An Alien Walks Amongst Us

by Hazardus_Havard


Chapter Nineteen - This Is The Part Where Things Get Hectic

Lyra had finally managed to get out of the room from the second floor of the tower, trying to get up early for the day. It was a struggle for her, prying herself away from Bon Bon’s grip. The girls had decided to let Bon Bon skip her watch due to her being physically and mentally exhausted from the recent events. That and they didn’t think it felt appropriate to have her on the watch.

Bon Bon had easily managed to convince Lyra to sleep with her for the night. That turned to her snuggling up against Lyra as the two talked to one another, mostly about what she wanted to do when they all returned to Ponyville.

The talk was cut short quickly in the night from her falling asleep on Lyra. Awake, she thought about what her future would be like with what had just occurred. It would be an awkward time when they all went back to Ponyville that was for sure.

Shaking her head from the memories of last night, Lyra walked downstairs, seeing Octavia by the fireplace, putting more wood into it. Spotting her coming down the stairs, she hummed to herself as she continued to feed the fire.

“Good morning, Lyra,” she greeted. “I was just getting ready for our meals before we head out.” Nodding, the unicorn took a seat beside Octavia. The two of them stared into the fire in silence, listening to the crackling of the wood. “So, Bon Bon finally came out.”

Lyra sighed, “How many ponies knew about this?” she asked, hanging her head down. “I feel so dumb about how oblivious I was to her feelings.”

Octavia tilted her head at Lyra. “I would personally say there weren’t that many which knew of her feelings, though I highly doubt it will surprise anypony the two of you hooked up.”

The minty pony rubbed her front leg. “Okay then. I’m, well, sorry you four had to see all this drama.”

“I’m just happy that it’s finally over after so long.”

“I just want to get this all done so I can go back home. Take a nice hot bath and relax for a while.”

“I concur with that,” Octavia agreed with a nod.

Hearing someone yawn, they turned and saw Vinyl stretching her legs out, letting out a small squeak in the process. As if on cue, Flitter and Cloud Chaser also wake up at the same time, stretching their limbs out.

“I should get the food started,” Octavia said, getting up from her seat and over to her bags. “I’ll prepare the eggs; you should go get Bon Bon up.”

Grunting in acknowledgment, Lyra stood up and headed up the stairs. Walking into the room, she saw that Bon Bon was already awake, placing things back into her pack.

Turning around, she blinked at Lyra before smiling at her, “Good morning, Lyra.”

“Morning,” she replied, walking up to her friend. “Octavia has breakfast being made downstairs.”

“Alright,” she replied, putting her pack on. “I suppose I should disarm my traps while she’s doing that.” Bon Bon clasped the pack onto her sides, making sure her lab coat was perfectly fine while doing so. As Lyra turned to leave with Bon Bon in front, the candy mare stopped, right before turning back to Lyra. “Oh, um… I’m sorry if I was overly emotional last night. I sort of lost my cool, a—”

“It’s fine, Bonnie,” Lyra interrupted, “you just wanted to get some things off your chest, I understand. We can talk more about this once we get back home, okay?”

“R-Right,” she said in embarrassment. “I-I’ll go now and get those traps.”

Watching her quickly go down the stairs, she sighed out. Things were going to be awkward for quite some time for the two of them, Lyra just felt it. She shook her head, making her way downstairs to get some food and make sure the group was ready to head out as soon as possible.

It didn’t take long for them all to eat, though for some odd reason they had to help get Cloud Chaser out of one of Bon Bon’s traps: she had gone outside to use a bush, unknowingly stepping into one of her traps. Flitter wouldn’t stop teasing her the entire time as she saw her sister entrapped in a net, stating how she needed to believe more in the ‘nin’ in her. It ended with the rest of the group holding Cloud Chaser back from throwing ‘Celestia’s pee’ at her…

Once fed and packed up, the six of them sat around a map placed on the ground, once more examining it.

“We should be there in a few hours following this route,” Lyra said, pointing it out to the others. “Once we do a cursory inspection when we arrive at the base, I’ll be taking Cloud Chaser to the left side of it while Bon Bon and Flitter will be taking the right. We’ll be directly searching for where Anon is being held.”

“Which will leave me and Octavia to throw down some sound waves into their virgin ears, blasting their ‘drums with our combined forces of awesome!” Octavia let out a groan while Vinyl pumped her hoof in the air.

“Right, you two are the distraction at the front while we search the base. We have to hit hard and fast, we don’t know how many are there so we don’t want a long-drawn-out battle. The moment we do find him, either myself or Bon Bon will stay with him as Flitter or Cloud Chaser flies back to the others, alerting them we found him. On the way back we’ll head directly to these towers as resting points, though I’d like to try and travel to the second or third tower beyond this one to give us some distance.”

“It seems simple enough,” Cloud Chaser said, swiping a hoof in the air.

“So long as nothing, in particular, goes wrong,” Bon Bon stated.

“Is everypony packed and ready?” Lyra asked, putting her map away. They all nodded their heads after double-checking their bindings. “Then let’s head out. The sooner this is over, the sooner we head home and celebrate our success!”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X~ ~X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The shuffling of papers could be heard along with a labored breath coming out of the second in command. Sitting in the commander’s room at the commander’s desk, Colibri stared at the papers he found in his brother’s room, displeased at what he had read.

He lost count of how many times he’s gone through the papers, barely believing them to be true. And yet, here they were; everything that his brother had planned out.

It was the captive’s own words that forced him to do this. Colibri never doubted his brother once, never had reason to, and yet, something about what the alien had said kept returning, forcing him to become… too curious, too anxious just to prove to himself that his brother was, in fact, a hero.

So he had searched his room carefully, looking for anything that the human had described. He was truly feeling like a fool nearing the end for even searching the room when happenchance occurred: a painting of him and his brother had fallen as he was cautiously moving things around. Behind it was a set of plans for things that had occurred and was yet to come, along with a journal explaining everything.

‘The alien was right,’ Colibri thought, looking down at the journal of his brother. ‘To find my own brother…’

The door slammed open with Liberum walking in, panting hard. “Sir! We’re currently under attack from an unknown force up above!” Colibri ignored this, simply continuing to stare at the papers. Liberum frowned at this. “Sir? Did you hear me?”

It was only then that Liberum truly realized the state of the room he was in. Everything was torn apart as if some being had ransacked the place. Walking forward, Liberum looked at the papers that Colibri was ignoring him for.

“Sir?”

Sighing, Colibri calmed himself, turning to Liberum,” The alien, he was right.”

“What… what exactly do you mean by that?” Liberum asked. “Please don’t say the alien’s words from yesterday encouraged you to do this?”

“His words… They only helped me want true confirmation about my brother’s actions. For some reason, what he said would not stop bothering me.” Colibri looked down at the papers, and then around the room. “The room was my own doing after finding what I had. He had no part in my actions at that point.”
Liberum stared down at Colibri, uncertain where to go with this conversation. “You found something, didn’t you?”

“Of course I did,” Colibri sharply replied, “otherwise I wouldn’t be sitting here, trying to find a reason why he did this. All our sacrifices, the work we’ve put into this… all for nothing.”

A small rumble could be felt in the room, forcing Liberum to look back at the door, and then to Colibri. “So everything we’ve done is all for naught?”

“Indeed,” Colibri muttered, closing his eyes. “Everything that my brother had convinced me of was nothing but a pile of lies. We were used for my brother’s nefarious schemes, planned to be tossed aside when he was through with us.” He laughed, looking at the papers once more. “He’s supposed to give word a few days from now to have us confront the opposing forces in targeted cities so he can slip in while we create chaos. Things would come to an end in a few months from now after this week, his preparations finished. He’s so close to completing them, all he needs is some misdirection from what he’s doing. It doesn’t look like he had a contingency plan if anyone ever found out about this.”

“I simply can’t believe I’m saying this, but it looks like luck was on our side when we foalnapped the alien,” Liberum said with a frown. He placed a hoof on Colibri’s shoulder, “Sir, I can’t say I understand how you’re feeling. It must be horrible to know your brother would do such a thing. But now that you have, we should prepare for the outcome of our actions.”

Colibri chuckled, looking at his friend, “So easy to move away from what we’ve been doing without a thought, Liberum?”

“You know I’m only here because of you, Colibri. If you truly believe we shouldn’t be doing this, I will follow through.”

“And how exactly do you expect I go about this?” Colibri angrily asked. “What should I prepare for? My brother’s already near the Crystal Empire, waiting to give us the command for the distraction he needs to get into some guarded cavern, something about a powerful artifact in there that will help him complete his plans.”

“Do you know what his end goals are?”

“…No. He was stupid enough to write everything he’s been doing, yet never wrote down a reason for it all. Only that it was to help further empower some kind of draconic artifact” He stared at the papers, “I know of your commitment to stay by my side. You’ve stuck beside me for a long time. But what should I do with the others? I doubt they will come along on whatever we’re doing; they’re here due to false preaching. Why help the ones willing to fix it once they find the truth? Many will outright leave and I doubt any are willing to help stop my brother.”

