Chapter 4: Learning from the Past
Sunny gasps as she regains consciousness and shouts, “IZZY!” She looked around as she notices her vision is blurry again, she was beginning to panic, “Izzy! Izzy where are you?!”
“Whoa! Easy Sunny!” She could hear her friend tell her calmly, she felt a pair of hooves on her shoulders. “You really gave me a scare.” The apricot mare then felt the frame of her glasses on her hooves and then quickly puts them back on, seeing the concerning face of Izzy Moonbow.
Upon seeing her face, Sunny sighed and said, “I’m so sorry Izzy.”
The light purple Unicorn giggled, “Ah, it’s not a big deal. I’m not hurt, and neither was everypony else. I was more worried about you.”
Sunny’s eyes went wide as she realized more of her possessions were missing. “The medallion! My journal! The Pegasi must’ve taken them!”
“More like recovered.” A male voice told them, causing the two mares to look at the dungeon jail-like door. Standing there is the white Pegasus. “I’m sorry you three got locked up here, but I have to talk to you.”
“Prince Zephyros?” Sunny asked.
“Your majesticness. Y-your grateful highness.” Izzy continued stuttering until she was stopped by the Pegasus.
“Zipp. Just call me Zipp.” He added quickly reassuring Izzy.
“Ok, Zipp,” Sunny stated, “I’m Sunny, and this is my friend.”
“Izzy Moonbow.” She said in a low voice.
“Sunny, Izzy, I really need to ask you something important.” he tell them and then whispered the his topic, “About the magic and you being sent here by Princess Twilight.”
“That’s why we’re here. We know why Unicorns and Earth Ponies lost their magic, and why the three tribes separated. So we thought maybe-“ She was cut off by Zipp.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. Lost theirs? As in no magic?” He asked with curiosity, to which the duo shook their heads at Zipp causing realisation to come to his head. “Well, that changes things. Listen, I might have some information that could help, but you need to tell me about these.” He then pulls out from her wing Sunny’s Journal and the medallion.
Sunny gasps “My journal! And the medallion!” Zipp gave the two items to her, letting out a sigh of relief, “I thought I wouldn’t see them again. Thank you Zipp.”
He shrugs as he tells her, “Eh, it’s not that big of a deal.” As the apricot mare put the medallion around her neck, the white Pegasus remarks, “They must be very important to you. Where did they come from?”
“My dad gave them to me,” Sunny explained to him, “They were his before he…”
Zipp took notice of the tone in her sentence, and said sincerely, “I’m sorry.”
She nods in thanks, then asks, “Why do you ask though?”
“That star…” Zipp couldn’t finish the thought as a fanfare, came from down the hall to reveal two guards, holding their phones out with trumpet symbols on the screens.
The guards rolled down a red carpet for Princess Pipp, who began making her way down toward the main group but stopped when she saw Zipp.
“Zipp what are you doing here? Mom said to stay away.” She said with a sneer causing Zipp to smirk.
“Right. Then why are you here? Zipp asked with slight sarcasm.
“Duh! For the content!” Pipp scoffed while pulling her phone out.
“Ho, no you don’t.” The Prince warns her as he took her phone, “Wasn’t mom’s reminder enough for you?”
“Oh, c’mon bro!” The young Princess insists, “The whole world should know about this! Especially about her!” She points at Sunny, “I mean, that wasn’t special effects or anything like that!”
Sunny, still feeling guilty about earlier, has then asked, “I-I know Izzy told me about that, but, um… back in the throne room-“
“Oh, you didn’t hurt anypony.” The white Pegasus told her, “Everypony’s fine. You really caught us off guard, and gotten everypony’s feathers flying. Heh, especially Pippy’s.”
“Oh, zip it Zipp.” Pipp retorts, making her brother chuckle.
“Princess Pipp, can I ask you something?” Sunny asks her curiously.
“Sure.”
“Why are you, your brother, and the queen are the only ones flying? Twilight told us that the crystals had sapped out of all ponies abilities of their respective magics, Pegasi’s flight included.” The question is what caught Pipp off guard she became very nervous and turned toward the group to respond.
