For there is no friend like a sister in calm or stormy weather;
To cheer one on a tedious way,
To fetch one if one goes astray,
To lift one if one totters down,
To strengthen whilst one stands.

~Christina Rossetti~

Vanhoover, Equestria: Midnight: Spring of 990 PN (Post Nightmare)

The moonlight shines over the darkened streets of Vanhoover. Everywhere around the once bustling streets is shrouded in darkness, and the rain from the local pegasi pours down over the dark and gloomy streets. Occasionally, there would be a guard dressed in black and red armor roaming the streets with a magic light illuminating his or her sight from said guard's horn; black and red being the local color of the guards for Vanhoover, after all.

The rain continues to pour down, while a unicorn mare with a white coat and a red and orange mane trots through the storm on two hooves. On her flanks, a cutie mark of a smiling foal in the center of a heart rests.

She trots towards a tall white building with a hanging sign on the top that reads "Vanhoover Love-And-Tolerance Orphanage". As she trots through the empty streets, her mane continues to soak and flail helplessly down her back. With a grunt, she says in a slightly annoyed tone, "Ugh! Why didn't I read that manual on ward spells, yet? At least they could keep me from getting soaked in this rain!" Finally, she starts to see the familiar glow of the single light post that rests in the center of the town square; the exact location where her family's business was built before even she was born.

As she crosses the intersection from the alleyway she was running through, however, a thick bolt of lightning strikes nearby; causing her to jump and yelp out of fear, then rush towards the nearest wall. Then another sound catches her ears, though this one is far more different than what she expected to hear... the sound of an infant screaming and crying.

Quickly, the mare makes a mad dash through the storm and follows the source of the screaming foal. Little does she know that the screaming would lead her straight to the front doorstep of the orphanage... and inside a small basket with a black charred circle beneath it. Somehow, the basket is completely unharmed, and four letters are engraved on the foot of the basket... "ANON".

When the mare rushes towards the basket, she quickly picks it up and brings it inside the warm building, where she removes the soaking blankets from the baby. Then, as soon as she sees what was inside the blankets, she drops the wet cloth and walks backwards a few steps with her jaw wide open in shock and disbelief.

Inside the basket lies a creature without any fur on it, besides the small thin brown strands on its head. Its skin is a tanned white color, and over its face, a pure white mask is attached to it. The mask has two pure white circular eye sockets, and below them on the lower half of the mask, a long thin mouth is drawn out midway between the centers of the circles. In-between the eyes and mouth, a thin lump protrudes from the mask with a pair of tiny holes in the lower half of the lump that sharply moves back towards the mask, rather than gently slopes up to its eyes like the upper half of the lump.

The most confusing part about this creature is the fact that the eyes of the mask blinks, and its mouth moves based on its emotion. While it cries, the corners of its mouth lowers into a frown, and its eye sockets literally close shut, with tears falling out of them. Also the fact that there isn't any straps holding the mask over its face doesn't help the oddity of the situation, either.

Then the mare realizes what was going on. That isn't a mask over its face... that mask is its face!

She runs up to the infant and quickly lifts it out of the basket. "Oh, you poor little... boy! Don't worry, Mommy's here for you..." she coos before gently wrapping the infant in her arms, and slowly rocking him left and right, which slowly stops the infant's crying, while the pure white circles open up again. The line shrinks down in width until it's about the same width as the lump between the mouth and eyes. As it shrinks, though, it begins to form an "o" shape.

Finally, after thirty seconds of calming silence, the baby begins to giggle, and along with his giggles, his mouth changes from a simple "o" shape into a clockwise "D" shape. His eyes close and arch upwards as he giggles, which makes the mare smile warmly at him.

"My, you are quite a cute one, for an alien!" Then she looks at the letters on the basket, before turning back to him. "Anon."

The baby Anon stops giggling and yawns, while his eyes begin to squint. Then he begins to rub them with his hands, before tucking his left hand in his mouth and suckling on his thumb.

"You have the hands and feet of an ape... but you surely don't seem like one!" The mare says before looking to her right and floating another small blanket towards the baby. Then she carries the baby with her while tucking the baby inside the blanket, and opening the door that leads to the main lobby, where countless playground equipment sits in the darkness. While carrying the baby, however, she closes her eyes and lowers her head, while her horn glows a bright blue color. Following that action, the small toys inside the entire room begins to glow in the same colored aura, and floats together and out of the walkway in a neat and orderly manner.

