Anon was a tired, broken man. There was nothing more to say to that statement, for it was a fact. The torturous endeavor he had gone through was something no man should have ever been forced to endure for any reason. He was certain it would be classified as a war crime back on his planet what had transpired.
The ponies were not the cute, cuddly things they were made out to be. On the inside of that bubbly exterior was a hideous interior full of barbs and needles, ready to strike out at their foes. It could be your sweet little sister or your sickly grandmother, possibly your childhood friend or even your neighbor Bob. Of course, no one liked Bob, so he was an exception.
He was but a plaything to these ponies, Anon had realized. Their torture was the kind that would stretch for as long as it could, surgically cutting into you, slicing deep at an insanely slow speed, to allow one to feel every bit of the pain it produced. Every muscle in your body would ache in pain from overexertion. Your very throat will feel like hot coals were thrown down them as it screamed in agony.
“Anon, it wasn’t that bad.”
If one could survive what they put you through, it would be an uphill battle to return to your life as if nothing had happened. They had ways of making one feel helpless and small like you were nothing. And they made promises on returning, to continue the job with an eagerness one would find disturbing.
“Seriously, get up.”
In the end, you would find yourself realizing you were surrounded by a pony-driven mad world.
“You’re being silly.”
And they were inviting you to join them…
“He’s not going to listen to you like that, Lyra,” Bon Bon said, watching Lyra poking at Anon’s prone form on his bed.
He hadn’t moved from the bed ever since the pony sing-a-long the other day. The moment it had ended, he slowly walked back to the house, went into the room, and laid on the bed, staring at the ceiling. The others thought he was being over-dramatic about the whole thing; they just didn’t understand.
“Come on, we only sang and danced for a little while!”
‘Over four hours does not equate to a little while.’
“Surely you had fun with us?”
Lyra’s attempts at opening Anon up were futile. He was a broken man, one that would lay shattered to the ends of time. There was nothing that could salvage this broken vessel, nothing to mend the pieces together once more.
“Lyra, you’re doing it wrong,” Bon Bon said, walking up to Anon with something beside her. Bringing it up to Anon, she lifted the lid, placing it near his face. “Why, look at that! It’s Calydonian! Straight from the griffon lands themselves.”
The smell that wafted from the tray nearly made him drool on the spot. Slowly sitting up, Anon could see something that looked eerily reminiscent of a… ham steak!?
He didn’t need an invitation, picking it up with his bare hands and biting down into it. The thing didn’t taste at all like a ham steak; it was even better! It was as if the meat gods had descended from the heavens and blessed his meal, feeling pity for his terrible life. A small tear wept from his eye, trailed down his face at truly tasting heaven.
“Guess we’re picking up more Calydonian when we get home,” Lyra said with a pout, upset her attempts had failed.
It was only after half of the steak was done that Anon felt satisfied, and dare he say, happy. There was nothing like meat after so long of nothing that could make one perk up with joy. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t have night terrors about what had happened, but he could at least live on knowing there would be meat in the near future.
“Huh. I didn’t even have to bring this out,” Bon Bon said, obviously meaning the second dish Anon hadn’t even noticed.
More out of curiosity to how he’d react, Lyra lifted the tray, revealing—
“BACON!”
Oh, it appeared that Anon was now on the ground, eating at the mound of bacon that they had hidden from him. How DARE they do that! Hiding such a thing from him, they were truly monsters…
Sitting on the ground, eating his meat, Anon was content at the moment, not caring about what was happening around him. As it so happened, there was a knock at the door, alerting the two ponies to it. Opening, Rosie peered her head in. “Is every—” She stopped, noticing Anon on the ground, eating the food with his bare hands. “Are… why is he eating on the ground like that?”
Bon Bon didn’t answer, “I’m assuming our carriage is ready for the train home?”
Rosie didn’t take her eyes off of Anon. “Yes ma’am, along with your personal effects being stored on it. The train will be departing soon so you should… probably start heading out soon.”
“Thank you, Rosie. It pains me to know I won’t be able to say my farewells to my parents.”
“They are currently talking as it is about some new trade routes that will be direct to our port, but they do wish you would write them more often.”
“I’ll make sure to remember when I get back to Ponyville.”
“If there is anything else that you need,” Rosie put out, still staring at Anon munching at his food.
“No, we’ll be down to the carriage once Anon is done here.”
“…Very well. I am needed elsewhere at the moment. I do hope you have a safe trip back.” And with that, she was gone.
Anon hadn’t heard a single word that was spoken, too focused on the bacon. Once he had devoured every last bite, he licked his fingers and let out a satisfied sigh. He then blinked, looking around the room. “Wait, what’s going on now?”
“We’re leaving back to Ponyville,” Lyra said, helping Anon up. “We should go now so we don’t miss the train.”
Brushing his pants off, Anon followed behind them out the door. Exiting the building, they walked down the steps before stopping at a carriage out in front. It was currently attached to two ponies that were the draft horses, or ponies, for it. They didn’t even look in their direction as the three of them got into their seats, only taking off once they had done so.
It was only halfway into their trip that Anon turned to Bon Bon. “Where did that come from?”
“Did what come from?”
“The meat.”
“Oh, that?” Bon Bon didn’t look amused for some reason. “It was a gift from a griffon that gave it to me to pass off to you. I almost forgot about that, she said it was an apology for something that happened yesterday. Do you know anything about that?”
Anon rubbed his chin. “The only thing that comes to mind is—” He stopped, remembering the place he was hiding in. How they abandoned him to his fate…
Shaking his head, Anon forced those memories deep, deeeeep into the back of his mind, hoping to forget what had transpired the other day. He then looked at Bon Bon, who appeared worried, smiling at her. “Nope, not a clue!”
“Are you s—”
“Nothing trauma-inducing happened at all! Nope!”
Lyra and Bon Bon looked to one another before shrugging it off, uncertain they wanted to know.
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His trip from the train was better prepared, now that he knew what to expect. Inside his cabin, he made sure the door was closed tight so when the rolling tide of ponies came through, there was no chance of him being swallowed up. It was entertaining watching Lyra and Bon Bon through that ordeal; they stood stock still, jittering in place before slamming up against the door. It attempted to open itself, but Anon was capable of easily keeping it shut. The only thing that worried him was that it didn’t appear to open by magic, but as if by a supernatural force. Perhaps getting his two little investigators to look into it would give him some incite about why it happens. And if anything, he’d at least be amused by the results.
Once he got back to his house, Anon threw his suitcase at the foot of his bed, not caring about unpacking. Right then, he just wanted to sit down in the living room, maybe read a book, and relax for the remainder of the day. The trip was tiring and he was simply happy to be back in someplace that wasn’t psycho, groupie, cocaine, crazy.
