Chapter Nine - What's Your Talent?
The following day, Anon sat down with Lyra in the kitchen, asking her to explain things to him about life in their lands. She barely worked with him on the topic, even Twilight provided more information than her. It was clear she was more interested in him and his life, skipping what he thought should have been obvious to teach him.
This lead to Lyra explaining more about her work than she had previously. Being directly employed by the princess seemed to have some perks, such as having restricted information given to her or knowing special magics, though having a job as a komlas didn’t seem very glamorous from what he had seen.
Regarding the princess, none of his answers on why they wanted him to have a job were answered. It was as if she simply followed along with authority figures. Or really, just about any pony from what he had seen so far. A dangerous route if anyone decided to do something dangerous like form a commune based around their ideals.
On the topic of her job and aliens, Lyra had shared something that she had been keeping a secret from others: her dreams. She had been having dreams of humans and their culture for a long time. From Star Wars to Sherlock Holmes, she experienced these places as she slept. It certainly explained how she knew things about humans.
“You know what my dreams are?”
“In a way? You are… just de-scribing a lot of stories and movies… we have from our world. I think… maybe you’re in-ad-vertently viewing them… while you sleep.”
‘Free tickets to movies while you sleep. I’m almost jealous of her.’
“I don’t know. It feels like I’m there, walking among them as things go on. You don’t think they might be places like your world? Like, their own contained realities?”
“How would you explain… us knowing about them then? We don’t have magic.”
“Sure, but what say you are unconsciously receiving the thoughts of those worlds and realities? There’s a fascinating theory here about that. While we create our own stories or worlds in our arts and books, perhaps they are realities that are being reinterpreted.”
“Yeah, I guess? Can’t say… there isn’t a po-ssibility… what with a world of magic.”
Anon didn’t want to continue the conversation, feeling her reeling away from the whole point of talking to her.
“Can we refocus… on me living here?”
Lyra coughed, “Right, sorry.”
A louder cough made the two jump, Bon Bon standing off to the side. She went around to sit across from them, staring down at her already prepared meal.
“There’s no jammy toast.” She sounded sad, looking at her plate.
“Shoot, I knew I forgot something!”
Lyra got up, going to the counter, preparing just that. Bon Bon continued to frown at just about everything she looked at. Her plate, the floor, Anon. Even Lyra was subjected to the strong frown, of which she was unaware of as she prepared toast. Place some large, hairy eyebrows on that face and Anon wasn’t sure anyone could withstand such a frown.
“Are you… doing alright?” Anon asked.
She, of course, frowned back. “Why do you ask?”
“You seem… upset at some-thing, glaring at every-thing, even Lyra.”
Bon Bon blinked, not realizing that. “Sorry, that wasn’t my intention. And… yeah, it’s been a rough couple of days, trying to get some stock made up for this season. Thankfully I have something to show for it, but I’ll be up for many nights so I can make up enough stock to sell for next week. “
She continued, “It is the busiest day of the year for candy selling, so I need to make up as much as I can for everypony to purchase what they can from me.”
Lyra let out a gasp. “That’s right! I need to get my costume ready!” She turned to Anon, looking him up and down to size him up. “I should get one for Anon as well.”
“What is happening next week?” Anon asked.
Lyra blinked at his question. “I never did tell you about our holidays, didn’t think it was important to mention.”
‘Like a lot of things, it seems.’
“Next week is Nightmare Night. It’s a holiday that specifically has to do with ponies dressing up and going around asking for candy and playing games!”
Bon Bon rolled her eyes at what she said. “The holiday originated from Nightmare Moon. It’s a being from the past that had, from what everyone now knows, taken over Princess Luna’s mind and tried to force eternal darkness. There’s a lot more to it than that, but it’s the gist of things. The holiday was made to teach little foals and fillies to learn about our past and its rulers, while also having her steal candies from them at the same time. Just don’t question it.”
“That sounds like… a holiday I know called Hall-o-ween. People go around, collect candy, dress up, play games. Nothing about stealing candy… unless you count tricks?”
“Did you dress up for anything on Hay-low-een?” Lyra asked him with a wide grin.
“When I was youn-ger, yes. I still do for parties, usually as my favorite super-hero Batman.”
He had only given a quick rundown on what superheroes were just moments ago, Lyra having experienced them in her dreams. She squealed, hearing that.
“I remember that guy in my dreams! He wears long pointy ears, rides around in a funny cart, and has a bird for a sidekick!”
“Ah, yeah… that is him.”
Bon Bon took a sip from her drink to clear her throat. “She told you about her dreams?”
“It… came up yes-ter-day.”
“Oh, boy was he a fun one. He had so many weird things to say, and those gadgets. The Bat-melter, the Bat-fan, his Bat-tweezers, and my personal favorite the Shark Repellent.”
Anon let out a groan, wiping his face. ‘Of all the Batmans she could dream of, she got that one?’
“Bat-man… has changed in many years. Much… different from that one, Lyra.”
“So Batman retired and someone else took up the role? It must be some guy if he can take on villains like the Joker, or Clock King.”
“Yeah, that… sure is right.”
‘Who the heck is the Clock King?’
“He must have had so many exciting adventures. I can’t wait to see the new Batman from you! We should be able to find someone in town to make it up for you and you can share everything about him. This is going to be so much fun!”
“Lyra,” Bon Bon spoke up, “we need to get him a job before we plan on anything else at the moment. Plus, don’t you remember who would be showing up for that day? If it’s going to be a repeat of previous Nightmare Nights, then Princess Luna might make an appearance to our town this year.”
She realized what that meant, furrowing her brow. “Oh yeah, she’ll most likely want to see Anon for sure.”
Anon remembered his conversation with Lyra about the princesses. While the unicorn didn’t go into too much detail, she felt that it was Princess Luna that was giving her most of the trouble that she had gone through for the past several weeks, involving him.
He wasn’t too excited about meeting an all-powerful princess of the lands, one that could move one of the celestial bodies with but a thought. Thankfully, it was still another week before that would happen, so he could prepare for his inevitable introduction with her.
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“We are… going to the park?”
Walking down the streets of Ponyville, he was being led in the opposite direction of town by Lyra.
“We need you to get familiarized by everypony in town and we can’t do that unless you’re interacting around them. This should also give you some ideas on what our lives are like, so you could figure out what kind of job you could perform.”
“And… a fair is taking place? A holiday before a holiday.”
“Eh, kind of. There are several music gatherings held each year, and one is being held today. Ponies go there and share their music while stands are set up to sell odd things or as gaming booths. But I wouldn’t call it a holiday.”
“It’s pretty fun,” Bon Bon added. “You get to go around, enjoy some food, and hear a lot of different music playing. Just keep a friendly face and everything should be fine.”
‘Easier said than done.’
Walking up to the festivities, many of the ponies were in high spirits, laughing and drinking or eating something he partially recognized, but was certain was filled with things like hay or flowers. The few that noticed him paused, surprised to see him there. It had a ripple effect, everyone slowly realizing that the alien was there.
