//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 
// Story: Anon's Detour 
// by NeonDF 
//------------------------------//

The creature looking at him from beyond the doorway had a red coat, orange mane and was wearing a yoke. Which made sense to Anon – something had to pull the cart after all. It also had a bulkier body, which supported that theory.

Collecting his wits, Anon looked over its head inside. A cozy hallway, with multiple doors and a stairway leading somewhere up and to the side. One of the doors was open, and he could spot a massive wooden table covered with apple-themed cloth and surrounded by chairs. A dining room most likely. Still no sign of the owners. Deciding on a more proactive approach, Anon hollered inside.

“Hey! Anyone home?”

The creature pinned it ears down to its head and looked past the man and at the two standing aside. There was no reply from inside the house. The orange one let out some chirps and nickers, at which the red one silently tilted its head. Then it looked back at Anon, who’s been watching the entire exchange, snorted, raised its foreleg to the door and slammed it shut in one move. The sound of the deadbolt followed.

“Figures.”

Scratching the back of his head, Anon turned on his heels and took a look around the property. The owners must’ve been absent, which honestly suited him just fine considering who they might be, so the next best bet would be following whatever road leads outside until he either finds some other property or reaches a highway where he would be able to hitch-hike back home. Or, he could try a simpler approach first.

Anon fished out his smartphone out of the pocket. That seemed to unnaturally agitate the lavender creature, who began to rapidly nicker and whinny to its companion. Ignoring the two, Anon tried turning it on. The screen lit up, displayed a frowny face hooked to an empty battery, then promptly died. Phoning home was out of the question now, and he was not desperate enough to break into some billionaire’s property, so he simply put the smartphone back, took a deep breath and set off on a straight line towards the gateway. Which coincidentally made approach the creatures.

On a closer look, their coats were short and well-kept with a bit of shine to them. That, coupled with the constant nickering and whinnying made them resemble horses rather than dogs. Or, given their height, ponies. Both also had colored images on their hindquarters, perhaps some sort of branding or the manufacturer’s logo.

Walking past the ponies, Anon made his way to the gateway. There were no actual gates, and the frame itself seemed hand-carved and covered with ivy. In the middle there hang a wooden sign with an apple-shaped hole, but otherwise there was no indication of who the property might belong to. Considering the utter lack of defenses, the ponies must’ve been some kind of guards of this place, so it all made sense now.

Anon crossed the gateway and proceeded down a dirt path. The ponies were following him, but they kept their distance and did not attack, so they probably just made sure he left for good. Occasional nicker and snort were almost unnoticeable at this point, so Anon let his mind wander once again. He tried not to think about the trouble he just avoided, occupying most of his thoughts with how he must get back before the evening, as this was his second, and last, day off. That slowly transferred to daydreaming about a warm meal and a cup of coffee, as well as spending a night in a bar with his buddies next week slamming drinks and laughing their asses off over his misfortune and the whims of the rich.

A short walk through the fields took him up a hill, from where he saw a hamlet. He stopped for a second, his followers taking note and stopping as well.

The houses had similar color palettes and were at most 2 or 3 stories high, it would look like one of those towns built by a single real estate developer were it not for the roads. There was no asphalt, the roads weren’t even paved – it was all trampled grass and trodden ground. But what worried Anon the most were colorful blobs moving throughout the hamlet. Feeling apprehensive, he continued following the path which let right down the hill and to the edge of the town.

As he came closer, he could definitely make out the colored blobs as ponies, similar to the ones that kept following at fifteen paces and making quiet noises. There were dozens of them, each with their own coat and mane colors, as well unique images on their hindquarters. Ponies were walking, ponies were chatting, ponies were sitting on benches, ponies were standing still with tilted heads and staring as he walked by. There were no cars, no lampposts, and even no wires hanging above. Nothing around but ponies.

Entranced, Anon kept walking forward until he reached the town square. On the right there stood a pagoda-like building, towering about the rest with its 4 stories, and the left side was occupied by a dozen marked stalls, each with a pony in place where the seller would stand. Some ponies were standing in front of the stalls, seemingly browsing the wares, and a couple were even agitatedly chittering with the “sellers”.

The center of the square featured a fountain with a marble statue of a rearing pony in the middle. The rim was quite wide and dry, which came in handy as Anon slowly stumbled near and plopped down on it, putting his elbows on the knees and propping his head with both hands.

What was happening around defied all explanation. It was like a human town, except there were no signs of humans. The creatures around seemed to behave in an extremely organized fashion for mere animals, yet he could not believe something with such range of movements and, for the lack of a better word, grace, could be a robot. The technology simply was not there, as far as he knew. But if these are not robots, then what? Aliens? They look entirely too simplistic for aliens. How would they travel to Earth, if the most advanced piece of transportation he’s seen so far was a wooden cart? No, no way these things are aliens. Unless it’s like in The Martian Chronicles, where the Martians were able to affect one’s perception of them... Anon shuddered at the possibility. But still, if not aliens, then what? A government black site? These are heavily guarded by the military, no way he could’ve accidentally stumbled into one. Also, he never heard any mentions of government facilities in the area: it’s hard to hide existence of such things near population centers where residents are commonly either relatives of facility workers or are workers themselves. Some rich fuck’s deranged experiment? These also love their privacy, but instead of machine gunners at every 50 meters they usually put a 5 meters tall fence decorated with barbed wire. Hard to miss one of those either.

He was brought out of his thoughts when something touched his arm. Jerking away and letting his head go, he looked up and was met with a sight of the lavender pony standing nearby, its forehoof raised and hovering near his arm, its magenta eyes flickering over his face. The pony opened its mouth and let out a few whinnies followed by a nicker. Anon just kept sitting there, staring dumbly at the creature in front of him and realizing there was no way it was a robot. The iris had some small discolorations in it, the pupil kept changing size, and he could make out the capillaries in the sclera. The eyes looked too organic, too expressive for a mere imitation. Too… smart. The pony just kept waiting for an answer, looking him in the eyes. Receiving none, it tilted its head. Anon suddenly recalled the dog his parents used to keep, how it would always tilt its head whenever it was confused, and how he as a kid would parrot it for the fun of it. A moment later, Anon tilted his head as well.

The pony recoiled with a strange sound. It then took a couple steps back, and launched into a tirade of horse noises, only to be interrupted with a snort from the orange one. It then let out a nicker, took a couple steps towards Anon, tilted its head down and pushed at his side with its forehead, keeping the horn to the side.

“Hey, what gives?”

It paused, looked up, let out a snort, then lowered its head and pushed again, causing Anon to lose his balance and spring up to his legs.

“Okay, what do you want from me?”

The pony let out another snort, walked past him close enough its coat rubbed over his leg and then set off on a steady gait in a random direction. Anon just stood there, surprised at such display of initiative. The pony stopped, turned its head around and let out a nicker.

“Are you for real?”

Having a vague idea of what it wanted, Anon decided to play dumb for a change. The dog he recalled would always try similar tactic to get him to follow, devolving into needy barking after a few failed attempts, and sure enough, the pony just circled back, let out another snort, rubbed over his leg again and set off in the same direction, only to stop after a few paces and look back. Not having a better plan in mind, Anon let out a huff and moved after the pony.

“Yeah, sure, let’s go.”