• Published 8th May 2021
  • 6,358 Views, 425 Comments

Dark as Chitin - LostBox



I can hardly remember anything for the life of me, though I feel I should. Why is there a voice in my head?

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Chapter 13: Unexpected



I haven't talked to my mother for a while now. I call out to her, but she never replies. I must have really upset her, but isn't this going a bit overboard? This level of silent treatment should be considered a war crime. Okay, maybe I'm overreacting, but I still wish she'd talk to me.

It's almost been two days, and I haven't even heard a word from her. To make my situation worse, I know she's there, I can feel her. That's not exactly something she can hide, you know, with the hive mind and all. I wouldn't do this to her. Her emotions have been fluctuating more than normal recently. Whatever, I can't get caught up in my feelings right now.

Right now I'm currently walking through Ponyville with Dawn. She said Ponyville has some good food, and that I should really meet her friends. I was hesitant at first, but like always, she led me by the hoof. I'm not sure why, but my apprehension tended to subside whenever she did this.

Ponyville is an interesting place. It's surprising how functional it is despite how happy everypony looks. For some reason, I had the unconscious bias that for a society to be functional, happiness had to be a rarity.

As we walked through the crowded village, traffic picked up more as we drew further away from the castle. Soon enough we were in the thick of it. Without warning, Dawn let go of me before darting off into the crowd.

"There it is, follow me!"

"Hey, wait up!"

I ran after her but was cut off by a line of ponies. I tried to maneuver around them but was again cut off.

"Luster, wait up!"

Eventually, I could no longer see her in the sea of ponies. I started galloping through the crowd in the direction I last saw her. Faust, there's a lot of ponies here. I guess years of peace and prosperity will do that to a population. As I ran, I must not have been paying attention because I suddenly crashed into somepony. Both I and the pony fell backward on impact.

I stood back up, shaking off the disorientation.

"Oh no, after 23 hours of work..." whined a voice from a mare with a snow-white coat and purple mane.

She kneeled over a box adorned with jewels and gold engravings. Strewn across the ground were several of the most beautiful dresses I had ever seen, their beauty now tarnished by dirt. The mare didn't even look at me, nor did she bother standing up. She just kneeled there silently sobbing. Words can't describe how bad I felt.

"I'm really sorry about that, I wasn't paying attention."

Using my magic, I cast a reconstruction spell on the fallen items. Reconstruction is a spell that can restore inanimate objects to a previous state of existence. The only catch is, it cost more magic the further back in time you go. It's an extremely costly spell, just now I probably drained 30 to 40 percent of my magic reserves.

The besmirched clothing seemingly began cleaning itself as they began levitating back into a now upright box. I breathed a sigh of relief, glad that my spell worked. I had only used it a few times before, but I guess my training's paying off more than I'd thought.

The mare looked at the box with a bewildered expression. She opened the lid with her hooves to look inside before looking at me, then returning her attention back to the box. She did this several times. She stood up, dusting herself off.

Noticing that her current clothing was also dirtied by the fall, I cast the spell again, returning them to their pre-fall state. Thinking about it now, I was unsure if it was common or uncommon for ponies to wear clothes. On one hoof, I had seen quite a few ponies wearing clothing, and on the other, a lot of ponies were walking around unclothed, including myself. Oh well, being naked's not all that bad.

The mare stood up inspecting herself in awe. "B-bu-wha?"

"Again, I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention."

Just as the mare was about to speak, I heard Dawn's voice in the crowd, calling out my name. "Anon!? Anon, where are you?!"

I jerked my head toward Dawn's voice instantly. The mare I had been talking to noticed this change in my behavior and turned to face Dawn's voice as well. Surely, but slowly, Dawn made her way through the crowd. Calling out to her so she could find me more easily, I watched as she got closer.

"Dawn, over here!"

Dawn spotted me through the crowd, trotting over immediately. "Anon, what happened? You just disappeared."

"I was following you, but when you suddenly took off, I couldn't get through the crowd," I explained.

"Oh, that's my ba-" Dawn paused mid-sentence as her eyes drifted to the mare beside me.

"Rarity!?" She asked seemingly in excited disbelief.

The mares walked toward each other, wrapping their forehooves tightly around the other for a good moment before releasing. I stood back, watching this unfold with mild confusion and interest.

"Luster, darling, how have you been?" The mare asked with genuine care in her voice.

"I've been doing well, what about you?"

"Well... it's been quite the wild ride recently, but in the end, everything turned out fine."

"That's good to hear, it's been so long since I've seen you," Dawn responded.

"That it has. When you left for Canterlot 2 years ago, I wasn't sure what to think. When did you get back?"

"3 months ago or so actually."

This is news to me. As if on cue, Dawn looks in my direction, her eyes wide.

"Rarity, this is my friend, Anon."

The pony known as Rarity trotted over to me, taking my right hoof in her hooves. "It's very nice to meet you, darling. Thank you."

"No, it was my fault. Wait, I mean, it's nice to meet you too, but still I-" I stammered before she shushed me with a hoof.

Dawn looked at us inquisitively. "You've met already?"

"Something like that, we sort of... ran into each other," Rarity stated, gesturing a hoof around.

"Okay... Anon and I were just heading to Sugar Cube Corner, care to join us?"

"Oh, I would darling, you know that, but I have an order I really must get delivered. Tell you what, why don't you stop by the boutique later today? We could use some catching up."

"Well, I guess it can't be helped. Alright, it's a date. Come on Anon, let's go get some food. Bye Rarity, see you later," Dawn said as she waved to the mare while walking away.

I followed Dawn, waving at Rarity as well. Pretty soon, she faded into the crowd and that was the end of our encounter.


"We're here," Dawn gushed.

I suppose it wasn't called Sugar Cube Corner without a reason. The building looked like a literal gingerbread house.

"Come on, let's head inside."

Dawn opened the door, disappearing around into the dark building.

"Uh, I don't think they're open, Dawn. Dawn?"

I followed after her, the door shutting behind me, trapping me in the darkness. I stopped in my tracks. It was almost dead silent in the building, if not for the whispering emanating from the shadows. I was instantly put on edge by this.

I had a bad feeling about this, I needed to find Dawn and get out of here. As soon as I took a single step forward, a blinding light filled my vision as the sound of party horns resonated throughout my ears.

"Suprise! Welcome to Ponyville, Anon!"

Wha?