Sunny’s snores shook the cave from its front to its back. Hitch and Izzy were awake and had been for some time. Their half-closed eyes were bloodshot, and their unkempt manes stuck up, splotched with soot and green ooze.
“She… she like this every morning?” Hitch asked.
Izzy quietly yawned.
“Yeppers.”
Hitch groan-sighed.
“And I even went through the effort of putting a rock in her mouth. But she spit it out sometime in the night.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. It hit me right in the face.”
“Ouchies…”
“Ouchies is right.”
Izzy laid down and her eyelids fluttered, as if she were unconsciously falling back asleep.
“I was awake the one morning…”
Hitch looked over at Izzy.
“Huh?”
Izzy shook her head and forced her lids up.
“S-sorry! What I meant was, because of the snoring, back at Maretime Bay, I was up really early one morning. I told Sunny I couldn’t remember anything but, that was a lie.” Izzy straightened up and stretched, like a cat waking from a long sleep. Hitch wished he had some coffee. “I was watching her sleep. She’s… expressive.”
At that, Sunny smiled in her sleep and her leg twitched. She looked like a dog embroiled in a dream. Hitch chuckled.
“Yeah, she sure is…”
He trailed off. The light outside the cave, still an early orange glow, pulsated. He squinted.
“Uhhh, you see that too, Izzy?”
Izzy tip-toed toward the opening of the cave. She looked at the reflection of the light on the stone ground. It went from darker to light every few seconds. She squinted up at the orange sun itself, and every so often it would brighten and turn a lighter shade of orange. Suddenly, Sunny’s snoring was interrupted, and she sat up.
“Wha-HUH!?”
Both of the other ponies exchanged a glance. Hitch cleared his throat.
“Morning, Sleeping Beauty. You make a good alarm clock - thanks for that.”
Sunny stretched and smacked her dry lips.
“What uhh what are you going on about, Hitch?”
Izzy stepped forward, a tiny grin on her face.
“The snoring, Sunny. Your very loud snoring.”
Sunny seemed to be drifting back to sleep. She dopily leaned to one side. When the words registered, she jumped up and turned red.
“Oh! Guys, I’m so sorry! I really can’t help it, it’s just—”
Hitch gave her a slight shove.
“It’s fine, Sunny. Look!”
He pointed toward the sun. Sunny followed his hoof.
“It’s happening already. Remember when it only did that once a year, and then it happened twice a year? Seems like it’s twice a month now.”
Sunny’s mouth opened. She walked outside of the cave to get a better look and stared directly at the orange orb in the sky, just at the top of the mountain wall.
“The Sun Goddess!”
She looked back at her friends inside the cave.
“Maybe it’s a sign, telling us to get a move on!”
Hitch shrugged and smirked. He couldn’t stop an obnoxious yawn shooting past his lips.
“Sure, since we’re already awake and all.”
Izzy giggled. Sunny forced an awkward smile at her friends. Her brow furrowed when she saw the state of everypony’s coat – she looked at herself and grimaced.
“I don’t mean to sound like you, Hitch, but I’m not digging the ‘science experiment gone wrong’ look. Ohhhh – and my head!”
Sunny sat on her rump and rubbed her temples while cooing to herself. Hitch nodded.
“We DID get hit with a green blastie Unicorn lazer thing and fall out of a castle and into a tree last night. If it hadn’t been for my Lickity Splitlixir, we would be waking up in the dungeons again.”
Izzy pointed up at Hitch’s head and snickered.
“But at least your bad mane day is over, Hitch!”
Hitch seemed surprised. He felt his coiffure and, being assured each strand was in its rightful place, he sighed contently.
“Thank Rockhoof… let’s get out of the boonies and wash up. I don’t want the mares in Tall Tale thinking I’m some weirdo mountain stallion.”
Hitch yawned so loud it matched one of Sunny’s snores. Sunny craned her neck toward the sun then looked back at her hooves as Hitch looked at his belt.
“Hey wait,” Sunny said. She looked up with concern. “Why don’t we use this green stuff?”
Izzy looked at Hitch, then at Sunny. Hitch looked up at Sunny.
“For what, a science experiment?”
“For a disguise!”
Sunny licked her lips thoughtfully. She moved her ponytail in front of her face, snagged at the hair elastics one by one with her teeth and pulled them out. With her mane down, she tentatively grabbed a glob of the green on her side and rubbed it into her hair. Hitch jumped back.
