Ripples

Chapter 18

Walking

        We trotted around our strange location. Some more mutants roamed the area, but they were typically alone and easy to kill. It was a very large city, and we had fought in one of the many areas which had been cleared for further expansion. Now that everything had calmed down, we had a better opportunity to observe the surroundings.

        The city was divided into several different areas. We couldn’t see all of it due to the city’s massive size, but a business district and a residential area were visible. Towards the south could possibly be a marketplace, although it was hard to tell from where we were standing. We decided to head that way, hoping to find food.        I spoke up as we trotted along the roads. “Guys...I’m pretty sure we were right when we predicted things would get a lot harder. We need a plan for when this kind of thing happens.”        “I personally thought we did pretty well considering how unexpected that was,” Captain responded, “although I do agree. The chances are slim that we’d make it through if it were to happen again. Plus, we don’t know much about Equestria anymore. Its past, sure, but not the present. We don’t know what kind of monsters to expect, or how to fight them. We need an adaptable strategy.”        “I also agree,” Rage jumped in. “Equestria is clearly not going to show us very much mercy in the future. Even a filly could see that some fucked up shit is definitely going to happen to us at some point!”        Anon remained silent. I spoke again. “We need some emergency tactics. I don’t know how exactly making battle strategies will work until after we know how to fight something - I believe we already figured out how to deal with these slime zombies. But for things we don’t know about, we should focus more on how to escape or solve problems. If we have an emergency procedure, or tactic, or whatever to follow, getting out of tough situations may be easier.”        We passed by a building decorated with colorful graffiti. Whoever wrote it sure didn’t seem happy with Celestia...        “Still, it needs to be heavily adaptable,” Captain continued. “We don’t know where we’ll end up, or what we’ll be fighting. We could try and make a long list of possible escape plans, although I think it would be better to form some kind of signals we could give each other in battle...you know, ‘go this way’, or ‘shoot over there’. That way, we can coordinate our escapes or battles as we fight.”        I spoke once more. “Well, before we make some kind of elaborate battle strategy, we should probably find some food and water. I don’t know if your cereal actually helped us or anything in Discord’s simulation, but right now I’m starting to get pretty hungry.”        We walked in silence further south, keeping a sharp eye for any buildings that looked like they may contain food.

~ ~ ~

My stomach let out a long, deep growl. We had been walking through this city for an hour or so, and hadn’t found anything. All of the buildings looked like boring office complexes, and any sings that may have told us anything about them had been destroyed or defaced to the point of being illegible. Rage had began complaining about the pain in his stomach.        “Will you shut up already?” Captain scolded, annoyed with Rage’s constant whining.        “It fucking hurts, I’m hungry, damnit!” Rage exclaimed. Anon had continued to remain silent the entire time...he almost looked anxious.        “Can we all be silent for a while?” I asked, fed up with Captain and Rage’s constant bickering. “Maybe then we could focus better on what buildings we’re passing!”        Captain grunted. “I keep on telling you, we’ve gone in a circle! There’s no way this city could be this big, and this clearly is only a business district!”        I sighed. “You’re the fucking leader of the Rebellion. Haven’t you seen some giant-ass cities at some point in your life?”        “Well maybe if we just went the other direction, we would have found something!” Captain rebutted.        “WILL YOU ALL JUST SHUT UP?!” Anon suddenly yelled, making the three of us jump. We stopped walking and stared at him, mouths agape.        “Thank you,” he said and continued walking. We followed along, giving each other angry glares but without saying a word.        After a few minutes of silence, an idea crossed my mind.        “Captain...do you have any, uh, transmission devices in that bag of yours?” I asked, looking at his bag.        “So what if I do?” He responded, still annoyed.        “We could split up and tell each other if we find anything!”        “What if we get lost?”        I thought for a moment. “Do you have any flares or smoke signal-y type thingies?”        Captain sighed. “Yes, although I don’t have many. Should be enough to give each of us three smoke flares. I also have some cheap headsets, although their range is terrible and they snap easily.”        I sighed. “Is the crappiness of your supplies an omen or something?”        Captain snorted. “Probably.”        “Well, let’s get this shit over with then,” I said. We stopped at an intersection, and Captain dug through his bag for the headsets and smoke flares. He pressed some buttons on the headsets and spoke into them to test if they were working - his actions would lead me to believe they did.        Captain started explaining how to use the smoke flares. “Okay, so these smoke flares send a plume of smoke into the sky, they’re designed to be visible almost anywhere - except at night. Just pop the cap off and drag the little fuse across something rough, like bricks or the road, and it will start smoking. They’re one-use only, though, and if you set out the fire it won’t work again.”        The three of us nodded, and took the headsets and smoke flares.        “Loste, you keep going south. I’ll go east, Anon can go west, and I’ll go north,” Captain told us. “Just speak, and the rest of us will hear it. They will start to crackle when one or more of us gets out of range, so turn back when that happens. If we don’t find anything, meet at this intersection before the sun sets. I’m sure we can arrange anything else if we have to, assuming you follow my directions, but I am saying this anyway to make sure nopony fucks anything up.”        “Yes, sir!” the rest of us chanted. Captain smiled.

