Heir
After he had gotten his deputy's badge polished up, Sprout started another leisurely stroll through Maretime Bay, keeping an eye out for anything that didn't look like it belonged there, like litter. Luckily, CanterLogic already had a few teams out taking care of the globs of goop that had been launched from the Splat-a-pults, as well as closing up the unicorn traps from their standby positions.
He would have thought that they would be able to disable them just as fast as enable them. But apart from having to sidestep all the steel squares on the streets and sidewalks, the populace of Maretime Bay did seem to be calmer after yesterday's panic, and they greeted him with warm smiles and nods as he passed by on his patrol.
He passed one of many lamp posts lining the coastal road, but this one immediately grabbed his attention, due to the flyer with a picture of himself on it. He stopped and stepped up to read it.
Do we want a sheriff that shirks his duties at the drop of a hat to go running off with unicorns?
SPROUT CLOVERLEAF FOR SHERIFF!
Sprout fought the urge to throw up in his mouth a little as he rolled his eyes, not needing to think very long of where these came from. Grumbling under his breath, he tore the flyer down and deposited it in the nearest trash can.
He'd keep an eye out for more on every patrol he went on today.
His mom was good at running a factory, but he wasn't about to usurp his best friend's job just because he went to see a unicorn home with Sunny. Besides, it wasn't like Hitch had abandoned his post or anything; he had put Sprout in charge until he got back, and he was going to do this town's sheriff proud.
Mainly by keeping an eye out for any more 'litter' taped to the lamp posts...
"I've been thinking," Hitch started, as he leaned back in the dusty seating that was present on the wide open floor, glancing towards the stained glass windows. "There's a unicorn crystal, and a pegasus crystal. Is there an Earth Pony crystal? Would that be the center window that's no longer there?"
"That sounds like a pretty sound theory. I haven't heard of one, but then again, I haven't heard of the other two before today, either," Sunny told him. "I'll have to do some more digging through dad's things, see if he ever heard of them or know how they're supposed to work."
"How long are we supposed to wait for our new pegasus friend to come back? Like, how long do we wait before it might be better to go on without her, if she's unable to come back?" Hitch asked.
"I'm hoping we don't have to do that, because then, we're back to square one. Even if we find the unicorn crystal in Bridlewood, we'd have to get the pegasus crystal somehow. Even then, we'll have to find the earth pony crystal too."
"Sounds like quite a long shot, Sunny. Not a day has gone by where one of our preconceptions hasn't changed. How do you know this will work?"
"I don't, Hitch. It's called hope. Even if it doesn't work, I've made a new friend, maybe two."
Zipp strolled through the castle halls, having bypassed the red carpet at the front exterior, looking as nonchalant as she could, as if being late was the most expected thing in Zephyr Heights. It was rather easy, because Zipp being late was the most normal thing in Zephyr Heights.
The floor above the Grand Hall contained wardrobes, Pipp's audio equipment, and dressing rooms. The staging room contained make-up mirrors and rigging where the royal family made final checks before their 'flights'.
Zipp took a deep breath, and pushed the double doors open and stepped into the staging room, where her mother, Queen Haven, was standing in front of the make-up mirror.
"There you are. If you missed your sister's debut performance of her new song, she'd never let you hear the end of it." Haven chastised, seeing her daughter enter the room through her reflection in the mirror. "Where have you been, anyway?"
"Where am I always? Gliding on the outskirts," Zipp replied.
"You must have gone farther out than usual; Zoom and Thunder didn't find you at all," Haven told her as she continued applying foundation to her cheeks and chin with a powder puff. "Pipp told me you'd been out there almost all day."
"Pipp told you?"
"Oh you know she tells me everything. I wish you would tell me more," Haven said, turning towards her eldest daughter. "You're going to be Queen, one day. You'll wear this crown, and trust me, it is heaver than it looks."
Zipp knew she'd have to act quickly, but also not appear like anything was off.
"Hm, where did I put my curler?" Haven asked. "Oh did I leave it back on my dresser? I'll be right back, dear. Pipp should be along shortly."
"Let me try it on," Zipp said, a step to the right and putting herself between her mom and the door.
Haven stopped in front of her daughter, raising an eyebrow curiously.
"If it's such a big part of ruling like you claim, then let me see for myself. Just until you get back with your curler," Zipp reasoned convincingly.
The silence hung in the room for only a moment, before Haven appeared convinced.