“But sir… Colibri. Everyone here, they respect you. We all look up to your leadership, to your dedication and well being of us all. We may have been duped but I don’t believe the commander should be allowed with getting away with manipulating us, and I doubt the others will want that as well. So some may leave, that’s up to them, but has that ever stopped us in the past? Even if it was just the two of us I would still follow you into the depths of Tartarus. Should we truly give up now, when our actions are in dire need of correction?!”

Colibri sat there in silence, looking down at the papers. The room rumbled once more, neither of them moving from their positions.

“It truly sickens me knowing all our actions amounted to nothing. Even if our intent wasn’t to hurt anypony, we’re still in the wrong. Ultimately, we should give ourselves up and hope for leniency from the princesses. It’s… for the best.”

Grief-stricken to hear this, Liberum stood still as Colibri got up from his chair, packing his brother's journal and papers into his side pack before slowly walking past him.

“But.. before we do that, we have one final mission,” Colibri said, stopping at the door and looking at Liberum in anger. “We’ve got a wayward commander on his own, thinking he can use us like this. I believe he needs to be shown he’s wrong in this thinking, don’t you think?”

Liberum turned to Colibri with a serious look in his eyes, staring at his longtime friend. “What do we do if we’re not able to get to him in time?”

“No, we will get there even if it means we run without sleep for the entire trip. He will not be allowed to do as he pleases any longer. And then, after we finish things up… who knows? But for now, we’ve got my brother to track down.” The room shook, causing the two to look up at the ceiling, watching it crack and leave trails across the surface. “But first… let’s deal with this problem we’re currently facing.”

Liberum gave a nod, trying his best to hide a smile.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X~ ~X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The moment Anon woke up, things started to get hectic for him. It all started with the entire building vibrating from some unknown force, shaking the entire foundation. It unnerved Anon just how strong it was. He could hear a multitude of voices screaming outside the thick wall, along with something in the background that felt very familiar: a droning of some kind that repeated its actions.

It seemed like they were being attacked once again, only this time it was a more aggressive attempt at them.

Climbing up to his feet, his first thought was to look out the barred windows to see what was happening. He stopped himself, remembering what had happened the last time. He wanted no part of the magic that would likely go through and blast right into his face.

The place he was being held in would not stop pounding away with a low thump that shook the building. Dust flew in the air, forcing a choked cough from Anon. It seemed that neither of the guards had arrived at his cell just yet, having been told by Liberum to stand outside the room itself to keep him from talking to the two anymore.

Liberum didn’t seem happy hearing how Anon had made Colibri all worked up. He had made some threats about moving in unicorns to help with any interrogations they would have shortly. Rocky and Roller appeared worried hearing that, and Anon certainly wasn’t having any of that if he could help it. If given the chance, he would certainly try to escape, regardless of what he may find in the forest. Waiting for someone to help him wouldn’t do much good if his mind was turned into a vegetable from their actions.

Thinking about his chances of escaping, he got quite a bit of info from the two guards, enough to give him a fairly decent idea of how to get back to civilization. All he needed was to follow these supposed guard towers. As for any supplies, he would just have to forgo looking for any as it was in his best interest to just get out of there.

As the shaking continued, Anon stood there, waiting for any opportunity to get him out of there. He was hoping for some opening that would allow him a way to get out. Possibly a stray beam of magic could destroy the wall to his cell, or the bars get melted off somehow.

The building shuddered once more, stronger this time around, with Anon nearly dropping as a result. The odd but familiar sounds didn’t appear to be louder, but they did seem more chaotic. It felt like whatever was attacking was upping their game. A bit worrisome if he got in the thick of it, but it kept the night rebels occupied with things.

Standing there for some time, Rocky eventually came within sight of the cells. He looked reluctant being there. Anon could hear the keys on the pony jingling on his side.

“Okay,” Rocky said, looking up to him, “I know we’re supposed to, well, watch you and all. My brother and I had been talking and didn’t think you being here was a good idea.” He turned to the side, looking away. “You see—ECK!”

Anon had quickly gotten to the bars and pulled the pony against them, raising him in the air as he choked him. He felt bad, hurting the dopey guard, but he had the keys to his freedom.

“N-N-No, you n-need to be a l-little lower,” Rocky struggled out.

Unsure how to react to that, Anon did notice he was squeezing at the armor more than Rocky himself. Wiggling his arms in the proper position, he squeezed his neck with better ease.

“M-Much b-b-better.”

Anon gritted his teeth, “Oh god, you’re getting off on this, aren’t you?! I swear to god if you’re getting a pony boner over this…”

“W-what's… a… b-bo… nn…” He didn’t finish, slumping into Anon’s arms, unconscious.

Anon let off the pressure, not wanting to cause any permanent damage to the creepy little pony.

As he was slowly kneeling to put him on the ground Roller just so happened to walk in just at that moment. Both Anon and Roller stared at one another, before the pony looked down at his brother, then back at Anon. A sudden realization hit the pony, “Oh! He must’ve told you before I got here huh? Well, I couldn’t find a spare bucket or anything useful, sooo… How am I going to do this? Hmm… Well, I guess there’s always the wall!”

Getting into a running position, Roller charged the wall to Anon’s right, ramming his head right into it. He immediately bounced back, going into a spinning swirl before slamming into the ground, knocking himself out. Anon could help but stare at what the guard had done, utterly baffled by both of their actions.

Ignoring the idiocy of it all, he turned back to the guard he choked out and unclasped the keys from him. Unlocking his cell door, he got out and made his way down the hall, anxious to get out of dodge. A rather large quake hit the building he was in, forcing him to grab some nearby bars for support.

“Yeah, definitely time to leave,” he said to himself, waiting for the shaking to stop.

Once outside, Anon didn’t notice any of the ponies outside of the room, thanking his lucky stars. Or would he be thanking Luna? What a confusing thought to have at the moment for Anon.

Taking a calming breath, Anon ran down the halls and past all the empty cells until he reached the far door. Looking into each room and not seeing anything, he ran past them, searching every door he came across, trying to go by memory on how to get out of the place. He was glad to not have met any guards around, likely all distracted at the moment.

“WAIT!” he heard being screamed from behind him just as he was about to leave the next room.

Letting out a curse, he immediately went through the door and threw a nearby stand in front of it before running to the next door. Attempting to go through it, he found the door locked; the final one he needed for his freedom.

He was not wanting to get caught after getting so far, not believing there would be another chance to get out by himself. Looking around the room, he noticed he was in an office of sorts. It also happened to have a convenient window, cracked open already.

Acting fast, he ran over to it, slammed it all the way open, and jumped out without thought. He dropped only a few feet from the ground, kneeling as he fell and landed, quite happy to have managed all of that so well. Thinking fast, he sprinted to the trees closest to him in hopes to get as much distance from the place as possible.

Finding the guard towers he was told about could come later; right then, he needed to make sure none of the guards could recapture him.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X~ ~X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Bon Bon was not a happy pony.

When the six of them arrived at the base, they all went to their respective positions, waiting for what was about to happen.

Making sure they didn’t get caught, Bon Bon and Flitter started to sneak through the trees and diving into bushes, keeping out of sight as they moved through the area. Finding a good spot to wait, Bon Bon stayed in a bush while Flitter went up into a tree to hide.

Waiting at their spot, it didn’t take long to hear an obnoxiously loud boom, followed by a pattern of additional thumps, zaps, and whatever else the electrifying musical mare could come up with. The rebels quickly reacted to the sounds, running straight toward it. It was a lot fewer than she thought would be at the base. Would they hold some in reserve for some reason? It was a worrying thought, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it.

Keeping to the shadows, she snuck around the trees, making her way up to the buildings, all the while watching for any rebels running past her. Flitter kept to the sky, zipping through the area as she wore her suit, ‘nin’ing’ through the area. Bon Bon was quite surprised to see how competent she was at keeping out of sight.

Stopping at a building, she looked in and couldn’t spot any ponies in the room. Thinking it was as good a place to start as any, she jumped into the window and hoped for the best. Ducking once she landed, she immediately looked around.

There were only a few desks, chairs, and some cabinets along with a map placed on a wall. There didn’t seem to be much in the room at all. Doing a quick search for anything that could help her she hummed, finding nothing of interest.

Walking to the window, Bon Bon signaled to Flitter to see if it was okay to jump back out. It took a minute before she flashed something bright in Bon Bon’s direction, giving her the okay to leave. Once out, she went straight back into the shadows before running off to the next building.

It took a few tries before she eventually spotted two fairly large buildings in the back of the base. Deciding they were a good place to try her luck, she motioned Flitter that she was going in, making sure not to get spotted on her way.

As she was moving forward, the ground shook violently before a particularly loud string of music hit the air. It didn’t sound like something typical of Vinyl, so Octavia must have joined the fray of musical warfare. It was played at a rapid pace; it kept up with the fast beating that was coming from Vinyl.

