//------------------------------// // Neigh Yes to Distress // Story: How many friends have you made today?! // by Sarcastic Brony //------------------------------// Anon feels amazing. He managed to stumble into a random bar around a rather shady part of Canterlot. They serve some decent booze at cheap prices. He’s been drowning himself in this miracle cure since he stepped foot in here. He's never felt this good in a long time. No thoughts, worries, or ponies on the mind. Just the numbness and burn in his throat. “Barkeep!” he shouts. “‘Nother shot!” “I think you’ve had enough,” the pony says. “I’ll tell you when I’ve had enough!” he shouts. The entire bar goes quiet. That’s when Anon suddenly burst into laughter. “Always wanted to say that.” He slams some bits on the table. “You want the money or not?” The bartender shakes his head as he serves him another drink. Anon knocks it back in one swing and taps the glass again. Another shot is poured for him. Suddenly, a large flash goes off behind him. He unsteadily turns around and sees just the pony he wanted to see. “Sunbutt!” Anon cheers. Celestia was not expecting to arrive where she stands. She looks around to the wide eyes of all the ponies in this rather run down bar. Her eyes falling on the drunken form of her best friend. “Oh, Anon.” Celestia can smell the booze on his very being. Even then she couldn't stop the fresh tears that fill her eyes. Anon is too drunk to notice this at the moment. He pats a seat next to him. “M’ere. Letsh have a drink together,” he slurs heavily. “Anon, I think we should go back to the castle,” Celestia says trying to keep her mask on firmly, but after what Luna showed her, she won't last very long.. “D-Don't be a shtick in the mud, P-princessh.” He slams a hand onto the bar. “Barkeep! Round for me and my friend!” The bartender breaks from his shock and quickly sets up another shot. Anon picks up his and gets ready to knock it back, but finds it floating away from his hand. He looks over and notices Celestia moves the drinks away from him. “We are leaving, Anon. Now,” she says sternly. “Whatever.” Anon pulls out some bits and throws them onto the bar. “Keep the change. Looks like I’m in trouble.” Anon shakily gets out of his chair and walks over to Celestia. He stumbles a bit but quickly holds onto her to keep himself from falling over. “Hold on tight, Anon,” she says. “Yup, let's get this over with.” Celestia teleports them into Anons room. She sets him down onto a couch as she takes a seat next to him. “I need to talk to you about something.” Celestia says. “What is with you ponies and talking? Doesn't matter what happens, you all want to talk. Talk, talk, talk!” He slumps over the couch. “I hate talking. Why can't we just sit here?” “This is serious, Anon!” Celestia shouts. Even though Anon is hammered, he can hear the desperation in her tone. “W-What's got you all in a huff, Sunbutt?” he asks. “Maybe we should talk when you're sober?” She says, slightly regretting the idea of doing this right now. “Nah, the chances are that I'm going to have the mother of all hangovers tomorrow. You don't want to be around for that,” Anon warns. Celestia lets out a sigh. “Anon, I worry about you.” “I worry about me too,” he says with a chuckle. She ignores him. “It’s just. I-I asked Luna to show me some of your dreams.” She looks over to Anon and notices the large scowl on his face. Gone was his good demeanor replaced with something far more intense. “What?” he asks. “I-I worry that you’re bottling up your emotions. I needed to know what has happened to you!” Celestia tries to reason. His mood shifts from anger to happiness. “Always worrying,” he chuckles. “That is you, after all, Tia.” His anger quickly comes back. “Doesn't give you the right to snoop around my business.” Anon seems to be far more unstable when he is drunk. Never showing one emotion for long. “There are a few things I would like to know.” She presses on. He waves it off. “Probably what Luna has been wanting to know for awhile now.” He chuckles. “Whatever, you want to know about my dreams?” He looks over and notices Celestia nod. “Fine. But before I tell you,” he looks over to a dark corner, “get out here, Luna. You’re not fooling anyone.” Celestia jumps slightly as she sees her sister enter from the shadows. “You could see us?” Luna says with surprise. “Language, Luna,” Anon warns. “You smell like nightshade.” Luna couldn't help but blush. Anon could smell her? Anon scoots over towards Celestia as Luna takes a seat on the opposite side of Anon. “Alright, ladies. Time for a tale the likes you will never forget.” He smiles slowly fades. “No matter how hard you try.” He shakes his head some as he looks back to Luna. “Before I start, which dreams did you show her?” Luna looks away with shame as she thinks back to only a few minutes ago. Luna looks over and finds her sister looking around at the darkness of the room she is in. A single light flicks on and blinds her briefly. What Celestia sees before her leaves her in a state of shock. Anon is strapped to a table, hands and feet bound tightly. “Get me out of this thing, Twilight! I didn't agree to this!” Anon shouts in panic. Celestia finds her eyes filled to the brim with tears as she watches Anon struggle against the straps. She has never seen him