//------------------------------//
// Harmony no More 
// Story: A New Generation, and an old mare 
// by Paradise Oasis 
//------------------------------//

"Aunt Applejack! It's so wonderful to see you again!" The young mare named sunny exclaimed, as AJ walked into the lighthouse's kitchen. "What's new? Where have you been? You have to tell me everything about everything you saw when you traveled!"

"Okay, Okay! settle down Sunny." The farm pony smiled, pulling out a chair with her hoof to sit down. "Where is your father? I was hoping to say howdy to him, as well."

"Oh, dad up in the tower, changing the bulb in the lighthouse lamp, and prepping it for tonight." She ran to the stairs. "Hey dad! Aunt AJ is here to see you!"

"Oh, what?! She's back?" The blue stallion with white streaks in his tail and mane came trotting down from the tower. "Oh, AJ! It's so good to see you again, old friend." He gave the earth pony mare a hug. "Tell me, how was the journey here from Coltonville?" 

Applejack smiled at the father and daughter, happy to see some familiar faces once again.  The earth pony mare had been coming to see this family every year since Sunny was a tiny foal. She visited every year after the harvest, staying for two weeks after the harvest season, before moving on to Ponyville for the next apple harvest. She had been very good friends with Sunny's mother, having met the mare at a baking contest in Rainbow Falls several years ago. Before Mrs. Starscout passed away, she has asked Applejack to keep an eye on her family. And she had returned every year, watching the young filly named Sunny grow into the beautiful young mare who now sat in the chair beside her.

"Oh, it wasn't too bad. Jest tried to stay out of trouble, and avoid any... problem areas." Applejack rolled her eyes, thinking about the other pony types. " Ah was even goin' ta head up towards the crystal empire, and visit Princess Flurry Heart an' her crystal pony subjects."

"The crystal empire?! Wow!" Sunny exclaimed, nearly jumping out of her chair. "The other ponies my age in town don't even believe that the crystal ponies exist!" She grabbed AJ by the hooves. "You so have to tell me all about the ponies that live up there!"

"That's enough of that, young lady." Argyle told his daughter in a gentle but firm voice. "Applejack just got here, don't you think you could wait to bother her about fairy tales later?"

"Oh, right..." Sunny replied sheepishly, looking embarrassed. "Sorry, aunt AJ you must be tired after your visit."

"It's all right, sugar cube."  AJ laughed, looked back to Sunny's father. "Hey Argyle, how about something warm ta drink?"

And so the three ponies talked, discussing what they had all been doing since their last reunion. Argyle warmed up a pot of coffee for the two older ponies, as Sunny regaled A.J. with the tale of her last year Maretime high, along with her graduation. The apple bucker was disappointed to hear Sunny hadn't made any friends over the past year... or gotten herself a boyfriend, either. When she asked Sunny about this, the young mare just sighed. 

"I don't know, aunt AJ, it's just so strange." Sunny shook her head, as Argyle poured himself and Applejack each a cup of coffee. "Ever since I was a little filly, everypony in Maretime Bay has treated me like I'm... odd. No filly in town wanted to be my friend... and no colt wanted to date me." Her ears drooped. "Maybe it's my breath, or my mane style, or something?" 

"Maybe, sugar cube, maybe..." A.J. looked at the door. "Say, shouldn't you be heading out to your new job you told me about? Those smoothies aren't going to deliver themselves."

"Yeah, I guess your right." Sunny smiled, putting on her helmet, knee pads, and skates. She reached over, and gave her father a hug. "Bye daddy, see you this evening."

After the young mare had left, Argyle slumped in his chair. "Sigh, even as old as she is,  Sunny can still be a hoof-full."

"Just what the hay do you think you're doing, Argyle? Filling her head with all of that harmony bearer nonsense?" AJ grumbled, taking a sip of her coffee. "The ponies her age probably think she's plum loco, talking about all other ponies being  friends. She'll never make friends talking about fairy tales, and whatnot."

