Until Sunrise

Chapters

Arriving at the Destination
Truth or Liars
Secrets and Relations

Arriving at the Destination

Author's Note

What's funny is that I was making this before Until Dawn the movie and the remaster game were announced.

Arriving at the Destination

”So your telling me, that Blackwood Mountain is known as a Dead Pony place?”

“That’s right Skye, the place was built as a ski resort but was shut down for quote end quote unsafe trails and unstable ski routes.”

“Hold on Spruce, wasn’t it a mining railroad back before that in the day?”

“Yes, it was until the tragic events known as the “Flesh Mines” had caused them to shut down and abandon all their work. Here’s what happened, they had sent twenty miners down there, and one of the explosions caused a cave-in; trapping them in there with no food or any contact with the real world. When the rescue team finally found them only five were alive. You see they were in there for months so they had to-”

A hoof tapped on Shadow’s shoulder causing him to pause his podcast, unplug his earbuds, and get up from his seat to see who was trying to get his attention.

It was Pipp, the mare had always been trying to get his interest in why he didn’t watch or like to see her streams or podcasts. He was no pipsqueak of her either; he never understood why she cared so much about it. He only knew her as a princess, never really was into social media until not that long ago. She had millions of subscribers, and almost everypony knew or admired her but not Shadow, when he came to Maretime Bay, he didn’t know anypony; not even other Pegasi.

He spent most of his life away from civilization, he explored the world just like his parents did; living from place to place and writing letters to them about his discoveries. He had only come back to Zephyr Heights because of his parents who had been climbing one of the most dangerous mountains and an avalanche occurred and they were pummeled. His parents had found each other with their love of both wanting to be adventurous. They spent most of their lives together exploring and after they had him that’s when they decided to settle down and become a family. His parents didn’t mind and were both excited when he wanted to do the same, when Shadow had left, they decided to get back into it.

When his parents died, Shadow didn’t know what to do so he decided to go live in Maretime Bay, luckily at the time all pony kinds living together were still very new; only a week prior did all pony kinds get their magic back.

“Just wanted to let you know that we’re about to arrive.”

“Oh alright.” Then there was a pause of silence and awkwardness, it happened way too often with the two. Neither knew what to say to start a conversation.

“So you were just staring out the window and listening to some music? Wait don’t tell, was it Fresh, All You Need is Your Beat, or was it the Pony Hip-Hop?”

“Actually I don’t really like listening to that type of music a lot. And I was listening to a podcast about the history of the place we’re heading to.”

“Wait, you don’t like my music either?” Pipp was surprised by what she had just heard.

“Well, I didn’t say that, it’s just not my go-to, you know.”

“But you do like my music, right?”

“Well,”

“Hey guys, we’re here! Zipp announced to everypony on the Mare Stream.” Everyone got ready to exit, grabbed their bags, and ready to leave and get to the lodge where they would spend their weekend.

Hitch was still slightly worried about Sparky staying behind by himself. “Hitch I can assure you that Jasmine knows what she is doing taking care of Sparky, right Pipp? Sunny turned to her hoping for some reassurance.

“Oh yeah, Jas hasn’t been able to fail at anything thrown her way, like when she took care of him and the critters.”

“Your right, thank you guys, now let’s just relax and enjoy our vacation, nothing bad's gonna happen.”

As the Mare Stream was beginning to land all ponies had their stuff ready to go except Misty. She was struggling to use her magic to lift her suitcase because Pipp had put a bunch of her stuff in there. Misty didn’t really have anything except a toothbrush and a mane brush. Pipp had too many things so Misty allowed her to put some of her things to manage, which was a grave mistake.

Misty tried and tried to pick up her suitcase but to no avail. Shadow came over grabbed it and threw it on his back with ease; he was used to carrying heavy and large things on his back. “I gotcha Mist, no problem.”

“Oh thanks but I couldn’t let you do that.” Misty stated with a faint blush and a gracious smile on her face.

“No stress, I do things like this all the time. Plus most of this stuff ain’t yours and I only have this satchel around me with all my things so it doesn’t seem fair. Now come on, we’re about to land.”

When Misty first joined their friend group, Shadow and she hit it off quickly and became really good friends. They had a lot in common because they both got a little anxious when overwhelmed and he would always be there for her as comfort or someone to talk to.

When they found out about her and Opalne, Shadow understood her reasoning and was more than willing to give her a second chance. As they had landed, no one was as excited as Izzy was.

“Oh, can you believe it, after all that stress of defeating Opaline, we can finally take a break and not have anything to worry about!”

“Well who knows what else is out there, maybe more creatures like Opaline or worse even.” Zipp always had questions about strange occurrences and wanted to analyze those strange things happening in Equestria.

“Ya but c’mon, Zipp even I’m excited to get away from it all.”

“You see Zipp even Shadow is hyped about this trip!” Izzy was surprised because Shadow had barely ever been stoked about anything they did.

When the door of the Mare Stream opened, all of them expected to experience extreme cold due to how much snow there was there. But it was as the reviews said, no need for snow clothes and the temperature felt perfect. But all of them had packed some just in case.

“Wow, this is amazing, I have to stream this!” Pipp pulled out her phone and was ready to film.

“Uh, sis I don’t think you’ll find any bars up here.” Zipp was right but the reviews said that there is power at the lodge.

“Ugh, well I guess I’ll just record our vacation and post it as vlogs.”

“Wow, who knew that a place like this would be so breathtaking.”

“Yeah, but we should get going Sunny, before it gets any later.” Zipp looked at the night sky realising that she never really took time to admire it.

As the group made their way to the cable car that would lead further up the mountain to the cable car. Shadow noticed that Hitch was falling behind because he had something else on his mind. So Shadow started to trail behind to see if he could understand what was up with Hitch.

“Hey Hitch, I’m sure Sparky will be okay, while you away.” Shadow had first met Hitch when he came to Maretime Bay. He had offered Shadow a job as a part-time deputy due to the position having opened up. Though Shadow didn’t know much about the laws and districts, he needed a job so he accepted the offer.

He spent most of his time as a deputy filling out reports and handling complaints, mostly from Posey. He would also from time to time fill in for Hitch when he was away. They became good friends and would make jokes about how a small town with little crime needed police in the first place.

“It’s not just that, it's well we’re both here and no one is at the office-”

“Please Hitch, I think Maretime Bay can go a few days without us. I mean Posey most certainly can go a few days by herself, I know I could.”

“Ha, well ever since you told her that she doesn’t need to always come by to complain about something and how she should mind her business; she seems to have grown a liking to you.”

“If by “liking” you mean by sending me personal complaints about how I should handle certain situations and better my working tactics, then yeah she must like me a lot.” Hitch and Shadow shared a good quick laugh as they reached the cable car with the others.

When they opened the door the cable car was nowhere to be found.

“Maybe it’s on the other side? Sunny hoped that this wouldn’t take too long; it was already past 9 and they didn’t want to just sleep in when they got there.

Shadow noticed that the control panel had buttons, one of them had to control the cable car. “Hey Izzy you see that big red button right there,” Izzy’s hoof immediately hovered over it, hoping she was right on what he was gonna say next. “Press it.” Izzy smiled and slammed down on it as hard as she could.

All of them then heard zipline wires moving and now assumed that they just waiting for the cable car to come. Shadow set Misty’s suitcase down and went over to Hitch who was leaning on the rails, staring at the mountain.

“So you excited?”

“I guess, why do you ask?” Hitch didn’t understand what his question was asking.

“Well think about you, Hitch Trailblazer alone with five mares for a whole weekend, no other ponies for miles.”

“Okay, first off, they’re my friends nothing more. Secondly, I don’t think any of them view me in any other way than just a friend.”

“You sure about that, cause not to be rude or anything, but at first I thought you were gay until I saw how you and they interact.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Hitch still didn’t understand what Shadow was getting at.

“Oh cmon, you and Sunny have been friends since foal hood, and then there’s Zipp the detective, you can’t tell me nothing is going on there.”

“The way me and Zipp are is just like the way you and Misty are.”

“No, Misty and I hang out occasionally and I don't view our relationship like that, but how do you know that Zipp, Sunny, or even Pipp do? Shadow couldn’t help but laugh and his question.

“Okay,” Hitch started, “Let’s say one of them does like me, what should I do?

“Just go for it,” Shadow encouraged, “It never hurts to take a chance, does it?” Hitch let his words sink into him until they heard the cable car come to a stop. Shadow went and put Misty's suitcase back on his back.

As everypony started to get inside the can’t Hitch noticed a caution sign on the station wall. “Hold on everypony, the limit that the cable car can hold is six or less. Which means that one of us has to stay behind and wait.”

“Oh come on Hitch, I don’t think one extra pony will matter that much.” Pipp and everyone else knew how Hitch was about rules and regulations.

“Yeah but I don’t trust it,” Shadow interjected, “This place is old, doesn’t get remodeled anymore, and is opened to everypony.”

“So what should we do, who’s gonna stay behind?” Hitch was asking but if he had to, he was more than willing to.

“I’ll stay back, you and the girls go on ahead.”

“You sure, Shadow?”

“It’s fine Hitch, here take this with you, I’ll be there in no time.” Shadow took Misty’s suitcase off him and gave it to Hitch.

As everypony except Shadow got into the cable car and closed the doors. It started to ascend up the mountain. Shadow waved bye to them knowing he would see them in a few minutes.

“Well now I just wait for them to get there so they can send it back down. And I’m talking to myself, good times.”

