Once again Princess Celestia sighed as she paced the corridors of her Castle, despite it being well into the night she could not sleep. Her mind still mulling over the events that had transpired the day before, between her sister's odd behavior and the outworlder Anon she was at a complete loss. Anon aside, her sister had not been acting like herself as of late. Celestia had thought that she was just beginning to bond with and understand her sister again but her actions although admirable, only served to further confuse Celestia. Quick to anger, jumping to conclusions based on little evidence and fearful of outsiders. These were the faults that Luna had, faults that forced Celestia to banish her over one thousand years ago.
No… These are faults that I myself had… and had I not been blinded with running a Nation I could have stopped my sister before she slipped into darkness… Princess Celestia let out a long sigh as she ceased pacing the corridors and looked to her left out of a window. A bright and beautiful full moon shown above, one that would take the breath away of any connoisseur of beauty. For Celestia however it only shown as a reminder of her failure, How am I supposed to prevent another mistake like that from happening when I can't even understand her feelings?
"Sister…?" came a voice shaking Celestia out of her fit of depression, breaking her gaze from the moon she rested it upon a mare whose mane shimmered like the night's sky. "Having trouble sleeping?" Luna asked with a bit of concern, then added after a few moments of silence passed between them. "It's about him isn't it? Anon."
"It's that obvious, isn't it?" Celestia smiled as she let out a chuckle. "Today I expected that I would-- I expected the worst." her voice going cold as the emotion drained from her face. "Displacing someone from their home world, their family... Without any known way of returning them. It would not have been strange for him to ask the same be done to me."
Silence invaded the conversation as the two of them stood still for a few seconds, with Celestia now staring sadly out the window at the moon again. "He's a strange one, isn't he?" came Luna's voice with a giggle, which tore Celestia's gaze from the window. "I don't think Anon is the type of person that would want to see the suffering of others, even if he himself was in pain."
Luna felt her cheeks grow hot as she faked a long yawn and turned to leave, "We must have expended more energy than we thought on cleansing Anon, fare thee well," pausing mid step Luna turned back to face Celestia and smiled. "and remember, no one will blame you. You were not at fault, Tia." Celestia paid little attention to the extra bounce in Luna's step, instead she was drawn back to her sisters words as a lone tear fell to the floor and the first true smile she had all day shown itself upon Celestia's face.
When was it that you last called me by that name...Woona? Turning toward her own quarters Celestia silently thanked Anon once again. This time for allowing her, if for only a mere moment, to forget those thousand years of regret.
• • •
Soon Celestia would raise the sun signaling a new day for all of Equestria. The suns rays would creep across the land; first gently shaking awake those, who like the Apple Family, rose with the sun. However, such an event was not scheduled to happen for another hour or so, for now every pony in Ponyville was sound asleep. Everypony save for one lone mare.
Ever so slowly Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes and muffled a long yawn. She wasn't used to waking up this early, in fact her schedule called for another hour and forty seven minutes of sleep. Stifling another yawn Twilight carefully slipped out of bed without making a sound while glancing over to make sure she did not wake her number one assistant.
Cute little Spike was still sound asleep, he wasn't going to be up for quite a while. Perfect, I've just enough time to spare to rework today's schedule, unfortunately Twilight's schedule thus far had not planned for Anon to still be here. Originally she believed that they would be throwing both a welcome and goodbye party as he would depart to his world with assistance from Princess Celestia.
Twilight's ears dipped back in sadness once again, although Anon had insisted that no one was to blame she couldn't help but feel bothered not only by her own failure but also for the Princess trying to take blame for her. No, it may not be today but one day I will return Anon to his home. Levitating a few blank scrolls and ink quills Twilight headed downstairs to her desk intent on dropping off the supplies before heading to the kitchen to heat some tea.
Halfway down the staircase Twilight gasped as she suddenly stopped, noticing that her desk was already occupied by a tall lanky figure. Illuminated by the moons soft glow Anon sat awkwardly on a chair that was a little bit too small for him. He had one leg loosely crossed over the other while he rested his chin on his left hand while staring out the window toward the moon. Twilight wondered how such a large creature not only pulled off such a weird way of sitting but was apparently comfortable with it.
