"Alright, so a pony's luminescence is... Sparkly?" Hitch asked Izzy as the trio of ponies walked over the grassy hills outside the vast forest that they had camped in.
"When you're happy, yes! It's all twinkly and bright, like you got a big bucket of glitter dumped on you!" Izzy replied enthusiastically. "Yours is silver, like your badge-y thing!"
Hitch raised an eyebrow curiously, wondering how this unicorn could 'see' somepony's happiness through means other than their facial expression.
"I thought you just said you didn't have any magic," the sheriff countered.
"Yeah, I know. We don't. Not in our horns, anyway. I guess this is a different kind of magic. I'm one of the only unicorns I know that can see luminescence!"
After Hitch's arrival at their campsite, the rest of the night had gone smoothly. Once Maretime Bay's sheriff got his tent set up, everypony was fortunately able to settle down and get some sleep. They got a little bit of a late start due to it being some time since Hitch or Sunny had cooked on an open fire. Once they had gotten out of the forest, they noticed that they had been very gradually gaining altitude when their ears started to pop.
When they crested the next hill just before noon, they saw a rocky mountain range, with the tallest peak rising sharply above the clouds.
"Let me guess..." Hitch said, craning his neck as he attempted to spot the top of the mountain above the low cloud cover. "Zephyr Heights is up there."
"According to the map, yep," Sunny answered, having pulled out one of her dad's old laminated maps from her saddle bags to try and discern the best way to ascend. She really hoped there was a way to do so on hoof, because none of them brought dedicated climbing gear.
"You sure there's a way to walk up there? Because, you know, pegasi might not have thought of that, or maybe they did, and they knew it would be a good way of keeping earth ponies and unicorns away," Izzy commented.
"There has to be a way to get up there by hoof. Depending how big Zephyr Heights is, they had to have a way to get building materials up there, right?" Sunny countered, returning her attention to the map.
"It also might be a good idea to make sure whatever route we choose can be descended quickly as well, just in case we need to retreat or anything," Hitch told her.
"Good idea," Izzy agreed.
Sunny tried her best not to feel disheartened at Izzy's hesitance to make this journey. The earth mare was willing to bet that the unicorn stories about earth ponies and pegasi were just as false and far-fetched as Maretime Bay's stories were about the pegasi and unicorns. Once they were up there and saw things for themselves, she was hoping the wool would finally be lifted from their eyes.
If the pegasi did know something about what happened to unicorn magic, if they could get it back, that would mean better things for everypony.
"Well, if we want to get up there before dark, I'd suggest we eat and hike at the same time," Hitch advised them.
Luckily, they did bring plenty of snacks that were able to be eaten on the go. So with their route decided, they continued towards the mountain as the grass gave way to rocky terrain, and began their climb.
"How would the pegasi even take magic or luminescence?" Sunny asked Izzy.
"Aren't the pegasi really advanced? I've heard stories about how they used to control the weather back in ancient times," the unicorn replied.
"Heh, our stories were just about how they swooped down at night and snatched up young ponies who weren't back indoors before sundown," Hitch added.
"Of which there has never been one recorded, confirmed instance," Sunny pointed out as they started to wrap around the west side of the mountain. As they ascended, their path started to slowly widen, and carve deeper and deeper into the mountain. Before they knew it, they were walking through a ravine with walls that towered several meters above them. They had entered the cloud cover, so their surroundings were also quite foggy to boot.
"Well, this'll make it tricky to see how high up we've come," Hitch commented.
All three ponies froze and looked behind them when they heard rocks slide and tumble down the left wall just behind them.
"Let's keep moving," Hitch said, an air of caution in his voice, as the trio's gait slowly resumed. It wasn't even a few moments later that a couple more small rocks fell closer than the first ones had, and Hitch looked back just in time to see a blurry figure some distance back hop off of the left rock face, then the right, as it zigzagged towards the trio.
"Go, move!" Hitch told the two mares, and they broke into a gallop through the fog. The whooshing gusts of air continued behind them, so whatever was back there definitely knew they were there, and was giving chase down the ravine. Through the fog, they saw a very steep incline up that would have to be climbed, and none of them were certain that there was going to be enough time to make the ascent.
"Quick! Up the— Get down!" Hitch said an instant after looking behind them one last time, hitting the rocky ground and pulled the two mares down with him as whatever was chasing them passed right overhead, barely missing them, and hit the ground, skidding to a halt.
Through the dense fog, they saw that the figure was equine in nature. As it turned, they saw a hot pink mane with aqua streaks styled up, and their eyes widened as it spread a pair of wings with deep purple and blue feathers. It took a couple steps towards them, where the fog no longer concealed her features and they saw her turquoise eyes, ablaze with guarded curiosity.
Sunny and Izzy took in a gasp of breath nearly at the same time.
"A real pegasus..." Sunny whispered in amazement, her eyes widening.
The pegasus mirrored the earth mare's surprise.
"Whoa... A unicorn, and two earth ponies? Okay, well, this day just got a lot more interesting," the pegasus commented.
The mares got to their hooves, shocked expressions still on their faces, while Hitch was more guarded. The pegasus' ears twitched and her attention turned towards the top of the ridge above the cloud cover.
"I could have sworn I heard something, Commander Zoom," they heard a male voice say.
The pegasus glanced at the trio of ponies in front of her and silently put the tip of her hoof to her lips, letting them know to be silent.
"Isn't this where Queen Haven told us she normally comes to practice in private? This far out?"
"The princess gets around. Princess Zephyrina!" They heard a commanding feminine voice call out, echoing against the mountaintops.
"Maybe she headed back already, Commander. If we don't do the same, we'll be late for inspection."
"I'm the commander, Thunder."
"Exactly. You're the one doing the inspecting before citizens start filing in for the royal celebration. You don't want to be late for that."
They heard the commanding guard, who was clearly in charge, give a sigh of exasperation.
"Hope she's headed back. Wouldn't be the first time the Queen's given her a dressing down for being late to a royal affair. Come on, Thunder, lets go."
The four ponies beneath the cloud cover heard the armored hoofsteps decrease in volume before fading entirely.
"A princess?" Izzy asked excitedly. "Your Majesticness. Y-Your Graceful Highness. Y—"
"Zipp. Just call me Zipp."
"Okay. Zipp. I'm Sunny. These are my friends Izzy Moonbow and Hitch Trailblazer."
"Sunny. Izzy. Hitch." The pegasus gave them each a curt nod as she smirked. "Alright, now that introductions are out of the way, what are two earth ponies and a unicorn doing this close to Zephyr Heights?"
"We're here in search of magic," Sunny answered. "The unicorns aren't sure how they lost theirs, and—"
"Whoa whoa, lost theirs? As in, no magic?" Zipp asked.
Sunny and Izzy shook their heads.
The pegasus put a hoof to her chin inquisitively.
"Well, that changes things."
"Um, excuse me, Princess, but if we heard those guards up there correctly, don't you have somewhere to be?" Hitch asked.
"Maybe I do, maybe I don't... And maybe this is more important..." Zipp replied, her gaze falling to the ground in thought. She clearly knew something was up. "Look, I might be able to help you if you can help me, but first, we have to get you three to my hideout. I'll be able to explain things on the way. We need to get closer to the city, and then I'll go and grab you some disguises... And a hood to hide that," Zipp said, pointing at Izzy's horn. "Come on, we don't have a lot of time."