The Next Day
“Sooo does anypony have any idea why Sunny wanted us to get to the picnic so early?” Izzy asked her friends, and to her surprise and disappointment, they didn’t have a clue.
“Whatever it is,” Pipp yawned before continuing “I hope it’s important. I barely got any sleep, I kept having the same nightmare over and over again.” She said, earning shocked looks from her sister and her friends, which obviously confused her. “What?” She asked.
“Umm Pipp? Did your nightmare, by any chance, involve one of the old guardians of friendship first being happy, then becoming upset and yelling at you then attacking you?” Zipp asked, gaining a very shocked look from her little sister along with a shrug and a nod.
“Hitch and I had the same nightmare! He told me when we ran into each other.” Izzy said, to which Hitch agreed but then he looked confused and concerned.
“If all of US had that nightmare, do you think Sunny probably did too?” Hitch asked but no pony answered right away. After talking about it a bit more they just decide to ask Sunny when they meet up with her. A few more minutes later and they get to the spot for their picnic to find Sunny already there and looking eager to talk with them as she’s pacing.
Once they all reach her, they all share a quick group hug before cutting right into a conversation. “Guys, I hate to cut the hug short but I really need to introduce you to two new.. friends? I guess?” Sunny said, earning confused glances before Izzy asked the question that they were all thinking.
“Soooo where are they? Are they close-by?” she asked while looking around for the two ponies her friend wanted them to meet. She was always open to making new friends, it’s one thing all her friends admire about her, especially Sunny.
Before answering her questions, Sunny looked up after hearing a sound. “Oh here they come now.” she said, causing her friends to look up as well. Just as they did, a huge, grey male pegasus and a yellow female alicorn, both landed beside Sunny, startling all of them except her. They all back up a bit and looked shocked at the armor the two new ponies are wearing. His has lightning strikes in some places, including the chest and shoulders and hers has a green gem inside the chest plate and blades attached under her forearms.
“Whoooaaa.” said everypony besides Sunny, who was now wearing a nervous smile as she introduced them.
“Guys, meet Artemis,” she gestures to the alicorn then to the pegasus. “and Thunderbird.” she says then turns to the two intimidating ponies. “Artemis, Thunderbird, these are my friends, Izzy Moonbow,-” Sunny starts but before she can continue, Thunderbird interrupts her.
“Izzy Moonbow, Hitch Trailblazer, Zipp Storm, and Pipp Petals. We are well aware of who all of you are, everypony in Equestria is by now and one reason for that is because of a specific somepony's livestreams.” he says, and during that last part, he gestures to Pipp who smiles nervously, earning a sigh from him.
“Is that not a good thing?” Sunny asks curiously, earning another frustrated sigh from him. That was a good enough answer for her to work with. “Guess not..” she says, her ears dropping a bit.
“That’s not important right now, this is what you all need to know. There’s another alicorn on her way from her magical prison, she’s far stronger and more experienced than Sunny so she’ll need to be trained and ready to fight. You all will just in case.” said Artemis, earning uncomfortable looks from all of them, especially Izzy.
“Wait wait wait. FIGHT? Are you sure there isn’t some other way to deal with her and stop her from trying to take over Equestria?” she asked, her voice full of hope, hope that she nor her friends would have to hurt anyone to save Equestria. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case as both Artemis and Thunderbird both nodded, confirming that fighting her was the only way to protect their home and everypony else. Izzy frowned and lowered her ears, giving her the look of a kicked puppy. Sunny saw this and frowned herself but then managed to put a soft smile on her face as she stepped closer to her friend.
She used her hand to gently lift Izzy’s chin until her eyes met her own. “I know how you feel Izzy, and as much as I don’t like it either, if that’s what it takes to defend Equestria then we have to be ready to do our part.. but I can’t do this alone. So I can count on you to be by my side through this.. right?” Sunny asked while giving a soft, warm smile which always helped to put Izzy at ease or reassure her. After thinking about it, she gave a determined nod.
“Of course you can Sunny, you’ve been there for me ever since the first day we met and you’ve had my back ever since then, it’s time for me to have yours. I’ll be there for you, we all will.” Izzy said to which all her friends agreed and at the same time, she and Sunny both said the same thing they told each other the first day they met and started their journey.
“I'm lookin' out for you” they both said, earning smiles from each other and all their friends and secret smirks from Pipp and Artemis. This happy moment didn’t last long as Thunderbird just HAD to interrupt.
“Hate to break up the love fest, but if you two are done, can we hurry up and go now?” he asked before turning around and readying his magic.
“Uhhh sorry if I sound stupid buuut.. where ARE we going?” Sunny asked the same question that she and all her friends were thinking. They became a bit unsettled when they saw a smirk on Thunderbird’s face before he raised a hand into the air, calling lightning down on them and making the Mane 5 all flinch and cling to each other. When they open their eyes, they realize they’re not dead but they are in a different location. Statues in front of pillars, multiple doors that lead to different rooms and multiple flights of stairs, some visibly going all the way up which was VERY high up. Not only that but there were different types of ponies from all races everywhere.
They all had armor of their own and there were even robotic sentries walking with them, keeping guard and even assisting those who needed it. There was advanced technology almost everywhere. Seeing all this, Sunny and her friends all went wide eyed and slack jawed. “Welcome to our headquarters. This is where we find different types of problems, from friendship problems to rampaging creatures causing trouble to evil villains who wanna take over Equestria. Sunny.. you and your friends are standing in the middle of one of the best kept secrets in Equestrian history.” Artemis said as she and Thunderbird led them through the base and Sunny saw something that caught her eye- a statue, but not just any statue.. it was a statue of Twilight Sparkle’s cutie mark.
She went to it and examined it, amazed by how accurate and cool it looked. Artemis chuckles after seeing Sunny's reaction and walked over to her. “Twilight Sparkle was one of the best things to ever happen to Equestria.. whenever we could, we’ve been trying to figure out what REALLY happened to her and her friends after their final mission to trap the same alicorn you’re going to be fighting.. were she still here, it would’ve been her job to stop that monster from ever achieving her goal.. but now.. it’s yours.” she said which earned a nervous look from Sunny before it switched to a determined one.
“I’m prepared to do whatever it takes.” she said but Artemis just shook her head, earning a confused look from Sunny.
“You’re not yet prepared Sunny.. you’re SCARED, but don’t worry, after I’m done explaining, we are going to train that fear out of you. Oh and I should warn you, I might hold back buuut Thunderbird isn’t quite as.. knowledgeable of NOT breaking his students sooo.. I hope you’re ready to never be able to relax your muscles again.” Artemis said, earning a shocked and scared look from Sunny as she walked off and rejoined the others, leaving Sunny to think and start to regret her choice.
“Oh boy.. this is gonna be a LONG adventure..” she said, rubbing her temples before rejoining the others on the tour. Little did she know, it was actually going to be worse than that.. way worse.