Returning her direction to the task at hoof, she looked up to Flitter, noticing she had flown into the air and was returning toward Bon Bon. Landing in a tree, she slid down the base before hiding in the bush Bon Bon was currently in.

“It seems like Octavia did that,” Flitter said, confirming her thoughts. “I have no idea what that was, but right now she’s shooting off bow after bow like crazy at the rebels! You should have seen it; her cello was glowing all weird-like and had lightning sparking off of it!”

“Vinyl’s interactions with it, no doubt,” Bon Bon said. “Alright, I’m going to go into that large building right there. I’ll need you to keep an eye out while I’m inside.”

Flitter nodded to her before ‘nin’ing’ off back into the trees. Shaking her head, Bon Bon ran out of the bush and directly toward the building. Getting inside a window, she opened it up and slid in. Ducking down once more, she looked around for any signs of danger. Finding herself safe enough, she stood back up before looking for any clues to Anon’s whereabouts.

It didn’t take her long to find some information on him on a desk. It had a picture of him pinned to some papers, along with some directions to where he could be found. She was quite happy to find she didn’t need to do something crazy to get to him. Stepping out of the room to go check on the location she read about, Bon Bon immediately noticed sounds coming directly in a room next to hers.

Worried it was a pony, she took one of her ropes out, ready to deal with the rebel before it could sneak up on her. Peeking out the door, she wasn’t expecting to see Anon walking out of the room.

“WAIT!” she screamed out, trying to get her rope back into her pack.

Her scream must have spooked him, Anon having run into a room, slamming the door closed behind him. Running up to it, she attempted to slam it open, only finding resistance. She continued to slam up against it but found herself incapable of getting in. Still, she continued to pound against it, hoping it would give way so she could reach Anon.

Immediately, the window to her side opened up, revealing Flitter. “Bon Bon, Anon jumped out the window! I saw him run in the forest, come on!”

“Why didn’t you follow him!” Bon Bon asked, following Flitter out the window.

“I’m not going to leave you here alone with all these rebels around, now come on!”

As they were about to run off into the forest, a spell blasted off between the two, rocketing past them; a rebel had found them.

Without warning, Flitter threw something down onto the ground. Bon Bon identified it as one of those weird nin balls Flitter showed her. It quickly enveloped the two of them in dark smoke. Before Bon Bon could react, she felt herself being pulled by something, and with no time she found herself at the edge of the forest.

“W-What the—” Bon Bon was surprised at the huge distance she just traveled. “Did you just teleport? Those ball things work?!”

“Just go after Anon, I’ll stop anyone from coming after you and catch up when I’m done!” Flitter turned to the unicorn that had slid to a stop. She let out a yell, throwing another ball down. When the smoke cleared, Bon Bon could see her now on top of the guard. “MAY THE POWER OF NIN CONSTRAIN YOU!!!”

Shaking her head from what just happened, she quickly ran off to where Anon had gone, hoping to catch up to him.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X~ ~X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The further Anon went into the forest, the more muffled the sounds from the commotion coming from the base came to be. Not once did he try to stop or slow down, unsure if anyone was still following him or not. He was just happy he wasn’t dying from exhaustion from all the running: all that work on the farm and doing the odd thing here and there was paying off.

Still running at full speed, he leaped over rocks, barreled through any bushes in his path, and dodged around every tree that he came upon. Sure, he gained a few cuts along the way, his clothing was looking worse for wear, water seemed to attract to his feet and pants too well, and his body was telling him to slow down, but for the moment he was high on adrenaline and had a great need to get away from those ponies.

Something was feeling off about his run. He wasn’t breathing hard at all, and it almost seemed unnatural how well he was traversing through the area.

Without understanding what his actions had done, he felt himself turning completely right, nearly ripping his feet off the ground. Something in him thought it was a good idea to run this way. He wasn’t sure why, but it just felt like the correct choice for him.

He started to feel nauseated as if something was pounding away at his head. He chalked that one up to the amount of running he was currently doing.

Anon continued to run through the forest, feeling that odd sensation in him, almost guiding him about the place. It felt like safety was at hand when he followed through with it. He thought his instincts had sharpened up to him, something he was happy about.

Eventually, he found himself standing in front of a strange cave, holding his head from the horrible headache he was feeling, all the while sweating like mad. Anon hummed, thinking a cave would be a great place to hide for a moment’s rest.

“I do need to sit down for a moment, my head’s killing me,” he said, right before wiping something dripping down his nose. “Hmm?”

On his hand was blood. He frowned, wondering why he’d get a nosebleed at the strangest time. The place certainly wasn’t dry enough for it to occur naturally. Deciding not to think about it, lest he allows the ponies time to catch up to him, Anon walked slowly into the cave, doubtful the rebels would know of where he was located there.

Stepping inside, he noticed how much warmer it felt. The heat was surprisingly comforting to him, nearly making him forget his growing headache. Walking further in, he attempted to look around for someplace to sit and dry off.

Without warning, the cave went dark. Sensing something was wrong, he turned around to leave the cave, only now finding the entrance was gone, as if vanished due to magic.

‘Was it possible the ponies had found me? But why would they hide the entrance?’ A light chuckle could be heard, stopping his inner thoughts from continuing.

“Alright, who’s there?”

Another chuckle rang out, echoing off the walls. Trying not to panic Anon assessed the situation the best he could. It was difficult to see in the cave with no proper light source. There was nothing to defend himself with either. If it was just him and a single pony, he felt he might be able to handle it, but it was clearly a magic-user; that did not bode well for him.

Something shuffled right beside him, making him jump in fright. He squeezed against a wall, trying to focus on his current surroundings. Something snickered in the dark, only making him angry.

“Show yourself!” Anon yelled out, doing his best to put out some bravado.

The only response he was given was more chuckling. Anon immediately grabbed his head in pain, feeling dizzy. He placed his back against the wall once more, trying to keep himself steady on his feet. Whoever this was, it didn’t appear to be with the guards; why go through all of this when they could simply take him back?

“What do you want?!” Anon yelled out to the cave.

The moment he yelled that he felt something closing in around his neck, lifting him high into the air. He attempted to pull at whatever was holding him up but his body felt locked in place, unable to move. Whatever was around his neck pulled back before slamming him into a wall; he let out a grunt, feeling the wall jab into his back.

Anon could hear footsteps nearing him, a small ball of light appearing in front of him, floating midair.

Holding his breath, Anon was finding it difficult to comprehend what he was looking at: a tall, bipedal being that was completely covered from head to toe in pink hair. There wasn’t much to help identify if it was male or female with the lanky body it had. The one feature that unnerved him the most was its face that held a hideous smile that seemed to stretch across its face unnaturally, with jagged teeth gleaming in the light, and its horrid, black beady eyes staring back at him.

The arm of the creature stretched to his neck, holding him in place. And then, it let go. The arm retracted back to the creature, with clear-sounding pops resonating in the cave as if the arm was being shifted to fit its body. Anon held a hand around his neck, finding himself unable to move from where he was standing.

“Hello there,” the creature spoke out with a raspy voice. Somehow, its smile only grew wider, staring at him. “I have been waiting for a very, very long time to meet you human.”

“W-Who… what are you?”

Its jaw unhinged as the creature let out a screech of a laugh through the cave, bellowing its terrifying howling through the cave. The pink being ended its laugh with a low hum, tilting its head from side to side, inspecting his prey against the wall.

Anon felt himself being pulled toward the creature, being spun in the air as he flew right past it and into the darkness. He slammed his behind into something that had him sliding across the ground, teetering to fall over before it eventually landed upward.

Looking at what he had landed in, he could see it was a wooden chair. He looked toward where he was moments ago. Spotting nothing, Anon quickly took notice that the creature was now sitting in a large, ornate chair across from him. More of the glowing light balls floated in the air, illuminating things for the two of them.

The creature continued to smile at Anon in silence before it brought its elbows to the armrests of the chair, bringing its knuckles up to rest its chin on.

“You have no idea how love I have wanted to have this moment. It nearly drew me mad, having to be so patient with my actions. There was much temptation to speed things along, but no…” He dropped his right limb, letting his left hold his head up as he leaned into the side. “Everything had to be precise or it just. Wouldn’t. Work.”

The creature sighed, placing its left arm down as it leaned forward. The smile dropped, turning its long mouth into a stretched frown with little effort.

“You know, as I examine you, I found you a slight bit… grotesque.” The irony wasn’t lost on Anon hearing that. “I was expecting more. A pity. But your looks are not something that I require from you, thankfully.”

Leaning back into its chair, the pink beast crossed a foot onto its knee, putting both hands into its lap as its eerie smile returned.

The two of them sat in awkward silence, staring at one another. It made Anon nervous staring at whatever abomination this thing came from.

Scratching its head, the pink beast cracked its neck a few times. “So… to move things along I suppose, I’m certain you have some things you’d like to ask. I have time to spare, after all, what are a few minutes to someone like me? Oh, and you can stop thinking I’m going to do anything to you, for the moment that is.”

Anon let out an unsteady breath, trying his best to keep calm in his current situation. Repeating what he was told in his head, he attempted to appease the thing, giving it a question.