***

Misty stared out the window waiting for them to arrive at the top. She felt bad for having left Shadow behind while everyone else went in the cable car. She hated having him feel left out, sure he insisted on staying but he always took all the hits. Like the multiple times when she would get in trouble with town ponies, he would defend her and would pay the price for her doing. She wished there was a way to show how grateful she and everypony else was for his selfishness.

“Wait why didn’t I or Pipp just fly up the mountain so everyone could fit in here, or even better yet, why didn’t Shadow do that?” Zipp had asked out loud to no one in particular.

“You're kidding right,” Hitch had stared Zipp right in the eyes to see if she was bluffing. “Guys you all know why we can’t right, you all listen to my presentation I did right before we left? Everyone started to look away from him, trying not to make eye contact.

Hitch then realized that nopony had listened through his presentation, maybe except Shadow because he had helped explain why each rule was essential to their destination. He then sighed, being ready to once again explain why they couldn’t just fly up the mountain.

“OK, so this mountain has some sort of crazy weather, the winds are so uncontrollable that it’s impossible to fly in.”

“Ha please, I don’t think the winds here could be that bad.” Zipp was always known to be a little cocky when it came to flying. She was pretty good at it, even when they didn’t have the magic back then to do it.

“Look I don’t know if it’s the altitude at this height or something, but it can be very life-risking to try. You see, there were these two pegasi that tried just that Zipp, and let’s just say it didn’t go well for them.” Hitch paused on what he was about to say next, trying to set his voice to a more serious and darker tone. “The winds were so strong that it knocked them off course and they spiraled through the sky with no control. One of them was lucky enough to grab onto a tree top hold his ground and slowly climb down. The other wasn’t as fortunate, they found his body about twenty miles away from where they took off. Clover Stone was his name and he was found impaled from a tree branch, his body was just dangling from the tree. Blood was slowly dripping out to the ground, they just saw the blood circle on the snow and looked up.”

Hitch let his words echo to everyone, now the cable car was dead silent; no one knowing what to say after. “I just hope Shadow was paying attention and doesn’t end up like Clover did.”

“Hitch I’m sure Shadow knows better than to try it, he was probably paying more attention to your presentation than us.”

“Thanks Sunny, you always how to reassure a friend.” The cable car finally came to a halt and the doors slowly opened up. Everyone got out and Izzy wasted no time pushing the button, leading the cable car descending back down the mountain.

“So now we wait for Shadow to come up... or,”

“Or what?” Zipp was curious about what Sunny was suggesting.

“Or we could just go on to the lodge and he could just meet us there.”

“What?!” Misty was shocked by what Sunny had just said.

“Look I know it sounds mean and selfish but we need to look at the facts. The temperature has dropped increasingly and if we stay out for longer; we might get sick.” That was true, when they exited the cable car, the temperature did feel way more like they had expected it to be.

“Sunny come on though, you don’t think that that’s the best option, do you?” Hitch was surprised that this was coming from Sunny but he knew that she was just trying to look out for everyone else.

“Your right, I don’t think it is but the lodge ain’t far from here, and we can make it comfortable in there for all of us including Shadow.”

“I kinda agree with Sunny on this, if it were me and I knew the circumstances, I would understand why, and be forgiving of it.”

“Maybe she’s right,” Izzy interjected, “The lodge doesn’t seem that far away and I don’t think anypony wants to feel like they’re holding everyone else back.”

“But we can’t just leave him here by himself, with no way of finding us.” Misty wasn’t too keen on just heading to the lodge and leaving Shadow behind again. She would feel even worse and with all the nice things he did for them time and time again, it wouldn’t seem fair at all.

“Psst, hey Hitch,”

Hitch turned to Pipp (who was trying to get his attention) to see what she wanted to say.

“You wanna go sneak off and take a detour on the way to Lodge to explore? It would help with the Vlogs, to make them less bland and more colorful, plus I promise you’ll have way more fun than just-”

“We can’t just abandon everypony. Wait, why do you want me to come with you.”

“Well you’re the only one not arguing back and forth with each other, you have the map to know where we’re going, plus I need a big and strong stallion to protect me from whatever’s out there.” Pipp was known to use her charm to be very persuasive to get noticed and convince ponies in ways that would benefit her. Either way though, she was going no matter what Hitch’s response was, though she hoped he would tag along.

“Well I don’t think we should just-” Hitch started to think back to the pep talk Shadow had given him back at the other cable car station. “You know what, let’s go.”

Pipp didn’t expect Hitch to agree to go but was psyched that he did. They snuck off heading a different path than the others, leaving them there trying to figure out what the best course of choice was.

Izzy put a hoof on Misty to try and convince her to come along. “We can just leave a trail for him to follow us when he arrives.” Izzy pulled out a spray can gesturing to use it.

“Wait a minute Izzy, why do you have a spray can, do you do graffiti?”

“Oh, no Zipp, I just use it sometimes for... Uh my arts and crafts sometimes.” Izzy let out a nervous chuckle trying to avoid any eye contact with everyone.

“Anyways, what do you think Misty?” Sunny turned her attention to her hoping that Izzy’s gesture had persuaded her.

“Well I guess it’s not that big of a deal to go on ahead... "

“So, is that a yes?” Sunny didn’t want to impose it on her but hoped it was.

“Well it wasn’t a no so, let’s get going!” Izzy again held out her spray can, offering it to Misty.

“Alright I’ll come with, but for the record, I think this is a somewhat reasonable selfish choice.”

“Ok we should get going before it gets any later than it already is.” Zipp was now so worried about getting going that she did not notice that Pipp and Hitch weren't there with them anymore.

“Alright, you girls head on, I’ll catch up in a second, I just need to leave a message on that wall for him to know where we are heading.”

As the others were walking the trail that led to the lodge, Zipp had now noticed that Pipp and Hitch were nowhere in sight. She wondered if they had snuck off or gone on ahead just like they were about to do.

“Hey, has anypony seen Hitch or Pipp?”

“No, maybe they went ahead because they wanted to get there so they could get into the lodge, warm up and relax; we’ll probably meet them there.” Sunny was starting to get annoyed to have to stop and deal with another problem.

“Misty you almost done!?” Izzy shouted way too loud to her.

“Almost done and finished, alright I’m coming Izzy.”

As they started to walk down, heading to the lodge, Izzy turned to Misty and asked her what she had written on the wall.

“Oh, nothing special just directions on where to go.”

***

The cable car had once again made it to the top and when it opened, Shadow had stepped out. “Hey everypony, that car ride up here was so boring that with all the silence, I tell ya if I had gone another minute; I would’ve gone insane. Anyway let’s get going to the lodge, has anypony else noticed it got much colder when we reached the top of the mountain?”

Shadow finally took a second to look around and saw that no one was there. “Uhh, hello, anypony there?” Shadow was looking for any sign of anyone, and then he saw writing on one of the walls.

Misty Was Here
Head to Lodge
Follow our tracks(;

“Well so much for a welcome comity. Well, at least they left a message, thanks Misty.” Shadow had then noticed that there were three trails in front of him; unsure of which one to take. Two of them had hoof tracks on them, the one to the left had multiple imprints, while the one to the right had less but still a decent amount of them.

“Weird, did they split up or something? Shadow tried to remember what the map (that he and Hitch had studied last night) looked like but only could remember bits and pieces of it. Okay think there was a stupid little song we made up about the map. How’d it go again? Even if you’re lost, cold, and alone, each route will lead you back home. Yeah, that’s it because every trail on this mountain is connected to the lodge. He would have to thank Hitch later for having them come up with the song as a lullaby for Sparky.

“So now which way should I go? He examined all three paths and focused his sight on the unexplored middle trail. “Well since no one has gone this way yet, I might as well. I mean they all sooner or later lead up to the lodge anyway.” As he walked down the trail, Shadow couldn’t help but feel as if someone or something was watching him like when a predator stalks its prey.

***

“Soo Pipp, remind me why we’re here and not with the others at the lodge?”

“Like I said Hitch, I want these vlogs to capture all this mountain has to offer.” Pipp held her phone up facing the camera towards the outlook of the area, pressing record to begin. “Hey Pippsqueks, it’s your girl Pipp here on Blackwood Mountain and I’m with everypony’s favorite sheriff, Hitch.” She faced her camera towards Hitch which caught him off guard. “C’mon Hitch say hi to my followers.”

“Um hi everypony, wait I thought this was being recorded and not being live broadcasted.”

“Well, it isn’t but I wanted to have an intro to it.”

“But I’m not saying it to them in their time though.”

“I mean you’re not wrong,” Pipp sighed but then an idea popped into her head, she switched to the screen camera, faced it between them, and slowly started to walk towards Hitch. “But you are with me, just the two of us, all alone. I mean most stallions would die to be in your position with a royal princess. They love me for my status, my looks, and my curves.” She lightly shook her rump at him as she got closer (luckily the camera didn’t capture the last part on screen).

Hitch was at a loss for words, he tried to form a rebuttal to what she had just said but his words were getting mixed up; his cheeks had a tint of red on them and he was a bit flustered.

Pipp had noticed this and couldn’t help but laugh at how Hitch was reacting. Hitch on the other hand could only let out a chuckle, trying to figure out what was funny. Pipp soon cleared her throat and let out one more little chuckle before speaking.

“Relax Hitch, I just messing with you.” Hitch finally let up and started to relax his tensed-up muscles.

