Hitch Trailblazer comes out of the Maretime Bay PD to do his afternoon rounds with his deputy only to find the populace in a panic. Quickly finding the source of the hysteria, it's time to put Canterlogic's defenses to good use...
Hitch Trailblazer comes out of the Maretime Bay PD to do his afternoon rounds with his deputy only to find the populace in a panic. Quickly finding the source of the hysteria, it's time to put Canterlogic's defenses to good use...
A pro bono commission proudly undertaken for Phazon, for their generous donations to my Extra Life 2021 fundraiser for Riley Children's Hospital in Indianapolis.
Hitch Trailblazer pushed the double doors of the Maretime Bay Police Department, going straight to his desk and fell into his chair with a heavy sigh.
Sprout was at his desk across the room, reclining with his legs propped up on the desk, snacking on the chocolate bar.
"So what'll it be this time? Another warning?" Sprout asked, seeing the sheriff lean down to the bottom drawer and come up with a short stack of papers.
"Not gonna get this done before our afternoon rounds, but might as well get this started now," Hitch mused, grabbing a pen and began to fill out the disturbance report, starting with his name, the reporting officer, followed by the name of the offender, a name that he had become all to used to putting down on these reports.
Sunny Starscout
As he went down to the next line, Phyllis Cloverleaf's words as he escorted his foalhood friend from the stage continued to echo in his head.
'I know she's a friend of yours, Sheriff, but I need to make myself perfectly clear; keep her out, or I'll press charges next time.'
He didn't need to wonder why Sunny was so stubborn and steadfast in her activism, because he had become very familiar with the source growing up; her father, Argyle Starshine. Back when he was alive, he was an archaeologist who devoted his life to learning as much as he possibly could about Ancient Equestria; half the exhibits in the Maretime Bay Museum of History were there because of him, and their house, or rather, lighthouse, was absolutely packed with pegasi- and unicorn-related trinkets that the curators simply weren't interested in.
He really hoped that Sunny would start to come around. She was a good pony, but she was a little mixed up, and if other townsponies got as fed up as Phyllis, she would eventually be facing real trouble, and he wouldn't be able to shield her from the consequences forever.
Putting the address as 1 CanterLogic Lane, he figured he would at least get through the first page before his attention would be needed elsewhere. But his ears picked up a muffled commotion coming from outside, so much of one that even Sprout had his attention pulled away from his magazine. Both stallions got up from their desks, walking around to the center of the room towards the door.
Hitch pushed the right-side door open with his hoof and leaned out to take a peak.
The ponies of Maretime Bay were in an absolute panic.
"Hey, what's going on?" He asked, stepping outside, Sprout also pushed the left-side door open and stepped out beside him.
Hitch surveyed the scene from right to left, and looked south down the street. There stood Sunny, completely bewildered by a rather tall pony standing in front of her.
And then he saw it.
The horn.
He gave out a gasp as he drew in a sharp breath.
"UNICORN ATTACK!" He shouted, reaching up and nearly punching the alarm button, breaking the thin sheet of glass shielding it. Shrill ringing poured out from the alarm as he continued going by the book to bring things to order. Sprout, not realizing the door had closed behind him, slammed face first into the precinct door as he tried retreating back into the building.
"This is not a drill! I repeat, this is not a drill!" He announced, before breaking into a full gallop. He lost sight of Sprout as the deputy broke off in the opposite direction.
Among the panicking citizens, he saw a young colt, sitting nearly stationary on the sidewalk in front of one of the pegasi warning posters.
"A vulnerable young pony!" He said to himself. Indeed, if the colt stayed where he was, he stood a pretty good chance of getting knocked over or trampled. With his most direct path blocked by a trio of fruit-filled barrels, he leapt over them, not breaking his stride once, and caught the youngster in a hugging tackle, rolling once across the walk back to his hooves, and swiftly deposited the pony into the hooves of the mare waiting a dozen feet away.
"Your son is safe now, ma'am."
With that, he continued on his way, giving a quick "you're welcome!" to what he could only assume was an expression of gratitude from the mare. Skidding to a halt at the corner, he raised a hoof to the first CanterLogic employee he saw.
"Man the Splat-a-pults, activate the Unicorn Traps, pick up that litter!"
The sheriff's orders were quickly followed, but it didn't do a whole lot to quell the panic. He saw from a distance the unicorn slowly walking towards the coast, directly towards one of the waiting Entrapment Devices. As luck would have it, though, Sunny was there to shove her out of the way just as her front hooves grazed the pressure plate, activating the trap without an occupant. The two ponies darted further down the street and into a side alley. He kept a careful eye on both the south and east streets, waiting to see where they'd come out. He also saw Toots and Sweets push the two prototype Splat-a-Pults out to the front gates of CanterLogic, and begin to rotate the levers on them, as the launching mechanisms began to spin.
There they were.
He spotted Sunny and the unicorn invader come out of the side alley on the east side of the block, and immediately start dodging the balls of goop that a lot of the other street's occupants were not. Hitch wasn't sure who to prioritize, but quickly saw that it likely wasn't going to be a problem as Sunny darted around the corner, but the unicorn's attention was captured by the front marquee of the theater.
"Ooh, I haven't seen this one yet!"
Gotcha.
All four hooves stepped onto the closest Unicorn Entrapment Device, and the walls and roof quickly and seamlessly came down with a swift clank, the red warning siren flashing.
Much of the surrounding populace saw this take place, and finally, an air of calm began to settle on the theater block of the town.
"Alright, citizens, calm down. The threat has been neutralized, the unicorn has been captured. You may now cheer," the sheriff announced.
And cheer they did. All except for one pony, who timidly stepped towards the closed Entrapment Device.
"Sunny!" Hitch snapped, and the mare stopped in her tracks.
"Don't even think about it," the sheriff commanded, galloping forward to the front of the steel box, coming between Sunny Starscout and the release button. "We're going to find out who she is and what she's doing here."
"Fine. I'll come with you, because I want to know that exact information as well," the mare replied.
"You've caused enough trouble for one day. Go home, Sunny." Hitch countered.
"No."
Hitch felt a twinge of frustration, and heard Sprout come up next to him.
"Do you want him to arrest you?" the red stallion asked incredulously.
"If it gets me in the same place as her, yes," Sunny replied immediately, motioning to the box. "I've been waiting my entire life to meet a pony like her, and you know better than anypony what I think of what passes as 'the law' around here. So what is it going to be, Sheriff?"
Hitch took a quiet, deep breath, and let his cooler side prevail. He would get to the bottom of why this unicorn showed up, and if Sunny wanted to wait in a chair against the wall, so be it. At least one of Maretime Bay's biggest troublemakers would be within sight.
"Fine."
"What?" Sprout asked, his eyes widening. "Hitch, you have got to be kidd—"
"Deputy," Hitch snapped, turning to Sprout. "I've made my decision. Go get Toots and Sweets, they need to show us how to detach this thing and move it towards the precinct so we can move the unicorn to a secure location."
Hitch's orders brought a temporary end to Sprout's mild insolence, as he headed towards the gates of CanterLogic to get the factory employees that the sheriff requested. There was another metallic clank further down the street as another Entrapment Device was activated by a citizen who wasn't watching where they were going.
"And get them to shut the rest of these off!" He called back to Sprout as he continued towards the CanterLogic factory.
"Satisfied?" Hitch asked, turning back to the mare standing in front of him, seeing the red siren reflected in her glaring, determined eyes.
"Is this honestly worth it to you?" Sunny asked incredulously, motioning a hoof across the street and buildings adjacent to CanterLogic that had been peppered with the Splat-a-Pult's slime ball projectiles. "All this mess? For a single pony that hasn't even done anything?"
Hitch didn't answer as they walked in front of Toots, who was carefully wheeling the detached Entrapment Device down the coastal road towards the Maretime Bay Sheriff's Office.
Sunny didn't want to let this unicorn out of her sight, even though the only thing in sight currently was the tip of her horn. If she was honest with herself, it wasn't Hitch she was mainly worried about; it was his deputy and everypony else. But she knew Hitch could be counted on to be fair and just, even in the most extreme circumstances, even if 'extreme' was entirely based on a point of view.
Right now, she was counting on it.
"Um, Sheriff?" Toots began, keeping a hold on the pallet jack as they closed in on the double doors of the precinct. "I don't think this thing is going to fit through your doors."
Hitch did a double take, looking at the doors and the Entrapment Device. Toots was right, even placed directly on the ground and the pallet jack removed, there would be at least several centimeters that the top of the door frame wasn't going to let through.
"Do we keep her in there?" Toots asked.
"Have you thought about, oh, I don't know, asking nicely? It's not like she's resisted you or anything yet." Sunny told him.
Hitch tapped the side of the entrapment device three times before leaning in.
"Can you hear me in there?"
"Yes, sir, sheriff sir!" Came the muffled but enthusiastic reply from within the steel enclosure.
"If we let you out of there, are you going to behave? Go right through the doors and into the holding cell. No magic, no nothing, you understand?" Hitch told her.
"Yup!" The unicorn replied happily.
Hitch took a breath, then firmly pressed the glowing red button on the front of the Entrapment Device. The top and sides of the steel box lifted away and folded in on itself, sliding into the compartments built into the metallic floor, leaving the unicorn standing there on the metallic square.
"Just one question," Izzy began as Hitch opened the doors to the precinct. "What's a holding cell?"
Hitch wasn't sure what to make of this pony yet, but decided to take the question seriously, and merely pointed a hoof into the building to the back left corner, where the open jail cell was waiting. The unicorn merely nodded, then pranced into the building, straight back to the open barred door, and trotted inside. Hitch was right on her tail, and closed the cell, locking the unicorn inside, as Toots began to pull the Entrapment Device back to the front of the theater, while Sunny walked in.
She barely got inside before Sprout also came in, carrying a stacked trio of CanterLogic's Anti-Mind Reading caps. When he saw the unicorn already in the cell, he immediately took the top one and put it on, the red bulb on the top glowing. With the doors closed, Hitch pulled the shades on both windows down.
He offered one to Hitch, who grabbed one and put it on as he got out another stack of paperwork, then to Sunny, who gave him an incredulous look and reply of "No."
"Go finish our patrol, Deputy, I've got things under control here." Hitch told him.
Taking the first opportunity to get away from the mind-reader in the cell, Sprout set the two metallic caps down on his desk and headed back out into the late afternoon. With his papers held to a clipboard, Hitch pulled his chair over to the cell, and put himself in front of both Sunny, who was sitting in a chair against the wall flipping through her bound journal, and the unicorn, who was eyeing him curiously through the bars.
"Alright, first things first. Name?" Hitch asked, putting the pen to the first form to fill out.
"Izzy Moonbow," the unicorn answered.
As Hitch recorded the mare's name down, he saw that Sunny was doing the same, jotting down in her journal. Raising an eyebrow curiously, he continued on down to the next box.
"And you are from...?"
"Bridlewood."
Again, Hitch saw that Sunny was writing down the unicorn's answer.
"You going for court reporter or something?" He asked.
"No, I've got questions too, and those were on here."
Hitch resisted rolling his eyes and made his way down his list.
"And you are how old, Izzy?"
"Twenty."
So pretty close to Sunny, Sprout, and himself.
"Just how many questions do you have?" Hitch asked Sunny, who continued to write the unicorn's answers down.
"One-hundred forty-two." Came the reply.
"You're not getting through all of those," Hitch commented.
"Keep your badge on, I'm staying out of the way," Sunny retorted.
"Your what?" Izzy asked, figuring it was her turn to ask a question.
Keeping his composure in check, Hitch merely pointed a hoof at the silver badge on the strap he was wearing around his barrel.
"Shiny. What does it mean?"
"It means I'm the Sheriff."
"That's all you need? Talk about an unhealthy power dynamic," the unicorn commented.
Sunny could immediately tell that Hitch was getting visibly annoyed, and quickly figured how to diffuse the situation.
"I assure you, Izzy, it's more than that. It symbolizes that the ponies of Maretime Bay have entrusted Hitch here with keeping them and our city safe and clean. So if somepony needs help, they just need to look for a pony wearing it."
Hitch's frustration evaporated at those words, and Izzy immediately accepted the explanation.
"Well, that makes sense."
"So why did you come to Maretime Bay?" Hitch asked.
"I'm looking for friends!" Izzy exclaimed.
"Why would your friends be here?" The sheriff replied.
"I mean new friends!" Izzy clarified, reaching a hoof up behind her ear into her long cerulean mane, and came out with a folded piece of paper. She unfolded it, and showed it to the two earth ponies.
It was a foal's crayon drawing.
"Dear unicorns and pegasi, you have friends in Maretime Bay. Come visit us!" Izzy said, reciting the writing on the drawing.
Sunny's heart skipped a beat, and her mouth dropped into an open smile.
"It was you!"
Sunny nodded.
"I made it with my dad. We always promised each other that someday, we would prove that all ponies were meant to be friends."
Izzy gave the mare a smile, and handed her the drawing. Sunny stared at it thoughtfully for a moment, before folding it backup, and tucking it deeper into her journal.
Under 'Offense', Hitch merely wrote 'inciting a panic'.
The double doors of the precinct opened again, and in came Sprout.
"Uh, Hitch? We're starting to get a crowd out there. You might want to say something," the red stallion said, immediately going for one of the Anti Mind-Reading caps, placing it on his head.