Twilight continued her descent down the stairs and as she neared Anon she adjusted her throat to gather his attention, "Uhm, Morning Anon. Did you sleep well?" In the back of her mind she briefly wondered of his sleeping and eating habits and whether or not his current environment was sufficient in supplying the basic necessities he may or may not need. She would definitely have to schedule in time to talk about Anon's basic biology and his diet plan.
"Oh, Morning Twilight." Anon replied as he sat up straighter and turned to face Twilight, "-- and yes, I had a good night's rest. But what are you doing up so early? Did I happen to wake you?"
"No- not at all. I was just waking up early to plan for the day." noticing a few misplaced books a top her desk she continued, "You were reading!?" Her voice slightly louder than she intended it to be.
"Ah, yeah. Sorry about taking them without asking first, I was a little bored and wondered if there was any good literature in this library."
"Oh no, I didn’t mean it like that. You're welcome to read any of the books in this library." Twilight happily exclaimed, "But, I was curious as to how you're able to read them."
"Hm.. You know I didn't really think about it but these books are definitely in English and you're definitely speaking in English. How are you speaking my countries language?"
"English? I've never heard of that language but everyone in Equestria speaks and writes in Hoovian-- but maybe your brain is somehow interpreting our language and writing as your own… Maybe it has to do with the summoning spell that I preformed! Oh the implications of--"
Anon chuckled as he watched Twilight brainstorm the reasons behind his ability to speak and read. "Well whatever it is I'm certainly glad that I can read, you guys have some pretty cool fantasy romance novels." Holding up a copy of Daring Do Anon continued, "But you said something about needing to wake up early for something? Is it something I can lend a hand with?"
"A what?" Twilight asked with a puzzled expression, Anon waved his arm, "Oh! Well, actually there are a few things that you could help me out with-- that is if it's not too much trouble." To Twilights' delight Anon nodded his head, "Oh thank you so much! This will be an amazing opportunity-- I mean it's not every day that somepony is able to learn about a being from another world. Just think of the possibilities, the different evolutionary paths!" Anon had no idea what he was getting into...
• • •
Letting out a long yawn Spike stretched his limbs and opened his eyes. He felt outstanding and probably wouldn't have even woken up had his stomach not been demanding food. Slipping out of his bed Spike looked out the window to see the sun relatively high in the sky. "Huh… Twilight?" Spike called while looking around, usually she would have woken him up an hour or two ago but eleven o'clock? With his stomach roaring once again Spike decided to head downstairs and toward the kitchen.
"Sorry, like I said before, in America we're really only taught our history. It's not until college that you start really learning about the rest of the world and even then it's something that you've got to pursue on your own. Moreover there really isn't a need to memorize stuff when the internet is in your pocket." came a voice from the bottom of the stairs.
"The internet? What in the world is that?" by this time Spike had reached the bottom of the stairs only to see Twilight locked in a conversation with what looked to be an unwilling Anon. Twilight had a mountain of scrolls around her and was furiously writing down information.
"Uh, morning-- what's going on here?" Spike called interrupting Twilights' interrogation, Anon breathed a sigh of relief.
"Morning Spike! Did you sleep well?" Anon said quickly trying to change the topic of the conversation.
"Yeah, Twilight usually never lets me sleep this late! Though I am kind of hungry, I was about to make some breakfast." Twilights' ears perked up as she glanced at her clock, It was well past the time for breakfast but lunch time wasn't for another two hours, she silently chided herself for forgetting the time.
"Well that's good, we were actually about to wrap up the impromptu lesson on humans anyway-- right Twilight?"
"Right, it is past time for breakfast, I guess we were having so much fun learning that we just lost track of the time. Though it doesn't have to end right here, we can discuss your eating habits and needs over brunch!" Anon looked over at Spike with pleading eyes.
Rolling his eyes Spike spoke up, "Don't forget that you have other things planned today Twilight, wouldn't want to get behind on your schedule, right?"
• • •
"Thanks Spike, y'know for earlier."
"Yeah, no problem. I know how Twilight can get sometimes." Spike laughed as they exited Twilights' house with full stomachs. The breakfast wasn't as bad as Anon had originally thought it would be, although he wasn't too keen about the lack of meat. Moreover Anon nearly shit a brick when Spike began to eat priceless rubies and gems. "So what are you going to do today?"