Okay, well, not so bonkers at least. While Van Hoover had some interesting places to go to, and he was quite interested in their food, that place will forever hold bad memories for him. Bad memories…
Feeling something shift on his side, Anon saw Bon Bon taking a seat, having just placed down a tray of tea and cups. She gave one to him, already served up. “Thanks,” he said, taking a sip. “Gingerbread?”
“The Cakes were selling them for cheap a while back,” she said, taking her sip. “I guess they’re still experimenting on making that flavor, it’s not perfect.”
“Yeah, it’s got a… what would you say? Something is off like it’s got a woody taste to it.”
“I can agree with that. Still, cheap tea is cheap.”
“True that.”
Sipping on their tea, Lyra came over and sat beside Bon Bon before serving herself some tea as well. “So, we’ve got a few more days before my little vacation runs out. While all the snow is gone, there isn’t going to be much of anything happening out in town. Some businesses will be closed, trying to fix their stocks for Spring weather and there won’t be any events happening for some time. Early springs suck.”
“It’s nice to have the grass back,” Anon said. “While I love the winter, returning to warmer weather will be nice.”
“It just sucks there isn’t going to be anything to do for my vacation. I was expecting tobogganing and ice fortresses and such, but now there’s just early Spring.” Lyra said, taking a sip. “Still, I c—” She spat out her drink, a disgusted look on her face. “W-Whaaa? Bonnie?! Why are you serving dirt flavored tea?!”
“I didn’t think it was that bad…” Bon Bon said.
Lyra started to pull on her tongue with her hooves, trying to remove the flavor.
Anon sighed, setting his cup down. “Okay, yeah. The tea is pretty bad.” Bon Bon mimicked him, grumbling to herself.
At that moment, a twinkling noise appeared, reverberating through the air. A green glow started to pulse over on the wall, over where Lyra usually worked. Her lantern was the culprit for all of this.
“Oh!” Lyra exclaimed, jumping from her seat and walking over. Slapping the top, she pulled out a fat stack of papers and a letter. Turning around, she looked at the two before letting out a chuckle, “I’ve got that thing to go off every hour whenever I get a package and I haven’t checked on it yet. But the only one that has its receiving signature is Princess Celestia…”
“Gee, I wonder who it was from then,” Anon sarcastically said.
“I don’t know!” Both Bon Bon and Anon deadpanned at her as she inspected the letter. Looking at it, she gasped. “It’s from the princess!”
“No way,” the two said in unison.
“Right?!” Lyra went on to read through the letter with gusto. “Dear Lyra, yadda-yadda… documents… yeah, yeah, okay…” She let out another gasp at what she had read before looking up at the two of them. “Princess Celestia… she wants me to do my job!”
Anon slapped his hands to his cheeks. “Gasp! How horrible!”
Bon Bon couldn’t help but giggle. Lyra shook her head, huffing out. “No! I mean she wants me to do what my job is meant for! I… I never thought this would ever happen!”
“What your job was meant for?” Anon was confused. “I thought it was to collect information and the whole, well, alien thing.”
Lyra shook her head, “No, the alien thing was just my work that the princess was fine with. And while my job is to collect and help to both order information given to me and help give suggestions where needed, that’s merely something attached in the past to give my position busywork. My position is primarily meant as a kind of, well, a go-between for the other races.”
Bon Bon frowned, “I remember you saying something about this. The job was created as a way to cross bridges between beings and outside nations. While you’re not an ambassador per se, since you don’t stay in a foreign country as one would, you go between the nations to help settle disputes, collect information, and act as a dignitary for our nation amongst other things.”
Anon looked at Lyra, surprised. “I knew that your work was important, but I wasn’t aware that you were such a bigwig. Having similar powers, if not more, than an ambassador is enormous.”
“I’m not anyone important,” Lyra said, scratching a hoof on the ground.
“You stop that,” Bon Bon interjected. “Lyra here not only went through the School for Gifted Unicorns, something a VERY select few are allowed but was also tutored by the princess herself.”
Lyra lifted a hoof in defense, “Princess Celestia only taught me so much before I needed proper tutors for my job! Everypony knows that Twilight was her protege.”
“Don’t sell yourself short, Lyra,” Bon Bon said. “No, you’re not Twilight special, but you’re still extremely magically gifted. I don’t think I know of anyone that can take apart runes better than you, and your magical capacity is massive, like the top one percent in the world alongside Twilight. And your job is difficult to even acquire, no single pony knows how the princess chooses them and there can only be one at any given time for any nation.”
“So other ponies have had this job?” Anon asked.
Bon Bon nodded, not giving Lyra any time to respond. “Other nations also have Kommunelegatusionists that go out on such roles, but after all the other nations closed ties or disappeared, it left very few nations with the position with an active role. I think the only other active role right now would be in Aquastria and… I can’t remember the other one, something about talking cats.”
Lyra let out a sigh, “It’s a title that didn’t have any power at all like it used to. I was simply happy to have something that allowed me to do what I’ve always wanted. I never thought I’d be in a position where I’d go out and do what this title was made for.”
“What is the princess expecting you to do?” Anon asked, leaning over in his seat.
Looking back to her letter, Lyra read through it quickly once more. “She wants to send me out to the other nations, of course, and to check on some for each of them. Nothing too difficult there, check-in on the people, see if there’s anything fishy going on she should know about, help out when needed, et cetera. I’m also supposed to keep this information to myself and my party.”
Bon Bon and Anon slapped their foreheads, Lyra completely oblivious.
“Oh! I can choose two beings to be with me!” She looked at Bon Bon and Anon, a large smile present on her. “Eeh?! Eeeeeh?!”
“I don’t see any reason why I can’t go along,” Bon Bon said. “I’ll just sell my wares to other stands to sell themselves. It’ll cut on the profits but I’m assuming the princess is paying the two you’re taking.”
“Yep!” Lyra then turned to Anon. “Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh?”
Anon frowned. He knew something was going on with the princess. “Never such a thing as a free lunch.” A sigh escaped his lips, “See, I knew she was up to something. I feel like I don’t have much of a choice in this matter.”
Lyra tilted her head in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“The princess and her “gifts”,” he said with air quotes. “On top of the whole paying for this house, she’s also been paying me a stipend while being here with you, gave you a paid vacation, and was extremely lenient on any kind of punishment on your group for going out to get me. I just don’t feel like I have much a choice in this. Saying no would be equivalent to spitting in her face for all she’s done.”
Now it was Bon Bon who looked at Anon in confusion. “One, ew. Two, while I don’t agree with some things the princess has done, she’s the type to help others because she wants to. You shouldn’t feel like you’re being forced to do anything.”
“Excuse me for thinking she’s had an ulterior motive this whole time,” he said, crossing his arms. “Even still, it wouldn’t look right if I decided to bow out after all she HAS done for me.”
