Extreme Condition
Sunny Starscout sighed and let her head thump onto the bar table. The lights above her flickered for a bit before stabilizing. She would have been worried, but she was just too tired today. Everything seemed to be a drag.
"Hey, Sunny. The usual?" The bartender, Alphalittle, took over the bar after Alphabittle died in the first attack. Nopony really knows his real name, just that he took on that name as a legacy. Sunny could respect that.
"The usual." She grumbled. It only took a moment and soon enough, a carrot and potato soup was placed in front of her. She took a bite and sure enough, it was barely warm. The vegetables tasted plain.
Nearly two decades ago, the mining company started mining the resource-rich mountains to supply them of everything they would ever need and want. Sunny and her friends even helped, spreading awareness of the diminishing supplies and hosting fundraisers to help the workers. It was a huge success. Too huge.
The mining company got too greedy and dug too deep. An army not seen for a millennia awoke and ravaged the world. The masses spread across the skies, leaving Equestria in darkness. The changelings, attacking anypony in sight drove the three tribes underground where they keep their supplies, food, and heat to a minimum.
Sunny finished her flavourless soup and left a few bits on the counter before cantering away. She trotted through earthen tunnels, dug by earth ponies and finished by pegasi and unicorns. Walls supported by scrap metal beams and rocks, the ceiling was covered in snakey electrical wires, providing electricity and heat. Hollowed out rooms were occupied by various ponies, one a school with a terrifying amount of children, one a recreational room, one a meditation room, and so forth. Sunny has seen Hypogean grow from the very beginning and the mere thought reminded of how old she was and as if on cue, her back asked her why she was trotting around.
"Sunny! There you are!" The mare in question groaned and slowed down. The caller, Princess Rip Ride, the daughter of a very dear friend. Sunny never did approve of the name though and she made sure she mentioned that every time she met her. If only she could still do that.
"Yes?"
"I'm really sorry to bother you, but is there any possible way you could come come to the reactor and use your alicorn magic to boost it up again?" The longer the sentence went, the higher her voice went as if she knew she was asking for the impossible.
"You know just as everypony else that my alicorn powers no longer work. They haven't since the wendigoes." Sunny closed her eyes trying to keep the painful memories at bay. "I'm tired now. Goodbye Rip."
Sunny continued on her way, leaving the disappointed Princess behind. She quickly but calmly made her way through a secret tunnel only six ponies ever knew of. Only one was still alive. She quickly geared up and opened the hatch that went to the outside. It was just as horrific like the last time she went outside.
Buffeting winds at freezing temperatures ravaged the cold desert, the black swarms that dominated the skies were no longer there, no doubt seeking warmth, but one could never be sure. Making sure nocreature could see her, she noiselessly closed the hatch and went on a trek.
Everyday, for many hours, she would journey. Hopefully find something new, something helpful. Something to get rid of the guilt gnawing at her nearly frozen heart. In the past she would journey with her friends, but that was no longer the case. Taking a deep breath, Sunny flared open her translucent wings and flew upwards. She was selfish, she knew that, but her powers were the only things that still felt like hers. Nopony was going to take that away.
Tackling the strong winds, she made her way westwards. In recent weeks, she's been getting more daring. The closer areas have been picked clean. Below her, roaring creatures scuttled after her, attracted to the warm light her powers gave off. She paid them no heed.
She dared herself to fly for an hour straight. She had never felt as cold as she felt now, but it was all worth it. In the distance, she spotted a warm light. The contrast between the blinding snow and the sudden orange nearly made her lose focus and tumbled downwards. She caught herself and beelined for the light.
Grotesque creatures of changeling origins chased after her, shrieking and growling, but stopped at the light's edge. Sunny didn't question it and quickly ducked inside the house, the center of the light. She was greeted by a cozy living room and a lit fireplace.
"Hello, it's been a while since I've had visitors." The calmness of the delivery caught Sunny off guard. The mare who had spoken sat down in one of the sofas and invited her to sit as well. "Would you like a cookie?"
Sunny sat down and dumbly nodded. Her chilled bones felt amazing in this chair and her stomach was satisfied from actual flavor.
"My name isn't important, neither is yours."
"What'd you mean?"
"None of this is real. I exist for you to have this conversation. You exist because of a toy company. This world exists because of an idea."
"You're not making any sense."
"But I am, just not to you. I shall explain more clearly. What is your favourite story?"
"Princess Twilight and her friends, how she saves the world."
"Ah, but did she? These stories are history, yet the world looks like this. This frozen hellscape. Did she save the world? You escape this world by going into the past where similar dangers appear and consequences just as similar. Perhaps it is not the past at all, but another world. Escapism, what a beautiful concept. Perhaps you are a story yourself, Sunny, and we are all looking in."
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- Clockwork2003 · 20k words · 52 8 · 994 views
- WhiteSails · 48k words · 20 1 · 1.2k views
- KKSlider · 8k words · 168 12 · 2k views
- Mystic Mind · 6.3k words · 142 4 · 3.1k views
- GCloud · 2.9k words · 59 1 · 2.7k views
- Lets Do This · 17k words · 35 2 · 543 views
- SaddlePatch · 5k words · 32 0 · 1.3k views
- Admiral Producer · 47k words · 46 4 · 2k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.775 seconds
Total duration
891 users online
438,097 hits today, 1,943,222 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Why isn’t there a crossover tag?
The fact that you didn't use a Balrog is massively disappointing. But nope. You devolved changelings back into these things...
.
I have so many questions here. Mostly just who the mom is. Royal title narrows it massively down to Zipp or Pipp.
11651111
I know, I knoooooow. I wanted to use a balrog, but then there would be two crossovers! Also, I needed to use a bug, part of the assignment.
As for the mom, who knoooooows
oh dang, what happened here?
oof, that explains it! a fascinating idea for the future of this setting
rip (literally (to Pipp))
oof! turns out that all of the horrors of the world of G4 were a bit too much for the fledgling civilization of the G5 ponies, which makes a lot of sense
ooh, i like that!
oh that is getting real meta real fast
and ending on a very meta note! an intriguing mix of ideas, thank you for writing!
11698001
Thank you! Glad you liked it
Ooh, double entry. Very daring.
An intriguing concept, but it stops rather than ends. There’s no resolution to the mysterious mare’s proclamation. Heck, there’s not even a response. The entire story stops mid-conversation and leaves nothing resolved. (Possibly because Sunny understood the message and blasted you for putting her through this frozen hell. Rude, but understandable.
)
The big challenge for the Thousand Words contest was fitting an entire story into that single kilowrd, and I’m sad to say you didn’t manage that here. That said, you do have the start of something intriguing. I hope you build on it.
11698536
It was an experiment. I think I did alright in terms of storybuilding, but yeah. There are some stories best to no word limits.