“Yow! Are you sure that’s safe? What if it melts your mane off or something?!”
“Relax. Risk not, want not.”
“Sunny that’s not how that saying goes.”
“What’s all around is good around, Hitch.”
“Stop that.”
Izzy copied her female friend, scooping off the green goo from her coat and mixing it into her mane. Before long both mares had dyed their manes neon green. Hitch made a wry face.
“Eugh. Seriously?”
Sunny motioned her Unicorn pal over.
“Mind doing mine into a bun? I have trouble doing it myself.”
Izzy lit up.
“Ohmigosh! Sure! And can you do mine into pigtails after?”
Sunny got just as excited.
“Yeah! Just like little fillies do at layovers!”
Izzy frowned.
“You mean… sleepover?”
“Oh yeah, that!”
Hitch stuck out his tongue.
“Yuck, you’re gonna get all girly on me now? Come on, none of the namby pamby stuff, this group has a stallion in it, there will be none of that.”
Sunny looked over cheekily as Izzy got to work on her mane.
“Lighten up, Trashblazer. We’ll do you next.”
Hitch pouted.
“…you better.”
After a second, his ear twitched.
“Actually, I wanted to go through our things before we go. Do you mind if I check your bag, Izzy? And yours, Sunny?”
Neither mare was phased by the suggestion. Sunny commented.
“Mine has nothing useful – sorry, I didn’t know to pack for everything.”
Hitch smiled.
“No worries, Sunny Starscout. I am a sheriff… err, was. I’m always prepared.”
He turned his belt over, revealing a few hidden compartments. He pulled out a blue vial, then a green one.
“I have two Aqua Vivas and two rough mixes of Treesap Tincture. It’s my own batch, but it should do the trick. Problem is, it’s the stuff that takes you out of commission, but the healing power is top notch. You should know and all, Sunny.” The named mare rolled her eyes. Hitch continued with a chuckle. “Anyway, if one of us gets bad enough that we need the Tincture, the others will have to carry her. Or him. So hopefully, I’m not the one that gets the booboo.”
Izzy asked inquisitively.
“And what does the Aqua Viva do, that blue one?”
Hitch put the vials back into their compartments.
“Keeps you hydrated all day long – if water is scarce, this is your lifeline in the wild. As long as you have a good collection of them. I need to restock, though. Good thing we are going to Tall Tale. I’ve heard the potion scene ain’t too bad there.” Hitch hummed. “But we definitely will need to keep a low profile.
Hitch turned his attention to Izzy’s bag as Sunny felt her bun and shot the Unicorn an approving smile. Izzy sat down, her tail wagging, as Sunny started on her pigtails.
“Let’s see,” Hitch began. He peered into the faux leather, tan colored saddlebags. All he saw was the gold glint of bits. “Wowzers. You really are the Warlo” — He saw Sunny glaring, and Izzy looking dejected, and stopped — “I mean, wow, your family is really rich, huh.”
Izzy talked as Sunny put her mane into position. “I guess so? I only use the bits outside of Unicornia. I’ve never had to pay for anything in my own country. If I go to a store I just show them my special card, and they let me take it.”
Hitch scoffed and motioned forward with his hoof.
“Well ladie dah! Your ‘special card’! That sounds like something the McColts and Hooffields would have.”
Sunny shrugged. She was gripping part of Izzy’s mane and wrapping an elastic around it.
“Hey, is it any different from how things back home are? All you have to do in Maretime Bay is put in some work a few times a week, hauling crate or fishing, and you get all the rations you can eat.”
A family of birds landed on Hitch’s back. The mares laughed, watching them stare at Hitch. He ignored them for the most part and looked grim.
“Yeah, rations. And if you want more than scraps, you need to put in some serious effort. No ‘special cards’ for us working Earth Ponies.”
Izzy screwed her mouth into a concerned line. Sunny put up the first pigtail and then nudged Izzy. While Hitch returned his focus to the saddlebag, Sunny pointed at him and made a mocking face. Izzy giggled. Hitch spoke, unawares.
“Other than bits you have… uhhh, a ball of yarn and some weird sticks?”
Izzy nearly leapt forward, though remembered Sunny’s grip on the other part of her mane. She whined.
“Hitch, be careful please. Sorry but those are very important to me. They’re my knitting hooves, and I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to get any new ones between here and Sire’s Hollow!”
