Chapter 14: Make Your Mark Part 3
The Tale of Neon Light
Written by DeffBwade
Chapter 14: Make Your Mark Part 3
Zipp was both bored and frustrated as she walked around Maritime Bay.
With all of her friends not believing her when she said that something's strange happening with the Unity Crystals, besides Neon who also witnessed what she saw, she felt like she needed to clear her head.
"Report. Nothing new to report. No more signs of mysterious glowing vines or Crystal glitches..." she recorded on her phone as there were still no anomalies at the moment. On one hoof, she's glad that there's nothing strange going on, and that no pegasi is falling out of the sky or unicorn is dropping stuff. On the other hoof, she just knew that something's bound to happen sooner or later. It's just a matter of both when and how. Zipp's phone began to rang and she saw that it was her mom calling once again. She groaned and answered with annoyance, "Hi, mom."
"Zipp! There you are!" Haven said with a smile before frowning, "Have you been ignoring my calls, young filly?"
"No, no. Just busy, mom!" she lied with a nervous smile, "I'm actually helping Sunny with decorations right now, so I gotta go!"
"Well, I can't wait to see them!" Queen Haven said with excitement.
"See what?" Zipp asked with confusion.
"The decorations!" Queen Haven answered, "Oh, didn't Pipp tell you? I'll be attending this Maretime Bay Day festival."
"You will?!" Zipp exclaimed with both surprise and fear, "Why?!"
"Yes, it is treat time! I know, I know!" Queen Haven said to Cloudpuff as he popped up on the screen, not answering Zipp's question, "See you there, darling!" she said to Zipp before ending the call.
"Come on!" she yelled with frustration as she put her phone under her wings, "There's gotta be something," she said, and then started to look around her in search of something unusual, "Everything on Mane Street appears normal," she analyzed, but then saw Hitch entering the station in a sneaky way and grabbing a bag with something, "Hmm...except that."
"Here you go, little one. I brought you some sand to make you more comfortable. I thought maybe you'd like that," Hitch said to the egg he found at the beach, before putting a plushie of a crab next to it and McSnips-a-lot appearing and patting the egg, "Lookin' rosy and cozy! Now, who wants to hear a story?"
"I do!" Zipp replied, appearing behind of him.
"Ahh! Zipp!" Hitch exclaimed in surprise, quickly closing the closet, "Wow, you are sneaky! What are you doing here?" he asked with a nervous smile.
"I had an instinct, so I followed. And I was right," she answered with a grin. "You have been hiding something!" she said, then flew over Hitch and landed above the closet and opened. She saw the egg inside, asked in confusion, "So, uh...what is it?"
No clue. I saw it on the beach and I just knew it needed help," Hitch explained, "I just—"
"Had an instinct and followed it?" Zipp asked with a smirk.
"Yeah," Hitch confessed with a smile. Zipp then landed at Hitch's side as he looked at her. "Hey, uh...would you mind keeping this between us for now?"
"Sure, I can 'Zipp' it," Zipp joked, but at the same time assuring him that she'll keep the egg a secret.
"What?" Hitch asked confused as Zipp looked at him with a playful smile.
"So...you're gonna read us that story now or what?" Zipp asked on a mocking tone. Hitch smiled embarrassed, but before the conversation could continue, Zipp heard her phone making a sound. She took it out, and then both she and Hitch read a message from Pipp and gasped, "Oh no..." Zipp said, and the two ponies ran as fast as they could to the Brighthouse.
The two eventually arrived and saw Pipp standing in front of Neon and Sunny.
"We rushed right here! So what's the emergency?" Hitch asked with worry.
"Well, everypony seems really stressy lately," Pipp pointed out, but mainly looking at Zipp and Neon, "We clearly need a break, and luckily, I know just the place," she said with a cute smile, "I planned a surprise for you! You're welcome!"
"Ooh!" Izzy said.
"Why do I get the feeling I know what it is?" Neon muttered with an amused smile, knowing Pipp.
"Please don't let it be makeovers, please don't let it be makeovers," Zipp begged, knowing her sister.
Spoiler alert: it was makeovers.
"I knew it..." Zipp said in a deadpan tone as we were all in Mane Melody getting makeovers. Well, Zipp, Sunny, and Izzy were. Hitch was getting his hooves filed by Jazz, or at least trying to since apparently he's ticklish (something I can use against him; mwahaha I'm evil), and I decided to just sit in a massage chair. I'm not really the type that cares a lot about my outward appearance, but Pipp still brought us here as a surprise, so screw it. I should make the best of it.
"But this is so relaxing!" Izzy said with a smile as she and Sunny were reading some magazines, "And informative! Did you ponies know that there are over a thousand different kinds of hermit crabs?! Cause I...did not!"
"That's cool," I said, not really paying attention as I was pretty relaxed, before what she said registered in my head, "Over a thousa...no way," I said in disbelief, sitting up. Izzy levitated the magazine she was reading over to me and I quickly read through it, "Wow, there really is over a thousand."
The more you know, I guess.
...
Why did I suddenly think of an image of a shooting star in space with a rainbow trail?
