The sun began to shine bright in the sky as Maretime Bay’s animals began to start barking and yipping energetically to greet the morning. Hearing this, the optimistic and vibrant Sunny Starscout immediately rose from her bed looking completely refreshed. The mare’s aura-composed wings and horn rose far and wide as she flew from her bed to the doorframe. Briefly grabbing a mane band and wrapping up her signature ponytail, the horn and wings flickered unexpectedly. The mare gave one last look out the window while looking through doors of her brand new roommates. She saw Izzy sleeping notably with her face at the foot of the bed rather than the back, talking in her sleep seemingly about Ice Cream. She then walked past Zipp and Pippo’s rooms, Zipp was snoring in a cartoonishly loud manner and Pipp was covering her face with a pillow trying not to be awakened by the sun. Sunny snickered seeing this and quietly walked by letting her friends sleep. The final room in the hall was that of Hitch, which notably had the lights on, being the only one of the friends to be awake at this hour, though the stallion clearly looked exhausted.
The stallion cartoonishly yawned and rubbed his eye while looking for something. “Ohh… Hey Sunny…” The stallion yawned once again before breathing deep, “Seriously how can you be awake this early without needing any coffee?” Hitch asked while looking inside each of his drawers of his dresser.
Sunny chuckled at seeing her tired friend stumble around still being half asleep. “Hitch… Your badge is hung up on the wall right there, where you hang it up every night before bed.” She said as she used her horn to grab the badge and attempted to bring it to Hitch… Before her horn and wings immediately faded away and the badge fell out of the air and fell right on Hitch’s face.
“Ouch… I would have preferred a coffee to wake me up.” Hitch said sarcastically as he rubbed where the badge hit and latched it in place. “Have you still not figured out how to make your magic from fading away?”
Sunny looked a bit embarrassed and tried to make the badge incident seem comical, “Sorry… I don’t know how Izzy does it, she makes it look so easy.” Sunny said as she looked over and saw the wings, and presumably the horn already went back in, “I just can’t seem to get a hang of my magic yet. You have no idea what it’s like to have magic and not know how to use it.” Sunny said, looking embarrassed.
Hitch chuckled a bit, as much as he hated to admit it, seeing Sunny struggle with magic did help him feel more secure about him not having any. “Movies where ponies get super powers make it look so easy.” Hitch said as the badge officially latched in place. “It’s only been a few weeks, and didn’t you say that Twilight princess spent her whole life learning how to perfect magic?”
Sunny sighed as she admitted her struggle at handling magic, “It’s not just that, everypony wants me to guide them with magic but I don’t want to teach that while everypony is still fighting. I want to help ponies get along with or without magic. I’m still seeing different ponies fighting and it’s scary.” Sunny said showing a more vulnerable side as opposed to her more usual optimism.
Hitch stretched one last time before making his way to the door, “I know what you mean, but it’s still an adjustment period for lots of ponies. Everything’s changing, and a lot of ponies don’t understand that change is a good thing. Some ponies are just afraid of change. But if anypony can make the change, I know it’s you.” He said playfully nudging her shoulder while heading out the door, “I’m off to work, make sure Izzy doesn’t eat that Ice Cream that I have saving in the freezer.” Hitch said in a both playful and serious tone as he walked off.
Sunny smiled and gave Hitch an assured nod, “I’ll do my best, though I’m not sure if helping ponies and saving your Ice Cream will be easier.” She said chuckling.
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A few hours had passed and in the afternoon, Sunny and Izzy were alone in the palace folding laundry with their horn; Izzy was a natural at getting the shirts while Sunny kept dropping them on the floor. Izzy laughed at how the clothes kept getting wrinkled in the process, “If you keep dropping them like that we’ll need to wash them again!” She said playfully while she neatly placed her stack on the couch. “Are you sure you’re practicing?” She asked while briefly walking into the kitchen.
Sunny rolled her eyes and attempted to fold the shirt naturally with her hooves while she was alone. “You know I’m practicing as much as I can, but I have other stuff on my mind…” Sunny said before seeing Izzy come back in (holding a pint of ice cream…), and this made Sunny nervously try and put the shirt back in a magical aura.
