The Weight of Shadows

It was nighttime in Maretime Bay, and all good fillies and colts were all snug and warm in their houses with their families. The only ones that should still be out and about were those that wanted to break the law and those that were against those criminal scums. It was up to the good ponies to stop the bad ponies.

Hitch Trailblazer, Sheriff of Maretime Bay, was one of these ponies. It was his nightly patrol at the end of his shift to make one last stroll through the small town to make sure that everyone and everything was peaceful for the long night to come. Sure, it was a lonely path for a young warrior like Hitch, but with his partners - Kenneth and friends - by his side, the night was sure to go by fast.

It wasn’t all that boring for Hitch, there was much excitement to be had for the young sheriff. He had stopped a chain of litterbugs from litter-bugging all over the street. Helped an old mare with her groceries to her home. Helped the small group of Pipsqueaks out of a predicament of their own making. Hitch had even come across Pipp and Izzy hanging out at the beginning of his patrol.

But all good deeds must come to an end. The end of Sheriff Hitch’s shift was soon coming to an end and soon he would head back home with his little buddy, Sparky. Everything was going well as he turned a corner when something caught his attention.

Hitch had now found himself on the path to the nearby park, and while he couldn’t see everything for the trees, he could see flashing slashes of lights through the branches.

Maretime Bay’s sheriff rolled his eyes with a slight chuckle. Seemed like somepony was having themselves an outdoor movie showing. But luckily for this other pony, Hitch was in a good mood. He would just give them a quick verbal warning and let them clean up their act and not put them on cleaning duty. So, Hitch trotted himself over.

Turning around the tree trunk, Hitch saw the pony that was watching the film. When he laid his eyes on the young mare it caused him to pause in his tracks. “…Sunny?” Her back was facing him, but he could easily tell that it was his long-time mare friend. She was just sitting silently on the green grass, a projector next to her as she stared intensely at the wall.

Hitch smiled. Whatever his friend was watching, she hadn’t even noticed that he was there. So, he started walking over towards his friend. “Hey Sunny-“

“Surprise Sunny Bunny~”

Hitch paused as his ears perked at the sound of a familiar voice. He turned his head, turning to the same direction that Sunny was facing, to the source. His eyes went wide at what he was looking at.

Sunny was watching a film that had been discovered by her not too long ago. It was an old recording of an older light blue colt. It was somepony that Hitch knew. It was Argyle Starshine, Sunny’s father.

Seeing the video of his friend’s father playing before them, Hitch slowly turned to look back at the young earth pony. And he really saw her as she was at this moment.

Sunny Starscout sat on the green grass with her shoulders drooped with her eyes peeled to the screen. The once enthusiastic pony that Hitch had always known her as no longer had that energy. It was hard to see from his position, but he could tell that she had been crying.

Hitch’s ears lowered, “…sunny…” his voiced leaked from his lips. It hurt his heart to see his friend like this.

Sunny continued to stare into the flashing lights in front of her, as if trying to study every single detail of the colt in front of her. “…dy…” a cracked whisper left her lips.

“…and hoof to heart, I’m sure you’ll find it someday.”

Hitch looked back over as he saw Argyle holding onto the little filly that was his daughter. He closed his eyes as he winced, a sharp pain tore through his chest. He opened his eyes to look over at his friend.

“…dad.” Sunny said nothing. As the video on the wall finally went out, the young earth pony turned slightly and with one hoof she started to fidget with the projector. She was trying to restart the old video recording of her father. Hitch couldn’t help but wonder how long Sunny had been out here watching and rewatching the video.

“…” Hitch opened his mouth to speak but words would not come out. He didn’t know what to say in this situation. He didn’t know what he could do. He didn’t know if he could do anything. But deep down, he knew he had to try.

The young colt swallowed hard. “…Sunny?” he spoke up, taking a step forward.

The young mare’s ears perked at the sound of her name. “H-hitch…?” her voice cracked as she turned to look at the colt. Hitch’s heart sank as he saw how red and swollen his friend’s eyes and disheveled appearance were. Then, as if she had realized what she had just done, her expression worsened as she lowered her head in defeat as she turned away from the colt’s gaze.