“So you… don’t want to come with us?” Lyra asked, ears drooping down.
“I didn’t say that, just that I feel like I can’t exactly say whether I want to or not.”
“So you are coming?”
Anon grumbled, “There isn’t much else for me to do here anyways other than sitting around now that I don’t have a job to go back to. Besides, might as well see what’s out there in the world.”
“Yeah, I doubt you’d want to be bugged by the trainers the entire time we were gone,” Bon Bon told him as she stood up to remove the offensive tea.
“Why would they come back?” Anon asked.
Lyra let out a nervous chuckle, “I sort of, kinda felt I had to report about the whole curse thing back in Van Hoover and one of them is coming out to look at how it can remove curses like that, along with the whole not being able to hear Bonnie’s mom.” Anon groaned, sitting back into the couch with a hand over his face. “Sh-she’ll only be around for a little while for a few days before we leave though! I couldn’t just say nothing!”
“When’s she coming?”
“Tomorrow in the morning. He’ll check things out and then leave you alone for the rest of the day, I swear! Princess Celestia even said so!”
“We can still relax and have some fun before we leave,” Bon Bon said, returning with a new pot of tea. “It won’t be a few more days until we have to do anything.”
Anon stood up, stretching his back before making his way to his bedroom. “That sounds fine. I’m beat from everything so I think I’m gonna call it early today,” he said with a wave behind his back.
With the door closing behind him, Lyra looked at Bon Bon. “Do you think he’s upset with something?”
“Maybe he’s hesitant on going outside our lands,” Bon Bon said, serving another cup for her and Lyra. “Plus, we did say it was supposed to be a vacation for this week yet he’s still got a trainer coming in tomorrow. We don’t know how long he’ll be here, no matter what was assured previously; the trainer could decide he needs to stay longer.”
“Oh…” Lyra looked at the ground with a frown. “I ruined our vacation, didn’t I?”
“Why would you think that?”
Lyra placed the letter and documents down, sitting down at her desk. “I don’t know, isn’t it always my fault when something goes wrong?”
Bon Bon walked up to her, rubbing Lyra’s back. “No you goof, why would it be? I bet he’s just tired from yesterday. I won’t say he’s not upset about the trainer, but I’m sure he understands that you had to tell the princess about it.”
Lyra stared down at the letter and papers she hadn’t looked at. Bon Bon could see she was thinking about something, and with her face making different expressions, she was developing something to do in her head like she usually does. “What are you planning?”
“Something for Anon of course,” she said, jumping from her seat and walking to the front door. “I’ve got a lot of ponies I need to talk to for this to work.”
“For what to work?”
She turned around, smiling at her, “To give Anon a party tomorrow, of course!”
Before Bon Bon could figure out what that amounted to, Lyra left the house, jumping down the street to her destination. “Hopefully Anon survives whatever she’s planning.”
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“How fascinating!”
The pony across from Anon peered at his ears for a bit, looking at it through some odd device that flashed different colors. It was quite obviously magical, from the gem that was set inside the middle of it all.
“It seems the colors turn back to a bright white the moment it starts to get near your ears!” She scratched something on a notepad before returning to the ear. “What’s interesting about this is the nullification is acting outside your body instead of on or in! By my measurements, it’s about half an inch away from your ear, forming a dome-like shield around it.” More scratches on her pad, “I’ve never seen anything like this! Our magic inhibitors truly have nothing on whatever you are.”
“Magic inhibitors?” Anon asked, keeping his head straight. “So you ponies do have something that stops magic like me.”
The trainer hummed, still trying to measure the exact size of the dome she was seeing. “Not quite. Our magic inhibitors simply stop magic from being used. You not only do that but from what the trainers before had documented and what had happened in Van Hoover, you can actively neutralize it entirely! It’s why when you have that nullification coating around your body activated, the magic simply goes away when it touches you in any form.”
The pony placed her device down, messing with her notepad before turning back to Anon. “The trainers that came before me only thought the nullification was a defense mechanism that reached across your body like armor and turning magic off when you touched things. But seeing as you can push it out and into others, it’s clear that we’re dealing with something much more dangerous. How exciting!”
“You’re not scared of this?” Anon asked, watching the pony bring up the instrument at an angle.
“Certainly! But if I was to shy away from every little thing that scares me, I wouldn’t be where I am today!” She placed her tools down, scratching on her notepad one more time before taking out a tray of cooked bacon. “Now, I had heard that you prefer this over what we normally eat, so I brought some over as a way to show some form of goodwill, along with helping in the next part of this.”
Taking the bacon, Anon was pretty excited seeing it so soon. It died down a little, looking at its state. “Is there something wrong?” the pony asked.
“It’s cold…”
“Ah,” he mumbled, writing something down. “…Prefers hot… hmm… hmmm… Okay, so this next part I want you to eat a piece.”
“That’s it?” Seeing the pony nod, Anon took one and happily shoved it into his mouth.
While it was cold, the taste was still as fantastic as it was the last time. Anon took his time chewing the piece of bacon in his mouth, savoring the flavor as long as he could. The pony simply wrote down his observations into his pad, not wanting to interrupt things.
When it was clear Anon was finished, the pony gave him another piece of bacon. “Okay, eat this piece as well, but this time put your nullification on your tongue while doing so.”
Not seeing any reason not to do as he was asked, especially since he was being given bacon, he looked inside himself and activated the trigger. It took a bit to work it into his tongue, finding the sensation odd. Immediately, he felt something… off, like there was something horribly wrong going on. He smacked his lips, trying to get that wrongness out of his mouth.
“Is there something wrong?” the pony asked.
“Something feels strange in my mouth, I don’t know why.”
“Try eating the bacon, maybe that’ll help?”
Following his directions, Anon started to chew on the bacon. Immediately, he felt something had gone wrong, and now he knew why. The bacon had lost its previous shine in flavor. It tasted duller, like whatever was there had vanished. It still tasted of high-quality bacon, but it didn’t give him that great feeling of fullness and satisfaction like it did previously.
Anon told the pony this, her eyes widening. “How thrilling! So it does appear even organs inside of you can be individually affected, like your tongue! Oh, as to why the flavor had gone, the food still has bits of magic you were digesting inside of yourself.”
“Can I stop?”
“Hmm? Oh, yes, I’m quite done with everything for today. We’ve learned so much in the hour I’ve been here haven’t we!” The pony continued scribbling things down into her pad as all the tools she brought with her were levitated into her pack. “You can keep the bacon; I have no need for it.”
“Gee, how nice of you.”
“While I am helping you to train and collect information from you, I do hope that we can extend some branch of friendship, Anon.”