“Who, and what, exactly are you?”

It scratched its hairy chin in thought. “I don’t have a name, not one that was ever given to me that is. I suppose you can call me by what my siblings tossed my way. You may call me… Momus. As to what I am, that is not important. You had already been answered, as I had seen in your line. It should be blatantly clear just what I am from what you have been told, or is your feeble mind still hampered?”

Anon scrunched up his brow, uncertain what the beast meant by already knowing what it was. The being chuckled for whatever reason, waving its arm in the air as it went back to playing with its short, pink beard. The thing was toying with him for some unknown reason. Anon wasn’t sure how to go about this.

“Why am I here?”

The thing tilted its head to one side, letting out a small yawn. “You’re here because I want you to be here.”

“I mean, could you explain why?”

Momus hummed, turning its head toward Anon. “You are here because I, the one that holds your life currently, the one that so forced the lines to its will, wanted you here. I can’t simplify this anymore to appease your curiosity.”

It sat there in silence, a bored look appearing on its face as it stared down at Anon.

“I, um, hu, erm…”

Staring at Anon, a disgruntled look appeared on its face. With a snap, the entire cave lit up, the dreadful atmosphere lightening up.

“There was so much I had planned for you. You would have remained autonomous in your actions, and I would have had the outcome I had desired.” Momus clicked its tongue, “The only thing that needed to happen was for you to NOT have your blasted mind tampered with!”

“Do you mean Cross Love fixing whatever was wrong with me?”

Momus snorted, “Fixing you? I needed you to remain muted like that for only a little while longer until your magical potency increased to an acceptable degree. But no, now I’m left with you.” It leaned forward, narrowing its eyes. “And now I have to figure out how to fix my plans for you.”

“You keep saying that; what plans? Are you the reason I’m here in this world?”

“Of course I’m the reason you’re here. Who do you think gave that imbecile the magical essence needed to bring you here?” With a twist of its hand, a bottle with but a few drops of pink liquid appeared. “Do you know how long it took to drain my essence into a pure form? I barely have any left as it is!”

Another twist and the bottle disappeared. It flew up into the air, the chair disappearing as Momus stood on its legs, walking around the cave.

“The lines all matched up, and no matter what you did after this little fiasco, so long as your mind remained muted things would be fine. But now I have to work around this.”

“Why exactly are you doing all this?” Momus paused, scratching its chin. “I don’t understand why I’m important to any of this.”

“It’s not necessarily you that is important. I could have plucked so many other beings. But you gave me the highest degree of success, simply due to what you brought to the table. You’re a man that is, ultimately, quite boring. You’re simply normal, having once accepted going through the motions in life. But you always wanted more for yourself, such strong desires you held, and during college, you managed to push yourself with that little environmental group.

“You did so much for so many people; what a strong hero-complex you have. Ultimately, for me, I think the thing that solidified my choosing of you was that mugging you prevented.” Anon winced, remembering that event. “You still have a small scar right underneath your right armpit from the stabbing. Could have died right there, but you didn’t care about the consequences, only wanting to help once again. You managed to stop that woman from what would have happened to her, and trust me, pal, I knew her future was short-lived had you not appeared there.”

The chair appeared once more, Momus taking his time to sit back down. “Looking at the lines involving you, I have the best chance of success. Or at least, I did. Hmm. Should probably find some way to pay back Cross Love for that.”

It unnerved Anon how much this being knew of him. It was clear this thing had some major plans in store. “Can you please tell me what you have planned for me, whatever it is?”

Leaning back, Momus tapped the arm on his chair. “Your purpose to me is to be an end game piece. My time in this world has dwindled out and you’re the last thing I need to complete my goals.”

“And just what are your goals?”

The creature halted in its movements, turning to Anon as its smile stretched from ear to ear. “Why, to destroy the goals of another being,” it answered, right before slamming both of its arms down on the chair, its smile vanishing and turning into a snarl full of rage. “THAT SHAGGER DARES TO NOT ONLY OUTDO MY SIBLINGS WORK BUT HAVE THE GALL TO THINK HE HAS ME TRICKED INTO DOINGS HIS BIDDING! I WILL NOT STAND FOR THAT!!!

The cave shook violently at his anger boiling over, nearly toppling Anon out of the chair. Forcing himself as far back into his chair as possible, he held the arms of his chair tightly, his knuckles turning white. He felt as if his entire form was bellowing in a tornado from the infuriated creature, it seemingly pushing a force into Anon.

As quick as it came, the shaking went away, along with the enraged Momus. Taking panting breaths, Anon willed himself to calm down from what had just occurred. Momus on the other hand simply stared at the human without any emotions showing, sitting there as if nothing had happened.

It let out a slow breath before going back to playing with its chin hair. “So, to my own goals, you’re of great importance. The lines I’ve read have shown many ways to go about all of this, but seeing as you’re now a part of this one, you can give me the best success rate to completing it than anything else I can do. I only have to… alter a few things, and then I can feel confident for the future.”

“S-So,” Anon stuttered, still trying to collect himself, “you want me to stop someone from completing their goals for your own reasons. Why would you think I would want to help you out?”

“Oh? Feeling rebellious?” Momus chuckled. “It doesn’t matter whether or not you want to, because, in the end, you’re going to do it anyway! I’m just… upping the success rate and ensuring it’s on the path I want it to be.”

“Can you just give me a straight answer?” Anon wasn’t ready to anger the thing but he was getting tired of this. “Who is this person that you want to be stopped? Why me for all this and not someone else?”

Momus tapped the arm of its chair, looking at him in thought. “I… suppose I can at least explain some of this; although it’s not as much fun for me, it would be nice to have shared this story with someone.” It coughed, trying to clear its throat dramatically. “Long, long ago, I lived wild and extravagantly, doing whatever I wished. It was me and my siblings, and we had a fun time doing whatever pleased us.

“Still, we knew we weren’t meant for longevity. Me being here is a fluke as it is. Truly, it was the end times for us and we did what we could for survival. After altering some things around, having seen the lines that would occur, I went into hiding as I could not follow my siblings where they went, something guiding me to stay. Around that time, I was simply trying to figure out what I should do now that things had changed in my life. And then… he came,” it hissed out, anger apparent on its face.

“He found me and somehow tricked me, ME! Oh if my siblings ever knew of this I’d be the laughing stock, me having been fooled into helping anyone! I had done his bidding unwittingly for many years, and when I eventually found out I was being used, I—” Looking as if he was about to blow up in a rage, he took a moment to calm himself down, humming some tune to do so. “I hadn’t used the lines all that often, finding predictability boring. But if I had done it more often as my siblings advised…

“As it is, I have a rather great disliking of this character. The only thing I could do at the time was to stall his plans, but it hadn’t stopped them. He’s going to finish them, and I am greatly interested in stopping them.”

He tugged on its chin hair, looking off into nothing as he reminisced over something or another, before looking back at Anon.

“I knew that it was temporary, and I intended to find a more permanent manner to screw with his plans, to have the last laugh. Unfortunately for me, the hero in my story, I had gone ahead and used some forbidden magic. It was a grave mistake, quite literally!” Momus let out a chuckle. “As a being made purely of magic, using such forbidden magic ate at my very core, which sapped me of many years in my life. But it allowed me the tools needed to spoil his plans, and all I needed were the last pieces of this plan: you.”

“I don’t even know if I want to help you,” Anon grunted out.

“Would it help if I said that his plans, should they come to fruition, would spell disaster for this world and all your little silly friends? Besides, I told you that you would help me whether or not you wanted to. I’ve already seen it all, now I just need it to be.”

Getting up from its chair, Momus appeared in front of Anon. It cupped his face with its hairy hands, making him feel queasy from the very touch. “Cross Love fixed your mind, and now you’re extremely potent to magic. Much too potent. You could even potentially outshine the future Princess of Friendship should you be left alone. I intend to fix that.

“What… exactly do you mean by fixing?”

“Why, I’ll be readjusting you so that you may be of some use to me. My magic is dying, drying out, and that means I’m going to die very soon. I will be depleting my magic to do some things that will gather his attention away from you as you sneak under everything I have done!”

Something about this had Anon morbidly curious, just why it would create such plans that would wind up killing it. “You’re willing to kill yourself for revenge? Aren’t you afraid to die?”

“What being isn’t afraid to die? We all have to accept it at some point, and I have already done so.”

“Won’t there be things you’ll miss?”

“Oh, of course, there are plenty of things I’ll miss, like how I’ll never again ask questions about things or be asked of things myself.” It let out a sigh, looking wistfully in the air. “I do love my questions. They are such wondrous things. They hold so much power, being capable of unraveling things and yet keeping away treasures at the same time. And there is a steady supply of them, always in demand. The only thing that truly makes them so fun is, of course, the answers you get, even the wrong ones! Oh dear, I shall miss them. Why recently I was contemplating if Celestia could have ruled these lands looking malformed, with a bucktoothed smile and a large zit forever planted right on her snout.”

