Anon is standing before his staff as he looks over the kitchen. Everything is spotless. He looks down to the few ponies before him as they look toward him with eager eyes. Each of them showing various stages of exhaustion but overall they’re still alert.
“I have to say I’m proud of you all.” He says causing them to flinch from the sudden noise. “It’s been a tough climb for many of you but this is just the beginning. Tomorrow is when you all gain the full responsibility of this kitchen. I won’t be looking over your shoulder anymore. That will be left in the hooves of Little Dipper.” Anon looks over to the somewhat filly sized mare that he chose to be head chef and gives her a small nod. “The continued success of this business is in your hooves.”
“We won’t fail you!” Little Dipper says with a large smile.
“I would hope not.” Anon looks over all the ponies before him. “Your bits have been deposited into your banks. Enjoy your weekend. Come monday, you’ll be in charge of this kitchen.”
That’s all that needs to be said as everypony burst out into joyous shouts. Many of them hugging one another, while a few just cry to themselves. Anon has put them through hell. There were many ponies that signed up and through an elimination process that would’ve make chef Ramsay proud, few remained. Anon can tell that they feel as if they accomplished something huge. Ponies are odd like that.
Anon looks down as Little Dipper walks up to him.
“Thank you, sir. I’ll be sure to maintain the quality you’ve taught us.”
“There’s a reason I made you head chef, Dipper. You’ve shown a respect for the ingredients and how to handle them. I think you’re going to do well here.”
She gives him a nod as she walks over to talk to Bonbon. A few more ponies come up to give thanks to Anon and also assure him they would keep his standards in this place. This entire thing is starting to make him feel weird but he bears with it as it’s just this one time. However as all ponies start to head off from work Anon notices Butterhooves is standing at his station deep in thought. He glances over to Bonbon as she waves a hoof for him to go talk to him.
Anon rolls his eyes as he heads on over to see what’s going on with Butterhooves. Once Anon is standing next to him he notices that Hooves is holding a small wooden spoon. It looks weathered and isn’t from his the kitchen.
“You alright there?” Anon asks.
Hooves snaps out of his trance like state and quickly puts the spoon into the pocket on his saddle bag. He looks up at Anon with slightly glistening eyes. This is an uncomfortable situation for Anon to be in. He can sense an emotional rollercoaster from a mile away.
“Do you really think I’m ready?” Butterhooves asks.
Anon lets out a sigh. “To be honest, Hooves. I wouldn’t trust you with throwing out the trash.” Butterhooves starts to look down but Anon quickly adds. “But you’re a fine cook. I have no idea how you do it but I suggest you stick to cooking. It seems to be just your speed.”
A smile now grows on Hooves’ face as he looks up at Anon.
“Thank you, Sir.”
Before Anon can walk away he feels Butterhooves latch onto him in a hug.
“Hooves?”
“Yes?”
“I’m still your boss.”
Hooves realises what he’s doing and quickly lets go of Anon.
“S-Sorry... Just excited about everything.”
“Don’t mention it. Now head on home. Monday will start sooner than you think.”
Butterhooves gives a nod as he walks out of the kitchen. Anon is soon left in the kitchen with only Bonbon. He lets out a sigh of relief as he turns to face her.
“Ponies get too emotional.”
“You’re one to talk.” Bonbon remarks.
“...Right... Anyways, when’s this party happening?”
“In an hour or so. Lyra and I need time to get everything ready. You’re free to do whatever until then.”
“An hour alone... What to do?”
Anon walks towards the kitchen door but pauses when Bonbon calls out to him.
“Make sure you wear that suit to the party. I’m sure Lyra will be thrilled.”
Lyra thrilled. That doesn’t sound like a good thing to him but he’s willing to bend a bit due to the circumstance.
“Sure... Later, Bonbon.”
“See you.”
“Luna, calm down.”
“I cannot calm myself, Blossom! It all makes sense now!”
Blossom is sitting on Luna’s bed, listening to her while she paces around the room talking. Ever since Blossom made Luna realise her feelings she was quickly pulled back into the room so Luna could ramble on about what would happen next.
“Not to mention that I believe my sister feels the same way.” Luna adds. “I do not wish for us to fight over him but losing Anon to her isn’t an option either.”
“You won’t lose him. Anon cares about you two. If anything, I find the real problem is convincing Anon into a relationship of any kind.”
Luna stops pacing as she turns to face Blossom.
“What do you mean?”
“Well... He just doesn’t seem like the kind of stallion to be interested in a relationship. Obviously I can’t speak for him, Tartarus, you know him better than I ever could but do you think he’d be open to dating?”
