Maretime Bay
The two groups made their way out of the portal, back onto the concrete streets. Twilight lit up her horn to levitate the “Do Not Cross” lines out of their way. A quick glance around showed ponies going about their business, ignoring the swirling vortex in the middle of the city. Perhaps it was all the strange things that had happened in the seaside town over the past few months, numbing ponies to the unexpected. Or maybe Hitch was just that good at cracking down on ponies.
"So, this is the future?" asked Spike, looking from side to side. "It's not anything like it is in the Power Ponies comics! Where are the skyscrapers?"
"Oh, we've got plenty of those in Zephyr Heights," said Zipp. "Speaking of which, Rainbow, do you want to check my hometown out? I'm sure you'll be impressed!"
"And I wanted to show Pinkie around Bridlewood!" said Izzy, bouncing up and down on her hooves. "We can make friendship bracelets, and have tea, and—"
"Not to make anypony feel bad," interrupted Twilight, "but how are we going to get to all these places? Only a few of us can fly, and from what I understand, the art of teleportation has been lost in this time. How will we have time to see all these things?"
"Don't worry about that," said Sunny. "We have the perfect solution back at the Brighthouse. Follow me, everypony!" She turned and started trotting back towards her home. Twilight's group all looked at each other, before sharing a collective shrug, and following after the orange mare.
"WHOA!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash, as she took in the sight before her. "This thing actually flies?!"
The Marestream sat on the landing pad next to the Brighthouse. In its inactive state, it was white, pink, and purple, and the highlights didn't glow with rainbow colors. The wings were collapsed to the sides, but they looked impressive enough. Twilight and her group all stared, slack-jawed, at the vehicle.
"You...built this?" Twilight breathed.
"Well, sorta," admitted Izzy. "It started as this old trolley cart that I took in, because nopony else wanted it. Then, I started thinking about how cool it would be if we could all fly together, and Zipp and I started working on it. Later, we put Sunny's lantern in it, and the whole thing sorta transformed into...this. And yes, it flies."
"AMAZING!" squealed Pinkie Pie, jumping up and down. "It's like a pegasus chariot times a thousand! If only we had one back home, I could attach a couple of party cannons to it, and spread parties all over Equestria!"
"Are you sure it's safe?" asked Fluttershy. "Not that I doubt you guys, but I get nervous enough flying under my own power."
"We had a bit of a hassle getting it through the snow in the winter," admitted Sunny. "But now that that's all gone, it should be fine! We all know how to drive it, just in case."
"I think we'll stay here," said Pipp. "I'd rather show Rarity around Mane Melody than take her back home, for now." The unicorn in question perked up at the mention of her name.
"Yeah, I wanna stay here, too," said Hitch.
"Alrighty, then," said Zipp. She opened the side door of the Marestream, beckoning Rainbow to join her. Izzy and Pinkie followed happily. "We'll swing by Zephyr Heights, dropping us off, and Pinkie and Izzy can go to Bridlewood. We'll be back by sundown."
"Sounds like a plan!" said Sunny. "Let's do it!"
Izzy used her magic to close the door behind them. The Marestream spread its wings and began driving forward, before launching off the edge of the landing pad. With a roar, it took off, soaring into the clouds and zooming away. The remaining seven ponies and two dragons watched the flying vehicle as it got smaller and smaller.
"I guess that's that," said Sunny. "Now, who wants to see Maretime Bay for real?!"
"You run a smoothie cart?" asked Twilight, clearly surprised.
Sunny smiled sheepishly at the princess as she dumped the contents of her blender into a smoothie cup, and passed it to the nearby customer. "I know. Not exactly a glamorous occupation for the alicorn defender of pony unity, is it?" she asked. "It's basically how I paid the bills while I was trying to promote friendship, before the whole Unity Crystal thing."
"Well, it's nothing to be ashamed of," said Twilight. "I worked in a library before I became a princess, and that's not what you'd expect me to do, is it?"
"Fair enough," replied Sunny. "And my friends who helped me bring unity to the tribes work pretty ordinary jobs. Except for Pipp and Zipp, since they're princesses, but neither of them really flaunt their titles. Pipp's popularity on social media is based more on her singing ability."
"Exactly. Just because we do extraordinary things doesn't mean we have to be extraordinary all the time."
"That's a good thing, at least," said Sunny, looking down. "I think the pressure would drive me crazy." Her ears drooped a little, and Twilight looked on, curious.
