Thunder roared in the dark, night sky, as an ominous wind howled through the deserted streets of Mareopolis. Inside one of the houses, five teenage earth ponies huddled together in a dark room, shivering as the cold wind seeped in through the boarded-up windows.
The clip-clop of hooves echoed, alerting the five to the encroaching threat, drawing closer. With hushed breaths, all they could do was watch and wait.
Clip-clop. Clip-clop. Clip...
One pony gasped, his friend quickly covering his mouth with her hoof. The chilling silence lasted what seemed like forever. Eventually, the clip-clopping returned, only it was now getting louder.
"They're coming this way," one pony whispered.
"What do we do?" another asked.
The doorknob began moving, and everypony yelped at once. Thankfully, the door was locked, so the pony outside was unable to get in. They seemed to give up, and the ponies breathed collective sighs of relief.
Then, there was a bang at the door. And then another, and another. The door was finally forced open, and in the doorway stood the shadow of a pony, twice the size of the average earth pony and with a long, sharp horn atop their head. A flash of lightning revealed the unicorn's demonic features as he laughed evilly at his prey.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Sunny retreated under her blanket, shivering and whimpering.
"Quiet!" Sprout told her. "We're gonna get found out."
"B-B-B-But I'm scared!" Sunny took a daring peek from beneath her blanket, just in time to see the unicorn grab his first victim with a magic hand, dragging her away into the shadows as she screamed. "EEK!"
"Maybe we should just turn the movie off," Hitch suggested, gently patting Sunny's back through the blanket.
"Ohhh, it's just a movie," Sprout said, shovelling some popcorn into his mouth. "Don't be such a-" The door opened behind him suddenly, and he and Hitch turned to find a shadowy figure standing above them, a large horn atop its head.
"AAAAAHHHHHHH!"
The light turned on, revealing Sprout's mother, Phyllis Cloverleaf, standing at the door, the 'horn' being nothing more than her nightcap. The two colts sighed, relieved they were not in any danger. Although they were certainly in trouble. "Kids, what are you doing up at this hou- What are you watching?!" Phyllis grabbed the remote from Sprout and shut the TV off. "I told you, Sprout, you're far too young for those kinds of movies!"
"But Muuuuuum, everypony else has seen it!"
"I don't give a left hoof! If everypony else went into Bridlewood, would you?"
"No," Sprout grumbled.
"And what did I tell you about eating junk food after nine p.m.? You'll upset your tummy! Back to bed now, all of you." Phyllis confiscated Sprout's snacks as the three foals got back into their sleeping bags. She made sure to take the video from the VCR, too. "I have to be up early for an important announcement, so I'd better not catch you three fooling around again, or else unicorns and pegasi will be the least of your worries."
"Yes, Mrs. Cloverleaf," Sunny and Hitch replied.
As Phyllis moved to shut off the light, Sunny sank into her sleeping bag. "Um, Mrs. Cloverleaf? Can you leave the light on... Please?"
Sprout rolled his eyes. "Oh great, now she's scared of the dark."
"It's your fault!" Sunny argued.
"I didn't make you watch the movie! You said you wanted to!"
Sunny grumbled. "Only 'cause you called me a chicken!"
"Enough," Phyllis said, walking over to Sprout's toy chest. She opened it and took out a small, green object. "Here, you can use Sprout's nightlight."
Hitch snickered. "You use a nightlight? Who’s the scared one now?"
"Muuuuuuuum!" Sprout whined.
Phyllis turned out the lights and closed the door. Even with the nightlight, Sunny still sank into her sleeping bag as she scanned the room, gasping at shadows until she could make out what they were, jumping at the wind howling outside.
"Don't worry, Sunny," Hitch said. "If any unicorns or pegasi come in, Sprout and me'll get them. Right Sprout?"
"Uh, yeah, that's right!" Sprout said. "I could take out like, a hundred unicorns with just my hoofs."
