The Tale of Neon Light

Written by DeffBwade

Chapter 8: The Return of Magic

As the dust finally dissipated, I lifted my head up and saw that the lighthouse was now in pieces.

"Holy..." I thought before I got up and went closer to the destroyed building. Much to my relief, I saw Sunny and Izzy getting up from the debris, mostly unscathed aside from a couple of scratches.

"Yeah, we're fine," Sunny answered glumly before looking up at the destroyed lighthouse with a saddened expression, "But...my home..."

"O-oh..." I muttered at that. I felt sympathy for the mare. I'm sure it's not easy to lose your home like that. Despite probably knowing the answer already, I still asked, "The crystals? Did they...?"

"Crap. Just when we thought we finally had it, it turned out to be a dud instead," I thought turned and looked at all of the ponies around us, "It's amazing what this whole thing has led to."

Looking around the area, I saw ponies of all types. Pegasi from Zephyr Heights, unicorns from Bridlewood, and earth ponies from Maritime Bay. All getting up after this whole disaster. I even saw a few ponies helping each other up, even if they were different pony types.

"Heh. I bet this was Sunny's dream. Ponies of all types here and coming...together..." I thought before having some kind of...epiphany. I don't know. It's been nagging at the back of my mind. I also think I was feeling a sense of...doubt? Skepticism?

"What if...what if we were going about this the wrong way? I mean, just look around you," I said, gesturing to all the ponies and our friends, "All of these ponies that are here because of our whole journey. The friends we've made despite the fact that we were taught to fear the other tribes," I continued before asking, "Sunny, what if isn't the crystals that need to be brought together?"

If I was being honest...I was kind of just speaking my mind. But...you have to admit it does make you think. If putting the three crystals didn't work, then either they were completely defective...or they needed some sort of spark.

After a few seconds of looking around, Sunny became less dejected and smiled as it was her turn to have an epiphany.

"I...I understand now," she said for everypony to hear before explaining, "It's us. We can bring back everything that was lost, but it's up to us. We can stay separated by fear and distrust... Or, we can choose friendship... We can choose love... That's the true magic."

While the ponies around us looked at Sunny with surprise, me and the others looked at her with smiles. Looking back, we all did manage to become friends with each other without magic or wanting to fight each other.

Sunny walked over to a broken picture frame with a picture of her when she was a filly and what I assume to be her father, and most likely feeling sad considering that he isn't here. Then, Queen Haven walked over to her and slowly pushed the left wooden frame in place, then looked at Sunny and smiled. Alphabittle was the next to approach, and fixed the right frame. Last came the pink earth pony, who replaced the top of the frame in place.

In the corner of my vision, I noticed lights shining from the rubble. I turned my head and saw the three crystals floating out before they moved towards Sunny and started to swirl around her.

Sunny started to float up into the air, the crystals still swirling around her, before she grew golden-colored and transparent wings and a horn. Additionally, a rainbow line started to form on her mane, adding some extra flair to the magical glow-up.

The rest of us, and I'm sure the other ponies watching, were all amazed at the sight.

After the magical glow-up that Sunny had, the crystals suddenly came together, and let out a rainbow ring that lit up the night sky and filled it with colors.

The sudden light show made us close our eyes for moment, but when we opened them, Izzy started to squeal with excitement as her horn started to light up.

My thoughts were interrupted as I noticed my wings were glowing, along with Zipp's and Pipp's. Naturally, we stretched them out and flapped them to see what would happen, and then we actually started flying!

"Woah...this is awesome!" I exclaimed happily as we flapped our wings and took to the sky.

The feeling is...surreal. All my life I've just been stuck to the ground, but I'm...I mean, we're actually flying for the first time ever! Having my hooves off of the ground. The wind blowing through my mane.

"Whoa, Sunny!" Zipp exclaimed as we met up with the apricot mare in the sky "Check you out!"

"What?" Hitch exclaimed as we landed on the ground, still surprised by Sunny's new appearance.