"Why Applejack, I you would be the last pony to say something like that." The stallion protested, slugging down a hot mouthful of coffee."You're the one who told me the stories of Equestria in the first place, and gave me all of those harmony bearer toys and posters to give to her in the first place."

"Yeah, but those were the stories for a little filly, not the sort a' things a grown mare should be worried about in modern Equestria." AJ grumbled, slurping the hot caffeinated beverage in her cup. "Most of the Alicorns are gone, and harmony between the pony tribes went with them."

As the two ponies were talking, Argyle used the remote in his hoof to turn the television, where a commercial for a Maretime earth pony corporation appeared on the screen. 

"Greetings, fillies and gentlecolts, my name is Phyllis, and I am the CEO and founder of the Canterlogic corporation." The pony who spoke on screen was a pink mare, with a beehive hairdo in her mane, and a stock market cutie mark on her flank. AJ realized her pink glasses were the logo on the giant Canterlogic corp building she had seen standing at the very center of town. "For nearly  a century, Caterlogic corp's scientific innovation and technological progress has pushed ponies forward. We have made life here in Maretime Bay better though our corporate philosophy of putting earth ponies and their needs first."

"Great, an earth pony corporate propaganda PSA." Applejack snorted, as both she and Argyle rolled their eyes. "Just what this already xenophobic city needs."

"I am also here to remind every earth pony in town, that it is their civic duty to report any kind of suspicious activity related to the other two pony tribes." The mare's expression turned serious. "For too many centuries, our Pegasus and unicorn oppressors have marginalized us with their horn and wing privilege, and they will try to use their sinister magical  powers to undermine the earth pony equity we have achieved." The mare on screen adjusted her glasses. "If you see anyone collaborating with, or speaking positively about, the other two types of pony, please notify your local sheriff immediately." The mare saluted, as the flag on the old pre-equestrian earth pony nation flapped in the background. "It's up to all  of us to protect and defend the earth equine way of life."

"Great, that's just great." Applejack yelled angrily, slamming her hoof on the table. "Whoah nelly, if Princess Twilight had lived to see what the pony utopia she had worked so hard to create has become, they would be able to fill up galloping gorge into a lake with all the tears she'd cry from weeping!"

"Applejack, keep it down, Canterlogic corp's eyes and ears are everywhere." Argyle covered her mouth with his hoof, looking around  nervously as if listening devices everywhere. "Ponies in this town have disappeared in the middle of the night for speaking out against earth pony supremacy."

"Then why in tarnation are you raising your daughter in this xenophobic slime pit?" AJ asked."You could move to a safer earth pony community, like Ponyville."

"Because somepony has to stay here, and just like this lighthouse,  be a beacon of sanity in this storm of hate, until the rest of the earth pony tribe comes to it's senses." He looked out through the curtains, to make sure nopony was listening outside of the house. "But right now, there is something I can use your help with... somepony who needs to be snuck out of this town quietly and discretely, by a traveling merchant pony like yourself."

"What?! Who is it?" AJ whispered, leaning in conspiratorially. "Somepony who spoke out against canterlogic corp?"

"Worse, it's a pair of newborn foals, whose mother had them at home, and has hidden them from the local authorities." Argyle explained. "She and the father reached out to me, because they know I have contacts like you, who have connections in the Pegasus and unicorn communities."

"Well yeah, I have friends among the Pegasus of butterfly island, and among the equines of Unicornia. Both communities are friendly with earth ponies, but why-" Suddenly, AJ's eyes went wide with realization, and she felt her blood run cold. "Don't tell me..... is one of them foals a Pegasus, and one a unicorn?"

"We think the parents had unicorn and Pegasus ancestors in the past, these genetic throwbacks are born once in awhile in earth pony societies." Argyle nodded gravely. "If these two foals are discovered, the town's Canterlogic corp-backed 'earth pony purity' agents will judge the children's continued existence a threat, and have them...liquidated." Argyle closed his eyes. "Applejack, you must help me get these foals to the safety of Unicornia and Butterfly Island, before it is too late!"