"Didn't really think about it," Anon replied while rubbing his chin as they walked without a particular direction, "I was too concerned with getting away from Twilights' interrogation to actually plan on what to do... What about you?"
"Me? Oh... Well I was just going to drop by the Carousel Boutique for something.." Spike said trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.
"Huh, picking up some clothes? In that case I'll tag along, if you don't mind that is. I've only got this single pair of clothes and I really don't want to go around naked or smelling like trash."
"Why not? The naked part I mean."
"Well.. uh, it's a human thing, we really don't like being naked..." Anon said before attempting to change the subject, "So, you're a Dragon huh? Although you don't have any wings... Can you breathe fire?"
"Of course I can breathe fire! And the only reason I don't have wings yet is because I'm still a baby dragon." Spike said as he folded his arms while pouting.
"Sorry, I didn't mean it that way. We don't have dragons in my world, or at least there aren't any around anymore. They are popular in fantasy novels but it's not like there is any evidence supporting the fact they existed." Inwardly Anon sighed at the fact that he would probably never slay a dragon in his life, not that he could. "So Dragons don't live in mountains and hoard treasures here? Suppose this cities full of dragons eh?"
"Well actually, no... I'm the only dragon in Ponyville, dragons usually do hoard treasures in mountains..." Spike said sounding a bit disheartened before adding, "I thought you said that you didn't have any dragons where you lived."
"Really, how about that? It's just like how most fantasy novel portray them but what are you doing here in Ponyville then? Shouldn't you be in some mountain sitting atop a pile of treasure?" Anon blurted out as Spike hung his head low.
"I... guess. I'm not really like other dragons and the ones I've met so far were real jerks." Spikes voice wavered slightly but continued despite it, "I mean.. I've lived my entire life around ponies-- and I really like everyone... but sometimes I just--" Spikes' words trailed off as he continued walking
"Well I for one think it's awesome that you're a dragon, who cares what other dragons act like or do? Squatting in some dinky old cave while sitting atop treasure, sounds boring right?" Anon said as he knelt down to Spike and ruffled his Ouch spines, definitely spines, not hair!
"Yeah, that does sound lame." Spike agreed and perked up a little.
"Exactly, now how about we go get some new threads from Rarity?" Anon suggested as Spikes' mood instantly improved at the mention of her name.
A few minutes later Spike and Anon walked through the entrance of the Carousel Boutique in higher spirits, Spike was enthralled with different tales of dragons from Earth's myths. Anon had gone over eastern, western and fantasy versions of dragons but made sure to concentrate on stories where dragons were ageless magical beasts who protected and influenced major events in history instead of terrorizing towns. Spike ate up the stories like can-- Jewels WTF. Even going as far as to come up with a Dragons Code based on what Anon had told him.
"Well if it isn't Anon! And my cute little Spikey-wikey," came a voice from the back as the sound of hooves delicately tapped against the floor. "To what do I owe this delightful visit, perhaps I could interest you in some new clothes?"
"Yes actually, I wanted to see if I could purchase a good weeks worth of clothes but before that I wanted to see if you know of anyone in town that might need a hired hand." Rarity looked on with a blank stare for a second before Anon corrected himself, "Hired-- hoof, I mean."
"Well yes, there are a few ponies in town that could probably use the hooves of a skilled stallion such as yourself but why do you ask?"
"I can't just keep getting such good clothes for free now can I?" Anon held up his hand before Rarity could object, "Besides, I'll be here for a while and I might as well make myself useful right? Don't want to lose my girlish figure." Anon stated while striking a feminine pose, Rarity laughed while Spike made lovey-dovey faces at Rarity.
"Well we all know that a girl mustn't lose her figure, I would have to ask around first but the only pony who immediately comes to mind would be Applejack." Rarity suggested as she patted Spikes head. The baby dragon literally melted under her touch, Anon in the back of his mind wondered if Spike had a chance, unsure if inter-species relationships were common in Equestria or not.
"Alright, in that case I think I'll head off to Applejacks-- Oh and I believe Spike wanted to stay with you for a bit, said something about being interested in helping out at the store and learning your trade."
"Oh! Is that so? I'm so happy to hear that my Spike has gained an interest in fashion!" Rarity pulled in Spike close for a hug. Anon winked at Spike who had a 'Thanks bro' look on his face before heading off toward Sweet Apple Acres.