//------------------------------// // Pipp Loses Her Cell Phone (and Zipp Had Nothing to Do With It) // Story: Legends Never Die: A New Age // by bookhorse125 //------------------------------// “THIS IS THE WORST! DAY! EVER!!!” Sunny jolted awake at Pipp’s agonizing scream, and she leaped up to see what was troubling her friend so. Everypony else blinked their eyes open and stumbled to their hooves as Pipp frantically tore up the campsite. “Ugh… where’d the alarm clock come from?” Zipp grumbled, rubbing her eyes. “And why is it set for the literal crack of dawn?” she demanded louder, gesturing to the eastern sky, which was just beginning to get light. “I lost my cell phone!” Pipp wailed, flopping onto the ground and sobbing. There was silence. Zipp smacked her forehead with her hoof. Sprout said, “Uh… okay?” On the ground, Pipp suddenly stopped. She lifted her head and slowly stood up, her deadly glare lasered in on Sprout, who took a step back nervously. “Do you not understand what a tragic moment this is?” she whispered, deathly quiet. When Sprout shook his head (because he honestly didn’t understand, lacking a cell phone himself), Pipp’s volume level increased from somewhat-normal to literally-everypony-in-a-ten-universe-radius-can-probably-hear-you. “I LOST my CELL PHONE!!!” she screeched. “After all the quests, the discoveries, the vanquishing evil, NOTHING has prepared me for this!” She sat back on her haunches and looked pittingly devastated. “Oh, for hoofness sake, Pipp,” Zipp snapped, “nopony cares! Shut up, Hitch,” she growled as the stallion opened his mouth. “You can get another cell phone later - I’m sure your fans will understand.” Her cheerful tone was very forced, and Sunny could tell her teeth were clenched. “You think I care about my fans?” Pipp whimpered, pushing dirt away from her as if her precious device was buried. “How am I going to contact Mom? She’s probably going to go out of her mind with worry if she doesn’t get an update every day! And be thankful that it isn’t going to be every five minutes like she tried to do last time,” she growled. Zipp took a step back. “Woah. Pipp. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you care about something more than your fans.” Her sister threw her a withering glare and opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, Flurry interrupted. “I have an idea,” she ventured, stepping forward. “We didn’t have cell phones, but we did send instantaneous messages by teleporting scrolls with magic. We could try that. Did anypony bring paper?” “There’s a few blank pages in the back of my dad’s journal,” Sunny hesitantly volunteered. “I’d prefer it if you didn’t use too many, though. I want to document the Crystal Empire in there.” Flurry smiled at her. “No worries, I only need one piece.” Sunny passed her a paper and a pen, and Flurry wrote: Dear Queen Haven, This is Flurry Heart and company. We are fine, but Pipp has unfortunately lost her cell phone, so for the time being, we will be sending messages via paper and magic teleportation. Due to limited resources, this will be the only letter we send before we reach the Crystal Empire, but once we reach the city, we will send you another message. If you do not receive a message within the next two days, assume something has happened that has prevented us from contacting you. All the best, Flurry Heart, Pipp Petals, Zipp Storm, Izzy Moonbow, Hitch Trailblazer, Sprout, and Sunny Starscout Pipp read the letter over after they had all signed it. “Seems okay,” she grudgingly admitted. “I do think she’ll be worrying, though.” “Obviously,” Zipp agreed. She was looking at her sister as if seeing her in a whole new light. “But what about pictures?” her younger sister whined. “How am I supposed to take pictures so that we can have records of what we see? What if there’s a very important clue that we can only figure out after hours of tediously studying images of it?” She turned to Flurry. “I don’t suppose there’s some sort of magical alternative to taking photos?” Flurry grinned. “You know it.” She looked at the sky. “We’ll send this in a little bit, when your mom wakes up. For now, we’re awake, so we might as well get started.” While they were talking, Sprout noticed something on the ground a few meters from the campsite. Cautiously going over to investigate, he found that, in a patch of soft ground, there was a hoofprint, but it looked like a big chunk had been taken out of it, almost like… Like the hoof had a hole in it. Sprout’s breath caught in his throat as he remembered a unicorn saying, But her legs had holes in it, which was really weird - like, how does that work? He looked back at the other ponies, who were putting out the last few smoldering coals in the fire. Who could he tell? Sunny wasn’t acting like herself - telling her could be dangerous. Hitch would probably tell him not to worry about it and that he would investigate himself. But there was somepony he could tell… two ponies, actually… “Hey, Flurry, uh… can I see the letter?” he asked quietly. The alicorn looked surprised, but she gave him the rolled-up piece of paper and the pen. Sprout unrolled it on a rock and added a quick post script before giving it back to Flurry. Her blue eyes scanned the addition and widened as she realized what it meant. She looked at him fearfully, and he nodded towards the hoofprint. Flurry slipped away to go look and caught back up when they were walking again. “Should we tell them?” Sprout asked in a whisper. Flurry sighed. “Not yet. There’s just something that doesn’t sit right with the three villains getting released and Sunny acting the