Sunny Starscout was not a princess.
She was an earth pony who could sometimes turn into an alicorn. She was considered to be the leader of her group of friends who had saved Equestria countless times. She was even the last living direct descendant of the greatest princess in Equestria’s history.
But she herself was definitely not a princess.
She thought of the words that Spike the Dragon Lord had called to her: “Don’t worry about me, Princess Sunny. This isn’t my first rodeo. Protect your ponies!”
“I’m not a princess!” Sunny had called back.
Spike had laughed. “If you say so!”
Sunny had been meaning to talk to Spike about what he had called her, but up to that point she hadn’t been able to get the Dragon Lord alone to talk to him since their victory over Opaline. She and her friends hadn’t been to visit the Isle of Scaley in a while.
And speaking of dragons…
Sunny frowned down at the letter she was writing to her dragon friend, Ash. When Sunny had visited the dragonlands after freeing herself from Cozy Glow’s mind control, it had been a fiery wasteland that was dry and scorching hot, with hardly any life. But recently, she and her friends had been visiting the Isle of Scaley, another dragonlands where Hitch’s baby dragon Sparky came from. It couldn’t have been more different than the dragonlands that Sunny had visited, and Ash was nowhere to be found. So Sunny was writing to Ash, hoping for answers.
Granted, all of her other letters that she had sent to her friends had gone unanswered, but Sunny really hoped that this one could go through, and that Ash would feel it was of the utmost importance that she respond.
Sunny glanced out the window at Misty, who was helping Izzy with her newest unicycling project on the front lawn. Above them, the Marestream glided smoothly through the air and set down on the landing pad in front of the Crystal Brighthouse, Zipp at the wheel and Pipp flying out as soon as they landed. Hitch was sitting off to the side, playing with Sparky, and the little baby dragon was laughing with delight as Hitch tossed him in the air, his little wings flapping as he came back down into Hitch’s hooves. It warmed Sunny’s heart to see them all in one place, together, and she smiled.
Sunny and the others hadn’t yet told Misty about their adventures before Opaline: how Sunny was actually the last descendent of Twilight Sparkle, the pony who had first banished Opaline from Equestria, or how the dragons were only a few of the magical creatures that were out there in their own kingdoms. It wasn’t that they didn’t trust Misty; she had more than proven her worth in defeating Opaline. But perhaps Sunny’s friends were all feeling what Sunny was - that something was about to happen, and if they pretended everything was fine… maybe it would be.
Sunny turned back to her letter. She had written to her friends every week, and had yet to hear a response. Of course, she was using magic to teleport the letters to her friends, so perhaps she was messing up the spell, and some poor creature who knew nothing of who Sunny was was getting bombarded with magically appearing letters. That would be easier to accept than her friends moving on without her - or worse, not caring anymore. Sunny sighed and finished up her letter.
“Please write back if you know of anything. I really hope to hear from you soon. I miss you all.” She sat back with a satisfied nod and folded the letter twice, setting it on her windowsill. She would send it later.
“Hey there, Sunny!” Hitch said brightly, opening the doors to the bedroom and trotting in with Sparky riding on his back. “Zipp and Pipp just got back from Zephyr Heights, and Pipp has something she wants to ask you about the Unity Festival in a few days-”
“I’ll be there!” Sunny said cheerfully, bouncing off her bed and grinning at her foalhood friend. “It’s crazy to think, isn’t it, that we’re celebrating the return of magic with a giant party in Zephyr Heights? Pipp says that everypony who’s anypony is gonna be there!”
“It’s gonna be the party to end all parties,” Hitch agreed with a grin. Sparky leaped off his back and scampered over to Sunny’s bed, pulling himself up on the covers.
“How’s the preparations coming along?” Sunny asked, watching Sparky as the baby dragon bounced up and down on her mattress before crashing into her pillows. “I hope everything’s coming along okay - you know how Pipp can get when things aren’t perfect for something that’s really important to her.”
“I haven’t been up there much since they started planning, but Zephyr Heights knows how to do parties! I mean, if it’s anything like Manesqurade Ball, or the Moon Festival, or the Cutie Blossom Bash, then it’ll be great, and-”
Sparky sneezed, and a small fireball shot out of his nose and incinerated the first thing it landed on - which just so happened to be Sunny’s letter that she set on the windowsill.
“Sparky, NO!” Hitch cried as Sunny leapt forward to try and save it. But as the flames died down, Sunny stumbled back in shock.
“I-it’s gone,” she stammered, staring at the spot where her letter had been just a few moments ago. There were no ashes, no scorch marks, nothing. It was as if the letter had simply… vanished. Both Hitch and Sunny turned to stare at Sparky, who rolled on his back and was happily playing with a corner of Sunny’s blanket.
