//------------------------------// // Sounding the Alarm // Story: A New Generation: Friendship is Magic // by Sky_Wishes //------------------------------// “Sunny. Sunny. Sunny! Are you in there?” Sunny cracked her bleary eyes open. Her muscles ached from sleeping on the ground, and she let out a small groan as someone pushed her bedroom door open. “Ugh. There you are, Sunny. I’ve been looking for you all morning.” A familiar male voice rang in her ears. “Don’t tell me you stayed up all night reading again. I told you that being up so late was bad for you. And you shouldn’t leave all your books strewn about the floor like this!” Sunny lifted her head off the ground. “Hitch…?” The yellow stallion continued his rant as he returned various books to their proper shelves and papers to their desks. “Yes, it’s me. You have got to start taking better care of yourself. Have you even had breakfast yet?" Sunny's stomach growled. She shook her head. "No..." Hitch gave Sunny a pointed look. "Listen Sunny. I understand that you really love this stuff. But you have a responsibility to yourself to get enough rest. And it's not even just about you this time! Everypony in Ponyville is counting on you for refreshments for the celebration tonight.” "Celebration...?" Sunny rubbed her eyes, trying to process what her foalhood friend was saying. "What celebrat—" She cut herself off as her mind finally caught up with her. The Summer Sun Celebration. Nightmare Moon. The elements! “Hitch!” Sunny jumped up suddenly, scattering papers across the floor as she did. “I need to tell you something! You see, I was reading—” “—I know that. And as I’ve been saying, you need to stop doing that. I can’t keep coming around reminding you to take care of yourself.” “But I found something really important—“ “—And I’m really busy today, too. I still need to have Zipp clear the clouds, check Izzy’s decorations, make sure Pipp’s ready to sing tonight. And that’s not even including—” “—But everyone in Ponyville could be in danger, Hitch!” At the sound of the ‘D’ word, Hitch stopped in his tracks and swiveled around to face Sunny. “Danger?” He asked in his ‘sheriff voice’. “What kind of danger are we talking about? Stampeding cattle? Parasprites? Sleeping Dragon?” “No, it’s Nightmare Moon!” “Nightmare—” Hitch’s serious face shifted into one of incredulity. “Nightmare Moon? From that old bedtime story?” Sunny nodded. “Yes, but she’s not just a bedtime story! She’s real, and she’s going to return tonight.” Hitch remained blank-faced. “Nightmare Moon. From the foal’s bedtime story. Is going to come here tonight.” Sunny nodded again. “Yes. Now I’ve been doing some research, and the only things that can defeat her are these artifacts called the Elements of Harmony. Now, I couldn’t find much information on them, but—” “Sunny.” Hitch put his hoof on Sunny’s shoulder. “Listen to me. You’re one of my best friends. We’ve known each other since we were foals. So listen to me when I tell you I say this with your best interests in mind. I think all these books are starting to get to you.” Sunny glared at him, shoving his foot off. “What? No! This is serious! If you look at the story of the Mare in the Moon—” “—Which is also just a legend.” Hitch interrupted “And besides, if there was really some scary immortal alicorn who wanted to plunge Equestria into eternal night, don’t you think the Princess would warn us?” Sunny couldn’t come up with an answer to that, and simply cast her gaze on the floor. He sighed. “Listen, I’m not sure what sort of bad dreams you had last night, but like I said, I have a lot to supervise before the celebration tonight. Are you going to be okay? Because if you need to take a day to rest, I can always get somepony else to cover refreshments.” “But I’m not just—” Sunny paused as she carefully considered Hitch’s words. A small smile began to spread across her face. “Actually, Hitch, you know what? I think I will need somepony to cover for me.” She let out an exaggerated yawn. “I did stay up really late last night, and I want to make sure I’m rested up for the party tonight. So if it’s not too much trouble…” Hitch smiled. “Of course not. Anything for a friend!” He turned around to walk out the bedroom door. “I’ll get right to it, so get some sleep, okay? I’ll see you tonight.” “Bye, Hitch!” Sunny said, as he walked out the door. As soon as it was shut, she turned back to her desk. “Well Hitch,” Sunny said with a smile. “If you won’t believe me, maybe there’s somepony out there who will.” The small town of Ponyville was buzzing with excitement. All around, ponies were cleaning, decorating, and generally doing their part to make sure that the festivities were the absolute best that they could possibly be. It seemed like there was no way that anything could go wrong. Which was precisely why it was so surprising to see a certain orange earth pony mare skating through the streets, megaphone in hoof. “Attention everypony! Nightmare Moon is coming! We need to prepare!" Sunny rolled through the streets, determined to reach as many ponies as possible. So Hitch didn't believe her. Fine. She'd just find somepony else who would. Ponyville was full of other ponies; surely one of them would have to listen to her. "Nightmare Moon is coming everypony! we need to— Ooof!" At that moment, Sunny ran straight into a makeshift wooden stage. "Ugh..." "Sunny?" Sunny looked up to see the face of a familiar pink pegasus. "Pipp!" She said, jumping to her feet. "Oh, hey Sunny!" She replied, swooping down to face her. "How are you doing? Do you like the stage? I made it myself." "Um, Yeah. It's very nice, but—" "So, what's all this Nightmare Moon stuff about? Is it some sort of Nightmare Night promotion? 