"Don't you ponies love it here at Mane Melody?" Pipp asked with a big smile.
"Yeah-huh!" Izzy replied with a smile.
"Mm-hmm!" Sunny said smiling.
"Yeah," I replied.
"What's wrong, Zipp?" I heard Rocky ask. I turned and saw the mare in question with a long and worried face, "Not a fan of Mane Melody?"
"No, no. It's awesome," Zipp assured with a small smile, "Pipp has done a great job here."
"You really think so?" Pipp asked in disbelief, walking to her sister's side.
"Yeah, I do," Zipp replied before her ears went down. "And hey, I'm sorry if I haven't been helping out," she apologized, "My mind's just on other things."
"Yeah, same here. I'm sorry too," I apologized as well, turning off the massage chair.
"Something weird is going on," Zipp stated, looking deep in thought.
"Mmhm," I nodded in agreement.
"Ugh, you two worry too, too much," Pipp said with a smile.
"And if something happens to those Crystals, we'll lose magic again for good!" Zipp pointed out, "Then it'll be no more flying and—"
"Sis, sis, sis, sis, sis, sis. You need to chill!" Pipp exclaimed, and then looked at me, "The same goes for you, Neon. Nothing is going to happen," she assured with a smile. She then whistled and flew over to the stage alongside Jazz and Rocky, "We've got our friends back, we've got magic back, and we've got..."
"Music~" Pipp, Jazz, and Rocky sang together.
"At Mane Melody..." Pipp said first.
"We sing!" Jazz spoke next.
"While we style!" Rocky added.
"Pipp, Pipp, hooray!" Sunny, Izzy and Hitch yelled together with smiles, while Zipp looked on with disapproval and I tried to give a genuine smile, but I could tell that I was failing.
"This one goes out to my paranoid big sis and foalhood friend: Zipp and Neon!" Pipp announced, much to the confusion of Zipp and I.
"Wow...thanks," I muttered sarcastically.
Shoop, shoop! Uh-huh! Shoop, shoop!
Shoop!
I know you're feelin' like there's somethin' wrong
But don't you worry, I have just the song for you (Mm-hmm!)
So kick those hooves up in this comfy chair
And you'll forget about those cares in a minute or two
Yeah! That's what you'll do-ooh-ooh
You've got a lot on your mane, and that's kind of tragic
But with a little bit of caring and a touch of magic
You'll feel brand new
And you'll forget what's been troublin' you
So put your hooves up high
'Cause we're feelin' all right (hey!)
Every day is awesome in Maretime Bay
So put your hooves up
Put your hooves up (hey!)
Everything is gonna be okay!
Normally, I enjoy it whenever Pipp sings. She does have a wonderful voice after all, and she's passionate about it, and I'm all for supporting her interests with a smile. But when she sang that last part about everything being okay, I admittedly frowned a bit.
"You don't get it, do you?!" Zipp yelled, "We can't just sing a song and ignore everything. If we lose magic this time, we may never get it back again!" she explained with a worry evident in her voice, "And it'll be our fault."
"What's she talking about?" Izzy questioned in confusion.
"Lose magic?" Sunny asked with a bit of fear.
"Whose fault?" Hitch asked, just as confused as Izzy.
"...I don't really like to be a buzzkill, but I'm afraid Zipp's right," I admitted in agreement, "Just because everything seems fine doesn't mean it is or will be fine, especially with what the two of us have been witnessing."
Suddenly, we all heard a loud thud outside the salon. We all ran out of Mane Melody to see what the commotion was and saw a cluster of ponies, including a red pegasus named Windy (who's also the mare that was afraid of daisies).
"Are you ponies okay?" Pipp asked as they got up.
"Windy, what happened?" Sunny asked the red pegasus.
"I don't know. I was just flying along and before I knew it I was down here on the ground." Windy explained.
"Me too. Because you fell on us," a unicorn bystander frowned, giving Windy a glare.
"I'm sorry everypony. I'm usually a good flier." Windy apologized.
"She was flying, but then ended up on the ground?" I thought, "Did...her wings start to fail?"
"Clearly she's not," Posey snarked as she appeared again, "This is what I've been saying, what everypony's been thinking. If pegasi and unicorns can't be respectful. Then they shouldn't be allowed to use their magic in Maritime Bay."
"She's right."
"I'm not sure."
"Yeah, no more magic."
"Aaaand ponies are agreeing with her. Great. Just...great."
"It's not fair. We earth ponies don't get any magic and the ones that do have it don't even know how to use it. Or use it to prank us," Posey snarked again.
"Yeah."
"Posey's right," two more Earth Ponies stated.
"Everypony wait!" Sunny exclaimed, trying to ease the tension, but it was all for naught.
"And now they want to ruin our special earth pony holiday too," Posey accused, and it was then that I noticed that the sky above was starting to get darker.
"Ummm...what's happening?" I asked myself with a questioning gaze.
"That's not true!" Sunny exclaimed.
"And Maretime Bay Day should be magic free!"
"Like a no fly zone!"
