Watching A New Generation

by Shadow Dragon

Danger Danger

Back at Maretime Bay, in his office, Sheriff Hitch was ranting his mind off, in front of a disinterested Deputy Sprout who is more interested in his pizza.

Hitch ranted "I told her, I told her. No more favours, no more bailing her out. She gave me no choice. No choice." Turning to Deputy Sprout, Hitch barked "All right. We need to arrest her and bring her back to face the full force of the law."

“Well, I guess I know what my future self will have to do” Sunny contemplated what Hitch was saying about the future “Do you think I can stay in an infinite sleepover with you Izzy?” She said with some grace.

“Sunny!” Hitch yelled a bit of reprimand.

Izzy however cheered at the idea

Deputy Sprout was about to eat a slice of pizza, when he asked "Question. When you say we, you mean...?"

"You and I."

Deputy Sprout's eyes widened as he looked shocked and worried, dropping his pizza slice.

"Uh, I'd...I'd love to," Sprout stammered, while purposely making a mess to get out of work. "But, um, I just gotta clean up my workspace, get my papers in order and..."

Rolling his eyes, Sheriff Hitch shook his head, "You know what? I think you're right," Hitch said as he turned. "This one's a job for Hitch, and Hitch only," He flicked his head, while his deputy breathed a sigh of relief. "All right. Sprout, you stay here while I'm out dancing with danger," Sheriff Hitch instructed as he took his leave. "Keep everypony calm, maintain the peace, and be a pillar of strength."

However, Sheriff Hitch shuddered at the last part he said, "Who am I kidding? Just try not to start a war while I'm gone, OK?".

A giggle echoed from upstairs by the projector, but it went unheeded.

With a slam of the doors, Hitch was gone, leaving Sprout to stew in his own envy of his partner.

"Oh, everypony loves Hitch!" Sprout ranted. "What does he have anyway?" He glared at a calendar, with a picture of Hitch posing, which Sprout ripped to reveal another photo of Hitch, in different costumes, one after another. "Sure, he's got a perfect mane, shredded abs, paid-off mortgage. So what? I've got stuff. I can do...um, things.”

“Oh, how could I forget about the calendar?” Sunny burst out laughing as she watched the slow scene.

"Quite an interesting calendar the one they have there, sheriff," Zipp smiled mockingly as she said it.

“Say all you want, the calendar was popular.” Hitch's comment only caused more laughter and some giggles from the others.

"Like that," Sprout scowled as he ripped the calendar off the wall, before trotting over to a cabinet, and shoved a drawer. "And that, and that," He kicked a drawer, which caused the upper drawer to reopen, irking Deputy Sprout.

"Where's Hitch?" Phyllis asked, when she trotted in. "Ponies all over town. They're terrified. They want answers."

"He went after Sunny," Deputy Sprout answered. "Another solo Hitch mission."
"Sugar cube," Phyllis consulted her son. "Why the Sprout pout? That's great news."
"It is?"

"Yes," Phyllis picked up a shining sheriff's badge, and placed it on Deputy Sprout's strap. "It means that you are the sheriff, at least for now."

“Oh no.” Hitch muttered

"I am!" Sprout exclaimed in realization. "Hey there. The name's Sprout. Sheriff Sprout. What's the problem, filly? Don't worry, Sheriff Sprout is here," Sprout began, already getting into character. "Pick up that litter! Sheriff Sprout's orders!"

Satisfied, Sprout turned to his mother and nodded.

“This is going to be very bad, isn’t it?” Hitch sighs, feeling that everything is going to go wrong.

Cutting back to Sunny and Izzy, the two young ponies resume their quest, which took them to a long vast canyon, shrouded in fogs.

Sunny eagerly to asked, "So, Twilight," Sunny began. "How do you think you and your friends would do on an adventure like this?"

"Hmmm, let me think," Twilight pondered on what she and her friends would do in a situation like this. "Well, Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie would make a game out of this situation. She'd probably go, 'I spy with my little eyes...something...Sunny!'" Twilight did an impression Pinkie Pie's voice, while booping Sunny's nose. "'Boop!'"

"She'd really do that?" Sunny smiled.

"That's Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie," Twilight shrugged. "If you know her well enough."

"So...what would Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy do?"

Rainbow Dash stated "I would be all like 'Aw, yeah! Adventure, here we come!' And then Futtershy would be all like," She proceeded to pretended to be Fluttershy, "'Eek! I hope it's not dangerous, or something scary, like a dragon!'"

Spike yelled "Hey! I'm a dragon! And I don't bite. I eat gems!"

