//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5 
// Story: Thestral Town 
// by StuffBuddy 
//------------------------------//

News spreads fast around here, Anon thought as they wandered the town at a meandering pace.

He noticed ponies going about their day, greeting their friends and constantly stopping for a chat. Few walked by themselves, and all those Anon saw hurried past, rushed looks on their faces. Those minding their own business seemed to be the exception, not the norm, in Two Trees. Overall, there was a lax air about the town. Anon liked that.

Of course, being the strange alien that he was, Anon inevitably drew stares to his group of four creatures. Though it seemed as time passed and they visited more of the town's attractions, fewer ponies wore the surprised expressions that even he was able to see in the meagre starlight and the illumination of the occasional, decorative lantern. The town was very close-knit, Cass had told him, hence the wildfire-like properties of the local gossip. Anon even thought he had heard a group of mares whispering of "Moon Glint's new alien". Though, when he looked towards the source of the gossip, the mares had just given him a welcoming smile and a light "hello". Soon, the thestrals paid him little attention, and he enjoyed the tail end of the tour that his three hosts had offered to grace him with.

"And here's our school. Everypony says it looks small on the outside, but it's not. We can't go in right now because, well, it's closed over the weekend. But maybe tomorrow you could see. We can even ask Ms Tulip to let you join us!" Cass blabbered to Anon, his deep blue eyes lighting up at the idea. Anon held the lantern up with his good arm to get a better view.

The schoolhouse was small by his standards, though he wasn't sure where exactly those standards came from. Sitting near the edge of the town, it was backed up next to the side of the southern mountain making up one-half of the valley cradling the town. Listening, Anon could make out the quiet trickling of a small stream behind the building.

He walked up to the schoolhouse, he could see that it wasn't painted a single, solid colour as he thought when they approached it. Rather, the lanternlight revealed it to be a deep ocean blue, with its door and window frames accenting, painted a dark, stone grey. There was no sign of flaking from the paint. He scrutinised the glass windows, finding very little mould clinging to them on either the inside or outside. It was all very well maintained.

"Nah, Ms Tulip won't mind. Don't worry." Anon heard Star add behind him. Fly had remained silent for the whole tour, and Anon worried. He had the feeling that the pony was usually quiet, but it still wasn't a good sign after earlier… startling the three ponies as he did.

That wasn't that bad, right? I just… stood up. But I didn't want to… It was like my legs moved by themselves. Anon thought to himself. I guess I just reacted on instinct.

Star said something else: something witty. But her smile was off, somehow. She was trying to be indifferent, but her pink eyes betrayed discomfort. Likely another result of his actions. Cass also said something, but Anon wasn't paying attention.

He fiddled with the cloth around his shoulders. Falling from the sky, into a tree canopy, and finally rolling around on the forest floor, hadn't done wonders for his shirt. It was peppered with holes and tears, and Anon decided there was almost no point wearing it. Cass had salvaged an unused blanket and a length of rope from the storage room, and they had been able to jury-rig a makeshift cloak for him to wear as they walked the town. Fortunately for Anon, it was a warm night.

"…Anon?" It was Cass, again. Anon was shaken out of his stupor, finding the unicorn glancing at him questioningly. His long black mane glimmered softly in the lowly lantern light, and his normally azure eyes had shifted to a dark, navy blue.

"Yeah?"

"I asked if your school was different since you're not from here," Cass said, "Actually, you still haven't told us where it is you're from."

"It is different back on Earth. Schools there are usually bigger, and I never had subjects like your "Flora" or "Fauna" classes. Well, I guess you could say that biology was our version of that, but that was never one of my…"

The headache returned. It approached slowly at first, but gradually strengthened with each passing second he tried to think about his school life. Placing the lantern on the ground before massaging his forehead, Anon breathed out a pained gasp.

"Anon, are you okay?" Cass said, his face twisting in concern.

"Nothing… it's nothing. Just a slight headache, it'll pass." Anon blinked a few times, shaking his head.

"Is this… normal?"

Anon hesitated. "Don't worry about it. Like I said, it's nothing. Let's… let's change the subject."

"Anon, obviously something's bothering you-"

"Cass, I said don't worry about it." Anon hissed. Cass' ears flopped.

He waited a few seconds for the pain to pass, and it eventually did. Sighing, he glanced back at Cass. The pony tried to hide it, but Anon could see how he cringed when he met his gaze.

"I'm… sorry for snapping at you like that. You didn't deserve that."

Cass mulled over his words before responding.

"I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have pushed. I promise I won't do that again."

