If one were to ask why no pony ever walked through the old abandoned part of Ponyville, they would get a small handful of answers. Some found that part of town and the loosely controlled wilds there unnerving. Others would say that the area felt sad and hollow. Regardless of their reasons, few dared to enter this part of town or the surrounding forests if they could avoid it. It wasn't until very recently that said part of town and forests found any willing traffic from the locals. Today, that trend seemed to be continuing as a Unicorn mare and young Dragon made there way through the very somber wilds that unnerved their neighbors so much.
The mare's coat was a soft lavender, her dark blue mane straight and roughly three inches past her nape. Her tail was in a similar style, both structures of hair sporting a pair of two-toned pink streaks that were set next to each other and moved with the flow. Her bangs were cut in a perfect straight line across her forehead for the sole purpose of keeping them out of her eyes. Her purple eyes were locked onto a scroll held up her face by the violet aura of her magic as she walked. She had a healthy lean figure, devoid of the heavy muscle definition of a Pony that lived an athletic lifestyle. Her outfit confirmed that kind of assumption, her pressed white dress shirt, gray business skirt, black stockings, and brown dress shoes making her look more at home in a government office than her current surroundings.
The Dragon at her side was a lot less formal, the young drake looking more like a ten-year-old foal in terms of size, his lack of wings further adding to this image. His violet main and emerald chest scales were covered by a dark blue T-shirt while his lower body was hidden by a pair of tan jean-shorts. Like most of his kind, his clawed feet were bare with his scales protecting his soles. Green rounded spines started at the crown of his head as a four-inch-long crest that gradually shrank as they made their way down his neck to the small spikes that decorated the small three foot tail coming out of the hole in rear of his shorts. Green slitted eyes and rounded ear fins took in his surroundings with cautious tensity, the drake nervously gnawing on his lower lip as he primed his claws with the same kind of energy.
"A-Are you sure this is a good idea, Twilight?" the drake nervously asked, head snapping to the side of the path when a bird flew out of a nearby bush. "I-I mean, didn't Pinkie say this guy pulled a knife on her? How do we know he isn't dangerous?"
The Unicorn, Twilight, nodded, looking up from her scroll for a moment long enough to look for any landmarks before returning her attention to the paper.
"Yes Spike, I'm sure," Twilight smiled. "Pinkie confirmed that Anon only reacted like that because he had never seen a Pony before. So long as we don't act in a threatening way and avoid touching his cards, we should be able to avoid a repeat of that situation."
"His....cards?" the drake, Spike, asked, dropping his vigil to give the older mare a raised brow.
She nodded, still staring at her scroll.
"Apparently, they are part of a game from his native land and he is extremely protective of them."
"That's...kind've weird," he mused, scratching his chin in thought, then shrugged and added, "Whatever keeps us safe, I guess."
Twilight rolled her eyes at that.
While she did a good job hiding it, Twilight was absolutely brimming with excitement. She was about to meet a creature from another world! Dozens of questions were running through her head, each overlapping the others like waves in the middle of a monsoon. What other kinds of creatures lived in his world? What were the technological advancements of his kind? Was he a carnivore, herbivore, or omnivore? Did his kind lay eggs or bear live young? What kind of magic did his kind use? What was the average life span of a Human?
A barely suppressed giggle slipped past her muzzle at the variable galactic treasure trove of knowledge she was closing in on. Spike noticed the mare's subtle slip-up and knew that there was no way to talk her out of this. The small glint he saw in her eye as she continued to read her scroll told him that this "Anon" creature had just become her latest research topic. Rolling his eyes, he started bracing himself for the insanity he had come to expect from the mare when this happened. At the same time, he started taking note of specific ruined buildings or odd trees to use as landmarks in the case of needing an exit strategy. As much faith as he had in Twilight's magic, it never hurt to have an extra means of escape if things go south. He had no idea what kind of abilities or magic Humans had or if this particular Human was stronger than the Unicorn in some way. While he was sure he could back her up if something like that happened, but he wasn't foolish enough to think he was invincible. While Dragons were tough, he knew that there were ways to get around that toughness, especially in the case of Dragons as young as he was.
