By the time Sunny had made her way down the street to Pizza Time, Sprout's favorite pizza place, the other four had already been seated, and was waved down the moment she set hoof inside and was greeted by the hostess.
"Well, you're certainly looking a bit more chipper," Izzy commented as Sunny took her seat at the center of the booth, both sides having been taken by Hitch, Zipp, Pipp, and Izzy. "Finally feeling better?"
"Yeah, a bit, thanks to something Sprout said to me a few minutes ago. Have you guys already ordered?" Sunny asked.
Izzy nodded.
"Extra large party supreme!" Zipp answered.
Sunny's mouth began to water.
"You, on the other hand, look like you've got something on your mind, Hitch. Something up?" Pipp asked the sheriff.
"Yeah dude, that was an epic speech. I think it seriously helped," Zipp commented.
"It's not that, thank you, by the way, and I agree that it probably helped a lot. But yeah, my mind is on Phyllis Cloverleaf, the pony that is responsible for last night. I'm not sure what to do with her," Hitch answered.
"Did something happen to that cage while we've been gone?" Izzy asked.
"No, and that is literally the only holding cell in town. We really don't have a lot of crime here, and that cell is really just for drunks sleeping it off, or late littering fees. But I know Sprout is going to want to come back to work the moment the hospital clears him to walk. I'm not going to make him look at her every single day that he comes in. It's not right," Hitch told them, and his friends agreed silently.
The conversation was paused momentarily as the server came up to the table and set down a very large, very drool-worthy pizza with every topping in the garden sunk into the melt-y, bubbling cheese. Next came the plates and two pitchers of soda, and then the five friends served themselves.
"I've had something on my mind too," Sunny said, after swallowing her first bite. "If the crystals wind up doing nothing, I don't want that to matter. Getting to know you all over the past few days has been amazing for me, and I don't want us to go our separate ways. I want to continue to be a beacon of unity. Regardless of what happens to the lighthouse, I'd absolutely love it if we could all move in together. What do you all think?"
Izzy's smile widened, and her eyes became all sparkly.
"Then we can spend every minute of every day together for the rest of our lives!" She said excitedly.
Zipp slid a few inches away.
"Heh, uh, what?" Zipp asked nervously.
"Not quite like that, but I'm serious. Is that something we all want to do?" Sunny asked.
"Well, I can't even begin to think of how I'll tell mom, but I'm absolutely up for moving here," Zipp said.
"But, my Pippsqueaks!" Pipp objected.
"Chill, sis. You think it's gonna take those CanterLogic folks very long to get a cell tower put up? Then you'll have your crowd in Zephyr Heights, plus an entire new one here in Maretime Bay, maybe even in Bridlewood too!" Zipp encouraged.
Pipp's smile widened at the possibilities.
"So, the five of us being together helps Maretime Bay and Zephyr Heights, how?" Hitch asked.
"By just being here, together, proving that we can co-exist," Sunny answered. "So what do you say, everypony?"
With that, Sunny picked up her mug of soda, and raised it to the center of the table.
Zipp and Pipp immediately nodded, raising theirs, and Hitch and Izzy followed. They met in the middle, and only spilled a few drops, thankfully on the empty spots of the pizza pan.
Just as they withdrew their mugs to take their drinks, however, Sunny's saddlebags began to glow, grabbing the notice of everypony at the table, and even a few patrons at other tables.
"What—?" Was all Sunny got out before the three crystals, glowing very brightly, floated out of her saddlebag, before taking off down the dining area and out the front doors.
"Hey! What are they doing?" Sunny asked, getting up from her chair in a panic, followed moments later by her friends.
Sunny followed the crystals out of the restaurant, and got outside to see them going down the main street towards the coast. She gave chase at a full gallop, not even hearing Izzy yell after her, "I'll get the pizza!"
Sunny was barely able to keep up, but saw the trio of crystals veer sharply to the left as they reached the shoreline street, heading for the lighthouse.
The paved street turned to dirt as she made her way up the hill, seeing that the crystals had finally slowed down, floating and slowly rotating near her damaged lighthouse. Right before she was ready to skid to a halt in front of her home, she felt herself go weightless as all four of her hooves left the ground, her entire body being picked up by some unknown force.
"Hey— What? What's going on?!" Sunny exclaimed as she continued to float up towards the crystals. The gems moved again, this time towards her, and began to rotate around her, faster and faster until they became a ring of light, and she felt an indescribable energy inside her get stronger and stronger.
By now, three out of her four friends had reached the hills in front of the light house, and came to a halt nearly under her.
"Sunny!" Hitch yelled up at her.
Just as soon as the tingling energy was becoming overwhelming, Sunny felt it explode outward, and immediately and clearly felt three new appendages on her body. As she began to float back down towards the ground, she glanced towards the lighthouse, saw her reflection in the glass of the tower, and gasped at the glowing horn and wings of light.
When she felt herself touch the ground, she turned towards her friends, with mouths all agape at what they were seeing. They stood there silently for a few moments before Pipp found it within herself to raise her phone up and snap a picture with the camera.
"Far out!" Zipp said, taking a short jump forward and flapped her wings, and was clearly completely unprepared for the sudden lift that flap gave to her entire body, because she gave one entire flip forward before landing rather ungracefully on her hindquarters. "Whoa, whoa! Ow!"
The stunned looks had gone up, then quickly down, with the white pegasus.
"Sis? Did you just...?" Pipp asked, stunned.
Zipp got to her hooves, realized what had just happened, took a deep breath, and jumped up again, and this time was ready for it as she flapped her wings, a little more gently this time, and stayed airborne. She wavered a bit as she got used to it, but before she knew it, she had herself in a mostly stable hover. Pipp quickly tried it next, and had even more difficulty than her sister, who had spent years practicing on the castle's old airship lifting fans. Neither of them decided to press their luck, and touched down on the ground.
"By the moon, this... This changes everything! Wait... Oh my stars, Pipp... Did this just happen to everypony back home?"
The faces of both pegasi went from overjoyed to stunned disbelief as they pictured thousands of pegasi in Zephyr Heights suddenly taking to the air.
"Did what jusht happen backh home?" Came another voice, and the four of them turned to see Izzy, mouth full of pizza, one hoof holding a slice of pizza, and the rest of the pizza in the box was hovering above her other hoof.
"What?" Izzy asked after swallowing her bits of pizza. "I told you all I'd get the pizza. We did just pay for it, after all. Now that's what I call a glow-up, Sunny!"
The unicorn then noticed how glow-y the pizza box was, and how it also wasn't touching her hoof.
"Oh, would you look at that!"