Outside the small town of Two Trees, a human has been discovered.
A human appears in a remote batpony town. Well... he appears a good distance above the tree canopy outside of said town. Bruised and battered, he's rescued by three strange equine creatures.
What were these talking horses? How did he get here? Where exactly was he?
Better yet, who was he?
My first story, and I decided to make it HiE. Don't expect regular updates, if any at all. Prepare for the worst, and hope for the best.
Branches cracked and snapped underneath him, as air rushed around his sides. He didn't have time to scream as when he opened his mouth a particularly strong branch snagged his body, expelling all the breath out of his lungs.
He didn't how long he spent falling - tumbling through the thick forest canopy - before he struck dirt. Even then, he continued to descend in altitude, rolling down a slope. Rocks, tree roots, and bits of all sorts of vegetation embedded themselves into him, treating him to a severe beating.
As one last cruel curb-stomp from the force of gravity, he was thrown arm-first at a protruding boulder, stopping his descent. The ground had flattened somewhat, and the dirt underneath felt noticeably more packed.
The human drooled blood from his mouth. He tried spitting it out, but found that he didn't have the air for it. So, he tried to inhale which only caused him to choke and cough out the mixture of blood, saliva, and bile that had been forced out of his stomach during the fall.
He lay there, staring at the tall, cylindrical boulder. It looked deliberately placed, and it even had... Were those markings? Yes, they were: words, etched into the stone. That was interesting.
And then the pain came, and he blacked out.
"Oh dear Night Mother, what is that thing?"
"Ew, no! Stay away from it!"
"Guys, it's alive!"
"What? How can you tell?"
"There's so much blood..."
"Help me here!"
"What-"
"Fly, go back to town and get a cart!"
"Huh?"
"Now!"
"O-okay!"
"Star, get over here!"
Voices. Loud. Pain in ears. Pain everywhere.
The human groaned. He tried opening his eyes but the brightness hurt them, so he stopped. The fewer things that hurt, the better.
"It's making noises!"
"Yes, I can hear that!"
"What is it?"
"I don't know, I've never seen anything like it before."
He heard the clopping of hooves when the speakers approached him. That was strange.
"Are those... clothes?
"It has paws."
"It doesn't have any fur!"
"It's got hair, though."
Something was rolling towards him, something wooden.
"Ha... Haaaa... Wha... Why did I h-have to bring the cart?"
"Come on Star, help me get it on. Just guide it."
A tingling sensation encompassed his body, it was strange, but kind of nice. It was like pins and needles, except the pins were larger and more ticklish than painful. That, and you didn't have to worry about the unpleasant feeling that came afterwards.
The ground disappeared.
"Aaaaaaah!". The human screamed in shock and confusion, frantically looking around and seeing not much more than a green blur in his surroundings.
"Yaaah!"
"Eeeeeeeeeh!"
"Aaaah! Wait, no!"
The human fell once again and discovered that the ground had not, in fact, disappeared because his face had just been planted right into it.
"Mmmmmff..." he moaned into the dirt path.
"You dropped it!"
"It scared me! It scared you, too!"
"Well, pick it back up!"
"That's what I'm doing!"
"Guys, it's getting up!"
Indeed, the human tried to lift himself off the ground. He ran into a problem when he realised that any modicum of pressure he placed on his left arm brought with it a wave of agony. He couldn't even feel his right arm.
He managed to lift himself less than an inch before he crumpled back down, pain coursing through his bruised ribs.
"help... me..."
"It talks!"
"H-Hey, are you okay?"
"Does it look like it's okay, Cass?
"I wasn't talking to you!"
"h-hurts..."
"Um, hey, we're gonna get you out of here! Don't worry! I'm going to lift you up again and put you onto the cart, okay?"
The human hummed in approval. The tingling came back again, and with it came the floating into the air. This time, though, he didn't resist. He felt himself being turned over so that he was facing the sky and gently lowered onto a wooden platform.
"Fly, get moving! Let's get to town, quickly!"
"B-But what if it's dangerous?"
"I'll be dangerous in a second if you don't move your flank!"
"Eep!" Someone squeaked in fear.
"Hey, can you hear me okay?"
The cart started rumbling along, and the human nodded in response.
"Okay, that's good... I think."
He opened his eyes to look up at the bright blue sky, as well as two... things... animals? They somewhat resembled horses... barely. They were both looking back at him. One of them, grey with a flowing black mane, had a spiralled protrusion on its forehead, and the other had sharp fangs and a scruffy brown mane. It was grey too but with slit pink eyes and looked like it was... frowning?
"Huh, it looks weird. It's got small eyes."
It just talked. The horse-thing talked. The other one looked annoyed. It opened its mouth and... talked back.
"Yeah, and you've got a big mole on your left cheek."
"Hey!" The fanged horse yelled. The human did notice how it had slightly turned it's head so that the only the right side was clearly visible.
"Guys, we're back. What do we do now?", something said from out of view.
"Uhhh, go to my house! My mom will know what this creature is. Maybe she can heal it!" the unicorn whispered to the other speaker. The way it spoke sounded male.
"Are you sure? They'll find out we were sneaking around town at midday!" the fanged creature hissed. It had an audibly more female speech pattern, though its voice had an almost similar pitch to the unicorn.
"It doesn't matter, Star! Look at it, it needs help!" The unicorn hissed back. He turned back towards the out-of-sight creature, presumably another of these strange horse things. "Lets go, Fly!"
The cart began moving again. Rocking the human abruptly from side to side. He wondered what was happening to him. He didn't know what these creatures above him were. He didn't know where he was. He didn't know why the creatures sounded so scared, or why they picked him up and were trying to help him. It turned out that he didn't know a lot of things. In fact, through his wondering, he realised that there was something very important that he should know but apparently didn't:
Cass burst through the front door, slamming it wide open.
"Mom! Mom! Wake up! There's a creature outside that needs help!"
Cast bolted through the house and up the stairs, slamming into a blue-coated, black-maned mare at the doorway of his parents' room.
"Ow! Cast Rune!" Cast's mother scolded him, rubbing her forehead with her leathery wings, "What is the meaning of this?"
Looking up at his mother standing in the doorway, Cass winced at his full name. She reserved calling him that for times when she was truly peeved at him; for example, when he woke her up in the middle of the day.
"Mom! We found a creature at the edge of town and it's hurt really bad! It's bleeding and it talks and we don't know what it is and thought that you would because you know everything about-"
"Cass, dearie, calm down. You're going to hyperventilate again." The softness of her voice helped Cass recover. He took deep breaths and counted to ten, just like Mom taught him.
A muffled, tired groan came from the bed behind his mother, and Cass winced once more, realising that his obnoxious yelling had also woken his father up.
"Let's go downstairs, dear. Your father needs his sleep," Cass' mother whispered, gently closing the door. They made it to the living room, and she asked, "What's this about a hurt creature?"
"It's outside mom, come on!" Cass hurriedly - yet quietly - ushered his mom along. "Me, Star, and Fly found it near the East entrance. It looks really badly hurt."
"Why were you three there in the first place? In the middle of the day, no less?"
His ears folded back, and Cass knew that there was no getting out of this one. He had been sneaking out of town with his two friends whilst everybody was asleep almost every day for the past two weeks. He also knew that anything he could say would just make things worse, so he opted to stay silent and examine his suddenly very interesting hooves.
Luckily, Cass's friends saved him from his Mother's scrutiny.
"Mrs Moon Glint!"
"Hi, Cass' mom!"
"Hello, Star, Fluffy." Moon Glint greeted. Fluffy - or Fly, as they liked to call the small, pink, batpony colt - grew beet-red at the mention of his real name. "Where's this creature I've been hearing about?"
Fly pointed timidly at the cart he had been harnessed to. "Um… It's o-over there. We don't know what it is-"
"It's big, broken, and it talks!" Star Streak cut in, "We found it at the entrance to the town,"
"Oh dear," the older mare remarked, after peering into the cart. "Quickly, children, bring it inside. Don't you worry, you poor thing, momma Moonie's here to fix you up."
The human breathed a painful, shaky breath. The horses had continued talking as they reached the house. The unicorn had disappeared before coming back with what seemed to be his mother, Moon Glint.
It was a strange name. In fact, all of the horses he'd heard of so far had unorthodox names. All except for the unicorn, Cass. But at least they all had names. No matter what he did, he couldn't manage to rack his brain for any memories of who he was. It was as if they had been wiped.
"Hey, I'm going to lift you up again. Is that okay?" The unicorn, Cass, asked him after appearing in his line of sight once again. The human noticed the worry in his deep blue eyes. While he was grateful for the care that Cass seemed to be taking, he couldn't help but question why an alien creature he had just met seemed to be so concerned about him.
"Set him on the table dear. I'll be back in a second."
"A-are you r-really sure it's n-not d-dangerous?" The human twisted his neck as far as it could go without it feeling as if it was being torn off of his shoulders. He saw that the voice had come from a pink horse with a white mane, similarly fanged and winged to the brown-maned one. When it realised that he was looking at it, it visibly shrank and backed away.
It was cute. If he wasn't in the state he was in, he might have tried to befriend it. Alas, he could do little to ease its fears of him.
"I-I d-d-don't b-bite-"
He only managed those few words before his lungs exploded into a coughing fit.
Hoofsteps clacked towards the table, and the human heard a creature prop itself up onto it. A fuzzy limb rested on his forehead while a cup found his lips.
"Drink up, honey. It won't taste great, but you'll feel better once you've had it," Moon Glint instructed him.
Just as the motherly mare said, whatever liquid he had just ingested was unpleasantly bitter. But it didn't take long for it to take effect as a painkiller. He was soon able to relax.
"T-thank you," he half mumbled and half spoke.
"So you do talk?" Moon Glint raised an eyebrow in intrigue.
"I... Y-Yes, Ma'am, I do."
"There's no need to be so formal, just "Moon Glint" will do. You should save your energy and rest up." She turned to the pink horse. "Fly, could you be a dear and get that pillow over there for our new friend?"
The human watched the pink creature's eyes widen before stripping a couch of one of its pillows and hesitantly shuffling towards him. It held it in one foreleg like a shield, hiding behind it. Its eyes never left him, and it looked ready to bolt away. It seemed almost convinced that the human had been faking his injuries and was just waiting for the right moment to pounce specifically at it.
The whole thing was so adorable that the human couldn't help but smile. Showing off his sharp canines while there were still blood stains running down his mouth might have been the wrong move, however, as it caused the pink horse to freeze and stand there paralyzed. It looked like it was on the verge of crying.