Don't act like a jerk and don't touch his cards, he thought, taking a deep breath to steady his nerves. Easy. Now, I just need to make sure Twilight doesn't do something that would make him think she wants to hurt him.
Another suppressed giggle from the mare pulled his attention to her, a growing smile spreading across her muzzle.
He gulped, doubling his efforts to construct escape routs with what few landmarks he could see around them.
***
Anon hummed a little tune to himself, mixing up a batch of instant milk coffee in his kitchen with a small smile. For the first time in days he was starting to feel like his old self again. Part of it was because of Applejack's job offer yesterday. While he was still hesitant to trust the mare, it put his mind at ease to at least have a job option open to him. The largest part was that he was starting to make peace with his situation. He was almost willing to look at it as a chance to start his life over, finally free from the constant grief he had to endure each day on Earth.
His humming stopped, his smile melting into a bitter scowl when memories of his family seeped into the from of his mind. The fights, the smears, the bruises, all because he refused to be like them. Because he chose to live life on his own terms without their shady influences and controlling weight on his shoulders.
He took a deep breath, forcing the dark memories to the back of his mind, where they belonged.
They're gone. Stuck on Earth. I never have to see them again. Move on Anon.
That reminder gave him back his smile as he picked up his mug and made his way into the dining room.
"I guess that's one perk of ending up here," he chuckled, taking a seat.
His good mood perked up when he spotted a dark blue deck box on the table.
Seeing as he had little else to do, he had fished out one of his older decks from his study the night before and began tinkering with it. He knew it was a waste of time, given how limited his options were and the fact that the deck was already about as strong as it was going to ever be, but it was a fun distraction all the same. When he eventually got too tired to keep his focus, he put the cards back into their container, but obviously forgot to put them back in the study before he went to bed.
Setting his mug a safe distance away, he took the blue-sleeved cards out of their container and decided to pick up from where he left off last night. In lieu of trying to modify the deck, he opted for a mental mock battle. When he drew his hand of seven, he stroked his chin with his free hand in thought. After a moment, he started playing islands, drawing cards, and adding non-land cards to the table. Every now and then, he'd flinch back in his seat from an imagined attack before he would straighten out his tapped cards and draw. Each play took a bit more brain power than he was used to, but countless battles had made him more than familiar with the rulings surrounding these particular cards and most of the possible combos they were capable of. The trick was finding all of the ways to get said combos to go off when he needed them to.
He stared long and hard at the cards on the table, the gears grinding in his head as he took a swig of his now cold coffee. He was instantly pulled out of whatever progress he had made in that venture when he heard a knock at the door. Blinking, he took a few seconds to get his mind back into his head, then let out a sigh as he got up from his seat and made his way towards the door.
Wonder who it is this time, he thought, checking to make sure his knife was still in his back pocket. Seriously, I didn't even get this many visitors back home. What gives?
Once he was sure that his weapon was present, he opened the door a crack and peeked outside. He was greeted by the sight of a lavender Unicorn mare dressed in formal attire, her violet eyes shining almost as brightly as her smile. While this was something he had come to expect at this point, the same could not be said about the reptilian creature at her side. Said creature eyed him with just as much caution as the Human gave to him, his hand drifting to the knife in his pocket.
"Can I help you?" he asked, shifting his attention to the mare.
"You are Anon, correct?" the mare asked, her smile a little less daunting, yet still friendly.
He cautiously nodded.
"Perfect! My name is Twilight Sparkle and this is my assistant Spike," she announced, gesturing to herself and her companion.
"Hey," Spike nodded, his whole body as tense as a pressed spring.
Anon returned the greeting.
"Pinkie told you about me, right?" he asked, the question coming off more as a statement.
