Sunny slid the key into the front door of Hitch's one-story house, unlocked it, and ushered her friends inside. Thankfully, the rest of Maretime Bay's populace had respected Hitch's emergency curfew, and the streets had been clear for the entire walk here.
"Come on in," Sunny said, standing beside the door as Pipp, Zipp, and Izzy walked through the doorway before she closed it and locked it, as Hitch had another key for when he was done at the hospital. Sunny slowly sauntered into the den, over to the couch, and unbuckled her saddlebags, letting them drop to the floor before falling back into a sitting position.
"Sunny, are you sure you're okay? You seem kind of... Bleh," Izzy commented.
"Izzy!" Zipp chastised. "Sunny, with what just happened to your home, I think you're allowed to be out of it for awhile. Don't worry about us."
Sunny glanced up at her friends, then leaned down to dig into her saddlebags. She came up with the three crystals, and set them down on the coffee table, arranging them so that the earth pony diamond was in the center of the pegasus turquoise, and the unicorn sapphire was on top, resting both on the top of the diamond and both sides of the 'wings' of the turquoise.
After staring at it for a moment, she let out an exasperated, tired sigh.
"Just... Now what?" She quietly asked.
Pipp trotted into the attached kitchen, opened the fridge, and came back with a glass of ice water, which she set on the coffee table next to the crystals.
"Now, you're going to drink that entire glass of water, then lay down, and try to get some sleep. We'll do the same. It sounded like this town meeting tomorrow is pretty important, and Hitch is probably going to want us there," Pipp told her.
Sunny reached over to the glass, picked it up and brought the rim to her lips. A sip turned into several gulps, and she finished the entire glass in one go. After setting the glass back down, she managed a small smile.
"Thanks, I feel a bit better now. You're right, we need to get some rest. That recliner over there is pretty comfortable, and the guest room bed can sleep two, it's the second door on the left just down the hall," Sunny told them.
"Dibs on the recliner!" Izzy called, hopping across the room and jumped into the recliner, immediately reaching down to the wooden lever, bringing the back leg rest out.
"Come on, sis. The guest room is ours, and please don't be a blanket hog," Zipp said.
"Pfft, as if," Pipp shot back as she and her older sister walked down the hall to the guest bedroom and flipped the light on.
Sunny took another deep breath as she slowly laid down and rested her head on the arm rest.
"Sunny, everything's going to be okay. We're here, together, and we have all the crystals. We'll figure the rest out, I promise," Izzy reassured her.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Izzy," Sunny said, before closing her eyes. Sleep didn't come immediately, and the room became darker as the guest bedroom light was switched off as the two pegasi settled down for the night. Izzy stretched out on the recliner, and Sunny was no closer to sleeping fifteen minutes later when she heard a key in the front door, and Hitch walked in a moment later. He walked in, closed the door, locked it, and glanced into the living room.
"Zipp and Pipp are in the guest room, I take it?" he asked.
Izzy nodded.
"Is Sprout okay? Phyllis?" Sunny asked.
"Nothing critically life-threatening, that's all they could tell me for tonight. I'm heading over there around six in the morning to see if they have any updates before the town meeting," Hitch answered.
"I know you're probably still thinking this meeting up in your head, but can we get the gist of it?" Sunny asked, her voice tired.
"The gist of it will be what happened tonight is never going to happen again. We're going to tell everypony the truth about unicorn magic and pegasus flight. There can't be any barriers if we're truly going to reunite the three tribes again," Hitch told the pair.
Hitch took a deep, tired breath.
"I know we'll all feel much better in the morning. Let's hope we can get some sleep. Sweet dreams, you two."