Fucking batponies stole my friend
Can't have shit in Canterlot

10522972
I live in the Midwest US. Most of the ones I mentioned were born in the area and are Caucasian. It is a name accross the globe, not just some sign of being foreign. Some parents just prefer nontraditional names with Anon being one of the most prevalent among them.

10523512
She's confused she wants the Batpony as well.

I'm just going to point out that the main characters all seem to be fusions of the Mane 6 personalities in some aspects.

Twilght+Rarity = Glammerspear.
Fashionable and high magic potential.

AJ+Flutters = Sparkshower.
Honest and kind

AJ+Twilight = Honour.
Hardworking, neurotic, and intelligent.

RD+Starlight = Ebonshield.
Funloving, Scheming, intelligent, and loyal.

(I left Pinkie Pie out as a possibility because she is a character that just can't be mixed with anything without overshadowing it and still remaining a different flavor Pinkie)

Wonder if the assignments were political to cause internal confict in the vicinity of the new guy.

Two guards in the same bar coming up?

Man, Lily will have an attack if later she finds out Ebon when clubbing WITH Anon

10523583
Sparkshower, Pinkie goes with her. Sparkshower is super friendly with everyone and has a kid view of things, just like Pinkie

10523704
Timid and innocent view of things, complete agree, but she is also super friendly and want to experience the life in the big city. I say she is a fusion of Rarity, Pinkie and Fluttershy

10523708
Pinkie personality is larger than life in everything she is feeling or doing to the point you can see her body physically projecting it. Theres a griffon later on that more exemplifies Pinkie than Sparks ever could manage.

10523561
I did specifically state "many" in there, there's always going to be people that want to break from the pack and name their children something unusual. Based on what I found, there are ~1,000 people born in the us with the name Anon at the moment. So, yeah, pretty rare.

[Edit to correct math from 100 to 1,000]

10523744
Well until then the mare more in touch with her emotions so far is Sparkshower, so I think she is the closest, I suppose

10523766
With a population of roughly 331 million it is probably way more than 100. It sounds like you are just pulling made up facts out of thin air...

Most your posts suggest that you are just here to be an ass in the comments and can't be relied on for facts anyway.

Everyone wants those fuzzy ears. Everyone.

10523401
Mother Superior... No need to explain your trauma further.

Lily I’m reasonably sure the look in question has been around and used for a long time. Also it only counts as stealing a friend if they twirl a mustache or laugh with a fan in front of their face while they do it.

Damn... That Batpony must be a real stud magnet Canterlot stallions beware of hot legs with leather wings and flanks that wont quite

TAP

10524117
THAT

‘Bucking maverick Ginny-come-lately dark-horse tenderfoot sleeper-hit batpony stealing both your friend and your look!’

‘Buck!’

Great story so far.

Don't worry Lil. It'll all work out.

10523842 The fact that this comment section takes anything other than blind praise as a personal attack is not my concern. The truth is, I rather like this story, enough so I spent the time to comment on the aspects of it that annoy me. As for the statistics sited, they are from the US Social Security Administration, which states that the commonality of the name Anon is 3 per 1 million, so upon reflection, you are correct, I missed a zero and it should be ~1,000. (I will edit my previous post for accuracy) That said, maybe it is YOU that needs to reflect on your hostility and the fact that from where I stand, it looks like you're projecting.

‘Bucking maverick Ginny-come-lately dark-horse tenderfoot sleeper-hit batpony stealing both your friend and your look!’

10524697
I'm not hostile. Just slightly annoyed that an Anon hater is flooding the comments of an Anon story because they have nothing better to do.

The entire thing is the claim that Anon is not a real name. This is false. Then it was Anon was only a foreign name. Again, false. Then its an extremely rare name. You are obviously either misinformed or just desprate to be right. Now you are trying to discredit me by accusing me of being hostile for proving you are just wrong and grasping at straws...

All i can say is that I could care less to talk to people who misrepresent facts just to be right and this conversation is over. I hope you have a lovely day.

Batmares be hot and dangerous! Watch out!

10524824

Y'know, I'm kind of with 10523766 in a general sense. As good as this story is, I still cringe every time I read "Royal Engineer Anonymous", because in this case, "Anon" is not meant to be an actual name, but an attempt to fake 2nd Person perspective. Like, I don't fault Bobbles either; it's not Bobbles' fault that this is how 4chan decided things should be.

That said, I hope you too understand where many of the rest of us are coming from here. Anon in third person is not actually a viable stand in for second person.

10535917
I don't cringe over the use of Anon anymore than I cringe over the use of John or Jack, the idea of using an every man stand in is nothing new in literature. What I was attempting to point out is that unlike its predecessors, anonymous (AKA Anon) is a different kind of every man. It's not literally a character with one of the most common names in the English speaking world, it's literally "without (a) name." The new convention is to make Anon without as much character as possible, as to not conflict with a reader's perspective(s).

That being said, I think that going off of the original author's comment on his intent with Anon, I think that the name Anon should be dropped entirely from this [version of the] story and he should just refer to the Character by his title as "The Engineer." There are plenty of examples of authors doing this in both classical and modern literature. My current favorite example would be the titular Mandalorian and he even HAS a name!

I'm really enjoying the story so far. One nit pick I have though is the names. Would it be possible to stick to calling them by a consistent name? You keep swapping between Sparkshower and Artemis whenever you talk about her, which is a bit odd. It's like, "Hey, this is Bill Ted, Ted works on weekends most of the time, but let me tell you, Bill is an absolute party animal when he's off the clock. This one time, Bill got into a fist fight with Kevin, and Ted walked away with a bloody nose and two broken fingers. Though, Bill gave as good as her got and knocked a few of Kevin's teeth out. Now, Ted wears that tooth on a necklace to remind himself to both take it easy on the drinks, and to never throw the first punch. Bill learned an important lesson that day, and I've respected Ted ever since then."

10636293
I must confess that pronoun management is tricky; it's something that was done for flow, but I have gotten more consistent with how I use their names over later chapters.

"... Hmmm, but this isn't the right color for you. You'd want a bold primary, like green -- or blue, to match your eyes. We can go shopping someday when we're both off, I'll set you right, don't worry!"

You'd want a bold primary, like green

Screams internally.

I how Lily, the 'fashion expert' here, just effectively got shown up, completely unintentionally, by her newest arch-rival.

"Holy moley! That's really pretty! But isn't it a bit... revealing?"

How? Like 95% of the population doesn't wear clothes.

10676410
"Green's not a creative color"

10523512
Don't know why... DADT was hilariouse
10523571
DADT Pone is BEEEP
10523644
DADT luck Monkey...
10523864
Because ear fluff is cute as DADT...
10523919
DADT mental image ... ... ...

11123180
DADT moment when you've realized you've joined the herd. And there's no stops or cuddles!

Batpone is best pone ♡
11279483
The snuggeling shall last... FOREVERRR!