"Hey look!" Pipp said, pointing up to the sky and the vast rainbow ring traveling through it.

In Bridlewood, the unicorns were still vey depressed, but as soon as their horns started to glow, they immediately became happy.

"Daddy! Daddy! The magic is real!" a unicorn exclaimed happily as he ran to his dad.

Even the crystals scattered throughout the village glowed with the return of magic, as the unicorns were still becoming happy.

In Zephyr Heights, the pegasi were happily flying around, as if they didn't care about anything else, since they were having the time of their lives with their abilities.

A beautiful small town that overlooked the sea. The buildings weren't grandiose or tiny, but were about the size you would expect in a beach town.

Not to mention that there were plenty of damages due to Deputy Sprout. Er...should I say former deputy.

Everywhere you looked, you could see ponies clean up the place and befriend one another despite their differences. Young foals from different tribes were being foals and running around, playing and laughing together. The usual.

"Aw, you made a new friend!" Queen Haven cooed to Cloudpuff as he was happily playing with an earth pony foal.

"Hi there, buddy!" Alphabittle greeted a young earth pony colt, who stared at him in awe.

Meanwhile, Hitch and some earth ponies were working on getting a trolley, back up on its wheels. Well...they would've, but instead they stared in awe as Izzy and a couple of other unicorns used their magic to levitate the trolley back onto its place.

In front of a movie theater, Zipp and a bunch of other ponies were striking a pose in a group photo that Pipp took with her phone.

"Mommy? Was I a good sheriff?" Sprout asked his mom in the way a little foal would.

"U-um, uhhhh..." his mom stuttered nervously before pointing off in a random direction, "Look! A flying dog!"

When the red stallion turned to look, his mom simply and quickly walked away. When Sprout looked back and noticed, he simply put on a face saying he was done.

Yeah. Something tells me he's gonna have to start looking for a new job...after his punishment, of course.

There I was leaning against the railings at the edge of the bay, looking out into the bright blue sea and the sky filled with so many colors. After all, I've never seen the sea before in my entire life. You know...due to living in a metropolitan city in the clouds.

"It really is. Video games and TV shows have absolutely nothing on the real deal," I commented, "You know it's crazy. This whole thing started when all I wanted to do was help out a friend, but I never thought I would end up helping bring magic and friendship to all of Equestria."

"...I was scared, you know?" my mom said. I turned to her and saw that her face fell a bit, "When it was broadcasted on the news that you were a wanted pony? It...it scared me. The thought of my baby ending up in a jail cell? I couldn't stand the thought of it. But..." she continued before smiling a bit, "...I trusted you. I know you would never do anything bad unless it was with good intentions. Especially if it was for those you care about."

"Heh. Yeah. And I sure did a good job, didn't I?" my mom chuckled before turning to look at the ponies around us, "It feels...kinda weird, doesn't it? Knowing that we no longer have to be scared of earth ponies and unicorns? Knowing that we can now live in harmony with one another? Being able to fly?" she asked with a flap of her wings.

"Yeah, but I don't really care if it's weird or different. I mean, you know how you always told me that I need to get out there and make some friends? Well..." I said, turning to look at the ponies I've travelled with this whole adventure, "...I think it's time I finally do that."

My mom turned to see where I was looking and smiled. She was never mad or disappointed at me for spending most of time indoors and practically playing video games for a living. In fact, she was supportive and proud of what I was able to accomplish in my career. But she was always concerned that I wasn't friends with a lot of ponies besides Pipp and Zipp, telling me that I should go and meet some more ponies. I couldn't blame her.

Just the thought of going over to them. Just the thought of knowing that we can continue to stick together.

Once we did, though, I could've sworn I felt something for a split second. It was similar to how my wings felt, but across my entire body and more...powerful.

"What the?" I muttered as an earth pony with a bunch of balloons strapped to him floated down onto the ground.

"Whew! Hey, guys. What did I miss?" he asked to nopony in particular before he turned to look at us...and then screamed.