Anon wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “Why should her appearance affect how she ruled her lands? Would that have even mattered in the end?”

“That’s precisely why I bother with such questions!”

“Look, isn’t th—”

Momus shushed him, holding out its hand in the air. After a few seconds, it leaped out of the chair, using its magic to throw Anon onto his feet. “No more questions, for now, is the time of action!”

Anon looked at where the cave entrance used to be. Momus looked in that direction before snorting, “No one’s here Anon, and no one is coming to this cave. I’ve already used a magic-heavy spell to slow down time while we talked. I would have used a full time stop, but that would have drained me too much,” it mumbled out.

“Why did you shush me then?”

“Because I tire of hearing your voice and your uninteresting questions,” it answered. “Oh to know that these are the last questions I shall ever be given; what a terrible way to die!” Momus instantly popped in front of Anon, giving him another one of his terrifying smiles. “Now let’s get down to business! Oh, word of notice: the effects of this spell won’t immediately settle in you, but it will most assuredly hurt, a lot.”

“W-Wait!” Anon sputtered out, backing away. “I, I, I’ve still got questions! L-Like who exactly is this guy you want to be stopped? What did he do to you?”

“Sorry, I can’t tell you everything little human,” it said before grasping his head, “that would ruin the story! Now hold still so I can kill myself.”

An immense amount of pain jolted through his head, forcing him to scream out in shock. His body spasmed in the air as Momus held him up, tightening his hold on Anon’s head.

“Oh stop screaming, I’m just pinching your brain!”

Anon’s vision started to blur from the agony he was being put through, unable to bear it. The last thing he saw before blacking out was the smiling face of Momus, madly laughing at what was happening.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Groaning, Anon grasped his head in pain. It felt like something had clawed its way through it.

‘Oh, right. Momus quite literally did that.’

He found himself back outside in the forest, once more surrounded by trees and foliage. Looking around for the cave and the strange being, Anon turned toward where the cave was, only finding a smooth stone in its place. Examining it, he noticed a pile of pink hair only a few feet away from him, which he assumed used to be Momus. Did it simply poof out, with this being all that remained of it? That’s of course if it was telling the truth on it dying.

Rubbing his head, Anon wondered just what Momus had done to him, fearing it was something that could do long-term damage to him if left unchecked. He wanted to get back to civilization to get help on what had happened. For all he knew, the person Momus was targeting was one of the princesses, so they at least needed to be informed on this.

Ignoring the pounding that was going on in his head, Anon stood up, making his way once more through the forest. He soon found himself holding his clothing tighter, the cold making him shiver. The exhaustion from before was finally setting in, but he pushed on, hoping to find someplace to properly rest.

Just as he was about to head off, something loud could be heard to his right, alerting him that something was close by. Anon wondered if the guards had finally caught up to him. He had nothing to defend himself with to help get away and he was uncertain he could run if needed.

He looked around, hoping for someplace to properly hide, only to curse at his current area lacking such places. The bushes were too small, the trees too thin, and no ground to hide behind or in. All he could do was stand there, forced to confront whatever was coming his way.

Gritting his teeth, he got ready for whatever charged his way. But of all the things to come at him, he wasn’t expecting to see Bon Bon jumping out of the bushes, looking winded as she stared at him.

“Anon!”

“Bon Bon?

The mare ran up to him, jumping up to her hind legs to hug him. Seeing this, Anon bent down, weakly hugging her back.

“What are you doing out here? No, wait, stupid question.” Taking Bon Bon off of him, he placed her in front of him. “You should have stayed in Ponyville. Those rebels are out here a—”

“I already know about them, Anon,” Bon Bon interrupted. “The girls and I wanted to help bring you back s—”

“Wait, Bon Bon,” he interrupted back, “we can talk about this later after we get out of here, okay?”

She nodded, agreeing with him. “The girls are likely still at the base but I can send Flitter back while we head for the first tower back to Mercanville. Heading back to the base with you would be, well… stupid.” Giving her a nod, Anon stood back up before walking beside Bon Bon.

Hearing some sounds coming from where Bon Bon had come from, Anon turned around in that direction. “Did any of those ponies follow you?”

“Nah, I’m doubtful with Flitter having taken care of any that tried. I bet it’s either her and she’s coming down or maybe Lyra saw me running off for you a—”

She stopped, noticing a strange pony coming out of the bushes. Neither of them recognized the pony that was garbed in bright-colored armor.

“Ah, I knew that the night rebels had foalnapped somepony of importance, but for it to be the alien of Ponyville! Why now that is something.” The one that spoke walked toward Anon with a smirk. “How lucky of us to have stumbled upon you out here in the woods on one of our patrols near their base, and all alone…”

Anon stared down at the pony, a frown slowly forming on his face. “…You have GOT to be kidding me.”

It seemed that their luck had run dry, the day rebels stumbling across Anon and Bon Bon. Looking behind the pony in front, half a dozen more came out of the bushes, slowly surrounding them. There were too many of them to escape, especially with quite a few of them being unicorns. Things just couldn’t get worse for the two of them.

“Hold on, Anon!” Bon Bon screamed out before throwing something down at the ground in front of him.

The black smoke quickly enveloped the two of them in an instant, forcing the day rebels to step back in shock. Anon was surprised that Bon Bon had something like that, and that she was even attempting something that was more in line with a ninja movie. The candy mare immediately grabbed a hold of his leg, confusing Anon a fair bit.

“Uuuuuh… shouldn’t we be running away now?” Anon asked her.

Just as quickly as the smoke came, the smoke cleared out with the two still standing there, now with very confused ponies staring at them.

Bon Bon started to look around, confused as to what had happened herself. “DARN IT, FLITTER! IT DIDN’T WORK!!!”

Anon could only smack himself in the forehead, realizing she thought their getaway would be instantaneous. And so, with their prize in sight, the day rebels made their way to the two for capture…

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X~ ~X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Flitter could only let out a sigh, watching what had just happened to take place. “You’re supposed to nin away when you throw that down,” she murmured to herself. “It doesn’t just work with making you disappear instantly; you have to believe in the nin to make it work.”

Watching the two being taken by the group of day rebels was not something she could help with by herself. Anything she could try would just wind up with her being captured as well. The best thing she could do is go back to the base and get help, fast. She had hoped getting to Lyra and her sister in time could allow them to give chase before they got too far away.

That thought went right out the window when she saw the entire group teleporting out of sight.

“…Ah, crud.”

‘That sure makes things more difficult,’ Flitter thought as she threw a smoke ball down in front of her.

She was now in the sky, flying off into the air at nin speeds.

‘Lyra can get us to the next base quick enough to get him and Bon Bon back. I’m just hoping she won’t be too upset about what happened…’

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X~ ~X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Lyra was a very upset pony.

She had been looking for Anon all over the base and still hadn’t found a single clue as to where he might be. Building after building, and there was absolutely nothing to where he might be in the base.

‘Did they stow him away in some weird underground passageway, only accessible by some crazy spell?’

‘Or did they turn him invisible so you’d never be able to find him, even if he was directly in front of you?’

Lyra slapped herself, shaking her head furiously as she attempted to keep those idiotic thoughts away for the moment. Anon was likely just in a building she hadn’t checked, that was all.

Going up to a window she had just jumped into, Lyra motioned toward where Cloud Chaser should be to see if she could go back out. The only thing going her way at the moment as she hadn’t run across any rebels as of yet.

Waiting for a reply, she paused, realizing something wasn’t right about the situation. Looking around the room, she noticed the problem: nothing was shaking. Why had Vinyl and Octavia stopped their music? Did something happen to them? Did they have to retreat?

Looking back out the window, Lyra could see Cloud Chaser was in the sky, looking around above the trees. Seemingly finished, she flew back down and landed beside the building Lyra was at. She appeared quite worried.

“Lyra, the music stopped playing,” she said.

“I kind of noticed that.”

“Yeah, I figured. So I flew up in the sky to see why that was and noticed two ponies talking to Vinyl and Octavia for some reason. I don’t know what happened, but Octavia pointed me out in the air and one of them flew up, just close enough to speak to me. He told me to come over and bring you to talk with them.”

She furrowed her brow, “Did he say anything else?”

“No, just to come over. It doesn’t look like they’re willing to fight anymore though, so that’s something?”

‘This could be a trap,’ she thought, pacing the room. ‘But then, why would they set something up when they already have those two? Is it possible they’re willing to give up Anon and have us leave?’

“This is so confusing,” Lyra grumbled out, looking at Cloud Chaser. “How many ponies were there?”

“I only saw a few of the rebels still standing, with the majority around them either too exhausted to do much or are on the ground, knocked out.”

Lyra hummed before slowly making her way to the window. “There isn’t much we can do with Vinyl and Octavia over there with the other rebels. We need to make sure they’re safe and to see what they want.”

“Right,” she said, jumping out the window.

Jumping out herself, Lyra followed Cloud Chaser back to where she saw them last. Once there, Lyra could see there weren’t a lot of ponies surprisingly. Right now, she could only see six in her vicinity knocked out, with two indeed looking very exhausted. There were currently two pegasi that Cloud Chaser had mentioned, standing in front of Vinyl and Octavia. Making her way up to them, the others turned to her direction.

