Anonymous in Nu-Questria

You are sitting comfortably in the atrium the next morning when they arrive. Izzy notices first. She skids on her way to the door.

Izzy flings open the door and shouts, “Sunny! Hitch!”

You hear the distant responses of two ponies.

You put down the tea you were sipping on the end table, and rise up off your seat. Your tunic is clean, your face is freshly shaven, and you feel a lot more relaxed than you did three days ago.

Sunny is the first to trot inside the house, glancing up at you with a relieved grin. Her fur and thick braid are slick with sweat, like she just galloped five miles straight.

“Hey Anon!” She says, beaming. She flops her butt down on the stone tiles and breathes heavily.

Hitch follows after, walking in and flicking the sweat off his mane with a hoof. “Hoo!” He exclaims.

Hitch nearly double takes when he first sees you. He notices your fuzzy custom-made tunic, the dark slacks with rolled-up cuffs, and your bare feet in custom-made sandals with brightly dyed twine for straps. He cracks a smile.

“What in the hay did you do to the poor guy, Izzy?” Hitch chuckles as he takes a seat.

Izzy bounds in behind Hitch and hugs him from behind. “I know! Isn’t it great?!” She cackles with glee as she looks at you.

Hitch tilts his head in amazement. “Well, he certainly seems more... uh, comfortable, now.”

You smirk and adjust your shirt.

Sunny catches her breath and nods confidently at you. “You look like a new human, Anon!”

“Why thank you.” You say, bowing sarcastically. “Welcome back little pones.”

Sunny says. “Anon, I’d like to introduce the newest member of our team.”

Sunny shows you a bold smile as she gestures her hoof to the door.

An earth pony mare steps inside. She has a tan coat and an auburn mane cropped short in a small pony tail. She walks with the air of a professional contractor, surveying the home with studious eyes.

Her eyes go wide as she looks up at you. “Wow. Big fella, ain’t ‘cha?” She says. Her mouth hangs open for a moment.

The accent is pure Hope Hollow. Must be some of the descendants made it out to to Maretime Bay. Small world.

“Yes,” You say with a small smile. “I get that a lot.”

She takes a seat. “Name’s Spanner Sparks. Pleased ta meet ya.” She gives you a single-hoof salute.

“Ah, so you must be the one that’s going to repair the hot air balloons.” You ask.

“Well, yes,“ Sunny says. “But not exactly. One second.” She takes out a phone and wipes the screen clean with a wave of her fetlock.

“What’s this?” You ask, crouching down a bit.

“Well, to put it simply, we found something better than a hot air balloon.” Sunny says. She beams, then unlocks the phone with her hoof and holds it up to you.

There’s a video on the display. It begins with a close-up of Pipp’s face in a dark room, her camera’s flashlight the only source of light. “Oh. My. Feathers. We just hit the big time. You all NEED to see this! It’s super totes fab~!!” Pipp gushes as she trots in place.

The camera quickly spins around and focuses on something. It’s quite grainy due to the dim lighting, but you can make out what seems to be a cavernous hangar, inside which the massive bow of a ship towers in the darkness. You can tell from the reflected light that it is alabaster with gold trim, the floral motifs and the slender hull evoke a stunning reflection of Canterlot architectural aesthetics.

Most of the ship’s massive frame is covered in a disintegrating tan tarp. However, the camera zooms and focuses on a section above it. There’s a steel frame jutting out in a pylon above the top deck.

You’ve never seen an airship of this design, but it looks like it’s mostly intact aside from the giant balloon envelope and its inner ballonets. How did they-

“Pretty great, right?” Sunny says, raising her head up tall and puffing her chest out confidently.

“Well, well,” You say. “You found an airship.”

Sunny puts her phone away. You lean back and look at the four ponies. You cross your arms.

“Not too shabby. How’d you pull that off?” You ask.

“Long story. Zipp and Pipp found a hidden entrance beneath Zephyr Heights when they were searching for signs of natural gas storage or refinement.” Sunny says.

“Oh?” You ask.

“They followed this winding passageway to find it just sitting there. Do you know what this is, Anon? It’s a hangar! This ship has been preserved for generations right beneath Zephyr Heights!” Her braid flops around as she says excitedly.

The other ponies are all grinning proudly, they look excited. You feel the familiar rise of your skepticism edging into your mind.

“So the plan, if I’m getting this right, is to have you,” You say, pointing at Spanner, “Fix up this ship and get it running again?”

Spanner looks a bit flustered and leans her head back. “Well, I uh-” She says.

“It’ll be a team effort.” Sunny interrupts. Sunny and Hitch nod confidently. Izzy taps her hooves excitedly.

“Huh.” You say.

Sunny takes a step forward and leans her neck up at you.

“Anon, that’s not all.” She says. “There’s one more thing we need to get the airship working. One final piece.”

You roll your eyes and throw up your hands dramatically. “Oh let me guess, is it the power of friendship?” You say with a sarcastic smile.

