//------------------------------//
// Reunion 
// Story: Rebirth of Magic: Zipping It 
// by The Blue EM2 
//------------------------------//

The peaceful sound of the forest was interrupted by the rumbling of vehicle engines as they drove along a path, with us sitting on the sides of the vehicles.

"Watch clearances!" said a voice over the radio. "We're coming up on some low hanging branches."

"Copy, adjust heading to avoid."

The heavy vehicles shifted over to the side and began to turn away from whatever they were trying to avoid. The machines were pretty nimble for something of their size, and made easy work of navigating the terrain, their heavy treads easily moving over the rough ground.

"Not the stealthiest of approaches, this," I said.

"It does the job, Your Highness," the Colonel said. "Over long distances it beats walking. I did this many times during the Valdon Campaign."

Presumably that was another war from back in the history of the world. Presumably a recent one given Opwinden's age.

We continued on our way through the region before we came to a stop in a clearing, the vehicles stopping and forming up. The trees continued on in front of us in an uninviting way, the land and sky continuing to roll away from us. When the latter was visible to us, that is, as the tree canopy is pretty thick in Bridlewood.

"Why have we stopped?" mom asked, looking concerned. We had every reason to be- the area was probably pretty hostile to our presence.

There were a few moments of silence before we made our way out of the area, but then the commander spoke. "My sincerest apologies, Your Majesty. Our vehicles are unable to proceed further- the roadway up ahead is too narrow for our tracks. You'll have to continue on hoof, I'm afraid."

I shrugged. "Well, a bit of walking's not too bad, huh?"

Dad sighed. "Not what was being alluded to Zephyrina."

Mom glanced over. "She prefers Zipp, actually."

Dad nodded. "That's going to take some getting used to. Still, we might as well dismount and get on our way. It beats sitting here and waiting for the plants to change colour. Let's go."

We all slipped off the sides of the tanks and began to make our way down the path into Bridlewood, the tanks providing observation support as far as we could see and walk.

Sure enough, the terrain began to look familiar. I began to spot familiar landmarks any fans of the film would recognise. There were some empty swings where the inexplicable British colt was lying when Hitch said a magic word by mistake. That was Izzy's house we just passed. And a short distance up ahead was the Crystal Tearoom, but what was odd was there were many shouts of bing bong bouncing off the trees and walls.

Huh. Seems we missed the PrancePranceRevolution session. Oh well. That probably meant my friends were close, and we would soon be reunited!

I followed the voices. "This way!" I called, and we took a turn and sped towards some bushes. They parted with ease, and I saw them for the first time in such a long time.

My friends.

Pipp was the first to react! "Zipp!" she cried, and dashed over to me. "I'm so, so glad you're OK!"

"Hey Pipp," I said, hugging her as best I could. "It's been a wild ride."

"I'm not surprised," Pipp replied. "You smell pretty bad."

"Well, trekking across mountains and walking through forests rather does that to ya," I said, then sighed. "I could do with a shower."

"Walking across mountains?" Hitch said. "I don't remember that from the movie."

"It's a long story," I replied, as Pipp and I broke from the hug. "But I'm here now, with you guys, and we can move forward. Have you got the crystals?"

The speech was interrupted by soldiers bursting through the bushes and stopping. "Hold fire!" the Colonel said. "Zipp, are these your friends?"

"Yes, they are," I replied. "I'd appreciate it if no harm comes to them- I mean, one of them is your other boss."

Just then, the bushes shifted about, and mom rolled out of the bush tail first before landing on the floor. "Ouch! I think that dislodged the tailbrace. Must ask Pipp to check it."

She rolled and saw us, before dashing over. "Thank Faust you're safe, Pipp!" she said, pulling both of us into a hug. "You made it across the country to here on your own!"

"Well, I had a little help from my friends," Pipp answered, with a wry smile. I nodded. Hopefully there had been no getting high with a little help from her friends.

Mom smiled. "I'm just so glad to have my little fillies back. And there's an extra surprise for you too."

As we broke from the physical contact, mom indicated to dad. "Pipp, this is going to be quite hard to believe... but this stallion is your father."

Dad looked over. "Hello, Pipp. It's been a while. Ten years to be precise."

Pipp dashed over, a lot less hesitant than I had been in the same circumstances, and hugged him. "I've missed you so much!" she bawled.

"Me too," dad sighed, holding her close. "You certainly have grown, though."

"It's called puberty, dad," I said, sarcastically.

"I know what puberty is," he said, in response. "But how have things been since I was last here, eh?"

Mom and I quickly exchanged glances of concern. Neither of us had any clue how dad would react to the news his wife and two daughters had been replaced by people from another dimension entirely.

Luckily, Pipp didn't have a chance to say anything before trouble happened. There was the rumbling of engines, and suddenly a pair of tanks emerged from the treeline, followed by two groups of soldiers. Leading them was Alphabittle, who saw the scene in front of him and scowled.

"I knew it," he said. "This was your plan the entire time. Why am I not surprised the pegasi are behind this?"

I turned and looked. "It's not what you think-"

"Hold your tongue."

Zoom looked up. "That's the Crown Princess you're talking to!"

"And that has any bearing on the situation how, precisely?" Alphabittle said. "You'll fill me with bullet holes if I don't say the magic word? I must say Merry, things have gone downhill if you're overseeing theft and foalnapping."

It simply turned out mom had been waiting to kick into high gear and sharpen her tongue. The resulting back and forth between her and Alphabittle was much more vicious than in the movie, but she certainly has a quick sense of debate and superb sense of timing.

Partway through the argument, Pipp's phone suddenly got an emergency message over the Emergency Broadcast System. Who knew those could be picked up in the literal middle of nowhere, huh?

Pipp looked at it in surprise. "Huh? That's weird. I thought I couldn't get a signal out here." She opened the message, and her face lit up in utter surprise. "What? It's some sort of broadcast?"

And sure enough it was, from Gulfstream. The full thing was quite the ramble so I'll tell you the important bits. Basically he complained about the Queen and then showed footage of a burning city that was being bombed.

"This was the city of Staltenberg. It's leadership and mayor stood against us, and against order. So we turned them into an example of what happens to those who stand against us."

Gulfstream leaned into the camera. "Make no mistake. We know where the rebels are. We will find you and we will kill you. None shall stand in the way of our glorious future."

OK, this is bad. Really, really bad. That would explain why Bridlewood wasn't attacked- he was busy killing his own citizens! He was even further up the crazy dictator track than I'd thought possible.

Mom summarised the sentiment well. "He's insane."

"Pretty much the usual," a unicorn said unhelpfully.

I couldn't quite recall if he had the launch codes, but his willingness to drop weapons on his own people suggested a complete lack of restraint. What if he was sending a reprisal mission our way right now?

Luckily, mom took up the conversation. "I know our two species don't exactly have the best of relations. But we have to stop General Gulfstream before he gets his hooves on the launch codes!"

Wait a second. I then remembered something the General had said earlier.

"The fact that they are encoded to your hoofprints is simply a minor setback. I already have the first two, so all I need are the last ones. It's simple, you old fool. I want the launch codes."

Launch codes tied to her hooves. The interrogators were interested in her hooves.

They already had the launch codes!

Before I could say anything, Alphabittle interrupted. "And why should we help, given what you've done?"

Mom looked sternly at him. "Because the alternative is nuclear armageddon. If we don't stop him, we all die. What say you?"

Alphabittle grumbled. "Fine. We'll help. I never thought I'd work alongside a pegasus, but if it's that or death I know which I'll pick."

With that, our course was now clear. It was back to Zephyr Heights, as we had ourselves an insane general to overthrow.