//------------------------------// // The Unicorn, the Emperor, and the Sheriff // Story: Legends Never Die: A New Age // by bookhorse125 //------------------------------// Hitch Trailblazer paced restlessly in front of Sunny’s door. He couldn’t help it - some sixth sense was telling him that something was terribly wrong with his best friend, and he couldn’t stand the fact that there might be nothing he could do about it. Even more so, he couldn’t stand the fact that she might have trusted others with her secrets other than him. A small growl rose up in his throat. When Izzy Moonbow had first stumbled into Maretime Bay, Hitch had been rightfully freaked out, while Sunny had been absolutely ecstatic that she was seeing a real, live unicorn. When Hitch tried to do what he knew he had to do, Sunny had resisted, like he knew she would, somewhere deep down inside. And then Hitch had gone after them and unintentionally joined their quest, and he had realized that he liked Izzy - not in the like like way, but as a friend. He liked all of them. But now… Now it felt like he was being replaced. Sunny was choosing to have deep, private conversations with a bubbly unicorn than her foalhood friend who had been there for her in just about every way. He didn’t want to hate any member of their group, but he was starting to get a little bit resentful towards Izzy. And just thinking about it made him feel guilty. Sunny’s still your friend, he tried to comfort himself. She’s just got a lot of other friends, now, too. He sighed and plopped down against the wall across the hall from Sunny’s room. “Hitch?” came a voice in the shadows. “What are you doing here?” First came a pale white horn, followed by a curly blue mane and a lavender coat. Izzy tilted her head at him curiously, and Hitch fought to keep his cheeks from turning red. He had just been thinking negatively about her a few seconds ago, and despite the fact that he knew better now, part of his brain was still convinced that unicorns could read minds… and if that was true, Hitch didn’t want her to see anything in his head. “Couldn’t sleep.” He eyed her suspiciously. “What are you doing here?” The unicorn shrugged and sat next to him. The close contact made Hitch slightly uncomfortable. “I’m worried about Sunny,” she confessed. “Aren’t we all?” Hitch replied dryly, covering up his actual feelings. “Yes, but…” Izzy sighed. “For… different reasons.” Hitch blinked, confused. “Other reasons than the fact that she’s been acting strangely off and on for weeks now? Other reasons than the fact that the Sunny we know may be gone for good?” Izzy winced; his comment struck a little closer to home than he had expected. “Sunny’s told me… a few things, things she asked me not to share with you guys. She felt that it would keep you safer, and she didn’t want you to be put in danger because of her.” “Oh, was this during one of your little private chats?” Hitch asked a little harsher than he meant to. “If Sunny has so much to say to a pony like you that she doesn’t care to tell us, then, yeah, now I’m even more worried.” He regretted the words as soon as they were out of his mouth - the unicorn ducked her head and became very interested in the floor. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-” “I know,” Izzy tried to assure him, though just the sound of her voice so heavy and sad made him guilty. “It’s hard to let go of your entire world view just because of… recent events.” “How do you let go of it so quickly?” he asked, having secretly wanting to ask the question ever since the three pony tribes had reunited. She glanced at him, surprised, and then shrugged. “Growing up, I was always… the misfit, I guess you could say. All the other unicorns were depressed and sad, and I was always so cheerful and hopeful, especially once I found Sunny’s lantern. I loved trying to make ponies smile and feel happy, even though most of the unicorns didn’t care much for my attempts. So I was always kind of left out, and… I don’t know, knowing that I had you guys as friends made me think that maybe things weren’t as bad as they seem. Like, if you and Sunny can be smart and hard-working and definitely not smelling of rotten sardines, and Zipp and Pipp weren’t scheming masterminds who wanted to steal our magic, then maybe other ponies - other earth ponies and pegasi - weren’t as bad as we were taught. And I just try to keep an open mind so that I don’t let stereotypes define how I look at ponies.” They lapsed into a comfortable silence, watching the moon cast shadows on Sunny’s door, both thinking the exact same thing. “Do you think she’s going to be okay?” Izzy eventually asked, voicing both of their thoughts. “Of course she’s going to be okay,” Hitch replied immediately, more for his own benefit than the unicorn’s. “She’s Sunny. I’m sure this’ll pass. And once it’s over, she’s going to tell us that we were silly to worry about her.” Even as he said it, he had a hard time convincing himself that it was the truth, and the look on Izzy’s face certainly wasn’t helping. “She said there was no coming back,” the unicorn whispered, so quiet Hitch almost couldn’t hear her. “Pardon?” he asked, certain he had heard her wrong. Before the unicorn could respond, a small scuffle came from the shadows of the long hallway in between the windows. Hitch shot to his feet, and beside him, Izzy lit the tip of her horn for better light. A beam of purple light fell on… another earth pony. “Sprout?” Hitch took a step back, surprised. Izzy doused her horn and tilted her head at the stallion as he came into the light, the silvery beams from the moon giving his coat a strange sheen, as if it were glowing. “What are you doing out so late? Doesn’t your mother scold you if you don’t get at least eight hours?” The stallion huffed. “Please don’t tell my mom,” he