Watching A New Generation

by Shadow Dragon

Friendship Is Magic

Cut back to Maretime Bay Sunny Starscout was approaching her lighthouse slowly

Hitch who was slowly following declared “I’m right here if you need to talk Sunny

Sunny turned to see Hitch but turns back to her lighthouse without a word much the the sheriff’s disappointment as he turned to go back to Maretime Bay

Sunny entered her Lighthouse in sadness and slammed the door and this time didn’t fix the photo of herself and her dad

In her lighthouse, packing up all of her old toys, artifacts, and memories of ancient Equestria, that both she and her late father had worked on, together.

Sunny began to cry and Twilight got up to sit next to her and put a reassuring hoof on her shoulder
Sunny ether didn’t notice or was too sad to care

Sunny's heartache intensified as she went up to the upper level of her lighthouse home, to put away more drawings, pictures, and souvenirs of Equestria's heyday, when she noticed a symbol, beneath the lighthouse's crystal ball. The symbol was shaped like the unicorn and pegasus crystals, joined together, but with a circle in the middle.

Then, in that moment, a ray of sunlight shines into the room, and Sunny looked up to see herself surrounded by shapes of Unicorns, Pegasi, and Earth ponies, that danced and flew around the room.

Following the light's path, she looked to see the source of the light show. A crystal that her father had installed, into her favorite night light. Curious, the young mare picked up the crystal in her hoof, when she was struck with an epiphany. Putting the small crystal in the center of the symbol, it opened up, to reveal a perfect fit.

Sunny could hardly believe her eyes. Her heart began to pound faster than she could breath. She finally understands the problem. Could this be it? Has she found the answer?

“Their was an Earth Pony Crystal I knew it!” Twilight cheered and all of them had renewed spirits

Sunny sprinted to tell Hitch but when she got into to the place was a disaster area having never been cleaned from the Sprout’s musical number

Hitch groaned at the reminder that Maretime bay under the control or Sprout was likely to fall apart at the seams

Hitch ran up to Sunny looking panicked and yelled “Sunny!”

Sunny cheered “Hitch! Hitch! I figured it out! There's actually a third—!”

Before another word could be spoken, the sound of explosions erupted from in front of Canterlogic, to which the two looked up, to see a sparkle of fireworks

The two looked at eachother before rushing towards the source on they way they see ponies marching in line and each where wearing an Anti-Mind reading helmets

Hitch asked one of them “Huh? Hey, w-wait. What is going on here?”

The pony declared “We can't tell you. We've signed the Official Sprout Act.”

Both Hitch’s asked “Official Sprout what?”

In front of Cantelogic

An Earth pony Mare called out “The Stallion-in-Chief!”

Menacing music began playing to slowly reveal Sprout being carried on a chariot and wearing a dictator hat and collar with metals and badges and sunglasses

During his dramatic reveal it was also revealed that Hitch’s critter friends where also part of the army
Sunny and Hitch couldn’t help but ask “Sprout?!”

Sprout stepped onto a podium but was too short to reach the microphone and called out “Step!”

The Mare who announced his arrival suddenly realized “Oh, right!” And she pushed a stool onto the podium and cranked it to rise Sprout up

A weak chuckle was given by Pinkie Pie but it was clearly forced

Sprout yelled into the microphone “Citizens of Maretime—!”

He was suddenly cut off as a banner with his face on it flopped down onto his head

Sprout gets the banner off before fixing his sunglasses and hat and asked “Can we try that again?”

Hitch stepped forward yelled “Sprout! What are you doing?

Hitch’s critter friends instantly take off their helmets upon seeing Hitch and join him

Sprout mocked “Awwww. Little Sheriff Hitchy came trotting back. Waaaah. Just in time to see me do what you couldn't – attack our enemies!”

Hitch could practically fell the headache his future self was probably having

He accidentally hits the microphone and the feedback whines

Hitch groaned from the feedback and then declared “Wait, wait, no, Sprout, listen to me. Listen to me. The Pegasi and unicorns can be our friends. There's no need to be afraid of them. Besides, they don't even have any magic.”

