The scene quickly changes to the forest full of fog and with many warnings not to enter for other ponies.

“Is that the forest I think it is?” Fluttershy mentions, to which all the young people are confused because it doesn't make sense.

By itself the Everfree forest is a source of problems in its time without being tamed by any pony, how would it be in the future?

"Come on!" Izzy chirped, as she took the lead. "My house isn't far from here!" With that, Izzy proceeded to vocalize a merry tune to herself, with her reluctant companions following behind.

They advance somewhat insecurely through the forest that looks much darker than outside, with dark bird sounds.

"Well, here we are, guys," Izzy called, drawing the ponies' attention to a sudden change of atmosphere in the forest.

The group looked up to see they were standing in front of a colorful house, practically bathing in the sunlight.

"Wow!" Everypony exclaimed as they went to have a look around the place, marveling at Izzy's works of arts.

Sheriff Hitch looked at a portrait of colorful macaronis, and was startled when the eyes turned to look at him. Sunny Starscout cranked the lever of an instrumental object, with colorful glass bottles hanging by strings, that played a familiar tune, courtesy of spatulas and spoons attached to the roller.

When they entered they were surprised at how nice it looked with decorations, art, a kind of music box, and lights surrounding the interior.

Izzy was mesmerized at a colorful butterfly chandelier she made, when Zipp came up to her.

"That's all so adorable, you have such good taste in decorations, dear." Rarity was quite interested in the position of the lights and the curtains, not so much in the art or the music.

"Ohoho! I'm going to make one of those!" For her part, Pinkie looked very interested in the musical instrument.

“It is gorgeous~” Pipp sang that last word with a flutter of her wings
"I also make friendship bracelets!" Izzy chirped, holding a bowl of bracelets up to her friends, before she exclaimed. "Wait, wait! Watch this! Hold everything!" With an excited yelp, Izzy dashed off to the side, before she wheeled in a large, flower contraption. "I've never gotten to use this with actual friends!"
With an excited giggle, and a touch of button, the flower suddenly sprang open to reveal a tea pot in the center, with tea cups on the edge of every petals.
"Ta-daaaa!" Izzy sang, much to her friends' astonishment.

"Wow- that's so beautiful," Pipp observed, it was certainly a very interesting mechanism.

"A little, I never really had Friends for that kind of thing, so I was hoping for a bit of calm." Izzy didn't let go of her smile but for a moment it turned into a grimace.

"What if we have a tea party after this?" Sunny asked and smiled when she saw Izzy's cheerful expression.

"We don't have time for that right now," Sunny said, reminding the group of the task at hoof. "If we're gonna get the information we need on the Unicorn Crystal, we can't stick out like sore hooves. We need to look like unicorns."

Zipp, however, was in denial, "No. No, this is not... This is not what I signed up for. No."

"Still not over it?" Although it seemed that Pipp's tone was a bit teasing, it sounded more docile.

"A glow-up?" With a sip of her cup, Izzy smirked confidently, "Honey, you came to the right cottage."

With that, Izzy whipped out a projector and put on a pair of glasses before beginning a musical number.

https://youtu.be/jgylBbB0618

I thought Earth ponies were the pony ladder's bottom rung

I heard that pegasi were brutes you'd hate to be among

"You smell like fishes-you're vicious! I bet you eat your young"

A third slide is shown on both Earth Ponies and Pegasi looking evil before Izzy breaks into a dance number soon joined by both Sunny and Pipp

Meet any one of you the thing to do is run away
But although I know we're all a bunch of different breeds
Take away our wings and horns and we're just frightened steeds
So let's put aside our differences 'cause what we need's a win
Oooh
Come on, rip out all the pages of your history books

Izzy pulled some kinda pulley that released what looks like confetti colored books and then got next to Zipp

Just because we're undercover doesn't mean we're crooks

When we walk you through the crowd and give your brand new looks a spin!
You’re gonna fit right in

Hitch is now reveled to be wearing makeup as he groans "This is a new low"
Izzy applies blush as she continues

You’re gonna fit right in!

