“Hello? Anonymous?”
She knocked on his door before opening it with a quick flick of magic. Anonymous had been sitting on the floor, drawing something on a piece of paper. He was now silently eyeing Luna and her sister.
“I see you're enjoying the things I sent you earlier. Did you take a look at the book, too?”
Luna glanced at her sister. There was a light smile on her face and her eyes were slightly narrowed, telling of her eagerness to hear his reply. She hadn't told she'd given him a book, and Luna wondered which one she'd chosen.
“I did look at the book, and I found out that this-”
He tugged at the chain of the pendant he was wearing while Luna rudely stared at him in surprise.
He... had an accent. A strong one. She hadn't expected him to have one, he hadn't had one when they'd met in his dream.
“-does not work on writing. So, I could not read it.”
The way he pronounced his R's reminded her of something. Lotus and Aloe, Ponyville's spa keepers. Their accent was similar to Anonymous'. Not identical, but close.
“That's a shame. It's such a well written book. But, that's not why we're here.”
“What, do you want to ask who is the single most influential poet in known history? Or do you perhaps want to know how the Haber-Bosch process works?”
Luna nearly chuckled when she saw her sister's face. It was like she was about to say 'Eh' but was frozen halfway.
“What my sister is trying to say is that we are here because we thought you would enjoy an evening out in the city. And we heard that you need clothes to stay warm and it's autumn so we thought you would appreciate a visit to the tailor.”
She received an annoyed glance from Celestia for stealing her lines.
“You're letting me out of this room?”
Anonymous' expression changed into one she couldn't read, but the tone of his voice suggested that he was surprised.
“That's good. Because I don not know how the Haber-Bosch process works.”
“There's a few things you should know before you leave. I was told you don't remember anything of what happened immediately after you arrived.”
Luna let her sister speak. While she liked to annoy her, she neither wanted nor liked to take it too far.
“The ponies at the market told me that your arrival was preceded by some disturbed happenstances. Then you appeared from what they described as a perfectly black sphere.”
Celestia paused to look out of the window. Her ears perked up as if she had heard some sound.
“They were understandably afraid of you and ran away. I doubt anypony will run from you now – in fact, most of them should be curious and welcoming – but try to remember what sort of a first impression you made.”
“Okay, so no unholy rituals to summon eldritch abominations from the Beyond. Got it. Was there anything else?”
Her elder sister 's head jerked back from the window as her narrowed eyes fixed on the alien. Luna knew that the short, silent moment was because she had just barely stopped herself from snapping at him. She mentally congratulated Anonymous for somehow managing to get under her sister's skin in a way she had never managed to.
“Yes.”
Celestia's tone was indeed snappy as she continued, and he did not miss it.
“Hey, I was not being serious. I just forgot that I am now in a world where what I said can be taken seriously.”
He lifted his hands to his sides, palms facing upwards, and shrugged. Luna wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean, but assumed it to be some sort of an apologetic gesture.
“There is one more thing you should know.”
She glanced at her sister, who nodded.
“You gave a blood sample earlier and we have studied it. It has reacted very strongly to Equestria's magic, absorbing vast amounts of it. It seems like the magic stored in it can easily be used by anypony. Thankfully, it does not seem to affect you in any way. But there are some less than savory characters in Equestria who would go great lengths to acquire such power. So we would ask you to keep it a secret unless you want to attract these beings.”
Anonymous stared at Luna, one eyebrow arced and his arms crossed. It made her feel like he thought she was dumb.
”So if it does not affect me and you want me to keep it a secret, why tell me at all?”
She was about to answer when she heard him draw a sharp breath.
”Great. So not am I only a scary monster, but my blood is also valuable enough for some to hunt me. What a wonderful situation I have got myself into.”
That had to be sarcasm, she concluded, and did her best to remember his tone and expression to recognize it in the future. The more she learned about him, the more he reminded her of a pony.
Luna took a deep breath, inhaling the cool autumn air of the castle courtyard. It smelled faintly of rotting leaves. A chilly breeze blew past her as she looked back at Anonymous. He was looking up at the cloudless, starry sky and his breath was forming thin streaks of silvery mist in the wind. There was a peculiar hint of a smile on his face even though she saw him shiver.
“Are you cold?”
The wind tickled her fur but the chill hadn't found a way through. Anonymous' clothes must've not done so well.
“A little. It was not this cold back home. I just-”
He fell silent all of a sudden. Luna saw the slightest of smiles that'd been on his face fade away as he slowly brought his gaze to his own feet.
“Never mind. Let's just... go. It's cold.”
His voice had changed, too. It was quieter, lower and monotone, and lacked not only enthusiasm but hope as well.
“Is something bothering you?”
She tried to make herself sound casual, but some of her worry seeped into her voice. Minute signs of conflicting emotions flashed on Anonymous' face as he watched her turn around and close the distance between them. He remained silent for longer than she thought he would but finally let out a sigh and opened his mouth.
“A week ago, I visited my mother.”
Luna did not recognize the tone of his voice. It sounded more dramatic and lacked the quirkiness he usually had.
“She invited me to eat, so I went there and ate. Then she asked how I had liked the food. Only, differently from how she usually did it. I am not sure how to describe it, but I knew she expected something form me. I told her the truth – that the food was good and I especially liked the salad because the tomatoes were excellent.”
Anonymous glanced up at the sky again before looking at her, a warm yet somehow sad smile on his face.
“I could feel the happiness in her voice when she told me they were the tomatoes she had grown herself. She had spent the whole summer worrying about them, wondering if they will have time to ripen because it had not been very warm. Calling me when she was away and asking me to go and water them when it was dry. But, early autumn was mild and they did have time to ripen. And I had just praised them, and her efforts.”
He closed his eyes as he let out another sigh, the smile melting from his face again.
“And now I can not figure out how I ended up here, or how to get back. I have redone most of the calculations and they check out. It should not have been possible. Repeating it to get back should not be possible, and I am not sure if I can even repair the thing to even try.”
Luna was not sure how to respond. She wished to tell him that everything was going to turn out fine, that he could be happy, but she also knew that he could not return – she, her sister and Twilight had all decided it was too risky.
“Would you mind if I bought you a drink?”
She settled on the two things she thought she could safely offer. A drink, and an ear.
“I think... I could use one.”