//------------------------------// // Midnight Confessions // Story: The Journey of Lukas // by MyAwesomePony //------------------------------// Back in Maretime Bay, at the Canterlogic factory, all of the ponies were hard at work, but this time weren't making more ant-unicorn and Pegasus devices. Sprout, now declared Emperor of Maretime Bay arrived down an elevator to inspect on the process of his upcoming project, all the while, drinking a refreshing smoothie. "Why aren't you finished yet?" He asked angrily as he handed over his smoothie over to Sweets. "W-We're working as fast as we can, but we've run out of rivets." Toots stuttered as Sprout wasn't buying it. "Rivet-ing story."Sprout then laughed at his pun, sighing happily. He suddenly grabbed Toots by the collar. "Just make it work, okay?!" He threatened. Glitter Cupcake then flew by on a pipe, screaming as he did so. Sprout was starting to get annoyed on the fact that his project was taking so long to make. "Sugarcube." Phyliis called out. "I know your little top-secret project is important and all, but when do you think my workers can get back to making Canterlogic products?" Suddenly, both of them heard the sound of screaming from above them, they looked up to see Giltter Cupcake as he smacked face first onto the ground, letting out an audible "OW!" as Phyllis cringed at the pony's fall, but Sprout didn't seem to be affected by it at all. "Back to work, Glitter Cupcake!" Sprout demanded as Glitter Cupcake got picked up by a claw. "It is my factory, after all, dear." Phyllis pointed out. "But it's my town, Mommy!" Sprout said in a hushed voice. "Your son's now emperor of Maretime Bay!" "Emperor?!" Phyllis scoffed in disbelief. "But yesterday you were only the sheriff." "Well, see how fast I'm climbing the ranks? This defense factory is going on offense, and it's all thanks to your love and encouragement." Sprout explained as Phyllis couldn't believe what she had just heard. "Break's over, Bubblegum McGinty!" "Oh, dear. Somepony's getting a big head." Back with Lukas and his friends, their journey was still going strong and had led them to a daisy field that was filled to the brim with daises. They stopped in front of a large pink leaf tree. "That's the tree from the map." Sunny exclaimed as she looked in her book. "That means... it's this way." As the group walked in that direction, a reluctant Pipp and Hitch followed behind. "What am I even doing here?" He asked angrily, thinking that this whole journey is a lost cause. "Hoofing it across daisy fields, looking for a magical crystal that doesn't even exist!" "It was supposed to be my best show ever." Pipp moaned. "And now it's all over. I'm a criminal! And it's all because of..." "Them!" Pipp and Hitch growled in unison. "And that is so not cool." Pipp snarled. "No, it is not." Hitch agreed. "Did I just agree with a Pegasus?" "Hey! Are you sure she even knows where to find this other crystal?" Pipp cried. "Don't you trust me at all?" Zipp asked her sister. "I don't know. You are the one that just got Mom thrown in jail!" Pipp remarked. "Look, once we get our magic back, the whole kingdom will be so excited, they won't even remember what happened back there." Zipp protested. "You'll be a hero, Pipp." Meanwhile, Lukas was singing Pipp's song under his breath, having it stuck in his head. "Glowin' up, kind of love, dip and slide, through the cut." Pipp, overhearing the human's singing, was so impressed, that she soon forgot to be cranky. "Oh, are you singing my song?" "Well yeah, It is pretty catchy after all." Lukas replied while bopping his head. "You know, I don't believe I got your name yet." Pipp wondered. "I'm Lukas." He replied. "Lukas." Pipp repeated. "I like that name, I think it really suits you. "Oh, thank you." Lukas said, blushing a little bit. "Let's get one thing straight." Hitch said sternly to Sunny, who took no notice. "We're almost to the river, everybody!" Sunny announced. "About time." Lukas cheered. "After this whole escapade is over with, you are gonna march back home to Maretime Bay with me. Is that clear?" Hitch asked. "Crystal." Sunny replied without a care in the world. "Great. Because this badge means that I'm the she-" He then felt around his chest, but quickly made a shocking discovery. "No, no, no, no, no! Where's my badge?!" He screamed, before turning over and pointing an accusing hoof at a very optimistic Izzy. "Hey! You!" "Hmm?" Izzy asked innocently. "I know unicorns like shiny things!" Hitch remarked. "Oh, you know, I think I did see a shiny badge-y thing on the ground a few hours ago." Izzy confessed as Hitch gasped. "What?! Hours?!" "Well, maybe it's for the best." Izzy replied, before turning over towards Lukas. "Between you and me, Lukas. That badge was creating an unhealthy power dynamic." She hushed. "Ooh, good one, Izzy." Lukas laughed. As the group continued to walk over towards a canyon, expecting to see some sort of bridge across. But when they looked, there was a bridge there, but it was broken in the middle, leaving a huge gap that would be impossible to jump over. "What are we gonna do?" Sunny gasped. "Any ideas, Zipp?" Pipp asked, turning over to her sister. "You know what would be great right now? Let me think. Maybe something like... THE ABILITY TO FLY!" Zipp snapped. "You know what would be even better?" Pipp asked hypothetically. "Not being stuck in the middle of nowhere as OUTCASTS FROM OUR OWN KINGDOM!" "Man, this is really falling apart." Lukas sighed to himself. "Oh, well. That's the end of that." Hitch said, giving up ."Time to go home. I wish I could say it was nice meeting all of you, but it wasn't. Come on, Sunny." "I don't think so!" Pipp retorted. "Everypony, stop!" Sunny declared, putting an end to the sisters' argument. "We're gonna get to the other side, find the crystal, and bring back magic! And once we do, you'll get to fly, you'll get your