“A little hard to when the simplest of things, such as giving out names, are forgotten…”
The pony had the decency to look ashamed of herself, blushing in embarrassment. A cough before she reached out a hoof. “I do apologize; the pursuit of knowledge had gotten ahold of me once more. My name is Smoky Ditz.” Anon shook her hoof, making sure to keep his ability turned off.
“So same time tomorrow?” Anon said as the pony started getting up.
“Yes, we’ll likely be looking more into how your senses work on curse magic and that dome of yours, curious about you projecting that from yourself.”
“Projecting?”
“Why, yes! That dome of yours proves that your ability can extend off of you, so it’s likely you can put up a kind of field around yourself if given practice.”
“What use would there be in teaching me that kind of thing?”
“There are a few practical uses I can think of, such as working them into our inhibitors to learning more about how your ability works. Fascinating stuff to look at, your nullification. I’ll be out of your hair now, certain you want to go back to whatever it is you do. I must go find my lodgings with the previous trainer. Strange that she’s been delegated to foalsitting instead of working with you. How peculiar."
And just like that, the pony was gone with one final wave, leaving Anon sitting at a table with a small tray of cold bacon. It was still bacon, which Anon was slowly eating as he sat there, thinking about his ability.
“I wonder what else I can do with this,” he thought, pushing a little onto his hand as he ate with his other. “Maybe it could work on other things besides magic? I could do something like nullifying someone’s movements? Yeah, that’d be rad.”
Hearing the clopping of hooves, Anon turned his head, watching Lyra make her way up to him. Taking a seat right by him, she looked at the bacon, confused.
“Trainer gal brought it here for her work.”
“That’s awfully kind, and strange, of her.”
Anon shrugged, “Don’t care, free bacon.”
“Alright… Anyways! I’ve been doing some things out in town and I have something fun planned for us to do today.”
He paused in chewing his bacon, turning to Lyra. “Oh?”
She shook her head up and down, “Yep! It took a lot of work but I got somepony to help me out and it’s going to be so much fun!”
“I, uh… What about Bon Bon? Couldn’t she go instead?”
“Bonnie said she had to talk to some ponies about her candy,” Lyra said with a pout. “I told her she should just sell it all to Pinkie, but then she kept arguing why that was a really stupid idea.”
“A hopped up Pinkie on that much candy is kind of a stupid idea, Lyra.”
She harrumphed, continuing, “So she’s going to do things out in town while we go out and have some fun! Don’t worry, it’s relatively safe even!”
“I suppose relatively safe is better than not safe at all,” Anon said, swallowing his bacon.
“So come on and get ready for a fun time!”
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“This does NOT look like a fun time, Lyra!”
Parked right in front of Anon was a hot air balloon.
“Oh come on, you sounded interested in this the first time I brought it up!”
“That was before I knew you ponies had barely any safety regulations for anything at all!”
The pony that was working the balloon looked at Anon, confusion on her mind. “What are safety regulations?”
“Anon, at least try it out! It’ll be fun! Going up in the sky, seeing everything from high up, and look!” She brought up a basket with her magic in the air. “I also brought snacks!”
“She did already pay for the ride,” the pony balloonist said, “along with getting me out here in the first place. I don’t even open this up for another few weeks for rides.”
Looking at Lyra, giving him the puppy-eyed look, he inwardly groaned to himself, feeling it was a bad idea to do this, before slowly walking to the balloon. Lyra looked overjoyed, skipping up to the balloon and getting inside it. Getting in himself, Anon felt that it was too low of a wall for him, already regretting his decision.
“I better not die up there or I’m coming back to haunt you, Lyra.”
“I don’t know why you think my balloon is so unsafe,” the balloonist said, closing up the entrance.
“This thing was made with ponies in mind, not humanoids.”
“Huma-what now?”
“A term from back home; mean beings similar to my build. Just think bipedal. There aren’t even any guard rails on this thing. What if this thing buckles in the air? I don’t hit a wall, I hit air and fall!”
“Hmm…” The pony rubbed her chin, thinking about what he had said. “Guard rails…”
“At least it’s pretty wide, though it’d have to be for ponies now that I think about— why are we going up?” Anon could already see he was a few feet in the air, just then feeling the balloon moving, and it was gaining height.
“I already unhitched the balloon for y’all once you got on,” the pegasus said, watching them slowly raise into the air. “Just remember to bring that back in two hours!” The pony started muttering something about guard rails, walking away from them.
Anon on the other hand was holding on for dear life, already a few meters too high in the air to reconsider jumping back out.
“It’s fine, we’re going to have so much fun!” Lyra said, patting his shoulder. That only made him more nervous. “Are… you okay?”
“Oh, just peachy! I just get a tad nervous over very unsafe things I’m a part of,” Anon said, looking down at the ground which was getting further and further away from him.
Lyra, hoping to cheer him up, grabbed her basket, and opened it up. Inside was a few glass bottles of some kind of drink along with a few pieces of fruit and hotdogs. Lyra levitated one over to Anon who shakily grabbed it. Lyra frowned seeing this while also levitating over an apple.
She then smiled, trying to keep up appearances. “We’ll be over all of Ponyville soon! You’ll be getting the best sight of it up here in the sky. Won’t that be great!”
“Maybe. I don’t know.” Anon just held his hotdog while sitting down on the basket floor, trying to keep calm about the situation.
After a few minutes, the balloon had gotten quite high. Lyra peered over, letting out a whistle.
Looking over himself, Anon had to agree with that. It was interesting seeing the entire place from up high.
“Okay, that’s some view,” he said. Lyra smiled hearing that.
The two of them sat there, enjoying their meal, and looking at things in the sky. Anon had even calmed down considerably, though he was still anxious to get down.
“Just out of curiosity, but how do we get to the ground in this thing?”
“Oh, that’s easy! See, right up there is a—” She paused, looking scared. Anon also looked, mimicking her fears.
There, flying right beside the balloon itself, was a pig with wings. As shocking as that was for Anon, what made him afraid was that the pig was, for whatever reason, clamping onto the balloon for dear life.
“Why… is there a flying pig… on our balloon?”
Lyra gulped, trying to find answers to that, “I don’t know. Pigasus are usually found in packs, so if there’s one, you’re bound to find more in the vicinity. Maybe it got lost from its pack?”
“And why is it holding onto our balloon?”
“It’s afraid of falling if it lets go?”
“Tell me you’re joking. It has wings.”
“They’re not very smart, okay?!”
Anon, standing up, slowly made his way to the thing while hunched over. Luckily, he was able to stand upright while on the edge, though the sight from down below made his stomach churn.
Only a foot away from the flying pig, he turned around, looking at Lyra, “How do I get it off?”
“I… I don’t know! I’d use my magic but I’m afraid the pig would freak out!”
Looking back at the stupid creature, Anon tried grabbing one of its wings to pull it off.
“SQUWEEE!”
