“You can’t be serious, Twi,” AJ said, eying the newly christened Anonymous.
“Where else are we supposed to put him?”
“Why don’t we just put him in my barn?”
“So close to Apple Bloom and Granny Smith? No,” Twilight said, kicking the floor for emphasis. “He needs to stay at the library with me, where I can keep an eye on him.”
“What if he tries to hurt you like he did Fluttershy?”
“He didn’t hurt her, and we don’t even know what his intention was! For all we know, Discord summoned him and is just being Discord!”
“I beg your pardon!” the draconequus growled. “Look at him! So symmetrical and upright. He’s nothing but trouble for us, mark my words, Sparkle.”
“Regardless, he seems calm now.” She turned her attention to Anonymous – her gaze finding his own burning, right where she’d left it. Ignoring the hair starting to raise on her back, she pressed on. “Anonymous. Do you understand me?”
Silence.
“Answer her, Bip – we all know you can!” Discord snapped. The snap of Anonymous’s gaze to Discord heralded a wave of shivers down his spine.
“Anonymous!” Twilight said, louder this time. His gaze snapped back to her with the same precision and unnatural speed it had snapped to Discord. “Follow me,” she said, quieter now that she held his gaze. Taking a deep breath, she slowly started walking towards the door, careful to navigate around any furniture that might still be standing.
The house was silent as she moved. Despite them being behind her, she could feel everyone’s eyes on Anonymous – almost boring through him to her. Step by trepid step, she exited Fluttershy’s cottage.
Step by heavy step, Anonymous followed.
Why would a monster stop terrorizing someone just because it made it to their house? Why would it stop attacking before landing a single blow? Why would it stop when it had the advantage over Discord? Still, step after heavy step, Anonymous obediently followed her back to Ponyville.
Stopping at the outskirts of town, she finally turned around to look at Anonymous again. His gaze was in the same position, attempting to burn through her skull. His motion stopped with hers, maintaining the distance they’d started out with.
“This is Ponyville,” she said, gesturing to the town. Once again, his gaze followed her gesture. Eyes wandering over the picturesque sunrise before them. “Would you like to see it?” Anonymous’ gaze slowly fell back to Twilight. Nothing was said, no movement or expression. He simply stared at her, eyes probing her more and more. “Then follow me, and only me.”
She led him through the sleepy streets. It didn’t appear that their escapade through the night had gone noticed, thankfully. If she was lucky, she could get him into the library before anyone else found out.
Picking up her pace, she listened carefully, for Anonymous’s footsteps. Sure enough, they were closer together – more frequent. Bumping up to a steady trot, she quickly found herself in front of the mahogany door to the library. Carefully, she opened the door and stepped inside.
“This is my house – the Ponyville library,” she said, sighing with relief. Turning around, she beckoned Anonymous to come inside, and so he did. “I think Spike is probably still asleep, so try and be quiet,” she said, closing the door behind him. Glancing back at his expressionless face, she paused for a moment. “On second thought, just stay here,” she said, leaving him at the entrance.
“Spike?” she whispered, poking her head up into the bedroom. Her eyes found Spike, sleeping like… well, like a baby dragon. Her pupils dilated however, when she found cyan eyes staring back at her.
“Greetings, Twilight Sparkle.”
“P-Princess Luna!” she squeaked, freezing in place. “What are you doing here?”
“It is good to see you, too, Twilight,” the princess said, adjusting Spike’s blanket with her magic. “I am here because of what transpired during the night in the Everfree forest.” She glanced back to the happily snoring baby dragon. “Perhaps we should continue this discussion downstairs?”
Twilight nodded solemnly, heading back downstairs. How much trouble was she about to get into? Did she do something wrong? Is Anonymous more dangerous than she first thought? She stopped in front of the creature, looking up into his gaze.
“So, this is what landed in the forest?” Luna said, circling Anonymous slowly.
“Yes, Princess. I’m sorry I didn’t say something sooner, I thought we could handle this without bothering your or Princess Celestia.”
“You have nothing to apologize for, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said, continuing to inspect Anonymous. Through all of her observations though, Anonymous’ gaze stayed firmly transfixed on Twilight. “What do you know of it?”
“Not much, unfortunately. He seems to understand at least some of what we say, but I don’t know for certain. Discord claims-“
“Discord is involved?” Luna asked, feathers ruffling.