“You should’ve seen how you were acting, you all like 'Well... I... Uh.'" Pipp let out another laugh due to the impersonation of Hitch. “Well we had fun, but I think it’s time to head to the lodge with the others, wouldn’t you say?”

“Yeah, though I guess you were right, I did have fun with you on this little detour.”

“Was that a compliment?” Pipp had a smirk on her face.

“Maybe, we should get going.” As they were getting closer to the lodge, Pipp had an idea in the back of her mind and didn’t know how to bring it up but she needed to now or never.

“Hey Hitch, I have a kinda weird request for you.”

“Yeah, go ahead.”

“Well, you how most ClipTrot videos have those misleading hoofnails.”

“Yeah, they make them like that because it makes ponies click and watch it.”

“So I was thinking of doing it and I was wondering if you could be in it... "

“Okay, that doesn’t seem that weird of a request.”

“Well maybe if you could be in it by having you kiss me."

“I’m sorry, let me get this straight, you want a hoofnail of me and you kissing?” Pipp nodded her head with an awkward smile. “Why?”

“Well this is my first time doing this type vlog on a vacation like this, usually there's service, but I want it to do well, and this one is about what you and I were just doing.”

“Why not just Photoshop it?”

“I don’t like to fake my pictures.”

“But you’re willing to fake your hoofnails?”

“Come Hitch please, you can just say no if you want, I promise I won’t be that upset.”

Hitch thought about saying no but the words of Shadow still echoed in his head. He didn't want to admit but he was right, he needed to take more chances.

“Okay fine, but only on the cheek, nothing more.”

“Okay but can we have one with you kissing me on the cheek and vice-versa?”

“Fine let’s just get it over with.”

“Thank you, Hitch, I promise that I will find a way to repay you for this, and don’t forget to smile.” Hitch forced a grin on his face, though he couldn’t say he wasn’t at all glad. Hitch did find Pipp attractive; he found all his mare friends a little attractive. Though he didn’t know if he ever would ask any of them out, they were his friends after all, and he valued his friendship with them way more than some inner desire.

***

Zipp was now getting a little concerned about having not seen any sight of Hitch or her sister. She was sure that if they had gone ahead, they would’ve caught up to them already. Zipp then saw that the path had diverged and while the sign had shown to keep straight to the lodge, Zipp needed to find where Hitch and Pipp were. “Hey, I think Imma head on this trail to see if maybe the others are nearby.”

“But we’re almost at the lodge, they’re probably there waiting for us.”

“I don’t think so Sunny, because if you hadn’t noticed there are no other hoof tracks than ours, meaning that nopony else has come this way.”

“Maybe they took another route, I recall Hitch saying something about multiple routes to the lodge.”

“I’m just a little worried that maybe Pipp and the others got lost and don’t know where to go.”

“Well Shadow must know because I left a message and he should have seen our tracks.” Misty injected trying to side with not having Zipp leave in seek of the others.

“Yet, I don’t see no sign of Shadow coming this way. If Pipp and Hitch went a different way, he could have gotten confused due to so many tracks on two different trails.”

“I think Zipp should go look for the others, we don’t want any pony getting lost out here and if Zipp finds them, she can lead them back here to the lodge.”

“You’re right Izzy, Zipp go on ahead, just be safe and we’ll see you at the lodge hopefully with the others.”

As Zipp waved bye to them and departed out in search of the others, she had a feeling that something didn’t feel right about being alone out here. She now was feeling terrible for abandoning Shadow back at the cable car.

As she walked down this unknown path she noticed that it had now merged with a different one-shot long trail. Okay this must’ve led me into one of the other three main entrance trails and no tracks or any sign of any pony. I don’t want to head back, that would make this whole thing pointless. I’m just gonna head up to lodge on this path; maybe I’ll bump into some pony on the way.

As Zipp went on, every few moments she would hear on every side of her, hoofsteps as if someone was stalking her. She would turn around but wouldn’t see any pony there, she then took a quick scan of her surrounding area to make sure, and she did this every time she got suspicious.

This continued and it was starting to get to her until she snapped. Zipp did a full 180 and then shouted to whatever it was to make itself known. As the sounds continued, Zipp was standing still only turning when she would face the direction the noises were coming from; she was like that for almost a minute continuously turning like a carousel. It wasn’t til she got a glimpse of a shadowing black fur figure, moving quickly around her in circles that she became frightened for her safety.

She started to slowly move backward, heading in the direction of the lodge. Her eyes darted at the mysterious figure which picked up its pace and seemed to at any moment charge at her. Zipp knew she needed to get out of there and fast, so when the time was right she would book it to the lodge.

When the time revealed itself she turned back around and was ready to run for it when the figure jumped in front of her. Zipp fell back to the ground and let out a helpless loud yelp; she used her hooves to shield her face, preparing for whatever came next.

She was shocked when she heard laughter coming from the familiar voice of the figure. She took a peek through her hooves and was able to see that it was Shadow who was just messing with her. As he continued to laugh, she got up with a furious look on her face.

“What the fuck Shadow, you scared me half to death!”

“Ha, oh my hoof, that was too good, you were all scared thinking that I was something that was stalking you.”

“I thought you were going to kill me!”

“You gotta admit, that was a little funny.”

Zipp did think it was a little funny but it also was a little too far, and she’d be damned if she ever was going to admit it.

“Come on, if it was the other way around, I tell ya I would’ve screamed like a little filly, but I would still find it funny.”

She tried to hide it but a slight grin escaped her.

“See, look I’m sorry if it was a little too much maybe I did go too far and I apologize for that.”

“How’d you end up on this trail anyway?”

“Well after I got up the mountain to see that nopony was there, I decided to explore and see what’s out here. Anyway, why are you out here by yourself?”

“Well I was looking for Hitch and Pipp, have you seen them?”

“Wait, did you come from the left route?”

“Umm, yeah.”

“No I haven’t seen them but I’m pretty sure they went on the right side path because both of those trails had hoofprints on them.”

“How could I not have seen that, I’m a detective and miss clues like that.” Zip let out a frustrated and doubtful sigh.

“Hey don’t beat yourself up about it, I’m sure there’s something- wait I just remembered something. Remember that presentation Hitch did about this place?”

“You paid attention to the whole thing?”

“Yeah, didn’t you?”

“No, nopony did.”

“Seriously, there were some important things to know like the incident with not flying on or to the mountain-”

"Yeah yeah, Hitch went over it again in the cable car, how is this helping?’

“I’m sorry it’s not, but the point is Hitch said that this place was set so that you could view any area around with telescopes. Maybe if there’s one ahead we could see if they are in the area.”

“Then what are we waiting for, let’s get going.” Zipp immediately went on with Shadow trailing behind.

* * *

The two walked the trail in silence, both keeping an eye out for any telescope nearby. “You sure there is one near?”

“Yeah I’m positive, just have a little patience with it, it will probably turn up near the lodge.”

“There better be one close by, who knows where Hitch is by now... and also Pipp!” Zipp didn't know why she had said that louder than it needed to be.

“You know, you seem to be very ambitious to find them, why not just wait at the lodge for them?”

“What if they’re lost and don’t know where the lodge is?”

“But Hitch also had the map with him right, also every time you mention them, you say Hitch’s name first even though Pipp’s your sister.”

“I don’t see how that's important right now.”

“What I’m saying is that you seem worried more about Hitch than your sister, which doesn’t make sense, unless... "

Zipp turned to Shadow before answering, “Unless what?”

“Unless there’s some tension between you and Hitch.”

“Like what?” Zipp had a concern and a little hint of nervous showing on her face.

“Like some romantic tension, wait a minute, don’t tell me, do you have a crush on Hitch?”

“What, haha, no... Me and Hitch... It’s not... I’m not,” Zipp’s face was now noticeably a blush of red.

“Oh my stars, you do, don’t know?” Zipp stayed silenced, her face growing more red now. “I knew it, it all makes sense now, that’s why you like stopping by the office so much. I should have guessed since you both share an interest in the criminal justice system.”

“You got it wrong, I don’t like Hitch,”

“You’re right, you love him and your face right now, if you could see yourself, you would doubt what you're saying too.”

Zipp knew she couldn’t deny it anymore, she figured it would be useless to lie now. “Okay, you’re right, I do have a crush on Hitch, but you can’t tell him or anypony, please keep it between us.”

“Look I don’t gossip or spill most secrets when it’s something really important. But I think you should confess to him about it, I mean I bet he probably feels the same.”

“Yeah right, do you see how most mares look at him, do you see how our friends look at him, do you see how Sunny looks at him.” Zipp’s mood then changed from embarrassed to gloomy and doubtful.

“Alright first off, Hitch has never had a marefriend and he’s stated that he isn’t in any hurry to get one. Secondly, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have romantic interests in any of his friends. Izzy’s just well Izzy, Misty is not really into love interests, she’s still warming up to the idea of having true trusting friends, Pipp seems more caring about her image and ego to even think about things like that, and Sunny well her and Hitch are foalhood friends and he has told me they both see each other as that and nothing more.”

“Wait what was that about Pipp?”

Before the two could get into any of that, Shadow saw a glimpse of what he knew was a telescope ahead.

“Look, see I knew there was at least one on each trail.” Shadow ran over to it and didn’t take a second to look into it. “Okay looking for a pegasus and a stallion.” As Shadow was looking he noticed the trail seemed to be below them, meaning that they could have already gone up onto the lodge. Then he saw them... But they were doing something that Shadow would never believe unless he saw.

Hitch had kissed Pipp on the cheek and she was taking multiple pictures of it.”You see them?” Zipp had startled Shadow and he began to panic on what to say.