“Play it cool Anon,” Lyra whispered to him, placing a large smile on her as she walked forward.
“Hello everyone! We are here to show our foreign friend our festivities! Please do not be alarmed by his freakish height or odd appearance as he is an alien.”
Bon Bon slapped a hoof to her face as everyone gave Anon mixed looks.
“Is this… a good idea?” Anon asked Bon Bon.
“We’ll see if it was in a few minutes if Lyra hadn’t mistakenly formed a mob out for you.”
Quite a few ponies stopped to stare at Anon, whispering rumors about the other day, most wondering just what he was and why he was there. Lyra had previously told him they would open up eventually, as their world is so full of different species it’s hard to lay suspicion for very long. He still found it uncomfortable being around.
Anon was pushed slightly forward, feeling two oversized bags of marshmallows hitting his backside.
“See, we nearly got him to move that time!”
“We were so close we were!”
He held a sigh back, realizing it was only Flitter and Cloud Chaser, the former holding a picnic basket.
“Hey girls,” Bon Bon said. “You two out here for the festivities?”
“We go every year just to see all the acts that come here; finding all that great talent, playing their instruments on our backdoor.”
“The music is also pretty good, I must admit.”
Bon Bon coughed, “Ehr, yes. We were showing Anon around ourselves.”
Flitter seemed intrigued, floating over to him. “Really? That’s fantastic! We got a picnic and everything we can enjoy together!”
“We were just thinking of having a picnic.” Lyra stepped in, keeping her smile up. “Why don’t we find a good tree to sit under to enjoy the music.”
Flitter and Cloud Chaser went ahead as the three followed. Bon Bon walked up to Lyra, giving her an odd look.
“After everything you said dealing with Anon, wanting to take him around the place, I didn’t think you’d be interested in a picnic with him and others.”
“Oh, I’m not. But looking around and hearing of what others had to say of Anon, it’s not looking good. Can you believe some of them think I just went and tamed some beast from the Everfree? No, I think getting him to do something normal like a picnic would be for the best.”
“Get everyone to see he’s just here to relax, like them, and not up to anything?”
“Pretty much.”
Bon Bon hummed. “It’s been a while since we’ve had a chance to just relax. I wish I could stick around for that but I have to go back to my work.”
“Ah, I wanted you to hang out with us today.”
“I’m still way behind on my treats and I need to sell some to make up on costs. I’ll see you out in town tomorrow though, my stand should be up by then.” With a wave goodbye, Lyra was left alone to work with Anon.
Finding a tree was relatively easy for the group, most of the ponies wanting to be close to the stage left most of the outer areas alone. For Anon, he found it… surprisingly relaxing. Everyone was at ease, sitting around, eating food, and listening to music. The ponies that passed them by sometimes spoke, seemingly to see just who or what he was.
Lyra had him speak to every one of them, no matter who it was or what their question wound up being. She wanted him to interact with as many ponies as he could. The more ponies that he spoke to, the bigger the outcome. Or that was how she had put it. He didn’t want to argue, finding the issue nonexistent, his time there nice and simple, enjoying the sun and music.
Most of the music he heard was quite interesting to him, though in fairness, without having heard any for so long, he was glad to have anything. The current act, playing a barbershop quartet, had just finished their rounds, making room for a familiar face.
“Octavia is playing today?” he asked Lyra.
The music was certainly not what he was expecting her to play. It came off more like a fast-paced country than the classical music he was expecting.
“No, that’s not Octavia,” Lyra answered. “That’s just her biggest fan, Fiddly Faddle, but she also goes by Fiddlesticks. She’s quite obsessed with Octavia. Fiddlestick’s learned all the instruments that Octavia has and even tries to mimic her appearance at times.
“She’s not very good at classical. After a lot of attempts, I recall she had some stroke of inspiration and had started playing it like country, and ever since she’s stuck with it; still obsessed with Octavia though, for whatever reason she has.”
“She must have come out here to perform to possibly try and draw her out,” Cloud Chaser said.
“Who’d want to come out to a showdown on that kind of stage?”
“Does not Octavia only play the cello?” Anon asked. He had thought from what was explained before that was her main string to play.
Lyra shook her head, “She plays from the entire violin family: The viola, violin, cello, and double bass. She has a preference towards the cello, but honestly, if it has a string she’ll play it.”
He frowned, hearing about the violin family. ‘Just another thing from both of our worlds. This is too strange of a coincidence for our worlds to not be connected in some manner.’
Anon set these thoughts aside as Fiddlesticks started to play. He still didn’t know how the ponies could hold things with their appendages.
“We should probably go, I don’t want her knowing I’m here,” Lyra said, trying to pull Anon away as Fiddle finished her set, leaving the stage.
“Why is that?” Anon asked. He wanted to continue listening to music.
Lyra let out a sigh. “Look, Octavia doesn’t keep a lot of ponies very close to her nowadays, especially with how much she travels. I happen to be one of those few that she does. I just don’t want to be—”
“Hello there, Lyra,” Anon heard from his side.
The unicorn immediately halted in her steps, turning to Fiddlesticks who had somehow snuck upon them without their notice.
“…Ah, hello?”
“I noticed that you were in the crowd and I figured I’d come over and say hi and ask you some things. I mean, you still haven’t answered my questions from last time!”
Anon quirked an eyebrow up at this new pony, who barely even glanced in his direction. She even sounded like Octavia but with a slight southern twang to her. It was eerie how accurate she was going about this.
“Look, I’d love to chat and all but…” Lyra moved over to Anon’s side, “I’m showing Anon her around the place. It’s nothing I can get held up in and all, you understand.”
“It’s nothing huge,” Fiddlesticks said with a wave of her hoof, “I just wanted to know some things about Octavia I heard recently. Like, what stories she shared with you from her travels or your time in college with her. I hear there are interesting rumors regarding some things back then with your lot.”
“I uh, I don’t know what you're referring to,” Lyra nervously spoke.
Anon wasn’t sure if it was the weird looks she gave Lyra or how she mimicked Octavia, but looking at that pony, he was officially creeped out.
“Oh, my,” Cloud Chaser started, “Who do I spy with my dawn-tinted eyes?”
Flitter followed, “I see someone that wants to make a break for it.”
Cloud Chaser looked thoughtful, “While some say boring, I say it’s hard to miss that dark gray mane and light gray coat.”
Flitter poked Fiddlesticks, “Being around a boorish person like you turns any mood dark and gray.”
Cloud Chaser nodded her head, “With a pink that greatly highlights her character.”
Flitter nudged Fiddlestick's face aside, “You need to wipe the pink off your face, or others will be judging your character.”
“If I didn’t know any better…”
“And we all wish you didn’t…”
“Why that’s Octavia!” they both said in unison.
Her eyes widened like saucers, looking to where the two ponies pointed at. Octavia was now on stage, setting up her instrument with a few other ponies. The pony in front of him started to hyperventilate.
