Legends Never Die: The Search For Sunny

by bookhorse125

Loopholes

Queen Haven of Zephyr Heights didn’t remember feeling this distressed since her husband left.

She understood why - deep down inside her, she didn’t blame him for leaving behind the life of glory and luxury and dishonesty for a life of truth and hard work. It was what made her fall for him - and she still loved him for it to this day.

Perhaps having honest stallions who worked hard to get what they had in life was her thing, because she saw that in Alphabittle.

The large gray unicorn had returned the day before and had hardly left her side as Haven tore through every aspect of the law in Zephyr Heights, frantically searching for something - anything - that would save her daughters. And their friends, of course. But mostly her daughters.

Something bumped her hoof; she looked up, startled, to see a small cup of tea sitting there, with a small critter next to it, holding a miniature jar of milk, looking up at her expectantly.

“Er… no, thank you,” she tried awkwardly, giving the critter a pat on the head and gently scooting him away. He squeaked indignantly and bounded back to his original spot, making it very clear that he wasn’t going anywhere. Haven sighed and put down the stack of papers she was slowly making her way through and said, “Oh, all right.”

The critter chattered happily as he gently poured a cloud of milk into the golden tea, stopping just where Haven liked it. He nudged the cup towards her and scurried away again. Haven picked up the cup, took a sip, and sighed, feeling herself relax.

“You’ve been at this for hours,” Alphabittle said, standing at the doorway, leaning down to let the tiny critter clamber onto his hoof, where he lifted it onto his back. The room was full of papers and books and boxes of both, so much so that the unicorn couldn’t get any farther than the door. He surveyed the mess and smirked. “I wasn’t aware that you got rid of your desk… and the shelves… and just about everything in here.”

Haven groaned and gently set the cup of tea down before letting her head fall onto the sea of papers that covered her desk. “It’s a mess in here,” she muttered into the paper.

“I don’t think it’s that bad,” Alphabittle stammered as he took a step towards her and knocked into a tower of books, sending it toppling to the ground. When Haven made no reaction, he shrugged and waded through the ocean of paper, shoving it to the side and leaving a huge path in his wake.

Haven sighed and turned her head so that she was looking at Alphabittle. “I miss them,” she whispered. “I’m worried about them.”

“Pfft. They’re probably fine,” he tried to comfort her. “Look, they’ve saved our flanks how many times now? They’re just as capable as anypony, and they’ve got their friends in case things get messy.”

“You think things are going to get messy?” Haven said in a panicked voice, sitting straight up.

Alphabittle hesitated. “...No, but in case they do, they’ll be able to get out okay. They’ve done it before.”

Haven slumped back into her seat, rubbing her eyes. Alphabittle couldn’t help but notice that they were lined with dark circles and were much duller than usual - without the usual sparkle that he always noticed whenever he looked at her.

“When was the last time you slept?”

The queen blinked, trying to remember. “I think… two days ago? Maybe three?” She shrugged. “I’ve had more important things on my mind.”

“By all the stars,” the unicorn muttered. “You’re going to fall asleep on your hooves if you don’t get some rest, and you can’t fix this if you’re falling asleep on your hooves.” He stepped aside and pointed at the door, but Haven shook her head.

“I can’t,” she almost whimpered, her eyes getting misty. “My little fillies are going to be charged with treason, and I have to find a way to free them, but I haven’t found anything. I - I failed them.” She threatened to slump over and collapse onto the floor, but Alphabittle caught her before that could happen. He set her back upright, dusting off her wings.

“Like I said. Falling asleep on your hooves,” he said with a decisive nod. He looked down and saw that one of the many papers was stuck to the bottom of his hoof and tried to shake it off.

“I’ll be fine,” Haven insisted, picking up a book and opening it to the first page. At the sight of the lines of words in size 1 font, she slumped and nearly pitched forward, just barely managing to stop herself from falling asleep with a law book for a pillow. “Just… a little more…”

“You’re going to work yourself to death.” Alphabittle growled and lit up his horn, trying to grab the stubborn piece of paper from his hoof. Instead, he grabbed his whole hoof and tugged himself up so that he was hanging upside down… with a piece of paper still stuck to his hoof. Alphabittle doused his horn, and the unicorn crashed to the floor, sending up a cloud of paper and toppling books. At the noise, Thunder and Zoom - Haven’s most trusted guards who had returned with Alphabittle - peeked into the room and decided that they did not want to know why the queen and the unicorn were poking their heads out of a massive pile of paper that filled half the room while still more drifted down from the ceiling. The two guards withdrew their heads and gently shut the door.

Haven gave Alphabittle a dirty look, and he tried for a sheepish and apologetic smile.

“Anyway,” she said through clenched teeth, pulling herself out of the pile and settling on top of it, “perhaps you should go… challenge some of the guards to a dance off.”

“Eh. My dancing ego’s never been the same since Sunny Starscout beat me,” he said, shrugging and having a lot more trouble extracting himself from the mountain of paper than Haven. “Course, she never would have done it if your daughter hadn’t stepped in.”

The queen of Zephyr Heights set down her book and laid her head on top of it, facing Alphabittle. “I wish…” She stopped. “I mean, I’m proud of them - I’m proud of all that they’ve done, but… I just wish they could use their mother more often. It feels like they’re growing up too fast… and I’m missing out on it all.” She took a deep breath to steady herself. “I hope they’re okay…”

Alphabittle gently pushed aside a book and picked up his little critter, setting the tiny creature on his head. “I hate feeling useless,” he admitted. “Like everything’s out of my control and I can’t do anything about it.”