fans back, and you'll have me in custody! Everypony happy now?!" Before Sunny could get an answer, there was a sudden snapping sound from behind them, everyone looked over to see that somehow, Izzy had managed to knock down an entire tree. "Ta-daa!" Izzy called out. Luckily, the tree was just long enough to reach the other side of the canyon, making a makeshift bridge. "All right!" Zipp cheered. "Oh great!" Hitch groaned "Way to go, Izzy!" Lukas remarked. "Thanks." Izzy giggled. "Come on, everybody!" Sunny declared again as they all crossed the makeshift bridge safety, but little did they know, that same balloon pony from earlier was still floating through the air, screaming for help, but his pleads fell on deaf ears. By now, the sky was starting to get dark, so the group decided to settle down and re-coop for the night and continue first thing in the morning, and the side of a mountain was the perfect spot for a camp out. Hitch, who was still in a salty mood, was sitting off to the side while the rest of the group prepared a fire, Hitch tried to do the same thing, with little success. "Come on, stupid stick." Hitch growled to himself. "You need some backup, sheriff?" Zipp asked in a cocky voice. "No!" Hitch replied quickly. "Thank you. I've got it. Come on... If only I had a match..." He continued rubbing the two sticks together until he managed to start a small fire, before it quickly went out, much to the sheriff's frustration. "Oh, well, that was sad to watch. Come on, don't be a hero, dude. Come get warm." Zipp encouraged as Lukas walked up towards Hitch. "I'm not sure about this, Lukas." HItch admitted to the human. "Because if we just go back to Maretime Bay..." "What have we got to lose?" Lukas asked. "By giving magic back to our enemies? Uh, let me think. I know – a lot!" Hitch protested, Lukas was getting fed up by his attitude. "Okay, Hitch." He began. "I've just about had it with this new attitude of yours!" "My attitude is not the problem here!" Hitch claimed angrily."The problem here is that Sunny needs to stop jumping to conclusions." "And you need to stop being in a sour mood." Lukas remarked He walked back to the group, sat down and gestured for Hitch to join in as well. Reluctantly, Hitch walked over to the group and sat down as well as Lukas looked over at Sunny who nodded. "So I think we should set off at first light. Last stop – Bridlewood." Sunny declared. "Sounds like a plan, Sunny." Lukas agreed, before he looked over at Izzy, seeing her depressed expression. "Izzy? is something wrong?" After a moment of silence, Izzy spoke up. "It's just that... being with you ponies has been the best thing that's ever happened to me. I guess... I just don't want our adventure to end." "But, Izzy, you'll get your magic." Sunny said, making Izzy feel a bit better about herself. "Can I ask you a question?" Hitch asked. "Why did you come to Maretime Bay?" " I always wanted to visit." Izzy replied. "When I was a filly, I found this pretty lantern." She then reached into her mane and presented a small folded up piece of paper. "It had a message inside. It said I had friends in Maretime Bay." As Izzy unfolded the piece of paper, it was a drawing of a Pegasi, a unicorn and an Earth pony having a picnic together. The drawing looked like it was drawn by a small filly, Sunny looked at the drawing with a huge smile. "It... It was you!" "Wait, Sunny, you drew that?" Lukas asked as Sunny nodded in response. "I made it with my dad." She explained as the drawing was passed over to her. "We always promised each other that someday we would prove that all ponies were meant to be friends. We'll do our part. Hoof to heart." She hugged the drawing to her chest as Izzy and Pipp touched hooves. Hitch, now feeling remorseful, started to open up. "Hey." He began as all eyes were on him. "I want to do my part. What have we got to lose, right?" The group then cheered knowing that everyone was back together again. "I have to admit. A unicorn forest does sound kind of magical." "Well we better get to sleep." Lukas thought. "We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow." Everyone agreed as they all laid down, settling in for the night... The air was silent and the fire had just gone out, Izzy awoke to the sound of wind rushing by her. She examined her surroundings, only to discover that Lukas was nowhere to be seen in the group. Izzy then turned over to see the human sitting on the side of the mountain, looking up at the sky, deep in thought. Izzy then proceeded to get up and trot up to the human's side quietly. "Lukas? are you alright?" She asked as Lukas looked over at her. "Huh, oh, hey Izzy, I'm fine." Lukas assured her. "I'm just thinking." "About what?" Asked the unicorn. "About how I ended up here." Lukas paused for a moment, before continuing. "Okay Izzy, I'm going to tell you something, but you have to promise me not to tell the others. I don't want them to know just yet." "My lips are sealed." Izzy assured the human. "So, to tell you the truth, I'm actually not from around here as you can probably tell." Lukas said jokingly. "You see, I'm a creature that is known as a human." "A human?" Izzy asked. "Well, we were actually monkeys at first, but we eventually evolved into what we are today." Lukas explained. "So how did you end up in Equestria?" Izzy asked, now interested about this. "I don't really remember, but all I know is that I'm probably in some sort of coma right now or something." Lukas wondered. "Anyways, we should get back to sleep." "Yeah, we should." Izzy agreed as they both made their way back to the group, who were fast asleep. "You know, it was glad that you opened up, I must've felt good to get that off your chest." "You know what, it actually did. But it would feel a lot more better when I tell the others." Lukas said as both him and Izzy nodded back off to sleep, now a bit more closer than before...