Izzy saw Sunny struggle to hide the fact that she was using the traditional way to fold the shirt, “Oh yeah, you definitely did that with magic…!” She teased playfully and booped Sunny’s muzzle.
“Alright you caught me… By the way you know that Ice Cream was for…” Sunny tried to say, but before she could finish, there was a notable knock on the front door, cutting her off.
“I’ll get it!!!” Izzy said as she ran to the front door and answered it, looking down seeing a red earth filly with a green mane wearing what looked like a typical Girl Scout uniform, and a green earth colt with a red mane wearing a typical Cub Scout uniform, “Hello…?” Izzy asked, not recognizing the foals attire so she looked confused.
“Hello there! My name is Bow and this is my brother Arron! We’re with Ranger Scout troop 119 and were wondering if you were interested in buying some delicious Snackie Cakes!!!” The filly said excitedly.
“We have Red Velvet, Chocolate Mint, Cookies N Creme, and Golden Spongecake!” The colt said holding up one of each box of the assorted Snackie Cakes.
“Ooooohhhhhhhhhhh!!! That all sounds good! I don’t have any money though… Sunny get your purse!!!” Izzy exclaimed excitedly, “Snackie Cakes and Ice Cream! Best combo!!!!”
Sunny was a bit confused by this but she grabbed her bag and met Izzy at the door, and when she did, she gasped at seeing the two foals, “Wow! Are you two Ranger Scouts selling cookies!?” She asked excitedly while the foals nodded before Arron looked shocked at seeing Sunny.
The colt widened his eyes and smiled widely at the purple maned pony. “Wow… Sunny Starscout!!! I heard about you!!! You’re a magical alicorn!!! You’re my hero!!!” Aaron said excitedly before giving a cartoonish salute to the mare.
Sunny smiled humbly before looking excited at the colt’s excitement, “Awe that’s so sweet! I’ve never been anypony’s hero before!” She said playfully booping Arron on the muzzle. “You know I was a Ranger Scout when I was a filly with my friends! I learned a lot and made so many friends and…!” Sunny said excitedly before she looked at the two foals and an idea hit her, “Hey, are you guys looking for more members?”
Aaron simply stood in awe from Sunny’s affectionate greeting before giving a cartoonishly stern and respectful Salute, and his sister answered for him, “Oh definitely! We’ve been having trouble getting foals to join for a long time.” Bow said as Arron then looked normal again while casually nodding along.
Sunny smiled and saluted back, “Tell you what, put me down for one of everything, and give me your card, I have a great idea for you guys.” Sunny said as she gave the foals the money for the Snackie Cakes and Izzy took all the boxes. Bow gave Sunny their troop’s information and Sunny smiled and gave the two an excited smile, “Thank you so much!!! I’ll see you two again soon, good luck selling the Snackie Cakes!” She said as she saluted the two who saluted back before walking off to sell to more ponies.
“We just met Alicorn Sunny Starscout!!! That was so cool!!!” Aaron yelled out excitedly as his sister softly and playfully snickered at how he was fanboying out.
“So what was that exactly? Are those foals in a cult or something? They saluted to you A LOT.” Izzy asked as she started eating the Snackie Cakes inside the palace, “Oh… Wow, these are good!”
Sunny chuckled at Izzy’s ignorance to what the foals were doing, “Haha no, they’re in a Scout troop. It’s this big group of foals who gather together and learn to work together and learn great skills to survive and have fun together! I was one and so was Hitch, even Sprout was a Ranger Scout! And this is exactly what we need to help ponies get along! If we can get unicorns and pegasi join that troop that will help more of the ponies get along!!! I’m gonna call the Scoutmaster right now!!!” Sunny said while taking out her phone.
“Scoutmaster? Are you SURE it’s not a cult?” Izzy asked innocently ignorantly.
Sunny chuckled and started making the call, “I swear. By the way… You owe Hitch a new pint of Ice Cream…” Sunny said as Izzy made a sudden ‘oops’ face.
