Anonymous in Nu-Questria

You relaxed a bit and took your time cleaning up.

The water was lukewarm and you had no way to adjust it, but it still felt good running down your body. The stone tiles were cool and smooth on your aching feet. As you scrubbed away some dirt, you accidentally opened up one of your wounds again. Blood trickled into the drain along with the water.

You finished showering and rinsed the blood off as best you could. You found a folded towel sitting in a basket and dried yourself with it. It was seafoam green and very soft. You tried to avoid getting blood on it.

For a while you stared at your reflection in the mirror. Your face was gaunt and your eyes were sunken. Your cheeks looked sunburnt beneath the gritty stubble. This body did not age along with your real body on Earth. Your body is the same physical age as when you left, yet the cold, distant look in your eyes betrays you.

The mirror had dozens of decorations plastered around the edge because of course it did. There were even some “inspiring” positive affirmations.

“You are beautiful!” The small note read. Fuck off, note. You don’t know me.

You managed to find a pair of scissors in the clutter. Not a razor, but it would do. You smeared your face with some sort of flowery scented oil and carefully shaved with the opened blade.

Your pile of clothes smelled awful. Your dress shirt and pants were covered in various stains. Your suit jacket had rips in the back, and the sleeves were nearly in tatters. You looked at it, unsure what to do. Maybe just go shirtless? Fuck, no that’s stupid.

You cut off a few strips from your jacket and bandage your clotted wounds.

You then start to scrub rub out the stains in the pits of the shirt with some soap. It’ll be a while before you can get more clothes made. Where did you even get this one, any way? You went through so many clothes in your day. You pull at the threads of memories in your mind. You are pretty sure this one was made by that stallion tailor in Manehattan. Fuck if you can remember his name. Not that it matters anymore. He made good suits, though.

You finish your reminiscing and shake out your shirt. You try to dry it off with a hair dryer you find. It ends up looking pretty wrinkled. With a deep sigh, you realize its time to go back out there. You reluctantly dress in just your shirt, pants and socks. You leave the towel hanging on the side of the bathtub.

You walk back out into the hallway and notice how dark it had gotten. The windows emitted only a faint orange light. Dusk had fallen outside. Strangely enough, there was a string of small light bulbs lighting the way. You touch one and it feels hot, like an incandescent. Seems to be electric.

You turn the corner and step back into the atrium. Izzy, Sunny and Hitch are seated on the floor. Sunny is laying on the floor, reading a a book with the aid of a small lantern. Izzy is laying on the ground as well, humming to herself softly and using her magic to arrange what appears to be a collection of buttons. Hitch is lying on his back, hooves behind his head as he stares at the ceiling.

Sunny notices you first and smiles. “Hey, there he is!” She says. Hitch sits up and Izzy’s mane whirls around as her eyes lock onto you.

“Hey.” You say as you walk over to them and sit on the floor.

“Well, do you feel better now?” Sunny asks.

Before you can answer, Izzy springs up off the floor and puts her muzzle very close to your shoulder. She closes her eyes and sniffs deeply. You lean back and grimace. What the fuck?

“Hey, you don’t smell as bad any more!” Izzy says with cheerful tone and sits back down.

“... Thanks.” You reply.

You glance around the dimly lit room. There’s more clusters of string lights around, and some small lamps here and there. There’s no sign of the pegasus sisters.

“So, uh...” You say to the ponies, “What happens now?”

Sunny nods and says, “We’re going to spend the night here. Then tomorrow Hitch and I are heading to Maretime Bay. We have a lead on a pony that might be able to help us fix the hot air balloons.”

Hitch nods. Sunny continues explaining.

“Zipp and Pipp will be flying to Zephyr Heights, and they’re going to track down that fuel you were talking about. There has to be some left somewhere. Or at least, some sign of where the ponies used to get it from.”

“Alright,” You say. “So-”

“Izzy will stay here with you and make sure you stay... uh, safe!” Sunny says with an awkward smile.

“You mean make sure I don’t run away, right?” You say.

“Um...” Sunny says as she searches for an excuse.

“Yep!” Izzy says with a grin. Well at least she’s honest.

You sigh. “Yeah, no. That’s fair.... I understand.” You say, rubbing your head. “I’m not sure what else I can help you with from here, though.”

Sunny shakes her head with a calm smile. “Anon, don’t worry about it, alright? You should spend some time just getting used to this new world. I understand it’s difficult, and we don’t want to push you too hard.”

You look at her with a bit of uncertainty.

“All you have to do is stay inside. Relax. Recuperate. Alright?” Sunny says, her ears perking up. “When we get back we’ll talk. If you feel up to it.”

You give a small nod. Sunny grins and nods back.