“Everypony knows that only royals can fly, of course.” Pipp said while still being nervous.
“What?!” Both Sunny and Izzy responded.
“I know, it’s not fair, but that’s just the way it is. If there was some way we could teach the citizens to fly, you know we would do it in a wing-beat. Right Zipp?” Pipp looked at her brother, waiting for an answer.
“Yeah, sure. In a wing-beat.” Zipp replied with sarcasm and a deadpanned expression. While Sunny and Izzy looked at each other.
“Me-me-me!” She said in a singsong voice before trotting back down the hall. “Red feather, Yellow feather, Red feather, Yellow feather…” she continued down until she was gone causing Zipp to look back at the group.
“I have to show you something.” He explained, before he put his hoof on a scanner and opened up the cell. “You coming or what?” Zipp called, causing Sunny and Izzy to follow.
Canyon
“O-Okay, so let me see if I got this right,” Hitch said to the silver stallion as they climbed the canyon, “The four Alicorns who are here in Equestria right now are keeping an eye on us?”
“All of them were suppose to.” The young stallion corrects him, as he got to the top of the ledge.
“Suppose to?”
“Under Alcorvious’s order, to keep an eye on every mortal being that walks the ground we walk on today.”
Hitch grabbed hold of the stallion’s hoof, hoisted up and onto the ledge, and of course, like the critters back in his town, he was greeted with snuggles from the local critters – bunnies – who have already taken a liking to him.
“You know, you should be a caretaker for animals.” The silver pony suggests, “You seem quite attached to them.”
The sheriff gave out a chuckle as he nuzzled one of the bunny’s cheek with his hoof, “Well… more like they’re attracted to me.”
His volunteer chuckled in turn, before his eyes caught something on the ground and asks, “What’s that?”
The butter yellow stallion turned as well when he noticed a familiar sticker on the ground. "Litter," He said. "I mean, a clue," With that, the competent sheriff proceeded to investigate the scene, finding one of Izzy Moonbow's hair, hanging on a branch. "Hmm. Unicorn hair," He deduced, with the bunnies and the silver pony following him, watching as he picked up a feather, and tasted it. "Pegasi." The sheriff proceeded to be on his way, placing his ears next to the ground to confirm, "Track's gone cold…”
“You seem very desperate.” The young stallion pointed out.
Hitch raised his head up off the ground and sighs, “It’s my fault that Sunny’s gotten involved in this.”
“What do you mean?”
“Come on, isn’t it obvious? From how the residents of Maretime Bay treated her, to now? I just… I don’t know. Mr. Starshine always says I have some form of belief in the old ways of Equestria, keeping ponies safe from… but now, look at where we are now. Out at a canyon, search for my best friend. She doesn’t deserve to be taken away like this! She should-“
“Continue to be miserable in a town who doesn’t believe her?” The stallion interrupted him, have the sheriff turn his head away, letting out a sigh. “Sheriff,” he tells him, “I might’ve not known you or Sunny that long, but from how you two interacted over the years, you seem to care and kind to her, even though you’d have to get her out of trouble.”
That earned a chuckle from Hitch, then sighs as he looked towards the skies. “Sunny… wherever you are, know this: I won’t rest until I find you. I will keep my promise to your dad. And when I do find you, I’m going to help fulfill your dream.” He had his chest puffed out with pride as he proclaims, “Peace with Pegasi! Unity with Unicorns!”
With that, Sheriff Hitch was met with a round of high-pitch cheering and applauses, as he looked down to see a whole herd of bunnies, clapping their ears in admiration of his vow.
"Oh, thank you. Thank you," Hitch said to the bunnies. "No, no. You're too kind."
Shaking his head, the silver pony looked beyond the horizon and said, “Hey Casanova! I think I found where your friend is.”
“What do you-?” Hitch was about to ask until he saw, to his horror, Sunny and Izzy's mugshots. “SUNNY?!” He exclaims in shock as one of the bunnies faints from the sight of the mugshots.