~ ~ ~

        "Anypony found anything yet?" I asked over the headset. I had been walking for a while, seeing nothing aside from the same dull passing buildings that seemed to have absolutely no importance to anything.        "Sort of," Rage responded, his voice crackling from the feedback of the cheap headset. "There's this donut shop here, it's the only thing that looks mildly interesting in this Goddess-forsaken city."        "Be careful, Rage," Captain warned. "You don't know what's gotten into those donuts after, what, two hundred years?"        "Looks to me like they've been locked up pretty good...in a safe...protected by robots..."        I spoke up. "You're telling me you found a stash of preserved donuts guarded by a fucking sentry robot?"        "Eeyup," Rage confirmed. "Must have been good, too - there's a pricetag...fifty bits!"        Captain laughed, sending a wave of crackly air into our ears. "Fifty bits for a donut?! What is this, Canterlot royal donuts of magic, with enchanted frosting?"        "Pony Joe's, sir," Rage answered. "This is the Vanhoover establishment, according to the poster on the wall...I have to say, this building is in very good condition compared to practically everything else in Equestria."        "Vanhoover..." Captain muttered. "It must be summer, normally it's much colder up here. I thought it was the middle of Spring before...it happened?"        Nopony responded, apparently none of us had been keeping up with our seasons. As I was walking, I remembered something...        "Captain," I said. "If this is Vanhoover..."        "Ooohhh shit," Captain said slowly. "Er, Anon...red pony...whoever you are...are you there?”        There was a pause, and then a blast of static sounded in the earpiece, causing me to flinch. It slowly faded to a small ambient crackle, and then to silence.        “...Loste,” Captain said slowly, worry in his voice. “Do you know what makes that sound happen?”        I remained silent, frozen in my place.        “...it means a headset was destroyed.”        Oh fuck...        “Well then shut the hell up and get back to that intersection, we have to help him!” Rage yelled into the headset. I immediately turned around and ran back down the street, directly towards the place I had come from. We had only been walking about fifteen minutes, it wouldn’t take long...

