As the group raced away from Bridlewood, Logan’s laughter managed to lift some of the ponies’ hearts.
“Hitch, that was ingenious!” Logan said as they ran. “I’d say I was wrong about you, but…”
“Save it for later,” Sunny insisted, taking the lead. “We just have to…”
Unfortunately, as the group fled Bridlewood, they crashed into someone. Immediately, Logan pulled Hitch and Zipp back, only to discover…
Zipp and Pipp gasped. “MOM!?”
The former Queen Haven gasped at the sight of her daughters, flinging Izzy and Sunny off her. “Oh, my darlings!” she sobbed, pulling them into an embrace. “Thank hoofness!”
“Y-You escaped!” Zipp whispered.
“How did you find us?” Pipp asked.
Haven merely looked down with a grin as Cloudpuff appeared. Logan’s face fell.
“Oh, you again…” Logan grumbled.
Cloudpuff got out a muffled bark at the diamond dog - whatever the pomeranian said made Logan bristle with outrage - before Cloudpuff turned to Hitch, revealing a certain silver object in his mouth.
Hitch cheered in delight. “My badge! Yes!” he happily put on his badge, as Sunny and Logan exchanged a resigned look, and Izzy smiled as Haven hugged her daughters.
“Oh, I’m so glad I found my little fillies,” Haven whispered in relief. She shook herself off. “Okay, now, I know that if you just come back with me, we can explain everything. Spin the story and they’ll love us again.” She grinned hopefully, though her grin faded as the sisters exchanged a glance. “R-Right?”
Logan, however, gasped in delight. “What if I told you…” he noted. “That there’s a way to reveal that you were telling the truth?”
However, when the Queen turned to Logan, her ears flattened and she pulled her daughters behind her.
“You’re the beast that disrupted my daughter’s song,” she noted, the fire of a protective mother flaring to life in her eyes. “You…”
“Whoa, hang on,” Zipp said, jumping between them. “Logan’s.. Different, but…”
“Let us explain,” Sunny tried to interject, only for the sound of galloping to cut her off. Queen Haven gasped as two guards leaped out of the foliage.
“There she is!” one of them cried. “Your Criminal Highness, you’re coming with us!”
But no sooner had the second guard leaped out before he screamed. “Diamond Dogs!” he screamed, pointing at Logan, then pointing at Izzy. “Unicorns!”
Sunny motioned for Logan to stay back, only for another unicorn to emerge with a thud behind them.
“Give me back my crystals!” Alphabittle growled. “And leave Bridlewood.”
Logan spun back around, Sunny barely able to stop him from attacking… before Queen Haven laughed.
“Your crystals?” she demanded, snatching the Pegasus Crystal from Sunny. “This crystal belongs to me.”
“Not anymore, it doesn’t!” Alphabittle growled. “I won it fair and square!”
“Oh, Bull Duty,” Logan snapped.
“Indeed,” Haven agreed. “Unicorns are known cheaters!”
Alphabittle laughed humorlessly. “And you pegasi always thought you were better than us!”
“Hey, that’s our queen you’re talking to!” one of the guards yelled.
“She’s not a queen here!” another unicorn growled.
As the argument devolved into angry screams and roars, Sunny shared a glance with Logan. He wiggled his eyebrows, his tail already wagging as he grinned hopefully.
With a fight close to breaking out, Sunny sighed, and stepped back. “Do your thing,” she muttered.
Eagerly, Logan stepped forward… and let loose with what was less of a howl and more like a roar. The roar slammed into the arguing ponies like a truck, knocking several of the unicorns off their hooves. The rest flinched down where they stood, staring in shock as the wolf let loose with his sonic howl.
As his howl petered out, Logan slowly caught his breath, his eyes narrowed as he took in the frightened faces around him.
“If you guys intend to fight,” he noted. “You’re going to have a hard time doing it without magic.”
“Bing-bong!” one of the unicorns yelped.
“Oh, shut up!” Logan snapped. “You don’t like it when I say magic? Because no pony has it! Pegasi can’t fly, unicorns can’t cast spells…” He indicated himself. “Heck, even the diamond dogs lost the pack link. None of us have magic.”
“Bing-bong!” another unicorn whimpered, before Sunny stepped forward.
“But we can bring it back,” she insisted, wincing as everyone stared at her in disbelief. “I know it sounds unbelievable, but please, just let us try.”
The princesses looked to their mother. “Please Mom,” Pipp asked.
“Trust us,” Zipp added.
Haven winced, gazing at her daughters and the diamond dog before them, before sighing. Reluctantly, she handed the pegasus crystal over to Sunny.
“You’re wasting your time, kid,” Alphabittle grumbled. But regardless, he didn’t protest as Izzy took the unicorn crystal and brought it over to Sunny.
“Ready Izzy?” Sunny asked.
“Ready,” Izzy confirmed.
“For what?” Logan interjected.
The duo paused. “Huh?”
“You guys are missing a crystal,” Logan pointed out. “You got crystals for unicorns and pegasi, but what about the earth ponies?”
Sunny chuckled. “Well, what about us? We don’t have magic?”
“No?” Logan dared. “You don’t think you got super strength or burrowing skills like a diamond dog?” He chuckled. “Forgive me if I don’t believe you.”
Hitch glanced around. “Wait-wait-wait,” he stammered. “You mean to tell me that we still have to find another crystal?”
