The Storm on Ponyville

by DatZigga

Epilogue: Something Worth Fighting For

It's been a couple days since “The Storm on Ponyville”, as one paper called it. Anon had collapsed just outside his house when he passed out from a combination of exhaustion and his wounds. Luckily, as the news reports, the local trio of fillies known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders, had found Anonymous in this state and gotten medical staff to treat him in his house. Once his condition was stabilized, it was recommended that he stayed home for the time being. Anon originally protested, as he felt that he should be part of the cleanup crew that was working to restore Ponyville after the invasion. However, the ponies won and Anon was homebound until his wounds healed.

All of this information was in the newspaper that Anonymous neglected to read. Instead, he rolled it up and used it to swipe a fly that intruded from one of the holes in his house. Because Anon was bedridden for his injuries, he failed to get his house fixed up as a result of the invasion of his privacy by the Storm creatures. After the fly successfully escaped his clutches, Anon sat back on his couch and reread the cover story. It was, of course, about the exploits of the Elements of Harmony. Apparently they went on a cross-country journey to find help and then journeyed back to put an end to the Storm King’s reign. What surprised Anon the most was the fact that the Storm creatures were damn near acquitted of all crimes. The worst the Storm King’s men got was a slap on the wrist for bad behavior. Otherwise, they were invited to the very event they crashed.

Anon crumpled the newspaper and through it at a wall with full force. He groaned and laid on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. The whole event left him exhausted, yet unfulfilled. He expected something bigger from this whole event. He had thought that this was the start to an epic quest, a journey of epic proportions to discover why he was brought to the magical world of Equestria. When he saw the Storm King’s army, he thought that they would be his reason. They would be an evil, unredeemable force that would crumble the happy paradise that was Equestria. Anon, ordained by some horse God, had summoned him to teach the defenseless ponies how to defend themselves. Why else would a human be here? Humans were survivors and warriors by nature. Therefore, he was sent to teach the ponies that right? Or, it could’ve been just as simple as Anon being the “chosen one”, whatever the hell that would mean.

Alas, the invasion was just that. There was no greater plan, no eleventh hour superpower, nothing to suggest that Anonymous was a great hero to show up during a time of need. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

This led Anon down a deeper, more depressing spiral: What would have happened if the Elements didn’t win? Anon challenged the lieutenant of the invading army with the idea that he was supposed to. It made practical sense of course, but the more he thought about, the more stupid he realized the whole fight was. Had he stayed with the fillies and focused on actually helping ponies, he wouldn’t have had his ass handed to him by a monkey. He got too big for his britches and was nearly hoisted by his own petard. A second too late of noticing Canterlot’s liberation and he’d be chow.

Anon grimaced. It was a gruesome thought. Yet, it would’ve meant that he would be, in a sense, free. Not just from this bizzare equine-based world, but just, everything. He wouldn’t have to worry about why he arrived in the first place. All worries, all fear, all uncertainty gone within an instant. Maybe that’s why he…

Anon sat up. He knew this was an intrusive thought. He got up, looking for his phone for a distraction. He picked it up and frowned. The screen had cracked in the scuffle, which didn’t help his spirits one bit. Maybe in the adjacent dimension there was a phone repair shop. Anon briefly pondered the idea of living there instead. It was much closer to home than Equestria. For one, there was modern technology and, you know, humans. Yeah, these humans were discolored and, yeah, they probably behaved just like the ponies. Still, it was a step in the right direction? He sighed.

“I think I really am lost.” Anon said quietly to himself. “In more ways than one.” Just as he was about to press play and melt into a world of pure imagination, he heard knocks at the door. Anon wondered if he should just have an open door policy and let ponies just walk inside, instead of having them bang on his door and drive him crazy. He rolled his eyes and set his phone down, limping to the door. He opens the door to find a group of familiar faces.

“Hi, Anonymous!” Three fillies chimed in unison. Starlight and Trixie stood behind them. Starlight had a warm, disarming smile that almost made Anon smile in return. These ponies had that effect, so there’s a plus one in the “Stay in Ponyville” column. Right next to her was good ole Trixie, who was pouting and looking away from Anon. She clearly didn’t want to be here.

“Why are you here?” Anon asked, skipping the formalities. Starlight sighed, her smile not leaving her.

“Still the same grump, I see.” Anon nodded.

“I’d have it no other way. Why are you here?”

“We just wanted to stop by and thank you personally for helping with that whole ‘invasion’ debacle.” Starlight casted a glance at Trixie. “ALL of us.” To this, Trixie sighed.

“I guess the human has provided his aid on more than one occasion.” She admitted, still looking away. Anon smirked.

“Aw, you even taught her my species.” Anon gave her a condescending pat on the head, quickly withdrawing when the unicorn almost bites him. The fillies erupted with laughter. “So, now that you thanked me, are you gonna leave?” Now it was Starlight averting eye contact.

“Uh, well…” She started and may as well have stopped. Anon could already see that there was ulterior motive to this visit. “The Elements aren’t coming back for a couple more days and so, we’re still on babysitting duty. Now, the girls really enjoy your company and you don’t really having anything going on-“

“You’re dumping them on me.” Anon responded flatly.