“No, actually.” Sunny says, ignoring your tone. “We can’t use the crystals we have to power the ship. Zipp already tried.”

“Oh?” You ask. You lean forward curiously.

Sunny leans down to read something from her phone as she explains. “There’s a critical component missing: this airship runs on a magic amplification grid. None of the arcane components of the ship will work if there isn’t a stable field being generated.”

You scratch your chin. “Hm.” You say, lowering your brow. “Well what happened to the one already inside the ship?” You ask.

Hitch clears his throat. “We have reason to believe it was stolen.” He says.

Sunny nods. “There were signs of forced entry. We can’t tell how long ago it was, but it seems like the ship was partially scrapped. They took the amplification crystal for sure.”

“I see.” You say.

“We’ll need to discuss this, Anon. I need to know what kind of critters you think would be able to pry off steel doors from their hinges.” Hitch says with a authoritative tone.

“Hm... okay.” You say. You decide to take a seat back on the oversized pillow to think. “Doesn’t really narrow it down much.”

Sunny looks behind her at Spanner and Izzy. “Oh, and Spanner, please feel free to make yourself at home.”

Spanner flashes a slightly anxious smile as Izzy wraps a hoof around her back.

“Yeah! Let me show you around! It’s so great to meet another earth pony!” Izzy says as she leads Spanner towards the kitchen.

Sunny walks over and sits down in front of you. Hitch paces around the atrium as Sunny takes off her bookbag and retrieves her journal from inside. She flips it open with her teeth.

“We have reason to believe it might be a mythical creature of some kind.” She pages through, balancing it on her hoof.

“What, did they find tracks or something?”

Sunny nods. She pulls out a torn page from a book and slides it over on the floor to you.

You catch the parchment with your index and middle finger and flip it up to your face.

Looks to be a description of a canid species that walks on two legs with overgrown front paws and toenails. There’s a print that definitely looks like an oversized canine. A diamond dog? Could it really be?

“Hm.” You say, lowering the parchment. “Seems likely...”

Sunny grins.

“But why didn’t any pegasi notice them around?” You ask.

“They found a hole in one of the walls. It looks like it had collapsed inward, but they also found a narrow tunnel that had claw scrapes all over it.” Sunny explains.

You nod. So they came in from beneath.

“Unfortunately they couldn’t follow it, but the tunnel was intentionally collapsed further in. It would take months to dig out.” She says in a concerned tone.

“Alright.” You say, nodding. “Well, if it was diamond dogs, then they probably stole it as a treasure and not for its magical properties. They’re dumb as hell and they just like sparkly shit.”

Sunny tilts her head quickly. “Really?” She asks.

“Yeah, they are obsessed with precious gems. And if you don’t know when they stole it, who’s to say where it ended up? Could be miles underground for all we know.” You say with a shrug.

Hitch shakes his head as he trots over. “Nah, that doesn’t add up. Those dogs had a plan, I’m sure of it. They’re living around the area somewhere, and with your knowledge we can track them down.”

He stomps a hoof and looks at you with a challenging stare. “I’m sure of it!”

You shrug. “Well Sheriff, that’s fine. I won’t stop you from playing dog catcher if you want.” You say with a sly smile. He lowers his brow and frowns.

“You’ll see, Anon.” Hitch says with a cocky grin. “I’ve never been wrong about a case before.”

You nod politely with a smug look on your face. “Sure. We’ll see.” You say.

Sunny is making notes in her journal, moving the pen with her teeth.
She takes the pen out of her mouth and leans back with a grin. “Alright Anon, so we just have to track them down to their hideout beneath Zephyr Heights, then steal it back from them, right?” She says.

“Essentially.” You say. “You could also just trick them into giving it to you.”

“Hm... Tricking them?” Sunny says, tapping pen to her chin.

“Yeah, you could just lure them into a trap, or hell, probably just throwing gems at them would work. They’re easily distracted.” You say.

Sunny is jotting all this down in her notebook.

You hear the voices of Izzy and Spanner reverberating from the kitchen. You can hear Izzy gushing about something. Spanner makes polite comments back to her.

“This will take some more investigating...” Sunny says as her eyes wander around the room. “Alright. For now let’s just get ready to move out to Zephyr Heights.”

“Hah,” You say, shaking your head. “Ready to rush off again already? You just got here.”

“There’s no time to lose, Anon!” Sunny says enthusiastically. “This is the biggest breakthrough to Ancient Equestria’s secrets that we’ve had in months!”

You smirk a bit. Yet you don’t feel too inspired.

“Alright, well I’ll be ready when you are.” You say.

Sunny and Hitch both turn to go check on their new friend in the kitchen. You lean back on the pillow, your hands behind your head.

Diamond dogs, really? You figured that other species survived. But why are dogs here of all places? You think about what other secrets might be down there along with the yellow-eyed mutts. You start to feel a bit self-conscious about the broach on your chest.