Chapter 2

>Time passes slowly in Hollow Shades, and the constant low light conditions on serve to accentuate the boredom that faces you.
>It was mind numbing.
>2 days have passed since your trip into town.
>You have been living as economically as you can.
>Got to save your bits, since they are all you have for now.
>Uncle Aux sure is taking his sweet time with responding to your letter.
>At this rate you’ll go stir crazy before he deigns to write to you.
>How busy could he possibly be that he didn’t have the time to write to his now orphaned nephew?
>Forget about it, the letter will arrive eventually.
>It was just those lazy mail-ponies not getting round to it fast enough.
[spoiler]>faggots[/spoiler]
>The clock in the corner of your room let out a neat series of dings as it struck 11 o’clock.
>You had everything set now, all you needed was the go ahead.
>Hauling yourself out of bed, you stretch.
>Your belly lets out a low growl and you get a pang of hunger in the pit of your stomach.
>Time for food.
>A quick check of your brown paper bag tells you that you have only a single mango left from before.
>Regardless of the self-inflicted food shortage, you eat the round green and orange fruit up, savouring its sharp sweetness.
>The sticky juices coat your mouth region and the fur is matted down against your face.
>Nothing a quick scrub can’t sort out.
>You pace over to the sink in the small bathroom your lodging has and turn the hot tap on.
>The steam from the warm water gives you a strange drowsy sensation, but soon wakes you up when applied to your face.
>Fuck, that’s hotter than you expected.
>Definitely awake now.
>And with a clean muzzle too.
>You look dashing and ready to hit the town, even if only to see if you have mail.
>Once more you head off into the street.
>Off to check on the mare there’s packages.
[spoiler]>hue?[/spoiler]

>The post office was an open-all-hours one, which meant that you could go whenever you pleased.
>This was usually around the late morning as it was when the village was quietest.
>You just wanted to go about your business, didn’t want ponies hassling you or anything.
>Your quick canter to the post office was over, and you push the flaky red door open and step inside out of the morning chill, giving your body a shudder and your wings a flap to shake the moisture off of yourself.
>You look down at your hooves to check for dirt and then back up again, only to see the mare with the grey mane regarding you with a smile in her eyes.
>Not a sincere one though.
>It was more like the look a predator gives to its plaything as it eyes it before going in for the kill.
>Would ‘the kill’ end in sex at this point?
>If so, you didn’t mind being the prey, but you seriously doubted she had any interest in you other than for amusement.
>Your last few encounters with her had made that perfectly clear.
>I-It’s not like you liked her anyway.
>For the 4th time this week, you step up to the booth she sits in.
>Her gaze makes you feel uncomfortable and uneasy, like you are being watched by hundreds of ponies rather than just one.
>“Hello again, handsome”
>That same sneer.
>But oh god that voice.
>“Let me guess, you want to know if a letter has arrived for you?”
“Uh, yes.”
>That came out a lot higher than you wanted it to.
>“Just give me a sec, hun. If anything as arrived, I’ll find it.”
>She gets down off of her chair and begins rummaging through the assorted envelopes in the basket behind her.
>You can’t help but notice the way her ass wiggles as she sorts through the letters.
>Your head is filling with all kinds of fantasies and scenarios.
>“Who are you again?”
“I’m anyone you want me to be”
>Wait.
>FUCK
>You just said that out loud.
>She turns her head to look at you, an eyebrow raised.
“Anonymous, my name’s Anonymous”
>This couldn’t get any more awkward than it was now.
>Although thankfully she couldn’t see your throbbing erection.
>“Looks like today is your lucky day, Anon. Got a letter for you right here.”
>Your heart leaps.
>Finally!
>She posts the letter through the grille with a wink.
>You grasp it eagerly with your hooves and tear open the envelope.
>It reads: “Anon,
I sure am sorry to hear about your parents’ death, and I’ll do whatever I can to help you.
Yeah, you can stay with me for as long as you want, it’ll be good to have somepony else around the apartment – Canterlot’s a big place and us bats have to stick together.
You have bits for the taxi, right?
Well, you obviously have my address, so I don’t need to give you that.
See you soon
-	Your Uncle Aux
P.S. Be careful on the taxi ride, that shit can be dangerous.”
>You jump up and down excitedly and run out of the post office, shouting a goodbye to the confused looking mare.
>“Y-you too, I guess”
>Running back to the Battered Nook, you grab your things and check out as quickly as you can.
>The next cab to Canterlot leaves in 15 minutes and you don’t want to miss it.
>You’ll be long gone by the time the inn owner realises you’ve taken all his blankets.
>Might need them for the journey.
>Your sprint across town is exhausting you and you slow in order to avoid collapsing under the weight of all the shit you are carrying.
>The earth pony drivers are waiting by their cart and eye you as you draw close.
>How ridiculous you must look.
>Like a stereotypical holiday maker.
>Still, you pay your fare and sling your belongings into a corner of the flatbed.
>“Hey, buddy, we don’t leave for another 10 minutes, so get comfy”
>You nod and settle down under your covers.
>Hopefully there’ll be some company.
>These trips must be incredibly boring by one’s self.
>Never mind, if getting to Canterlot meant a day or so of boredom, you didn’t mind.
>You had bits and a place to stay.
>Everything was coming up Anonymous.
>A premature sigh of relief escapes your lips.
[spoiler]>Everything is going to be just fine.[/spoiler]