"Or else we're not coming!" Posey declared as a flash of thunder made her and the other ponies run for cover, while me and the others simply watched the now darken clouds.
"Okay. So now not only do we have magic fizzling out, but also thunderstorms. Awesome," I thought sarcastically, "Strange, though. It's been perfectly sunny this whole day...until...those ponies got angry."
"Hey, Sunny?" I addressed the apricot mare, "Remember when I said I was gonna hold off on investigating the magic?"
"Yeah?"
"Forget I said that."
We all decided to head back to the Crystal Brighthouse and were currently on the balcony where the Unity Crystals resided.
"I think I know what's happening to magic," Zipp spoke up, "Why it's glitching."
"You do?" Sunny asked.
"It's the Crystals! They might be...powered by ponies!" Zipp theorized.
"Whaaaat?" Hitch said with confusion.
"I mean, it doesn't sound too farfetched," I said with agreement, "The incident at the beach. What just happened in front of Mane Melody. They both involved ponies arguing."
"Okay. Check this out," Zipp said then turned to her sister with a smug look, "Pipp, when we were fillies, I used to steal Mom's chocolate-dipped cherries and blame it on you."
Pipp gave off a deep gasp in surprise and anger at this confession.
"I knew it! You got me grounded, like, twelve times!" she angrily said.
"Ooooh," I exclaimed, a bit amused at this.
"What are you oohing about? You used to help me steal them," Zipp snitched with that smug look.
"What?!" Pipp yelled, looking at me now with a glare.
"Hey! Hey! I only did that...four times!" I (weakly) defended before looking at Zipp, "Wait a minute. You got her grounded twelve times?!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Zipp said as she walked back a bit before facing her sister again, "And guess what? I don't like karaoke! It's the worst! UGH!"
Pipp gasped once again, and Izzy glared at Zipp.
Yes. You heard right.
Izzy, of all ponies, glared.
It honestly scared me a bit.
"Hey, you take that back! Karaoke is a fun activity for every age and skill level!" Izzy angrily yelled.
"It's not very fun when you get stage fright."
"Zipp's allowed to like what she likes," Sunny defended, "Just because we enjoy something doesn't mean she has to."
"Sunny, there's no need to get all huffy about it," Hitch said trying to calm the matter, "Izzy was just trying to stand up for Pipp."
"Don't call me huffy!" Sunny called out at Hitch, clearly not liking being called huffy (I can use that against her).
"Ugh! I didn't call you huffy! I said you were being huffy!" Hitch retorted. Out of curiosity, I glanced at the Unity Crystals and saw that they were glitching once again, "There's a difference, and—...Whoa."
"You...you two were right!" Sunny exclaimed as she and everypony else was able to see what Zipp and I were talking about this whole time.
"I want to gloat so bad...but no. That would be immature...at the moment."
"So when ponies aren't treating each other with kindness..." Izzy spoke first.
"When we aren't vibing..." Pipp said next.
"The Crystals get weaker," Zipp finished, "And the more unstable magic becomes in Equestria!"
"Which causes Pegasi to lose their flight and fall on other ponies!" Sunny listed out.
"And unicorns to drop stuff onto things like sandcastles!" Hitch said next.
"And causes the weather to act all weird," I stated.
"Like a rando thunderstorm?!" Pipp asked.
"Yup! Everything is all out of whack!" Zipp declared while looking at the still glitching crystal.
"I wonder if this had anything to do with why the Crystals were separated all those years ago," Sunny wondered, "Or why I still can't seem to figure out my alicorn magic."
"I don't know. I want to find out" Zipp said with a look of determination, "But if we want to keep magic in Equestria, first we need to get everypony back on the same page" she stated with confidence.
"Zipp's right, we can't give up," Sunny added, now willing to follow Zipp's plan, "We can still make Bay Day the celebration it's supposed to be."
"A day of friendship!" Izzy yelled with a smile.
"And harmony~!" Pipp sang.
"Yeah!" Hitch, Izzy, and Zipp both cheered.
"Let's do it!" Pipp cheered as we all brought our hooves together.
"Hoof to heart!" we declared, determined to make Maritime Bay Day a day of friendship, harmony, and magic.
Izzy gasped with excitement and was the first to get up before her friends.
"It's here!" she cheered to Sunny as she started running around to wake up her friends, "The big day is here!" she cheered once again as Pipp yawned, "The big day is heeeere!"
Zipp yawned with a smile at Izzy's wakeup call and then got out of bed to check up on the Unity Crystals.
"Don't worry. I got you," she assured, wanting nothing bad to happen.
BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ
I let out a groan upon hearing my phone's alarm and reached over to my nightstand to shut it off. I slowly got up with a yawn, still feeling tired, and rubbed my eyes.
Today's the day, everypony. It's Maritime Bay Day.
I got out of bed and washed my face, brushed my teeth, yada yada, cleaned myself up, you get the idea.
"Alright Neon. You got this. You and your friends just have to prove to a bunch of grouchy ponies that magic is awesome...or else we risk losing said magic and making thunderstorms appear. No pressure.," I internally motivated myself while looking at the mirror, "...No pressure."