Okay, so that didn’t work. It just held on tighter. Anon then tried to grab its body and pull it off.
“SQUWEEEEEE!”
That didn’t work either, the darn thing just didn’t want to let go and Anon didn’t feel confident enough with his position to fully grab around its body. So, Anon in his vast intellect and great wisdom concluded what to do next.
He slapped it.
“SQUWEE!”
And again.
“SQUWEE!”
It jiggled with each slap.
“SQUWEE!”
The hindquarters on this thing were almost like gelatin.
“SQUWEE!”
“Is this really better than my magic?” Lyra asked.
“SQUWEE!”
“Do you have any better ideas?”
“SQUWEE!”
“…Can I slap it next?”
“SQUWEE!”
“No, I’ve almost got it I think.”
“SQUWEE!”
“Wow, that fella just doesn’t want to let go.”
“SQUWEE!”
“I really, REALLY dislike your magical creatures.”
“SQUWEE!”
“It’s turning dark red.”
“SQUWEE!”
"You're not trying to cook it through friction are you?"
"SQUWEE!"
"Of course not, that' silly."
"SQUWEE!"
“Maybe it likes being slapped?”
“SQUWEE!”
The two of them were starting to get annoyed by the pig with wings. Anon, rearing his hand back for a massive slap, swung at the pigasus once more. Seeing this, pigasus let out a squeal of fright before dropping from the balloon. Immediately, it realized that it had wings and started to flap, readjusting itself before wobbly flying away.
“Sheesh! That thing was annoying!”
“Uhhh, Anon?”
Looking up, he could see the pigasus had left behind cuts inside the balloon itself. The moment he realized that was trouble, the balloon started to deflate fast with them plummeting to the ground.
Anon fell backward into the basket as Lyra yelped from the sudden jerking of the balloon. The two of them started screaming as they plummeted to the ground, holding onto one another for dear life. They weren’t sure how this would turn out, not likely to be a pretty site for them when they stopped.
Suddenly the entire form hit something, making them slam into the basket. It then bounced back into the air lightly, jumping up and down for a little while before finally stopping. Anon, sitting up, let out a groan of pain as Lyra kicked her hooves, trying to stand back up.
Once he had some semblance of control over his body, he attempted to stand up, only feeling the entire basket swaying to one side. Looking around, he didn’t see any trees, so he wasn’t sure where he was. For some reason, he thought he might still be in the air, though that couldn’t be right as the balloon was deflated and hung on something that looked suspiciously like a cloud.
“WHAT IN THE HAY ARE YOU DOING TO MY HOUSE?!” A familiar blue pony popped its head above the basket, looking quite peeved. “What do the two of you have to say for yourselves?!”
“…Pigasus suck,” Anon said, flopping back down onto the basket. Dash simply looked confused at what he had said.
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After explaining the situation, Dash couldn’t help but laugh at their predicament. Then she laughed even more at the mentioning of the pigasus. Lyra had used some sort of spell that allowed her to walk on clouds. Anon himself wasn’t convinced to leaving the balloon using such a spell on himself.
“I don’t think this is such a good idea.”
“Don’t worry, so long as that spell is working and you don’t turn on your ability, you should be safe,” Lyra said, walking up to the basket. Dash looked amused at the entire situation, watching Lyra convince Anon to walk on a cloud.
“So no jumping to my death or anything? I’ve not had good interactions with clouds in the past, mind you.”
“Bah,” Dash said with a wave of her hoof, “if that ever happened I’d just catch you.”
“And, if for some reason, you don’t?”
“…The fall will only hurt a little?”
“Yeah, I suppose death will help with that.”
Dash looked confused at that statement. Lyra walked up to her, whispered something in her ear, right before paling slightly. “Oh, yeah. Okay, that explains a lot. Maybe you should just try and get him down in the basket then?”
And now the two were slowly bringing the balloon down from the air, with Rainbow Dash holding onto the deflated balloon and Lyra helping levitate it still. Once on the ground, Anon stumbled out of the basket and collapsed out.
“God almighty why did you think that was a good idea?”
“It’s not like I thought that a pigasus of all things would come around and pop the balloon!”
In no time, Dash had laid the balloon flat on the ground, landing near the two. “Kinda sucks you didn’t want that spell used, would’ve liked to show you around the place.”
“Maybe if your house wasn’t so high in the sky I wouldn’t mind that.”
“I’ll just have to remember to bring it down low enough for you next time!”
“You can just move that thing around whenever you want, can’t you? Man, it must be pretty nice being able to move whenever you want.”
“Totally! Even better, I can shape whatever I want up there. Need a new wardrobe? Just shape those clouds and I’ve got one.”
“You’ll have to show me how you do that someday.”
“Sure! But right now, I just want to head back up and return to my nap.”
“Hiding from your coworkers?”
Dash stuck her tongue out before flying back up to her cloud. Lyra sighed, turning to Anon. “So, problem. I have to go and find Cherry Berry to tell her what happened. Could you stick around and watch the balloon while I go do that?”
“I don’t want to move at the moment anyway,” Anon said, still lying down.
“Okay, I’ll be back soon.”
And with that, she ran off back toward town, leaving Anon to watch the balloon.
‘God, I could have died up there. I’m not going back in one of those awful things until there’s something to ensure I don’t die like higher walls or guard rails on hot air balloons. Maybe talk to Twilight about those seatbelts on the chariots while I’m at it, still don’t know why it’s taking so long to install those everywhere. Bet it’s because of tradition. Stupid traditions. I know she’ll enforce them somehow if I asked.’
Anon was enjoying the silence, lying on the ground, eyes closed, and loving the cool breeze. It didn’t last long for him as he heard the clopping of hooves and a smattering of quiet conversations. Sitting up, Anon saw a small crowd starting to form around him. He figured it was due to the balloon crash that had happened, along with him being involved. Standing up, he dusted himself off, noticing they were all talking to themselves, whispering as they looked at Anon.
The circle of ponies that were growing in size split apart as a minotaur walked up to Anon with a confident smirk on his face, popping his knuckles as he approached the human. “So you actually came out here!”
Anon furrowed his brow, confused. “Well, I’m definitely out here…?”
The minotaur laughed to himself. “I didn’t think you would show up so quickly after I had appeared out here in this little town an hour ago, spreading the word about my challenge. I had thought you’d run away instead! After all, who would want to face me, The Bombastic Boom Bill? But it seems I was wrong.”
The crowd started to cheer as Anon looked around, eyes widening, not sure what was happening. “Wait, hold up. Why is everyone here?”
He laughed once more, “They’re just here to witness the fight of the century is all! The Bombastic Boom Bill facing off against Anon The Alien.” Boom Bill swirled an arm, trying to warm up. “I respect that you came out here, and in style no less! A hot air balloon of all things? What are you doing trying to one-up me here?!” The minotaur laughed heartily at this as the ponies grew louder.
