“Welcome back, Anon. Did you manage to get what you needed?” Twilight eagerly asked as Anon opened his front door, immediately appearing right in front of him. This cause him to jump, nearly dropping the bag that was held loosely in one hand.

“Don’t… do that again.” Anon said, sounding somewhat out of breath.

“You seem really on edge all of a sudden. Are you okay?” Twilight asked, instantly going into caring mode.

“Yeah, that might have something to do with that creepy as fuck shop owner. I don’t want to have to go there again anytime soon.”

“Oh you mean Lillie?” Anon nodded. “Aw she’s a real nice mare once you get to know her, and even before you get to know her actually. She may be a little… excitable, but she’s harmless.”

“She’s too much like Pinkie for my liking. But yeah, I suppose I got what I needed, although it costed an arm and a leg.” Anon said, dumping the bag on the floor, kicking the door shut and taking his coat and shoes off.

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked, tilting her head to the side in that really cute manner ponies do when they get confused.

“Well, I got a collar and leash, but it costed forty bits. You know that’s a point, I don’t remember her charging me for the leash…” Anon trailed off, a contemplative look on his face.

“What kind of collar did you get then? I know that they do some really expensive stuff, but I didn’t think you’d want to spend a fortune on Starlight, at least not yet.”

“Fuck it, I’ll just open it now.” Anon said, picking up the bag and walking into the kitchen, Twilight trailing behind. He then just upturned the bag over the kitchen table, causing three things to fall out: the collar, the leash, and the receipt. Anon picked up the receipt and looked over it. “Huh, so they came in a bundle. That makes sense I guess.” He said more to himself than to Twilight.

Twilight tried to use her magic to pick up the collar. She just glanced over at Anon and giggled sheepishly when nothing happened. She then picked the collar clumsily up in her hooves. “Is this… leather?” She asked, turning the collar round in her hooves. She then looked at the tag. It was the same as it was in the store, however it now had two extra engravings, one on each side: The front had ‘Starlight’ engraved in fancy text, with a small heart dotting the ‘I’, and the back had ‘Property of Anon’ written in the same text, although slightly smaller.

“You’re not bothered by it?” Anon said in answer to Twilight’s question. He then put the receipt down and took a glance over at the collar. Once he determined what was written on it he couldn’t help but groan.

“No not really, I understand that leather is a very popular material used in fashion for some other races, such as griffins. I think it is quite good that parts of a cow’s body are used once they, um, pass. I believe they also prefer that some use comes from themselves when they do, in fact.” Twilight started to say.

“Oh, um, cool then. It wasn’t exactly my choice, though. I would’ve just gone for a plain one if it was my choice.” Anon said, hoping not to start Twilight on full explanation mode.

“Well, I’m sure Lillie knew exactly what she was talking about, and it is a very nice collar.” Twilight said, a smile spreading across her face.

“Right… Well, ignoring what’s written on it, let’s just hope that starlight likes it, or failing that will at least not make my life difficult when I try to force her into it.”

As if on cue, a very tired looking Starlight slowly made her way into the kitchen. She looked up at Anon, who was now looking straight at her. Twilight was just standing there looking between the two. “Well, I gotta head off now, I’m afraid. Thanks for letting me stay, Anon. Behave yourself, Starlight…” She said, giving Starlight a very disappointed look. Yeah, you know the one.

“Yeah, sure. I’ll catch you around, Twiggles.” Anon said, reaching over to boop her just before she turned, walking back to the front door. 

As soon as she was out the door, Anon started. “Right, I’ve just been out to the shop while you were asleep. I got you something so we can actually go out now. Not that that’ll probably happen much.” He reached down and picked up the collar that Twilight had put back on the table.

The instant that Starlight saw what it was, she felt her breath catch. Her cheeks took on a red hue, and she started slowly backing up. She was also very slightly shaking her head.

“I’m afraid this is the only way this is gonna work, unless I literally carry you everywhere, which ain’t happening.” Anon started to walk over to Starlight, collar in hand. She had now backed up into the cupboards on one side of the kitchen, and could go no further. He hated to admit it, but she actually looked really cute at the minute.

He reached forward, collar poised in one hand, and wrapped the collar around her neck. Surprisingly, she didn’t do anything to resist, although that might have had something to do with her major fuck-up last night. He then fastened the buckle on the collar, tightening it just enough so as not to strangle her. Lastly, he shifted it round so the tag was facing forwards.

Backing up and standing, he admired the collar. It fit perfectly, and it actually did look good on her. The engravings on the tag weren’t even that noticeable. “Huh, I guess that mare really did know what she was doing, even without having seen you…” He said, again more to himself than Starlight.

Starlight was yet again sitting there, much like a deer in headlights. “I’m afraid you’re gonna need to keep that on. At least it suits you. I hope you don’t mind that its leather, I kinda got forced into it.”