Zephyr Heights Station
Zipp slid the metal grate open, as he looks down at the room below. Zipp jumped down and landed before looking back up at the group. “Watch your step.” He warns them. Both Sunny and Izzy jumped down to where the white Pegasus was. He then pushed down a lever which caused the platform they were on to descend in a big room, this caused Sunny and Izzy to look on in awe at the place they were at.
“Where are we?” Sunny asked.
“Pretty cool, right?" Zipp asked, then goes on to explain as they reached the ground, "I’m pretty sure it was some sort of station, for when earth ponies and unicorns used to visit Zephyr Heights.”
Sunny walked over toward a portrait of Maretime Bay and put her hoof on it removing some of the dust. “It’s like everypony just forgot.” Sunny guessed.
She then looked upwards to see a picture of a forest known as Bridlewood which showed one pony of each kind. “This is proof. All ponykinds did use to be friends! My dad was right.” Sunny exclaimed while looking at Izzy. They noticed Zipp who was looking at another portrait, this time on some Pegasi that wore blue suits with yellow stripes around their heads, with some headgear covering their eyes. The duo walked toward Zipp to which Sunny tells him, “You know what I was really true, right? About all Pegasi not being able to fly?”
Zipp sighed with a nod, "Yeah, I know."
"You know?"
"Yeah."
"Then why were you faking it?"
"Dunno..." He shrugs as he sulks over to a blackboard with equations and a diagram of a pegasus's wing, "Our family had been doing it for years. Can't really remember when that started, but mom told me that, 'It's important to keep our tradition alive.'" He shook his head as he continues on, "What tradition? That we kept lying to the other Pegasi in the dark that we can't fly either?" He gave out a sad chuckle, "Surprising what some wires and good lighting will do. I mean, getting the illusion of flying is good and all, but it isn't enough. I’m just so tired of living that ridiculous lie that we had to carry. That’s why I come down here-to get away from all of that. And… Well,” Zipp ran and jumped onto a lever which caused a fan to turn on, "To do this!" He spreads his wings open which lifted him upwards into the air he then flew backwards doing a flip before flying back toward the room. Zipp then smiled with happiness filling her to the core.
"That was incredible Zipp!" Sunny complimented the Prince as he took a playful bow.
“His sparkle is so bright right now!” Izzy commented.
The white Pegasus smiled in appreciation. He then tells them, “That’s not why I brought you down here, however." Zipp pointed upwards to reveal a big purple star with five miniature stars surrounding it on a stained glass making the group stare in awe once more. "This is what I wanted to show you.”
"Oh, my stars!" Sunny exclaimed, looking down at her journal, to see the star matched with the one on the cover of her jounral.
"This was made a long, long time ago," Zipp lectured. "When we still had magic." As they gazed upon to murals, the medallion began to glow a bright purple once again. He took notice and asked Sunny, "Hey, what's up with your-?!"
The ghostly Alicorn suddenly took form once again, leaving Zipp aghast by what he's seeing. As she yawns and stretched out her wings, legs, and back, she titters, "Wow, now I know how Rainbow Dash feels whenever she takes these kinds of naps."
"Princess Twilight!" Sunny exclaims.
"Hmm? Oh!" the purple Alicorn said sincerely, "Sunny, I'm so sorry about earlier."
"It's alright," the apricot mare said with a smile, "Besides! We're finally in Zephyr Heights!"
The former ruler of Equestria took a look around, nostalgia began to wash over her. "I remember this station," she lectures, "Ponies from all over Equestria would come here, to find a place to unwind and relax from the noise of the world. Heck, even I came here at some points during my days off from my rule."
"Hold on," Zipp said in shock, "You're Twilight Sparkle?!"
She turns around and took notice of Zipp and asks, "Oh! A new friend you made Sunny?"
The Earth Pony mare nods as she gave her the introduction, "Prince Zephyros of Zephyr Heights, meet Princess Twilight Sparkle."