Hitch declared "It's never gonna work!"
He scooted back off screen and then revealed himself without makeup anymore in front of a curtain with a shadow of a Unicorn that looked like it was holding a weapon before suddenly opening revealing Izzy with a Hair Dryer

Hitch Trailblazer:

They taught us unicorns were super scary maniacs

With horns like razors and tongues like tasers and teeth like tacks

Izzy is then seen holding a box that said “Grinded Hooves” but was actually a normal cereal with a weird name and proceeded to eat said cereal

[b]Au Note: Trust me I checked the box as throughly as I possibly could, I’m 99% sure

They take your hooves and then they grind them into midnight snacks
The basic gist of it is unicorns are not okay

Sunny pulls him aside with a rainbow swirl which is actually a spinning rainbow umbrella and slowly backing towards two opposite spinning rainbow umbrellas which are revealed be being spun by Pipp and Zipp all while Izzy is doing measurements in the background

Look, I know we're risking everything for this endeavor
But look at us, we're brave and strong and weird and clever
We're running out of options and we're desperate to begin

Izzy Moonbow:

You’re gonna fit right in!

Izzy Moonbow and Sunny Starscout:

You’re gonna fit right in!

I know you will, now watch and learn

The curtain opened with a bright flash of light first to reveal Izzy leading her friends down rainbow stairs

This is how a unicorn walks (walks)

The Rainbow stairs disappear and they fall into a interview show studio with Izzy as the host

This is how a unicorn talks (talks)

This is how a unicorn hoops (hoops?)
This is how a unicorn—

The other four ponies tried to follow Izzy's example, but missed the hoop. Nest the 4 are walking in front of difficult backgrounds with Izzy being in the middle

This is how a unicorn struts

Oh, watch you shake your unicorn butts

Now you're in the unicorn know

Soon you'll be a unicorn pro

Izzy is now wearing a pair of Shutter Glasses and a rapping hat with speakers in the shape of Unicorn horns in the background as she starts rapping

Oh, a unicorn horn makes a unicorn stride
It's the more-head on your forehead, it's the source of your pride

The 4 friends are shown under lights that make them look like they have horns

Every unicorn who's born has worn a horn that's unique

Izzy is holding art’s and craft supplies in front of what looks like LED’s of unicorn horns, then Sunny is given the first horn that has a fan on it so it won’t work

So we'll whip them up as we speak, you be lookin' très magnifique!

And with those rocks in our pocket, we'll reap the rewards,
And folks'll be floored, we'll strike a new chord
Our magic restored!

Izzy Moonbow, Hitch Trailblazer and Sunny Starscout:

Lately all of Equestria has lost its heart
But if we can help to find it we should play our part

Hitch Trailblazer:

If we fail, we’ll go to prison

Sunny Starscout:

But if not we'll start to grin

Back in Izzy’s house one by one each of the friends walk out from behind the curtain finally reveals their disguised unicorn forms

Izzy Moonbow and Sunny Starscout:

We're gonna fit right in!

This is how a unicorn walks
This is how a unicorn talks
Now you're looking unicorn strong
This is how a unicorn

Izzy Moonbow and Sunny Starscout:

Later, after the four ponies were outfitted with fake unicorn horns, and cloaks for Pipp and Zipp to hide their wings, the 5 heroines were back on the road, into a more colorful part of Bridlewood.

“Darling those disguises are simply divine.” Rarity complements
Pinkie Pie declared “We should do that someday, not because we would ever need to but just to see if we could pull it off.”

"Ta-daaaaa!" Izzy Moonbow sang, as she presented several large crystals, growing from the ground. "Crystals! Crystals! Crystals!"

"She does know we're just looking for the one, right?" Zipp asked, rhetorically.

The heroes continued on their way, while Izzy continued to point at every crystals they come across.

"Yeah, we see them, Pinkie," Twilight joked.
“Silly I’m not in the movie.” Pinkie declared with a giggle
“I know it was just a joke.” Twilight declared, Both she and Pinkie burst out laughing

Sunny Starscout began to take notice of the unicorns' lack of expressions. Everywhere she looked, it seemed as if they're dead on the inside.

"Ow," An elderly unicorn said, dejectedly, for every apples that fell on her head. "Ow."

A couple of unicorn fillies were trying to play a game of horseshoe throw, but the filly throwing wasn't putting much effort into it.

"Hey," A unicorn mare, likely the mother, greeted to a stallion, likely the father and husband.
"Hey," The stallion replied, with equal dejection.

"And I thought the earth ponies and pegasi had it rough," Twilight commented. "What, earth ponies and their anti-unicorns and anti-pegasi technologies. And pegasi not being able to fly and deceived by their leaders?" Realizing what she said, Twilight turned her head to Zipp and Pipp, "Uh… no offense"

"Yeah, I get that a lot," Izzy shrugged. "My sparkle is a bit too sparkly for Bridlewood."