For a moment, Hitch was hesitant to speak. He then carefully took another step closer. “H-hey Sunny…” Hitch looked around, “It’s late. What are you doing out here?” he asked with a tinge of nervousness in his voice. “Don’t want to have to put you under house arrest.” He chuckled in a way to take the pressure off the young mare.

But it didn’t work. Sunny just sat there in silence just staring at the box that contained memories of a stallion of a time long ago.

Hitch stopped his laughter as he let out a deep sigh. Ears lowered as he carefully made his way over to his friend. As he approached, the young mare didn’t even seem to want to even acknowledge him. Hitch bit his lip as he tried to find the right words to make all the pain go away. He couldn’t find the right words.

“I-is this spot taken?” he hesitantly noted with his snout next to the young mare. Sunny didn’t respond. Hitch simply took a deep breath and sat right next to the young mare.

Hitch turned his head to Sunny and opened his mouth to speak, he wanted to make all her pain go away. “…” But no words would come. His shoulders sank in defeat as he lowered his gaze into the opposite direction. And so, the two of them sat in silence.

“…I’ve been thinking about him lately.” Hitch’s ears perked at the sound of the mare’s voice, he turned to look back at her. “Actually…I’ve been thinking about him a lot lately…” Sunny admitted with defeat in her voice.

Sunny choked out a breath she had been holding in. “I…I just wanted to get away from the Brighthouse. I just had to get away from everypony else. I just had to see him again. I didn’t want the others to see me. That’s why I came out here…”

Hitch looked at his friend with a pained expression. “Sunny…”

“I got mad at Izzy.” She admitted.

Hitch cocked an eyebrow and tilted his head in confusion. “Why? What happened?”

Before she spoke, Sunny slowly shook her head. “I know she was doing what she thought was right, but she shouldn’t have. I tried playing it off, but I was really mad. Sometimes I wonder if she is an actual pony. She shouldn’t have done what she did.”

“What did she do?”

“She tried to fix my lamp. The one my dad made for me when we were little.” Sunny answered, Hitch remembered the exact lamp which she was talking about. “I know Izzy tried to fix it for me for Maretime Bay Day. But…” Sunny’s shoulders sank even further, “but what she did to it, it just wasn’t the same lamp that dad made for me. I got so mad at her, I just…I just…”

“What did you do, Sunny?”

“Nothing.” She answered. “I did nothing. I said nothing. I just put on a smile and thanked her for what she did. I know what she did was with good intentions, but I was still so frustrated.”

Hitch’s face twisted into a sullen empathetic expression. He knew Sunny and her father, Argyle, for as long as he could remember. He just couldn’t figure out the right thing to say.

“Everything is gone, Hitch.” Hitch focused back on his friend. “The house me and dad lived in. The lamp that my father made for me. I lost his glasses after the house was destroyed. I almost lost our photo.” Sunny sank deeper. “I found this,” she said nudging the small projector she and her friends had discovered, “but I’m afraid I’m just going to lose this and everything else. What if I just forget about him all together?” her body started to quiver.

Hitch reached out and wrapped a foreleg around his friend to comfort her. “…Sunny.” He could feel her shaking under his weight. He could tell she was crying again. He held onto her as long as he could. He wanted her to know that he was there.

After a moment, Hitch spoke up. “Sunny…I’m sorry…”

Sunny’s body seemed to almost stop shaking for a moment. She lifted her head to look at the colt with a confused expression. “W-what are you sorry about?” her coat seemingly was stained with a trail of dried tears on the sides of her cheeks.

“I…” Hitch was hesitant to speak, but he knew he had to say something, “I said some terrible things about you and your father. I said some hurtful things about your father spouting off about “Pony unity stuff.”

Sunny remembered the incident in question. She cocked an eyebrow. “What? No! That’s not what this is about, Hitch. You didn’t do anything-“

Hitch sighed. “That doesn’t matter, Sunny. What I said that day was out of line. I went too far. I shouldn’t have said that to you.”

Sunny slouched just slightly. “No, Hitch. You didn’t do anything wrong. I was in the wrong that day. You asked me not to ruin the Canterlogic event and I lied to you and everything. It was my fault. I was to blame-“

Hitch shook his head. “But I was the one that threatened you with our friendship.”

