"Zipp?"
I was so caught up in my thoughts that the voice made me jump. I swung around in surprise and looked closely at the figure standing there.
A certain pink pegasus with fluffy wings and a streaming addiction had caught up to me, it seemed. Not only that, she sounded like Sofia Carson, which gave me a suspicion as to when I was, not so much where I was. I already knew I was in Zephyr Heights. That much was obvious. "Pipp?"
Pipp nodded. "Yes. That's me. I'm glad you seem to be at least physically OK, Zipp. Do you need any help? Is there a problem?"
Oh, if only she knew. I waited for a moment to process all the information. The clues gave me a sneaking suspicion as to what time period this was, so I decided to ask. "Pipp, have you heard anything from Sunny recently?"
Pipp looked confused. "What? Who's Sunny? I don't know a Sunny. Zipp, that bang to the head must have been pretty bad for you to be hallucinating friends of mine!"
I was surprised. This confirmed it all. The strange speech, the inability to fly, Pipp having her movie voice, and now her having no idea who Sunny Starscout is. I was stuck at some point before the movie began, with no clue exactly when. I knew what was coming. The storms that were approaching. The danger we all were in.
And there wasn't a thing I could do about it.
Pipp noticed me seemingly staring off into space, and turned to speak again. "Zipp? Zipp!"
That snapped me out of my thoughts. "Err, sorry, were you saying something? Kinda lost in my own thoughts."
Pipp trotted forward and, to my surprise, gave me a hug. "I'll always be here for you, Zipp," she said. "I know we don't agree on everything, but as long as we have each other that's a good thing, right?"
I nodded. "Thanks, Pipp." The absurdity of the situation could have made me laugh. Here I was, stuck in the body of a fictional character in a fictional place, taking advice from and talking with another fictional character. This was either the wackiest comedy or the harshest tragedy ever made.
I indicated to the view. "Zephyr Heights looks lovely today. No clouds or rain or anything."
"One of the benefits of living above the cloud level," Pipp replied. "There's nothing to interfere with data or WiFi signals either, which makes streaming SOOOOO much easier."
"Excuse me, your royal highnesses?" asked a voice.
We both turned to see a pegasus dressed in a labcoat. "I don't want to interrupt your moment together, but the doctors need to do some last checks on Princess Zephyrina to ensure she's completely fine and ready to be released."
I stayed silent, instead choosing to nod. "OK. Do what you have to do, doc."
As the doctor, Pipp, and me headed back indoors, Pipp spoke up again. "It must be quite bad, then. You didn't object to being called Zephyrina!"
Once inside, the doctors gave me a full update on what had happened out there. Apparently, I had been out looking for something when I had slipped on a banana peel and banged my head on a wall. This, the doctor claimed, explained my apparent confusion earlier and my memory issues, fully expecting my memories would return to normal at some point.
"And so, Your Royal Highness Princess Pipp," he said. "You need to be careful when interacting with her. There are probably going to still be some gaps, so patience is required when interacting with her."
"I can walk normally," I said. Several sets of eyes looked over to me quite suddenly.
"Sorry, I meant trot normally." My lack of understanding of pony movement speeds was rather showing here.
"That's a positive sign," the doctor continued. "Just keep it easy during the next few days and all should be fine." He turned to Queen Haven. "Your Majesty, I would suggest scaling back Princess Zephyrina's duties for the next few days until she is fully recovered. Once she is back to her former self, she may resume them."
Queen Haven nodded. "I understand. It won't be challenge handling a few school openings for a few days." She turned to both of us. "Well, that was quite a fright. But it has given me a rather splendid idea!"
"Oh?" me and Pipp said.
"I suggest we go on a city tour. It will both let us relax a bit after the stressful situation but may also help to jog Zephyrina's memories." She glanced back to the doctor. "Is that safe?"
"Provided she doesn't move too quickly for now she should be fine, Your Majesty," the doctor replied.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Showtime!"
True to Queen Haven's word (it still felt a bit weird calling her mom) we were soon onboard a sky shuttle. Turns out that the city had found all sorts of creative ways around the whole 'inability to fly' thing. Not that the public knew about this, of course. Seeing as the Royal Celebration hadn't happened yet I could only assume they were still in the dark.
But the city was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! The skyscrapers poking out of the clouds, the streets spilling out over the mountaintops, and large boulevards filled with traffic. This must have been what seeing New York for the first time as a boat traveller must have been like in the early years of the 20th Century!
Pegasi everywhere were looking up and either focusing on screens or glancing at huge screens which either were advertising things or were playing news. True to form, they even had that bizarre 'Perfume la Pipp' advert playing on one monitor, complete with stealth insult. I can only assume that was Hasbro making a dig at Chanel after the lawsuit over Coco Pommel. Oh well. The city absolutely bustled with life, and the news was full of things going on.
"And this just in Sky," said one of the newscasters. "It has just been confirmed that Princess Zephryina Storm has recovered from her earlier accident and is now back on her hooves. Three cheers for the Royal Family!"
I turned. "Pipp, did you post something?"
"I did!" Pipp replied. "I got, like, a gazillion PMs asking if you were OK, so I posted something that you were fine."
"I'm pretty certain gazillion isn't a real number," I replied, and went back to looking out of the window. I was so caught up in the moment that the next voice shocked me a bit.
"Erm, Zephyrina, I'm not quite sure how to say this, but perhaps you could step back from the glass a tiny bit?"
It was only then I noticed I had my muzzle squished up against the glass, which was leaving a mark. I pulled back and looked about. "Sorry," I said.
Queen Haven nodded. "That must have been a rather severe bang on the head," she sighed, as she moved over to one side. "Perhaps this runs in the family? I should hope not."
What an odd thing to say. I focused on the view, but still had the suspicion something wasn't right. After a while, we docked at the palace station and trotted in the side entrance. The palace, another art deco masterpiece built to maximise natural light as much as possible, was absolutely stunning to see in the flesh, so to speak, so much so I briefly stopped to take it all in.
I remembered having my breath taken away by Zephyr Heights in the movie. And here it was, for real, unfolding right in front of my eyes!
Pipp then spoke again. "Zipp, what are you doing? We see this view literally every day. It's our house!"
Huh. So Pipp can use literally correctly when she wants to. "You never know when you might lose something," I said cryptically.
Pipp nodded. "I know. Still, I believe we should live out lives to the fullest with the time we have available. Isn't that right, Pippsqueaks?"
So she had been streaming the entire time. "Pipp Pipp Hooray!" called a chorus of voices so loud it could be heard over the clifftops.
I made my way in through the doors and was greeted by a loud fanfare. "Her Majesty, Queen Haven, and Their Royal Highnesses Princesses Pipp Petals and Zephyrina Storm!" called a voice.
This was far too over the top for my taste. After dinner later, which I'd rather not talk about in detail, it was time for bed. I excused myself and found my way to my dorm for the night. It was handy all the doors had names on them.
I opened the door and prepared to go in, when suddenly Pipp spoke. "Zipp, if ever you need anything, just let me know, Kay? Sisters and all that?"
I nodded. "Sure. Thanks Pipp." I went indoors and, after a shower, went off to bed. I needed to be fully rested if I was going to glue my memory back together.