Haven gave a small chuckle. “I know what you mean.” She stirred some papers with her hoof. “Can I ask you something?”

The unicorn shrugged. “I mean, you just did, but…”

The queen surprised herself by laughing. She didn’t remember feeling this good in ages. “How do you know what the right decision and the best decision are? And… how do you pick which choice you make?”

Alphabittle was silent, thinking. His tiny critter spotted a flash of blue and squeaked, scurrying off across the field of white to dig out the teacup, which he then brought back to Alphabittle with a proud look on his little critter face.

“Well… I’m not exactly sure I’m the best pony to ask,” he finally said. “I mean, I’ve made a lot of choices that weren’t right or the best, so…”

“None of us have,” Haven said quietly.

“True,” Alphabittle admitted. He thought for a little bit more. “I think… that the right choices are based on love and care and friendship… while the best choices are based on logic and fact and are the smartest thing to do with what you have. And if it were up to me… I would always pick the right choice, because…” He shifted his hooves under the sea of paper. “When I was a foal, I didn’t have a lot of friends - so I felt like I needed to prove myself. So I started playing games, but I still didn’t have many ponies who really cared about me, and now that I do, I… don’t want to lose that.”

“I keep getting afraid that the choices I make will make me lose that,” Haven whispered. “So I’m scared to make many choices right now unless I’m sure that they won’t make me lose anything.”

“Every choice makes us lose something,” Alphabittle said, freeing one of his hooves and setting it on top of the paper ocean. “We just have to make sure that it’s not the things that matter most to us.”

Haven gave him a small smile and took his hoof. “For what it’s worth,” she said, “you don’t have to prove yourself to me.”

“But you need to get some sleep,” Alphabittle told her, stubbornly refusing to let the topic go. “I’ll keep looking for you.” He pulled out his second front hoof and tried to drag his entire body out with varying degrees of success. Finally, he lit up his horn and carefully, gently surrounded himself in his own magical aura, lifting himself up and out of the hole. Paper cascaded over the side to fill the gap, and Alphabittle set himself down next to Haven, who was stumbling to her feet.

“I’m fine,” she mumbled as Alphabittle tried to help her. She yawned, rubbed her eyes, took a step… and promptly collapsed and fell asleep.

Alphabittle chuckled. “Yeah… fine is how I would put it, too.” He used his magic to lift her up and uncover a plush armchair from the sea of paper, setting the queen gently in it, where she continued to snore. He turned back to look at the mess he had made and wilted before sighing and lighting up his horn once more.

---

Haven yawned and blinked open her eyes. She was sitting in a soft chair in her office, but it was… clean. A roaring fire sent waves of warmth over the room, and lying next to her chair was a large unicorn, snoring like an elephant.

“Your Majesty.”

With a start, Haven turned to see Zoom Zephrywing standing in the corner of the room, standing at rigid attention. Beside her sat her companion, Thunder, who had his head resting against the wall and was slightly drooling in his sleep. The blue pegasus looked slightly embarrassed at the behavior of her partner.

“What time is it?” Haven murmured, rubbing her eyes and sitting up.

“Two in the morning,” Zoom replied. Upon seeing the queen’s confused look, she added, “You’ve been asleep for a day.”

Normally, Haven would have been outraged - all the time she could have spent looking for her daughters just wasted on an extended nap! But, for some reason, she felt calm and composed now, her head clear of exhaustion. She stood up and stretched her wings, looking around for all her law books and papers.

“He said to give you this,” Zoom interjected, nodding at Alphabittle and holding out a piece of paper to the queen, who accepted it and studied it. There was a large hoofprint on the back that she had an instinctive feeling belonged to Alphabittle, and on the front…

Her heart stopped as she read through it. This was it. This was the loophole she had been looking for!

“I take it that it’s something good?” said the conscious guard, noticing Haven’s delighted expression. Zoom suppress a yawn and snapped back to attention before the queen could notice, but Haven caught the gesture out of the corner of her eye.

“This is perfect, thank you,” she told the pegasus. “You are relieved from duty for the day - I imagine you must be exhausted.”

Zoom flushed. “I’m sure I can watch you for a little while longer,” she started, but Haven interrupted.

“You should get some sleep. I’ll be fine,” she told her. Zoom nodded and bent down to scoop up Thunder and sling him across her back, staggering out into the hallway. Haven walked over to the window - she could walk through her office now! - and pushed it open, giving her a breathtaking view of the city below. Just a few days ago, her daughters and their friends were going on a day-long exploration of Zephyr Heights… that felt like so long ago…

“The right decisions are based on the heart,” she whispered to herself. She caught herself looking over at Alphabittle as she said it.

And in her heart she knew: there was more she could do to help.

Author's Note:

Anypony else ship Haven and Alphabittle? No? Just me?

Constructive criticism is appreciated. Thank you for reading!

Comments

[Yoshifan30]

Haven gave him a small smile and took his hoof. “For what it’s worth,” she said, “you don’t have to prove yourself to me.”

Awww that's sweet 🥰

[Yoshifan30]

Anypony else ship Haven and Alphabittle? No? Just me?

You're not the only one I actually do as well

[Yoshifan30]

Well at least things are looking up so Queen Haven tried to find any loophole that they can find to save her daughters and their friends but unfortunately she didn't find anything and she was getting frustrated but thankfully Alphabittle came over try to reassure her that she will figure this thing out and trying to help her to get some rest and it was a pretty sweet moment between these two and now she fell asleep but he took her to her room so she can sleep so the next day it looks like zoom and thunder finally found any loophole that this would help the daughters and her friends out and hopefully this will be enough