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The next day, Sunny and Pipp were seen at the park preparing to set up a small area for one of Pipp’s signature videos for her channel, but this time Sunny had a special idea in mind, “Alrighty you’re the expert on these videos, should we do a camping themed video out in the grass or by the trees? I want this to be the perfect video.” Sunny asked Pipp, as she was the expert on framing and setting for videos.
Pipp looked back and forth and pondered for a moment, tapping her hoof on her muzzle before making up her mind. “Oh definitely the trees, the lighting this time of day reflects right through the leaves definitely makes your eyes sparkle.” Pipp responded as she handed her makeup bag to help her look video ready. “So who are we meeting again? You said it was for like a Scout thing right? I think I’ve heard of that, but nopony in Zephyr Heights has joined that stuff sense like a really long time ago.”
Sunny took out a special mane barrette and clipped it to her bangs. “Yeah it’s something where foals learn how to be good mature ponies and learn to work together. If I can get your subscribers to see it and join this troop, it will help the foals stop being afraid of each other.” Sunny said optimistically, checking the time to see when the Scoutmaster was arriving, “He should be here anytime soon, I sent him an email about doing this video and he said he’d be here around 2 pm.”
“You actually sent an email? Why not a DM or anything?” Pipp tried to ask before the two heard a loud whistle that cut off their conversation.
“TEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNN HUUUUUUTTTTTTT!!!” A loud gruff and country voice yelled, and in the distance those two foals from the day before were seen walking up with a larger pony who is dressed like a typical Boy Scoutmaster uniform, with a sash having all his badges bronzed. This pony also sported a beard and had a very visible Hatchet Axe stuck onto a harness on his belt. The larger pony then snickered when he saw the mares get caught off guard by his over the top arrival. “ Hehe that never gets old. Howdy there missies, I think this video thing is a great idea.” He said saluting at the two mares. “We’ve been struggling to keep membership up for years, letting Unicorns and Pegasi join was a great idea!” He said extending a hoof for Sunny to shake.
The mare smiled and took his hoof and accepted the shake, “Well I’m glad you think it’s a good idea, what was your name again Mister…?” Sunny asked, trying to get a better clue on who this pony was.
The scoutmaster snickered. “You don’t see the resemblance? It’s Axel! Axel Melon!” He said as he smirked and took out his signature Axe to show off.
Sunny was a bit confused as to why he introduced himself like that, especially with the axe, but then she put her hoof on it, “Oh my goodness, Axel! It’s been like… I don’t know how many years! Pipp this is Axel Melon, he was in the same troop Hitch and I were in as foals!” Sunny said excitedly while introducing her old friend to her new friend.
Pipp smiled and let her wings out, “Oh well it’s nice to meet you, I’m Princess Pipp Petals! I’m sure you’re subscribed to my channel right?” Pipp asked as she made a faintly conceited face, but Axel simply gave a face of confusion as he never saw any of her videos.
However, Bow widened her eyes and dropped her jaw at the sight of Pipp, “OOOHHHHHH MY GOODNESS!!! You’re Pipp Petals!!! I subscribed to you last month and I’ve watched all your videos at least three times!!!” The filly yelled in excitement, Aaron smirked seeing her fangirl out the same way he did the day before.
“Awe, it’s always nice to meet a fan! You foals want a selfie before we film the video? You’ll get your first hearts and hoofs up!” Pipp asked as Bow nodded and grabbed Pipp’s hoof and cartoonishly dragged her to one of the trees for a selfie, Aaron chuckled and followed.
Axel snickered seeing them go off like that, “Ah Bow and Arron, they’re the best foals I could ever have.” Axel said in a soft and caring tone of voice, “Remember how I always said when I grow up I was gonna adopt, welp I’m a pony of my word!” Axel said proudly to Sunny.
“They’re your foals? That’s adorable! And you’re their Scoutmaster too? Looks like you kept yourself busy.” Sunny said as she looked over at the foals who were taking pictures with Pipp, “Are you still on that farm outside of town? Or do you live out in the woods full time?” Sunny asked jokingly towards the camping pony.