with such raw emotion on his face before. The look of pure terror will forever be etched into her mind. “I don't want to be here!” he screams now as he thrashes about. “By the sun,” Celestia whispers. Luna materialises next to her sister. “Calm yourself, Tia.” Celestia looks to her sister in disbelief. “We have to help him!” she shouts harshly. Luna shakes her head some. “This is a memory, sister. This is when I first entered Anon’s dreams.” Luna looks over to the left as Celestia follows her gaze. Celestia notices her sister descending from the sky with her horn lighting up brightly. She crashes onto the floor right next to Anon. With a quick slash of her horn his nightmare fades to nothing. The table he is strapped to fades away with everything else. He falls to the ground covered in sweat. As he regains his composure, he slowly looks up to Luna. “What are you?” His voice no longer contains the same fear Celestia heard before. “Something isn't right here.” He looks around. “Is this a dream?” “I have saved you from your nightmare, creature,” Luna speaks in a gentle tone. Anon instantly locks eyes with Luna, a certain fire behind them. “Who told you to save me?” he asks, a certain bite to his words. Memory Luna did not understand. Did this creature not appreciate that she saved him from his suffering? “This is my job.” Memory Luna looks closely to the creature. “You are the creature Twilight spoke of. Human, correct?” “Get out.” Anon says in a voice that is darker than the blackness of his dream. “Excuse me?” Memory Luna looks to him unsure what to think. “I said get out! Get out of my head!” The entire dream collapses as memory Luna disappears. “Ah, the first time we met,” Anon says with a nod. “I probably don't need to tell you what that dream was about.” He chuckles. “You can guess with all the info you’ve got. Twilight took me into her home, asked me questions about my world. I tried to tell her as much as I could, but it was never enough for her. One struggle later, I'm strapped down to a table and hooked up to god knows what.” Anon looks over to see a certain fire in Luna’s eyes, but Celestia looks very hurt. “It wasn't as bad as the dream, though. I didn't scream very much. I told her to let me go, but she didn't seem to notice or care. Eventually, I just decided to lay back and wait for it to be over. She probably didn't know I have claustrophobia.” “What is that?” Luna asks. “A fear of being confined. Usually small spaces or being held in a room. Basically having no means to escape.” Anon looked over to Luna. “So, what else did you show her?” Luna gives a sad sigh as she thinks back to the next dream she showed her sister. “What did you say about my apples!?” Applejack shouts to Anon as he holds his ground. “I didn't mean any disrespect, Applejack. I just said they were fine,” he answers with his emotionless attitude. “Fine?! Just fine?!” She takes a few steps toward Anon as he takes a few steps back. “I don't understand why you are upset,” he says. Applejack snorts. “These are the best apples in all of Equestria! They’re better than just fine!” “What proof do you have of that?” he asks. “What?” Applejack looks to him confused. “Just as I asked. What proof do you have that these are the best in the nation?” “Well, we don't exactly know.” She admits. “But I know they are!” “That’s your opinion.” “It ain't an opinion, it’s fact!” “And that is your opinion!” Celestia flinches as she watches Applejack quickly whip around and buck Anon in the stomach. The force is strong enough to send him rolling backwards a few times before he ends up on his back. Celestia watches Applejack's face quickly morph from pure rage to shock, then concern. She quickly runs over to Anons side. “I’m sorry for that, An-” Applejack's eyes widen as she finds herself pinned on her back. Anon has his hands wrapped firmly around her neck and continues to strangle her with all his strength. Celestia looks over to Luna as she tries to understand what she is looking at. She looks back to find Applejack has tears in her eyes as she weakly tries to kick Anon off her, but she is running out of air. Celestia can see the look in Anon’s eyes. They are blank, not even a flicker of light left in them. It’s as if he lost his soul at this moment. She looks back down to Applejack again in shock. If somepony doesn't stop him, he’s going to kill her! Suddenly Anon lets her go as Applejack rolls over and struggles to catch her breath. Celestia looks back to Anon and notices the look of horror on his face. He says nothing as he ran away. The dream dissipates once more. He chuckles at that. “Yeah, that one isn't as straightforward as the first. You see, everything leading up to the point where I choke her is accurate. I heard around town that if I got in good with Applejack, then ponies would accept me easier. One thing leads to another and she kicked me. When she came to help me, I wanted to strangle her to death. It never got to that point. I just pushed her away and went back home. I guess that dream was just my pent up rage.” Celestia isn't sure how to process this. Should she console him? “Next dream,” Anon says looking far more tired as this goes on. “I must say that you have a marvelous posture.” Celestia feels her brows raise as she finds Anon on a small stage of some