Lunchtime at the Crystal Brighthouse,
Zipp and her sister had just finished their task at Zephyr Heights and just got back and were being updated on the current situation. They gather in the living room as Izzy looks outside the window in concern,
“Ok, let me get this straight,” Zipp says, rubbing a headache with both hooves, “We were gone to help out our mom for one day with her royal duties,” She gestures to herself and her sister, “And not only did you girls find out where Canterlot is. YOU,” She points at Hitch, “Lock up three of our friends and two of which are still there! Did I miss anything?”
“They broke the law, Zipp. I have a duty as the Sheriff of Maretime Bay to uphold the law,” He looks down in shame, “Even against my friends,”
“I still can’t wrap my head around Misty thou,” Pipp says putting down her phone, “Of all the things to steal. Why food? Was she that hungry?”
Hitch sighs, looking down, “It’s hard to tell if she was stealing food for herself or other reasons. Misty has refused to say anything about the matter.”
“So, what is going to happen to them, Hitch?”
Hitch looks to the ceiling in thought, “For Misty since she stole over 100 bits whole of food. That is a Class B Misdemeanor which is punishable by up to six months in jail along with a 2000-bit fine. As for Aaron, since he escaped with a misdemeanor charge, he can be sentenced to a year of imprisonment.”
“Really?!” The others say in unison,
“I didn’t think that their crimes were that severe,” Zipp says, and Pipp goes through her hoof-phone for confirmation as Izzy looks over her shoulder.
“Yeah, isn’t that a bit much?” Pipp says, scrolling through her phone,
“That is just what they are charged with and what could be a possible outcome. I am sure that they can get a lighter sentence once they head to court.” Hitch clarifies, calming everypony down,
“So, what now?” Izzy asks out loud,
“What do you mean?” Sunny speaks for everypony in the room,
“I mean, do we wait for the court case? Or do we head out to Canterlot without them?”
“Right,” Sunny nods, “I would prefer to wait for them to be with us before heading to Canterlot. If it weren’t for Aaron, we wouldn’t consider looking for it. Let alone finding out where it is,” The others agree with her statement except for Hitch, who crosses his hoofs over each other,
“That is if his information is to be trusted,”
Hitch's words made everypony uneasy as Sunny leans towards him, “Hitch, is there something you aren’t telling us?”
He looks away from her and rubs the back of his head, taking a breath to calm himself, “When Aaron first came to Crystal Brighthouse. I had Sprout look into his background to see if he had a record.”
“What did he find?”
“Nothing,” Hitch cuts her off before she could get a word out, “And before you say anything, I mean nothing, as in nothing. No stallion lives in Maretime Bay with the name of Aaron or fits his description. No birth certificate, no work history, there is nothing to find. It’s as if Aaron appeared out of nowhere one day.”
“So, Aaron doesn’t exist?” Pipp says, astonished by what she is hearing,
Izzy puts a hoof to her chin in deep thought, leaning towards Zipp, “Sounds like we have a mystery on our hooves,”
Zipp rolls her eyes at her friend before pushing Izzy away from her, “Could Aaron be a pony that went off the grid a while back?”
“Maybe, but if that is true, why would he risk being found by getting into contact with Sunny in Pony?” Hitch replies, shaking his head,
“You are right,” Sunny says, looking down in thought, “Nothing that Aaron does makes any sense,”
“Maybe he just wants to meet Sunny?” Izzy says, hopping next to Hitch,
Hitch shakes his head, “No, remember he came here to meet the Princess, not Sunny. She just so happens to look like her when they meet.”
“But No pony has seen Princess Twilight Sparkles in years,” Pipp says with a groan, “If it weren’t for that message she left behind, we would even know what she looked like.”