After getting ready and eating some breakfast, the four mares walked out of the Brighthouse to make Maritime Bay Day magical. Before Sunny could get far, however, Izzy stopped her.
"Sunny! Sunny, wait!" Izzy called out as Sunny turned to her unicorn friend as Izzy brought out a present in her magic. "Happy Maritime Bay Day!"
"We don't usually exchange gifts," Sunny said with a grateful smile as Izzy gave her the gift.
"I know, but just open it!" Izzy encouraged with a smile.
Sunny then tore the paper off of the gift, and was shocked when she saw what it was.
"It's...it's the lantern my dad made for me," she said with a joyful smile as she looked out the newly restored lantern her dad made as there is a crystal glowing inside it, "I-I thought it was beyond repair. Thank you so much, Izzy!"
"Sometimes, when you add a little bit of magic, you can fix anything," Izzy pointed out with a smile.
"You're right. Now let's go add some magic to today and fix this," Sunny declared as she held up her lantern.
"Mm-hmm!" Izzy said in agreement.
The Maritime Bay Day festival was officially underway. Ponies of all kinds cheered and had fun at the various games, appreciated the decorations, and enjoyed the wonderful food.
"Oh, look! Look, look! Ponies showed up after all!" Izzy cheered to the many ponies and then gasped when Queen Haven and two of her guards, Thunder and Zoom, landed, "And there's the queen!" she cheered as trumpets were heard while the crowd cheered for Queen Haven, "Hello, your Majesticness!" She called out as she and others walked towards her to greet them.
"Mom!" Pipp cheered as she headed towards her mother,
Zipp however grew nervous as she trotted away, not wanting to face her mother yet.
"Happy Maretime Bay Day, everypony! Welcome!" Sunny cheered as she, Hitch, and I waved to the crowd.
"So far, so good," Hitch said, seeing that everything was fine so far.
"Now we just gotta keep it up," Sunny said.
"No pressure," I muttered as I continued to (awkwardly) wave to everypony. That was until I saw a certain pink-maned pegasus. I smiled and approached her, "Hey Mom."
"Hey sweetie," she said as we hugged each other. We let each other go and she began to glance around at all the decorations around, "Wow. You and you're friends really put a lot of hard work in this festival. It's pretty nice."
"Thanks. At first, we were gonna style it how it used to be, but then we decided to mix it up a bit," I explained, "I gotta continue watching over the festival. We can catch up later. You go ahead and enjoy the festivities. I heard there's cotton candy."
"Ohhh," my mom said with a bit of excitement as she always had a bit of a sweet tooth, "Sounds good. I'll let you do your job. See you later."
"See you," I waved and headed back to Sunny and Hitch. However, I stopped in my tracks when I heard a voice.
"Spoons in the wreaths? Ugh, yuck!" I heard the voice say. I turned and saw that it was Dahlia, an earth pony mare that sells flowers. She, along with Posey and an earth pony stallion, looked at the wreaths with disgust, "I liked the old decorations better."
"I could not agree more." Posey said as she, Dahlia, and the earth pony walked off.
"Oh boy," I thought with both annoyance and surprise. I'd expect Posey to act this way, but Dahlia? She actually seemed sweet. I turned back to Sunny and Hitch and saw that they too saw that, "This isn't gonna be easy."
Me and the others were now at the beach as it was now time to see what sort of sandcastles these ponies were capable of making. In short, they were pretty nice.
"Ohhhh! Ooh! Oh! Oooh! Wow!" Izzy awed as she admired everypony's creations until she saw Windy making the biggest sandcastle so far. It looked like the Crystal Bright House. The red pegasus then put a seashell on top of it to act as the Unity Crystals.
It was so impressive that Windy was given a trophy for a job well done. Unfortunately, that was met with grumbles and glares.
I'll give you one guess as to who was giving the glares.
"Ahem!" Dahlia coughed.
"Hey!" Mayflower groaned.
"Pegasi have an unfair advantage!" Posey argued, causing other ponies to argue.
"Oooh. Somepony's toxic," I muttered, my gamer instincts kicking in, prompting Pipp to smack me, "Ow!"
"You're not helping!" she said with a frown.
It was then that the storm began to grow worse as thunder boomed from the sky, startling the ponies in the process.
"Hmmm..." Zipp said as we all looked up in worry.
"Moss ice cream?" an earth pony stallion questioned as a unicorn mare running an ice cream stand gave him a green moss looking ice cream. He licked it out of curiosity, but regretted it, "Bleghhh!" he cringed from the taste, and then tossed it away.
Three other earth ponies tried out different types of treats, but they too cringed from the taste and threw them away. Before a tart was thrown away, though, a unicorn stallion grabbed it.
"Waste not, want not!" he exclaimed as he not only ate the tart, but also whatever else was thrown in the trash. A couple of earth ponies saw this and looked on with disgust.
I, too, looked on with disgust.
"Umm...ew!" I cringed, but my attention was turned away when I felt the wind getting stronger.
Said stronger wind ended up blowing away a couple of ponies' cotton candy away.