"Hitch, let's get down to brass tacks. She hasn't really done anything wrong. Maretime Bay has no warning signs, she hasn't harmed anypony or property, and she hasn't even used any magic," Sunny told him, glancing over at Izzy. "Although I can't wait for you to show me, but farther away from the city where it won't freak anybody out."
"Well, you see, uh, I don't have any magic."
Sunny's heart dropped.
"No... No magic?"
Izzy gently shook her head, seeing the disappointment on the mare's face.
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, we did have it. But that was many, many, many moons ago, and then one day it just, poof, disappeared. Everypony thinks the pesky pegasi had something to do with it."
Sunny's disappointment didn't go away as her gaze slowly fell to her journal, to the list of questions she had, and she put an 'X' next to 'Can you make something float?'
She heard sniffing noises come from her right, and turned to see Izzy's muzzle sticking out from between the bars.
"What are you doing?" Sunny asked.
"You don't smell," Izzy answered.
"Thanks. Wait what?"
"Well, I'd better say something to make sure things stay calm while we figure out what to do," Hitch said.
"What's there to figure out? She didn't do anything, Hitch," Sunny adamantly said. Her eyes widened, and she turned back to the mare in the cell.
"Izzy, do you want to go to Zephyr Heights?"
"The pegasus city?" Izzy asked.
"Yeah. We can try and find out what happened to your magic."
"Are... Are you sure? The pegasi are bad news."
"It's gotta be better than this, right?" Sunny replied, motioning to the bars she was behind.
"I'm not so sure about that," Izzy mused.
"What do you say, Sheriff? Izzy here came to Maretime Bay to make friends, well she's made one. I'll leave with her tomorrow. The unicorn and troublemaker are out of town and out of your mane in the morning," Sunny told Hitch as the sheriff made his way towards the doors.
"I can't believe I'm going to say this, but that might be for the best."
"What?" Sprout asked, incredulous. "You're just letting a unicorn go?"
"Deputy, we are beholden to the citizens of Maretime Bay. Do you want a worried crowd outside our doors every single day that we keep her in here? Or would you want her gone, Sunny gone, and both our jobs considerably easier?"
The proverbial bulb came on above the stallion's head, and Hitch turned back towards the doors and pushed them open, stepping out onto front walk, facing the dozens of ponies who were waiting on him, more than half of them wearing CanterLogic's anti-mind reader caps.
"What do we do, Sheriff?" Came the first question above the other panicked and concerned voices.
"Everypony, listen, now listen," Hitch began, his voice loud, clear, and firm. "Calm down. Panicking isn't going to do anypony any good, understand?"
These words began to calm the overall mood of the crowd.
"What's your plan, Sheriff?" A stallion asked.
"Now, everypony, listen. The unicorn didn't harm anypony or any property, and she didn't use any magic. Once we make it clear that this is not the best place for her kind, we're going to show her out of the city limits, send her on her way, and then everypony is safe and sound. Alright? Sound like a plan, everypony?"
The crowd quieted down, and they largely seemed to be satisfied with the sheriff's control of the situation.
"Alright, now with that settled, please return to your homes and businesses. Maretime Bay is safe tonight, I promise."
With that, Hitch made his way back inside, and when the doors shut, he found Sprout at his desk, eyeing Izzy cautiously, and Sunny was still sitting next to the cell writing in her journal.
"Alright, well, before I go get dinner taken care of, I'll show you both back to the lighthouse once the streets clear out tonight. Then I want both of you out of city limits by noon tomorrow. Is that clear?"
"Sunny, I can't stop you from coming back, you live here. But Izzy, it's probably best that you don't come back, what with the panic you caused today. I know it's not the welcome you were expecting, but it's for the best. Now, I'll go get us all something to eat, and then we can set this plan in motion. The usual pizza for you, Sprout?" Hitch asked, and Sprout immediately nodded.
With a nod in return, Hitch turned and headed back out onto the city streets.
"He's right, you know," Izzy quietly said to Sunny as she sat down next to the bars, taking a quiet breath as her gaze met Sunny's.
"This wasn't the welcome I was expecting. But at least I made a new friend."
Hitch was beginning to wonder if the very first seeds of doubt were beginning to creep into his mind as he occasionally glanced over from his desk at Sunny and Izzy sharing their large pizza outside the jail cell. Maretime Bay's sheriff was finishing up the incident report for today's disturbance. The unicorn hadn't used an ounce of detectable magic, and though Sprout wore his anti-mind reading device as he occasionally glanced over at the pair, his deputy wasn't complaining about any brain melting.
In between bites, sometimes even during bites, Izzy was happily answering each one of Sunny's one hundred and forty-two questions she had written down in her journal to ask a unicorn. Her first question, her hometown, had been answered by his own questioning. After that, Sunny found out that unicorns did live in trees, they did eat pizza, and that Izzy's favorite topping was pineapple, which Hitch and Sprout both shuddered at.
Hitch glanced at the front doors, seeing that the sun was just about behind the horizon.
"Alright, you two. As soon as you're done with dinner, we can head towards the lighthouse. We'll go straight down the coast, and we'll get you a hooded cloak, Izzy, so we can prevent a repeat of this afternoon's incident. Once we get there, stay there until you're packed, then head straight northeast out of town."
Sunny nodded as she swallowed her next bite of pizza.
"Deputy, hold down the fort while I get them there," Hitch told the red stallion sitting across from him.
"Don't need to tell me twice," Sprout replied as he started into his next slice of supreme pizza.
'For once,' Hitch thought to himself. After crossing all the T's and dotting all the I's on the incident report, Hitch put it in a folder, and rotated around in his chair to the filing cabinet, opening the bottom drawer and putting the folder under 'U'. With that, he got up, and came over to the cell, sliding the key into the keyhole, and opened the door as Sunny got up and put away her journal back into her saddlebags. With the door open, he went into the backroom, and came back out with a long cloth hooded overcoat, giving it over to Izzy, who draped it over her shoulders and brought the hood up. It wasn't the absolute perfect disguise, but the hood was loose enough to conceal her horn, even if it did prop up the hood a bit.
"Alright, follow me, stay close," Hitch instructed, leading them to the front doors. He pushed them open, and the trio of ponies stepped out into the Maretime Bay evening, and immediately turned to the right, leading them down the coastal road at a brisk pace.
The coast towards the lighthouse was rocky and steep, so there was no beach to walk down, so they kept to the road, following the sheriff towards the lighthouse. They encountered a couple ponies walking on the streets, and got a few suspicious stares, but Hitch's presence was enough to keep them calm and about their business. After passing about a dozen buildings, they had cleared the city proper, and were now on the dirt path that went around the bend to the lighthouse that was still visible against the dusk sky.
It was a two story dwelling, save for the lighthouse of course, which towered above the rest of the structure.
Sunny unlocked the door, and opened it, ushering Izzy inside as she removed the cloak, which she handed back to Sunny.
"Make yourself comfortable, I'll be right in," the earth mare told her guest, before closing the door and turning back to her foalhood friend.
"Thank you, Hitch. For being reasonable," she said, sincerely, returning the hooded cloak to him.
"Yeah. Listen, Sunny, are you sure you want to do this? Going gallivanting off with this unicorn in search of magic? What if she's right? The pegasi could be dangerous," Hitch said, his voice full of concern.
"Just like the unicorns are dangerous, brain-melting mind readers? What would you have me do, Hitch? Stay here and continue to be ridiculed for my stances?" Sunny asked. The question stung Hitch a bit in the chest; he was all too aware of how he and the rest of Maretime Bay had treated her over the years. "You know what I believe in, how strongly I believe in it, and how far I'm willing to go to prove it."
Sunny's answer was full of confidence, and Hitch knew immediately that there would be no convincing her otherwise.
"I know, Sunny. Just... Be careful, alright?"
Sunny didn't directly reply to that, and merely nodded, before opening the door again.
"Good night, Hitch," Sunny said with a soft smile, stepping inside and gently closing the door.
Hitch let out a soft sigh, turned around and headed back down the dirt path.
Sunny, who was watching through the bottom corner of the door's window, saw him trot down the hill, and then turned back to her new unicorn friend, who was looking through the lens of her telescope.
"Are you tired at all, or do you think you want to get an early start towards Zephyr Heights?" Sunny asked.
"You mean, leaving right now?" Izzy asked. Sunny nodded.
"I think that's for the best, before Sprout, his mom, or anypony else get too curious about where you're staying tonight. It'll only take me about ten minutes to grab my camping supplies and enough food. What do you say?"
Izzy thought about it for a moment before shrugging her shoulders.
"If you think that's best. You know this place better than I do," Izzy conceded.
"I'm sorry it wasn't exactly a warm welcome, but hopefully we can go get some answers as to why things are the way they are."
By the time Hitch made it back to the Sheriff's office, the last rays of sunlight had gone, and the only sources of light were the lamp posts and CanterLogic up on the hill.
He couldn't get his mind off the idea that was taking deeper and deeper root in his head, and by the time he pushed the doors back open, he had all but made up his mind.
Sprout more or less hadn't moved, his stomach stuffed with pizza, and looking like he was ready to go home, but there was still another hour or so left before the office closed up for the night.
"Sprout," Hitch said, sharp enough to get his deputy's attention.
"Yeah, Hitch?" Sprout asked, lazily lifting his head from it's reclined position in his chair.
"So, holding down the fort... Think you can do that for a bit longer if I go and make sure Sunny stays safe?"
Hitch already had what little camping gear he had packed in the corner of his storage closet, and getting it out and strapped to his saddlebags only took a matter of minutes. Then, after getting together a few days worth of non-perishable food, he shut off the lights in his house, stepped outside the door, locked it, and was off towards the lighthouse.
He was hoping it wasn't too late, he didn't want to make this trip again in the morning and risk missing them before they left.
This time of night, Maretime Bay's streets were nearly empty as the last of the businesses began to close up. The only sources of light were the evenly spaced lampposts, and of course CanterLogic up on the hill, which frequently prevented a lot of stars being visible in the night sky on clear nights. But tonight it was particularly cloudy, and not much would be visible in the first place.
It had been years since Hitch had been camping, and even longer since he brushed up on his Colt Scout outdoor skills. It was easier with multiple ponies. He even remembered going along on one of Argyle's camping trips with Sunny. Sprout had even come along one time. Not that he had been much help; Phyllis just wanted him to go along one time 'for the experience'.
He already figured he was going to have to hike back to his house for the night when he approached the lighthouse and didn't see any lights on. He came up the front walk, considered knocking on the front door, but didn't want to wake them if they had gone to bed early in preparation for starting the trip tomorrow.
Turning back to return the way he came, he noticed two pairs of hoof tracks in the dirt, heading down the path east, into the hills away from town.
He looked down at them for a moment, and knew they were fresh, and figured out right away that Sunny and this Izzy Moonbow had left ahead of schedule, and if he didn't want to lose them, he would have to follow immediately.
Well, he wasn't yawning quite yet...
Argyle Starshine's maps weren't the easiest to use, especially at night, but with a compass and a small LED lantern, Sunny was confident that they were at least headed in the right direction. She wasn't worried too much, because the short note jotted on the map legend next to Zephyr Heights was 'can't miss it'.
They weren't planning on getting too far out of town tonight, just hopefully far enough to put Maretime Bay, and the light pollution of CanterLogic behind them before settling down for the night. Sunny carried the tent and one sleeping bag, and Izzy carried the other sleeping bag and their provisions, and were so far making good time.
"So, earlier this evening, you said you would have rather stayed in that holding cell than done this? I don't get it," Sunny commented as she walked besides her new unicorn friend.
"Well, you do know that pegasi can steal your luminescence, right?" Izzy said.
Sunny tilted her head.
"My lumi-what?"
"Luminescence! You know, your sparkle? Yours is... Lavender! And the happier you are, the brighter it shines!"
Sunny wasn't quite sure what to make of that answer, and wasn't quite confident that Izzy was being serious right now. Ponies... Sparkled? In a way that only unicorns could see?
"So you can... See happiness?" Sunny asked.
"If you want to put it that way, yep!"
The rolling hills to the east of Maretime Bay continued on for a few miles, until the bushes and trees became thicker, and before they knew it, they were in Horseshoe Forest.
"This spot looks pretty good for a campsite, what do you think?" Sunny asked, motioning to a small clearing of dirt a few feet off of the rough path.
"You're the camper, not me," Izzy replied.
"Well I wouldn't go that far. You got all the way to Maretime Bay on your own, after all. This camping gear is from when I used to go on camping trips with my dad, and to be honest, we'll only have to go another few miles east before we're as far away from Maretime Bay as I've ever been," the earth mare told her new friend.
"So it's an adventurous quest for the both of us! These last two days are the first time I've been this far outside of Bridlewood, too! Even though, you know, I've spent most of my life pretty close to the edge of the forest," Izzy replied as Sunny dropped her saddlebags and began to unpack the tent.
"Think you can find some rocks for a fire ring while I get this tent set up?" Sunny asked.
Izzy nodded with a smile.
"But don't go too far, we don't want to lose sight of each other."
"Got it!"
Izzy sing-sang to herself softly as she gathered up rocks and dry twigs from the surrounding area, as Sunny got the tent laid out and put the stakes into the ground. By the time the tent was up and the pair of sleeping bags were laid out inside, Izzy had a fire ring formed and the twigs tossed in the middle.
