3 Months after stopping Sprout, something weird is going on with the crystal bright house’s Magic, and no one knows what’s going on. But Sonic and Zipp both start noticing and try to figure it out.
But when preparing for Maretime Bay day some Earth Ponies are not to happy with magic’s return, along with the big blue Hedgehog rolling around at the speed of sound.
Sonic ran quickly down the streets of Maretime Bay, avoiding an angry mob of ponies that were chasing him. He then ducked into an alley and watched as the mob ran past.
“Since when did earth ponies know how to riot!” He asked himself with worry.
Freeze
’Who thought that someone like me, would end up having an adventure with talking ponies. Not that’s a bad thing of course, they are really nice and cool.
Back when I arrived here things were different, all three species of ponies were against one another. And it went on for years, but then me and a group of ponies came together and fixed that.
With magic back in action again, it seems that everything would be great. Unfortunately some didn’t share this mind set, and I’m about to show you what happend.
But first we need to see how this came to be, so let’s go back to yesterday and see how it all started.’
The pleasant streets of Maretime Bay were something of a spectacle, they were wide, beautiful and most of all fun to run through.
This is how Sonic felt whenever he went through Maretime Bay, not caring about the world around him. The feeling of freedom had never been so strong in all his life, everything was perfect aside from being stuck on a different planet thing.
He wore white gloves, red shoes that had golden buckles along with a thick white line going across them, and a bracelet that had a glowing green orb on it that was on his right hand.
He arrived up on top of a building’s roof and leaned over the edge, smiling down at the residents. He then saw something at the corner of his eye, and faced you.
“Hey how you doing? I see you’ve come to here to spectacular Maretime Bay!” He shouted raising his arms into the sky gesturing to the whole town.
“But in all honesty, as much as I love this place. The thing that makes it all worth it are the residents, more specifically five certain ponies.” He hopped off the roof and landed in the street.
He began walking down and waved to the occasional pony that walked by. “And let me tell you. They are some of the greatest friends, I’ve ever met… aside from my friends at home.”
He grew a sad tone but shook his head and smiled again. “But let’s not get sappy, and let me introduce you to the crew.” He gestured to the group of four ponies standing there ahead of him.
“First we have Sunny Starscout. The one who owns a lighthouse and is the main reason we have Magic back again.” We see a Apricot furred pony with a purple mane with rainbow hair, while also wearing a saddle bag.
“Next is Izzy who is the first pony friend I made here, she is very optimistic and fun. She also has amazing crafting skills.” The purple unicorn named Izzy stood there next to to Pipp who was holding her phone.
“Then we have Sheriff Hitch, a guy who cares a lot about others and the Law. And he also has a strange habit of talking to critters, but it’s pretty amusing.” A light amber earth pony with a belt thing of sorts, wrapped around him. It even had a badge attached to it.
“Then we have Princess Pipp, who is very much addicted to social media. If you get past how she acts on the outside, you can see she is really nice and caring.” There stood a pink pegasus with a purple mane, a small tiara around her head and a phone in hoof.
“And here comes the last one.” Sonic spoke aloud as he pointed at the sky.
A white pegasus landed on the ground near the group spinning a microphone. “There she is. Princess Zipp, she is very much like me in many ways. And I love how much energy she has.”
“But when looking at the bigger picture I love ‘em all, they’ve been nice to me. So I might as well return the favor, and we’ve been living out best lives.” He stopped walking and didn’t realise the group was near him.
“Uh… Sonic? Who are you talking to?” Pipp asked. Sonic faces her, with a smile. “I don’t know.” The pegasus sighed but smiled anyway.
“So can you explain what happend, while I was on my way over?” He asked them, to which Zipp replied. “Yeah we can. So basically it went like this.”
Basically the opening scene. I had written it but for some reason it didn’t save so I'm not writing it out again.
But to sum it up, Zipp goes to Zephyr Heights castle, sneaks in to get a lucky microphone and then flies to Maretime Bay.
That good enough, well glad you enjoyed it cause I’m not writing out that scene again.
Maretime Bay
“And after that I saved some Pegasi from falling, arrived here and now we’re all caught up.” She finished, Sonic smiled.
“That sounds awesome. More exciting than my morning.” He joked.
Pipp then voiced her annoyance. “What took you so long? Don't tell me you were sneaking around the palace again.” Zipp winked at her younger sister and walked over to Sunny.
“You know you can just enter through the main doors. It's our house.” Zipp gave Sunny the microphone. “But if Mom knew I was there, I'd get stuck doing one of her random princess lessons.”
“Good point.” Pipp replied, losing annoyance.
“True dat.” Sonic added quickly, getting a giggle from the Pegasus. “Okay, Sunny. Just remember. Pretend you're talking to us and not, like, all of Equestria, and you'll do great.”
Sunny was very nervous, to which Sonic noticed and walked over to his friend, he then placed his hand on her shoulder. “Listen don’t worry, just imagine all of the ponies in front of you being completely naked and… wait they’re already all naked aren’t they.” The group got a laugh from his mess up.
He facepalmed. “Forgot that this is a different world, and the fact that quote doesn’t work here.” He then walked back over to the group.
Sunny however was still stuck but Pipp aimed her phone camera at her friend. “You’re live…” The sound of a beep became audible, indicating the recording had started.
“…Now!” Sunny regained herself and was brought out of her stupor. “Like, "now" now?” Pipp nodded to which Sunny began. “Uh... Hey, everypony! I'm Sunny Starscout, and I live here in Maretime Bay with my friends. A lot has changed around here in the past few months. Maretime Bay used to be the place just us Earth ponies live, just like how unicorns always stayed in Bridlewood and Pegasi never left Zephyr Heights. But when we found the three Unity Crystals and brought them back together, it brought us back together! All pony kinds were reunited in friendship! Now anypony can live... anywhere! And... we have magic again!” She squealed.
“The best part about it, is that we made a new friend from a different world. And he’s been super nice to everyone.” The phone moved to Sonic who waved with a grin.
It then moved back to Sunny, and then moved over to Izzy.
After Izzy did some tricks with some apples, she then brought up Sunny’s powers. “Now you, Sunny. Show everypony what you can do.”
Pipp joined in. “Ooh, yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah! Turn into an Alicorn! That's an Earth pony, Pegasus, and unicorn all in one!” She aimed the camera back at Sunny who was nervous.
“Uhhh... You know it doesn't really work like that, guys. I can't just, uh... Anyway! The point is, magic powers or not, I think everypony can agree that our lives are way more magical now that we're together again.” Pipp popped out from the side.
“You know iiiiit! Okay, Sunny! Do the thing!” The style on the phone changed to promotions. “Do you like super fun times? Are you interested in learning more about Earth pony traditions and tasting local treats? Do you want to see ponies sing in a big concert?”
Izzy then jumped in. “Yes! You bet! And yeeees!”
It switched back to Sunny. “Then you should come to our annual Maretime Bay Day Festival! For a day of fun in the sunshine! It's going to be a blast! And I'm not just talking about the fireworks show. All pony kinds are welcome!”
Hitch then came over and grabbed the phone. “Oh! Oh! I love Maretime Bay Day! You gotta come check it out! The live Maretime music! The sand castle contest! The caramel ponycorn! Ah! It's the best!”
Sonic who was confused spoke up. “Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah! Could you um… please elaborate on what exactly Maretime Bay day is.” He asked.
The group went silent. “You don’t know about Maretime Bay day?” Hitch asked, Sonic shook his head. “No I don’t, after all I only just got here recently and have only known about T.U.E.S.Day.”
This caught the group off guard but due to this, a bird came down and took Pipp’s phone. “Hitch, my phone!” Pipp yelled.
They began going after it, and Sonic looked back at you. “Now that your all caught up. Let’s see how this all unfolds.” He refocused back ahead of him, with intent on catching the bird.
The group ran after the bird, making sure to avoid crashing into anyone along the way. Sonic who would normally run faster, held back due to an incident that involved him knocking over things as he ran past them.
Pipp and Zipp flew after the feathered animal, it then began flying near the ground around ponies making Zipp have to dodge them.
She and the bird flew up and Zipp almost caught it, but it then dived down. It flew through the train cart that was currently moving, causing Zipp to do so as well.
Sonic quickly jumped into the air and dived down onto the roof of the train cart, he rolled and got back on his feet. He continued running again, and jumped for the bird just missing it. Landing once more he and the rest of his friends continued the chase.
Grassfield: Just outside Maretime Bay
The chase led them out of town and towards a house in the distance, Sonic grew nervous as he knew who lived there. ‘I really hope she doesn’t get to angry... especially after what happened.’
The bird slowly lost its grip on the phone and dropped it, causing Izzy to activate her magic. She managed to catch it but it wasn’t fully working, she then tripped and slid forward into the garden that sat at the front of the house.
The group caught up and laughed. “Got it!” Izzy exclaimed, still holding the phone. The leaves covered her face as she blew them off smiling.
“Izzy please never change.” Sonic requested.
She replied. “That ain’t gonna happen.” She levitated the phone down in front of her, to see it was still recording. “Oh, hey, look. It's still on.” She laughed and Levitated it to Pipp’s hoof.
“See you at the festival.” Pipp spoke to the phone before ending the recording.
“You okay, Izzy?” Sunny asked the Unicorn who stood up.
“Oh, yeah, oh, yeah. I mean, a little ground glitter never hurt anypony.” She took off the remaining leaves in her mane and giggled.
“Well, thank hoofness for magic.” Sunny commented, the others inputted their agreements except for Sonic.
Izzy who had walked over next to Sunny, looked at the Hedgehog with curiosity. “What’s your opinion on magic Sonic?”
He faced her with a slight smile. “Well actually-“ He was cut off by a muffled voice, coming from inside of the house. “Well, I, for one...” They all turned to see the door open, and out stepped a yellow Earth Pony, with a pink mane and two green bows with one on her mane, and the other on her tail.
“…do not agree.” She glared heavily at the group, but none more so than Sonic who she seethed at. ‘She’s still mad at me… isn’t she?’ He asked himself.
Sunny walked onto the path and tried to apologise. “Is this about your flowers, Posey? It was an accident, but we'll fix them right away.”
But Posey wasn’t going to end it there. “No. What I meant was that I wish magic had never come back. And I'm not the only pony around here who thinks so.”
The group shared confused looks with one another, before facing Posey again. Sonic stood there with his right hand on his hip. “Uh, what do you mean?”
Posey rolled her eyes. “You Pegasi are always flying too fast! O-Or too low! Or too high up!”
The last one confused Zipp and Pipp a lot. “What's wrong with flying high up?” Pipp asked, Posey got into her face.
“Ugh! I just don't like it, okay?! And every time I'm at the market, there's some smug unicorn using their magic to shop!” She thought back to a recent event as she stood in front of Izzy.
Flashback
’I almost got hit in the head by a bag of floating apples yesterday!’
Posey dropped her smoothie as a Unicorn passed by with a bag of apples, she looked down at her now ruined smoothie before staring down the Unicorn angrily.
End Flashback
Posey’s House
“Magic is not very safe. At least not for the rest of us ponies who don't have it. Right, Sheriff Hitch?” She asked running up to him.
But he scratched the back of his head with a hoof, unsure of what to say. “Uh... I don't know if I would say that.”
Posey growled angrily, she was expecting a different answer than that. “Everypony's just... still learning how to use it. That's all. Magic takes practice.” Sunny explained.
Posey who had faced away from them, grew a snarl. “But that’s not the worst part… he is!” She pointed her hoof at Sonic.
“I’m the worst part?” The Hedgehog asked pointing at himself, aware of what she meant.
Posey faced him specifically. “You’ve put me and others through turmoil, because of your reckless actions!” Her teeth gritted as she tried not to lash out at him.
“Hey I’ve done way more reckless things in the past, and look I’m sorry for what I did ok.” But all words fell on deaf ears.
She turned back to her house and began walking to the door. But she took one last glance at the Hedgehog, before muttering one last thing. “I hate you.” She walked in and slammed the door behind her.
The group were left in confusion and shock, but Sonic was the one who felt it the most. She hates him still, and it didn’t seem like it was going to go away. “I really did mess up.” With that said he began walking away back to the town of Maretime Bay, in silence.
The group noticed his change of attitude, it was almost guilt driven. But they couldn’t speak to him as he had already made significant distance.
“Okay, wow! She was really nice, right guys?” Izzy asked, Zipp and Pipp felt uncomfortable and followed Sonic back to the town, Hitch followed soon afterwards.
Izzy quickly fixed up the flowers and the mailbox before taking off after the others. “Oh! Come on, Sunny! Let's go home!” Izzy called to her friend.
Sunny watched as her Unicorn darted down the path, she looked through one of the windows of Posey’s house and saw her staring.
She closed the curtains angrily, showing she wasn’t going to get involved. “Don't worry, Posey. I'm gonna find a way to show you and everypony else just how awesome magic can be.”
She began walking back to Maretime Bay with a thought lingering at her mind. ’I wonder why she hates Sonic, I know it was because of something he did… but just what was it exactly?’
She shook her head and decided to ignore it for now. They still had a celebration to prepare for, and nothing was going to ruin it… hopefully.
The group walked through the front door and went to go and to the kitchen, Izzy on the other hand had to talk to Pipp.
