Lead Us Not

Sunny woke up screaming, her coat drenched in sweat, her heart racing. She noticed almost immediately that her wings and horn were active, flared to life around her while she flailed and tossed about the covers. She blinked and a flash of two glowing eyes briefly snapped in her vision, earning a second shriek and fumble before she collapsed to the floor with a heavy thud.

“Miss? Room services, are you alright miss?” came a voice through the door.

“I… I think…” Sunny said, starting to remember where she was. Already the void and the creature had slipped away from her memory, and she grasped at the horrifying white spots that had appeared in her vision for that split second. The more the hotel room came into focus, the further away the eyes went, and by the time Sunny caught her breath she could scarcely remember why she had woken up in a panic in the first place.

“Miss?” The voice stated, knocking with some urgency.

“I’m—I’m fine!” Sunny shouted back. “I’m fine. A bad dream, I think. Sorry for the disturbance.”

“Very well then,” said the attendant, and a second later she could hear hoofsteps continuing down the hall.

Sunny untangled herself slowly, marvelling only half-heartedly that the alicorn magic surrounding her had not yet faded despite her lack of focus. She wished she could remember the nightmare, and it frustrated her with how quickly it had slipped away. There was… it was dark, she felt, but there was light? And… was there another pony? How could something so terrifying as to wake her up in panic be forgotten so quickly? She shook her head in a vain attempt to realign her thoughts and only found that there was even less to remember. With the last vestiges of it gone, she sighed, glanced at her alarm clock, and groaned.

It was six in the morning. She had slept a solid eight hours, but felt as if she hadn’t even closed her eyes for a minute of them. Her legs still felt heavy, invigorated as they were by the shimmering magic that caressed her body. Having fully woken up, she found the wings and horn fading away, and smiled weakly with the thought that at least that seemed to be working the way it had already shown to do.

She frowned, sitting on the edge of her bed, staring at her pillow. Why had she reacted so violently? She racked her brain, desperately trying to bring anything to mind about whatever traumatized her, and then gave one last sigh of frustration in defeat. Whatever it was, she figured, it couldn’t have been that bad. She was just being emotional, that’s all.

Deciding not to bother with a nap, she double checked that her research notes were still in order, and then slipped down to the hotel lobby as softly as she could manage. Once there she picked up a fresh cup of coffee from the cafeteria and sat on one of the luxurious couches, rehearsing her pitch in her head while letting the burning liquid wake up her mind. Despite the unsatisfactory sleep, her excitement as she contemplated the Celebration infused her, and by the time her cup was empty and the sun had risen, she felt just as prepared to start the day as she normally would have.

Outside was warm and bright, another gorgeous spring day in Maretime Bay, and the splash of salt water tickling her nose was the last of what she needed to feel extra refreshed. She reached CanterLogic with a bounce in her step, and Toots and Sweets responded to her cheery greeting with their own, welcoming her inside.

Hitch and Phyllis were in the lobby, in the middle of some good natured argument about Earth Pony cultural traditions, and they both lit up in smiles as Sunny walked up to them.

“Ah, Sunny! Welcome back,” Phyllis said, writing something down and handing it off to Hitch. “Thank you again for all your help with those new regulations last week. I had no idea that so many things were just… what was the term, Hitch?”

“Systematically oppressive.”

“Right, yes, that! Against Pegasi in this town. Like ‘No pony may cast a shadow on another pony.’ How long has that been in our ordinance?” She shook her head. “There’s still a lot I need to reframe in my mind, but I promise I’ll get there. Thank you again.”

“You’re welcome! With time, and more activities held together, I’m sure everypony will come around and learn to trust each other. Just us leadership groups being friends will inspire the others to love and compassion. In fact, that’s why I’m here again today.”

“Oh?”

“I found some information on a festival celebrated annually in Ancient Equestria when I was last in Bridlewood. It’s called the “Summer Sun Celebration”, and it’s celebrated on the morning of the summer solstice. Ponies from all over the land would gather for it.”

“Ponies came from everywhere to watch the sun rise?” Hitch asked, scratching his head. “What, were they concerned it wouldn’t come up or something?”

“There’s some history attached to it, but everything I could find was just compilations of tatters of older compilations. Something about two sisters fighting was the only thing I could find that was consistent.”