“Oh... Nope, I don’t see them but I’ll keep looking.” He then went back to the telescope trying to stall for as long as he could.

“Let me see.” Zipp moved Shadow out with some resistance from him. When she looked through it, she did not see what Shadow saw but saw Pipp, giving Hitch pecks on his cheek while taking pictures. Zipp backed away from the view with a look of heartbreak and anger on her face.

“Hey, maybe it’s not what it looks like, maybe it’s just for one of Pipp’s posts.” Zipp didn’t respond and she continued to walk the trail to the lodge. “Ugh, Hitch, what are doing?” Shadow then saw that Zipp was still walking and not waiting for nopony else to follow. “Hey Zipp wait up."

Truth or Liars

“And no one else is here.” Sunny hadn’t expected nopony to be at the lodge when she, Izzy, and Misty arrived. “It doesn’t make sense, Zipp went off to find Hitch and Pipp, and Shadow should have been here or any second now.”

“You starting to regret leaving our friends behind.” Sunny didn’t want to admit it but Misty was right, she shouldn’t have left anyone behind in the first place. She didn’t know what she was thinking now that she thought about it, it was a rather selfish decision.

“Let’s just get inside, then we can talk about it in there.” The mares nodded in agreement to Izzy’s proposition. When the three mares entered the lodge it seemed as if it had been deserted for months, maybe it even had.

Sunny reached for the nearest light switch to brighten up the dark dim scenery, but nothing happened when she did. “Great, so no power huh?

“Maybe there’s a powerbreaker or a fuse box somewhere.” Izzy, who had seemed to be a quirky, goofball at most times, had surprisingly a lot of knowledge of technical support and engineering; probably due to her interest in craftsmanship.

“Wow, this place is really... Something.” They had now heard Shadow’s voice and multiple hoof steps coming from the entranceway. When they came into view, they could see that Zipp was with him; she had a confrontational and depressed facial expression and maybe a sight of a couple of tears in her eyes. “Oh, looks like you three just got here. Also, what’s up with the power?”

“Oh, well that’s what we’re trying to figure out, Izzy was about to look for a powerbreaker or something.” Sunny didn’t know if Zipp had told Shadow that it was her idea to leave without him. If she had, she knew would sooner or later have to apologize for it, or if she didn’t, she should still probably fess up to it.

“It is most likely in the basement.” Shadow then walked towards Izzy and leaned in to whisper something to her. “Hey, could you bring Zipp down there with you, if you couldn’t see, she’s down right now, and she needs some time to keep her mind off it?”

“Why, what happened?”

“Just... Could you please?”

Izzy nodded and Shadow then walked away from her with a grateful grin towards her. Izzy then turned to Zipp, seeing that she was just standing there, staring out a window from a distance. Izzy broke her trance by asking if she wanted to come down and turn the powerbreaker on with her.

“I guess, I’ve got nothing to do anyway.” As the two mares went downstairs to the basement, it left Sunny, Misty, and Shadow in the main lodge alone.

“Okay, well we should get everything else settled in while we wait for the power to get turned on.” Shadow then turned to Misty and the first thing he noticed was that she didn’t have her suitcase with her. “Hey Misty, what happened to your suitcase, I gave it to Hitch for you.”

“Oh well, Hitch and Pipp split from the rest of the group, and he still has it with him. By the way, did you see them on your way up here?”

“Uh nope didn’t see them, but I’m sure they’ll be here any minute now.” Shadow didn’t want to say that he did see them, and they were getting a little intimate with each other; it wasn’t his business, and also for Zipp. “I saw that message you sprayed on the wall, thanks for that.”

“Oh yeah, no problem, and just to let you know, I was against the whole ‘leaving you behind thing.”

“It’s cool, I got to explore and scared Zipp really good, she probably won’t admit it, but she did scream like a little filly.” Misty liked how Shadow was everything she wanted to be like, some pony who said what was on their mind, a very extroverted pony, and always knew how to lighten a mood and put a smile on.

“Misty, could you help me unpack Izzy and Zipp’s stuff in our room?” Before Misty could answer, the lodge was opened again and a voice announced their presence to everyone in the room.

“Hello, anypony home!” Pipp and Hitch had finally arrived, good thing Zipp was still downstairs. They soon realized that they were the last to get here. Hitch had seen that Shadow was here too, which was surprising because he had headed to the lodge way before; they must’ve taken longer than expected.

“Sorry, we left without telling anypony but Pipp was insistent that we got some footage for her vlogs.” Hitch had set Misty’s suitcase on the carpet in the middle of everypony.

“Glad you’re here, now we should all unpack so we can get to the game that Shadow had planned.” Shadow had told Sunny that the game he had in mind was something that could be fun for friends to grow closer together. Though he never told her the name or how the game works.

“Uhh, where are Zipp and Izzy?”

“They went to the basement cellar to find the power breaker to turn the power on. But until then let’s get everything ready so we can play the game and spend some relaxing time all together.”

Everypony finally got their luggage and headed to their guest rooms. For how big the lodge was, it only had three bedrooms, granted they were pretty big. The biggest one had three single mattresses in it and that’s where Sunny, Izzy, and Misty were going to stay and sleep. The second had only two single mattresses, Hitch and Shadow we’re going to be in that one. The last one was a little different, it instead had one mattress and it was meant for two ponies to share; probably couples who would come here. Fortunately, they were pretty neat beds, all had stands, and from the reviews; extremely comfortable to sleep in. But it was gonna be shared with Pipp and Zipp due to them being sisters, they probably never had to share rooms because they were royalty and they lived in the palace most of their lives.

Shadow and Hitch were now in their room, unpacking all their stuff to make it look more homely. Shadow noticed Hitch was staring at a photo, the certain photo was something he carried everywhere he went. Hitch always carried a picture of him and Sparky together when they were away from each other; which was rarely ever the case.

“You still thinking about Sparky.” Shadow wanted to ask Hitch about earlier about how he and Zipp saw him Pipp through the telescope. He didn’t know how to bring it up without sounding weird. He was also more concerned about how he was feeling right now, though he reminded himself to bring it up later.

Hitch put the picture back in his satchel and got to unpacking. “Yeah, I’m just scared you know? It’s just that I’m all he’s got, I’m the only parent figure he knows, and what if when he’s older, he asks why he’s not like anypony else or doesn’t fit in with everypony else? What do I tell him?” Shadow didn’t know what to say to that, it caught him off guard, so he let Hitch continue. “I don’t know anything about being a dad, let alone a “Dragon Dad”, what if I mess up and do something unforgivable?” Hitch was on the verge of tears, he never let out any of his parental problems he had.

“Look Hitch,” Hitch had now turned to face Shadow, “I don’t know much of how to be a great father, but I do know that little dragon loves you more than anything, as long as you show you care and be there for his most important moments, then you’re doing a great job, that little buddy is fortunate to a have a dad like you.”

“Thanks, I needed to hear that.” Hitch rubbed his tears away to make sure it didn’t look like anything happened.

“Anytime, now let’s get back to unpacking.” As the two finished up in silence, Shadow broke the silence with a question. “You think Sparky ever thinks that any of our friends are his mom?”

***

Izzy and Zipp were now in the basement looking for any form of power box or fuse. “Hey Zipperoni, ever wonder why foals are so scared when going up the stairs? Most say because they think something is behind chasing them, but I thought of it as somepony just wanting a playmate.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Izzy turned to see that Zipp wasn’t really paying attention to what she said, but rather daydreaming, thinking about something else on her mind; probably the same thing that Shadow was referring to earlier.

“Hey Zipp,” Izzy now had a more serious face on, which she rarely ever did but it needed to be done for her friend. “Zipp, I know that somethings been bothering you, it seemed pretty obvious when you first got here, so what’s up, I promised that I won’t tell anypony or judge you for it.” Zipp wasn’t sure if she should say anything, on one hoof she was heartbroken, and having a friend to talk to about it would help. On the other, she wasn’t 100 percent sure if what she saw was actually what was happening. She figured maybe just tell Izzy half the truth.

“Izzy, what do you do if you like somepony but, don’t think they like you back?” Izzy thought about it for a second, trying to think of some good advice that could be useful to her friend. Before Izzy could give it more thought, she saw the fuse box in the distance, in the direction right behind Zipp. “Hold that thought Zipperoni,” Izzy trotted her way towards it with Zipp following behind.

Izzy looked at the fuse box, examining it and trying to map out all the switches and what they do. She then ignited her horn and used the purple aura light to navigate and see what switch or button turned the power on.

As Izzy was working on getting the power fixed, Zipp heard the sound of metal being viciously hit coming from the area of an unknown hallway. At first, she assumed it was just one of the machines causing it. Then it did it again, only this time it sounded more distant. “Hey Izzy, did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“That loud banging coming from there?” Zipp pointed towards the hallway that looked like any normal hallway but extended right and she first guessed it just led to a dead end, but now was thinking it continued further.

“I didn’t hear anything.” Izzy at the moment was more focused on the fuse box that if there was a noise, she probably wouldn’t hear or be too concerned about it.

The noise continued to go on and grow, and with Izzy not being too weary about it, Zipp decided to investigate the strange noise sounds occurring.

As Zipp went down and turned right, she was surprised to see that there was an old door that continued the path in. She had no idea where it led to, the thought of exploring felt kinda scary, but at the same time, it also felt intriguing to have a little adventure in. The noise was for sure coming from here, the sound now becoming rhythm-like, two bangs, then three and back to two, and it repeats. Zipp reluctantly reached for the handle and when she had a grip on it, the sound began to go repeatedly like as if it knew what was about to happen.

