Anonymous in Nu-Questria

The journey to the pegasus city was largely uneventful, save for the method they used to sneak you in.

Riding a cargo crane up the side of a sheer cliff hundreds of feet in the air is not a lot of fun. Yet somehow you made it in one piece to the abandoned balloon station of the new pegasus metropolis.

All of the ponies, including Zipp and Pipp were waiting for you in the massive terminal. You gazed at the relics of Equestria’s past as you strolled along. An abundance of antiques hung on display or sat broken in tatters in the corners. Such a powerful emanation of history reverberates in the old place, and you feel a painful twinge of nostalgia.

It was glorious in a way, was it not?

The princesses on high in their soaring ramparts, the ships sailing blissfully across perfectly clear skies. The towering cities. The unfathomably wide coasts. Yes. Equestria had something called glory once. It was something to behold. Yet glory doesn’t last.

Glory doesn’t make you happy in the end.

The ponies led you through the back rooms of the station, to a hidden entrance behind a steam generator. There you followed a labyrinthine set of hallways and staircases from fired clay bricks. It lead to a set of heavy iron doors illuminated with a single dingy light bulb.

When the doors open, you glimpse it for the first time.

Now that you stand in front of it, you get a sense of scale to the airship immediately. The low angle of the footage from Pipp's minuscule vantage point made it look much bigger in the video. You would compare the size of the craft to something like a medium yacht. However, it looks sized to comfortably fit larger, perhaps more regal mares. Could it be a royal vessel?

There is a massive space above the craft for the missing balloon. However, they at least got the overhead lights working now.

Zipp leads you and the rest of the ponies up a catwalk. She had set up a temporary base of operations in one of the control room overlooks. Surprisingly, it was still connected to the power and water supplies of the city above. It had modern pony amenities built into the back office. It resembled a barracks of sorts, with cots and lockers lining the walls.

Zipp had spread out a collection of blueprints and device schematics on a big metal table in the main area of the control room. Pony-style terminals and data banks sit in front of the huge windows that look out into the hangar proper. The machines hum and glow with soft multicolored lights behind their buttons.

A fluorescent light over the table is the single brightest light source in the control room. Long shadows are cast on Zipp’s face as she briefs you all on the repair plans.

“So the steel frame only needs minor repairs to reconstruct from the parts we still have, as seen in this diagram here.” She explains. “I’ve marked the ones that were missing or destroyed in the margins.”

Spanner slides the paper over towards her with a hoof. “Hey, not to shabby. You folks are pretty organized. Not like the last job I was on, lemme tell ya.” She smiles a bit as she skims the paper.

Sunny perks up and slowly smiles. “So you think you can do it?” She asks.

Spanner rubs her chin with a hoof. “Well I’ll need to make sure you got the tools fer the job first, don’t cha know...”

Zipp shakes her head and says, “That won’t be a problem. If there’s anything you need, we’ll get it for you.”

Spanner nods, “Alrighty. Well, how are ya planning to make the envelope for the balloon?”

Zipp glances at Izzy. Izzy is wearing her large spectacles and suddenly stares with wide eyes.

“That’ll be Izzy’s job.” Zipp says.

Sunny nudges Izzy and smiles. “Think you can do it Izzy?”

Izzy sticks out her tongue and scrunches her face as she thinks. “Hmm...” She thinks. “I guess a hot air balloon is just like a big bean bag chair, right?” She asks.

You blink and choose not to comment.

“I mean, yeah, think of it like that!” Sunny says cheerfully.

Izzy rubs her hooves together. “Oh great! This will be my best craft yet!” She grins from ear to ear.

Hitch shifts around in his seat and then leans forward across the table.

“Well, then that just leaves one thing. The crystal.” He says in a grim tone.

Zipp nods, returning Hitch’s serious gaze.

Sunny leans in as well. “Well, I take it that there weren’t any leads about diamond dogs then...”

Zipp looks to the side and doesn’t answer. Pipp makes an uneasy face and shakes her head slowly.

Hitch grimaces and leans back. “Well, I didn’t want to have to do this, but I’m left with no choice.”

The other ponies all turn to look at him.

“I’m gonna have to go solo on this one. Track them down myself.” Hitch says. He shakes his mane and adjusts his chest strap.

Zipp shakes her head in disbelief. “Dude, you know that I know this city better than you, what do you think you’ll find?”