Sunny shut her mouth and just looked at Hitch. And Hitch just looked back. They both looked at each other in silence.

Sunny just let out a sigh of defeat. “We’re both messes, aren’t we?”

Hitch just responded with a slight smirk. “Yeah, we are.”

And then after a moment of silence the two friends started to laugh. They both laughed and laughed until they started to hurt. Then they laughed some more. They laughed again until they cried from happiness.

Sunny chuckled as she let out a smile. “Things aren’t going to get easier, are they?”

Hitch wiped a tear away with his hoof. “Nope.”

“Things are just going to get messier and messier?”

“Yep.”

“But things are going to be getting better, right?”

Hitch smiled warmly, “I want to believe so.” And Sunny returned with a warm smile of her own.

Hitch’s eyes were slowly drawn to the box next to the mare’s foreleg. “So, what are you going to do?” He looked back up at Sunny. “Are you going to talk to Izzy about the lamp at least.”

Sunny blinked. Her lips partially gap, her eyes started to dart slightly as if she was looking for an answer. Her head turned slightly as her own eyes were drawn to the projector next to her. For a moment, she just looked at the box as if hoping that the memory of the stallion would give her answers.

She then let out a deep sigh. “No, I don’t think so.” She answered. “Thinking about it, I don’t think dad would have minded what Izzy did. But…” Sunny’s voice started to trail off.

“But it doesn’t make things better.” Hitch finished for her.

Sunny didn’t respond. She simply nodded. Then she turned her gaze back at Hitch. “D-does that make me a bad pony?” she questioned. “About not wanting to talk to her about it, that is?”

Hitch thought about it for only three seconds. “No,” he shook his head, “I think all ponies are allowed to have their own secrets that they can’t share with others.” After all, even Hitch had some of his own secrets.

Sunny let out a deep breath. “You’re right.” She smiled. “Thanks.”

Hitch just gave her a friendly gesture. “What are friends for?”

Sunny smiled in response. Then she slowly turned her head to look at the projector next to her. “I really do miss him.” She sighed.

Hitch nodded. “He was a good pony, Sunny.”

“I know.” She reached out with her foreleg. “I guess I best be getting back to the Brighthouse.” She continued. “I heard that the Sheriff of Maretime is a stickler for the rules. Wouldn’t want to get in trouble.” She said with a smirk.

Hitch snorted with a chuckle. “Alright! Don’t want to have to put you on the next nightly patrol, missy.”

Sunny looked at Hitch with a smirk. “Well, if you’re there, it wouldn’t be that bad.”

Hitch was taken back for just a moment. He could feel his shoulders feeling heavy. But he let out a smile. “Alright.” He said. “I think it’s about time for all good fillies and colts to go to bed.” He said returning to the playful routine.

Sunny rolled her eyes. “Yes sir!” she saluted with a sarcastic retort. And then the two of them just laughed.

Sunny returned to her belongings as she started her clean up and returned her father’s projector into her much larger pouch.

Hitch watched Sunny for a moment. “Would you like for me to walk you home, Sunny?”

Sunny turned to look at him. She shook her head, “No.” she said with a smile.

“Okay.” Hitch watched as his friend turned to face down the road to her home. He watched as she started to head back to the brighthouse.

After taking a few small steps, Sunny stopped. She turned her chin to look over her shoulder. “Hey, Hitch.”

“Yes?” Hitch raised an eyebrow.

“Thanks.” Sunny smiled. “Thanks for everything.”

That shook Hitch for just a moment. But he quickly regained his composure. “No problem, Sunny.” He smiled.

Sunny waved with her leg before turning back on the road and heading home. Hitch watched her from behind.

But something didn’t sit right well with Hitch. His shoulders were getting heavy. Something was eating him up on the inside. Something was boiling. He started to chew on his bottom lip.

“SUNNY!” Hitch stepped forward out of reflex towards his friend.

Sunny stopped. She just turned with a confused expression to look at the colt. She stared at him blinkingly.