“...and there’s this huge stage that’s being put up in the throne room for the opening ceremonies for the Unity Festival, and it’s gonna be broadcasted to all the screens in the city, and you should see the decorations, there’s streamers and lights and the earth ponies are gonna grow flowers all around the edge of the stage and around the pillars and stuff, and we’ve got these adorable little stickers representing each of the different tribes that are going to go everywhere-”
“Pipp!” Zipp glared at her sister as she passed by. “Stop talking about it! They’ll see it all when we leave tomorrow!” Zipp flew past Sunny and Hitch and up the ramp into the bedroom, where she disappeared from sight.
Pipp pouted from where she was hovering in the entrance hall, telling Izzy and Misty all about the Unity Fest preparations in Zephyr Heights. Izzy looked very interested, but the look on Misty’s face told Sunny that Pipp had kept them pinned there for a very long time while she detailed every single bit of decoration that was being put up.
“I’m so excited for the festival!” Izzy squealed, jumping up and down. Turning to Misty and grabbing the other unicorn’s shoulders, she said, “Just think, Misty! A whole three days of parties and games and fun and parties!”
“Yay,” Misty said softly, looking far less enthusiastic.
Pipp picked up on the worry in Misty’s mind. “Don’t worry, Misty, you won’t have to go up in front of all of Equestria for this,” she said reassuringly. “Almost nopony will - unless you’re singing in the music part of the festival on day two. Or if you’re part of the re-enactment of our quest for the Unity Crystals. Or if you’re going up on the stage on day one to welcome everyone to the festival and wish them the best as the symbol of unity between all ponykind like Sunny-”
“I’m what?” Sunny asked, stopping in her tracks.
“Oh, that’s what I wanted to tell you, Sunny - Mom would love it if you could give, like, a big welcoming speech or something, or maybe not something big but just welcoming everypony in, as, like, an alicorn, because this whole thing is about unity between ponykind, and it would just totally fit. So, like, can you?”
Sunny gave a smile that she hoped was convincing. “Yeah, sure! I just hope I’ll be able to keep my alicorn form for the whole time-”
“Oh, you’ll be fine,” Pipp assured her, waving her hoof dismissively before she pulled out her phone. “Now, I’ve got to go start composing my perfect post for the first day of Unity Fest. It’s going to be so moving and get everypony so excited for the awesome stuff that’s going to happen!” She flew off to the bedroom, tapping at her phone and muttering.
“I’d better get going,” Hitch said, glancing at the clock on the wall. “I need to get back to the station before it gets any later to close up for the night, and get Sparky to bed.” He cast another glance at Sunny before he trotted outside and closed the door behind him.
Izzy squealed and danced on the tips of her hooves. “I can’t wait! I’m going to go get packing right now! Misty, come on!” Izzy raced up the ramp and soon disappeared as well. Misty and Sunny exchanged a glance and laughed.
“Are you alright, Sunny? You look… troubled,” Misty said, tilting her head as she studied Sunny’s face.
Sunny sighed. Sometimes, Misty was a little too good at this whole empathy thing. “Actually, yes,” she admitted. “See, I was upstairs writing a letter to a friend, and when Hitch and Sparky came up, and Sparky sneezed and set the letter on fire, but then it… disappeared. Like, there was nothing left.”
“Wow,” Misty said in an awed voice. “I don’t think Opaline ever knew what dragon fire could actually do. She would go on and on about how powerful it was, but she never told me what it could do specifically until we got to the Isle of Scaley. Do you think it could be something like Spike can do?”
Sunny hesitated, but she knew it would be no use lying; Misty would know. “Maybe,” she said slowly. “But I thought Tumble said that each dragon had their own unique magic - no more, no less. And Sparky has transformation fire magic. So did he just transform my letter into thin air? I don’t think that he would be able to send messages to other… ponies.” She almost slipped up and said “creatures”.
Misty studied Sunny as if she knew she was hiding something, but Izzy called her name from upstairs, and the blue unicorn trotted away, leaving Sunny on her own.
Ever since they had defeated Opaline, Sunny had been hoping that the feeling of unease she had been feeling would go away. Sure, Chrysalis was still out there, angry, but powerless and weak. Termite might be plotting revenge, but he was exiled by both the ponies and the other creatures, so he was no threat. King Sombra was still banished to the ether as far as Sunny knew. And the ponies who had tried to erase everypony’s memories were still locked safely away in jail. She didn’t think there was anypony else who could pose a threat.
So why did she still feel so uneasy? Like this was the calm before the storm… like something terrible was about to happen that could tear Equestria apart like never before.