Zipp bows his head in respect as Twilight said in her regal tone, "Rise my fellow pony." He does so, making the Princess giggle again, "It's been a while since I said that."
"Wow..." Zipp gasps, "I... I can't believe that it's you. I-I mean, it is you, like, I've read all of your accomplishments as a Princess and a Guardian!" He turned around mutters to himself, "I can't believe she's actually here, this is incredible!"
Shaking her head from the white Pegasus's reaction of seeing her, she then tells him, "I'm quite honored. It's good to know that there are some ponies that heard our stories.
As the Prince contains himself, he then asks, "So, it's true on what Sunny said then. All of the magic had been, how did you put it Sunny?"
"Sapped out?"
"Yeah, sapped out?" Twilight sighs with a sad nod for his answer. "But why?"
As Twilight looked at the murals, so much had happened and it only took one day for their enemy to arrive from the heavens itself. She took a deep breath as she looked at the three ponies and tell them, "My little ponies, I think it's time that you knew what really happened."
As the two stallions enter the city stealthily as they could, they found a safe spot to hide, where nopony could hear or find them for the time being. "Okay, we can't keep playing hide and seek with the Pegasi forever." Hitch said to the silver pony, "We need a disguise."
"Got you covered chief." The young stallion said to him, pulling out two velvet cloaks, one is a velvet blue, the other is a dark grey. "This should keep us hidden and blend in with the crowd for now."
The butter yellow stallion nods as he took the dark grey cloak and drapes it on his head and back, while the silver Earth Pony does the same with the velvet blue one. They wandered through the crowd, not a single Pegasi even acknowledge them, and none of them were the wiser.
"By the way," Hitch said to the stallion, "I never got your name.”
“Huh?”
“You’ve been with us in Maretime Bay the whole time, and none of us ever knew your name.”
The young stallion sighs a chuckle as he tells him, “To be perfectly honest with you, I don’t really have a name.”
This caught Hitch by surprise. “You don’t have a name?”
“Nope.” The silver stallion told him, “I’ve gone through many names, but there’s never a name that I can truly be stuck with.”
The Sheriff gave it some thought, seeing him as a very strange outcast like Sunny, but very kind, and helpful, one name came to mind. “Argyle.” He said aloud.
“Pardon?”
“I was thinking Argyle.” Hitch proposed, “Argyle Silverline. You know, because you reminded me of Sunny’s dad and your mane and tail are a bright silver.”
The stallion gave it some thought, it does have a nice ring to it. “Argyle Silverline, eh?” He said, then chuckles again as he nods, “Alright. Argyle it is.” Now settled with his new name, Argyle gave himself a smile. “Heh, you know it’s funny,” he said to Hitch, “To think that we had separated ourselves from the other tribes, we’d forgotten where we came from, and what was our purpose through Unity.”
The sheriff nods in agreement as he said, “Well, you got the rumors to thank for that.”
“And where did the rumors come from I wonder?” Argyle said in a tone that the sheriff seemed to make him stop.
Hitch then had the voice to say, “You knew what happened back then… did you?”
This in turn caused the silver pony to stop himself, then turns to look at the butter yellow stallion. With a chuckling scoff, he then tells him, “Alright. You got me there. I mean, I’ve heard stories of what happened back then, but that’s where they were left as, stories. Besides, you’d have a hard time believing that kind of tale.”
Hitch cocks a brow and said, “Try me.”
“That eager, eh?” Argyle chuckled, then the both of them took a seat at a bench as he then says, “Hitch… let me tell you a tale. It’s a tale about broken friendships and deceit.”
Centuries ago, before Celestia and Luna ever came to Equestria, they were the embodiments of day and night, under the guidance of the Father of Alicorns Alcorvious, they raised and lower the sun and moon, training to one day be rulers of Skyros, the realm of the Alicorns.
However, they weren’t the only who have such control. They had four other siblings, known as the Elements of Nature. Luvios, the Alicorn of Water and the eldest son of Alcorvious.