“Pipp! Pipp! Pipp! I want to show you something!” She exclaimed.
They both went upstairs, and Sonic couldn’t help but think back to the encounter with Posey. He had guilt swell up inside of him, it was powerful something that really affected him.
It wasn’t really noticeable at first, but it had been more showing as time progressed. Zipp was the first to take notice of this change, he was usually optimistic, funny and caring.
But now he looked neutral and quiet, even his jokes didn’t have as much effort put into them. But Zipp didn’t try to ask anything, just in case it made him feel worse.
Crystal Brighthouse: Kitchen
The group were all making pizza, Izzy and Pipp came down stairs not too long after they arrived in the room.
While Sunny, Izzy, Hitch and Pipp were all making the delicious food. Sonic and Zipp sat at a counter with heavy thoughts, these thoughts kept weighing in on them.
“Guys! Guys! Guys!” Pipp screamed landing next to them, breaking their trains of thought.
“I have been asking you two if you want extra cheese on your pizza for, like, ten minutes! What's up with you two?” Pipp asked.
Zipp immediately responded. “Oh. sorry. Just thinking about something weird that happened earlier.”
Sonic however didn’t respond, he just sat there with a lost expression. He didn’t want to tell them, and even if he wanted to… he just… couldn’t.
Thankfully he wouldn’t need to anwser. “The thing with Posey?”
“Oh, uh… yeah. That.” Zipp answered, Sonic nodded to that, trying to rub off suspicion.
“Same here. How could she not love magic?” Sunny inquired.
“Earth ponies have never had magic before. Maybe Posey's jealous.” Hitch added while rolling some dough.
“Jealous?” Sonic asked quizzically.
Hitch elaborated further. “I know I am. Magic seems a little scary, but it would be pretty cool to be able to levitate things.”
“Like this?” Izzy laughed, as she lifted the pizza she was making into the air. It spun around quickly and the group watched in awe.
A crab walked by distracting Izzy who let go of the pizza, it dropped down onto her horn and went through getting stabbed. “Worth it!~” Izzy sung as she licked the sauce from her face.
“Ah, you're right, Hitch. That is soooo much better than flying.” Pipp admitted walking over to help them.
What none of them realised was that when Sonic looked at Pipp, his pupils were enlarged. ‘What was that?’ He asked himself.
Zipp stood up and walked up to Sunny. “So have you figured out the whole "magical wings and horn appearing at random times" thing yet?” She asked her friend curiously.
“No. And it's been getting worse.” Sunny replied upset.
Flashback
Sunny was doing her normal business, of selling smoothies to Ponies. Nothing could have been better for her or anyone else, it was just perfect.
After giving a pony a smoothie she received some money and smiled, but then yellow sparks appeared around her body along with her fur becoming bright.
Then her wings and horn appeared, creating a mini shockwave and flash. This knocked everything away from her, and caused the pony in front to gasp in surprise.
Sunny was shocked and terrified, but it wouldn’t last long as she slipped over a spilled smoothie on the floor. This caused her to crash against the wall behind her, causing the entire stand to fall over with a loud thud.
Sunny popped out from the window, with her horn and wings still present. Two birds flew down next to her as the horn and wings disappeared, then some smoothies fell on the two birds and another fell on Sunny’s head.
She inwardly groaned, this whole Alicorn magic was just getting worse by the minute. And the worst part was, she couldn’t control it.
End Flashback
Crystal Brighthouse: Kitchen
Sunny shivered at the memory. “Maybe Posey has a point. Magic is unpredictable.” Zipp admitted.
Sunny turned away it was true after all, Magic was something no one could really see coming. The sound of a ding was heard from the oven, prompting the mare to walk over and get the pizza out.
Sunny placed the pizza holder on top of the stove and faced her Pegasus friend. “It may be unpredictable, but it's not dangerous.” She explained.
She then grabbed the pizza holder again and walked over to the group, to which she then threw the delicious food up into the air. Izzy then used her magic to break it into six slices, one for each member in the group.
“We just need to show the Earth ponies that magic is nothing to be afraid of. It makes Equestria a... a better place. And it's fun!” The others agreed in silence as they enjoyed their slices.
Sonic on the other hand felt conflicted, he could see both sides of the coin in this situation. On one hand magic was a good thing, it expanded what Ponies could do and allowed for more great opportunities.
But on the other, it wasn’t exactly the safest thing in the world. But he wasn’t going to go against his friends wishes, because he was leaning more on the side of magic being a good thing.
With all of this mind, he was snapped out of his thoughts as Izzy spoke of an idea. “Wow! Are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?” She asked excitedly.
“Maybe.” Sonic joked.
“All right, everypony. On the count of three. One... two... three... Floating parade! Right?” They we’re definitely not thinking of that.
“Not exactly, but close. We're going to use Maretime Bay Day as our chance to show off all the amazing things magic can do! Then everypony will remember just how special it is that we have friendship and magic in our lives again! Are you guys in?” Sunny told with detail.
Sonic raised his hand up in the air. “Uh… I still have no idea what exactly, Maretime Bay day is.” He told them.
“Don’t worry we’ll tell you later.” Hitch reassured the Hedgehog.
Sonic nodded and decided to go upstairs. “I’m just gonna go get some air, up top just to let you know.” After receiving nods, he walked towards the elevator that lead to the balcony of the lighthouse.
Upon arriving he heard hoofsteps coming his way, which turned out to be Zipp with her phone out. It was buzzing indicating someone was calling her.
“Going up?” He asked the Pegasus who nodded in response. He then pushed the button to which the elevator began rising closer to the top.
Crystal Brighthouse: Balcony
Upon arriving at the top Sonic walked up to the edge of the balcony, and leaned over watching the amazing view. At times like these, peace was all that was needed.
After standing there he caught wind of the conversation Zipp was having. “What?! No! No way!” Sonic turned his attention fully towards the Pegasus.
“I know you've had your fun with your new friends and all, but you're a princess, darling. You're going to be queen one day.” Queen Haven explained.
“I know. What about Pipp though?” Zipp asked.
“Well, your sister has little salon project, and while I do like the idea of you being there to keep an eye on her, let's face it, she livestreams everything, so that's not really necessary. You're the one I need here, studying my every move and representing the royal family.” Zipp looked unsure.
“But I'm not sure if I'm ready to leave just yet.” Zipp admitted.
Haven brow raised. “And why wouldn't you be?”
Zipp became nervous. “Ummm... there's a festival soon?”
Haven brightened at that. “Hmm. I do suppose festival planning does count as a useful skill for your future on the throne. As queen, you'll be responsible for arranging state dinners, teas, parties...” Zipp got pretty tired of this.
“Uh... Oh! [mimicking static] You're... breaking... up!” She then ended the call and groaned.
Walking towards the balcony she saw Sonic looking at her, he obviously heard what was happening.
“Hey you ok?” He asked, she seemed hesitant to explain how she felt.
“Yeah. It's just that... I love it here in Maretime Bay so much. I don't want to leave yet.” She explained.
“Leave?” A new voice appeared. They both turned to see Sunny who had come up.
“Go back to Zephyr Heights.” Sunny was still in shock. “But you just got here!”
Zipp faced her friend with an unreadable expression. “I know. I'm not ready to become a full-time, heir-to-the-throne princess yet. Not the way my mom expects me to be anyway. But... I'm not sure if I fit in here either.”
Sunny spoke up against that. “Of course you do!”
Zipp wasn’t convinced. “Even if all I do is fly around and try out new moves?” Sunny nodded.
“It's what you love to do! As Izzy would say... [imitating Izzy] "It makes your sparkle shine really bright!" This made Sonic chuckle.
Zipp still seemed unsure. “I don't know. Maybe my mom is right. Maybe I should just go back to Zephyr Heights and really try to be the kind of princess everypony is hoping for. Besides I'm going to have to do it someday.”
“At least stay until Maretime Bay Day. Then you can decide.” Sunny requested. This made her Pegasus friend brighten. “Okay, yeah. I guess I can't miss that.” She faced her Earth Pony friend who smiled at her.
“Now come on. We have a festival to plan, and it needs your magic, too.” Sunny walked away, and went down the elevator.
Zipp was about to as well when she saw Sonic, leaning on the edge. “Hey Sonic, you coming.” The Hedgehog faced her with a sad expression.
Zipp knew something was wrong, and it had something to do with what happens with Posey earlier. “Is it about Posey?” She asked him. The Hedgehog nodded silently, he was feeling the guilt come back.
“You can tell me, if it bothers you that much.” This made Sonic smile a little bit. “Okay, I’ll tell you what happend.”
He faced Maretime Bay again. “It was a few weeks ago, and it was your average night in Maretime Bay. Everything was fine until it happened.”
Flashback
It was night time in the small town, ponies were walking about doing things normally, but this was around when most also went home. Then Sonic came round the corner of the street and was running, he laughed happily as he felt the breeze pass by him.
Then all of a sudden he crashed into someone and fell backwards, he looked up at the Pony he crashed into. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you there!”he apologised.
The Pony giggled. “Don’t worry I know you didn’t mean it.” She stood up and offered her hoof out to him.
Her fur was pink and she had a yellow mane, with a bow attached to her hair. Sonic took the hoof and stood up as well, smiling at the mare. “Thanks.” The mare nodded.
The moment was interrupted when Sonic noticed Chip’s bracelet orb flashing, it got faster and faster until all of a sudden a bright flash appeared. This temporarily blinded Sonic, who shielded his eyes.
When he looked again the mare was gone, no where in sight. “Where did she go?” He asked in worry.
He looked down and saw the bow on the floor, he kneeled down and picked it up. “What just happened, she just disappeared into thin air.”
His thoughts were stopped when a voice appeared. “What did you do!” Sonic looked up and saw a familiar yellow Earth Pony with a pink mane, running over to him.
“Uhhhh…” Sonic scratched the back of his head. “Where’s my mom!” The Pony demanded.
Sonic’s eyes widened, the pony he had talked to was Posey’s mom. He looked back down at the bow in his hand, it’s green colour reflecting the moons light.
Posey also looked at where he was staring and gasped, her mom’s bow was in his hands. And she disappeared in front of her eyes.
She growled angrily and snarled at the Hedgehog. “You… You took her away! Bring her back, now!” Sonic stepped back and realised she saw the whole thing.
“I don’t know how?! I don’t even know what happened?!” He answered with honesty, he didn’t understand why it happened.
“Lies! And it’s all because of that stupid bracelet!” She pointed at the accessory, around Sonic’s wrist. He felt the guilt pound at his heart and before he knew it, he bolted away at high speeds dropping the bow.
He didn’t care where he went, just as long as he wasn’t near her. He had screwed up, and worst of all he took Posey’s one family away.
‘What have I done?’ He asked himself.
End Flashback
Crystal Brighthouse: Balcony
“And that’s why she hates me.” Sonic finished, he looked at the Pegasus who looked shocked. He understood if she gets mad at him.
Who wouldn’t? He had taken away something very important, from someone and he couldn’t reverse it.
“I’ll understand if you hate me.” He said without a hint of hesitation.
This caught Zipp off guard. “What?! No! I don’t hate you, in fact I don’t believe it was your fault!” This made Sonic look at her with shock now.
“But it is my fault. Posey’s mom is gone, because of me.” Zipp shook her head, not wanting to believe it.
“Listen, you don’t know it was going to happen. In fact there’s no way you could have seen it coming, or want to do it at all.
Sure she may be gone, but you didn’t have control of it. But I know that you’ve not only regretted it, but are wanting to fix it. And I know that deep down, you’ll be able to do so!” She said with confidence.
Sonic was surprised to say the least, he expected her to be disappointed in him. But no, she was trying to help him try and fix it. “Wow… I don’t know what to say.”
Zipp chuckled and shook her head. “No need to. After all, we’ve got a festival to plan. Plus I’ll help you, find out what happened.”
Sonic’s smile came back, he felt better already. “Thanks Zipp.” The Pegasus nodded.
He stopped leaning on the balcony and stepped on top of it. “Come on, let’s go have some fun!” He and Zipp were ready to go down when they saw two Pegasi flying by.
They flew past the Brighthouse, when all of a sudden their wings flashed a few times. They then fell and screamed. “That’s not good.” Sonic stated obviously.
He and Zipp got ready to save the fallen ponies, when they suddenly continued to fly and held their phones. “Weird.” Zipp commented.
Both sighed in relief and made their way off the balcony, with Zipp flying down. While Sonic jumped.
But unknown to the both of them, the crystals glitched. Something was wrong. And no one knew, at all.
“Y’know what Zipp, I’m gonna go for a run around town. Hopefully to clear my head, from all of the stress.” Zipp nodded with a smile.
The Hedgehog had one of his own before running down the path towards the town, leaving the Pegasus behind. “Oh yeah tell them that I went on a run, if they’re wondering where I went!” He called back to her.
Maretime Bay
Sonic ran into the streets with optimism, although he still felt the guilt from before. It wasn’t nearly as strong this time, and he felt fine for once.
He went up onto the roof of a building and watched the town residents, happy to see peace amongst the different ponies.
He then remembered the beach that was nearby, and decided to go and relax a bit. After all of the things that have been happening recently, he might as well get a small break.
With that in mind he ran down the building into the streets and ran through them, not noticing Posey who he passed by. “You’ll wish you hadn’t taken her away, Hedgehog.” She hissed.