The instant she realised that it was leather her eyes went wide and she sat down, lifting up her front hooves and pawing at the collar in an attempt to get it off. Surprisingly, when she couldn’t get it off, she actually spoke. “W-why would you get leather! I-it used to be part of a cow! It’s just not right!” She half wailed, tears forming in her eyes.

“Wow, since when did you care about stuff like that? You literally enslaved ponies before.” He stood there and thought for a second. “Wow, I never even realised it. This is some mad poetic justice…” He said to himself, but still loud enough for Starlight to hear.

“I still care about anything dying just to be used as an item of clothing. I never killed anyone, I just wanted to make them happy!”

“Alright, let me put this another way. If the cow was dead anyway, say from old age, what would be the harm in putting it’s body to use, instead of just burying it for it to rot away?” Anon asked with a matter of fact tone and a raised eyebrow.

Starlight just stood there and looked up at him, debating what he just said. “…I suppose that is a very good point.” She admitted. “I still don’t really like it though…”

“Well, I’m afraid you’re going to have to put up with a lot of things you don’t like doing while you’re with me. Don’t forget you’re here as an alternative to probably being trialled and thrown in Canterlot dungeon.”

She didn’t say anything to that, just hanging her head in defeat. “Good girl.” Anon could help but say. She actually looked really cute being all submissive. She probably wanted to retort but most likely thought better of it, because she didn’t move.

“Well, now that I’ve got this out of the way, I’ll make us some breakfast.” He glanced over at the clock on the kitchen wall above the door. “Holy fuck, it’s already one! Okay fuck breakfast, I guess it’s lunch now. Not that it makes much of a difference to me.”

With that, Anon walks over to the fridge, opening it to see if there was anything good within. Being sods law, it turns out that there was barely anything left. “Mother fucker…” He swore to himself “I thought I had more than this… There ain’t enough here to keep a sparrow alive, let alone feed both of us.” He turns around to Starlight, slamming the fridge closed in the process. “Well, turns out I got no food left. I guess we’re gonna be trying out that new collar and leash much sooner than I thought.”

Starlight looked like she was about to cry upon hearing that.

-

Fifteen minutes later found Anon walking around Ponyville market holding a sizeable bag of groceries. At least, he was attempting to walk. His pace was reduced to a dawdle due to the very obstinate Starlight currently walking at the average speed of Rainbow’s pet, Tank, with her head hung low, horn nearly hitting the ground, and a permanent blush on her face.

Anon had just about had enough. Starlight had been walking at that pace since the instant ponies started looking. “Look, I know this is embarrassing for you, but the quicker we get this over with the quicker we can get back to have lunch. I’m now beyond starving.” He tried to persuade her, at least attempting to be polite before he resorted to literally dragging her slow ass back.

She sped up a tiny bit, now walking at about the speed of the average pony’s walk, which was still slower than Anon’s pace. Her head was still hung, though. “Well, that’s slightly better I guess.” Anon said exasperatedly as he sped up a tiny bit.

About half a minute later, a voice spoke up from their right. “Hey Anon, how’s it goin’?”

He glanced right as the pony spoke, and noticed it was Applejack. He changed his course towards the farm pony’s stall, which contained nothing but apples, unsurprisingly.

“Hey AJ. It’s going alright, I guess as good as it can go minus a couple of issues.” He replied, putting the bags he was carrying on the floor and leaning up against the stall.

“What’s happened then?” She asked, eyeing Starlight warily, who was now sat next to Anon looking at the ground with her ears down.

“Nothing too bad, although she did throw a tantrum last night while I was in bed, trashing my living room. The only thing she really broke was my coffee table, which I need to get a new one. I’ve been needing a better one anyway.”

“That sounds a lot worse than ‘nothing too bad’.” She paused, thinking for a minute. “If ya want, I can probably make ya a new table, we got plenty ‘a wood back at the farm which is just laying around unused.”

“Wow really?” She nodded and smiled. “I mean, it don’t have to be anything too fancy, just a table about 2 feet tall by 2 and 4 feet square. If you don’t mind doing it, I’d be grateful for that. How much would it cost?”

“Don’t worry about cost, Sugarcube, ah still feel pretty bad that ya got roped into this mess.” She tilted her hat a bit in embarrassment.

“Well, cheers then. Not everyday someone randomly comes to you offering to make a new table from scratch for free.”

“Well ah mean, what are friends for?” She paused for another few seconds. “Now ya wanna buy some apples?”

Anon laughed. “Yeah, I guess I will buy some apples. I’ll take a bag of like 12 or something.”

“One bag of apples coming up!” She exclaimed, seemingly too happy that she gets to sell some apples. She ducked down under the stall, and came up a few seconds later with a massive bag of apples that must’ve had like 30 in it.

“Oh, uhhhh, thanks. How much is this?”

“Two bits.” Anon fished around his pocket and grabbed two bits, dropping them on the stall.

“Thank ya kindly, Sugarcube. I’ll get started on yer table probably later today. I’ll try and have it done in a couple ‘a days.”

