Legends Never Die: The Search For Sunny

by bookhorse125


Destiny Says Otherwise

“Call me crazy,” Hitch ventured after a while, “but this seems to be the exact spot we were in… days ago.”

Flurry took her eyes off the sky and looked around them - he was right. “Well. That’s… strange.”

“Stranger than following a bunch of stars?” Zipp said, walking next to her sister and wincing as she ruffled her wings. After flying for days on end, her wings had cramped up, and she was now resorting to walking and avoiding the smug looks Pipp kept giving her.

“I think the strangest thing,” Pipp added, “is that we followed a bunch of stars to a place we had already been. Does anypony else get the feeling that they’re not leading us to Sunny?”

“Does anypony else get the feeling that we must be insane to follow the directions of glowy things in the sky?” Sprout muttered to himself.

Izzy waved it off. “We’ve done worse things. Besides, do stars usually do… that?”

She gestured to the bright sky, the sun beating down overhead, and the cluster of stars that were still visible despite the time of day. And they were still flashing. Flurry hoped that nopony else saw them and got an idea into their heads that wouldn’t turn out so good for them…

The red stallion shrugged. “I saw a bunch of stars fall down to earth once, and right after that, I met a ghost from the past. So… maybe it is normal, and we just never noticed.”

“Where are they even taking us?” Pipp whined, lifting a hoof and shaking it a little. “My hooves feel like they’re about to fall off.” She fixed her face with a woeful expression, and Zipp scoffed, thwacking her sister in the face with her wing before trotting off.

Flurry studied the sun, and then the stars. “It looks like… north? And a little west. I’m not sure why… Maybe whoever’s making them do that wants us to find something?”

“You think somepony’s behind this?” Hitch demanded.

“I… I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Flurry murmured. “I hope it’s not a bad sign…”

“Uh, guys?” Izzy said tentatively, not wanting to point anything out but also knowing that this was something that she couldn’t keep to herself. “Is it just me, or… do they look like they’re getting closer?” She squinted at the sky. “I think I can see it more clearly now…”

“It’s stopping,” Hitch realized, quickening his pace. “Whatever it wants to show us, it must be just up there.”

The six ponies practically ran across the remaining flat plains they were currently on and dashed through the dark forest over which the stars had stopped, Izzy and Flurry lighting their horns to give them light. Pipp made their progress a little slower by tripping over a log and ‘limping’ for the next few meters before Zipp told her that there might be bears in these woods, and her hoof seemed to miraculously heal right then and there.

Night had fallen, the six stars brighter than ever now, when they burst into an open clearing, looking up to confirm that the constellation they had been following was, indeed, right above their heads.

“Everypony, split up,” Flurry commanded, spreading her wings and surveying the scene below her. “Something important has to be here somewhere.”

They all dashed away to different corners of the clearing, Izzy lifting rocks with her magic, Hitch lifting rocks without magic, Sprout pawing at the roots of the trees, Zipp and Pipp joining Flurry in the air. Flurry and Izzy eventually had to run around, answering the calls of everypony else when they needed better lighting. Despite all this, it was Pipp who finally found it.

The pegasus was trotting along the ground, giving her wings a rest, her phone out and flashlight on, scanning the ground, when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Caught on a thorn bush was a piece of weathered paper, fluttering meekly in the thin breeze.

She carefully approached the bush, apprehensive, as anypony would be after everything they had been through, and carefully untangled the paper. Her eyes scanned the title, and she froze.

“Uh, guys?”

“Pipp, if this is another excuse, I swear by all the stars, I am going to-” Zipp started, but her sister cut her off.

“It’s not that! I - I think I found what we’re looking for.”

Flurry landed in front of the pink pony and took the paper from her, quickly reading it. Her blue eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open. She looked up at Pipp, at a loss for words. “Th-this is a spell,” she whispered. “A spell for… for a mind link. A mind link that allows one pony to put thoughts in the head of another… and take memories out. A mind link that can make a pony lose themselves.”

“Like with Sunny!” Izzy exclaimed, a huge grin spreading across her face. “Do you know what this is? This is proof! Proof that she wasn’t herself - we can use this! Everything’s going to be fine now!”

“Right,” Zipp said unenthusiastically, kicking at the ground. “Except that we have no proof that this is the spell that was used on Sunny.”

“So it doesn’t matter?” Pipp’s eyes filled with tears, and she stuck out her lip.

“No, it does,” Flurry said quickly, comforting the younger pegasus while Zipp rolled her eyes. “We just need to find one more piece of evidence… and that unfortunately will be a lot harder to find than this. We either need Sunny so that we can show everypony that this was the spell cast on her - I know a spell that reveals any magic cast on a pony. Or we need one of the villains who did it to her to come up and confess to it, which is something that I don’t think they’ll be very inclined to do.”

All of a sudden, a scroll popped into existence in front of Izzy, who gave a little jump before grabbing it with her magic. She unrolled it and looked at the signature at the bottom, her eyes widening.

