I was a coward, I know. But I didn't see what else I could do. Those guards seemed to have no problem with strangling me without any provocation. Imagine what worse things they would do if I hadn't fled!
I now had the crown on me, and all I had to do was finish the mission. Get this thing to Opaline, and then tell her we're through. I'd had enough of all this scheming and plans, and just wanted it all to end.
If possible, go back to the original world. Life in Equestria was now a nightmare, and I was terrified of what might happen to me if I stayed around. This was not a happy world, and I worried intensely about the others.
I continued to dash through the street, trying to avoid the lights from the street lamps. The city was heavily locked down. Soldiers were patrolling every street and keeping an eye out for any dissident movement. I tried to keep down and low, and was determined to stay safe and still. If I lost this crown, we may lose the chance to fix everything.
I stopped behind a garbage can to let some soldiers pass.
"This place has gone downhill ever since the prisoners arrived," said one.
"Did you see that earth pony, though? Fine bit of flank if I do say so myself. Shame she's not a pegasus. Can't pollute the bloodline, can we?"
How ironic. If G4 was anything to go by, the genetics of the three tribes are incredibly closely intermingled. What would happen if, say, a unicorn was born here? I dreaded to think.
Not only that, but they managed to be racist and sexist at the same time. Seems both go hand in hand. Or hoof in hoof, I guess. Once they were gone, and a tank had rattled by, I continued down the path I had been given and stopped behind another box to grab some food out of it. There was a box with a pizza in it, and I figured that as I was going to be travelling a long way back to Opaline's castle, I needed to keep my supplies of food up. Why was this even thrown away? It looked perfectly edible, and there wasn't anything visually wrong with it.
"STOP RIGHT THERE!"
I froze. Damn it! I'd strayed into a spotlight!
"YES, THAT'S YOU, FRIZZ FACE! COME HERE WITH YOUR HOOVES UP!"
I bolted in the other direction. What did he call me? Seriously, he called me that just because I have dreadlocks? Gunfire followed as I escaped as quickly as I could away from these awful ponies and to try and get to safety.
I leaped over a gap and made my way to a street, where I briefly caught sight of Hitch, following somepony. What was Hitch doing here? Then I remembered when in the movie I was. But I don't recall all these soldiers in the film.
Hitch stopped ahead of me and started shouting, so I barreled in a few moments later. "I've... got... the... crown!" I wheezed, showing them the crown in my bag.
Izzy looked concerned. "Where's Zipp?" she asked.
I looked down, my guilt over leaving Zipp behind coming back worse than ever. "She stayed back to stop the guards from capturing me. The army's hunting the princesses."
As if on cue, Pipp then arrived, her arrival made clear by the crash of a can. "Which one of you is going to explain to me why that damn piece of metal is so important you had to ruin my whole show over it!? The army's arrested her! I saw them beating her before I ran!"
Wait. The army beat up Queen Haven? I don't remember that happening in the film either! I thought the guards just hauled her off to a prison somewhere!
Sunny spoke before I did. "Wait, Zipp didn't tell Pipp the plan?"
"Was she meant to?" I asked. Why didn't I think to tell Pipp? I'm close to her! Why do I always mess things up?
"Yes," Izzy said. "And that means we're one princess down. But at least we have one! Her mom's the queen. The one they arrested."
Hitch looked like some profound truth of the universe had just been revealed to him. "If Pipp's mom is the queen, that makes her a princess."
"No shit Sherlock!" Pipp snapped. She would have said more, but her phone interrupted her.
And the situation had somehow gotten even worse than I thought it could. Somepony important in the army had used the chaos of the night to overthrow the government and install a junta of his own to run the country. A junta is a military government, by the way. It's a word from my old life.
And the penalties were pretty bad. Seemed virtually every conceivable offence was answered with death, usually a shooting, but sometimes other things. Seems like he was capitalizing on the fear of the unknown to further his own power. Rather like Sprout.
Speaking of Sprout, what was he up to? Did we have two dictators running around now? Was there going to be a showdown between them?
I wanted to speak, but no words formed in my throat. This was my fault.
"We have to go back!" Pipp said. "We can't just leave mom and Zipp with those pigs! Who knows what they'll do to them!"
Sunny spoke next. "We can't!"
"And why is that?" Pipp snapped, looking like she wanted to punch Sunny's lights out.
"Because if we do, then we might get killed and all of this will have been for nothing! We have to move on and get to Bridlewood!"
Izzy then took her side. "She is right, you know. We can bring back magic, but we need the crystal. We get magic back, we save your folks. Deal?"
Just then, I heard shouting behind us, and looked back to see soldiers blocking the road. "Uh, guys? Soldiers over there! We can't go back!"
Pipp looked over, and then spotted something. "Fine! I know a way out. Follow me."
The next day was pretty tense. We wandered across expansive terrain through the land of Equestria, trying to keep ourselves safe from whatever might be out there.
I think the lack of anything was more concerning. I didn't see a thing for ages, and the region seemed very empty. Fear of the unknown is a powerful emotion.
One that Pipp seemed to be feeling right now as we trotted along. "Hey! You!"
I shook myself out of my thoughts and looked around you. "Sorry, were you addressing me?"
"Yes. Who else could I be addressing?!" Pipp snapped.
Yikes. She seemed annoyed. "Are you OK?"
"What part of me looks OK?" Pipp asked. "My life's been flipped upside down, and this mess is the fault of you lot! We should never have let you into the palace to stay."
That hurt badly. "Pipp, I thought you were my friend!"
"I did too. And then you went and pulled your little stunt. You know, you're pretty lucky I didn't hand you over to the authorities. What sort of friend goes behind their back and steals from them?"
I tried to come up with a response. "We need the cry-"
"I don't want to hear another word about that damn crystal, Misty." Pipp looked to be so hot under the cover you could see the steam coming from her ears. "Truth be told the others seem to be on my nerves too. But I think you and your earth pony and unicorn buddy owe me three words. And I think you know what those three words are."
I glanced up. "I'm so-"
I didn't finish my sentence, as something metal collided with my cheek. I fell back and grabbed it, wincing in pain.
"Pipp, what has gotten into you?" Sunny asked, further up the line.
"She'll thank me later," Pipp replied. "If she ever thinks of betraying a friend, she'll remember the pain." And she trotted off.
Hitch looked over. "Yikes. I suggest we stay away from her for a while."
Sunny and Izzy dropped back to treat my injury, with Sunny applying an ice pack. "She's just hurting," she said. "She'll get over this eventually. But for now I think we need to stay away from her."
I nodded, trying to concentrate. Those golden plated hooves did a number on me. We made it to the campfire for the night, and after eating together in silence simply left for our beds and went off to sleep. The tension was certainly there for all of us, and we sat there under a featureless sky, with our minds focused on other things.
At least, I think they did. I knew the truth of how they felt about this situation.
It was a mess. I'd messed up something awful.
This disaster was my fault, and it seemed I was already paying the price.
Even here, I had never felt so alone.