"I don't think we'll need a fire tonight, but it'll be nice to warm up and heat up these haycakes," Sunny commented, motioning to the provisions in her saddlebag.
"So, bedtime?" Izzy asked.
"That's what I'm thinking, if we want to get an early enough start tomorrow. I've got everything set up in there. Hopefully it won't be too crowded."
"I don't mind if you don't," Izzy replied, and together, they crawled into the tent and slid into their separate sleeping bags.
"And, just to try and set your mind at ease," Sunny began, sinking her head into the plush front of her sleeping bag. "I'd like to think we don't have anything to worry about when it comes to the pegasi. After all, so far everything earth ponies assumed about unicorns has wound up being wrong, and vice versa," Sunny commented, recalling Izzy's comment about how she didn't smell like rotten sardines while Hitch went outside to make his speech.
"Yeah, maybe you're right," Izzy replied.
The two mares settled into their sleeping bags as they got closer to sleep, but just as it seemed like they were going to welcome the realm of dreams, Izzy softly tapped Sunny on the shoulder.
"Do you hear that?" she said, her voice beneath a whisper.
Sunny's ears twitched, and she did indeed hear a very dull thudding outside, sounding like it was coming down the path.
"Hoofsteps?" Sunny whispered back.
Had they come far enough out of town? Who would come after them so soon at this time of night? Almost no one saw them even go to the lighthouse over an hour ago.
Slowly, Sunny wormed a quarter of the way out of her sleeping bag, approaching the zippered front of the tent, and pressed her ear gently against the fabric, as the hoofsteps stopped. She laid there with abated breath, as Izzy silently matched her motions, putting her ear up to the closed tent door, both of them nearly holding their breath in silence to try and hear what was outside.
"Sunny?"
In the instant before Sunny's brain registered relief at the nearly point-blank voice of her fillyhood friend, her heart jumped out of her chest and both she and Izzy gave out startled screams that pieced the forest night.
The moment Sunny caught her breath, she aggressively wiggled out of her sleeping bag, got to her hooves, yanked the front zipper of the tent flap up, and nearly tackled Hitch in annoyance.
"Tip-hoofing up to a tent in the middle of the night? Are you kidding me?!" Sunny asked incredulously as Hitch stumbled back to avoid falling into the dirt.
"Well, excuse me for wanting to make sure it was actually you!" Hitch shot back.
Sunny rolled her eyes as Hitch turned to pick up his lantern, and Izzy's head popped out of the tent flaps.
"Good evening, sheriff. Late evening at that," the unicorn greeted, stepping out of the tent after Sunny.
"So just what are you doing out here?" Sunny asked as her annoyance with the late night interruption began to wane.
"I figured I'd tag along, make sure nothing happens to you," the stallion explained.
Sunny stared in surprise.
"Seriously? Leaving town wasn't enough for you?" Sunny asked.
"Come on, you're my friend, Sunny," Hitch replied.
"Yeah, 'the last real friend I've got in that town,'" Sunny shot back, mocking what Hitch had told her moments before Izzy came into town. "So you think Maretime Bay is not going to need their sheriff with how panicked and paranoid Canterlogic has made the populace?"
"Don't worry, I left Sprout in charge until I get back," Hitch told her, and only once the words left his mouth did he realize how ridiculous that sounded.
"You just used 'don't worry' and 'Sprout' in the same sentence. Are you hearing yourself right now?" the earth mare asked.
"Oh come on, Sunny. Three is better than two for traveling!" Izzy offered.
Sunny went over it in her head, and didn't want to disappoint her new friend, or her old one.
"On one condition. Anything and everything we do is a group decision. Your jurisdiction ended at Maretime Bay's city limits. Are we clear?" Sunny asked him.
"Clear." Hitch replied immediately.
"Alright, in that case, I'll help get your tent set up so we can all get back to bed."
"Sunny, I was in the Colt Scouts."
"And I was in the Filly Scouts, and got the tent badge. Sooner you're set up, the sooner we're all back in bed. We've got an early start tomorrow."
"Alright, you win, let me get it unpacked."
Sprout was up dark and early the next morning, showered and ready for work even before his mom was up. With his mane freshly slicked back, he stepped out into the early morning, and made his way to the precinct, before there was barely a soul on the downtown streets, save for some of the businesses that were some of the first to open.
'Alright, Sprout. Keep everypony calm, maintain the peace, be a pillar of strength. Think you can do that?' Hitch had told him last night.
He was rather surprised that Hitch was going to go after Sunny now that she and the trouble she routinely caused was out of Maretime Bay, but he certainly wasn't going to let this opportunity pass up. He'd prove to Hitch that he could be depended on for the very rare times he left town for a day or so, usually to accompany a Colt Scouts camping trip. Right now, he was hoping that the town would remain calm thanks to what Hitch had told them yesterday, that the unicorn was being escorted out of town and told to not come back. Other than that, he figured it was going to be patrolling and checking for litter. 'Calm and clean', was the approach he was going to take.
By the time he was settled in the precinct, he figured he could get paperwork in order before his favorite pizza place opened for an early lunch, opting for a chocolate-covered granola bar to hold him over until then. To pass the time, he made sure his desk was cleaned and organized, because it was by far the most cluttered space of the entire office area.
Maybe if he pulled this off, he'd get his own calendar.
With his first patrol of the morning done, Sprout trotted back into the MPD precinct, and checked the complaint box, finding it empty, before going back to his desk and sipped at his soda, which he had pulled from the mini fridge under his desk before he made a quick stride down the coastal highway.
He had to give Hitch credit; for the insane panic that the town had been in after the unicorn's sudden appearance, his reassuring speech has done wonders to calm things down. Sprout had been asked a couple of times on his first patrol where the sheriff was, and he explained that he was escorting the unicorn back to where she had come from, along with Sunny Starscout. They seemed to accept this, and went on with their day. For his part, Sprout was glad that he was so far able to carry the banner without Hitch here, at least for the time being.
The double doors to the precinct opened, and in walked Phyllis Cloverleaf, Sprout's mom and head of CanterLogic.
"Good morning, sugarcube. How are things going today?" She asked with a smile.
"Not too bad, for the start of a solo run, how are things going for the factory?" Sprout asked in return.
"Solo? Hitch isn't here?"
The stallion shook his head.
"He and Sunny took that unicorn out of town, I'm guessing back to wherever she came from."
The factory director looked almost bewildered at those words.
"He just let the unicorn leave?" Phyllis asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I mean, why wouldn't he? She answered all of our questions, and aside from the panic, she didn't really do anything wrong. No brains melted or read, as far as I could tell. He did a great job of calming everyone down before he and Sunny left with her last night, that's for sure."
"Yeah, and calming everyone down is sure to increase sales, right?" Phyllis replied.
Sprout detected the more-than-a-hint of sarcasm coming from his mother's tongue.
"Mom, what's the big deal? You already sold plenty after everything calmed down last night."
"Yes, and the important thing is that we keep selling, so we can keep improving our products, and keep making new ones. Sugar cube, if the ponies of Maretime Bay aren't scared of pegasi and unicorns, then they don't want to be prepared. And if they don't want to be prepared, then they aren't demanding CanterLogic products to protect them. Do you get what I'm saying?"
"Uh... Huh?" Sprout answered, really unsure of what else to say at the moment. Honestly, he wasn't quite sure what his mom meant. If ponies didn't need to be kept safe and stylish, then surely CanterLogic would be able to shift gears to just stylish, right?
"I'm glad that he can keep things calm, but I'm not sure if it's such a good idea for the town sheriff to go trotting off to see an invading unicorn home! Don't you think so, sweetheart?"
"I mean, that's what I'm here for, mom. To fill in for him so he can take time off, or attend to something out of town," Sprout countered, although he can't remember the last time Hitch actually left town, even on vacation. Last time he did, he came back covered in furry, fuzzy woodland creatures."
"And you're doing a terrific job, so far, Sprouty-kins. Keep up the good work, and maybe we'll be looking at Maretime Bay's new sheriff, eh?"
Sprout's eyes widened in shock. She wasn't seriously suggesting... Usurping Hitch's badge, was she?
"Being sheriff is all you talked about when you were younger, wasn't it? I'll let you think on that. I've got to get back to the factory, sugar cube. Keep up the good work!"
With that, Phyllis Cloverleaf turned on her hooves, and pushed the doors to the precinct open, and trotted back outside, flooding the center of the office area with sunlight for a few precious seconds, and this pushed Sprout out of his chair to raise the blinds on the door, letting in the late morning sun.
"Alright, so a pony's luminescence is... Sparkly?" Hitch asked Izzy as the trio of ponies walked over the grassy hills outside the vast forest that they had camped in.
"When you're happy, yes! It's all twinkly and bright, like you got a big bucket of glitter dumped on you!" Izzy replied enthusiastically. "Yours is silver, like your badge-y thing!"
Hitch raised an eyebrow curiously, wondering how this unicorn could 'see' somepony's happiness through means other than their facial expression.
"I thought you just said you didn't have any magic," the sheriff countered.
"Yeah, I know. We don't. Not in our horns, anyway. I guess this is a different kind of magic. I'm one of the only unicorns I know that can see luminescence!"
After Hitch's arrival at their campsite, the rest of the night had gone smoothly. Once Maretime Bay's sheriff got his tent set up, everypony was fortunately able to settle down and get some sleep. They got a little bit of a late start due to it being some time since Hitch or Sunny had cooked on an open fire. Once they had gotten out of the forest, they noticed that they had been very gradually gaining altitude when their ears started to pop.
When they crested the next hill just before noon, they saw a rocky mountain range, with the tallest peak rising sharply above the clouds.
"Let me guess..." Hitch said, craning his neck as he attempted to spot the top of the mountain above the low cloud cover. "Zephyr Heights is up there."
"According to the map, yep," Sunny answered, having pulled out one of her dad's old laminated maps from her saddle bags to try and discern the best way to ascend. She really hoped there was a way to do so on hoof, because none of them brought dedicated climbing gear.
"You sure there's a way to walk up there? Because, you know, pegasi might not have thought of that, or maybe they did, and they knew it would be a good way of keeping earth ponies and unicorns away," Izzy commented.
"There has to be a way to get up there by hoof. Depending how big Zephyr Heights is, they had to have a way to get building materials up there, right?" Sunny countered, returning her attention to the map.
"It also might be a good idea to make sure whatever route we choose can be descended quickly as well, just in case we need to retreat or anything," Hitch told her.
"Good idea," Izzy agreed.
Sunny tried her best not to feel disheartened at Izzy's hesitance to make this journey. The earth mare was willing to bet that the unicorn stories about earth ponies and pegasi were just as false and far-fetched as Maretime Bay's stories were about the pegasi and unicorns. Once they were up there and saw things for themselves, she was hoping the wool would finally be lifted from their eyes.
If the pegasi did know something about what happened to unicorn magic, if they could get it back, that would mean better things for everypony.
"Well, if we want to get up there before dark, I'd suggest we eat and hike at the same time," Hitch advised them.
Luckily, they did bring plenty of snacks that were able to be eaten on the go. So with their route decided, they continued towards the mountain as the grass gave way to rocky terrain, and began their climb.
"How would the pegasi even take magic or luminescence?" Sunny asked Izzy.
"Aren't the pegasi really advanced? I've heard stories about how they used to control the weather back in ancient times," the unicorn replied.
"Heh, our stories were just about how they swooped down at night and snatched up young ponies who weren't back indoors before sundown," Hitch added.
"Of which there has never been one recorded, confirmed instance," Sunny pointed out as they started to wrap around the west side of the mountain. As they ascended, their path started to slowly widen, and carve deeper and deeper into the mountain. Before they knew it, they were walking through a ravine with walls that towered several meters above them. They had entered the cloud cover, so their surroundings were also quite foggy to boot.
"Well, this'll make it tricky to see how high up we've come," Hitch commented.
All three ponies froze and looked behind them when they heard rocks slide and tumble down the left wall just behind them.
"Let's keep moving," Hitch said, an air of caution in his voice, as the trio's gait slowly resumed. It wasn't even a few moments later that a couple more small rocks fell closer than the first ones had, and Hitch looked back just in time to see a blurry figure some distance back hop off of the left rock face, then the right, as it zigzagged towards the trio.
"Go, move!" Hitch told the two mares, and they broke into a gallop through the fog. The whooshing gusts of air continued behind them, so whatever was back there definitely knew they were there, and was giving chase down the ravine. Through the fog, they saw a very steep incline up that would have to be climbed, and none of them were certain that there was going to be enough time to make the ascent.
"Quick! Up the— Get down!" Hitch said an instant after looking behind them one last time, hitting the rocky ground and pulled the two mares down with him as whatever was chasing them passed right overhead, barely missing them, and hit the ground, skidding to a halt.
Through the dense fog, they saw that the figure was equine in nature. As it turned, they saw a hot pink mane with aqua streaks styled up, and their eyes widened as it spread a pair of wings with deep purple and blue feathers. It took a couple steps towards them, where the fog no longer concealed her features and they saw her turquoise eyes, ablaze with guarded curiosity.
Sunny and Izzy took in a gasp of breath nearly at the same time.
"A real pegasus..." Sunny whispered in amazement, her eyes widening.
