//------------------------------// // Changes // Story: Forgotten: The Crystal Princess // by milesprower06 //------------------------------// Hitch Trailblazer was up dark and early on his early morning rounds in Maretime Bay, specifically wanting to catch Sprout on his way to CanterLogic, which he did, by standing outside his house until he came out with a cup of coffee twenty minutes later. "There you are, Sprout. Was hoping I'd catch you before work," Hitch said. "I was wondering if you could keep an eye out for Sunny and, what was her name? Fluffy?" Hitch asked. "I don't think we ever got her name. Sunny took her to Zephyr Heights General and told us to keep going," Sprout answered. "Yeah, and I figured we would have heard from her by now, and now my calls aren't getting through to her phone." Hitch said, digging his phone out to check to see if he had gotten any kind of reply yet. "Which means they're probably on their way back; that takes a couple days, and the coverage between Maretime Bay and Zephyr Heights isn't quite there yet. Hitch, relax, I'm sure they're fine." "I'm not worried, Sprout. Sunny can take care of herself, and I'm sure our rescued alicorn can as well. I just wanted to get a jump on them coming back into town so they don't run into the... The changes that happened yesterday if we can notify them ahead of time," Hitch explained. "Yeah, that's true. Might want to prepare her," Sprout admitted. "Right. So if they're coming from the east, do you think you could keep an eye out from CanterLogic?" the sheriff asked. "Well, if I rotated one of the exterior cameras towards the hills, I might be able to catch her before she gets too close. But, that's a long shot, Hitch. Like, I'm pretty sure you can see that giant rainbow before you get anywhere close to town. I think our best bet is to hope Maretime Bay's cell tower gets her one of your messages before she gets too close, and that she'll reply once she does, so one of us can go meet her. I'll keep an eye on the cameras when I can, but I've gotta make sure the Scouticus is ready for another expedition, because we didn't pick up anything from the trip other than that alicorn, and she'll probably want to head back up soon, and I'm not gonna have any objections. We made it back safe once, and we barely used any of our supplies because we were barely there two hours before we had to bring that mare down for medical attention." "Alright, thanks Sprout. I know you'll do what you can. I'll catch you later, pal." With that, Hitch went towards the police station, and Sprout went in the opposite direction towards CanterLogic as the sun was just starting to come up. Flurry awoke slowly, as the haze from a night of nothingness slowly lifted from her mind, and she wiggled out of her sleeping bag and poked her head out of her tent flap to see Sunny breaking down her tent as the sun hadn't gotten over the peak of Zephyr Heights back to the east. "Morning, Flurry. Have a good night?" Sunny asked as she pulled the aluminum tent pole out of the sleeve, and her tent sagged some more. "Well, I can certainly tell I haven't camped in quite awhile, that's for sure. I didn't oversleep, did I?" Flurry asked. "Don't worry about it. We'll still make it to Maretime Bay before sundown if we can keep up a reasonable pace, as long as we can get going within the next half hour or so. Granola bars for breakfast it is," Sunny told her as she continued tending to her tent. With that, Flurry got up, stretched, and rolled up her sleeping bag before also starting to tear her tent down. With the aid of her levitation magic, which was getting better by the hour, she had her camping gear packed and put in the back of the wagon along with Sunny's, who had clearly done this a time or three, having packed up in just over half the time. "Did it always look like this?" Sunny asked after they had gotten under way with the wagon, looking out across the horizon. "You mean untouched nature? Yeah, and whenever I traveled, that's what I liked best. If you weren't going to one of the metropolises, the biggest sign of civilization you would see is the railroad. Airships were used for pleasure cruises, as well as some military use, but not so much for travel. Trains were our primary method of getting around, trains and, well, this," Flurry commented, motioning to the wagon that Sunny was pulling, which was thankfully a bit lighter after a night of camping. "Though I can't imagine there's much left of the railroad after all this time, most of it's probably grown over or rotted." Sunny dug her phone out of her saddlebags and gave it a check after she had finished her breakfast bar. No calls or texts, and that was likely due to the complete lack of signal out here in the prairie. "You think you might want one of these?" Sunny asked Flurry as she dropped her phone back into her saddlebags. "I think that level of technology is beyond me, but maybe with a class or two. Does your town offer those?" "Absolutely. When smartphones started getting shipped to Bridlewood and Maretime Bay, Pipp immediately knew we'd need tutorials on how to use them. Class sizes have decreased as more ponies have gotten their phones and learned how to use them, but they're still being offered, regardless." "Sounds like something I might look into, once I'm settled in. I still have no idea what I'd like to do, other than help you with any historical questions. Truth be told, I'm not sure if I'll be the source of any major breakthroughs, Sunny. The Crystal Empire is pretty far removed from the rest of Equestria. Now, once you go back up to the Empire, I'm looking forward to helping you up there with whatever you need." "Please let me know if there's anything up there that you think should be left untouched," Sunny offered, and Flurry merely shrugged. "The only thing I can think of in that regard would be graves, and at this point I imagine those are under so many layers of snow and ice that there's very little chance that we'll accidentally come across any. Other than that, I'm perfectly fine with bringing down whatever we can, so the rest of Equestria can see us and remember us," Flurry told the earth mare. After their morning conversation, most of the second day was focused less on talking and more on getting back to Sunny's home. Both lunch and dinner were eaten on the go to keep their pace, because neither of them wanted to be within an hour or so of Maretime Bay and lose their daylight. Right after dinner, Sunny got a single bar on her phone, and heard it vibrating in her saddlebags. Digging it out, she tapped the screen, and saw the alerts; four missed calls from Hitch, Izzy, Zipp, and Pipp, and five texts from her aforementioned friends plus Sprout. Izzy OMH you have to see this! Zipp Sunny you're not going to believe this! Hitch You're in for quite the surprise! Eeee! Pipp I haven't posted about it yet because spoilers are terrible, but the entire town can see it. Hope you get here soon! Sprout Hey Sunny, Hitch wanted me to keep an eye out for your approach. You're coming from the northeast, right? Get a hold of me when you've got a signal, and I'll head out to meet you. "Okay, something has clearly happened," Sunny said as she scrolled through the messages, before typing in a reply to Sprout, and also letting the others know that she would be in town within the hour. "That's a pretty nice rainbow on the horizon," Flurry commented. "That's odd. There's not a rain cloud in the sky," Sunny offered. The pair of mares continued over the last few hills, and Sunny caught the top of her lighthouse behind the looming building of CanterLogic. "What...?" She asked, confused. As they continued walking, the lighthouse dipped behind the large factory, but the rainbow still remained visible high into the clouds, and Sunny's eyes fell to the top of the last hill, where she saw Sprout trotting out to meet them. "Evening, Sprout. You doing okay?" Sunny asked as the red stallion came up to them, almost panting. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just... Just shouldn't have had that last slice of pizza for dinner," Sprout said, taking a few deep breaths. "I know we didn't get everyone properly introduced. Sprout, this is Flurry Heart, of the Crystal Empire. Flurry, this is Sprout Cloverleaf, of Maretime Bay and CanterLogic Research and Development," Sunny announced. Sprout gave her a smile. "Welcome to Maretime Bay, Flurry. It's good to see you up on your hooves. You were in a pretty bad way." "You were the driver of the vehicle, right? Nice to meet you, Sprout, and thank you for getting me down to get medical care," Flurry replied. "Wanted to catch you before you got too far into town so you don't, well, flip out at what's happened," Sprout said, turning back to Sunny. "Well, I can see already that something's happened thanks to that rainbow. What's going on?" Sunny said. "Well, come and see."