“Knee-ting?”
Sunny answered that.
“She spins the yarn around until it makes a thing, a doll or a coat or whatever. It’s really cool!”
Hitch slowly shook his head.
“If you say so…”
After that, Hitch pulled out a picture. He turned it around a few times then smiled.
“Aww, is that your family?” He saw something on the picture and did a double take. “Wait, is THAT your brother? The – the You-Know-Who?”
Izzy struggled free from Sunny as soon as the latter finalized the neon green pigtails. Izzy took the picture from Hitch but stood next to him so they could both observe, and Sunny joined as well.
“Yeah,” Izzy said with a melancholy sigh. “That was him. Ten years ago, before he became a meanie bo beanie.”
The picture showed a filly Izzy, smile taking up half her face, with two older ponies behind her and a young stallion beside her. The younger stallion had a much more reserved smile. His fur was a midnight blue, and his mane looked like a lighter shade of the same color, and it appeared almost like a starry sky contained in a short, stout style. Izzy’s father was short, plump, and had a bushy moustache and wore glasses – her mother was taller, with lavender fur, and a done-up mane of sparkly amber. They all wore snazzy-looking, purple cotton outfits with a badge on the breast that showed Izzy’s Cutie Mark.
“His name is Darius. Not Warlock King. Darius Moonbow. My big brother.” Izzy made a happy noise, and Sunny saw a big grin on her face. She couldn’t help but smile as well. Then, Izzy became sad.
“A-anyway, like I said, ten years ago.” She cleared her throat. “There’s nothing else in my bag. Sorry, I didn’t pack for a useful journey, either.”
Sunny hopped over to where her little bag was laying inside the cave. She snatched it, went back to the others, and dumped it out.
“Nothing useful for me also!”
The contents were a note pad, a pencil, and various loose bits. Sunny shrugged.
“I use my bag when I bring something to the Professor, or if it’s needed for my speeches in the market. Otherwise, it’s just got my notepad – for writing down speeches and ideas for speeches, of course.”
She sighed.
“Too bad I didn’t know we’d be going on a journey, or I would have brought my Famous Ponies of Equestria figurines!”
Hitch made a noise of disgust.
“Blah. I’ve heard of those. I thought the townsearthponies threw all of those out.”
Sunny smiled, closed her eyes, and stood up proud, as if the sun were glowing down on her.
“They did, that’s how I found them, thank you very much. And my couch, too – ask Izzy, that thing smelled just fine!”
Izzy cocked her head.
“Famous Ponies of Equestria? Like Starswirl, or Princess Luna?”
Sunny grinned wide.
“Yeah! Starswirl! I heard the professor and Old Man Withers mention him! Do Unicorns know Starswirl too?”
Izzy sat on her rump as Hitch squinted and looked at all their supplies, which he had gathered in the middle of the group.
“Of course we know about Starswirl. According to the legends, after the Great Betrayal, it was Starswirl who led the Unicorns to safety. I’m guessing your stories say that Rockhoof did the same thing for the Earth Ponies.”
Sunny looked enthralled, her eyes fixed on Izzy’s.
“Yeah, yeah! Uhh, I think. Hitch?”
“Hmm? Oh yeah, more or less. And there’s something about a table too. Just a second, I’m thinking.”
“Don’t strain yourself.”
“Thanks I wo—heeeyyy.”
Sunny snickered. Izzy put a hoof to her chin and hummed.
“I’m surprised that Starswirl isn’t viewed as a villain then. We call Rockhoof the Great Evil. It’s said that he turned bad a long time ago and tried to use his strength to subjugate the other races.”
More birds flew onto Hitch’s back, and a few mountain gerbils hopped up as well. He looked back at them with annoyance. Sunny replied to Izzy.
“I think that’s because most Earth Ponies don’t know about Starswirl, I only heard about him from the professor and Old Man Withers. I don’t think my Famous Ponies are Starswirl, and I don’t think any of them is a princess, so that rules out your Luna pony.”
Sunny drew six crude figures in the dirt – Izzy watched with enthusiasm.
“The Famous Ponies Figurines, the ones I have, are two Earth Ponies, two Unicorns, and two Pegasi. I don’t know their names, but I think that they used to be great heroes and friends. It’s one of the reasons why I love my parents’ dream so much, because I see those six and I think it must be so cool to have a bunch of friends that are different!”