“Then how did Aaron know?” Zipp asks her sister, to which she shrugs,
“Oh right, Sunny; I almost forgot something.” Izzy reaches into her tail and pulls out a picture, “I found this in his bag the other day and completely forgot about it,” Sunny glares at her friend before taking the picture. It was a picture of Twilight Sparkle with the other Mane Six and Spike have a group photo in front of Castle Friendship,
While everypony huddles around Sunny, Zipp is looking between Izzy and the picture multiple times, trying to figure something out, “Hold on, Izzy, where were you hiding that?” However, none of the ponies paid her any mind, much to her disappointment,
“Nice picture.” Hitch comments as Sunny is struck with a moment of realization,
“Wait, isn’t that The Princess in the middle of those ponies?!”
“Yes, but is that all you can see?” Izzy tries to imply leaning toward them,
“What do you mean?”
Izzy was getting a little annoyed that they weren’t seeing what she was seeing and held out her hooves in front of her, trying to get her point across, “It is a picture of Twilight Sparkle!”
“We get that, Izzy.” Pipp states, “What’s the point?”
Izzy taps on the side of the picture multiple times, “The picture! The picture!”
“What is wrong with it?” Hitch tilts his head,
“Nothing!”
“I don’t follow,”
Izzy pulls on her face, “Nothing is wrong with the picture!”
“Nothing is wrong with the picture,” Sunny says to herself, giving the picture a go over, not seeing anything wrong with it. There are no wriggles, faded color, bends, or yellowing on the back of the picture. There is nothing wrong with this picture. But then she gets it, “Nothing is wrong with the picture,”
Pipp groans, “Now Sunny, don’t you start too,”
“No ponies listen. Izzy is right; there is nothing wrong with the picture.”
“We already got that.” Zipp deadpanned, “Thank you, Sunny.”
Sunny shakes her hoof in disagreement, “No, no. You don’t understand. This picture shows Princess Twilight Sparkles with the other heroes of Equestria!”
“Oh, for crying out loud, Sunny, get to the point!”
Sunny clears her throat, getting into educator mode, “If this photo was taken when these mares were still alive. That would make this picture a historical relic, but it looks like it was taken yesterday! Even if this picture was well taken care of, there should still be some form of damage due to its age,”
Zipp and Pipp gasp as they finally get it, “But that is not possible,” The sisters say together,
“Now you get it!”
Pipp grabs the picture, trying to make sense of the situation, “But what does this mean about Aaron?”
“I am not sure. This doesn’t make any sense,”
“Could he have some kind of magic mishap?” Zipp asks,
“I can’t say for certain. The knowledge of magic, in general, is still lost to us. There are only stories about what Magic was once able to do. Especially for the unicorns.” Everypony turn to Izzy,
“Me?”
“Yes, Izzy, you. Unicorn magic is still a mystery for us. Thanks to you, we only got a glimpse of what it can do.”
“You’re welcome,”
“But there is no telling what its limitations are.”
“Right, like how Earth ponies sneeze can change flowers’ colors,” Hitch says,
“Or how Pegasus can move clouds around,” Zipp adds,
“All fair points. So maybe?” Sunny grabs her head as s headache was coming along, “I am getting a headache just thinking about this.”
“Can’t we just ask Aaron about this?” Pipp asks,
“Kind of hard to do that when he is in jail,” Her Sister points out,
“Yeah. He wasn’t doing so well the last time that we saw him,” Sunny says, “I hope he is doing ok.”
Later on that day at Maretime Bay jail cells,
“One is the Loneliest number that you ever knew,” Aaron sings much to Misty's misfortune,
“HUSH IT, YOU DUMB STALLION! SOMEPONIES ARE TRYING TO GET SOME SLEEP HERE!” She calls out to him from the bed, covering her ears with a pillow, ‘I want some sleep. How can one pony possibly sing random nonsense songs for over three hours!!? At least he stops singing about winter round-up, being a princess, and smiles. But I am not sure if I would rather hear that or whatever this is. I am sure that this is considered torture somewhere,’ She thinks to herself as her left eyes start twitching,
“Two can be as bad as one,”
“BUT YOU ARE NOT ALONE HERE!”
“But the Loneliest number is the number one,”
Misty rushes to the bars of the cell, banging and pulling them. Hoping just maybe she can get out, “Help! HELP! Somepony, get me out of here!”