“I mean, I suppose we could add a new festival to our list, but I hardly see what’s important about this one.”

“Just wait, Phyllis, she’s not done. Aren’t you, Sunny?”

Sunny laughed and bumped Hitch with her head. “You know me too well. I couldn’t find much concrete information on it—one source said they were watching the sisters raise the sun together, which is clearly just a fairy tale—but it’s very definitely a celebration of friendship triumphing over evil, and a bringing together of loved ones. Plus, you’re supposed to stay up all night to watch the sun rise, so it would be a really special sort of event filled with fun games and parties.”

Phyllis started nodding, picking up pace the more she thought of it. “I can’t think of a more fitting celebration then. On the solstice you say? That’s about a month away. What do you think, Hitch, should we start the preparations?”

“I’m down for it! Hey, if it’s about reunification, should we do something with the crystals?”

Sunny smiled. “I was thinking, when we invite the other tribes, we can suggest they bring their crystals down as well. Maybe when the sun comes up we can hold them together, symbolically.”

Phyllis sparked up, bouncing in excitement. “Oh, we could display them in something like that dias that was in the lighthouse! Or we could even use it. Did you happen to see what happened to it?”

Sunny shook her head, her shoulders drooping at the thought of her home. “It’s somewhere in the rubble pile. They pushed it all together when they knocked the rest of the house down.”

“I’m sure we can build something new in the gazebo,” Hitch offered, hurrying the conversation along. “Something better looking than the lockup drawer in the sheriff’s office, anyways,” he laughed.

“It sounds decided to me then,” Phyllis said, pulling out a notebook. “Hitch and I will start planning some festivities based around the idea, finding what we need for supplies. I know you just returned from a trip, dear, but would you mind approaching the other tribes? See if you can’t get their input on what they would like as parts of the celebration, and then we can cobble together something new.”

Sunny smiled, more to herself than the other two. “Yeah, I already figured I’d have to, anyways. I’m a little exhausted, I didn’t sleep too well last night, but one last trip before a nice fun break won’t be an issue.”

“Alright!” Hitch exclaimed, holding his hoof up for a bump.

Sunny returned it, affixed her saddlebag, and nodded. “Alright, I should be off then! I should be back in about ten days at most. Oh, and, Hitch?”

“M’yes, Sunny?”

“Try not to start a war while I’m gone.”

He laughed, shaking his head as Sunny turned away.

The first day’s journey had been almost entirely uneventful, save for the pair of Pegasi Sunny had spotted soaring together far away over one of the many flowery plains of Equestria. She had stopped and watched them fly for almost half an hour, marvelling at the display of athletic and aesthetic skill. For only a couple months of practice, the two circled each other as if they had danced together for a lifetime, and the joy and love that was evident even from as far away as she was brought warmth to her heart.

The sun had long since set by the time she reached the outcropping where she had camped with her friends. There was a stillness in the air about her that brought her a little bit of comfort. It was still quite warm, and the heat from the rock above was more than enough to keep her comfortable without a fire for the night. Sunny sat down, rubbing her tired legs while marvelling at the clear sky.

The world itself seemed paused, the only sounds she could hear coming from her own movements. She pulled an apple out of her bag and started to eat, musing about the strange feeling of time standing still that had come about from a cloudless, windless night. There didn’t even seem to be crickets chirping, and she chewed slowly while wondering about it.

She shrugged, far too tired to devote any more time to the thought. With as quiet as it was, she knew she was safe, and so she bundled a mass of grass together and rested her head onto it, slipping quickly into sleep.

Only again she wasn’t sleeping, simply blinked away to that same void. Immediately that wash of anger and loathing overcame her, and she wasted no time in summoning her magic, the warm tendrils fighting back against the cold hatred as wings and horn flared to life.

There was no need to spin around or shine her light as she could already see the two bright white spots of the creature’s eyes, still a hundred feet away. As she watched and held her ground, the memories of the night before flooded back into her brain, and the glow from the creature’s eyes grew and illuminated the rest of the monster’s face.

With a clear view now and being better emotionally prepared, Sunny focused on the grimacing face, trying to identify who or what it was and what it wanted with her. They stared at each other, locked in a contest, until finally Sunny blinked, and the face was gone.

