“Throw it over here, Glory!” Said an earth pony filly named Seashell, waiting with excitement for her pegasus filly friend to throw the frisbee they had randomly found.

“No, throw it to me!” Said a unicorn filly named Peach Fizz.

Glory looked on at which one of her friends she should throw it to. Should she throw it to Seashell and watch her try and catch it with her hooves? Or should she throw it to Peach Fizz and watch her try and use her magic to catch the frisbee they were having fun with?

These three little fillies, known as Pipsqueaks due to their admiration for Princess Pipp Petals, were on the beach of Maretime Bay enjoying a nice, sunny day. Perfect weather, perfect temperature, perfect all around. And after watching Pipp’s recent livestream, their parents told them to go outside and play. So, what better way to enjoy a day like this, then a day at the beach.

After a brief minute of who to throw the frisbee to, she shouted “Go along, Seashell!” And with that, she threw the frisbee in Seashell’s direction, much to the disappointment of Peach Fizz.

For a filly, Glory could throw pretty well. As when the frisbee left her hoof, it went pretty far across the beach. With Seashell giving chase, and excitement running through her veins.

The frisbee had landed near the entrance of a cave that was on the beach. The very same one where her and friends had rescued Pipp and Zipp from after they had gotten trapped inside. They had gotten, as Pipp promised them, a shoutout on her livestream after the Royal Portrait Day Picture. It was truly an honor for them.

Seashell ran toward the entrance of the cave, only a few feet away from the fallen frisbee, when she suddenly tripped over something.

“Ugh, Ah!” She cried out as she tumbled over to where the frisbee now lay on the ground. “Ow.” She groaned in pain, holding her foreleg.

Peach Fizz and Glory gasped in concern at what they just saw, and quickly ran over to their fallen friend. Well, Peach Fizz ran, but Glory flew. So, she made it over to Seashell pretty quickly.

“Are you okay, Seashell?” She said, helping her up with her hooves.

“Yeah!” Peach Fizz said, as she made it to them. “You took a pretty nasty tumble. You aren’t hurt, are you?”

Seashell just shook her foreleg out a little bit. “I’m okay. I was just surprised. Something tripped me.” She said.

“What was it?” Glory asked, looking around the beach at what could’ve tripped her friend up.

“It was right there.” Seashell said, pointing her hoof in the direction at where she was mysteriously tripped over.

As they trotted over, It was only then that something looked kinda off. There, in the sand, was something that looked to buried underneath it. It looked pretty big. Almost like a buried treasure. Though, it didn’t look in the shape of a treasure chest like they had seen in the movies.

What really surprised them, however, was they swore they thought they saw the object was ACTUALLY looking at them. They saw what appeared to be an eye. Was there some type of sea creature that washed up on the beach? Like a squid, or something?

Neither of the fillies could move or speak. After seeing the eye, the three of them were filled with fear. Something was under this sand indeed. Was it alive? Was it dead?

After a few minutes, Seashell walked up to it. She looked back at her two friends, almost telling them to help her unbury whatever was under this sand. Glory and Peach Fizz didn’t want to. They were scared at what they might find.

It wasn’t until Seashell gave them a type of glare that told them to get a grip when Glory and Peach Fizz came over and proceeded to help their friend unbury whatever was underneath this sand.

If their fear was there before, now it turned to complete terror after they had just finished unburying whatever it was. The terror was so high, they just wanted to run home to their mothers and just bury themselves deep in their chests and cry.

The three little fillies backed away from their discovery, still unable to believe what they had just found. The terror still there. The fear still there.

Seashell couldn’t hold it in anymore. Not that she could hold it in anyway. She let out a huge scream in horror.

“WWWAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!” She let out a blood curling scream and ran away from her discovery. With Peach Fizz and Glory right behind her. Tears of fear running down their faces.

They needed to find Sheriff Hitch. Right away.

-/-Maretime Bay-/-

“I’m going on break.” A bright red coated, blonde maned stallion, wearing a yellow hard hat called out.

“I don’t care what you do, Sprout.” His coworker rudely said, going back to what he was doing.

“Whatever.” Sprout muttered under his breath. He was used to his new coworkers doing this. Pretty much, treating him like shit. Disrespecting him. Calling him names.

After Sprout’s little run as the “Emperor” of Maretime Bay while Hitch ran off to find Sunny, he was let go and relieved of his Deputy duties. Thankfully, his mother, Phyllis Cloverleaf, was able to get him a job at her factory, although it was after a citywide apology, cleaning up the mess he made with Sunny’s old lighthouse home, and a MAJOR grounding from her.