He's just worried about me. I should tell him what's going on. 

But I don't even know what's going on. Why should I bother him with a problem I don't even fully understand? I'll tell him when I find out more myself.

Anon nodded to Cass in acknowledgement, moving on. "What was your question, again?"

"I… I think you already answered it. It's okay."

Anon ran a couple of fingers over the school door. He couldn't summon any memories of going to school, not without inviting the headache. No images ran through his mind, no voices of classmates he knew he had. But while he couldn't remember specific actions or people, he could recall general things. He knew he went to school, and that he had friends. Searching through his memories, careful not to dig too deep, Anon realised something. There were some specifics he could remember: his emotions.

He remembered the weariness in the mornings when he awoke, wanting to sleep in and yet having to get up for school. He knew that when he arrived, he would feel dread for the long day ahead, slowly fading away as he eventually settled in. And when the day's end arrived around the corner, it brought with it a sense of great relief. He inhaled, the scent of grass pouring into his lungs. For a second, he almost could have pictured himself back there. The emotions he remembered felt so fresh, so recent… like he had experienced them only a few days ago.

"How old are you three?" Anon turned around.

"Uh, sixteen?" said Cass.

"Seventeen since last week." Star was eyeing him strangely, Anon noticed. "Why?"

"I… I think I'm about your age. I'm still in school."

Cass craned his neck at him. "You're pretty tall for a seventeen-year-old."

"Might have something to do with him being an alien," Star jabbed.

Anon turned back towards the schoolhouse. There wasn't much else to see without going inside.

"So, I'm guessing this concludes our little tour?" Anon asked. 

"Actually," said Cass, turning to Star. "I have an idea where we can go next. Let's show Anon the cave."

"Cass," Star glared at the unicorn, "remember what we all agreed on?"

"I know, Star, I know. Nopony outside of our group knows about the cave."

Star motioned towards Anon with her eyes. It was so quick that he nearly missed it in the dim light.

"Star, it's fine. We can trust Anon," Cass retorted "Anyways, we never did what we were going to do yesterday."

Star snorted. "Yeah. Because someone here fell out of the sky."

"Come on, Star. It's not that big a deal. Please?"

Muttering annoyedly under her breath, the filly walked away into the darkness. Anon was slightly bewildered by what he had just watched.

"I'm… sorry about that, Anon."

Deciding it was better not to get involved, Anon didn't prod into the matter.

"…she's not usually like this," Cass whispered to himself under his breath. The words were barely audible to Anon's human ears. Cass then turned to him. "Let's go. We can catch up to her."

Anon obliged and Cass led the way eastwards, eventually taking them out of the village. Fly followed silently.





Cass, Fly, and Anon didn't catch up to Star.

They found her lying down inside the cave, belly up on a "mat" consisting of several large palm tree fronds. The browning leaves were still attached to the frond stems, and they hadn't been sown or braided together. Really, it was more a pile than a mat. Regardless, the leaves cushioned Star against the stone floor. She was lackadaisically tossing it into the air with her wing. Anon didn't think it could be so dexterous.

The cave itself was an interesting piece of work. After a few short minutes of walking east from Two-Trees, Cass abruptly led them off the path. To their right-hand side was a faint trail which Anon would never have noticed if he wasn't specifically looking for it. After another minute or so of following the trail through the thick redwood-palm forest-jungle underbrush, they arrived at a stream which Anon quickly realised led out of the cave's mouth. The tunnel entrance had a low ceiling which forced Anon to crouch a little. But fortunately for his claustrophobic instincts, the tunnel widened inside, growing less constricting the further they went inside.

The floor was curiously flat. There were some signs of erosion: the stream which hugged the tunnel's left wall had carved a calf-height depression into the stone where it flowed. Anon tracked the rift as they ventured upstream where the tunnel eventually opened up into a tall, dark cavern, the outskirts of which were dotted with stalactites and stalagmites. An indoor pool in the centre of it all was revealed to be the origin of the stream water.

Anon's lantern illuminated only his immediate surroundings, leaving the far end of the room cloaked in darkness. Trickling water glimmered in the light, each sparkle streaming past him in a race to reach the outside world.

Close to where Star lay was a formation of stones, creating a circle. Inside lay a small mound of ash and the flakes of a few blackened, half-burned branches: the leftovers of a campfire.

Anon glanced up at the ceiling. "Uh… do you guys start fires in here?"

"Yeah. It gets cold with all this water." Trotting into the darkness, Cass lit up his horn. Grimacing, he levitated what looked to be the frame of a bench, barely held together by lengths of old rope.