Still shaking like a leaf, Sunny still somehow managed to giggle. "Y-You? You can't even beat me."
"I just hold back ‘cause you're a filly." Sprout felt Sunny kick him through their sleeping bags and kicked her back.
"Cut it out, you two," Hitch said, though he was laughing as he said it. "Just try to go to sleep. We're safe here in Maretime Bay, so you don't have to worry."
Sunny nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right..." Suddenly she yawned, and settled into sleeping bag. "G'night Hitch, Sprout."
Sunny awoke in the middle of a field. She blinked a few times, looking around as she tried to figure out how she got there. It was night-time, so it was hard to see anything, but she could tell that there were no buildings or ponies around. "Hello?!" she asked, shaking like a leaf. "Is anypony here?! Please don't leave me all alone!"
"What's the matter, dear? Are you lost?"
Sunny smiled, looking around for the mare calling out to her. "Please help me! I wanna go home!"
"'Home', you say? You mean Maretime Bay?" Sunny nodded, finally seeing the mare addressing her. Only, as the mare drew closer, Sunny's ears drooped. She was a unicorn, flying through the air with her magic! "Too bad. Maretime Bay is ours now, and all of your friends are, too!"
Sunny turned to run, but found Hitch and Sprout standing there. "Hitch, Sprout! Thank hoofness! I'm scared!"
"What are you scared of?" Hitch asked, shambling towards Sunny.
"Don't fight it, Sunny," Sprout said, revealing his pure-white eyes, coated in a sickly-green glow. "Join us. You'll like being a zombie."
"NOOOO! SOMEPONY, HELP! DADDY!"
"Sunny? What's wrong?"
Sunny turned to her father, Argyle Starshine, and hurried to him, clutching onto his leg. "Daddy, Hitch and Sprout have been turned into zombies!"
"Awww, that's too bad," Argyle said, holding Sunny with his wing. Sunny looked up, confused, and saw that her father was now a pegasus. "They would've made much nicer pegasuses."
Sunny was suddenly grabbed from behind, and lifted into the sky. Two pegasi were carrying her, and her father was getting further and further away. "No, Daddy! Stop them!"
"Don't worry, Sunshine! You'll love being a pegasus!"
"NO! I DON'T WANNA BE A PEGASUS! I DON'T!"
"NOOOOOOO!"
"AH! WHAT?! What happened?!" Sprout shouted as he shot up, suddenly wide awake. He turned to see Sunny crying beside him.
Hitch also woke up from the commotion, yawning before realising what was happening. "Sprout, what did you do now?!"
"Nothing! I just woke up!"
Hitch reached out and gently held Sunny, whilst Sprout hurried out of the room to fetch his mother. "It's okay, Sunny," Hitch said. "It was just a bad dream. Everything's okay, see?"
Despite Hitch's reassuring words, Sunny continued to cry until Phyllis came into the room to console her.
"I'm terribly sorry about all this," Phyllis said, looking guilty as she saw Sunny clinging to her father's leg. She was no longer crying, but she was clearly still distressed. "I'll make sure to have a nice, long talk with my son later."
"It's no trouble at all," Argyle said, gently patting his daughter's head. "Thank you for being there for her. And don't be too hard on the boy. I seem to remember a certain young filly who loved sneaking into theatres to watch scary movies. Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, eh?"
Phyllis adjusted her glasses, giving an indignant huff. She leaned closer, whispering, "Don't talk as though we're old friends. Our children may get along, but I want nothing to do with some... crazy pony and his crackpot conspiracies."
"It's not my research that has Sunny in such a state," Argyle whispered back, holding his daughter closer in such a way that he also covered her ears. "She's like this because she's been taught to fear things nopony in Maretime Bay has ever even seen before. Maybe think about that the next time you push one of your products."
"We'll never see eye-to-eye. Just, keep those delusions away from her, okay? She's a bright young filly with a good future ahead of her. Don't take that away from her." Phyllis smiled at Sunny, and Argyle removed his hoof. "I'll make sure Sprout apologises next time he sees you, okay?"