“Take your time, It’s not too urgent. Thanks again, AJ.” Anon picked up his abundance of bags and finally started walking away, almost dragging Starlight with him.

“Well, that solves one problem. The next problem is a bit more pressing: what are we gonna have for breakfast?”

-

“Oh thank fuck. My arms are killing me now.” Anon said as he dumped the mass of bags onto the kitchen table, and dropping into one of the chairs. “At least they only have paper bags here. Plastic bags dig into your hands so much.”

He sat at the table for a minute or two before deciding to get up and start emptying the bags. “Hey, do ya want an apple?” He asked Starlight, who was sat at the only other kitchen chair, with the collar and leash still round her neck.

“Not really. I’m not a fan of apples.”

“Oh fucking really, I get like 30 apples only for us both to not really like them. Maybe I can make them into something decent.”

Starlight didn’t say anything in reply. “Well, what do you want for breakfast then? We’ve got enough, now. I was thinking pancakes cos I fucking love them, and screw you for calling me cheap for wanting them.”

“Pancakes are fine.”

“Hey, at least I’m getting spoken answers now. We’re making progress.”

No answer. “Well, I guess I better whip us up some food then.” He turned and opened the newly stocked fridge, grabbing a bottle of milk from it. He then went to the cupboards and grabbed some eggs and flour.

“Uh, what else do I need for pancakes…” He mused to himself, looking blankly into the cupboard.

“Sugar, lemon juice, syrup?” Starlight spoke up

“Oh yeah. Don’t have any lemon juice, we’ll just have to have syrup.”

“And berries and whipped cream.”

“Fuck how much to you want on your pancakes? I got some whipped cream I think. I only got raspberries though.” He opened the fridge and rummaged around until he pulled out a bottle of whipped cream, which he put next to the rest of the stuff on the worktop.

“I’ll make us 3 each, okay?”

“Sure.”

“Kay.” A bowl came out next, and a whisk. He poured all the ingredients for the batter into the bowl (without measuring, because who actually measures stuff out anyway), and started whisking.

-

A few minutes later, there were 2 plates each with three relatively decent looking pancakes on the table.

“I hope you find them alright. I’m no chef, but I’m not overly horrible at cooking.”

She just shoved her muzzle into it, as she was unable to use magic to eat. It looked pretty adorable to Anon, albeit a bit disgusting at the same time. “They’re alright.” She said, pulling back for a second. 

“… Yeah you need a better way to eat beyond just shoving your muzzle into something. And I ain’t feeding you.” She gave Anon a bit of a glare when he said that, which was understandable.

“Maybe there’s such a thing as cutlery that hooks onto your hoof… I mean, earth ponies have gotta eat somehow, right?” He mused as Starlight continued to eat with her muzzle.

For the minute Anon just put that out of his mind and resorted to eating his own pancakes, which were pretty good in his opinion.

It only took them five or so minutes to eat their breakfast, which they did in silence.

Once they had finished their breakfast, Anon headed into the living room, him having dumped the plates and cutlery in the sink for cleaning later, or whenever he could be assed.

He looked in despair at the place where his coffee table used to be, but then remembered that he’d hopefully have a replacement in a day or two. He’d have to make do with the arm of a chair for coffee in the meantime.

Starlight followed him in, just as he took a seat down in his favourite armchair. Surprisingly, she spoke. “What are we going to do now, then?”

“Well, I don’t know what you’re gonna do, but I’m gonna do some reading. I haven’t been able to since you ‘arrived’. If you want something to do, go clean the dishes up or something. Do something useful that makes up for you ruining my shit last night.”

She didn’t look pleased that Anon suggested her doing chores like a maid, or well, a slave, but she didn’t say anything, and simply turned around and made her way back into the kitchen.

“Wow is she actually going to do it? Maybe she really does want to get on my good side after last night. Or she’s like your typical woman and feels obliged to actually do the house chores. Maybe I could make use of her…” Anon contemplated quietly to himself once he assumed Starlight was out of range.

He proceeded to get up and look through the now neatly organised books on the bookshelf for something to read. He didn’t have many books, but he had at least one book on every topic you could think of.

“Well, at least Twilight re-arranged my bookshelf. How nice of her. This is the most arranged it’s ever been.” It turned out while Anon had been out, Twilight had finished cleaning up his living room, which included re-arranging the bookshelf.

He found the book he was looking for quite easily, and proceeded to pick it out and sit back down with it. It was quite ironic, really: the book he selected was one he had only started reading recently, and was some history book of sorts about the Crystal Empire. Anon had never been there, but had learnt about it from Twilight and the others. It seemed interesting to him, so he decided to do some reading on it.

It was quite ironic, really. He had read (and heard) that King Sombra had enslaved the crystal ponies, and the book contained some details which he definitely hadn’t heard before, and he himself had now, despite not intending to, enslaved a pony. He couldn’t help but think of himself like Sombra for that.

At least Anon didn’t literally torture ponies when they didn’t do what they were told.

But he might be willing to do some of those other things. They actually seemed to intrigue him…