Twilight couldn’t help but be happy that Izzy is basically Pinkie Pie in this bleak world even down to the unlikely background

"So..." Hitch began, as he looked at one of the crystals. "How can we tell which ones are magic?"

Alarmed, one of the unicorn kids, on a playground, pointed an accusing hoof at the sheriff of Maretime Bay.

"Oooooh! You said a bad word!" The kid exclaimed. "Hurry! Before we get jinxed!"

The unicorn kids proceeded to drop themselves on the ground, raising their flanks up, before they blew some air out of their lungs, then they did a silly dance and sang, "Bing-bong-bing! Bing, bong! Bing, bong! Bing, bong! Bing, bong!"

"Unicorns are very superstitious," Izzy explained "If a pony ever says a forbidden word, we have to do a ritual to ward off the jinxes."

"Ah-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da!" Izzy shook her head, just as several unicorns stood petrified for a moment, before they continued on their way.

Once the coast was clear, Izzy uncovered Hitch's mouth, "Come on! There's something I want to show you."

"Don't ask us," Twilight shook her head. "I don't believe in...jinxes. What I believe in is the fact that Friendship is magic."

After the awkward tension, the heroes at last arrived at a building, with a sign that reads:

"There's a pony inside who collects crystals," Izzy explained. "Maybe he could help us."

Twilight shuts her eyes, as she rubbed her head and asked mostly herself “Seriously. How did magic ever became a forbidden word to these unicorns? And what's with the mayonnaise?”

The group walk into the building, where a unicorn was reciting a beat poetry.

Suddenly the group were right behind a shaggy brown unicorn, wearing a red hat, sitting at a table.

"That's the pony I was talking about," She whispered, to the group, who gathered around the table.

Sunny Starscout took a seat across the stallion and began to talk, "So word in the forest is you collect crystals."

Finally, the stallion came alive as he talks, "Yes, I do. Well, I mean, I did. I lost 'em all in a limbo contest with... Alphabittle!"

As if on cue, a loud bell rang in the air, drawing the heroes' attention to a bar table, where they see a unicorn stallion struggling with what appeared to be a Rubik's Cube, with a large, heavyset unicorn with a medium gray coat and dark gray hooves, watching with glee. He has a wispy white mane and tail, bushy eyebrows, sideburns, and a beard. He has freckles on his cheeks, and brown eyes. His cutie mark is a teapot.

"Time's up!" The tall unicorn declared. "Pass it over, Jasper." With a defeated sigh, 'Jasper' handed over the puzzle cube, which the large unicorn quickly solved in the blink of an eye.

"Wow, he's good!" Twilight commented. "I take it, that's Alphabittle?" She asked Izzy, who confirmed with a nod.

"Oh, fine," Sighing in defeat, Jasper gave up, what appeared to be a glass jar, with a miniature Christmas Tree.

With his prize lost, Jasper took his leave, "You could always try winning it back!" Alphabittle called out. "All right, suit yourself."

With that, Alphabittle puts his latest trophy on a shelf, behind him. There, the heroes spotted a beautiful blue crystal, shaped exactly like the one, from the stained glass portrait, back in Zephyr Heights.

"There it is!" Sunny pointed, before she exclaimed. "I've got an idea. Maybe I can beat Alphabittle at his own game."

With that, both Sunny Starscout walked up to the bar table, and each took a seat, across Alphabittle.

With a flick of his head, Alphabittle beckoned some armadillo-mouse critters to give the two mares their drinks. One of the critters was about to pour milk into Sunny's tea, put the mare stopped it.

"Yeah, it is," Sunny nodded. "And I challenge you... for that!" She pointed to the unicorn crystal, sitting on the shelf, behind Alphabittle, who scoffed.

"I think you'll find I'm average height," Sunny continued to challenge. "Tick-tock. What do you say?"

Alphabittle smirked towards Sunny, "Whatever you're bettin', it better be special."

With a whip of her hoof, Sunny placed the Pegasus Crystal on the table, "Special enough for ya?" She challenged, much to her friends' horror, and Alphabittle's fascination.

Before Sunny could continue, Izzy came over and pulled the earth pony mare in disguise to the side, to have a talk.
"Um...what are you doing?" Zipp asked.

"Don't worry," Sunny shrugged. "I could solve that cube puzzle in my sleep."