~

The present day

>”Looks like a bandit raid, sir”
>”Yeah, we’ve even got some griffon feathers over here, bastards have been terrorising the road for weeks now”
>The conversation stirs you, waking you from your unconscious slumber.
>Was it more bandits?
>No, didn’t sound like it.
>Come to think of it, you can hear hooves on the road.
>Where were you?
>You crane your neck and look around the musty, enclosed space you are in.
>A bundle of blankets lies in the corner of the dark space, accompanied by a small envelope and a small leather saddlebag.
>Ah, right.
>The cart must have fallen on top of you.
>You can’t see your coffer.
>”Ok, everypony, spread out and call casualties. I want this done quickly so that we don’t have to stand out here with our asses exposed for too long.”
>A chorus of acknowledging ‘sir’s is what you hear next, followed by the light crump of hooves.
>”2 earth stallions here, must be the drivers. Damn, nasty neck wounds”
>A little way off you hear another voice call out.
>”Got a batpony over here. Stallion. Neck wound here too.”
>Hoofsteps close on the overturned cart.
>”Kapten, another bat. Usch! Head wounds. Well, a little worse than ‘wounds’.”
>A female voice, it sounds sweet and you wouldn’t mind seeing the owner, but it has a strange twang to it that you can’t quite pin down.
>You cough, the dust filling your lungs.
>The pony nearby jumps audibly and scampers round the cart, looking for a way to lift it.
>”Zer! We need to lift this up!”
>She taps on the wood with something, it sounds metallic.
>”Roger that. Sparky, get up here and help me with this shit.”
>The wooden structure glows with a yellow aura, which is then joined by a green one.
>It shudders a moment, being acted upon by this new force, before lifting up; taking great weight off of you and revealing your surroundings.

>It’s morning now, and the sunlight stings your eyes.
>There are 5 golden-armoured ponies of the Royal Guard standing around you, 2 unicorns lowering the cart down by the side of the road, a Pegasus and an Earth Pony.
>The other one makes you do a double take.
>In that time, she considers you briefly with a smile and lets out a pleased squeak.
>”Oj! Are you okay, frände?”
>Everything about this mare confuses you.
>Her speech AND her appearance.
>She is very pretty, and about your age too, but is a sort of species mismatch.
>Her coat looks a pure white, though her golden armour and dull metal chainmail obscure her cutie mark from view.
>She has beautiful ice blue eyes and a blonde mane.
>From that, you would think her a normal pony, but she also has the tufted ears and dark leathery wings of a batpony.
>She is clearly pleased to see another bat, but quickly composes herself again, looking slightly embarrassed.
>You realise you are gawping at her and avert your eyes, turning to unicorn giving the orders.
>He regards you with an arched eyebrow of poorly disguised disdain before addressing you.
>”Are you quite alright? Was a shame, what happened here.”
>This guy talks and looks like he has something rammed up his arse.
>You hate him already.
>”Yeah, I’m okay, I think. I-Is there a chance I can find my belongings?
>”Of course, just be quick, the griffons aren’t nocturnal and I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be here if they come back, haha”
>You begrudgingly see the sense in that and scamper off to look for your things.
>In the meantime, the head unicorn hooks up 2 of his troops to the cart and begins to load the corpses onto the flatbed.

>Where the cart had been, there was a big gouge in the ground.
>Must have been where it hit.
>A brown shape in the dirt catches your eye and you go over to it.
>Oh damn.
>It was the cute mare from earlier.
>Her cocoa form limp and lifeless, and her pretty features cruelly split in two by the horrific fracture the crash made in her skull.
>It made you feel ill to look at, so you looked elsewhere – only to come face to face with the strange white bat mare.
>She looks down at the body and smiles sadly.
>”Did you know her?”
“No, no…we were just in the cab together, but still…”
>”It will have been quick, she wouldn’t have felt anything, if that helps”
>”I guess so, thanks”
>It didn’t.
>As you walk away, the unicorn grunt comes over and begins picking up her body with his magic, carrying it over to the waiting trailer.
>She helped you pick up your blankets and scattered belongings, but you no matter where you looked, you couldn’t see your chest.
>The one filled to the brim with your parents’ life insurance money.
>FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK
>The bandits must have taken it.
>You were royally screwed without it.
>Panicking, you gather up your remaining things and put them in the cart.
>You make sure to keep them away from the bodies.
>The Unicorn in charge eyes you suspiciously, before beckoning you over.
>”You find everything?”
“Uh, no, no. I had a big wooden box with me too…about this big”
>You gesture roughly with your fore-hooves.
>”Hmm, probably taken by the robbers. They have a tendency to do that, you know, take things which aren’t theirs.”
>Some of the guards around you snigger.
>Of course he was making fun of you, which seems to be everypony’s first reaction when they meet you recently.
>Well, everypony except that mare, who is currently eyeing you surreptitiously while pretending to mess with her pike-spear-thing.
“Aren’t you going to do anything? Those bandits aren’t going to catch themselves.”
>He stops chuckling and his serious face returns.
>”You have any idea how big this forest is, friend?”
>Friend.
>At least it was better than ‘kid’.
“No.”
>”It’s so big that it could take us months to find with the numbers we have available. And let’s just say there are much more important things on the minds of my superiors”
>It seems you truly are destined for poverty.