Twilight nodded, her eager energy from before returning as she said, "If it wouldn't be too much trouble, I would love to know more about you and your people. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"
He reeled back a bit at that, suddenly having so much interest thrown at him and the mare's enthusiasm catching him off guard. Regaining his bearings, he met her eager eyes with a guarded pair as he mulled over her request. If it was just her, he probably would've been a lot more open to the request. Spike was an unknown element, both in terms of what exactly he was and what he was capable of. The assistant's claws and fangs made him wonder if Sting or Jinx could even be effective deterrents with him around if things went south.
"Depends," he frowned. "Is your assistant going to cut my throat out?"
Both of them flinched back at that, eyes wide with shock.
"No! Of course not!" Twilight declared, exasperated.
"Right!" Spike cried, crossing his arms.
Anon stared at them, his thoughts hidden behind a blank mask. Their indignation slowly turned into mild discomfort under his gaze. After a long moment of tense silence, he let out a sigh and opened the door fully for them.
"Fine," he frowned. "But I want to put a few conditions on the table."
"Such as?" she asked, raising a brow.
"First, don't touch anything unless I say it's okay," he snipped. "Second, unless its the bathroom, neither of you can leave the dining room or living room. Third, if any of you hurt my cat, i'll chuck the both of you out of here so fast, you'll think my house spat you out the door. And finally, no magic. We have a deal?"
"Deal," she nodded, putting out a hand.
He cautiously took it and gave it a quick shake before letting go. Reluctance heavy in his features, he stepped aside then gestured for them to step inside. Twilight did so enthusiastically, her eyes scanning the home's interior with intense interest. Spike was a lot more guarded, taking in his surroundings with the same kind of tense edge as an explorer wandering into a strange forest at night. That got a raised brow out of Anon, but he quickly shrugged it off, then shut the door, the latch's click enough to make the young reptilian jump.
Moving past the duo, he guided them towards the dining room on his way to the kitchen. While they took a seat at the table, he started filling a pitcher with some ice water from the fridge. While he was doing that, he could hear them whispering to each other.
"His home is kind've like ours, huh?" Spike asked.
"Almost," Twilight allowed. "While it does have the same kind of natural feel to it, his home seems to be constructed in a manner similar to ones built by Earth Pony masons. At least, the ones built by Earth Ponies that don't add their magic to their materials or tools, anyway."
"You don't sense any magic here?" Spike asked, incredulous. "Weird."
Anon snorted at that, fishing three glasses from his kitchen cabinet.
"Huh? What are these?" Spike asked, making Anon tense up.
"Those must be the cards Pinkie mentioned," Twilight responded, a quizzical lilt coloring her tone. "Spike, remember-
"Don't touch them, got it!" Spike cut in, determination heavy in his tone.
"Good," Twilight sighed. "He's already nervous around us and the last thing we need is to give him a reason to dislike us."
"Right," Spike grumbled.
Letting out a sigh of his own, Anon stacked the glasses, grabbed the pitcher, and made his way out of the kitchen into the dining room. Upon seeing him, his two guests sat ramrod straight, nervous smiles plastered across their faces so firmly it looked almost painful. Ignoring it, he set their glasses down in front of them before he set the pitcher in the middle of the table and took his seat. With casual ease, he gathered the cards he had left on the table earlier into a stack, then set them aside to his right, their deck box about an inch away from them.
"So, what do you want to know," he sighed, filling the glasses.
"Well," Twilight awkwardly started. "I suppose the best place to begin would be to confirm if you are, in fact, a Human."
"Yep and yes," he snorted, taking a sip from his glass. "And if you don't mind, I've got a question along the same line of thought. Do you mind?"
"Not at all," she smiled.
A nervous expression faintly creeped onto his face before he pointed at Spike and asked, "What is Spike?"
The duo blinked, traded confused looks, then Twilight said, "Spike is a Dragon. Why do you ask?"