"Oh, of course, little Spikey-Wikey!” Rarity coed. "You're just so cute, I could just pinch your cheeks all day!"

With that, Sunny broke out laughing at that, "Wow! That's sounds just like how my dad told me about you!"

A a woosh was heard, whizzing pass them, overhead, startling the two mares.

On the way, Izzy began to strike up conversation, "You know," Izzy began. "Not to freak you out or anything, but you do know pegasi can steal your luminescence, don't you?"

"Oh no," Twilight shook her head. "Don't even start."

"My lumi-what?” Both Sunny’s asked

"Luminescence," Both Izzy’s replied. "You know, like your sparkle. Yours is… lavender."

"Huh?"

"And the happier you are, the brighter it shines!"

Twilight commented “That was odd.” Taking note of how the on screen versions of them and the ones in the audience watching with them said the exact same thing at the exact right time

Suddenly, the wooshing sound from before was heard again, with the sound of several rocks falling along the cliffside. Before long, another woosh pierced the air, with a streak of shadow that zipped across the cliffs, scaring the two mares.

"It's the slopes..." Zipp mutters a little feeling that she already knows who is there.

Through the mists, they could make out the silhouette outline of a Pegasus.

Before anypony had time to react, the Pegasus had knocked some rocks loose from the cliff, sending them down, scaring both Sunny and Izzy into a frantic run.

"Zipp..." Pipp's tone as she looked at Zipp hinted that she knew or at least had an idea.

Turning around, Sunny looked to see the Pegasus was still on their tails, "Hurry!" Sunny shouted, as she, Izzy, and Sunset galloped as fast as they could, before arriving at a cliffside, that appeared to have once been a landslide.

Looking back, seeing the Oegasus was catching up, Sunny pushed Izzy up the rocky sides, and they frantically climbed up as fast as they could.

Once at the top, Izzy was the first to reach solid ground, while Sunny looked back to see the pegasus was catching up to them, when her hoof slipped, and the earth pony yelped.

"SUNNY!" Izzy screamed, reaching out for her friend, with her horn, which Sunny grabbed onto.

“Izzy to the rescue!” Izzy laughed lightly as she raised her hooves.

Sunny by her side just let out a “Yeah!” While lifting a hove for a bump which Izzy happily complied.

“Darling wouldn’t that hurt?” Rarity asked I concern

“I don’t think so, I do a lot of stuff similar with my horn.” Izzy offered in response Kinda confused

“Perhaps with a lack of magic and using your horns to do other activities that would make since.” Twilight declared

"Thank you for saving Sunny," Hitch said a little later with reluctance.

The two mares looked back, over the cliffside, seeing nothing but a sea of clouds, before they both exchanged looks. However, the adrenaline was not yet over, as the mares were both greeted, and startled by the pegasus, who finally revealed herself from the clouds.

Out of fright, Sunny and Izzy both screamed as they hugged each other. The two mares watched as the pegasus swoops down, over their heads, landed on several rocky ledges, before she came to perch atop of a rock, revealing herself in a display of pride and glory.

“Looks like we found Rainbow Dash’s descendent.” Pinkie declared with a giggle

Izzy and Sunny both gasped in awe, "A real pegasus!" Sunny gasped.

"Great entry girl," Rainbow Dash raised one of her wings that did a thumbs up motion to which Zipp smiled.

“Why do you keep going there? Mom doesn't like it.” Pipp's not-so-quiet complaint was also heard.

"Whoa," Zipp shouted. "A Unicorn and an Earth pony? Together?" The pegasus smiled as she commented, "OK, well, this day just got a whole lot more interesting."

“Eh, after being here with ponies from ancient legends I think this is the interesting day.” Zipp muttered quite amused both by thinking about whatever has been going on in the last 30 or so minutes and what was happening on screen.

Suddenly, the sound of metal clanking was heard, to which the pegasus mare looked to her left, in time to see some pegasus guards, coming around the corner.

With a frighten look, Zipp took off, turning back to the mares and requested, "Don't tell them you saw me," With that, she disappeared into the clouds.

"There's no way we could!" Izzy called after Zipp. "We don't even know your name! She seems nice," She commented to Sunny and Sunset.

"Thanks, you guys are really nice too," Zipp said to which Izzy let out a little happy squeal along with a giggle.

“Friends of all types of ponies!” Sunny seems very happy as does Izzy

"AAAH!!" A shout startled the two friends, as they turned around to see they were seen by two Pegasus guards.

One of the Pegasus guard quivered, as he hid behind his comrade.

"Thunder, get it together!" The other guard barked.

"But-but that's an Earth pony," The guard, identified to be Thunder, quivered.