>Your spirits are as low as they ever were as you plod along next to the cart.
>You would fly, but the night’s occurrences have left you drained.
>You are clear of the forest now, and Canterlot looms overhead, the morning sun shining off of the city’s ornate rooves.
>Somewhere in that sprawling metropolis was your uncle, Aux, and your new home along with it.
>The sight makes you pick up your hooves and puts a little spring back in your step.
>That white mare is flying around above your heads, keeping an eye on your surroundings and making sure you weren’t followed.
>She swoops down to the front of the pack.
>”All clear, Kapten. Nopony on our tail.”
>”Good, thank you, Guardspony.”
>His voice had an edge to it when he spoke to her, and he never once called her by her name as he did with the others in the troop.
>It seemed as though she wasn’t that well liked.
>At least that was the impression you got.
>An unfair situation.
>But you had found that life often dealt the cards fairly.
>The main gates to the city were wide open, with ponies making their way in and out.
>A railway track sat by the gate, a colourful train puffs its way out of the little tunnel in the wall, maybe on the way to some exotic locale.
>2 royal guards stand at the hole, pikes at the ready.
>An overwhelming sense of completion rises in your soul as you step into the Equestrian capital.
>Yet you know this is only the beginning.
>The beginning of a new chapter in your life.
>A chapter which would start a whole lot better if you still had your Bits.
>This meant your monetary situation was particularly precarious, you were left with just 69 Bits.
>[spoiler]’69, lel’[/spoiler] you think to yourself.
>The soldiers have borrowed your blankets to cover up the corpses.
>It’s okay, you don’t really need those now anyway.
>The captain catches your eye.
>”You know where you’re going, friend?”
>He didn’t sound like he cared as he drops your pack on the paving stones.
“I have an address, but I don’t think I know exactly where it is.”
>”Guardspony, take him where he needs to go then report back to us.”
>You wonder who he means, but your question is answered when the blonde batpony mare trots over to you.
>She turns to ask her officer something, but they have already started marching off.
>She turns back to you, a sad smile on her face.
>”Where to then, kompis?”
“I’ve got the address here: No. 13, Purple Avenue, Tinker Way, Upper Canterlot.”
>”Upper Canterlot, eh? Tjusig.”
>She considers directions for a moment before nudging you and gesturing with a hoof.
>”Okej, follow me!”
>You do so, catching a sneaky glance at her rump as she leads you through the streets.
>You aren’t used to the brightness or the hustle and bustle of the city just yet, but you imagine you will acclimatise sooner or later.
>”So, who’re ya staying with? Friends? Family?”
>The strange twang of her accent makes it difficult to comprehend just what she is asking, but you get the gist.
“My uncle. My parents just died and so I’m coming to live with him.”
>”Aw, that’s a shame. I’m sorry to hear that.”
>You figure since you’re only following, you may as well make an attempt to get to know this mare.
>She may be your only friend for a bit.
“What’s up with your comrades? They seem really…well, frigid.”
>She shrugs.
>”Kapten just doesn’t like me, because of my parents. The others? Well, the fårskalle just do what he does and what he tells them to.”
”Oh, that doesn’t seem fair...”
>”Vad can I do, ah? I just ignore them.”
>She comes to a slow stop.
>”Here we are, nummer 13 should be just down there, bra?”
”Uh, thanks?”
>She gives you a wide smile, her pearly fangs glinting slightly in the sun.
>You turn down the alley with your things.
>”Hej! W-wait, what’s your name?”
”It, uh, it’s Anonymous. My friends call me Anon. You?”
>”Florence. My name’s Florence.”
>She giggles a little before turning tail and scampering off down the street.
>”See you around, Anon! Adjö!”

>The door to the apartment has a shiny blue finish.
>You almost don’t want to knock on it, you know how dirty you are.
>Before you can knock, the door swings open.
”Uh, hel-”
>You expect the face of a batpony to greet you, but what you get instead is an angry looking blue unicorn mare barging past you, nursing an eye with a hoof.
>What?
>You hear frantic hooves coming down the stairs.
>”Twinkle! Wait, I didn’t mean to! I-”
>She shouts back without even turning to look.
>”Just stay AWAY from me, Aux, you creep!”
>He sighs and turns to go back inside, you notice his member is out.
>Ah, right, things didn’t go so well then.
>As if you couldn’t have guessed from her storming off.
>He notices you standing there and quickly re-sheathes.
>”Can I help y- Wait, Anon?”
“Uncle?”
>”Sorry you had to see all that, I uh…you look terrible.”
“Yeah, the trip didn’t go quite as planned.”
>”Let’s go inside, then you can tell me all about it.”
>He beckons you inside, and you step in over the threshold.