Hitch wanted to speak. “I…I…” something was eating at Hitch. He wanted to speak. He wanted to tell Sunny everything. He wanted to tell her the truth. He wanted to-

“I-I just wanted to say good night.” – the words sputtered out of his lips.

Sunny giggled. “Good night, Hitch.” She turned back around and started walking down the path to her home.

That wasn’t it. That wasn’t what Hitch wanted to say. He just stood there watching in silence as his friend disappeared into the night. He wanted to tell her everything. He could feel his shoulders ache. He could feel-

Then Hitch let out a long sigh as he lowered his head in defeat. It didn’t fix the problem, but he did alleviate some weight off his shoulders. “…Sunny…I’m sorry.” He sighed in defeat.

Then he felt something soft on the back of his leg. Hitch turned to find his little entourage of animal deputies standing behind him with the leader of the group trying to comfort him.

“I’m fine, Kenneth.” Hitch tried to smile. “I’m good, I promise.” He turned away from his little companions as he looked back up to where he had last seen Sunny. She was nowhere to be found. He was now all alone.

Then Hitch let out another low breath. “Actually…” he turned back to his deputies. “Do you think you can give me some space?”

There was no hesitation. The small little bird simply saluted the colt and proceeded to turn to look at his pals. They all nodded towards one another and then dispersed.

Hitch was now all alone. He was now alone with his thoughts, the scariest company one could have. He just stood there in the darkness for just a moment in pure agonizing silence.

He let out a low breath as he reached for his shoulders, they were just getting stiff and heavier by the second. “I think it’s about time to finish up my patrol.” He outwardly spoke to himself. He could feel that his body was aching. So, he turned around and started to return to his nightly routine.

Hitch did pause for a moment before looking back over his shoulder and into the direction that he saw his friend walking. He hesitated slightly before proceeding back on his own path.

The night continued, and Hitch made his way down near the small coastal area of Maretime Bay’s iconic beach. He walked down the cobblestone path all alone, with only his thoughts as his only companion. He thought about a lot of things during this nightly patrol. He mostly thought about Sunny and-

Hitch paused. He took a whiff of the air. He could smell fishes. Which wouldn’t normally be strange as he were by the beach. But of the many nights that he had taken this same path, the smell was never this strong.

Hitch looked around still sniffing the air as to find the source of the smell. Perhaps somepony didn’t close a dumpster correctly, he thought to himself. And so, he searched around him to find anything out of place.

But there was nothing out of the ordinary. Hitch shook his snout as if to attempt to get that horrible stench from clinging to the inside of his nostril. “GYAH!” he snorted as his scratched at his nose with his hoof. “I just need to get out of here.” He spoke aloud as he proceeded forward to be far and away from that stench. But no matter where he went, that smell followed suit.

Hitch continued his path as he still fought to get rid of the putrid smell out of his nasal cavity, it’s like it was just getting to his lungs at this point. He coughed a few times as he felt himself gagging on the stench. But outside of the smell there was something else wrong-

He paused.

-He could feel something staring at him. Hitch looked to the left and then proceeded to look to the right. He didn’t see anything there. He was on a pier that overlooked the waters of Maretime Bay and all he could hear was the rushing waves that tickled his ear.

“…somethings wrong.” Hitch turned his body to look all around him. He had been working as the town’s sheriff for so long that he was now starting how to learn to trust his gut feeling. And now his gut feeling was screaming at him to get away from the pier.

Hitch cracked his shoulders; they were getting heavier again. Spinning around, all he could see was just a few boxes and a couple of barrels stacked on top of one another.

“If anypony is out there, come on out!” He called out into the night sea. But there was no response, just the sounds of crashing waves reminding him of his isolation. He took a step back as he looked around again. “Little buddies?” he asked thinking that it was perhaps his deputies keeping an eye on him from afar.

But there was nopony. Only the defeating silence.

Hitch scratched at his chest. He didn’t know what was going on, but he knew very well that he needed to get out of there. So, he started galloping through the pier and back to land. He galloped past the boxes. He galloped past the rushing waves. He galloped past the barrels-

Then Hitch slowed down to a stop. He sniffed the air. It’s that smell, he thought to himself as he took another deep breath. He nearly gagged. It was that putrid smell of fishes from before. He turned his head slightly. The smell was only getting stronger. He turned to look behind him.