'cause I love your Bloody Orange smoothie as much as the next pony, but I think you might've mixed up your holidays?" Sunny shook her head. "No! She's real, Pipp!" "Who's real?" "Nightmare Moon!" Pipp gave Sunny a blank look before she burst out into laughter. "That's a good one, Sunny!" Sunny growled and stamped her hoof on the ground. "I'm not joking, Pipp! This is serious! Nightmare Moon is coming, and we need to find the Elements of Harmony to defeat her, and—" "Sunny Starscout!" Oh no. Sunny turned around to see the town mayor, Phyllis, storming angrily towards her. “Oh hey,” she said wearing a sheepish expression. “What brings you here?” Phyllis snorted. “What brings me here? What brings me here? I’m here because somepony’s trying to incite a panic in this town with her wild stories about an old mare’s tale! Do you know how many parents have come to me complaining of their foals crying because they’re scared that Nightmare Moon is coming to gobble them up?” Sunny folded her ears back. “I’m sorry. But I’m not trying to scare anypony, honest! You see, I was looking through my dad’s old books, and—” “Bup, bup, bup! I don’t want to hear it. I’m under enough pressure as it is trying to make sure that everything goes perfectly, and the last thing I need is you messing things up with your usual antics.” “But—” “—No buts! If this keeps up, I’ll have to have you banned from this year’s Summer Sun Celebration!” “What? Mator Cloverleaf, you can’t do that!” Pipp said, suddenly flying forward. “Sunny didn’t mean any harm!” Phyllis scoffed. “She never does. And yet somehow it keeps happening.” “Come on. Cut her some slack. I’m sure she’ll tone it down with the whole ‘Nightmare Moon’ stuff, right Sunny?” Sunny nodded vigorously. “Right! Of course I will!” Phyllis glared at Sunny before turning back to Pipp. “Fine,” she said with a sigh. “But I’d better not hear of any more incidents, or else.” And then with another a scoff and a flick of her tail, she turned around and walked off, leaving the two mares by themselves once more. Sunny heaved a sigh of relief and turned to face Pipp. “Thanks for sticking up for me there. I’m glad she likes you.” “Pshhh, it’s no problem!” Pipp said with a grin. “Although you might wanna tone the publicity stunt down a tad. Wouldn’t want to scare anymore foals.” Sunny growled and stamped her hoof. “Argh, Pipp! this isn’t a publicity stunt! This is real! Nightmare Moon really is coming, and we need to prepare!” “Prepare by doing what, exactly? How are we supposed to go up against her?” “Um— Well—” Sunny stammered. “We could— Or maybe—” Pipp drapped a fluffy wing over her back. “Just relax, Sunny! I’m sure even if Nightmare Moon was coming, Princess Celestia would’ve told us!” Right. Hitch had said that too, and it was the one piece of the puzzle that didn’t quite fit. If Nightmare Moon was coming, why wasn’t the Princess doing anything about it? There was no way she could just not know, right? She was Princess Celestia, for goodness’ sake! Sunny looked down. “I guess that makes sense…” Pipp beamed. “Right? There’s no need to worry! So just relax, do your ‘Sunny Thang’, and whatever you do, don’t forget to come see me perform tonight!~” Sunny forced a small smile. “Yeah… I’ll do that.” “Great! Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some practice to get back to.” And with that said, Pipp spread out her wings and flew back onto the stage. Sunny, on the other hand, was left to wander the streets on Ponyville, looking at everypony excitedly setting up for the Celebration. A dark pit formed in her stomach as she watched them. Didn’t they know how much danger they were all in? Maybe Pipp and Hitch are right, though. Maybe I am worrying over nothing. “Psst!” Sunny looked up. Where did that come from? She looked around, but the streets seemed mostly deserted. So where did… “Over here!” Sunny scanned the area around her. There were a few bushes and some ponies who were preoccupied with the planning, but not much— One of the bushes moved. Normally, Sunny would’ve blamed the wind, but the skies were completely clear. So without many other options, she slowly and carefully approached the bush. “Hello?” “Hey.” A head popped out of the bushes, and Sunny jumped back slightly. The voice gave a chuckle, and to her surprise, Sunny recognized it. “Zipp?” “That’s me.” The sleek white pegasus climbed out of bushes, deftly shaking off the leaves that clung to her wings and fur as she did so. Sunny tilted her head. “What were you doing in the bushes? Aren’t you supposed to be clearing the clouds?” “I needed to make sure nopony heard us. Plus, I finished with the clouds a while ago.” She leaned into Sunny’s ear and lowered her voice to a whisper. “I wanted to hear your theory on Nightmare Moon.” “You do?” Sunny squealed, earning her an annoyed look from Zipp. She felt her face heat up. “Sorry,” she whispered. “You do?” Zipp nodded. “I’m curious.” She pulled out her notebook. “You said something about these Elements of Armory?” “Harmony. But yeah!” She pulled her Dad’s book out of her saddlebag. “According to the legend, that’s what Princess Celestia used to defeat her last time. But I’m not sure where they are. Or what they are, really.” She beamed. “Either way, it’s so nice to finally have somepony who believes me!” “Well…” Sunny looked up. Zipp’s face was scrunched up into an unreadble expression. “Zipp?” Zipp pawed her hoof at the ground. “It’s just… it would be weird if there was this huge looming threat and Princess Celestia didn’t tell us, y’know?” Sunny felt her heart sink. “Right…” “I’m not saying that you’re definitely wrong. But I am a little skeptical, just to be clear.” “Oh.” That made sense, at least. And help was better than no help, regardless of the reasoning. “So what do we do now?” Zipp grinned. “What we do now is launch an investigation. And lucky for you I know just where to start.”