• Published 24th May 2022
  • 2,096 Views, 556 Comments

Unicorn Attack! - milesprower06



Hitch Trailblazer comes out of the Maretime Bay PD to do his afternoon rounds with his deputy only to find the populace in a panic. Quickly finding the source of the hysteria, it's time to put Canterlogic's defenses to good use...

  • ...
6
 556
 2,096

Town Meeting

Now that she had some coffee and breakfast in her, Sunny had felt a little bit better. At least until she and her friends got seated front and center among the three dozen folding chairs that had been set up in front of Hitch's press conference podium, which was itself out front of the Maretime Bay Police Department. As 10:00 closed in, so did other citizens of Maretime Bay, and sadly, the events of last night had improved relations little, as the closest earth ponies got was three chairs away from Izzy, Pipp, or Zipp.

"Hey, beats the town-wide panic of last time," Izzy whispered to Sunny.

There wasn't anywhere near enough seating for everypony, and with the way the podium had been wired up, and Toots and Sweets at the audio console off to the right, Sunny was guessing that the podium microphone had been hooked up to the city-wide P.A. system.

Izzy had a point; the fact that the paranoid panic from a week ago had been decreased to nervous murmurs from the surrounding earth ponies was undeniable progress. From what Hitch had told her last night, she was hoping that he had a plan to bring them even closer to unity.

Just as the clock struck ten, the doors of the police department were pushed open, and Hitch came out and went straight to the podium. Sunny noticed that he didn't have any sort of notes or cards with him as he stood at the microphone, and silently waited for the bell chimes to finish. When the tenth ring faded, he glanced to Toots, who nodded at him. Clearing his throat once, he turned back to the ponies who were sitting and standing in front of the podium.

"Good morning. Rather than trust that everypony has a clear picture of the unfortunate events of last night, I'm going to reiterate. I have been abroad with Sunny Starscout for the past week, trekking across the region to meet the other tribes. That turned into a hunt for ancient crystals that she believes plays a part in reuniting the three races of ponykind. I will admit, I initially had my doubts, and was along to ensure her safety. But what we discovered was this; that the pegasi and unicorns are just as wary of us and each other, as we have been of them. When we returned to the lighthouse to begin tracking down the last crystal, CanterLogic CEO Phyllis Cloverleaf took it upon herself to attack the occupants, when nopony other than me came any closer to town than the lighthouse. Because of her actions, one of our oldest historical monuments is damaged, perhaps irreparably, and Sheriff's Deputy Sprout Cloverleaf is currently hospitalized, thankfully with non-life threatening injuries. Due to his selfless actions last night, nopony else was hurt."

Hitch paused to take a sip of water from the glass that had been set out next to the podium.

"It's clear that Phyllis' tenure at CanterLogic has been fearmongering, and then profiting from that fear. She reinforced our fears of anything different. Our fear of change. I stand here before you to tell you, and everypony in town listening, that that stops today. Right now. It's not a full-on panic, but I'm still looking at it, right now," Hitch continued, pointing a hoof down to where Sunny and the others were sitting. "Sunny and our new friends from Zephyr Heights and Bridlewood have nopony sitting next to or around them. Citizens, the unicorns and pegasi have been just irrationally afraid of us for just as long. The unicorns don't have magic, and the pegasi can't fly; and all we've done for generations is blame each other. What has that solved? Absolutely nothing. Something has to change. Somepony has to say 'enough is enough', and let their guard down."

Hitch paused for another sip of water, and pointed down at Sunny.

"Sunny Starscout was the first. All of Maretime Bay is no doubt familiar with her activism, and how ostracized she has become because of her beliefs... Which is an absolute shame, because she, and her father before her, have been right all along. I'm not going to stand here and demand that the fear stops now. Because that will take time, and will be up to each and every individual to get over their own fears of change. But it is time to embrace each other's differences, and stop being afraid."

Sunny smiled up at Hitch.

"Effective immediately, Toots is in charge of all operations at CanterLogic. Mr. Toots, I am ordering the deactivation and decommissioning of every single Unicorn Entrapment Device in Maretime Bay. Any research and development that involves defending Maretime Bay from pegasi and unicorns stops. Now."

Hitch got a nod from his interim audio engineer.

"Sweets, I want you to get a survey team together to inspect the damage to the lighthouse, and whether it can be repaired or not."

He got a nod from Sweets as he took another drink from his water glass.

"I'm also going to open an official dialogue with Zephyr Heights and Bridlewood, and encourage them to visit our town. Citizens of Maretime Bay, it's not about not being afraid. It's about being better. If you choose to continue letting fear and distrust dictate your lives, then Phyllis Cloverleaf was successful. I urge you all to be better. Be better than that. Be better than her. I stand here before you to tell you that Equestria is on the verge of a new era. I implore you to walk forward with me and Sunny, into the new possibilities that friendship and cooperation will bring us. I encourage you to get to know Izzy Moonbow, Pipp Petals, and Zipp Storm here," Hitch said, motioning down to the pegasi and unicorn sitting on both sides of Sunny. "Think about how much more profit your shops can get with more than double the patronage from visiting unicorn and pegasus tourists. CanterLogic workers, take a look at Pipp's smartphone, watch what it can do, and think about what CanterLogic could start to make, and the technological leaps we could make through sharing what we know, and think about how our lives could improve."

Hitch finished what remained in his water glass.

"Phyllis Cloverleaf wanted all of you to be afraid. Earth ponies of Maretime Bay, the truth is, fear is not your friend. But the unicorns and pegasi can be," Hitch said, looking down at Sunny, who was clearly touched at the recital of her words up on the CanterLogic stage. He motioned for his four friends to join him at the podium, which they did immediately. They glanced at each other before looking out at the gathered ponies, as the sheriff continued.

"It won't always be easy. But it will be better. Please join with us in extending the hoof of friendship, and move forward together, as Equestrians."

Author's Note: