PRINCESS ANARCHY | DSMP

22. Slight Change of Alliance

   NIA SIGHS, GAZING AT THE DREAM SMP.

   She sits in her usual spot upon a cliff that overlooks the entire land. It enables her to see everything, and gives her one of the best views of the sunset as well.

   She has had a long day. After the festival, it's definitely been one of the longest days she's had, training for hours on end with the Pogtopians. Nia knew that a lot of them are not extremely skilled in combat, but she didn't know how dire the situation really was.

   Wilbur almost immediately refused to fight, though eventually, after a lot of arguing with Sara, he picked up a wooden sword and agreed to spar with the redhead, and the redhead only.

   Tommy kind of sucks when it comes to fighting, if Nia's to be honest. The boy definitely knows how to annoy his opponent into possibly giving up because they don't want to deal with him, but that's about it. If they actually try to fight him, he's going down within the first few hits.

   Tubbo is a decent fighter, which didn't surprise Nia after watching the boxing matches during the Manburg festival. The boy mostly sparred with Tommy, so he managed to get quite a good streak of wins. Which, obviously, resulted in a lot of whining from the tall blonde boy.

   Nia could go on, but everyone else did decently like Tubbo. Wilbur and Tommy probably stood out as the only people for many reasons. Plus, they were the two Nia paid most attention to as they've been the ones to even start this revolution in the first place.

   How did they even manage it all if their most prominent combat skill was merely holding the sword properly? That is a question that will forever plague Nia's mind.

   Then again, she's pretty sure she's heard both Wilbur and Tommy talk — though complain might be a better word for it — about L'Manburg's past rules of not wearing armor inside the walls or the fact that they mostly wanted to deal with conflicts diplomatically rather than resorting to violence. For reasons evident to many. However, Dream and Sapnap were not ones for diplomatic solutions, and Schlatt would never give up his tenure as president, or as he calls himself, emperor of Manburg.

   All in all, it has been a long, tiring day, and she's glad to be sitting in peace and quiet, uninterrupted and left only with her thoughts and the natural sounds of the forest behind her — rustling leaves and buzzing bees or other insects.

   "That was painful."

   "Heh?"

   Nia turns abruptly, only to come face to face with Dream in his regular outfit with the mask that has a stupid smile on it.

   He chuckles, sitting down next to Nia.

   "Watching you train everyone. That was painful," the man clarifies, shaking his head.

   "You don't have to say that twice," Nia agrees with him.

   She doesn't like saying it, but lying to Dream would be futile, considering he brought this up himself. He probably watched them train for some time, having his own mental note of how easy it might be to beat Pogtopia.

   "You don't even have to say that the only thing playing into our cards is our numbers, 'cause I already know."

   The princess waves her hand at Dream, and he chuckles. She's annoyed by his mere presence, judging from the grimace on her face, but glad to see him at the same time.

   "Hm, are you the only self-aware person in Pogtopia?" Dream wonders out loud.

   "They're all just hopeful, Dream. I don't blame them," Nia says, biting the inside of her cheek.

   She stares into the distance, at Manburg, having a clear view of the podium. The stage that Tubbo was nearly executed on weeks ago. There aren't even many people living in the country anymore, most of them leaving because they got tired of Schlatt's rule. And they were lucky enough that they got to leave.

   Not only does Schlatt have no allies, he's also weak.

   At least that was what the book Fundy had given to Wilbur said. That Schlatt is weak and most likely sick. They don't know what's ailing him, but it's definitely something.

   "They shouldn't be."

   "Why?"

   "Well— there's been a slight change in alliance," says Dream.

   Nia sighs, having expected that answer. Quackity was right when he said that Schlatt had something worth fighting over for — at least to Dream. She turns her head to face the man in the mask, pursing her lips.

   "What did he give you, Dream?" she asks directly.

   "What do you mean?"

   Dream cocks his head to the side, pretending that he doesn't know what Nia's talking about. She rolls her eyes at him.

   "Don't play dumb with me, Dream. How powerful is the thing?"

   "Fine," he sighs. "It's very powerful. But I'm not gonna tell you what it is."

Nia shakes her head, averting her gaze to the sky. "We shouldn't even be talking then," she says with a sigh, shaking her head.

   "You can always just leave." Dream shrugs.

   "You didn't even have to come here."

   "Fair enough."

   The duo sits at the cliff in silence, staring at the vast lands that the Dream SMP is. Neither of them knows exactly what to say, now that they've established they stand against one another.

   Talking would possibly mean giving away strategies of either, and that is exactly what they don't want to do. Still, they stay in each other's company, enjoying the peace.

   Until finally, Dream speaks up.

   "No matter the outcome of this war, Manburg — or L'Manburg — will be in ruins by the end of it all."

   Nia glances at Dream, realizing he's wearing his mask and hasn't taken it off, so she cannot judge how serious he is from the expression on his face. But considering his tone, he's most likely not saying this in a jest.

   "It's the only acceptable outcome."

   Dream purposely lifts his mask, so Nia can see his lopsided smirk.

   "It's the only outcome."