The moment Octavia started to play her music, something that Anon thought looked elegant, the pony let out a shrill scream, running up to the crowd, completely captivated by the music.
Lyra immediately pulled him away from the vicinity of the mare. “I didn’t expect her to be there or I’d have made sure Bon Bon stuck around. She usually has a way to get that creepy mare away from us.”
“Why did she act like that?”
She rubbed her forehead, finding a headache starting to appear. “When Octavia had just gotten a name for herself years ago she… made some bad decisions, one of them involving her fans. She may have gotten a little too close to some of them after some of the concerts she held and was a part of. Fiddlesticks was one of those fans.”
He pictured Octavia rather differently from what she had said. But he knew how stardom could get to some people’s heads.
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“These all look fantastic, Bonnie!”
“Thanks. It took a long time to get most of these done, the slimers being the most difficult. Sadly I couldn’t get the squishy beans or teeth crackers made up.”
“Aw, I really like the crackers. Think you’ll have enough time to get some done for next week?”
“No, starting a new batch with different ingredients will take too much time. I’ll just make some more of the current treats but vary the flavors.”
After the music festival, Lyra took him back to the house to rest so she could get ready for the next day, saying she needed to make plans for him out in town. He was currently in the town square, looking at many of the different stands set up for the upcoming holiday. Lyra wanted him to look around the place and come up with further ideas for potential careers he could work in.
Anon stood at Bon Bon’s stand, seeing a fairly wide variety of sugary treats, some familiar but in different shapes or makes.
“What do you think of Bon Bon’s treats, Anon?”
He picked up one, moving the candy in his fingers. “This looks… like a Mary Jane. Is there… peanut butter mixed in?”
Bon Bon’s eyes widened. “Peanut butter! That’s a good idea. I should mix some batches with that. And no, that’s mixed with dyed marshmallows.”
“Natural dyes?”
“...I don’t know how you’d make something unnatural. Is that a human thing?”
Before he could respond, a flash of light popped right beside them. Twilight stood there, looking around before spotting Anon. The ponies that were hesitant near Anon stepped back, wondering just what was about to go down.
“There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you. For someone so distinct looking you are not easy to look for.”
“Did you… need something, Twilight?”
“Did Lyra not tell you? You were supposed to spend some time with me so we can talk about your people for my reports.”
Lyra turned away, scrunching up her nose. “I… may have forgotten?”
Twilight let out a sigh. “I had requested the princess to let me put in reports with you Anon, specifically on your people’s works. Your pens are already getting into circulation and I can’t wait to see what else we can do.”
“He’s the one that made those pens?!” a pony hollered out.
“I love those things!”
“No more ink bottles or broken tips!”
The ponies all seemed in agreement with the pens, of which Anon had no idea were being made.
“Should have… patented those.”
“What’s a patent?” Twilight asked.
He hadn’t meant for her to hear that. “It’s… a human thing, forget it.”
She shrugged it off. “While Lyra should have spoken to you about us talking－” Lyra looked off to the side, “－I know it’s important to have you personally taking part in what we do, so I’ll just follow along for now. There’s still plenty of time for us to talk today after your done here.”
“Oooh.” Lyra sucked in some air, looking guilty. “I may have set him up for a presentation that’s going to start pretty soon at the school. Oops?”
Twilight looked nonplussed. “Okay,” she gritted out. “Then I’ll talk to him after that. So where are you going next?”
Before Lyra could reply, Bon Bon placed a hoof over her mouth. “She’s nearly finished taking him around here as it is. All that’s left is Pinkie’s stand.”
“Oh!” Twilight seemed thrilled. “She said something about having something special for this year and I am anxious to see what she made.”
A quick jaunt over to the stand, with Twilight ensuring Lyra didn’t get off track, and the three of them stood, mouths agape at what was at Pinkie’s stand.
Anon opened his mouth, closed it, and then opened it once more agape.“What… am I looking at?”
Pinkie threw some green and purple confetti in the air. “It’s your very own conjured cookie construct, Crumble!”
“Yay! I’m Crumble!”
Standing on top of her stand stood an animated confection in the shape of a pony. It walked, it spoke, it did a little jig.
“Uh, Pinkie?” Twilight spoke. “Why did you make this? HOW did you make this?”
Pinkie stuck a hoof under her chin, rubbing it in thought. “It sure was something. One day, I encountered a mysterious being that offered me ultimate power with ultimate muscles in exchange to take on an ultimate wrestler someday in the future, but I opted to ‘pretty okay’ power for pretty okay muscles and spent a pretty okay day with the guy. Poor fella, he looked like he needed a friend so I shared some treats with him, talked things out, and then introduced him to Cheerilee’s sister so she could help the guy with his vengeance. It was a pretty fun day! Oh, and I met a unicorn afterward that agreed to help me animate the cookie.”
Lyra opened and closed her mouth several times. “But… why?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “I dunno seemed like a good idea at the time. It’s too bad I could only have one made up, but I did have a lot of copy-cookies made to look like her. Want one?”
“Ooh! Ohh!” Crumble jumped up and down, pointing at Anon. “I want him to try me out! I’m sweet and delicious and totally worth it!”
Pinkie smiled at Anon before leaning over, raising a hoof over her mouth. “Come on, just do it for her real quick, please? Nopony else had the courage to try it and it’s breaking her sugary heart she can’t get anyone to nibble on her!” She went back to sitting at her stand, a wide smile beaming off of her.
The other two ponies gave him reluctant looks as Anon, with some hesitation, picked up the sapient treat.
It let out a giggle, “That tickles!” She continued to giggle as Anon slowly opened his mouth, taking a bite of it. “Ooh, you went for my behind! Oh yeah, chew me up real nice and good! You don’t know how good this feels with your tongue sliding against my bits! More, chew me some more!”
Everyone stared at the gingerbread pony who was only getting more detailed with how Anon was chewing it. His face started to pale as the confectionery urged him to take another bite.
“…I wasn’t aware you could rewire an animation spell for it to feel it being eaten,” Twilight said.
“Or that it could enjoy it,” Lyra added.
“Hehehehe…” Pinkie nervously chuckled. “Ah, thank goodness there’s only one Crumble around?”
Placing the cookie back down, Anon slowly started to walk away from the group.
“Hey!” the cookie squeaked out. “Where are you going?!”
Anon continued to walk away.
“I still got so much more for you to chew on! Don’t you wanna try out my hind legs? Or what about my neck! I bet that’ll feel real interesting!”
He maintained his walk from the cookie.
“Oh?! Hey, my tooshie is regrowing itself! Hey come back, you can munch on it once more! Won’t that make you excited for another session with me?!”
His walking didn’t stop for the cookie’s wants.
Walking away from the traumatizing situation, Lyra and Twilight led him toward the school building. It was a quaint little thing, reminding him of some old photos his great grandparents shared of their time in school.
“Okay, I already talked to Cheerilee and she’s going to introduce you to the class today,” Lyra said, standing outside the front door. “We’re a bit early but it should be fine. Just wait here until we come back with the go-ahead to bring you in. All you have to do is introduce yourself and answer a few questions to them before we head back.”