The crowd only grew larger with all the ponies cheering. There were quite a few he didn’t even recognize from Ponyville, making him wonder where they came from and why he was a part of this spectacle.
Boom Bill, now properly stretched, stood five feet across from Anon, slapping a fist into his hand. A loud boom could be heard from it, making the crowd grow louder. “Hope you’re ready ‘cause The Bombastic Boom Bill is comin’ at ya!”
Rocketing at Anon, it was all he could do to dodge the minotaur and its fist. Pivoting on its small leg, the minotaur once more charged at Anon, fist held back and ready to slam into his body, a smile spread across his face.
“Couldn’t we just talk things out—” Anon dodged another fist, not having any problems as the minotaur wasn’t exactly that fast.
“Ha! I wouldn’t dare to give you time to think!” Another fist was thrown at him, once again dodged. “I think our fists will do plenty of talking for us!”
Whenever the minotaur got close, he would dodge or slide out of the way, though most times he could predict where the minotaur was going.
Another swing flew in his direction, easily dodged with how slow the minotaur was. Anon wondered if Boom Bill lied about his abilities he had boasted about. He had no trouble with dodging the minotaur at all.
Taking a step back, the minotaur kneeled, giving Anon a smile before letting out a roar and jumping into the air. The surprising thing about that was Bill’s tiny little legs managing to get him in the air at all, let alone what looked like ten whole feet. Arm cocked back during his flight, the minotaur once more threw it at Anon as he dropped in his direction. And once again Anon dodged it without any problems.
‘Really, this whole thing is silly too—’
A massive boom shot into the air, following the minotaurs landing into the ground. Anon stumbled back, looking at the crater which formed around Boom Bill’s fist.
The fist that was aimed previously at the human.
The very same fist that held a massive amount of power behind it.
Standing back up, the minotaur turned around and shook his tiny hand before giving Anon another smile. Anon now realized he was all power in his attacks, and a single hit could take him out with little trouble. Anon wasn’t having any of this at all.
His current options were limited. Escaping was hopeless as the crowd didn’t have any proper openings to let him escape without taking a hit or possibly being thrown back in. And he certainly didn’t want to let things go so easily as the minotaur could just come back around in the future. He hoped that the fists were nothing more than some magic in the things’ hands. Examining the minotaur, Anon thought coursing the thing with his ability would be the best way to stop him in his tracks.
Boom Bill, seeing the human taking a strange stance, let out a laugh. “OOOOH! NOW THE HUMAN SEES ME AND FEELS HE WANTS TO FIGHT?!” Boom Bill splayed his arms out, pumping them up in the air with the crowd cheering around him. “HE MUST NOT HAVE FOUND ME A WORTHY FIGHTER UNTIL HE SAW MY TRUE POWER! OOOH! LET’S GIVE HIM SOME MORE OF THE BOOM IN THESE BLAST POWERED FISTS!!!” The crowd grew louder hearing that, wanting to see more of the fight. “I WILL NOW STOP HOLDING BACK HUMAN, SO BE READY FOR FISTS OF FURY!!!”
Once more the minotaur charged at Anon with a fist held back. Anon had to think about this to figure out just how he’d finish the fight, and fast.
‘Okay, likely Boom Bill is charging his fist with magic, somehow. Thought only unicorns could do that. Perhaps internal magic? Runes? Mental note to ask Lyra later. My nullification should be able to disable that so long as I hit him directly in his core. The only way I know to deal with that is by throwing it all around his abdomen. Best bet I have here.’
Activating his nullification completely around his body, he continued to push it as hard as he could into himself. His clothing fluttered about, gaining a dullness to them that started to grey out his clothing. The minotaur ignored this, continuing its charge.
‘Next,’ Anon thought, ‘I’ll just have to wait until he’s close enough and grab him in some way. I don’t think I’ll be able to do much with holding him in place with how top-heavy it is; I’ll only be able to do one hit to his chest before I dodge back from any counters he could throw back.’
As soon as the minotaur came near, he threw his power charged fist at Anon. Instead of dodging away, Anon threw himself right at the minotaur with his shoulder. Boom Bill was surprised seeing this, unable to move out of the way as the human went right by the fist.
Due to its outreached hand and position, it allowed Anon to slam into his chest and position the minotaur on his shoulders quickly. Boom Bill grunted, confused about how he should react. He’d never had anyone go at him like this before.
Anon, immediately after his slam, grabbed the arm connected to the charged fist with his full nullification power on; he felt something immediately deactivating in the minotaur, likely the power that was in his fist. Boom Bill, feeling this, started to panic inside.
Immediately after, he slung him right over his shoulders, with his other hand grabbing a leg in the air. Boom Bill, feeling something sickly entering his body and body propelled into the air, had never felt so terrified.
The body now fully in the air, Anon flung him completely over his shoulder, slamming the minotaur as hard as he could into the ground. The minotaur felt the air escaping him, confused by his position and what was happening. Anon, now bent over him, immediately charged what he could into his palms and slammed it into the guy's chest. Not wanting to see the result and preferring to be safe, he rolled away as fast as he could before standing up, ready for whatever would come next.
…Apparently, nothing. The crowd had grown quiet, stunned by how quick Boom Bill was taken down. Boom Bill himself looked out of the fight, not ready for his own core to being nullified like it was. His body looked grayer all of a sudden like it lost some coloration. He tried standing up, finding the act difficult to accomplish before falling backward on his back.
Attempting it once more, he stood up, hand on his chest as he panted, looking at Anon. There was a great deal of fear in those eyes, staring at Anon and what he had done to him.
Looking around, the minotaur realized there were spectators witnessing everything. He closed his eyes, attempting to regain his composure as he stood up straight. “It… seems the rumors about you were true…” Rubbing his chest, he breathed in, regaining his breath. “I heard of your ability but didn’t think you had so much control over it.”
‘I don’t, or at least I don’t think so.’
“Why I barely have the strength to fight anymore,” he said with a whimper of a laugh, attempting to lighten the mood. It seemed to have worked, ponies standing around the two starting to smile. Boom Bill gave Anon a thumbs up, “You have some good skills, especially that brilliant takedown of yours!”
“Um… thanks?”
‘Seriously? I didn’t do much at all. That was just a basic throw.’
It seemed everyone realized the fight was over and started to cheer for Anon’s victory. Anon was confused about everything that had just happened, wanting to know why it occurred.
“While I admit defeat, this certainly won’t be the last you see of Bombastic Boom Bill!” he loudly proclaimed, regaining some of his previous colorings. “I hope to see you at the Camelot Challenge!”