"They're harmless," The other guard reassured. "They have tiny brains," She said, much to Sunny's and the audience’s shared annoyance.

"What do we do about her?" Thunder asked, pointing to Izzy.

"Well, did you bring the shield?"

"What shield?"

"Didn't you read the guard guide?"

"Yes! OK, no."

The other guard let out an exasperated groan, "Oh, fine!" She said, as she walked over to the group, spreading her wings. "I've got this."

"I hope they're not too alarming measures." Twilight said somewhat worried because if the hatred towards the other types of ponies was bad, she didn't even want to know what they did with the prisoners.

Change scene the girls were in an elevator, escorted by the Pegasus guards, who have stuck a tennis ball on top of Izzy's horn.

"That's creative," Izzy commented, at the tennis ball, while Sunny beside her was skimming through the pages of her notebook.

“Bwa ha ha haha! Ho-how it that a thing?!” Rainbow Dash asked half curiously half jokingly

“I do not know but even I must admit this is quite humorous.” Rarity commented

"What's it like to fly?" Sunny asked. "Is your wingspan the same as your height?"

"Well, I..." Thunder was interrupted when Sunny asked another question.

"Do you need a license to fly? How far can you go?"

"Can you fly to the moon?" Izzy asked.

“We would be 40% cooler if we could fly to the moon.” Rainbow Dash said a little intrigued with that idea.

"Please, don't do anything dangerous when we get out," Fluttershy said a little worried about any somersault towards the Moon that Dash does.

"Do Pegasi wear horseshoes or do they just weigh you down?" Sunny continued to ask.

"Well, I-I do collect sneakers," Thunder answered.

"Hey, don't answer anything!" The other guard berated. "They could be spies," She whispered.

“Sunny spies.” Hitch seemed to laugh a little, a little remembering an old game with Sunny in his childhood and a little feeling that he likes that role.

“To answer those questions, Rainbow?” Twilight asked her friend

“I’d say flying is like freedom, but when flying you have to pay attention to every detail of your soundings, because I love flying so much that aspect is second nature to me. I don’t know you’d have to ask Twilight about that wingspan thing, no you don’t need a license but filly and colt Pegasi need to go to a special camp in order to learn how to fly well, I’m not sure how far I can fly but Twilight calculated my top speed to be what she called Mach 10, no idea what that means, she said it’s a human term, no I can’t fly to the moon, and ponies in general don’t usually were horseshoes or anything at all unless it’s a special occasion.” Rainbow answered

Sunny and Izzy then turned to look out the window of the elevator. They both gasped in amazement to see a utopia of pegasus ponies in front of them.

"Wow!" Sunny and Izzy both marveled at the grand sight from inside the elevator.

“Whoa! It seems that the Pegasi have made great advances.” Applejack was a little surprised although there wasn't much to compare from a small coastal town to a big city like the Pegasi.

"Wow, that place is like Canterlot," Twilight commented. "But with a New York and Manehatten feel to it. When did the Pegasi developed TV screens that big?"

A loud announcer voice was heard booming on the TV screens, as they changed channel to a news broadcast, with two news reporter – one male and one female.

"Good morning, Zephyr Heights!" The male reporter greeted. "It's another beautiful day, in the big city. Looks like warm breezes and clear skies for tonight's royal celebration!"

"Royal celebration?" Izzy Moonbow asked, pressing her face against the window of the elevator. "Ha! Talk about great timing!"

The second reporter then took over as she announced, "Tonight's royal bash for Queen Haven will be stunning, but the real jewel in the crown will be Princess Pipp's performance. Isn't that right, Skye?"

"Ha!" The reporter, Skye, agreed. "Oh, my, yes, Dazzle," He said to the other reporter identified to be Dazzle. "And this just in - an exclusive vid from Pipp for all you loyal fans out there in ZH."

With that, a lot of the Pegasus ponies stopped what they were doing as they looked up to see what their princess has to say. Before long, a social livestream video was shown on the big screen, with an overflowing amount of heart, happy face, and cat emojis on the right, next to the said Princess Pipp.

They all turned to see Pipp who smiled at that. It seemed she was excited to finally me on screen

"What is up everypony?" Pipp greeted her people. "Big shout-out to all my fans, the PippSqueaks."

Two fillies squealed in excitement

“PippSqueaks?” Hitch asked Pipp because that name for the fans was quite strange.

"It's just a nickname to call my fans, it's cute," Pipp said quietly, there really wasn't much behind the name.

"So tonight's the night," Pipp continued. "I can't wait to debut my new song later. It has a very special place in my heart, but not as much as you guys!" She sang in a lovely voice.