“So… you’re the one that’s messing with my ponies,” a unicorn spoke, someone that Lyra quickly took as the leader. He looked at the four of them before speaking up, “Aren’t there supposed to be six of you?” None of them responded as Lyra simply glared at him. “What exactly do you ponies want, attacking us like this? It’s clear you’re not with the day rebels.”

“You foalnapped someone important to us and we’re here to get him back, you jerks!” Lyra was not wanting to be very civil.

“That alien?” one of the earth ponies to the side said. “What makes you think we—”

“You can locate him in the far building in a cell,” the unicorn leader said. “Tell Rocky and Roller the alien is to be released, code passage for them is Chindi, Omega, Odyssey, Cauldron. They will proceed to release it and you can be on your merry way.”

“S-Sir! You’re just releasing the alien, just like that?!” The earth pony beside the one that spoke glared at the earth pony, who immediately shut up.

“…Why are you giving him up so easily?” Lyra asked, uncertain about his actions.

“We have no reason to have him here any longer.”

“How do we know you’re not tricking us?”

By now, Vinyl and Octavia had already made their way around the other ponies and stood beside Lyra, their equipment packed but on either side of them, ready to be used if needed.

“We have no use for your alien friend any longer. Our priorities have changed due to recent information that has been discovered. Now, if you would be so kind as to collect the human and leave us in peace…”

“Lyra, let’s just go get Anon,” Vinyl said, trying to move her along.

Looking at the rebels once more, Lyra was still uncertain about what was happening. The ones still conscious were attempting to stir awake the ones previously knocked out.

“Why are they even giving up,” Lyra asked herself. “We’re just to go along as we can… trust them? I don’t it, it’s just… I…”

“It’s odd, I know,” Octavia said, placing a hoof on her shoulder, “but in the end, we’ve got what we came for, so let’s go collect Anon and get out of here.”

Vinyl helped turn Lyra away, forcing her in the direction where they said that Anon was being held. Holding back her tongue from the rebels, Lyra simply followed with them. She too wanted to get it all over with and go home with Anon.

Nearing the building, the four of them slowed down, spotting Flitter flying toward them. She hit the ground at an angle, sliding to a stop a little ways away from them. “G-G-G—”

“Whoa there,” Cloud Chaser said, flying up to her. “Take a few breaths and calm down.” She looked at her sister, then around her vicinity. “Uhhh, where’s Bon Bon? YO BON BON, YOU CAN COME OUT!”

“Bon Bon… she… she was…” Flitter tried to catch her breath to the best of her ability as the rest of the group walked up to her. “She… was taken.”

“WHAT?!” Lyra yelled. “Who took her?! I knew those darn rebels here were up to something when they were just giving up Anon like that!”

“No, n-not them,” she answered. “Bon Bon… ran out into… the forest after—” Flitter took a large gulp of air, finally getting her breath back. “She went after Anon who somehow escaped when we got to the base. She got to him and was returning when the other rebels, the day rebels… they took them.”

‘Don’t scream, Lyra. Keep yourself focused and clear-headed.’

Lyra, of course, was feeling extremely upset and angered hearing this. And besides, Lyra didn’t need to necessarily add to Octavia, who was doing quite enough screaming at the moment.

“What do you MEAN they were taken by the rebels?!” Octavia yelled out, shaking Flitter by the shoulders. “We were so close, SO CLOSE, to being done with this excruciating trip, AND NOW THIS?!”

“We shouldn’t be arguing, Octavia,” Vinyl grunted out, pulling her away from a dizzy Flitter. “We should be heading out and getting them back! They couldn’t have gotten too far from here with those two after all!”

“Actually,” Flitter mumbled out while shaking her head, “they teleported the two away from here with magic, likely directly to their base…”

NOW Lyra was screaming.

“How are we supposed to collect him now?” Cloud Chaser asked, plopping her butt on the ground. “We just got done with the rebels here; now we have to deal with another group of these ponies?!”

“It’s also going to take a while to get there,” Vinyl added, gaining a loud groan from Octavia. “I only know basic teleportation and unless Lyra has upgraded her teleportation skills as of late, I doubt we can pull any of you along for the ride, let alone past a few trees altogether.”

‘Think Lyra, think! There has to be some way to get to the base quickly and retrieve the two as soon as possible before they do anything to the two of them.’

Looking at the others interacting with one another, Lyra came up blank for options to go by.

‘What should I do?!’

Walking there would take at least two days to travel if we ran, and she wasn’t coming up with any other options to get there.

‘Alright then… what would stupid Lyra try and do right now?’

Pausing, a series of ideas came to her on some rather absurd things she could try. And just like that, the answer came to her. A slow smile spread across her face, which the others noticed quickly.

“You’ve got a plan to get us there, don’t you?” Vinyl asked.

Lyra simply gave her a larger smile. “I’m thinking that we could always take the tree express to their base…”

Octavia’s eyes widened to extreme levels, reacting immediately upon hearing that. “No, NO! NOO! Please, no! I’m not going on another one of those idiotic trips! Solaire please no!”

“But T—”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

“…But Tavi, it’s the only way!” Vinyl told her, levitating the reluctant mare in the air.

Octavia squealed, kicking in the air. “Let me down this instant! I refuse to go!”

“Nope!” Vinyl responded, following Lyra into the forest. “So we just need a really large tree and we can blast our way there!”

“It’s not as simple as that,” Lyra replied, examining a tree before passing it up and continuing forward with the others following along. “It might need two trips with how far away they are, so we’d have to recuperate and find another tree for a second trip.”

“Lyra, my speakers are much more powerful than they used to be. And our magic can easily push things to the limits since we’re older now.”

“I… suppose that’s true.” Looking at another tree, Lyra also passed it up. “There also won’t be as much weight with just us three since Flitter and Cloud Chaser can fly along. Though I hope they can keep up.”

“Puh-lease,” Cloud Chaser said, flying up to her. “We’re plenty fast, we can keep up! Why I can easily keep pace with Dash herself!”

“Are you sure about that?” Flitter asked with a smirk. “Last I recall you talking to her you mentioned you could lap all of Ponyville in a minute. She only told you it was “fifty seconds too slow for me” and flew around the town in ten seconds.”

“Sh-Shut up!” Cloud Chaser sputtered out, to which Flitter giggled.

“I don’t wanna goooooo,” Octavia groaned out, still kicking in the air.

“We’re not going to just leave you here all by yourself, so you— EEEEH!” Vinyl ran up to a large tree, clamping herself around the trunk of it. She unconsciously forced Octavia to do the same, still stuck in her spell. “It’s PERFECT!” Oh, you are SO going to get us to great places, tree of largeness and funky flight!”

“I, I’m not so sure I trust your judgment here at all!” Octavia screamed, or more like muffled out.

“It’s the perfect size though, AND the bark looks wicked awesome!” Vinyl took a large sniff, smiling afterward. “Plus, it also smells like the stuff I get from Zecora.”

“…Oh sweet Solaire, it does! Why does it smell like that stuff?” Octavia let out a groan as Lyra sized up the tree, agreeing with Vinyl.

Flashing her horn up for a spell, she pulled the two mares off the tree before proceeding to cut it at the base. The moment it started to fall, Vinyl helped with catching it with her magic, slowing it down to the best of her ability. It soon dropped to the ground in a loud thump. Lyra had Flitter remove the limbs of the tree while Vinyl and Lyra proceeded to move the other trees around them for the room, leaving Cloud Chaser to figure out the direction they would need to go.

Soon enough, they had the tree set up so it was hanging in the air by the surrounding trees, suspended by ropes and magic. It took a few hours to get it done, but it would hopefully wind up with getting them there in around thirty or so minutes to their base. It would have been easier to work all of this if Octavia had stopped complaining to them the entire time.

Cloud Chaser soon flew back, dropping down to the ground. “Point it left about twelve degrees and we should be ready to go!”

Lyra and Vinyl together flared their horns, the ropes tightening, angling the tree in the direction needed.

“Alright everypony, get on!” Vinyl yelled out, teleporting to the back of the tree.

Octavia sat in the middle while Lyra took the front. The two pegasi got on opposite sides of the tree for their positions.

“Are you sure this is going to work?” Cloud Chaser asked, tapping the tree. “I don’t see how you managed to get this to go up in the sky the last time.”

“Well, it worked, so we should be able to do it once more,” Lyra answered, trying to get comfortable. “Alright then!” she yelled out, grabbing a rope that was tied around the base so she had something to hold onto. “Grab your ropes and get ready!”

“Y-You know what? I think I can p-probably just… go back and… get things ready at Mercanville f-for all of you,” Octavia stuttered out, “get things r-ready so when you all get back, I—”

“RELEASE!”

The tree dropped from its place, falling to the ground. Vinyl immediately started her speakers up as Lyra balanced her end to continue pointing up. The tree quickly rocketed off into the air, gaining speed as it climbed into the clouds.