She proceeded to walk the other way, to hopefully find something more worthwhile.
Maretime Bay: Beach
Sonic arrived at the sandy shores of Maretime Bay, and sat down leaning up against the nearby wall. He placed his hands behind his head, and closed his eyes breathing in and out calmly.
He reopened his eyes and took in the sight of the blue ocean, that stretched out beyond the horizon. This was peaceful, just the way he liked it. “Why can’t things ever be normal for once?” He asked himself.
Then something in the corner of his eye, caught his attention. He turned to see a purple object, sitting in a dug up part of the sand.
He stood up and walked slowly over to it, curiosity piercing his very mind. He then got close enough, to see the object and it was an… egg. This confuse him greatly, as he processed this new discovery. “Why is there an egg, sitting here all by itself?”
He noticed the water coming in, to which he reacted by picking up the egg quickly preventing it from being taken by the tide. He analysed it, questioning internally about why the egg was there, and who it belonged to.
“Maybe Hitch can figure it out and take care of it, after all I’m not exactly ready for parenthood yet.” He said to himself.
With that in mind he was ready to run off when he took notice, of a Unicorn and Earth Pony arguing. “She tried to sabotage my sand castle!” The Earth Pony pointed at the Unicorn accusingly.
“No, I didn't! My magic was just gone!” The Unicorn retorted. Sonic also took note of Hitch who was also there.
“Okay, okay. Everypony just—“ But Hitch was cut off. “Magic shouldn't even be allowed on the beach!” The Earth Pony continued.
A small Pegasus walked over to the sheriff. “Is magic allowed on the beach, Sheriff Hitch?” He was about to answer, but a new voice came in.
“Of course it is!” They turned to see Sonic walking over, with an egg in hand. “In all honesty, while I am conflicted with magic. I do believe it can be a good thing if practised enough, so all I can say is maybe be a bit more careful.”
This caused the Pegasus to smile at him. “Thanks Mr. Sonic!” The Hedgehog chuckled. “Eh don’t worry about it. And please just call me Sonic.” He told while wagging his finger, with his free hand.
The Pegasus flew off afterwards, and Sonic faced the other Ponies who were surprised by what he had said before. “Listen not to sound rude, but can you please get over it. We’ve only had magic for three months, everyone is still practicing and it’s just a sand castle.” After that was said, he began walking off with Hitch following behind him.
“Woah I can’t believe you just said that!” Hitch exclaimed.
Sonic faced the Earth Pony sheriff with a smile. “Honestly that was gonna get really bad, so I just did what I could to diffuse it.” Sonic explained.
Hitch nodded, then took note of the egg in the Hedgehog’s hand. “Hey where did you find that egg?” Sonic looked at the object in his hand.
“I found it on the beach, a little bit before coming over to help. I don’t know where it came from, it was just there and could have been taken by the tide.” Sonic explained, as they made it onto the streets of Maretime Bay.
“I was also wondering if you could take care of it, since you’re more of an animal expert than I am.” Sonic asked Hitch.
The sheriff went wide eyed. “Me take care of an egg, by myself… okay then I guess I’ll give it a shot.” This made Sonic’s smile grow.
“Thanks buddy, you know what I’ll hang out with you for a while, and hopefully you can tell me about Maretime Bay Day.” Hitch nodded his head and both silently made it to the station.
Maretime Bay: Sheriff Station
They both arrived at the station and Hitch grabbed the egg from Sonic, and placed it into his cabinet where he turned on the heat lamp that was inside. “All roasty and toasty. I'll just keep you safe here until we can find who you belong to, okay?” Hitch spoke to it.
Sonic was confused. “Okay why do you have a heat lamp in your cabinet, I’ve never seen you use it.”
Hitch gave him a funny look. “Just in case of emergencies.” Sonic laughed, then a familiar voice appeared.
“Sheriff Hitch!” Both Sonic and Hitch froze, that was Posey and she was coming into the station.
Hitch quickly closed the cabinet and grabbed a plant, then grabbed a mug pretending to pour water.
“Who were you just-“ She stopped speaking and saw Sonic, a familiar scowl crossed her face.
“What is he doing here.” She growled with gritted teeth. Sonic felt the guilt come back, and he wasn’t in the mood to continue dealing with it. “Oh you know just, talking to sheriff Hitch here about life.” Sonic joked trying to hide his nervousness.
“Doesn’t seem like that to me.” She continued, glaring heavily at him.
Sonic walked towards the door and faced her. “Listen. Once again I’m sorry for what I did, but keep in mind that your talking to a guy who’s dealt with world ending disasters on an almost weekly basis.” He went through the door and outside.
He then facepalmed. “Man she is never gonna give me a break, I had to joke just so she wouldn’t make me feel worse.”
He looked towards the Brighthouse, and smiled a little bit. “Might as well go check up on everyone, after all they probably want to see me.” He then ran off towards the Brighthouse, ready to hopefully contribute to this event and learn of it.
But he thought back to what had happened, while he was gone. Arguing Ponies, Magic mess-ups, a random egg and Posey still hated him.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt on edge. ‘If anything else weird happens, then I know that things are gonna go wrong.’
He refocused back onto the path, as he stopped right in front of the Brighthouse doors.
The Blue Hedgehog had run off down the path, towards the town of Maretime Bay. Leaving Zipp behind, who was thinking about what she should do.
Eventually she decided to go inside of the Brighthouse, and see what was happening.
Crystal Brighthouse
Inside of the Brighthouse were Sunny, Izzy and Pipp who were all standing by some cardboard boxes, filled with decorations.
Sunny was holding one of them, which was known as a Ribbon Wreath. “Ribbon wreaths are the traditional decoration of Maretime Bay Day. We hang them on our front doors, on Mane Street... Everywhere!” Sunny exclaimed with excitement.
Pipp picked up one from the box in front of her, as dust came out. “Cuuuute!” She then coughed from all of the dust that went up into her face. “A little dusty, but cute.”
Izzy came over in front of them with her magic alight. “I once made a wreath out of old teaspoons!” A teaspoon that was held in her magic grasp, came over.
Pipp smiled at her. “Loving that idea, Izzy. Maybe we can add some unicorn and Pegasus flair to these ones, too.” Pipp suggested.
Izzy then gasped and ran over, to where a bunch of teaspoons were kept. And grabbed a lot of them, causing some to fly over and just miss Sunny and Pipp who dodged them.
Izzy came back over with some spoons in her magic hold, some in her mouth and mane. “Now... where did I leave my suitcase full of glitter?” She walked away looking for her box of glitter.
Sunny then realised there were two members missing. “Uh, anypony seen Zipp or Sonic?”
The door to entrance of the Brighthouse opened and closed, with Zipp walking in. “Oh he went for a run. And what's with all the spoons?” She asked.
Izzy was sitting with her box of glitter smiled. “Oh, we're uni-cycling these old decorations.” Izzy who was holding four spoons, dipped them into the glitter. To which when they came out, they were sparkling. “Do you want to try?”
Zipp stared with a nervous expression. “Uh, decorating things isn't really my strong point.” She turned around and began walking away.
Sunny walked beside her Pegasus friend. “We could do something else. What about baking Bay Day treats?” She suggested.
“I’m not very good with baking either.” Zipp answered. Sunny then thought of something else.
“Or write a song for the big concert!” Pipp then flew over next to her sister excited. “Ooh! Zipp, you used to love writing song lyrics with me!”
Zipp became nervous. “I-I don't think so.” She continued walking towards the door. Sunny held her hoof out. “Wait! I'm sure we can find something that you'd like to do.”
Zipp looked back at her friend still nervous. “Uh, maybe later. Bye!” She ran out the door and closed it behind her.
Sunny frowned a little bit, sad seeing Zipp not being interested. She then thought about Sonic, who seemed to be less like himself.
He seemed like he didn’t have as much fun in the past few weeks, like something had put him off.
But she put that to the side and continued to focus, on preparing for Maretime Bay day.
Sheriff Station
Hitch was by himself, and was walking towards the doors of the Sheriff Station. “Good morning, station! Sheriff Hitch here, reporting for duty!” After opening the doors, he walked behind the desk and landed in his chair.
He moved a few objects on his desk into place, and looked down at his animal friends who saluted to him. And he began to sing and rhyme, at the same time. “At ease, deputies. So what do you say? Which Sheriff-y things should we do today in Maretime Bay? Hey, hey, heeeey!”
After he spun around in his chair, somepony else made their presence known. “Oof. Are you trying to rhyme?” Zipp asked walking in.
Hitch turned to face her. “Oh, hey, Zipp. Yeah, what did you think?” He asked for her opinion.
“Way too much.” Zipp replied with a bored look.
“Cool, cool. Just trying something out. Didn't work. Good feedback.” He then cleared his throat. “So what can I do for you?” He asked.
“I came by because... well... Have you seen anything... strange lately?” She asked seeming to be incredibly nervous.
“Strange? What do you mean?” Hitch asked, while writing on a notepad.
“Well, I was on the balcony earlier when... Y-You know what? It was probably nothing. Forget it.” She laughed nervously, and began to make her way out.
Hitch stopped her. “Wait. I know what this is about.” Zipp perked at that.
“You do.” Did he really know?
Hitch walked up next to her. “Yup. Mm-hmm. You're... bored. ” Zipp's ears flattened as she frowned.
“But you don't have to be shy. We're pals! We can totally hang out! I know. Let's order fries from three different diners and then decide which ones are the best! Or maybe a puzzle!” He suggested, n while she looked extra nervous.
Then the phone rang. “A call?” He ran over and answered. “Sheriff station. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I see. Really? How strange. At the beach? Well, I'll be right there.” He put the phone down.
“It appears we have a code eight-eighteen at the beach. Want to come on a trot-along with me, Zipp?” He turned to see his friend only to discover she was already gone.
“Aaaand I'm talking to nopony.” He sat down with his ears flattened. The crab clicked its claws together, as Hitch stood up and went out the door towards the beach.
Maretime Bay: Beach
Hitch who had arrived was trying to figure out why, a Unicorn and Earth Pony were arguing. But Zipp was watching from above on the cliff, observing to see how it would unfold.
Her phone then buzzed loudly, as a ring tone blade itself known. She was startled and quickly grabbed her phone, to see her mom was calling. She groaned loudly and ended the call.
Sitting down on her belly, and she proceeded to tap her phone screen and start recording. “Thursday, noon, beach. Second magical mishap. Levitation glitch. Unicorn drops umbrella. Lots of upset ponies. Very strange. Must investigate further.” She crawled away stealthily, from the cliffside.
She stood up and smiled confidently, flaring her wings she took off into the air. Only for her wings to glitch, causing her to fall back down onto the ground.
She became worried. “Oh, no! Please, no!” She tried it again and failed once more, she turned to face the Brighthouse and saw the Pris-beam glitch as well.
This caused her to gasp and quickly start flying again, this time with success. She laughed and flew as fast as she could back to the Brighthouse.
Crystal Brighthouse
Upon her arrival, Sunny opened the door and saw her Pegasus friend. “Zipp! There you are!” Izzy then poked her head around the door as well, with Pipp watching from the back.
“Oh, hey! Coming to town with us to gather more supplies for the new-and-improved Maretime Bay Day?” Izzy asked.
Zipp who had walked inside became nervous. “Oh. Wish I could, but—” She was interrupted by her sister.
“Why can’t you exactly?” Pipp asked with suspicion.
“Because... I'm working on my surprise thing for Maretime Bay Day! Yeah! H-Have fun!” She ran upstairs leaving behind her friends, who frowned.
Except for Izzy who smiled and waved to her friend.
Crystal Brighthouse: Balcony
She arrived at the balcony and watched the crystals closely, not taking her eyes off them. She pulled out her phone, and began recording once more. “Thursday, 12:15. Crystals – normal. Pris-beam energy – intact.”
She tucked her phone, back under her wing and walked away from the crystals. She looked out the window and sighed heavily, she hated lying to her friends but losing magic forever would be the price, if she didn’t.
Then the elevator activated catching her off guard, she quickly hid on the outer edges of the balcony.
After a few seconds it came back up to reveal, Sonic who was standing on the platform. “Man talk about them, questioning what I was doing. It seems I can’t go five minutes without, someone getting upset with me.”
Zipp sighed in relief, and came back into the room. “Hey “Needlemouse” why are you up here?” She asked with a smirk.
The Hedgehog faced her and smirked back. “Oh nothing “Sneaky Detective” cause your doing a terrible job.” He retorted.
“Okay you got me.” She responded. Sonic nodded, but lost his smile and looked at her with a serious look. “What’s bothering you?” He asked.
Zipp became nervous, but knew he would understand and believe her. “Okay so it seems that the crystal are glitching, and I don’t know why.” Sonic put his right fist onto his hip.
“Strange but it makes sense, I was at the beach not too long ago and a Unicorn said she lost her magic for no reason.” He added.
Zipp nodded. “Yeah I heard about that too!” Sonic then raised a brow at her, and smirked playfully. “Were you at the beach, secretly without anyone knowing?” He asked.
Zipp became nervous and sweated heavily. “What?! N-no! I-I wasn’t at the beach!” She saw Sonic’s smirk grow.
She had been caught. “Okay I was there… but I was doing it for a reason.” The Hedgehog chuckled.