“I lost everything,” she heard from behind her, and she whipped around to find the creature standing tall behind her, pinning her down with a sneer. “And so should everyone else,” the creature snapped, and Sunny stumbled backwards shrieking as its deadly horn burst to life with magic.

Her scream carried with her into the waking world and she found herself pressed against the rock face, her back so damp with sweat that an imprint of her form had been left in the dust behind her. Nothing else had followed, though, simply the fear, simply the terror, no memories except for two glowing eyes, a dark purple mane, and that horn, that dreaded…

No, no no, Sunny thought to herself, pounding her ears, trying to keep the thoughts from leaking out of them. “No!” she shouted aloud, desperately clawing at the image to keep it affixed in her memory as it too faded from her eyes.

And then it was gone, everything, no memory remaining of the nightmare whatsoever, only the dread and the racing heart that pounded so hard in her throat she felt she might throw it up.

There was no hotel attendant now to comfort her, though. Only the stars in the sky were there to keep her company, and graciously she noted the crickets had started chirping again—or had they always been, and she just couldn’t hear them? She couldn’t remember that either.

With the moon still high above her, she whimpered once before cutting it off with a shake of her head. She had trotted head high into Zephyr Heights with a Unicorn when both of them were banned and reviled. She had argued against her townsfolks for decades despite their anger and ignorance. She had even challenged Alphabittle without any apprehension. A couple bad nights were not going to knock down Sunny Starscout, no way, no how.

With renewed courage she gathered the few bits of firewood left over from the last night she had camped here, sparked the tinder with a scrape of her hoof, and blew gently until she soon had a soothing, crackling fire. Satisfied with the extra warmth to chase away the strange coldness in her chest, she nestled down again against the stone and closed her eyes.

But sleep would not come.

On the second morning of her trip to Bridlewood Sunny finally entered the forest, her hooves dragging slightly in the dust. She hadn’t slept well the night before either, having been woken yet again by a nightmare she could not remember, managing to get only a couple hours of rest before the rising sun had hit her eyelids and forbidden her from further sleep.

The ‘Keep Out!’ signs had not yet been taken down, and Sunny managed a light chuckle about this. They had all been so busy that some of the basic tasks still hadn’t been taken care of. Ignoring the signs now as she had every time she had been to Bridlewood, she continued on, plodding towards the gnarled elder tree that formed Izzy’s cottage.

She waited about ten minutes after knocking at Izzy’s home before departing for Bridlewood itself, figuring she would find her at the Crystal Tea Room. She would have gone sooner, but had leaned against the door and dozed off for a moment while waiting. Thankful that Izzy was not at home to witness that light embarrassment, Sunny nodded and set off down the path.

Besides, she thought to herself, the sight of the crystals dotting the route bringing her a sense of comfort and excitement, I could use a nice strong tea anyways.

The Crystal Tea Room was just as she remembered it. Unicorns—much more lively and expressive now, save for the one beatnik in the corner who’s monotone poems continued as they always did—filled the tea-house. At the counter, Sunny spotted Izzy and Alphabittle deep in the middle of some conversation, Izzy’s exaggerated movements a foil to Alphabittle’s unchanging, serious expression.

“...just saying,” Izzy suggested, giving the stallion a poke with her elbow, “that technically, nopony has ever lost as many games as I have against you, and so that’s gotta count as some sorta record, and it’s one you can’t ever beat.”

“By that logic, Izzy,” Alphabittle sighed, finally breaking his unimpressed stare, “I have lost every game I’ve ever played against myself, as well as winning it. You have won two games exactly against me. So I still win by that definition.”

“Those two don’t count! You were just insulting me!”

“I may have said ‘I bet you’ll keep talking even after I’ve said leave me alone’ in the desperate hope you’d somehow fail that too, but it was still a challenge.”

“Haha, yeah,” Izzy said, stirring her tea with a drowsy smile. “It was pretty fun to break my losing streak.”

“Well, you’re welcome. You still lost this bet, though.”

“What if I—SUNNY!” Izzy shouted, leaping from her stool to hug Sunny as tight as she could. “Oh, oh, Sunny! You’re just in time! Alphabittle and I were just discussing how I have records he can’t beat.”