"Sunny, are you alright?" she asked. "Ever since we got back here, you've seemed kind of...somber."
"Well..." Sunny began, "it's hard to explain. Remember that talk we had back at the School of Friendship?" Twilight nodded. "Well, I know you don't blame me, or anypony for letting the divide get as bad as it did. Especially since, according to that message in the crystals, somepony engineered the split. But, if I'm being honest, which is one of your pillars of friendship, I don't feel like I'm living up to your legacy." Sunny put down the blender, and looked off towards the sea.
"Before Izzy came to town, I did everything I could to convince earth ponies to accept pegasi and unicorns. I even broke into Canterlogic during the demonstration of pony safety devices, and they wouldn't listen to me. I couldn't bring any semblance of unity to Maretime Bay, until Sprout tried to start a war. The biggest reason my friends started to follow my lead is because most of them didn't believe what others said about the other tribes to begin with. Sure, Pipp and Hitch turned around, but it took the destruction of my home to bring any lasting change." She turned back to Twilight, frowning sadly. "How can I claim to be a disciple of your teachings if I couldn't even convince anypony?"
"Sunny," Twilight began, "you have to understand, all those things you praise me for, all those qualities you admire about me? I didn't do any of them, or learn to become that pony, on my own. Everything I did, I did with the help of my best friends. I'm sure that still applies to the things I haven't done yet in my time. Friendship is the most powerful form of magic in our world, and it can overcome anything. From what I've heard about you, your situation is just like mine.
"You and your friends brought back pony unity, and you all contributed. I could never have defeated Nightmare Moon, or Discord, or any of them without the help of my friends. Especially because the Elements of Harmony require ponies that embody all their virtues. Even Princess Celestia couldn't use their full power by herself. You may not have Elements of Harmony, but you needed the help of your best friends. The Unity Crystals are symbols of what the three tribes can accomplish if they work together. And, as alicorns, we combine the powers of all three tribes. Do you understand?"
Sunny had been listening intently, and now she nodded. "I think so. You're saying that every aspect of our whole saving Equestria situation, and our alicorn status, we owe to our friends, and friendship in general. We can't do these incredible things on our own."
"Exactly," replied Twilight. "And we'll figure out what that future version of me in the crystals was talking about together. If there's somepony out there who wants to divide the tribes and steal all the magic, we'll stop them together, too." Twilight placed a hoof on Sunny's back. "Because we're friends now, and friends help each other, no matter what."
Sunny smiled warmly at Twilight's words. "Thanks, Twilight. Honestly, this is the best outcome I could've hoped for when I met you." She prepared another smoothie, with some strange fruits that Twilight couldn't identify. "Want to try this? It's made with some fruits that earth ponies have grown in our community garden. Some of the fruits ended up being hybrids, like pearnanas. Sounds odd, but they're actually quite delicious!"
Twilight put the straw in her mouth and took a sip. As the liquid hit her taste buds, she smiled. "Not bad," she admitted. "Could use a little work, but still, pretty good."
"Thanks," replied Sunny.
"This is my office," said Hitch.
The yellow stallion had taken Fluttershy, Applejack, Spike, and Sparky down to the station in order to show them the ins and outs of his job. Spike had initially wanted to stick with Twilight, but changed his mind, and decided to hang around Sparky, hoping he could help out with the younger dragon. Currently, Spike was giving Sparky various gemstones, borrowed from Rarity's stash, to figure out what Sparky liked.
"He seems to be responding best to emeralds," said Spike. Sparky burped happily as he chewed up another gem.
Hitch scribbled down a note, and slipped it into a folder marked "How to Take Care of Sparky." "Thanks for the help, Spike. I'm glad you guys showed up when you did. I had nopony to tell me what to do for Sparky before."
"So what's your job like, Hitch?" asked Applejack. "Back in Ponyville, we barely have any law enforcement at all. Do you have a lot to do?"
"Not really," admitted the stallion. "Mostly, I spend my time convincing ponies to pick up litter. Back before the tribes reunited, ponies relied on me and Canterlogic's inventions to keep them safe from pegasi and unicorns. I also had to spend a lot of time keeping Sunny from sabotaging Canterlogic's expos." Shame and guilt swelled up in his chest. "She knew better than all of us. She was the only one who realized all the things we said about non-earth ponies were wrong. I wish I'd listened to her all those years."