~ ~ ~

        We finally made our way to the intersection, and turned in the direction Anon came from. We all converged paths at exactly the same time, as if Celestia was helping make things easier. We charged as fast as our hooves could take us, speeding down the road faster than I’d ever run before. Even more of the seemingly endless buildings flew past us, a blur in the corner of my vision. I was focused straight forward, looking for Anon. Our hooves were moving so fast, anything that was watching probably would have gotten dizzy just watching them.        After what seemed like an eternity, we saw a body on the ground. A red body. Next to a building. We dashed straight for him, the three of us skidding to a perfect stop next to him. We immediately ran to him, checking if anything was wrong.        He appeared perfectly fine, physically. We let out an enormous sigh of relief, our exhaustion starting to catch up with us. He was, however, crying.        “Anon...it’s...okay. We’re here,” I said, pausing in between words to take breaths. “What’s...wrong?”        He continued crying, ignoring us.        “Uhh, here’s his headset,” Captain said from behind me. It had been smashed onto the road, almost flattened. Bits and pieces were strewn across the ground near it. “These things are so cheap,” Captain commented. “No wonder there were so many of them.”        I was less concerned about the headset and more about breathing...and Anon.        “Hello? Are you okay?” I asked him. Rage pulled out a water bottle from his bag, and opened the cap with his teeth.        “We got you water,” he said. “Do you want it?” Anon shook his head very slightly. Well, it was a start...        “Anon,” I began. “It’s oka-”        “My name isn’t Anon,” he interrupted. “I hate that name...”        Captain spoke up. “Then how come you never disagreed to it, like the other names?”        “I DON’T. FUCKING. LIKE IT! JUST SHUT UP!” he yelled, stomping his hoof on the ground.        “Ano...uh...nevermind. Please, tell us...what’s the problem?” I asked, concerned for...him.        “Everything,” he responded, pausing for a moment. “Me.”        “You...?” Rage asked.        “Yes, me. My life. My family. My past. Me.”        “Why are you so sad?” I asked. “I don’t want to hurt your feelings any more, but...you’ve been so secretive about yourself. Maybe we can help? I care about you, you know that? Even if I don’t know you, I trust anypony Captain trusts.”        “You can’t help,” he bluntly responded. “You can’t change the past.”        I paused, saddened by his comment. “The past is past us. What’s to say you can’t change? Whatever’s wrong, you can change it. The future can be changed. The past doesn’t change the future, you do.”        “The past has changed me,” he responded. “I’m not going to change. I’ve changed far too much to do it again...”        “Ano- uh...look, forget the name. We didn’t mean to upset you with it. I don’t know what to call you, nopony does. Anon is the only thing anypony’s ever been able to call you.”        “Do you know how much it stings when you say that name?!” he yelled at me, finally picking his head up and facing me. Tears ran down his cheeks, his eyes red and bloodshot.        “I...I...I’m sorry,” I stammered.        “Of course you’re sorry. You’re all sorry, I can see it. Don’t be fucking sorry, I don’t deserve it. I’m worthless. Why do you ponies think I’m of any importance to the world, or that I can help you? I was abandoned as a foal, left to rot and die. Do you know WHY?!”        I was silent. His outburst was starting to worry me.        “I was never supposed to fucking happen! My dad just suddenly appeared one day, went around fucking all the ponies in Ponyville, and then left. Never to be seen again. I am the result of that. I WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO BE BORN!” He stomped his hoof, more tears streaming from his face. He crawled his way up from the ground, stumbling slightly. He turned towards a building behind him.        “Do you know what this place is?”        I looked at it. It just looked like an old dilapidated, abandoned building. Paint was peeling, chunks of the wall were missing, it appeared to be collapsing from age. It looked even worse than the other buildings here, which hadn’t fared too well either.        “I WAS BORN IN THIS SHACK! This worthless fucking run-down shack! My dad was an unknown stranger, my mom was a jackass showoff. It’s not hard to find these things in the news, you know - just find a fucking newspaper! All you could ever care to know about your parents, right there!” He was clearly angry, staring into my eyes with a burning hatred...I began to feel guilt. Like I had wronged him somehow. What did I do?        Captain finally spoke up. “Uhh, I see one problem with that life story of yours...Ponyville’s been taken over by PT for 200 years or so now, and if you’re talking about who I think you are...she died before PT took over. There’s no way...        “Oh, but there is. You know why I’m stuck in this wasteland? In this miserable shadow of a once-thriving world? My mother, a shameful phony overrun with guilt, stole a time spell from Canterlot and sent me far into the future. That’s why I’m here. Stuck with you ponies, in what’s probably the shittiest time period anypony could be in. Why haven’t I just killed myself yet?”        I butted in. “No, please...don’t do that! Please...don’t! I understand you’ve had...problems...but please, we need you!”        “For what?” he asked. “What have I done for you besides be somewhere near you? I’ve hardly even said anything!” He began walking slowly towards me, snorting with anger. “What have you done for me? Made some pretty words in a place that didn’t even exist? Gave me food? How does that make me any different from any other scum in this world? What have you done to show that you care for me?”        “YOU’VE ONLY JUST MET!” Rage shouted, sprinting towards Anon/whoever and sending a hoof straight across his face. “SNAP OUT OF IT! What’s gotten into you? Why are you doing this? We can help you!”        “How?” he asked. He was approaching Rage now. “How will you help me?”        Rage drew his assault rifle and pointed it at red pony/Anon. “I don’t know, but I will shoot if you touch me.”        “Really? Prove it. Shoot me, anywhere.”        Rage froze. “Are you...serious?”        “As serious as I will ever be. Any of you, shoot me now. Kill me, get me out of this mess.”        “NO!” Captian yelled, hurting my ears. “What happened to you?! I’m fine with you being quiet and depressed, but suicidal? Are you insane? If you want, leave us. That’s fine. But don’t kill yourself!”        “I’m not going to kill myself. You three will kill me.”        What? Did he just...?        “I’m not going to kill you,” Captain said. “None of us will.”        “Even if I kill you if you don’t?”        The three of our mouths dropped.        “Ten,” he said.        We frantically looked at each other. Anon pulled out a pistol.        “Nine.”        He pointed it at Rage’s head.        “Eight.”        He moved it to my head. I began sweating. I can’t do this...no...        “Seven.”        He pointed it at Captain. Captain began sweating himself. He looked at me, a look of desperate pleading in his eyes.        “Six.”        He pointed it at me again. That’s not fair! My teeth began shattering. I can’t do this...I can’t run either, or he’ll just shoot me...        “Five.”        Back to Rage again. Rage maintained his posture, but was clearly sweating.        “Four.”        Once again, the gun pointed on me. I couldn’t watch...I closed my eyes.        “Three.”        I began hyperventilating.        “Two.”        I felt like I was about to pass out.        “One.”        I heard a single shot.