Anon waited outside with Twilight as Lyra went in to talk to the teacher. It didn’t take long for her to return, motioning for them to come in. Walking inside, Anon could hear the gasps of the small ponies that couldn't hide their curiosity. He only recognized the three little fillies from his previous stay at Applejacks, all three giving him waves.
“See, told you he was real,” Sweetie Belle said, head raised high.
Standing in front of the class, Cheerilee gave him a nervous smile. She coughed, staring back at the class.
“Class, today I have a very special guest for you all. So please treat…” The teacher whispered to Lyra. She returned an expressionless face before whispering back. “…Him with respect. This is a being from another world, an alien, so he is still not accustomed to us or our world.” The class ooh’s and aah’s at what she had said.
Twilight sat behind the desk that was to Anon’s side, pen and pad in front of her, ready to write anything down that could be of use. Lyra sat beside her, mimicking Twilight’s actions. Coughing into his hand, Anon cleared his throat.
“I am named Anon. I… come from a world called Earth that… contains only humans, which is what I am. We are the only spe-cies on our planet that is sapient.”
He continued to state off facts about him and his planet, keeping it short and simple so his jaw wouldn’t cramp up from having to swirl his tongue around to speak so much. The little ponies seemed to eat up whatever it was he had to say. Anon was surprised to see them so well behaved, expecting them to be more unruly.
After he had finished, he started to answer a few questions for them. Most of them were fairly simple to answer.
“How are you supposed to do anything without magic?” a unicorn he had picked asked. Feeling the glares from the non-unicorns on him, he looked around, realizing his mistake. “I, uh… I mean most of what we have needs either magic or is black rock powered. How are you able to do that without magic?”
‘Black rocks?’ Anon took a moment to realize they must have meant coal. ‘Lyra did mention that they used it in very small amounts. Not enough to impact their world.’
“We use el-ec-tricity,” he answered. The foreign word was returned with questioning stares and a very hard look from Twilight who was interested in this subject. “You call it lightning. We use lighting and make it do many things.” Anon rubbed his jaw, starting to feel the soreness set it. His tongue was feeling heavy as well, not used to long talks.
“And just how is lighting supposed to do anything at all?” a pony with a tiara asked. “It’s hard to control and overpowers anything it connects to.”
Of course, it wasn’t a very widely used source of energy. Anon looked at Lyra who understood what it could do. Vinyl was a perfect example of what was possible with it.
“We humans have taken lightning and found means… to contain it and work for us. We convert natural energy… to num-erous tasks, from creating images of mass com-ple-xity with but a button… mass-produce items... have all our me-dia di-rectly… ported to us with only a screen the size of a choco-late bar… and so much more.”
He saw Twilight raise a hoof, “How do you get the lighting to be portable? I remember you saying it needed something called a bah-taurie .”
“Those are… energy con-tainers that store che-mical energy. It is then trans-formed into el-ec-tricity that powers a de-vice.”
Lyra rose her hoof. “What kind of devices? Do you mean like that music box of yours?”
Twilight’s eyes widened. “He only showed me his pen. He has more items with him right now?”
“It… is dead. Needs char-ging to work. Maybe, in the future.” Anon turned back to the class. “El-ec-tricity allows us to do many things… You may have magic, but we have in-ge-nuity, to do what-ever we please… should we put our mind to it.”
He started to explain a few items of interest to the class, from cars to planes to video games, explaining concepts like phones to how a satellite worked. It was mind-blowing for them to hear how an entire people could accomplish so much without magic. It’s certainly made them more aware of what was possible in the world.
Lyra and Twilight were scribbling everything he had to say, while also slipping in a question or two whenever they could. By the time they had left, the class had sparkles in their eyes, clearly inspired by his talks. He wondered if it would have effects on the future what he had done that day.
By the time they returned to Lyra’s it was starting to get dark. Twilight had forgotten about her talks with Anon, her mind filled with things of fancy from his world.
Lyra walked up to where they were sitting in the living room, placing a kettle and cups on the table before serving them. She took a seat next to Anon on the couch, sipping on her tea gently. “So Anon, tomorrow we’ll officially go out and try to look for a job. Did you see anything that appealed to you?”
He held his tea in his hands, thinking about the question. “I… didn’t see much. Maybe something… tomorrow will appear.”
The more he looked, the more it seemed he’d have to work some kind of retail job. He hadn’t done anything like that since high school. Surely the ponies would be less terrible to deal with than groups of hostile parents, trying to order meals while their spastic children ran off the walls.
“There has to be something you saw in town that you felt comfortable working in,” Twilight said. “What about that environment job you had, couldn’t that work beside a florist?”
“His world and our world are completely different from how their environments work. I even have trouble trying to fathom just how different it is without magic guiding them to grow luscious fruits or keeping everything alive. Can you imagine having to grow plants purely on sunlight and dirt?”
Twilight placed her tea down in thought. “Ah, reminds me of a book I read a while back about an incident over eight hundred years ago. Princess Celestia was out of commission and the sun was gone for two whole years, left on the other side of the planet. It was a bad time for that to happen, as a lot of unicorns started to get lazy thinking she could do all the work, and got lax in their training.”
“And now we have ‘The Magical Learning Conscription’ laws in place as a result.”
Twilight nodded her head. “And I’m in the camp that we are better with them enforced to this day. If we had trained unicorns around during that period, they’d at least be able to move it around slowly over time.”
“Wait,” Anon started. “Two years… no sun? Would that not… kill plants with no sun?”
“Quite a few plants, but many survived with the aid of unicorns supplying arrays that they had to keep supplying their magic to, helping keep things afloat.”
"They managed to place arrays around the known lands close by, and by amplifying its effects, wrapped the world around to provide the energy needed for the plants to live. We even have them to this day, though many are forgotten and lost out in the wilderness."
“My world… would coll-apse in less than a year… without the sun.”
The amount of work to keep any plants alive with electric lights, enough to sustain people to live, would be astronomical.
“Okay, we’re getting off-topic. So your profession isn’t all that useful here.” He felt a stab in his gut from Twilight’s remark. “Maybe you could try and recreate some of the workings of your world you keep mentioning? I’m certain the princess will allow a grant for you to start up a business if you ask.”
“The princess wants him to take a job in town, with other ponies. She took the funds away from us regarding Anon. I don’t think she’ll turn around and give them back if she’s working with you.”
“Maybe it can be considered a future job once he’s settled in. What do we have him do for the time being that he’d be good at?”
Anon didn’t know the answer to that. Retail wouldn’t work; trying to make a sale to any of the ponies would end up in failure. He was not savvy enough to sell anything to foreign beings. He could probably try and pick up a trade, but would anyone be willing to teach him a profession?
Lyra had been writing on her pad, reading it over a few times. “So we just need to find you a job you can do!” Lyra exclaimed. “You should be able to do so something on this list and later on we can figure things out for you.”