"Don't be so hard on yourself," said Fluttershy. "Sure, you may not have done the best thing at the time, but you learned and grew out of those prejudices. Besides, it wasn't entirely your fault you thought that way. You were raised to believe those things."
"Yeah, I suppose that's true. I guess the biggest reason Sunny knew better was because of Argyle. I wish Phyllis had been better to him. She led basically the whole town in mocking the poor guy for his beliefs, when really, all he was asking was for ponies to be better to each other. Not to mention how Sprout tried to start a war with the others."
"Where is he, anyway?" asked Applejack. "Isn't he your deputy?"
"He was, but after the whole incident, I forced him into community service to try and mellow him out. I think it worked, because he quit his job here. I think he might be working at Canterlogic now. Even since the reunification, they've been pumping out phones and things like that for Maretime Bay."
"At least somepony learned their lesson," said Spike. "When we defeated Queen Chrysalis for the second time, Starlight offered her friendship, but she rejected it, swore revenge, and ran away. It's kinda sad when you extend the hoof of friendship to somepony and they throw it back in your face."
"Hey, Discord reformed!" retorted Fluttershy. "Don't discount that!"
"I'm not, but it seems like he's an outlier," responded Spike. "Sure, him, Tempest Shadow, Sunset Shimmer, Stygian, and Princess Luna reformed, but King Sombra, Queen Chrysalis, Lord Tirek, the Storm King, and Cozy Glow all refused to change their ways."
"Wow, you guys have been through a lot," remarked Hitch. "Sunny wasn't kidding."
"I guess that's just part of life," said Applejack. "We can offer friendship to every creature we meet, but we can't force them to take it. That would just make us tyrants. It's up to them to make the right choices."
"What about Sprout?" asked Fluttershy. "Did he accept the other tribes moving to Maretime Bay, or is he still bitter over it?"
"All things considered, he took it way better than I would've anticipated," said Hitch. "I haven't seen him go out of his way to make friends with non-earth ponies, but he hasn't been rude to them or anything, either. I don't want to push him or anything, so that's probably the best we could hope for." He looked off into the distance. "How do you guys deal with it? When Sprout attacked the lighthouse, Sunny couldn't sleep for days, and neither could I. We almost got killed, and that was just one incident. You've had to do it so many times. How do you deal with the terror and the fighting villains?"
"It ain't easy, sugar cube," said Applejack. "All I can say is you gotta take it one day at a time, put one hoof in front of the other, and you'll be fine."
Zephyr Heights
Having climbed out of the Marestream, Rainbow and Zipp watched as the flying vehicle, still carrying Izzy and Pinkie, flew away again, making its way towards Bridlewood. The ship wobbled a little as it went, but didn't crash into anything, which the two pegasi took as a good sign.
"I swear, nopony can fly that thing as straight as me," said Zipp. "Least of all Izzy. She won't wreck it or anything, but..."
"Don't worry. Pinkie will make sure she's fine," insisted Rainbow. "She might seem like an airhead, but she knows when to get serious." She turned to look at the golden city stretching towards the sky. "So, this is your home, huh?"
"Yep," replied Zipp. "It may be flashy, but underneath all that, it isn't a bad place to live. I know you're probably used to pegasi living in cities made out of solid clouds and things like that—"
"But without magic, that became impossible," Rainbow finished for her. "Don't worry, I understand. Though, now that everypony can fly again, maybe you could start building those cloud houses again."
"We'll see," said Zipp.
The two pegasi spread their wings and took off, flying over the top of Zephyr Heights. Below them, the citizens alternatively trotted or flew, while massive screens displayed advertisements for various products.
"We had those, too," said Rainbow, pointing to the screens. "Though ours ran entirely on magic batteries created by unicorns, and they only existed in Manehattan."
"Technology really has evolved since your time," replied Zipp. "Though we don't need to control the weather anymore, and nopony would know how to. Would you call that a step forward or backward?"
"Honestly, I can't say," admitted Rainbow. "I guess there should be some gratitude that pegasi no longer have to make sure everywhere gets enough rain and stuff like that, but it's also kinda sad, if you know what I mean. It feels like an era passing by. Did Sunny ever figure out why the weather operates on its own in this time?"
"I don't think she did. She definitely has some theories, but none that have been proven."
Zipp took the front as the two pegasi flew towards the Zephyr Heights Royal Palace. Rainbow followed, as Zipp circled the palace, searching for something. Eventually, she settled on a particular window, and pushed it open, before beckoning Rainbow to join her. The mares then slipped inside, discovering a hallway lined with gold, with white tiles on the floor.