Luna opens her mouth but quickly shuts it as she turns away from Blossom in thought. The various memories she shares with Anon don’t point to any definitive answer. In fact, Blossom in many ways is right. Due to his trust issues and wariness of ponies, he’d probably be the most reluctant to get so emotionally close to someone. Yet... Luna wishes to believe that if anypony can make him feel safe enough to explore something romantic, it would be her!
“I know Anon is skittish but I believe if anypony has even the slimmest of chances, that pony is me.”
Blossom nods. “You or your sister.”
“Yes... my sister. ” Luna sits on her rump as she holds her head with her hooves. “What am I to do about her? I want to talk to her about our feelings but I feel that if I am not to strike while the iron is hot then I may lose my chance forever.”
“I can’t tell you what’s wrong or right, Luna... However, I may have an idea.”
Luna looks up to Blossom with a slight glimmer of hope in her eyes.
“Any idea is wanted at this point, Blossom.”
Blossom lets out a sigh as she hops off Luna’s bed and walks over to her.
“Alright... So here’s my plan.”
Canterlot doesn’t have much going on. Anon walked around for a bit, checked a few things in a store. Decided not to go pay the sisters a visit as he didn’t want to get dragged off to do something and miss the party. So for the most part he’s just been taking it easy. There were a few stores that had some interesting items that made him think about the sisters. They threw him a birthday party but when is theirs? There’s still a lot Anon doesn’t know about those two.
Sure, he knows some stuff about Luna but nothing that far back. His brain probably would’ve exploded if he took in her lifespan of memories. Now that Anon thinks about it... He doesn’t remember Celestia ever asking him to join her for a birthday party. He’s known Celestia for about a year now and yet she’s never once mentioned her birthday. Then again, neither did Anon but it seems like a celebration ponies like to partake in. Hmmm... Perhaps this would be a great time for some information gathering? If he can find out when Celestia and Luna’s birthday is, then he can surprise them with a party.
Now that sounds like a perfect revenge plan for the party they threw him. However, that’ll have to wait. All that info is probably in the royal library and it’s already getting around that time for Anon to show up at the shop.
Back at the shop, Anon can hear work being done in the kitchen. So he walks up to his room and gets dressed in the suit he wore when Pinkie took him out to meet Maud. Once he’s all clean and looking presentable, Anon walks down the stairs and to the kitchen door. Knocking on it a few times.
“Is everything ready?” Anon looks over at a clock to see that he’s just on time.
“Perfect timing.” Lyra says. “Come in.”
Anon walks into the kitchen and pauses slightly at the scene before him. The lights are off, candles placed around to give a soft glow to the room, a single circular table with three chairs, two sitting side by side and one on the other side. Anon’s eyes drift over to Bonbon and Lyra as they stand beside the table. The both of them in dresses. Lyra has a huge smile on her face but Bonbon doesn’t look happy.
Red flags are going off in Anon’s head. Something is going on here and he doesn’t like it.
“I have to say... I wasn’t expecting this when you invited me to a party.” Anon says breaking the silence.
“Well, it’s a small party between adults.” Lyra says giggling slightly. “No need for streamers or balloons.”
“I guess that makes sense.”
Anon still doesn’t feel comfortable. The fact that Bonbon is emotionally blank is alarming in its own way.
“Please, take a seat!” Lyra quickly pulls out the single chair.
“Thank you?” Anon says as he walks over and takes his seat.
Lyra and Bonbon sit across from him. Anon takes notice that Bonbon is avoiding eye contact and Lyra has her sights glued on him. This entire situation stinks and it’s not doing his paranoia any good. They brought him here for some specific reason and it has nothing to do with this party. Just playing the waiting game isn’t an option for him right now. He needs to know what’s happening. For all he knows it could just be his imagination.
“I’ll be the first to say that something isn’t right here.” Anon looks between the two. “I am open to having a party between the three of us but something is unsettling me. So, what’s this all about?”
Anon watches as Lyra elbows Bonbon. She looks over at Lyra and shakes her head. The two of them leaning close as they whisper to one another. The thing is that Anon can hear them as clear as day.
“I can’t do this, Lyra. Let’s call this off while we’re still ahead.”
“What?! He’s already sitting here. We talked about this.”
Bonbon looks down at the floor again. Anon can feel his frustration in this situation. It’s not just his paranoia, something is going on. He clears his throat loudly to grab both of their attentions.
“The only reason I am as calm as I am is because we know each other so well. However, my patience is starting to fade quickly.”
Lyra chuckles nervously as Bonbon looks to the floor once again.
“W-Well... We were going to ask you this after dinner but I guess now is a good time too.” Lyra clears her throat as she looks Anon in the eyes. “Anon... Would you like to be our stallion?”
“Your... stallion?” Anon asks, confused by what she means.
“I-It means we want to make a herd with you...” Bonbon comes in.
