Since when is Hearts and Hooves Day this Dramatic?
It was a lovely day in Maretime Bay, where ponies were wandering the streets and enjoying Sunny's delicious smoothies. After the last order of the day, Sunny was ready to close up her truck. When she stepped out, her friend Izzy appeared before her with a broad smile, surprising her.
"Hey, Izzy! How long have you been standing there?" Sunny asked.
"Not too long," Izzy replied confidently. She had a brown saddlebag with a heart in the center and was covered in hearts all over her mane and body. She wore a pink skirt with spring hearts attached to it. "I just wanted to wish you a Happy Hearts and Hooves Day, Sunny!"
"Hearts and Hooves Day? Oh, wait! Do you mean the holiday you tried to make everypony celebrate last year?" Sunny paused.
Izzy nodded excitedly. "Yes! I'm planning to spread the love of Hearts and Hooves Day to everypony this time around!"
Sunny hesitated. "I'm not sure that's a good idea. Some ponies will reject you like last time, and I don't want you to end up heartbroken again."
Izzy was determined. "I know some ponies might not like it, but that won't stop me from spreading love. And I want to start with you." She handed Sunny a Valentine's Day card. "Give this to someone you love or have a crush on."
Sunny was cautious not to hurt Izzy's feelings as she replied, "I'm not entirely sure, Izzy."
"Oh come on, there must be someone special in your life who makes your heart flutter."
Sunny was indecisive. She was reluctant to follow Izzy's advice, but she couldn't deny that there was someone in her heart to whom she wanted to confess her feelings. She realized that if this was the real meaning of Hearts and Hooves Day, then she should go ahead and express her emotions.
Sunny smiled at Izzy. "Okay, Izzy, I'll do it."
"Hoof to heart for Hearts and Hooves?" Izzy asked.
"Hoof to heart," Sunny replied.
"Great! Now, if you'll excuse me, Sunny, I have to spread love to the rest of the ponies in Maretime Bay!" Izzy exclaimed as she bounced away.
"And I have a special someone to be my Valentine," Sunny thought to herself.
Sunny spent some time at the Brighthouse, pouring her heart out on the Valentine's Day card Izzy gave her. She wrote about her love for someone special and, once finished, she got ready to meet that lucky pony.
As she strolled through Maretime Bay, Sunny gazed down at the Valentine's Day card she was planning to give to her special somepony. The card was intended for none other than the town Sheriff, Hitch Trailblazer, who happened to be Sunny's first friend before she met Izzy.
Sunny fondly recollected all the times Hitch exhibited his endearing qualities of humor, courage, and kindness. He was always there for her, no matter the circumstance, even on the day she lost her father.
Sunny couldn't think of anyone to be her first Valentine for this year. But as she was lost in thought about Hitch, she accidentally bumped into someone.
She stumbled, and her Valentine's Day card slipped out of her grasp. As she looked up, she saw that she had collided with none other than Zipp Storm.
"Oops! I'm so sorry, Zipp. I wasn't paying attention, and I bumped into you," said Sunny as she offered a helping hoof.
"Are you ok?"
Zipp held onto Sunny's hoof and helped herself up, saying, "Yeah, I'm good. To be fair, I wasn't looking either. I was looking at my Valentine's Day card."
Zipp drew attention to her Valentine's Day card, which had fallen beside Sunny's card.
"Wait! You're going to celebrate Hearts and Hooves Day?! I thought Izzy told me that you weren't really into it, Zipp."
"I'm not, but Izzy urged me to try to find a special somepony. So, I might as well give it a try."
Sunny gasped, revealing a wide and adorable smile. Her eyes lit up like stars as if she couldn't be happier. "You have a special somepony too?!" Sunny squealed. "Who's the lucky pony?!"
"That's my personal information. In the same way, I'm not asking who your special somepony is, Sunny."
"Oh, I understand. But I still think it's wonderful that you have found someone special, Zipp. It's always important to have someone who makes your heart sing."
"Yeah, whatever you say, Sunny."
After their conversation, the two mares picked up their Valentine's Day cards and began to walk away. However, they soon stopped in their tracks only ten feet apart, each with a look of shock on their face. It turned out that they were holding each other's cards, and both were meant for Hitch Trailblazer.
Sunny and Zipp simultaneously turned their heads to meet each other's gaze. They both noticed the expression on each other's face.
