Anonymous in Nu-Questria 2

The sun dipped low in the sky. As the evening began, the ever-present storm started to grow in intensity. You noticed the sky darkening and creeping tendrils of clouds spreading out over the land.

The diamond dog guard blew a whistle and ordered the ponies back to the truck.

The ponies returned. They looked exhausted. Their hooves were scuffed, their coveralls were covered in dust, and their manes were slick with sweat.

You and the ponies got on and drove back to the main encampment. On the way, the rain started to come down in a sprinkle. The creatures seemed to expect this, so you paid it no mind.

Immediately after you all arrived, they led you into a mess hall.

A great throng of creatures were also filtering inside. The ponies slowly moved into the line among some smaller-sized creatures.

When you got to the door, the guard stopped you and took you aside.

You stood at the far side of the room with a few other creatures who also refused to work. They looked sickly and frail. You kept a respectable distance to avoid getting some strange disease.

The ponies slowly made their way through the line and got trays of unappetizing looking gruel, the same as the other creatures.

You watched them sit at a table and eat. They whispered to each other quietly. Your stomach growled fiercely as you caught the scent of stew with meat in it. You felt weak and powerless, no better than the slobbering diamond dog to your side.

Yet most of all, you wanted to know what Sunny was thinking.

You noticed that some of the creatures were eyeing the ponies.

You had seen looks like that before in shaded bars and brothels you had visited in the old world.

In this place, there’s nothing off limits.

If Zelina was not keeping careful watch from the sidelines, there’s no telling what the creatures might do to your pony friends.

The rain started to pick up outside.

They led you down covered walkways to the bunkhouses. The rain smelled horrible. Like piss mixed with sulfur. It formed puddles in the road that let off putrid steam.

None of the creatures dared to venture into the streets unless they had the shelter of a truck or overhang to leap to.

The bunkhouses were rows of unimpressive looking concrete structures. It looked like it used to be some sort of housing project at one point. It consisted of rows of single-story town homes that had been stripped of all decor and personality.

The door was nothing but a bunch of planks nailed together, and the interior had only a few piss pots along with collection of old mattresses on wooden pallets.

It was nothing more than a concrete hovel, but they let you all stay together in the same room at least.

The exhausted ponies each chose a mattress and collapsed onto it. They groan and rubbed their aching hooves. You sat along with them, your head hanging low.

Pipp was the first to speak up.

“Ugh. This is horrible! This is the worst thing that’s happened yet. What are we going to do?!” She complains.

“Hush. They might be listening.” Zipp says.

She casts her eyes over to the door. There’s light from fires flickering outside in their trashcan containers, but you don’t hear the shuffling of armored creatures.

Zipp then goes back to wrapping a thin piece of ripped khaki over Hitch’s leg, which now looks horribly swollen. The creatures offered no medical treatment the entire day, and by the end Hitch was limping everywhere.

Izzy lets out a big sigh and looks over at Sunny, who is laying down on her mattress, completely motionless.

“Well. It’s a setback, but we always get out of tough situations. Right, Sunny?” Izzy says with a tired smile.

“You... have a plan, right?” Izzy asks meekly.

Sunny takes a languished breath. She slowly raises her head up.

“I don’t.” She says.

She slips off the bed and sits next to the oil lantern in the middle of the room. It’s the only source of light.

“They don’t know the secret to our magic, but there’s no point in trying to use it. There’s no point in trying to escape.” Sunny says.

She looks up at the ponies.

“We’re stuck here. This is what we do now.” She says.

You listen to the words, but you don’t really absorb them. You never saw Sunny so resigned to her fate before. Never had she given up like this.

You sit in silence along with the rest of the ponies, thinking about the situation at hand. You recall the image of the ship getting blown up, Zelina’s sarcastic smirk as she stood on the bow, and the leering eyes of the creatures as they sized up the ponies.

No... this can’t be where it ends.

You feel a deep urge inside. There was something familiar about it - that bitter taste at the back of your tongue. It’s something you have not felt in a long, long time.

You have a burning passion to bring down a corrupt ruler.

Just as Pipp starts to sniffle, you stand up.

“Is that it, Sunny?” You say coldly.

Sunny looks over at you with a confused and sad expression.

You walk over to her, crouch down and slap your hands against her shoulders, making her jolt a bit.

“You’re just gonna give up?!” You say.

“W-what do you want me to do?” Sunny says.

“Stand up for yourself! That’s what you’re good at, right?” You say.

You rise to your feet. You point a finger at the other ponies.

“Look at yourselves. You let some centaur bitch shoot down your aircraft. Then you let her shove her cloven hoof up your ass and do shit work for scraps of food. And now your plan is to just - what, play along?”

You slap the back of your hand against your palm.

“No. Fuck that!” You say.

“What are we supposed to do, Anon?!” Pipp shouts back. “There’s a hundred of them, they all have armor, and fire-cannons or whatever!”

“So what?!” You say, pointing at her.

You burn with anger, your fingers curl up as you raise your hands in front of your chest.

“So what. You have something that trumps all that.” You say. “Something this stupid fucking world hasn’t seen for God knows how long.”

You kneel down and look at Sunny. She shows you her grief-stricken eyes.

“You have... a god damn alicorn.” You say.

Sunny’s head droops. She lets out a languished sigh.

“I’m not worthy of these powers, Anon.” She says quietly. “You even said so yourself, remember?”

Your retort catches in your throat. Your rage is cut short as you regretfully recall the words you shouted at her the other night.

You shake your head slowly.

“No, Sunny.” You say. “I...”

You take a solemn breath. “I was wrong.” You say.

Sunny raises her head up slowly.

“If there’s any pony that walks this land, any pony at all that deserves to have this power... it’s you.”

Sunny’s expression softens a bit.

“You... you did the impossible. The entire world wanted the pony tribes to stay separated. Everyone and everything said that they needed to stay apart.” You say.

You look around at the unicorn, the other earth pony and the two pegasi.

“You said fuck you. This is more important.” You say.

Sunny opens her mouth to say something, but doesn’t. Her eyes are damp and large in the dim light of the room.

“You aren’t some snobby unicorn groomed from a young age. You weren't born into some society of elite nobles. You were just a regular pony. A regular fucking earth mare that believed in friendship, and love, and doing the right thing, even though its hard.” You say.

Sunny takes a shaky breath. You keep going.

“I’ve seen a lot of princess ponies with wings and horns. And, well, let’s just say, you’re the first one I actually fucking respect.” You say.

Sunny silently wipes her eyes. You crouch down back to the eye level of the ponies.

“Does this mean... you want to believe in me now?” She says, her voice hangs nervously on her words.

“It means...” You say. You swallow and look her square in the eyes.

“I’ll try.” You say.

Sunny hears the authenticity in your words. No sarcasm or facetiousness. Her mouth twitches. A thin smile forms.

“Alright.” She says with a hint of resolve. “Then I’ll try too.”

She sniffs and looks at the other ponies, who were all staring at the scene unfolding before them. She stands up and pushes her mane behind her shoulder like you’ve seen her do so many times before.

“So... here’s the plan.” She says.

The ponies lean forward in anticipation.

“We are going to the center of the storm.” She says.

You bite your tongue. It’s difficult, but you don’t interrupt.

“We find the source. The thing causing it. We either turn it off or destroy it. We’ll show Zelina and her army that magic shouldn’t be feared. The land will no longer be poisoned. We will gain their respect, and they’ll let us go free.”

She looks around at all the other ponies and you.

“All agreed?” She asks.

Reluctantly, you and the other ponies nod in approval.

“Good.” She says. “Now here’s what we do...”