//------------------------------//
// It's Good for the Old Legs 
// Story: Age Before Beauty 
// by RunicTreetops 
//------------------------------//

"Seriously Sunny, how do you do it?"

"All it takes is a bit of experience and love, Misty."

Sunny Starscout happily chats with her friends Zipp, Misty, and Hitch outside of her smoothie truck. The sun is now completely visible over the horizon, but only just barely. Many ponies are just starting their days, and the morning dew on the grass by the Crystal Brighthouse still lingers. Zipp laughs as Misty takes another sip of the breakfast smoothie Sunny just made for her.

"You sure it's not that dollop of whipped cream you added behind the counter?"

"Whaaaaat? Nooooooo, why would you think that?"

Sunny's eyes dart back and forth, causing the other three ponies to laugh at her apparent inability to lie.

Things have been pretty nice in Maretime Bay for the past month or so. It was a little over a month ago that Sunny, Zipp, Hitch, Pipp, and Izzy confronted the evil alicorn Opaline and, with the help of Misty, saved Sparky the baby dragon from a terrible fate. Since then, Misty has been visiting Maretime Bay much more frequently, no longer feeling burdened (though still a bit frightened) by Opaline's demands. Everypony else loves her company, and things have been generally improving for everyone. 

Suddenly, an alarm begins to sound throughout Maretime Bay. Many of the ponies passing by are confused before instinctively ducking into nearby buildings or taking cover wherever possible. Meanwhile, Sunny and company look at each other with bewilderment.

"Uhh, Hitch? Why is that old 'unicorn/pegasus attack' alarm going off? I thought you disabled it!"

"Actually, I just repurposed it. No use letting an entire alarm system go to waste, right?" The three mares give Hitch an unimpressed look, and he sheepishly smiles back at them before continuing. "It used to go off automatically when one of Canterlogic's detection systems activated, but it should only be able to be activated manually nowadays."

"Does that mean somepony turned it on manually? Wouldn't they need to do that back at the sheriff's department?"

Sunny quickly darts out of her truck, and the four ponies begin running towards the aforementioned department.

"That, or we missed one of Canterlogic's old systems!"

"Wait, you mean like those boxes? The kind that trapped Izzy when she first came here?"

The four ponies screech to a halt in the middle of the street as, lo and behold, they see a silver box with a bright red alarm on top. They share a glance before running up to the box, having to go to the far side of it to locate a glowing red button.

"How has nopony stepped on this before?"

"I dunno! If I had to guess, maybe the pressure plate was faulty and the pony trapped inside is particularly heavy?"

"Hitch! They can hear you!" Zipp yells at Hitch as Misty presses the button.

"I-I didn't mean anything by... it..."

Sunny, Zipp, Hitch, and Misty all fall silent as the sides of the box unfurl, revealing the pony trapped inside. Only, there is no pony inside the box. Instead, a tall, fur-less creature is crumpled up uncomfortably in a position that highlights the fact that the inside of that box did not have nearly enough space for someone of his size. After a moment, he realizes that he has been released from his confinement and begins slowly stretching out his back before bringing himself to his feet. He wears a brown, worn-out cloak and carries a walking stick. A large backpack is strapped over the cloak, and after taking a moment to stretch out his arms, he smiles at the four ponies looking at him in awe.

"Hello, everypony."

After about two seconds of silence, Sunny suddenly throws herself at the creature, wrapping her arms around him as she laughs in surprise and joy.

"Anon!"

"W-woah! Good to see you too, Sunny."

While Hitch and Misty appear confused, Zipp just chuckles next to them.

"Finally decided to come find your daughter, huh?"

"Find my... oh. N-no, that's not necessary anymore. I, uh, know where she is now."

Sunny lets go and takes a few steps back, giving Anon some personal space.

"That's great! Was she happy to see you?"

Anon hesitates, and Zipp doesn't fail to notice that his expression briefly darkens. However, the change lasts only for a moment, and Anon goes right back to smiling before responding.

"She's happy, yeah. Still, I said I'd swing by Maretime Bay sometime, and here I am!"

Misty speaks up for the first time, garnering Anon's attention.

"So you're the Anon that Sunny and Zipp keep talking about?"

Anon chuckles and glances at the two mares he had met in the Everfree Forest a couple of months prior.

"I didn't know I was such a popular conversation topic. But, er, yeah, I guess I am. Unless there are other Anons running around that I don't know about."

"If you don't mind me asking, did you, um, walk here?"

Misty points at Anon's backpack, and he glances back at it himself before responding.