"H-hey, it's okay, I won't hurt you," He wheezed out, "I'm n-not dangerous, I swear."
The other of the unicorn's friends, Star, trotted up to Fly and gave him a slap on the rear, earning her a glare from Cass. "Come on, chicken, you heard what it said. I mean just look at it! It couldn't do anything to you even if it wanted to in the state that it's in!"
"I-I..." Fly sputtered, seemingly building up the courage to start approaching once again. "Y-You're r-right. Here's y-your pillow!" Fly stretched a leg out to him with one hoof, eyes clenched shut.
The human thanked Fly, almost proud to watch the creature overcome its fear of him. While it was a heart-melting scene to witness, he ended up a little confused. He had been able to tell from the voices of the others who was a mare and who was a colt. Fly was the sole exception. He made a note to ask later.
"Now that that's done, you two need to go home. Do your parents know that you're still up and about?" Moon Glint asked, with Star and Fly refusing to meet her gaze. She snorted, "I thought not. Now shoo! Go to bed!"
"Yes, Mrs Moon Glint," they sighed in unison, turning for the door.
"Seeya, Cass."
"Bye."
"And we are going to have a long talk, mister." Moon Glint glanced disappointingly at her son.
"Yes, Mom," Cass sighed.
"But first, you also need to sleep. It's long past your bedtime and I still have to finish up with our guest here." Moon turned to the table, dropping a heavy tome that she had carried into the dining room that the human had seemingly failed to notice. Cass disappeared upstairs.
"Now don't worry, this shouldn't take long." Moon Glint reassured, opening the tome and shutting her eyes. When she opened them again they were black and misty, with a bit leaking away at the sides. Her slit pupils were a shining white surrounded by her dark azure irises.
She started a chant in a language the human couldn't make out. His eyes swept the room, somewhat expecting the furniture to begin floating. It wouldn't have been completely out of the blue. He wouldn't be lying on the table if it wasn't for the existence of levitation in this strange new place he had found himself. But the couch had remained firmly on the ground. Instead, Moon Glint's voice began echoing. The words pierced his ears from all sides.
"W-What are you doing?" The human fretted. His worry grew when the mare ignored him and continued on.
"Wait, no..." A flood of weariness replaced his concern and he quickly approached unconsciousness.
"I..."
Whatever objection there was faded from his mouth, just as he did from the waking world.
"Whew! Wow," Moon Glint panted, falling onto her rump.
"This might take longer than I thought," she confessed to nopony in particular, "The magical resistance is incredible!"
She reached for the tome and flipped its pages until she found the medical chapters. Her brows furrowed as she realised that the task at hoof might have been more difficult than she first thought.
"Huh. I better start fixing you up then. This is going to be a long day."
An owl hooted outside: once, twice, then a third time.
He lay there for a while, unsure of whether or not he should get up. His muscles were sore; his neck, in particular, ached like it had been stretched and squeezed before being left to reform itself back to its original shape. Nothing would have been better than just going back to sleep.
Despite this, his internal clock was yelling at him to wake up. The more time passed, the more effort it took to keep his eyes shut. And so, he gave in and let his eyelids unfurl.
Strange. It was dark. As in, "the-only-thing-keeping-the-room-from-being-pitch-black-was-a-lone-candle", dark. He could hear the soft, nearly silent whoosh of the flame as it sporadically danced from side to side, providing a small bubble of clarity amidst the blur of the shadows. He could feel its radiating warmth along with the steady breaths which washed softly over his cheek-
Hold on a second.
The human strained his neck, coming face to face with a grey, horned face no more than three inches from his own, and resting on two, equally grey, crossed forelegs. For a second, nothing was said. That second stretched to ten. The two creatures stared at each other, waiting to see what the other would say.
Cass broke the silence first.
"Hi."
An awkward silence washed over them again.
The human spoke up, eyebrow raised. "Um, what are you doing?"
"I was... Uh-" Cass's face flushed, his ears drooping. "...watching you sleep?"
"That's kind of creepy. You know that, right?"
Cass' eyes flicked to the table, then the candlestick. They went anywhere which avoided the human's gaze.
"Y-yeah," he rubbed the back of his neck with a hoof, "I... I realise that now."
The warmth of the candle flame tickled his skin. A glance down confirmed the human's suspicions that he was shirtless in his jeans. There were a few fresh scars on his torso, but there didn't seem to be any actual breaks in the skin.
He tried to prop himself upright. Every muscle in his body protested, causing him to hiss through his teeth. Especially agonizing was his right arm which throbbed with pain.
"Here, let me help," Cass offered, pushing the human to a seated position with a hoof on his back.
"Thanks."
A hundred questions were running through the human's head. A lot had occurred yesterday, and he needed a moment to process it all. Even then, parts of the timeline remained cloudy.
"Hey," The human softly massaged his right bicep. "What happened yesterday?"
"Yesterday?" Cass repeated. He was piecing the events together himself if his expression was any indication.
"We found you on the path near the village entrance. I brought you here to our house, and then my mom healed you. Don't you remember that?"
"Your mom... healed me? I... No, I don't remember. It's murky. Why would she need to heal me?"
"When we found you-" Cass explained, "-it looked like you were hurt really bad... T-there was a lot of blood."
Slowly, the memories trickled back. He felt the pull of gravity, the cracking of both his bones and the branches beneath as they made contact.
"Yeah... I-I fell," he remembered, rubbing his right arm. It was sore and burned whenever he put too much pressure on it, but he could move his wrist and his fingers. "I fell from really high up. How did I survive that?"
"That would explain why you looked the way you did, I guess," Cass frowned "You definitely look better now."
The human chuckled. "Heh. You're not that bad looking yourself, unicorn."
Cass blushed.
"H-huh? I-I didn't mean i-it like that-"
"I know, I know." The human grinned, "I'm just messing with you."
"O-oh."
Well, this is going to be fun.
The unicorn's ears flopped back. The human didn't fail to notice him rubbing one leg with the other.
"So. Cass, right?"
"Y-yeah. My proper name's "Cast Rune", but all my friends just call me "Cass". You can call me that, too, i-if you want."
"Your friends? The ones from yesterday?"
"Oh yeah, that was Star and Fly. Fly's the pink one and Star is... well, the one that's not pink." Cass said. He stared in realisation, he asked: "Hey, what's your name? You never told us. I mean, with you being the way you were and all..."
He thought for a moment, "Yeah, I never did mention it. Well, mister 'Cast Rune', my name is-"
The human paused.
"It's...?"
"I... I can't remember."
"You don't know your own name?" Cass asked, bewildered.
"No. I swear, I know what it is, I can feel it. I just… can't remember," The human frowned. "Come to think of it, I don't remember anything before the fall..."
"Oh. Well, what do we call you then? We can't just go around calling you "no-name". I mean, we could. But it doesn't sound very nice."
"Hm... You're right."
Cass tilted his head. "No-name... Non... Anonymous... How about 'Anonymous'? How does that sound?"
"Anonymous?"
"Yeah. It's close enough to a pony name." Cass smiled. "We could even shorten it to 'Anon'."
"'Anon'. 'Anonymous'.", the human parroted, playing around with the name. He had to admit, there was something about it which made it roll off the tongue.
"I don't hate it," 'Anonymous' hesitantly approved. "Sure, why not. Until I remember what my real name used to be.
"You said it was a 'pony name'? Is that what you creatures call yourselves?"
"Yeah, that's what we are!" Cass beamed at Anon.
"Huh."
"Well, what are you? I've never seen anything like you before. We were told a story about two-legged creatures called minotaurs once in class, but you don't have horns on your head. Unless maybe you're a minotaur foal?"
"Minotaur? No, I'm a human. Minotaurs don't exist, they're-"
Anon cut himself off before he finished that sentence. He didn't have the right to claim that Minotaurs didn't exist anymore, not when he was talking to a literal unicorn.
"Wait Cass, where am I?" Anon asked Cass, panic settling into his voice. There was a lot that Anon didn't remember, but one thing he was certain of was that there weren't any of these mythical creatures where he was from.
"You're in Two Trees," Cass said matter-of-factly.
Anon looked at him quizzically. "Where's that?"
"Um, the Twin Thickets Forest?"
"And where's, that?"
"Err… Trotsylvania?"
Anon threw his hands in the air. "That doesn't even sound like a real place."
"I mean, it's not surprising you've never heard of us. We don't really see many outsiders," Cass muttered. "You're the first non-batpony I've ever talked to."
Anon sighed. He was in a place he could never have imagined to be real, inhabited by fairy tale creatures. Several said creatures had saved his life yesterday after he fell, an event before which he had no recollection.
For the moment, he was stuck here. Already, he had been shown kind hospitality. It would be a good idea to make the most of it, right? And maybe show some gratitude to his hosts?
"Hey, Cass?" said Anon. The unicorn looked at him. "Thanks. For, well, saving my life."
"It's okay. I just did what I thought was right. Anypony would've done the same thing." Cass replied, almost flustered. Anon wasn't sure if it was purposeful, but a lock of Cass' mane had dangled in front of his eye and he took the opportunity to hide behind it. The dim lighting certainly helped.
Why is it so dark in here?
"I should probably open the curtains…" As if he were reading Anon's mind, Cass excused himself before trotting to the windows and igniting his horn. One by one, he pulled open the house's thick curtains, allowing rays of pink and purple to flood through the panes.
Anon stumbled towards a low windowsill, propping himself up with his good arm for support.
He absorbed the scene before him. It was strange. They were in a valley, with steep slopes surrounding them. Directly in front was a magnificent mountain. Tall, thin, tropical palm trees took up one half of the mountainside, with the forest's thin canopy being more than made up for by the sea of other flora on the forest floor beneath. Meanwhile, the other half was covered by another forest made of what looked like redwood trees. However, these weren't the behemoths that Anon knew of which reached for the stars as if they were the many digits of the Earth. They were much shorter, and their many lush, small leaves weren't a lot higher than the palms' bigger ones.
Both forests blended in the middle, with the two types of trees growing and mixing together on the same ground. It was in this part of the forest that the town sat. A keen eye, though, would have observed that this was not reflected in the town's architecture.
The houses were all built from the same strong, redwood logs and planks. A few unlit lanterns were dotted around, hanging from the corners of a couple of homes. But as Anon shifted his view further down the road, he realised that most houses were scarcely equipped with artificial lights.