Phyllis was shown for a second to quickly ask “What?”

Sprout however was not deterred, if anything he had more confidence than ever as he cheered “No magic? Hah! That's even better!” He laughs

Seeing that they were getting nowhere with Sprout Sunny yelled to the crowd “But we can bring magic back! Bring friendship back!”

Sparkle Chaser “So we don't have to fight? *sighs* That's a relief.” He and some of the other members began taking off their helmets

Sprout panicking lied “W-Wait, what! Whoa, whoa, whoa! Don't listen! They've been brainwashed! You'll all be next if we don't end this now!” He begins to laughs evilly as they all put their helmets back on and he presses a button

The sound of clunking and beeping could be heard as the floor opened up to reveal a giant red robot vaguely in the shape of Sprout as he announced “Say hello... to Sprouticus Maximus!”

"I can't take much more of this..." Twilight groaned.

As if the technological advancement with Anti-Mind Reading Hats, unicorn traps, and especially, phones, wasn't enough, now the weary Twilight Sparkle finds herself concerned with the possibilities of ponies contending with armies of killer robots.

The crowd gasps and Sprout laughs evilly

Phyllis pleaded to her son “Maybe this is a bit too much, dear!”

Sprout did not listen however as he hoped up into the giant robots cockpit and He pulled a lever and pushed a button and the engine came to life with a roar

Sprout yelled “Troops! On to Bridlewood!”

He pulls the robot’s horn

Sunny yelled to Hitch “We have to warn them!”

Hitch sent a glare towards the robot before following Sunny and the do and was following them

Sprout and Sprouticus Maximus chased the two through Maretime bay and left behind a trail of destruction wherever it went

The two friends were chased to the edge of Maretime Bay, where Izzy, Pipp and Zipp were somehow already their
"Sunny!" Izzy Moonbow shouted.

Starscout and Sheriff Hitch, galloping into view, from over the horizon.

"What are you girls doing here?" Sunny asked as she and Hitch came to a stop in front of them as if they weren’t currently being chased by a dictator with a giant robot.

"We don’t care what anypony says!" Izzy chirped.

"Yeah, we just want to stay friends!" Zipp Storm added.

Sunny and Hitch smiled at their group of new friends

"Pipp! Zipp!" Queen Haven shouted, as she came galloping towards the group, with a herd of pegasi guards. "I know you're upset, darlings, my sweet little darlings," Queen Haven said, with Alphabittle joining. "But it's time go home now!"

"Izzy Moonbow!" Alphabittle began. "You're gonna get us all jinxed!"

"Excuse me!" Queen Have huffed to Alphabittle "Do you see my mouth still moving? That means I'm still a-talking!"

"You're all in danger!" Sunny interrupted.

"What?" Queen Haven and Alphabittle exclaimed.

Suddenly, a loud horn blared in the air, drawing every pony's attention to the source. Driving in a storm of smokes and gravels was Sprouticus Maximus. Marching by the mechanical behemoth's side are a squadron of earth ponies, wearing Anti-Mind Reading Hats.

"Would you look at this?" Sprout called from the giant robot. "Our enemies delivered themselves to us!"
"No, no, no," Queen Haven reassured. "We're not here to fight, Mr. Big Robot Pony."

Unfortunately, the queen's words fell on deaf ears, "I do not accept your surrender!" Spout scoffed. "Load the Splat-a-pults!"

However, some of the earth ponies refused to heed the robot's command, and instead, chose to retreat.

"Why do I have to do everything myself?!" Sprout complained, as an arm extended out from its front.

"This day just keeps getting better and better," Rainbow Dash shook her head in sarcasm.

"We have to stop that thing!" Zipp exclaimed.

"But how?" Izzy asked.

"With magic!" Sunny exclaimed She then turned her attention to Alphabittle and Queen Haven. "Quick! I need your crystals!"

Both Alphabittle and Queen Haven exchanged looks, before they decided they have nothing left to lose. Without any argument, they gave Sunny their crystals, who then turned to her friends. "Theirs a third Crystal! Fallow me!"

