There were many things Sunset had expected when she first decided to embark on her journey throughout the world. A weird glance here and there, struggling to understand the language of whatever country she happened to be in, even an attempted mugging! She had a small pistol and knife in her saddlebag for that, and her magic of course. Sunset never expected another pony to slam their door in her face just because she asked to rent a room for a few days.
Sunset narrowed her eyes. What was that mare's problem? Puerto Caballo was an Equestrian territory for as long as she could remember even though they were technically their own country. Did something change while she'd been gone? There had been more soldiers than she expected in the tourist square. How much changed? Time did pass faster here when compared to the human world. Still, that didn't excuse Dona Yuca's rudeness!
"Hey! What do you mean you 'don't have any rooms for Equestrians?'" Sunset knocked again, this time with more force. It wasn't like she was a beggar or anything! She had bits!
Dona Yuca opened the door, with an annoyed glare focused on Sunset. "Because all you ponies do is ruin my country with your fancy vacations and new hotels. You're all cheapskates!"
Sunset groaned internally. She really wasn't in the mood to deal with this right now. She was hungry, tired, and dusk was coming soon. Part of her initial plan was to be off the streets before Princess Luna's beautiful night fell.
"I'll pay double your usual rate." Sunset said with a sheepish smile. She would have to cut her stay here by half to stay within her budget. "See, not all Equestrians are the same."
Dona Yuca placed a hoof on her chin, and closed her eyes in thought. "Hmmm, fine, I'll take your money." She opened her eyes, they were still full of malice. "That will be twelve bits a night."
It took all of Sunset's willpower to stop her mouth from dropping to the floor. That was more than affordable, it was downright robbery on Sunset's end! A normal hotel in Canterlot usually costed hundreds of bits for a single night, granted this wasn't the capital, but that was still extremely cheap! And that was supposed to be twice her usual rate?
"Deal." Sunset a bit too quickly. It looked like she was going to be back on schedule, which should allow her to do some sightseeing before she left. "I'll be staying for a week."
Dona Yuca's glare looked liked it was permanant. "Very well, I hope that you enjoy your stay. Mi casa es tu casa." She said that last part in Sponish.
Sunset only smiled in returned and spoke in her own accented Sponish. "Muchas gracias."
Princess Celestia had a better accent than she did.
The interior of Dona Yuca's home looked as old as the exterior, with black and white photos decorating the walls along with ceramics of different colorful birds. There was a large poster of Princess Celestia hanging on the far wall by the staircase that felt like it was staring at Sunset in disapproval. S-She still hadn't paid the Princess a visit yet, to apologize for everything. Sunset didn't deserve her forgiveness, not yet, she could grovel before Celestia once she was done traveling the world, once she found out who Sunset really was.
"I'd get rid of that if I could." Dona Yuca followed her gaze to the poster. She sounded bitter. "Follow me."
Sunset followed Dona Yuca up the stairs, which were a bit too tight for her with her saddlebags. "Why don't you?"
As much as the orange unicorn loved and admired Princess Celestia, having a giant poster of her in the living room seemed like overkill, or something that Twilight would do.
"Buckio Buckista." Dona Yuca growled as they passed the second floors entrance. "They don't talk about him on the mainland?"
Sunset shook her head. "I wouldn't know, I just returned to Equestria a few months ago." A half truth, which meant that Sunset wasn't lying. She was just leaving out information her hostess didn't need to know.
"Tsk, he's the Captain of the Guard here." Dona Yuca opened the door that led to the top floor. "He's been paranoid since Coltstro attacked one of his barracks a few months ago. To prove everypony's loyalty he's been forcing us to hang Equestrian flags and potraits of his love. President Cocktail's just his puppet." She said that last part sarcastically.
That explained why there were soldiers everywhere, but all those names sounded foreign to Sunset's ears. She would have to play it safe until it was time to leave.
"I see." Sunset muttered to herself. Dona Yuca paused in front of a door.