Taking the list, he read over some of the jobs she wrote down: Farmhand, shopkeeper, masseuse, food maker, inventor, and so on. “…It will have to do.”
It wasn’t like there was much he could do. He knew that at some point he would need to support himself in this world. The princesses all but demanded it, after all. And if he wound up disliking his work, he could always look for another at some point.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~ ~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
For the rest of that night, Twilight and Lyra had talked to Anon about narrowing things down he could make a career out of. Or at least, use it as a temporary job. Lyra had thought she had some ideas, but with Anon’s skepticism, it took a while for them to find things to help accommodate him.
Twilight steered things toward the idea of recreating items, constantly reminding the two that he could simply work for someone that manufactures things, or who could finance his business as a partner like Filthy Rich; Anon simply agreed to look into it at a later date in time. When Bon Bon came back that night, Lyra had told her everything that happened and asked her to tag along in the morning.
While Lyra did want her friend’s help, she also just wanted the two to be friendlier with one another. There was something… wrong with their friendship and the minty unicorn wasn’t sure how to help push things in a positive note. She saw little things here and there, the small glares from Bon Bon, or how she’d try to find ways to make plans to be away when he was around.
It was unfortunate when Bon Bon had declined, saying she needed to make and sell more stock. Still, she held out hope for the two to have an everlasting friendship. Lyra just felt the two needed more time with one another to make things work out.
The next day, she had packed a quick meal to eat on the go in the morning, hoping to move things in a hurry to introduce him as places started to open up.
‘It’s a good thing Twilight couldn’t make it,’ her inner voice chimed in. ‘Too busy with all the work Anon gave her.’
She nodded her head in agreement. With Twilight bugging him about his lightning projects, all he had to do was remind her that his pen was powered by the thing and she ran off to go and collect it for studies.
“Anon, hurry up,” she whined. “We have to leave before everypony starts the day!”
“Alright, Lyra,” he grumbled, walking toward the door with her.
Grabbing her bag, Lyra set a trot down to Applejack’s farm. Not that she had any intentions for him to get a job there, what with him disliking that idea quite fervently. The carrot farm though seemed like a good place for him to start. His hands were perfect to help gather all the carrots from the ground, which should speed up the workload. That, and both her and Carrot Top were pretty good friends back in the academy.
It didn’t take long to get to the apple family farm. She could already see Applejack and Big Mac bucking apples. Upon noticing her, Applejack stopped, walking over.
“Well howdy there, Lyra,” Applejack greeted with a nod. “What’s gotcha comin’ out here this early in the day?”
“I’m just heading up to Carrot Top’s farm to ask her some questions.”
Applejack flinched hearing that. Lyra raised an eyebrow in confusion. She knew they were cousins and didn’t have any problems as far as she was aware.
“I reckon I best come along wit’ ya up there, just to make sure nothin’ goes wrong.”
“…Okay then.”
Nodding, Applejack lead Lyra in the opposite direction that was needed, Lyra slowly following confused.
“Applejack? Why are you going this way?”
“I figured a scenic route would be good. Get some fresh air, stretch out our legs.”
“No, Applejack. I can’t just be gallivanting around right now.”
“It’ll still lead ya up to the farm wit but a bare moment to take a stroll through the Everfree.”
“What?” Lyra paused, quickly turning around. “I don’t want to go through that forest if I can help it at all!”
Lyra started back toward the road leading to the carrot farm. Applejack ran up to her, a forced smile and sweat dripping off her forehead.
“How ‘bout I go get her and you talk down at my farm? We can get some tea made up and we can make a day of it!”
“I need to talk to her about him getting a job with her up at her farm. It would make no sense for me to bring her here to discuss that.”
“W, Why not have him work here? There’s no reason to go up there and ask is there?”
“I want to work with him and I think he’d do better with her. I just don’t have time to—”
Something collided with Lyra’s head, making her wobble around. Shaking her head from the dizziness, she looked at what had hit her.
It was an apple. Somepony had thrown an apple at her! Looking around for the culprit responsible for it, she immediately spotted something very familiar to her.
“I thought Twilight was supposed to get rid of that thing!” Lyra yelped, dodging another apple.
“And she said she couldn’t because she’d feel bad for destroyin’ a sapient being like that!” Applejack dodged one, holding a hoof to keep her hat on. “It was stuck with intelligence for so long she didn’t think it was morally right to take it away!”
‘I don’t want to deal with Twilight’s stupid experiments.’ They continued walking down the road, dodging the apples thrown their way. ‘Stupid Twilight, stupid tree.’
“I say, I say, you must let out and praise the sun for its glorious luminosity that is descended unto us!”
“WE DON’T WANT WHAT YOU’RE SELLING!” they said in tandem. An apple was lobbed at them.
“I speak, I speak, do you not feel the basking glow of the light dancing upon you beings that which wraps us in its everlasting glow?”
“SAY IT TO SOMEONE THAT CARES!” they spat back in unison. More apples were chucked at them.
“I cry, I cry, it is a glow that caresses your body to grow in its ever candescent aura of luminous power that it grants each and every one of its followers!”
“GO FOLLOW IT DOWN A HILL!” they yelled together. A horde of apples was thrown at them.
“Make a run for it!” Applejack screamed as the tree continued its hail of apples.
By the time they made it to Carrot Top’s farm, they both felt battered and bruised from the apples. Pulling one stuck on her horn, she shuddered at the weird feeling, throwing it to the side. Spotting the pony she was there for, Lyra immediately walked up to her.
“Well hey there, Lyra! I haven’t seen you in a while!” Carrot Top said in her very feminine and attractive voice that Lyra was quite jealous of.
Honestly, everyone was jealous of such a mare. She had the perfect amount of sultry and country rolled into one package. A fantastic coat that was always in perfect shape, her hair that never had a bad day, and the way she always played so innocent in everything she did.
‘At least you have better ears than her,’ her thoughts spoke out.
‘True, true.’
‘And a terrific looking tail. Why you just have awesome all over you.’
‘While I agree, it’s just no match for her voice.’
‘Can’t argue with you on that one.’
Carrot Top waved a hoof in front of Lyra’s face to get her attention. “Are you okay? You were zoning out pretty hard there.”
“We had an unfortunate run-in with the tree down the road and got battered pretty well,” Applejack put out.
“Little Ol’ Barker? I don’t know about that, he’s always been so nice to me!” The other two mumble to themselves, clearly not convinced. “What have you two been up to? Is there something you need help with?”
“I’m just here to see if you can help my good friend Anon here a job! He was having difficulty finding work and I thought with his hands, he’d have an easy time grabbing all those carrots of yours.”
“That sounds mighty fine of you to help your friend, making sure he’s taken care of and all.” She looked around Lyra before giving her a questioning look. “So where exactly is this friend of yours?”
“He’s right—”
Lyra looked behind her, Applejack being the only being behind her.
‘...Where’s Anon?’
The unicorn took a moment to think to herself, trying to place where he might be. Back at the tree? Maybe the apple farm?