kind. Rarity working a measuring tape around his form. “Thank you.” Anon answers automatically. “No problem, darling. I simply speak the truth,” she compliments. “You know I can’t pay you back for these clothes,” Anon says. “I’d rather you didn't take the time to do this.” “Oh hush! Think nothing of it,” she says. “Seriously. I don't want these clothes,” he says as he quickly dismounts the stage. “What?!” Rarity quickly blocks his path. “Why not?!” “I don't take charity,” he answers. “How about you do a job for me? Then it wouldn't be charity?” Rarity offers. Anon lets out a sigh. “Sure. What do you need?” “Well, there’s this little mountain that contains gems, just outside Ponyville. If you go and dig a few up for me, then I would greatly appreciate it!” Anon gives a nod. “Sure. I’ll be back soon.” “Excellent! I’ll be waiting here.” Celestia finds her mind wondering. A mountain with gems? Wait, Rarity didn't send him there did she!? She quickly looks over to dream Anon as he walks off toward the very mountains that she was thinking of. “No..” She feels her body become heavy. “No, please, no..” “Sister, prepare for a skip.” “Skip?” Celestia looks to Luna unsure of what she means. “The next few minutes he experiences in his dream are pure pain, yet not a single thing is shown. It starts up again a few moments after.” Celestia looks back to the road unaware of what is to happen. It is brief, but noticeable. The light in the sky, the clouds, all of them quickly move across the sky. She only felt a fraction of what Luna spoke of, though it still hurt her deeply. She finds her eyes looking up to the horizon. A shadowy figure is limping its way toward Rarity’s home. She can't hold back her gasp as she looks upon Anon. He is covered in bruises, blood, and scratches. His clothes are horribly torn and he’s walking with a significant limp. He clutches his stomach tightly as he continues on his path. Finally, he makes it to Rarity’s door. She can see the look of pure hate in his eyes as he readies his fist to bang on the door. His anger quickly vanishes as his hand drops. He just stands there for a few moments before he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a few gems. He simply crouches down and lays them at her front door. He turns away and limps back toward his home without looking back. Celestia feels her tears flowing freely now. “That was the last dream my sister could take. She only wished to find you after.” Luna said. Anon chuckles sleepily. “My little eternal goddess couldn't handle any more?” Anon tries to joke with Celestia, but it doesn't take. She just looks away with tears still threatening to fall. “Luna is the most strong-hearted of the both of us,” Celestia admits. Anon lets out a sigh. “Well, that dream isn't actually a dream. That is a memory. Rarity told me to dig up those gems in the mountains. What she didn't tell me about the place is that it is guarded by Diamond Dogs. A battle for my life later, I come staggering back to Ponyville worse for wear.” He shakes his head. “I still couldn't bring myself to get angry, to have a moment. So I just went back home, as I usually do.” “I’m so sorry, Anon,” Celestia says as she leans her head on his shoulder. “I didn't know.” He pets her head some. “I won't say it got better after those incidents, Princess. In fact, it got worse. Life is pretty good now, so, there’s that.” Anon still feels a great deal loopy after all that alcohol he drank. He isn't even sure if this is all a dream or not. He always wanted to tell the Princess about how terrible her ponies are, but that was before he got to know her personally. Doesn't seem to matter, though. Right now, Celestia is crying on his shoulder while Luna scoots closer, wrapping her forelegs around Anon to hold him tight. Seems he is stuck here no matter what happens. Well, he is tired anyways. Might as well pass out for awhile. Celestia eventually notices that Anons breaths are shallow. She lifts her head and looks down to him as he rests. The stench of alcohol still present. She looks over to Luna as she lifts her head as well. It seems she too had done her fair share of crying. “Why does he not emote from these horrors, sister?” Luna asks. Celestia shakes her head. “I don't know, Luna. Perhaps he did at one point, or maybe he never did.” She cringes some at the memories that replay in her mind. “What are we going to do? Can we even help him?” “Perhaps rest is what we need.” Luna motions toward Anon’s bed. “Tomorrow we can think of how to help our friend.” Celestia gives a nod as she gently picks up Anon from the couch and levitates him onto the bed, making sure to place him in the center. She doesn't want to leave him alone. At least, that’s what she thought. Truthfully, she doesn't want to be alone right now. She crawls into bed as she wraps her hooves around Anon. Luna too climbs into bed on the opposite side and wraps her hooves around Anon as well, using her magic to lay a blanket over them. Luna looks to Anon, then to her sister. “Anon would be far more comfortable without these,” Luna says as she looks to his clothes. “Perhaps you are right,” Celestia agrees as she uses her magic to teleport his clothing to the floor. With that done. The two Princesses and Anon fall into a blissful slumber. Well, close enough at least.