Once the toys in the room are no longer strewn about everywhere, she slowly opens a door with the word "Nursery" written on it. There, she walks past several sleeping colts and fillies that are all gently breathing and snoring through multiple cribs across the room. She proceeds to carry Anon up to the one on the far-right corner of the room and slowly places him inside it, and on the soft mattress inside, while keeping the covers over him.

After he is no longer in her arms, however, his eyes open up, and he begins to cry again; alerting the rest of the babies in the room, and causing them to cry also.

The mare looks around uneasily before rushing out of the room. When she returns, there are eleven bottles filled to the rim with milk in them floating beside and behind her. In unison, she slowly eases all of the bottles down, and into each and every one of the crying babies' cribs, which silences them all... all of them except one, that is.

In Anon's crib, he continues to cry while the bottle rests near his head. This causes the mare to quickly rush up to him, lift him up from the crib, and gently pat him on the back. Seeing that he continues to cry, she realizes he doesn't need to be burped, so she wraps her hooves around him once again before gently rocking him back and forth.

Then, she begins to gently sing a simple lullaby.

Lullaby... and good night... go to sleep, little filly.

May you dream of brighter days... may your future bring you praise!

May the darkness of the night...

never take your smile's light.

Go to sleep... go to sleep... go to sleep, precious filly.

There is nothing you should fear... for your Mommy is here!

May the darkness of the night...

never dim your smile's light.

Lullaby... and good night... sleep well, my young filly.

Mommy loves you with all her heart... may that love never fall apart!

May the darkness of the night...

never cover your smile's light.

Go to sleep... go to sleep... go to sleep, sweet young filly.

May you learn from right and wrong... may you grow up nice and strong!

May the darkness of the night...

never change your smile's light.

When she finishes singing the lullaby, Anon's eyes are closed tightly, and his hands are curled over his chest. He breaths softly, and doesn't show any risks of crying; he's fast asleep, now.

The mare smiles warmly and slowly places him in his crib before slowly placing the bottle of milk over his mouth. Instinctively, he begins to drink the contents from the bottle, even in his sleep. Then, ever-so-slowly, the mare quietly leaves the room and gently closes the door, before turning towards an unexpected visitor who's sight sends chills down the mare's spine; a tall and slim unicorn stallion with a minty green and white-striped mane tied in a tail behind his head that lowers halfway below his back. His coat is as dark as coal. He has red irises around the pupils of his eyes, and he's wearing, what looks like, a purple tuxedo with a golden trim on the corners where the jacket folds.

In a dark tone, he asks, "Are the little rats asleep now, Loving Mother?"

The mare glares at him before replying, "The proper term is 'fillies and foals', Cold Heart."

With a glare of his own, the stallion points at her and spits, "That's Mr. Cold Heart to you, woman."

Loving Mother glares at him before shaking her head. "Just because you're the Mayor here doesn't mean that you own this property, Cold Heart. Now, if you're not here to adopt anypony, then I'm going to have to ask you to leave!"

Cold Heart's glare intensifies as he drops his hoof and turns to leave. "Mark my words, woman... one of these days, you won't be able to handle this business... and when that day comes, I'll be the first to know!" And like that, he steps out of the building and slams the door... loud enough to wake the children up once again.

Loving Mother sighs before turning back around and stepping back into the nursery to calm the little ones back to sleep.

Vanhoover, Equestria: Midnight: Early Fall of 003 AH (After Harmony)

The scheduled storm covers the dark streets of Vanhoover. For miles on end, several guards are searching nonstop for something, and even entering houses, which cause several disturbed screams to fill the houses, and several families and/or guards turn the lights on; filling the entirety of the streets with light.

From one particular alleyway nearest to the purple-walled, golden-trimmed "Love-And-Tolerate Orphanage", a group of guards drag a screaming family out of their home; a mother and her thirteen-year-old son. She's screaming for the guard to release her son, while the son's screaming for his mom to not let them take him away from her.

The guard finally growls before managing to rip the son from his tight grasp on his mother's hooves, yelling, "LET ME SEE YOUR HOOF!" Finally, after raising the boy's arm up, he growls before shoving him to the ground and looking towards the guards to his right. "KEEP LOOKING! MAYOR COLD HEART WANTS HIM BACK ALIVE... AND THE OTHER ONE!"

The guards salute him before retorting, "SIR, YES SIR!" and running towards other ends of the city.

Then the guard that was pulling the child knelt down to his level and glared daggers at him. The son did so in return, which made the guard smirk. "Next time, don't be so disobedient, or I just might find a new home for you in the dungeons!" Then he inhaled deeply before shouting, "DO I MAKE MYSELF CL-" Before he could finish his sentence, however, a projectile hits him so fast in the face that he flies back with a large trail of red splattering around him; alerting the guards nearby, and causing them to rush to the downed guard... only to find him standing back up, and removing the leaves of a tomato off of his furious burning red forehead. "WHO THREW THAT?!"

A loud whistling noise catches all of their attention, and causes them to look up. What they find next causes the guards' eyes to widen. There, casually leaning over the steeple of a Solar Church (with a steeple that has the sun on the tip) is a young boy with a dark cyan cloak over his face. The cloak is open from the center, and folded over his neck, while his tan furless arms remain exposed, and out in the open. On his wrists, he's wearing a pair of arm pads the same dark cyan color as his cloak. Over his chest, he's wearing a black sleeveless shirt. On his legs, he's wearing a pair of thick breeches the same color as his cloak, with a black sash tied around the top, and a pair of black boots on his feet. Hanging from the sash is a large array of black pouches.

The clothing isn't what catches the guards' attention, though... it's the face within the hood, and the hands attached to the ends of his arms. The figure's face is covered in a pure white mask with white circles where his eyes would be, but no pupils. His mouth is shaped into a smile, and his right hand appears to be moving up and down, with his fingers spread wide apart... he's waving at them. One of the eyes, however, is glowing a light blue color... his left one.

When he speaks, though, his mouth doesn't open up. "Looking for someone? Why didn't you just ask nicely?"

Instead of answering the boy, the "tomatoed" guard points at him, turns his head towards the guards behind him, and shouts, "SEIZE THAT LITTLE RAT!" At his command, the rest of the guards charge after the boy on the rooftops, which he considers as his cue to leave.

With practiced precision, he grips the steeple with his right hand and kicks his legs into the air; causing him to circle over the ground level, and land his feet back onto the roof with enough momentum to give his sprinting getaway a little boost. Then, when he makes it to the other side of the church's roof, he leaps into the air and catches onto the windowsill of the next house before leaping up and catching onto the tip of the roof.

The guards glare at him before rushing around the building. Several more of them pile inside to climb the chimney, but by the time they reach it, the boy slides down the shingles of the roof and leaps towards the ground level. When he lands, though, he kneels to the ground and does a quick forward-motion roll, before lifting himself back off the ground, and continuing to run.

Despite being a little child, the boy outruns the guards, and forces them to try shooting at his legs with bows, arrows, and magic bolts. Each time they fire, however, something near the boy glows light blue, and blocks the projectiles. Finally, when the boy makes it to a dead end, the guards all swarm him, while he continues to run towards the walls. "Give up, Anon! There's nowhere left to run!"

Anon stops for a short moment, turns around, then asks with an amused smile on his mask, "Who says anything about running?"

The guards tilt their heads in confusion before noticing Anon looking up. When they look up as well, their visions are covered by a swarm of tomatoes falling from the sky; courtesy of a small unicorn filly with a light blue mane and a cyan coat with a light blue right eye, and a pure white left one. Around her shoulders, she wears a cloak similar in style and color as Anon's. The only difference is that she isn't wearing any clothing underneath, due to the layer of fur her coat has.

With the guards disoriented and trying to clear their eyes, Anon rushes up towards the one up front and leaps on his shoulders, before leaping from his shoulders to another windowsill that rests on the large, red-bricked building that the unicorn filly was standing on. Then, once he makes it to the top, he reaches his right hand up, but the surface isn't high enough. Regardless, though, the filly catches his hand and, with a lot of strain on her face, pulls him up just high enough for him to reach his left hand on the rooftop. Then he quickly kicks his legs up and lands his feet on the flat surface of the brick building.

