The Broken And The Damned
Author's Note
This is told from the perspective of Aryanne, and serves as a sort-of sequel/response to "Aryanne Gets Executed" by Hardcover. This is parody and meta-critique, but I do want to make it into a good story nonetheless.
1. Lost And Not Found
"Get up," a gruff voice demanded, "now!"
Aryanne opened her eyes slowly, the pastel-blue unicorn blurred into her field of vision, surrounded by what had become the familiar sights and sounds of her damp, cold jail cell below Canterlot castle. He whipped his spiked silver mane back, his eyes anxiously darted around the cell and up the hallway, as though searching for any witness to his presence.
He had a powerful arcane aura. Aryanne slipped out of bed and grinned, admiring the brave soldier who had evidently been sent to rescue her. She wasn't used to seeing soldiers without their uniforms, but she supposed that the familiar style and iconography of the Germaney Reich wouldn't be able to slip into this hostile monarchy unnoticed. His mane and tail were also unorthodox, not an approved cut at home, but she gathered that a spy needed to blend in with his surroundings.
"Luftkrieg sent you?" She asked.
The yells of guards echoed down the hallway. The blue unicorn leapt towards her, his horn lighting up in a radiance of silver-grey as they tumbled together onto the golden grains of a field. He blushed and grinned as his heavy body landed on top of her lighter frame.
"Warn me before you do something like that, soldier." Aryanne shoved him off with an irritated scowl, "identify yourself."
"Soldier?" The unicorn asked, "who's Luftkrieg?"
Aryanne wondered if this unicorn was trying to play games with her, she backed up slowly into the grains. The familiar smell of fresh barley filled her nostrils, but she was far from home. What had started as a diplomatic mission to find sympathisers for her peoples' ideology had quickly turned into a potentially fatal encounter.
She looked over at the unicorn, who had pulled a cigarette from its box and set the end alight with his magic. Not to be rude, he offered her the box. She typically didn't smoke, but she was anxious and on edge, and anything that might help her to keep her calm was appreciated. She cautiously took one of the Lucky Hooves with her mouth, and impatiently waited for the unicorn to light it for her. She drew in a breath of the intoxicating tobacco, and exhaled slowly, a smile crossing her face as she took in the fumes.
"Who are you, unicorn?"
"Quill Pen," the unicorn replied, "I am -- well, I was -- a Canterlot journalist."
"A member of the lügenpresse? Is this the best my sister could do?" Aryanne was taken aback.
"Nice to meet you too. Aryanne, is it? And I assume your sister is Luftkrieg."
The earth pony took a deep breath to scold the unicorn, but voices and hoofsteps in the distance focused her on the task. The winds picked up and swept the barley around them, the bitter cold of the night air suddenly felt cutting and savage.
"Why did you do this? Are you one of us?"
"A Nazi? Buck no," Quill laughed, "you're more likely to find an eight-eyed zebra in these parts than a Nazi."
"I demand that you take me to the local fascist party at once." Aryanne said.
"Sorry, no can do." The unicorn said bluntly.
"And why not? You will be well-rewarded for your bravery."
"There's no such thing. There might be ten fascists in all of Equestria."
Aryanne looked for any sign in the unicorn's steely grey eyes that he was joking, but she found no glint of humor or sarcasm. Was it true? She had heard so many rumors of Nazis and fascists infesting this land just waiting for a leader to take them forward, yet this journalist had found none of them? Pegasi swooped overhead, they must not have spotted the two ponies hiding out in the long grass, but they renewed her sense of urgency.
"This way," the unicorn said coldly, wondering in the direction of the dimly lit woodlands that bordered the field.
"Where are you taking me?" Aryanne demanded.
"To safety," Quill said, "unless you'd rather chance it with the next pegasus squadron."
Aryanne reluctantly followed him, his silent hoofsteps leading the way into the menacing-looking woods. The earth pony had no idea where she was being led to, but anything had to be better than awaiting her death in a jail cell. If this journalist thought that he was going to extract information from her, he would be very disappointed. Aryanne would rather die than betray the Germaney Reich.
Her eyes fixated on his cutie mark, a quill pen in a pot of ink. It jostled nonchalantly as he plodded into the thick mud, willow trees towered over them both. She wasn't sure what to make of his demeanor, he didn't seem thrilled to be walking with her, but he didn't seem to be afraid of her either. Was he cluelessly ignorant about what happened to his kind back in Germaney?
"Where are we going?" Aryanne reiterated the question.
"Be quiet." The unicorn said, without even glancing back, "the trees have ears."
