Chapter 21
I am being dragged through the trees by the three vilest demons Hell could possibly spawn. And they’re giggling. This is the advent of my demise. I can’t believe these three could be so strong! Eventually we get to the clubhouse, and they let go to rush inside. When they return in a few seconds, they are holding an amateurishly wrapped gift. Still on the ground, I stare at the gift in my hands. I look up at the three fillies, and what I see chills me to the bone. They’re smiling.
This is it. This is where I die. I wince as I untie the present’s bow. Nothing yet. Whatever it is, I have to open the box... I sigh, resigning to my fate, and peel off the shoddily applied tape and reach inside. It feels... somewhat soft. It’s... clothes?
I pull the object out and hold it up. It’s a big, human shirt in roughly my size. it’s a sort of maroon red with the CMC emblem on the front.
“Rarity helped us make it just for you!”
“We were gonna make it a cape like ours but there wasn’t ‘nuff gold silk, so we made a shirt!”
“But now you have something to wear when we’re all Crusading!”
I look at the fillies, smiling, waiting for my approval of their gift. Oh screw it. “This is fantastic!” I reach down to grab them in a hug, but Scootaloo backs up a bit. “Uh, I’ll pass.”
Eh, whatever. I grab the other two though, and hold them in my arms. I can feel them try to hug me back, their hooves just barely too short to get around my shoulders. Scootaloo just stands there, looking away, acting indifferent.
After a bit, I put Applebloom and Sweetie Belle back down, and thank them for the gift. The two of them head back to the clubhouse. When they’re back inside, I grab Scoots before she can move and I give her a hug as well.
“Hey stop! Put me down, I-”
“Nobody has to know.” I hug her a bit harder, and after a moment, Scootaloo gives up and snuggles into my embrace. After a few more seconds I set her back down on the ground and ruffle her mane. “Remember, I don’t think you are any less cool because of that.”
She blushes slightly. “Th- thanks. Uh, I gotta go.” Before she gets to the doorway she turns around and waves. “Bye Anthony!”
I wave back and leave for Ponyville, a happy smile on my face, and the new shirt under my right arm. If those three do end up being the end of me... I guess it wouldn’t be the worst way to go.
I make my way to Golden Oaks, and a few more ponies wave my way. I guess this is the life of a hero. I wish I could have some sort of disguise to wear so I could be a hero and still be treated like a normal person... except that I’m a person. Oh well, I don’t really mind being famous as a good guy I suppose, I certainly have plenty of admirers. On the other hand, there are the more overzealous ponies. I suppose I could make a speech to all of Ponyville about that, but I’d also have to stop the letters from Canterlot, Manehattan and all the other places in Equestria.
I sigh. I could probably at least stop the love letters from the local ponies for now and work on other towns and cities later on. I walk into the library and I see Twilight poring over the book I got her. She looks very happy.
“I’d suggest you write down what you learn in there in case you forget.” I saw as I pass by her
Twilight looks up from her book. “Anthony! Oh thank you so much for this! Thank you thank you thank you thank you!” She prances in place, similar to a happy Pinkie and it’s a bit odd from the straight-edged scholar
“Aww, it wasn’t any trouble, and I have been kind of a jerk to you. But don’t think I’m gonna quit, I like you too much to let you get bored.” I remind her as I sit down next to her.
She sighs lightly and rolls her eyes. “I suppose I’ll just have to ignore you then.”
I chuckle. “Yeah, good luck with that. Anyway, I’m serious, write down anything you think is important, you’ll want notes.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Well, we don’t want anything to happen to that book, but I’m sure the information would be useful.”
“Well, yeah... but what could happen to the book?”
“Do you have a copy of Blueish’s Bestiary?” I ask, ignoring the question.
“I got it! Just a sec.” Spike says, and he starts climbing up the shelves.
Twilight groans. “Anthony, what are you talking about? Why do you need that? What could happen to my book?”
I shrug. “Well, you never know what might happen in Wunderland, it would help to be prepared.”
“Prepared... why? Prepared for what?”
I ruffle her mane. “Prepare for Wunderland, you silly pony. Cadence and I have made plans to go at some point, and you and Pinkie are invited.”
Twilight’s eyes go wide and twinkly, as her hooves come up to her face in a perfect look of happy surprise. “Really!?”
