Unicorn Attack!

by milesprower06

Departing

Hitch already had what little camping gear he had packed in the corner of his storage closet, and getting it out and strapped to his saddlebags only took a matter of minutes. Then, after getting together a few days worth of non-perishable food, he shut off the lights in his house, stepped outside the door, locked it, and was off towards the lighthouse.

He was hoping it wasn't too late, he didn't want to make this trip again in the morning and risk missing them before they left.

This time of night, Maretime Bay's streets were nearly empty as the last of the businesses began to close up. The only sources of light were the evenly spaced lampposts, and of course CanterLogic up on the hill, which frequently prevented a lot of stars being visible in the night sky on clear nights. But tonight it was particularly cloudy, and not much would be visible in the first place.

It had been years since Hitch had been camping, and even longer since he brushed up on his Colt Scout outdoor skills. It was easier with multiple ponies. He even remembered going along on one of Argyle's camping trips with Sunny. Sprout had even come along one time. Not that he had been much help; Phyllis just wanted him to go along one time 'for the experience'.

He already figured he was going to have to hike back to his house for the night when he approached the lighthouse and didn't see any lights on. He came up the front walk, considered knocking on the front door, but didn't want to wake them if they had gone to bed early in preparation for starting the trip tomorrow.

Turning back to return the way he came, he noticed two pairs of hoof tracks in the dirt, heading down the path east, into the hills away from town.

He looked down at them for a moment, and knew they were fresh, and figured out right away that Sunny and this Izzy Moonbow had left ahead of schedule, and if he didn't want to lose them, he would have to follow immediately.

Well, he wasn't yawning quite yet...

---

Argyle Starshine's maps weren't the easiest to use, especially at night, but with a compass and a small LED lantern, Sunny was confident that they were at least headed in the right direction. She wasn't worried too much, because the short note jotted on the map legend next to Zephyr Heights was 'can't miss it'.

They weren't planning on getting too far out of town tonight, just hopefully far enough to put Maretime Bay, and the light pollution of CanterLogic behind them before settling down for the night. Sunny carried the tent and one sleeping bag, and Izzy carried the other sleeping bag and their provisions, and were so far making good time.

"So, earlier this evening, you said you would have rather stayed in that holding cell than done this? I don't get it," Sunny commented as she walked besides her new unicorn friend.

"Well, you do know that pegasi can steal your luminescence, right?" Izzy said.

Sunny tilted her head.

"My lumi-what?"

"Luminescence! You know, your sparkle? Yours is... Lavender! And the happier you are, the brighter it shines!"

Sunny wasn't quite sure what to make of that answer, and wasn't quite confident that Izzy was being serious right now. Ponies... Sparkled? In a way that only unicorns could see?

"So you can... See happiness?" Sunny asked.

"If you want to put it that way, yep!"

The rolling hills to the east of Maretime Bay continued on for a few miles, until the bushes and trees became thicker, and before they knew it, they were in Horseshoe Forest.

"This spot looks pretty good for a campsite, what do you think?" Sunny asked, motioning to a small clearing of dirt a few feet off of the rough path.

"You're the camper, not me," Izzy replied.

"Well I wouldn't go that far. You got all the way to Maretime Bay on your own, after all. This camping gear is from when I used to go on camping trips with my dad, and to be honest, we'll only have to go another few miles east before we're as far away from Maretime Bay as I've ever been," the earth mare told her new friend.

"So it's an adventurous quest for the both of us! These last two days are the first time I've been this far outside of Bridlewood, too! Even though, you know, I've spent most of my life pretty close to the edge of the forest," Izzy replied as Sunny dropped her saddlebags and began to unpack the tent.

"Think you can find some rocks for a fire ring while I get this tent set up?" Sunny asked.

Izzy nodded with a smile.

"But don't go too far, we don't want to lose sight of each other."

"Got it!"

Izzy sing-sang to herself softly as she gathered up rocks and dry twigs from the surrounding area, as Sunny got the tent laid out and put the stakes into the ground. By the time the tent was up and the pair of sleeping bags were laid out inside, Izzy had a fire ring formed and the twigs tossed in the middle.

"I don't think we'll need a fire tonight, but it'll be nice to warm up and heat up these haycakes," Sunny commented, motioning to the provisions in her saddlebag.

"So, bedtime?" Izzy asked.

"That's what I'm thinking, if we want to get an early enough start tomorrow. I've got everything set up in there. Hopefully it won't be too crowded."

"I don't mind if you don't," Izzy replied, and together, they crawled into the tent and slid into their separate sleeping bags.

