, kneeling down and crouching near her out of instinctual concern as he helped her get to her hooves. It took him a moment to stop and realize what was wrong with what he was doing, and a sudden pang of guilt struck through his chest before he realized that the filly seemed to be, well…totally fine actually.
Not just uninjured, but also unbothered by his antimagical effect as she smiled up at him sweetly, batting her eyelashes at him “Well golly mister! I’m sorry about that. I guess I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going. Thanks for helping me up!” she said in a borderline saccharine tone, swaying slightly from side to side.
He seemed taken aback by her lack of fear, or really any of the other effects he would normally see take root after spending a bit of time in his presence, but pondering on that could wait. “It's uh…it’s alright little filly. I should have been watching where I was walking, I’m so used to these bells letting people know I’m coming that I don't really bother, but that doesn’t excuse-”
“It’s okay, I know you didn’t mean it,” she said chipperly, cutting him off before he could continue to apologize. “You can make it up to me by letting me be your friend. How does that sound?”
Anon raised a brow at this, but shrugged with a small smirk “I mean, hey, if you wanna be friends with a freak of the week like me, I’m not going to try to stop you. But say aren’t you uh…uncomfortable being so close to me? I usually have that effect on ponies because being close to me sort of juices all the magic out of them.”
She shook her head, only smiling wider. “Not at all! I mean, I feel a little funny, but it’s like, a good funny! And who needs that silly old magic anyway. We’d be better off if we didn’t have any!” She said, kicking at the ground a bit to drive her point home.
Anon thought about this for a moment, raising an eyebrow. “Huh, that’s an unusual take for a pony. Not that I’m saying you’re necessarily wrong…In some respects, I might be inclined to agree with you.”
She did a double-take at this, seeming caught genuinely off guard before recovering. She shook it off and smiled broadly again “Wow, really mister? You sure must be really open-minded, huh?”
He shrugs and continues to speak “Eh, I guess. I don’t really have much expertise in the field. Or er…really any, but I have a few opinions here and there based on my limited personal experience in the matter. If you want we could maybe sit at the park and chat about it a bit before I head home, You play Ch…Regicide right? I’m guessing that mark isn't strictly symbolic.”
“I’m not sure what you mean by that mister, but yeah, I play!” she says, seeming taken just a bit off-kilter again if her tone was anything to go by.
Anon chuckled, but decided to let it slide, for the moment anyway. He’d circle back to it in a bit when the time was more…opportune. “Nothing kid. Cmon, I’ve got a set in my bag here, we can play a match or two before the sun starts dipping down. My roomie can wait on her veggies a bit longer.”
—---------------
The two of them had been at it for about forty minutes at this point, and the game was shaping up to be an interesting one. Anon was relaxing, occasionally glancing down at a book he had pulled from his bag and sipping from a bottle of water while he waited for the little filly to pick her next move and they shared some conversation.
“So kid, you said you think that everyone would be better off without magic right? Can I ask why?”
She looked up from deliberating her move, answering quite happily. “Well, I just think we could get on just fine without it. I mean, you were saying a bit ago how everyone where you’re from doesn’t have magic, and you guys have all sorts of cool stuff that we couldn’t even think of making even with magic!”
She seems to finally settle on a move, taking a pawn with one of her knights. Two moves to check.
“So you’re saying that magic holds you all back from achieving greater significant technological advancement and from generally bettering your society if I am understanding you correctly? Please do tell me if I am misunderstanding.” Anon said as he glanced over at the move she had made, thought for a brief moment, and offhandedly moved a nondescript bishop into what seemed to be no particular position.
“No, that sounds about right! Ponies can already get so much done with the power of friendship, even without magic. The magic part of it just sort of keeps us from achieving real power when you think about it!”
She smiled a bit wider, moving her knight closer to his king giddily.
He did not even look at the board this time, reaching over and now nudging a rook just so and turning the page on his book. “Hm, and you feel like real power lies in friendship right? And what would you say friendship is, kid?”
She seemed confused by his move, and by his question, flusteredly moving her knight again. “What do you mean, everyone knows what friendship is! C-check!”
Anon smirked softly, taking the bishop he had moved previously and now drawing it back down to snipe their knight from them, leaving the filly’s king vulnerable in check. “Please, humor me. Knowing what you think it is will help me understand you better, so i can decide if i think you are correct in your assertion. Check.”
“Well, all of my friends all really like me, and they are happy to do what i say and they always look out for me, so I guess that’s what friendship is.”
She sounded more unsure now, moving her king out of the precarious position and biting her lip slightly as the wheels in her head turned faster.
“I see…” He said simply as he moved his queen, for the first time of the game, in fact, putting her right back into check with a small grin. “And these friends of yours. How do you treat them?”
“I mean, I guess pretty well, Mister. I always make sure to be polite and nice to them, and than them whenever they do things for me…”
She huffed softly in consternation as she moved her king again, closer, ever closer to the middle of the board.