Anon reeled back a little at that.
"J-Just curious," he forced out. "Dragons don't exist where I'm from outside of old legends, movies, stories, or fantasy games. He didn't have wings, so I wasn't sure if he was one or not."
"They haven't grow in yet," Spike huffed, a couple small flecks of green flames flickering out of his snout from the action, looking away and crossing his arms.
And he can breath fire, he thought. Perfect!
"So, Dragons don't exist where you live?" Twilight hastily asked, chuckling nervously. "What creatures do live there?"
"Humans are the only sentient creatures on my world," he sighed. "Everything else are just regular animals with no magical abilities."
"Such as?" Twilight pressed.
Anon laughed at that.
"I'm not a walking encyclopedia. I could list off every animal I know and that would still only cover about one percent of the critters that live there."
"Fair enough," she allowed, smiling. "Then, what kind of magic do Humans use?"
"We don't have magic," he shrugged, taking a sip of his water.
"WHAT?!" Twilight cried, almost making him drop his glass. "How does that work?!"
"Humans use technology to, I guess, make up for that," he frowned, setting his glass down. "Through mathematics, years of scientific experimentation, and unbelievable stubbornness, my kind have been able to build things that come pretty damn close to magic."
"Really?" Twilight pressed, eyes shining.
"Sort've," he shrugged. "There are some limits. Like, we can't teleport or turn things into other things, but we do have ways to talk to people on other sides of the world as easily as we're doing it right now."
"How?" Spike asked, raising a brow. "You just said Humans don't have magic and that sounds a lot like a Mirror Message spell."
He fished his phone out of his pocket and placed it on the table. The two Equestrians stared at the device with intrigue, then surprise when Anon pressed a button on its side and unlocked the screen. He chuckled at their reactions, then explained.
"Where I'm from, these things come with a string of numbers that are unique to each device. If I know that other devices number or have it recorded in this one's memory, I could use it to contact them through this device from almost anywhere on my planet."
"Really?" Twilight gasped, ogling his phone like it was a rare treasure.
"No way," Spike balked, glaring skeptically down at the device.
"I'd prove it, but the thing doesn't really work here," he shrugged, turning it off and returning it to his pocket. "It needs a signal to work and that's something Equestria doesn't seem to have."
"So it's like a radio?" Spike asked.
"Not exactly, but close enough," Anon allowed.
"Fascinating," Twilight frowned, staring down at the ground and stroking her chin in thought. "Do Humans use technology to control the weather and move the sun and moon too?"
"No, those do things on their own," he stated, raising a brow.
That snapped Twilight out of her musings in an instant, making the mare stare at him in wide-eyed shock.
"How!?" she squawked.
"They just do," he shrugged. "Humans have tried to control the weather in the past, but it's never gone anywhere. The most our technology can do is give us a rough prediction of what the weather is going to do so we can try to work with it."
"That's crazy," Spike blinked. "So, what happens when you have droughts or floods?"
"Like I said, we take steps to work with things like that," Anon sighed, taking a sip of water. "It isn't a perfect system, but it's the best we can do with what we have to work with."
"Interesting," Twilight nodded. "What kind of things do Human's eat?"
"All kinds of things," he shrugged. "Biologically speaking, Humans are omnivores, but some of us prefer to have all meat or all plant diets. I'm mostly a meat-eater, but I'm not against having some greens on my plate from time to time."
"Oh," Twilight gulped, then sheepishly asked, "What....kind of meat?"
"Chicken, beef, and pork mostly, but I've been known to hunt deer every now and then for venison."
"What's beef?" Spike asked.
"Cow meat," he stated.
Spike and Twilight both paled at that.
"What's up?" he asked.
"Cows are....sentient," Twilight gulped.
Anon's eyes widened at that.
"Shit! Okay, listen. I'm not going to eat anything sentient. I swear! Hell, that's even a taboo where I'm from!"
"You promise?" Spike gulped.