“Very much so.” He looked down at the ground and frowned, Zipp took notice. “What’s bothering you? Let me guess Posey.”
He nodded. “Yep at the Sheriff Station no less, she seemed angrier than usual. Like she had been violated by someone, who walked in while she was using the can.”
Zipp chuckled at the joke. “Very mature.” She sarcastically said.
Both of them stayed silent, until it was broken by the Hedgehog. “You know what? I’ll just take a nap up here, and keep you company. So if you need me I’ll be right here.”
Zipp raised her brow. “Are you sure you want to stay here, while I just wait for something to happen?”
Sonic smiled at her. “I have nothing better to do anyway, plus this whole event thing I have no context about. Because every time I do try and understand it, we get interrupted by something else.” He explained.
“Fair enough.” Zipp replied.
And so Sonic sat against the wall and proceeded to sleep, while Zipp walked around watching the crystals closely making sure that nothing suspicious happened.
But they were gonna be in for a treat soon enough.
The group were all having a fun time, baking treats for Maretime Bay day. Pipp even had a new song planned for the event, Hitch came in not too long after and joined in on the fun.
Eventually they got to a question, that none of them knew the answer to. Where are Sonic and Zipp?
Turns out the answer, is closer than they think.
Crystal Brighthouse: Balcony
Sonic was still asleep, leaned up against the wall with arms behind his head, while Zipp was on the floor with her phone out. She looked like she wanted to sleep, but kept on going. “Hour five... Still nothing... ” She spoke to the phone.
The crystals sat there floating, with no change affecting them at all. Zipp Brought the phone closer to her face, and spoke again. “Hour five and one minute... Still nothing...” She closed the phone, stood up and sighed walking away.
“Maybe I was wrong. Maybe there's no pattern to it. Just a glitch. Ugh.” Then whirring noises came from behind, making her turn quickly to see what was happening.
Sonic stirred from his sleep, due to the sudden noise. “What is that noise… woah!” He was fully awake staring at the Unity crystals, drawing magic from below.
“What in the wingfeathers?” Zipp said to herself in disbelief, both of them curious to see how long it would last.
Crystal Brighthouse: Kitchen
Downstairs in the kitchen Izzy, Sunny and Pipp were all laughing, having a good time. Making treats and putting them into trays, Pipp even ate one that came towards her. And continued laugh alongside her friends, unaware of the magic that was being drawn from them, and moving toward the crystals.
Crystal Brighthouse: Balcony
Both Sonic and Zipp watched with amazement as the crystals continued, to draw in magic from below, but then they shined brightly. Temporarily blinding both Sonic and Zipp, who blocked out the blinding light.
They then regained their ability to see, and saw green vines grow around the glass walls, making their mouths drop in awe. Well Sonic was more or less just wide eyed, with a smile.
“Whoa! I don't believe this!” Zipp commented with excitement.
Sonic who smiled happily looked over towards her. “Let’s go tell the others!” She nodded and together they made their way down below.
Crystal Brighthouse: Kitchen
Once off the elevator, they both made their way downstairs quickly and landed in the room. “Everypony, quick! Come upstairs! You have got to see this!” Zipp called to them.
“Yeah it’s amazing!” Sonic added.
Izzy who was about to add something into the mixing bowl, dropped it as they all turned to their two excited friends. “There you two are.” Pipp exclaimed.
“What happened?” Hitch asked.
Sonic then ran over, and slammed his fists onto the table. “All I’m going to say is, that if we don’t move now! It’s gonna be gone, so let’s go!” They all flinched when he made contact with the table, but obliged and followed them.
‘Please don’t be gone when we get back!’ Sonic begged in his mind.
Crystal Brighthouse: Balcony
They all rode the elevator and reached the top, only to see nothing. Izzy was the first to speak. “Wow! What are we looking at?”
Sonic simply facepalmed. “Dang it, I jinxed myself!” Nopony reacted to what he said.
“There were all these vines growing on the wall! And they were glowing!” Zipp explained, Everyone except for Sonic we’re confused. “Glowing vines?” Pipp asked still confused.
“Okay. I have a confession. I've been monitoring the Crystals, and I think something is wrong with them.” Zipp finally told them, no longer wanting to keep it secret.
Sunny was the first to react. “What?! No, there isnt.”
Sonic frowned her way, taking note of how dismissive she had been. ‘Man she has got to pay more attention!’
“None of you have noticed that magic seems kinda weird lately? Like it keeps switching off or something.” The others stood there thinking.
Izzy raised her hoof to her chin, and then replied smiling. “Nope!”
“Me, neither.” Pipp said.
Zipp was in disbelief but none more so than Sonic, who seemed like he was questioning how they haven’t noticed. “Really?” Sonic asked.
“Sorry, guys.” Pipp replied as she pulled out her phone.
Zipp turned her attention to Hitch. “Hitch? I saw what happened at the beach the other day. Didn't you take—?”
Hitch suddenly jumped at that. “What?! I didn't take anything at the beach!”
“...down a report?” Zipp finished, confused as to why Hitch reacted that way.
“Oh. Right. A report. Actually, that reminds me. Gotta go file that report!” Hitch lied as he went down the elevator nervously, Izzy and Pipp followed after him.
“Hey, you wait a second! You were gonna teach us how to make life-sized gummy bunnies!” Izzy yelled on her way down.
Zipp faced Sunny. “I know it sounds weird, but I know what I saw! And what I've been seeing! Like the other day, when I was flying back from Zephyr Heights, these two Pegasi crashed into each other, and I think it—!” But Sunny interrupted.
“I'm sorry, Sonic and Zipp. I've been so caught up in all the festival planning. This is all my fault.” Sunny admitted.
Sonic raised a brow. “Are you apologising about the magic glitching?” He asked.
“Magic is not glitching.” Sunny scoffed.
“But you said it yourself. Your Alicorn magic keeps appearing randomly. You don't find that strange? At all?” Zipp questioned.
“No, I-I think that's just because I'm still learning. We all are.” Sunny answered, having trouble saying it.
Sonic looked on disappointed at her. “Sunny, I’m gonna be honest with you right now. And let me tell you, I’m going to hate myself for saying it to you.”
He breathed heavily, and began. “Listen just because Maretime Bay day is coming, doesn’t mean it’s priority number one. And what I will say is that, I don’t care for it right now.” He admitted making her gasp.
“Why would you say something like that?!” Sunny asked with slight anger.
Sonic frowned but continued. “Because there is something amiss here, and Zipp is trying to figure it out. I’ve only recently acknowledged that, and I’m gonna help her.
But if your gonna sit around and work on something, that could go to waste because you did nothing to help prevent the problem, then you’re no better than the ones who caused it in the first place.”
Sunny for once was silent, while Zipp watched in awe. “But most of all, the one thing you’ll realise that hurts more, is that you dismiss how your friends feel about it.” He then pointed at their Pegasus friend.
“Zipp has been trying to figure it out, and when she finally tells you and everyone else about it, you immediately dismiss it because you’re so caught up, with something that means nothing compared to herself and the issue.”
The blows kept coming and Sunny was both shocked and amazed, by what he said. But she didn’t dare interrupt.
“And you are an Alicorn for gods sake, with the ability to help us. And I get it, you’re still trying to figure it out how to control it, but even with that in mind you still hold the ability to do something about the situation.
Cause here’s the thing. ”With great power, comes great responsibility.” And it’s something you don’t seem to understand, all that well.
If I’m sounding to harsh, let me reiterate. ”I hate saying this to you.” But I have to be honest with you right now, and if I don’t do that. Then that’s on me, for not telling the truth to you.”
Sunny finally responded. “Look Sonic, magic is magic. We are all still learning it okay, just please understand.” She stated.
Sonic’s body started to glow a blue aura with his fists clenching, and teeth gritting but it died down and he reverted back to normal. “Fine go ahead continue to have fun, but don’t come whining to me if things go wrong.
Because that’s not on me that’s on you.” He began walking away, after his cold comment. “Wait Sonic aren’t you, worrying to much?” Sunny added.
Sonic faced her again, and she saw his disappointment. “I made the same mistake one too many times before, and nearly lost those close to me…” This made both Sunny and Zipp keep silent.
“…and I don’t want the same happening to you or me ever again.” He went down the elevator disappearing from sight, Zipp looked at Sunny with concern.
But flew down with the Hedgehog, leaving Sunny in deep thought. She then began to feel really guilty, and also took note of how of how cold Sonic had been.
She knew she had to go and apologise to the both of them, and try and make up for her actions.
Then a thought came to her mind. ‘The way he acted so cold and serious, that felt terrifying especially coming from him.
It’s the same as how it feels worse to disappoint your parents, than to make them angry.’
After thinking it over, she proceeded downstairs and went looking for both Sonic and Zipp. To hopefully apologise.
At the streets of Maretime Bay, Zipp is looking around for any signs of glitching while the birds are chirping and ponies going about their day, but so far no clues.
“Uggghhh.” Zipp groans of lacking any leads to this magic glitch as she brings out her phone to record her progress. “Report. Nothing new to report. No more signs of mysterious glowing vines or Crystal glitches.” She stated, with annoyance. Zipp’s phone then started ringing, startling her as she looked at her phone to see her mother calling again. “Uggghhh!” She groans again, seeing that this is the worst time Queen Haven should be calling, but can’t keep her mother waiting as she flips her phone tablet open, answering the call as seen by Queen Haven close to the camera again. “Hi, Mom.” She greeted her mother.
“Zipp! There you are!” Queen Haven said to her daughter with a smile, but then zoomed out as she gave Zipp a stern expression.“Have you been ignoring my calls, young filly?” She asked, while guessing why Zipp didn’t anwser.
“No, no!” Zipp quickly said with a nervous smile, lying that she has so she won’t make her mother mad or face her wrath for ignoring her. “Just busy, Mom! I'm actually helping Sunny with decorations right now, so I gotta go.” She lied with a nervous laugh, clearly hasn’t been helping Sunny with the decorations, as she needs to continue her investigation on the magic glitches that she and Sonic are searching about as she reaches to end the call.
“Well, I can't wait to see them!” Queen Haven said excitedly, which caused Zipp to stop from pressing the ‘End Call’ button in the process.
“See what?” Zipp confusingly asked her mother.
“The decorations!” Queen Haven answered obviously, but then realizes why is Zipp confused about it. “Oh, didn't Pipp tell you?” She asked her daughter as she continued as her camera accidentally zoomed into her mouth. “I'll be attending this Maretime Bay Day Festival.” She answered.
Zipp grew nervous as her mother is coming for Maretime Bay Day Festival. “You will?! Why?!” She nervously called out with a spread of her wings.
Cloudpuff then popped on screen next to Queen Haven as he barked excitedly as Queen Haven turned to him with a smile. “Yes, it is treat time! I know, I know!” She said to Cloudpuff with a baby tone, which gives Zipp a bored expression that her mother is adoring Cloudpuff in a conversation. “See you there, darling!” Queen Haven said to Zipp before ending the call.
“Come on!” Zipp called out as she put her phone away, getting back to the investigations of the glitches in hoof. “There's gotta be something!” She said as she brought out her binoculars as she looked around the area she was in for any clues to help find the answers her and Sonic are seeking to these glitches.
Zipp sees a couple of ponies laughing on a table, a tolley bell ringing as the conductor and a pink earth pony mare smile at each other as Zipp around some more. “Everything on Mane Street appears normal.” She said to herself as she zoomed in to the Sheriff station with Dahlia and an Earth Pony stallion walking out, but then turned and saw Hitch hiding behind some barrels. “Huh?” Zipp questioned what she saw as she saw Hitch dragging a bag into the station once the close was clear. “Hmmm. Except that. Huh.” Zipp said with a smirk, wanting to know what Hitch is hiding.
Sheriff Station
Inside the Sheriff Station, Hitch is in the closet cabinet where the egg he and Sonic found is, as he gives it a smile.
“Here you go, little one. I brought you some sand to make you more comfortable.” Hitch said to the egg, wanting to keep it comfortable with some sand that he collected from the beach. “I thought maybe you'd like that.” He said to it, thinking that the egg needed something it’s familiar with, as he put a crab plush toy next to it as McSnips-a-Lot came to the other side of it. “Lookin' rosy and cozy! Now who wants to hear a story?” He asks with a baby voice to the egg.
“I do.” Zipp called out with a smirk behind Hitch, seeing the whole thing unfold in front of her.
“Aah! Zipp!” Hitch called out in a startled voice as he turned to Zipp and closed the cabinet door. “Wow. You are sneaky.” He said with a nervous smile, finding Zipp’s sneaky side impressive. “What are you doing here?” He asked nervously, wanting to know why she was here at all.
“I had an instinct, so I followed it.” Zipp answered causality before she smiled and pressed her hooves on the table as she spread her wings. “And I was right. You have been hiding something!” She said to Hitch while getting on the table and flying on top of the cabinet while smirking down at Hitch before opening the cabinet, still smirking at him.
“Hey!” Hitch called out as Zipp’s finding out what he was hiding as she looked upside down and saw the egg.
“Whoo!” Zipp called out as she laughed with pride after seeing the egg. “So, uh... what is it?” She asked Hitch, having no idea what this egg is.
