Ripples

CHAPTER 6

Captain

        Rage and Fury walked over a large, barren field. They had been walking for five hours, equipped with packages of food and drinks. No discernible land formations or structures were visible for miles.

        “Why did we even fucking leave? Which way is home?” Rage complained.        “Calm down, my pre-Event map says Appleoosa was this way. I don’t know if anypony managed to escape PT’s rule, or if anypony who did survived, but this is the nearest settlement to Ponyville,” Fury explained. “It’s our only hope.”        “Answer my question,” Rage continued. “Why couldn’t we just stay there and enjoy the comfort of familiarity? Now that the gates are open and the forcefield’s down, everypony’s gone. We can take all of their shit for ourselves!”        Fury shot him an annoyed look. “All that would be left there is us and PT. And they have an army of slave unicorns and pegasi under their control, and now they can send them wherever the hell they want. I don’t know if they can tap into a unicorn’s magic, but if so, we would be killed, enslaved, tortured, or something. Even without unicorn magic, I know they could still manage.”        “We know nothing about the outside world aside from some extremely outdated maps and old books. Everything else is deteriorated beyond repair! How will we survive?” Rage whined.        “Look, just think about it this way - we’re free. We can leave. We’re set for a while, we have food and water. We just have to find civilization, or the inhabitable remains of it, and we’ll be fine.” Fury concluded. He kicked a rock with his hoof, sending it rolling off to the east.        “What’s that?” he asked.        “What?” Rage asked, annoyed.        “Over there,” Fury said and pointed with his hoof. A large splotch of brown and black was visible in the distance, near the horizon.        Rage looked at the direction Fury was pointing. “Is that Appleoosa?”        “I think so, although it looks like the apple orchard died or something. We must have offset our direction,” Fury responded. “Which means more walking...at least we know where to, though.”