The pegasus mirrored the earth mare's surprise.
"Whoa... A unicorn, and two earth ponies? Okay, well, this day just got a lot more interesting," the pegasus commented.
The mares got to their hooves, shocked expressions still on their faces, while Hitch was more guarded. The pegasus' ears twitched and her attention turned towards the top of the ridge above the cloud cover.
"I could have sworn I heard something, Commander Zoom," they heard a male voice say.
The pegasus glanced at the trio of ponies in front of her and silently put the tip of her hoof to her lips, letting them know to be silent.
"Isn't this where Queen Haven told us she normally comes to practice in private? This far out?"
"The princess gets around. Princess Zephyrina!" They heard a commanding feminine voice call out, echoing against the mountaintops.
"Maybe she headed back already, Commander. If we don't do the same, we'll be late for inspection."
"I'm the commander, Thunder."
"Exactly. You're the one doing the inspecting before citizens start filing in for the royal celebration. You don't want to be late for that."
They heard the commanding guard, who was clearly in charge, give a sigh of exasperation.
"Hope she's headed back. Wouldn't be the first time the Queen's given her a dressing down for being late to a royal affair. Come on, Thunder, lets go."
The four ponies beneath the cloud cover heard the armored hoofsteps decrease in volume before fading entirely.
"Okay. Zipp. I'm Sunny. These are my friends Izzy Moonbow and Hitch Trailblazer."
"Sunny. Izzy. Hitch." The pegasus gave them each a curt nod as she smirked. "Alright, now that introductions are out of the way, what are two earth ponies and a unicorn doing this close to Zephyr Heights?"
"We're here in search of magic," Sunny answered. "The unicorns aren't sure how they lost theirs, and—"
"Whoa whoa, lost theirs? As in, no magic?" Zipp asked.
Sunny and Izzy shook their heads.
The pegasus put a hoof to her chin inquisitively.
"Well, that changes things."
"Um, excuse me, Princess, but if we heard those guards up there correctly, don't you have somewhere to be?" Hitch asked.
"Maybe I do, maybe I don't... And maybe this is more important..." Zipp replied, her gaze falling to the ground in thought. She clearly knew something was up. "Look, I might be able to help you if you can help me, but first, we have to get you three to my hideout. I'll be able to explain things on the way. We need to get closer to the city, and then I'll go and grab you some disguises... And a hood to hide that," Zipp said, pointing at Izzy's horn. "Come on, we don't have a lot of time."
Sunny wasn't sure what else they could do besides sit here quietly at the base of the cliff and wait. The pegasus had warned them that going up for a better view might get them spotted by another outer patrol.
"Wonder what kind of disguises she'd bringing for us. Capes? Cloaks? Fake wings?" The earth mare asked.
"That's what I would do," Hitch added. "She did say she was bringing a hood to hide Izzy's horn, like we did back in Maretime Bay. Something that is convincing at a distance, and won't draw scrutiny."
"How often have you done this? You lead a double life or something?" Sunny asked with a soft giggle.
"Please. Maretime Bay keeps me busy enough, I don't have enough time to come all the way out here to spy on the pegasi," Hitch commented.
Sunny broke out a few granola bars to snack on as they waited on their new friend. After about ten minutes, they heard approaching hoofsteps again, and peered above the boulder to see Zipp returning with a few items stacked on her back.
"Just have to make sure, won't you be missed if you're taking us to your hideout? That's why those guards were out here looking for you," Sunny commented.
"Pfft," Zipp began as she came forward with what appeared to be elaborate saddles with decorative wings. "My mom thinks that everyone takes two hours to get ready for a show. I'm good. Besides, if this is as important as I think it is, then my sister's show doesn't really matter."
Zipp helped each pony get their 'wings' strapped on both earth ponies and the unicorn, before helping Izzy with her hooded cloak, getting the garment just right and making sure her horn was concealed without the hood looking like it was being propped up by a tent pole.
"Alright, I think that's as good as we're gonna get. So, here's the plan. We're going to go in as a group. Stick right on my tail. We're going to down the main street, off into an alley on the right."
"And nopony is going to recognize you as one of the princesses?" Hitch asked.
"That's why we're headed down the alley, down into the city's sewer systems," Zipp replied, before slicking her hair back and putting on a pair of black sunglasses.
"Ewwww," the unicorn reacted.
"Don't worry, not the pipes and drains part, just the service corridors. It's either that, the front of the castle, or scaling the side of the mountain," the pegasus reassured them.
"Well, sewers, or 'service corridors' it is, then," Sunny decided.
"Alright, let's go."
With that, Sunny, Izzy, and Hitch followed Zipp up the steep incline. From there, it was a gradual curve to the left before the city's rather impressive skyline came into view. Sunny glanced back at the wings she wore, and figured they did somewhat pass as the real thing, if they weren't expected to flutter or flap them.
The guards at the gate let them pass without questioning or incident, so the disguises must have been working. Zephyr Heights was truly something to behold. Buildings dozens of stories tall, and some kind of transportation system that ran on a rail, taking a series of connected vehicles across the city. Electronic signs and advertisements were everywhere. But as much as Sunny wanted to stand and take in the sights, she had to focus on where Zipp was going, and sure enough, they hadn't even gotten a block before Zipp deemed the area clear enough to dip into the next alley on the right. She stopped at a grate, which she lifted up with a creaking sound.
"Okay, down here, quick."
The pegasus stood and waited while her three guests trotted down the very narrow set of stairs down into the city's underground service corridors.
Hitch had to remind himself that they were still actually thousands of feet above sea level. Water ran down a central creek while there were brick-laid walkways on either side.
Zipp grabbed an electric LED lantern off of the wall, and started heading down the passageway on the left side of the water.
"This way," the pegasus instructed.
Each one of their hoofsteps echoed off of the otherwise empty, dark hall.
"Ya know, Zipp," Hitch began. "We weren't up there for long, but you know what I noticed? I didn't see a single pegasus in the sky."
"I know, I'll explain when we get to where we're going."
The corridor split off in multiple directions several times, usually to other staircases like the ones they had come down, leading to other access points. throughout the city. If Sunny was successful in keeping her sense of direction, they had come under the castle, and now came to probably the only elevator down here. Once they were all on board, Zipp pulled a lever, and the platform moved upwards at a steady, albeit somewhat creaky pace. The ascent was about a half minute, all while they looked at the water falling from up above.
The elevator platform stopped, and they came to what must have been the service corridors for the castle.
"How often are ponies down here?" Sunny asked as they continued on.
"Usually only when problems come up, or once every six months just for quality checks. That's why it's so easy for me to get around, and out of, the city when I want to be left alone and mom wants me to make an appearance for some royal event."
They passed a couple more split-offs, and Zipp headed down the third one on the left. A few dozen more feet, and the grate they came to wasn't dozens of feet above the floor via staircase, but just above their heads. Zipp released the lock, pushed it open and jumped out. Sunny was next, and peeked her head out to an immense room.
"Whoa," Sunny commented as Zipp helped pull her up.
"It's amazing, right? I think it's some sort of station. Back when other ponies used to visit Zephyr Heights," Zipp told the awestruck mare as she helped Hitch and Izzy up through the grate.
There was a pair of staircases on the far wall, looking like the doorways at the top had been walled off, as the stairs led to nothing. On the other side, was a large set of stain glass windows. On the left side, the pattern was a unicorn levitating a crystal. The right side was a pegasus doing the same with another, different-styled crystal.
"Alright, the truth is, no one here can fly. Not even the royals, even though my mom and a bunch of stagehands have convinced the populace otherwise. You'd be amazed what some wires and good lighting will do," Zipp told them.
A look of disappointment washed over Izzy's face for a moment.
"So, if the pegasi didn't take unicorn magic, who or what did?" Hitch asked.
"Maybe it just 'poofed' like our magic did," Izzy offered.
"From what little I've been able to gather, I'd say something like that happened," the pegasus started. "If there is a way to get it back, I'd wager that these crystals have something to do with it."
Sunny looked at the top window, where an all-too familiar six-pointed star was patterned in the glass.
"The star of friendship..." Sunny said, digging into her saddlebags and came out with her dad's journal. While she would have liked to start asking Zipp questions, she was guessing they didn't have that kind of time at the moment.
"From the research I've been able to do, I think there's a way that our magic can be brought back if the crystals are united. The pegasus crystal is part of my mom's crown. Izzy, do you know anything about the unicorn crystal?" Zipp asked.
"Not specifically, but if it's crystals you're after, we've got like, a gazillion back in Bridlewood," the unicorn answered.
"Alright. I'll try and get some kind of opportunity to grab the pegasus crystal and meet you three back here," Zipp said.
"Um, so since we're clearly not welcome here," Hitch began. "I'm assuming that is kind of a maze down there if you don't know where to go. So, how about an exit strategy in case something happens and you're not able to make it back here?"
"I'd say out the window," Zipp said. The trio's eyes widened in concern.
"Don't worry. There's a rope. Set that up in case my usual routes to get up here didn't work out. Just hold on tight and go down the wall, it goes right down into the canyons. I'll try and meet you down there if that's what you have to do."
It wasn't the most rock-solid of plans, but it was better than nothing.
"I'll be as quick as I can. If for whatever reason I can't make it back, it was great to meet all of you."
With a smile, Zipp stepped into a basket-style elevator, and pulled a lever, and it was pulled up into an opening in the ceiling.
After he had gotten his deputy's badge polished up, Sprout started another leisurely stroll through Maretime Bay, keeping an eye out for anything that didn't look like it belonged there, like litter. Luckily, CanterLogic already had a few teams out taking care of the globs of goop that had been launched from the Splat-a-pults, as well as closing up the unicorn traps from their standby positions.
He would have thought that they would be able to disable them just as fast as enable them. But apart from having to sidestep all the steel squares on the streets and sidewalks, the populace of Maretime Bay did seem to be calmer after yesterday's panic, and they greeted him with warm smiles and nods as he passed by on his patrol.
He passed one of many lamp posts lining the coastal road, but this one immediately grabbed his attention, due to the flyer with a picture of himself on it. He stopped and stepped up to read it.
Do we want a sheriff that shirks his duties at the drop of a hat to go running off with unicorns?
SPROUT CLOVERLEAF FOR SHERIFF!
Sprout fought the urge to throw up in his mouth a little as he rolled his eyes, not needing to think very long of where these came from. Grumbling under his breath, he tore the flyer down and deposited it in the nearest trash can.
He'd keep an eye out for more on every patrol he went on today.
His mom was good at running a factory, but he wasn't about to usurp his best friend's job just because he went to see a unicorn home with Sunny. Besides, it wasn't like Hitch had abandoned his post or anything; he had put Sprout in charge until he got back, and he was going to do this town's sheriff proud.
Mainly by keeping an eye out for any more 'litter' taped to the lamp posts...
"I've been thinking," Hitch started, as he leaned back in the dusty seating that was present on the wide open floor, glancing towards the stained glass windows. "There's a unicorn crystal, and a pegasus crystal. Is there an Earth Pony crystal? Would that be the center window that's no longer there?"
"That sounds like a pretty sound theory. I haven't heard of one, but then again, I haven't heard of the other two before today, either," Sunny told him. "I'll have to do some more digging through dad's things, see if he ever heard of them or know how they're supposed to work."
"How long are we supposed to wait for our new pegasus friend to come back? Like, how long do we wait before it might be better to go on without her, if she's unable to come back?" Hitch asked.
"I'm hoping we don't have to do that, because then, we're back to square one. Even if we find the unicorn crystal in Bridlewood, we'd have to get the pegasus crystal somehow. Even then, we'll have to find the earth pony crystal too."
"Sounds like quite a long shot, Sunny. Not a day has gone by where one of our preconceptions hasn't changed. How do you know this will work?"
"I don't, Hitch. It's called hope. Even if it doesn't work, I've made a new friend, maybe two."
Zipp strolled through the castle halls, having bypassed the red carpet at the front exterior, looking as nonchalant as she could, as if being late was the most expected thing in Zephyr Heights. It was rather easy, because Zipp being late was the most normal thing in Zephyr Heights.
The floor above the Grand Hall contained wardrobes, Pipp's audio equipment, and dressing rooms. The staging room contained make-up mirrors and rigging where the royal family made final checks before their 'flights'.
Zipp took a deep breath, and pushed the double doors open and stepped into the staging room, where her mother, Queen Haven, was standing in front of the make-up mirror.
"There you are. If you missed your sister's debut performance of her new song, she'd never let you hear the end of it." Haven chastised, seeing her daughter enter the room through her reflection in the mirror. "Where have you been, anyway?"
"Where am I always? Gliding on the outskirts," Zipp replied.
"You must have gone farther out than usual; Zoom and Thunder didn't find you at all," Haven told her as she continued applying foundation to her cheeks and chin with a powder puff. "Pipp told me you'd been out there almost all day."
"Pipp told you?"
"Oh you know she tells me everything. I wish you would tell me more," Haven said, turning towards her eldest daughter. "You're going to be Queen, one day. You'll wear this crown, and trust me, it is heaver than it looks."
Zipp knew she'd have to act quickly, but also not appear like anything was off.
"Hm, where did I put my curler?" Haven asked. "Oh did I leave it back on my dresser? I'll be right back, dear. Pipp should be along shortly."