“That’s not until Bow and Arron grow up,” Axel said jokingly playing along, “Still growing my watermelon yes.” Axel said as he looked at Sunny and her aura of wings and horn, “Looks like I ain’t gotta tell what you’ve been up to! My son read all about what you did with those crystals and that long trip you made with your friends.” Axel said as he took out his phone from his fanny pack. The phone was notably an old Flip Phone and didn’t look like it had internet.
Sunny chuckled at seeing Axel’s old cell phone and responded, “Yeah, Hitch came with us and he’s actually the Sheriff of Maretime Bay now and he does a great job at protecting the city.” Sunny said filling Axel in on their other friends.
“Really now? Good for him! He and I need to meet up when I get the chance.” Axel said with a bit of a soft tone in his voice, “What about Sprout? You still hang out with him too?” Axel asked, seemingly oblivious of the role Sprout took in the city army.
Sunny looked a bit nervous when Axel asked about the red pony, and she stammered a bit while trying to think of a response. “Oh uh Sprout… Well he became the deputy for Hitch but uh… Well he’s uh… He’s taking a sabbatical, yeah! So he won’t be around for a while!” Sunny managed to lie, she didn’t want Axel to know about how far his former friend had fallen.
Axel looked a bit surprised at first, but he seemed to believe Sunny’s story, “Huh, yeah Sprout takes me as the pony who would want a long break like that.” He said shrugging his shoulders casually and looked at Sunny’s wings, “You know, the unicorns and pegasi are probably gonna need a pony who understands them. Maybe you’d like to be a den mother for the troop?” Axel offered to his childhood friend honorably.
“Really…? Me but…” Sunny initially seemed reluctant to take the offer to be a leader in the troop, especially because she herself wasn’t trained with magic or flight yet. However she saw Pipp walk back with Bow and Arron and the two foals looked so adorable and sweet, she couldn’t say no at being a role model for them, “You know what, sure why not? It’ll be just like the old times! I’ll even see if Hitch wants in too!”
“Great! I’ll get the uniforms ready!” Axel said as he saluted at Sunny and she saluted back.
At that moment, Pipp returned and pulled out her phone, “Oh I heard that, that will make this video way easier!!!” She said as she started recording herself right where she was standing, making sure Bow and Arron were at a distance. “Hey pretty ponies!!! It’s me Pipp Petals here, but today I have a special announcement for all the young foals here. To help me explain, here’s my BFF Sunny Starscout and her buddy Axel Melon!!!” Pipp said as she turned the camera to Sunny and Axel.
“Oh uh okay… Starting now…!” Sunny cleared her throat, “Hey everypony, I’m here with an old friend of mine to tell you guys about Ranger Scout troop 119! Earth Pony, Unicorn, and Pegasis foals, are you guys needing to learn to get along? Do you want to learn to make new friends? Do you want to learn some extreme skills with teamwork!? Please come to Maretime Bay’s community center this Friday!” Sunny exclaimed excitedly.
“We can teach camping, taming wild animals, arts and crafts, and even some extreme skills like this…!” Axel then said as he took his Axe and cartoonishly threw it at a tree and it got stuck in it. “All this and more, and the chance to make some of the greatest friends of your life! Here with the Ranger Scouts!!! Look at how my foals over there love it!” Axel aid pointing towards his kids and Pipp turned the camera to them, Aaron gave a cartoonishly stern salute and Bow looked incredibly shocked to be in a Pipp Petals video.
“You hear that ponies? If you want your foals to learn team work with new ponies, join the troop! That’s all I wanted to say, thanks for watching and remember to Like and Subscribe!!! Bye!” Pipp then stopped recording and put her phone away. “Alright that was awesome!!! How about we celebrate with some frozen lemonade, my treat!” Pipp offered as she and Sunny lead the way to the ice cream cart, Bow notably followed Pipp with a wide smile and Arron followed Sunny with that same smile.
Axel looked over at the two mares and his kids, initially he looked excited about the chance to grow his troop, but as he saw his kids looking at the two mares with pure adoration, the excited look on his face slowly started to shift to a bit of a sad and confused expression for a moment… But then the stallion shook his head and returned to smiling, giving an awkward chuckle and started following the four as well.
