“It worked!” Izzy said in awe, then jumped around in a circle, ignoring the pegasi who had fainted on the sidewalk. “It worked, it worked, it worked!”
“I can’t believe it,” Sunny said, looking around.
“I know!” Izzy said excitedly, pausing in her jumping to help a woozy pegasus to his feet. When he saw she had a horn, he looked like he might almost faint again. He spread his wings and wobbled into the sky. “I feel like I could go anywhere now!”
“No, it’s not that,” Sunny said. “I mean, yes, well done, that was amazing. But look how much this place has changed.”
Izzy glanced at their surroundings and said, “Hm, you’re right. Weren’t all the pegasi grounded before?”
“Because they couldn’t fly,” Sunny finished, trotting off towards the palace, which jutted into the sky high above Zephyr Heights. “But now they’ve got all kinds of new things. Look, that restaurant is floating.” And indeed it was. “And over there, that bakery cart is run by an earth pony, and pegasi are buying from it just as much as the others.”
Sunny glanced up at the television screens that dominated the city, larger than all the advertising boards. A pegasus was sitting behind the desk, like usual. She had a light pink coat and a short blonde mane, but her companion wasn’t another pegasi, like usual. It was a unicorn, the one who Izzy said collected crystals. His curly red mane poked out from underneath his hat, and he was listening to the pegasus ask him a question. The other news pegasus who usually sat behind the desk was squished off to the side, but still in the frame.
“A lot of mystery still surrounding those three crystals,” the first pegasus was saying. “When first combined, they did nothing, but later, they did much more than just bring back magic.”
“I know what you mean, Dazzle,” the second pegasus answered. “Such a spectacular light show those things created! And that feeling when we all got our magic back - wow! No amount of words can describe how happy I was when I got to fly for the first time.”
“But that’s not it, Skye,” Dazzle continued. “Eyewitnesses to the event, including our one and only Queen Haven and her daughters, Princesses Zipp and Pipp, say that the crystals surrounded an earth pony and lifted her into the air, giving her a horn and wings before the crystals joined together and magic was officially returned.”
Sunny’s ears perked up. She wanted to hear what other ponies thought about her temporary transformation into an alicorn, as she believed it was called. A grainy photo of Sunny with her wings and horn appeared beside Dazzle as she took the screen. The details were hazy, but the general picture was clear.
“Why would this happen to an earth pony instead of a pegasus or a unicorn?” Dazzle went on in a dramatic voice. “Why wouldn’t it happen to a royal instead of a commoner? Is this picture real, or was it all just a hoax? Why would the crystals suddenly activate then after being joined together before? Well, to answer some of those questions, we’ve brought in a genuine crystal expert from Bridlewood.” She turned to the unicorn beside her. “Why do you think the crystals behaved the way they did?”
“I’m not entirely sure,” the unicorn admitted. “I only collected crystals, but I never knew any that had magical properties. Of course, magic was gone from the world, so that might have something to do with it. But I do know that the crystals activated when all pony tribes came together, and there was one crystal for each pony tribe. And they rallied around the one pony who was mainly responsible for it. I met Sunny Starscout in Bridlewood during her quest for the unicorn crystal, and I can guarantee that what happened in Maretime Bay was no hoax, no stunt meant to promote pony unity. Magic has returned, and it is all thanks to one earth pony who never gave up.”
“What a wonderful thing, isn’t it, Dazzle?” Skye asked. “Next up, an interview with some of Queen Haven’s most trusted advisors, explaining to us how and why they faked the royals’ fabled ability to fly while the rest of us stayed grounded. Stay tuned, Zephyr Heights!”
The screen changed to an advertisement for Pipp Petals’ new perfume, and Izzy rolled her eyes. “I still can’t believe that pony has perfumes made after her…”
Sunny nodded, but her heart had been warmed by what the unicorn had said. She’d felt a stab of annoyance when Dazzle had asked if the whole magic crystal thing was a hoax, but the fact that ponies believed in her and were amazed by what she’d done was something that made her day much better. She turned towards the palace and followed Izzy as the purple unicorn bounded to the elevator, in a much better mood now.