"Let me try it on," Zipp said, a step to the right and putting herself between her mom and the door.
Haven stopped in front of her daughter, raising an eyebrow curiously.
"If it's such a big part of ruling like you claim, then let me see for myself. Just until you get back with your curler," Zipp reasoned convincingly.
The silence hung in the room for only a moment, before Haven appeared convinced.
'Well, if you have to start somewhere..." Haven said, taking her crown lightly in her hooves, turning it around, then stepped forward and placed it on her daughter's head, her styled mane poking perfectly up between the wings of the crystal. Haven smiled gently at her. "But just until I get back. I'll be just a moment, darling."
As much as Haven wanted to stand there and admire her daughter with the Zephyr Heights crown atop her head, they did have a show to get ready for. Ponies were starting to gather, and once Pipp was in the staging room, it would be ready for final rig checks, and then it was showtime. She stepped around her daughter, pulled the left door open, and trotted out int the hallway. Her private dressing room was around the corner and two doors down. She pushed her door open, and there front and center on the dresser, was her eyelash curler.
"There you are," Haven said, picking it up. She figured she might as well save some time, and took a moment to finish up her yes right here in front of her mirror, before setting it back down into the folding kit where she had left it, before turning, exiting the room, and heading back down the hall. She came back to the staging room, and gently pushed the door open.
"Alright, feeling any more regal yet, dear?" Haven asked upon stepping into the room. When she didn't get an answer, she took a quick look around the room, and saw that her daughter was nowhere to be seen.
"Zipp?" she asked, taking a quick look over the railing down into the Grand Hall, where their citizens were starting to gather. She looked over to the left corner and saw that Zipp's wire rigging was still there, not hooked up.
Her eyes widened when she looked back over to the make-up station, and saw the crown resting on the wooden top in front of the mirror. She had missed it in her first glance because the crystal wasn't on it.
...Because the crystal wasn't on it!!!
"Zephyrina!" Haven cried out, loud enough that even some of the closest spectators below wondered what was going on upstairs. Haven galloped over to the makeup station, and picked up the crown for just a moment, before rushing back over to the doors, yanking them open.
"Captain! Lock down the castle! Nopony gets in or out! Find me my daughters, immediately!"
"If it's such a big part of ruling like you claim, then let me see for myself. Just until you get back with your curler," Zipp reasoned convincingly.
The silence hung in the room for only a moment, before Haven appeared convinced.
'Well, if you have to start somewhere..." Haven said, taking her crown lightly in her hooves, turning it around, then stepped forward and placed it on her daughter's head, her styled mane poking perfectly up between the wings of the crystal. Haven smiled gently at her. "But just until I get back. I'll be just a moment, darling."
With that, Queen Haven opened the door and stepped out into the hall. Knowing she wouldn't be able to keep track of how far away her hoofsteps were due to the gathering crowds down below, Zipp knew this was her one and only chance. She went over to the makeup station and took the crown off of her head, not even taking the time to see how it actually looked in the mirror. She gave it a quick look before grabbing the hoof file resting near the edge, and stuck it in between the crystal and the base of the crown, before twisting gently but forcefully. It didn't take much before the turquoise crystal popped off.
Quickly grabbing the empty saddlebags on the floor beside the makeup table, she strapped them on, and dropped the crystal inside the right pocket before snapping it shut and bounding over to the door. She knew she only had maybe a minute at most. She turned the doorknob as quietly as she could, leaned out to take a quick look to make sure the coast was clear, then stepped out into the hall, before shutting the door and trotted as quickly as she could over to the tower window. She unlatched it, pushed it open, and hesitated for just a moment.
There would be no turning back from this. She had left the crown in plain view on the makeup table, sans crystal. She probably had just enough time to go back to the room and continue trying to stomach keeping the royal secret, or get enough of a head start out the window to get back to the unicorn and two earth ponies, and get to the bottom of what had happened to everypony's magic.
The internal hesitation didn't last long. She had come this far because she was absolutely sick of things as they were. She was tired of propping up a lie. Ponies deserved better. Ponies deserved the truth.
With one more deep breath, she heard the door of her mom's dressing room open, and she stepped onto the windowsill, and jumped off, gently kicking the window shut as best she could, spreading her wings and going into a glide before gravity took full effect over her body.
Because the population of Zephyr Heights weren't capable of getting airborne, there were absolutely no external patrols she would have to worry about. If she was absolutely on point, she could glide right into the abandoned airship station. She would need a favorable wind for a part of her trip around the castle to reach it. If not, she would likely have no choice but to land in the street and hopefully find an isolated sewer entrance, because getting back into the castle from the outside would be absolutely impossible.
Time was absolutely of the essence, because she was fairly certain that Pipp was aware of her hideout, and the white pegasus was fairly certain that her little sister's show wasn't going to go on once word of this heist got out in what would surely be just a few moments. She hoped her new friends had taken some time to rest, because they were going to have to get a considerable distance away from Zephyr Heights before they stopped for the night.
The gliding pegasus breathed a sigh of relief when she caught her first updraft, letting her gain precious meters of altitude in the sky as she made her way around the castle's outer circumference. She nearly faltered in her path when she heard the castle's alarms begin to go off.
Now nailing the correct flight path was even more important. She had drilled castle lockdowns before; nopony in or out. If she didn't make the station, her only hope would be waiting for them at the bottom, and even then she didn't want to leave that kind of path for guards to follow. She kept her breathing calm and steady to minimize any unexpected or nervous movements; maximized distance was key here.
A few more seconds of rounding the bend, and she saw the open entryway of the abandoned station. Waiting until the last moment to be absolutely sure she was going to make it, she leaned into a hard left, and glided through the entryway, her hooves nearly skidding on the floor. She glanced around and saw... Nopony.
She glanced back towards the window and saw the rope still coiled in a pile in the bottom left corner.
"Sunny? Izzy? Hitch?" She called, the castle's alarms muffled from the long-sealed doors on the far wall. She heard a creaking sound, and looked over to see the grate down to the sewers inch up above the ground, and saw a pair of eyes on her, before it popped up, and first up came the stallion earth pony, followed by the earth and unicorn mares.
"We heard the alarms start to go off and weren't sure what to do," Sunny told her. "We figured it would be best to wait around for you a bit before climbing out the window."
Zipp nodded affirmatively with a smile.
"Well, that's where we're going, right now. I've got the crystal, and we don't have long, come on."
Zipp trotted over to the coiled rope, picked it up in her front hooves, and tossed it over the edge, the other end staying hooked into the wall.
"Rappel down as fast as you can, and give it some hard jiggles when you're down, so I can send the next one, and detach it when the last of you is down, and glide down to join you," Zipp instructed.
"Time to put that Filly Scouts experience to good use..." Sunny said, being the first to grab the rope and step over the edge, gripping the rope with her front hooves and placing her back hooves on the outer wall.
"See you at the bottom," Sunny said, then kicked off the wall, and let her front hooves slide down the wall. She repeated the motion several times, until Zipp couldn't make her out against the darkening sky. After watching the taut rope for nearly a minute, the pegasus saw the rope loosen just a bit, and then wiggle slightly.
"Izzy, you're next," Zipp said, hearing muffled galloping hooves on the other side of the walls. As she never had done any rappelling in her fillyhood, she held the rope a bit tighter, but knew they were short on time, so quickly began to walk down the wall with her back hooves. With the different method, her descent took longer, and after nearly two minutes, the rope loosened from taut, and wiggled a bit at the top.
"You're up, Sheriff," Zipp told Hitch, before their attention was pulled away from the window by a loud slam from the other side of the wall, as if it had been hit by a sledgehammer. A repeat of the noise made Zipp guess that's precisely what was happening.
"I hope you're faster than she was. Go!" Zipp told him. With that, Hitch was over the wall, and used his slightly heavier weight to speed his descent. After another minute, the rope jiggled the last time, and Zipp pulled it up just a bit before unlatching it from the wall. With the end in her right hoof, she spread her wings, took one last look back at the sealed wall that was undoubtedly being pounded on, before leaping over the window, and spreading her wings, rapidly descending into the mountains.
Zephyr Heights' most popular livestreamer was downright fuming as she paced back and forth in the staging room. Alone.
She wasn't supposed to be alone. She was supposed to be with her mom and big sister. She had no idea where Zipp was, but she knew where she was supposed to be; right here! In the wire rigging, ready to be 'floated' down to her seat so Pipp could perform her new song!
Frankly, Pipp didn't know what her sister could be up to, but she was certain that she knew how important this night was to her. No excuse was going to make up for this. She couldn't remember the last time that the castle went into lockdown and it wasn't a drill.
Her impatient hoof-tapping wasn't making things any better as she once again held her smartphone up to her ear after tapping 'Call' under Zipp's name in her contacts list. The speaker gave a ringing tone for several moments, before it finally stopped.
"You have reached the voicemail box of... 'Zipp Storm'... At the tone, please record—"
Pipp didn't bother, somewhat surprised her sister had even taken the time to set up her voicemail box.
Finally having enough of standing here hoping the evening and performance could possibly be salvaged, she now felt determination building inside her to get to the bottom of whatever stunt Zipp was pulling. Pocketing her phone, she pulled the door open and headed out into the hall. Heading to the elevator, she punched the button for the ground floor, having a pretty good idea of where she might be. The easy going elevator music did very little to temper Pipp's growing frustrations. She had a pretty good idea of where her sister was hiding, but was never sure how she got in there; it had been walled off since well before she had been born.
The elevator chimed, and the doors swung open. The castle was still in lockdown, but she figured she'd have no problem getting where she needed to go within the limits of the walls. Heading down the correct hall, she stopped in surprise when she saw the normally pristine carpet covered in dust, splinters, and rubble, and immediately saw why.
The guards, and likely her mom, had been one step ahead. The walled off entrance to the airship station had already been torn down, and caution tape had been set up. Ducking under the tape, Pipp passed through the doorway, and took a quick look around. Clearly, the guards had already looked around, and found nopony here.
But maybe they missed something. After all, no one knew Zipp like Pipp.
Stepping down the stairs, Pipp passed the ancient benches and advertisements, walking up to a double-pronged lever handle. She pulled it down, and the fans built into the ground started up. No doubt that had been a way to get parked airships airborne again with minimal energy. It would also explain how Zipp had gotten so amazingly good at gliding. Pushing the lever back up to its previous position, the fans slowly spun to a stop, and she continued on down the large room, towards a blackboard on wheels.
The board looked ancient, but the chalk-written mathematical equations clearly weren't; weeks old, maybe a little more, and Zipp had a head for that kind of stuff.
The large opening where the window used to be would be the prime spot for jumping out and gliding out, but she wouldn't get far this low down, even with the most favorable updrafts.
Pipp took a closer look at the opening, and spotted a steel ring bolted into the side of the frame. That didn't look ancient, and it also would serve no purpose with a window there. But if there were a rope attached, one could easily rappel down the side of the castle and cliff side.
Pipp's eyes widened at the possibility that just hit her brain. Did Zipp... Have others with her? Had she brought others into the castle?
The proverbial light bulb came on in her head as she immediately dug out her phone. She had insisted on Zipp installing her 'Family Tracker' app that would allow the royal family to find each other in an emergency, and based on how little Zipp used her phone, it was likely she had forgotten about it. Zipp's phone hadn't gone to voicemail in the last four times she had called, so it was still on. Now to just hope she had it on her and she was just ignoring it...
The app loaded, and Pipp pressed the big red button on the middle of the screen. Her phone sounded a ping, and immediately switched to a topographic map of the surrounding area, and sure enough, one marker was in the castle, and the other was two miles out into the mountains, almost straight out from the window, and slowly moving farther way.
Gritting her teeth, Pipp knew she was going to have to act, and fast. She quickly slid the tracker app to the background and opened ClipTrot and hit record.
"Pippsqueaks, I have to sadly confirm the rumor that is very likely spreading in the last few minutes; tonight's performance is canceled due to unforeseen circumstances. Something has come up, and though I have never canceled before, I swear that any and all ticket sales from tonight will be honored at a later date. You have my word as your Princess. Have the best of nights, because I am not. Catch you later."
Pipp ended the recording, uploaded it, then pocketed her phone, backing up from the window several paces, then went straight for it at a full gallop. Fast approaching the window, she waited until the last moment, then leapt over the windowsill into the night air, and spread her fluffy wings, catching the first updraft and went as fast as she could after her big sister...
"Say, Zipp? How far should we get tonight?" Sunny asked as they headed northwest down the mountain canyon, away from the city.
"No idea," the white pegasus replied, walking next to her. "Member of the royal family going missing is something that's never happened before, so I have no idea how long or how far they'll search... Or how long until the calls stop. Thought they might think that I'd leave it in my room," Zipp said, looking down at her phone, seeing it vibrate again, before tucking it back into her saddlebag. "But I think we're safe, as long as we keep going for now. Guards certainly can't glide in all that armor, and I'm sure they'll turn the castle and city upside down before coming out here. Where are we headed anyway?"
"According to Sunny's old map, Bridlewood is just under a day's hike from here," Izzy told her.
"And compared to today, how do you think the unicorn welcome will be?" Hitch asked, wanting to be on the cautious side.
"Not much better, to be perfectly honest," Izzy admitted. "You'll see all the signs on the way into the forest."