"Wait a minute. If you lived here, why are we sneaking in instead of going through the front door?" asked Rainbow.
"Because if we let everypony know we're here, my mom—Queen Haven—will want to chat, and that'll spiral into a stay-all-day kinda thing," responded Zipp. "I love my mom to death, but she's kinda overbearing. Trust me, this is for the best."
"If you say so," said Rainbow. The expression on her face gave away the fact that she was probably thinking of a certain pegasus named Windy Whistles.
Zipp directed Rainbow down into the depths of the palace, with the duo occasionally having to hide from patrolling guards. Rainbow managed easily, having done the same thing at the weather factory a while back. Eventually, Zipp pushed open a door, revealing a room that had clearly fallen into disuse at some point. Dust covered most objects, with the exception of a blackboard, upon which were written dozens of equations, and a large fan. Looking up, Rainbow noticed a stained glass window, depicting a pegasus and a unicorn carrying their respective unity crystals. Above them was an image of an asymmetrical six-pointed star, just like Twilight's Cutie Mark.
"What's this place?" she asked Zipp.
"I'm still not entirely sure what it was. Maybe some kind of docking bay for hot air balloons. Back before Sunny and Izzy showed up," Zipp began, "the pegasus Royal Family—myself included—used to fake that we could still fly even after everypony else lost the ability. It's how we stayed in power. Before you say anything, I absolutely hated it. We were living a lie in front of all our subjects, and I wanted everypony to fly for real." She pointed to the blackboard. "I used to come down here to think about it, to get away from everything."
She reached over, and pushed down on a lever that Rainbow hadn't noticed. This action activated the fan, sending air pushing upwards.
"That had enough power to lift me, and make me at least feel like I was flying. Thankfully, I don't need it anymore."
"No wonder you were so good at flying when magic came back," said Rainbow, looking over the equations. "I give Twilight a lot of crap about being an egghead, but the truth is there's a lot of thought that goes into flight. But to have wings and be unable to use them..." Rainbow shivered. "I don't even want to think about what that's like. No offense."
"I don't blame you," replied Zipp. "You've lived with flight your entire life. Losing that would feel like losing a limb."
"Good analogy. Did the other pegasi take to flight as easily as you did?"
"In all honesty, no. There were a lot of crashes in the beginning." Zipp stared towards the horizon. "The others convinced me to set up a flight school for others a few weeks after magic came back, and I was kinda good at it, but to be honest, I don't think it's a long term career path for me."
"Aren't you next in line for the throne of Zephyr Heights?" Rainbow asked.
Zipp chuckled, but the laughter was hollow. "Yes, although I don't understand why. Just because I'm the oldest? Mom and I both know Pipp cares more about that kinda stuff than I do. Pipp's the one who puts herself out there on the Canternet everyday. Me? I'd rather just go flying by myself."
"Maybe that's why you were picked," suggested Rainbow. "Because you don't care about power and influence. It means you won't abuse it, and you'll actually try to make life better for your subjects. I'm not saying Pipp would be a bad ruler, but maybe your mom realized you'd do a better job."
Zipp turned back towards the sun. "Maybe," she said, though her tone betrayed her thoughts.
Bridlewood
Izzy brought the Marestream to a safe, albeit bumpy, landing just outside the tree that held her cottage. Pinkie didn't mind the turbulence, as she stuck her forelegs in the air and yelled "WEEEEEE!" as the vehicle descended. Once they'd landed, Izzy opened the door, and the two perky ponies bounced out into the world once more. Pinkie Pie looked around at the bright trees and the crystals sticking out of the earth.
"Wow, Izzy! So this is the place you grew up in?" she asked. "It's beautiful!"
"Thanks!" replied the unicorn, enthusiastically. "You wouldn't have said that a few months ago, though. Before we brought magic back, everypony here was just super depressed, and the entrance was covered with signs saying 'KEEP OUT' and stuff like that."
"But not you, of course," said Pinkie. "My life was kinda similar. I grew up on a rock farm, and before I discovered my special talent for throwing parties, nopony ever smiled. Granted, I didn't smile before then, either, but still."
"Yeah..." Izzy looked downcast for a second, before her bright and cheery attitude returned. "Anyway, let's go inside my old house!"