The source of the smell was coming from some barrels. Hitch cocked an eyebrow in confusion. Why? He thought to himself. He took a step closer to the barrels and the smell was getting worse. It’s definitely them and not the ocean.

RUN! his gut feelings were shouting

He stepped up to the wooden crates and looked over them with a tilt of his head. Is no pony there? He thought to himself as he tried to look to see if somepony was hiding behind it. Is it a little critter? He tilted his head downward to look between the cracks. He stared deeply into the abyss that was underneath the barrels.

RUN NOW!

-BOOM!-

Hitch was thrown back as the barrel seemed to suddenly explode. He fell on his back hard and cried out in pain as his head bounced off the wooden frame of the pier.

“What was that?” Hitch reached for his head, “What just happen-” he turned to look at the barrel, but then his eyes went wide.

Something had erupted out of the wooden crate. He couldn’t tell what it was, but it looked like it was some kind of tentacle or hoof. Either way, it was some black organic appendage that was jutting forth out of the barrel.

“…” Hitch was frozen in fear. MOVE His gut feelings was crying out at him to run. Whatever it was that was in front of Hitch filled him with dread.

Then the black organic appendage started to move. It jutted out forward a little bit more as it was flailing around looking for something. It was looking for the ground as it latched onto the wooden pier.

Move legs, MOVE! Hitch screamed at himself to run away. But his body wouldn’t obey. All he could do was watch the tentacle like substance.

Suddenly another appendage erupted from the barrel and joined with the first. This time, Hitch knew exactly what these things were. They were legs. And now he feared what was at the end of those legs.

“GyAoOoUuUHH!” a cry came screaming through the night air as it shook Hitch to the core. Then he saw it fully.

Something impossibly large started to pour out of the opening of the barrel, it was like blackness itself was spilling out. Then Hitch saw it. The piercing blood red eyes of the creature was staring into his direction, like they were bloodied with rage.

The creature started to drag itself free as it pulled itself with its front legs. It was like a mess of darkness. It seemed to have a form like a pony, but at the same time it didn’t seem to have a physical form. The longer that Hitch looked at the creature, the more that fear intoxicated the young colt.

“GyAoOoUuUHH!” the creature cried out as it started to move towards the earth pony. The creature itself was dragging its belly over the wooden pier as its impossibly long legs reached outwards and pulled him forward as if he were attached to the ground. The creature continued to cry out as the wooden frame of the pier tore away at the beast’s belly.

RUN NOW! Hitch bit his lip drawing blood. It hurt, but it was enough. Fear, pain, and adrenaline pumped through the earth pony’s body as he finally regained his strength. Just as a long tentacle leg came crashing down on top of him, Hitch moved out of the way.

“GyAoOoUuUHH!” the beast cried out as his other leg came from above only to have Hitch dodge that one as well. Hitch pulled back on his back as he launched his hind hooves at the creature. “GyAoOoUuUHH!” the beast cried out, but it wasn’t deterred long enough as it lashed out again. But it still gave the young earth pony some time to think on his feet.

Hitch rolled over as another leg came down, this time it crashed through the wooden pier as the creature struggled to get itself free. Hitch knew he didn’t have much time so quickly got to his hooves and he started to make his escape as he galloped into the opposite direction.

“GyAoOoUuUHH!” Hitch could hear the beast behind him. He didn’t need to turn his head to know that the creature was on his hooves, he could hear every stomp of those elongated legs matching to the beat of his heart. Hitch didn’t know what to do in this situation, all he did know was that he had to run. And so, he ran for his life.

As Hitch ran, he came up to a conundrum. He was beginning to run out of a straight path as he started running out of beach and was making his way back onto the cobblestone path. Soon Hitch had to make a choice: To his left he could run away from the monster on his own and possibly be killed. On the right he could go into the heart of Maretime Bay and lose the beast through the homes of innocent bystanders and get many innocent ponies hurt. He had to make a choice and it had to be soon.