"Izzy," Alphabittle called. "If your friend is finished stalling, do we have a deal?"

"Deal," Sunny stated, putting her hoof down on the table. "Now give me that cube."

One of the critters was about to give Sunny the cube, only for Alphabittle to quickly snatch it away.

"No, no, no, no, no," He shook his head. "A special prize calls for a special competition," Turning to the side, Alphabittle declared, with a spotlight shining down on him. "Bring forth the ultimate challenge!"

The scene changes to reveal it is a large machine, with colorful floorpads, flashing lights, and a title that reads: "Just Prance."

"That's it?" Rainbow Dash asked, "That's the ultimate challenge? I was expecting something awesome!"

A unicorn took to the stage and announced, "Both ponies agree. Best out of three."

Alphabittle and Sunny both took their place, before Alphabittle spoke, "Let's make this more interesting. You only need to win one out of three."

“You know this hasn’t happened yet right?” Rarity who’s finally woken up from her fainting asked

Getting their game face on, both Sunny and Alphabittle began the game, as the machine displays a set of colorful horseshoes for both Sunny and Izzy to dance, and a groovy song and music to dance to. Sunny was off to a bad start, as Alphabittle was already ahead of the game, wracking up a huge number of scores, moving the arrow on his score meter, higher than Sunny's.

Before long, a bell rang, declaring Alphabittle the winner of the first round.

"What can you do?" The announcer asked, as the second round was about to start. "Round two."

With that, Sunny and Alphabittle had another dance off. But like before in the previous round, Sunny was barely catching up to the senior unicorn's dance moves, and fumbled behind, until once again, Alphabittle was declared the winner.
"Yeah!" Alphabittle cheered. "Critters, get my crystal polish ready, would ya?"

"Hey," Pipp Petals called to Sunny. "You hear that, Sunny?" She gestured to the music playing in the background. "Feel the rhythm take you over. You feelin' it?"

Moving her body to the rhythm of the song, Sunny smiled, "Oh, I'm feelin' it. I'm feelin' it!"

With that, in their final round, Sunny made an impressive comeback as she was able to dance, catching up with Alphabittle's steps, and succeeding in moving the arrow further than his, on her meter.

Pressured, Alphabittle struggled to dance as fast as he could, but he could barely catch up to Sunny's dance steps, after her confidence and spirit was renewed. Everypony all watched in anticipation, until finally, the machine's bell rang and Sunny was declared the winner.

"We won," Sunny panted heavily, while Alphabittle and the unicorn crowds could hardly believe their eyes. "We WON! WE ACTUALLY WON!"

All was going well for the heroes, as Sunny celebrated with her friends, when her fake horn came flying off.

All the unicorns, besides Izzy and Sunset, in the room were shocked at the revelation.

"And Pegasi!" Zipp Storm frowned, as she and her sister took off their disguises, with Hitch joining.

The unicorns all advanced upon the heroes, as Sunny attempts to defuse the tension, "I know it doesn't look like it, but we're here to help," She reassured.

"Help?" Alphabittle frowned. "We don't need help. Especially from ponies like you. Give me the crystal."

Desperate, Hitch burst out screaming, "Uh… Magic! Wing! Feather! MAYONNAISE!"

And just like that, the unicorns in the room, including Alphabittle, went, "Bing! Bong! Bing-bong, bing-bong!"

The main 6, even Twilight and Rarity couldn't help laugh out loud at the unicorns' antics

"Go, go, go!" Sunny said, as the heroes make their escape, out of the building, taking their prizes with them.

The heroes kept on galloping through the forest, making their way towards the exit. They hadn't gone very far, however, when the sound of leaves rustling was heard, to which everypony screeched to a halt, watching as another pony emerged from the bushes, revealing herself to be...

Suddenly a familiar winged dog jumped out from the bushes and pounced on Sheriff Hitch.

He looked to see the dog was holding his precious badge, in his mouth. "Ah! My badge! Yes!" He exclaimed happily, holding up the badge in his hoof.

Ignoring Sheriff Hitch, Queen Haven turned to her two daughters, "Oh, I'm so glad I found my little fillies. Now, I know that if you just come back with me, we can explain everything. Spin the story, and they'll love us again. R-Right?"

Before Zipp and Pipp could answer, the sound of hooves galloping brought their attention to Alphabittle and the unicorn herd he was leading. The unicorns burst out from the bushes and glared at the heroes.