Before Zipp could turn the knob to open the mysterious door, Izzy shouted out in excitement and the sound of the boiler working could now be heard. “Hey Zipp, I got the lights and water working.” Izzy came into view on the other side where they both used to be. Izzy came to Zipp who was still near the door. “What are you doing over here?”

“I heard that noise from earlier coming through here.”

Izzy perked her ears up trying to hear what Zipp had heard. “I don’t hear anything, Zipp.”

Zipp had just realized that the noise had now stopped and nothing could be heard through the shut door. ”That’s weird, it stopped as soon as the power was on. Maybe whatever was causing it, got spooked?”

“We should get back upstairs, the others are probably here now and we don’t want to keep everypony waiting.” As the two mares head upstairs, Izzy stops before walking on the steps and turns Zipp.

“Tell them how you feel.”

“What?” Zipp was caught off guard by the response that was just given to her.

“You should tell them how you feel about them. Trust me, once it’s off your chest if rejected, it will be easier to move on.”

Zipp was shocked to hear something like this from Izzy. Though she had asked her for some advice, but this seemed to be the perfect type of response. “Wow Izzy, that-that’s a really good idea, you know what, I’m gonna do exactly actually that, thanks, Izz.”

“No problem Zipperoni, now let’s head back upstairs, this place doesn’t seem fun at all to be in.”

***

“Thanks for helping me unpack Misty, I know I may have went a little overboard on packing.” Pipp hadn’t expected there to be so much stuff to carry, she had only brought the essentials. Though to most ponies her perception of the “essentials” was bringing her whole house with her. She was certain that she brought the bare minimum. It was a short list, she could name everything she had. There was her toothbrush, a few pairs of sunglasses, some outfits, manebrush, hoof clippers, eyelash curlers, a few colors of mane dyes, mane dryer, mascara, face blush, face masks, a few wash cloths, (maybe she did bring her whole house with her) lipstick and lip balm, and last but certainly not least, a couple of towels.

“It’s no trouble, I unpacked in less than a minute and was bored, so I figured instead of waiting for everypony else, I could help since Izzy and Zipp are downstairs fixing the power.”

“Thanks Misty, I kinda feel bad though due to having put the stuff that didn’t fit in my suitcase, into yours.”

“It’s really no problem Pipp, I accepted the offer.” Misty was really hoping that this trip would bring everypony closer and make some good memories to look back on. A part of her was also hoping that this trip would have time for everypony to get to know her, the real her. The “her” that didn’t lie and betray them all in hopes that it would give her the one thing she desired the most at the time. But after all that has happened, even if she hadn’t gotten her cutie mark after, she preferred to keep her friends with keeping no more secrets between them.

“Anyway, soo you have any plans on how we are gonna spend our weekend here?” Pipp looked so over the top enthusiastic when she said that, that Misty was worried if Pipp had an alter motive to why they were here.

“Not much I guess, I thought we were just going to play games and have stories to tell.”

“Well ya, we will do that l, but I’m asking if You have any other plans.” Pipp went to the side of Misty and put her hoof around. Having a smirk on her face trying to get the point across for the meag of her question.

“Should I’ve?” Misty seemed a little worried if she had missed the whole point of the vacation.

Pipp relaxed her posture and went back to face to face with her. “What I’m trying is, do have any ideas on having fun with certain ponies or pony?”

“Umm no, no I didn’t plan anything like that.””I should have done that though.” Misty thought to herself and pondered the idea.

“Well think about, mares up here just wanting to have fun, but not just mares, two very charmastic stallions to mess around with.”

Misty was going to interject but she didn’t want to oppose the assumption onto her, unless she knew for certain that was what Pipp was really talking about.

“I mean think about the views and hooftaps it will get, you should’ve seen how I messed with Hitch; it was really entertaining and he even admitted it. But in your case, you should invite somepony to go explore the trails around this mountain. I heard that around this time, the scenery here is really breathtaking, and by somepony I mean Shadow.”

Misty now knew what this was all about. “Me and Shadow are friends, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t see me like that.”

“But do you see him as potentially something more?”

Misty was gonna respond with no but something seemed to stopping her, so she stood there quiet.

“C’mon Misty, you can’t tell that you don’t find him hot at all, even I think he’s hot, or are dragon dad’s more your thing?”

“I don’t... I’ve never been,”

“Listen, if not that for that reason, then do it for yourself and as a friend. It would be a great bonding experience for the both of you.”

Misty thought about Pipp’s proposal as she finished unpacking Zipp’s stuff and as if right on cue, multiple lights around the lodge flickered on meaning that the power been fixed.

“Right on time, c’mon Misty, let’s head to the living room and start our first group activity. Shadow said he’s got some interesting games in store.”

* * *

Almost everypony was now in the living room and they were just waiting for Misty and Pipp, so they could commence with the fun. “We should all take a seat on one of the sofas.” Sunny had observed the time before that there were three sofas to sit on near the electric heater. The middle one was a three seater while the other two were on each of it and vertically across from each other; they had only two spots on them. As they started to make their way to the living room, Pipp and Misty got downstairs, saw where everypony else was heading, and followed.

Shadow sat on the farthest one from the entrance and Hitch took the middle spot of the biggest couch. Izzy was next to sit down and she took a spot on one side of Hitch, closer to the entrance of the living room. Pipp flew over to the other side of Hitch and gestured to Misty to take the spot next to Shadow, so she could be between her and him. Zipp took the couch that no pony was occupied on and sat vertically across from Shadow. She had saw where her sister sat and she felt jealousy and envy. She knew she would have to talk to her about what she saw Hitch and her doing, if she ever wanted to ask Hitch out or confess her feelings for him.

Misty had saw Pipp’s gesture, but she needed time to think about her relationship with Shadow, and she didn’t want to be more confused than she already was by sitting in an awkward position, so she took the spot next to Zipp. Sunny had been the last one to take seat, she went to sit on the sofa with only one other pony on it, that being next to Shadow.

When she sat down, she felt like there was some uncomfortable tension between the two. It wasn’t because of whole ordeal they had when they got here, but more due to how the two felt about each other. They had met through friends of Hitch obviously, but they never shared anything in common with one another. Most conversations they had always ended up with one on the opposing side, and this would be when they would agree to disagree and leave it at that. They still tolerated each other, neither one had something bad to say about the other; they just made sure to keep distance from each other.

That was probably one of reasons why Sunny wanted to head the lodge without him. Though she one day hoped to put their differences aside and maybe become good friends. Sunny knew that there had to be something to bond over; maybe this trip could be it.

“Okay, so I got the best game we could do as a “Getting to know more about Everypony” game. Truth or Dare.” Shadow waited to see how everypony would respond to the idea.

“I think that’s a great idea, it would be perfect for my vlogs.” Pipp then went to find a place to set up her phone to record the game’s events. When she came back, Shadow continued.

“Alright, everypony knows the rules, so I guess I’ll start us off.” He looked around the room, scanning everpony in there, deciding on who he would ask the daring question. His first instinct was asking Hitch, but wanting to expand his knowledge on everypony, he chose not to. He then glanced at Misty, but he worried she might feel under pressured to do or answer, so he needed to pick somepony besides those two. He then relealized Sunny was the perfect to ask and start the game off with. “Sunny,” She was shocked that he had picked her to pick a Truth or Dare. She may have also felt a little put on the spot because she didn’t know which choice would lead to a better outcome. “Truth or Dare?”

“Umm, Truth.”

“Ok so, what’s something that you’ve never told any of your friends or family?”

Sunny had to think for a moment, she had never really kept secrets from her friends and if she did, she would console in her father about it. “Umm well, when I was little I always wanted to fly like the pegasi and made cardboard wings. I climbed up a tree and jumped off, hoping to safely glided down. I sprained my hoof bad, my father took me into the house, cheered me up, and even got me my favorite ice cream.” Sunny reminiscing a memory about her father had brought a little sadness to her tone. She missed him, she wished he could be here now and see how all pony kinds are together and closer than ever; he would be proud to see their dream come to fruition.

“That’s a really heartwarming story, Sunny.”

Shadow waited for her to regain her composure so they could continue the game. “Alright now you ask somepony.”

Sunny looked at eyes darted around to everypony until her eyes locked onto her target. “Izzy, Truth or Dare?”

“Dare, c’mon give me what ya got.”

“I dare you to rank all of us as friends.”

“Oh gosh, that’s hard but I guess it would go you, then Zipp and Pipp. Then it be Misty, next would be Hitch, and last but certainly not least, Shadow. I kinda based it off on how long I’ve known each pony.” For Izzy, she saw all her friends as equals, and would consider them all her best friends. “Misty, your turn.”

“Oh um well,” Misty didn’t know which one to pick, she wanted to pick truth because Izzy would probably pick an embarrassing dare, but maybe having a truth would be even worse. “Truth, I guess.”

“What was your favorite part of Maretime Bay?”

“That would be all of you, I never had any friends, so when you seemed to care so much about me, it felt like I was important for once. I didn’t feel like I was just someponys servant.” Misty was getting really sentimental, but it felt good to be able to open her emotions to everypony and be vulnerable, she wasn’t being judged or being called weak for it. “Alright, Hitch, Truth or Dare?”

“I’m gonna go with truth.”