“What? Nooooo.” Starlight said slowly. “I mean, ‘dumping’ is such a negative term. I’d suggest it’s more of a ‘relocation’.” Anon raised an eyebrow as he slowly closed the door. Starlight uses her magic to stop the door. “Okay, yeah we’re dumping them here. Please, Anon? I’m no good at this babysitting thing! I already have one giant baby to take care of?” Starlight glared at Trixie, who looked off into the distance and whistled a tune.

“I-“ Anon began to object when he felt the weight of three littles hugging his legs.

“Pleeeeaaase, Anon~” Sweetie Belle pleaded.

“We promise to be good~!” Apple Bloom whined.

“They won’t let us do any fun stuff~” Scootaloo cried.

All three of them looked at Anonymous with the wettest, saddest puppy eyes that Anon had ever seen in his life. The way the light caught on their pupils, how the tears bubbled on the edge of the eyelids but never poured, and the small, near inaudible whimpering that came from them. Anon had to close his eyes to fight back tears because of how cute they were. When he opened them again, he kept his stone cold expression.

“Fine. I’ll be the bigger man and look out for them.” Anon submitted. The three immediately quit the act and jumped in the air, clapping hooves together.

“Cutie Mark Crybabies! Yay!” They screamed in unison, before running under Anon’s legs and into his home. Anon, having returned from his moment of weakness, eyed the two ponies.

“What fresh hell hath thou brought upon me?” Anon questioned. Starlight’s reply was only a light chuckle, before grabbing Trixie and teleporting out of sight. After a rub of the eyes, Anon closed the door. He took a deep breath before facing the trio. To his surprise, the house was no worse than he left it, though if they managed to make it worse, it would've been more impressive than anything. Instead, the three fillies were looking over his worn bat.

“Hey, can I swing the bat you used to bash a bunch of baddies, Anon?” Scootaloo asked, before Apple Bloom snatched it from her.

“I wanna swing the bat!” Apple Bloom complained, not noticing a little green field enveloping the object in question. However, she did notice when Sweetie Belle took off into one of the holes in the wall of the house. “Hey! Get back here!” The other two fillies gave chase, laughing all the while.

Anon watched the whole interaction, cognizant to the smile on his face. No matter how hard he tried, those little bastards gave him a warm, fuzzy feeling. Was he not just contemplating leaving Ponyville not minutes ago?

“Maybe I’m just thinking too much.” Anon softly admitted. “If nothing else, this little moment right here was something worth fighting for.”

Author's Note:

That concludes that. I can understand if one believes the ending is anti-climatic, but in my defense, I may be stupid...So anyway, thanks for reading, if you did in fact read this. And, from the bottom of my heart, I’m sorry.

Comments

[Vaalintine]

Worth fighting for? Eh, no. Other than generally helping out to make things less crap and fighting for your own life, not really anything worth fighting for. The ponies still don't seem very likable. The CMC get a pass because they're young and don't understand they're being a nuisance, and generally annoying. Starlight is mostly just focused on fighting back, and Trixie was a dick.

I still think there isn't anyone he can actually call friend other than Spike.

[DatZigga]

10157946
I can understand your criticism. The idea behind this chapter was less about him seeing the ponies worth fighting for, more about fighting for the happiness he felt as a result of taking action and not sitting idly by. But, I’m an amateur. I do plan on writing more slice of life that actually revolves around Anon properly meeting the residents, I’ve just been meandering. I’m sorry.

[Vaalintine]

10158558
Oh I don't think its bad, just the Ponyville's (pony) inhabitants have been rather unlikable. By pressing so much for him be their friend they're proving unfit for it, because they seem to insist on him doing as they do and skipping merrily through flowery fields even if that's not what he wants to do.

[A random person]

10158558
theres quite a few typos in this story.

[DatZigga]

10174049
I had a proofreader, but not anymore. Moreover, most of these stories are flash in the pan ideas and I'm too impatient to revise. So, yeah. Sorry. I'll be more cognizant.

[A random person]

10174055
its ok, was just letting you know.

[resonance]

Nah dude, it was a good ending.

I mean, it’s that feeling of when you’ve done something great and life goes back to normal.

Except he can’t go back to normal and is still fighting against losing his identity and being absorbed by the pony goodness.

You could have had him give starlight some more shit about the kids. And or wanting to spend time with her girlfriend.

Why didn’t you have him kill anybody tho?

He didn’t grab a spear or bash anyone’s head in with the bat.

[DatZigga]

10184708
The spear things is a genuine oversight, but regardless, I feel hesitant to have actual portray death or murder in these stories. My hidden condition for these stories is to make them as accurate to the show as possible, so killing is a decidedly uncommon thing in this world. So, all violence is cartoon violence, except on him where it’s more realistic.

Tl;dr I’m a puss

[Shanenator]

Nice.

Fuck yeah fireworks.

[Pete100]

This chapter was good.

[Pete100]

10341357
And it’s very durable.

[carrs88]

10185479
If you saw the movie you will see that there is death in that world, no matter how colorful it is.
what better way to show off bloodless gore than to blast your enemy turned to stone.

If that's not dying, I don't know what it is.
except the part where he turned to stone was vastly premature in getting rid of the villain

[DatZigga]

10430941
Of course, there are exceptions to the rule, but that’s why I said uncommon. That is also a very PG death and I believe the end credits implied he’s still alive. That, is arguably worse.

[Aurora Aksnes]

Read this story again yesterday and it really holds up.

Anon story where it focuses on his growth (albeit it slow and him being annoyed most of the time) with other characters? Simply dashing, darling.