"There she is!" Another voice called, revealing herself to be the pegasi guards. "Your Criminal Highness, you're coming with us!"

Next to her, her partner took notice of the unicorns, "Aah! Unicorns!" Reaching into his wings, Thunder hurled a tennis ball at Alphabittle, which harmlessly bounced off his head

"Your crystals?" Queen Haven exclaimed in outrage. "That crystal belongs to me!" She pointed to the pegasi crystal.

"Hah! I certainly doubt it!" Queen Haven scoffed. "Unicorns are known to be cheaters!"

"Hey, that's our queen you're talking to!" One of the Pegasus guards shouted.

"We're gonna zap you with our horns!" The Unicorn retaliated, as another joined in the scuffle. "This is our land! You're not welcome here!"

"Surrender the crystal, or we'll use our powers against you!" Alphabittle threatened.

Stressed at all the arguments and the negativity between the ponies, Twilight focused it all into her magic, boiled by her temper, until she couldn't take it anymore.

"ENOUGH!" Twilight screamed in her Royal Canterlot voice, stomping her hooves on the ground, emitting a powerful shockwave that knocked the ponies off their seats.

"WHAT HAS BECOME OF YOU PONIES?!" Twilight ranted angrily. "What happened to the Equestria I know? What happened to me and my friends? Has Everypony all forgotten the magic of friendship? The friendship that me and my friends extended, not just for ponies, before creatures worldwide? How could you all have forgotten about that? Why are you so determined to one-up one another? Where is the magic of friendship?!"

Applejack went up to Twilight and had her do her breathing exercise to help calm her down

Sunny couldn’t take the arguing anymore and yelled “NOPONY HAS MAGIC!”

"This is giving me a headache," Exhausted from her angry outburst, Twilight calmed wale rubbing her head

"Listen, I know it sounds unbelievable," Sunny began. "But please just let us try.”

Queen Haven looked hesitant for a moment, before she reluctantly allowed it, with Alphabittle, "Fine."
"You're wasting your time, kid," Alphabittle said, as both he and Queen Haven watched, as Sunny and Izzy took out the unicorn and pegasi crystals.

Everypony all watched in anticipation as Sunny and Izzy proceeded to join both crystals together.

"Hey," Zipp asked Twilight. "You're the real expert on magic. What do you think will happen?"

"Well, based on my experience, normally, there's a big light show, with rainbow lasers and...stuff," Twilight answered. "Just wait and see what happens."

Both Sunny and Izzy's eyes sparkled with excitement as they finally closed the distance with their crystals, into a perfect fit. With that, nothing happened.

Twilight syed in disappointment “I knew it wouldn’t be that easy but I was kinda hoping that something would happen at the very least… wait a second… maybe… let’s continue to see if I’m right.”

"We can try it again!" Sunny pleaded desperately. "Maybe... Maybe w-we did it wrong somehow."

But the Unicorns and Pegasi didn't want to hear any of it, as they turned and walked away.

"Wait. Wait, don't go," Looking down at the crystals, Sunny repeatedly put the crystals back together. "Oh, come on. Work. Work! Please work! Come on!"

"No!" Sunny cried, taking the crystals back in her hooves. "C'mon, please... Please!"

"Sunny," Sheriff Hitch comforted his heartbroken friend. "It's okay. You did everything you could."

"I... I thought it would work," Sunny sobbed, looking up to her childhood friend and Sunset. "I was so, so sure of it."

The heroes watched as Sunny sadly returned the unicorn crystal to Alphabittle, before returning the pegasus crystal to Queen Haven.

"I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused you," She apologized to the leaders.

Twilight felt her heart break for Sunny, she knew that look, it was the same one she had on the rare instance’s that she lost hope.

"I thought that I could make a difference," Sunny cried. "But everywhere I go, I just make things worse."

"That's not true," Izzy Moonbow shook her head. "We're all in this together, right?" In response, the rest of the heroes all exchange random agreements.

Still, Sunny was too distraught to see the positive response, "I'm so sorry I let you all down," Sunny apologized.

"No, Sunny," Twilight shook her head. "You did the best you could, and you made friends with the other tribes despite every obstacle."

"I guess this is goodbye...friends," Sheriff Hitch said sadly, to the mares and friends

Hitch smiled halfhearted towards the three, he would happily say he did consider them friends

Watching A New Generation

by Shadow Dragon

Bridlewood