//------------------------------// // Chapter 126 - The Ever Shifty Anon // Story: Dadonequus Discord (Book 2) // by CrazedLaughter //------------------------------// With school over, it was time to prepare to visit Tempest. Well, almost, you had wanted to take Diamond aside to talk to her about the current Chrysalis situation, let her know what's up, but she was being rather insistent on the fact that she had to have some girl time with Silver Spoon, but that she would ‘totally’ see you later so you could talk… Among other things. You didn’t even really get a chance to tell her about the subject of the discussion. Then again, saving it for AFTER your visit might not be such a bad idea either.  Then there was Cozy Glow. You just had this itch, you wanted to at least go and check how she was doing at this moment. Or maybe it was something else, maybe you just wanted to observe how she interacts with others. Or maybe just see how others interact with her. Something just felt off, and yet you couldn’t put your hoof on it. Maybe you were just looking too deep into it. She’s a little filly, it could just be anxiety issues.  “Alright, Anon, we gotta talk.” You hear from your front. You look forward and realized you were kind of just standing a few yards from the school, and even more, the CMC have surrounded you. Applebloom herself was staring right at you, staring at you hard, as if she wanted something. “There’s something not right about you, and I want to know what that is.” The hell? “Guh?! Applebloom? Girls? What’s going on? What is this about?” “We want to know how you always seem to know so much about everypony. Like, whenever anypony says anything about anything, you always seem to have some sort of example or excuse to counter their point. It’s super suspicious.” Sweetie Belle said as she looked at you from your right side, suspiciously. “Hate to say it, Anon, but they’re right. It is reaaaalllyy weird you seem to know all these random tidbits about us all the time. And the really weird thing about it, and we started to notice this, is that it’s pretty much stuff from right after Twilight even showed up in Ponyville.” Scootaloo said from your left side, looking a little more concerned than inquisitive. “Yep, allll the way up until ya actually showed up, and then suddenly you don’t know much of nothen unless you were there or we pretty much tell ya. Seems really suspicious to me.” Applebloom said as she looked you directly in the eye, bringing her face close to yours. What?! Now they notice?! Wait, they fucking noticed?! Ok ok, relax, Anon, you can counter this. You take a step back, take a breath, and look to Applebloom with confidence. “Look, as I am sure I mentioned before, I asked Dad about a lot of the finer points and details, and asked around for the rest. Back then, ya know, I just wanted to make sure I could make friends with everypony.” “C’mon, Anon, we know you’re not even from this dimension, so you can’t fool us like you do everypony else. I doubt your dad knows all those details about us, and I can’t even think of a situation where anypony would tell you about all that other stuff just out of the blue. Applebloom is right, it is super suspicious, and as your friends, we think you should tell us how you REALLY know all that stuff.” Sweetie Belle said as the other two nodded. ‘As your friends’?! Where does she get off telling you that?! Aside from Scoots, you really didn’t owe Applebloom and especially Sweetie Belle anything. You just roll your eyes and grumble. “Are you all serious? How else would I know about that stuff then? I don’t have a crystal ball that tells me everything about a pony’s life. If I did, then don’t you think I’d have been able to reform Chrysalis already? Or heck, instantly crush any threat that showed up in Ponyville before it even happens? Let me ask you all this. How else would I know about all that?” “Well, that ain’t for us to answer, Anon. But ah know how to get it out of ya.” Applebloom said as she reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a vial with a yellow liquid in it. “Been holdin’ on to this for about a month now, made it myself.” “Woah, woah, hey! Applebloom, didn’t you say that truth potion lasts for a whole week? I thought we were going to save that for anypony who tries to trick us or something. I didn’t know you were gonna use it on Anon!” Scootaloo said, startled by Applebloom’s power move. “Seems like a good idea to me. Anon knows all this stuff about everything, but we still don’t really know too much about him. I say we use the potion.” Sweetie Belle says, standing to Applebloom’s side. “It’s only fair.” What in the fuck?! All this because you knew certain bits from season 2?! Ok, they were taking things way too seriously now. A truth potion that lasts a week?! Nuts to