PRINCESS ANARCHY | DSMP

26. It's Us Versus Them

   ONE DAY TILL THE WAR.

   The Pogtopians stare at a board. There are names written on paper notes, stuck in three different rows. One stands for people, who are Pogtopia's allies. One for people, who have an unknown allegiance. And one for those who are against Pogtopia.

   Nia stares at the list of their allies, her lips pursed. She crosses her arms with a sigh. There are more of them fighting for Pogtopia, but the odds against Dream, Sapnap, Punz and possibly Purpled still don't seem that good.

   Technoblade grunts next to her. "The Badlands aren't bad fighters, are they?" he asks.

   "I don't know." Nia shrugs. "I know Bad is a decent fighter."

   "I guess Sam is a creeper king, if anything," Technoblade points out, and the two of them hum, inspecting the board further, as if it's going to give them the answers to solving world hunger, or bring absolute peace back to the Dream SMP.

   Nia's eyes slip towards the row of enemies, her eyes glued to Dream written on a note in her handwriting. She knows she's claimed to be able to take on Dream before, but she might as well take it back.

   Sure, she could easily beat Dream in combat — at least that's what she thinks — but she doesn't think her heart would let her hurt him.

   Nia knows that Dream has changed. She's seen it. She's heard it. But her mind has a hard time processing that information, as she still considers Dream a friend of hers. She still remembers the boy who trained with her when she had nothing else to do and was bored out of her mind. She remembers the laughs they had. Especially when they spent over two weeks searching for tridents on the ocean.

   They've had many great adventures together, and Nia had learned to love Dream as a friend. Someone who helped her forget all that she had left behind when she got to the SMP. Even Technoblade, for a while.

   It hurts all the more that Eret forgot about her completely. He offered her help when she needed it the most. He took care of her, despite being barely older than her. He became an older brother of sorts to her. A brother she'd never had. And now he's none of that. At least from his point of view.

   But Nia will be forever grateful for his generosity.

   "You alright?"

   Technoblade raises an eyebrow at Nia, checking up on her. He noticed she hasn't been paying attention to anything Fundy and Quackity said about the board.

   Nia looks at Technoblade with wide eyes, being brought back to reality. She nods in response, putting on a light smile to prove she's okay. His narrowed eyes reveal that he sees through her, however.

   "Technoblade and Nia will take on Dream," says Quackity as the somewhat strategist.

   He shared that he'd read a book titled Art of War only hours ago, and that he was fully prepared to lead Pogtopia into battle. Technoblade scoffed upon the information, grumbling something about having read that book as well, ages ago.

   Nia hesitates, clenching her fists and biting the inside of her cheek. She wants to say that she doesn't think she can face Dream, but Quackity moves on from the topic before she even opens her mouth.

   "The rest of us will attack the others."

   "Remember, it's us versus them," says Fundy, nodding vigorously.

   "You don't say." Quackity rolls his eyes at him. "Eret, George, Callahan, Jack Manifold and H Bomb are all of unknown allegiance." He points at the three names in the middle of the board in the row labelled as such.

   "Not really," Eret's deep voice sounds through the entire ravine as he follows behind Niki, entering Pogtopia through one of Tubbo's secret tunnels.

   "What?" Everyone turns to gaze at the king of the Dream SMP.

   "I want to fight for Pogtopia," says Eret, a rueful smile decorating his lips. "Dream took everything from me," he says. "He dethroned me, because I decided to choose my friends over my duties."

   "You're not a king anymore?" questions Nia.

   "No, I'm not," they say.

   She smiles, a part of her happy about the fact. Nia knows that Eret wasn't a bad king, nor did he take advantage of his power — he might be the one person who hasn't been corrupted by it, actually — but she hates governments and monarchies. Still, she sympathises with the man.

   "I'm sorry," says Nia honestly.

   "You don't have to be," Eret shakes their head. "You didn't agree with my title anyway."

   "Boys! Jack Manifold has come to win the war for you!"

   Nia turns to look at a boy shorter and skinnier than her, blue and red colored glasses sitting on his nose. His most eminent feature, though, seems to be the fact that he's bald.

   "So, this is Jack Manifold?"