Octavia’s screams filled the airs as the five of them tore through the sky like crazy, ready to drop a hot load of tree bombardment onto the base of the day rebels.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X~ ~X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Sitting down, Anon stared across from the cell he was now sitting in. It was much brighter than the other cell he was previously in, and the ponies here almost seemed somewhat more intelligent. Though he knew if he gave it time, he’d find them just as idiotic as the others.

‘I sure wish they’d stop staring at me,’ he thought. The guard on duty hadn’t left her eyes off of him since he had arrived, taking her task very seriously.

Oddly, she had barely taken a glance at Bon Bon, who was sitting a few feet away from him. ‘She probably doesn’t feel she’s a big of a threat as I am.’

He stretched himself, trying to get comfortable as he leaned his back against the wall.

“A-Anon, I d—”

“For the last time Bon Bon, it’s not a big deal. So you goofed up with your escape plan, so what? It’s not the end of the world.”

‘As far as I know anyway.’

“I just feel so stupid, not realizing what that ball Flitter gave me was for.”

“Sure, it sucks things didn’t turn out as we wanted it, but there’s nothing we can do about it now.”

“I just hope Lyra and the others get here soon,” she muttered quietly so the guard didn’t hear her.

Anon scooted closer to Bon Bon, something the guard narrowed her eyes at. “Not too close to one another,” the guard ordered, something Anon blankly looked back at. Looking at Bon Bon, then back to the guard, he gave her the middle finger. “I don’t understand your alien paw junk, stupid head.”

“…Bon Bon, how do I properly translate this over?”

“Ah, like this,” she said before looking directly at the guard, and then sticking her tongue out at her, slightly crossing her eyes.

The guard jerked away, offended at the sight. “You’re going to regret that prisoner…”

Anon then proceeded to mimic Bon Bon, watching the face of the mare guard redden in anger.

Anon smirked, turning back to Bon Bon. “I’m not so sure if I like the idea of them following us back to this base. I also don’t like how you all came to the last base either, putting yourselves in danger. You did mention there was another group out here to rescue me, so why did you all have to get involved?”

“I… we all just wanted to help, not stand by and wait to hear if you ever come back or not! Besides, we did come out before the other group to get you first. It… sort of worked. I mean, we did find you first.”

“I suppose you did,” Anon agreed, rustling her mane. She shook her head, twitching her ears about before looking up at him with a pout. “Still wish you had let the others deal with this instead of dealing with it yourself.” Bon Bon harrumphed, shuffling in her spot. Anon figured a change of topic would be good. “Though, did you need to bring your lab coat along? A bit… odd don’t you think?”

“…It makes me feel better.” He chuckled as he laid back against the brick wall. “Do you feel better now, Anon? I mean, is your head hurting or do you feel tired? I don’t know what the other guards did, so…”

“Nah, they didn’t do much at all. Though I am feeling much better with some rest, almost like that headache was never there.” Anon sniffed, “That stupid creature in that cave sure did mess me up good.”

“W-What?” Oops, he hadn’t wanted to bring that up. “What creature?”

Anon rubbed the back of his head, “It’s nothing, Bon Bon. I can worry about whatever he did to my head when I get back.”

“Your head? Did someone fight you?” she asked worryingly. “Are you sure it doesn’t hurt anymore?”

“No, I’m all fine Bon Bon.” She continued to stare at him. He rolled his eyes, “Something out in the forest… used magic on my head.” She gasped, knowing what that meant. “It’s nothing. I mean that weird doctor at the other base did something to my head as well. That's another thing to add. I’ll have it checked out when we get back.”

Bon Bon was about to say something when the cell door opened with two ponies coming in. They both looked at Anon, slowly walking forward. “The alien comes with us.”

“I have a name you know,” he said, standing up. “What do you want with me?”

The ponies did seem intimidated with the size he dominated them over with, “S-Somepony wants to ask you some questions,” one of them answered. “Now get over here so we can get going.”

Walking up to them, they tied his hands with some rope before gesturing for him to follow them out. It didn’t take long for Anon to find himself in a brightly lit room with a unicorn sitting down at a table. It looked like someone poured a ton of white paint on him and his extremely shiny armor and white cape. It nearly hurt to look at him.

The two ponies reacted with astonishment at seeing the pony sitting there, quickly saluting him. “S-Sir Luminesce! We didn’t know you’d be back so soon!”

“I couldn’t just let our guest not be properly left unaddressed. I’ll be taking over the duties of the… interview with him. Untie him and then go about your duties as usual.”

“S-Shouldn’t we stand by outside and await further orders after you’re through with the prisoner?”

Luminesce glared at the pony who questioned him. The guard gulped hard before slowly walking out with the other pony, closing the door behind them.

“I certainly am glad to have gotten back sooner than originally planned. Oh, where are my manners? Please, take a seat,” the unicorn pleasantly said, waving a hoof at a chair that was just his size. Doing so, Anon sat in silence as the pony examined him. “What a fascinating being you are. I had had my eye on you for quite some time, curious as to whom and what exactly you are. You… yes, you can be of use to me.”

“Oh? You plan on trying to ransom me back to the princesses as well?”

The unicorn chuckled, “No, nothing as silly as that. Why would I ransom back someone like you to somepony that won’t be in power much longer?”

Anon went to reply and then paused, replaying what he just said. “Don’t you mean to put Princess Celestia as the main ruler?”

Luminesce smiled wide, sitting up taller before leaning forward. “Ah, how much fun it has been, leading everyone astray like little puppets. No, I don’t mean to put her in power.”

“…So is it Luna? Or what am I missing here?” Anon could already tell where this was going from what the previous rebels had gone by.

“Why I plan on ousting the both of them, and soon, I shall be in charge of all Equestria!” The unicorn let out his version of a villainous laugh, “Geeeeh-ge-ge-ge-ge-geeeh!” It was stupidly hilarious.

“So… all that fighting with the night rebels—”

“All planned from the start!” the stallion giddily interrupted. “Their “commander” over there works with me in keeping our activities out of the light. Oh, how fun it’s been pitting the two groups together in secrecy!”

“Why do you want to take the two princesses out of power then?”

Luminesce shrugged, “What else for? The power they control over everything of course! Simple, no?”

Anon frowned, “Why are you telling me all of this?”

The pony sat back in his chair, still smiling. “Multiple reasons, I admit. You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to reveal all of this, just to let it all out! It truly feels good, right?”

“That’s… not a very good reason…”

Luminesce sighed, ‘True. Yet, it matters not if you know this or not, it’s not like you can do much with the information. The second reason, of course, is quite important, and that is to convince you to work for me.”

“…What?”

“You heard me. I know that you have a massive collection of knowledge about your world, far advanced compared to our own. Such a wealth of power, all up in that noggin of yours. Add to what you represent to the nations of this world, and it’s an extremely desirable thing to have you! I want that to help rule the empire I will plan to build for a better, more prosperous Equestria!”

“I—”

“Yes, I can see it now: Equestria would prosper greatly into a new age of achievements so wild, so powerful, giving us a clear advantage against all the other races! You, of course, would be one of the few privileged in our new lands.”

There was quite a bit Anon would love to point out to the buffoon currently sitting across from him who aspired to be the future leader of Equestria. Anon didn’t have a whole lot of knowledge that he thought would be of use. Sure, with time he could work out certain things they could recreate, but magic trumped a lot of things in that regard.

Regardless, the guy wasn’t exactly the brightest in Anon’s eyes, which was ironic given who he was. As it was for the night rebels, Anon couldn’t see things going his way on Equestrian domination. Anon, of course, didn’t care about any of this. He was just tired of it all.

“Look, if you knew anything about me you’d know I wouldn’t want a part of any of this.”

“Are you worried about the outcome of your friends? I ensure you that they’ll be taken care of as well, though the Elements might have a touch of imprisonment for a good while.”

“No, I’m certain they can take care of themselves. Regardless of that, all the problems that crop up from you taking over are too countless. Can you raise that stupid sun and moon? Can you fight off the countless attacks that seem to happen every few months, from what I’ve heard about? I don’t think you can do any of that at all. Even still, there’s nothing you can do to convince me to help.”

He tilted his head at Anon, looking blankly at him. “I can be very convincing to get what I want, Anon the human. I can either get your cooperation in this or eventually rip the information from your skull. In time though, you’ll change your views and turn to my side. Now that I think about it…” He got up from his chair and walked up to him, his horn glowing white. “Maybe I should show you that I’m being serious…”

Standing up himself, Anon slowly backed away from the pony. “Look, I can’t take magic like that in my head. You should know that if you read the reports, right?”

Luminesce stopped momentarily, thinking on that. “Hmm. I do recall something about that in some papers. Still, I am a very curious pony. I’m certain it won’t damage you that much and I do have to prove a point to you. I hope you understand, right?” Luminesce walked slowly to him, his horn glowing brightly. “Juuuuuuust a peek.”