“No clue.” Hitch answered as he turned and walked a bit to the side. “Sonic saw it on the beach, and just knew it needed help and he trusted me to keep an eye on it. So I just—” He explained how Sonic found the egg and his reason for keeping an eye on it, but Zipp spoke up with a smirk as her wings spread with a knowing expression.
“Had an instinct and followed it?” Zipp asked Hitch with a knowing expression with a smirk, knowing that feeling as well.
“Yeah.” Hitch answered with a smile as Zipp flew down from the cabinet and right in front of Hitch as he continued. “Hey, uh, would you mind keeping this between us three for now? Sonic already knows this because he found it like I said, but let’s not tell the others, okay?” He asked Zipp, not wanting the rest of the girls, to know about the egg yet until he figures out what it is.
“Sure. I can ‘Zipp’ it.” Zipp answered with a smirk and joked on using her name with a zipp it expression as Hitch shook his head in amusement at Zipp’s pun. But then Zipp continues to smirk as she leaned her head closer to Hitch with a teasing expression.
“What?” Hitch asked with a smile, wanting to know why Zipp is looking at him like that.
“So... you gonna read us that story now or what?” Zipp playfully asked, wanting to know what kind of story Hitch was wanting to tell as Hitch embarrassedly smile, not sure if he could tell it now after what just happened as McSnips clipped his claws while the bird chirped in response, wanting to hear that story as well as Hitch continued to embarrassedly smiled while Zipp smirked that his critters are siding with her.
Just then, Zipp’s phone starts chiming as it got both Zipp and Hitch’s attention as Zipp brought out her phone, and then the two ponies gasped at what they saw on it as it is a message to Pipp, and it looked dire with some emojis with sweat and angry faces with ‘!’ on top.
“Oh, no!” Zipp said with a nervous look, worried for her sister and that if the messages are this dire to her.
They both quickly made their way out, and ran towards the Crystal Brighthouse as fast as they could.
Crystal Brighthouse: Minutes earlier
While Zipp was out searching for more signs of glitches, Sonic had stayed behind to write notes on all of the oddities that have been happening since yesterday.
After writing said notes he went up top to watch the crystals, analysing them to see if they would glitch out but so far nothing happened, making his progress come to a halt altogether.
“It seems like it all comes down to luck when it happens, which is really weird even though I have seen weirder things before. But this just feels so random, that I could miss it if I look away for just one second.” His self talk was interrupted by hoofsteps from behind.
He turned to see Sunny walking in with a guilty look. “Hey Sonic I wanted to say I’m sorry for how I acted earlier, I just thought that you two were stressed about the festival.”
Sonic gave her a small smile. “I accept your apology, but next time something like this happens please pay attention, and try not to be dismissive of your friends.”
Sunny scratched the back of her head with a hoof, and blushed in embarrassment. “Yeah I should work on that.” They both shared a chuckle, when their phones suddenly chimed.
They saw they got a message from Pipp, and it looked dire with some emojis with sweat and angry faces and ‘!’ on top of them. “Well this ought to be interesting.” He joked.
They both then made their way downstairs to see why Pipp needed them.
Crystal Brighthouse: Present
Zipp and Hitch were running as fast as they could, and were only a few metres from the Brighthouse. They then ran through the open doors and came to a stop, with the rest of the group standing around the area.
“We rushed right here! So what's the emergency?!” Hitch asked desperately.
Pipp smiled at them. “Well, everypony seems really stressy lately. We clearly need a break. And luckily, I know just the place. I planned a surprise for you! You're welcome!”
Izzy oohed in interest while Zipp became nervous. “Please don't let it be makeovers. Please don't let it be makeovers.” She begged.
Mane Melody
She was so wrong. “I knew it.” Zipp said flatly.
Izzy was reading a magazine and spoke to her Pegasus friend. “But this is soooo relaxing! And informative! Did you ponies know that there are over a thousand different kinds of hermit crabs?! 'Cause I... did not!”
Sonic sat in another chair, with a smile. “I may not be one for makeovers or hairstyles, but even I’ll admit this place is perfect for having a break.” Pipp who was watching Hitch get his hoof done by Jazz, heard what he said and blushed.
But she quickly refocused herself, and walked over to her friends. “Don't you guys love it here at Mane Melody?” She asked with excitement.
She got responses from both Sunny and Izzy, who were positive about it. But Zipp was quiet and didn’t say anything about it, Rocky then came over to her. “What's wrong, Zipp? Not a fan of Mane Melody?” He asked.
Zipp was quick to respond. “No, no. It's awesome. Pipp has done a great job here.” Her younger sister, ran over to her side. “You really think so?”
“Yeah. I do. And, hey, I'm sorry if I haven't been helping out. My mind's just on other things.” Zipp admitted.
Sonic looked over as well. “Yeah me too, I’ve been kinda out of it for a little while, I guess it’s because I still have no idea of what Maretime Bay day is.”
“And let me guess the crystals?” Pipp asked.
“Yeah something weird is going on with them.” Zipp explained.
Pipp scoffed lightly. “Ugh. You worry too, too much.” Zipp continued looking at her sister, and tried to explain the consequences of what could happen.
“But if something happens to those Crystals, we'll lose magic again for good. Then it'll be no more flying and—” But Pipp interrupted.
“Sis, sis, sis, sis, sis, sis, sis. You need to chill. Nothing is going to happen.” Pipp reassured, to which she whistled and flew over to her stage.
Sonic looked over to her. “What makes you so sure?” He asked calmly while raising a brow, in slight confusion.
“Well we've got our friends back, we've got magic back, and we've got...” Then Pipp, Rocky and Jazz sang at the same time.
“Muuuuusiiiiic-kuh!” They all stood in different poses, next to each other.
“At Mane Melody…” Pipp began.
“…we siiiiing…” Jazz continued.
“…while we style!” Rocky concluded.
“Pipp-Pipp hooray!” Both Izzy and Hitch yelled while Sunny produced a weak one, still thinking about what Sonic had said earlier.
“This one goes out to my paranoid big sis Zipp, and our friend Sonic.” Pipp announced, though when she said it she felt bad as she saw their offended looks, especially Sonic’s which confused her.
But she ignored it for now and focused back onto what she was about to sing.
(Everything is Gonna Be Okay)
(Pipp, Jazz, and Rocky) Shoop, shoop! Hey! Shoop, shoop! Shoop!
(Pipp) 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
[Jazz) 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
(Rocky) You'll feel brand new And you'll forget what's been troublin' you
(Pipp) So put your hooves up high 'Cause we're feelin' alright (hey!) Everyday is awesome in Maretime Bay So put your hooves up Put your hooves up (hey!) Everything is gonna be okay!
“Enough!” Sonic suddenly yelled catching them off guard. “Why are we even doing this? You’re not taking this situation seriously, sure I may joke every now and then but I know when to stop.”
Zipp joined in agreement. “Sonic is right! You don't get it, do you?! We can't just sing a song and ignore everything! If we lose magic this time, we may never get it back again! And it'll be our fault.“ She looked down at the ground.
“What are they talking about?” Izzy asked genuinely confused.
“Lose magic?” Sunny asked herself, as she looked to Hitch who looked just as confused as Izzy and Sunny. “Whose fault?” He asked.
CRASH
A sudden loud noise from outside alerted the group, causing them all to look towards the doors of Mane Melody, they were all concerned and rushed towards the entrance to see what had happened.
Maretime Bay: Outside Mane Melody
They swung open the doors and came to see four ponies on the floor, seeming to have had a bad crash. One of them being the local Pegasus named Windy, who seems to be the one who caused the commotion.
“Are you ponies okay? What happened, Windy?” Sunny asked concerned.
Sonic ran over and helped Windy up, as she began to explain. “I... I don't know. I was just flying along, and the next thing I knew, I was down here on the ground.”
The other ponies got up onto their hooves, with a Unicorn walking over to her right. “Yeah, me, too. Because you fell on us.” He glared down at her.
She shrunk back in fear, and quickly began apologising. “I'm so sorry, everypony. I'm normally such a good flier.”
Then a familiar Earth Pony came over. “Clearly she's not. 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 Maretime Bay!” She stared down the group, and glowered at Sonic.
The other ponies voiced their agreements, which allowed Posey to continue. “It isn't fair! We Earth ponies don't get any magic, and then the ponies that do have it don't even know how to use it! Or they use it to prank us!”
The Ponies voiced their agreements again and even said that magic, should be gone from the festival. “And I believe I know who’s responsible for all of this.” Everyone went silent, before she pointed her hoof towards Sonic.
“Him!” The group gasped while Sonic went wide eyed. “What? Why do you believe it’s me that is causing problems?!” He asked in disbelief.
‘She must have been very traumatised from what happened.’ He concluded. There was no other reason why she would accuse him, of being the source of the problem.
“Ever since you’ve shown up it been chaos, you’ve caused damage, been reckless, are way too optimistic and worst of all is that we don’t even know if you really are trustworthy!” Each point she made caused the ponies to agree, with her more and more.
“Look I know I’ve been a bit of trouble for the past three months, but I really want to do better.” Sonic explained, but his explanation went through one ear and out the other.
“You know what you should do, just leave and never come back to Maretime Bay ever again!” Posey continued.
“Hey isn’t that going a little too far!” Sunny spoke up defending the Blue Hedgehog.
“It doesn’t matter, he should leave now!” The ponies began slowly walking towards him, he realised that a chase was inevitable.
He quickly leaned over to Zipp and whispered. “You and the others head back to the Brighthouse, while i shake these ponies off my tail.” Zipp nodded.
Sonic walked over to the side. “So you want me out of town forever right?” He asked with obviousness in his voice.
The ponies stopped and watched him carefully, as he turned to face them with a sly smirk. “Well in that case…”
He turned around and blasted down the street leaving them behind, the ponies then followed after him except Windy who went the other way. The ponies looked determined to catch him if they even could, the Mane five watched as they continued down the road.
Zipp looked over at her friends. “Quick let’s get to the Brighthouse!” They all came out of their stupor from the scene they had just watched unfold, and nodded in agreement before running down the same road to hopefully figure out what was going on.
They also noticed the sudden storm clouds that appeared, but before any one of them could ask about it the dark clouds disappeared, as quick as they came.
But this didn’t stop them from advancing forward to their target location, and to hopefully solve this issue.
Sonic ran as quick as he could through the streets, remembering to go slower than usual but this didn’t phase him, as he enjoyed the thrill of excitement.
The ponies behind him were running as fast as they could, but even at their best they were slower than what he was going at. Combined with his experience of navigation and reaction time, and he was pretty much impossible to catch.
Sonic who was smiling turned around to see a bit more Earth Ponies join the mix, this slightly worried him as this meant that his whole situation, just got worse because Posey was still angry with him.
This made him have a thought to himself. ‘Is her anger going too far?’ This thought was something that concerned him, as he felt a slight twinge of emotion go through him.
It wasn’t sadness, guilt or sorrow but it was… anger. But why would he feel anger, after all he was the one who messed up and took away Posey’s mom, so he shouldn’t feel anger right?
All of this was happening while he focused on what was ahead of him, not caring about the mob that was behind him.
He eventually saw an alley to the right and without warning, ducked into it and hid behind some trash bins while watching the mob of ponies run past, seeming to have missed his sudden change of direction. (End song)
“Since when did Earth Ponies know how to riot?!” He asked himself with worry.
Freeze
So we’re back here again, and I have to say that this has been interesting to say the least. But what will happen? We’ll just continue reading and you’ll find out soon enough.
Unfreeze
But he remembered what was important and quickly ran up the side of the building to his left, scaling it with quick succession.
After reaching the top he looked over towards the Crystal Brighthouse, that stood tall in the distance. He smiled to himself and readjusted his position before taking off towards it, to not only get away from the crowd but to discuss with his friends about what is happening.
But before long he was only a few metres from the structure, and quickly ran up its side and without warning climbed over the railing and onto the balcony.
The Mane five all waited anxiously for Sonic to arrive, he had run off minutes ago and hasn’t even arrived yet at the Brighthouse. But they then heard the sound of feet landing, and turned to see Sonic who stood tall and proud while smiling.
“Now that the angry ponies aren’t following me, Zipp can finally explain.” He gestured his hand towards the Pegasus who nodded to him, as a sign of her saying ‘thank you.’
She began pacing around the room and explained. “I think I finally know what's happening to magic. Why it's glitching.” She stated.
Sunny was the first to respond. “You do?”
Zipp faced her. “It's the Crystals. They might be powered by ponies.”
“Whaaaaaat?” Hitch said dramatically.
“I thought we knew that already.” Sonic said out loud, to which he received blank stares. “Okay! Okay! Just that someone needed to say it.” He exclaimed while raising his hands into the air.
Zipp then smirked. “Okay. Check this out.” She walked over to her sister and faced her directly in the eyes. “Pipp, when we were fillies, I used to steal Mom's chocolate-dipped cherries and blame it on you.” Pipp gasped loudly and glared at Zipp heavily.
“I knew it! You got me grounded, like, twelve times!” Pipp exclaimed angrily to Zipp who had walked away, but she turned back around. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. And guess what. I don't like karaoke! It's the worst! UGH!”
Pipp gasped again, but this time Izzy got angry. “Hey, you take that back! Karaoke is a fun activity for every age and skill level!” Sonic who had been watching all of this unfold, looked at Zipp with a face that said. ‘You didn’t plan this far ahead did you?’
