Ruins

by TheMajorTechie

With Great Interest

Spike nudged a ball closer to Timby with his foot, watching the young timberwolf set off in a frenzied scramble of twigs and leaves. Timby was more than excitable now that he'd grown accustomed to being around Spike, and better yet--there was finally someone to share all the apples with!

Timby whipped his head around, sending the ball careening past Spike before running after it again.

---

"Sunny? Izzy?" Hitch watched the two mares pass by him. Sunny had her saddlebags on again, and Izzy... Izzy was wearing both that ring and a tennis ball on her horn. "I was just heading your way! Where are you going?"

"Spike's place," Sunny began in a near-whisper. "Izzy wants to talk to him."

Hitch eyed Izzy. The unicorn hid her face behind her wavy mane.

He sighed. "Alright, but I'm coming with you two as well. Want me to call up Pipp and Zi--"

"Leave them out of this," Izzy cut him off. "You don't have to come either. This is just between us and Spike."

"I don't have to come, but how about if I want to come?" Hitch trot ahead and stood before the two. "I have a feeling I know why you're going. You want to ask Spike about how the magic disappeared, don't you?"

Sunny stepped past him, with Izzy trailing close behind.

"I'll take that as a maybe," Hitch himself now turned to follow. "Neither of you have to go through this by yourselves. I was there when it happened to--"

A shaky mutter escaped Sunny. "You were the one that helped save ponies. Izzy and I are the ones with blood on our hooves."

Hitch ran ahead again. "Wait, but I thought we had this discussion already! You said you were taking things one step at a time, and that you wanted to go back to making smoothies and shakes! What happened?"

"I'm not doing this for myself."

For a second time, Hitch shifted his gaze to Izzy. The unicorn didn't acknowledge him.

"Nothing I say is going to change your mind, is it?"

Slowly, Izzy began to shake her head in the slightest of ways.

"May I still come with you two?"

A moment's hesitation. And then, a singular nod.

Hitch drew in a breath. "Thank you. I'll let Sprout know that I'm heading off again. I'll catch up in a bit."

---

Sunny stared back down at Maretime Bay from the hilltop she and Izzy had reached. Hitch peeled an orange nearby.

She could already picture the entire town engulfed in flames.

No--she shook the thought from her head. She had to focus on the task at hoof.

"We ready to continue?" she turned around to face Hitch and Izzy.

"Not yet," Hitch offered a piece of orange to Izzy. For a brief moment, she saw her horn flicker to life... only to go dormant again as a crackle of energy dissipated into the ring.

It didn't stop the tennis ball from gaining a new scorch mark around the point where it'd been pierced, however.

Izzy mouthed a silent "sorry" before taking the fruit with a hoof.

Sunny looked away. All her life growing up, she'd read that using magic to grab and manipulate objects was to a unicorn like how walking was to every other pony. Even if they didn't necessarily have the strength to lift everything they set their eyes on, the external use of magic was instinctual to a unicorn. It was why, when magic had seemingly vanished, most if not all unicorns had fled from society.

To them, it must've been like cutting off a foreleg.

To Izzy, it was like discovering that she could finally walk, only to find that her legs had gained a mind of their own.

It was a terrible analogy, but it was how those dusty old textbooks had phrased things.

And now, Izzy wanted to cut off that leg all over again.

"Sunny!" a voice cheered from the distance. Sunny's ears swiveled towards its source.

"Sunny!" Misty yelled again as she scrambled up the hill. She stopped, panting, in front of the trio. "My--my mom said--that your smoothie cart was closed today--when she went to buy me something... woo!" she ran a hoof over her face, pushing the messy locks of curly mane out of the way. "I saw you going up the hill while I was sitting on a rooftop! What are you doing all the way up here?"

Sunny glanced at Izzy, who for the first time in a couple of days seemed to be genuinely enjoying something as she ate another orange slice.

"Having a snack," she said through a forced smile. "Misty, right? What're you doing all the way up here?"

"My mom wanted you to have this," Misty lifted the same shiny puck-shaped thingy from before from her saddlebags. Izzy watched the glow of Misty's horn with trembling eyes.

Misty's magic sputtered out, dropping the object on the ground. "Aw, whoops! Still not that good at magic like my mom is, haha--" She picked it up again and placed it on Sunny's head. "There, you have it now! For some reason it was in the lost and found at the police station."

Sunny heard Hitch facehoof behind her.

"So what are you gonna do after you're done having a snack up here?" Misty took the object off of Sunny's head again and opened it. "See? Look! It's a fancy mirror! I don't know why my mom wants you to have it, but she's got like, lots of weird random stuff at home that she collects... ooh, maybe you could use it to see customers from the other side of your smoothie wagon! Like how some carts have rear-view mirrors!"

"Misty. I have flip-up doors on both sides of the truck. I just keep one closed. Because on the other side of the truck is the ocean."

Misty dropped the mirror. "Oh."

"But..." Sunny picked it up from the ground, brushing off the dirt that was rapidly beginning to accumulate from the repeated drops. "Thanks. I'll just keep it in my saddlebags for now. You go back to your mom, alright?"

Misty stood firmly where she was.

Sunny sighed. "You want to come along with us too, don't you?"

"Well... if Hitch has any more oranges," Misty tilted her head towards Hitch.

"Listen. Misty," Hitch set the rest of the orange on top of his own bags. "How old are you? All that talk you made about your mom tells me that you're not old enough to be trekking off like this with complete strangers. At the very least, if you want to come along, then your mom or some other adult that you know should be accompanying you."

"But I am an adult!"

"Then I'd like to see some form of identification, please."

Misty stared back blankly.

"That's what I thought," Hitch ushered Misty down the hill. "You two stay here, I'm bringing Misty here down to the station. Sunny, I'd like to speak with you when I get back."