//------------------------------// // 12. In The Night // Story: Sunny's Days // by Anzel //------------------------------// Strong Wing, Melody, and I had wandered pretty far out from the camp. At least, in my opinion it was far out. They seemed pretty unconcerned. The forest was extra spooky under the dim light from our glowing horns. I also couldn’t see really well from beneath my helmet. It was for a bigger pony. My fear had started to ebb, though. I was wondering if this was some trick Melody and Strong were playing on me. After all, weren’t camping trips about hazing the new pony? I think I’d read that somewhere. Melody had her head down, looking at the forest floor. “I think the tracks go this way.” Strong nodded. “I could take a look from above, but unless they had a light I doubt I’d see much.” I looped a hoof across his back and held tight. “No! Stay with us!” He chuckled. “Okay, okay.” We continued our trek through the brush and up a gentle rise. I was completely lost at that point, but I had my compass so running south was always an option. Not that I’d part from my Royal Guard protection. With a sigh, Melody shook her head. “I’m sorry, Strong, I think I’ve lost whatever trail we were following. Whoever is out here either doesn’t want to be followed or we are just chasing our tails.” He shrugged. “No big deal. It was mostly for fun, anyway. Anypony that was actually lost we’d have found by now. Why don’t we head to the top of the rise and take in the sights?” “Sounds good. Come on, Sunny, you’ll like this!” I sure hoped so. So far I wasn’t enjoying much in the way of camping. We tromped together up an increasingly steep grade until we finally reached the top. A little further took us through through the tree line and then my jaw dropped. The rise rose above most of the forest’s trees. It wasn’t near as tall as Alicorn Spire but that made it so much better. We were high enough that I could see everything in every direction. The moon was huge in the sky and there were a billion stars. “Wow!” I gasped. Strong Wing grinned. “This is why we go camping.” Melody settled into the grass and took a deep breath. “The air is so nice, too. It is breathtaking.” It was. It truly was. Canterlot was so high up that it looked down on everything. This was different. This made me feel like a part of the world instead of being aloof. It was amazing. My helmet came off with a little flick of my magic and I settled onto my back to look up. I wasn’t feeling scared anymore. Mostly just small, but not in a bad way. “We can stay here a while,” I said softly. “Okay, sounds good,” Melody replied. ☼ The forest north of Canterlot was really beautiful when you sat quietly and didn’t worry about timberwolves, angry spiders, and other evil spirits. Crickets were serenading us as we lounged on the rise and watched the moon slowly move across the sky. “Do you think the story about the Mare in the Moon is real?” Melody asked me. My ear flicked. “I don’t know… maybe. I mean look at it! Plus, we know Princess Luna was real. Right?” She shrugged. “You know Princess Celestia. Couldn’t you ask her?” “Ask her if it is true that she banished her sister? I’ve a big mouth but I think that one is going to be a nope!” Melody laughed. Strong Wing snorted. “Suit yourself. I can’t imagine doing that. I’d be brokenhearted if I banished any of my sisters. Well… any of them besides Roz. Roz is kind of a bi—” Strong cleared his throat. Melody flushed and nodded. “Anyway. Sunny, do you have any siblings back home?” “Oh, yeah, kinda.” “Kind of?” Melody asked curiously. “I’ve got an older half-sister. Like, much older. So I don’t really know her. She was pretty much out of the house when I was growing up.” “Is your mom older?” Strong Wing asked. I nodded. “Yup! Her first husband passed away from something after she had Cheerful Sun. Then, years later, out of the blue, she met my dad.” Melody rolled over and looked at me. “What’s he like?” With a laugh I shrugged. “No idea! He was younger than her and a rolling stone. They had a thing, then he left. A while later mom finds out she's pregnant and has no idea where to find him. He doesn’t even know I’m around.” “I’m so sorry!” Melody’s eyes went wide. I waved a hoof. “Don’t be. My mom is great. She took good care of me. We had fun even though there is a pretty big gap there. I’m guessing you two have more of the traditional families?” “Yeah…” Melody said, still looking guilting. “Same here. Although Cloud was an empty nest foal,” Strong explained. “What does that mean?” I asked. He chuckled. “My parents raised two girls and me. I was the youngest. When it was clear I was going to be leaving the house soon they missed having a foal. So, like your mother, they had another child late in life. That is Cloud. At first I was pretty jealous. I mean… I was the baby, but he turned out cool.” “Awww… you’re adorable!” I cooed. Strong’s face turned red and he lightly grimaced. “Oh, you’re fine, Strong. She’s just teasing you, aren’t you, Sunny?” I shook my head. “No, I honestly think he’s adorable.” “Yay…” Strong trailed. Then we fell silent. Of course, by silent I mean we’d stopped talking. Melody and I were giggling. There was a lot of giggling, actually. We couldn’t help it. Strong just looked so embarrassed. It was priceless. Eventually, we stopped. Probably not as soon as he’d have liked, though. That couldn’t be helped. He brought it on himself. Camping, it seemed, wasn’t all bad. Plus, when we got back to our site, I’d get to snuggle with Melody. I always liked that. “Should we be heading back?” “Probably, it is getting kind of late,” Melody replied