This wouldn't have piqued his curiosity as much as it did if he also didn't notice how ponies were starting to come out of their homes. They all looked as if they had a full day ahead of them, and yet the sun continued to descend behind the silhouette of the mountain ahead of him. There was one such pony outside who had opted to stand on their porch across the street to watch the sunset. A steaming mug was cradled in their leathery wing, and a striped, multicoloured scarf was wrapped around their neck.
"Cass, what time is it?" Cass perked up, his head swiveling towards a clock above the front door.
"It's five... No, six o'clock. Why, what's wrong?" He corrected himself.
Anon continued to stare at the slowly, yet surely, darkening skyline. "AM or PM?"
"PM, duh." Cass giggled, "You weren't out for that long."
Brows furrowed, and with a slight frown on his face, Anon hobbled towards the door, grunting with each step. He stepped outside, having to duck to avoid hitting his head. Cass had tailed him closely, moving to his side to look up at his face.
More doors were opening, and more ponies were on the road. None of them had noticed the tall, bipedal, creature quietly watching. None except a certain pony across the street. Said pony had stiffened like a deer in headlights, eyes widening to the size of plates and pupils shrinking to the size of pinheads. The coffee mug in their wings thudded to the floor, spilling the warm liquid all over their hooves.
The pony stared at Anon. Anon stared back.
"Hey, Anon, you want something to eat? Anon?" Cass followed Anon's eyes, spotting his catatonic neighbour. "Oh, hello Mr Sharp!"
This seemed to break the standoff. The pony's terrified gaze darted to Cass for a split second, before returning to Anon. Anon blinked, and when he opened his eyes he found that the pony had zipped inside his home and slammed the door shut.
Audible commotion from inside the house followed.
Uhhh…
"What was that about?" Anon kept his eyes on the door.
"Oh, don't worry about it," Cass reassured him.
Nevertheless, Anon stood there staring. The sky darkened, and a few stars appeared overhead.
A low rumble came from Cass' belly.
"So… you hungry?" He asked sheepishly.
"Sure," Anon shrugged. "What've you got?"
----
Anon chewed away at an apple. He was sitting across the table from Cass on a chair much too low for his human legs. A mango levitated next to the pony's head opposite him, chunks going disappearing as they were devoured by the horned beast. Apple skin was one thing, but Anon couldn't imagine trying to eat a mango to its massive seed. It must have been a pony thing.
He had been offered a bowl of hay and oats with milk and had been thoroughly confused before learning that hay, as he really should have expected, was common in many ponies' diets. Explaining to Cass that he would probably end up hunched over the toilet bowl if he tried the dried grass, Anon had instead picked something out of the fruit bowl and Cass followed suit.
Dragging Anon away from his thoughts was a heavy set of hooves stomping down the stairs. He quickly discovered that it was the sheer mass of the pony behind each step which caused it to sound the way it did. Despite his best efforts, Anon couldn't help but wince.
"Evening, Dad," Cass mumbled through a mouthful of mango.
A light blue pony, fanged, winged, and roughly twice the size of his son, stepped into the dining room where the colt and the human sat. A scruffy light grey beard framed his face, making up for the lacking, short mane of the same colour which crowned his head.
"Evening." He shifted his jade eyes to Anon who inadvertently gulped. "I know what happened last afternoon. Moonie says you're her patient now, and princess forbid anypony try and stop her. You can stay for the week."
"O-oh. Thank you s-sir," Anon managed to stutter under the, though not unfriendly, still intimidating glare directed his way, "I'm Anon, by the w-way."
Cass' father nodded. "Gleaming Hearth."
He picked up an assortment of fruits from a bowl on the kitchen counter and placed them in a set of saddlebags lying by the doorway. Gleaming stopped over by his son, giving him a quick peck on the forehead.
"See you around, kiddo."
"Bye, Dad! See you after work!" Cass waved him goodbye.
Anon let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in. "So… That's…?"
"Yeah. Dad's a blacksmith. He brought me to work once and my ears were ringing until I went to sleep." Cass said, rubbing said appendages.
"How big is this place? The town, I mean."
"Do you wanna walk around and see? I think it's pretty neat." Cass furrowed his brow. "Though, I haven't been anywhere else in Trotsylvania so I guess I don't have much to compare it to."
Walking around and getting to know the town he was momentarily stuck in sounded like a good idea to Anon. But that probably had to wait until he actually could walk again and not just limp around. Maybe he could find himself a walking stick to make things easier and risk slipping like his great-granddad did that one Christmas Eve at their house.
Wait, his... His what? What was he thinking about, again?
Oh, right.
"You saw what happened with your neighbour across the street," said Anon.
"Oh, Mr Feather Sharp? Yeah, he's always like that." Looking around quickly before leaning in closer to Anon, Cass giggled quietly, "Don't tell anyone I said this, but where do you think Fly gets it from?"
"That's Fly's dad?"
"Uh-huh. Fly Sharp, son of Mr Feather Sharp, son of somepony, and somepony else, until we get all the way-" Cass waved his foreleg over his head, "-to General Razor Sharp."
That answers that question.
"I'll be honest with you, I couldn't really tell if Fly was a he or a she."
"I'm sure he gets that all the time. Nah, Fly's a colt. He's just really shy... And pink. Really pink."
A soft rapping on the door made both creatures sit up in their seats.
"Uh, C-Cass? It's Fly. Y-You there?"
"Speak of the devil, and he shall appear," muttered Anon as Cass scrambled towards the door.
"Hey Fly," opening the door, Cass greeted him. "What's up?"
"O-Oh, nothing much. It's just..." Fly surveyed the room. While his ears flopped against his head and his eyes widened for a second, it was obvious that Fly wasn't as scared of him as before. Even then, Fly cautiously gestured a wing towards Anon. "Y-Yeah... I think m-my dad saw you. Hey Cass, would it be okay if I came in?"
"Of course not. We were just having breakfast," motioned Cass. "Want anything?"
"N-no thanks," Fly stuttered. His eyes glanced at Anon before hastily retreating and staring at his hooves. "So…"
"So…" Anon echoed, as Fly sat beside Cass. "Sorry about that whole… incident."
Fly crossed his forelegs, failing to meet Anon's gaze. He looked like a puppy caught by its owner having tipped over and broken a prized vase. "It's okay..." He mumbled softly, "...sorry about yesterday."
At that, Anon raised an eyebrow. Noticing his reaction, Fly squeaked, "For being so afraid of you, I mean. It wasn't very nice of me."
"Why are you apologising? I understand. Looking back on it, it's about the reaction I'd expect from a lot of people- err, ponies when meeting an alien creature."
"I-I just… I couldn't get to sleep last noon because I kept thinking about it," Fly contritely began. "When I f-first saw you I just wanted to run away, and… and if I were in your situation I wouldn't want anypony doing that to me."
"Oh," Anon's heart melted. This precious little pony, he swore, would be the death of him. "That's actually quite sweet, Fly. I... Thank you."
"Awww!" It appeared that Cass had also fallen victim to Fly's display of absolute adorability. He launched himself at Fly, rubbing his snout into the pink pony's neck, causing his already pink cheeks to grow impossibly pinker.
"Anon! Come join!" Cass invited, "We can have a group hug!"
Bashfully, Fly added, "I-I wouldn't mind that."
His hesitation fading away, Anon made his way around the table and to the two colts. Sitting down, they were both about stomach high, and so he leaned over and wrapped an arm around each of them. Cass leaned in, savouring the moment. Even Fly seemed to enjoy it if the light hum he let out was any indication.
"We're friends now, right Anon?" Cass looked up at him for confirmation, almost pleading. Anon wanted to say yes. But he wasn't exactly sure what constituted a friend; he was never really good at keeping them. And he had only just met these two yesterday, as well as another pony who obviously belonged in their little group but he had yet to properly introduce himself to. He already seemed comfortable enough to be locked in an embrace with both Cass and Fly, though. And hopefully, it didn't prove too difficult to get to know the last of the trio. Star, if he remembered her name correctly.
Wait a second, he used to have friends...
He used to have...
He...
Hm.
He felt something warm and fluffy move against his chest.
That's right, the group hug. Cass had asked him a question.
"Friends?" Anon repeated, "Yeah, why not?"
And at that, he ruffled the long manes of both ponies leaning against him. He noticed how smooth and silky they both were, though with slightly differing textures.
It's probably their different shampoos.
But what Anon hadn't noticed was the mare behind them quietly observing from the top of the stairs. Moon Glint squinted her eyes.
It didn't have anything to do with getting caught sneaking around late last afternoon. Nor did it have anything to do with the fact that she had managed to get soap suds in her eyes in the shower after waking up. They did still sting and - combined with her insufficient sleep - made her eyes look redder than her uncle Polychrome's when he was locked in his painting room and "not to be disturbed unless it's really important because you'll break the inspiration, man!" He was definitely a hippie, no matter how much he tried to deny it.
No, tonight Star was miffed at herself because she had just been passed by a colt on the street, He was one of her classmates, one she often daydreamed of when Ms Tulip went on for too long about something or another. She didn't realise she had been staring until he was waving a hoof in front of her dumbstruck face, to which she responded by growing as pink as Fly normally was and then bolting away in embarrassment.
Ughh. Why didn't you at least say something, Star? Stupid!
If she was lucky, Comet Trail wouldn't have remembered her. But that was very very unlikely. Not after what happened in the tavern…
Star winced. This was going to be another one of those bad memories which would resurface just as she was about to fall asleep and make her want to go back in time and beat her past self with a broom handle. There was no doubt about it.
Behind her, the sun slunk away behind the mountain, making way for the stars to reveal themselves in the night sky. One by one, they bloomed like flowers in the spring. The town forge rumbled to life. Smoke - barely visible in the dark backdrop - trickled from its chimney while the glow of the burning coals illuminated what she could see of the inside. She rounded the corner, her steps unconsciously falling in time with the steady cadence of steel clanging on steel.
Her destination, Cass' house, wasn’t far. She had found herself intrigued by the creature that Cass, Fly, and herself had discovered and rescued yesterday. After being told off by Mrs Moon Glint and parting ways with Fly, she couldn't help but imagine what it would have been like if it was as dangerous as Fly had thought.
Star had gotten a good look at the creature and even though it was injured, what could it do when it recovered? She had thought back to what she had learnt (or at least what she remembered when she had actually been paying attention) during fauna class. The creature reminded her of the predators they had learned about with its mouthful of sharp teeth, its large size and strong arms. Imagine what it… No, what he could do if he became hostile? What would happen if he caught her by herself with nobody close enough to be of any help? She would end up helpless, being marehandled like the prey she was-
Star felt her back twitch, wings stiffening slightly. She blushed, pressing them to her sides. Oh right, she could fly.