Aerovad, the Wind Alicorn, and the master of storms.
The Earth Alicorn, Gaialum, who is said to embody nature itself.
And the most destructive one of all, Opaline, the Alicorn of Fire.
You mention about them before. What do they do?
Well, as they’re named, they are the representatives of nature. They’re recognized as graceful and benevolent beings of other mortals of other realms. They enjoy their praises and in turn, they would give gifts to the mortals. But one of the Alicorns, Opaline wanted more than just recognition.
What did she want?
She wanted to be known as the most powerful Alicorn in all of Skyros and she even demanded to the Father of Alicorns they they should be worshipped as gods, having them to kneel and beg, and acknowledge them as the superior race.
That wouldn’t be fair.
Try telling that to Opaline, lest you want to face her wrath. Now, of course, Alcorvious, he’s all about fairness, he doesn’t have the heart to be a cruel and relentless ruler, as many mortals consider him as the greatest and most powerful being in all of Skyros.
But Opaline wouldn’t hear the end of it and began to scheme behind her Father’s back. Before she could put it into action however, the Son of Darkness came, along with a being only known as the traitor.
Was it one of the Nature Alicorns?
That’s what they thought as well, and they still continue to search to this day. After the shattering of Skyros, all six Alicorns were sent flinging down Equestria, where Celestia and Luna set their reign, along with hiding away an artifact known as the Father’s Gem. They never really told me what it is or how it works when I became the new ruler. Even so, I wished it would’ve helped against Opaline when she started to invade from the shadows.
But why would she want to separate the three tribes?
She believed that if she caused a discord and placed wedges in between the tribes, it would make a much easier targets to steal their magic. However, in her bidding attempt to steal said magic, she failed.
My friends and I put a stop to Opaline’s plans and casted her to exile, never setting hoof on Equestria ever again… but we were too little, too late. The damage was done by Opaline’s lies, and everypony turned against one another. I felt so worthless and helpless, watching as my entire kingdom crumbled before my eyes. My friends however, weren’t willing to give up that easy.
To take all of the magic away from the three tribes, the Guardians created the Unity Crystals, made by the shards of the Elements of Harmony themselves. It worked… to a degree. Their magic was taken away, and Princess Twilight entrusted three of her friends to take their respective crystal and hide them away so nopony could ever use them for darker purposes.
While my friends hid away the crystals, remaining behind in their newfound homes, I received a vision of the one who could unite the tribes, the Prophecy’s Child. I searched everywhere in all of the books and research that I had, but nothing came up from the vision. I knew that there was something that I was missing, just that one nagging thing… that’s when it hit me.
If the Prophecy’s Child wasn’t of her time there… it would mean that the child would be born from the future. And so, she enlists the help from one of her closest allies, and sent them centuries to the future, where one day, the Prophecy’s child would be born.
“And that child is you Sunny.” Twilight finished.
The young Earth Pony mare's eyes went wide. "M-Me?" she whispered at first, "I-I'm the Prophecy's Child?"
"Well, it makes sense," Zipp tells her, "Where else would your magic come from?"
Sunny shook her head and she said, "But that doesn't make any sense! How is it possible that I'm the only pony in this generation to have magic?!"
The Princess shook her head as she explains, "That I'm so sure myself. I may be smart and wisest of my era, but even such a mystery requires a lot of research." She looks at the murals again as she continues on, "For now, we must find the other Unity Crystals before Opaline or anypony else take them for their own gains."
Sunny, after letting the new info sunk in and now motivated, spoke up, "Then we got to get the Pegasus Crystal." She looked at the white Pegasus and asks, "How do we get it?"
"That's the thing," He tells them, "We really can't. The crystal is attached to my mom's crown. She never takes it off."
“So what do we do then?” Sunny asked.
"I got it!" Zipp exclaimed. "Pipp's performing at tonight's royal celebration. All eyes will be on her, especially my mom's. She'll be distracted. So we just need to swap the real crown with a fake."
