Izzy's Thief

by David Silver

9 - Royal Inspection

The queen was quite capable of manners, even eating a hotdog with proper decorum and minimal mess. There was no meat in that hotdog, made instead of a carrot with all kinds of toppings that made it a minefield of mess opportunities, but she chomped into it with precise motions that let none of it get anywhere but into her snout to chew on politely. "As you were saying?"

"Right!" Remi was not that neat. She had taken a handful of tissues to take care of herself as she went. "I'll be blunt. I came here because a mysterious patron of mine sees a potentially bad thing happening, and the jerk has given me basically no hints as to what it might be. I want to help, but have no real clue where to look."

Queen Haven blinked at this admission. "I say... Well, you found the right ponies for that task." She turned to wave at Pipp and Izzy. "These two love saving the day. I can't even imagine a way to stop them from doing so."

Izzy was giggling joyfully, while Pipp was blushing. "Mom!"

"It pains me that this is working, at all."

Remi flicked her ear at the unseen voice, a sly smile on her face. Sometimes, the truth was called for.

Pipp suddenly smiled. "Is that why Zipp caught you up on the roofs, scoping out the town?" She raised her phone, already streaming. "You hear that, Pipsqueaks?! We have a mystery on our hooves!" Emoji were exploding on her screen from interested ponies. "Now you have to share, what do you know?"

Queen Haven nodded along. "Yes, that is a fine question. Please do tell us."

Remi finished her carrot-dog. Not bad at all... "Well, alright. There was something first, but I took care of it." She pointed at Izzy. "Remember that mouse?"

Izzy's eyes widened. "Woah! You came at just the right time! Good job, Remarooni!" She danced in place with obvious joy. "Silly mouse, taking my shavings like that... But we took care of that, yup."

Pipp rolled a hoof in the air. "Right, so is somepony else going to lose their stuff?"

"I don't think so?" Remi snorted mid-shrug. "I don't know. That's the worst part, really. I've been just looking for anything going wrong."

Pipp turned her phone on herself. "That's a tall order. I'm not going to ask you all to look for anything odd, but if something really takes the cake, drop me a message! I'll keep you all posted." She ended the stream with a firm tap. "That's a real mystery, and not a lot to work with."

Haven sat, crossing her arms. "Well, that just won't do. Does it affect the pegasi?"

"Mom!" Pipp glared at her mother. "A lot of my Pipsqueaks are not pegasi, I remind."

"Yes, yes, I am aware. I just want to narrow down our search." She smiled at Remi gently. "If you at least have some clue as to what area we should be focusing?"

Remi pointed down. "I'm pretty sure around here, right?"

"Right."

"Right," echoed Remi. "Somewhere around here, this town... city." She turned to look at it. Maretime Bay was a city, not a town, even if the future promised far great densities in places. A thought tickled at her. Was she even in the future? She had no idea what point in time she happened to be. "Say, off the wall question... Did you ever hear the story of Twilight Sparkle?"

Pipp sat up with a big grin. "Oh, that's a Sunny topic. She loves any story that has Twilight in it, like, OMG, seriously. What brings up that old mare's tale though?" She rubbed behind her head. "I mean, I have seen her once before..."

Izzy bounced in agreement. "We're going to make Sunny's day! Literally her favorite topic. Tell me this involves 'friendship' and 'unity.'"

"I do like those things, but I can't promise either is involved." She cracked a smirk. "I also can't promise they aren't involved."

Izzy clicked her teeth as she reared back. "I like the way you're thinking, Remilooney. Let's find Sunny!"

Haven raised a hoof. "Remington just asked about Twilight. Is this the avenue you want to explore?"

"I am very curious."

"Stay on topic," sternly reminded the voice in her ear.

"But that's not the mission... Twilight's not the one getting into trouble... right?"

Pipp raised a hoof to her lips, "Well, she did say there was some thing that might take all of magic away. Does that count?"

"Pardon?" That counted as news, and was confusing... "Did you meet Twilight in person?" That wasn't possible, so far she could see. How...?

"I was in person. Twilight was not," explained in the roundabout way that Izzy was in the habit of. "It was this crazy magical thing." She made wibbly motions with her hooves. "Like she was there but she wasn't. Like a three-D picture!"

"A hologram?" proposed Remi.

Pipp nodded quickly. "One of those. Does that help?"

"Whatever has her upset could be what's has my unspecific patron upset."

"Maybe."

Remi lifted her shoulders. "Worth looking into. Queen Haven, thank you for coming all this way. I feel just awful making you take the trip just to go running off. You deserve better than that."

Queen Haven, however, was looking pleased, not upset. "Such a kind thing you are. I've never had a nice conversation with a creature that wasn't a pony before, so I'd say this little journey was worth it, and I got to say hello to my precious daughter. Besides, I'll hang around a little longer, just in case. Pipp, does your darling little boutique have a spot open?"

Pipp perked at that. "Of course! I'll make room for you, mom." She gladly led Queen Haven off towards her shop. "Good luck!"

That left Remi with Izzy. "Do you know where Sunny's hiding then? I still feel bad, having her come all this way for a fake fox ambassador."

