“Remind me why I have to do this again?”
Sprout set down the book of the concrete floor. He looked through the open doorway of the cell to Hitch’s desk. Hitch looked up from where he was reading another rather large manual.
“Because, Sprout, we have to familiarize ourselves with the other tribes’ laws and procedures so we can update our laws to accommodate for that.” Hitch didn’t even glance up from his book.
“No, I meant the part where I sit around ‘in’ jail.”
Hitch set down the book he was reading and sat next to Sprout. “The ponies of Maretime Bay are expecting you to face the consequences of your actions. But you’re still my deputy. So, you get ‘jail time’ and you lose your pay for the next six months. Your mom can make sure you eat and everything. You also get to work, so I can build up your reputation of diligence and hardworking character.”
Sprout ducked his head momentarily, and then looked up again in concern.
“But… Tonight? On… Nightmare Night?”
Hitch drew in a sharp breath. “Yes. You may or may not have some company before it gets dark today…”
Sunny was frantic. Throwing her journal and some books into her bag, she scrambled to find something to eat in the kitchen. Nothing. But food or not, there was no way she was going out today or tonight.
“I’m late!” Sunny shivered in uncharacteristic fear. The door loomed threateningly on the wall. Slowly, Sunny made her way over to the door, the clock making its loud ‘TICK, TICK, TICK!’ as she went.
As she touched the door, a sense of impending doom washed over her. It didn’t matter how many unicorn or pegasus friends she had; Sunny would always recall the terrifying memories of Nightmare Night.
The door creaked.
Sunny jumped, pulled the door open and ducked out. She slammed it shut and bolted.
Maretime Bay whooshed past in a blur as Sunny galloped. Small foals glanced up at the galloping mare and went back to making their costumes. Decorative posters flapped with the wind of a pony running past. An elderly pony with pale yellow eyes noticed the orange blur and smiled.
Sunny approached the sheriff’s office without slowing. She door opened and she ran in.
“Argh!” Hitch and Sunny flew into the cell bars. Hitch noticed how scared Sunny looked and closed the door.
“Good afternoon, Sunny. How has your day b-” Hitch was embraced by a terrified Sunny.
“They’re still doing it! They’restillhavingnightmarenightandI’msoscaredthatunicornsandpegasaiandearthponiescan’t befriendsbecauseofitand-” Sunny gasped for air and Hitch held her tightly.
“It’s going to be okay Sunny. I promise.” Hitch patted Sunny gently and then went to his desk to fetch a plate of cookies. “Cookie?”
“Are you okay Sunny?” Sprout asked, standing at the threshold of the open cell. “Also, can I have a cookie? And why are there cookies here in the first place?”
Hitch turned to Sprout and offered him a cookie. “We have cookies because Sunny spends the night here on Nightmare Night. It’s become a tradition for us.”
Sunny wandered into the cell with Sprout and lay down on the bed, and Hitch brought her a blanket and set the cookies near her.
“Sunny, I’ve got a bit of a treat for you tonight.” Hitch found an old-looking, dusty tome and set it in front of Sunny. “We’re going through unicorn and pegasai laws and procedures, and while I was in the library in Zephyr Heights, I found this old royal guard handbook. If you want, you can read it tonight while we wait out Nightmare Night.”
“Wait, what’s going on?” Sprout said, sitting before Sunny and Hitch and looking at them with his best impression of puppy dog eyes.
Sunny sighed and put her head in her hooves. Hitch wandered out to his desk and started reading again.
“Sunny, are you okay?” Sprout asked, looking at his friend/nemesis. Sunny was acting so… un-sunny!
A few minutes of silence ticked by and eventually Sunny uncovered her face. “Sprout, let me tell you a story.”
“Aww, Daaad, why do I have to stay inside tonight?” Sunny asked, looking up at her father with all the cuteness her three-year-old eyes could muster.
“It’s not safe on Nightmare Night, poppet.” Argyle gently said to her, his eyes filled with concern.
“But I’m not scared of unicorns an’ pegasai! I’m gonna be their friend!” Sunny hopped up and down with childish hope and glee.
Argyle shook his head gently. “It’s not the unicorns and pegasai we’re hiding from. This is the night of the earth ponies darling… and they won’t let us forget it.”
Sunny backed up a step, noticing for the first time the seriousness in her father’s eyes. “I don’t remember them bein’ mean to us!”
“You’ve never stayed up after dark on Nightmare Night. But tonight, you’ll get to see why… it’s important that you know exactly what we’re trying to change.” Argyle embraced his daughter and walked her to the platform which raised up into the lantern room.
“I’ll be down here. If you get scared, come right back down… and don’t go onto the balcony. Stay inside.” Lifting his hoof off the platform, it slowly raised up to the lantern room.
“Yes Dad!” Sunny said as the platform raised.
Sunny walked to the window of the room in the dim light which her father had set up earlier so she wouldn’t stumble over things in the dark. The first thing she noticed outside was that there were ponies on the streets. She could see bonfires, but she couldn’t make out what they were burning. About half an hour passed of Sunny looking out over the darkened landscape before she noticed a sea of lights making their way towards… the lighthouse.