"And where are we going to get one at this time of day?" Sunny asked.
"Ooh, I can craft a decoy!" Izzy bounced. "But I will need a box of macaroni, a tube of glue, 14 gooey bunnies and three jellybeans. Oh, and glitter. Lots of glitter."
"I'll get the supplies," Zipp volunteered himself, before proceeding to lay out the foundation of their plan. "I'll pass them off to Sunny, and then she'll will give them to you. Once you produce the decoy, get your flanks to the palace. Everypony who's anypony will be there, so security will be tight. I'll distract them, so you can sneak in."
"Maximum sneaky," Izzy stated.
"You'll need to be stealthy," Zipp added. "Carefully make your way to the Grand Hall, but watch out for the guards. I'll open the door to the back stage of the Throne Room. Here's a map, so you don't get lost." He gave Sunny the map, having her stash it in her bag.
"Alright!" Izzy cheered.
"And once Pipp starts singing, my mom will be so caught up, that swapping the crowns will be easy-breezy."
"Easy-breezy," Sunny commented. "Sure..."
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11855550
I assumed the first example you posted was to be read in an Irish accent.
Wow, another stallion named Argyle and Zipp as prince?! Sounds so COOL!
I can't wait to see what happens next.
Here's a song that will make you natural. Enjoy!
https://youtu.be/V5M2WZiAy6k?si=BrwuyTiumG3vq7v2
11858394
Much appreciated Phet. Really enjoy the Imagine Dragons songs you send in the chat.
Once more, you did a superb job on the dialogue, characterizations and future chapter set-up. Really appreciated the bits with Hitch and the younger Argyle plus Sunny and Izzy catching on that the Royal Pegasi were faking the flight before Prince Zipp even told them, Zipp briefly meeting Twilight, Twilight's further mentions of Opaline and her description of the other Elemental Alicorns and the mentions of what her friends did with the Unity Crystals. Hitch already making the decision to help Sunny and Izzy was another great touch.
I am most definitely looking to more of this.
11858413
You're welcome
Oh boy there it is that probably is going to get them in trouble
Once again I really like that theory about him having the same ability as Fluttershy
Yeah I still remember there was a story about hitch making that kind of promise to Argyle
Yeah let's face it Opaline really did a number on Equestria very badly throughout the years with pain and misery
Like literally she really doesn't take it off must be very uncomfortable
What sunset is here 😳
11858486
Hmm I guess that is a good point just to balance out the male and female but they're still more female in the group still but okay I'm just used to zipp being a girl so I'm just going to get used to this change since this is an alternate universe
11858511
I meant to put Sunny, not Sunset, sorry.
11858514
What, Argyle doesn't count?
11858524
Oh he's going to be part of the group my bad 😅
Holy mackerel this actually blew my freaking mind so sunny and Izzy ended up in jail but Zipp came down to see them and giving their stuff back and he even recognized some of the items especially the star but then his sister came asking what was going on and even given some information that the Royals the only one who can fly which they were a little suspicious but then zipp show them the station meanwhile hitch and the Mysterious Pony are still looking for sunny and Izzy but it looks like they finally made it to the city but then he was asking this Pony well known as Argyle now about their history and why the alicorns been watching which he elaborate but meanwhile at the station zipp show them about the old stuff and even the glass stain that Twilight's Cutie Mark is in and speaking of Twilight she showed up again which it surprised zipp and it looks like she's going to tell her story so both of them told them about the history of the alicorns and Opaline what she did to Equestria and even told the prophecy Pony which turns out to be sunny which she was pretty shell shocked but right now they need to get the crown but unfortunately Queen Haven doesn't take it off at all so they have to use his sister's performance as a distraction and hopefully they can get the crown I wonder how this will work out guess we'll find out next time
With this version, I’d be interested if Misty was not taken by Opaline here.
Why is Zipp a guy in this story?
11867337
Well, I realize that with just having one male in the main group kind of felt a little unbalanced, so I decided to switch things up for Zipp, not just in design, but also in gender as well.