Anon slipped another bishop into place without hesitation, boxing her in again, cutting off her escape. “Mhm, and what about you? What do you do for them? If one of them was in trouble, what would you do to help them? What if one of them needed you to help them with a project, or needed to be defended against a bully.”
Her smile began to crack more as she quickly moved herself out of harms way once more. She knew he was toying with her, but she didn’t know why. Did he just enjoy seeing her squirm, what did he have to gain from this!? “I mean, I don’t think I’d want to get involved in other ponies problems that way. They can take care of themselves.”
“I see…” he did not move his piece just yet, looking up from his book and meeting her eyes with a slightly more serious expression. “Kid, I’m going to level with you. While you might have a point about magic as a concept hampering the development of your society to some degree, I don’t think you understand friendship very well.”
He put his hook down, and she seemed to be about to rebut, but he held up a hand to stop her, continuing. “I mean, granted, I’m pretty rusty myself, but even I know that friendship is at its core a symbiotic, nurturing phenomenon. You give a little, and you get a little. Not because you expect it, but because you want to help each other out. If you find yourself not wanting to help the people you surround yourself with then to put it bluntly, I wouldn’t call them your friends.”
He moves one of his knights in a surprising mirror to her earlier move, finally finishing her. “Checkmate.”
For a moment, a look of pure, unequivocal rage crosses the features of the little filly, but then she seemed to be struck with realization, then acceptance, then sorrow as her eyes began to well with tears as she looked up at him “H-how could you say something that mean to a little filly!” she said, drawing a bit of attention from some of the park goers as she started to softly sob.
He clicked his tongue, kneeling to be at eye level with her and patting the top of her head. “Because a real friend tells you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear,” he said gently, offering her a small, reassuring smile.
Her sobbing seemed to recede at this a bit, and she wiped at her eyes to look up at him, slightly confused. “W-what do you-”
“I mean that, if you want one, you have at least one real friend now, little filly,” he said as he took his hand off of her head and offered it toher to shake with a warm, gentle smile. “What’s your name anyway? I got so excited about our chat that I forgot to ask. Mine’s Anon. I’m uh, new in town…”
Her eyes widened at his offer, and she seemed to consider for a moment before sniffling and giving a little nod, taking his hand in her hoof and shaking it. “C-Cozy Glow. Nice to meet you…” She said as she let go of his hand and got to her feet.
“Well Cozy, if you want to talk some more, and get your little flank whipped again, meet me here at the same time tomorrow and we can hang out for a bit and shoot the breeze. I’ll bring some snacks if you bring some drinks.” He said as he put away his chess set in his backpag and grabbed the bag of vegetables before heading towards the library again. “See you around, squirt.”
“Y-yeah, see you, Anon!” She said softly as she watched him leave. She felt a very..unfamiliar warm sensation in her chest, and a more determined look burned in her eyes as she watched him vanish around the corner. “I’ll definitely beat him next time!” She said to herself with an eager, mischievous little grin as she went on her way in the opposite direction. She had some thinking to do, and a strategy to plan…
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Hmmm... Anon as a psychologist? Don't know whether it is a good move or a bad one.
11183509
I wouldn't go that far myself. he was just making her questions like he always does. it just so happens that this time his line of questioning cut a bit deeper than usual.
it rises from its grave, and as you'd expect from the living dead, its first steps are rather dubious and shaky
are we sure we should be including the cuntlet- i mean Cozy Glow?
11183525
I was intending to include her before my hiatus, lol. Absolutely.
If friendship is literally magic in this universe, does being near ponies drain feelings of friendship, beyond what would happen from feeling the sparkle juice being sucked away?
I never remember when I should use a semicolon, beyond that where you can use one, you could also correctly use a comma. Colons you just just see if putting words similar to 'such as' in afterward would sound right.
11183529
if this was the intent from the start, i suppose i'll put up with it
sure hope this is building towards a Cozy redemption arc, and not the inverse...
11183536
nah magical energy is generated *by* the friendship, you don't stop being friends just because you lose the byproduct of the friendship.
Very interesting I wonder how this relationship will turn out
He calls her Cozy at the beginning of the chess scene, then later says he doesn't know her name?
Yeeees make cozy second guess and not become the villain give her an actual childhood do it! Anyways glad to see ya once again and hope to see more soon!
Potential villain arc/Apocalyptic conflict inadvertently avoided??? We shall see.....
Good chapter
Uhh how does he replenish his Iron? I mean we get it from food here on earth but i doubt the food in pony lands got any iron in them.
11183870
Apples or Banana's should be a relatively good and available source for iron intake. Lots of greens are as well, like Green Beans or Spinach, should contain at least some level of iron, though they aren't really high in iron. Anon's best bet is still gonna be meaty products at the end of the day; specifically, red meat.