“Yes, princess. Him, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were the first ones to meet Anonymous. Sort of.”
“Anonymous?” Upon hearing his name from a new figure, Anonymous’ gaze snapped to Luna. “What else do you know?”
“Discord claims his magic doesn’t work on Anonymous. When Pinkie told us what happened, we found a… bit of a mess at Fluttershy’s house.”
“Was anyone hurt?”
“No. Discord was tired, but aside from the mess, Anonymous just stood around. Kind of like he is now.” On cue, his gaze snapped back to Twilight. “He can speak.”
“And yet he chooses silence in my presence. Anonymous,” Luna said, commanding his attention once more. “Why are you here?”
“I’ve already tried that. I’m not sure he understands us fully. He knows enough to at least follow basic commands though.”
“What is your purpose?” Silence. “Where are you from?” Luna’s eyes glinted with frustration.
“I’m still trying to work out how to communicate with him. There’s no pattern to the words he says, at least none that I can find so far. I’m still not sure he can form full sentences.”
“A youngling, perhaps,” Luna said, more to herself than to Twilight.
“He doesn’t seem very childish,” Twilight said, brow furrowing with thought. “Besides, if he’s this big as a child, his adult version must be enormous!” The unicorn paused for a moment, setting her thoughts on Anonymous aside. “Princess Luna, why are you interested in Anonymous?”
“That is not something I wish to discuss, Twilight Sparkle,” she said softly. “Just know that I intend to learn all that I can about this… Anonymous of yours.” A slight smile crept onto her muzzle. “Consider it a Royal privilege for now.” She chuckled to herself. The number of times her sister used that excuse to be alone…
“O-oh! Of course!” Twilight said, ever eager to avoid infringing on a princess’ prerogative. Turning to her books, she began scouring the spines for anything that popped out. She wasn’t sure exactly what she was looking for, only that she would know it when she found it.
History of Equestria? Eh, throw it in the pile.
Modern Spellcasting? No.
Perplexing Pony Plagues? Hopefully not!
The Astronomical Astronomer’s Almanac to All Things Astronomy: 2nd Edition? No…
Right?
“Princess Luna,” she said, levitating the stack of books with her as she walked back to the princess. “Do you know where Anonymous came from?”
“Is he not from the Everfree Forest?” She finally broke her gaze with Anonymous, facing Twilight now.
“I’m not sure. I’ve never seen or heard about anything like him before,” she said, setting the book tower down between herself and Luna. “I’ve got some older Compendiums here – I was hoping to find something at least close to him.”
“I will assist you,” Luna said, enveloping half of the books with her own magic. “Perhaps the two of us can find answers faster.”
“I’ve been through every book five times!” Twilight groaned, collapsing on the floor. “Nothing!”
“There is a distinct chance that nothing has been written about Anonymous,” Luna said, wiping the sleep from her own eyes.
“I was hoping for something – anything! Not even a hint of him or his kind.”
“I have been fruitless as well in my endeavors. There is nothing matching Anonymous’ description in any of the books I have read, either.”
Twilight sat for a while, words and thoughts colliding mindlessly in her normally organized head. Something was there, she could feel it. Of all the knowledge both her and Luna had gone over, something was trying to stick out to her – trying to get her attention amidst the information overload.
“Wait a minute,” she said, sitting up. “We don’t know what we don’t know.”
“That’s… right?” Luna said, tilting her head slightly to look at Twilight. “Please Twilight Sparkle, do not add to my headache by having me guess.”
“We don’t know what we don’t know!” the unicorn repeated excitedly, standing back up fully. “He’s not in any of our books!” She squealed in excitement. “There’s nothing about Anonymous or anything like him in our books, right?”
“Nothing that either of us could find, no.”
“Then that means Anonymous truly is completely alien! He’s not from our world at all!” Twilight’s pupils went wide as she realized the responsibility that had just befallen her. “We’re the first ponies to ever interact with him or his kind. I have to log this – all of it!”
“Log,” Anonymous repeated, his voice raising the hair on Twilight’s neck.
“Log?” she repeated, looking back to Anonymous.
“Log,” he said again.
“Anonymous,” Luna said, watching the creature. His gaze stayed firmly affixed where it had been – on some point beyond Twilight.
“Why didn’t he look at you?” Twilight asked, picking up more pieces of the puzzle she was trying to solve. “Log,” she said again.