"This is your room." She turned around and narrowed her eyes. "Please try to not disturb my other guest, otherwise I will kicked you out without a refund. Breakfast will be at dawn, don't be late if you want to eat." She handed Sunset two keys.
"Got it." Sunset finally allowed her shoulders to relax. She used her magic to open the door slowly. "Thank you." Another spell levitated a small bag of bits into Dona Yuca's waiting hooves. She rolled her eyes and trotted away without another word, leaving Sunset alone in the hallway.
Now all she needed to do was find something to eat, her stomach was killing her.
After putting her bags up, and making sure that her room was secure, Sunset found herself back on the streets of Puerto Caballo. She kept her beige coat on since the pockets helped keep her bits safe. The island was poor, with the streets growing dirtier as Sunset walked farther away from Dona Yuca's hostel, and the buildings turning older. Red and black grafiti with some weird symbol decorated most of them.
Ponies of all three tribes roamed the streets, young and old going about their business. Sunset flashed the colts and fillies playing soccer a smile when they ran past her. They stuck their tongues out while shooting daggers with their eyes.
Sunset approached a nearby foodstand, their fried hay making her mouth water. After a few years of human food, it felt good to taste her childhood again.
"Hi." Sunset kept her focus on the bag of fried hayfries.
"H-Hello." The Seller, a unicorn with mustard colored fur and a blue mane, stuttered. He gave her a suspicious glance.
"I'll take three bags of hayfries, please." Sunset stopped her frown from forming. Everypony was acting weird. Was it because she was Equestrian?
"O-One bit please." The Unicorn used his aura to gather three bags that were freshly fried. Sunset pulled two from her pocket and floated it to the stand.
"Keep the change." Sunset enveloped her hayfries with her own aura, and walked away without another word. Once she was back at the hostel, Sunset was going to have the best sleep of her life. Princess Luna was great at fighting nightmares.
The streets got crowded as the darkness approached, forcing Sunset to squeeze in between ponies who wore some type of armband, or would it be a hoofhand here? Most of them gave her nasty stares, but no one said anything. It took longer than expected to get back to the hostel, but Sunset made it. She had finished her hayfries on her way back, stuffing her muzzle as much as possible in case somepony tripped her.
"You're still alive." Dona Yuca was sitting in the living room with a newspaper when Sunset walked in. "Lock the door behind you, you're the only guest unaccounted for. The rest are upstairs."
"Of course, I just went out to get some food." Sunset locked the door like she was told. "Why?"
"Only a suicidal mare would go out onto the streets without a hoofband from the PSP in the middle of a protest." Dona Yuca shrugged.
Sunset's eyes widened. "Protest?" PSP? What was going on here?
Dona Yuca shook her head. "You came to Puerto Caballo without doing any research?" She muttered darkly.
"Child." Dona Yuca didn't seem that much older than Sunset, yet she acted like she was. She flipped her newspaper, revealing the photograph of a pony with a thick mustache with metal cuffs around his hooves. "I think you just made a grave mistake coming here."
Roca Roja the leader of the Partido Socialista Popular party demand the release of Bagasse Coltstro and his compatriots.
Ponse Cocktail refuses Communist party demands.
Sunset felt her heartbeat slow as Dona Yuca returned to her newspaper unfazed by the chaos that would be reigning just outside her front door.
"You've arrived on the eve of blood."
"Has anyone tried writing to the Princesses?" The words escaped Sunset's muzzle before she could stop herself. That made Dona Yuca laugh.
"Ha! Which one? The fat one on the mountain that watches me go to sleep? The villain who watches me in my sleep?" Dona Yuca sneered. "Or the one that wants to rule the ice and snow? Why would they help us? Look at Stalliongrad!" She didn't mention Twilight, which was good.
Sunset remained silent even though hearing her hostess talk about Princess Celestia that way angered her.
"Stay indoors until morning." Dona Yuca muttered, getting up from her seat. She spat on the poster of Princess Celestia when she reached the stairs.
Sunset's stomach started to hurt, and it wasn't because she was hungry.