I give her a big smile. “Yep, once I get this cast off, we’re gonna take a month to prepare, then we’re gonna go visit Wunderland.”
Twilight proceeds to yell happily, jumping between her front and hind legs. “I’m going to Wunderland! This is perfect!” She leaped towards me and gave me a big hug. Then she realized that she had, and jumped back off of me. “Er, ahem, yes, well, thank you. I will be looking forward to this trip.”
Spike walks over, barely able to carry the huge tome in his arms. I pick it up and it’s really heavy. “Yep, so am I, and as such, we should study as much as we can to avoid any unfortunate events.”
“I agree completely!” Twilight said, letting out another happy giggle, and muttering a quiet “Yes!”
I like ‘happy’ Twilight a lot better than ‘angry’ or ‘annoying’ Twilight. Much more adorable. I set down the bestiary on the center table across from Twilight, and I see fan mail, reminding me of the other issue I had to deal with. “Actually Twilight, I’m going to attend to another task. I need to get at least Ponyville to stop sending me raunchy letters.” Twilight nods, a blush on her face remembering the letter I had her read earlier.
I head off to Town Hall to tell the mayor about my intention, bringing a sample letter as an example. Luckily, getting everyone together shouldn’t be hard, as I plan on enlisting Pinkie Pie, and I’m sure news about the ‘Great hero’ having a public statement to make should spread quickly. But first, the mayor. “Good afternoon, ma’am.”
The tan-and-gray pony looks up at me, smiling. “Ah, hello Anthony, what a pleasure it is to see you again. Is there anything I can help you with today?”
“Yes, there is. I would like to make a public statement to the town.”
“I...” her brows furrow, but she nods in slow acquiescence, “see...”
“Don’t worry, I’m serious about the speech, it is not related at all to any bets I’ve made and lost.”
The mare visibly relaxes. “Very well, then. What is the purpose of this speech?”
“Well, my rise in popularity has led many ponies to send me gifts and write letters of admiration. Unfortunately I have also received plenty of letters that I would like to tell the ponies that I do not wish to receive any more of them.” As usual, I seem to slip into ‘legal speech’ when in a building of high office. I really don’t know why, I just do.
“I see, and what sort of letters are these?”
Rather than explain, I just hand her the letter I brought as an example, and she looks it over. “Oh my... I... I can see why you might wish to stop these sorts of letters. I will grant your request.” she gives a growl under her breath, and shakes her head. “Honestly, some ponies... I know our little town isn’t very cultured but I assure you, not all of us are like this!”
“I know. That was from Canterlot.” The mayor’s eyes go wide and she’s speechless. “I’m going to be addressing other areas of Equestria as well, at a later date. Now, I will get help with rounding up everyone in town.”
“R- right.”
I make my way to Sugarcube Corner.
About half an hour later, everyone is gathered at town hall. None of them were told what for, just that I had an announcement to make. I walk up onstage, and all the ponies cheer, clapping in their pony way by stomping the ground. It feels... nice. I hold up my hands and in a few moments, they’ve all quieted down. I realize the podium is much too short for me, so I decide to just hold the microphone to my mouth
"Hello everyone." I wait calmly for the various cheers to die down before continuing. "I appreciate all the praise you give me for my heroic actions, but there is an issue I must address." I clear my throat. "Many of you have sent me letters of admiration and even gifts, and I thank you all for your generosity. However, some of you have sent me letters of a more intimate nature. Whether it be a marriage proposal, or requesting that I 'bed' the sender..."
Some ponies chuckle, others blush, a few shift their gaze nervously. "I would like to inform you all that I have absolutely no interest in being intimate in any way with ponies. And before you ask, yes, that covers the princesses as well." I pause, letting all I've said sink in.
"Understand I have no problems with making new friends, but I will not accept any suitors or offers of sexual interaction. I don't do ponies." The crowd makes various short statements of understanding and agreement. I continue.
“Now, I know that not all of these questionable letters have come from Ponyville, so I will be visiting other towns and cities, spreading this message.”
Someone raises their hoof and asks a question. “But what happens if another monster comes by while you’re gone? Who will save us?”
I facepalm. “Need I remind you that you live with the holders of the Elements of Harmony?”
