Anonymous in Nu-Questria 2

You all made it back to the airship, and the mares unpacked their saddlebags excitedly in ship’s inside lounge area.

“Alright, let’s see this.” Zipp says as she carefully placed the video game console on the low table. Izzy waited patiently, but her eyes practically bulging out of her head. You took a seat next to her and watched as Zipp carefully plugged in the two controllers to the front of the plastic case.

“I don’t really see a panel to open it anywhere.” Zipp says, running a hoof delicately along the side. She notices a circular, unlabeled button on the top of the case and gently depresses it with a hoof tip.

The white orb in the center flickers abruptly as a muffled whirring sound rises within the machine. The orb gradually glows and emits a hazy white smoke that seems to sublimate off its surface.

“Hey nice! It still works!” Zipp says with a cheerful grin.

“Woah!” Izzy exclaims as the orb projects a hologram of a dark blue sphere directly above it. The sound of glittering chimes fades in from some unseen speaker, and the logo of the console appears in white text within.

“Ooh!” Izzy coos and leans forward. The logo fades abruptly and is replaced with smaller text that reads “Insert Cartridge.”

Sunny and Hitch walk up to the table curiously. “You got it working, huh?” Sunny asks.

“Yep.” You say. You grin cheekily. “And also, I call first controller.”

You reach for the controller. Izzy’s head shoots up and her pupils narrow in. “Second!” She says.

Zipp chuckles softly. “Okay, okay. Let me see that game, Sunny.”

Sunny sits down next to you by the table and passes the game case over to Zipp. Hitch eyes the hologram suspiciously and passes a hoof through it. It goes right through, but causes the text to distort and glitch for a fraction of a second. He squints and examines the device, seemingly baffled by it.

Zipp pops open the case. Inside, there’s a white cartridge embedded with some kind of exposed crystal in the middle. The title of the game runs along the top.

Zipp delicately slots it into the cartridge port, and after a brief moment, the dark orb fades out.

You and Izzy hold the controllers as the title screen fades in as a three-dimensional, rectangular hologram. There’s a silhouette of queen cheese legs, and with a sudden flash of light and the crack of thunder, her body is illuminated and her viridian eyes shoot open to a menacing glare.

Storm clouds rumble in the simulated sky as hundreds of changeling drones circle lazily in the background.

In the foreground, there’s some blurry silhouettes of what you suppose are the protagonists, but... they don’t look like ponies.

“Uh...” You say, leaning in to squint harder.

Pipp flutters up to the other side of the table wearing a pair of oversized white-rimmed sunglasses. “Woah, who is that? She’s got such an... edgy look.”

Pipp lands next to Izzy on the couch and takes a seat. She takes out her phone to document the game.

You turn to Pipp. “Well, that’s Chrysalis. She was what were called a changeling, and-”

“Let’s go!!” Izzy says, suddenly smacking the controller with a hoof.

She apparently pressed whatever constitutes a start button. The image of Chrysalis laughs maniacally and the title screen fades to be replaced with a rotating loading indicator.

“And. She tried to take over Canterlot one time in the past.” You finish explaining.

“Woah!” Pipp says, holding up her phone to capture the hologram.

“You mentioned changelings in the past... what were they, Anon?” Sunny asks.

“They were magic creatures that could change their form to look like other ponies. They fed on love for sustenance.” You explain.

“Love?” Sunny asks.

“Yeah.” You say. “As in, love given to them by other ponies or creatures.”

“Why do they all look like bugs that were turned into ponies?” Hitch asks.

The screen fades in and a cutscene starts playing. Synth strings play a melancholic tune as it shows the spires of Canterlot from afar atop its mountain perch.

“Just... I’ll let the game explain.” You say.

The cutscene shows some establishing shots of Canterlot. It looks pretty similar, but for some reason a lot, lot bigger. A strange feeling sinks into your gut as you notice something about the residents wander around.

There’s creatures. Among the ponies of different races, there’s dragons, yaks, hippogriffs, griffons, and... even reformed changelings? What the fuck?

With an explosion of green fire, the front of the main ceremony hall crumbles away. Chrysalis steps out amid a haze of smoke, holding a stallion that kind of looks like Shining Armor in a telekinetic field.

They didn’t get her little crown thing right, and the colors on her wing carapace are way too blue. But it still looks like her...

Chrysalis then delivers a short and melodramatic speech, explaining that she has defeated the royal guards and Celestia, and now there was now no one to stop her from taking over Canterlot. She commands her armies to feed, and chaos soon erupts thereafter, with all the creatures and ponies rushing around as a swarm of changelings descends on the populace.

Well, that’s sort of how it happened...

It then cuts to Twilight, who is for some reason, is a lot taller, is already an alicorn, and is wearing shining purple armor. She’s standing in front of a group of random looking creatures. She begins talking in a voice that doesn’t sound like her.