"That was too close, Anon!" the filly tells him.

He smiles at her before gently ruffling her mane. "Don't worry, sis. I knew you would pull through!" Then he wraps her in a warm hug which she returns without hesitation. "Thanks for the save again, though, Nonnie."

She gently chuckles before shaking her head. "Oh, Anon... what will you do without me?"

He shrugs his shoulders before replying, "Eh, I'd probably still be in the Detention Center."

Before they could continue their conversation, a loud flapping noise catches their attention. Turning towards the source, their eyes widen when they find a pegasus guard headed straight for them. Anon quickly begins to look around frantically, until his eyes catch sight of a rope. Pointing at it, he turns to Nonnie and says, "Nonnie! We need a zip line!"

Nonnie responds with a nod before closing her eyes and grunting with strain, as the rope quickly levitates up to the two of them and begins to form a circle. Anon quickly reaches into his left hip's pouch and pulls out a thick-stringed necklace with, what appears to be, a tube in the center with a pair of wheels on the sides. In a swift motion, Anon slides the necklace between the rope's opening, which Nonnie closes shortly after, and grips firmly onto the necklace while wrapping his left arm around Nonnie's back.

"Alright, Nonnie! Stay focused, and let me steer, okay?"

Nonnie nods her head and replies, "Okay, Anon!"

With Nonnie's forehooves wrapped around his neck, and her lower hooves wrapped around his stomach, Anon rushes towards the opposite end of the flat roof while the pegasus guard inches closer to them. Then, with his eyes closed, Anon jumps off of the roof, while the necklace's wheel quickly starts to turn; along with the circular rope over them. When he opens his eyes, he smiles widely when he finds the rope and the necklace still intact, and floating them, literally, over the air with Nonnie's magic.

Looking backwards, Anon notices that it wouldn't take long for the guard to catch up to them, though, so he starts skimming through the ground level in high hopes of finding a safe place to land.

That's when the bells of hope ring through the air. Nearly half a mile away from them, a distant train rushes through the darkness, and doesn't appear to be showing any signs of stopping; it wasn't scheduled to stop in Vanhoover, after all. With that in mind, Anon turns his wrist towards his right, which causes the necklace and the rope to turn with him, and allows him to zip through the air, and over the huge city walls.

"Okay, Nonnie! I need you to start lowering the rope slowly!" Anon says with his eyes glued onto the train.

"I know... I can see it!" Nonnie replies, even though her eyes are closed.

Anon chuckles before replying, "I know you can see it! I mean, you do have my left eye, right now! Just wanted to make sure you knew, is all!"

"STOP RIGHT NOW, YOU LITTLE BRATS!" the guard shouts from behind them; cutting their conversation short.

"Anon, I think now's a bad time to be chatting!" Nonnie states matter-of-factly.

"Agreed! Keep focusing, though! We're almost there!" Anon replies.

For what feels like an eternity, the train finally makes it into clear visual distance. At this point, the guard is just a few meters away from the two children. Then, with a pained expression, Nonnie grips onto her forehead in pain, as the aura around the rope starts to diminish. Since the doors to an empty box car is open (and just a meter away from the two of them), Anon takes a deep breath before tossing Nonnie inside it; breaking her concentration, and causing Anon to fall down.

Before he could land on the ground, however, Anon quickly grabs onto a pipe below the train and grips it with both hands, while Nonnie gasps and screams, "ANON!"

"CLOSE THE DOOR! DON'T WORRY, I'LL BE FINE!" Anon shouts; to which Nonnie quickly nods and agrees to, before looking from the lower levels, up to the pegasus guard that, at this point, is close enough to grab her. Before she could react, he grips onto her cloak and causes her to scream.

"I'VE GOT YOU NOW, YOU LITTLE RAT!" the guard shouts before a golf ball sized rock flies from below the box car, lands in his right eye, and causes him to shout in agony while losing his grip on Nonnie. Nonnie falls back into the box car and quickly slams the door shut, right as the guard falls back, gripping his bloodied eye.

After closing her right eye, she manages to see Anon is still under the train, but is now halfway across to the other side. Then, when he reaches the other side, he tosses his cloak up to Nonnie who catches it, while he still keeps his grip on the other half. Ever-so-slowly, he pulls his way into the box car, while Nonnie sighs in relief before smiling warmly at him.