Sunny sniffed, and only nodded her head. "Okay Sunny-Bunny, let's get you home." Argyle lifted Sunny onto his back, carrying her through the streets of Maretime Bay, all the way to the lighthouse on the outskirts of town. Their home.
“Dad?” Sunny asked as she jumped down to the floor. “Why do the unicorns and pegasuses hurt ponies?”
Argyle hummed in thought, taking Sunny’s sleeping bag and saddlebag, and carrying them to the closet. “You heard that from school, didn’t you?”
“Everypony knows it. Unicorns eat our brains and turn us into zombies, and pegasuses kidnap ponies never to be seen again.”
“Good gracious. These stories get wilder by the year.”
“But it’s true, isn’t it? Why are they so… mean? Can’t we all just get along?”
Argyle turned to his daughter. “Would you like that, Sunny? If unicorns and pegasi were nice, would you want them to be our friends?”
“If they were nice then… it would just mean more friends to play with, right?”
Argyle smiled. “Right you are.” ‘I wonder if I should let her in on my research? But she’s still so young, it could confuse her… No, I have to show her the truth now, before she lets her fear completely take hold just like everypony else… Like Phyllis…’
“Daddy?”
“Sunny, I know I told you you’re never to enter my study, but… would you like to see what I’ve been up to in there?”
Sunny gasped. The study was a forbidden room in the lighthouse. The place where Argyle spent so much time doing ‘important research’ that he never showed anypony. Sunny was always so curious about what it was. “Yeah!”
“Okay,” Argyle laughed. Sunny now seemed distracted, and in much-brighter spirits. He was happy, but it was only a temporary solution. He knew that she needed to hear the truth… even if it was a truth nopony wanted to hear. “But I need you to be brave. Some of the stuff might be scary, but I promise you that it’s not.”
“O-Okay…”
Sunny entered the study. It was dark, and smelled dusty, like nopony had cleaned in there for a long time. She kicked something just as Argyle turned on the lights, and Sunny could see that books and scrolls littered the ground. "Sorry for the mess. Hard to find the time to keep things organised."
"You should put away your books and toys when you’re not using them, Daddy," Sunny scolded, repeating the same house rule that applied to her.
Argyle could only laugh as his daughter reprimanded him. “Oh trust me, I’m never not using them.”
Sunny looked at the book she had kicked and opened it. There were a lot of words in there, but as she flicked through the pages she found pictures, too. Pictures of earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi all together. She gasped, dropping the book.
"This has been the subject of my research for all these years," Argyle said, picking up the book and turning to another page, one that showed an old map of Equestria. "The lost history of Equestria. A forgotten time where all three pony races lived together in peace and harmony."
"'Harm-o-nee'?"
"It means, no discourse. No hatred or fighting. They were all friends, and everypony got along as equals."
Sunny looked around the room. She founds figures and paintings of unicorns and pegasi, as well as earth ponies, around her. "But at school they said the unicorns and pegasuses are evil."
"Yes, I know that's what you're taught at school." Argyle sighed. "Sunny, you know that I'm a scientist, right?"
"Uh-huh." Though she didn't really understand what that meant, just that he was very smart or something.
"Scientists believe what they can see with their own eyes. I've never met a hostile- mean unicorn or pegasus. Have you?" Sunny shook her head. "Well neither has your history teacher. In fact, the books that you are taught from were written by earth ponies who have never even met any unicorns or pegasi. These books, all of them, are ancient records dating back long before the founding of Maretime Bay. They describe a world where earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi all played together."
Argyle led Sunny over to his desk, and showed her a scroll depicting the three pony races. "Unicorns, whose magic raised the sun and the moon. Pegasi, who could control the weather. And us, the earth ponies, who felt a special connection with nature. It was when all three came together that friendship and magic truly shined throughout all of Equestria." Argyle flipped the scroll to reveal an image of a large castle, with a brilliant, six-pointed star shining over it, and several ponies united underneath, hoof-in-hoof.