Later that day, after Sunny had a brief recollection with her former friend, the mare went off on her own, taking some papers with her to bring to her friend at the sheriff’s office. The mare was confident that she could be a great influence on all these new fillies and colts that are coming to Maretime Bay for this troop rebranding. While leaving the park, Sunny took one last look towards the filly and colt (with Bow still asking Pipp questions), before giving a small wave goodbye to Pipp and Axel before starting to fly off into the air.
Sunny had been practicing as much as she could with her flight skills, but right as soon as she gained some altitude, she seemed to peak at flying about 4 feet in the air… And to add insult to injury, Sunny started panting harshly as her magical wings fluttered at a snail’s pace, and Sunny thrusted forward even slower. At first there was a pegasis who managed to effortlessly fly past her 4 times as fast, and then two earth ponies who were seemingly racing managed to run right past her, and lastly, a single unicorn wearing headphones slowly and casually walked at her own pace with her eyes closed even managed to outpace Sunny.
Sunny looked embarrassed at how everypony was managing to show her up in flight and speed. She had been practicing her magic and flight as much as she could, she even woke up even earlier than she already did just so that she could practice her flight, but she still seemed to be slacking. After taking a deep breath, Sunny realized it was time to take the next step, she huffed and huffed several times before making a stern expression, and finally managed to propel herself into the sky, soaring up 6 feet, 8 feet, 12 feet high!!! “AAAHHHHHHH OH MY GOODNESS I’M FLYING!!!” Sunny yelled in excitement as she then started flying in place at 20 feet. “Hey, that wasn’t so hard, I think I’m finally…” Sunny began to say in excitement before her horn and wings began to fizzle out and disappeared completely, causing Sunny to fall right out of the sky… “AAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!”
Sunny screamed as she started to fall, covering her eyes as she felt the wind in her face before collapsing down, right into a Bounce House in a colt’s birthday party, and her screams started fluctuating in a cartoonish rhythm that synched up with the repercussive bouncing until she stopped bouncing, “AAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaAAAAAaaaaHHHHHHhhhhhHHHHhhhhhh…” And after that, Sunny looked at all the parents who were confused as to where Sunny had come from, and all Sunny could do was blush awkwardly and try to nonchalantly walk away, trying not to make eye contact with any of the parents… “I guess I’m walking still…” She quietly told herself.
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Hitch was in his office sorting papers and rearranging his office, notably turning every single picture in the office on their face. From a picture of Hitch and Sprout celebrating a birthday, to a picture of a time when Sprout looked embarrassed when he got caught bringing a stuffed animal to the office, and one where Sprout was cartoonishly trying to hold his hoof in front of the camera to keep it from taking his picture. Hitch let out a small sigh as his trio of animal followers all looked at each other in confusion.
Hitch looked at the three animals and let out a small sigh before putting on a comforting smile on his face and softly pet each one of them, letting out a soft chuckle, “I see you guys looking at each other. I know you can’t understand me, but take this word of advice, don’t let your friendship fall, you’ll definitely regret it.” Hitch said as he put one last picture down that showed him with Sunny and Sprout with another pony all as foals dressed up in Ranger Scout uniforms.
At that moment, there was a knock on the door and suddenly Sunny walked right into the office, “Knock Knock. Sorry to bother but guess who has some great news!” Sunny said as she saw Hitch talking to the animals. Hitch looked a bit embarrassed being seen trying to have a conversation with feral beasts, but he tried to not dwell on that too much even though there was a clear look on his face that showed he felt awkward.
“Oh uh… That’s great Sunny. Is it something about your magic? Or maybe something with the other pony’s magic?” Hitch asked as the three animals started to playfully peck at his hooves. “Hey guys cut it out… This is not the time.” Hitch then leaned down, “Continue when she leaves…” He whispered to them.
Sunny chuckled at the sight and walked a bit forward, getting a look at the picture Hitch was observing, smiling widely when she saw it and remembered exactly what went on in that picture. “No, not exactly, I just had a great idea for how we could help the different ponies get along.” Sunny said grabbing the picture and pointing right at it, “Looks like I don’t need to ask if you remember when we were in the Ranger Scouts huh?”