"And, just to try and set your mind at ease," Sunny began, sinking her head into the plush front of her sleeping bag. "I'd like to think we don't have anything to worry about when it comes to the pegasi. After all, so far everything earth ponies assumed about unicorns has wound up being wrong, and vice versa," Sunny commented, recalling Izzy's comment about how she didn't smell like rotten sardines while Hitch went outside to make his speech.

"Yeah, maybe you're right," Izzy replied.

The two mares settled into their sleeping bags as they got closer to sleep, but just as it seemed like they were going to welcome the realm of dreams, Izzy softly tapped Sunny on the shoulder.

"Do you hear that?" she said, her voice beneath a whisper.

Sunny's ears twitched, and she did indeed hear a very dull thudding outside, sounding like it was coming down the path.

"Hoofsteps?" Sunny whispered back.

Had they come far enough out of town? Who would come after them so soon at this time of night? Almost no one saw them even go to the lighthouse over an hour ago.

Slowly, Sunny wormed a quarter of the way out of her sleeping bag, approaching the zippered front of the tent, and pressed her ear gently against the fabric, as the hoofsteps stopped. She laid there with abated breath, as Izzy silently matched her motions, putting her ear up to the closed tent door, both of them nearly holding their breath in silence to try and hear what was outside.

"Sunny?"

In the instant before Sunny's brain registered relief at the nearly point-blank voice of her fillyhood friend, her heart jumped out of her chest and both she and Izzy gave out startled screams that pieced the forest night.

Comments

[Phazon]

Turning back to return the way he came, he noticed two pairs of hoof tracks in the dirt, heading down the path east, into the hills away from town.

I recall how and when Hitch leaves and catches up with them being a tough question for the next part of this story. But you seem to have sorted that out by demonstrating Hitch's tracking skills (which, according to TV Tropes, have to be really good if he managed to follow their trail all the way to Zephyr Heights in the movie despite them having an hours-long head start). Well played, good sir.

On that segue, I also like how you handled Sunny getting in on the interrogation way back in chapter 1-2. The way I figured it, depending on how much she'd aided and abetted Izzy before the latter was captured, either she'd be trying to force her way into the precinct while the interrogation was going on, or would have to be arrested and ended up in the same holding cell. Instead, you had her stick to her guns and insist on being there even if it meant getting arrested.

[Yoshifan30]

So it looks like hitch was prepared to go along with sunny and Izzy making sure that they don't make any trouble especially sunny so he headed to the lighthouse but unfortunately he missed out so now he has to find them before he lose track of them somewhere in the far distance sunny and Izzy are making good progress but they decided to camp out for tonight they thought they were alone but it looks like hitch caught up with them so it looks like they join the group I wonder how this will change in the event when they get to Zephyr Heights well I guess we'll find out next time

[soniana-draws]

Honestly a thing I keep asking myself while watching the movie was if these ponies ever ate something while traveling from town to town. It's obvious they did but they never showed them at least picking berries so it was nice to see an alternative where they headed out way more prepared

We'll get to see Hitch on Zephyr Heights aaaa can't wait to see how the whole scene is gonna play out. They are hading there a few hours later than in the movie so I'm wondering if they are still gonna end in jail. Technically if he didn't arrive to arrest sunny in the movie the girls would've scaped with the pegasi crystal without any collateral damage, soo ig they'll have to screw up other way if we want Pipp to join in. Or maybe it can all end in a more pacific way while she also gets to join. We'll know soon.

[Phazon]

11273358

Things not covered in the movie about their travels between towns:

1) Stopping to eat.
2) Stopping to answer nature's call.
3) The movie took place over the course of about four days. It's a good thing they had access to Zephyr Heights' dungeon spa and Izzy's shower along the way. Otherwise, the Earth ponies in the group would've perpetuated the unicorns' stereotype about smelling bad before long.

[milesprower06]

11273439
Pretty sure Izzy and Sunny stood on each other to get fruit on trees during their song.

[Phazon]

11273503

Oh, right! Well, in the movie they had to rush out of town like fugitives, so in this version of events at least they had time to pack and prepare.

[Scholarly-Cimmerian]

Ooh, glad to see more of this story! Definitely got a kick out of this chapter, especially for that bit at the end.

[ScisetShimmerEvan]

"Luminescence! You know, your sparkle? Yours is... Lavender! And the happier you are, the brighter it shines!"

I doubt its even possible to steal Izzy.

The rolling hills to the east of Maretime Bay continued on for a few miles, until the bushes and trees became thicker, and before they knew it, they were in Horseshoe Forest.

Like the name.