The throne room of the palace was busy with preparations for that night’s royal celebration, with pegasi, earth ponies, and unicorns alike setting up decorations. Pegasi swooped around the ceiling, hanging streamers from the golden arches. Unicorns used their magic to carefully adorn the pillars with ribbons and sparkles, and earth ponies stood behind the drawn back curtain, showing the control panel that used to control the wires that created the idea that the royals could still fly, but now it just controlled lights and sound. The pegasi were dispatched to more aerial tasks, and the unicorns had to do special effects, which left the grounded jobs to the earth ponies.
Two pegasi stood on the dais in front of three thrones. One had a pale white coat with a short, bright pink mane with a single blue stripe and lighter pink highlights. She was flapping her multicolored wings and hovering above the other pony, who was pink with a curly purple mane and paler, fluffy wings folded gently over the hidden cell phone that Sunny always knew was there.
“Pipp! Zipp!” Izzy cried, bounding into the room with a goofy grin on her face as the two pegasi turned towards her.
“Izzy! Good to see you again,” Zipp said, swooping down and landing in front of the unicorn. “And Sunny! Long time no see! How ya been?”
“Fine, just fine,” Sunny said impatiently as Pipp trotted down to meet them and Izzy embraced both sisters. Sunny looked around anxiously, saying, “Zipp, where’s my stuff? I need to look for something, and it might be really important.”
“Well, about that,” Zipp said, giving the other ponies a sly glance that Sunny would have noticed if she hadn’t been so distracted. “I’ve been… keeping it somewhere that might take a while to get to right now, but it won’t be a problem after Pipp’s performance. Mostly because everypony will be distracted. So can we show it to you tonight?”
“Tonight?” Sunny exclaimed as Zipp’s words sank in. “But this is really important!”
“Oh, come on, Sunny, that letter in your dad’s journal has waited for years,” Izzy said, blowing a stray strand of hair out of her face. “I think it can wait a few more hours.”
“Wait, letter in your dad’s journal?” Pipp asked, looking at Sunny quizzically. “What’s that about?”
Sunny let out a frustrated breath. “In my journal there were two pages stuck together that could only be separated by magic, so my dad was making sure that I could only find his note if all three pony tribes had been reunited. He found a really old map that I think I recognize but I’m not sure and I can only be sure if I find my dad’s old things and compare it to some of the maps he has there because that’s the only place that I can think of as to where I might have seen something like this. He also asked me to please find out what happened a long time ago as to what made the pony tribes separate since he was unable to. There, now you know. Any questions?”
Pipp and Zipp stared blankly at her. “So, you found a secret letter from your father inside your journal asking you to follow some old map to find out what happened to make the three pony tribes separate?” Pipp asked, tilting her head with a confused look on her face.
“Yes, that’s exactly it! Now, can I please go find my dad’s old stuff?”
“Sunny, please, just trust me,” Zipp pleaded. “We’ll get your dad’s stuff later. Right now, I think you should go to the library and see if there’s anything that could help you. I could ask my mom if she could help, too. She’s kinda jealous of our little adventure. Now she jumps at any opportunity to have a little fun.”
Sunny sighed as Zipp spread a wing over her back and allowed herself to be led away, Izzy and Pipp chatting happily as they brought up the rear.
“So,” Zipp said conversationally as they wove their way through the palace halls, “what did this letter from your father say?”
Wordlessly, Sunny pulled out her journal and flipped to the new page. Zipp’s blue eyes scanned the note, squinting judgementally.
“Geez. Your father wasn’t exactly one for good hoofmanship,” Zipp commented, taking the book from Sunny and holding it in her wing. Izzy and Pipp appeared next to Zipp, and Pipp read the note, too.
“He was probably in a hurry,” Sunny protested. “He probably wrote it before he… before he disappeared.” She hesitated. Her father’s disappearance was a sore subject for her. Only Hitch knew about it.
“Disappearance?” Izzy asked, coming up next to Sunny and looking at her friend with concern on her face. “Sunny, what happened?”
Sunny closed her eyes, and the four of them walked in silence. “I guess I should tell you,” she said finally. “Since you’re my friends and all. Like, if I can’t trust you with this secret, I can’t trust anypony with this secret.”
“You can trust us,” Pipp said hurriedly, looking slightly hurt.
“Yeah, and you’re going to give your cell phone to me so that you won’t record this conversation and post it on your blog or MyStable page or whatever the heck it is you do on that thing,” Zipp said, holding out her hoof. “Now, Pipp.” Her sister protested, but eventually passed it over, grumbling.
