Creak! Creak! Creak! Bam! Bam! Bam!
"Mama," a young unicorn asked curiously, "What's Izzy Moonbow doing?"
"Speak not the name of the Witch of Tartarus, child," his mother chided him in a hush, and began dragging him off. "Let us away afore you are taken by her windigous madness."
"But she's makin' somethin' cool --"
"Tirek's work is not 'cool', young colt!" she hissed, and they disappeared into the forest.
Izzy Moonbow continued singing to herself in her front yard, craning her neck this way and that to check the bolts on her latest masterpiece.
La la la sun, la la, la la la
La, la, la, laaaa so warm
I have no shade lalalaaaa la la
I want to-go rice late at night
"... Wait, is that how it goes?" She blinked, then shrugged, picked her wrench back up with a twirl, and began singing again, replacing everything with la's until she got tired of it and continued working silently.
Creak, creak!
Thip, thip, thip.
Izzy frowned, tilting her head. "Huh? That's not the noise a wrench makes." She furrowed her brows.
Creak, creak! She waited with an accusatory glare towards her invention.
Thip, thip, thip.
"What the heck," Izzy murmured, scratching at her head, "... now just why in the world is it making a noise like that --"
"Izzy?"
"Eyaagh!" Izzy leapt up and turned at the sudden voice from behind her. "Oh!"
"Sorry," Sunny was standing right behind her with a grimace, her head low and her hooves turned in. "Um, I thought I'd drop by, since we can never call you."
"Funny you mention that -- oh, that was your foots making that noise!" Izzy chirped, forgetting completely what she was about to say otherwise. "I thought my wrench was being sassy!"
"Oh, uh, no, that was me," Sunny sped that along without question. She looked awkwardly around before clearing her throat. "So uh, whatcha doin'?"
"Gettin' myself burned at the stake," Izzy beamed, patting the large, blue-and-white panel next to her affectionately like a beloved pet.
"W-what..?!" Sunny couldn't passively accept that statement.
"Unicorns are still gettin' used to this 'magic' thing," Izzy explained, looking over her work once more. "For every real magic thing we learned how to do we made up five that you can't but if you figure out how you'll be exiled as a windigo-child."
"... A windigo..?" Sunny blinked.
"Yeah, those cloud-pones that hate friendship," Izzy confirmed. Bam, bam, bam! She smacked a few more spots with her wrench. "Everything we don't like we say windigos did it."
"Unicorns appear to be rather superstitious..."
"Aw you don't know the half of it, sister," Izzy rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah! About my phone! It's good you're here, can you tell me, is this what this is supposed to look like?" She smiled and waved at the panel she'd set up.
Taken aback, Sunny double-took and stared at it. "Uh... That depends. What is it?"
"Sounds like a no..." Izzy drooped.
"It looks like a solar panel?" Sunny ventured.
"Aaaaah!" Izzy leapt up, now peppy. "Yes yes yes! That's exactly what it is! Maybe! I don't really understand how they work but I think I can charge my phone here at home now!"
"That's great!" Sunny smiled, looking it over, until the smile became a forced grimace as she noticed something missing. "So uh," the corners of her mouth twitched, "Where do you plug it in?"
"What?" Izzy stopped hopping around and froze, still beaming.
"You have to plug your phone in, right? Like you do at a coffee shop."
Izzy's smile dropped. "... I thought I just had to stand here with it and it'd work."
Sunny slowly inhaled and exhaled, her expression placidly frozen. "How does the solar power get into your phone?"
"It beams it over!" Izzy insisted. She tilted her head. "... doesn't it?"
"No," Sunny shook her head, still grimacing.
"What!" Izzy goat-fainted with a cloud of dirt. "Awwwwww, I don't know how to make a pluggy-thingy!" she smacked at the ground with her hooves for a second or two.
"I'll bring some stuff over and help you out tomorrow," Sunny promised. "But um, the reason I'm here today is uh."
As Izzy got up, she suddenly found herself enveloped in a big hug.
"I'm really sorry I yelled at you," Sunny sniffled.
"Oh pffft," Izzy nuzzled back, giggling. "Of course I forgive you, I put myself in jail, I was way meaner to me than you were."
"What," Sunny laughed, "Gosh, I wish I could stay as upbeat as you."
"Lemme tell you a secret," Izzy said more morosely. "... I'm not always upbeat, I'm just really good at actin' like it... Buuuut it helps that the only prison I've ever been in has a massage chair and a bowl o' fresh fruit..."
"Snrrk..." Sunny snorted. "... Um, I went to talk to Dahlia after you ran off," she tucked her hooves in bashfully. "Y'know, to make sure she was okay. And she told me she was fine and that I was overreacting."
"That's funny, I thought I was the one who kidnapped her," Izzy said sincerely with a hoof to her chin.
They laughed together before their phones rang in unison. "Oh cool, I still have some charge," Izzy observed. "Must be a group call." They fumbled with their phones. "Y'ello?" Izzy chirped brightly.
Pipp sighed. "Oh good, Izzy's not yelling this time --"
"Sprout's got a racism gun!" Hitch screamed frantically. "I don't know how it works but it makes ponies racist. You girls gotta get over here quick but you birds better take a bath first! Oh geez I'm so sorry I said that but someone had to say it and I'm gonna hang up before I say anything else about you darn--" Click.
"Wow," Pipp drawled after a second, "Wow. ... Wow, y'know I stream most of my baths, right? Like, we're not some third-world country who builds castles out of mud instead of I dunno, SOLID GOLD." Click.
"It's usually between 4- to 8-karat gold, but can you believe that's within the ToS? Foals use that site," Zipp sighed. Click.
"Guess Hitch is gonna be a bit late with his apology," Sunny sighed as the two of them also hung up. "He um, insisted --"
"I know, I heard you two talkin' about it, and I forgave both of you ages ago. But Sunny, can I ask a favor?" Izzy batted her lashes.
"You heard--? Uh..." Sunny leaned back uncomfortably. "You can ask, sure..."
"I haven't gotten to see you blow anyone up with your fancy give-me-the-works powers yet," Izzy frowned. "So can ya wait for me to be lookin' before you turn Sprout into ash?"
Sunny wrinkled her nose. "... Sure thing."
"My giiiirl," Izzy hoof-bumped her and began running off, then paused. She looked back over her shoulder. "Take care of the house while we're gone!"
"Okay," came Kind☆'s voice, followed by a small chorus of various affirmations, from behind the door.
Sunny stumbled back from the house, half-rearing up. "... Izzy!" She scolded. "Are there Recalloids living in your house?"
"The six prototypes," Izzy nodded. "It turns out none of them like to be mean. I'm teachin' 'em how to sing impromptu. They're all excellent house-guests..." she considered with a hoof to her chin, "... except maybe Loyal☆ and Honest☆..." She beamed. "It's only 'til they can figure out other arrangements. Everything in the Rainbow Forest shimmers and flickers and no one here is very touchy-feely so no one's noticed anything's weird. C'mon, let's go!" She waved Sunny to follow.
"You're gonna get bingbonged straight to Tartarus," Sunny sighed. She closed her eyes, breathed in and out, and followed Izzy's upbeat galloping with an excellent attempt at a natural smile.