Lead Us Not

Sunny Starscout let out a sigh, sliding slowly onto the hard patio chair. The breath was tranquil, but exasperation and exhaustion had slipped in to taint the exhalation on its way out. She looked out from the Cliffside Cafe and followed the ocean all the way to where it met the sun-drenched horizon, and smiled despite her sleepiness.

It was a much larger world out there now, and already she was considering what new adventures she might have with her friends on the mission of preaching friendship. It was exciting to think about, her and her friends finding all the other creatures of old that her father had taught her about, but as she considered it she felt the weight of one more task settle onto her withers. She sunk a bit further into the chair and opted to rest her head in her hooves on the patio table.

There was a clink, and Sunny opened her eyes to see Sugar Moonlight setting a small cup of herbal tea down in front of her. Her shimmering mascara reflected the setting sun, and Sunny lifted her head up with a smile and started to reach for her saddlebag.

“Oh, no need, it’s on the house, Ambassador!” Sugar said with a wink, her words as bright as her lipstick. “And I know you’re going to argue, so just know that this stuff is like, supes cheap. The boss said you’re good for free tea whenever, but you gotta pay for the rest.”

“I still feel a little awkward taking it…” Sunny mumbled, cradling the warm cup in her hooves. The rich floral scent tickled her nose and seemed to drive away the worst of the heaviness in her legs.

“Trust me, he says we’ll earn way more just from ponies knowing you stop by here every now and then. ‘The Ambassador of Friendship? Drinking tea at the Cliffside Cafe? Well now we gotta check it out!’” she mimed, giving Sunny a playful punch. “Maybe tell the ponies in the other cities about us when you stop by there. Then there’s no need for guilt.”

Sunny laughed and then picked up her tea and drank heartily. True to its aromatic promise, the hot liquid seemed to carry a reserve of strength to her as it rushed to her stomach.

“Ah, thanks Sugar. This is delightful. I didn’t know you worked here too. Aren’t you a model and a regular office worker at CanterLogic?”

“I keep myself busy. Not as busy as you, though. Life’s gotta be different from spending all your time going through your dad’s research in that lighthouse, eh?” She sat down opposite Sunny, staring at her intently with her head held up by her hooves, her sparkly eyes wide and wet.

It was hard for Sunny not to laugh. Sugar Moonlight was like all the other ponies of Maretime Bay. Two months ago they had all ignored Sunny’s ramblings of friendship and denounced her idea of peace. But now that Sunny had reunited the tribes and brought magic back to the land, she was a hero, and everypony wanted to know everything that was going on in her life.

Princess Twilight would have said that part of Friendship is forgiveness, Sunny thought, setting her cup down and nodding.

“Absolutely! While that was a ton of work all by itself, this Ambassador thing has me going non-stop. We’ve got all these projects lined up, organizing new treaties and trade agreements. That’s not to mention fixing all the stuff at home for each of our tribes. Rewriting our education curriculums, managing ponies resistant to change, adapting to life with magic after centuries without it… I’m in the middle of all of it and I’m starting to wear out a little bit. The travelling between the three cities alone every week has really been starting to wear me down.”

“Can’t you fly there pretty quickly?” Sugar said, edging close to an unasked question that had hung in the air between them since she first arrived with the tea.

Sunny looked back at her unadorned body and shrugged. “Quickly, yes. Easily, not so much. I have to focus for that magic to come back to me, and I’ve still got a lot to learn about flying so it isn’t a confusing drain. It’s easier to walk, and I love the countryside anyways.”

“Fair enough, I suppose.” Sugar rested her hooves onto the table while Sunny’s eyelids started to droop. “Oop. I should probably let you get home,” she added after watching a large yawn.

“‘Home’,” Sunny mumbled, glancing around her shoulder at the peak across the bay. There a massive pile of rubble lay, all her memories and belongings and her father’s research smashed together from when they knocked down the rest of the destroyed building. “Yeah.”

“Er,” Sugar said, cringing. “Sorry. But like, you know—”

“Yeah. It’s fine. I should get going. Thank you for the tea,” Sunny said, placing a bit on the table and sliding it towards Sugar.