With that, the minotaur walked over to some bushes that held a flock of pigasus strapped to a chariot. The minotaur let out a yell, flying low to the ground and away from the place.
“…That explains the pigasus,” Anon said to himself.
The crowd started to disperse, some going back to town or wherever they came from, others walking up to Anon, asking for autographs, or about how he had fought. Anon took it all in stride, not really sure what to do about what had just happened.
By the time Lyra came back, there were a few ponies still around talking about the fight or trying to imitate Anon’s throw. She was confused, walking up to Anon. “What’s going on?”
Anon scratched the back of his head, “Some minotaur challenged me to a fight.”
Realization struck Lyra, “Oh no, I was too late! I heard about that in town that some stupid minotaur had come to town on a flock of pigasus just after we got on the balloon looking to challenge you!” She ran up to him, patting him down. “You’re not hurt are you? Please tell me you’re alright!”
He grabbed her, placing the unicorn on the ground. “Yes I’m fine; he wasn’t able to hit me at all.”
She blinked at him, confused. “Really? I thought he was supposed to be some hotshot back in Minothesa, one of their roving champions. How’d he lose?”
“The guy was too slow, more into power shots,” Anon said with a hand wave. “I was able to throw him down and shove some of my ability into his chest. Stopped him in his tracks immediately.”
“How were you able to throw him down at all? I’m confused since the few reports I’ve read with him in them talked about his fights; he’s not just someone you can do that with.”
Anon looked to the side, staring at two fillies throwing one another around, trying to imitate what Anon had while laughing. “I’m not really sure. Maybe your reports made him out bigger than he is, or perhaps he didn’t take me seriously enough and lost on the first opening I saw. Doesn’t matter in the end, still beat him.”
“No, definitely matters. Other minotaurs are likely to challenge you in the future since you just beat one of their bigwigs.”
Blinking, Anon mentally slapped himself. ‘He mentioned the Camelot Challenge as well. I’ll bet I’m going to wind up in that thing somehow and this just set it up. But why me? Shouldn’t one of the other six Elements be involved in that?’
“Hoo-boy that was some fight there Anon! Ya’ impressed me with them there throwing skills.”
“Speak of the devil,” Anon spoke, watching Applejack walking up to them. “Where’ve you been hiding?”
“I was over there by the cart, selling candy apples for the fight. Fluttershy’s over there as well, in case someone got hurt.” The three of them saw Fluttershy trying to convince some of the fillies to not throw one another around, looking frightened at their acts of bravado. “Poor gal was scared stiff of the whole thing. But I knew you’d come out of that just fine.”
“I bet you would’ve loved to have joined if you had the chance,” Anon mentioned.
Applejack scratched the back of her head, looking aside. “Those kinds of thoughts are best left alone, got too much t’ work at the farm to be thinking such things.”
“But not too much time to help us walk Anon back to the house, right?” Lyra said with a slight worry in her voice. “We should make sure he gets back in one piece, who knows what that fight may have done.”
“I dunno, he did fine in the fight I think.” Applejack scrunched her face looking at Lyra, then at Anon. “Although I wouldn’t want to take anything t’ chance with him.”
“I think I’m perfectly fine girls.”
Applejack clucked her tongue. “Nonsense! Concerning you, I wouldn’t doubt something comes on by just to fight you once more, and we can’t be having that.”
“That’s… a good point.” With his luck, he’d be fighting another minotaur just around the corner. “What about the air balloon?”
Lyra spoke up, “I brought Cherry Berry and she’s already wrapping things up with the balloon so we have no reason to be here anymore.”
Looking at the balloon, he could see the pony from before flattening out the balloon, trying to get the air out while marking where the cuts had occurred. Thinking things were covered and wanting to leave, Anon followed the two back to the house, hoping no one else would try and start some stupid fight challenge with him.
Along the way, Anon could see Lyra giving him glances, making him wonder if she was still worried about him. Back at the house, Lyra was now right beside him, letting Anon up to the door first. He didn’t think much of it as he opened the door and walked in.
He was immediately assaulted by a cacophony of noises with a blinding light flashed into his eyes. Blinking rapidly, he regained his sight, seeing ponies now milling about the house, laughing, and having fun. Streamers and balloons were littered about the room with a few games placed here and there. The kitchen table had quite a few snacks and drinks on it, ready for consumption.
“Surprise!” Pinkie shouted at Anon, blowing a party blower in his face. “Did we get you, did we, did we? Huh, huh, huh-huh-huh?!”
“Pinkie, slow down or you’ll give him a heart attack,” Applejack said, pulling the pink menace back.
“What is all this?” Anon asked.
“It’s a party silly!” Pinkie said, still being held back by Applejack.
“But why?”
“Lyra’s the one that set it up!”
Looking down, Lyra gave Anon a nervous smile, “I thought having some fun would be good since we’re going to be gone for a bit. It’d be nice to talk to everypony before we left, right?”
“I suppose it’s better than a surprise fight,” Anon said with a smirk.
Lyra let out a small chuckle before going into the sea of ponies, likely to try and find Bon Bon. Pinkie looked at Anon, confused. “What’d ya mean by that?”
“Got into some fight with a minotaur a bit ago,” Anon said, making his way to the food. “Some guy named Boom Bill, challenging me to the Camelot, whatever that was.”
Pinkie gasped, swirling around his body before appearing on his shoulders. “You’re going to the Camelot Challenge?!”
“Uh, no. I don’t even know what it is.”
“It’s something that Camelot had set up a long time ago since they love a good ol’ fight,” Applejack said with a nod. “It used to be a massive challenge just to get into their lands so barely anyone could actually get there to compete. It’d take ages before we knew who won that thing! But with them passageways now cleared out and such, they’re throwing up a huge tourney a full year in advance that’s acceptin’ all challengers. Guess that fella Boom Bill wants t’ see ya there and such.”
“I’d rather avoid that if at all possible.”
“I thought Lyra said you were going to be traveling all over the world!” Pinkie said, still sitting atop his shoulders.
“Then that means ya’s likely to be headin’ to Camelot at some point,” Applejack said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if ya manage to get in there as they’re cuttin’ down on the challengers for their tourney.”
“Look, even if I wanted to be a part of that, which I don’t, I doubt I’d make it in time for their roster.”
“I’ve heard they make exceptions to certain parties, such as some fella’s in the E.U.P. or certain rep’s in the Minothesian clans. Very certain of you being part of those exceptions as well, doubt they’d not let you join if you were there.”
“So I’ll try not to be there when that happens, got ya.”
Applejack let out a laugh, “I wouldn’t mind seeing ya in a tussle out there, definitely getting’ myself a ticket to see some action! Why, if ya really got Boom Bill of all fellas down without much problem, I might even bet some bits on ya winnin’ the whole thing!”