pleaded, and Hitch smirked, implying that he had no intention of doing that. “I just wanted to see if Sunny was okay.” His green eyes flitted to the closed door. “Is she?” Hitch rolled his eyes. “Well, we aren’t exactly going to barge in there and ask her,” he snorted. “Really, you guys, you should go back to bed,” Izzy insisted, stepping in front of Sunny’s door protectively. “I’ve got it from h-h-here…” She tried and failed to stifle a huge yawn that nearly made her jaw unhinge. For the first time, Hitch noticed the dark circles under her eyes, the way that she stumbled around like she was half awake, half asleep. “Uh, no, you are going to bed,” Sprout said, pointing at the hallway behind him. “You look like you’re about to fall asleep on your feet. Look, get to bed or I’ll tell Hitch that you littered the other day.” “She what?” Hitch’s jaw dropped in shock, and the unicorn stifled a laugh. “Don’t worry, I made sure that all my trash went in the garbage can,” she assured him with another yawn. “M-maybe just a quick nap…” She stumbled past Sprout, yawning, and quickly disappeared into the shadows as if she had never been there at all. Hitch felt a shiver down his spine. Nighttime was creepy. “Did she really litter?” he asked instead. Sprout snorted. “No. But why are you out so late? I know you - if you don’t get enough sleep you are a zombie in the morning.” “Yes - well - friends are more important than sleep,” Hitch protested. “You aren’t going to be a very good bodyguard if you have your hooves full with coffee and are sleepwalking around the place,” Sprout retorted. “And since when have you cared so much?” snapped Hitch. “Forgive me if I’m remembering this wrong, but didn’t you destroy her lighthouse and nearly kill her all because of your ego?” Sprout winced; he’d struck a sore spot. What is it with me and speaking without thinking tonight? Hitch wondered. Maybe I really should get some sleep. “Sprout, I didn’t mean that,” he apologized. “I’m just stressed, that’s all, and I’m speaking without thinking. I shouldn’t have said that. I’m sorry.” “No, no, it’s okay,” Sprout muttered. “I’m used to it by now.” He took a deep breath and faced the sheriff. “Actually, I have something to apologize to you for.” “Was it the time that you took the last donut?” Hitch asked, arching an eyebrow at the other stallion. “Because I’m still mad at you for that-” “I’m sorry that I did what I did,” Sprout rushed. “I always wanted to prove myself, and then you gave me a chance, you trusted me to take care of the town, and I messed up so bad. I feel like everything that’s going on now is my fault, and what I’m trying to say is, I’m sorry that I let you down and took advantage of a chance that you gave me. All I’m asking is that you give me a chance… and hopefully I won’t mess it up as badly as I did.” Hitch put his arm around the former deputy’s shoulders. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you could do a good job,” he said. “You’re a great pony, Sprout - a terrible emperor, that is true, but a good pony, and I know that. And Sunny knows it, too. As for second chances, you don’t need ‘em - you’ve proven yourself already.” “I have?” The red earth pony looked surprised. Hitch grinned. “Didn’t you jump in front of an evil memory-sucking magic-beam before it could hit Sunny? You basically saved the world right there.” “You think so?” “I know so. Come on.” Hitch steered the stallion away from Sunny’s door. “I think Sunny’s going to be fine for tonight, and I don’t want to be a zombie tomorrow.” Sour Lavender and Permafrost crouched in the shadows of the Zephyr Heights archives, their eyes trained on the door. “I hate this,” the pegasus growled. “I hate this so much.” “I thought you would be glad to be back in your lovely hometown,” the unicorn replied snarkily. “Or is it not the kind of homecoming you would have liked?” “What are we even doing here?” Sour Lavender snapped, standing up and angrily pacing. Permafrost hissed at him to get down, but the purple pony didn’t listen. “Why are we following these guys? They’re weirdos, all of them - even that little filly makes my skin crawl. It’s like they aren’t supposed to be here at all.” He looked off in the direction that the creature they were with had gone and narrowed his eyes. “Perhaps we should go off on our own. We can get Sunny Starscout ourselves, and once we do, we won’t need these strange creatures to get what we want.” “Has boredom muddled your brain?” Permafrost hissed, grabbing his wing and yanking him back into hiding behind a few shelves. “That queen was right about one thing - we won’t get five steps without them. They have a way to take over Equestria, but it won’t be easy - Sunny Starscout and her friends will inevitably put up a fight, and they will fight with everything they have. Once these creatures have been worn down by them, we will strike, take the throne for ourselves, and rule in seperation - just as things were always meant to be. But we need them to do all the hard work first. And that means pretending to go along with it.” The pegasus growled but didn’t say a word. “Shh.” A hulking creature appeared in the shadows, looking angry. “It isn’t here,” he snarled. With a massive clawed hand, he seized the pegasus by the wings and held him in front of his face. “You said it would be here!” “I-I thought it would be!” Sour Lavender protested, struggling in his grip. “I swear, if there was anything like that, it would probably be here! I don’t know anything else!” “Sunny Starscout probably knows,” Permafrost scoffed as the huge creature let Sour Lavender fall to the floor in a heap. “Why don’t you just ask her to bring whatever it is you’re looking for to you?” The creature stopped, a slow smile spreading across his face. “Yes,” he muttered, “I think we can make that work.”