With the sun now set, the penthouse suite the local Mareiott had set aside for Sunny to live in until the lighthouse was rebuilt was pitch black. She fumbled for the switch, its location not quite set into memory, and grunted when the sharp fluorescent bulb sparked to life. It was a larger room, thankfully, with a kitchenette suite and a full bathroom. She tossed her saddle bag to the side and pulled out her mane ties before flopping hard onto the stiff mattress.

Her limbs dropped to her sides, exhaustion wrapping around her like tendrils snaking up from beneath the bed. She had done plenty today; lots of research from what she had salvaged from the abandoned Bridlewood library, and hours of deliberation for the treaties of what each tribe felt they should be responsible for or where their territory would ultimately lay. Underneath the fatigue, though, there was excitement, a plan in her head she could not wait to propose to the others.

Amongst the research, there was a journal she had found on an ancient tradition that had stopped many moons before the separation of the tribes. It was called a ‘Summer Sun Celebration’, and fell on the morning of the summer solstice. It felt serendipitous to her that she should read of such a thing with a month left before the occasion, and with newfound resolve she had spent the rest of her afternoon devouring every source she could find that mentioned it. Tomorrow, after she slept, she would suggest the idea to the town leaders, Hitch and Phyllis; but for now, with shaky legs and tired brain, she closed her eyes and fell asleep on top of the covers.

Not a moment after her eyelids had touched closed did she feel a sudden shifting, a gasping rush of cold air buffeting her body while her legs rolled disorientingly. Her eyes snapped open to find herself standing tall in the middle of… nothing.

She turned around slowly, trying to focus on something, anything, her tired mind more confused as to where she was than how she had got there. Everything was pitch black—darker than that, even, as if she were submerged in an endless universe so far removed from everything it was as if light itself had never graced its halls. Even her hoofsteps, which connected with something solid, made no noise. Only the pressure against her frogs gave her any indication that she was not plummeting down in an airless void.

And then there was something. Not a sound nor a light, but a feeling, a presence, that unshakeable sensation of being watched. No, more than that. Of being seen. Of being observed by some hidden predator stalking in the night. Sunny spun around, feeling the sensation crawl along her back and lift the fur on her legs. Still there was no noise, but the prickling touch of observation increased, pushing against her, sharp and staticy, like thumb tacks into her skin.

She could tell now where it was coming from, and pinpointed the source directly. It was growing from a sense of being watched to a sense of being accused. Dislike filled the air and with it a stench of hatred arose, and her heart began to race. Something here hated her. It hated her, and so strongly she could taste it. It wasn’t just annoyance or frustration, but viscous, palpable hatred.

Tired and confused, yes, but curious more, Sunny frowned only slightly as she called forth the magic granted to her by the crystals. She felt the dripping hatred be pushed away as a rush of light and warmth and love flowed from her heart and rushed around her like a ribbon in the wind, and a moment later she was glowing with ethereal wings and horn, ready for whatever challenger there was hiding away in the dark. As prepared now as she could be, she lowered her head slightly to aim the horn at the perceived source of malice and brought light to its tip, sending a beam into the void like a flashlight before her.

And there was something there—somepony. Could it have been called a pony? She was unsure. About a hundred feet away a four-legged creature sat, its dusty purple legs gangly and awkwardly splayed out. The spidery things bent at odd angles back into a similarly coloured body, a gross skeletal thing that seemed three and a half times as tall as a pony. There was a horn there, though it curved back from the skull like a sabre, the point shining in the light of Sunny’s magic. Around the horn a two-toned mane of indigo and pink flowed down, curtaining the rest of the body and falling to the ‘floor’ of the void in bunches. It was greasy and flat, as if it had never once known the comfort of shampoo.

“H-Hello?” Sunny offered, stepping once towards the creature before fear froze her.

Slowly, the head rose up. Eyes that were not there, the sockets filled with raw, glowing hatred, lifted to match Sunny’s, and the malice and disgust she had felt before seemed to resonate in her horn so powerfully she thought it might explode. Sunny gasped sharply, flinching in pain for a moment, and when her blink had finished, she found her breath taken from her.

The monster was immediately before her, the long, gaunt face—clear now it must have belonged to some equine creature ages ago—inches away from her own. Those glowing eyes stared down at her, its razor sharp horn aimed at her menacingly while a light pink aura spun around it in sparks and sputters. While Sunny shook, the leathery skin of the creature’s face split to reveal a row of shattered and jagged teeth.

“That magic,” the thing hissed, “was not yours to give.”