"Oh, no!" Pipp called out as she tried to fly up and catch them, but her wings started to glitch out, resulting in her falling to the ground. She tried to fly, but nothing happened," My wings won't work!"
"Neither will my hooves!" Hitch cried out. I turned to see what he was talking about, and saw that his hooves were like...welded to the ground by magic.
"And...why are his hooves stuck?!"
"Heeeelp!" a voice called out. We all looked around and noticed that every earth ponies' hooves were stuck.
"What is this?! The earth pony equivalent of magic glitching out?!"
"Our hooves...are stuck!" another earth pony cried out, and then their hooves were freed from whatever was keeping them in place, "What's going on?!"
"The glitches!" Zipp cried out as the wind grew stronger, and more thunder was booming, "They're getting worse!"
Okay, so...so far things haven't turned so well...like not at all, but that doesn't mean that this whole festival is a bust. We still got one more way to stop all the anger and negativity.
A music stage was set up for the festival, and we were all currently standing backstage.
I'm sure you can guess where I'm going with this.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Sunny asked Pipp in concern, "Nothing has gone to plan today."
"I have to give it my best shot." Pipp announced, although I can tell she was nervous.
"And if there's one thing that can bring positivity to a crowd, it's Pipp's singing," I pointed out, prompting a smile of appreciation out of the pink pegasus.
"Maybe this will help," Zipp said as he approached her sister with her lucky mic in hoof.
"My lucky mic! Okay!" Pipp gasped as she grabbed the mic. She then started to do some vocal warm-ups and trills, "Yes, we're ready! All right! Showtime~!"
"Break a hoof, Pipp!" Izzy called out as Pipp flew off to get started with her song, followed by Sunny, "But not really. Actually, be really careful."
"I'm sure she knows what you mean," I said as me, Izzy, Zipp, and Hitch observed from the backstage.
"Everypony, please welcome pop star Princess Pipp Petals to sing the brand-new Maritime Bay Day song!" Sunny announced as Pipp landed in front of the stage beside the apricot mare.
Ponies from the crowd, however, started muttering at this. And I'm not even lying when I said it was only earth ponies muttering.
"New song?" one of them asked.
"What?" another asked.
"That's my daughter!" Queen Haven cheered.
"I know her!" my mom cheered.
"Well, at least there's some sort of support."
"We want to hear the real Maritime Bay song! Sung by an earth pony!" Dahlia spoke up, and surprise surprise, Posey and a bunch of other earth ponies agreed with her, resulting in more arguing.
Seeing Pipp, my foalhood friend, looking all sad due to the crowd not wanting to hear her song due to not being the "real Maritime Bay Song" or not being sung by an earth pony.
I'll just say it.
It pissed me off.
I'm not very confrontational by any means, but hurt my friends in such a way? Let's just say I can be a different pony. One that actually takes a stand and speaks up.
Just like that time back in Bridlewood.
Before I could say something, however, the clouds grew darker and thunder started booming stronger, startling the ponies and causing the unicorns' horns to glitch out.
Back at the Brighthouse, as the thunder got stronger due to the ponies' negativity, Unity Crystals began to crack even more and the rainbow they were emitting started to dim down.
"Hey! Be nice! Sheriff's orders!" Hitch called out to the crowd as rest of us got out of the stage.
"Are you on their side?!" an earth pony mare accused.
"There are no sides!" Zipp pointed out as thunder boomed again as it got worse due to the arguing,
Okay, I had enough.
"STOP IT!" I yelled, and you'd be surprised about how loud I can be as the crowd stopped arguing, "Do none of you understand that your hostility and hatred towards each other is what's causing the magic to glitch out and this storm to form in the first place?!" I exclaimed, "And for those who refuse to listen to friend's song simply because it's not the real Maritime Bay song or that she's not an earth pony?" I added, pointing to Pipp, "Shame on you."
"Oh man, that was a rush!" I thought as I stepped back, breathing heavily from standing up to a crowd like that.
"We know that magic returning hasn't been easy for everypony, that Equestria is really different, but that's a good thing!" Sunny explained as she stepped up, "It's so much better now—!" she tried to continue, but was interrupted as more thunder boomed and we were all able to see the Brighthouse from here, including the rainbow beacon dying out, "Whoa! No, no, no! T-The magic! It's dying!"
Things turned chaotic as more and more lightning struck down, one of them striking the police station.
"Eggy!" Hitch cried out with a gasp as he ran to the station. I just chalked it up to there being something important.
The lightning wasn't the worst part, however. As one of the lightning struck the ground in front of the stage, some sort of portal opened up and continued to expand, sucking up anything in it's path.
"What is that thing?!" Queen Haven pointed out in shock.
"It's some sort of void!" Zipp theories as there was nothing in the portal except darkness.
"That's totally not ominous," I said.
"Everypony, get back!" Sunny called out to the crowd.
"No need to tell me twice!" I thought as I stepped back, but stopped when I noticed that the earth ponies were stuck to the ground the same way Hitch was earlier. As the void got closer and closer to them, I decided to get off the stage and go help them, "Crap!"
"But we're stuck!" one of the earth ponies cried out as they tried to get free.