Hitch smirks, “Relax Zipp, I’m a professional. I know where criminals typically hide. You can come with me if you like, but you have to promise to keep up.”

“Oh really?” Zipp says. Her eyes narrow in genuine agitation, but you think you see the hint of a smile.

“Ugh,” Sunny says, “Hitch, if you think you can just go galloping into the night and play the hero again you’ve got another thing coming. We agreed that we’d all do this together, remember?”

Hitch looks a little defeated by the remark and lowers his gaze.

“What would be the most likely spot for a diamond dog to hide around the area? That’s what we need to discuss.” She says. “What do you think, Anon?”

You look up as you are suddenly thrust into the conversation. You rub your chin and lean forward on your small stool.

“Well... diamond dogs typically stick to mines. So if they’re anywhere around the city it would probably be hidden deep in a canyon or something.” You say.

“Honestly, it still seems unlikely to me. If there has been diamond dog activity, then some pony would have seen it by now.” You explain.

Wait a second. These ponies have the internet. Smart phones. If there were sightings of magic creatures that would be the best place to look.

You snap your fingers.

“Wait, I got it.” You say, pointing at Zipp. “Show me your internet, Zipp.”

Zipp raises her eyebrows. “Our what?”

“The communication network. You know, the thing linking all your phones?” You ask.

“Uh... right. What are you planning to do exactly...?” She asks.

“It’s simple,” You say with a smug sneer. “We let the other ponies do the work for us.”

The interface for pony computers are pretty puzzling at first. The buttons are large and clumsy, meant for hooves rather than fingers. The nubs on the mouse are meant to fit into pony hooves, and you can’t really get a comfortable grip on it.

Yet you manage. Zipp sat you down at the modern workstation she had set up on one of the office tables and showed you the ropes for their modern web applications. There’s news applications, live-streaming services, photo sharing apps, a pony version of twitter called “Flitter.” It seems so strangely familiar, yet the designs of the sites have a feeling that evokes soft pony sensibilities.

You are scrolling through photos taken in the last month that have the “creature” or “critter” tags on them. Unsurprisingly, all of the promising photos you found with the use of stronger keywords turned out to be blurry hoaxes or ponies trying to troll each other.

You intentionally avoided any posts relating to Pipp and her family. You know she released some photos and videos of you to her public a while back. You decided it was best not to know what the comments were saying.

You scroll more and more. After you count the fortieth selfie with some air-headed pegasus and a frog in the background you start to feel your patience slip. What was their obsession with amphibians? This post has over a thousand “yay” pon-mojis on it. Fuck.

You groan and lean back in your seat, stretching out your arms. You could use some nice tea right about now.

You glance back at Izzy, who is doodling designs on a big sheet of paper with colored pencils. Her eyes are sparkling behind the thick rims of her glasses.

Zipp is next to you on a separate pony workstation. She quickly scans through several tabs and scrolls around as she searches for any promising posts.

Pipp is sitting on a contemporary looking couch and scrolling through her phone. You doubt she’s trying to help out. Sunny, Hitch and Spanner are down in the hangar below, helping organize the tools for the repairs.

“Well, anything so far?” You ask Zipp.

“No... sorry, Anon.” Zipp says without looking away from the screen.

“Ah... well hell, would anyone like some tea?” You say. You stand up from your seat.

Izzy practically throws her head back the moment she hears the word “tea.” She catches her glasses before they fly off her muzzle.

“Oh! Yes. Me please!” She says.

Pipp doesn’t respond, but you assume she’s absorbed in some gossipy posts or something. Zipp glances back at you warmly. “Sure, that’d be nice.”

You make your way to the small tile kitchen in the back room. There’s an electric kettle, and Izzy made sure to bring a variety of teas.

You collect three tea mugs and start boiling the water. As it starts to steam, you suddenly hear a loud gasp from the other room and a murmur of pony chatter.

You walk back in to see the three ponies crowded around Pipp’s phone, looking at the small display with surprise.

“I can’t believe you found that, Pipp” Zipp says. Pipp’s eyes dart to you. There’s a glimmer of hope in them.

You walk over quickly and stand behind them, looking over their heads at the phone.

“What is this?” You ask.

The text is small, but you can make out a tweet. Or a “flit” as they are called. There’s a unicorn mare in the profile picture. It reads:

“Hey all, if you’re into bipedal types and you want to meet up, hit me up in the DMs. xoxo ;3”

You shudder when you see the winking pony smiley face with a cat-mouth.