Then, realization struck her.
“He’s back at the house!”
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~One Hour Before~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
“Hello?”
Anon was currently standing outside the house, looking around for Lyra. He had gone back inside for but a few seconds to grab some resumes he had made, thinking they’d help him with his job search. And now she was nowhere in sight.
‘She wouldn’t have left me alone, would she?’ He gave it some thought. ‘No, that can’t be it. She’s likely having me explore the area to try and get a job myself.’
Wandering around an area full of all-powerful unicorns and ponies that seem easy enough to get riled up sounded like a stupid idea. But he had to look around for a job. Backing down just because someone might get scared or try something felt ridiculous, as he was trying to reason.
“You can do it. It’s just some job hunting. No problems… right?”
Walking toward the town, Anon rummaged through his sack slung across him, taking out the list that was made the night before. The vending stalls seemed like a good place to start for him. Unfortunately, most of them were either still uneager with the idea of being in his presence for too long or just didn’t have work for him.
“Sorry, but I don’t really need any help working my stall.”
“Do you have any magic capabilities?”
“How good are your juggling skills?”
The ones that did have positions to offer merely wanted him as a sideshow, something to attract attention to their business. Although, that felt a bit negative; these ponies were quite… silly at times, so perhaps it was not such a dour reason he was making it out to be.
At the last stall, Anon saw Pinkie smiling at him, waving a hoof. The cookie was there as well, screaming at him, waving both hooves in the air energetically. He gave them a smile and a wave back before looking down at the list, crossing stalls completely off.
Skimming over the paper, he looked at where the next place for him to check out was. Sugarcube Corner stared back at him. Puckering his lips at the thought, that got scribbled out immediately. He liked the pony and all, but he couldn’t take all that energy around him for too long.
Slowly walking down the street, he went over the list for the next place. Rarity’s boutique was an interesting prospect, but he wasn’t sure if he liked the idea of making clothing for a living. Rarity would likely take him in if he offered the ideas he had of styles his people had, wanting to learn as much about him and his clothing in the process, even if he needed to be taught. It would be something to think about if he couldn’t find any other work.
Sadly, he had no idea where the other stores that they had listed are. They had names on their shops, but every store in town had a medieval-styled sign with nothing but images on them. He saw a shop that simply had some kind of bag or suitcase on a sign on the building. What was that supposed to mean? Did it sell bags? Was it a travel agency? Was it just someone’s home that coincidentally had a sign out front of it?
Deciding to check out each store one by one, he randomly chose one to walk into. He immediately ran back out from the angry stares. That was a shop with writing materials being sold, and they clearly didn’t want him there, still peeved about the pen situation.
Picking another building by random choice, he soon started to cross off more things on the list when he came across something on it. The café couldn’t hire him due to him being too large and unable to speak clearly to the customers. The flower shop was a bust, Rose and her two sisters screaming like he was about to eat them until he left the shop.
The costume shop wasn’t able to since they had a specific dress code to wear the costumes they had each day; it would be too expensive for them to tailor costumes to his specific size and shape. They did confess an interest to meet him at a later date once he mentioned Lyra’s desire for a costume for him.
The last one he just went to was another rejection, the eighth one when it came to the shops. He was really hoping for that one since he loved reading. The bookstore wouldn’t hire him unless he had a very good understanding of their language and literary works.
Crossing it off the list like the others, he noticed movement in the corner of his eye. Looking over, a pony hid before running off somewhere away from him. Those ponies were getting pretty annoying. He didn’t bother with them seeing they only wanted to look at him. It was reasonable; he was an alien and all.
Anon started to wish Lyra was there to help with things. Walking into another building by random, he recognized it quickly as a day spa.
‘There’s no way they’ll hire me,’ he thought, taking out his list with a sigh. Just as he was about to cross it off, someone called out to him.
“Yes, welcome to the day spa. Is there anything I can help you with?”
It was one of the ponies that worked there, quite obviously. He had briefly met them two days ago when Lyra took him around but never really got a chance to talk to them. Thinking about it, he thought it wouldn’t hurt to ask them before he crossed them off.
“I am… looking for a job. Do you have… a position?”
The pony walked out from behind her counter, inspecting the human with a hum. “You have an interesting accent. Customers like that; they feel it is very exotic, very unique. It helps with business, you see.”
Anon couldn’t help but feel she was relating to him since she also seemed to have an accent herself. Still, he felt it was off to a better start than the other places. If he was lucky, maybe they’d hire him to clean around the place.
“Your… what are these?” the pony asked, pointing at his hands.
“These?” He raised his hands, showing them to her. “They are my hands.” Anon wiggled his fingers in different directions, balling his hand and spreading them to show them off.
The pony’s eyes widened seeing this. “My, my! They are dexterous things, yes?” The pony paused, turning his hands from one direction to another. “They remind me of a minotaur paw, but it has an extra digit. And so soft! They seem very special.” She felt up his hands for a second more before letting them go. “Maybe we can do with some training, putting them to a good use. Come, follow me.”
She directed Anon to follow her to the back of the room where he saw an identical-looking pony, their coat and hair coloring reversed, who was currently cleaning the floor.
“I just realized I have not introduced myself. I am Lotus, and this is my sister, Aloe.”
“Ah, hello there,” Aloe greeted. “Sister, what do you bring him here for?”
“He has an interest in work and his hands look capable of many wondrous things.”
“Oh?”
Lotus walked up to her sister, whispering something into her ear. The sister whispered back, keeping their conversation to themselves. They would gesture toward his hands, clearly interested in them. Nodding to one another, they turned to Anon.
The two ponies directed him to another room, this one filled with spa equipment and bodyboards. Aloe went over to a drawer, grabbing some books while Lotus had him sit down in a chair.
“Our unthoughtful littler sister Vera decided she wanted a different lifestyle and quit, going to work at her hair salon,” Lotus said. “It just so happened we were looking for a replacement.”
“It is a great thing to have you here,” Aloe said, placing the books on a desk beside Anon’s seat. “The digits we feel could be something very special. They are so smooth, capable of so much. They may do wonders for our customers.”
“We were thinking of having you massage here as your primary work. But first, we must know if you are able to learn.” Lotus sat down beside him, giving Anon a book on pony anatomy.
The two ponies had kept him back there for a good while, teaching him the basics of massage. It was lucky of him that he already knew about some of the pony anatomies, what with Lyra and Fluttershy having taught him when he first arrived there. He wouldn’t know about everything, but it was enough for his work there.
Lotus and Aloe seemed eager to have him there, happy to see Anon picking up on what they were teaching him without too much of a problem. He wasn’t sure if he felt comfortable doing massaging, but he would at least give it a shot before making any decisions.
Hours went by with him barely noticing them. They kept trying to point out how they massaged with their hooves and showing the difference between them and his hands, along with how much more accurate he should be capable of applying pressure in certain areas.