Rainbow Dash flies up from the crowd and lands next to me, facing the crowd. “Yeah! We’ve fought our share of monsters, we can handle Ponyville, no sweat!”
I return my attention to the crowd. “See? You have plenty of heroes living right here, you can rest assured that you will always be protected by these brave ponies... And Rainbow Dash.”
“Hey!”
My speech done, and Ponyville now aware of my sexual disinterest, I decide to check on Fluttershy, and simply leave the stage. I haven’t talked to her since I was committed, so I might as well see how she’s doing.
I make my way towards her cottage, it’s a bit far though, so I decide to speed up a bit. I make decent time, getting to her front door in about five minutes. I knock on the door, and wait for the usual slow, cautious hello.
Instead, a thin slot opens in the door, and a pair of fearful, cyan eyes look out, sweeping back and forth until they settle on me. Almost like magic, the fear disappears, and Fluttershy opens the door. “Anthony! You’re up and about! Ooh, are you in pain? Do you need help? Come in, you can lay down on the couch.” Fluttershy seems worried about something, in my estimation.
“If it’s about my cast, I’m perfectly fine, ‘Shy. As long as I don’t bang my arm, there’s no problem.” That said, it’s been two weeks, and it’s not ‘half healed’. The estimate seems to have been rather off.
She sucks in a breath of relief. “Oh, thank goodness... oh, but please, come in. I was about to start dinner. Did you need something?”
“Nah, I just came by to say hi, see how you’re do-”
“I’m fine!” Shy’s response was rather too quick, especially for the shy pegasus, and her grin was a little too forced. Instead of the small, pleasant smile I was used to, I’m instead getting the full cheshire treatment again. What is it with ponies and giving disturbingly large smiles to me?
“Jeez, and I thought Sweetie Belle was a bad liar.” I muttered, before continuing, louder. “Alright, what are you hiding?” I walk inside.
Fluttershy looks rather worse for wear once I’m inside. There’s faint patches under her eyes, as if she hasn’t been sleeping so well, and her movements are a little more jittery than normal, which also feeds back to the not-sleeping prognosis. Several animals are standing protectively near her, but aren’t doing more than giving me dirty looks for disturbing their mistress.
“So what’s wrong? You don’t look so good. You have a cold?” I decide to play dumb, see if she’ll admit her troubles.
“I- uhm... n-no...” Suddenly, her eyes are full of tears, and she’s stuck like a limpet to my chest, bawling her eyes out. “W-why would somepony be so me-hee-hee-ean?” Her tearful question was broken by her sudden and strong crying.
“Who, Fluttershy? Who’s being mean? What did they do?”
“Th-that monster you had t- to- t- k- k- to kill.” She sniffled, a loud messy affair with all the snot dribbling from her nostrils. I didn’t even want to think about what Rarity was going to do to me when she saw the crusty remains of this. “He j- just hurt ponies, and now Rumble’s dad isn’t going to walk ever again...”
“Well... he was... a demon. They don’t exist in my world except in fiction, but they are evil. They hurt and kill people for the sole sake of causing pain and misery. Some stories say doing so makes them stronger and meaner.” I curled my arms around her protectively, trying to help her feel better by patting her on the back. “That thing... he was human once. And, I suppose that he still was in a way. Just one that was sick in the head.”
She looked up at me, eyes still watery and nose still snotty. “H- humans get like that when you’re sick?” I noted the pronoun change, and paired with the increase in pressure from her grip.
“No, not naturally. There was something that made him change. When I said he was sick, I meant he was disturbed... er, well.” I sigh. “He was insane. His brain was messed up. Humans are... violent by nature. We fight and hurt others, but most of us have moral standings that tell us hurting others is wrong.” I look down at the ground. “But that person had a different moral standing... he enjoyed killing and hurting. I don’t know how he became a monster like that, but there are people like that in my world, but they’re still normal humans on the outside. We call them psychopaths.”
Fluttershy was still crying, but calmed down. “So... you won’t end up like that?”
“No, I won’t, but I guess that’s an example of what evil humans can become if given the chance. We aren’t all nice, but most of us try to be.”
Fluttershy looked a bit sad, still having tears in her eyes, but she wasn’t crying anymore. “W- would you like to stay for dinner?” The way she says it tells me she’s really asking not to be left alone.