Backing up against the wall, Anon watched as the tip of the pony’s horn started to sparkle before shooting straight toward his head. He closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable pain that was soon to come.

…Yep, aaaaany time now, to tear his brain asunder and all that horrendous crap.

Opening his eyes, he stared at Luminesce, who was giving Anon a funny look. Shaking off his confused state, the pony attempted to blast him once more. Watching it this time, the spell blasted up against his head before fizzling away into nothing. Anon hadn’t even felt the magic at all when it touched him.

“What trickery is this?” Luminesce asked. “Do you have some sort of magical defense set up you’ve never spoken about? No, no that can’t be it, the ponies teleporting you would have brought it up, so what—”

Without warning, the entire room shook, throwing the two of them at the ground. The room felt much, much colder than before, with the entrance door and the wall looking frosted over.

“W-What is this?!” the pony screamed out, looking around in confusion before looking at Anon. “Yoooouuu… What spell is this?! I knew my reports couldn’t be trusted! You, YOU did this!”

During this time, Anon had already gotten up on his knees, grabbing a chair to help him stand up. Luminesce saw this and threw spell after spell at him, only to have them fizz away into nothing upon touching his body. Red, green, yellow, white: none of the colors, whatever they were to the unicorn, seemed to be working. “WHY AREN’T MY SPELLS WORKING ON YOU?!”

Grabbing the chair, Anon swung it directly at the pony, slamming it into his body before he could react. Luminesce slumped to the ground, groaning in pain. Starting to feel the chill getting to him, Anon threw the chair he was holding at the unicorn once more before making his way out of the door.

Noticing the door had frozen, Anon hoped he could muster enough strength to break it down. Once he grabbed the handle, the door immediately started to unthaw, the ice accumulated on the door turning into water that dripped down and away from him. He could only look on, astonished at what was happening, only to put it aside so he could get out of there. Closing the door, it started to freeze once more.

“That’s… something to look into,” he muttered to himself before running back toward the cells.

The run there didn’t take very long with how close they were. Arriving, he noticed the cell door was open and the pony guard’s unconscious legs were tied up much like cattle on a farm.

‘Bon Bon must’ve already gotten out somehow,’ he thought, running back down the hall. It’ll be a pain looking for her around here since she’s likely looking for me as well.’

There was nothing he could do about that, only hoping to run cross her as he looked for a way out. Running down the halls, he could see they were all frozen or in the process of being frozen. None of the ice impeded his escape, quickly vanishing upon his touch as if it was trying to escape his vicinity.

Stopping for a moment, he saw a row of windows in the hall he just went into. Looking out to see what there was and how his chances held up when going out, the sight he was greeted to shocked him as he tried to make sense of it.

There, out in the distance, was something that slithered about in the sky, using its magic with glee. It reminded Anon of Trogdor as it skated on an ice rink, throwing the rebels around while laughing like crazy. Anon could see most of the buildings were frozen over, with animals on top of them cheering at the spectacle, some of them even holding scoreboards.

That was when a very large tree of Armageddon came out from the sky, crashing straight into the building he was in.

Braced for impact, Anon wobbled about as the building shook, nearly knocking him off his feet. Waiting for it to subside, Anon looked back out of the window for a few moments.

“Go outside to meet that, or look for another exit… Yeah, let’s look elsewhere.”

“YOU!!!”

Turning around, Anon saw Luminesce standing at the end of the hall he had come from, looking beat up and extremely angry.

“I have NO idea how you managed to stop my magic OR how you brought this destruction upon my base, but it’s not going to stop me from the payback that will ensue!”

“Wait, you think I had anything to do with this? Man, screw you!”

“You WILL submit to me, one way or another!”

Just then, Anon noticed a very large pile of chairs floating behind the pony. Luminesce took one from behind with his magic before blasting it forward at Anon. Dodging it to the side, the chair hit his left arm, being unable to get away fast enough. The chair immediately slowed down once it touched him, but it still felt like someone had body-slammed his arm.

“How do YOU like chairs being thrown at you?!” he screamed, getting ready for another. “Sucks when you’re on the other end, DOESN’T IT?!?!?!”

Grabbing his arm in pain, Anon looked at the pony preparing another chair. Deciding he didn’t like being hit, he turned around, running down the hall.

What followed next was nothing more than a very long chase, going from hall after hall, with Luminesce throwing miscellaneous objects at Anon. Though it was mostly chairs, lots and lots of chairs. His only saving grace was that the icy rooms gave way to Anon while giving the pony trouble navigating through.

Eventually, Anon found himself in a very large room with crates all around the wall, with a skylight on the roof illuminating the place. Looking at his surroundings, Anon couldn’t seem to find any other way out of the room other than where he came from.

Letting out a thousand curses, he turned around to confront Luminesce who just happened to have come in. The pony, breathing heavily, levitated the last chair that he had beside him, glaring at Anon with anger.

In an instant, a smile appeared on his face. “As you can see, I get what I want in the end. If I want something to satisfy my needs, I get it. If I want to be a ruler, I get it. And if I wanted someone to kneel to me, beaten down into submission, well, I’m going to get it one way or another.” His smile quickly dropped. “AND GUESS WHAT I WANT RIGHT NOW?!?!?!”

“…A belly rub?”

The pony was shocked, uncertain how to reply to that, giving Anon a few seconds to figure things out. There weren’t many options he had at the moment: he could either take a rough beating or attempt to take a stand and maybe only get beaten a little.

With that in mind, Anon ran at the pony, getting ready to block the chair that he would throw at him. Luminesce didn’t even attempt to move out of the way, overconfident in himself as the chair flew at Anon. The chair, like before, impacted his left arm, forcing him to yell out in pain. It slowed him down momentarily but he continued.

Luminesce looked at the human in surprise, clearly not expecting this. He threw a spell at him instinctively, forgetting they did not affect him as the spell fizzled upon contact. The pony attempted to turn away and dodge, but Anon was able to get him before he could react. Quickly grabbing his horn, Anon held the pony in place before he could get away.

The first thing Anon did was kick him in the gut, knocking the wind from him. He then proceeded to pick up his body, lifting him in the air and slamming him over his knee.

Luminesce squealed out, kicking his hooves about for a few seconds. Anon wasn’t done, not by a long shot. Ignoring the pain in his arm he lifted the pony into the air once more, positioning him so that his body was suspended in the air, head nestled into Anon’s shoulder, with Anon holding his hindquarters apart.

“Ready for a trip to pain town?!”

“I’m not ready for a trip to pain town!”

“ALL ABOOOAAARD!”

Jumping into the air, the pony screaming the entire way, Anon twirled around before slamming straight into the ground. Throwing him behind his shoulders, the pony dropped to the ground, wheezing in pain. Anon took a few moments to regain his breath, completely exhausted.

The pony wheezed out in his unconscious state, making Anon feel relieved he was unlikely to be getting up. Swiping off some sweat from his brow, he let go of the horn, sitting up.

“This is so stupid,” he said to himself, wincing at the pain in his arm.

‘First I was kidnapped not once, but twice. Then some weird magical molestation from my worst nightmare happened in a dark, spooky cave, and then there was this chase sequence before I had to fight off a pony that wanted to take over Equestria.’

“This does feel like a stupid cartoon. I’ve got to start remembering that so I can better plan things out. Man, can’t things be simple in magic pony land?”

Standing up, he let out a sigh of relief, hoping to find Bon Bon and get out of the place. Walking toward the door, he immediately flew across the room, the wind knocked out of him from a chair hitting him out of nowhere.

“I’m… not finished with you… human…”

Of course, Luminesce was still conscious, why wouldn’t he be?

Grimacing in pain, he turned to the unicorn, watching him wobble to his legs, standing upright as he turned to him. Slowly walking forward, he levitated the broken chair over Anon in a threatening manner.

“Looks like… I… win…” he panted out with a smirk.

It started with a smile, that turning into a chuckle before Anon let out a boisterous laugh. Tears streamed down his face, looking at the confused pony, who only seemed to be getting angrier as Anon laughed.

“And what exactly do you find hilarious about this situation?”

“B-Because-” He wiped away a tear, trying to avoid the pain in his arm “-this is clearly the part where you’re defeated by some completely random action out of nowhere!”

He simply went back to laughing, the pony confused by Anon’s words. At that moment right above him, one of the windows exploded with something coming straight down. It only took a moment to realize what it was: Octavia, careening downward with her cello, screaming the entire way.

Luminesce, once more caught off-guard, didn’t have any time to act before the cello slammed down on top of his head with a resounding ‘BONK’.

Octavia did a flawless somersault in the air from the impact, landing perfectly on her hooves. Her cello, on the other hand, was a complete mess being broken in half. The unicorn that was hit had stars in his eyes as he teetered to one side, and then the other, right before slamming to the ground, completely out of commission.

A second window above Anon could be heard smashing open. Looking up once again, he could spot a mint colored pony flying toward him.

“AAAAAAAAAAAANOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!”

This time, he was the one caught off-guard as Lyra body slammed into his gut, knocking him out on the spot…

~End Chapter Nineteen~