"Please let us go!" another earth pony pleaded to a unicorn next to her, thinking they were doing it.
"It's not us!" the unicorn pointed out as a lightning strike hit a tree, destroying it.
"Can't you ponies with magic do something?!" Posey pleaded as I went up to her.
"Um..." I said as I tried to fly, but couldn't, "I don't think my magic is an option. Guess I have to do this the old fashion way," I said before grabbed onto one of the mare's hooves and tried to pull her off the ground with all my might. I grunted as I tried to free her, but it was all for naught, "No! Curse my weak hooves!"
"Come...on...Neon!" I internally motivated as I continued my efforts, "Use those muscles of yours! Channel your inner strength of the videogame wizards to help this poor and annoying ma—"
Oh, wait a minute. There was a void that was expanding.
I was so in the zone that I wasn't paying attention to how close the void was...so Posey and I ended up falling in.
"Oh craaaaap!" I screamed as we fell into the void.
"Posey! Neon! No!" I heard Sunny cry out as we continued to fall.
"NEON!" Orchid Light said out of panic as she ran and looked into the void her son fell into. She desperately tried to get her wings to work, but they just wouldn't work.
"Come on, alicorn magic! Work!" Sunny pleaded as she watched Neon and Posey falling further and further.
"But the magic! I-It's gone!" Zipp pointed out.
"Then I'll have to try without it! I'm going in!" Sunny said with a determined expression.
"Not without the rest of us!" Izzy called out, and then her horn started to shimmer once again.
"If it means saving my son, then I'm helping too!" Orchid exclaimed, causing her wings to shimmer as well.
That made Zipp realize something. If ponies control the magic, and negativity causes it to glitch out and fail, then that means...
"That's it! The magic will come back to us if we can work together!" Zipp exclaimed before turning to the crowd, "Come on, unicorns! Come on, pegasi! Help the earth ponies!"
The unicorns and pegasi, not wanting to leave their fellow ponies behind, rushed to help the earth ponies get unstuck.
Izzy used her magic to successfully get one of the earth ponies free from the magical grip, the stallion then thanking her before trotting off. Orchid grunted in effort to help another earth pony, but managed to get her free. Zipp and Pipp then worked on freeing Hitch as they grunted in effort, and then managed to get him free.
"It's working!" Zipp said as she and her sister started to fly and Zipp flew over to where Sunny was, "You got this, Sunny!"
"It's too dark in there! Take this!" Izzy said as she approached with Sunny's lantern. She tried to levitate it over to the apricot mare, but another lightning strike caused her magic to glitch out once again and for the lantern to fall into the void.
Sunny, being brave (or reckless) and wanting to help her friends, jumped and grabbed the lantern in her teeth as she fell into the void.
"AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" Posey and I screamed as continued to fall.
It was like a bottomless pit. All around us was just darkness. Absolute pitch black as far as the eye can see. And all we could do is fall, and fall, and fall.
"How long until we stop falling?!" I screamed, but then changed my mind, "Actually scratch that! I prefer to keep falling than hit the ground at this point!"
"Err! This never would've happened if magic never returned!" Posey yelled.
"You can't exactly blame magic for all of this, Posey!" I yelled back to the yellow mare, "If anything, it was everyponies' negativity towards each other!"
"Well, can you blame me?! Everyday, pegasi would fly too low and unicorns would hit ponies with whatever they're levitating! Magic is clearly dangero—"
"Oh, for pete's sake, Posey! Can you please stop saying that magic is dangerous and just admit that you're jealous?!"
"WHAT?!" Posy exclaimed, a look of shock on her face, "I'm not jealous!"
"Yes, you are! I get it! Earth ponies got the short end of the stick and didn't get any cool abilities when magic returned! So you got jealous and began reacting negatively to everything that pegasi and unicorns did that bothered you, even if it was something minor!" I pointed out.
"Well...what do you know?!" she screamed, "Do you have any idea what it feels like to be left outl?! Do you have any idea what it feels like to not have any magical abilities of your own?!" she asked, her voice starting to strain a bit, "Do you have any idea what it feels to feel like...a nopony?"
Her questions made me pause for bit.
"You're right about one thing, Posey," I said with a sigh, "I don't know what it's like to not have any magical powers of my own," I said before putting on a look of seriousness, "But I do know what's like to feel like be left out. And I do know what it feels like to feel like a nopony"
"Yeah, right," she said, not believing me.
"Yeah, right," I said, still serious, "I know what it feels like to believe that you don't matter. To feel like you're invisible while everypony around you have fun times with smiles on their faces. To feel like...you're not special...and that you deserve to be alone."
You may think that I'm being specific...but that's because I am. When I was a foal, besides having my mom, I was lonely, to put it bluntly. Very few things brought me joy. I was that one pony that sat all alone at the corner table of a school cafeteria. And that's not an exaggeration in the slightest. I was so lonely that I actually believed that I would grow up without anypony to love me and just...die alone.