Zipp felt her phone vibrate in her saddlebag again, and took it out as she rolled her eyes in frustration.
"Come on, how many times are they going to try call— Oh no..." Zipp said, her eyes widening as she swiped a hoof across her phone screen.
"What's 'oh no'? What's going on?" Sunny asked.
"They're not trying to call me, this is the emergency tracking app my sister sideloaded onto this months ago... That means that she knows—"
"—Exactly where you are!" They heard from directly behind them, startling the four of them. Hitch was immediately on alert, but Zipp held up a hoof as she also turned around, seeing her younger sister come out of the shadows into the moonlight, and she looked none too pleased. Luckily, she appeared to be alone.
"Pipp, I can explain."
"Yeah, you can, and you will. Right here, right now. You knew how important this night was to me, and you up and vanish with whoever these ponies are."
"Yes, sis. I know how important this night was. But you know how I also feel about this lie we've been propping up that only the royal family can fly."
"So you're just going to leave?"
"No."
"That's sure what it looks like you're doing to me!"
"Girls!"
Both pegasi looked over to Sunny, who had taken a step forward and interrupted their argument.
"Zipp, maybe introductions are in order?" Sunny asked in an attempt to calm the situation down a little.
The white pegasus took a breath, and nodded.
"Right, sorry. This is my little sister, Pipp Petals, social media magnate of Zephyr Heights. Pipp, these are my new friends. Sunny, Hitch, and Izzy."
Pipp's expression softened just a little when she heard how her sister described her.
"Hello, everypony. A pleasure, I'm sure. Now Zipp, please tell me why you absconded with the crown jewel on one of the biggest nights of my life," Pipp demanded.
"Pipp, you have a 'biggest night of your life' every other week. You know I've been curious for years about what actually happened to Equestrian magic. Izzy says the unicorns think the pegasi took it, and we know that's not true, probably just as untrue as the unicorns taking away our ability to fly. I think the crystal on mom's crown is part of the key to restoring magic for everypony, everywhere. You want to come along and help? Tell me that pulling this off won't be the story of the year for you," Zipp said with a gentle smile.
Pipp had a pout on her face, and was clearly thinking about it when her phone rang. She dug it out and saw that it was a video call from her mom.
"We're not leaving signal range without talking to mom first. We're not going to do that to her," Pipp fiercely stated, holding up the phone.
Zipp took a breath, and nodded.
"As long as we don't tell her where we're going," the elder sibling said, coming up next to her sister as she swiped across the screen with the tip of her hoof, accepting the call.
"Hi mom, don't worry, Zipp and I are both—"
"WHAT is going on tonight?!? Young lady, you better start talking right now."
"She was before you interrupted her," Zipp said, stepping into the camera's line of sight. "Don't worry, we're both fine, and—"
"Don't even get me started with you, Zephyrina Storm. You can't even fathom how long you're going to be grounded for—"
"Mom! This is bigger than the three of us, trust me. I think the crystal on your crown can help actually restore flight to all of Zephyr Heights. We won't be back tonight, but don't worry, we aren't out here alone," Zipp explained, and Pipp momentarily turned the phone so the camera feed was facing Sunny, Hitch, and Izzy. The earth mare waved meekly, the stallion gave a curt nod, and Izzy gave a wide grin and waved a hoof ecstatically.
"A unicorn? And earth ponies?! Darlings, do you have any idea what you're doing?" Haven asked as Pipp turned the phone back around.
"Yes, we do. At least, we think so. Don't worry, we'll be careful, and if this works, we'll go down in history, mom," Zipp said.
"Whether this works or not, you two better come back safe, do you understand me? First I have to think of what to tell the crowds down below to calm them down, and then I'll start thinking of punishments."
"We will, promise. Love you, mom," Pipp said. She gave a kissy face before ending the call.
"Now, before we find where to camp for the night, you take my phone and yours, and turn off that lousy tracker app," Zipp said, tossing her phone to her little sister.
Sunny gave her a smile.
"Welcome to the team, Pipp."
Queen Haven gave an exasperated sigh as she turned off her phone and got up from her throne, beginning to pace along the top step.
"Sergeant Zephyrwing!" she called down towards the end of the hall. The double doors opened, and the light blue armored pegasus walked in and gave a bow.
"Your Majesty?" She asked before coming back up to attention.
"End the lockdown. My daughters have been located, they are safe, but nowhere close, and I highly doubt we'll catch them tonight. We have to calm everyone down after that alarm. Pipp may be able to do these things completely on her own, but I need a bit more assistance. Get the media room ready."
Queen Haven usually rehearsed her speeches, but right now, she was wondering if she wanted to play this a little looser for more authenticity. It would certainly help sell the situation, seeing as how both of Zephyr Heights' princesses were missing, and the castle just went through a half hour of pandemonium.
Not to mention canceling the biggest event they've had in two months. Pipp never canceled.
Yes, might as well keep things somewhat authentic for now. Pipp and Zipp were well out of signal range by now, and gods only knew where they were going with those other ponies.
"Your Majesty?" Corporal Thunder announced his presence barely a moment after opening the throne room door. "Everything is ready, and reporters are standing by."
Haven took a deep breath, and gave him a nod.
"Lead the way, Corporal," Haven said, taking a step towards the open door.
"Um, Your Majesty? Your crown?" Thunder asked, motioning to the fact that said item was not atop the Queen's head. Had she even summoned her mare's maid as she was preparing for this conference?
"Thank you, Thunder, but I'll go without it. Perhaps it will lend credence in the situation I find myself in," Haven reassured him. A bit unsure, but confident in his queen, and lead her down the hall to the press briefing room. He entered and immediately stepped to the right, standing at attention next to Sergeant Zephyrwing as Haven came through the doorway and the photographers, journalists, and reporters gathered in the seats in front of the podium rose in volume, asking their questions all at once as Haven stepped up to the podium and raised her hooves, asking for silence.
"Now," Haven began, looking across the room at all the ponies holding up smartphones. "I know you all came here tonight hoping to get footage and interviews during and after Princess Pipp Petals' debut of her new song. Clearly, that is not what has happened tonight, as just before we were scheduled to go live, my eldest daughter, Princess Zipp Storm, absconded with the crown jewel, and she and Pipp immediately left the premises, and their whereabouts are currently unknown."
This statement caused murmurs and questions to once again rise among the crowd, one in particular rose above, from ZBS reporter Skye Silver in the front row.
"Your Majesty, do you have any idea why they would do such a thing?" He asked, holding his microphone up.
"Mares and gentlecolts, I need to be very clear; it is not my intent, nor is it the intent of my daughters, I'm sure, to spread false hope. But Princess Zipp believes that the crystal once set in my crown is part of the key to restoring flight to all pegasi of Zephyr Heights."
The volume of the press room increased once more, as questions, and uncertain smiles, spread throughout the crowd.
"Now I cannot tell you what I do not know," Haven continued, raising her voice over the reporters. "I don't know where Zipp and Pipp have gone, what they plan to do, how long they will be gone, or even if they will succeed. I do know they will try their best. I know that just as I do, that they love Zephyr Heights with all their hearts. I apologize for the confusion tonight, and I will not be taking any questions, as I've told you everything that I know. I will be retiring for the evening, and will be hoping for my daughters' safe return, whether they succeed or fail in their doubtlessly daunting task, and I hope you will do the same. Thank you, Zephyr Heights, and good night."
The group of five ponies didn't get too much farther after the moon dipped behind the mountain upon which Zephyr Heights rested, which further darkened the twisting canyons and made traversing them dangerous. Sunny took what remaining kindling she had in her pack to make a flickering campfire, they set up a small campsite, and got a light dinner cooking as well.
As a show of good faith for their new traveling companions, who had brought nothing with them in their hasty exit from the city, Sunny, Izzy, and Hitch offered their tents and sleeping bags to the royal sisters. Pipp happily accepted, but Zipp took some prodding.
"Zipp, it's not too much, seeing as the two of you didn't really have any time to prepare for a trip like this, but we're happy to have you along, so we want you to be as comfortable as possible," Sunny reasoned, as she rotated her haycake over the small campfire. It wouldn't last long, so they had to warm what food they could quickly, until they descended into the prairies and hills tomorrow morning to find more kindling.
"Fine, fine. If you insist," Zipp said. "I do appreciate the gesture, it's just that I don't like being treated like I'm better than anypony else. Because as you've found out today, we're not."
"Well Zipp, it's not because you're royalty. It's because you're a friend," Sunny replied.
Zipp gave her a smile.
"Well, since you put it that way, I accept, for tonight," the white pegasus answered.
"So, are we absolutely sure these crystals are going to work? Like, just put them together and, bam? Magic back? Problem solved?" Pipp asked.
"That's certainly what I gathered from the stained glass windows in the abandoned airship station," Zipp told her younger sibling.
Pipp didn't want to immediately challenge Zipp's hypothesis and seem like a wet blanket, but she also didn't want to head into the unknown on nothing more than blind optimism.
"And what if they don't...? I mean, giving everypony, ourselves included, their magic back would be amazing, don't get me wrong. But I just want to prepare mentally, and maybe practically, if it doesn't end up working out that way."
Nopony knew what to say in reply to Pipp at first, as the flames crackled in an otherwise silent night.
"I'm all for optimism," Sunny began, pausing to take a bite of her dinner. "But Pipp is right. If things don't work... I don't want things to go back to the way they were. I've honestly been wondering... Where it all went wrong. With the three tribes, I mean. Maretime Bay's population is so frightened of possible invasions that the town's primary industry is built around protecting against that sort of thing, and just from spending time with all of you, I know that it's just all hogwash. From everything my dad discovered, the tribes used to live together in harmony, and it is indeed possible. I mean, just look at the five of us. We're getting along, and we've barely known each other for a few days, or a few hours, in the case of you two," the earth mare said, nodding to the two pegasi. "I know we could make it work if we all do our part, hoof to heart."
Sunny placed her right hoof on her chest after she finished her haycake. Afterward, she wiped the plate clean with the rag she had packed, and put it away in the left flap of her saddlebag.
"I mean, let's all hope for the best, but what do we do if it doesn't turn out that way? How can we not go our separate ways? It doesn't sound like any of our tribes would accept all of us unless things change," Zipp asked.
"Maybe it's best to focus on what we've got to do in Bridlewood for now," Hitch suggested, turning to Izzy. "How long of a hike is it to get there, anyways?"
"Oh, I'd say another day, maybe just a little bit more. Unicorns are wary of outsiders, so we'll have to find a way to blend in. Don't worry, I'm working on it. And... I'm with Sunny. Whether this works or not... I don't want this adventure, or these new friendships, to end. But Hitch is right. One step at a time. Sooner we get some rest, the sooner we can set out in the morning!"
Izzy smiled at each of the ponies sitting around the campfire, and got nods and smiles in return.
"Sunny, I noticed the blankets you've got as part of your kit," Hitch started. "It might be a little cramped, but you girls shouldn't have to sleep outside in the cold, because this fire isn't going to last all night. Give me the spare blankets, and you and Izzy can take my tent. I'll be fine with the blankets outside. My coat has always been a little on the thicker side."
Sunny nodded eagerly at the idea.
"Thanks, Hitch," Sunny said, before pulling out the spare blanket that was tightly rolled on top of her saddlebag, and handed it to Hitch.
"Alright, we've got to get an early start in the morning. Let's all get some sleep. Good night, friends."
After a light breakfast, the group of five ponies packed up their gear, split the weight amongst everypony equally, and continued northwest away from the mountains and canyons and towards Bridlewood. By late morning, the mountains were well behind them, and they were on a sea of rolling hills and prairie.
"How much farther do you think Bridlewood is, Izzy?" Sunny asked, as they passed an enormous, blooming tree on the next hill.
"Hm, it can't be more than another day. It didn't take me more than a day to get from there to Maretime Bay, but to be fair, that wasn't as far away as Zephyr Heights was," Izzy replied.
Sunny figured they were managing their time fairly well so far. The first concern to come up would be how long their packed food would last; she and Izzy had packed enough for a week, and Hitch had packed a similar amount. They had supplemented that with what they could safely pick from bushes and trees, but they hadn't replenished anything while they had been in Zephyr Heights, as well as taken on two more traveling companions, who also hadn't had time to pack anything in their hectic exit from their city. To their credit, the two pegasi were eating light, as well as had done their share of foraging, so for now they were good, with a few days of rations remaining. There would likely be no shortage of mushrooms and berries in a heavily wooded area such as Bridlewood, and with Maretime Bay around a day away, they would most likely be fine. She smiled when she imagined making all of her new friends the best smoothies in Maretime Bay.
According to her dad's old map, they should be coming up to a river crossing pretty soon here. Not too long after the large tree, they found what looked like an ancient stone pathway, and continued following it northwest.
"We should almost be at the river, everypony," Sunny announced, looking down at the laminated map once more before returning it to her saddlebag.
"That... Doesn't look like a river, Sunny," Zipp commented, peering ahead.
Sunny looked ahead to see what Zipp was talking about, and sure enough, as they came closer, the earth pony's heart dropped. What had been a river back when the map had been made, had now become a much more deep ravine. Worse still, the stone bridge that had stood there at one point had collapsed in the center, with only a dead tree protruding up from the ground on their side.
"So how did you get over here?" Hitch asked Izzy.