Calling it a bench might be a little generous, Anon thought as the jury-rigged contraption floated unsteadily in the air. He slowly sat himself down near a stalagmite. His palm brushed against some dust, and he brought it up to his eyes to inspect it. He suspected that it wasn't actually dust.

Yep. That was definitely some more ash.

"You know this is supposed to suffocate you, right?"

"What?" Cass' magic faltered and the bench dropped from his grip. It weakly crumbled in on itself.

"Cass!" Star yelled from her leaf mat, sitting up.

"Apparently, you're not supposed to start fires in caves. It burns all the oxygen inside and the smoke doesn't really disperse well."

"I, uh… we didn't think of that." A barely visible blush grew on the colt's face.

"How long have you guys been doing this?" Anon said.

"We only found this cave last week."

"Well, we're not dead-" Star strutted over, glaring at the unicorn. "-so obviously the fires are fine."

She paused, considering something. "I have an idea, everypony! Cass and I can work on fixing what he just broke. Meanwhile, Anon, why don't you and Fly go outside and get us some firewood?

In the corner trying to be as unnoticeable as possible, Fly's eyes widened as everyone's attention was shortly deferred to him.

"Star, I don't think you should continue with these-"

"Just go!" She snapped at him.

Anon raised his hands defensively. "Alright, alright."

He made for the entrance, Fly in tow.





What is going on with her? Cass thought as he watched Anon and Fly leave. He spared a glance at Star, and the filly shot daggers at him. Without Anon's lantern, they were left standing in the dark. Star was the first to speak.

"What are you doing?"

"Star, are you okay?"

"Why did you bring him here?"

Cass frowned. "I wanted to show him around. Why else?"

"I don't understand. You meet a strange alien creature one day, then he's one of your close friends the next. What, did he mind control you or something?"

"Star, you're being… you're being absurd!"

"I'm being absurd? Cass, what you've told some… something, we barely even know one of our secrets. This cave is supposed to be for us only, us three. You, me, and Fly. It was our secret, and now you've let him in on it."

Cass paused, reeling from Star's outburst. He had never seen Star like this before, not in the years they had known each other. "Star, are you mad that I've accepted him into our friend group?"

"This potentially dangerous creature falls out of the sky. We've only known it for a day and you seem to think it's okay to trust it with all of our secrets." Star said, pointing an accusatory hoof at Cass' barrel.

"All? I told him where the Cave was. That was it. And I seem to remember you making fun of Fly for being scared of Anon. You didn't think he was dangerous then."

"That was when he couldn't move without coughing his lungs out. We both saw what happened at your place." Star pointed at her temple. "There's something not right with him up here."

"Star!"

She stared him in the eyes. She had always been a blunt, direct pony. That was one of the reasons he liked her company so much. Sometimes, however, he wished she could have enough decorum not to make comments like that.

Star sighed, "Look. Give me one good reason why you trust that creature so much. Any reason at all."

"I…"

Cass tried to speak. He wanted to list off everything Anon had done to gain his trust, to berate her for the way she had dragged him into talking about Anon behind his back. He wanted to tell one of his closest friends that she had no right to treat Anon like that after what he had done for them. But he couldn't.

Because she was right.

"I… I don't have one," he muttered.

"Exactly-"

"But I still think we should trust him," Cass interrupted Star, leaving her dumbstruck. "I… I can't explain why. But I do. I trust him."

Star scrunched her face at him. First in confusion, then in anger. "Cass, did you not listen to a single word I just said?"

"I did listen," Cass said, "It's just… something's telling me that you're wrong."

"Something? Ugh! You know what? Fine. Just don't come crawling to me when you regret it, okay?"

"Yeah, okay, Star."

She turned away, grumbling under her breath. Her words were barely audible to Cass with his lesser-grade, unicorn ears.

She just wants me to hear her whining, he thought.

"Probably dangerous, now that he's recovered…" Star turned towards him, mockingly. "He could be out there right now, you know? Crazy, again. Claws all over Fly…"

She paused midstep. "Aw, crap."

Flapping her wings, Star rushed back towards Cass. She tugged on his wither, hurriedly dragging him outside. He was glad the Night Mother didn't let her yank his leg off.

"Hey! Ow! Stop that!"

"Cass, we just sent Fly away alone with that creature! We need to find them now!"

"Star, Fly's fine with Anon! Now will you quit pulling on me?"

While Star didn't slow, she did let go of him. Cass rolled his foreleg around in his socket.

"Come on! Quickly!"

Ugh. Cass groaned, rolling his eyes as he trotted after Star.