“I’d like that a lot.” I give her a gentle squeeze and set her down and she leads me to the table. In a few minutes, we’re sitting down with plates of fish salad and talking about animals. “I have to say, as much as I like mammals, I’ve always found reptiles and amphibians fascinating.”
“Oh?” she asks, composure returned for the most part by the duties of being host.
“Yeah, I even spent a few months at a nonprofit center that took care of hurt or homeless frogs toads, turtles and tortoises.”
“Oh I just love turtles!” she says, smiling at me from over the counter. “Aren’t they adorable?”
“Yeah, and they make the cutest faces, even if some people don’t think they have emotions.”
“Perhaps they just need to get to know the turtles, they show plenty of emotion.”
“I agree. But as for the most adaptable creatures, I’d have to say birds.” I say, as I take another bite.
“Really?” she asks, conversationally. “Why’s that?”
We continue our chat all throughout our meal and even a while after that. Before we know it, it’s nighttime. I offer to stay the night to keep her company, and she agrees completely. She didn’t want me to be walking around near the Everfree forest at night. I mentally question why she lives so close to the forest once more, but I assume she has her reasons so I don’t bother asking. At least not this time. Fluttershy sets up a place for me to sleep on the couch, but I decide to stay with her in her room until she falls asleep.
I don’t know any lullaby’s and I can’t sing anyway, so I just decide to use a bedtime story instead. I read Howard the Fluffy Bunny until she’s asleep. Once I finish the story, I take a look at the sleeping pegasus.
She’s all tucked in, her hooves partly above the covers, a small sweet smile on her face. Seeing her peacefully sleeping like that makes me feel... really nice. She’s safe, her worries are over, and she can rest easy. I give in to the moment and give her a gentle kiss her on the forehead before I get up to leave. I take one last look at her from the doorway. She's absolutely adorable...
I head downstairs and to the couch. It took a lot of effort to convince ‘Shy that I was perfectly fine with just the couch. I wasn’t even sure if we could both fit in her bed anyways. I pull up my blanket, and eventually I drift off to sleep.
I wake up when I feel something on my chest. I groggily open my eyes and suddenly I see a pair of very angry eyes staring at me.
“Woah!” I roll over and end up face-first on the floor, my nose hurts but I’m awake. I look up and I see the same pair of angry eyes, this time accompanied by a smug grin attached to the body of a small white rabbit, it’s tiny arms folded in superiority.
I got punked, by a fucking rabbit! I pick him up and plan on cooking myself some bunny breakfast, but then Fluttershy walks in. “Oh, there you are, Angel! Saying hello to Anthony?”
I sigh inwardly. I can’t do this to one of Fluttershy’s animal friends. I just put the rabbit back on the ground and he hops towards Fluttershy, and she picks him up, cradling him like a baby. “I was about to make some breakfast, would you like to join me, Anthony?”
“Breakfast sounds nice. Of course I’ll join you.”
“Alright, what would you like?” I think for a moment, but the I just give her a shrug.
“Surprise me, I’m not picky.”
Fluttershy nods and walks to the kitchen to prepare our meal. After a few minutes ‘Shy calls me to the table.
“I wasn’t sure exactly what you’d like, so I hope this is okay.” She puts a plate in front of me and it’s a large omelette. It smells absolutely incredible. Peppers, mushrooms, cheese, onions, tomatoes... the only thing it didn’t have was ham, but that’s forgivable, given Fluttershy’s opinion on eating pigs.
“Do you like it?” she asks, nervously shifting in place.
“This is perfect, ‘Shy.” I give her a quick hug and begin my meal. It’s even better than I expected, and by the time I’m finished, I feel the urge to ask for another, quelled only by the fact that I’m full. We continue chatting about animals and such while she eats.
“You know so much about animals, have you ever thought of becoming a professional veterinarian?”
“Oh, no!” she shakes her head vehemently, or at least with some vigor. “I couldn’t expect money for helping all of these animals!”
“Alright, if you say so. I just think you’d do an amazing job.”
After a while, I decide it’s time I left. I thank Fluttershy for the omelette again and walk out the door, heading for Carousel Boutique. I hadn’t forgotten about that bit of information Rarity had promised me. Now I really want to know.