“What?” Asked a confused Hitch who followed after Sunny

With that, Sunny Starscout took the lead as she guided her friends, up a hill, back up to her lighthouse, with Emperor Sprout giving chase in his giant robot.

"Oh no, you don't!" Sprout and his robot charged towards Sunny’s lighthouse

Seeing that Hitch announced “I gotta rein that thing in!” He charged towards the robot and Zipp followed with an announcement “I’ve got your back Hitch!” And followed him as they both jumped onto the robot to figure out how to stop it

Hitch turned to Zipp and said “Thanks.”

Zipp smirked and declared “Anytime.”

Back in the lighthouse Sunny, Izzy, and Pipp were at the spot to put the Crystals, first sunny placed the Unicorn Crystals in place with the Earth Pony Crystal Witch prompt a chuckle from Izzy and then pulled out the Pegasus Crystal

Meanwhile back outside Sprout evil laughed as he used his robot to ram the lighthouse

The ramming was clearly felt inside as it caused the three Friends to jump and knocked the two crystals out of place

“Not the Lighthouse! That’s my home!”

Back outside

Hitch yelled “Sprout! Stop!”

Sprout backed his robot back up as he did so Cracks formed on the lighthouse

Back in the Lighthouse Sunny was able to get back up and noticed the crystals here missing and processed to panic “Where are the other crystals?” As she and her friends looked around

Back outside Hitch climbed onto the robot’s windshield to yell at Sprout “This... ends... now!”

Sprout sarcastically asked “What, and let them have magic?! Never!” He pulled a lever and shook Hitch off the Windshield before flipping a switch which activated Splat-a-pults on the robot

Hitch worried “Whoa, whoa, whoa!”

The Splat-a-pult goo was shot everywhere and the ponies all ran

Soon even some animals were in danger but Alphabittle shielded them at the cost of getting stuck

Back in the lighthouse some of the goo shot at the window scaring Pipp so she backed away and nearly stepped on the Earth Pony Crystal in the process, noticing that she called out “Sunny!” And passed it to Sunny who caught it with ease

Sunny cheered “Got it!” She put the Crystal down with the now placed Pegasus Crystal and yelled “We need the Unicorn Crystal!”

Izzy looked around and yelled “I'm looking, I'm looking!”

Back outside Sprout goes for another charge and the sudden motion almost makes Hitch fall into the fast spinning Splat-a-pults, fortunately for him Zipp caught him just in time with a yell of “Hitch!”

Hitch was in shock and awe “You saved my life… or will save my life? Ether way thanks.”

Zipp gave a reassuring smile in response

She pulled him to safety and he syed in relief

Back in the Lighthouse Izzy found the Unicorn Crystal and announced “Found it!”

Just then the robot rammed the lighthouse once more knocking the crystal out of Izzy’s hoof and towards the edge

Izzy panicked “Aah! No, no, no, no!”

Sunny’s elevator suddenly gave out dropping Pipp who happened to be on it, she yelled the whole way down but fortunately for her the Elevator stopped right before she hit the floor and she syed in relief “Whew... I'm okay!”

Izzy rushed towards the Crystal and grabbed it but suddenly the floor of the observation deck gasps out from under her

“IZZY!” Everypony yelled in worry

Sunny runs over yelling “Izzy!”

Izzy was hanging on for dear life by the edge she was just able to grab onto at the last second
Back with the robot

Zipp looked at the Splat-a-pults and yelled “We need to shut these down!”

Hitch looked directly at the safety pin for the device

Alphabittle was grunting trying to pry himself free

Pipp who had ran outside yelled “Alphabittle, look out!”

Alphabittle looked behind him to see he was about to be run over, fortunately for him Queen Haven bumped him out of the way at the last second saving him and the critters he was protecting

Izzy let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding upon Alphabittle being pushed to safety

Ponies are all screaming and Phyllis just barley avoids being hit herself wale watching all the chaos, she suddenly looked up and gasps as Izzy struggling to grab the Unicorn Crystal before it falls

Meanwhile Hitch pulls on the safety pin with all his might before finally detaching it and sending the Splat-a-pults flying directly into the Lighthouse and just barley missing Izzy who yelped in surprise and fear

Hitch cringes and admitted “Okay, that was a bad idea!”