~ ~ ~

        “...and that’s all I know,” I concluded my explanation of my life, or what I could remember of it. We had been walking for almost an hour, and were approaching the edge of the forest. Captain had some medical bandages for my bullet wound, and gave me a healing potion (it tasted like those berries).        “That’s probably the most interesting thing that’s happened since, well, PT!” Captain exclaimed. “While I’m not exactly happy that they still exist, I must say it’s quite boring, living in Equestria nowadays. It’s all struggling communities who need food this, water that, protection here, help there, nopony can help themselves. Then we have the Resistance. They’re a bunch of fucktards who claim they’re descended from royalty. Sounds like a bunch of bullshit to me, but they’ve got an enormous army, lots of guns, and plans to take over what’s left of Equestria as the new rulers.”        “Sounds like PT might complicate that,” I observed.        “Also doesn’t help that their HQ is in what used to be Appleoosa, which is very close to Ponyville,” Captain said, looking worried. “Anyway, the reason they’re so full of crap is they think everything needs to be managed by the government. They used to be just an elite group of nobles, they had so many luxuries nopony else did. But then they began to crave power, they wanted absolute control. Control over all of our money, our businesses, our organizations and projects, all of it. They want to watch, regulate, and control everything.”        “Well, isn’t that better than what’s happening right now?” I asked.        “It robs us of our freedom. We’re not independent anymore, it’s like we’re slaves,” Captain responded. I could argue with that, but I don’t want to start an argument or anything. “The Rebellion, on the other hand, wants to stop them. We may not be as organized or powerful, but we can fight. We don’t exactly want to rule Equestria ourselves, but we don’t agree with the Resistance’s plans either,” Captain continued.        “They’re called the Resistance simply because we, the Rebellion, were formed as soon as word got out they were plotting something. They couldn’t even come up with a name, everypony just labeled them as ‘Resistance’, because they’re defending their position while we’re attacking it. They want their own name, but nopony wants to call them anything else for some reason.”        I processed what he said. “But once they’re stopped, assuming they will be, what happens?”        Captain looked at the sky. “We find a leader. It won’t be us, but it will be somepony noble, capable of running a nation. Somepony with courage, strength, and reasoning. We’ll work with them to make the perfect new government, we just have to find that somepony.”        “So how are you involved in this? And I think I heard one of your soldiers say something about you earlier?” I asked.        “Oh, don’t mind them. Most of our infantry aren’t really devoted to the Rebel cause, they’re mostly in it to shoot stuff. We only use them because they’re really good at fighting. Like, scary good. They’re a bit stupid, though, so they don’t exactly realize we’re using them so we can get more important stuff done. Doesn’t help our outward image, though.” Captain explained. “And me? Well, I don’t mean to brag, but I just so happen to be the leader of the Rebellion.”        My jaw dropped. That explains the guards. “So what were you doing in that forest? Nothing’s around here except that one starving city, whatever their name was.”        “Ashrus,” Captain corrected. “You see, the Resistors are setting up little camps and forts all over Equestria. They keep trying new strategies to keep hidden, this time it was putting it deep in a forest nowhere near anything important. We just so happen to have a spy stationed in Ashrus, however, who patrols at night. He noticed strange ponies deep in the forest, and reported to me as quick as possible. Turns out they built a fort out of bushes, logs, leaves, and sticks. We scared them out and took everything important, you just witnessed one of our soldiers taking out the last survivor.”        I thought for a moment. “Do you really have to kill them?”        Captain sighed. “I wish we didn’t have to. But the Resistors are extremely persistent. They have advanced medical care, and more soldiers than you can imagine. If we let them all run off, then they’d know exactly how we found them and where we were. Sometimes, they have transmission devices, so we make sure to take them out as fast as possible, and then leave the area before any backup can get there.”        “So, is anypony winning?” I queried.        “Not really,” Captain said with another sigh. “We just keep on fighting, day after day, hoping that someday we can make the world a better place. It doesn’t look like the world is on our side, but giving up is never the way to win.”        I had been skeptical, but Captain’s words just now really changed my opinion of this conflict.        We just passed out of the forest after a long walk, and emerged on a dirt road heading over the horizon.        “Do I really have to walk that far?” I asked, exhausted. “Why can’t I have wings?”        “Well, uh, there’s something I should tell you,” Captain said, nervous. “I suppose what you told me means this isn’t exactly true, but I have always been raised knowing I was the last pegasus in existence.” He ruffled his feathers.        I stopped walking and stared at him, mouth open.        “I...you...last...wings...WHAT?!” I stammered.        Captain blushed. “I think that’s part of the reason I’m not dead yet...although based on your description, all of the other pegasi are enslaved within their bodies, much like you were?”        “I...well...um...yeah,” I muttered. “So, uh...what’s it like, being...you know...?”        “...Different,” Captain responded. “Every time I walk in public, ponies stare at me. Some want to meet me, some run and hide. Most of them want to keep me alive, hoping to keep the pegasi race alive, and the rest are usually nopony important or powerful enough to get close to killing me.”        “Most?” I observed.        “Yeah...the one exception being the leader of the Resistance. Nopony knows who he is, he does an amazing job of disguising himself. Voice changer, no cameras, magic cancellation fields, everything. But he always makes it known that he wants me dead. Most of his broadcasts are anti-Captain this, anti-Rebel that. They have radios established in all the major cities and many small town of Equestria. They used to belong to PT, but the Resistance was able to hack into them.” Captain explained. “Actually, that makes me wonder, since they still exist...”        We were quiet for the remainder of the walk. I had a lot to think about, so the silence was welcome. We passed over a river on an old rickety bridge, went over some ancient railroad tracks (Captain explained what they did. Holy crap, that sounds cool!), and eventually ended in some form of military encampment. A large city lay in the distance.        “That city over that way is Fillydelphia. And this is the Rebellion’s main military encampment, most of our troops are training, preparing, or stationed here when they’re not on a mission,” Captain told me. “We chose the outskirts of Fillydelphia because their remaining population is strongly anti-Resistance. They’ll support us if we need it, and in exchange for their help we feed them and give them protection. We make sure to keep them very heavily screened, though, in case there’s any spies.” Captain continued.        “So why are we here?” I asked, still clueless.        “Well, where else do I take you? You have no home, no experience in the real world, no knowledge of Equestria’ past or present, you’re honestly kind of stupid. I believe that after some very extensive lecturing, we can train you as a soldier to prepare you for the wastes. I plan on recruiting you for more...special operations after your training is over, however. That is, unless you don’t want to.” Captain explained.        I’m not used to having a say in anything. Having choices. Knowing things. Should I do it?        “I...I think I want to do this,” I decided. “I don’t think there’d be any better opportunity to learn how to survive or fight.”        “I like your thinking,” Captain responded. “I congratulate you for your courage.”        “Thanks! Although, one last thing,” I said. “Why haven’t you asked any questions about my past? You just listened, then talked about your own situation. Don’t you need some insider info? I couldn’t have explained everything.”        Captain thought for a moment. “I believe all of this will be revealed in time. You’ve had quite the day, I suppose, and I think the first thing you need is rest. Come with me, I have a very comfortable couch in my tent.”