Unfortunately, it’s still rather early in the morning, so I decide to find something to do until it’s a more acceptable hour. I then remember I’m out of coal. Not even half a lump for emergencies. I head over to the train station. I had already kind of quit my job there a while ago, I just didn’t really need the money as much as I thought. Perhaps the best gift I could have received as a hero would be an unlimited use free train pass to wherever the trains went.
I’ll think about how I could get one later. For now...
I get on the train and sneak some coal out. Turning it all into dust, I manage to pack about four and a half lumps into my pouch. Satisfied that I should have enough for at least medium-sized tools, I take my leave. There’s honestly not much to do this early in the morning, so I just end up walking around town, trying to think of something I could do to pass the time.
Looking in each direction, I decide to simply start walking down a randomly chosen street. there’s much fewer ponies on this road, and I keep walking, resisting the urge to whistle a jaunty tune. Last time I did, it took Fluttershy’s help to get the birds to stop roosting on me.
The sun was just peeking up, enough to have a bright morning, without being right in my eyes anymore. The pegasi were already working the weather over to prepare it for the day. Looking at their efforts and what I recalled of the weather schedule for the week, it’s probably going to be an overcast, but generally bright and rainless day.
One of the pegasi waves at me for a moment before going back to work, and I wave back. Ponyville is really nice, when it isn’t being ransacked by random monsters and disasters.
Finally, I find my feet have brought me to a large, luscious park. there’s carefully tended trees, flower beds, and green grass. Many of the trees are flowering, including a large weeping willow bending gracefully over a large pond. Several park benches sat here and there, near the few jogging paths scattered about.
Laying on her back, a mare was on one of the benches, staring up at the sky above her. A lone butterfly had settled onto her nose, and she was smiling gently at it. The mare had a seafoam coat and was wearing a warm-looking hoodie. A simple harp was propped against the bench next to her, and one of her hooves dangled over it.
Not having anything better to do, I decide to walk over. “Heya, what’s your name?”
The mare’s eyes flickered over to me. “Hello. I’m Lyra. though I suppose names are just things we call each other. Visual displays are so much more interesting to watch.” Her gaze returned to the little butterfly on her nose, which still hadn’t moved. The butterfly flared its wings for a moment, revealing a pair of harp-shaped marks on the undersides of the wings, before it flapped away.
The seafoam mare rolled sideways, toppling off the bench and onto her hooves in a graceful, almost boneless manner.
“Well, that’s something you don’t see every day. You get a lot of practice doing that?”
“Laying on my stomach hinders my ability to think by almost forty percent.” She looked me up and down. “You are bored, searching for something to do, and wandered here without conscious thought.”
“Let me guess, you’re the town oracle?” I check her flank for an image of a crystal ball or something, but it’s just a gold harp like the one she had with her.
“No, I’m an entomologist. And smart. Did you know, music is a numerical formula? By the look in your eyes when I said that, I’d guess you’ve already heard that view.” All the guessing was leaving me a bit peeved, I’d like to have a part in the conversation, too.
“Hey, I like math, numbers are fun, and music being numbers makes a lot more sense to me, honestly.”
“Of course you do, you’re only fitting in here in Ponyville because we’re all odd in some way or another here.” She grinned broadly. “I’m a master-grade musician and have been since I could physically hold an instrument, and I prefer to look at centipedes. Which only have about thirty-seven pairs of legs, in spite of the name.”
“Well, aren’t you knowledgeable. So, you know what I’m doing, or rather, not doing here. What about you?”
“Clarsach Butterflies only show up in Ponyville once a year. They’re very rare, and have no place in any ecosystem they’ve been encountered in. Their caterpillars are laid wherever they wander during their migrations, and eat any kind of leaves they can find and are too toxic for natural predators to eat. So I catch them and feed them to my terra-tula.”
“Uh... do you mean ‘tarantula’?”
“No, terra-tulas are mineraloids, but have many spider-like properties.” she tilted her head in thought. “Such as being spiders, with stone armor in place of the normal chitin.”
“Mineraloids?” My eyebrows go skyward at the implications. “Dang, you certainly have interesting creatures. The only rock monsters humans have are all fictitious.”
Lyra shrugged. “Terra-tulas aren’t monsters; that’s a different classification altogether. Although, tecto-rantulas are classified as ‘great-monsters’, or kaiju.”