Misty was glad he picked truth, she probably wouldn’t be able to come up with a dare that would be anything from good. This way she could find more about them and be able to be good and trusting friends. “Have you ever broke the law?”

“Uh well, once,” This was surprising to hear from Hitch, a pony who always enforced and followed the law. “It was a long time ago though.”

“But you still were a sheriff at the time,” Shadow had added, “It was what, your first year of sheriff?” Shadow had heard this story before and he wanted to sure it was told right.

“Yeah anyways, I was on duty, and I had received a theft of some stolen fruit. I tracked down the suspect, which turned out to be a mare who had only stole to feed her filly. I couldn’t arrest her for that, so I decided to let it slide. It happened again and again until I offered her a place to stay for while so she could back on her hooves. I lied to everyone that I never had found the thief and let it go.” Hitch had went against the law and chose his morals instead. If anyone ever found out about it, he would be facing a criminal charge himself of corruption.

“That is one of my favorite things about you Hitch, even you have heart and chose your better judgment over the law. I mean sure, you could be in trouble for it, but still did it regardless.”

“Thanks Shadow, it made me feel better to get off my chest.” Hitch now had to choose who would go next, his first instinct was Zipp because him and her had a strong bond. She would always help Hitch out with cases that he thought would have stayed unsolved forever. They both had common interests and occupations, if it came down to it, he knew he would always be there to help or support her. “Zipp, Truth or Dare?”

Zipp was caught off guard by his question, she was more focused on her inner thoughts than the game they were playing. “Umm, Truth.”

“What was your favorite part of coming to Maretime Bay?”

Zipp had thought about, and it was mostly for her friends. A part of her was also excited to get to know Hitch more, and maybe one day have something more than just friends. That was on hold right now though, she first needed to clear up what she had seen through the telescope. It didn’t stop her from crushing on him. Oh how she hated the way her heart made her feel. “I guess it would all of you ponies. Ever since I got here, you all have been nothing but kind and friendly. Smart and resourceful. Observant and charming. When I first met you, it seemed as if all my problems and responsibilities floated away. I don’t think I could imagine a life without you,” Zipp had stopped herself, realized she had got off track in her own thinking. “You all in my life. Anyway, Pipp your next.” Her tangent didn’t go unnoticed by the others, but Shadow knew exactly where she was heading with it.

“Gimme a Dare.”

“I dare you to turn off your phone for the rest of the game.” Pipp was taken aback with Zipp’s purposul.

“Zipp you can’t do that, you know I need my phone for the vlogs.”

“It’s fine if you don’t do it, just know that your out of the game.” This was Zipps way of getting even eith her. She would still confront her about it later but, right now, this is payback.

Pipp didn’t want to turn off her phone but she couldn’t lose the dare. If she did then, she couldn’t ask or give someone a dare or truth, and she needed to because she already planned on picking the pony. “Alright, as much as I don’t want to, I’ll do it.” She walked over to where her phone was set up recording, saved the video, and turned it off. When she got back to her seat, she already was turning to the next pony to go next. “Shadow, Truth or Dare?”

“I’m picking Dare.”

“I dare you to say who would you go on a date with in this living room.”

“What?! That sounds more like a truth than a dare.”

“A dare is a dare, unless you want to lose.” In truth, she wanted him to pick truth, but she would work her around it if he picked dare.

“Okay, gimme a sec,” Shadow sat there thinking for about few seconds, until he answered. “I would pick Misty, only because I know her the most, beside Hitch. Everypony in the room knew that wasn’t true because when they met Misty, Shadow already knew the others.

“Huh, so you would go on a date with Misty?” Pipp had turned her eyes onto Misty, who was noticeably blushing of embarrassment.

“We’re just gonna move on with the game. Sunny, you haven’t gone yet?”

“Umm, Truth. "

“Do you have any other family out there?”

“No, for as long as I can remember, it was just me and my dad.”

“Must’ve been tough, losing him.”

“Yeah, but I proved to everyone that we can all live together whilst bringing back magic.” There was silence for almost a minute straight, until Sunny spoke up again. “Pipp, Truth or Dare?”
“Gimme me a really hard Dare you can come up with.”

“Okay, I got a good one. I dare you to kiss either Hitch or Shadow.” Hitch and Shadow both interjected to the idea.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, maybe we should end it here, and do something else.”
“I think this game has gone far enough, I have other games we can play.”

“Well I’m not backing down from a Dare soo...” Shadow made eye contact with Zipp, and then both were concerned on who Pipp would pick. He then turned his attention to Hitch who seemed a bit nervous. Shadow didn’t want Pipp to pick him, but if she didn’t then, Zipp would be furious and he’d admit it; he would be scared of her and what she would do. “I choose Hitch.”

As Pipp got up and walked infront of Hitch, Shadow was waiting for Zipp to get up and attack her; but she didn’t. Pipp had then leaned in and Hitch only could let it happen. The kiss itself hadn’t lasted that long but it cause a lot of damage every second it went on. Shadow had thought he could see Pipp using her tongue and he could only imagine what Zipp was thinking.”Alright guys, Enough!” Pipp had let up and departed her lips from Hitch.

Zipp got up without a work and went out of the living room and out of the lodge, slamming the door behind. “What happened to her, maybe I should go go after her” Pipp was oblivious to what she just instigated.

“I think you’ve done enough,” Shadow then turned to Hitch. “You should probably go after her, you studied this place more than I did, you can make sure she doesn’t get lost.” Hitch only nodded and went in search for Zipp. He then turned to Sunny who had seemed to have some guilt for what happened. “You just know how to make things more interesting, don’t you.” Sunny saw that Shadow had a disapproving look on his face.

“Yknow what, I’m gonna take a walk as well to clear my head from all this.”

“Mind if I come with?” Shadow was surprised by Misty’s offer.

“Sure, come on I know the perfect trail.” With that, only Sunny, Pipp, and Izzy were left in the lodge.

“Anypony up for charades?” They looked at Izzy to see if she was trying to lighten the mood at the wrong time. “What?”

Author's Note

Okay, here's the deal, I initially wanted these 2 chapters to be out by late March, and now it's mid-May. I wanted to release 2 chapters about every 4 months and that's kinda still the deal. Instead, I want to release every chapter separately. It should take about 2 and a half months but I want to be quicker than that, so my goal is to have 2 more chapters done by the end of August. I want this to be about 7 or 8 chapters long. This doesn't mean if I get done early I'll stop, we'll just wait and see.

Secrets and Relations

“Stupid game, why does it matter if you win or lose?” Zipp had continued to go farther away from the lodge because she didn’t want anypony to find her. “Why do I care what she does with him, it’s not like we were going out in the first place?” Zipp had seen a wooden bench nearby and wiped the snow off, so she could have an area to sit and mope. As she sat there, she gazed at the scenery in front of her. The little river looked so magnificent and the water was reflective like a mirror. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Zipp, you out here!” She recognized the voice as Hitch, but she hesitated to respond. If everyone was looking for her, then she didn’t want to be found. She wanted to be left alone with her thoughts. “C’mon Zipp, where are you?” Hitch’s voice had drawn closer and if he continued further, then he certainly would find her.

”Ugh, I’m probably gonna regret this.” ”I’m over here!” Zipp had shouted in the direction of Hitch’s voice. As she heard hoofsteps draw closer, she had hoped it had only been him out here. Hitch soon appeared spotting Zipp sitting on a bench, memorized by the river. He cautiously made his toward her, only stopping to ask for her permission on something.

“Can I take a seat?” Zipp only nodded slightly, not turning her head in his direction to address him. Hitch went to the other side of the bench, opposite of her, and wiped it clear before he sat down. There was silence for about a few seconds, but it felt like an enturnity. “Things kinda got out of hoof back there, huh?”

“Yeah, it was a stupid game anyway.”
“Oh for sure, very dumb and stupid.” Hitch supported her idea and went along with it. “Like that game should be outlawed and restricted from of being a concept. I could probably enforce that and make it a new rule all over Equestria.” This got a little laugh out of Zipp, who appreciated his company and his attempt to cheer her up.

She decided to continue with his joke, going along with the thought. “I mean, when I’m queen, I could probably make a decree banning it for even existing.”

“I’d support it, the decree would be called ”No Daring or Truth Game Allowed.”

“That’s a bit of a mouthful, how about ”The No T or D Game?”

“That kinda sounds weird to say.”

“I’d be the queen, I will make it sound normal.” Zipp then added on by doing her impression of what all royalty sounded like. “If ponies refused to say it, then they be banished from Zephyr Heights.” This got the duo to burst out laughing at the comedic conversation they shared.

“Well Princess Zipp, let your reign live on for a hundred years and more.”

“Thank you, Sheriff, it is always a delight to have your company.” They continued to laugh at their foolery topic. After a while, Zipp cleared her voice and began to speak normally. “I really do enjoy your company, Hitch, you make me feel so carefree.”

“I’m always gonna be there for you,” This made Zipp blush a little and smile.”For any of you, you girls are my best friends and I don’t think I could think of anyone else to have by my side. But I want to ask because I’m worried about you, why did you storm off back there?”

She knew this was coming, she dreaded it because she would have to tell him, the real reason why she was out here. “Hitch, do you value our friendship?”

“Of course I do, I value all the friendships I have with everypony.” He was puzzled by her rhetorical question.

“Do you value other friendships more with certain ponies?”

“I... I treat all my friends equally or at least try to. I’m not quite sure how to answer this.”

“When I’m queen, I’ll have to move back to Zephyr Heights, will you still come visit?”