"Aww!" The crowd replied.

"We love you so much, Pipp!" A random Pegasus stallion hyperventilated.

"Ok, guys, I love you lots. Got to go," With that, Pipp signed off with, "Pipp, Pipp, hooray!"

"Pipp, Pipp, hooray!" Everypony cheered.

"Pipp, Pipp, hooray!" Izzy cheered, along with the two guards in the elevator.

"Wow! Equestria's really catching up with the Digital Age," Twilight commented

“Digital age?” Sunny asked

“A human world term.” Twilight answered as if that explained everything

“I’m just gonna pretend that made since.” Sunny declared

Once they reached the top, the elevator clicked open.

"Move it," The other guard ordered.

"You betcha!" Izzy complied, while Sunny looked at the pegasus, suspiciously.

"Do you see anypony flying here?" Sunny asked, but her question fell on deaf ears, when Izzy looked up and gasped.

"They have a castle!" Izzy exclaimed.

After some time of marching through the halls of the castle, Sunny and Izzy have arrived at the throne room, where another squadron of guards were marching, before they took their place, at the sides of a carpet.

"Bow before our queen!" Thunder ordered, to which some other guards blew into trumpets, sounding a fanfare.

Sunny and Izzy watched as the guards bowed their heads in respect, to which a small, white, winged pomeranian appeared on the scene, sitting in front of the throne, scratching its head with its hindleg.

"Your Majesty," Izzy overdramatically bowed to the dog.

Zipp and Rainbow started to laugh at that along with Pipp at Zipp’s side, also amused but much calmer.

However, spot lights were shown from the ceilings, which the little dog yapped. Sunny looked up, nudging Izzy to do the same. In the background, the sound of upbeat music was heard. Everypony in the room watched as three pegasus ponies came swooping into the room, before they gently flapped their wings, lowering themselves to the throne.

Sunny looked to see they are, Princess Pipp, Zipp, and the third is the queen, who is pale pink with blue and purple hair, purple hooves, blue and purple wings and blue eyes. She wears a pair of sunglasses, a purple vest with a blue and gold necklace and crown.

"So you two are the princesses?" Twilight was quite curious, she understood that after so many years the types of government will change but really the word 'Queen' was not the best considering those who assigned themselves that type of power and that she had defeated together with her friends. Zipp and Pipp agreed with varying degrees of encouragement.

“Is there a specific reason why the royal family is the only one that can fly?” Sunny raised a hoof asking the question Twilight was about to ask.

Zipp remained silent, not wanting to look much further than the screen.

“The royal family has been like this for many moons.” Pipp for her part did not go into many details.

When all three pegasus landed on the throne, the little dog yapped and ran circles around the queen.

"Hi new friend!" Izzy waved to Zipp, who shook her head, pleading not to get her involved.

“Why do you keep going there anyway?” It was Pipp's murmur that only Zipp heard.

"I like the feeling of the wind," Was the reply. She trusted her sister not to tell her mother, little did she realize that soon that trust would be misplaced.

"Guards," The queen began. "State your business and please make it quick. We're on a very tight schedule today. Before the celebration, Cloudpuff needs his pedicure," She turned to the dog, identified to be Cloudpuff. "Pipp needs to rehearse and I need to practice my laugh," To show her point, the queen laughed out loud, which seemed rather forced than natural. "Hmm. Still not right."

“I feel a dejavu in all this.” Twilight frowned a little, that is to say, if she had a single bit for all the things that went wrong in the days of celebration like this, she would be able to buy equestria itself.

"Your Highness," The other guard began, as she and Thunder presented, "We found these intruders in our territory."

The queen lowered her glasses, shocked to see, "An earth pony and a unicorn in Zephyr Heights!"

"We have these two under control, Your Highness!" The unnamed explained.

"And we deployed the shield," Thunder pointed to the ball stuck on Izzy's horn.

Still, the queen wasn't pleased, "Is this an attack on the night of our royal celebration? Why are you here? Who sent you?" The queen gasped in shock as she stated, "Nopony must know they're here."

It was too late, however, Princess Pipp had already started livestreaming what had transpired in the throne room.

“Check it out, PippSqueaks, live from the castle..." Pipp began. "It's a real unicorn and earth pony."

Back in the streets, Ponies stopped dead in her tracks upon hearing the news. They all gasped as Pipp showed them Sunny and Izzy.

"I know, right?" Pipp said. "This is so not a filter."