Izzy suddenly claps her hooves together, “Oh, I love relaxing! I am like, super good at it!” She says.

She suddenly springs to her hooves, knocking her tray of buttons across the floor. “C’mon Anon! Let me show you...” She says, walking back towards the doorway you came through.

“To the relaxation chamber!” She says triumphantly. You turn and stand up, but glance back to Sunny and Hitch.

Hitch says, “I, uh, better go see if Zipp and Pipp need any help with their tents. Sunny, will you come with me?”

Sunny, turns to Hitch and nods. “Alright.” She says, and they start walking towards the door together as you follow Izzy back through the doorway.

“Goodnight Anon!” Sunny says. You hold up a hand in acknowledgment.

Izzy leads you down the first curtain on the right. There’s a set of stone steps leading down a twisting passage to the roots of the tree. You have to crouch pretty low to fit down through there, but you make it.

You step into a basement with a low ceiling. You have to bend your head to dip under the roots running along the ceiling, but its not too bad.

The basement appears to be some sort of den or hangout spot. String lights run around the tops of the walls. There are spherical paper lamps colored in a variety of forest-inspired designs. On one side of the room is a gigantic bean bag chair that looks like a red and white spotted mushroom. It looks big enough to seat about five ponies, and it’s covered with an array of throw pillows and stuffed animals.

Izzy runs and flops belly-first onto the beanbag chair. “Ahh...” she sighs.

As you step further into the room, you notice also that there’s what appears to be a projector and a roll-up movie screen in one corner. There’s rows of plastic containers that look somewhat like VHS tape cassette cases lined on a shelf. There’s also... movie posters? One of them reads “Judgment Neigh”. There’s another that reads “Dirty Prancing”.

It seems Izzy doesn’t care to abide by some rules the unicorns might have against technology.

Izzy says, “C’mon Anon, you try! It’s super comfy!” You look and she is waving a hoof at you.

You walk over to the beanbag chair and carefully brush aside some pillows. You lean back to sit on the bag. Your mass shifts against it, and you sink into it while Izzy raises up a bit.

She wasn’t lying. It’s very comfortable. The outside is made from a cushy quilt-like fabric. The inside feels like it’s some combination of stuffing and small beans. You can’t help but let out a contented groan as a tingle runs up your spine. Your tired body is relieved from the burden of gravity.

Izzy looks at you with a satisfied smile. “There you go. You look like you might even be better at this than me.” She says happily.

Izzy slips off the bean bag and walks over to a shelf. She moves a few pillows and unfolds a blanket with her magic.

Your eyes are already starting to sag as she throws the blanket over you and makes sure it covers all but your neck and head.

Her eyes sparkle with delight as her horns stops glowing. “Aww! You look so cozy!” She touches her hooves to her cheeks as she adores you.
You are too tired to protest.

With that, she spins and takes a step up the stairway. Her hoof presses a button on the wall, and the lights in the room go out. The only light left comes from a faint glow through the basement window.

“Goodnight Anon!” She says.

“Goodnight...” You reply sleepily.

Izzy walks up the stairs, and you feel yourself almost immediately start to drift off to sleep. Your eyes close and your head nods to the side.

Suddenly, you hear a faint, muffled voice. No, actually two voices.

You lean upwards and listen carefully. It seems to be coming from the window.

You silently slip off the beanbag chair and lean towards the semi-circular window. You cup your ear to it and start to pick out some words. It sounds like Sunny and Hitch.

“...not saying that, I just don’t know what he might be capable of.” Hitch says.

You hear Sunny sigh. “Hitch, Izzy is a big filly. She can handle herself! She’s taller than you, and plus she has magic! What is Anonymous going to do against that?” She says.

“I don’t know,” Hitch says, “Something about him just feels really... off. Like he’s hiding something we should really know. I’m just not sure we should leave her alone with him.”

You hear a few muffled hoofsteps. Sunny says, “Relax, Hitch. Anon’s harmless. His little wilderness phase is out of his system and he’s ready to cooperate.”

Hitch doesn’t respond.

“Plus,” Sunny says, “I know you want to check in with everyone back home. I’ll even buy you a smoothie, how’s that sound?”

You hear hoofsteps as their voices get fainter.

“Well, how about two smoothies? That seems fair.” Hitch says. “Hah! Well, we’ll see...” Sunny says.

You don’t hear any more voices. You quietly creep back to the beanbag and lay down. However, you aren’t feeling as tired any more.

For better or worse, Hitch had a point. You didn’t blame him for suspecting something. Your history with unicorns has not been the best.

You sigh deeply.

Izzy seems so innocent and naive, though. You think don’t think she’ll bring out your old tendencies from the past. She just wants a friend. And honestly, that’s what you need right now too.