“Absolutely, we all will try to make time to see you.” Hitch was growing a little concerned and maybe even a little annoyed by all these rhetorical questions.

“But I’m asking about you, Hitch.”

“Zipp, why are asking all these questions, is something wrong. I don’t know what you’re trying to prove here and it’s worrying me.”

“I just really care about you and I don’t want us to drift away. I hate to think that one day not having you in it because I...” Zipp mustered up all the courage she had to say what she was gonna say next. “I like you, Hitch, like a lot, I have for a long time and was too scared to say anything about it. I tried to let it be and hoped it would go away, but it hasn’t. I never felt like this before and when I’m around you, I feel nervous, lightheaded, and feel like passing out. I like you so much that I was so afraid to confess because I feared getting rejected and losing our friendship.” Zipp was in a total panic attack, and she needed a second to catch her breath before continuing. “So I need to know, do you like me, Hitch?”

Hitch was caught off guard by her sudden outburst that he didn’t know how to react. "

“I... I don’t know-” Before he could finish his sentence, a loud noise echoed throughout the area. It sounded like a scream of an animal but it didn’t sound like a normal animal. It was more like a screeching sound almost like a banshee but more distinguished. “What was that?” Then birds fled into the sky seeming as if they were spooked by something. “Maybe we should get inside and talk about this.” They both got up and made their back into the front of the lodge.

***

“Where are we going?” Misty didn’t hope to be out for long due to the temperature only decreasing as the night went on.

“I don’t know, I just need some time away from everypony.” Misty now seemed as if she was being a burden on him for tagging along. “But I do enjoy you coming with, it will help bring my mind off things quicker with someone to talk to.” As the two exited the front door, they were hit with a cool breeze. It was strange, they expected it to be much colder given the scenery.

“It’s kinda beautiful out here.” As the two gazed upon the stars glimmering through the night, Shadow had to agree with her on that.

“It’s like a winter wonderland.” He shyly turned his attention toward the small metal gate down the trail. He pressed the button which caused the red light to turn green, unlocking the gate which was leading towards the left trail.

“You know where this leads?”

“Towards an old cabin, not that far out. Apparently, it belonged to some hunter who’s family prospered here long ago.”

“Somepony lives out here?” As puzzling as it would be, Misty could understand and imagine herself being here, staring at the amazing view, and friendly wildlife. No animals live out here that rival a pony’s height, but it would still feel off, she would be depressed out here by herself.

“Huh, look at this.” Shadow had gone near a wooded board sign that had the word caution in big and bold. “Prohibited Mine Railroad Ahead.”

“Why would they be restricted?”

“Probably for cave-ins and nopony goes looking for some get-rich-fast gold anymore.” As they continued down the trail, Misty could not help but feel an unease by the hostel night. She couldn’t put her hoof on it, but something just didn’t feel right. Ahead they saw a door frame blocked off by a couple planks with a restricted sign covering it.

“This must be what they are keeping ponies away from.” Misty conclude.

“They must’ve really not wanted anyone to go inside. Let’s just keep going before it gets too cold and die of hyperthermia.” But soon they ran into a block away of fallen trees completely covering a passage through.

“Now what, maybe we should just go back. I think everypony has calmed down right about now.”

“Come on Misty, where’s your sense of adventure.” He walked back to the mine entrance and attempted to remove the boards.

“Hey Shady, I don’t think we should mess with the-” She was cut off by him having successfully removed one plank. She was astonished by how he was able to rip the bolted board off with ease, and the fact that she accidentally gave him a nickname.

“Alrighty, one down, three to go.” Before he continued, he turned to her with confusion dawning on his face. “Did you just call me Shady?”

“I... I didn’t mean to, it just slipped.” He chuckled a bit at the name she gave him.

“It’s all good Mist, so long as you don’t tell anyone you called me that.” He then went back to getting the boards off the entrance. When he got the last one off, he failed to notice the drop there was below. Luckily he thought quickly and held onto the side of the door frame to not fall straight down in.

“You okay?” Misty had impulsively run to him trying to catch him.

“Yeah, all good, thankfully caught myself before I could fall in.”

“You sure you know where we’re going?”

“One hundred percent, they made it where every single path is somehow connected to another.” Misty ignited her horn as a flashlight to be able to see inside the mining area. The drop-down wasn’t that deep and looked jumpable to get back up. “So umm, ladies first?” Misty stared at him to see if he was actually serious. “Yeah your right.” When he jumped down, first thing he noticed was that he was standing on railroad tracks and that it was mostly dark. He signaled for Misty to come down but she was resistant to follow. “C’mon just jump right down.”

“I don’t know, what if I hurt my hoof on something?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll catch you if you want.” Misty knew that he would if need be. He had taught her to swim in a similar way, having been locked in a castle her whole life; there were many things she never got to do. When she came to Maretime Bay, she lied when asked about how she never tried, watched, or even knew the most common things. Shadow had used his very formal way of talking to ponies to show and teach her all these things. She enjoyed those moments, they took her away from all her worries and fears. Watching movies while eating sweets and popcorn was her favorite thing to do. She wondered why they had stopped doing those. “You ready, on the count of three, one... two...” Before he could get to three, a screeching sound echoed through the woods. Misty was frightened by what was out there, and rather be down there than up here with the creature that had cause the horrific sound. Shadow had got so distracted by the noise that he didn’t notice Misty jumping down. When he saw Misty falling down he tried to catch her at the last second but he more so broke her fall than catch her.

Misty now laid on top of Shadow and with her hooves, she felt his abdomen. She could feel his surprisingly hard chest and stomach muscles. She never really noticed his physique before, mostly due to it being hidden like every other stallion. She could feel the lines and ridges of each peck and muscle, something about it made her feel aroused. She then realized that her lower abdomen was rubbed up against his member. She quickly got up off of him taking a better look at his physical appearance. His chest was pretty bulky and he was a decent amount of lean for his stomach. It was tough to say how cut he was because of the fur covering it, but she would put his built right below Hitch’s. It would be pretty close in size, but she knew Hitch was less lean and more bulk. It didn’t bother her too much she was into any type of stallion with a good personality no matter the build; though it made them stand out more.

She lent her hoof to Shadow and helped him back on all fours. “Thanks, that’s my bad, I got distracted by that noise.” Misty reignited her horn and shined it ahead of the passage.

“No it’s my fault, I should’ve gave you a heads up.” As the two walked ahead in silence, Misty figured now is a time as any to catch up. “So what have you been doing in your free time nowadays?”

“Been taking on the hobby of writing, gonna take some internships on some movie sets. What about you?”

“Same old, same old, hanging out with the gang, and spending some quality time with my dad.”

“What are your thoughts on the whole Queen Haven thing?”

“What do ya mean?” Misty was puzzled by his inquiry.

“Well him and Haven are kind of into each other, if they were to officially get together, do you ever wonder where that might leave you in it all.” Misty hadn’t ever dwelled on his relationship with Queen Haven, she was just happy that her father was happy and had somepony to talk to while she was gone.

Before she could give him a clear answer, a piece of lumber from above fell in front of them. “That is the last thing you want to happen while in here.”

“We should hurry and get out of here before we get stuck in here.”

“Good idea.” As they went over the debris that had almost crushed them, they could see a set of stairs with light that was assumed to be from the surface. Before they left, Shadow had seen that there was another pathway adjacent to the stairs. It led to a dead end but there was some kind of marking on the wooden wall barrier. “Hey, come look at this.” As he got closer, he could see that it was a carving of some type of animal. It looked like a bear with the size and sharp teeth depicted, but bears weren’t normally skinny with no fur. They also don’t have small heads and body proportions and most certainly not as long limbs like the creature did.

“Why is this here?” Misty said with a puzzling and frightened voice.

“Maybe somepony got bored down here back in the day and liked to carve things into walls.”

“I’ve never seen anything like it before, do you think it’s based on something?”

“Whoever made it must be really creative.” As they stared in awe at the carving, the more they felt unease by it. “C’mon let’s go before we get distracted by any more unorthodox things out here.” The two finally had found a way out and around the blocked trail. They now were back on track and the cabin wasn’t that far out from here.

“What was Zipp so upset about that she stormed off back there.” Misty knew it was something that had happened only recently before they got to the lodge.

“She was... She had other things on her mind and probably needed some time alone.” Shadow hadn’t made eye contact with her and only continued to move forward.

“Well it seems that her breaking point was during when Pipp had chosen to kiss Hitch.” Another thought had popped up in her mind, did Shadow only come out here because he had a crush on Pipp, and was upset because of her choice. A part of her for some reason had hoped that wasn’t the case.

“She was...” Shadow stopped and turned to Misty with a need to get something important off his chest. “If I tell you something, can you promise not to tell anypony or ever bring it up?” Misty only nodded in response. “So Zipp had told me before we got to lodge that she had a crush on Hitch. Then we saw through a telescope that Pipp and Hitch were being intimate, but I’m pretty sure it was for her vlogs. To top that all off, what happened with the game, she’s probably on the verge of breaking down, conflicted with her feelings and holding them in for I don’t know how long.”

Misty was taken aback by what she had just learned. She had so much empathy for Zipp, she couldn’t imagine what she was going through. Hopefully Hitch could comfort her, but it could go even worse with him there. “I had no idea, I hope Zipp is okay.” But that still didn’t answer why he was out here heading to some cabin by himself if Misty didn’t come along. “Why are you out here then?”