Anon nodded.
"The only times Human's from my part of the world ever ate each other was in cases of absolute desperation. Like, the other guy is dead and if you don't eat the body, you'll die too. Even then, it's extremely frowned upon at best and straight up illegal at worst."
"That's good to hear," Twilight sighed, a relieved smile gracing her muzzle. "Shall we move on to a less....nerve-wracking subject?"
"Sure," he sighed, glad to be out of that particular disaster.
"How do Humans reproduce?" she casually asked.
Anon nearly spat a mouthful of water at her, the Human just barely managing to force the liquid down.
"What?!" he coughed, pounding his chest.
"Well," she sheepishly continued. "Seeing as you have the same general shape as an adult Pony stallion I assume that it is the same for your kind as it is for ours, but I wanted to confirm that to know for sure."
Flatly, Anon said, "We bare live young just like most mammals and that is as far as I am going to go with that. If you want to know the specifics, I'm sure a porn magazine or erotic novel could help you fill in the blanks."
Twilight's whole head turned bright red at that, her eyes wide as small sparks came off of her horn. Meanwhile, Spike was struggling for air past his laughter. The reactions from both of them pulled the corners of Anon's lips up into a small smile.
Hey, if you ask someone something like that, you had better make sure you're ready for the answer.
Chuckling softly at that thought, he brought his almost forgotten deck to him and shuffled. The action proved to be just enough of a distraction to pull Twilight back to reality. With a look of relief on her still pink cheeks, she pointed at the cards and shakily asked a question that he was more than willing to answer. Especially if it pulled the interview away from any other crazy topics that the mare might have in mind.
"Pinkie mentioned those! How does your game work?!"
Anon blinked from the urgency in her tone, but shrugged and started sifting through the deck.
"Did she tell you anything specifically about the game?" he asked.
"She mentioned that colors played a major roll in it and that the colors had some form of philosophy attached to them."
He nodded, taking four cards out of the deck and laying them out on the table.
"That's the gist of it. In this game, there are five main colors and whichever ones you pick determine what kind of deck you can build. This is largely based on the philosophy each of the colors draw power from. In this decks case, that would be Blue's philosophy."
"Which is?" Twilight asked.
Anon grinned.
"Blue is the color of knowledge and technology. As such, it's the color that generally has the best understanding of magic, artifacts, and has the greatest level of draw power in the whole game. This makes a Blue mage a very tricky opponent to deal with most of the time, since this magical understanding often comes in the form of counter and mill cards."
"What are those?" Spike asked.
Anon pointed down at one of the cards on the table, said card depicting what looked like a humanoid fish stabbing a spear into a glowing mass.
"Counter cards are cards that have the ability to prevent your opponent from playing their own cards. The idea being that the Blue mage's understanding of magic is so strong that they can tear the other caster's spell apart before it can be fully cast."
"I see," Twilight nodded. " And mill?"
He pointed to a card next to the first, this one depicting what appeared to be an underground library with large rocks being dropped upon a lone Human from glowing portals in the ceiling.
"I'm not sure where the term came from, but basically, mill cards force your opponent to send an often set number of cards from the top of their deck, or library, into the discard pile. The theme being that you are yanking memories of different kinds of spells from your enemy's mind so they can't use them on you."
"Why would a Blue mage do that?" Twilight asked, raising a brow.
"Two reasons," he stated, pointing up two fingers. "The first is that it reduces their opponent's options. Unless they run a deck that makes use of the discard pile, or graveyard, in some way, then they could end up losing a bunch of useful cards. The second is because it could give the Blue mage an alternate way to win the game."
"Huh?" they both blinked.
"In Magic the Gathering, there are three ways to win; knocking your opponent's life-points to zero, forcing them to surrender, or making them run out of cards to draw. With mill cards, a Blue mage can make the third option happen if one and two are unavailable."
"Oh, that makes sense," Twilight nodded.