that! Lying is fucking important, and you aren’t dealing with that shit. “Aren’t I supposed to be a friend or something? What kind of friend makes another drink some weird potion?” Scootaloo flinched at that one, and then looked to her two friends. “He’s got a good point. It doesn’t seem right to force him to drink that stuff. C’mon, girls, Anon is right, how else would he know all that stuff? It’s not like his dimension had an Equestria that played out exactly like ours does. I mean, if it did, then why would Discord even bother bringing him here if he was that other Discord's kid?” “But, that just sounds… Er…” Applebloom slowly lowered the potion, staring at it. “Erm, ah guess that would be a pretty bad thing to do, even if tellin’ the truth is somethin’ you’re supposed to do. Ah just, ah guess the reason ah even brewed this thing was because ah was savin’ it for a moment like this, and that’s the truth.” Applebloom’s ears folded as she looked down in shame. “Ahm sorry, Anon. Ah just thought there was somethin’ else to ya that you just weren’t tellin us, and ah really wanted to know what that was, especially with you knowin’ all that stuff about us. You always seem to know a lot of stuff, but ya never really explain it to us.” “But it still doesn’t make any sense though. There is no possible way he could know through… Ah nuts, fine, I know it’s wrong to use the potion, even if I also didn't really know why Applebloom had it. But, Anon, is that really how you know all that stuff? How does Discord know if he wasn’t even there?” Sweetie asked, still curious to the real ‘truth’ to the matter. “Why would anypony just tell you all that random stuff?” Crisis averted, thank god for Scootaloo having your back. But christ, a truth potion? You almost forgot Applebloom had some alchemical skill. Would have been a fucking disaster if they somehow forced you to drink that stuff. As for the girls, you had to think as you suddenly found yourself at an advantageous position. You could just tell them to fuck off, but that would upset Scootaloo. Buuuuuut, if Cozy believes you’re a professor, and you believe you’re as good as Twilight, then you might as well put your teaching skills to the test. It’s a bit risky, but goddamn, you could ‘gary stu’ through this one for sure and show them how wrong they really were to distrust you… Even if they were right. “Because I’m more social than you realize. Geez, Sweetie Belle, did you forget all the friends I have? A lot of ponies tell me a lot of things? You hurt me, you really do. Tch, you know what? I think you all should see friendship through my eyes. I am going to go visit my friend, Tempest Shadow. You all wanna come with? We’re traveling first class teleportation.” “I want to come! She seemed pretty cool during the festival, but she also looked pretty nervous. I’d really want a chance to talk to her. Does she still use that cool airship?” Scootaloo asked, already excited to take up the offer. “W-well…” Applebloom, still feeling rather ashamed, looked at you with such a sorry expression, feeling terrible about what she had planned to do. “Erm, ah don’t mind, Anon. Ah mean, well… You ain’t mad at me, right?” Yes “No, but I really think you should come if you want to see some truth to what I say. I get around, Applebloom. I know stuff. But you don’t know anything about my more private life unless it literally plops right in front of you. I just want you to see some of it, maybe it’ll help you understand me better.” “I dunno. What does us even going have to do with you knowing all that stuff?” Sweetie Belle asked, still skeptical. “Because you guys usually act as if I’m lying or up to something I shouldn’t. I want to show you that some of the stuff I do is just out of scope, but isn’t anything too unusual most of the time. The most you guys got me on was Chrysalis. And hey, now you guys got Scrappy as a friend. I figured having you guys meet Tempest will just show that some of the stuff I do isn’t all secretive and shadowy, that it’s just something you guys just wouldn’t know about because you don’t know the going ons of every aspect of my life. I mean, I’ve been told a few times that was the case with me, so now, that is the case with you. Besides, again, going back to what started all this. How else would I know what I know? You guys actually act is if I somehow was watching you guys and knew exactly what to do before Dad even brought me here. And I gotta say, don’t you think that sounds really far fetched?” stomp it in, Anon, stomp it in. Really put the salt on the wound. Because, guess what, you just told them the truth, and they’ll never be able to call you on it. Let’s see Sweetie counter that one! And she couldn’t, she just sort of sat there, silent, until finally Applebloom spoke up again. “Anon is right, maybe