Phyllis yelled at her son “Sprout! Let's put the toy away!”

Sprout yelled back “Mommy, please! I'm in the middle of something!”

Phyllis yelled “You come down from there right now!”

Izzy panted “I've almost got it!” She finally succeeded in grabbing the Crystal just before it fell and Sunny pulled her up

Sunny was panting In exhaustion but still found the strength to smile as Izzy held the Crystal up proudly

Back outside Sprout yelled “But, Mommy, I'm... in... chaaaaarge!” He went full speed ahead

Phyllis jumped in front of the robots path and ordered “I... said... STOP!”

Sprout yelped as he quickly steered the robot to miss his mother and in the process also shake off Hitch and Zipp
The robot crashed hard into the lighthouse

Sunny Starscout and Izzy Moonbow yelped but managed to stay upright this time

Unfortunately the Lighthouse couldn’t take any more abuse as the top began to topple

Hitch yelled “No, no, no!”

Pipp gasped in horror

Sunny tries to put the final Crystal in but the floor tilts back makings her and Izzy slide back, they manage to drag themselves back to the other crystal’s and Sunny finally puts all 3 together… only for nothing to happen

Sunny looked down, even more dejected than she was after the Bridlewood scene.

"The crystals didn't work," Sunny sighed. "Even with a third crystal...they...they didn't do a thing. No...no rainbow lasers, or light show, like you said."

"Sunny," Twilight frowned in sympathy.

"I...I've let you down again," Sunny sobbed. "I've failed Equestria. I'm sorry, I...I wish I could make Equestria a better place. I do! But I–"

Before Sunny could continue, a pair of hooves wrapped around her shoulder, pulling her close for a comforting hug.

"It’s okay," Twilight shushed the distraught, young mare. "It's all going to work out in the end, trust me I’ve been where you are before.”

Still, Sunny cried waterfalls of tears, on Twilight's shoulder, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"Shhhh, you don't have to apologize for anything, Sunny," Twilight shushed. "Magic or no magic, as long as there's friendship. That's magical enough for me..." Pulling Sunny away, Sunset looked into the young mare's eyes, putting a hoof under her chin. "Is it still magical for you?"

Though sadden, with her hopes and dreams seemingly shattered, Sunny's lips quivered as she managed a small sad smile.
"It is."

With that, Sunny and Twilight wrapped their hooves around each other in another hug, with everypony (with the exception of Shadow Dragon) joining in the group hug.

They proceeded to continue watching after Sunny cheered up

Izzy in complete disbelief said “It... It didn't work.”

The Crystals fall out and down to the ground

Sunny yelled “No, no, no!”

Izzy screams in fear as the top half of the Lighthouse falls to the ground with both Izzy and Sunny still inside

Theirs a big dust cloud that soon cleared to show Sunny who was somehow still in one peace. She slowly opened her eyes and looked up to her destroyed home in horror. She looked around and saw Izzy also getting back up, then she looked at the photo of herself and her dad now with the frame broken into 4 peaces, she syed in disappointment

The other Ponies all began getting up coughing

Sprout grunts as he opened the door of his robot that was on its side, looking around he suddenly looked ashamed

Izzy slowly approached Sunny and tried to reassure her “Oh, Sunny...”

Sunny though suddenly had an epiphany and declared “I understand now. It's not the crystals that need to be brought together. It's us. We can bring back everything that was lost, but it's up to us. We can stay separated by fear and distrust, or we can choose friendship. We can choose love. That's the true magic..”

Sunny and Twilight both smiled, the real magic is the Magic of Friendship

Theirs emotional music playing as First Queen Haven, then Alphabettel, and finally Philips Cloverleaf all came together with a simple but great jester, working together to place the frame back together

Their was a moment of silence and despite everything Sunny was happy

Suddenly from beneath the rubble the Crystal’s began to glow and float up toward Sunny

Sunny asked “What? Aah!” The Crystal’s revolved around her for a moment before lifting her up into the sky

Every pony all watched with anxious expectation for what happens next. First, a golden pair of wings sprouted from Sunny's back, followed by a matching horn that protruded from her head, and Sunny's mane was colored with a streak of blue, yellow, and red.