That surprised me. “Uh... I assume you mean ‘kaiju’ as in ‘it’s very very very big’?”
“Yes. Most mountains that are permanently dormant are actually tecto-rantulas. They sleep a lot, but some dragons remember losing parents and elders to them.” She cocks her head at me, brows furrowed in confusion. “For some reason, dragons don’t like tecto-rantulas.”
“Well, I wouldn’t like something that ate my parents, personally.”
Lyra looks at me pointedly. “Well, that seems prejudiced. How you like it if your food disagreed with you, just because you were eating it? I’m sure seeing screaming cauliflower would throw off your appetite.” Strangely, her smile hasn’t left her face. I can’t tell if she’s teasing me, having an honest debate, or some combination of the two.
“Well, the fact that it screams wouldn’t matter, I don’t like cauliflower in the first place.” I stick my tongue out.
Lyra nods sagely, then climbs onto the bench, sitting up into a position that looks supremely uncomfortable for ponies: like a human. She pats the bench beside her, indicating for me to sit down.
“Well, I suppose that is a wise choice. Cauliflower sometimes contains vegetables. There’s usually a high chance of that.” She reminds me of someone, I just know it, but I can’t put my finger on it.
“Well, you certainly are an interesting pony. Probably the most interesting I’ve met so far...”
“Probably because I’m ‘whimsical’, as most ponies say. Oh, would you like me to play a song? I brought my lyre, but I haven’t gotten around to playing it today. It wouldn’t do to become rusty and maybe crack a spring.” I have no idea if she’s being serious, lost in thought, or what, but the idea of a relatively private music number seems nice.
“Sure, let’s see what ya got.” I sit back, and wait for her to begin.
The harp hovers into her grip, and she begins to play. Instead of plucking the strings with magic, though. she instead uses her hooves. I’m not really sure how, but she does. A strange, haunting melody begins to pour forth from the instrument.
I just stay still, and wait until she’s finished. Once she’s done, I speak up. “That was beautiful. I don’t know how you ponies can do things like that with hooves, but I guess that just makes it more impressive to me.”
“Harmony guides all things. Some of us are guided more strictly, and others...” she trailed off, staring at the instrument in her hooves. “Some of us help guide harmony,” she looked up at me, and smiled again. What she said next, I’ll never understand how she did it. How she knew, or how she could’ve found out, or anything.
Somehow, she calls me by my real name, first and last.
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Seems the last YouTube link there broke at some point. Lyra is still oddly what I imagine a high pony would be like, despite Tree Hugger now being a thing.
Hmm... So, are you going a different direction with Lyra this time around? Or is she still that constellation thingy? I honestly can't tell. She SEEMS different, but at the same time, she still knows things she really shouldn't.
Both the links in this chapter kinda... Exploded. Just warning you.
YouTube links don't seem to be working :/
Lyra seems to be a combination of the hoodie, Background Pony, the knowledge, Lyra knows everything from the story with Moonsong the Fifth Level using Lunar Guard, aaand.. Ive forgotton the next two already.
Is she meditating through being the Still Way disiple?
6847055
No.
6847055 I feel like lyra somehow had Versebreaker training in this universe...I can't figure out why?
6869133 She didn't. She's just whimsical remember?
You should have Anthony become a Gaara but with coal.
6892474 Actually, what I was going for was an Earthbender but with coal.
is Wunderland the equestrian equivalent to disneyland?
6869433
I wonder if she felt the wrinkle in time that his reset caused.
10240709
Lyra? No, she didn't. There wasn't really a wrinkle anyways. It was just "Move back to this point."
Time wasn't split or jumped or traveled. Everything just rewound to a specific point (Hence the word "Rewind" being used). Basically that timeline no longer exists, as all those events "haven't happened yet" and because of random chance of the general aspects of reality, many of them may not happen again at all or happen differently. The only characters who know about the time manipulation fully is Annis (who gave Anthony the method to do so in the first place) and some denizens of Wunderland because the place they live exists outside of conventional rules of time.
6892684
Its Wonderland from the alice story
10879633
Anthony already crapped on folks not knowing Lewis Carrol's books in the first chapter. It's fine to let accidents slide.