"But that was until I met a couple of very special ponies who gave me their friendship despite who I was back then, and do you know what they said to me?" I asked Posey, who was actually paying attention, "Everypony is special in their own way. You just have to focus not on what you don't have, but rather what you do have," I said, "Like your gardening skills. You're probably one of the best, if not the best gardener in Equestria. And I'm not saying that just to be nice."
"...You...you really think so?" Posey asked, a look of surprise on her face. When I nodded, she turned away and I'm pretty sure I saw a look of shame, "But...why are you telling me this? Why are you being so nice after how I acted?"
"Because I know you're a good pony, Posey," I said with a smile, unaware that my cutie mark started to glow once again, "You just have to let go of your jealousy in order to prove it."
"...Geez, how long have we've falling?" I questioned after a few seconds of silence, but then noticed a bright light getting closer and closer to us, "What the?"
The light suddenly encompassed us, acting as some sort of spherical shield that stopped us from falling. I looked up and saw Sunny...in her alicorn form.
"Woah! Awesome, Sunny!" I cheered, prompting a smile from her.
The shield around Posey and I then started to levitate us up until we got back to the surface and got placed safely on the ground beside the portal.
Once the shield disappeared, the first thing that happened was my mom giving me a crushing hug. Again, not an exaggeration.
"Neon, don't scare me like that again!" she cried out.
"Ah! Mom! Can't...breath!" I managed to choke out, a small blush forming on my face. I then looked back at the portal and realized that somepony still hasn't come out of it. I got out of my mom's hug and walked over to the portal. I looked into it hoping to see a certain apricot mare, but I didn't.
"Sunny?" Izzy called out with worry.
And then suddenly, a magic rainbow flew out of the void as Sunny flew after it before the portal closed. We all watched in amazement as the rainbow flew all the way over to the Brighthouse.
Inside the Brighthouse, the magic vines appeared on the walls once again, but this time they started to head into the Unity Crystals, resulting in a magic explosion as the magic vines spread from the Brighthouse and through the rest of Equestria.
"Whoa..." I muttered as I witnessed the magical vines I saw spread throughout the ground and made the earth ponies' hooves sparkle once they made contact with them.
"That tickles!" Hitch laughed, holding some sort of giant egg with him. His animal crew, that were previously hiding from the storm, came out and approached.
What happened next, though, amazed me.
"I know, I know! I totally agree with everything you guys are saying," Hitch said to the critters as they chirped at him, but he was caught off guard when he realized what was happening, "Did you just...talk?! Did I just...understand you?! Whaaaaat?!" he exclaimed in disbelief, "Wow, that's a lot of information. "Well, nice to meet you, Kenneth. I'm Hitch!""
"Double whoa," I said as I observed Hitch literally communicating with his animal companions.
What happened next, though, really amazed me.
"Flower power?!" I heard Posey's voice, turning my attention away to the mare in question, and the first thing I saw was her tapping her hoof on the ground and causing flowers to grow.
Other earth ponies tapped their hooves on the ground and caused the tree that was destroyed earlier to be restored.
"Triple woah!" I exclaimed, walking up to my friends.
"Earth pony magic?!" Sunny exclaimed, amazement dawning her face.
"Heh. I guess earth ponies are no longer getting the short end of the stick."
"But that's never happened before!" Izzy pointed out.
"Maybe...when we work together, we can invent new magic," Zipp theorized.
"You're right, Zipp." Sunny said, "Actually, you and Neon were right about everything. I'm sorry I didn't believe you two. I should've been a better friend and listened." she apologized, "I was just so focused on hoping magic was okay that I lost sight of everything else," she said as she came close to us, "Can you two forgive me?"
"Obviously./Of course," Zipp and I said respectively with smiles.
"Zephyrina!" Queen Haven called, walking up to us along with my mom, "There you are! My hoofness, what an ordeal!" she exclaimed, "Gather your things. We need to hit the sky if we're going to make it back to the palace by sundown."
"Mom! I'm not going back with you!" Zipp stated firmly.
"We agreed that you were to resume your studies," Queen Haven reminded, likely studies to prepare her for being the future Queen.
"My place is here in Maritime Bay with my friends," Zipp said while looking at us before facing her mother. I guess she had plenty of time to think as she then spoke from the heart, "I just need more time to figure things out. To investigate magic. To explore who I am before I take on my royal duty. And...you know what? I think who I am is somepony who likes figuring things out."
Queen Haven was a little unsure at first, but then my mom decided to speak up.
"Haven, I think it'd be best if she stay here," she advised, "You know, let her spread her wings and follow her dreams before she settles down."
"...You're right," Queen Haven said with a smile before turning to Zipp, "You certainly are, my little princess investigator."
Mom? Would you do me a favor?" Zipp asked.
"Anything, darling," Queen Haven answered.
"Would you mind just calling me 'Zipp' for now?" Zipp requested.
"Of course...Zipp," Queen Haven obliged as Cloudpuff crawled over to Hitch and barked at him.
What happened next, though, well...you know the rest.