Shadow’s face looked full of emptiness and he didn’t try to answer her question. He just turned back around and went back to trotting the path. “C’mon the cabin should be right up ahead.”

***

“Um, what should we do now?” Pipp had felt that she had been left out of everything interesting happening. Hitch and Zipp are both gone and Misty and Shadow are off together. That was exciting though, she had to admit. They could be bonding and growing closer together. She only wished that she was there to record it, the views it would draw.

“I think we should wait here until everypony calms down and comes back.” Sunny had hoped they wouldn’t stay mad for long, though she knew when they came back she owed a lot of apologies. She really didn’t know what for, all she knew was that Zipp and Shadow were mad either at her or her actions that caused them anger.

“To be honest with you Sunny, I really can’t do that because since Zipp made me stop recording the game, I need something to vlog or my Pippsqueaks will be disappointed.” Pipp scanned her surrounding area for anything that was worthy of being captured on video, but nothing seemed to appeal to her. “Does anypony else have anything interesting to do, like I dunno explore or talk about like secrets?”

“I remember Zipp telling me in the basement about this door, she said that she heard creepy noises coming from it.” Izzy interjected knowing Pipp loved a good scary mystery adventure.

“Do go on.” Pipp was intrigued by what Izzy was saying about her sister’s earlier discovery.

“I don’t remember Hitch ever saying anything about a secret passage in the basement, but then it wouldn’t be considered a secret; maybe nopony has ever been through there.” That was all Izzy really knew about it, but it was all Pipp needed to want to explore it.

“Well what are we waiting for, let’s go explore this mysterious door!”

“Hold on Pipp, we don’t know what’s down there. What if we get stuck down there?” Sunny really didn’t like the idea of going anywhere, to be completely honest, she felt like going to her bed and turning in for night. This night has been nothing but a disaster and going into an unknown creapy passage didn’t seem any better.

“If you don’t want to go down, it’s alright, me and Izzy will just go.” As she and Izzy headed to the basement Sunny was in a dilemma. She could either stay up here by herself and wait for everyone to come back, or go into the basement with Izzy and Pipp to explore.

“Girls wait, I’m coming with!” When they got to the basement it was nearly pitch black. Izzy’s horn glowed up for a sense of light and Pipp turned the flashlight on her phone on so she could be able to record in some good lighting; it was better than having to go back and edit all the lighting in later. Pipp then pressed record on phone and switched the camera to face her.

“Hey Pippsqueaks, we are right now in the basement about to go see what creepy door Izzy is talking about. She then turned the camera back over following Izzy to the door. It looked like any other wooden door, but older with the metal noticeably rusted. All three hesitated to open it, seeing who was brave enough to try. After a while Sunny turned the knob and pushed the door open, preparing for whatever was on the other side. It was a hallway with shelves full of packages, some opened, others were reused to store things, and the rest were still sealed closed. The walls and floor look newer than any other thing in the entire lodge; even the lodge itself. Pipp went a little ahead of everyone making sure she was getting all of this on film, after that she again switched the camera towards her. “Are you seeing this Pippsqueaks, it’s like a secret lair.”

“Wonder what’s in all these boxes?” Sunny was a little creeperd out by all this, was somepony watching them from below. Izzy checked one of the opened boxes and called for the girls to check it out for themselves. What they saw was a bunch of canned food. They looked to see that every opened box had canned food in it, organized into separate boxes meaning there was definitely somepony who was or has been down here. Sunny then turned her attention to the repurposed ones, not taking another second torn it open from where it had been before. Looking inside to only be more frightened from what was in it. It hadn’t been more food, instead it was a bunch of cameras and net traps. The weirdest thing about it though was that all of them were broken, as if they had purposely destroyed. “What the actual fuck is all this!?”

“Sunny, I’m recording all this.” Sunny didn’t pay no mind to Pipp and her vlogs, honestly she was glad she was getting it all.

“Do you what this is?” Neither Izzy nor Pipp dared answer her. “It means that someone is living down here to nopony’s knowledge.” She was in a full panic mode.

Pipp used her phone to zoom in on the unopened packages. The words fragile were labeled on all them. “Sunny there’s no way that’s the case, look these boxes say fragile, this is probably just a storage room for equipment and food.”

“But why does this area look more up to date?” Izzy had asked Pipp.

“Noone probably ever comes down in here.”

“It looks like it has been remodeled though.” Sunny was put a little at ease by Pipp’s reasoning, but not totally convinced. “I really don’t wanna be down here anymore.”

“Sunny, nothing bad is down here and I’m gonna prove it.” With that, Pipp had flew ahead of them going deeper into the passage.

“Wait up, Pipp!” Izzy shouted after her as she and Sunny ran to catch her. As Sunny was running she felt that she had stepped on something. She stopped and picked up the object that she stumbled upon. Izzy continued forward and found Pipp staring at the ground not moving at all. Izzy saw that she had stopped at a set of stairs that led deeper down, but it wasn’t the stairs that caught her attention; it was what was on the ground that caught her and now Izzy’s interest.

Sunny had found a piece of a knitted green scarf with red splats on it, which she hoped was just a designer’s choice, and not what she feared it was. She went over to the others to show them, but saw what they had been staring at.

There, laid on the ground, was a trail of what was presumed to be blood given the dark stain it had. Sunny then held out the piece of scarf to show them. As they looked at it, Sunny spoke with a frightened voice. “Girls, we need to go back upstairs, now!”

* * *

Hitch and Zipp walked back to the lodge in silence, both felt too awkward to say anything to each other. Hitch was the one to break the silence between them. “Y’know I saw a shed straight ahead when exiting the back of the lodge, I thought you went in there. They have a bunch of tools and spare parts there, so if the cable car ever broke, we could fix it using the parts.” Hitch turned his head towards Zipp who didn’t seem to be listening, maybe she was but didn’t want to talk. He sighed as they reached the back door of the lodge.

Zipp wished she hadn’t said all that to Hitch, they wouldn’t feel so distant now. Did he like her? Was he trying to find the right words to let her down easy? A million thoughts ran through her head. She looked down at the snow, it was packed snow, the same type of snow back at Maretime Bay, and then an idea popped into her head. She formed a snowball and called for Hitch’s attention. As he turned his head towards her, she threw the snowball at it him.

It was a direct hit to his face. “Oh, that’s how we’re playing it? Zipp laughed as she ran for some cover behind a tree. Hitch smiled as he quickly made a snowball and threw it at the fleeing pegasus. She had dodged it and Hitch not wanting to be hit again, got cover behind a wooden bench on the porch of the lodge.

Zipp was hoping this would make up for what she said back by the river. Having fun with Hitch could also change his feelings towards her. Zipp wasn’t much of a mushy word love pony, she much preferred having fun and fooling around; it helped build her confidence and cooled her nerves. As the two prepared for battle against each other, they couldn’t help but trash talk one another. “You’re going down Sheriff.”

“You’d be surprised, Princess, I have been in many snowball fights, and I’m still here standing.” Did he just call her Princess, now he was so going down.

Zipp waited for Hitch to peak out and aim for her. When he did, she threw another snowball at him, and went for another tree; her plan was to sneak attack from behind. Hitch was more aware this time, he used his shoulder to take the hit, and threw his at her. She hadn’t expected him to retaliate so fast and she was struck on her side by the snowball.

“Score one, for the Sheriff!” Hitch said with enthusiasm. He knew he was still down by one, but he had a brilliant plan to tie it up. He then made two snowballs and threw one at the tree Zipp was behind. She had taken the bait and exposed herself ready to throw her next shot at him. Hitch was already waiting and launched his snowball at her as he got away from the bench. “That’s two for the Sheriff. Will the Princess be able to recover and win or will the ‘Mighty Sheriff’ triumph over.

Zipp began to look for Hitch and get him back, but she had lost sight of him. “Where’d you go, Sheriff?” She kept turning all around her but no sign of him. Out of nowhere, Hitch came up from behind and was able to pin her to the ground. This caused Zipp to drop her snowball as she fell.

“Well Princess Zipp it seems you now have two options. Either surrender or I finish it right here.” Hitch had held all of Zipp’s hooves down as he toppled over her. Zipp had a grin on her face as their muzzle were only a few inches away from each other.”You have five seconds to decide or I will decide for you.” She had to admit, she really didn’t like accept defeat and lose, but in the situation she was in, it didn’t seem so bad. Having Hitch overpower her with his strength, making her feel submissive; something about it made her feel electrified. A part of her wanted Hitch to take her right there and now and fuck her til she could barely walk in the morning.

Hitch on the other hand had lost his focus, staring at Zipp’s innocent face she put on. He got lost in her light blue eyes, they looked so magnificent, and it caused to loosen his grip on her. He didn’t know what he was feeling, was he falling for her or was it just one of his intrusive thoughts. His stomach felt weird; like a million sweet things all fluttered around at the same time. Zipp seized this opportunity to regain her snowball and shoved it into his face. Hitch got off of her and began to rub the snow off.”That’s for calling me princess.”

“Oh c’mon, I had you pinned down.” Hitch face was freezing cold from the snow.

“A princess never goes down without a fight.” Zipp spoke in her royal voice once again. The two laughed at the ridiculous snow fight they just had. As they got up and wiped all the snow off themselves, Zipp helped wipe the snow off Hitch’s face. They shared a smile at each other, before Zipp began to head into the lodge. Hitch felt the feeling in his stomach again, he wondered if this is what ponies called having butterflies in your stomach.

Author's Note

This was my favorite one to write, gonna love the next as well.