"Hey, Zipp. I'm a bit confused. Your Valentine's card seemed to say it was for Hitch. Did I read it wrong?"
"I was about to say the same thing, Sunny!" Zipp showed Sunny's card to whom it was for.
"What! Hitch is your special somepony too?! But he was supposed to be my Valentine for Hearts and Hooves Day."
"Uh, no. Hitch was supposed to be my Valentine." Zipp argued.
"Well, um, I'm confident we can come up with a solution, don't you think?" Sunny proposed to Zipp, hoping to reach a mutual understanding.
"Oh sure, I have an answer. Pick somepony else," Zipp demanded Sunny with a deadpanned expression on her face. "I promised Izzy I would have somepony as my Valentine, and I'm not going to break that promise."
"I won't break it either, Zipp!" Sunny growled in response. Unexpectedly, she pointed and exclaimed, "Look! It's Hitch!"
"Really, where?!" Zipp turned her head in the direction Sunny was pointing. However, she saw nothing but random ponies walking through Maretime Bay.
When Zipp turned back, she was surprised to see that Sunny had both their Valentine's Day cards. With a smile on her face, the Alicorn defender of Pony Unity turned and ran as fast as she could. Sunny didn't know why she had both cards, but she put both of them in her bag, which made Zipp feel annoyed with gritted teeth.
Zipp flew up into the sky, spreading her wings as she chased after Sunny. "Sunny, give me back my card!" she shouted, hoping that her friend would listen.
But Sunny just kept galloping away, taunting Zipp as she went. "No way, Zipp! I was going to give you your card back, but now I think I'll keep it. It's the only way to make sure you don't have Hitch as your Valentine," she said, her voice filled with a cute and mischievous giggle.
Zipp knew that she had to stay focused if she wanted to catch Sunny. She chased her friend through the winding streets of Maretime Bay, determined to get her card back.
Ponies watched as the two of them ran around, their hearts racing with excitement. The chase lasted for an hour, with Zipp following Sunny's every move.
But as they approached Maretime Bay's Together Tree, Zipp decided to give Sunny one last chance. "Sunny, I'm telling you one last time. Give me back my letter," she said firmly, hoping that her friend would finally listen.
While running, Sunny turned her head to look up at Zipp with a smirk and retorted, "Or what, Zipp? Are you going to take my card and leave me chasing you?"
Zipp replied, "Not a chance. But just remember, you were warned." Zipp then swooped down and picked up speed. She approached Sunny and extended her front hooves to grab her bag.
Sunny saw Zipp coming and taunted, "Nice try, but you're not getting my bag today, Zipp!"
With a swift turn, Sunny managed to evade Zipp's grasp. However, Zipp had grabbed something else. She had closed her eyes while reaching for Sunny's bag, but when she thought she had it, she grinned.
"I have your bag, Sunny!" Zipp then flew upwards with Sunny's bag, expecting it to be light. Instead, it felt like she was carrying a barbell, almost yanking her down by her hooves.
Zipp struggled to stay in the air, causing her to tug harder. Suddenly, she heard a loud shriek from her friend Sunny. Zipp opened her eyes and turned to see what had happened. To her surprise, Zipp was holding onto Sunny's magenta strands.
Sunny had thought she had managed to escape Zipp's grasp, but she was wrong. Zipp managed to seize her, but instead of her bag, she grabbed Sunny's tail hairs. This was why Sunny screamed in the first place because she had her tail pulled.
"Ow, Zipp! Let go of my tail!" Sunny pleaded while struggling to free herself.
Zipp's response was unexpected. "You know, I intended to grab your bag, but I can work with this instead." She smirked while holding onto Sunny's tail tightly as if it were a dog leash.
Sunny warned Zipp, "I'm warning you, Zipp, don't even think about it." However, Zipp gave her another pull, causing her to scream out loud. Sunny felt the lower part of her body tensed upwards. The stretching pain in her hair, her dock being pulled from her haunches, and her tailbone stinging with the tug Zipp gave her.
"Zipp, please, let me go!" While Zipp stopped pulling Sunny, she didn't relinquish her grip on her friend.
"If you don't want another yank, give me my card, and then I will let go," Zipp replied stubbornly, refusing to release her friend.
Sunny didn't want another tug, but she refused to give Zipp her card. "No chance, I'd rather have my tail yanked than let you take Hitch as your Valentine," Sunny said with determination while bracing herself.