“Where the fuck...?” You start to ask. You take a step back. For some reason, a chill runs down your spine.

Pipp looks back over her shoulder at you. There’s a hint of a self-assured smile on her face. You don’t like it. Her wings extend excitedly.

Pipp does a single skip towards you as she turns around. “Isn’t it great?! I found it when one of the colts in my Pipp Stream sent the link.” Pipp says.

“Having adoring fans willing to help you out anytime sure does pay off, huh?” She says and flips the end of her mane.

She presses something on her phone with a hoof and then turns it to you. She also presents a smug expression on her face.

“Well, what do you think, Anon?” She asks. You lean down and pick up the phone from her hoof.

You see the profile picture now in full view. Within the circular portrait is the face of a young-looking, slender unicorn mare. Her dark green coat matches well with her hazelnut eyes. Her mane is a vibrant blue, and it falls in two lavish waves that frame her face. She’s wearing heavy mascara and... is that lipstick?

Zipp and Izzy turn to you. You realize that you’re visibly cringing. You lower your brow and look back at the phone.

You quickly read the name of the account. “TrishyBae”. Seems like a nickname. Perhaps her name is Patricia? The visage of the young mare is haunting.

You tap the profile’s recent flits with the thick part of your thumbnail to simulate a hoof tap. The page takes a little bit to load, but eventually you start scrolling through the posts with your thumb.

Then you see it. A link to a picture on a different site. No text description. You tap it and it starts to load. What you see is terrible and blinding.

“Oh shit!” You say. You scrunch your eyes tightly closed for a moment.

“Anon?” Izzy says, you hear her take a few steps forward.

You lower the phone and blink a few times. You rub your eyes. “I’m alright.” You say in a nonchalant tone.

Izzy makes a face like she’s about to crack a joke at your expense. Zipp looks up curiously. “What did you find?”

“Just... something I have not seen in a long while. That’s all.” You say. You hesitate when you start to hand Pipp her phone back. You have to remind yourself that they are ponies. They don’t care.

You watch the faces of the ponies as they gaze in delight at the photo. They have a look of unsexual wonder about them, though they stare headlong into the exposed sextuple mammaries of a nude female diamond dog in a provocative pose.

“No way!!” Izzy beams.

“Woah!” Pipp exclaims.

Zipp tilts her head. “So that’s what they look like?”

You nod. “That’s a diamond dog alright.” You sigh slowly.

“But I am pretty sure that’s an illusion or something. Notice the background is in a treehouse like Izzy’s? Seems like this mare is just good at creating illusions. Either that, or there’s somehow a bipedal dog just wandering around Bridlewood” You explain.

“Woah.” Zipp says, her eyes alighting with new ideas, “So you’re saying that she might know something about diamond dogs, since she can make illusions of them?”

“Yeah, it would seem likely.” You say, rubbing your chin.

Pipp locks her phone and puts it under her wing. She then smiles smugly at you.

“Well, Anon...” She says, batting her eyelashes. “I have wanted to ask you something, actually.”

She titters under her breath. She takes a fluttery step forward.

“What was it like? You know...” She says.

“Um...” You say, your eyes narrowing on the little pink pegasus hopping forward.

Pipp sways her head to enunciate her question, her daring eyes locked on you.

“Dating a uni-”

“Ah!!” Izzy jolts so hard that her glasses really do fly off this time. Pipp gasps loudly as Izzy throws her hooves around her, one of them clapping over her mouth. Zipp says “Oh sh-!” Izzy’s glasses clatter to the ground.

You stand in shock. There’s a prolonged silence.

“What the hay, Izzy!” Pipp says, batting her hoof away. Izzy laughs nervously and leans away.

“Um... Anon,” Izzy says anxiously. “Please don’t get mad.” Izzy glances around nervously and starts to sweat.

Zipp looks at Izzy, then at Pipp, then at you. You see her start to put the pieces together in her head.

You realize your mouth is hanging open. You close it. You take a deep breath, trying to retain your composure.

Suddenly, Sunny bursts in through the metal door to the control room. The door smashes loudly against a desk as it flies open, and you tense up from the sound.

“What?” She asks, “What did you find?”

You glance back at Sunny, who’s looking at you with excited, heavy breaths.

Well... shit.