//------------------------------// // Getting Stuff Done // Story: Of Hooves and History // by Ahmad J Charles //------------------------------// Breakfast was a mostly quiet affair as we poured over the events mostly internally. Haven then reiterated the royal agenda, and we all took mental notes. “Follow me,” she ordered, heading down the hall to a different part of the castle. “See you in a minute, besties,” I called out to Sunny and her friends as I took off after Haven, stopping by the guest suite to grab the iPad. Right away, my eyes took notice of differences; the color palette was noticeably different, with a dominant lighter white-maroon marble tone, and gold accents. The morning light shone vividly through tall, thin windows. Suddenly something stopped me dead in my tracks. “Um, Aiden? I – oh.” Haven called over her shoulder, before noticing me staring solemnly at a large framed art piece. Right away, she rushed to my side and put a comforting hoof on my hand. “This was such a long time ago,” she said softly. “I kept it as a reminder of such a special moment – both in the history of Zephyr Heights and of my life. And my daughters, too. If you deeply miss your own family, you’ve done a pretty good job of burying it, Aiden. Let’s work towards the first step of bringing you home.” I took one last glance at the art before proceeding down the hall and through golden double doors. A queen-size bed stood at one end, with four armchairs and a polished dark wood coffee table by a window overlooking the city. “Go, take a seat,” Haven offered, pushing the door closed. I softly slumped into the chair, almost melting into its soft, plush cushioning. Haven closed the windows and sat beside me “So, what’s got you and Sunny so concerned?” “It’s a long story.” “I’m quite used to them.” I bit my lip and took a deep sigh. “When Sunny and I went to Bridlewood, I got attacked by several unicorns. After the misunderstanding was cleared, it was revealed that they’d fallen for a made-up tale about me, sent to them by a pony who called himself Shootie. Sunny and I took notes of his appearance, as described by several unicorns.” Haven nodded concerningly, and her face grew serious. So I continued. “Later, while out on the road heading here, Hitch runs out of seemingly nowhere and alerts us that Sprout had escaped. Before heading on his way, he handed me a pouch. Inside it was a torn-up shreds of paper. But when we all put it together, it revealed pretty much everything I had theorized to be true. Look.” The air stood still as I turned on the iPad and opened up the photo of the assembled diagram. Haven’s eyes widened with shock and disbelief, but also regret. “I should have known…” she muttered, shaking her head slightly. “I should have told you…” “Told me…?” I began, eager to know the details. “I should have been more transparent with you. As I’m sure Hitch told you, he and I had a deal to transfer Sprout to a secure jail cell in the castle until further notice. Vapor Vici was a newly appointed transport guard that day. When the news broke that the chariot holding Sprout did not arrive in time, I ordered ZBS News Media not to broadcast it, in fear of mass panic. Secretly, I sent out a mailed letter to Hitch, then sent two of my most trusted guards to scout for where the chariot was last seen, and Pipp later gave that info to Hitch. Turns out my guards weren’t as good of detectives as I made them out to be, as they simply called it a dead end. But with the efforts of you, Sunny, Izzy, and my daughters, that end turned into a key lead towards the truth of the matter! Just one thing.” “Oh?” “Where did Hitch find that paper?” “In a trash bin at the Canterlogic building.” Haven nodded with a confident smug grin. “Just as well. Let’s go. I have all I need to lay down the justice hammer.” Down the halls we ran, encountering a guard within five seconds. “Fetch my daughters and their friends, now. Meeting in the guest suite pronto!” Haven ordered. “You Highness, they’re already there. At least last time I checked. Either way, will do.” We soon reached the guest suite – and sure enough, everypony was waiting there. “Listen up,” Haven began, not wasting an ounce of lung capacity. “I have firm conviction in all of your efforts to uncover the evidence of this ongoing mystery. Zipp, I am sorry I didn’t keep you up to date with events. I knew of Sprout’s escape. But right now this isn’t about what Sprout and Vapor Vici did – it’s about finding them and delivering justice. My first three priorities are to conduct a city-wide search, have Ms. Ruby arrested for her compliance in this crime, and conduct the meeting with these mining company board members. As for Mrs. Cloverleaf, it is upon Hitch to decide to arrest and detain her or not, as she is within his legal jurisdiction. However, Pipp needs to send him a text message for recommendation of such legal action, in addition to searching for any other ponies on the platform that resemble Sprout – or Shootie, and also Vapor Vici. Zipp, I need you to set up a classified project for the lab staff. Aiden, Izzy, and Sunny will provide you and me with all the details on what elements will be required. Everypony understands?” “Yes, loud and clear, your Highness!” we replied in unison. In a weird first move, Zipp flew out the window. Pipp sat back in the armchair and started flicking and swiping. I too flicked and swiped through my iPad until I came to photos I had taken of the documents and book pages we had found in the old tree in Bridlewood. “Amazing,” Haven and Sunny breathed. “This will take lots of deciphering.” Then a zap hit me; the little chest! Rummaging through my luggage, I soon found it, tucked behind a bunch of clothes. “These are samples of rocks and crystals,” I explained, handing the chest to Haven, along with the iPad. “Do not lose them.” She reached up and rested a hoof on my shoulder. “A Queen’s word is of the highest caliber. And I will not let any of the meeting attendees possess them either. They shall be for identification purposes only.” While Pipp scanned the depths of the Equestrian Internet, Izzy, Sunny, and I began the task to decipher the age-old inter-dimensional spell. We met Zipp at an elevator and descended to the lower levels of the castle. “Wow,” Izzy breathed, as we stepped into a dark chamber at the bottom level. “Pretty cool, huh? After the magical restoration, Mom set up a facility to try and investigate Equestria’s magic of old. But with so many other developments in the city, it’s gone largely untouched for years.” “Well, now’s a good time as ever to restart!” Sunny declared, flicking a few light switches. My inner engineer began to recognize a few items – flasks, a welder, cutting tools, a chemical testing kit, and so on. But of greater importance was how we would conduct the spell in its purest original form, given its immense power. “We need to some staging first,” I requested. “Based on the information gathered from the tree in Bridlewood. Like for example, where would Izzy stand relative to the large crystal and the smaller cone-shaped chunks.” “Drawing time!” Izzy crowed, pulling sheets of paper off a stack and grabbing pencils out of a pot. Sunny pulled up a chair and we all sat down at a desk to brainstorm and discuss. I roughly sketched a hexagonal prism at one end, and Izzy added a goofy face of her own liking. “Now, where would the little chunks go?” Izzy asked. “That’s a good question, and I’ll answer it via an explanation,” Sunny replied. “The insanely high levels of energy emitted from casting this spell will require it to be on firm, open grounds, with a wide radius of physical clarity. Now when the spell is cast, the natural ‘code’ of the elements has to be extracted from the samples and the beam directed at the crystal, from which the inter-dimensional force field can be emitted in a controlled space.” “We’re missing one thing, though,” Zipp added. “Where are you going to find the exact same crystal fragments that were used to cast this spell all those years ago?” Sunny nearly face-planted into the desk. How could we have missed this crucial step?! Before panic could set in, Zipp let out a brief laugh, much to my confusion. “Perhaps it might simply be in the little collection you gave to my mom,” she mused, and we all nodded with affirmation at the possibility. Izzy suggested placing the elemental chunks equally on each side, with as wide an angle as possible to allow for maximum overreach of the magical power emitted from the crystal. Suddenly no longer were any of us just sharing fun stuff and chatting and goofing about; now we were delving into some serious historical analysis with a purpose and a developing plan. And frankly, I quite liked it as much as holding Pipp.