"If that's what you want." Zipp then gave Sunny another painful pull, putting all her strength into this single tug.
Sunny winced and tried to withstand the pain, but it wasn't long before she started to cry out. "Ow, I take it back, I take it back! Stop!"
Zipp stopped pulling Sunny's tail but didn't let go of the hairs. She watched as Sunny tried to comfort her haunches and felt a twinge of guilt for what she had done.
"Hey Sunny, listen..." Zipp began to explain herself to Sunny, but before she could utter a word, Sunny lashed out with her hind legs, narrowly missing her friend's face. Though one kick went awry, the other caught Zipp square in the chest.
Zipp's feeling of guilt vanished as soon as the blow landed on her chest. Instead, she was consumed with intense anger and hatred towards Sunny for what had just happened. While rubbing her chest, she fixed her eyes on the Together Tree, planning her next move against Sunny. When Sunny turned around and caught Zipp's menacing glare, her ears fell flat, and she swallowed hard, anticipating what might come next.
Sunny attempted to apologize hastily, "Zipp, I'm really sorry! I didn't mean to..." But before Sunny could finish, Zipp grabbed hold of Sunny's tail and started dragging her along. The dragging felt like it would never end.
Without any remorse for the painful shrieks that escaped from Sunny, Zipp resumed tugging on her tail with renewed vigor. Sunny attempted to secure her footing by digging her hooves into the ground, but unfortunately, she lacked the necessary strength to do so.
Although the kick was fit to make Zipp sore, it wasn't enough to break to make Zipp's grip weak at all. She was holding on with the strength of steel, refusing to let go, despite Sunny's pleading to stop hauling her. With determination inside Zipp, she dragged Sunny to the Together Tree, and when they finally arrived, things went from bad to worse for her friend.
Zipp put all her might into her wings and hooves and lifted Sunny high and off the ground by her tail. Sunny was terrified and begged Zipp to stop. "Ah, Zipp! What are you doing!? Ow, Please stop!"
But Zipp blatantly ignored her. She had already entangled Sunny's tail on one of the strong branches of the Together Tree.
Sunny let out a piercing scream of agony as she hung from a tree branch by her tail. She writhed in pain, her legs flailing as her face flushed with embarrassment. When she lifted her head to look at Zipp, she saw that her Valentine's Day card had been snatched away, along with Sunny's own card.
"How did you manage to take both cards out of my bag without me noticing?" Sunny demanded, still in agony.
"I guess my hooves were just too quick for you to see," Zipp sneered, a smirk on her face as she touched the ground and folded her wings. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere else to be."
"Wait!" Sunny cried out. "Give me back my card and help me down from here. This is excruciating!" She pressed both hooves against her haunches to try to alleviate the pain.
Zipp turned to Sunny with a poker face and said, "Sunny, you could have avoided this situation if you hadn't kicked me in the chest. But here's a deal. I'll give you back your card and help you down if you back down from asking Hitch to be your Valentine. What do you say?"
Zipp thought that Sunny would accept the proposal, but she was still stubborn enough to refuse. "No way! Look, I'm sorry for kicking you, but Hitch and I go way back, and I want to express my feelings for him."
Zipp took a deep breath and looked at Sunny. "I'm sorry too. I'll get you down."
"Really?!" Sunny's eyes lit up with joy.
"After I give Hitch my Valentine's Day card," Zipp said, causing Sunny's smile to disappear. "It was nice hanging out with you, Sunny. Bye."
Zipp walked away, leaving Sunny yelling at her. "That's not funny, Zipp! Don't you dare leave me like this! ZIPP!" But it was too late, Zipp was already out of sight, and Sunny was left hanging by her tail.
As the sun was setting, the ponies were making their way back home. Unfortunately for Sunny, she was still dangling from the Together Tree by her tail with no way of getting down.
"Hello!"
Sunny called out for help, desperately hoping that someone would hear her plea. "Is there anypony out there? Please, I need your help to get down!" she yelled, but her voice echoed in the vast emptiness around her.
Despite her desperate cries, no one came to her aid. Although several ponies had seen her in this predicament, none of them offered to help her. Sunny attempted to plead with a few ponies to assist her. However, her cries were ignored, causing her to feel even more despondent as she dangled from her magenta hair.