She suddenly became very thoughtful.
“But you know, it’s weird – one of the Pegasi has a defect. They put a horn on her.”
Izzy looked at the drawing Sunny made, the one with the crude wings and the crude horn.
“Maybe she was a Unicorn, and they added wings by mistake?”
Sunny’s mouth widened.
“You’re a genius, Izzy! I bet that’s exactly what happened!”
Hitch scoffed.
“Why would you add wings to a Unicorn? That’s just… silly. If I had bought that figurine and saw wings on a Unicorn, I would be pretty disappointed. That’s freakish.”
Some pebbles and larger rocks rumbled down the side of the mountain wall and fell nearby. All three ponies looked over, then up. Hitch commented.
“Must have been a slight shift, we should be fine.”
Izzy looked nervous.
“A-are you sure? Will there be another rockslide, you think?”
“Nah. But we should head out you two. If we follow the path, and climb the rockslide, we’ll get to a side of the mountain I’m sure the soldiers from the castle won’t check. Then if my knowledge of geography is worth anything, we should have tree cover all the way to Tall Tale.”
Hitch stood up and strapped his belt on.
“After that, we will have to put our heads together, because I have no idea how we are going to sneak into the city and find Sunny’s grandmother.”
Hitch frowned. He dipped a hoof in some sooty green goo on his chest and rubbed it into his mane. He continued until his mane poofed up into a neon afro. The mares giggled.
“Heh, laugh all you want, but I know it looks good.”
More rocks rolled down from above. It didn’t help Izzy’s skittishness – Sunny wrapped her hoof around Izzy and brought her in close. Sunny did the same with Hitch.
“We’ll figure it out! Together!”
Hitch rolled his eyes but smiled. Izzy’s eyes were glued to the sky. She shivered.
“M-M-M-M-M—”
Hitch and Sunny looked at Izzy.
“What is it Izzy?”
“Is this another Unicorn thing?”
A loud thud landed behind the ponies, casting a dark shadow over them. With Sunny’s hooves still around them, everypony shuffled around, their pupils tiny. Three hearts caught inside three throats.
Their screams made all the animals on Hitch’s back scatter. What they saw was a giant, grey troll.
All of Castle Rockhoof was in disarray. The higher ups were trying to decide what to do, and who to order to do what, while the lower ranks made knee-jerk decisions and sent their lackeys off to complete tasks elsewhere. Away from all the noise and confusion, within her private chambers, stood a tall, light pink-furred mare, released from her golden armor, and nervously chewing on the stem of a wide, puffy, white flower.
“Curio,” she said. “I’m worried. I’m very worried about all of this.”
She stared at an emblem hanging on her wall. Two long pony shapes formed a circle – one pony was darker, the other lighter. Each had a horn and wings. Long ago, a traveller gave the emblem to Aurelia’s grandfather, along with a book with the same emblem on its cover. Never before had she studied that symbol so closely.
“Curio?”
She turned, and at the same time let the flower fall from her mouth onto her desk.
Curio was leaning against his own hoof, snoring quietly. He was in his armor, although it was more understandable, given that it was just faux leather.
“Curio!”
The oldest of the Knights grumbled himself awake. He ran a hoof through his light lavender mane and looked around.
“W-what? D-don’t—Aurelia, I need to sleep! This is serious!”
“So why are you sleeping?!”
“Because I can’t think if I’m exhausted! I’m an old stallion!”
Curio jumped up and out of the old armchair. He cracked his neck from one side to the next and growled deep in his throat. Aurelia paced.
“They’re going to want action. McColt, Hooffield, Bastion, the Realm. Curio, Hornheads attacked the Castle! That hasn’t happened in decades!”
Curio chuckled, though his expression made it clear that he did so in spite of the dire situation.
“Don’t forget, we also lost the Starscout and Isabella Moonbow, perhaps the best bargaining chip we could hope for. If that Starscout was working with the Hornheads, or even if she wasn’t, they have her voice magic to themselves now. It’s about as bad as it can be. I thought we would have at least recaptured the prisoners by now.”
Aurelia’s pink irises vibrated with worry.
“What shall I do? Tell me – what would father have done? And grandfather?”