A herd? Why does that sound so familiar? Anon can feel his mind drift back to horses from earth. They had herds but that can’t possibly be what they are asking him, right?
“Let me see if I got this right... Are you two asking me to be your boyfriend?”
Lyra nods happily.
“Basically!” Lyra says. “Though we call it coltfriend.”
There’s a moment of silence where no one says a single thing. Anon’s just sitting there looking at them as they look back. However, what happens next isn’t what either of them were expecting. Anon is starting to laugh. At first it was a few chuckles but then it turned into full blown laughter. Bonbon has a bad feeling about this. It’s not like he’s laughing from joy but laughing in pain.
“I can’t believe this.” He whispers to himself as he gets out of his seat and walks towards the kitchen door. Lyra tries to reach out to stop him but he swipes her hoof away. “Don’t touch me!”
Bonbon can only sit there and look at the back of Anon as he breaths heavily. She can see he’s trembling slightly, as if he can’t handle the emotions inside of him. However, all of that disappears as he straightens up and turns back to face the two. His face blank, not a single emotion in his eyes.
“I knew something like this would happen sooner or later. I told you two how I felt and I thought you’d respect that but I was wrong. Not that I blame you, I see now that there’s a problem here that only I can fix.” Bonbon notices as he bites his lip slightly. “I don’t want to see either of you again.”
Hearing those words come from his mouth in such a dead tone is enough to shock both Lyra and Bonbon. They didn’t even notice as Anon quickly leaves the shop, heading towards the castle.
Celestia lets out a large yawn as she collapses onto her bed exhausted. Her day has been rough. First Cadance, then Twilight. She tried her best to get her student to open up about her problems but she remained silent on the matter. Not to mention Celestia feels lonely without Anon here. She lets out a sad sigh as she throws her blanket on her, turns off all the lights and tries to fall asleep. Yet she feels something keeping her from resting.
She hears the door to her room open as she sits up and looks over to see who it could be. The light from the hall obscures his face but Celestia knows only one creature to stand as he does.
“Anon, I thought you were at work?” She asks.
Anon doesn’t say anything as he walks over to her bedside.
“Tia... I’m going to ask a favor.”
Celestia immediately can feel the tension in the room. Something happened to Anon.
“A-Anything.”
Anon stays silent for a minute. She still can’t see past the shadows covering his face but she knows he’s thinking hard about something.
“Lay down.” Celestia raises a brow as she lays down facing him. “Turn around.”
Celestia does as he says but is confused as to why he’s asking her to do this.
“Is there a reason you want me li-”
Celestia freezes as she feels Anon hold her in a strong embrace from behind.
“Just stay like this, please.”
She wants nothing more than to face him and understand what has him so down but this is what he wants for now. She can only feel relieved by the fact that he has come to her for comfort. So until daybreak, her questions will have to wait.
“Ok.” Celestia whispers as she closes her eyes.
Anon is holding Celestia tightly as he grits his teeth together. It was bound to happen sooner or later. It didn’t end the way Anon would’ve wanted but this is for the best. If he’s the problem, then the only way to fix it is to move on. He closes his eyes and tries his best to bury his memory away for the night.
Nightmare Moon’s eyes open as she scans the void. Something isn’t right. She stands up and looks around a bit more before she understands what she’s feeling. Ever since that naive mare Luna discovered her feelings for that human, Nightmare has been flooded with many different emotions and various thoughts. It’s been annoying to say the least but that isn’t the reason she’s awake. No, something outside of her room is causing a disturbance. One that Luna cannot sense.
Nightmare summons her door that links to Luna’s dream room. She opens it and sticks her head inside. Her head enters into the hallway and she looks around. Nothing but doors to the left but as she looks over to the right she notices a black fog covering a nearby door. It seems that somepony is having a nightmare. She looks closer at the door and instantly recognises it... That’s the human’s door.
Filled with curiosity, Nightmare uses magic to check on Luna’s attention and finds she’s still busy with various things. Good, she can walk freely. Nightmare exits her room and walks over to Anon’s door. She should be able to maintain her form here for a few minutes before being forced back to the void. She has to admit that this fog is rather thick, must be a strong nightmare.
“What is it that you fear?” Nightmare asks with a smirk as she touches her hoof to the door.
In a split second Nightmare tears her hoof off the door panting heavily. Her eyes are wide and her heart is racing a mile a minute. She backs a few steps away from the door before she comes to her senses. She takes a deep breath to calm herself and leers at the door. She has a sneer on her face as she walks back up to the door and places her hoof on it once more.
“I’m only repaying a debt.” She says to herself as she tears the fog from his door, clearing the nightmare with ease. “We’re even now.”
With that said she can feel the tug of the void... So without pause, she walks back to her room to finally rest.