Izzy waved that off. "Pfft, did you see her? She's totally happy for the excuse to come and have somepony pamper her, and she knows Pipp knows how to make that happen. You're the best thing to happen today, promise." She took off in a bouncing trot, as if trying to work off all the energy she had nowhere else to put. "Now, about Sunny. She's only gonna be in one place. Her stand!"

They found Sunny right where she usually was, at her smoothie stand. She was forcing a big carrot into her blender with a loud whirring as it became pulped in its slow descent into the machine. "Hey there you two. Glad you're getting along." She was able to get the lid on properly, allowing it to whirr busily. "What can I get for you?"

Remi waved, her attention sliding between the blender and the mare working it. "It's about Twilight? Twilight Sparkle. Alicorn?"

Sunny was suddenly leaning over the counter. "Did somepony tell you about her?" She grinned at Izzy. "Was it you? I bet it was you."

"Nope, and you owe me a smoothie now. I'll take whatever that is." She pointed to the creation Sunny was in the middle of.

"Oh, right." She popped off the lid and began sprinking green things into it. "A new creation, carrot garden blast!" She popped the lid tight and got it going full speed. "I think it'll be a real hit. You can have the first one, since I lost that bet."

That reminded Remi. "I heard you were playing a joke on me! There I was, thinking Grass was a local pony thing, nope!"

Sunny colored at that, shrinking. "Sorry... It didn't... hurt you, did it? I admit I don't know much about how foxes eat normally..."

Remi folded her arms. "You had no idea. That's less than cool." She thrust up a thumb, the rest of her hand attached to her arm. "Topic change, Twilight Sparkle. What have you heard of her?"

"Guardian of harmony and friendship," sighed out Sunny as she poured out a big glass for Izzy to get to slurping down. "An alicorn, like me." She smiled dreamily. "Helping ponies everywhere to be the best she could be." Thinking of that lofty state, of helping ponies everywhere, it was too much for her. She flashed as she went alicorn, wings spread and that dopey smile on her face. "She's my idol..."

Remi hiked a brow. That was not the Twilight she knew, but she was from a different place, a different time... "And she visited you, I hear?"

"Oh, right." Sunny pointed up at the brighthouse. "At the crystals. She warned us that something may try to take our magic away. Isn't that awful?! Nnng, I wish I could do something about it..."

"Contact." Remi could hear furious typing. "You're in the right place at the right time. This is it. Find out more."

"Sunny!" Izzy leaned over the counter with a smile. "Two things. One, this? This is good." She plunked down the drained cup. "Ten out of ten, will recommend! Two, you're alicorning it up."

Sunny squeaked, spotting her new wings. "Not now!" She swatted at them. It took some effort to make her wings and horn vanish back into the air they had sprung from. "Sorry about that. It happens at the funniest times... I swear..."

"It's cool." Remi let her arms swing loosely. "Not like I'm not a shapeshifting fox, I will remind. A little form looseness won't bother me."

"Even her gender is a bit loosey goosey," added Izzy with a nod. "Are all foxes like that?"

"Not all of them." Remi admitted with a shrug. "But this one is. So, Twilight warned about something trying to take your magic, huh?"

"Something was trying to take it before, when she was here. She sealed the magic away. We only recently unbottled it, which let the rest of the world get in." Sunny rubbed behind her head softly. "It's a long story... Either way, she saved us, but now that protection is gone, and our magic is back. Good and bad... We can't let them, whoever they are, have our magic!"

Izzy wobbled a hoof at Remi. "Which is also why we weren't that surprised you showed up. The barrier's gone, so odd critters can show up! Just kinda figured you were the first, yay! Wait... You aren't the creature that's going to try to steal the magic, are you? I hope not! I like you way better as a friend."

"Let's keep it to friends. I have enough magic of my own." She rubbed her magic tails against one another with a few little sparks that ran between them with the promise of her vulpine magic. "You ponies deserve to keep your pony magic. Fair's fair. I'd get really mad if someone tried to steal our fox magic."

Izzy pounced! She grabbed the many swishing tails, holding tight as they shook and writhed, threatening to shake her free, but she would not be dissuaded. "Whee!" No, she was having way too much fun being waved about by the kitsune that was looking back at her with an expression of mild annoyance and amusement. "This is too great, and kinda tingly." Her tails hadn't stopped their mild electric dance, which was not dissuading Izzy even a little.

Remi put a hand on Izzy's head, grabbing the pony across the whole of her skull and rubbing gently. "You are very silly."

"I've been told that before." Izzy let go of the tail, dangling from Remi's grip for a brief moment before she was dropped to the ground. "That really was fun though."

"There are not many creatures that would dare to casually touch fluffy tail." Remi's tails danced behind her as she crouched to Izzy's level. "Bold little thing. You're lucky I'm a taken kitsune."

"Taken? Taken where?" Izzy inclined her head with confusion.

Sunny laughed tensely. "Ha... Remi is saying she has a special somecreature, I think?"

Author's Note:

Phew, took longer than normal to finish this update, but here it is, rawr! Would you dare to touch fluffy tail? Stories say doing so can be quite dangerous.

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