'Well, if you have to start somewhere..." Haven said, taking her crown lightly in her hooves, turning it around, then stepped forward and placed it on her daughter's head, her styled mane poking perfectly up between the wings of the crystal. Haven smiled gently at her. "But just until I get back. I'll be just a moment, darling."
As much as Haven wanted to stand there and admire her daughter with the Zephyr Heights crown atop her head, they did have a show to get ready for. Ponies were starting to gather, and once Pipp was in the staging room, it would be ready for final rig checks, and then it was showtime. She stepped around her daughter, pulled the left door open, and trotted out int the hallway. Her private dressing room was around the corner and two doors down. She pushed her door open, and there front and center on the dresser, was her eyelash curler.
"There you are," Haven said, picking it up. She figured she might as well save some time, and took a moment to finish up her yes right here in front of her mirror, before setting it back down into the folding kit where she had left it, before turning, exiting the room, and heading back down the hall. She came back to the staging room, and gently pushed the door open.
"Alright, feeling any more regal yet, dear?" Haven asked upon stepping into the room. When she didn't get an answer, she took a quick look around the room, and saw that her daughter was nowhere to be seen.
"Zipp?" she asked, taking a quick look over the railing down into the Grand Hall, where their citizens were starting to gather. She looked over to the left corner and saw that Zipp's wire rigging was still there, not hooked up.
Her eyes widened when she looked back over to the make-up station, and saw the crown resting on the wooden top in front of the mirror. She had missed it in her first glance because the crystal wasn't on it.
...Because the crystal wasn't on it!!!
"Zephyrina!" Haven cried out, loud enough that even some of the closest spectators below wondered what was going on upstairs. Haven galloped over to the makeup station, and picked up the crown for just a moment, before rushing back over to the doors, yanking them open.
"Captain! Lock down the castle! Nopony gets in or out! Find me my daughters, immediately!"
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All according to plan.
I take it back! 😰
11340925
Plan's changed
Oh great, Equestria has negative campaign ads now. And with all that Canterlogic money, you can bet it's being paid for by a Super PAC.
At this point, there's no reason for them to think that magic was sealed away from ponykind until they could learn to play nice, meaning all three races. So half of me is expecting a snide remark about the magic that is "totally" being sealed from the Earth ponies with a crystal of their own.
No time to make a macaroni and glitter prop. Gotta do this on the fly. What could go wrong?
Zipp tricked her so good to get the crystal, it was so fun to read that! Loved it!
Good for you sprout
Zephyr don't you mean Zoom
Okay a lot of things are happening back at Maretime Bay Sprouts has been keeping an eye on the town pretty well actually and his mother Phyllis been hanging all the papers to have sprot to become a sheriff which he didn't want to do that to Hitch meanwhile hitch sunny and Izzy are still waiting for Zipp to get the crown and hopefully without any problems which we only know what's going to happen speaking of her she went to see her mother and they're getting ready for the concert for pipp and Queen Haven was about to look for something until Zipp asking her about trying out the crown and despite the questioning she did and she began to look for her stuff but when she got back Zipp is gone and now she needs to find her older daughter right now well that could have gone well hopefully the others will get out of here before the castle is been guarded we'll find out next time
Let’s hope that Zipp manages to be maximum sneaky.
Time to make a run for it!
Definitely appreciated the look back at Sprout back at Maretime Bay. Quite glad to see the bits of Adaptational Nice Guy on his part in this story (at least enough to be a lot more reluctant to go against Hitch) even at the cost of giving Phyllis the bits of Adaptational Villainy in order to compensate. And, yeah, I also thank you for liking one of my dialogue ideas enough to use something based on it with Hitch discussing the possibility of the Earth Pony Crystal with Sunny and Sunny, at least, being open-minded enough to consider the possibility. Unfortunately, Zipp jumped the gun on the caper and Haven realized she just got robbed by her own heir (though, I can understand how Zipp might have gone for the simpler and more logical approach as well as also appreciated that the Pegasus royals WEREN'T instantly exposed as frauds yet).
Anyway, very good job on the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up and very certainly looking forward to more of this.
Well, THAT is an interesting change. And for noble reasons rather than "But if I'm sheriff I'll actually have to work.".
And the characters continue to demonstrate that most rare of super-powers in fiction: common sense.
Excellent job with this update. Really loving the way the story is unfolding in a new and different direction. Sprout's committing to his job a LOT better than I'd have expected him to, but that's not a complaint. XD Can't wait to see where this goes next!