"I didn't come this way, I went southwest right to Maretime Bay," Izzy replied, as she slowly stepped up to the collapsed bridge, and indeed confirmed there would be no way to cross it. She looked across the ravine, and knew that at least half a day or more would be spent going around.
"What now?" Pipp asked.
"Going around to where Izzy came from would probably take at least a day, maybe more," Hitch said, mirroring the unicorns observations.
"What choice do we have? Even gliding, I'm not sure I could clear that," Zipp interjected, judging the distance of the gap between their side and the other.
They heard Izzy clear her throat. Looking over, they saw the unicorn point her right hoof at the dead tree.
"We could make that a bridge," she suggested.
Hitch looked the tree up and down, and quickly figured that it was tall enough to bridge the gap if it was tipped over.
"You sure we can make it tip over right where we need it to? If we don't, we will have to go around," Hitch warned.
"Nothing ventured, nothing gained. It looks pretty rotted, so hopefully the roots don't have much of a hold anymore," Sunny observed.
"We sure about this?" Hitch asked cautiously.
"Well, you don't expect Izzy to chisel it down with her horn, do you?" Sunny asked incredulously.
"I could try if you want!" Izzy added eagerly.
"No no, that's alright. Let's not get anypony hurt here," Sunny said. "Let's get the five of us on one side, and put all of our strength into it. Hitch, you and me will try and loosen the ground around it, then all of us push."
Hitch and Sunny went around the circumference of the tree, and dug at the grass and soil around it, taking care around the far side near the cliff edge. Once they saw that there were hardly any roots left, they came back around to the back.
"Alright everypony, push!" Sunny said.
Hitch was first, coming right up and shoving as hard as he could. Sunny came up right next to him and gave it her all. When Zipp and Pipp joined in, it finally started to lean with a sickening creak. Then, when Izzy leaned forward and nudged the trunk with her horn, the tipping point finally came, and the last of the roots gave up, and the tree fell across the ravine, and the top crashed onto the other side.
Luckily, that was all, and the entire tree didn't crack or splinter further, and they were fairly certain that it was safe to cross. Sunny tried it first, hopping up, and slightly shifted her weight to make sure the tree wasn't going to go anywhere when she was in the middle of the ravine. Deciding that they should do it one at a time, Hitch and the others stood there and watched the earth mare slowly and carefully cross over to the other side. When she hopped off into the grass on the other end, Zipp was next, and had absolutely no trouble crossing, followed by her younger sister, Izzy, and Hitch.
"Alright, just promise me one thing," Izzy said, as they continued through the grassy hills.
"What?" Sunny asked.
"If we come across any more ravines, let me chisel down the next tree with my horn. Because that sounds really, really awesome!"
As the group of five friends were setting up camp, Sunny was trying to convince herself that having a plan B or C wasn't the same as doubting their quest. The fact of the matter was, there was no telling what the crystals were going to do, and she didn't want her and her new friends to scatter to the winds if things didn't turn out the way she was hoping they would. She wasn't oblivious to the way things were in Maretime Bay. CanterLogic's profits depended on the earth ponies being afraid of pegasi and unicorns, and she would be daft if she thought those would be profits that Phyllis Cloverleaf was going to just let slip away.
But she honestly couldn't figure out any other avenue where this would work. The citizens of Maretime Bay would have to let go of their fears and prejudices. She hadn't gotten a very good look at Zephyr Heights, but if the royal family had to create a charade that only they could fly, then things were no better there. She wanted to be optimistic about Bridlewood, but she figured that just like the other two tribes, something would be off about the unicorns too.
Ponies belonged together, and it would take changes and effort from everypony.
Which was exactly why this quest, this plan had to work.
Even if she were invited back to Zephyr Heights, or Bridlewood, she knew Hitch wouldn't leave behind his commitment to Maretime Bay, nor could she ask the pegasi sisters to renounce their royal lineage. If they wanted to be together, and strengthen their friendships, they would need to figure out some way to live in one place or be able to go from place to place freely; and that meant that all three tribes would more than likely have to go through a lot of changes.
"Alright, everypony. I think this is the best place to stop for the night," Hitch said as the group came to an outcropping, after having spent the evening crossing over the last range of mountains between them and the prairie and forests that were home to Bridlewood. If they got a good start in the morning, they'd likely get to Bridlewood around lunchtime. They got the campsite set up, and got a fire going.
"So, looking forward to getting back home, Izzy?" Sunny asked after dinner had been served.
"Well, I'll just say that what I'm looking forward to most is showing Bridlewood to all of you,"Izzy answered. "I've been brainstorming ways to make all of you blend in. When we get to my place, give me a bit to craft some horns, and we'll be having a look around in no time!"
"Fake horns? Well, just as long as the adhesive isn't painful to remove," Hitch commented.
"Yeah, but it's probably more important that they don't fall off," Zipp added.
"Don't worry. I'm sure I can whip something up that's friendly for everypony's coats, stays on until you want it to come off, and then get it off with enough soap and water," Izzy ensured the others.
"Well, if we're getting an early start in the morning, we should probably get some sleep," Sunny said as she finished her plate, before wiping it off and returning it to her saddlebags.
Sprout couldn't believe he was going to say this, but he was pretty sure it was about time to try a new pizza, as having this one three nights in a row was getting just a little stale.
Money wasn't usually a problem for Sprout, especially with how often he ate at his favorite pizza places in town. But after not seeing his mom at home until late at night, he found himself beginning to long for a home-cooked meal. She hadn't said anything to him after he had taken down all the sheriff posters from around town; and to be honest, he hadn't even told her that he was the one that had done the removing.
The acting sheriff didn't want to get too judgemental; he wanted to believe his mom was just preparing for the worst. He wasn't quite sure how far away Bridlewood was from here, it had been years since he had seen one of Sunny's maps, but he was pretty sure it didn't take this long to get there and back. He was happy to keep covering for Hitch for as long as he needed to, but he was pretty sure he had heard Sunny say something about a 'pegasus city' before she had left, and that could only increase the chances of something going wrong. Or, maybe nothing had gone wrong, and that had just increased the time it would take to complete this trip of theirs.
He had also honestly been wondering about Sunny, and whether she would come back at all. After her years and years of longing, she had finally met a unicorn, and he wouldn't be surprised at all if she had chosen to stay in Bridlewood, and Hitch would be coming back alone. Or perhaps Sunny would come home briefly to pack up, perhaps sell the lighthouse. He honestly couldn't imagine a scenario where she would want to stay in town. Her activism over the years had cost her her job at CanterLogic, and had made her fairly ostracized. Her smoothie cart business was staying afloat because, well, honestly because her smoothies were really, really good. But he couldn't imagine that she'd stay in town just for that.
The possibilities of Sunny leaving her hometown made him think; would she be better off out there? From what little he had heard of their conversation a few nights ago, unicorns were just as wary of pegasi and earth ponies that earth ponies were to unicorns and pegasi. Were unicorns afraid of getting snatched up by pegasi? Didn't their magic help them defend themselves from things like that? Earth ponies had a good reason to be afraid; they had never had any magic to call their own; only unicorns had magic spells, and only pegasi could fly. After all, everypony in Maretime Bay knew why the tribes lived separately now; all those eons ago when an earth pony had gotten hurt by a unicorn. Earth ponies needed to protect themselves, so they had gone as far as they possibly could, all they way to the edge of the continent.
But when Izzy had come to town, she didn't want to hurt anypony.
Maybe just like with Sunny, there were unicorns and pegasi who wanted nothing more than to meet other kinds of ponies.
Maybe she would leave Maretime Bay. Maybe she would be better off somewhere out there. But Sprout had to admit, it was quite possible that quite a few ponies in town would miss her.
"Okay, so maybe a unicorn forest isn't the most magical thing I can think of..." Hitch commented, as he and his new friends stood in front of a nearly straight treeline.
The dirt path went into the trees and grew considerably darker compared to the sunshine of the open grassy plains they currently stood on. All around on both sides of the path, staked into the ground and nailed to the trees, were signs of various designs, warning others to stay away, and more or less inform approaching equines that they were not welcome.
"Come on, my house isn't far from here!" Izzy said, singing to herself as she began trotting into the forest. After exchanging glances, the others, somewhat hesitantly, followed her in. Sunny quickly noted that these were some of the biggest trees she had ever seen, easily dwarfing the smaller forests and tree clusters on the outskirts of Maretime Bay.
Bridlewood may have looked dark and gloomy from the outside, but once they were in the thick of the trees, and their eyes had adjusted. There was something undeniably enchanting about this place. The rays of the late morning sun broke through the canopy dozens of feet above, and all manner of birds and critters in the branches sounded off, betraying the abundance of life the otherwise still forest had.
"And here we are!" Izzy announced, turning off of the main path to a two-story dwelling that had been built into a gargantuan tree. Green and red leaf vines hung from the roof and the right side of the balcony. Once up at the roof, the trunk of the tree split off into three, and strangely didn't look any worse for wear for the fact that the interior had been turned into a house.
Izzy opened the door, stepped inside, and immediately aside, ushering her new friends in.
"La villa Izzy!" The unicorn announced as the four other ponies entered and reacted to the creative flair that she had filled her house with. The first thing Sunny spotted was an odd cylinder-shaped device, with wooden spoons sticking out of it, and empty glass bottles strung up on a frame hanging above it. The cylinder was attached to a crank, and the unicorn encouraged the earth pony to give it a try. She stepped up to the crank, and began to slowly rotate it counter-clockwise. The cylinder began to rotate, and as the ends of the wooden spoons came into contact with the bottles hanging above, they formed a harmony of ten notes.
A slowly rotating chandelier and rotating-mobile combination had grabbed the attention of Zipp and Pipp, while Hitch had gravitated towards some odd contraption with macaroni art on it. The purple pasta had formed a face, and as he stepped up to it, something in back clicked, and the eyes shifted left to look at him, not too unlike a mechanical clock would.
"Did you make all this?" Zipp asked, as she followed the bird-shaped pieces hanging from the bottom of the chandelier.
"Yep!" Izzy replied. "Unicycling. Isn't it funky?" The unicorn asked excitedly.
"It is gorgeous!" Pipp complimented.
Sunny found her way up the stairs as she saw Izzy scurry to the kitchen downstairs. The earth mare came to a dresser and a large mirror, and to the left of that tucked away in the corner was a full size bed. It wasn't the furniture that drew her attention, but all the works of art. And front and center above the headboard, was a filly's artistic impression of Maretime Bay's lighthouse.
She didn't hear the hoofsteps come up the stairs, nor the approaching steps behind her, until she turned her head and saw Hitch.
"Reminds me of your room," Hitch commented.
Sunny scoffed.
"Please, I was nowhere near as creative as this," Sunny countered, looking at the other works of 'unicycled' art that adorned the walls and ceiling.
"Well no, but there was passion. You believed in what you were doing. You always have."
Sunny gave the sheriff a soft smile, before turning back to the artwork above the bed.
"All these years she wanted to see Maretime Bay, and that was the welcome we gave her. What do you think the chances are of other earth ponies coming around? A second chance? A real second chance, Hitch," Sunny asked.
Hitch thought for a moment before replying, watching as Sunny continued to look at the art thoughtfully.
"I can't speak for the rest of Maretime Bay, Sunny. But after just a couple days out here with everypony, I can say that I'm starting to come around. But you were right; CanterLogic's profits count on keeping everypony in town 'scared and prepared', for something that can't possibly be a threat. I don't have any answers on how to confront that yet, but it will have to be confronted, if there's going to be real change. Not just in Maretime Bay, either. With how we had to sneak around Zephyr Heights, and with how Izzy's down there pondering up a way for us to blend in, I'd say all three tribes have some adjustments to make, if this does work."
"Even if it doesn't Hitch... Yeah I was excited to have friends who could fly and levitate things, but that's not the heart of it. I just wanted friends. Togetherness. To me, friendship is the real magic, Hitch. If these crystals do end up being a dead end... I'm sorry, I don't want to think about all of us going our separate ways. I won't go back to the way things were. Not with what I've experienced these past few days. But Pipp is right, going all in on these crystals without a backup plan is foolish. We need to know what we'll do if they don't work."
Hitch heard the concern and worry in her voice, and decided to humor her, and not try to play down her fears.
"Well, I guess you have three options. All of us going to Maretime Bay, Zephyr Heights, or here in Bridlewood. I was going to say four, but I doubt the five of us could go off and start our own little village. Zephyr Heights may be the best bet, because I'm not sure if that city is willing to let go of their royal sisters anymore than Maretime Bay is willing to let go of their hysterics. I can't really speak for Bridlewood yet, but I imagine we'll be finding out more about that in a bit."
They heard a tea kettle begin to whistle from downstairs.
"Hey, Hitch, Sunny!" Zipp called. "Get down here, Izzy has something she wants to show us!"
The pair of earth ponies turned and trotted down the stairs, coming to the center of the room just in time to see Izzy come out of the kitchen with a giant flower. On wheels.
"I've never gotten to use it with actual friends!" Izzy exclaimed, as she brought the contraption to a halt around the other four. She tapped it on the side, and the 'petals' blossomed outward, transforming into a six-pointed table, with a steaming kettle in the middle. The teacups were of various patterns and types, from ceramic to plastic and from cup to urn to mug, but each of them had stayed firmly attached to its place on the petal as it unfurled, defying gravity, and while Izzy picked up the kettle and poured hot water into each cup, Sunny discovered upon picking it up that each was held lightly in place by a magnet glued to the bottom.