Get your head out of the gutter, Star. You're not a little filly anymore! Control yourself! Stupid teenage hormones.
Ugh. Why did she have to be like this? She just wanted a colt, and yet it was as if she just wasn't destined to have one. Luna knows it wasn't for lack of trying. She winced, looking about and spotting a tall building to her left and remembering the embarrassment she'd subjected herself to the last time she was there. The tavern was for grown-ups only, except on Fridays. The third floor was reserved for all the foals to hang out at the end of the school week. They served drinks, but they were nowhere near as strong as the ones grown-ups were allowed to have, and there was a limit to how many they could buy.
That was why she had to get creative to get her hooves on seven strawberry cocktails. She thought the alcohol would give her the courage she needed to approach Comet and do what she always noticed Ombre did to her brother to get his attention. She did eventually get Comet's, just not in the way she had hoped. Maybe this week she would have more luck.
Star trotted up to and knocked on Cass' front door. When he opened the door, Star noticed Fly and the creature - a towel wrapped around its strange shoulders partially concealing its bare chest - sitting at the dining table with a set of playing cards in the candlelight. He was looking significantly better than he did yesterday afternoon. It didn't have Fly in its strange, fleshy, claws and it wasn't looking very predatorial. Star hummed. She guessed she just really needed to get a hold of her imagination.
"Star! Hey, uhh, are you okay? Your eyes are a little…" Cass asked, sounding worried.
Star put on the most convincing smile she could.
"Yeah, it's nothing. What's going on?"
Cass took her word for it, before explaining, "Anon's teaching us a game."
"Hi," the creature, Anon, waved.
"Sup." She nodded her head in an upwards motion. "I'm Star."
"Care to join us?" He gestured to an empty seat. "Fly just arrived and I noticed Cass had a deck of cards here."
Star hummed, taking her place with Cass close behind. Anon waited until everyone had seated before starting.
"So this is called 'Scum'. Here are the rules…"
-----
"…done."
"Again?"
"…wha- how?"
"Are you cheating? He has to be cheating! Anon, either your game's broken or whichever one of you shuffled the cards rigged it."
"That was you, Cass."
"Oh. Right."
For the fifth time in a row, Fly placed his last card on the pile.
"An ace? You saved an ace for last?" Anon sputtered, bewildered.
"I- I don't know," Fly said, shying away, "I just did what I thought worked."
Cass' jaw hung ajar. "How? I don't believe that this is just luck. I can't!"
"Stop whining, you big baby. And you should close that-" Star reached over with a hoof to clamp Cass' mouth shut "-before a fly finds its way in there. And I'm not talking about this cheating bat here," she said, before pondering. "Well, I guess since I'm no mind reader, I can't say exactly what this one fantasizes about in the shower."
"Star!" The two ponies yelled in unison.
Star burst out laughing, "I was just messing with you, I didn't actually think either of you would do that. Now though…"
Fly pointed his muzzle down in a desperate attempt to hide his raging blush behind his mane. Cass simply looked away.
Anon dropped his cards on the table. "Alright, calm down everyone. I think this has been enough cards for us all today- err, tonight," he corrected himself, and sighed, whispering under his breath. "Crazy nocturnal ponies."
"Hm? What do you mean, 'nocturnal'?" Star glanced at him with interest. Oh yeah. Batponies and their hearing.
Cass answered, "It means we sleep when the sun's out-"
"No, I know what nocturnal means, dummy," interrupted Star, "Why are you calling us that? Wait… do you sleep at night?"
"Yeah. From what I've seen so far, I'm guessing that's not normal here."
Anon stared at the candle flame as it flickered playfully in the darkness. The shadows it created danced before him, performing a gloomy ballet. He wasn't used to this. His mind seemed to insist that while shadows did act like this on occasion, it was rare. They were supposed to stay still, only changing if someone moved the light source or incrementally like with the sun.
The flame pulsed. In a blink, he was lying on his back on a cold stone floor staring up at hanging stalactites and hooded figures. Their shadows wavered on the ceiling above.
"You really are weird."
Anon jolted in his seat, eliciting startled squeals from the ponies around him.
"Anon!" Cass yelled.
"Huh? What?"
"What was that!?"
"What was…" Anon looked at the three ponies. Cass and Star had jumped out of their seats away from him. They were ready to run. Fly sat in front of him, eyes locked onto him in terror while he compressed himself as small as possible. He was deathly afraid of him… almost the same as he looked yesterday when the three had come to his rescue. His fingers became sore and he peeked downwards, noticing that he had stood up leaning over the table, fingers arched as if they were claws with the tips pressing into the wood. His eyes were dry, and he blinked when he realised they were wide open. "It's nothing. I just… zoned out, is all."
No one moved. He retracted his hands and carefully stood up. Star looked at him with an expression that Anon couldn't quite discern.
"Cass, could I use your bathroom?"
"Uh… yeah," eyeing him, Cass answered hesitantly. "It's down the hallway there."
Anon didn't respond. He made his way into the hallway on the opposite side of the house to the table, leading in the same direction as the staircase. Leaning against the wall for support, he took a right turn into the unlit passage where he found a storage and then a laundry room before finally reaching the bathroom door. He ducked below the low doorframe and locked the door behind him before kneeling in front of the likewise low sink.
He felt around for the tap, letting the water run into his cupped hands once he found it. He splashed the cool water against his face, making sure he was wide awake. He stared at his barely visible reflection in the mirror. His eyes were beginning to adjust to the darkness, but he could still only make out the basic outlines of his head.
There was something off about him. He could feel it. Something wasn't right. He couldn't remember his name, but he knew he had one. While "Anon" was nice, it made him feel incomplete. Something was missing. He couldn't remember anything past falling into the forest, but he knew he had experiences before that. It was as if the memories were locked away and hidden deep within his mind. He knew they were there, but he didn't know where they were or what exact information they held. He just… couldn't remember.
Anon narrowed his eyes. No… That wasn't true. There was something. He had just seen it.
There was a… a cave… and there were these people wearing blue cloaks…
There was… it was a-
He lay on the rough, uneven floor. Something was digging into his back. He was cold.
Cloaked figures were looming over him. Anon shivered. He couldn't see much more from where he was. Too weak to move, all he could do was open and close his eyes. Even then, his vision was somewhat blurred.
There was noise. Voices. Was that yelling? Yes. It was muffled, but he could hear it. There were two voices, though, and the other was much quieter. It sounded afraid. Underneath all of this, there was soft, steady buzzing.
His head started to throb, and the images in front of him warped and were ripped away. A spike of pain stabbed at him near his forehead, and he cried out in shock. It felt like an hour before the headache faded away and ceased entirely.
There was a rattle and a click. A breeze swept across his face, and a set of hooves hurriedly clopped towards him. A furry appendage stroked his head and concerned voices echoed from the hallway.
"He's okay." It was the mare again, Moon Glint.
Anon slowly opened his eyes. They had adjusted somewhat in the light-starved room. Cass and the others were watching him from the hallway. He could make out their worried expressions.
"Yeah," he groaned, "I'm fine. I, uh… I slipped. Still getting used to this whole nocturnal thing."
With a helping hoof from Moon Glint, he stood. The tap was still running, and he bent down to turn it off. A doozy feeling overtook him, and he stumbled backwards. Moon Glint extended her wing to catch him.
"You need to take things easy, Anon dear. You're still recovering from some quite serious injuries. And yes, Cass told me about your new little name. Come now." She moved to guide him out of the bathroom, but slowed, stopping in front of the three rubberneckers in the way. "Move along, children."
They scurried back into the main room of the house. She motioned Anon to sit on a couch, one of two positioned in an L shape on the hallway side of the room. Cass took his place beside him, while the other two sat themselves on the other couch.
"Anon," Cass began, "are you… okay?"
"Yeah, no, I'm perfectly fine," said Anon. But even as the words left his mouth, he knew he was lying. Cass knew it, too, if the way he frowned at him was to be believed.
Moon Glint returned with a glass of water held in a leathery wing. Anon took it and gulped it down, strangely thirsty. The mare took the glass back and returned to the kitchen to put it in the sink.
"Don't exert yourself too much, honey." She warned Anon before turning to Cass. "I'm off to market, dear, I'll be back in a few hours."
She opened the door, but before she left Cass spoke up. "Actually, Mom, could we bring Anon around town? We talked and we think some fresh air would do him some good." Anon glanced at Cass questioningly.
Moon Glint peered back in, raising a brow. "Well, as long as you don't make him run around and hurt himself, I'll allow it." She hummed in thought, "And why don't you bring a lantern with you as well? Just in case."
"Got it. Thanks, Mom," Cass smiled.
"Alright, children. Take care."
Anon looked at the others. He opened his mouth to speak but Star beat him to it.
"So, mommy's boy, are we going or what?"
"Star!" Cass whined, "Don't call me that!"
"You haven't answered the question."
Cass sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Anon?"
Anon pushed himself up from the couch, relying on his left arm to do the work.
News spreads fast around here, Anon thought as they wandered the town at a meandering pace.
He noticed ponies going about their day, greeting their friends and constantly stopping for a chat. Few walked by themselves, and all those Anon saw hurried past, rushed looks on their faces. Those minding their own business seemed to be the exception, not the norm, in Two Trees. Overall, there was a lax air about the town. Anon liked that.
Of course, being the strange alien that he was, Anon inevitably drew stares to his group of four creatures. Though it seemed as time passed and they visited more of the town's attractions, fewer ponies wore the surprised expressions that even he was able to see in the meagre starlight and the illumination of the occasional, decorative lantern. The town was very close-knit, Cass had told him, hence the wildfire-like properties of the local gossip. Anon even thought he had heard a group of mares whispering of "Moon Glint's new alien". Though, when he looked towards the source of the gossip, the mares had just given him a welcoming smile and a light "hello". Soon, the thestrals paid him little attention, and he enjoyed the tail end of the tour that his three hosts had offered to grace him with.
"And here's our school. Everypony says it looks small on the outside, but it's not. We can't go in right now because, well, it's closed over the weekend. But maybe tomorrow you could see. We can even ask Ms Tulip to let you join us!" Cass blabbered to Anon, his deep blue eyes lighting up at the idea. Anon held the lantern up with his good arm to get a better view.