"See? Told you I'll be fine!" Anon says calmly before a pair of hooves grips his left foot and pulls him to the ground. As the children scream, they see the enraged pegasus guard with blood pouring out of his reddened right eye.

With gritted teeth, he venomously growls, "I'll burn you alive for that, kid!"

Instinctively, Anon begins using his right foot to kick the stallion in the face, which only causes him to flinch slightly, yet keep his grip on Anon's left leg. Quickly, Nonnie rushes up to the door and slides it shut; ending right where Anon's foot ends, and the stallion's wrists begin. With a loud crunch, the stallion yells in pain, releasing Anon's leg, and giving him enough time to stand up and kick the stallion's hooves out of the box car with his right foot. Then Anon quickly grips onto the end of the door and slams it shut the rest of the way, before the two of them block it shut with a pair of crates that rest inside it.

Breathing heavily, Anon and Nonnie sit down in the center of the box car with frightened expressions on their faces. Nonnie's horn is glowing brightly on the tip, which illuminates the dark room for the two of them to see.

"That was too close, Anon. A-are you okay?" Nonnie asks her brother.

Anon's lips form a smile, and his eyes close. "Of course, sis! What matters most, though, is if you're okay. He didn't hurt you, did he?"

Nonnie weakly chuckles before shaking her head. "Thankfully, you threw that rock at him just in time! Thank you, big brother."

Anon shakes his head before replying, "I should be thanking you for that last stunt, sis! You saved me, that time, after all!"

Nonnie giggles. "I guess we're even then, huh?"

The two of them chuckle. "That, we are."

Silence fills the room, and Nonnie begins to curl up and shiver. Anon takes note of this and quickly wraps his cloak over her chest. "What about you, brother? You aren't even wearing a long shirt!"

Anon shrugs his shoulders before rubbing the back of his brown hair. "Yeah, but you aren't wearing any clothes under there, so... I guess we're even."

"Yeah, but I have all this fur! You don't have anything under those clothes!"

Anon chuckles again before shaking his head. "Yeah, well my skin adapts to the weather quickly, so... nya!" When he sticks his tongue out, it appears to literally come out of the mask's lips, without the mouth even opening. Regardless, his eyes are closed and arched upwards, while his lips are smiling.

Nonnie sighs in defeat before nodding her head. Then the two of them lay there while the light around Nonnie's horn begins to diminish slightly; creating a soothing glow.

"Hey, Anon?" she asks in a worried tone.

Anon looks her way and raises his left eyebrow at her in attention. "Yes, Nonnie?"

Nonnie sighs deeply before looking at her brother. "Are... are we going to see Mommy again?"

Anon looks away from her, and stares at the ceiling. Then he sighs before replying, "Nonnie... do you want me to sing you our favorite lullaby tonight?"

Nonnie hums for a moment before shaking her head. "Actually... you've been singing it for me enough lately... may I sing it this time, please?"

Anon thinks for a moment before weakly smiling at her. "Sure thing, sis. I love you, good-night."

Nonnie nods her head and smiles back at him. "I love you too, big brother. Sleep well." With that, she takes a deep breath and begins singing the song the two of them always loved hearing their foster mother sing.

Lullaby... and good night... go to sleep, little filly.

May you dream of brighter days... may your future bring you praise!

May the darkness of the night...

never take your smile's light.

Go to sleep... go to sleep... go to sleep, precious filly.

There is nothing you should fear... for your Mommy is here!

May the darkness of the night...

never dim your smile's light.

Lullaby... and good night... sleep well, my young filly.

Mommy loves you with all her heart... may that love never fall apart!

May the darkness of the night...

never cover your smile's light.

Go to sleep... go to sleep... go to sleep, sweet young filly.

May you learn from right and wrong... may you grow up nice and strong!

May the darkness of the night...

never change your smile's light.

When she finishes singing the song, tears begin to fill up in her eyes. Before long, she curls up and cries in her knees, with her forehooves hugging them tightly onto her chest.

Then a pair of arms wrap around her shoulders, which cause her to look up. When she sees Anon staring back at her, she can also see the tears in his eyes, too. Then, throughout the rest of the night, the two of them fall asleep in a warm embrace to keep each other warm.