way she is happening around the same time… And now Pipp’s phone, our primary mode of communication, is gone. Keep your eyes open for clues, but don’t tell the others yet.” Up in front, Sunny noticed the two whispering like best friends and felt a wave of sadness. You see? the voice in her head said. They don’t care about you. As soon as they can, they’ll get rid of you - a pony who doesn’t know anything - and replace you with that pony - who knows everything, and who’s wings and horn aren’t magical illusions. She’s what they all want, not you. Mark my words, the first chance they get, they’ll throw you out. They’ve already been scheming against you. Sunny shook her head and continued forward, the words creating anger that fueled her on. If her friends didn’t care about her, fine. She would show them that she didn’t need them, either. The rest of the day turned out to be exactly like the first. They stopped for lunch around midday, giving Sunny’s throbbing hooves a break, before setting out again and continuing until sunset. They made camp and slept, this time not being woken up by Pipp’s wails that her cell phone was gone, or that she had lost any other precious items. She was already making plans to send her mother a message when they got to the Crystal Empire about how they needed to organize a search team to scour the area and find where her darling little cellular device had ended up. Zipp was showing great restraint in not strangling her within the first five seconds of this discussion. Sunny’s dreams that night were nightmares that she didn’t understand half of. She was trapped in a swirling cyclone of dark gray smoke. Images flashed in and out of the wind, some of which she knew, some of which she didn’t. She called out, but her voice didn’t seem to work, or maybe the wind was too loud. Then a voice called inside her head, Oh, poor little Sunny Starscout. So alone, without any friends. Such a sad, sad story. Where are you? Sunny thought, whipping around to try and see who was talking to her, but there was nothing but swirling wind and dissolving pictures. She caught a glimpse of her father in the midst of everything, and her walls of resistance crumbled, letting the darkness seep in. You already know that, the voice taunted her. And yet - you have no idea. No idea what you’re doing, or why you’re doing it. If only you had somepony to help you make the right decisions… Well, that’s why we’re here. Poor Sunny, you need somepony to tell you what to do. What choices to make. Where to go. Who to listen to. You need somepony to keep you from getting lost. Something squirmed in Sunny’s heart, trying to tell her something, but she thought the idea of somepony else making all the tough calls sounded rather pleasing. She wouldn’t have to worry about anything anymore. Let me take over, the voice said in a soothing voice. Forget all this and let me handle it. A flash of pink light caught Sunny’s eye, and she turned to see a bright pink star floating in front of her, bold and defiant. The presence of the voice seemed to recede, and Sunny took a deep breath before answering: No. I stay with my friends. If that’s what you want, the voice sighed. But let me warn you - they have already been acting without you. They think that you are dangerous and not to be trusted. They’re not really your friends - I am your friend. I know what you wish for, Sunny Starscout, and I can give it to you. She shook her head and focused on the glowing star. She found peace in it, a sort of stability and clarity that she had been lacking the past couple of days. Leave, she commanded. The voice would be back, and she knew it. But for now, Sunny felt like herself again. The younger filly paced in front of her, agitated. “Stupid friendship magic gimmicks!” she said angrily, kicking a stone across the clearing. “After all this time, we still can’t get away from that stupid pony princess, her stupid friends, and her stupid magic!” “Patience,” the exiled queen said serenely, leaning back against a tree trunk, enjoying the scene in front of her. “We will have what we want, but only if we are careful. We will not fail this time.” The filly groaned. “Ugh, when will he be baaack?” she whined. “I’m sick of just hanging around here and putting thoughts in other ponies’ heads. I want to go do some more evil stuff! Can’t we go cause some mischief among the other creatures now?” “Later,” she replied leisurely, “but soon. The time is almost right. You say she almost complied?” The filly beamed proudly. “I really thought we were going to get her then!” Her features faded into a scowl. “But of course Miss Twilight had to come along and save the day,” she grumbled. “And we need them to find the Crystal Empire once again for our next trick,” the exile agreed. She tilted her head, hearing something far away in the woods. “Wait. I think it’s them.” “About time,” the filly grumbled as a creature and two ponies entered the clearing. The large creature held a book close to his chest. “You were successful?” Sour Lavender snorted. “Obviously.” Permafrost punched him in the gut, and the pegasus snarled as his hoof landed on his wing. “We got what you wanted - now give us what we want,” the unicorn told the exile, who only smiled. “The only way you’ll get what you want is if you stick with us,” she replied. “Trust me when I say that you won’t last a week out there without us.” The two ponies grumbled but made no further complaint. The exile turned to the creature. “Is our next trick prepared?” He nodded, a diabolical grin spreading across his face. “Time to finally do what we were meant to do so long ago.”