“This is ridiculous,” Alphabittle said. “You’re just leading us on.”
Logan’s ears flattened. “So what would you do?” Logan demanded. “Go back to being top dog of a bunch of apathetic goths?” He glared at the unicorns. “You’re all content to just sit around and mope about something when you can fix it right now?” He looked to Queen Haven. “You want to go back to your kingdom in disgrace when you could come back like the queen you are?”
Queen Haven blinked. “Well, I…” she stammered, before Logan addressed the whole group.
“You ponies weren’t the only ones that were united once,” Logan insisted. “The Howlite Howler and the Guardians of Harmony fought to unite this country. They gave everything they had to let us live in peace and harmony. And look where we are now?” He indicated the two groups. “Fighting and complaining over… crystals?”
Sunny and Izzy winced, but didn’t speak, as Logan had the attention of everyone around him.
“We were better than that,” Logan insisted. “Twilight Sparkle and Shiva believed we were better than that.” His voice lowered. “Are you really going to give up on them, after everything they sacrificed for us?”
Alphabittle and Haven exchanged a look, before sighing.
“This is the biggest mistake of my life,” Alphabittle grumbled, but he stepped forward. “So, where exactly is this ‘Earth Pony Crystal?’”
Logan paused, considering his question, before Sunny gasped with a grin.
“I know where we can start looking,” she said, before looking at Hitch with a smile. “Hitch… it’s time to take us back to Maretime Bay.”
###
As the group returned to the city that Sunny and Hitch called home, everyone instantly sensed that something was wrong.
“It’s… quieter than I remember,” Izzy noted. “Is everyone still playing hide and seek?”
“No,” Hitch mumbled, his eyes narrowing. “Something’s going on here.”
Sunny inched into the city, before turning back to Logan, Haven, Alphabittle and the others. “Stay here,” she said. “We’ll figure out what’s happening.”
Despite her claim, the second Sunny and Hitch ran out of sight, Logan dove into the ground and burrowed after them, leaving the pegasi and unicorns worried and pacing on the borders of Maretime Bay.
Soon enough, Hitch, Sunny and the hidden Logan found where everyone was: marching in sync before a large podium.
“Hey,” Hitch yelled to one of the ponies. “What’s going on here?”
“We can’t tell you,” the pony replied. “We’ve signed the Official Sprout Act.”
“Official Sprout what?” Hitch demanded.
“The Stallion in Chief,” another pony announced, before a red earth pony stepped out onto the podium, dressed like some sort of dictator. Logan glared up at him from the earth, glancing at Sunny and Hitch nervously as they gasped in shock.
“SPROUT?!”
“Step!” Sprout ordered. “Citizens of Maretime…” he was cut off as a banner fell in front of him. Logan’s face fell.
“You gotta be kidding me,” Logan grumbled, as Sprout pulled himself out from under the banner and glared at it.
“Can we try that again?” Sprout asked, before Hitch drew his attention.
“Sprout? What are you doing?” Hitch demanded.
The ‘Sprout’ pony just laughed. “Aw, little Sherriff Hitchy came trotting back. Just in time to see ‘me’ do what ‘you’ couldn’t: attack our enemies!”
Logan’s fur bristled, while Hitch stepped closer.
“Wait-wait, no!” he insisted. “Sprout, listen to me! The pegasi and unicorns can be our friends! There’s no need to be afraid of them. Besides, they don’t even have magic.”
The other ponies paused. “What?”
“No magic?” Sprout laughed. “That’s even better!”
“But we can bring magic back!” Sunny insisted. “And with it… friendship.”
Logan grimaced, but to his surprise, several of the ponies relaxed further at the news.
“So, we don’t have to fight?” one of them sighed. “That’s a relief.”
Unfortunately, Sprout was not so easily cowed. “Hey, don’t listen!” he ordered. “They’ve been brainwashed! You’ll all be next if we don’t end this now!” With a press of a button, he lifted the banner, revealing an elaborate war machine. “Say hello,” Sprout declared. “To Sprouticus Maximus.”
The crowd gasped, and Sunny and Hitch backed up, fear in their eyes.
“M-Maybe this is a bit too much,” one of the ponies noted.
But Sprout was undeterred; jumping into his machine, he revved the engine. “Troops!” he declared. “On to Bridlewood!”
But before he could drive forward, Logan burst out of the ground with a snarl.
“Logan?!” Sunny and Hitch yelped.
“Sunny, find the Earth Pony Crystal,” he barked. “Hitch, warn the pegasi and unicorns.” He turned back to Sprout. “This one’s mine.”
Sprout laughed defiantly. “And just what are you supposed to be?” he demanded.
Logan lifted himself to his hind legs, casting aside his leather jacket. As Sunny briefly looked back, she couldn’t help but notice how similar Logan appeared to his ancestor.
“I am Logan Wolfe!” Logan declared. “Descendant of the Howlite Howler, Shiva. Her blood runs through my veins, and her values shine bright in my mind.” He planted himself before the machine. “Once, she stood tall against those that would see our races divided. Now I shall do the same!”
Sprout huffed. “You’ll die,” he replied back. “I’ll beat you, and anyone else that stands in my way!”
Logan merely narrowed his eyes. “No. You will try. And you will fail!”
Cackling, Sprout revved the engine on his machine again, driving it right for the wolf.
But Logan didn’t flinch. With a howl, he threw himself at the machine as well, and they clashed in a shower of sparks.