Hitch then looked a bit smug when remembering his time in the troop, “Are you kidding, you and I were unstoppable together! Remember when you and I made the winning Maplewood Derpy car or the time we went hiking and reached the top of the hill and waited for two hours for Sprout to meet us there? It was a blast!!! Why do you ask?” Hitch asked with a proud and unintentionally gloating tone in his voice, as he and Sunny often outshined Sprout in the troop. In the picture, Hitch, Sunny, and the other pony had sashes filled with badges and Sprout only had one…
“Well, do you remember Axel Melon?” Sunny casually asked.
“Axel Melon…?” Hitch put his hoof on his chin trying to remember, “Huh… Can’t say that I do.” Hitch admitted, that name didn’t seem to ring a bell to the stallion despite prior claims that they were childhood friends.
Sunny looked confused by the mention of this, “You’re kidding right? He was in our troop, we shared a cabin on camping trips, we always hung out together during and after meetings.” Sunny professed while pointing right at the picture of them as foals, “You don’t remember? That’s him in the picture right there.” Sunny said while pointing to the unfamiliar pony in the picture (of whom was showing off his full sash to the sulking Sprout…).
Hitch looked just as confused by this, the name just didn’t ring a bell to the stallion, “Oh is that him? I was wondering who that other pony was.” As Hitch admitted this, it caused Sunny to look a bit alarmed and concerned, but she shook that off and decided to just move on.
“Well… Anyway… I ran into him at the park earlier and not only is he still working with the troop, he’s the leader of it now and he wants to bring it to Maretime Bay! I thought that was a great idea and signed you and myself up to be Den Leaders! This can be a great way to help unite the unicorn and pegasi foals with the earth ponies!” Sunny said excitedly.
Hearing this caused Hitch to shift from confusion to excitement, “Are you serious? That would be awesome! I haven’t had a chance to be a true woodspony in years! And it would be fun to get a chance to teach some foals about wildlife!” Hitch said as his animal buddies all jumped up on the desk at the mention of wildlife, “That actually is a great idea Sunny, when’s our first meeting?”
“It’s this Friday, Axel’s sending me the uniforms tomorrow. Meet us at the park after your shift and we’ll go over everything for the meeting!” Sunny said as she perked up just as much as Hitch did. “I’ll see you there, I gotta go ask Izzy for some of that Unicorn-Forest bug spray, we’re gonna need it.” Sunny said, offering a salute to Hitch before walking out of the office.
The stallion saluted back with an excited smile on his muzzle, “Alrighty see you then!” Hitch said as he took the picture back into his hooves, reminiscing about his time as a Ranger Scout. Seeing how much fun he and Sunny had together in the troop, it would be like old times where he doesn’t have to worry about protection and just teach foals how to have a good but safe time with each other. Though the stallion still couldn’t put his hooves on who Axel was however… “Huh… You know she’s gone now, you can start pecking again.” The stallion told the animals as they jumped from the desk and went back to pecking at his hooves.
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The following Friday, Axel was seen walking into the park with Bow and Arron, the stallion was incredibly excited to both get the chance to introduce new members into his troop and reconnect with his best friends from when he was a foal. “Now kids, I know you’re excited to meet all these new ponies, but I also need you guys to set good examples for them too. Remember, a good Ranger Scout always does what’s right, even when nopony is watching them.” Axel told his foals, Arron gave a supportive salute and Bow gave an awkward smile in response. Axel could tell his daughter was nervous so he lowered himself and put his arm on her shoulder. “Hey, I know you’re nervous about making a good impression, I remember what it was like when I went into the city for the first time for my meetings.” Axel said in a supportive tone, as he knew what it was like being afraid of meeting bad ponies, “But I know you, if anypony can be a good role model and befriend the troop, it’s you and Arron.”
Bow gave a soft sigh and then let on a small smile in comfort, the filly always wanted to get to meet ponies from the city, explore her horizons, but she always worried that they might be a bad influence on her innocent country nature. “Thanks Dad. Besides, I definitely know I’ll be the most popular mare in the troop when I tell them the surprise…” Bow said as her soft smile slowly shifted to one of excitement and mischief.