before standing up. “Yeah. Let’s head back…” Strong started before his head tilted. He pointed a hoof into the distance where a part of the forest looked to be glowing just slightly. “What’s that?” Melody peered in the direction he was pointing. “Mmm, campfire? Hopefully a campfire and not the start of a forest fire.” Strong frowned. I sighed. “Do you two ever switch off? We’re going to go investigate, aren’t we?” “Royal guards are never not royal guards. Come on, we’ll go check. Probably just a campfire and then we’ll be on our way,” Melody explained. “Sure, sure.” ☼ To make life a little easier, Strong had taken the time to fly Melody and I down from the rise in the direction of the glow. It had worn him out a bit but he wasn’t complaining. On the plus side, Melody and I were fresh since we didn’t have to drop back down and around. Of course, I was starting to question if the two of them had any idea where our campsite was. We’d followed the invisible pony, climbed a mini-mountain, and now we were heading off further north according to my compass. I wasn’t a good judge of distance but it felt far. It also felt even further as we tromped towards where the forest glowed. Melody nudged Strong. “It would be faster if you just flew up there.” He cleared his throat. “Yes, well, that would have been a great idea before I carried two mares down the side of a cliff. You said you wanted to go investigate, too, and Sunny said she didn’t want us to split up.” “I did say that! If I have to trot you have to trot.” I chimed happily. That and I honestly didn’t want to separate. I was feeling less afraid but in all the horror stories, the protagonists split up for some reason. Then the ponies get picked off one by one. That wasn’t going to happen to us. Not in this story! Not on my watch! It was another half hour before we finally were close enough to get a good fix on the glow. The foliage around it was particularly dense and was really slowing us down. Our tails and manes kept getting caught and this was starting to seem more trouble than it was worth. Finally, we got close enough to at least see exactly what we were dealing with… and we were dealing with a campfire. Nothing more than a campfire. I sighed. The campfire that was sheltered under a rock outcropping. It was kind of like a natural canopy but was angled so that it reflected the light of the fire up and out. That is why it had looked so large from far away. There were three ponies sitting around it, warming themselves. I guess we weren’t the only ones up late. I can’t believe we went all that way just for this! Melody nodded, seemingly unaffected. “Well, that solves that. Back to camp before we spook them and make ourselves look stupid?” Strong yawned. “Well… we’ve come this far. Maybe we should see if we can bunk with them tonight? I mean, it is pretty late.” “That isn’t a bad idea. Alright, I guess we won’t be disturbing them too much if we ask.” “Sounds good to me,” I said. We could go back in the morning. These ponies had fire and probably food. We started to pick our way through the briars, vines, and other angry bushes. Up ahead, two other ponies wandered into the camp from along the outcropping. One of the ones that was sitting at the fire stood up. “There you are! We’ve been waiting for hours.” The pony out front, a grey stallion with a long beard and short mane, waved a hoof. “It isn’t my fault that you picked someplace out in the middle of nowhere for this meeting. Can we get to business or what? I’ve got to get back to my ship sometime this week.” Melody and Strong suddenly stopped and one of them grabbed my tail. I looked back in surprise. They were gesturing for me to lie down, so I did. “Yeah, yeah,” the pony at the campfire replied. He was kind of short and pudgy. Between that and his ill-maintained green coat, he was probably not popular with the mares. “Did you get what I ordered?” “Aye, a cargo straight from Saddle Arabia via Sudramoar, where the customs agents don’t care as long as you have coin. The same can’t be said for Equestrian customs, however, and I had quite a hard time finding a place to drop anchor. Plus, these goods are volatile so I’m sure you’ll understand that the price has gone up.” Green Pony snarled, “That wasn’t the deal! You gave me a price. That is what we’re sticking to.” “Not if you want your goods. If I have to, I’ll sail back to Sudramoar and sell it to the gryphons.” They started to negotiate back and forth and I looked to Melody and Strong. They were whispering. “We can follow them to the ship,” Melody said. Strong shook his head. “No, too far, too easy to spot us. There isn’t a coast for many, many kilometers. We could arrest them now while they’re relatively contained. If that is the captain, we could get him to agree to a deal to keep his ship.” Melody squirmed. “Yeah… maybe. You could fly for back up.” “No, I’m not dividing our strength and leaving you two alone here. Five to two is one thing. Five to one is another. Besides, I’ll never get back in time before they scatter into the woods and you two are even less equipped to follow.” “Yeah…” What were they thinking? I turned to look at the ponies again. The grey one was a pretty big earth pony. So was the one that had come with him. The green one was a fat little sausage of a pegasus that I probably could have taken in a fight. His friends, though… they were mean looking. A unicorn and another pegasus. “1,000 bits a kilo! You’re mad!” Green Sausage shouted. Strong looked to Melody once more. “Can you ward the area for magic? Take away whatever advantage that unicorn has and then we can go