//------------------------------// // Crystal Brighthouse // Story: Forgotten: The Crystal Princess // by milesprower06 //------------------------------// Flurry walked besides Sunny with Sprout on the other side of the earth mare as they made their way through downtown Maretime Bay. The alicorn that stood a full head taller than her companions was drawing all sorts of stares and murmurs from passers-by as they went to and from work, dinner, and home. "I'm not going to be hard to explain, am I?" Flurry asked, trying not to meet every single pair of staring eyes that she noticed as they made their way down to the coastal road. When they came to the corner, giving them the best view of the lighthouse so far, Sunny's mouth dropped open, and her breath left her in a gasp. "Oh.. My... Stars." "Welp, I owe Hitch five bits," Sprout mumbled, chuckling to himself. Sunny's gait up the coast to her home increased to a gallop, and Sprout and Flurry adjusted to keep up with her. As she closed in, one thing was blatantly obvious; her formerly stone and wood lighthouse was now a larger, crystalline, brass, and glass structure. She climbed to the top of the hill, and skidded to a halt, where she saw Izzy, Pipp, and Zipp picnicking just off in front of the planters on the left side of the path. "There you are, finally," Zipp said. "Sprout told us you were on your way, and we can't wait to see the inside of this place." "You... You haven't been inside? How long has it been like this?" Sunny asked, her bewilderment still running high. "Well of course not," Pipp commented, getting up to her hooves. "It's your house, you should be the first one to see it. Now, honestly, the construction team did go in to have a look to make sure it's structurally sound and fit for living in, and they gave the okay. Other than that, nopony has been inside." "I don't think anypony actually saw it happen, because it was so late at night. Everything was quiet, and all of a sudden, poof, new lighthouse with a bright rainbow coming out of it. In fact, you could say it's more like a Brighthouse!" Izzy declared excitedly. Sunny took another breath as she slowly took steps towards the 'Brighthouse'. What used to be a single front door was now a set of double doors that was nearly twice as tall as the main entrance used to be. Above the doors was a brilliant arch window of stained glass. The center panel depicted the three Unity Crystals, and the three sections above it showed recreations of Bridlewood, Maretime Bay, and Zephyr Heights. Above the entry way, there was a large curved window to let more light in, before joining the main round structure, made of striped crystal, of repeating shades of purple. Above that, two large brass rings with twin supports for the large cylinder of glass that continued the tower up to the balcony and catwalk. The light chamber was also brass and glass, with 'wings' stretching out to the left and right, and lastly, a large replica of the Unity Crystals making up the very tip of the tower. "Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go and take a look!" Zipp encouraged, as the others got up from their places around the picnic blanket. "Where's Hitch?" Sunny asked. "Oh, I don't think he'll be joining us. Things got just as interesting for him while you were away too," Pipp said. "What, the station turn into something spectacular too?" The earth mare asked with a smirk. "Nope, he found an egg on the beach!" Izzy exclaimed. "An egg? What, like a seagull egg?" "That would have to be one massive seagull," Zipp quipped. "No, much too big to be a seagull. Not sure what it is, but he's been watching over it night and day, even turned one of the cabinets in his office into an incubator of sorts. He'd probably love to show you tomorrow, it is getting awfully late." Due to the light emanating from the rainbow beam coming out of the tower, Sunny almost didn't notice how Maretime Bay had almost lost the sun for the evening. "Right, well, let's see if we have a place to sleep tonight," Sunny said, and with her friends behind her, she went up the front ramp, and pushed the doors open with both of her front hooves. When she got her first look at the interior, her breath was taken away again. Two short steps descended into the foyer, with multi-colored crystal tiles making up the floor. The walls were painted a sky blue. The kitchen on the right side was roughly in the same place it had been originally, with a bit more space this time around. Instead of stairs off on the left side wall, two spiral ramps made of crystal and polished wood provided access to the second floor. Sunny ascended the curving walkway and her smile widened further when she saw all of the available space on the second floor, where the elevator to the top waited in the center, a rainbow beam shining up out of the glass cylinder. "This... This is way too much room for just me. This is for all of us, I just know it," Sunny commented, turning around to the two pegasi, unicorn, and alicorn who had accompanied her inside. "Even you, Flurry. There's so much space to spare!" She got smiles and nods from her friends, who were realizing that with that idea, they now all suddenly had a place to stay in Maretime Bay as well. Izzy's grin was the widest as the opportunities for unicycling was expanding in her mind by the millisecond. Not wanting to get too far ahead of herself, she stepped towards the elevator with her friends, and once they were all on the platform, Sunny pressed her hoof to the glowing touch pad on the wall, and it rose effortlessly up to the top of the lighthouse. There, just above the heads of all of them, in the middle of the rainbow beam, floated the three Unity Crystals. The view from the balcony provided the same spectacular view of both the ocean and Maretime Bay. "So those are the crystals..." Flurry said, admiring them as they stepped off of the lift. After all the lift's occupants stepped away, the joined Unity Crystals gently floated down to head level. "It reminds me of the time that Twilight got her castle," Flurry commented, looking over at Sunny. "That magically popped out of the ground too. And I do think you're right. This place is for you and your friends." Sunny smiled as she came up next to Flurry to admire the sparkling crystals in the setting sun, before turning back to her friends. "Izzy, I know you're probably thinking it, so the second floor? Go nuts with the unicycling, as long as we have six or more places to sleep." The unicorn's grin widened. "I think I'll go back down to the wagon and get my sleeping pad, sleeping bag, and pillow. If it's alright with you, I think I'd like to spend the night up here, with these," Flurry told her, as they all got back onto the lift after admiring the view of the landscape. "As long as you don't think it'll be too chilly up there, be my guest, Flurry." "Here's to a good night's sleep!" Izzy said as they started to descend back down to the second floor. "I am going to do so. Much. Unicycling tomorrow!" "Where did you go...?" The unicorn heard the alicorn say from behind her bedroom door. She wasn't exactly tired just yet, but she was left very strict instructions to not leave her room or disturb her mistress tonight; dreamwalking magic took incredible amounts of concentration, and she needed solitude to maintain her focus. So the closest the unicorn would be getting to any excitement tonight would be putting her ear up against the door and hearing what she could. "You cannot hide forever, child..."