“It’s from Alphabittle!” she said excitedly, talking over everypony else’s excited exclamations. “Listen - Dear Izzy, I hope this finds you safe and unharmed. And everypony else, too. Especially Pipp and Zipp - I just know that their mother will never forgive herself if something terrible happened to them. Speaking of the queen, she believes she has found a loophole that she can exploit, but the chances of it working are slim, so she hopes you will be able to find something else to help.” Izzy nodded at Pipp, who tucked the spell under her wing where it rested next to her phone.

Unfortunately, what I am writing to you about has nothing to do with Sunny - it has something to do with Flurry Heart. Phyllis has detected more strange magical activity north in the Crystal Empire, but Haven can’t spare anypony to go check it out - every unit she can spare is looking for Sunny. I have faith that it will be you and your friends who find her, though.

Me and Haven were both wondering if you and your friends could go see if anything is going wrong in the Crystal Empire - it could possibly have something to do with Sunny, and even if it doesn’t, you may just discover that a new villain is approaching who is out to destroy Equestria - who knows, really? Your friend, Alphabittle.

P. S. This is Queen Haven. I’m sorry I can’t do more. Zipp, Pipp, I love you and I hope you will be home soon.” Izzy frowned at the paper. “That’s all there is.” She rolled up the paper and noticed Flurry’s panicked expression. “Flurry? Are you okay?”

“I feel it now,” the alicorn whispered. “I felt it before, but - but now I know. The Crystal Empire - it's in danger.” She looked at the assembled ponies and spread her wings. “I’ll go. Alone. It’s my kingdom, and I’m responsible for it. The rest of you, keep looking for Sunny. I’ll come find you later.” She prepared to take off, but Zipp grabbed her hoof.

“Oh, no no no no,” the pegasus said firmly, pinning Flurry’s hoof to the ground. “You are not going anywhere alone. We’re coming with you. Right?” Everypony else nodded. “If you’re going to the Crystal Empire, then so are we. We’re basically jumping at any leads we can get at this point. If your home is in danger, then it might have something to do with those villains - and they might have Sunny with them. In a way, we aren’t exactly straying from our mission.”

“But Sunny…” Flurry swallowed. “Sunny’s counting on us. We can’t just abandon her. What if she really is down there, and we miss her?” She took a deep breath. “I think we should keep looking for Sunny. The Crystal Empire isn’t much now - just an empty city. I think… I think it can wait. For a little while, at least.”

The words were hard to force out, but once she said them, she knew she had made the right choice. The ponies were nodding while also giving her concerning looks, but they were turning around, they were going back to the forest. She breathed a huge sigh of relief.

As they walked, Sprout caught up to her. “Hey,” he said quietly. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Flurry said quickly - a little too quickly. Sprout gave her a look, and she sighed. “Okay, not fine. I just had to choose between my friend and my kingdom - I always hoped that I would never have to do that. And now that I have, have I even made the right choice? What if Sunny could get out on her own, and we don’t need to go looking for her? What if she was right that we should stay away? What if something terrible happens to the Crystal Empire while we’re away, and I wasn’t there to stop it or save what’s left?” She shook her head and studied the ground passing under her hooves. “I know what I said - that it’s only an empty city. But it used to be so much more than that. And I don’t want to give up hope that it could be something like that again.”

“You sound like Sunny,” Sprout told her. “Always hopeful.” He nudged her playfully. “I’m no expert, but I think a good ruler should be hopeful - and I think you would be a really good ruler.”

Flurry surprised herself by smiling. “Thanks, Sprout.” She tilted her head at the sky and thought. “What are you going to do when this is all done? You know, after we save the world a dozen times and things have finally cooled down a bit,” she added teasingly.

He thought for a bit. “I think it would be fun to open a pizza shop… but not in Maretime Bay. Too awkward. But… maybe in Zephyr Heights or Bridlewood?” he added hopefully, looking at Zipp and Izzy, who both shrugged.

“Well, I know what I’m going to get to do,” Zipp grumbled, rolling her eyes. “Get to be queen, woohoo.” Despite her tone, Flurry thought she caught a hint of a smile on the pegasus.

“I want to open my own mane salon!” Pipp said excitedly, bouncing on her hooves. “Oh, and it can also have a stage, because of course, and I think I’m going to call it…” She frowned, thinking and tapping her hoof to her chin. Her face lit up. “Mane Melody,” she whispered in a hushed voice as if the name were sacred.

I’m going to show all those ponies in Zephyr Heights how to pick up their own litter,” Hitch announced, glaring at Zipp. “Promise me that, once you’re queen, you will make your citizens take better care of their city.”

“Maybe I’ll just have you do that,” Zipp said, lifting her head regally but unable to keep from snickering.

“What about you, Izzy?” Pipp asked, and the unicorn fell silent to think.

“I don’t know,” she finally said. “But I do know that, whatever it is, I’ll want to hang out with you guys - my best friends. Oh, and Sunny, of course,” she added hurriedly.

Flurry laughed. “Of course.” She trotted up beside the unicorn and grinned at her. “Izzy, I think that’s what I want, too.”