She led Pinkie down the path to her front door. With a quick pulse of her horn, she opened up the door, revealing an interior covered with Izzy's hoofcrafted creations. It was easy to notice the progression from Izzy's foalhood to the things she'd made as an adult. Pinkie's eyes glazed over the various macaroni art and metallic sculptures lining the walls. Izzy wheeled out a metal, flower-shaped stand that was currently folded up.
"I haven't gotten to use this since I met Sunny and the others!" she exclaimed, before cranking the handle with her hoof. The petals of the flower spread open, revealing a complete tea set with six cups. Izzy then set about pouring the tea into two of them.
"Where do you get the materials you use?" asked Pinkie. "This all looks kinda expensive."
"Oh, I mostly get it from the garbage," replied Izzy. "Uni-cycling, you know? Ponies throw so much useful stuff away!" She started to pass Pinkie a cup, but stopped midway, and lit up her horn to levitate it over instead. "Sorry. Even after all these months, I keep forgetting I can do that."
Pinkie took the tea in her forehooves, blowing on it slightly. "I don't blame you. You spent most of your life without magic, it's probably hard to adjust to having it again. Honestly, I'm kinda amazed you managed to make all this stuff without magic."
Izzy smiled proudly, before sipping her own tea. "It always made me happy to make things. I was always good at it, and I could bring things everypony could imagine to life." Her ears swiveled to point down as her face fell. "But nopony seemed to care about what I created. Everypony was just too depressed over the loss of magic."
Pinkie frowned. "From what I saw of Zephyr Heights and Maretime Bay, it seems that pegasi and earth ponies had a lot more advanced technology than unicorns did. Unicorns didn't seem to be able to make as much stuff without magic. I don't want to stereotype or anything, but it seems like they couldn't figure it out."
"That probably didn't help with the depressed part. Luckily, we've been expanding ever since magic came back, and unicorns have phones and stuff now. But if you could've seen Bridlewood when I was growing up..." Izzy shivered. "It's hard to stay positive when you're one of the few who's trying to."
"I know what that's like," said Pinkie. "In my time, keeping everypony happy was a super big deal, because of the windigos. But it doesn't seem like there around anymore. It was a real bummer that you lost magic, but maybe that helped."
"What're the windigos?" asked Izzy, curious.
"Evil, meanie spirits that feed off conflict and strife, and bring never-ending winter. They froze all of Equestria before the three tribes united for the first time. A lot of ponies just think they're just a foal's tale, but I believe in all legends and stuff like that. They always seem to come back in our adventures."
"Cool!" Izzy smiled, then looked down a little. "Hey, Pinkie? Do you think we'll still be friends when this whole mess is over? I know we live in different time periods and everything, so..."
"Don't worry, silly! Of course we'll still be friends!" Pinkie stretched out her forelegs, pulling Izzy in for a hug. "Friendship is something that survives through the ages. You guys proved that when you brought back friendship and magic to the three tribes."
Izzy smiled again. "Well, I guess we'll use the time that we have! Wanna make friendship bracelets?!"
"Do I ever!"
Maretime Bay
Rarity stood outside of Mane Melody, taking in the exterior appearance of the building. It was fairly ordinary, unlike Carousel Boutique, sticking out at the end of a city block. It was painted a bright shade of pink, almost like Pipp's coat. The building sign also had a fancy logo, with two stylized music notes that doubled as M's, like Pipp's Cutie Mark. Unless one was familiar with her, they might not have guessed that Princess Pipp Petals worked here.
Speaking of Pipp, the pegasus proudly threw open the doors of Mane Melody, wearing one of the biggest grins Rarity had ever seen.
"Alright, Rares!" chimed Pipp. "We're all ready! Come on in!"
Rarity obeyed and strolled inside, finding a location she was more than familiar with: a beauty salon. It appeared this kind of technology hadn't changed as much as others. Rarity knew every item in the building, and smiled fondly as she looked over each one, remembering all her trips to her beloved Ponyville spa. The only thing that seemed to catch her off guard was the karaoke stage set up in the back of the room.
"This is quite the impressive setup you have here, Pipp," she remarked. "How did you manage to throw all this together so quickly?"
Pipp smiled. "Well, it helps to be a princess," she admitted. "But I couldn't have done it without the support of my fans. Speaking of which..." She pulled her phone out, tapped it a few times, and set up a livestream. "Hello, Pippsqueaks! Welcome to Mane Melody, where today, we're hosting Rarity, the bearer of the Element of Generosity, and the most fashionable pony Equestria has ever seen!"