But it went unnoticed as Sunny spoke up. “Zipp's allowed to like what she likes. Just because we enjoy something doesn't mean she has to.” She said while defending Zipp.
“Sunny, there's no need to get all huffy about it. Izzy was just trying to stand up for Pipp.” Hitch told her, as he walked over to his best friend.
“Don't call me huffy!” Sunny shot back making Hitch groan. “I didn't call you huffy! I said you were being huffy!”
Zipp and Sonic walked over to the crystals while watching the both of them argue, but they then heard fizzling noises and turned to see the crystals glitching.
“There's a difference, and— Whoa.” Everyone stopped as they now noticed the glitching crystals, they all stood next to one another and watched as they continued to glitch.
“You... You were right.” Sunny admitted looking at both Sonic and Zipp, who looked back at her with expressions that said everything she needed to know.
“So, when ponies aren't treating each other with kindness...” Izzy started.
“When we aren't vibing...” Pipp continued.
“...the Crystals get weaker. And the more unstable magic becomes in Equestria.” Zipp added.
“Which causes Pegasi to lose their flight and fall on other ponies!” Sunny exclaimed.
“And unicorns to drop stuff onto sandcastles!” Hitch said out loud.
“And the budget becomes smaller and makes things look off.” Sonic joked with a casual tone.
Everyone looked at him weirdly but refocused their attention, onto the crystals. “And weather changes! Like a rando thunderstorm?!” Pipp asked with concern and fear.
“Yup! Everything is all out of whack!” Zipp exclaimed while pointing at the crystals which were still glitching.
Sunny who had her ears dropped had a quick thought. “I wonder if this had anything to do with why the Crystals were separated all those years ago. Ugh. Or why I still can't seem to figure out my Alicorn magic.”
Zipp looked over at her friend. “I don't know. I want to find out. But if we want to keep magic in Equestria, first we need to get everypony back on the same page.”
Sunny gained some confidence from Zipp’s words. “Zipp's right. We can't give up. We can still make Bay Day the celebration it's supposed to be.”
The others inputted their agreements, except for Sonic who looked down at the ground. “Let's do it!” Pipp cheered.
“Hoof to heart!” The Mane five yelled in unison, while Sonic just smiled at them but he had an answer of his own. “Then count me out.” He turned away from them.
The Mane five looked at him with shock wondering why he would say that. “Why not?!” Sunny asked.
Sonic faced her and smiled slightly. “Look you can handle it yourselves, I-I can’t get involved in this situation.” He explained nervously as he looked away slightly.
“But we’re gonna make everything better again!” Izzy exclaimed with joy but Sonic shook his head. “You guys will, I won’t.” He began walking away only to be stopped by a hoof on his shoulder.
He turned to see Pipp looking at him with concern. “Can you please tell us why?” She asked with curiosity, this made Sonic feel more comfortable but he shook his head and took her hoof off him slowly.
“No.” He said calmly as he continued walking away, Hitch who has been silent finally spoke up. “Why can’t you tell us?” He asked.
Sonic continued looking away from them. “I don’t feel like it.” He replied with a hint of anger but this didn’t stop Hitch from pressing onward. “I don’t see the reason why?”
But Sonic didn’t reply this time instead he growled silently, as a faint blue aura surrounded him that no one noticed. Zipp who was silent understood why he was acting this way. “Hitch maybe you should stop.”
But the Sheriff didn’t. “Why should I? I mean I want to help, but I don’t know why he is feeling angry—“ In an instant Sonic quickly spun around and slammed his foot onto the ground, making a loud echoing bang.
“YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW I FEEL!!!” This made everyone flinch and walk backwards with fear, as the Hedgehog panted heavily but he saw their faces of terror and without warning, went onto the elevator platform and went downstairs.
They all stared with wide eyes not moving from their positions for a good while, until they finally recomposed themselves and processed what had just happened. “I never expected him to be that upset.” Sunny said with concern.
But Zipp walked forward. “Yeah but he’s also feeling a lot of guilt, because of something that happened.” All eyes turned to her and she sighed heavily.
“You wanna know why Posey hates him?” They all stared for a second before nodding slowly, Zipp sighed again not knowing how they would react. “What happened was a few weeks ago, he went on a run and ran into another pony who was Posey’s mom. And after they talked and had everything solved, Sonic’s bracelet made her disappear into thin air and Posey saw it all happen. And ever since then Sonic has felt this way, and doesn’t want to talk about it because he fears off what you may think of him.”
They were all silent throughout the explanation and didn’t know what to say, but one thing was for sure they didn’t hate him. “I see why he didn’t want to tell us.” Pipp whispered.
“I never knew he felt like that.” Izzy added feeling sorry for the Hedgehog, they all did and knew that they needed to apologise. “Should we go see him?” Hitch asked with caution.
Zipp nodded which was all they needed, before heading downstairs in the elevator and to hopefully cheer up their Blue friend.
Crystal Brighthouse: Bedroom
Sonic was sitting on his bed looking at the wall, not acknowledging anything that was happening around him. His blue fur looked dull along with most of the room, sharing a grey shading scheme from the outside light that was seeping in through the window.
The sound of hoofsteps made his ears perk up but he didn’t look to see who it was behind him, it was in fact the Mane five who watched him with caution as they didn’t want to anger him again, but they slowly moved towards their friend with Hitch leading them.
“Sonic? Um we were just hoping you’re okay. And we wanted to say sorry for putting pressure on you—“ but Sonic raised his hand into the air making the Earth Pony immediately stop talking, which allowed the silence to take over and give them chills from how nothing made a sound.
The sound of breathing that became audible was coming from the Hedgehog, who continued facing away from them. “It wasn’t your fault at all… it was mine.” They kept silent as he took another quiet breath, still not meeting their eyes.
“I… I thought that maybe… just maybe if I continued looking forward that, everything would feel normal and Posey would forgive me… but all I know now is that… I don’t belong here.” His breath was shaking with each word he said, they had never seen him this way before.
“And the truth is that I have no where to go… I have no home, no friends, no… no nothing… because I’m different… and all I’ve done is cause trouble to so many innocents who don’t deserve it.” The words kept coming and hitting their chests, which made Sunny, Izzy and Pipp start tearing up while Zipp and Hitch just watched in sadness.
“And I can’t just fix it. Because what can I do to fix it? None of the Earth Ponies want me there… and even though I may be optimistic and happy… deep down I’m sad and angry because I can’t seem to make good choices.” Before he even realised what happened next, a pair of arms wrapped around him.
He turned his head around to see Pipp hugging him tightly, this felt nice. “Sonic… please don’t say that about yourself… please.” Pipp pleaded with sobs, to which Sunny and Izzy who also had tears going down their faces walked on over and hopped up onto his bed, and embraced him as well.
He sat there with shock evident in his eyes but he didn’t resist it felt warm, and without thinking he fell into the embrace hugging the three ponies the best he could, with his two arms.
And soon enough both Hitch and Zipp joined in as well, all six of them holding each other close for comfort, with the warmth of the hug making them feel safe and better.
Sonic’s colour slowly became brighter and his iconic smile returned, the room slowly became more colourful as the light became brighter. None of them cared about what was happening around them, or outside of the Brighthouse. Just each other was perfect enough, even for Sonic it was enough to make him feel like he was home.
After a few more seconds they all finally let go and sat down, with Sonic smiling the brightest in weeks no longer feeling the guilt get to him. Although the guilt remained he knew that the five ponies around him, would guide him through that darkness not matter what.
“Thanks, I guess I needed that.” He joked slightly earning giggles from the ponies, who were all smiling as well.
“Well yeah you did! You weren’t sparkling and that’s no good.” Izzy said with a funny voice.
“Yeah I guess you’re right.” Sonic admitted as the others nodded. Sunny then realised that nighttime was arriving soon, and they needed to make last minute preparations for the festival.
“Guys since we’re all so happy now. Why don’t we spend what time we have left of today and make some last minute preparations!” The others all looked at each other and gave a nod individually, with Zipp not doing so yet.
“Zipp?” Pipp asked quietly, waiting for an answer which was received when the Pegasus finally nodded with a smile. “Alright fine.” She hopped off the bed and stood up. “So what’s first?”
And so they all spent the next few hours preparing for Maretime Bay day, and Sonic finally learnt what it was thanks to them talking in peace with no interruptions. But they were not ready for what was in store for them tomorrow, and it was going to be chaotic to say the least.
The morning sun had risen and the group sans Hitch were all asleep, Izzy however was the first to wake up and gasped when she realised what today was. “It's here! The big day is here!” She woke up both Sunny and Pipp who smiled at her excitement.
“The big day is heeeere!” This made Sonic and Zipp wake up, who stretched their limbs. Sonic held a small smile while Zipp frowned knowing that things might go wrong.
They both got out of their respective beds and fixed them up, they then made their way to the elevator both of them sharing the same concerns, and hoping things went well.
Crystal Brighthouse: Balcony
Both of them reached the top and looked at the floating Unity Crystals, neither of them diverting their attention from the artefacts. “Don’t worry. We got you.” Zipp said with determination as Sonic nodded with her, he was going to attend this Festival even if he was disliked by others for doing so.
Crystal Brighthouse
All five of them began to leave and head towards Maretime Bay, Pipp and Zipp lead while Sunny, Sonic and Izzy were following behind them. “Sunny! Sunny, wait!” Izzy suddenly called.
Both Sunny and Sonic turned to look at their Unicorn friend. “Happy Maretime Bay Day!” She said as a present floated from behind, this confused both Sunny and Sonic.
“We don't usually exchange gifts.” Sunny spoke as the gift floated over to her. “I know, but just open it!” Izzy encouraged to which Sunny did so to reveal…
“It's... It's the lantern my dad made for me. I-I thought it was beyond repair. Thank you so much, Izzy!” Sunny exclaimed happily.
“Sometimes, when you add a little bit of magic, you can fix anything.” Izzy stated, Sonic watched in amazement until a thought came to mind.
“Wait a minute.” He spoke quietly while thinking back to a few days ago.
Flashback
The group walked through the front door and went to go into the kitchen, Izzy on the other hand had to talk to Pipp.
“Pipp! Pipp! Pipp! I want to show you something!” She exclaimed.
They both went upstairs, as Sonic and the others went to the kitchen.
End Flashback
“So that’s why you went upstairs a few days ago!” Sonic exclaimed with a smile, to which Izzy returned one of her own. “Yep that’s why because I wanted to make sure, that there was still something for Sunny to remember her dad by.”
The Hedgehog nodded his head in approval. “Well played my friend. Well played.” Sunny also agreed.
“You're right. Now let's go add some magic to today and fix this.” The confidence boost made Sonic and Izzy nod in agreement, and all three of them proceeded to follow after their Pegasi friends.
But they were gonna be in for a truly troublesome time.
Maretime Bay
The Festival was on balloons were floating around, banners were held up high and ponies seemed to be having a good time. The group now accompanied with Hitch were all smiling, even Sonic was as well seeing as Nopony here seemed to have issues with him so far. ‘Maybe they got over yesterday, and realised it wasn’t worth getting mad at me.’
Izzy who held an ice cream was the happiest of them all. “Oh, look! Look, look! Ponies showed up after all!” She pointed at all of the ponies, then looked at the sky and gasped heavily. “And there's the queen!”
Queen Haven had arrived along with Zoom, Thunder and Cloudpuff by her side as a trumpet fanfare went off, along with cheering coming from the crowd.
“Hello, your Majesticness!” Izzy welcomed and proceeded to walk over to greet her, Pipp who was on her phone looked up to see her as well. “Mom!” She also walked over while Zipp who was standing at the back, ran away in the opposite direction to avoid facing her mother.
Both Sunny and Hitch waved at all the ponies in front of them. “Happy Maretime Bay Day, everypony! Welcome!” Sunny greeted to which Hitch leaned over to her. “So far, so good.”
Sunny looked over to him as well. “Now we just gotta keep it up.” Their ears suddenly caught wind of some ponies talking to their left, causing them to look over and listen. “Spoons in the wreaths? Ugh, yuck! I liked the old decorations better.”
They walked past Sunny and Hitch as Posey commented. “I could not agree more.”
Sunny’s ears dropped as she looked down, disappointed that the Earth Ponies were still not happy about the new ideas brought in for the Festival.
Maretime Bay: Beach
At the beach Izzy was going around seeing all of the sand castles being built, she was in awe of every single one of them until she came across a big one, that was built by Windy.
She flew up the top and placed a shell as the flag and flew back down, to receive a trophy from a Unicorn.
When she did Posey and some of the other Earth Ponies weren’t exactly happy, and came on over. “Ahem!” Windy’s attention went to Posey and the other Earth Ponies. “Pegasi have an unfair advantage!” Posey exclaimed pointing at Windy.
This caused arguing amongst the ponies until the loud sound of Thunder echoed across the beach, with storm clouds forming above them. Zipp and Pipp stood next to each other, they both realised that this was getting worse by the second.
Maretime Bay
In the middle of the festival, ponies are enjoying themselves as some of them head to the stands. And then in an ice cream stand, a unicorn mare gives an Earth Pony stallion a green moss look ice cream.
“Moss ice cream?” The stallion questioned as he licked it to taste it, but regretted it. “Bleghhh!” He cringes from the taste, tossing it away, not liking it one bit.