The schoolhouse was small by his standards, though he wasn't sure where exactly those standards came from. Sitting near the edge of the town, it was backed up next to the side of the southern mountain making up one-half of the valley cradling the town. Listening, Anon could make out the quiet trickling of a small stream behind the building.
He walked up to the schoolhouse, he could see that it wasn't painted a single, solid colour as he thought when they approached it. Rather, the lanternlight revealed it to be a deep ocean blue, with its door and window frames accenting, painted a dark, stone grey. There was no sign of flaking from the paint. He scrutinised the glass windows, finding very little mould clinging to them on either the inside or outside. It was all very well maintained.
"Nah, Ms Tulip won't mind. Don't worry." Anon heard Star add behind him. Fly had remained silent for the whole tour, and Anon worried. He had the feeling that the pony was usually quiet, but it still wasn't a good sign after earlier… startling the three ponies as he did.
That wasn't that bad, right? I just… stood up. But I didn't want to… It was like my legs moved by themselves. Anon thought to himself. I guess I just reacted on instinct.
Star said something else: something witty. But her smile was off, somehow. She was trying to be indifferent, but her pink eyes betrayed discomfort. Likely another result of his actions. Cass also said something, but Anon wasn't paying attention.
He fiddled with the cloth around his shoulders. Falling from the sky, into a tree canopy, and finally rolling around on the forest floor, hadn't done wonders for his shirt. It was peppered with holes and tears, and Anon decided there was almost no point wearing it. Cass had salvaged an unused blanket and a length of rope from the storage room, and they had been able to jury-rig a makeshift cloak for him to wear as they walked the town. Fortunately for Anon, it was a warm night.
"…Anon?" It was Cass, again. Anon was shaken out of his stupor, finding the unicorn glancing at him questioningly. His long black mane glimmered softly in the lowly lantern light, and his normally azure eyes had shifted to a dark, navy blue.
"Yeah?"
"I asked if your school was different since you're not from here," Cass said, "Actually, you still haven't told us where it is you're from."
"It is different back on Earth. Schools there are usually bigger, and I never had subjects like your "Flora" or "Fauna" classes. Well, I guess you could say that biology was our version of that, but that was never one of my…"
The headache returned. It approached slowly at first, but gradually strengthened with each passing second he tried to think about his school life. Placing the lantern on the ground before massaging his forehead, Anon breathed out a pained gasp.
"Anon, are you okay?" Cass said, his face twisting in concern.
"Nothing… it's nothing. Just a slight headache, it'll pass." Anon blinked a few times, shaking his head.
"Is this… normal?"
Anon hesitated. "Don't worry about it. Like I said, it's nothing. Let's… let's change the subject."
"Anon, obviously something's bothering you-"
"Cass, I said don't worry about it." Anon hissed. Cass' ears flopped.
He waited a few seconds for the pain to pass, and it eventually did. Sighing, he glanced back at Cass. The pony tried to hide it, but Anon could see how he cringed when he met his gaze.
"I'm… sorry for snapping at you like that. You didn't deserve that."
Cass mulled over his words before responding.
"I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have pushed. I promise I won't do that again."
He's just worried about me. I should tell him what's going on.
But I don't even know what's going on. Why should I bother him with a problem I don't even fully understand? I'll tell him when I find out more myself.
Anon nodded to Cass in acknowledgement, moving on. "What was your question, again?"
"I… I think you already answered it. It's okay."
Anon ran a couple of fingers over the school door. He couldn't summon any memories of going to school, not without inviting the headache. No images ran through his mind, no voices of classmates he knew he had. But while he couldn't remember specific actions or people, he could recall general things. He knew he went to school, and that he had friends. Searching through his memories, careful not to dig too deep, Anon realised something. There were some specifics he could remember: his emotions.
He remembered the weariness in the mornings when he awoke, wanting to sleep in and yet having to get up for school. He knew that when he arrived, he would feel dread for the long day ahead, slowly fading away as he eventually settled in. And when the day's end arrived around the corner, it brought with it a sense of great relief. He inhaled, the scent of grass pouring into his lungs. For a second, he almost could have pictured himself back there. The emotions he remembered felt so fresh, so recent… like he had experienced them only a few days ago.
"How old are you three?" Anon turned around.
"Uh, sixteen?" said Cass.
"Seventeen since last week." Star was eyeing him strangely, Anon noticed. "Why?"
"I… I think I'm about your age. I'm still in school."
Cass craned his neck at him. "You're pretty tall for a seventeen-year-old."
"Might have something to do with him being an alien," Star jabbed.
Anon turned back towards the schoolhouse. There wasn't much else to see without going inside.
"So, I'm guessing this concludes our little tour?" Anon asked.
"Actually," said Cass, turning to Star. "I have an idea where we can go next. Let's show Anon the cave."
"Cass," Star glared at the unicorn, "remember what we all agreed on?"
"I know, Star, I know. Nopony outside of our group knows about the cave."
Star motioned towards Anon with her eyes. It was so quick that he nearly missed it in the dim light.
"Star, it's fine. We can trust Anon," Cass retorted "Anyways, we never did what we were going to do yesterday."
Star snorted. "Yeah. Because someone here fell out of the sky."
"Come on, Star. It's not that big a deal. Please?"
Muttering annoyedly under her breath, the filly walked away into the darkness. Anon was slightly bewildered by what he had just watched.
"I'm… sorry about that, Anon."
Deciding it was better not to get involved, Anon didn't prod into the matter.
"…she's not usually like this," Cass whispered to himself under his breath. The words were barely audible to Anon's human ears. Cass then turned to him. "Let's go. We can catch up to her."
Anon obliged and Cass led the way eastwards, eventually taking them out of the village. Fly followed silently.
Cass, Fly, and Anon didn't catch up to Star.
They found her lying down inside the cave, belly up on a "mat" consisting of several large palm tree fronds. The browning leaves were still attached to the frond stems, and they hadn't been sown or braided together. Really, it was more a pile than a mat. Regardless, the leaves cushioned Star against the stone floor. She was lackadaisically tossing it into the air with her wing. Anon didn't think it could be so dexterous.
The cave itself was an interesting piece of work. After a few short minutes of walking east from Two-Trees, Cass abruptly led them off the path. To their right-hand side was a faint trail which Anon would never have noticed if he wasn't specifically looking for it. After another minute or so of following the trail through the thick redwood-palm forest-jungle underbrush, they arrived at a stream which Anon quickly realised led out of the cave's mouth. The tunnel entrance had a low ceiling which forced Anon to crouch a little. But fortunately for his claustrophobic instincts, the tunnel widened inside, growing less constricting the further they went inside.
The floor was curiously flat. There were some signs of erosion: the stream which hugged the tunnel's left wall had carved a calf-height depression into the stone where it flowed. Anon tracked the rift as they ventured upstream where the tunnel eventually opened up into a tall, dark cavern, the outskirts of which were dotted with stalactites and stalagmites. An indoor pool in the centre of it all was revealed to be the origin of the stream water.
Anon's lantern illuminated only his immediate surroundings, leaving the far end of the room cloaked in darkness. Trickling water glimmered in the light, each sparkle streaming past him in a race to reach the outside world.
Close to where Star lay was a formation of stones, creating a circle. Inside lay a small mound of ash and the flakes of a few blackened, half-burned branches: the leftovers of a campfire.
Anon glanced up at the ceiling. "Uh… do you guys start fires in here?"
"Yeah. It gets cold with all this water." Trotting into the darkness, Cass lit up his horn. Grimacing, he levitated what looked to be the frame of a bench, barely held together by lengths of old rope.
Calling it a bench might be a little generous, Anon thought as the jury-rigged contraption floated unsteadily in the air. He slowly sat himself down near a stalagmite. His palm brushed against some dust, and he brought it up to his eyes to inspect it. He suspected that it wasn't actually dust.
Yep. That was definitely some more ash.
"You know this is supposed to suffocate you, right?"
"What?" Cass' magic faltered and the bench dropped from his grip. It weakly crumbled in on itself.
"Cass!" Star yelled from her leaf mat, sitting up.
"Apparently, you're not supposed to start fires in caves. It burns all the oxygen inside and the smoke doesn't really disperse well."
"I, uh… we didn't think of that." A barely visible blush grew on the colt's face.
"How long have you guys been doing this?" Anon said.
"We only found this cave last week."
"Well, we're not dead-" Star strutted over, glaring at the unicorn. "-so obviously the fires are fine."
She paused, considering something. "I have an idea, everypony! Cass and I can work on fixing what he just broke. Meanwhile, Anon, why don't you and Fly go outside and get us some firewood?
In the corner trying to be as unnoticeable as possible, Fly's eyes widened as everyone's attention was shortly deferred to him.
"Star, I don't think you should continue with these-"
"Just go!" She snapped at him.
Anon raised his hands defensively. "Alright, alright."
He made for the entrance, Fly in tow.
What is going on with her? Cass thought as he watched Anon and Fly leave. He spared a glance at Star, and the filly shot daggers at him. Without Anon's lantern, they were left standing in the dark. Star was the first to speak.
"What are you doing?"
"Star, are you okay?"
"Why did you bring him here?"
Cass frowned. "I wanted to show him around. Why else?"
"I don't understand. You meet a strange alien creature one day, then he's one of your close friends the next. What, did he mind control you or something?"
"Star, you're being… you're being absurd!"
"I'm being absurd? Cass, what you've told some… something, we barely even know one of our secrets. This cave is supposed to be for us only, us three. You, me, and Fly. It was our secret, and now you've let him in on it."
Cass paused, reeling from Star's outburst. He had never seen Star like this before, not in the years they had known each other. "Star, are you mad that I've accepted him into our friend group?"
"This potentially dangerous creature falls out of the sky. We've only known it for a day and you seem to think it's okay to trust it with all of our secrets." Star said, pointing an accusatory hoof at Cass' barrel.
"All? I told him where the Cave was. That was it. And I seem to remember you making fun of Fly for being scared of Anon. You didn't think he was dangerous then."
"That was when he couldn't move without coughing his lungs out. We both saw what happened at your place." Star pointed at her temple. "There's something not right with him up here."
"Star!"
She stared him in the eyes. She had always been a blunt, direct pony. That was one of the reasons he liked her company so much. Sometimes, however, he wished she could have enough decorum not to make comments like that.
Star sighed, "Look. Give me one good reason why you trust that creature so much. Any reason at all."
"I…"
Cass tried to speak. He wanted to list off everything Anon had done to gain his trust, to berate her for the way she had dragged him into talking about Anon behind his back. He wanted to tell one of his closest friends that she had no right to treat Anon like that after what he had done for them. But he couldn't.