we were just overthinkin’ it. Scootaloo, yer the closest to Anon out of all of us, you ever noticed anything wrong?” Scootaloo shook her head and shrugged. “Nope, other than the regular chaos stuff. C’mon girls, relax! Anon isn’t mad, so you two should really just drop all that suspicious stuff. If anything crazy was going on, Anon would tell us, right Anon?” You nod. “Yep.” “Then what’s with the shackles?” Sweetie Belle pointed at them, still skeptical, if finally starting to relent. “I thought you just summoned them up for that experiment. Do you still need them?” GYAH! SHIT! MAYDAY! MAYDAY! “O-oh, erm…” Ok, Anon, think. You were going to tell Diamond, and obviously Scrappy will know and he WILL tell Applebloom and Sweetie Belle if Scootaloo doesn't. Ugh, you can’t just tell them about it now either, it would spoil the trip. “Ok, you got me on that one. They are super important. And it kind of has to do with Scrappy and-” “Ah knew it! Then it has to do with why mah sister needed him. This really is ab-” As Applebloom was about to blurt it out, you rush over to her and cram her mouth shut. Fuck, you forgot about the detail that she already had overheard something. “Yes! Fine, yes! Scootaloo was going to tell you both, she already knew, ok? Let’s not go yelling that out loud, please? Ok, and-” But then Sweetie Belle looked to Scootaloo in disbelief. “You knew?! And you didn’t tell us?!” Sweetie Belle said. “Gyah! Look, I found out just before class started! I was going to let you both know back at the clubhouse! B-but see? This is what Anon was talking about! He didn’t even try to hide it from us, he just needed to hide it from the rest of the class because of how super serious this all is. We all know how important this is to Anon, he and Princess Celestia did pretty much end up reforming every other changeling, just like we helped reform Scrappy. So we have to be there to help Anon reform Chrysalis.” Scootaloo, what a bro-er, sis! Once again jumping to your defense. “But what about Scrappy?! What if Chrysalis tries to hurt him! Why does Twilight even need him?” Applebloom demanded an answer. Christ, this was not the fucking time to talk about this! You began to frantically whisper. “Ok, look, she can’t hurt anypony, ok?! The shackles? They are part of a deal! She can’t hurt anypony at all, or else…” You suddenly locked up for a moment, you felt your heart wrench at the very thought of Chrysalis losing her life. “Look, it’s simple. Chrysalis will be gone forever if she hurts him or anypony else that isn’t Twilight. That’s what the shackles mean, it’s part of a chaotic contract. Twilight knows that too, and she is making sure to be able to stop Chrysalis so she’ll have to live up to her part of the deal and reform. Chrysalis can’t even win against Twilight, she’s too weak. It’s pretty much a guaranteed victory. It's all I have left to make this work. Please, girls, can we just…” Fuck, dammit, these girls are a real pain. Applebloom gulps, feeling she may have pushed too hard, especially after hearing that much. “Anon, ahm really sorry, really! Ah just… No, there isn’t no excuse for what I had planned to do. You were bein’ honest, and ah just didn’t believe it. Well that ain’t happenin’ again. I’m behind ya all the way, ya hear?” And just like that, Applebloom was on your side. “I-I’m sorry too. I didn’t realize how crazy the situation was. I-I always thought you were still just being high and mighty. But I guess I was the one being like that. Anon, I’m really really REALLY sorry. I don’t want to lose you as a friend. You’re really cool, you know?” Sweetie Belle said, her eyes watery as she gives you a pout. Ngh, don’t go for it, Anon, she is an asshole. SHE’S A CUTE ASSHOLE! DAMMMMIT! You sigh, and give in. “I know, it’s ok, all water under the bridge. But let me just say this, you two really need to learn to trust me better. I dunno, I don’t think I’m willing to go through something like this again. But, it’s fine, I’m sure this is the last time. Anyway, my offer still stands. You three want to go? For real?” Applebloom nodded, feeling reassured and happy that she was forgiven, even if she still felt bad about it. “Ah want to go. I always like makin’ new friends.” “Yeah, me too! Thanks, Anon, really. You’re a really awesome pony. I guess I have to admit you really matured. Erm, so much that I think we’re the ones who still need a little more maturing to do.” Sweetie Belle said, feeling awkward and nervous, but willing to follow through with her apology. “Awesome! Alright, Anon, I’m ready too! Let’s do this!” Scootaloo said, ready to go and happy the situation went so much better than she thought it was going to end up being. “Alright.” You say as you plop on your horn. “Get ready, girls! And don’t blink.” And with that, you all were gone.