As Sprout walked over to his usual spot where he took his 30 minute lunch break(which was a bench that was next to his favorite pizza place; thankfully, the employees there still liked him. He was one of their regulars after all), he looked all around him. There were Pegasi and Unicorns everywhere. They weren’t fighting or causing a rukus or, in unicorns cases, trying to fry earth ponies’ brains. They were just…talking. Interacting. Laughing. Even helping a few ponies, like carrying something for them that was too heavy, or picking something up that they dropped on the floor.

A while ago, all the earth ponies, Sprout included, would’ve fled in terror. They would’ve fought to keep the Pegasi and Unicorns out of their home. That’s what they all did.

That’s what HE did.

That’s how he thought of them…until conversations with his mother. Whenever the two talked, she would tell him about her business trips to Bridlewood and Zephyr Heights. Due to the unity of all pony races, she decided to expand her factories into those areas.

When she talked about her experiences meeting these Unicorns and Pegasi, she would talk about how helpful, sweet and polite they were. How athletic the Pegasi were. How artistic Unicorns were.

But most of all, how WRONG she was about them.

That’s what got to Sprout the most. If she felt she was wrong about the other pony races, that made HIM wrong too. Meaning, he’s been wrong all his life. That everything he’s ever known, felt, and did was wrong.

And that’s what cost him his job. His dream. His self confidence. His self esteem. His spirit.

His friends?

He didn’t know about that. Hitch spoke to Sprout recently after the giant berry fiasco. Sunny was there too. But, it wasn’t even much of anything. Just an explanation of what happened, a piece of wood to his head(thankfully he was wearing his hard hat), and him trying to fix his mistake, only to screw up even worse.

He only passed the two princesses of Zephyr Heights, Zipp and Pipp, but nothing was said. Though, Zipp did give him a mean look one time. He knew she didn’t trust him. Couldn’t blame her, he guessed.

Though, there was one time the unicorn, Izzy he thought her name was, where she ACTUALLY said Hi to him as he passed her one day on his way to work.

That was kind of a weird memory he had.

-/- 2 Weeks Ago-/-

It was only his second week working at his mother’s factory, and already he felt like he was in enemy territory.

The looks, the sneers, the comments he pretended not to hear. He knew almost no pony at work liked him.

As he walked toward his mother’s factory, with his hard hat on, he heard a high pitched voice.

“Hi, new friend!” The happy purple unicorn called out. He felt weirded out when she said that.

No way she was saying that to him. He started to look around at who she was talking too.

She giggled and walked up close to him. “No, silly. I said Hi to you.”

She DID say Hi to him? After what he tried to do to her and her friends? She still says Hi to him?

Something must be up.

“Uh…hey.” He said in the most awkward tone.

Izzy then started to look at him. She felt like she saw him one time. But where?

Sprout started to feel uncomfortable. He turned around to head to work, until Izzy remembered.

“You’re Sprout, aren’t you? The crazy emperor guy who destroyed Sunny’s home?” She said, oddly, without a hint of malice in her voice. In fact, she ACTUALLY said it in a friendly, upbeat way.

“Yeah, what of it? You hear to shit talk me to?” He asked her in his usual grumpy tone. He really didn’t have time for this. He needed to get to work, or they’d have an excuse to bitch about him to Phyllis, in hopes of getting him fired.

Izzy was surprised with his outburst. “N-No. I just-“

“Look, I don’t have time for this right now. I gotta go to my new job. Talk shit about me behind my back for all I care.” Sprout said, walking away from her.

Izzy looked hurt at his comment. She could read sparkles all her life. And only one thing showed to her about Sprout’s sparkle.

Grey. A color for misery.

As he walked away, she called out loud enough for him to hear.

“I just want to be your friend.” She said, walking away and looking dejected.

Sprout did look back and the upbeat mare now looking as down as ever. Did she really mean that? Did she really want to be his friend? Did he feel bad?

His thoughts stopped when he looked at his watch. 6:45. And he’s supposed to clock in at 7:00. He needed to hurry.

-/-End of Flashback-/-

He started to think about that day a lot. He never told anypony about it. Why should he? He knew what they felt. He knew what they were gonna say.

You deserve this.

But, did he? He now knew he made a mistake. He knew what he did was wrong. He knew he let Hitch down. He knew all this.

Even with all that, did he deserve to be treated like he had the plague or something? He didn’t know.

Now, there was a pony who was being nice to him(he didn’t know if it was genuine or not), and he let his cynicism and paranoia get the better of him. He might’ve cost himself a friend.