“Everycreature, the time I had predicted has come. Chrysalis has destroyed Equestria’s defenses, and captured the Crystals of Harmony. Only you have the power to stop them now! Quickly now, go! The fate of Equestria depends on you all!” The Twilight hologram says.

It then changes to a character select screen. You feel very uneasy as you tilt the joystick to see various creatures move into frame, highlighted by a spotlight. You only see two ponies among them. A generic-looking unicorn stallion and a pegasus mare.

“Yeah, looks like they embellished some things...” You mutter under your breath.

“Ooh!” Izzy says and selects a female dragon. “She looks cool!”

You glance at Sunny, Hitch and Zipp. They seem enthralled. Sunny especially seems to be enjoying this.

But it’s wrong. This isn’t want happened at all. You were there. You went along to the wedding as Lyra’s plus one. This is practically revisionist history... there were no damn “creatures” in Canterlot then.

You consider just handing off the controller right then, but you decide to try and give it a chance. You select the unicorn stallion. At least they got that one right.

The game then begins with an isometric view of a cobblestone Canterlot street. The female dragon and unicorn stallion jump into frame, followed shortly by the non-accurate Twilight.

A group a changelings walk into frame, but are then blasted away by Twilight’s purple horn lasers.

“Hahah! Yeah!” Sunny cheers.

Twilight then points a hoof down the street, ordering you both to advance. She takes flight into the sky, and you are given control.

You test things out. It seems like pretty simple beat-em-up game. You have various attacks and a few spell-based special moves that you can use.

You and Izzy make your way through waves of changeling drones. At first they are simple bug-style changelings, but then they start morphing into various creatures as more difficult enemy types. The changelings turn into dragons and breathe fireballs. They turn into pegasi and try to dive-bomb you with kicks. They even turn into yaks and tear through buildings and cover.

The screen becomes an absolute clusterfuck of different anachronistic creatures duking it out in the city streets. It makes your head hurt, and it’s not due to the 3D hologram models or the exaggerated particle effects. It’s just such a gross misrepresentation of something you personally lived through. It feels wrong in your gut.

When you and Izzy reach the end of the street, you are met with a small castle gate. Suddenly, an oversized orange pony jumps off the wall and lands on all four hooves, shaking the ground. It’s a changeling replica of Applejack, and she’s not wearing her hat, is also wearing weird armor, and looks about twice the size of her older brother.

Dramatic boss music plays and a health bar extends at the bottom of the screen.

You pause the game and rub the bridge of your nose.

“Ugh, I’m sorry... everyone. I don’t think I can play this any more.” You say.

“What’s wrong, Anon?” Sunny asks. The other ponies turn to you.

You throw your hand out at the hologram, now frozen in time. “This is completely wrong! There weren’t all these creatures in Canterlot back then. It was just ponies! And Twilight and her friends look nothing like they did, the city looks way too big, and-”

“Who cares! This is awesome!” Izzy says.

She unpauses the game.

“Ugh.” You frown and set your controller on the table. There’s an awkward tension in the room now.

“Well, it’s just a video game, Anon. They aren’t supposed to be very accurate sources of information.” Sunny says nonchalantly.

“Yeah, I just don’t... feel like playing it.” You say. Your unicorn gets a giant hoof to the face and flies across the screen as you rise up off the floor. “You can play if you want, Sunny.”

You step past her. Sunny glances over to the screen for a moment, then slowly turns her gaze to you.

“Actually,” She says. “I was thinking maybe... you could tell me what you remember?”

Once she says that, Zipp quickly shoots over to the couch and grabs the controller, saving your unicorn character from imminent death.

Sunny flashes a quick smile.

You sigh and slouch a bit. “I mean...” You say. “I could tell you, but why do you care?”

You shrug. “Obviously this game was made so far in the future they didn’t give a shit about historical accuracy. It was a legend to them. A myth. It doesn’t really have any relevance to you or how Equestria fell.”

“Well,” Sunny says. The hint of a smile forms on her muzzle. “I care because I want to hear it from you. It’s still Equestria’s history. Plus, you were there, and that makes you a primary source. The best kind of historical source there is!”

She nods at you. You glance away to get a read on the other ponies. Hitch still seems perplexed by all of this. Zipp is giving you her usual cool, detached stare as she focuses on the game. Pipp hasn’t stopped recording, and Izzy is starting to sweat from how quickly she whips around the joystick.

“Yes!” Izzy says. “Niiice.” Zipp says. You hear the mighty moan of mega Applejack as she collapses to the street in a huge cloud of dust. She slowly shifts appearance to a regular changeling drone.

You might as well just give her the facts so you can get away from this noise. Plus, you know that Chrysalis might be out there somewhere... might be good to make sure they’re all prepared.

The sounds of hoof-to-hoof combat and magical beams suddenly fill the air again as the two mares continue to the next stage of the game.

“Alright,” You say. “I’ll tell you how it really happened.”