Sunny didn't know how long she had been hanging there, but the pain diminished a while ago, removing one thing to worry about. However, she felt uncomfortable the way she was and wanted to get down. Sunny used her hoof to grab her tail that held her above the ground and used it like a rope.
With her other hoof, she stretched out to reach the tree branch. Once she had both hooves on the branch, she tried to climb up to sit on it, but she slipped and bounced up and down, causing the pain to return. "Hah! Ow, Ow, Owww!" Sunny cried out.
She cried again in agony, squealing, shrieking, and yelping, while she almost spent the entire day trying different ways to escape her situation.
She tried calling for help, but nobody came. Her phone was dead, so she couldn't even call her friends, excluding Zipp. She even tried to transform into her alicorn form, but the pain was too much to concentrate.
Eventually, she yelled in defeat, "It's no use. Zipp must have already given Hitch her Valentine's Day Card for Hearts and Hooves Day. She's probably having a great time with him, while I'm stuck hanging here from my earth-pony butt!"
Sunny cast a glance at her magenta tail that seemed to stretch on forever, it held her there for hours. Every hair of her tail was hurting, right from the very tip to where it was connected to her body. She looked down to the ground, and her ears and head drooped as she said to herself, "I'm sorry, Izzy, but I won't be able to celebrate Hearts and Hooves Day today."
Sunny had given up trying to free herself from the tree branch and hung there in humiliation, swinging her hind legs back and forth like a swing. Her body was the seat, and her tail the rope. As she swung, she heard a mare's voice behind her exclaim, "What the--Sunny?! Is that you?" Sunny twisted herself around to see who had spoken.
Upside down, she saw two of her friends. The first was Misty, who looked shocked to see her friend hanging. The second was none other than Hitch, the pony Sunny had been hoping would be her Valentine. Sunny's gloom and embarrassment vanished, replaced by elation and relief.
"Hitch, Misty?! Thank hoofness!" Sunny cried out, wriggling with joy. Her movements caused her tail and haunches to ache, but she didn't care because Hitch and Misty were there.
"Sunny, why are you hanging from the Together Tree by your tail?" Hitch asked, his tone concerned. The question made Sunny's eyes widen, and she let out a nervous giggle as her face turned beet red. It was embarrassing to have her friends see her in such a humiliating position.
"Well, um, I'll tell you, but first, can you help me out?" Sunny asked with an apologetic look, desperate to touch the ground.
"Don't worry, Sunny. We'll get you down," Misty reassured, eager to lend a hoof.
"Stand back, Misty," Hitch instructed, his hooves glowing green as he pressed them into the ground. The branch that was holding Sunny airborne lowered, allowing her to touch the ground.
Sunny's legs trembled as she had been suspended in the air for quite some time. But she quickly ran towards Hitch and hugged him with all her might.
"Thank you so much, Hitch!" Sunny exclaimed with glee. However, she soon felt her tail being lifted slowly. She turned her head to see that the branch that still held her tail was rising again.
"Don't celebrate just yet, Sunny! Misty, I can't keep this branch down for long! You have to untangle Sunny's tail while we hold the branch down," Hitch instructed.
Misty nodded and began to unravel the magenta strands. Sunny used her earth pony magic to keep the branch down, ensuring she wouldn't be lifted again. Sunny sensed a sudden lift, and it made her feel uneasy.
She began to panic internally, fearing the worst.
Misty deftly unraveled Sunny's tangled tail using her magic and hooves, thanks to Pipp's training on separating hair threads for her own locks. Just in time, Misty freed Sunny from the branch.
"Okay, you can let go now!" Misty shouted, and both Sunny and Hitch released the branch, letting it return to its original position.
Sunny was overjoyed to be on the ground after hanging mid-air. She hugged the floor and shouted with gratitude, "Yes! I'm free from where Zipp had tied me."
Misty approached Sunny and asked, "Wait? Why did Zipp tie you up there?" But before Sunny could answer, she let out a loud scream of pain.
"Ahhh!" Sunny cried out in agony, causing Misty to panic. She didn't know what was wrong until Misty noticed she was stepping on Sunny's tail.
Misty quickly moved her hooves off of Sunny's magenta tail-hairs and apologized to her, "I'm so sorry, Sunny. I didn't mean to step on you."
Sunny hugged her tail and comforted it by petting it like she was petting Cloudpuff. She calmed down and told Misty, "It's okay, just watch where you're stepping next time." She gave Misty an apologetic look and a heartwarming smile.