Way to go Sprout. Way to fucking go.

He sat alone, as he always did, no pony wanted to sit with him. He got out some left over daisy sandwiches his mother made the other day. Still quite delicious, although not as great as when they first are made.

His mother, if she was here right now, probably would’ve asked him why he sat alone when eating his lunch. Why didn’t he talk with his new coworkers? Why didn’t he talk with Hitch and Sunny? Why is he all by himself?

Now, he would’ve told her he liked the quiet. But, that’s a big fat lie. He would’ve LOVED to be around his new coworkers.

He didn’t want to admit it to her or anypony else…but the truth is, he was afraid to.

He continued eating his lunch, when he thought he heard something. While his mouth was full, he turned and saw where the noise was coming from. And, quite frankly, it surprised him.

Three fillies, one of each race, were running into town like crazy. As they all passed by the bench he sat at, he saw how they looked scared out of their minds. Tears rolling down their faces.

What the hell was going on here? Something didn’t seem right.

-/-Elsewhere in Maretime Bay-/-

“I’m just saying, I would’ve had you if I wasn’t so busy trying to find out who stole Posey’s shovel?” Hitch Trailblazer, the Sheriff of Maretime Bay, said to Zipp Storm, Princess and future Queen of Zephyr Heights, as well as Private Detective of Maretime Bay. The two, along with fellow Princess of Zephyr Heights, Pipp Petals, were walking down the streets of Maretime Bay after Hitch and Zipp competed against each other in a race. Needless to say, Hitch wasn’t victorious in it.

Zipp laughed. “Sure Sheriff, sure. And Posey didn’t just misplace it, didn’t want to admit it, and asked you to find who “stole” it.” She said.

“Sorry Hitch, but Zipp destroyed you in that race.” Pipp said, before taking a selfie with her phone.

Hitch couldn’t help but chuckle. “Yeah, yeah, whatever.” He said, looking at the beautiful sky above.

“Wow, such a great day today. Nothing could ruin my good mood.” He said.

Zipp and Pipp agreed with him. Then, Pipp saw something coming up to them.

At first she looked happy to see them. Her little fans, her Pipsqueaks as she called them, were running toward her. These Pipsqueaks in particular were ones she had ACTUALLY gotten to know. Seashell, Glory and Peach Fizz. Such adorable little ponies they were. And knowledgeable ones too. They came up with great ideas for her livestreams.

However, her happy look vanished when she saw what she saw.

“Uh, Hitch, Zipp?” She said, getting their attention.

“What?” They both asked at the same time. They both looked in her direction and saw what Pipp was looking at.

Seashell, Glory and Peach Fizz were running toward them, while tears of fear streamed down their faces. They also saw the look of true fear and horror in their eyes as well.

“SHERIFF HITCH! SHERIFF HITCH! HELP!” Seashell called out to him.

Hitch was surprised. He had never seen these three fillies like this before. What was going on?

The three of them ran over toward the little fillies who now stopped dead in their tracks.

“Pipsqueaks, what’s going on? Why do you look so scared?” Pipp asked them, obviously sounding concerned for her little fans.

“Yeah, are you okay?” Zipp asked as well. She knew this sounded serious.

Peach Fizz couldn’t spit it out. Her and Glory just hugged each other and cried. It was by this point, a lot of the residents of Maretime Bay had seen what was going on and wanted to listen in on this conversation.

“Seashell.” Sheriff Hitch said in a calm voice. “What’s going on? Did something happen?”

Seashell could only nod her head Yes, while the tears of fear continued to stream down her face. Pipp felt like she wanted to hug this poor little filly and just tell her she was safe with her.

“Can you tell me?” Hitch asked. Now, Peach Fizz and Glory stopped hugging each other and looked at Seashell. She looked back at them.

She then sniffled and turned back to tell the horrifying discovery they found on the beach.

“Sheriff Hitch, there’s a dead body on the beach. We found it there buried in the sand.”

An audible gasp could be heard throughout the whole crowd gathered around what was happening. Pipp did what she wanted to do. She came over and enveloped Seashell, Glory and Peach Fizz into a comforting hug, as their sobs increased.

As for Hitch and Zipp, they both just stood there, stunned.

This wasn’t gonna be like an ordinary day for the Sheriff of Maretime Bay now.

Author's Note

Well, here’s my second channel. You can check out my first one, MysteryLover17, on this website as well.

Hope you all liked this chapter. Make sure to comment, like, follow and favorite for future updates.