Then three other earth ponies each tried out different types of treats, but cringe in disgust, not liking it as they throw them away in the trash, before the tart was thrown in, a Unicorn stallion grabs it. “Waste not, want not!” He said as he ate the tarp before chomping in the trash, Toots and an earth pony stallion next to her are grossed out.
Sonic who had been watching from afar was also disgusted somewhat. “Okay I’ll admit that isn’t great, but I guess Unicorns aren’t so used to this whole Unity thing.” Suddenly the winds grew strong making Sonic confused, he then saw Toots and her Stallion friend lose their cotton candy in the wind.
“Oh, no!” Pipp yelled as she tried to catch them but failed as her wings glitched, she tried again only for them to glitch again. “My wings won't work!” She exclaimed.
Hitch tried to help only for his hooves to get stuck. “Neither will my hooves!” Sonic without thinking ran quickly and jumped, managing to catch the cotton candies.
He then quickly returned them to their rightful owners, and within a flash was gone but many other Earth Ponies hooves were also stuck and they couldn’t move. “Our hooves... are stuck! What's going on?!” An Earth Pony demanded to know.
Zipp and the others knew all to well. “The glitches! They're getting worse!” The loud crackles of Thunder became more frequent, along with the winds getting stronger.
At a stage that was set up a bunch of Earth Ponies had gathered around, while Sunny saw them all and was growing more nervous but she went behind the curtain, to see her friends except for Sonic.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Sunny asked Pipp with concern. “Nothing has gone to plan today.” She pointed out.
“I have to give it my best shot. We still need all the positivity we can get, right?” Pipp asked with concern knowing it could go so wrong.
Suddenly Sonic arrived. “Sorry about not being here. But man you wouldn’t believe how hard it is to avoid Posey, because she’s been looking for me.” He explained with an annoyed voice.
“She still believes you’re the cause of all of this, doesn’t she?” Pipp asked, to which Sonic nodded.
Zipp then came up to her sister. “Maybe this will help.” She revealed the lucky microphone and gave it to her.
“My lucky mic! Okay!” She did a few warm-up trills to get her voice right. “Yes, we're ready! All right!” She then used her singing voice. “Showtiiiiime!” With that said she began flying upwards.
“Break a hoof, Pipp! But not really. Actually, be really careful.” Izzy requested, to which Sonic gave a light chuckle.
Sunny then walked out on the stage. “Everypony, please welcome pop star Princess Pipp Petals to sing the brand-new Maretime Bay Day song!” Pipp flew down from the sky and landed on the stage, while the crowd muttered amongst themselves.
“That my daughter!” Queen announced as she flew up the air.
Pipp was about to start when she was suddenly cut off. “We want to hear the real Maretime Bay song! Sung by an Earth pony!” The crowd all agreed making Pipp feel uncomfortable.
The lightning got bigger and louder alongside the clouds scaring the ponies in the crowd, some of the Unicorns horns started to glitch but what nobody knew was that the crystals were being affected, but then a crack appeared on them.
The rest of the group came out onto the stage, looking at the crowd with concern. “Hey! Be nice! Sheriff's orders!”
However they didn’t take it all that well. “Are you on their side?!” An Earth Pony demanded to know, but Sonic who had been silent walked up to the front of the stage.
“Now listen here! I don’t know what’s gotten into all of you, but you’re all being super racist and are making this situation worse! Look around you does this look good to you!” He asked waiting for an answer.
“I think I know something!” Everyone turned their heads towards Posey, who glared heavily at the Hedgehog. “Is that you are the one at fault!” She stated.
“And how is that exactly?!” Sonic asked annoyed, to which Posey walked through the crowd and hopped up onto the stage. “Because you keep on creating problems, and we shouldn’t even trust you! Who knows maybe you’re trying to destroy us all!” This caused much muttering within the crowd.
“Ok that’s a lot coming from you, considering you can’t even go five seconds without complaining about Unicorns or Pegasi!” The comment made Posey’s snarl growl larger.
“My mother would still be here if it wasn’t for you!” Posey screamed, making everyone go silent. The truth had come out everyone seemed to be in shock but Sonic he was different.
He looked down at the ground, then looked back at Posey his guilt was replaced with anger. “You don’t get it do you.” This caused everyone’s attention to be diverted to the Hedgehog.
“I never meant for that to happen… it was completely random, and I didn’t know what to do.” No one spoke up to interrupt him.
“She disappeared and I could do nothing about it… I’ve felt guilty for what happened, because I felt like I was responsible.” Posey had never seen this side of him before but she still held a glare.
“But from what I can tell you never cared enough to ask me about it. You’ve had every opportunity to talk to me, without resorting to hate. But what did you do?” The question caught Posey off guard.
“What did you do? Oh I know. You made it seem like all of this was my fault, that I’m the one causing problems! But in reality it was you!” He pointed at her, to which she grew a snarl again.
“Like you did any better! You took my mom away from me! She’s gone because of that stupid bracelet!” Sonic grew angry as the blue aura appeared on him.
The Storm clouds became larger and the lightning became louder. “Don’t you ever say that again! One of my best friends owned this bracelet and he sacrificed himself to save me, and left it as a way to remind me that he’s still here with me!”
The blue aura grew thicker and was noticed by the Mane five, who had looks of concern. “And here’s the thing Posey, I’ve tried to think of how to bring back your mother but I don’t know how because it’s out of my control!”
Posey also saw the blue aura but didn’t back down. “Lies! Nothing but lies!” The crowd all seemed to side with Posey except for Unicorns and Pegasi who were nervous, the Mane five were really concerned and looked at Sonic, who was holding his ears to block out the noise.
But the noise didn’t stay quiet and he couldn’t take it anymore, he then crossed his arms across his chest and quickly spread them out while shouting. “STOP IT!!!”
As soon as he said that, a blue blast came out of him causing everyone to fall down but thankfully none were hurt. Posey looked to where Sonic was but instead of him looking normal, his eyes were glowing blue while electricity crackled around his body, a lot of his quills glowed a bright blue and he had a snarl of his own.
He was staring down Posey with his back turned to her, and she was terrified along with everyone else.
“Are you finished yet?” He growled loud enough to send shivers down everyone’s spines, he was really pissed now.
“No, no, no! T-The magic! It's dying!” Sunny shouted as the group including Sonic, turned to see the Pris-beam glitching wildly showing that magic was getting more unstable by the second.
The lightning starting striking closer to the ground with its first major target being the Sheriff Station, Hitch went wide eyed and gasped. “Eggy!” He ran off to the station.
The rest of the group continued watching the lightning strike, until one hit the floor in front of the stage causing a hole to open up. ‘Oh no.’ Sonic thought with the blue electricity still crackling around him.
The hole that appeared on the ground, began to grow in size slowly but surely. “What is that thing?!” Queen Haven asked.
Zipp flew down closer to inspect it while still keeping a safe distance, she saw it go far down seeming to never end. “It’s some sort of void!” She exclaimed.
Sunny looked out towards the crowd. “Everypony, get back!” They all did so and ran as fast as they could, many were screaming but it would become futile when the Earth Ponies hooves got stuck, with a purple like substance that didn’t go away.
“But we're stuck!” An Earth Pony yelled.
“Please let us go!” Another one begged to a Unicorn, who was confused.
“It’s not us!” The Unicorn mare exclaimed as her magic disappeared.
The lightning continued to strike as it caused damage, managing to hit a tree and destroyed almost all of its leaves. Posey was also trapped and couldn’t run, Windy ran next to her seeing she was stuck. “Can't you ponies with magic do something?!” Posey asked desperately now starting to regret everything she said prior.
Windy tried to fly but failed. “Our magic isn’t working!” She yelled, but knew leaving Posey behind would be bad, and so like everyone else began trying to help get Posey free.
Sonic went to run over and help an Earth Pony, but when he dashed towards him instead of running normally, he seemed to warp right on over.
Even though he was confused by how he just did that, he put it aside for now and began helping trying to free the Earth Pony.
Hitch was stuck at the front of the Sheriff Station holding the egg, he was terrified just like everyone else. “Aah! I do not like this! No! I do not!”
The void continued to grow and eventually it reached both Windy and Posey, who both fell in screaming Sunny saw what happened. “Posey! Windy! No! Come on, Alicorn magic! Work!” Sunny tried all she could but failed.
Sonic ran over after freeing the Earth Pony and he saw what happened. “We have to save them!” But Zipp came over. “But the magic! I-It's gone!” she cried out.
Sunny looked back at the void determined. “Then I'll have to try without it! I'm going in!” Izzy then came up beside her. “Not without us!” But when Izzy said that, her magic began to come back.
“That's it! The magic will come back to us if we can work together! Come on, unicorns! Come on, Pegasi! Help the Earth ponies!” Everyone heard what she said, and began to do so.
Izzy managed to free one Earth Pony, while Zipp and Pipp freed Hitch. But Sonic he looked at the void and he wasn’t going to let others suffer, for something that was out of their control even though Posey may have been rude to him, she just misunderstood.
He looked at Sunny and then walked towards the void with his electricity still going around him. “Sonic what are you doing?!” Sunny asked.
“Something so stupid and reckless!” He then to the shock of everyone, jumped into the void without warning.
“Sonic!” The Mane five yelled, Zipp then looked at Sunny with determination. “You got this, Sunny!” She exclaimed.
Izzy came over with Sunny’s lantern. “It's too dark in there! Take this!” Izzy proceeded to float the lantern over, but her magic stopped working causing it to fall into the void.
But Sunny quickly jumped in, and managed to grab it with her mouth and fall into the darkness.
The others could only watch and wait, as their Earth Pony and Hedgehog friends were down there. And they hoped they were okay otherwise they would be heartbroken.
Dark Void
Sunny had the lantern in her mouth, she didn’t let go of it and she wasn’t going to let that happen. Suddenly her cutie mark glowed as her wings and horn appeared allowing her to fly, she then took the lantern from her mouth and held it in her hoof.
She smiled that her Alicorn magic was working, but remembered that Sonic, Posey and Windy were down below and flew after them as quickly as she could.
But while she was still a bit of distance away Sonic had dived down as quickly as he could, not once letting up his speed, his electricity still going on strong. He closed in on his two targets which were Posey and Windy, they were still screaming but they noticed him coming.
Then without warning he warped down to them and grabbed the both of them, he held a firm grip not intending to let go. “Don’t worry I got you both!” The two ponies calmed down a little bit, and were glad they wouldn’t have to scream anymore.
Sonic noticed Sunny coming and smiled at his friend, but then he looked down and noticed something else. It was another pony this one was familiar, one that Sonic recognised she had pink fur and a yellow mane.
‘Posey’s mom!’ He knew what to do now, he then saw Sunny getting closer and with a determined face looked into his friend’s eyes. “Sunny you take these two back up top! I have to do something!” Sunny gasped.
“Sonic you can’t do that!” She yelled to him, majorly confused as to why he would say that.
“Look just do it please! Trust me!” He explained Sunny looked conflicted she wanted to just take all three of them up, but after a few moments of thinking she was convinced.
“Okay I trust you.” Sonic nodded with a smile, he threw both Posey and Windy towards Sunny. “I’ll be back soon!” And with that said Sonic turned to face below him and proceeded to dive again.
Sunny who managed to conjure up a golden bubble of magic to safely bring both, Posey and Windy back up to the surface she also took note of Sonic’s Electric look. ‘I wonder why he looks like that, and how he managed to activate it!’
But she couldn’t think about it any longer and refocused on getting back up to her friends, Posey and Windy watched where Sonic once was the both of them showing looks of worry.
Maretime Bay
Everyone watched in anticipation of when the three ponies and one Hedgehog would return from the void, none more so than the Mane four who were stressing heavily. Then both Posey and Windy floated out in the golden bubble, and were safely planted on the ground with Sunny flying out afterwards.
“Sunny!” Izzy called out as she ran over to her friend glad she was safe, the others did so as well but then noticed that Sonic wasn’t there. “Wait where is he?” Pipp asked.
But Sunny only pointed at the void that stopped growing, in fact it was starting to get smaller and close up this caused worry to go through their chests. “Why wasn’t he with you?” Hitch asked while holding the egg.
Sunny shook her head showing confusion. “I don’t know! He said he had to do something!” She continued looking at the void along with the others.
“But will he make it?!” Zipp asked but no one had an answer, as they all continued to wait for him to come back up.
Dark Void
Sonic was diving as fast as he could not daring to slow down, he got progressively closer and closer and was determined to fix his biggest mistake here in Equestria.
Eventually he managed to grab hold of the mare and he held her firmly, not wanting a single finger to let go or get loose. He then realised he couldn’t fly back up and even if he could, it wouldn’t be enough time to do so.
All of his thinking then got him remembering his sudden warping ability from earlier, it only started happening when he had his electricity powers. He noticed how it was still in affect on him, suddenly he had an idea that just might work.
With all of his effort he concentrated on getting back to Maretime Bay, thinking of the residents, the Brighthouse and his friends. These thoughts kept on coming making his determination grow, never letting up.
The electricity crackled loudly as it became more erratic getting bigger and more powerful, until he suddenly disappeared along with the Earth Pony mare in a flash of blue light.
Leaving no trace of them anywhere in sight.
Maretime Bay
The Mane five and everyone else waited with their hope getting dimmer as the void was almost closed, they were all sweating from how intense the tension in the air was.