“We weren’t. You were. I was telling you you were wrong.” He smiled politely, pouring a second cup of tea. “Welcome back, Sunny. I didn’t expect you to be here so soon. You just left a week ago.” He looked up from the cup and then paused, setting the teapot down gently before staring harder at the Earth Pony. “Are you… are you alright, Sunny?”

Izzy broke her hug and examined Sunny herself before taking a step back in shock.

“I haven’t been sleeping well,” Sunny said in response to Izzy’s horrified look. “Probably from all this travelling. Lots of stress figuring out terms and deciding things for the tribes in their place. Like the Farmstead Act I was last here for, figuring out taxes on imports and exports for food. I dunno anything about growing food! And all of a sudden we have heaps of it, our farmers unable to keep up with the number of apples growing from their trees!” She shook her head wearily, still smiling. “It makes me happy we’re all working together to figure it out, though,” she said, grabbing the tea and drinking deeply.

“Sunny… your sparkle… It’s really dark,” Izzy said, her voice hesitant, her ears drooping. “I haven’t seen anything like that from anypony before. What’s wrong?"

“Nightmares,” Sunny said, staring into her tea. “Only I can’t remember what. They’re gone as soon as I wake up.” She looked back up at the two, smiling brightly. “But I’ll be okay. I’m here on official business for fun!”

At this Izzy beamed, her ears snapping back up. “Serious fun business? Well I’m down for that! Come on, spill the beans!”

“That’s your job,” Sunny said, laughing. “We’re reviving an old festival I learned of called the Summer Sun Celebration down in Maretime Bay! It’ll be on the solstice and everypony is invited. It’s supposed to celebrate triumph over evil and bringing together loved ones.” She sipped the last of her tea and pushed the cup gently towards Alphabittle, asking for more with a polite glance. “CanterLogic is building a display piece for the crystals, too, and I’m thinking when the sun rises we can all bring them together in a symbolic way.”

Alphabittle nodded, stroking his chin while refilling Sunny’s cup. “There’s been a lot of energy around here lately. Lots of ponies who haven’t had a chance to get to Maretime Bay or meet a Pegasus yet are eager to do both. I think it’s a great idea, Sunny. What do you need from us?”

“Plan some activities that celebrate what it means to be a Unicorn, but that other races can participate in. Demonstrations of unique abilities would be good, too.”

“Ooh,” Izzy said, bouncing in her seat. “I know! A bunch of us have been practicing telekinesis with my ribbon supplies. We could make a dance out of it, with streamers!”

“That sounds lovely,” Sunny said, cradling her tea in her hooves.

“So when should we head out?” Alphabittle asked.

“Well, I still need to get the go-ahead from Queen Haven. I can’t imagine her disagreeing, but we’re still all learning about one another, so I can’t agree for her on my own quite yet,” Sunny laughed. “Why don’t you two make preparations here, and I’ll head to Zephyr Heights and get that sorted? I’ll stop by on my way home and let you know for sure.” She smiled, picked her teacup up, and drained it again.

Izzy nodded happily but reached a hoof out and rubbed Sunny’s back. “Are you sure you don’t want to head home? I can go ask Queen Haven for you. You really look beat up, Sunny.”

Sunny leaned over and hugged Izzy again. “I’m sure. When we’re all back together in Maretime Bay we can make arrangements for taking turns doing the message runs. Eventually we’ll have a postal system set up, or even get service for those Zephyr phones out here so we can make calls instead. But one last trip won’t kill me, Izzy.” Sunny grinned at her to prove her point. “I’m an Earth Pony. We’re made to be strong. I’ll be fine.”

“If you say so…”

“So, you gonna be heading out now?” Alphabittle asked, and Sunny immediately picked up on the hesitancy in his voice.

“No, I’ll spend the night,” she said reassuringly. “Do you… have any tea for sleep?”

Sunny fidgeted on the makeshift cot Izzy had thrown together for her and frowned at the ceiling. On the other side of the room her unicorn friend was snoring gently. Her soft inhalations were almost meditative, but all the same Sunny had yet to fall asleep.

The tea Alphabittle had given her had indeed made her drowsy, and the days of exhaustion had stacked on top of that. Despite this, she was unable to close her eyes. Every time she did, she would see two pinpoints of white light appear, and her heart would skip, jolting her back awake.