Sunny looked at the considerable number of ponies making their way towards her home. She could just make out some ponies in the low light. There was Ms. Cloverleaf, the sheriff, Sprout, Hitch?! Hitch looked like he didn’t want to be there. He kept trying to turn back, only to be pushed on by the crowd.
Something splatted on the window and Sunny gasped. Something burning followed it and bounced off the thankfully not flammable lighthouse. Terrified tears sprung to her eyes, and she heard pounding on the door.
Sunny quietly sobbed as loud shouting echoed below. She wouldn’t scream, she couldn’t scream. One noise too loud and the shouting would come to her. An unknown amount of time later, she lifted her head to hear… silence.
Silence followed by a grinding sound. The platform was lowering! Sunny backed up, almost against the glass. The platform raised… carrying a pony.
“AAAAHH!” Sunny screamed, running into the closed balcony door before crumpling to a sobbing heap, facing away from the pony of her fears.
“Sunny, it’s me!” A familiar voice sounded. Hitch!
“Hitch spent the rest of the night with me until Dad came home, bruised but otherwise okay.” Sunny looked to Sprout with a haunted look in her eyes.
“After that, Dad would make me stay in the lantern room alone every Nightmare Night and Hitch would always comfort me as soon as he could get here. There never was a mob like that again, but there were always a few ponies, and every one made me remember. When Hitch became sheriff, he invited me to spend the night with him while he was on duty.”
Sprout stared slack jawed at Sunny. “I… You never stopped trying to stop the fear. I had no idea…”
“I hoped that reuniting the pony races would make the fear go. The ponies who organized the mob are still about though, and they haven’t changed.” Sunny frowned. “All the alicorn power in the world can’t change them, or the past.”
Hitch looked at Sprout. “Worse still, we can’t punish them. We’re trying to change the laws to stop anyone else, but…”
“I don’t know what to say, Sunny, but if it’s any consolation, I’m not as scared of unicorns and pegasai as I used to be.” Sprout looked back to his book, unsure of himself.
Orange light crept in through the windows of the office/jail. Sprout was at this point asleep on his book, and Hitch looked like he was going to fall asleep next. Sunny had laid her head on her hooves but was wide awake.
CRACK!
Light flashed outside, and lightning, no, electricity coursed through the air. Ponies’ hooves sounded through the street. A series of yelps marked the startled jumps of all three ponies in the office. A knock sounded on the door.
Hitch swung the jail door closed, locked it, and pulled out the keys. Throwing the keys inside the cell to Sunny, who tucked it under her blanket, he opened the door. The yellow eyed mare walked in. “We demand you release Sprout! He is the leader of our cause!”
“WHAT?!” Hitch turned on Sprout and saw him standing at the now closed cell door, eyes were full of fury. Sunny whimpered at the sight.
“What are you doing with the enemy?” The mare demanded as she strode up to Sprout.
“I’m not your leader! Not anymore! Cease your petty delusions and leave, or so help me, I’ll end up in here for a proper reason next time!” Sprout yelled through the bars and sat on the ground next to the bed, placing a comforting hoof on Sunny’s back. “It’s okay Sunny, I’m not going to let her hurt you.”
“But the others are murderous villains! They killed my foal! Isn’t the sheriff supposed to uphold the law?” The mare shrieked in anger.
“Killing is wrong. But whoever killed your foal was not beholden to our laws, so it’s out of my hooves. Perhaps you should petition the unicorn or pegasai governments about this?” Hitch suggested, as calmly as one might state that the sky is blue.
The mare fumed but turned to leave. “Mark my words, sheriff, you will hear from me again!”
The door slammed shut and she was gone.
“You believed her?” Sprout blurted out as he stared at Hitch.
Hitch turned back to Sprout. “I didn’t have to. The laws won’t change just because I do or don’t believe a crazy mare who may or may not be telling the truth. It’s no excuse for her to stir up hate. Now, you have some explaining to do?”
“I kind of got sucked into her story.” Sprout sheepishly admitted. “But after hearing Sunny’s side of the story, it’s clear that hate leads to grief. Lemony Lime has done some horrible things… things that would make even you upset Sunny. I just want to end the cycle of hate.”
“Dad disappeared on Nightmare Night.” Sunny stood up, looking down on Sprout with wild fright in her eyes. She threw the keys at Hitch, hitting him on the nose.
Hitch unlocked and opened the door, and Sunny bolted out. “Yes Sunny, we know your dad was probably dragged away when you were three-”
“No, he vanished for good on Nightmare Night when I was sixteen. What happened, Sprout?”
Sprout looked away, ashamed. “Lemony wanted me to kill him, but I backed out. So, she did. She dragged him out near Bridlewood, mortally wounded him and framed some unicorns who happened to be passing by. She used that story to build support for her movement.”
For a while, they all sat in silence.
“I’m sorry I didn’t stand up to her.” Sprout said softly.
Author's Note
By design, this story has a very sudden ending. Its part of a series around what Nightmare Night has evolved into… something full of candy like what we know, or something more sinister?
Please, no wars about how I'm wrong or that this is horrible. If you don't like it, that's your opinion. This is just a possibility about how hate persisted between pony races.