Anon leaned over and collected another branch, rolling it around in his palm. This was one of the dryer ones. It had been sitting on higher ground, where the dirt wasn't as damp. In truth, it was hard for him to tell what was and wasn't damp in the humid forest. He stuck the branch under his right arm with the rest of his harvest.

Fly was a short distance away, doing the same as him. His fluorescent pink coat made him easy to spot even in the darkness. They hadn't talked as they trudged away from the cave. He had caught the beginnings of an argument between Cass and Star as they left but hastened away to give the two some privacy. His curiosity could always be sated later.

As they wandered the forest, keeping near the trickling stream, he realised how Fly was visibly uncomfortable. Every time Anon turned his head towards him, the batpony would cower behind his long white mane.

They reached a small clearing where the redwoods were outnumbered by palms and began their search for suitable firewood. A relatively large, fallen redwood tree lay amidst the nearly knee-length grass. Anon waded through in his sneakers towards the log, which he noticed was surrounded by fallen branches in the gloom.

I'm not that intimidating, am I? Anon worried. He spared a glance at Fly, the pony placing a stick onto his collection of firewood which sat nestled comfortably between his wings.

Anon opted to focus on the task at hand. He needed time to think. Fly was scared of him again. So soon after he had built up the courage to try and befriend him, even apologising for his earlier hesitance. Honestly, Anon felt a little guilty for ruining that with his little outburst.

As he bent over and reached for another dirty stick on the forest floor, his side cramped. He dropped his bundle and instinctively grabbed the painful area with his sore arm. This only made things worse, as his muscles began to throb. He hissed and fell to one knee, clenching his eyes.

The pain subsided after a short time, and he was surprised to see Fly a short distance in front of him when he looked up, regarding him with concern. Fly seemed to regain his wits, flushing and scampering away behind the fallen trunk. Trying to process what he just witnessed, Anon struggled to his feet and carefully ambled towards the pony.

"Fly," called Anon.

The pony ignored him, continuing with his task.

"Fly."

Briefly, Fly's eyes flicked towards him. But he turned his head and continued on. Sighing, Anon sat himself on the sodden, mossed-over trunk.

For a minute, he said nothing. There wasn't anything he could think of to say to get Fly to speak. Deciding he was wasting moonlight, Anon jumped up, immediately regretting his negligence and wincing as he strained his side.

Fly flinched at the sudden movement, backing up and tripping over his hooves. He plopped onto his rear end, dropping his sticks. Instead of scrambling away, however, he sat staring like a deer in headlights. His mane swung back and forth across the frozen, fearful expression on his face.

Anon raised an eyebrow. "Okay, this is just getting silly. Fly, I'm not going to hurt you."

Fly looked apprehensive, but finally let his eyes wander away.

"Is this about what happened at Cass' house?"

Fly nodded meekly.

Anon crossed his arms. He was beginning to get frustrated with the whole situation. "Look, I'm sorry for scaring you, alright? Something… got over me. It was just for a second."

Fly didn't respond.

Anon threw his hands to the side. Muttering softly to himself, he turned away. "Oh for goodness sake, I give up. I didn't even do anything."

"Y-your eyes…" Anon heard Fly stutter from behind him. He snapped his head to look at him speak.

"I-I'm… I'm sorry," Fly squeaked, "b-but it was the way you looked at us. A-at me…"

"What about it?"

Fly hesitated, before warily meeting Anon's stern eyes. "It just- You l-looked…" he gulped, "Predatory."

Anon frowned.

"Y-you're right. It is silly." Fly shook his head. "I'm sorry. I know I said before that it wasn't nice being scared of you it's just…" He sighed.

"I wish I was braver…"

There he goes again, trying to melt my heart. He has to be doing this on purpose. 

Anon approached, carefully sitting in front of Cass. He positioned himself to face the side, studying the foliage surrounding the clearing. "If it makes you feel any better, I'd say it's pretty brave of you to admit that - your insecurities."

"Y-you're just saying that to make me feel better," Fly said, though, Anon could see his eyes had lit up. What he was saying was certainly having an effect.

"Maybe. But I'm telling you the truth. I do believe that."

"Promise?"

Anon glanced down to Fly who was expectantly looking at him. There wasn't much Anon could do to resist the puppy-dog eyes.

"Promise," he said.

The hints of a smile formed on Fly's face. Anon picked up a dropped branch, twirling it through his fingers.

"Woah." Fly wondered, watching his fingers manipulating the branch. "Your claws. They're so… dexterous."

"Fingers."

"Hm?"