"Hey Hitch, I've been searching for you for ages," Zipp exclaimed as she landed behind Hitch, but her gaze shifted to an orange earth pony who was no longer tied to the Together Tree. Sunny avoided eye contact with Zipp and turned her head away with a pained expression.
Hitch's face contorted into a frown, and he demanded an explanation from Zipp, while Misty's fiery glare made Zipp shiver in fear.
"Um, I'm guessing you're already aware of what happened," Zipp nervously chuckled as she broke out into a sweat.
Misty approached Zipp with a fierce tone. "Oh, we all know that it was you who hooked Sunny on the Together Tree, Zipp. But what I want to know is, how long did you leave Sunny to hang by her tail?"
Zipp was taken aback, her ears drooped down as she was terrified of Misty's anger. "When I reached the sheriff's office, the time was 1:01," she stammered.
"What time is it now?" Misty demanded to know the current time.
Zipp pulled out her phone to check the time. But Zipp was frightened to say the time as it was, "6:59."
Hitch was taken aback by Sunny's situation. "Why did you leave Sunny hanging from her tail for almost six hours? That's terrible!" he exclaimed. Sunny got up from the ground and walked slowly to Hitch's side.
"It's not solely her fault," Sunny spoke up, gaining the attention of her friends. "I took her Valentine's Day card and kicked Zipp in the chest," Sunny admitted, causing both Misty and Hitch to soften their anger.
Zipp felt worse than before for what she had done to Sunny. How could she have pulled her friend by the tail and left her hanging there? What kind of friend was she?
"I know it doesn't excuse Zipp for pulling me by the tail," Sunny turned around to show her messy tail with hair strands sticking out all over the place. "But I felt like I deserved it for hurting Zipp," Sunny confessed, closing her eyes in shame.
"No you didn't," Sunny opened her eyes to see Zipp Storm approaching her with a sad face. "You didn't deserve to be hauled off from the ground and left hanging by your tail. That's not what friends do to each other," Zipp said regretfully, while both mares held apologetic expressions.
Sunny and Zipp asked each other, "Can you forgive me?" They apologized simultaneously and giggled afterward.
"Of course, Zipp," Sunny hugged her friend, and they both smiled at each other. "And you know what, you can have Hitch as your Valentine for Hearts and Hooves Day," Sunny told Zipp.
Zipp handed her Valentine's Day card back to Sunny, and said, "Are you kidding? You were the one who wanted Hitch in the first place. You can have him."
Sunny was grateful but insisted that Zipp take Hitch out instead. However, Zipp didn't agree and insisted that Sunny go out with Hitch. They would have continued their friendly argument if Misty hadn't interrupted them.
"I can't believe you went to all this trouble just to have Hitch as your Valentine for Hearts and Hooves Day," Misty said nervously.
"Well, yeah. Why not?" Sunny asked.
"Uh, well, I already asked Hitch to be my Valentine for Hearts and Hooves Day," Misty said sheepishly, as both Sunny and Zipp looked surprised.
"That's true," Hitch confirmed as he walked up beside Misty. "But Izzy told us that Hearts and Hooves Day is a day to celebrate with all our friends, not just one special pony."
Sunny and Zipp were left in disbelief by Hitch's words. "Wait a minute... So, let me get this straight. I got kicked in the chest, and then Sunny spent six hours hanging from a tree branch, all for nothing?" Zipp questioned incredulously.
After taking a moment to recover from their initial shock, Sunny let out a charming laugh at how silly they had been to listen to Hitch. "Well, it's a holiday that we don't really understand yet, but I'm sure that with time, everypony will come to appreciate the true meaning of Hearts and Hooves Day," Sunny declared confidently to her friends, who all nodded in agreement with her.
Zipp suddenly remembered something and said, "Wait a minute, where are Izzy and Pipp? Have they gone to Mane Melody to look after Sparky?"
Hitch replied, "Yes, that's right. They are probably there now. We should hurry up and join them before something goes wrong."
Sunny couldn't resist making a joke and said, "Actually, it's too late for that. Disaster has already struck!" She then playfully shook her tail like Izzy, making everypony laugh.
The group then headed towards Mane Melody, and Sunny exclaimed, "I can't wait to get there! I'm definitely going to ask Pipp to treat me with a tail treatment."