"Whooooa." Sunny had stars in her eyes, which was a good sign to Argyle.
"Imagine it. A world where you could visit new and amazing lands. A city built in the clouds, an enchanted forest with crystals shining brighter than stars in the sky, or maybe sail the world in a flying ship powered by unicorn magic. And all of the new friends you could meet along the way."
"So... the unicorns and pegasuses aren't our enemies... they're our friends?"
"That's what I believe. It's the conclusion my research has led me to."
Sunny scuffed a hoof against the desk. "But what if you're wrong?"
"It's up to you what you choose to believe. But wouldn't you rather believe in a world where everypony can get along, despite their differences, rather than a world where we have to be afraid all the time?"
"Your story sounds nicer," Sunny said, and then gasped. "We should show everypony else! Then we can all stop being so scared!"
"As much as I'd love to do that, I'm afraid that most ponies don't want to hear it. They'd prefer to live in fear than believe in friendship."
"That's stupid."
Argyle laughed at Sunny's bluntness. "I agree, but that's just how it is. Maybe one day we can get through to everypony."
Sunny flicked through one of the books on Argyle's desk. She found a picture of several ponies standing together, one of them a purple-furred pony with both wings a horn. "Daddy, she's a pegasus and a unicorn!"
"This is Twilight Sparkle. She's an alicorn."
"A alacorn..."
"This is one of my favourite stories. Would you like me to read it?" He noticed Sunny’s hesitancy. “I promise it’s not a scary story. In fact, it has a very happy ending.” At that, Sunny nodded enthusiastically. Argyle cleared his throat and turned to the first page. "Okay then. Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria..."
Sunny found herself in the middle of a large field, filled with flowers of every colour. The bright light of the sun illuminated a playground ahead of her, where there were see-saws, a jungle gym, a sandbox, swings and slides. "Hello?" Sunny asked, looking around.
"Hi," somepony responded. Sunny turned around to find three unicorn foals standing behind her. She gasped, taking a step back. The unicorns frowned.
Sunny looked into the unicorns' eyes. They didn't seem scary at all. If anything, they looked sad. She cautiously extended a hoof towards them. "D-Do you wanna play?"
The unicorns smiled in unison. "Yeah!"
"Can we play, too?" another voice asked. Sunny looked up to find three pegasus foals landing. "We wanna be friends! Can we?"
"Of course!" Sunny laughed as she ran towards the playground, the pegasi and unicorns following. Hitch and Sprout were already there, playing on one of the seesaws. "You guys! We got a whole buncha new friends!"
"Awesome!" Sprout said, he and Hitch racing over to meet everypony.
"C'mon, let's all play together!" Hitch said.
The foals scattered, taking turns on the various attractions. Sunny helped a nervous pegasus on the swings, pushing her higher-and-higher. She then helped a unicorn with building a sandcastle in the sandbox, his magic allowing him to create the most amazing castle she had ever seen. She then joined Hitch and Sprout on the slide, laughing the whole way down. As she reached the bottom, she saw that there was one other pony watching them.
Sunny ran over to the adult mare, masked by a shadow. As she got closer, she could see that the mare had both wings and a horn. "A alacorn!" she said, looking up at the mare in awe.
The mare laughed. "Forgive me for interrupting your playtime."
Sunny shook her head. "It's okay! Did you wanna play too?"
"Alas, I was merely passing through. It has been many a year since I last saw a dream this wonderful. Pray, what is your name, young one?"
"Sunny Starscout!"
"I see. I hope that one day, your dream becomes a reality."
"Sunny!" Hitch called over, drawing her attention. "C'mon, let's play pirates!"
"Coming!" Sunny replied. She turned back to the mare, only to find her gone. With a shrug, Sunny ran off to continue playing with her friends both new and old.