"That's what they're called. Birds have claws. Lizards have claws. Humans have fingers. Claws can't move like this, see?" Anon explained, opening his hand and then closing it into a fist.

"That's so different and… and strange… I-I don't mean that in a bad way!" said Fly.

Anon chuckled. "Yeah, I guess it is." He started to spin the stick horizontally, in a figure-of-eight motion. It nearly caught on Fly's mane as the pony leaned in for a closer look.

"If my dad saw this… he would freak out."

"Your dad really must be scared of a lot of things."

Fly grimaced. "Everypony thinks he's a big scaredy-bat… From what I've noticed, he's just not comfortable with lots and lots of new things. He can get overwhelmed sometimes."

"He sounds like an interesting character. I hope I can meet him sometime and not have… a repeat of before."

"Mom's more of a pony person. I think you'll like her."

"She's nice?" Anon asked.

"Yeah. Everypony else in town seems to think so." Fly frowned. "I just wish she would stop treating me like I'm still a little colt."

"Overprotective mother, huh?" Anon smirked. "I had a friend like that… his parents were always-"

Anon gasped. Another headache formed and a short wave of pain rolled over him. He closed his eyes, dropping the stick and massaging his temple. A series of collected, deep breaths later, the headache had washed away.

Fly was studying him again when he opened his eyes, anxiety plastered onto his face.

"Anon, were you saying something?

Anon blinked.

"Uh… I don't know, was I?"

The pony looked away. It looked almost… shameful.

"N-No. No, you weren't," Fly said, fidgeting a hoof. "So… What were your parents like?"

The customary headache started up as Anon tried to think.

"I can't tell you that," Anon said through grit teeth.

"Oh."

"I want to, Fly. I just can't." Anon watched as Fly titled his head. "I can't remember. It's like my memories are locked away from me. When I try, my head hurts like hellfire and… I think I black out."

But I also break the lock. I remember the hooded figures, the cavern, and the noise. Even if it's all somewhat vague and blurry.

Fly turned his head. "Is… is this what happened back at Cass'?"

Anon nodded. "Yeah."

"Did you tell him about this?"

"No. Not yet."

"I think you should tell him, Anon," Fly said. "He's worried about you."

"He's a good person… pony… whatever." Anon smiled. "Alright, I'll be sure to tell him."

Fly's ears perked up, and he looked around. After a moment, he stood up.

"It's Star and Cass. They're calling for us."

Fly worked on gathering his scattered branches. Anon gently got up, listening for voices.

"Really? I can't hear anything-"

Faint yelling sounded off in the distance.

Huh. Thestral ears.

"Well," Anon smiled, "speak of the devil and he shall appear."

Anon braced himself before bending over to gather his own sticks.

"I can get that for you," Fly said, doing just that.

"Thanks," said Anon. Fly smiled in response.

The voices grew nearer, and Anon was able to discern what the search party was yelling.

"Fly! Where are you?"

"Fly! Anon!"

"Over here!" Anon answered.

Bursting through the forest with determination on her face came Star. The thestral scanned the area, eyes landing on Anon. To his confusion, she gave him a hostile look. However, her face relaxed as she saw Fly standing calmly beside him, sticks piled on his back.

Close behind was Cass, panting like he had run a marathon. He stumbled forward, weakly glaring at Star as he passed her by. Star responded simply by disappointedly rolling her eyes.

"Hah… wait here for a few minutes," Cass croaked out.

"Ugh. You need to go for a trot around town once in a while for longer than ten minutes."

Blowing her off, Cass plopped himself at Anon's feet. The human watched curiously but also saw in the corner of his eye that Star was giving him a glare of… loathing. What could he possibly have done to earn that?

"Let's go, Fly," Star muttered as she started the trek back.

"A-actually…

Star turned, staring incredulously at the pink thestral.

"M-maybe we can wait f-for, Cass?" He said, motioning to him and Anon.

While the little pink bat did defy Star, he couldn't help but wilt a little under her harsh gaze. He's braver than he thinks he is, Anon thought to himself, amused.

Star choked. But, she begrudgingly accepted. "Fine. We leave in one minute."

And the group did. Star led the way back, marching at a pace that Cass - still breathing heavily -eventually adjusted to. Anon and Fly lagged behind, Anon unwilling to unnecessarily strain himself.

He spared a glance at the pony beside him who then smiled back. Reaching down, Anon ruffled his snow-white mane affectionately, earning him a rub on the leg from Fly's barrel.

We might have said we were friends earlier, but it didn't actually seem like it, Anon thought. Now, though, I think we really are.