But Pipp needn’t have worried.
Bright and early the next morning, Izzy sang tunelessly to herself as she loaded scoop after scoop of sugar into the coffee cup. When it was more sugar by weight than coffee, she stirred it and took a long drink. “Ahh.”
Pipp sat up and, her eyes still closed, blearily reached for it. Izzy, accommodating as always, slid it over.
Her confused panicking woke everypony else up.
Now that everypony was awake, Pipp hesitantly checked the feed. “Check this out,” she said.
The feed was full of ponies talking about their friends.
All while emulating Pipp’s style.
“You’re helping make a difference. You’re amazing, Pipp,” Sunny said.
Pipp giggled.
“I’m not so sure about the leg warmers coming back, though,” Izzy said.
“Yeah, it was a weird time,” Pipp agreed.
Together, they went upstairs to check on the magic stream.
“It’s looking steady. I think it’s working.”
“I’ve got a good feeling about today.”
Sunny let her head fall back. “Nothing,” she said. “We can’t find anything. Nothing about her, where she could be from, what she’s trying to do.”
“It feels like we’re running blind,” Hitch agreed.
Pipp slammed a book shut, sending up a cloud of dust. “If I have to read another word, I’m going to lose my mind. Let’s go out and look for her.”
“Yeah! Hooves on the ground, like a posse!” Izzy agreed. “Deputize me, sheriff!”
Sunny was feeling outvoted, but she had to admit, it couldn’t be worse than how helpless she felt here. “Alright, let’s go. And when we find her…”
“We’ll fart on her pillow and give her pink eye!” Izzy shouted.
“Seeing as how she’s in Zipp’s body, I say we don’t do that,” Hitch said.
“Yeah, uh, me too,” Sunny agreed. “But we will find her!”
“We ride at dawn!” Izzy screeched.
The four ponies trudged back into Pipp’s room and collapsed on the furniture.
“I never realized Zephyr Heights was so big,” Pipp said. “I mean, I always knew, but I didn’t know, you know?”
“I know,” Izzy agreed.
“I just… how?” Sunny asked. “How did nopony see her at all?”
Pipp tapped on her phone and then blanched. “I don’t know, but she saw us,” she breathed.
Zipp’s number had sent a few pictures to her phone. One of them walking, one of them searching, one of their lunch from when they’d taken a break. One of Hitch’s animal friends.
And a selfie with Zipp, now wearing her mane in foalish curls topped with a bow, wearing a cheeky smile… as she hovered barely a foot away from Hitch’s hindquarters.
Hitch whimpered.
“That’s just unnecessary,” Sunny said.
“Maybe she just likes your butt?” Izzy offered.
“Weird. It’s not like it’s that special, right?” Hitch said, hoping to ease the tension a bit.
But this didn’t get a reaction.
Instead, Hitch realized that nopony was meeting his eyes.
“Well,” he said, adjusting his front hoof. “This has been an awkward and enlightening conversation, more of the first than the second.”
“Ok, so we can’t find her,” Sunny said. “But she can find us. And she’s here. And she’s watching us.”
“She’s taunting us,” Pipp said.
“We can’t let her think she’s gotten to us, or she might escalate further.”
“To what?” Izzy wondered.
“I don’t know,” Sunny said, “and I don’t really want to find out.”
“If we can’t find her, maybe we can draw her to us,” Hitch said.
“Like a trap,” Pipp agreed. “Put her on the defensive.”
“Alright,” Sunny said. “What do we know about Cozy Glow that can help us with that?”
“She liked being the center of attention,” Pipp offered.
“Yeah. She was pretty mad at being forgotten,” Izzy agreed.
“Wait,” Pipp said, thinking. “She likes being the center of attention, but she hates being forgotten… you know, I bet she’d really hate being the butt of a joke.”
“So, what, we start a campaign to have everypony make fun of her?” Sunny asked. “That’s not very nice.”
“We don’t have to outright say it. We can just make it like a challenge.”
“A manufactured meme,” Izzy said.
“But for a good cause,” Pipp emphasized.
“Ok. Something that will draw her attention, something to rile her up enough to respond, but targeted enough to her that she’ll respond. Let’s get brainstorming.”
“I am all brainstormed out,” Izzy reported, knocking on the side of her head. “Not even a drizzle in there.”
Hitch grunted his agreement and kicked a wad of paper over towards the basket. Izzy lit her horn and pulled it over to catch it before it hit the ground.
Sunny raised her head as an idea occurred to her. “Hey, Pipp. Do you think your mom would still let us use the buckball field?”