“WHOOO!” Pinkie twirled a noisemaker in the air with a holler. “Anon the destroyer!!!”
A loud roar of the ponies around him bellowed out, some clearly having listened in on his conversation. All Anon could do was let out a groan at the turn of events.
After getting away from those two, Anon was treated to some goofy little things set up, such as pin the tail on the pony to a piñata that was designed to look like him. How disturbing. There was even a silly pony that attempted to set up a table for an Anon Massage Game and tried to convince him to be a part of it. Guess which part he was supposed to do? Yeah, he wasn’t fooled in the slightest.
Eventually, he wound up sitting beside Bon Bon who had a head full of glitter and confetti, a drink in her hoof, and appearing to have a good time. Anon had a drink in hand and a small smile on him, something Bon Bon smiled back at. “Good to see you’re enjoying yourself.”
“It’s a little hard not to with everyone here shoving cheer right down my throat.”
“Well, I hope you choke on it then.” Anon barked out a laugh, taking another drink from his cup. Bon Bon took her own sip, looking at the activity coming from the others before turning to Anon. “So, something completely off-topic to this party and I hope I don’t regret bringing it up but you are fine with going with us?”
He paused with his drink at his lips, lifting up an eyebrow. “Why you ask?” he questioned before drinking.
“You didn’t exactly seem happy yesterday hearing about us going. Lyra and I didn’t want it to come off like you were forced to go, even if it did seem like Princess Celestia would like it if you did, so if you really do want to stay—”
He patted her head, making her squeak out in surprise. “Bonnie, it’s fine. Yeah, I’ll admit I’m not really caring about this whole thing and would just prefer staying here. But I shouldn’t just coop myself up in this place. I should go out and see the world. I realized that even if I’m in a world I don’t belong, that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try and enjoy myself, see what’s out there.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that,” Bon Bon said, taking a larger gulp from her drink. “…Wait, what’s this about not belonging? Don’t be stupid. Who’s to say who belongs and who doesn’t? Why should it matter that you’re not a pony or anything from this world?” She poked Anon in the chest, “You’re Anon the human, and your friends want you to belong.”
Anon couldn’t help but hum to himself, a smile still on his face. Yeah, he definitely liked this place more and more as time went on. So what if he was the only human on this planet and he was technically alone in his own way? He could find some way to belong, probably.
Before Anon could delve more into these thoughts, a loud whoop went into the air. A scream shot out, right before he heard something slamming above him. Bon Bon and Anon looked up, seeing Rarity’s horn stuck in a wooden beam with her struggling to get loose. “Why’d I listen to Pinkie?! This is so embarrassing, what would anypony think if they knew of this!”
A flash shot out to the side. Rainbow Dash was taking pictures, a Cheshire grin on her face. “I think you’ll have more problems with us forgetting it!”
“RAINBOW DASH! YOU, YOU, YOU WILL STOP THIS INSTANCE, GET ME DOWN, AND DESTROY THOSE TERRIBLE IMAGES IMMEDIATELY!”
“Hmmmm naaaaaaaa!” More pictures were taken as Rarity struggled to get out, to the amusement of the crowd.
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It was the end of the week and Anon was feeling jittery. Sitting in his cabin at the train station, he thought about what he was going to see and do. Lyra had already explained their roles, for the most part. She herself was to help with the ambassador that was there in their lands already, someone named Hazy Friction, while also collecting information and seeing what was happening at the ground level. Bon Bon was more or less to help in anything regarding her work, as she was an assistant of hers. And Anon was... some kind of representative of the princesses?
He still wasn’t sure what his exact role was. Anon knew that because he was an alien tied to the Equestrians, it gave them some more power in some fashion. It was all a confusing matter for him. In the end, it all came to him being an ambassador of his own people and world, as unofficial as it felt to him. Lyra explained having him apparently helped move them faster through things, just because many beings didn’t want to appear like they were being offensive in some manner. Appearances mattered to certain people, after all, unless it was behind closed doors.
Lyra had just finished placing their baggage away as Bon Bon was looking through some reading material Lyra was given to by the princess, making sure she was read up on everything. Anon was sitting there, looking at the crowd of ponies taking pictures and waving at him. He gave a small smile, waving back. More flashes and cheering could be heard.
“You probably shouldn’t wire them up, Anon,” Bon Bon chastised.
“They’d just get themselves worked up anyways,” Lyra grunted out, shoving their packs in an overhead compartment. “Anon’s a celebrity at this point.”
“Not my fault, I didn’t know fighting Boom Bill would’ve done all this.”
“You’re also the local alien and “Rebel Wrecker”,” Bon Bon added. “Expect to see a large party of ponies for your arrival back.”
“Great…”
Lyra jumped up beside Bon Bon, taking a seat. “The train should be leaving soon. I can’t wait; I wonder what we’ll see over there!”
“I thought you knew already, what with all these documents,” Bon Bon put out.
“Hey,” Anon said, “I just realized I don’t even know where we’re going. You never did say, only that it was several different locations.”
Bon Bon gave a pointed glare at Lyra, who could only chuckle at her mistake. “Princess Celestia doesn’t want us to go inexperienced to the newly opened passageways, and we still don’t know much about Minothesa and what’s going on down there with them having closed up a lot of traffic through their lands. So we’ll be going out to Gryphonia.”
“We’ll be heading directly to Griffonstone,” Lyra continued. “We’ll have an easy time getting there with how close it is so we won’t have to travel too far into their lands.”
“So we’ll be talking to the griffons then?” Lyra nodded. “I barely know anything about them, though I remember those griffons from before.”
Lyra looked confused while Bon Bon realized what he meant. “Anon and I had a talk with some griffons that said they were just flying back to their home after talking to Celestia.”
“There might be a chance you’ll see them if they were coming back from Princess Celestia,” Lyra said. “I don’t know of many griffons that go and talk to her, but the ones that do tend to be for the more important business. ”
“Wouldn’t anyone talking to Celestia be for important business?”
“Not… necessarily,” Lyra said. “She talks to everyone when she has the time. I remember reading through the recorded sessions involving the princesses a while back. There was one where she had to talk to somepony wanting to ban cabbages of all things. I’m not sure why, but from what little I remember of it the pony had some sort of feud with a cabbage seller. That would spark the event that created the Cabbage Patch Wars that lasted a hundred days. Lots of innocent cabbages were slain during that time.”
“Oh… Well, never mind about anyone having important business to talk to Celestia about,” Anon said. Bon Bon giggled as Lyra snorted hearing him.
The train rocked slightly as it started to depart the station, all the cheering ponies waving flags or waving at their group. It wasn’t just for Anon, their entire group was doing something that hadn’t been done in over nine-hundred years, or so he was told. It was a bit of a historical moment for everyone involved and many wanted to witness it.
~End Chapter Twenty-Four~