Because she was right.
"I… I don't have one," he muttered.
"Exactly-"
"But I still think we should trust him," Cass interrupted Star, leaving her dumbstruck. "I… I can't explain why. But I do. I trust him."
Star scrunched her face at him. First in confusion, then in anger. "Cass, did you not listen to a single word I just said?"
"I did listen," Cass said, "It's just… something's telling me that you're wrong."
"Something? Ugh! You know what? Fine. Just don't come crawling to me when you regret it, okay?"
"Yeah, okay, Star."
She turned away, grumbling under her breath. Her words were barely audible to Cass with his lesser-grade, unicorn ears.
She just wants me to hear her whining, he thought.
"Probably dangerous, now that he's recovered…" Star turned towards him, mockingly. "He could be out there right now, you know? Crazy, again. Claws all over Fly…"
She paused midstep. "Aw, crap."
Flapping her wings, Star rushed back towards Cass. She tugged on his wither, hurriedly dragging him outside. He was glad the Night Mother didn't let her yank his leg off.
"Hey! Ow! Stop that!"
"Cass, we just sent Fly away alone with that creature! We need to find them now!"
"Star, Fly's fine with Anon! Now will you quit pulling on me?"
While Star didn't slow, she did let go of him. Cass rolled his foreleg around in his socket.
"Come on! Quickly!"
Ugh. Cass groaned, rolling his eyes as he trotted after Star.
Anon leaned over and collected another branch, rolling it around in his palm. This was one of the dryer ones. It had been sitting on higher ground, where the dirt wasn't as damp. In truth, it was hard for him to tell what was and wasn't damp in the humid forest. He stuck the branch under his right arm with the rest of his harvest.
Fly was a short distance away, doing the same as him. His fluorescent pink coat made him easy to spot even in the darkness. They hadn't talked as they trudged away from the cave. He had caught the beginnings of an argument between Cass and Star as they left but hastened away to give the two some privacy. His curiosity could always be sated later.
As they wandered the forest, keeping near the trickling stream, he realised how Fly was visibly uncomfortable. Every time Anon turned his head towards him, the batpony would cower behind his long white mane.
They reached a small clearing where the redwoods were outnumbered by palms and began their search for suitable firewood. A relatively large, fallen redwood tree lay amidst the nearly knee-length grass. Anon waded through in his sneakers towards the log, which he noticed was surrounded by fallen branches in the gloom.
I'm not that intimidating, am I? Anon worried. He spared a glance at Fly, the pony placing a stick onto his collection of firewood which sat nestled comfortably between his wings.
Anon opted to focus on the task at hand. He needed time to think. Fly was scared of him again. So soon after he had built up the courage to try and befriend him, even apologising for his earlier hesitance. Honestly, Anon felt a little guilty for ruining that with his little outburst.
As he bent over and reached for another dirty stick on the forest floor, his side cramped. He dropped his bundle and instinctively grabbed the painful area with his sore arm. This only made things worse, as his muscles began to throb. He hissed and fell to one knee, clenching his eyes.
The pain subsided after a short time, and he was surprised to see Fly a short distance in front of him when he looked up, regarding him with concern. Fly seemed to regain his wits, flushing and scampering away behind the fallen trunk. Trying to process what he just witnessed, Anon struggled to his feet and carefully ambled towards the pony.
"Fly," called Anon.
The pony ignored him, continuing with his task.
"Fly."
Briefly, Fly's eyes flicked towards him. But he turned his head and continued on. Sighing, Anon sat himself on the sodden, mossed-over trunk.
For a minute, he said nothing. There wasn't anything he could think of to say to get Fly to speak. Deciding he was wasting moonlight, Anon jumped up, immediately regretting his negligence and wincing as he strained his side.
Fly flinched at the sudden movement, backing up and tripping over his hooves. He plopped onto his rear end, dropping his sticks. Instead of scrambling away, however, he sat staring like a deer in headlights. His mane swung back and forth across the frozen, fearful expression on his face.
Anon raised an eyebrow. "Okay, this is just getting silly. Fly, I'm not going to hurt you."
Fly looked apprehensive, but finally let his eyes wander away.
"Is this about what happened at Cass' house?"
Fly nodded meekly.
Anon crossed his arms. He was beginning to get frustrated with the whole situation. "Look, I'm sorry for scaring you, alright? Something… got over me. It was just for a second."
Fly didn't respond.
Anon threw his hands to the side. Muttering softly to himself, he turned away. "Oh for goodness sake, I give up. I didn't even do anything."
"Y-your eyes…" Anon heard Fly stutter from behind him. He snapped his head to look at him speak.
"I-I'm… I'm sorry," Fly squeaked, "b-but it was the way you looked at us. A-at me…"
"What about it?"
Fly hesitated, before warily meeting Anon's stern eyes. "It just- You l-looked…" he gulped, "Predatory."
Anon frowned.
"Y-you're right. It is silly." Fly shook his head. "I'm sorry. I know I said before that it wasn't nice being scared of you it's just…" He sighed.
"I wish I was braver…"
There he goes again, trying to melt my heart. He has to be doing this on purpose.
Anon approached, carefully sitting in front of Cass. He positioned himself to face the side, studying the foliage surrounding the clearing. "If it makes you feel any better, I'd say it's pretty brave of you to admit that - your insecurities."
"Y-you're just saying that to make me feel better," Fly said, though, Anon could see his eyes had lit up. What he was saying was certainly having an effect.
"Maybe. But I'm telling you the truth. I do believe that."
"Promise?"
Anon glanced down to Fly who was expectantly looking at him. There wasn't much Anon could do to resist the puppy-dog eyes.
"Promise," he said.
The hints of a smile formed on Fly's face. Anon picked up a dropped branch, twirling it through his fingers.
"Woah." Fly wondered, watching his fingers manipulating the branch. "Your claws. They're so… dexterous."
"Fingers."
"Hm?"
"That's what they're called. Birds have claws. Lizards have claws. Humans have fingers. Claws can't move like this, see?" Anon explained, opening his hand and then closing it into a fist.
"That's so different and… and strange… I-I don't mean that in a bad way!" said Fly.
Anon chuckled. "Yeah, I guess it is." He started to spin the stick horizontally, in a figure-of-eight motion. It nearly caught on Fly's mane as the pony leaned in for a closer look.
"If my dad saw this… he would freak out."
"Your dad really must be scared of a lot of things."
Fly grimaced. "Everypony thinks he's a big scaredy-bat… From what I've noticed, he's just not comfortable with lots and lots of new things. He can get overwhelmed sometimes."
"He sounds like an interesting character. I hope I can meet him sometime and not have… a repeat of before."
"Mom's more of a pony person. I think you'll like her."
"She's nice?" Anon asked.
"Yeah. Everypony else in town seems to think so." Fly frowned. "I just wish she would stop treating me like I'm still a little colt."
"Overprotective mother, huh?" Anon smirked. "I had a friend like that… his parents were always-"
Anon gasped. Another headache formed and a short wave of pain rolled over him. He closed his eyes, dropping the stick and massaging his temple. A series of collected, deep breaths later, the headache had washed away.
Fly was studying him again when he opened his eyes, anxiety plastered onto his face.
"Anon, were you saying something?
Anon blinked.
"Uh… I don't know, was I?"
The pony looked away. It looked almost… shameful.
"N-No. No, you weren't," Fly said, fidgeting a hoof. "So… What were your parents like?"
The customary headache started up as Anon tried to think.
"I can't tell you that," Anon said through grit teeth.
"Oh."
"I want to, Fly. I just can't." Anon watched as Fly titled his head. "I can't remember. It's like my memories are locked away from me. When I try, my head hurts like hellfire and… I think I black out."
But I also break the lock. I remember the hooded figures, the cavern, and the noise. Even if it's all somewhat vague and blurry.
Fly turned his head. "Is… is this what happened back at Cass'?"
Anon nodded. "Yeah."
"Did you tell him about this?"
"No. Not yet."
"I think you should tell him, Anon," Fly said. "He's worried about you."
"He's a good person… pony… whatever." Anon smiled. "Alright, I'll be sure to tell him."
Fly's ears perked up, and he looked around. After a moment, he stood up.
"It's Star and Cass. They're calling for us."
Fly worked on gathering his scattered branches. Anon gently got up, listening for voices.
"Really? I can't hear anything-"
Faint yelling sounded off in the distance.
Huh. Thestral ears.
"Well," Anon smiled, "speak of the devil and he shall appear."
Anon braced himself before bending over to gather his own sticks.
"I can get that for you," Fly said, doing just that.
"Thanks," said Anon. Fly smiled in response.
The voices grew nearer, and Anon was able to discern what the search party was yelling.
"Fly! Where are you?"
"Fly! Anon!"
"Over here!" Anon answered.
Bursting through the forest with determination on her face came Star. The thestral scanned the area, eyes landing on Anon. To his confusion, she gave him a hostile look. However, her face relaxed as she saw Fly standing calmly beside him, sticks piled on his back.
Close behind was Cass, panting like he had run a marathon. He stumbled forward, weakly glaring at Star as he passed her by. Star responded simply by disappointedly rolling her eyes.
"Hah… wait here for a few minutes," Cass croaked out.
"Ugh. You need to go for a trot around town once in a while for longer than ten minutes."
Blowing her off, Cass plopped himself at Anon's feet. The human watched curiously but also saw in the corner of his eye that Star was giving him a glare of… loathing. What could he possibly have done to earn that?
"Let's go, Fly," Star muttered as she started the trek back.
"A-actually…
Star turned, staring incredulously at the pink thestral.
"M-maybe we can wait f-for, Cass?" He said, motioning to him and Anon.
While the little pink bat did defy Star, he couldn't help but wilt a little under her harsh gaze. He's braver than he thinks he is, Anon thought to himself, amused.
Star choked. But, she begrudgingly accepted. "Fine. We leave in one minute."
And the group did. Star led the way back, marching at a pace that Cass - still breathing heavily -eventually adjusted to. Anon and Fly lagged behind, Anon unwilling to unnecessarily strain himself.
He spared a glance at the pony beside him who then smiled back. Reaching down, Anon ruffled his snow-white mane affectionately, earning him a rub on the leg from Fly's barrel.
We might have said we were friends earlier, but it didn't actually seem like it, Anon thought. Now, though, I think we really are.
"Well, that one's easy. Metalworker… specialising in axes?"
"You're close. That's Mr Step Wedge. He works at Dad's place. He makes all sorts of tools, not just axes," Cass explained, "Oh, how about that one?"