Of course, there wasn’t a choice. “GyAoOoUuUHH!” without a second thought, the Sheriff of Maretime Bay sprinted to the left as the creature followed behind like a mad dog. Hitch was scared out of his mind, but it didn’t mean that he was going to hurt anypony else.

Hitch ran and he could hear the monster on his tail like he was some shadow. The path that Hitch was taking was starting to blur pass him as his heartbeat started to go into overdrive. He ran and ran for he knew that if he were to stop than the beast was going to catch him.

Legs were burning, lungs were crying, heart was growing heavier with every stomp of his hooves. But still he had to run. It was all he could do. He had been running all this time. He just had to continue running.

But where was he? Hitch was losing himself as the surroundings started to bleed together. He had no idea where he was as the trees just rushed by. All he knew was if he slowed down for even a minute, he was going to die. That he had to-

Then Hitch halted to a stop. He recognized where he was. How did I get here? He thought to himself as he looked forward in fear.

He was standing at the rocky cliff that hung at the edge of Maretime Bay.

“T-This can’t be…” Hitch shook his head in disbelief. “I can’t be here…not here of all places.” He could have sworn he avoided a dead end. He could have sworn he made all the right choices. But the road he was running on just lead him to this place. “Please, not here.” He could feel his heart sink as if he knew the dead end here was to be the dead end of him. “W-why?-“

-CRACK-

-Hitch didn’t have time to react as he was stricken in the back of the head and was sent to the ground hard.

Hitch tried to get up as fast as he could, but it was too late. He could feel the weight of the beast dragging itself onto his body. “GYAAAAAAH!” it was like a boulder was being rolled up from Hitch’s lower legs. “AAAAHHHHHH!” He cried out in pain screaming out towards the sea.

Then Hitch saw it. As the crushing unbearable weight crawled itself up to Hitch’s shoulders, he saw the tendril tentacle-like leg stomped just outside of his peripheral. Hitch, in pain, turned his head, fearing what he was to see.

Staring at him, with its blood shot eyes, the formless blob was staring Hitch’s own. Hitch cried. And the beast cried back. Then it brought it’s legs up into the air and slammed them down.

Using all his strength, Hitch turned his body with just enough of a spin that he was able to redirect the blow. But now he was face to face with this creature. The weight of this monster was now unbearable as it felt like it was crushing his ribs. It was like the beast was simply threatening the earth pony under the weight of its pressure.

“GyAoOoUuUHH!” the beast cried out as it brought it’s legs up again. Hitch cried out as he tried to fight back with what little he could muster. It was like watching a newborn babe fighting a wild beast.

“GET AWAY” Hitch, panicking, flailed his arms as the beasts slammed his tendrils onto the poor earth pony. The most he could do was simply redirect the blows, but the beast was clearly faster and stronger than him. “GET AWAY FROM ME!” He screamed.

The beast cried out “GyAoOoUuUHH!” it slammed it’s leg into the side of Hitch’s head. It seemed to daze the young earth pony, but he continued to try to fight back. The monster slammed itself repeatedly into Hitch’s face. It was like it was trying to push down on the young pony.

Hitch tried to push back against the weight of the beast, but it was futile. The monster continued pressing down and down on the side of his face, forcing the young pony to face into a certain way. Hitch cried out as the monster continued to put on the pressure.

Pain tearing through his mind, panic racing through his body, Hitch’s eyes started to flutter as he tried to fight back. His eyes blinked rapidly as he realized which way he was now being faced. No…not like this… Hitch’s thoughts betrayed him.

He was facing the direction of the cliff at the edge of Maretime Bay. Hitch tried to fight back against the beast to at least look back at the monster, but the creature simply overpowered him and slammed it’s tendrils repeatedly into the head on the young earth pony.

Finally, the pain settled in. As the monster continued to slam itself into the side of Hitch’s body, the young pony finally lost strength. His body gave out as he went limp. He was starting to lose focus as his mind started to become foggy. As the beast continued to slam down on top of him, he could barely hear it’s screams as if it were coming from far away.

“GyAoOoUuUHH!” the beast screamed a final time into the face of the young earth pony. Hitch started to lose consciousness. Before darkness finally took hold of the young colt, the last thing he saw was the cliff at the edge of Maretime Bay. Suddenly Hitch’s whole world went black.