“Log,” Anonymous repeated, his brow furrowing.
“He looks,” she paused, making sure her eyes weren’t deceiving her. “Confused?”
“Overflow,” he said, looking to Twilight.
“I’m positive he hasn’t heard that word from anyone – not since I’ve seen him. What could he mean?”
“Overflow,” he repeated. There was a certain excitement to his voice now. Twilight could hear something in his voice now – fear. “Overflow,” he repeated, looking to Luna.
“I don’t understand,” Luna said.
“Overflow,” he said, turning back to Twilight. “Overflow!” Before Twilight could probe with further questions, Anonymous became still as a board. Without so much as a beep, he fell backwards with a thud.
“Anonymous!” Twilight said, scrambling over to him. “No, no, no!” Her hooves quickly started padding and prodding at his body, trying to find some sort of injury that would explain what just happened. “I don’t understand!”
“I will summon a doctor,” Luna said, leaving Twilight alone with Anonymous.
“Did we do something wrong?” she asked, placing her head to his chest. The sounds she heard were alien and unnatural, but they were sounds. She tried to prop him up, muscles straining to her surprise. “Wow you’re heavy,” she said, horn lighting up. “That’s okay though, I know a few levitation spells that might help.”
The pinkish-purple aura engulfed her horn shortly before engulfing Anonymous. When she applied force however, the aura disappeared.
“What the?” she said, re-lighting her horn. Once more, she applied force and attempted to cast the levitation spell on Anonymous, only for the aura to disappear completely once more. “Why doesn’t my magic work on you?” She levitated a book, making sure she wasn’t the source of the problem. The book smashed into the ceiling, reminding her that she was no longer trying to levitate the massive slab of Anonymous. Wincing, she released the book, letting it drop back to the floor.
“Twilight?” Spike yawned, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he wandered down the stairs. “What’s going on?” he asked, blinking further sleep away. “Who’s that?”
“His name is Anonymous, and I think I broke him,” she said, now looking to her books on magic.
“Shouldn’t we take him to the doctor?”
“Luna is already on the way, and I couldn’t move him if I wanted to,” she said, flipping through book after book.
“Wait, Luna? Princess Luna is here?”
“No, that’s not it either,” she said, tossing another book to the pile.
“What are you looking for?” Spike asked, maintaining a healthy distance between himself and Anonymous. Just in case.
“A-ha! Magical Compendium,” she said, flipping through the pages with an almost worrying speed. “Absorbing Magic,” she muttered, eyes sprinting over the ink on the page. “Well, I didn’t see any bell on him,” she said to herself.
“Twilight?” Luna said, leading the doctor in behind her. “Has there been any change?”
“None,” she said, forehead wrinkling with thought. “I heard something in his chest, but I don’t know that I’d call it a heartbeat.”
“Alright, let’s have a look-see,” the doctor said, sitting down next to Anonymous and opening his bag.
“Twilight, what are you looking for?” Luna asked, turning her attention back to the studious unicorn.
“I tried to move Anonymous, but he absorbed my magic,” she said, still looking through the book. “I’m trying to find anything about magic absorption, but everything just keeps pointing back to some kind of bell!”
“That bell is safely stowed away in Tartarus,” Luna said firmly.
“Are you sure?” Twilight asked, looking up from her book. “I can’t find anything else that could absorb that much magic that quickly.”
“Regardless, it is too large a bell for Anonymous to conceal.”
“Well, I don’t think he’s dead,” the doctor finally said, pulling the stethoscope from his ears. “But I can’t quite say that he’s alive, either.”
“Explain,” Luna said.
“Well, I didn’t find a heartbeat – I found four of them! If he were a pony, I’d recommend he see a specialist in Canterlot.” The doctor paused, looking from his patient to Twilight. “What is he, exactly?”
“We’re not sure yet,” Twilight said, assessing her options. “Spike, can you go to Sweet Apple Acres and get Apple Jack and Big Mac over here? Tell them it’s an emergency.”
“You got it!” Spike said, saluting before running off towards the Apple’s farm.
“Doctor, stay here with Anonymous, in case anything changes. Princess Luna and I are going to get Discord.”
“You are?” the doctor asked.
“We are?” Luna repeated.
“Yes, we are. We need to know everything he knows about Anonymous,” Twilight said. “He’s the only connection that we haven’t fully explored, and he still owes me a thorough debriefing.”