She rolled over, frustrated. Why was she afraid of falling asleep? How bad could the nightmares be if she couldn’t remember them, anyways? She rolled her eyes at herself.

C’mon, Sunny. Get over it. It’s not even real, anyways.

Her eyes landed again on Izzy’s sleeping body, and her cheeks warmed with a blush.

And you’re not alone, either. You’ll be fine.

Reassured by this realization, she closed her eyes, and drifted off to sleep.

And then her eyes opened, once again in the void, once again staring directly at the two glowing eyes a hundred feet away. The memories of the nights prior came flooding back to her, but instead of calling forth her magic she dropped listlessly to her haunches, glaring back at the eyes.

“Let me sleep,” she said to the thing, doing her best to keep a steady voice despite the quickening of her heartbeats. “I don’t know what you want with me, but let me sleep. I can’t do anything here to help you.” She took a deep breath, preparing for the inevitable jumpscare, and let herself blink.

When her eyes opened she saw the monster had not moved. It was still there, still staring, still beating down on her with that pulsating, suffocating hatred. Instead, a third source of light had appeared, issuing from the creature’s mouth. Sunny watched the line split along its jaw, tearing back all the way to its cheeks, back to its ears, a glasgow grin of sharp and shattered teeth, mocking her with its snarl.

It was there and then it wasn’t, the monster gone, replaced now with noises. Shrieks. Screams of terror and of pain. She could hear bones break and flesh tear, sounds she had never heard once in her waking life but somehow recognized unquestionably. She could hear an inequine howl, a gutteral rage built of pain and anger, so unimaginably removed from any creature she knew of though hauntingly familiar still.

And she could hear voices. A rush of voices, mares and stallions and foals, assaulting her all at once and from every direction. She was falling through the void now, plummeting through disorganized thoughts, trying to piece together a coherent message from the din.

Quick! The altar, get the crystals before she—

In honour of unity and love, I bestow these artifacts upon your races—

No, Harmony, no, spare us, please Princess, n—

Not you too, Pinkie. Don’t leave me, Pinkie, not like the rest, not like all the others, I can’t—

They must be split. Beyond everything, we must not let them come toget—

And then there were the eyes, and the grin, and the pink sparkles wrapping around a crescent horn.

Surrounding it all was a laugh, a fillyish giggle, unending, echoing from everywhere, overcoming all the other words and shouts and splinters and squelches, growing louder, louder still, until Sunny’s ears ached and her skull felt like it would explode, and she pounded her hooves against her head, crying, begging for it to stop.

“Sunny! Sunny, wake up, wake up, wake up!”

At Izzy’s voice Sunny snapped to reality, her eyes locking onto Izzy’s as the unicorn shook her violently in her cot.

“Oh! Oh stars, you’re awake. You’re awake, you’re awake,” she exhaled, collapsing next to the bed.

“What—ow!” Sunny cut off, a migraine blossoming to life behind her temples as she lifted up in bed. “What happened? Why…” She furrowed her brows, thinking. Another nightmare? But she couldn’t remember even having one this time. It certainly felt like she had dreamt. Yet again her coat was slick with sweat, so much so that the canvas she lay in was practically dripping. In fact, it was dripping. She looked down and cringed back from the puddle between her legs, her ears dropping in a shame she hadn’t felt since she was just a little filly. “Oh, I… Oh gosh, Izzy, I’m so… That’s so embarrassing, I’m sorry, I’ll wash this for you, I… Izzy?”

Her friend was still hanging on the side of the cot, still clinging to Sunny’s foreleg, panting hard in relief. “That doesn’t matter. You’re okay. I’m so glad you’re okay.” She stood up on shaking legs and hugged Sunny awkwardly. “Okay, let’s get you up and cleaned off. It’s okay, shush, whatever it was, it must have been terrible.”

“Was I screaming again?” Sunny asked, trying to crawl out of the cot without making more of a mess.

Izzy froze, her face locked in a grimace. “No,” she said slowly, looking her friend over. “No, Sunny. You were flailing, and your eyes were open, you looked terrified, like you were fighting something off, but you…”

“What?”

“You were giggling.”