Rarity blushed a little at Pipp's flattery. "I don't know if I'd say the 'most fashionable,' darling, but I certainly do my best!"
Pipp pulled Rarity into the view of her phone's camera. "Today, Jazz, Rocky, and I are gonna give Rarity the full package, showing her how we do style in modern Equestria!"
"Are you sure about that?" asked Jazz. "I mean, not to slam on our skill, but she looks like she's been made up more than enough already."
"Oh, don't worry, dears!" Rarity responded, sitting down in one of the chairs. "I actually requested this from Pipp once she told me about Mane Melody! I want to see what you're capable of!"
Pipp smiled, before cracking her hooves. "Alright, everypony! We're giving her the works, so let's get to it!"
Soon enough, they had Rarity reclined in the chair, head lowered backwards into a sink to wash her mane. Rarity closed her ice-blue eyes and hummed to herself, while Pipp worked away, styling at Rarity's purple locks. Jazz produced her hooficure kit, and Rocky applied Pipp's natural fruity face mask (minus the magic glitter, of course). A cucumber slice was placed over each of Rarity's eyes.
"You take excellent care of your mane!" Pipp commented as she put Rarity's mane into curlers. "No split ends, no nothing!"
"Oh, that's to say nothing of her hooves!" said Jazz. "Not a crack to be seen! Honestly, I barely have to do any filing here!"
"What can I say? I take pride in my appearance," Rarity responded, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Of course, it's what's on the inside that's most important, but there's no reason you can't take care of the outside as well."
Pipp and the others continued their work, with Jazz applying an original color pattern to her hooves, and Pipp styling her mane. They even filed down Rarity's horn, a treatment they'd created specifically for unicorns. Rocky gave Rarity's white coat a quick brushing. Finally, the face mask was washed off, and Pipp pulled off the cucumbers, revealing Rarity's face to the mirror.
"So what do you think?" asked Pipp.
Rarity's eyes widened. Her mane, which was usually poofed outwards, had been draped downwards, reaching her shoulders on both sides. The hair curled at the very tip in six different places, with three on each side of Rarity's head. On her hooves, Jazz had added a coat of purple, with a circle of diamonds (similar to her Cutie Mark) going around the edge of each hoof.
"I decided to do something similar to what you already had," said Pipp. "Your mane style is just so unique already, I didn't know how to improve upon it."
"Oh, I LOVE IT!" exclaimed Rarity, pushing up her new mane curls. "I usually prop my mane up, but this frames my face so wonderfully!" She admired the new pattern on her hooves. "And I must say, this effect is simply glamorous! You ponies certainly know what you're doing!"
Pipp responded with a smile, gave a quick sendoff to her viewers, and shut off her stream. Then she sighed with relief. "You honestly have now idea how good that makes me feel," she admitted. "I know it wouldn't have actually cost me anything, but after all those compliments you gave me, and seeing what an icon you are in your Equestria, I really wanted to impress you."
"Oh, Pipp, there was no need to worry about making an impression on me!" Rarity insisted. "You gave me a gift out of your own generous nature! I wasn't going to insult you or criticize you, no matter what! It's the thought and effort behind the gesture that matters!"
"I know, and I really appreciate you saying that. It's just...you're a creator, too, even if you live in a time without the Canternet. You know how difficult it is to keep making things for your base, trying to one-up yourself constantly. It's stressful. I've never related to another pony in that way before, and I just wanted to show you what I was capable of." She chuckled to herself. "At least I didn't have to write you a song, too. That would've been a nightmare!"
"From what I've heard, you are a talented musician," said Rarity, pondering. "I won't ask for anything new, of course, but could you show me some of your past work?"
"Oh, I'd love that!" exclaimed Pipp, whipping out her phone again. "Let's go through my entire discography!"
It was late into the night when Misty finally made it back to Maretime Bay. She panted, having run both to and back from Opaline's castle, and nearly fell onto her knees in the process. The bushy-maned unicorn just barely managed to keep her balance, and looked out over the seaside town. She saw that the lights of the Crystal Brighthouse were lit up once again.
"Okay," she breathed through the exhaustion, "just gotta get Sparky, bring him to Opaline, get my Cutie Mark, and then this whole thing will be over with. And only eleven ponies standing between me and that baby dragon." She paled. "Yeah, only eleven..."