"Let's see… which one?"
"The purple mare on the right."
"Hmm…" Anon pondered, looking at the picture of a wine glass and a slice of cheese plastered onto the mare's rear. It was barely illuminated by the glow of a nearby lantern. "I don't know… Town wine mom?"
Cass giggled, weakly shoving the smiling human by his good arm. "No, you! That's Ms Regala, she works at the tavern."
The pair sat on a low - at least, low for Anon - bench in a corner of the town plaza. After arriving back in town, Star had quickly flown off. Fly, more graciously, had said goodbye before cantering home.
"Regala?" Anon squinted at the mare. "That's a pony name?"
"She's from Walhaychia, all the way up north. I don't know, I've heard that they like to be all fancy over there.
Regala trotted away with another pony, leaving the two scanning other ponies for their cutie marks. Fly pointed at a new target. But before he could speak, he was unceremoniously interrupted by an angry grumbling from his stomach.
"I think it's trying to tell you something."
"Yeah, yeah," Cass coughed, slightly abashed, "let's go home. It looks like it's time for supper soon, anyways."
Anon glanced at the sky. The stars were gradually fading away, assimilating into the brightening backdrop of the dawn sky while a few small clouds to the east had adopted magenta hues. It wouldn't be too long before the sun peeked over the treetops, signalling the night's end.
"Anon?"
"Coming," Anon said. He took his place alongside the unicorn, mindlessly giving one of his ears a light scritch. Anon didn't pick up his quiet, delighted, whinny.
The front door squeaked open, heralding their arrival at the redwood log home. Undrawn curtains invited the first few resplendent rays of early morning sunlight into the room, illuminating hundreds of small dust motes as they danced across windows. The smell of roasted vegetables wafted through the air, creeping towards the newcomers' faces and setting their minds on one thing and one thing only: supper.
Cass eagerly trotted towards his mother who was removing a full tray of assorted carrots, onions, and various other chopped vegetables out of the oven with her mitten-wrapped wingtips.
"You colts are just in time. Dinner's almost ready," said Moon Glint, peering behind her at the two entrants. She gestured at the hallway. "Call your father, dear. He should be finished with his shower by now."
"Yes, Mom," Cass said, moving to do as she asked.
"Anon, honey, could you set the plates out for me? They're up there in that cupboard." Moon Glint carefully placed her tray on the kitchen counter. She removed a mitten and grabbed a large glass bowl from a cupboard beside her, then deftly swept the tray clean into it. It didn't look as if she spilt even a single grain of salt.
In no time, four out of the six chairs at the table were occupied, with Cass and Anon sitting opposite Moon Glint. Gleaming Hearth sat at the head, his light blue - almost turquoise - coat still slightly damp. He leaned forward as Moon Glint scooped vegetables onto everyone's plate, giving her a quick peck on the cheek once she got to him. An almost invisible grin appeared on her face as she sat back in her chair, one that Anon almost didn't catch.
Anon was far from an expert on cooking, but he knew enough to know that most dishes didn't explode with flavour in the same way this one did. His eyes widened in surprise as the mixture of herbs and spices melted on his tongue.
"It's good, isn't it?" said Gleaming Hearth. Anon looked up from his plate and at the large stallion. Stunned and unsure of what to say, he sufficed to give a quiet nod.
"It's why he married me." Moon Glint snickered, holding the fork in her wing and taking a bit of roasted potato.
"Well, that and a few other reasons." Gleaming eyed her up and down, and gave her a wink. Cass gagged.
"Ew, Dad!"
Moon Glint responded by fluttering her eyes at him and pursing her lips.
"Moooom!"
"Sorry. Sorry, dear," she said, clearing her throat. Gleaming Hearth quietly chuckled. Anon smiled.
A few seconds passed in a near-awkward silence before Moon Glint spoke up.
"So, Anon. How are you feeling?" she asked, "Better than earlier, I hope?"
Anon swallowed his mouthful. "Um, yeah. Yes, ma'am. The soreness is fading away pretty quickly. I thought I broke some bones, though, I don't understand."
"Just some old batpony medicine, dear." Moon Glint smiled knowingly.
"So," said Gleaming, "I take it you're not from around here?"
"No, sir. I, uh… I'm not sure exactly how or why I'm here right now. And I'm still not sure precisely where here is. I'm not local."
"Earth," said Cass. "You said that's where you were from, right?"
"Yeah, that's right."
"Strange name for a town," Gleaming huffed. "Dirt."
"It's not a town," said Anon, "It's the planet."
"You're from a different planet?" Cass asked, curiously.
"I guess so. It makes sense. I think I would have heard of "batponies" if they existed anywhere on Earth." The curtains were now drawn shut, leaving only a small gap to the outside world. He caught a sliver of the forest-layered mountainside backdrop beyond. "I think everyone in the world would know if there was an entire village full of batponies."
"Or an entire country," Cass added, "Or two, with Walhaychia next to us."
"You mentioned that earlier." Anon lifted a brow. Walhaychia…?"
"Yeah. Walhaychia's up north. We're in Trotsylvania." Cass stuffed a piece of carrot into his mouth. "Ee wearn at ing ngis Ulip's-"
"Cast Rune!" Moon Glint sternly berated him, "You know better than to speak with your mouth full."
Cass swallowed. "Sorry, Mom."
"Now," Moon Glint asked calmly, "What were you saying?"
"I was saying that we learnt that in Miss Tulip's class"
"Did she tell you about the bloodsuckers who lived there?"
"Gleaming!"
"What? It's true, they drink blood."
"Miss Tulip didn't say that," said Cass, twirling his fork in his levitation. "Comet did, though. He says he visited when he was little."
"I've been to Walhaychia, and I can tell you they do not all drink blood," said Moon Glint
"I never said all of them," Gleaming Hearth said, "But everyone knows some do. I don't know why you're denying this."
"I wasn't denying that some do, but you were making generalisations." Moon Glint glared disappointedly.
"Anyways, Anon, could you tell us what it's like on 'Earth'?"
"I-" The pressure in his head started to reappear again. Anon massaged his temples. "I'm sorry, ma'am. I can't."
"You can't?" said Gleaming.
Cass placed a gentle hoof on Anon's shoulder.
"Anon, what's going on? You were like this earlier, what's the problem-" Cass cut himself off, suddenly, having seemingly come to a realisation. "I… I'm sorry, Anon. Let's… let's move on. I didn't think how hard it must be to leave behind everything you've ever known…" He cringed as the words came out of his mouth. "I'm gonna stop talking."
"That's not the problem, Cass." Anon sighed. "That's not a problem at all. Because I… I can't remember a thing about what it was like back there."
Cass stared at him, puzzled, and so did Gleaming.
"It’s not that I don't want to talk about it. I can't. I don't remember what it was like back home, and I don't remember how I got here. It's like the memories are locked away from me, and when I get close to them, it hurts. It physically hurts. "
"You don't remember anything at all?" asked Moon Glint.
"I…" Anon did remember something. The cave, the yelling, the hooded figures. Everything was blurry, but he remembered. So why didn't he tell her?
"No," Anon lied. "Nothing."
Moon Glint leaned back in her seat, nodding.
"Alright. Do you colts have anything more planned?"
"No, Mom," Cass answered, "I was just going to bring Anon up to my room."
"Well, you can do that once the table's been cleared. I'll take care of the dishes. I just want you to bring everything over to the sink and wipe down the table."
Cass sighed.
"I'll help," Anon said, standing up.
"Alright," Cass said, accepting his fate, "Come on, Anon."
There was an audible rustling as Anon flipped through the schoolbook on Cass' desk.
"Huh. That's a lot of plant classifications," Anon muttered. "I don't have the slightest idea how to pronounce any of these."
Anon studied the page. Labelled drawings of four different vine species filled up the spaces beside numerous neatly handwritten- hornwritten, paragraphs. There were details on their growth cycles, and where they could be found in the Twin Thickets Forest-slash-Jungle. Unfortunately, Anon had never been big on biology or agriculture, and so closed Cass' Flora notebook.
Cass' room was pretty well decorated, in Anon's opinion. A wardrobe sat in the far corner, next to a pony-length mirror. A large wooden chest, almost big enough to fit a full-grown pony, was placed at the foot of the bed which was in another corner next to the window. The opposite side of the room housed a bookshelf. Displayed were a few mementos, presumably from Cass' childhood, and framed photos of him with friends and family. One framed image portrayed a scene of three smiling foals. It was Cass, Star, and Fly when they were much younger, happy and with no care for the troubles in the world. Anon felt a smile tug on his own face.
On the higher shelves were an assortment of novels. There were pairs and trios, with those ostensibly being from the same series of books, and some novels that sat by themselves. Several had ornate spines, decorated with gold or silver embroidery. Glancing at Cass to check he was in the clear, Anon plucked a novel out at random.
"The Path of Monarchs, Part One," Anon read, "by Bronze Sabre."
Cass trotted up to him.
"Ooh, yeah, that's a good one! I love all of Sabres books, I have a few more here," he said, motioning with a hoof.
Anon looked towards where Cass was pointing. Rather than taking a look at one of those books next, however, he decided to move to the shelf above.
"A Guide to Lordship by Leafy Timber. Interesting name, I guess."
"Now that's a really fun story," Cass peeked over at the back cover as Anon read the blurb.
Anon handed it over to Cass' telekinetic grip and returned to the shelf. Something was off, though. Anon reached into the shelf and behind the books, fishing out a novel with fancy embroidery from its hiding spot.
"Of Lovers and Lancers," read Anon, "by-"
The book was plucked out of his hands in a white, magical aura, by a wide-eyed unicorn.
"I was reading that-"
"You don't need to see that one!" Cass sputtered.
Anon smirked. "You a big romance guy, eh?"
"N-no!"
"Come on, it's nothing to be embarrassed about. Let me see it-"
"Nope!"
Cass lifted a corner of his mattress slightly off the bed frame. Before he hid his secret novel there, however, he stopped. "Turn around!"
"Alright…" Anon said, putting his hands up. Turning back towards the bookshelf, he noticed the corner of another hidden book, this time with a plain red cover. He silently plucked it out and opened to a random page.
"Okay, you can turn around now, Anon."
"Mhmm." Anon hummed, flipping to the next page.
"Anon?"
"Oh. Oh, wow. That's, uh… that's intense."
"Anon what are you-"
Seeing the red book in Anon's hands, Cass cut himself off. He froze in place for a second, before his face changed to a very, very, deep scarlet.