"I'm sorry, it's a what?" Hitch asked Cloudpuff. We then noticed that the egg Hitch was holding was starting to shake and sparkle, an indication of it hatching. Once it hatched, a magic dust cleared out as the baby cooed at us. It had a reptilian appearance, a light green underbelly, four horns that all curled backwards with swirls on them, low, long ears with pink insides, and a pair of bat-like wings, "A dragon?!"
"Quadruple woah!" I exclaimed as I observed the little guy (at least, I think it was a boy), "Seeing a dragon in real life is more surreal than seeing one on a screen."
"But dragons haven't been seen in Equestria for generations!" Sunny stated with excitement.
"He's so cute!" Izzy squealed as the baby dragon hugged Hitch.
"It seems he imprinted on you, Hitch," I said.
"Adorbs!" Pipp commented as Hitch placed the dragon on his back.
"Hey, everypony." Posey said, walking up to us, "I just wanted to say I'm sorry for the way I acted. I think I just felt…"
"Left out?" Zipp answered.
"Yeah! Exactly..." she admitted, her ears drooping in sadness, "But...it took somepony else to help me realize that I should've just been happy with what I've got instead of let jealousy cause me to act negatively towards others," she said before looking at me with a smile, "Thanks Neon."
"Mmm," I said with a nod.
"Well, we'll make sure you or anypony else won't feel left out again," Sunny promised, and then looked at us, "Right, guys?"
We all spoke and nodded in agreement at this.
"Pipp? Would you mind...singing your new Maritime Bay song?" Posey asked, turning over a new leaf and wanting to start things fresh.
"I will on one condition: if you'll sing it with me," Pipp said with a smirk as she presented her lucky microphone.
"I'll do the harmony!" Posey said excitedly as she and the rest of us went back to the stage to continue where we left off before...things went awry.
As we walking, however, I felt it. That strange, enlightening sensation once again throughout my body that was noticeable, but not overbearing. It was actually kinda ticklish.
"Ah, what is that exactly?" I wondered as I shook my head, but decided to think about it later and just focus on the rest of Maritime Bay Day.
What I nor anypony else noticed, though, was that for a split second, my eyes flashed the color cyan.
And what nopony knew was that the ponies of Maritime Bay weren't the only ponies aware of the the events that happened there.
In a secluded part of Equestria, there was a tall, dark castle that only a few ponies knew about.
And inside of the throne room of said castle, there was a tall mare that was looking at a screen that showed Maritime Bay.
"Hah. Those little ponies finally figured out how to stabilize the magic," she said to herself. The mare had a long, slightly curved horn that was colored paler towards the tip. She was deep purple with dark blue eyes and glittery blue eyeshadow. Her mane was white with light streaks of cyan and was parted into two side sections with thin braids wrapped around her ears.
"Took them long enough," she said before giving off an evil smile, "And now that they have, it's time to take back what is mine!"
As the mare laughed evilly, she spread out a pair of wings, revealing the fact that she was...an alicorn.
After the Maritime Bay Day finally ended, we all decided to go back to the Brighthouse for some rest and relaxation.
"It looks brilliant!" Izzy complimented Zipp, who had some straps and a radio on her, as she put up some posters next to her bed. The rest of us where there too, as well as the baby dragon that was sitting on Hitch's back.
"You think so?" Zipp asked Izzy.
"We're so glad you're staying in Maritime Bay, 'Detective Zipp'!" Pipp said with a smile.
"Me, too," Zipp replied with a smile, "We have a lot to learn about magic and how it works," she said while looking at a golden detective pin on her strap, "I'm just glad I'll be here to figure it out with my best friends."
"Well, I definitely still have a loooot of questions," Sunny said, "Like why does my alicorn magic disappear?"
"Yeah!" Hitch said in agreement, "Like why is it that I have the magical power to understand every animal except for this adorable baby dragon?" he said, cooing at said dragon, who in turn grabbed his muzzle, "Ow, ow, ow."
"Or...where did magic come from?" Zipp asked as she paced back and forth, "Who made the Crystals anyway? And how did they get separated? Why didn't earth ponies have magic before?"
"And if earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns really did live in harmony many moons ago, what caused hostility between them in the first place?" I spoke up, "So many questions, but I'm not sure how to answer them."
"Well, at least we already know one thing for sure," Sunny said with a smile
"What's that?" Izzy excitedly asked with a gasp.
"No matter what lies ahead, we'll face it together!" Sunny announced, to which we all cheered in agreement.
This is just the beginning of the story, I guess. Wonder what the future has in store for us. I guess there's only one way to find out.
"Wow, I uh...I didn't expect them to take that long. Oh well. It's progress. One step at a time, I guess. It's a good thing time is more or less irrelevant here. At least...I think it is."
...
"Y-yeah, I...I understand my task. No pressure. No pressure. No pressure."
...
"No, I'm fine. I'm fine. It's just... do you really think I'm the best choice for this? I wouldn't really consider myself a good teacher. Hell, I wouldn't consider myself a teacher at all."
...
"I know. I'm just...worried that I'll mess up, I guess."
...
"Heh. You always were pretty wise."
...
"Phew. Alright. Wish me luck, Harmony."
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It's pronounce Maretime
11625476
crap, ive been spelling it wrong this entire time
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