Axel winced an eye at this, Bow wasn’t one to keep secrets from her family, “Surprise? What surprise? Did you bake cupcakes with your famous Watermelon frosting or something?” He asked before Arron interjected.
“I can guarantee that is not what she did, we Hoof Shake promised that she would always let me lick the beaters when she makes those and I did not lick any batter.”
“That’s true, and she lets me lick the frosting spoon too… So what’s the…?” Axel began to ask before unexpectedly being flown right over by… Pipp?
“SURPRISE!!! Guess who’s gonna be livestreaming all your Ranger Scout meetings!!!” The pegasus said as she landed right in front of Axel and next to Bow, “After Sunny told me what she had going on, I wanted to help! Luckily your daughter left me a message… Or more like 67 messages… And we thought filming the meetings will get more ponies excited for it!” Pipp said as she kept her wings open wide showing she was very excited.
Axel looked a bit confused and a little bit afraid of this idea, “Oh… Uh I didn’t really agree to this and…” Livestreaming the meeting was the last thing Axel wanted to do, all those internet videos do is make every casual activity seem cheap and commercial, and he wanted to keep the focus of the troop on the foals, not the views.
Pipp casually interrupted, “Well of course not, how would have it been a surprise then?” She asked innocently, not noticing Axel’s expression.
“You know that’s honestly not a bad idea, Bow did tell me she has millions of followers, seeing the meetings like that is good promotion for the troop.” Aaron added, while not a big Pipp fan, this did sound practical to the colt.
Axel still seemed a bit apprehensive to the idea of his Ranger Scout meeting being shown to the whole world, these meetings were supposed to be personal and intimate, not commercialized. “I don’t know…” He said while softly digging his hoof into the dirt.
Bow was quick to interject and make her point heard, “Come on Dad, you and I both know that ponies aren’t gonna join the troop with flyers going around at school. Ponies don’t get excited the way you did anymore.”
Hearing that was certainly a blow to Axel’s pride… But he took that instride and tried to not dwell on it too much, “Well… I guess but…”
“Come on Dad, you want to help foals get along don’t you? Seeing the meeting will not only get ponies to join but also show earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi getting along together. Isn’t that the most important thing?” Bow insisted, while she was mostly concerned with having Pipp being around, she still thought it was a good idea for the troop.
Axel stopped and pondered over this for a moment, as much as he didn’t want to have the meeting shown over the internet, he knew they probably would be better off if he let Pipp host a stream, “Well… I guess it’s worth a shot for the first meeting at least… Just promise not to make it too commercial, I want the focus to be on the Scouts first and foremost. Ranger Scout Promise?”
“I promise I won’t make it all about me and my channel and I won’t plaster ads all over the meeting I swear.” Pipp said, before Bow leaned up and whispered something into Pipp’s ear which confused the pegasis at first, “Huh…? Oh… Alright.” Pipp said before making a bit of a stern stance and facial expression and gave a small salute to the bearded pony, “Ranger Scout Promise!”
Axel’s concerned expression turned into a soft and comforted smile at her attempt to show respect to him as a leader, her status as an actual Princess certainly made that cute to see. “Alright I guess there’s no harm in trying it out for one meeting, just to see how it works.”
“Great!!! Come on Pipp I’ll show you where Dad has the stage set up!” Bow said as she rushed off with Arron rolling his eyes as he and Pipp followed. The filly’s obsession with the influencer pony was certainly cute, but there is only so much that the pegasus could handle…
Seeing them walk off, Axel wasn’t sure how he should feel about having his meeting be streamed over the internet. He wanted the troop to be traditional and self reliant, and using the internet is counter productive to that goal. If this is what was needed to help the troop grow… But before Axel could think any more about that, he saw both Hitch and Sunny walking over, dressed in their nearly identical Den Leader uniforms (Hitch’s had shorts, Sunny’s had a skirt). “Sunny you made it! And you must be Hitch Trailblazer!!!” Azel said as he smiled wide at seeing Hitch for the first time in many years.