They stared at each other for an uncomfortable length of time. Cass broke away first. His eyes wandered the room, desperately looking for something else to lock onto. Anon followed suit.
"So…. I'm guessing I wasn't supposed to find this…?"
"I…" Cass whispered, "…I forgot that was also there."
"Well, it's some good writing, at least. Descriptive. Very descriptive."
"D-don't tell Mom about this, o-okay?" Cass pleaded. He tried meeting Anon's eyes, though he just seemed unable to.
"Don't worry, I can keep a secret," nodded Anon. He grinned and looked back down at the page. "I swear that I won't ever tell her about the steamy novel you hide in your room or the scenes describing two colts going at it in vivid detail-"
"ANON!" Cass' face lit up like a petrol-soaked Christmas tree. He lunged at Anon, wailing away at his chest in a futile effort to tear the book away from the human. Anon laughed, holding the book high up and away with his good arm, pushing Cass away with his right arm and wincing whenever it made contact. Before he knew it, Anon was slammed backwards into the wall. He lost his footing, causing both him and Cass to trip and form a jumbled mess of laughter and frustration on the floor.
"Is everything alright up there?" Moon Glint yelled from the ground floor. Her hoofsteps clopped up the stairs towards the room.
"The book!" Cass hissed. "Hide it!"
During the rough and tumble, the steamy novel had slid away to the other side of the room. The hoofsteps ended outside the door. Both Cass and Anon dived for the red, leather-clad tome, but Cass fell short. With his superior reach, Anon was able to slide it across the floor and out of sight under Cass' bed just as the door creaked open. Moon Glint walked in on them splayed out on the floor, an apron still tied around her neck and strangely shaped dishwashing gloves on her wings.
"You colts are making quite a lot of noise, you know," she informed them. Cass and Anon only huffed in response. The struggle had surprisingly taken a lot out of him.
I need to get more exercise, Anon thought as he lay spread out, flat on his back. Cass shuffled off of his stomach.
"Sorry, Mom. We'll quiet down," he said.
Moon Glint sighed and shook her head. She feigned disappointment, but her eyes betrayed amusement. "Don't hurt yourselves, now, you two."
"Okay, Mom."
"Got it Mrs Moon Glint."
Moon Glint met Anon's eyes briefly, giving him a… strange look. Not hostile, just strange. Then she left. Anon decided not to pay it any mind.
"I hate you." Cass softly punched Anon in the shoulder.
"Ow! Hey!" Anon hissed through grit teeth.
"Sorry! Sorry, I'm sorry! I forgot!"
"You know, that probably would've hurt a lot if that was my bad arm."
"Are you okay- wait, what?"
Anon grinned, tensing his shoulder in preparation for the incoming flurry of flailing hooves. They arrived just as he expected they would. Numerous, yet quite feeble.
"I really hate you."
"No, you don't."
"You're annoying."
"It's a gift."
"Shut up."
Anon acceded to his request, satisfied with his work.
Anon stepped into the guest bedroom, tailed closely by Cass. The curtains had been shut tight, shrouding the room in near darkness. A solitary candle rested on the bedside drawers, one of which Moon Glint had just finished dusting off.
"This'll be your room, Anon," Moon Glint said. "If you ever need anything, just ask."
"Thank you again, Mrs Moon Glint."
"Don't worry about it, dear," she said. "It'll be nice to have another set of hooves around the house."
"Of course. If there's anything I can do to pay you back, just let me know."
"I will, Anon, honey. Oh, and by the way, just 'Mrs Moon', will do." She took stock of the small alarm clock on the other bedside drawer. "Now, you colts should be getting to sleep. It's late."
Anon slipped open the heavy curtains a tad. The sun was high in the sky. Back home, the bell would already have rung for Interval. Hayden would be pestering him as he took his time to pack his gear into his bag…"
"Anon?"
"Hm?"
Moon Glint watched him, concerned. "Dear, is there something outside?"
"I, uh…" Anon let go of the curtains, blocking the light out, "No. Sorry, I don't know what happened."
"I think, maybe, you should get some rest." Moon Glint led him away from the window.
"Yeah, it's been a long day." Anon covered a yawn. "Thanks again, Mrs Moon."
"No problem, honey," said Moon Glint, smiling before she left.
Cass followed her. He eased the door closed slowly. "Night, Anon."
"Night, Cass," Anon said.
"I…" Cass hesitated by the doorway, "I'll, uh, talk to you tomorrow."
"Yeah, okay… I'll see you then."
The door clicked shut.
Anon sat on the bed, slipping out of his jeans and makeshift cloak. The scars still dotted his skin. It had been a rough fall. The combined forces of gravity and the forested mountainside ensured that.
He squeezed his arm, feeling up and down its length. It almost didn't hurt anymore. His ribs weren't stinging when he moved his torso. Lifting his left, undamaged arm, he imitated the movements he made earlier in his play-struggle with Cass. Nothing. No pain in his side.
This… isn't normal, is it? Whatever this 'batpony medicine' is, it works fast.
Anon flopped onto his back, gritting his teeth as his body protested, his nerves temporarily setting afire. He wasn't completely recovered yet, it seemed.
Regardless, Anon closed his eyes. In no time at all, he was asleep.
"Night, Mom."
"Goodnight, sweetie."
Moon Glint kissed her son on the forehead. Cast- Cass, smiled and turned over, gripping his old little hydra plush. Regardless of how big her once-small, but always-precious foal grew, they never tired of their night routine. She would tuck her in, they would say goodnight, and he would doze off soundly with that same happy expression on his face.
Well, if he's not planning on sneaking out of the house, at least, she thought, softly shutting his door.
That was a new habit. Along with his insistence that he call her 'Cass', a name that he once only reserved for his two friends. Three, now.
He wouldn't go out today, he only did so twice a week. Chances were he would sneak downstairs and go out the bathroom window and to the backyard to be sneaky. It was a good enough plan. His hoofsteps would be drowned out by her husband's unremitting snoring. She likely wouldn't have ever known if she hadn't watched him do exactly that several times from a couple of houses down.
Sneaking out of the house past bedtime does seem to be a family tradition.
Moon made her way into her and Gleaming's room. The muscular, though, also gradually pudgying stallion lay on his back on his side of the bed, scanning the evening newspaper. He eyed her as she plucked a dark blue cloak from the closet and donned it.
"Going out today?" he asked in a blasé tone.
"Mhmm," she hummed in response.
"Don't be too long."
"I won't," she said, inspecting herself in the mirror. "This shouldn't take any more than twenty minutes."
"Twenty minutes is a lot of time," Gleaming said. She could hear the mischievous smirk in his voice. "A lot can be done in twenty minutes if you know what I mean."
I did marry a bold one. She feigned ignorance. "No, actually, I don't. Why don't you explain it to me?"
Gleaming set his newspaper on his lap, wiggling his eyebrows in a manner so ridiculous that it shouldn't have worked anywhere near half as well it did. "You know precisely what I'm talking about."
Moon considered her options. She trotted over to him, swaying her hips and tail. She met his lips in a kiss and held it for just a second too short before she placed a hoof on his chest and pushed him away.
"You have work tomorrow. Get some rest."
"The forges are due for maintenance. We have a late start tomorrow."
"We have a guest in the house."
"And? Our son has always been right next to us. There's a reason the door has a lock and the walls have soundproofing," Gleaming chuckled.
Moon rolled her eyes. Though, if she were to be completely honest with herself, her decision to humour him had weakened her resolve. "It's the principle of it all, dear," she said. She decided to give in, leaning in to whisper in his ear. "Once our son and the other colt have left for school tomorrow evening, you and I can make use of your 'late start. What do you think?"
"I like your plan," said Gleaming, tilting her chin with a hoof for another kiss.
"Ah, ah!" Moon pulled away, "Patience is a virtue, mister."
Gleaming blew disappointedly. "Fine. Princess damn you for being so enticing."
"Good colt," said Moon Glint, she turned and made her way out of the room, opening the door as silently as possible so as to not wake Cass in the next room over, or Anon further down the hallway. She gave Gleaming a wink, but didn't wait to see his response.
Hood covering her face, she stalked through the empty village streets. Every house had its curtains drawn. But while they were dead silent, the surrounding forest was alive. The assortment of various animals - birds and rodents mostly - came together to create a sort of natural orchestra. The trills of the birds reminded her of the flutes she had once heard echoing across those grand halls in Walhaychia.
Standing on the corner of the town plaza - as they had agreed - was a figure shrouded in identical fashion to herself. The familiar pony waited patiently. They perked up upon noticing Moon's approach, revealing a set of interested yellow eyes and a curious peach muzzle poking out from the hood.
"How is it?" asked the peach mare.
Moon Glint gazed at the statue in the centre of the plaza. Imposing upon its surroundings was a life-sized iron statue of an armoured thestral stallion. He was armed with a sword in each wing, gleaming metal tips pointed forward towards a large - or flying - invisible enemy. Hero of Trotsylvania, and one of the Night Mother's most valiant commanders, General Razor Sharp was forever immortalised in his hometown.
"He should be completely healed by tomorrow morning."
The other mare walked up alongside Moon. "What are you going to do with it?"
"Nothing," Moon said bluntly. The mare cocked her head. "Not yet, at least. It's… a complex situation."
"Do you want to explain?"
Moon pondered. "Cass and his friends have taken a liking to the creature… 'Anon'. That's the name he's going by. He's not dangerous to anyone, especially not us. Doesn't remember a thing. That might've been the only spell that worked that day."
"You should talk to the kid."
"I already did."
"I meant without yelling."
Moon sighed. "I will."
"You're in charge now, Moonie." The mare placed a hoof on Moon's wither. "You can't lose your cool like that."
Moon brushed away the hoof. "I know, I know. It's just, all that preparation…" She turned away, facing the distant mountains.
"I understand. But it was an honest mistake. He's a good colt."
"I know that. Of course, I know that." Moon Glint faced her friend. "I'll talk to him before Saturday."
"That's good. So, in the meantime, we just leave this 'Anon', be?"
"Yes. We can't get rid of him, now. He's staying in our guest room. Cass likes having him around, and I can keep an eye on him that way," said Moon. "I think you can expect a new student in your class tonight."
"As long as you have it handled," said the mare. "Speaking of, I should go. It's late."
"Thanks for meeting again, Tulip."
"It's what friends do."
Tulip hurried away, and Moon Glint started her trip home. She stopped for one final glance at the statue of the general. Then she trotted away.