Ruins

by TheMajorTechie

Kaleidoscope

Sunny shrunk back at the sight.

The Alicorn--whoever she was--stepped closer. A silvery amulet clinked against the wooden countertop with her movements. "I hear the smoothies here are the best one can get," she took the puck-shaped object from the corner and slid it towards Sunny. "I'll take whatever you feel like making. Consider this our payment."

Sunny's eyes darted between the Alicorn in front of her and the surrounding ponies. Nopony, save for the colt from earlier, seemed to take any notice.

"Can you wait in line next time?" he grumbled as he took his own smoothie from the counter. "There's an order and pickup line for a reason y'know."

...Nevermind.

The Alicorn stared daggers at the colt as he wandered off. She let out a snooty huff. "Regardless of interruption, I'll be keeping my eye on you, magic wielder."

She lit her horn and took the still-empty cup from Sunny's grasp.

Sunny rubbed her eyes. The Alicorn--no... unicorn? Unicorn--she swore she saw a pair of wings that past minute or so. Her eyes weren't deceiving her, were they? That was an Alicorn that'd just ordered from her, right?

She watched as they disappeared into the crowd.

---

"Hitch!" Sunny burst into the room, her breaths quick and heavy. "Hitch! I saw--an Alicorn! And she paid for a cup of nothing with this--"

Hitch peered over his desk as she dropped her saddlebags and extracted the strange object from earlier. She placed it on the surface of the table, nudging it closer to him.

"I haven't tried opening it yet," Sunny dropped into the chair with a grunt. "I... haven't ever had anything like this happen. I wanted to make sure that it'd be safe."

Hitch lowered his brows. A number of expressions continued to run through his face, chiefly among them, confusion.

"An Alicorn," he began slowly.

Sunny nodded. "A purple one, with a curly white mane. She was wearing some sort of necklace or brooch or something--an amulet, maybe, but I couldn't tell for sure what it looked like from behind the counter. Nobody else besides me seemed to notice her wings."

Hitch stared at Sunny, slowly pulling the shiny puck-shaped... thing that Misty had left behind--closer. "I'll take this in for inspection for hazardous substances. You stay safe in the meantime. Alright? I know AlphaBittle said it wasn't your fault, but I wouldn't be surprised if some ponies may have felt otherwise. Even if that wasn't an Alicorn that you saw back there, you need to watch your back."

"Yeah."

He slid the trinket aside, his voice softening a little. "Anything interesting happen at work today? Other than the supposed Alicorn sighting, of course--though I'm not entirely sure how we're gonna verify what you saw if you were the only one she revealed herself to."

Sunny shook her head.

"Do you... wanna talk some more about the Alicorn?"

A nod.

A sigh escaped Hitch as he slid aside the paperwork he'd been busy with. "Alright. So, we have a basic description. Purple, curly white mane, and presumably looks like a unicorn? Did she give any name?"

"She has a daughter named Misty, I think. Blue unicorn, frizzy mane. I really didn't see much resemblance, though. Something about their eyes."

"Want me to--"

"No!" Sunny nearly leapt from her seat. She quieted down a little. "No. It's possible I was just seeing things. Misty's mother might in fact just be a unicorn that I mistook for an Alicorn. I don't want to cause any alarm by having you or somebody else go after her. Not after how big of a disaster we've just been through. The last thing we need is for ponies to become suspicious of unicorns again right after their homes were destroyed."

"Security footage, then?" Hitch shrugged. "Not sure if those'll pick anything up out of the ordinary, but it's worth a shot."

"Would a cloaking spell be able to hide her wings from cameras?"

Hitch glanced down at the patch of moss that'd developed under his hoof, then at Sunny. "I... don't think I'm the one you should be asking about that stuff. Your smoothie trailer is parked by the boardwalk today, right? I can check the cameras there if you have something to do in the meantime."

"I'll go ask Izzy."

---

"Izzy?" Sunny peeked around the corner. A distinct scent of burnt plastic hung in the air.

The unicorn looked up from the chain of beads she'd been constructing.

"How're you feeling today?" Sunny sat down beside her. "I know it's been a lot to process after... well, y'know."

Izzy lifted the bead chain up to the sunlight. For a few seconds, the room was silent as she and Sunny watched the afternoon sun glisten against the glassy beads.

"Better," Izzy began. "You?"

Sunny hesitated.

"...Better. I think. Is it okay if I ask you some things about magic?"

Izzy dropped the bracelet she'd been making with a quiet 'oop'. "Isn't there anyone better you can ask? I don't really know very much about magic, just..." she picked the chain back up. "Make things floaty and stuff." She winced, dropping the chain again as her hooves shot to her head.

Sunny's eyes followed. Where there was a tennis ball there was now instead--

"Magic inhibitor," Izzy whispered through gritted teeth. "Zipp found one and gave it to me earlier. I don't want to hurt anypony again."

"Are you sure that's what you want? I don't think that's something you're supposed to be doing to yourself. Inhibitor rings were meant for--"

"I know."

Sunny retracted her hoof.

"And it's still not strong enough. This is my second ring," Izzy flopped across the table on top of her beads. "I was hoping that I could control it better! I wanted to try and fix my horn by myself, and I tried! I really did! But I've burnt up so many beads now just trying to lift them up. And when I tried using the inhibitor ring the first time around, it melted off! I wasn't even trying to use magic that time!"

She paused for breath. "Sunny, do you really think you can make magic go away again? It was fun the first few weeks to make things float and be able to grab things without using my hooves, but..." her gaze shifted to the singed heap to the side of her, then back to Sunny.

"You heard that?"

"Yeah."

Comments

[ArceusFan493]

Super happy to see this update again!

[Turbotune]

What a good new chapter, and it only took a whole year~

[Axolotl222]

You know it's good to see that things are getting better...
"Magic inhibitor," Izzy whispered through gritted teeth. "Zipp found one and gave it to me earlier. I don't want to hurt anypony again."

She paused for breath. "Sunny, do you really think you can make magic go away again? It was fun the first few weeks to make things float and be able to grab things without using my hooves, but..."

Err...