Hitch looked a bit confused as to Axel’s excitement, as Hitch couldn’t even recognize him at all, “Uh… Hello sir. Yes I am Hitch, Sunny signed me up and I can’t wait to help the foals learn to work with wildlife and fix things with their bare hooves!”
Axel smirked, that was the attitude he needed as a leader for his troop, “Now that’s more like it, that’s the kind of pony who knows what troop 119 is all about!” Axel responded as he looked at his bare hoof waiting for Hitch to do his signature hoof shake that the two used to do as colts sharing a cabin, but all Hitch did was casually shake his hoof, and when Axel kept it up, Hitch just gave a confused look.
“Uh… Was my grip not strong enough?” Hitch asked confused.
“Grip? You don’t remember the hoofshake?” Axel asked as he playfully waved his hoof left then right, then back, then fourth, then spun it in a swirl, then pushed it forward, “You don’t remember? We used to do that every day.”
“Every day? We met before…?” Hitch asked as he still had zero memories about Axel, “Sunny told me you and I were bunkmates but honestly that was kinda a blur so forgive me if I don’t remember too well.” Hitch said, much to Axel’s shock… How could Hitch not remember being best friends with Axel? They were inseparable whenever they had meetings and camping trips together.
“You… Don’t remember me? Axel Melon? We used to be bunkmates, I was top bunk you were bottom. I was the one who stopped Sprout from putting your hoof in a cup of warm water.” Axel’s eyes gave a soft look of distrust when Hitch said he didn’t remember who he even was. Hearing his old best friend doesn’t even remember him was a pain he never knew he could do.
“Wait Sprout was gonna put my hoof in…” Hitch started to ponder before Sunny intervened and got between the two.
“Okay let’s move on… Look, the foals are coming!!!” Sunny said with initially an awkward face before turning into an excited one as she pointed to the entrance of the park. Numerous unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies were all marching in, foals and their parents all eagerly rushed over to the three.
Axel widened his eyes and smiled and waved at all the ponies coming to the meeting, he stepped forward to greet the coming ponies, he hadn’t seen a size this large sense he was a colt in the troop himself. “Welcome everypony! Troop 119 is honored to have all these new members! Earth pony, Unicorn, and Pegasis here to…!” Axel said excitedly, but nopony stopped to listen to him, everypony walked right past him and seemed to stop at Sunny and Hitch instead.
“Sunny, can you teach my daughter how to Fish?” A mare asked.
“Sunny, can you teach my son how to start a campfire?” A stallion asked.
“Sunny, can you teach my daughter how to get a colt she likes to ask her out?” Another mare asked.
Sunny was caught off guard by all these questions, it had been many moons sense she had done any of these activities herself so she still needed some time to reeducate herself, but she certainly wanted to try. “Yes I can. Yes I can. Please never ask a random stranger that question ever again.” She answered respectively.
At that moment, Axel himself was a bit uneasy that none of these ponies were asking Him about these things rather than Sunny, but he tried to brush that off. “Listen here everypony. Sunny and Hitch are new to the team and are still learning, but rest assured your foals will learn to get along and do plenty of outdoor activities together as a Team. Ranger Scout Promise!” Axel said as he gave them all a harty salute, and the parents seemed to be a bit unamused with the saluting, finding it a bit cheesy.
“Hey everypony, the meeting’s over here, why don’t you guys follow me and we’ll get this thing started?” Hitch asked excitedly as he lead the group of ponies over to where Pipp, Bow, and Arron were, and every foal seemed to excitedly follow Hitch and Sunny.
Once again, Axel stood back for a bit as he watched everypony walk off. Everypony seemed to love Sunny and Hitch, Axel knew he struck gold in picking them to be Den Leaders… Though none of the ponies seemed to listen to him yet, maybe he needs to press his authority more…? Also how could Hitch not remember him? The two were the best of friends and now Hitch can’t even think about him or their fun memories. The bearded pony looked over at seeing all the foals excitedly follow Hitch, the parents and Arron asking Sunny a bunch of questions, and Bow still fangirling over Pipp… The alone pony let out an awkward chuckle and rubbed the back of his neck before he slowly went back over to get the meeting started.