“Come on, come on, come on!” Pipp said to herself over and over again holding on tight to the slightest slither of hope.
But right before it closed a sudden blue light appeared and as quickly as it came, it disappeared to reveal Sonic standing up on his two legs with a Mare in his arms. His blue electricity slowly dimmed until it was gone, like it was never there in the first place.
The others all sighed in relief that he was okay, but before questions could be asked a sudden rainbow beam shot out from the void, and flew towards the Brighthouse coming in contact with the crystals.
This caused the walls to grow the same vines Sonic and Zipp saw, as well as make the crystals shake with how much power they received. They then released a mini explosion of magic, that caused the vines to grow towards Maretime Bay.
It traveled across the ground and to the hooves of the Earth Ponies, which glowed green, Hitch even felt ticklish because of it. “That tickles!”
Suddenly under a box two seagulls, one crab and one bunny came out and walked over to Hitch, and proceeded to make normal animal noises. “I know, I know! I totally agree with everything you guys are saying.” He then did a double take.
“Did you just... talk?! Did I just... understand you?! Whaaaaat?!” He was majorly confused even the animals were as the seagull continued chirping.
“Wow, that's a lot of information. Well, nice to meet you, Kenneth. I'm Hitch!” He greeted them to which they also greeted him back.
Posey who was standing next to Windy looked at her glowing hoof, she jumped over and carefully placed it onto the ground causing flowers to grow in front of her. “Flower... power?!” She said with excitement.
Many of the other ponies tried out their new magic getting all sorts of results, they even managed to fix up the damaged tree. Hitch looked on in wonder and was more than happy, like everyone else.
“Earth Pony magic?” Sunny asked in disbelief.
“But that's never happened before!” Izzy pointed out while bouncing over.
“When we work together, maybe we can invent new magic.” Zipp suggested, to which Sunny agreed.
“You're right, Zipp. Actually, you and Sonic were both right about everything. I'm sorry I didn't believe you both. I should've been a better friend and listened. I was just so focused on hoping magic was okay that I lost sight of everything else. Can you forgive me?” Sunny pleaded.
To which Zipp smirked. “Obviously.” The both of them hugged with smiles feeling better than ever, but they then realised a certain Blue Hedgehog wasn’t with them.
They turned to see Sonic standing there with his back turned, they walked on over to him slowly wondering what he was doing. “Hey Sonic what are you—“ Sunny’s question was cut short when she saw him holding an unconscious Mare in his arms.
He looked down at the Mare with a smile. “She’s alive and breathing thankfully, but she must’ve been in there long enough to have fallen unconscious.” The Mane five were in shock to say the least.
“Wait is that Posey’s mom?” Zipp asked, to which Sonic nodded making them gasp. “So that’s why you stayed behind.” Sunny said in awe.
But that stopped when Sonic looked over at Posey, who seemed to be testing out her newfound magic. He walked over slowly with the rest of the group following him, they eventually got close enough to where Sonic cleared his throat catching Posey’s attention.
“Hey I’d like to say that this is my way of apologising.” Posey gasped when she saw her mom in his arms, and ran over to him.
“B-B-But how?” She asked with major confusion.
Sonic shrugged. “I don’t know, I guess when she disappeared she ended up in that void, and somehow time worked differently cause she’s still alive, and doesn’t seem too affected.” He explained as best as he could.
Posey couldn’t find the words to say anything she was just in pure shock that somehow, her mom was still here and that she was saved by the one who she despised. “T-Thank you Sonic.” Posey thanked.
Sonic smiled back at Posey accepting it, suddenly the Mare began to move making their attention be diverted to her face waiting to see her wake up. After a few seconds her eyes fluttered open, she saw Posey and The Mane five in front of her she then looked up, and saw Sonic looking down at her with a warm smile.
“Hey Mrs. Bloom you feeling okay?” He asked seeing if she was hurt in anyway.
“I feel wonderful like I was filly.” This made them laugh a little bit until Sonic slowly, but carefully placed her down on her hooves. She stumbled a little bit but managed to stay standing and slowly walk over to her daughter.
“I have to say thank you Mr. Sonic for your kindness.” The Hedgehog chuckled at that and waved his hand in the air.
“Eh it was nothing and please mam just call me Sonic.” She nodded in understanding and was glad to be home, Posey then walked forward towards Sonic and stopped right in front of him, She looked down at the ground. “I wanted to say I’m sorry for believing you took my mom away, it was too fast and I just jumped to conclusions.” She apologised.
Sonic looked at her for a few moments before nodding in approval. “I accept your apology and I should say sorry too, for not trying to explain myself and just running off.” Posey smiled at him as he smiled back that was until he extended his hand out to her.
“Friends?” He asked, to which Posey then lifted her hoof and came into contact with his white glove. “Friends.”
They smiled at each other before letting go and returning their hand/hoof back to their respected places. “Zephyrina! There you are! My hoofness, what an ordeal! Gather your things. We need to hit the sky if we're going to make it back to the palace by sundown.” They all saw Queen Haven coming and heard what she said, but Zipp wasn’t on board.
“Mom! I'm not going back with you!” Zipp stated making her mom confused.
“We agreed that you were to resume your studies.” Haven argued but Zipp didn’t back down.
“My place is here in Maretime Bay with my friends. 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.” She explained in great detail and to her relief her mom smiled.
“Yes, you certainly are, my little princess investigator.” She lifted her daughters head with her hoof showing she was proud of her.
“Mom? Would you do me a favor?” Zipp asked.
“Anything, darling.” Haven responded.
“Would you mind just calling me Zipp for now?” She requested to which her mother nodded.
“Of course... Zipp.” Haven responded agreeing to do so, Cloudpuff walked pass them and barked at Hitch.
“I’m sorry, it’s a what?” Hitch said with confusion.
Cloudpuff continued barking as the egg began moving, breaking until it fully broke and revealed a small green dragon.
“A dragon...?!” Hitch admired in awe as it lifted its hands towards his face seeing him as the father.
“But dragons haven't been seen in Equestria for generations!” Sunny exclaimed with excitement.
The dragon hugged Hitch as the others expressed how cute he was while Sonic smiled off to the side. “He’s definitely gonna be a side character.” He joked to himself while still smiling.
Posey who was still standing beside her mom looked at the Mane five. “I also just wanted to say I'm sorry for the way I acted. I think I just felt...” but Zipp beat her to it.
“Left out?” She guessed.
“Yeah! Exactly!” Posey admitted.
“We'll make sure that doesn't happen again. Right, guys?” Sunny asked her friends to which they nodded in agreement.
Posey then looked towards Pipp. “Pipp? Would you mind... singing your new Maretime Bay song?” She requested.
Pipp nodded. “I will on one condition – if you'll sing it with me.” She brought out her lucky microphone.
“I’ll do the harmony!” Posey exclaimed with excitement as she took the microphone, all of them followed after her to the stage while Sonic smiled.
“Some things never change.” He joked to himself before following after them as well.
The group along with Posey sans Sonic all sung the new Maretime Bay day song, and the crowd cheered for them.
But they all noticed Sonic was missing and went looking for him, only to find him backstage holding an electric guitar more specifically a Seymour Duncan JB Model Humbucker.
“Woah where did you get that from?” Zipp asked to which Sonic simply looked at her and said with a cheeky tone. “A pony who called himself Idiotboy24.”
They all stood there in confusion but chose not to say anything about it. “Okay what are you going to do?” Pipp asked.
“My contribution to the Festival.” He replied, making them all ‘oh’ in response, this made him laugh a little bit. “Yeah anyway I’m going to give it a shot.” And with that said he went out onto the stage.
They all decided to go and watch from within the crowd to get the best view, everyone waited in anticipation for what he would do.
The sound of him whistling while playing the guitar became audible as all of them listened in, and soon enough the sound of drums, pianos and strings could be heard as if they were apart of the song.
He then started singing.
After he finished all of the crowd cheered loudly at his performance, to which he went backstage and out of sight. Once behind the stage he smiled proud to know he could still play a song, without problems.
“Man I’m still a pro!” He then walked out from behind the stage to his friends, who watched him in awe.
“I never knew you could play or sing like that!” Pipp yelled in excitement.
“What are you saying you doubted me?” Sonic retorted playfully.
Pipp blushed at that. “W-What?! N-No not at all!” She replied. ‘Why was I so nervous to speak to him? That’s never happened before.’
Her thoughts were interrupted when a sonic laughed. “I’m just messing with you Pipp.”
Pipp laughed as well. “Y-Yeah.” She replied. ‘What’s going on with me?’ She thought once more.
“I think we should go back to the Brighthouse, after all the Festival is wrapping up now.” Sunny suggested to which they all agreed.
Soon enough all of them with their new dragon all made their way back to the Brighthouse.
The group had arrived at the Crystal Brighthouse and all of them went to relax, somewhere within its rooms but Sonic was up top looking out over the edge, with his attention being focused on the lively town that stood tall.
He was thinking about his new electric abilities he had unlocked, they seemed to not be working right now because he seemed to have used up all of his power for that time.
Hoofsteps came from behind him, he turned to see Sunny standing behind him. “Hey, Sunny.” He greeted.
“Hey, Sonic.” She replied while walking up beside him, she placed her front hooves on the railing also looking out towards Maretime Bay. She then turned to face the Hedgehog. “Hey, what was with the whole blue electricity thing from earlier?” She asked.
Sonic faced her and had a look that told the Mare he was just as confused by it as well. “I’m guessing it was some sort of ability I could access, but it seemed very similar to Shadow’s chaos boost.”
This confused Sunny. “Chaos… boost?”
Sonic nodded. “Chaos boost, its when you have enough chaos energy built up that you release it, by being empowered by it. It allows those like Shadow to become more powerful for a certain amount of time.” He explained as best as he could.
“And you believe that you utilised yours?” Sunny asked with curiosity, to which the Hedgehog nodded again.
“Yeah. But I’ve never been able to that before, the closest thing I’ve done that was similar was when I used chaos spear, when the Unicorns and Pegasi were fighting three months ago in bridlewood and when I teleported with Pipp and Queen Haven, back at Zephyr Heights.” He continued explaining.
“So that’s what they were!” Sunny exclaimed, which made Sonic chuckle.
“Yeah.” They both stayed silent for a bit neither of them knowing what to say next, but it was broken by Sonic once more. “It also seems to have a recharge process, so it may be a little bit before I can activate it again.”
Sunny smiled at him showing that she would support him. “Don’t worry Sonic we’ll be here to help you with it, when it does come around again.” She placed a hoof on his back as a way to reassure him, to which he smiled back at her.
“Thanks Sunny.” The both of them held their smiles for a few seconds, before hopping of the railing and moving towards the elevator. “I think we should go meet up with the others, wouldn’t you agree?” He asked cheekily.
“Oh yes sir!” She agreed jokingly, and together they both went downstairs.
Crystal Brighthouse: Bedroom
Zipp was putting up poster on the wall while wearing a strap around her body, a hoof landed on the ground behind her revealing to be Izzy. “It looks brilliant!”
Zipp turned around with a smile. “You think so?” She asked her friends who were all standing beside Izzy. “We're so glad you're staying in Maretime Bay, "Detective Zipp"!” Pipp playfully said.
“Me, too. We have a lot to learn about magic and how it works. I'm just glad I'll be here to figure it out with my best friends.” Zipp admitted.
“Well, I definitely still have a loooot of questions. Like why does my Alicorn magic disappear?” Sunny asked confused.
“Yeah! Like why do I now have the magical power to understand every animal except for this adorable baby dragon?” Hitch also asked with confusion.
The baby dragon looked at Hitch and grabbed his snout, making him feel pain. “Ow, ow, ow.”
Zipp spoke up next. “Or... where did magic come from? Who made the Crystals anyway? And how did they get separated? Why didn't Earth ponies have magic before?” The questions kept on coming.
“Well, at least we already know one thing for sure.” Sunny stated making Izzy gasp.
“What’s that?” The Unicorn asked with excitement.
“No matter what lies ahead, we'll face it together!” Sunny declared making everyone cheer, but Sonic had one last thing to say.
“Yeah I can agree with you there but quick question?” They turned to face him as he grinned. “Are you guys down to watch Spider-Man?” They were all now majorly confused.
“What’s a Spider-Man?” Izzy asked, to which Sonic chuckled.
“Well why don’t we find out?” He said as he began walking towards the stairs, the others were still confused but chose not to question it and followed after him.
But what none of them knew was that their lives, we’re about to get much more adventurous. And it wasn’t going to be their choice.
???
Many, many miles from Maretime Bay, an abandoned town populated those who have passed had a light coming from inside of the giant crystal structure, that stood amongst all the others.
Inside were two of the ones who couldn’t pass on and one of them gasped heavily.
”Oh no.”
”Whats wrong?”
”Spike I fear she has returned.”
He gasped heavily.
”Not her it couldn’t be!”
”Yes Spike. It is her the one who caused all of this to happen!”
???
A bit of distance away there was a giant castle that stood tall, inside of it there was a blue Unicorn with a large fuzzy mane and she looked at the dark hallway, with a nervous look.
Suddenly two eyes opened up with cyan pupils.
Opaline
Laughter came from the mysterious shadow figure as her horn flared and released a powerful burst of magic.