The two taught him plenty of things, such as how to look for stress in muscles and how things differed between ponies of different races. It would take time for him to have things drilled into his head, but everything seemed simple enough so far. In fact, it almost seemed too simple.
“We will worry about other species in a future topic but for now we feel you could be of a great service to us,” Lotus said with a smile. “Some learning back at your home will help speed up the process, yes?”
“And as of right now, we have a way to help you with some on the job experience,” Aloe said with a matching smile. “A few hours back we had a volunteer to help ease you into things. She should be arriving any moment now!”
Anon did not like the sound of that. Just who would volunteer for a massage from a beginner?
A ding could be heard at the entrance of the spa. “Ah, that may be the volunteer right now!” Lotus said.
He was not feeling up to practicing on a live subject so soon.
‘What if I hurt them? Or something goes wrong?’
Before he could protest, Lotus placed a hoof on his arm, staring directly into his eyes.
“I can see you are very nervous, Anon. But I am certain you can do this. Some things may go wrong, but we are to be there and help things go as smoothly as possible.”
Anon thought about what she had said. On a positive note, he would likely have a job after doing this. The negative, he could really mess up a pony doing this…
Aloe came back to the room he was in with a very familiar pony that he most assuredly did not want to see there.
“Why, Anon! What a surprise seeing you here,” Rarity spoke with surprise.
He was now screaming in his head, asking why he was in such a situation.
“That is who you are volunteering for,” Lotus said.
Rarity looked very uncomfortable hearing that. “Lotus… Aloe… I’m not exactly certain that this is such a good idea.”
“But Rarity,” Aloe spoke up, “you said you would help us with our problem here. You do not even have a need to pay for our services! Anon desperately needs help if we are to get him to work here. Can’t your generosity extend to him for his training?”
Rarity froze with those words, staring off into nothing. Slowly turning to Anon, her right eye twitched, teeth clenched together. “I… I suppose I can help…” she forced out.
Rarity was moved to a body table, laying down onto it with her legs on either end. Lotus lead Anon over to Rarity who looked quite nervous.
“Now, do as we precisely say, okay?” Lotus ordered as she and her sister stood on his sides, watching him closely. “Try to remember what we had taught you. We will come in should we need to.”
Anon may be a fast learner, but this was certainly too much for the first day! Looking down at Rarity, he saw she was having difficulty relaxing. Thinking to himself, he wanted to get this over with without hurting his friend.
‘Right. So what’s the first thing I should do?’ He gave it some thought. ‘Can’t forget the importance of cleanliness.’
Going over to a sink, he lathered them thoroughly before rinsing them off. Drying his hands, Lotus pointed to the oils, reminding him what was next.
“Rarity… do you have… pre-ference in oil?” Anon asked, walking over to the shelf.
“…The jasmine oil from last week was quite pleasant,” she answered in a hesitant voice.
Grabbing the bottle, he brought it over to the table sitting beside the massage table. Anon applied a good amount on his hands swirling it around in them and adding some heat through the friction.
“Is there a… place you would like, me to start?” he asked, staring down at her.
“Just a simple massage will do, Anon.”
It was pretty obvious she wanted to get this done and over with. Standing over Rarity’s head, he made sure to remember what the spa ponies told him. They helped guide him in what was needed in the massage, showing him how to help soothe Rarity’s stiffness in different areas.
From kneading her body to how much pressure was needed, to what areas he should pay attention to when examining the body. The two made sure he worked on her shoulders, identifying the stress built up.
Lotus and Aloe did a back and forth conversation, talking about how her work in making clothing was the likely culprit while they attempted to talk to her. Anon realized they were helping calm her with the simple conversation, something they had brought up earlier.
The ordeal wasn’t as bad as Anon thought it would be, but he still didn’t like how they jumped into having him immediately using live subjects. He was surprised to have Rarity being as cooperative as she was not too long into the massage. Amazingly so, in fact; it seemed she was enjoying it the further he worked on her.
Before he knew it, Lotus stopped him, saying he was done with her massage. Rarity was barely awake, nodding in and out during the last part of his work.
“Oh my. For a first time massage, you have performed admirably. I am almost afraid to see what would happen should you improve on your techniques.”
“Not that we should, as it only benefits us that he does improve!”
Anon was already cleaning his hands, wiping it off with a towel. “So do I… have a job?”
“Of course you do! It would be madness not to offer you a position here at our establishment.”
“We’ll even pay you a bonus for today’s work.”
“That… is not needed.” He didn’t want to come off like he was swayed by bits the first day on the job. He needed to set some standards, after all. “I am fine with nothing for now.”
“No, no, no, no, no. We must pay you as it is only fair for all the work we’ll have your training and performing on today.”
He paused, replaying her words in his head. “There is… more?”
“Why, yes! After relaying some of Rarity’s－” Lotus looked at Rarity’s unconscious form, “－relaxed disposition, it has intrigued a few that have come in. We have others that have accepted a free massage from training.”
“More training is always a great thing, is it not?”
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
It was after the seventh pony that came in that Anon was given the day off from his training. They had thanked him for all his work, saying the word should spread quite quickly to everyone’s enjoyment of his massaging. They were going to sell it off as some kind of human-secret techniques he was using; complete and utter crap, but they thought the intrigue alone would get customers in the door.
Aloe told him the basics of what to expect working there: He was to get paid at the end of every week, he needed to keep his workspace clean and tidy every day, the work hours, and a few other things. He asked for some of the books to help improve on his work when he got back at Lyra’s. Aloe seemed impressed at his willingness to better himself, happy to give him an old book that described things like pressure points and magical lines on a body.
Walking inside Lyra’s house, he closed the door just as something slammed into his gut. He fell to the ground with Lyra on top of him, holding his waist in a tight hug.
“WHERE WERE YOU?!” she cried out.
He found it difficult to reply, what with the air knocked out of him. Lyra continued to hold him to the ground, hugging him tightly, squishing her face into his chest while avoiding poking him with her horn.
Once he regained his breath, he slid himself up so he was sitting.
Lyra held on to him.
So he forced himself to stand up, hoping she would let go.
Nope, she’s only holding onto him tighter, dangling from his waist.
Walking to the couch, Anon took a seat before peeling her off, placing the pony beside him.
“Where were you?!” Lyra repeated. “I couldn’t find you anywhere out in town! Bon Bon said she hadn’t seen you either so she and Applejack had me stay here in case you came back!”
“I walked outside in… the morning and did not see you. I thought… you wanted me to look… on my own since you were not there.”
“Oh, I… well, buck.” Lyra sat there, red in the face from embarrassment.
She then jumped into his lap for another hug, profusely apologizing for leaving him behind. He pulled Lyra off once more, sitting her beside him.
“So did you find any work in town?” she asked.
“I went to all the stalls and no one was hiring. Most shops… did not want or need me. It took a while… but I found work.”
“Really?” She jumped into his lap once more, staring up at him. “Who’re you going to work for now?”
“I start my training tomorrow at the spa.”
“You work there?!” She seemed surprised. “But, they only hire the best they can find!”