“Your father would have been worse off than you. He probably would have just cried and shut himself up in here, with the way he was by the end—and by the way you will NOT be doing the same thing in this crisis.” Curio smiled warmly, but Aurelia could hardly think of returning one. Curio switched to a frown. “And your grandfather Aurelius would have had us marching to Sire’s Hollow by now, ready to all die for the sake of revenge.”
Curio took hold of the Realm’s Protector with his stern gaze.
“What we need right now is YOUR decision. Not your father’s, and not your grandfather’s. Aurelia Shieldheart is who we need right now.”
Aurelia controlled her breathing. She nodded, and Curio nodded as well.
“Right.” She breathed in sharp. “For now, we wait for Bastion and the others. Messenger eagles were sent, were they not? We need a full meeting, all the Knights.”
Curio hacked out a cough.
“Exactly. Let the Stone Table decide how the Realm moves forward.”
“Yes. Just as Rockhoof would have wanted.”
Curio smiled.
“This is why I am happy to serve as your Right Hoof. I think somewhere in his mind Bastion feels the same way. But, Aurelia, we have drifted far apart indeed. I know, in my heart.”
He scared Aurelia with the look he gave her. A sadness and a dread weighed his brow.
“Sir Bastion has something planned, and I’m terrified because I think this is just what he was hoping for.”
Aurelia’s pupils widened.
“You don’t think he…?”
“I don’t know anymore. But he has the full support of the McColts and the Hooffields, and about half the Knights, either out of respect or fear. And he does not hide the fact that he wants another war.”
Curio closed his eyes and sighed for a very long time.
“I think… I think we need to try and maintain our position, but ultimately if the meeting goes one way, you need to side with the majority. The Realm as it stands will not survive a civil war, especially when the threat of a very real one with the Hornheads looms over us.”
Before Aurelia could convert her thoughts into words, a loud knocking at the door disturbed the silence inside.
“Come i—”
A panting stallion burst inside. His sweaty blonde mane covered his neck.
“L-Lady Protector, I! I!”
Curio barked.
“Out with it!”
The stallion, Curio recognized, was one of the guards of the Relic Room. The stallion stumbled on his words, trying to find the grace to turn his tongue movements into proper sentences.
“T-The… R-Rockhoof’s… It’s g-gone…”
Curio and Aurelia swapped glances. Curio stepped closer to the stallion.
“What?”
The stallion blurted it out all at once.
“After the emergency in the castle died down, I went to the Relic Room to swap shifts with the other guard. A-And I got inside, and she – and she was… I couldn’t wake her up! And then I saw… I saw…”
The stallion fell to his knees.
“Rockhoof’s shovel is gone!”
The stallion sobbed, covering his face. Curio grabbed him and shook.
“What do you mean, gone? What does that mean!?”
Aurelia’s jaw hung. She stared around her room. When she was a filly, she spent many days pouring through old books, old scrolls, and strategic maps, trying her best to learn how to be the best Protector she could be when her time came, if it came at all. She grew up watching her father fail, and knew she had to do better, like her grandfather had been.
She wondered how she could have ever been so foolish to think reading and strategy would solve anything.
Curio pressed the stallion further.
“OUT WITH IT - WHERE’S THE SHOVEL!? WHO KNOWS ABOUT THIS?”
“N-NOEARTHPONY, J-JUST ME! I LOCKED THE ROOM AND CAME STRAIGHT HERE! I DIDN’T W-WANT ANYEARTHPONY TO SEE UNTIL I TOLD THE LADY PROTECTOR!”
Aurelia looked back at her wall. The symbol of the two long ponies forming a circle. A memory entered Aurelia’s head – one of peace, of serenity, of butterflies in her stomach sitting with two forbidden friends. She could almost hear her grandfather’s voice again from when he made the discovery – she had never heard an Earth Pony scream so loud, or seen an Earth Pony get so mad.
When the Relic Room guard talked about the shovel, Aurelia remembered hearing her grandfather tell her about its importance.
“Aurelia! Don’t ever let those Hornheads or the Featherfreaks get their dirty hooves on Rockhoof’s shovel! That’s the shovel that helped carve this piece of land out of Equestria for Earth Ponies! It’s OUR land, it’s OUR history! Guard it with your life! Guard it with all the lives in the Realm!”
She gritted her teeth and swung around, dangerous fires burning behind her fierce pink irises.
“Mobilize the troops and call up the reserves! We must find Rockhoof’s shovel at all costs!”