Twilight Sparkle could hardly believe her eyes, "No way...can it be?" She asked, praying her eyes weren't playing tricks on her.

"Twilight..." Applejack began. "Is she?"

Twilight simply nodded as she confirmed, "She's an alicorn!"

The 3 Crystal’s fly into the air before coming together and in the blink of an eye, a blinding light burst from the sky, banishing the darkness, and bathing all of Equestria in a dazzling aura. And with it, came the restored magic. Every Unicorn's horns began to lit up, in a shower of sparkles, with every Pegasi wings glowing and coated in magic sparkles.

"We're actually flying!" Pipp Petals exclaimed gleefully, as both she and Zipp flapped their wings and take to the sky, where they met up with Sunny.

Zipp and Pipp were stunned silent

"Whoa, Sunny!" Zipp exclaimed. "Check you out!"

"What?" Sheriff Hitch exclaimed, too taken in by Sunny's new appearance.

"I can't believe it!" Sunny smiled.

"Now that's what I call a glow-up," Izzy pointed.

Pipp pointed upward and yelled “Look!”

They looked up to the aurora and the scene transitioned to Bridlewood where 3 Unicorns Fillies and Colts were the first among them to have glowing horns

One of them ran through the town cheering “Daddy, Daddy! The magic is real!”

More Unicorns began getting glowing horns and even the crystals began glowing

Meanwhile in Zephyr Heights the Pegasi were already flying about happily

Sunny Starscout, and all of their friends worked together to clean up Maretime Bay, and fixed all the damages done by Deputy Sprout in his corruption of power, and his time as Emperor.

Needless to say, however, watching all the ponies befriending one another, in spite of their differences, was the greatest reward for the heroes, who made it all possible.

Everywhere they looked, young foals from different pony tribes were running around, playing and laughing together. One earth pony foal was happily chasing with Queen Haven's winged dog, Cloudpuff.

"Aw, you made a new friend!" Queen Haven cooed, cuddling her cheek against Cloudpuff, before he resumed playing with the foal.

"Hi there, buddy!" Alphabittle greeted a young colt, who stared in awe.

Meanwhile, Sheriff Hitch and some earth ponies were watching in awe as Izzy worked on getting a trolley, back up on its wheels courtesy of her new magic and finally gently placed it back down, on its rail and earning some cheers

Pipp took a picture of Zipp posing with some earth ponies, a Unicorn and some critters

Pipp in a singsong voice called out “Stunning~!”

Sprout hesitantly asked “Mommy? Was I a good sheriff?”

“NO! YOU WERE THE ABSOLUTE WORST SHERIFF IN THE HISTORY OF ALL OF MARETIME BAY!” Hitch yelled in anger and frustration

“I’d wager he was the worst sheriff in equestrian history.” Twilight commented

Phyllis dodging the question stutters “Uh, uh... Look! A flying dog!” She pointed up to distract Sprout as she snuck away, where sprouts noticed his mother was gone he pouted

Hitch declared “You did it, Sunny.”

Sunny argued “No. We did it. Together.”

Izzy cheered “Now we never have to be apart!”

The Mane Five put their hooves together and chanted “Hooves to hearts!”

Suddenly, at that exact moment, a familiar pony dropped down, after his long balloon trip around the world.
"Whew! Hey, guys. What did I miss?" He asked the ponies and turned to see the main 5 and proceeded to freak out.

All the ponies couldn’t help but burst out laughing

End Credits ‘Glowin Up’
After the credits

Back in Maretime Bay, after helping the town of Maretime Bay getting cleaned up, trio of foals were singing together.

"Glowing up!" A Unicorn foal sang.

"Kind of looove," An Earth pony followed.

"We say high! You say what?" The Pegasus sang, with their friend saying the last part together with a laugh. "Race you the bridge!"

"Oh it's on!" The Unicorn raced.

"No using your magic this time!" The Earth pony foal shouted, chasing after her friend.

"Last on there is a rotten sardine!"