“My father disappeared in the night,” Sunny began. “I don’t know how or why, but I woke up by a crashing sound in his room. I was scared, so I just lay there, unsure of what to do. Eventually I fell back asleep, but when I woke up, I went into his room and found his room a mess. The crash I’d heard was a flower vase, and there was water all over the floor. His glasses were still on the nightstand, but his necklace was lying on the floor like it had been thrown across the room. And he never takes his necklace off. Not even to sleep. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him without it.”
Sunny’s throat closed up with unshed tears, and she was quiet for a moment before going on. “I filed a report to the sheriff's office, and it was probably only because Hitch was starting his sheriff's training that they sent out a search party at all. Most ponies didn’t really like my father, and his stories of all three pony kinds once living in harmony. The search team didn’t find anything, but I never really gave up hope that he might be out there somewhere, waiting…”
“Wow, Sunny,” Zipp said after a moment of silence, spreading her wing over Sunny again to comfort her friend. “I had no idea.”
“Me, neither,” Pipp said. “Now, can I have my phone back, please?” Zipp rolled her eyes but tossed it over, and Pipp immediately began doing something on it.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Izzy asked. “You seem kind of down.”
“Talking about my father always makes me feel down,” Sunny insisted, plastering a cheerful smile on her face. “Besides, I have you guys now. And a world to help fix. I don’t have time for my father if I’m going to help bring the pony tribes together again. I think that’s the best I can do for him: make his dream come true.”
“Sunny, what’s your dad’s name?” Pipp asked, distracted by something on her phone.
“Argyle Starshine. Why?”
“Argyle… Starshine. There. Now, do you have a picture of him? Or at least, a description of what he looks like? Never mind, I’ve seen that picture in your house of him. He’s blueish-grayish, right? And he has a blue mane in a ponytail, and… Uh, what’s his cutie mark?”
“Pipp! What are you doing?” Zipp asked, stepping in front of her younger sister so that she couldn’t go any further. “I told you not to post this online!”
“It’s not that! Well, it kind of is, but it’s not like you think! I’m trying to help!” She turned to Sunny. “You say that the search party didn’t find anything, but then again, most ponies didn’t like your father, right? So,” she said when Sunny nodded slowly, “I’m making a stronger search party. Is it okay if I officially report your father missing to everypony?”
“Really? You… you can do that?” Sunny was amazed.
“Well, now that all ponies are somewhat friends again, why not?” Pipp asked, tapping on her screen distractedly. “And if I say that he’s your father, somepony has to see that and think, oh, I should help with that.”
“I guess it’s okay,” Sunny said slowly. “I mean, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble and everything.”
Pipp grinned and continued to tap away on her phone.
“Is everything okay here?” Sunny asked. “I mean, with you… you know, being wanted criminals and all that? Has everypony forgiven you?”
“I would think most ponies have, and if some haven’t, then they’re keeping quiet about it,” Zipp said. “When we got our magic back and returned to Zephyr Heights, obviously some ponies weren’t too happy and demanded that we be arrested.”
“But you explained why you did it, and said you should leave the past behind you, so the majority of Zephyr Heights wanted you back on the throne,” Izzy filled in. “Queen Haven was a bit unpopular those first few days, but she’s won them over again. I think everypony’s just really excited to have their magic back, and that they don’t have to live in fear of other ponies anymore.”
“Why do you say it like you know it already?” Sunny asked, looking at Izzy quizzically. The three other ponies in her company suddenly avoided her gaze. “What? Do you ponies know something I don’t? What is it? Wait, does this have to do with my dad’s stuff?”
“Did you know Hitch is coming tonight?” Pipp said, putting her phone away and looking like she was desperate to change the conversation. “I invited him. Actually, I don’t know for sure if he’s coming tonight, because he’s been pretty busy as sheriff, what with everypony coming together and all that, and he needs to make up for lost time. But he said he would definitely try to make it.”
“Lost time?” Sunny asked, bewildered. “Guys, what is going on?”
The other three ponies just smiled mysteriously and proceeded down the hallway. Sunny stood in place for a while, staring at their retreating backs before following them. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that her friends knew something that she didn’t, and they were purposely hiding it from her.