“…”

“…tch?”

“…Hitch?”

“Hitch, wake up!”

Hitch awoke to the sound of a familiar voice.

“Come on, dude. How long are you still going to nap?” Hitch quickly shot upright in a sitting position. Hitch started looking around as if he had just woken up from a waking nightmare only to find himself there in midday.

“Hitch, bro, are you okay?” Hitch turned to look at the familiar pony. Standing next to him, looking at him with a confused expression, was a red earth pony that the young colt knew for so long. “You enjoyed your nap, Hitch?” It was Sprout, but something was off.

Hitch reached up to scratch his neck with his hoof. “Yeah, I guess I just had a weird dream.” He said looking around him as if was trying to figure out where he was. He remembered. He and Sprout had come up to the Cliff at the edge of Maretime Bay to play.

“Whatever, man.” Sprout snorted with a chuckle. “You gotta be careful with those weird dreams.” He said pointing at Hitch. “You don’t want to end up like Sunny or like her crazy father, Argyle, do you?” he questioned.

Hitch looked at his friend with a tilt of his head. “I guess not.”

Sprout smiled. “That’s good.” He said turning away. “Now let’s go on home. It’s almost time for ‘It came from the skies,’ I want to watch it before mom gets back home tonight.”

“O-okay…” Hitch remembered. He and his friend had planned to watch the cheesy B-horror movie about the evil Pegasus that would kill earth ponies. He had asked Sunny to join them, but she had said that it was offensive to Pegasus ponies – though how she would know that since she didn’t know any Pegasus themselves confused the boy.

Sprout eyed the colt. “Oookay…” he rolled his eyes before turning back to the woods. “Let’s go, you weirdo.” He laughed.

“R-right” Hitch replied as he started to follow his friend.

“…” Hitch’s ears perked. He turned to look behind him. “Hey, Sprout. Did you hear-?” But as he turned to look at the red colt, Sprout had already disappeared – assumingly galloping back home for the horror movie. Hitch tilted his head in confusion before turning to look back behind him.

Hitch could hear voices coming from over the cliff at the edge of Maretime Bay. He took a step forward to the cliff. He couldn’t make out the words, but he could tell that there were multiple voices. He could tell that the voices were screaming, and they were angry. Curiosity got the best of the young colt as he took another step closer.

Edging close to the edge of the cliff, careful not to fall off himself, Hitch leaned his head over the edge to see what was going to happen.

“…” He still couldn’t understand the voices that were yelling, but he recognized most. Most of the ponies that were down below were the parents of some of Hitch’s classmates. But the one that took his attention the most was the one in the middle of the pack.

“Sunny’s dad?” Hitch tilted his head in confusion. In the middle of the pack of ponies was the familiar blue stallion, Argyle Starshine. Why is he down there with all the other adults? Hitch questioned. He knew majority of the adults didn’t like Sunny’s father, so he was confused. And why did it seem that Sunny’s dad was panicking.

“HOW DARE YOU FILL MY DAUGHTER’S HEAD WITH YOUR STUPID PEGASUS AND UNICORN PONY PROPAGANDA!” These loud words stuck to Hitch the most as he looked at all the ponies down below. The yelling continued, but Hitch couldn’t make out much over everypony’s voices. All he could tell was that Argyle was the center of attention and taking the blunt of the yelling. Hitch had a bad feeling.

Then it happened. Hitch didn’t know who started it, but it didn’t matter anymore. A fight broke out down below. All the ponies started fighting and at the center of it all was Sunny’s father. All the young colt could do was stare in fear.

What was like minutes felt like hours scarring the young earth pony. All he could do now was watch as the town’s adults ganged up on one defenseless pony. All He could do was listen as the screams of his friend’s father was being muffled by even more screaming.

Then the silence came. Then the fighting stopped. Then Hitch’s eyes went wide as the adults of Maretime bay pulled away from the pile. Down, in the middle of the mess, was Sunny’s father, beaten to a pulp and turned into a broken mess. The ponies of this town wanted to silence the stallion’s mouth once and for all, and they succeeded.