in?” “Without him noticing? I doubt it but by the time he figures it out it might be too late. Plus, they’re focused on the others. You want to play it straight?” “Yeah, they’re smugglers. I imagine their instinct is going to be to run. All we have to do is capture the two leaders. That should be more than enough for us to get what we need.” Melody nodded. “Alright.” Her eyes found me. “Sunny, we need you to hide here and stay quiet no matter what.” “I can help,” I said with a squeak. I couldn’t, but I didn’t want to be useless. She shook her head. “No, sweetie, you can’t. Stay here. Keep hidden. This is our duty, not yours.” I nodded and nestled down as far as I could. Strong and Melody started creeping forwards. It was subtle, but Melody was humming again. It was a tune that was familiar. It is something they taught young unicorns to help them focus their magic, a song from ancient times where we pledged allegiance to the unicorn queen. Then the words started going through my head. You do it for her, And you’d do it again. Keep your stance wide, Keep your body lowered, As the magic flows past you, Balance is the key. My hooves dug into the earth beneath me as my heart started to race. This would be fine. They were just going to go arrest the bad guys. That happened every day. “Fine! 800 bits per kilo. It better be worth it.” “You bet your flank it is—” “My magic!” the unicorn exclaimed suddenly. Beneath him a diamond-shaped ward appeared on the ground, glowing green. Even from where I was, I could feel the currents of magic flowing past. It was disruptive. Strong Wing and Melody stood from their hiding spot and started approaching the group. “Yes, you’ll find yourself quite incapable of using it,” Melody called in a loud, firm voice. “Royal Guard, everypony lay on the ground, you’re completely surrounded,” Strong followed up. The green sausage pony gasped and started to back up towards the rocky outcropping. “We’re done for!” The grey stallion sneered. “Done for? These aren’t royal guards. They aren’t in uniform. Is this some kind of trick? Do you think I’m an idiot?” “No! They’re not mine!” “Enough!” Strong shouted. “We are, in fact, royal guards. Canterlot Guards, to be specific, and we’ve been listening in on your deal. Armor is not conducive to stealth. I won’t order you again. Lay down, now.” The green pony and his unicorn dropped down as they were ordered. The other one didn’t seem convinced, nor did the grey pony and his friend. In fact, he was grinning. “Sure, constable, sure. Come on boys, let's lay down. All of us.” Oh no. Oh no. No, no. From the direction opposite the way the grey had come, two other sturdy earth ponies appeared. “Aye, aye captain!” they called. “So, you see my friends, you’d best call in your backup now, else this evening is going to take a turn for the worst for you.” Melody and Strong Wing exchanged glances, then turned back to captain. “Very well, if you intend to resist, than we’ll do this the hard way.” Strong said, dropping into some kind of fighting stance. Melody did the same, her horn’s glow intensifying. Keeping that ward up and using her magic would be extremely difficult. I had no idea if she could do it but I did know they needed help. What could I do? What should I do? Backup… they needed backup. Yeah. I stood up and pointed my horn towards the sky. My hooves trembled as I focused on the magical energy swirling around me. I had to make this look right. “You do it for her…” I whispered. A lance of fire sprang from my horn straight into the air. When it was above the canopy of trees I changed the focus and imagined the energy exploding out. It did just that. It was a huge, blinding flare. All of the ponies near the outcropping gasped in surprise. “Move in, troops! Sergeant Ward, NOW!” I shouted as loud as I could. Then I started stomping towards the camp, making as much noise as I could. “Let’s get out of here!” the unicorn shouted before galloping off. His friend who had previously been skeptical took the cue and went, too. Strong Wing leapt forward and onto the captain. Despite being surprised, that pony was no slouch. They went hoof to hoof immediately. The other pony with the captain joined in too, making it two on one. Opposite that, Melody had let her ward drop and threw another around one of the late-arriving ponies. He’d tried to charge forwards but had ended up tripping over whatever she’d put down on the ground. The other, however, had managed to reach her and the two were trading blows. I’d never really seen fighting before. It looked awful. I continued to stomp my way closer. “Run away. Run away. Run away. Run away,” I kept breathing to myself. I didn’t know if I meant myself or the bad ponies. I kept moving forwards. Strong Wing grunted as the captain hit him hard right in the chest. It seemed like he’d been expecting it, though. He’d been lining the other pony up. With one heavy buck, Strong sent him flying. When he landed, he didn’t get up. Melody was holding her own against her opponent but her attention was split between that and holding the ward. She couldn’t have seen it. How could she? The sausage pony had gotten up and was taking advantage of the situation. He had a knife! He was behind her. No! No! No! I fought against the bushes and raced forwards as fast as I could. Just when I burst through the treeline, he jumped on her back. My thoughts sped up and went off the rails. “Get off her!” I screamed, lowering my head and aiming my horn. Magical energy surged recklessly through me and erupted from the tip of my horn. I felt the heat. All sound stopped except for one. One horrible scream.