"Pipp!" A hoof appeared on the screen, which turned to reveal the pegasus Queen Haven, who reassured, "There's nothing to fear. Those nasty little ponies have been captured. Your queen will protect you." With that, the pegasi breathed sighs of relief, while the queen ordered, "Shut it off."

"Mom sure is good at saving on the fly." Zipp laughed lightly, Pipp almost seemed to cause chaos.

"Excuse me, Majesty?" Sunny asked. "We only want to ask you a few questions about magic. We..."

"Guards!" Queen Haven shouted, with a spread of her wings. "Please escort these ponies to the dungeon until I can question them properly," She ordered. "And confiscate the book."

"What? No, no," Sunny protested as the guards took her book away. "But-but, Your Majesty, I just wanted to ask you a few questions, please."

Unfortunately, the young mare's words fell on deaf ears as the queen took her leave, with Princess Pipp and the mysterious pegasus, while the guards escorted Sunny and Izzy away.

"Did she just say dungeons?" Izzy asked.

"Could anything else go wrong today?" Sunny moaned.

“Sunny, from personal experience NEVER AND I MEAN EVER say that or anything even remotely related to that phrase, because when you do the answer is ALWAYS without fail YES!” Twilight shouted

"Congratulations Sunny, now you have been arrested in a city of pegasus." Hitch laughed lightly.

Sunny rolled her eyes slightly amused, right now whatever was happening in the future was entertaining.

The scene changes to back in Maretime Bay, the newly appointed sheriff, Sprout, had made himself at home, redecorating the office to his liking. Replacing pictures of Hitch, with those of himself. It also didn't help that the office was more trashy than when Sheriff Hitch was in charge. The floor was littered with pizza boxes and crumbled up papers.

A slight annoyed and confused sound is heard from Hitch.

Sheriff Sprout was content with himself, when the doors burst open and his mother, Phyllis, came into the building, with frantic ponies clamoring outside.

"Mom?" Sheriff Sprout exclaimed.

"My, oh, my," Phyllis commented proudly at her son. "Aren't you the handsome sheriff. Look at you."

"Yes," Sheriff Sprout smiled, drawing circles on his desk with his hoof. "Yes, I am, Mommy."

"Well, this is it," Phyllis began, encouraging her son. "It is your time to shine, dear. Everypony wants to hear from you."

"They do?"

"Of course. You are in charge now. It's your destiny," She said hauntingly into her son's ear.

“Adults overly encouraging something about a child, Where have I seen this?” Rainbow Dash said with annoyance, adults were always an important factor in children at all times and this kinda behavior wouldn’t lead to good things.

Feeling encouraged, brimming with confident, and the sense of authority going to his head, Sheriff Sprout took his mother's words to heart as he made his way out the front doors.

"Citizens!" He shouted, moments before the doors slammed shut on his face. "Ow!" He screamed, taking a moment to recover, before he came out of the doors and stood in front of the crowd. "It is I, Sheriff Sprout."

"Sheriff?" One of the ponies asked. "Where's Hitch?"

"We need a real sheriff," Another added.

“Thank you, but even Sprout can’t mess up that badly that quick.” Hitch commented not knowing how wrong he was about to be

"Tell us what's going on?"

"Hitch would know what to do."

"Come on, now, everypony," Phyllis spoke up, vouching for Sheriff Sprout. "Let's listen to what our new sheriff has to say." Turning to Sprout, Phyllis nudged her son, "That's you, sugar cube."

"Oh, yeah, it's me," Clearing his throat, Sheriff Sprout began to give a speech to the crowd. "OK, folks, calm down. There's no need to be scared.”

“Impressive, maybe this won’t turn into a disaster immediately.” Hitch complimented not yet realizing his fait was misplaced

"We're scared and we want to be prepared!" One of the earth ponies whimpered.

"The unicorns are coming!" Sparkle Chaser from the Canterlogic Annual Show hyperventilated, running blindly, with the strange periscope still strapped to his eyes. "The Unicorns are coming!" He screamed, before he crashed.

"What do we do?" The crowd asked. "What's your plan, Sheriff? What if the Unicorns come back?"

Pressured, not wanting to appear weak, Sheriff Sprout began, "Actually, what if you're all right?" He asked. "The unicorns could come back. They could even bring the pegasi. We are all in danger!"

“Spoke too soon…” Hitch muttered

The ponies gasped in shock at what Sheriff Sprout said, before he continued to egg them on, "Now is not the time to be complacent. We should do something!" With that, Sheriff Sprout lead the crowd into a musical number.

“I asked for one thing, one. Try not to start a war. What dose he do? Start a war.” Hitch murmurs in his annoyed hooves. He couldn't believe what would happen if he left Sprout in charge.