Aryanne jumped as an owl hooted in the distance, prompting a rare grin from Quill's steely face. She blushed at the thought of having shown weakness in front of a commoner, but he didn't seem to be bothered. Eventually, after trudging through what seemed like an endless swamp's worth of mud, the filthy ponies came to a disheveled three storey inn, cast away in the middle of the forest on the outskirts of a small village.
Music played loudly inside, and the jovial voices of intoxicated singing boomed along with it. The dim lanterns inside flickered and gave the impression of the world's worst light show. This seemed like a strange place for an interrogation.
"Wait here," Quill barked, motioning to a cart filled with straw. Before she could respond, he slinked off towards the door. She shrank low to the ground and watched his silhouette as he engaged in hushed discussions with the burly-looking bouncer. Her eyes widened as a griffin came to the door and passed him a bag. Was this his torture equipment? She thought about trying to overpower the unicorn, but she'd be no match for all three of them. He started heading back towards her with the satchel, a smile on his face.
"Here," he said, throwing the satchel in her direction, "put this on."
Aryanne peeked inside the bag and saw a peasant dress, barely made from a better material than the scuffed bag itself. She glared daggers at him, but deep down, she knew he was right. She hesitantly took the dress from the bag and pulled it on, covering her perfect white coat and proud cutie mark up to evade detection, the humiliation was unreal.
"You look great," the unicorn smirked.
"You spoke to a griffin." Aryanne put on an educational tone. "Ponies do not speak to griffins."
"Zvi's a swell guy," Quill said, "wait til you meet the changelings, the zebras..."
"You're enjoying this too much." She said.
"Hey, a stallion's gotta have some fun," Quill grinned.
He headed back towards the door, ushering her to follow. She was deeply uncomfortable with this, but Quill's demeanor didn't seem like that of a torturer or maniac. Still, no pony who would sully himself to associate with griffins, changelings and zebras could be trusted. He might escape the worst of her punishments when she took power, but his behavior would be corrected, nonetheless.
Zvi, the griffin, greeted them both with a smile and a cheery wave. Aryanne tried to hide her resentment, her brilliant blue eyes refusing to meet his gaze.
"Aryanne, I take it?" The griffin extended a claw. Aryanne looked at it, then reluctantly shook it.
"You must be Zvi."
"Follow me," Zvi's tone took a sour turn as the three of them hurried inside.
They walked past the rowdy bar, trying not to draw attention to the death row prisoner they were harboring. Aryanne looked on with disgust as Equestrians of all species sung, danced, and even kissed and grinded against each other. She finally understood the saying, 'the belly of the beast', as she made her way past these degenerates and untermensch.
As she tried to make a mental note of this place for after her conquest, it dawned on Aryanne that she didn't have the slightest idea where she was. Much like the untermensch in Germaney, she was being forced to hide herself and trust shadowy strangers who refused to tell her much of anything. Was this some kind of ironic 'friendship lesson', planned from the start to make her see the underbelly of the Reich's ideology? If so, she was determined that it wouldn't work.
Zvi led the way up two flights of stairs to what had once been a large lounge area. It stunk of smoke and cheap liquor, the walls were covered with newspaper cuttings and strings to connect them together. On the sofas in the middle of the room sat a zebra and a changeling, discussing one of the clippings in hushed tones. They clearly hadn't noticed the three of them arrive. The changeling, in particular, looked nothing like any changeling she had seen before. Gone were the dull grey skin and metallic carapace, replaced with chromatic purples, oranges and greens.
As Zvi went over to greet them, Quill blocked Aryanne from entering. He looked into her eyes and gave her the most forced smile she could imagine.
"There's a bathroom downstairs, get yourself cleaned up while we prepare everypony for you to be here." He said.
"You think you can fool me with tha-"
"Relax," Quill cut her off, "it's just an ordinary boring bathroom. We just need to make sure everypony here is ready to meet you, that's all."
"And what about me?" Aryanne demanded in a hushed tone, "has anypony asked if I'm ready to meet journalists, griffins, sparkly multi-colored changelings, and griffins? To shake their hooves and claws and pretend everything is fine?"
Quill gave her a 'you cannot possibly be serious look'. She looked away, watching Zvi, the zebra, and the changeling as they engaged in what appeared to be an animated and uncomfortable discussion.
"Look, nopony forced you to come to Equestria, especially at a time like this, but if you help us, we will get you home."
"And how am I supposed to trust you?"
"Because if we don't trust each other, we're all dead." Quill said simply. "Like it or not, we're all you have."
"And how can I help you?"
"Equestria has fallen prey to some... authoritarian rulings lately," Quill said, "we thought you might be able to help us piece together why."
Aryanne smiled. She finally understood what these creatures wanted: an explanation for why their liberal shithole had failed. She nodded and headed back down the stairs and towards the bathroom.