Edit: Wait, I see what you mean. Fuck, how does that work? I mean, some of it you can explain with magic, like with how ponies farm Apples, and the dislike of Iron explains the aversion ponies have for meats, but many of the shit ponies eat would have had to have been natural and full of Iron at some point. Imagine most of the things you can eat being poisonous to a relatively high degree.
11183925
But its stated in the story that all creatures use some other substance than iron to carry oxygen. I thought the reason we find iron in meat and fish is becouse it is in their blood and such.
that and i got the impresion even super tiny bits of iron disrupted magic, most creatues in equestira appear to be pretty smart and magic "Aids cognition" so i would think they would have as little to no iron inside them.
And wouldn't ponies have averse reactions to consuming things with iron in them anyway?
11184029
They actually go over this in previous chapters. He is getting his iron content through poorly explained pills while most foodstuffs in equestria use copper as a means to transport oxygen
11183870
he doesn't! at least, they are still working on a solution. for the time being Twilight is at least able to use magic to eliminate excess quantities of otherwise potentially poisonous excess metals from the things he eats for him, which while inconvenient means he won't be getting metal poisoning at the very least.
11184092
Ponies and their magical bullshit solutions.
Still begs the question; how did ponies (And other species?) come to suffer adverse effects from iron? Iron is a limited resource, yes, but silicate minerals often contain iron nonetheless, and that can make it into food stuffs. Do ponies just use non-ferromagnesian minerals? How the hell did that happen? In fact, what kind of effects would a lack of iron have on an environment? For example, what would be the effect on redox reactions, specifically for reactions occurring underground? Is it sustainable? Is it artificial? Ponies and their magical bullshit in general.
11184269
Well for the most part it seems like ponies just refuse to use iron in anything. A throw away line during Twilight's and Anon's conversation basically makes Iron out to be a super rare resource that doesn't just suck the magic out of ponies, but out of everything. However from how it looks it doesn't just suck the magic into itself. However it has to go somewhere. So here's my headcannon. Since another throwaway line mentioned there was a lot of iron in the everfree I believe that iron in this universe serves a soul purpose. Magical decomposition. It takes magic from dead animals and plants or anything it can grab onto really and shunt it out into the ground and land around itself and then that magic goes into plants and trees
11184279
That's actually p close, I'm sure you'll enjoy hearing the specifics ^^
Woohoo!~
-Rub
Black
Bwah?? He already knows her name. Why is he asking her again?
11186082
Because I wrote this at 4 in the morning before bed, corrected ;p
I wonder if his magic nulling abilities are interfering with her cutie mark abilities with regard to chess.
For example, chess does have a finite amount of moves (for a simpler analogy thing tic tac toe where as an adult you can work out all possible moves to always stalemate). If you had a quantum "right answer" approach to the game being driven by magic from her cutie mark his nullification might put the game back to just her skill level instead of the magic "cheat" help Cozy might normally get. Obviously, this makes a whole lot of assumptions about the mechanics of the situation.
11186317
Pffft yeah, here's the simple breakdown.
Cozy was effected by his anti magical effect, but because she's a little psychopath, it only really somewhat impaired her cognitive function instead of causing the usual fear induced symptoms. That coupled with the fact that he was in her head pretty hard during the entire match made it pretty easy for him to just steamroll her. I headcanon her cutie mark as being more symbolic and marking her as a strategist more than anything.
I have to ask why he's even staying with the pony who is convinced Anon is evil and tried to hand him over to the princesses to be dealt with. Choosing to live with someone hostile like that just doesn't seem smart at all.
11186514
if you consider his and twilight's current affiliation hostile I am afraid you may have severely misread the situation.
11186525
Then that's something that should have been addressed better in the story. From the start Twilight has appeared to have an unfounded negative viewpoint of Anon, and this doesn't seem to have actually changed anywhere in the story where the reader can see it. If it has then it may as well have occurred "off-camera".
Me reading the comments
" I'm just glad it is back, i missed this"
The moment Anon first arrived in Equestria, branching into a new timeline. (Avengers Endgame & Loki, timelines explanation references)
"Good times ahead, but bad goes unnoticed".
~ JoElec
Did... did you just stop Cozy Glow?
Holly shit, I've never seen any one stop her before she became a villain and do it so well!
11199014
I will forever maintain that Cozy Glow just needed a bit of tough love from someone she can't manipulate and not magical punitive petrification. ^^
11202205
I can concede that early on in the start of her appearance before she was a full on villain she was redeemable but by the time it she was petrified she was far too gone and deserved everything she got. Child or not she was too dangerous to be free but because she is a child she doesn't deserve death. There is a story called The Price of Salt that focuses on Cozy Glow that I would certainly recommend as it's one of the few I do enjoy.
11186514
??? Pinkie was the only one that thought Anon was evil, maybe Rainbow too.
And Anon clearly understands why the ponies would want to study him and isn't against it.
11202205
Are you gonna continue this?
It rose a foot from the ground, but seems like it's still 5 feet under.
Another good story, abandoned
.
Que pena que não tem continuação ;-;