‘Or someone with fingers.’
He started to explain how his day went up until the spa, going into detail what exactly they had him do there. Showing the books in his bag, he told her about how they were going to train him to do specialized massaging from how it seemed.
“Um, Anon… would you mind giving me a massage?” A blush formed on her face. “I um, well, I mean I could help you with learning.”
Lyra did appear stressed. He thought he might be able to help with that. And he could use the extra training for his work.
“Sure,” he answered with a nod. “There is… much I need to learn for work.”
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X ~Canterlot~ X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Princess Luna was currently inside her sister’s study room, looking over some documents. Celestia had to attend another meeting with the guards, leaving her alone to herself for once. Luna had told her she needed to look over her own guard’s papers alone in a private manner in the study. She wasn’t sure but she had a feeling she was being watched by her own guards. Not that they couldn’t be trusted, but why should she take the chance, she reasoned.
Luna had just gotten done looking through the list of employed guards she had, seeing if there were any patterns from the traitorous guards she could discern, thinking it could be used to find more of their flock. Her sister hadn’t even begun combing through their guards for potential enemies, leaving it up to Luna to look into matters.
Sending the ones under suspicion to areas she could watch them for signs have already picked up a few more to place in the dungeons. Having her most trusted guards spread around the area could also pick up the slack that was Celestia’s own guards, running haggard with the troubles of the day on top of the ‘resistance’ ponies as they started calling them.
Her efforts were already paying off. Her guards had informed her that the resistance ponies, were starting to appear in Ponyville.
It worried her to read that report, but it was more worrying to see that none of them had made any movements there at all. They were complacent with doing nothing and keeping out of sight. Princess Luna was curious if they’re now focusing on the Elements for some reason. It seemed the most likely of reasons, after all.
Thinking about Ponyville, she recalled a certain mare that she was definitely going to see next week. Luna was certain that she could deal with the problem that her sister did not have the heart in stopping. Celestia was being too soft with her, she felt. Unfortunately, she was forbidden by her from making any contact with the scenario without a proper reason.
But she was going to Ponyville for Nightmare Night this year. Who was to say if she didn’t mistakenly bump into them during her time there? And who was to say what may come of it?
~End Chapter Nine~
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10063896
this is a rewrite I think. the original stopped at ch.22
10072185
10063896
You are correct about this. I rewrote a lot of what had happened, trying to learn how to write and enjoy myself with this story once again. A lot will stay the same, but a lot will also be changed in how scenes happen, the mood of certain situations, and character interactions. For instance, I've reduced a lot of the more... perverse scenes that felt kind of trashy.
If for some reason you do want to check out the original story and how it originally went, I kept it all up on my pastebin untouched.
https://pastebin.com/u/Hazardus_Havard
neat
I believe that an environmentalist have a lot to offer to the ponies, they study chemestry, physics, materials, etc. so they could Advise companies and industries in general what to do and not to do to contaminated, analyze the current environment to see what could be done in order to not harm the environment, etc. The Ponies may no actively contaminate, but they are doing it unconsciously, so they may be harming other areas without realizing it, or they will in the future, like on earth, people didn't know they were contaminating in the 18 and 19 century, until the 50s is where they realized they were doing harm, but was too late to stop industries, he could advise Celestia to create laws to avoid that in the future, he can analyze every industry and see if there is something done that is harmful, or could develop good practices and methods to impose in companies, so they don't contaminate in the future. Hey, the acknowledge itself can help for the country, don't be so easy to dismiss 7 years of studies.
And here I thought I had run dry of good HiE fics long ago.
This rewrite (though I've never read the original) is excellently paced, and I'm very much enjoying the worldbuilding you're doing here. I look forward to the updates on this.
There is a reason hands are the best implements. Scritches are rather addictive and calming to a people. It doesn't matter if you are human or not. You ever get your back scratched by someone else just right? Feels rather divine.
10072219
Some Authors add a (Rewrite) to the chapter names. That helps those of us who archive these stories to know that there is a ver 2.0 of the story that needs to be archived. Ive personally have 654 of the top stories on this site Archived so that in 20 years this great writing will still exist. (Although my archives are as Audio Books in MP3 format.)
So which chapters have you rewritten?
The Monk
“To say that Twilight Sparkle went bugfuck would be like saying the Incredible Hulk had some mild anger management issues.” -DustTraveller
10072398
All of the chapters are rewritten.
This story was initially written in 2nd perspective, and for quick posting on /mlp/. This rewrite addresses that and moves it to the third person, while also fleshing out scenes, deleting others, or adding them when needed. Like mentioned, the original story is over on my pastebin so if you feel a need to, you can archive the stories from there.
10072413
Ill close Ver 1 and start archiving Ver 2
This is a cool story, bro
And now I've got the Toys 'r Us song in my head. Anon will sway Luna to not have Celestia tun him to ash with massages. With the hands of a god he shall slay the knots and sore muscles to bring joy upon ponykind. The savior shall be known to all as simply "The Masseuse".
Oh my gosh, I remember that perverted cookie! I seriously question Pinkie's sanity for making it...
This was a nice chapter
Also, yay. We're about to have the Sister finally learn the truth!
10072347
Add the apparent fact he is rather strong, even to an Earth Pony. Still, rendering ponies into happy mush will certainly do wonders for his reputation around town. Er. Assuming the Flower Trio don't get the tinfoil hats on and say it's his strange alien powers at work, knocking ponies out so he can subjugate Equestria one pony at a time from his "Base of Evil Operations" at the spa.
I'm predicting that somehow, during Nightmare Night, Anon and Luna will never meet no matter what she does due to shenanigans.
...also, Cookie will get to traumatize Luna as well.
Wow
Adam West as batman!
Ultimate muscle anime
And
Douglas Adam's (?) Sapient food
Jeebus I'm old.
10072185
And Crumbles will target Anon from this chapter onwards. Her goal in life is now to be his snack...
Why don't they get any royalties for the pen?
Even if they think that Anon isn't real, the credit of the pen would then fall to Lyra (or was it Twilight who sent it to the princesses?).
Either way, one of them should have recived something for it....
I'm both dreading and excited for when the princesses discover he is real. Xd
My prediction is he becomes lord master of equestria purely by giving the princesses massages
Aww, silly cookie making things awkward. I know Anon's going to do well at the spa. i'm hoping Anon will offer to help Bon Bon making candies as well. They need some bonding time and I'm sure it would help take some stress off her. Good update as usual. I look forward to reading the next one.
So wait I forget why does Rarity not like Anon? I thought they got all the Main Six on Anon's side already? Sorry I stopped reading updates last month cause I was reading a longer story.
10083559
I think it's just that they know each other - It'd be weird getting a massage from someone you're kind of friends with
led
Oooh, So dangerous, refusing to be governed by the Diarchy and opting to live apart from it. Whats next, voting, disobeying unjust laws? The absolute horror.
Also theres the hundreds of KPH winds and fact that the other side of the planet is devoid of all life for decades.