Hitch’s mind started to spin as the world started to bleed together. Then suddenly everything went black as he passed out.

“…”

“…tch?”

“…Hitch?”

“Hitch, wake up!”

Hitch awoke gasping for air to the sound of a familiar voice. He opened his eyes to find a pair of aquamarine eyes staring back into his.

“H-Hitch, what are you doing out here?” Sunny Starscout cried out with panic in her voice.

Hitch cocked an eyebrow. “What am I-”

“Hitch?”

-Hitch bolted right up. He started to panic as he searched the area around him. It was morning time for him.

“Hitch?”

Hitch looked around him. He remembered everything. He remembered his patrol. He remembered going to the pier. He remembered nearly being killed by that shadow monster. He remembered-

“HITCH!” Hitch snapped his head back towards the young earth pony. Sunny looked at her friend with a worried expression. As Hitch looked at her, he started to calm down. It seemed like the nightmare was over. He let out a deep breath.

“Hitch, what’s going on?” Sunny asked. “I went by your house to check up on you, but you weren’t there. When I went to the Sheriff station, all I found was your little deputies taking care of Sparky.” She continued. “Me and the other girls have been searching for you. Why are you out here by the cliff.”

“…” Hitch paused for a moment. He turned to look over his shoulder to see that he was indeed by the cliff. Then he turned to look at Sunny. He let out a deep sigh as he placed a hoof to his throbbing head. “I…I…”

“Hitch?” Sunny looked at her friend with a worried expression.

Hitch opened his eye to look at his friend, he could see just how much worry he put on her. He took a deep breath. He wanted to tell her. He wanted to tell her everything. He wanted to tell her about the monster. He wanted to tell her about-

But then he paused.

“Hitch?”

-Hitch put on a smile. “I…I think I’ve just overworking myself.” He answered.

“What?” Sunny tilted her head in confusion.

“With everything involving Earth pony magic, Sparky Sparkeroni, the Brighthouse magic, Discord, the mysterious evil pony, and being the Sheriff of Maretime Bay I think the stress and pressure had finally gotten to me.” He lied with a sincere smile.

Sunny felt relieved. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Hitch shrugged his shoulder. “I guess, with just everything going on with everypony I just thought it was best if I dealt with things my own way. You know?”

“Hitch,” Sunny let out a softened expression. “You know you can tell me anything. You can tell the others anything. The five of us would be more than happy to take that weight off your shoulders.

Hitch looked Sunny in the eye, “Thanks, Sunny.” It wasn’t the truth, but it was the truth that Hitch wanted Sunny to know.

Sunny smiled. “Of course, Hitch. We’re friends.” She said putting her hoof out to her colt friend. “Hoof to heart.”

Hitch smiled back. “Hoof to heart.” He connected with Sunny’s hoof with his own and they proceeded to do their signature hoof shake.

Sunny giggled. “Now, come on.” She said turning away from the young colt. “I messaged the others earlier. Izzy and Pipp said they were going to make us some breakfast. And I’m sure Sparky would love to see the best dragon dad.”

“Right.” Hitch said following the young mare. He took a few steps before he paused. “Hey, Sunny.”

“Hmm?” Sunny turned her chin to look over at her friend. “What is it, Hitch?”

-Tell her. Tell her everything. Tell her everything and you can be free of this burden. Tell her the truth and you can be free. -

Hitch smiled. “Thanks.”

Sunny returned the smiled. “What are friends for?” and proceeded to walk down the path and Hitch continued to follow.

“I think all ponies are allowed to have their own secrets that they can’t share with others.”

Hitch wanted to tell Sunny the truth for the longest time. He wanted to tell her that her father didn’t die of an accident. But he could never bring himself to tell her the truth about what happened that day. He couldn’t tell her that he witnessed her father’s murder. He didn’t want Sunny to be filled with hatred, he didn’t want her to lose that sunny attitude of hers. So, he decided to bear it. He decided to become the Sheriff so those that harmed his friend’s happy life would get their punishment.

The weight of the truth was crushing, but Hitch was willing to shoulder it. The pressure of the truth could crush anypony’s soul, so it was up to Hitch to bear it. If it were for his friends, he would do anything to keep them smiling.

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