"I sure did."

"B-but the Everfree Forest is halfway across Equestria!"

"Yeah, it was a good workout for these old legs. It's nice to get out of the cabin every now and then, you know? By the by, I don't believe we've met." Anon kneels a bit and holds out his hand, which Misty hesitantly shakes. "As you already know, my name is Anon, and I'm just a retired old man who lives in the woods."

"N-nice to meet you. I'm Misty. I, uh... I'm new to this whole 'friendship' thing."

"Haha! Trust me, it's the easiest thing on the planet."

Before Misty can respond, Hitch takes Misty's place and shakes Anon's hand as well.

"Hitch Trailblazer. I'm the sheriff here in Maretime Bay. So long as you follow the rules, we'll all get along just fine."

"Hehe, I wouldn't dare break the law in someplace as pretty as this. Besides..." Anon glances around at his surroundings, noticing some ponies that are staring at him through some nearby windows that quickly close the blinds once he looks their way. "I imagine I'm scary enough as it is already to a lot of these ponies."

Sunny speaks up once again, her voice giddy with excitement.

"Wait, so if you patched things up with your daughter, does that mean you just came to see us?"

"Well, I do believe you owe me a tour."

"Oh, I'd be happy to! Pipp and Izzy are working today, but I can totally close the smoothie truck for a while! Ooo, this is so exciting! I have so much I want to talk about!"

"I'm sure there will be plenty of time for that. Er, that said, is there a hotel somewhere around here I might be able to check in at? I think I'll be sticking around for a while, at least."

"Sure is!" Hitch responds enthusiastically. If there's one thing he knows well, it's Maretime Bay. "I can lead you to it, if you'd like."

"Alrighty then, lead the way, sheriff."

With a prideful gait, Hitch trots down a nearby street with Anon in tow. Anon turns to look at Sunny, Zipp, and Misty, his eyes lingering on Misty specifically for a fair deal longer than the other two. Although she isn't sure (she has never been good at reading other ponies), Misty is fairly certain that Anon seemed troubled when he looked at her, and she's also pretty sure he glanced at her new cutie mark more than once. She instinctively gulps, but says nothing.

"Just swing by the Brighthouse when you're done! We can start from there!"

Anon, who continues to slowly walk behind Hitch, turns away from the three mares and gives a thumbs up. After that, the two turn a corner, leaving Sunny, Zipp, and Misty alone once more. Zipp breaks the silence first.

"Did something seem... off about him to you, too?"

Sunny responds with a chipper attitude, her eyes positively sparkling with excitement.

"He seemed just fine to me! What about you, Misty? How do you feel about him?"

Misty kicks at the ground and mumbles incoherently for a moment. Sunny and Zipp, having seen this behavior from her before, patiently wait for her to gather the courage to speak up.

"He... he kept staring at me."

"Really? I didn't notice."

Zipp walks up close to Misty, her voice much quieter than before when next she speaks.

"I noticed that, too. He didn't do that with me or Sunny when we met him. At least, I don't think he did."

"He's probably just not used to seeing new ponies! Don't forget, he has been living in the woods all alone ever since his daughter left."

"Speaking of, did you notice how dodgy he got when you brought her up?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, at first he hesitated when he spoke about her. Then, when you asked if she was happy to see him, he said 'she's happy.' That didn't really answer your question."

"Hm?"

"I don't want to bring the mood down or anything, but he's definitely hiding something from us. Maybe a few somethings."

"Aw, come on, Zipp. Maybe he's just nervous! Let's try to give him the benefit of the doubt, okay? He DID come halfway across the country to see us."

"...That's my point." Zipp mumbles beneath her breath, but Sunny doesn't hear it.

The three look up at the sky, noticing that the sun is rising higher and higher. Misty eventually breaks the silence.

"Well, if we're going to meet him at the Brighthouse, we should probably get going. Plus, we probably need to plan out how we're going to show him around."

"No need!" Sunny beams at Misty. An endless ray of optimism, that girl. "I already made those plans a couple of months ago after we first met Anon. This will be a piece of cake! Besides, it's not like we've never shown somepony around the bay before."

Zipp chuckles.

"That's true. Plus, let's not forget that even though he looks young, Anon has been around for a REALLY long time. He definitely had old man vibes going on when we went to his cottage. I doubt he'll be disappointed if it's not the most exciting thing he's ever seen."

The three mares share a laugh as they make their way to the Crystal Brighthouse, unaware of how Anon's arrival in Maretime Bay will shape their lives in the coming days.