"Blue also has access to some of the weirdest creatures in the game," Anon continued, pointing to another card.
The card depicted what at first looked like an animated jacket, tricomb hat, and trousers, but careful observation revealed that they appeared to be just coverings for some kind of invisible humanoid in the process of removing them.
"Since Blue is so obsessed with magic, most of its creatures tend to be made of it and can pull off some pretty unusual things. The most powerful trick some of these have is the ability to be unblockable. The idea being that the creature is able to walk through walls thanks to one spell or another and can attack the enemy mage."
"That's nuts!" Spike exclaimed.
"You don't know the half of it," Anon chuckled, pointing at the last card.
This one depicted a massive mechanical humanoid. Its body was seemingly made of brass, its hulking left arm ending with a torrent of water firing out of it in a heavy torrent. The titan's design was ornate in appearance, is if its crafter had built it with form and function in mind with a knight-like set of metal casing covering its face.
"Blue is obsessed with knowledge and that obsession leads to it crafting some really crazy machines to go along with its magic. Like with this guy, most of their artifacts have ways to bump up Blue's spells or get some kind of bonus from blue spells getting cast in the first place. Hell, most of the time, Blue uses artifact creatures instead of ordinary ones due to how well they can make them work."
"Incredible," Twilight beamed. "If what you're saying is true, then I can't see how Blue could lose."
Anon gave her a knowing smile and said, "That's the trick. Blue may look like it's unstoppable, like it's got all the answers and then some, but that is actually its biggest weakness."
"Huh?" they blinked.
"Like I said, Blue is the color of knowledge and technology, but the thing is, Blue is massively obsessed with that. Blue wants to know everything, and that desperate desire leads to the color coming up short in a lot of places."
"Such as?" Twilight pressed.
"Well strength, for starters," he snorted. "Blue has the weakest creatures in the game when it comes to stats. This means that Blue doesn't become cleaver out of choice, but necessity. Basically, all that time cooped up reading scrolls and books didn't do Blue any favors in that regard."
Spike snickered behind a claw at that, poking Twilight's scrawny arm. Said act earned him a deadpan glare from the mare and a raised brow from the Human.
"On top of that," he continued. "Most of Blue's cards take a lot of mana to cast or require certain things to happen outside of the caster's control to activate, making it the slowest of the five colors. This basically means that a player with quick and durable creatures can easily pulverize a Blue mage before they have a chance to make any meaningful plays."
"Yikes," Spike cringed.
Twilight did the same, staring down that the metal colossus and wondering how something like that could be considered "weak"
Anon continued.
"This is mostly due to Blue strictly coming from a place of logic, experimentation, and curiosity as opposed to martial prowess. Sure, this can lead to Blue making huge discoveries, but it's usually the result of an unethical detachment from the laws of nature or lack empathy. To Blue, everything is secondary in the pursuit of knowledge, be that morals or even compassion in some cases."
"Oh," Twilight frowned, her expression turning thoughtful as she stared down at the cards.
"That all being said," he sighed. "If there is anything you want to know about, no matter how obscure, it's pretty likely there is a Blue mage that is eager to tell you everything they know about it."
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked, shaking out of her musings.
"Well, while some Blue mages study for their own sake, most of them love to share what they've learned with others," he chuckled. "Makes sense when you think about it. What's the point of learning a few tricks if you don't have anyone to show them to. Especially if it can help someone learn a few new things too, right?"
"Yeah," Twilight smiled.
Spike nodded, aiming a knowing smile at the mare as he thought back to all of the magic lessons he had helped her with over the years.
Keeping his smile, Spike stared at the Human and said, "You know, Twi had a lot of magical mishaps over the years. Want to hear a few of them?"
"Spike!" Twilight balked, her face turning red.
"I've got a couple hours," Anon shrugged, putting his cards away and leaning back in his seat. "Shoot."
With a growing smile and the knowledge that the mare had no way to stop him, the drake told his first of many tales.