"I'm gonna win this time!"

“Looking at those three I can’t help but see the CMC’s.” Twilight declared with a smile
Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but agree

The camera pans down to show a glowing trail left by the Earth Pony and revealed glowing marks on the ground in the shape of hoveprints

The end

Shadow Dragon appeared before the group, "So! Did you like it?"

Everypony responded varying from "'Yes!' to 'That was awesome!' and a single soft 'Yay!'"

Twilight asked “So Shadow, now that we’ve watched it, I fell the need to ask, why did you show us this, I mean I can understand why you showed Sunny and her friends.” Twilight turned to see the group of 5 hugging and couldn’t help but smile before turning back to Shadow Dragon and asking “But why me and my friends? It barely had anything to do with us.”

Shadow Dragon admitted “Well technically you didn’t need to be here for this, I honestly only added you and your friends because it made for interesting commentary you would bring and this would’ve gotten kinda boring for me and the readers otherwise so you were only here to keep things interesting.”

“Wait readers? What readers? Is there some kinda book club or something I’m not aware of?” Twilight asked in confusion

Suddenly Pinkie Pie looked at the reader’s and gasped in shock as she declared “We’re in a fanfiction!? How did I not realize this sooner? Are my 4th wall breaking powers off?”

“No their working fine Pinkie, but please dear Twilight try not to break it any further, it took all I had to suppress your forth wall breaking abilities till now, I was just barely able to do so, it took a lot of time and effort on my part, you are not an easy pony to keep in check, seriously, it may have felt like an hour and a half for you but I’ve been doing this for months, and now I don’t need to stop you anymore because the story’s almost done anyway, so who do you think is related to who? It’s just speculation, theirs no confrontation even for me.”

Pinkie answered “Well Sunny is definitely the defendant of Twilight and nothing can convince me otherwise, Hitch is more likely Applejack’s descendant and just has Fluttershy’s talent for animals, Zipp just has to somehow be related to Rainbow Dash, and Pipp is likely a descendant of Rairty. We just need a descendant of Fluttershy and we’ll have all of us.”

Shadow Dragon smiled and turned his attention towards the others and declared “Now I’m gonna send you all home so say your goodbyes.”

The group of mane 5 reluctantly said their goodbyes to the Main 6 and vice versa

Sunny was the most upset, especially considering the fact she couldn’t have any of their autographs

But she was then surprised by Pinkie Pie who gave her a copy of The Journal of Friendship that was signed by the Main 6
Pinkie explained “It may have caused some trouble for us in the past but I fell like you could use it.”

Sunny took the book and thanked Pinkie for the gift

Soon they were brought home to their respective time periods and Sunny, Hitch, Izzy, Pipp, And Zipp all remembered and used their knowledge of the movie they watched to help connect equestria

Author's Note:

Pinkie: Awe I loved this story, but what was that ending?
Shadow dragon: well I originally wanted to make that part an epilogue but couldn’t figure out how to make it work well, simply put I couldn’t think of any ideas on how to unite that equestria that wasn’t some kinda disaster forcing them all together and working together to fix it, and even then the closest thing I could come up with in that context was Opaline but she wouldn’t have any reason to reveal herself with no magic available
Pinkie: fare enough anyway I have a question Shadow, how did you get us here to watch Sunny and her friends? And for that matter how did you us back? And how in equestria were you able to suppress my 4th wall breaking abilities?
Shadow Dragon: That’s my secret, I’ll never tell anypony, makes it more interesting to the readers to guess how I did it
Pinkie: Well you’ve got me their, goodbye Everypony, and wish Shadow Dragon good luck on his other stories
Shadow Dragon: I need it!

Comments

[Justin Mershimer]

Could you do Watching Make Your Mark (The specials and episodes) and Tell your Tale episodes and have the Main 6 and Mane 5 watch in the theater like with this one?

[littleman001]

I usually don't like characters react to stories, but it's so much fun watching the two generations interact and the Mane 6 reacting to the events of the future. This was a fun read! Even if it's very obvious that you took most of the dialogues from the story where Sunset Shimmer goes to the G5 future.