"To new friends!" Izzy said, raising her cup after dipping in one of the teabags that had been resting in the middle next to the kettle. They all raised their glasses, met in the middle with a series of clinks, before drawing them back and taking sips of the delicious tea.
"Alright, so!" Izzy began, after finishing her tea in just a few sips and returning her cup to its place on her table.
"Unicorns are very superstitious. If a pony ever says a forbidden word, we have to do a ritual to ward off the jinxies," Izzy explained, as her other four friends were looking on at a group of colts and fillies dancing in a circle, singing 'bing bong, bing bong'.
"Jinxies?" Pipp asked.
"Bad luck," the unicorn answered.
"Forbidden words?" Hitch asked.
"Magic, wing, feather... Oh, and mayonnaise," Izzy replied. Perhaps explaining things didn't bring on the 'jinxies', because she didn't do any sort of dancing or chanting when she said them.
"What's wrong with mayo—"
"Ah-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da..." Izzy interrupted, rushing over to cover the stallion's mouth with her hoof before the word could be finished. Hitch hadn't seen the pale blue, purple-maned unicorn right behind him. When he went on his way, Izzy lowered her hoof.
"Bridlewood had a lice infestation a few years back, and the methods we resorted to in order to get rid of them were... Shall we say, extreme," Izzy explained. "Alright, it's not too much further, everypony."
Her four pegasus and earth pony friends were now decked out with rather convincing 'horns', allowing them to blend in with the rest of the populace. Sunny's and Hitch's were a sparkly mix of green, blue, and purple, Zipp's had streaks of cyan and hot pink that matched her mane, and Pipp's was almost entirely gold and sparkly, going quite well with her tiara. With a bit of coat-friendly adhesive, each of them was quite secure, the bottoms buried in their manes, looking like real horns even if somepony got a closer look. And clearly, not a single unicorn could perform any magic, so there would be absolutely nothing to prove.
They were coming up on a quite gargantuan tree, with a structure built into the hill underneath. The front wall and double doors were built just behind the roots, and red leafy vines nearly covered the entire surface.
"The Crystal Tea Room?" Sunny asked after reading the sign, in the shape of a tea kettle.
"One of the regulars here collects crystals. Maybe he could help us!" Izzy told them.
Sunny certainly hoped so. Zephyr Heights had been easy because the pegasus crystal was the centerpiece of the royal crown. So far, Bridlewood was considerably more... Simple.
They came up to the front doors, which were made of stained glass, and Izzy pulled the door open and ushered her friends inside.
When the doors closed behind them, the atmosphere was considerably darker than it was outside in the canopy-covered forest. The floor was tiled mosaic-style in grey stones. Each table was made of cobblestone and topped with a rounded piece of wood, and painted in various patterns. Red and yellow ball lights were strung up on the ceiling all throughout the seating area.
As they silently followed Izzy through the dining area as the unicorn looked for the crystal collector, Sunny noticed more of what she had on the walk through town; these unicorns couldn't really be any more lifeless. There was a beat poet up on stage, and the patrons were barely paying her any attention; even the poet herself sounded as if she was just going through the motions.
Sunny simply couldn't imagine growing up in surroundings like this, and suddenly, Izzy living so far out on the edge of the forest made a little bit more sense to her.
"Psst," Izzy whispered to her. Sunny turned to her friend, and the unicorn nodded her head towards a table to their left. There at the table, with a ceramic teapot and cup, sat a light brown unicorn, looking as positively bored as the rest of the tea room's occupants. "That's the pony I was talking about."
"Hey, Ruby, how've you been? I've got somepony here that may be interested in one of your crystals," Izzy told the stallion as she and Sunny came around to the other side of his table.
"Word in the forest is you're quite the crystal collector," Sunny told him, taking a seat across from him. He wore a red beret atop his curly, dark brown mane.
"Yes, I am. Well, I mean I was. I lost'em all, in a limbo contest with... Alphabittle!" Ruby exclaimed sorrowfully.
"Oh no..." Izzy commented.
"Who's Alphabittle?" Sunny asked.
Just then, a bell over by the center bar counter rung out several times.
"Time's up! Pass it over, Jasper," they heard another stallion's voice say.
Ruby nodded over to the bar, and Sunny got up to get a closer look. She saw a light brown unicorn give a two by two cube puzzle to a towering light grey unicorn, who gave one quick look at it, then with seven very rapid rotations, he aligned the colored tiles, and triumphantly set it down on the bar top.
"Guess that makes me the winner. Again. Pay up," the barkeep commanded.
Jasper rolled his eyes, and reached down to under his stool.
"Ugh, fine," he moaned, picking up a snow-covered tree ornament and set it on the counter, before getting up from his seat and walking away.
"You could always try winnin' it back," Alphabittle enticed. Jasper wasn't having any of it, and merely returned to an empty table in the dining room. "Alright, suit yourself."
With that, Alphabittle picked up the ornament, turned and set it down on the shelf behind him, filled with countless other trinkets, before walking over to grab a clean rag and began wiping down the bar top.
Sunny immediately spotted the stunning pointed sapphire crystal on the top shelf, resting in a candle holder.
"There it is!" Sunny said to Izzy. "I've got an idea. Maybe I can beat Alphabittle at his own game," Sunny said.
Izzy's expression shifted for the first time since stepping in here, going to something akin to uncertainty.
"Wait, Alphabittle can smell fear," she warned.
"Got it," Sunny replied. "Okay, be cool," she told herself as she began stepping towards the bar. She took a seat where Jasper had just gotten up from, and put her front hooves on the bar.
"Tea," she asked, not even making eye contact with the white-maned unicorn.
Alphabittle glanced down at one of the pair of armadillos keeping him company behind the bar, and nodded at him. One of them quickly went over to the teapot, bigger than they were, and poured a serving of tea into a stone cup, sliding it over to where Sunny was seated, while the other one pushed a ceramic creamer towards the cup. Before he could pour any in, however, she placed her right hoof over the top of her cup.
"Hold the milk. Quite the game player, I see," Sunny told the unicorn.
"It passes the time," Alphabittle replied. "Why, do you play?" He grinned at the orange mare, sensing another mark had just taken a seat.
"I don't play," Sunny replied, finally turning her eyes to make contact with the unicorn. "I win."
"Is that so?" Alphabittle asked, stopping his counter-cleaning as he leaned in towards Sunny.
"Yeah. It is. And I challenge you, for that."
Sunny pointed up to the unicorn crystal on the top shelf. Alphabittle turned to see what she had selected, before turning to smirk at his newest challenger.
"You think you can beat me?"
"Only one way to find out."
"Big talk for a little pony."
"I think you'll find I'm average height."
Silence hung over the bar for several seconds.
"Tick tock. What d'ya say?" Sunny asked.
"Whatever you're bettin', it better be special," Alphabittle told her.
Giving him one last smirk, Sunny reached into her saddlebags without even looking, and set the pegasus crystal down on the bar top.
"Special enough for ya?"
Her four friends behind her all gave nearly simultaneous gasps as their eyes widened.
As Alphabittle's eyes also widened, before he could give his answer, Sunny heard Izzy nervously laugh as she was pulled off of her seat over into a huddle.
"Um, hehe, what are you doing?" Zipp asked.
"Don't worry, I could solve that cube puzzle in my sleep."
"But if he wins we'll lose both crystals," Pipp countered.
"We won't, and they're not gonna do anything separated on their own. Trust me."
"Hey, Izzy. If your friend is finished stalling, do we have a deal?" Alphabittle called from the other side of the bar.
Sunny turned back towards the unicorn and stepped up to the bar again.
"Deal. Now give me that cube," Sunny told him.
Just as one of the armadillos was coming over with the still-solved cube puzzle on his back, Alphabittle snatched it away.
"No no no no no. A special prize, calls for a special competition," the barkeep declared, tossing the cube aside. "Bring forth, the ultimate challenge!" Alphabittle bellowed.
Now it was Sunny's turn to join in on her friends' uncertainty.
Sunny looked to the left, and saw what had to be one of the most technologically advanced devices she had seen in Bridlewood so far.
A pair of large speakers were built into the bottom. On top of that was a wooden panel with a rotating wheel built in to the middle. On top of that was a carved and painted sign panel, with the words 'JUST PRANCE' written below a likeness of Alphabittle with sunglasses, which did absolutely nothing to keep his ego in check. In front of the machine, on the floor, were two large panels with nine tiles each, with different colored horseshoes on each tile.
"A dancing game... Seriously?" Sunny asked, raising an eyebrow as she and Alphabittle started walking towards the machine. He placed the unicorn crystal, wire stand included on the table behind the left side, and Sunny did the same with the pegasus crystal, trying to keep her mind from racing as a crowd of unicorns began to gather around them and the arcade machine.
"Both ponies agree, best out of three," she heard the beat poet say into the microphone.
'Alright,' Sunny thought to herself. 'I'm guessing I have to hit the tiles as they rotate on the panel up front.
"Let's make this more interesting," Alphabittle told her as they stepped up onto the platforms. "You only need to win one out of three."
With that, he pressed a button on the machine, and a song began to play. Sunny heard an upbeat song begin to play The hoof symbols on the center display began to rotate.
I got some news for ya, Some feels, they be good for ya You know we be getting those good times Whoops there's a camera
As soon as the twin rotaries locked in, Alphabittle did a short jump up, and placed all four hooves on the respective tiles, while Sunny had to do several double takes as she got her hooves placed correctly, and didn't manage to do so before the rotaries began spinning again as the song continued.
Jump on the weekend Don't let your jam end You can count on your best frie...
The song quickly slowed to a stop as a bell chimed out, and Sunny saw that the scoring meter on Alphabittle's side had already risen to the top.
"Yeah! That's how ya do it!" Alphabittle exclaimed in victory. None of the unicorns in attendance seemed particularly enthused.
"It hasn't even been twenty seconds, and you haven't told me how to play!" Sunny objected, glancing back at her friends.
"I-It's okay. You're just warming up!" Izzy encouraged as best she could.
"What can you do? Round two," the beat poet announced.
Sunny turned back to Alphabittle, who was smirking down at her.
"You tap on the corresponding tiles to the beat, either horizontal or vertical patterns. Different combinations equal more points. The worse you do, the higher my meter climbs, and vice versa. Don't worry, I'll make this quick," he gloated.
"Focus," Sunny told herself as Alphabittle pressed the button again to restart the song, and the pair of ponies began to dance on the platforms to the beat.
Hitch glanced over at Zipp, who shared his look of concern; Sunny was getting the hang of it at an impressive pace, but the bartender was still dancing circles around her. Izzy was equally concerned, but Pipp's gaze was unquestioningly glued to the arcade machine.
Show me the moves you got DJ dropping them beats real hot And I'm liking it a lot It's the party the world forgot
The song stopped once again as Alphabittle's meter topped out.
"Yeah! Hey, critters, get my crystal polish ready, would ya?" Alphabittle asked, smirking again at Sunny.
"Round three, who will it be?" announced the poet at the microphone.
Sunny groaned half-heartedly.
"Here goes nothing..." She muttered worriedly as Alphabittle stepped forward to press the button again.
"Okay, time out!"
The pair of unicorns turned to the source of the voice; Pipp Petals stepped forward.
"Sunny. Tag out?" She asked, offering her her right hoof.
The earth pony's expression began to shift to something akin to relief, when Alphabittle cleared his throat.
"Whoa, not so fast. You don't think this actually works that way, do you?" He asked.
"Maybe, maybe not. It's not like you're giving your audience any kind of show here," Pipp said, motioning to the positively dull-looking unicorns surrounding the arcade machine. "So do you want to crush my friend here in a solidly boring three-and-oh, or do you want to raise the stakes?"
Now Pipp had Alphabittle's attention.
"I'm listening..." the unicorn answered.
"Let me take her place for the final round, and we'll go double or nothing," Pipp said.
Alphabittle smirked confidently.
"And just what do you have to double it?" the bartender asked.
Taking care not to bump the horn glued to her coat, Pipp reached up and removed her gold tiara, with the shimmering emerald embedded below the ribbon.
"Tick tock," Pipp said.
"Pipp, you don't have to..." Sunny said.
Pipp shook her head.
"We're in this together, Sunny," Pipp reassured her, continuing to hold her tiara up as Alphabittle inspected it as she awaited his answer.
"Deal. One more round. Tell your friend to step back."
Sunny did so, stepping off of the platform as Pipp stepped up onto the right platform and handed her tiara to Sunny, who took it over to the table on their side, and set it next to the holder that contained the pegasus crystal. She glanced over at Zipp, who looked positively shocked at her sister's gesture.
"Feel the rhythm take you over..." Pipp told herself.
Sunny stepped back to stand with her friends as Alphabittle pressed the button to start the song again and stepped back to the left platform.
When the spinning horseshoes landed on their first set of four colors, the unicorn and pegasus moved almost as one, coming down on their tiles at the same time. Alphabittle was clearly caught off guard at the unquestionable improvement of his new opponent.
Pipp's score meter ticked up, matching Alphabittle's inch for inch as the song continued. Zipp spotted Alphabittle's gaze shooting over to look over at Pipp's meter, and knew his concentration was broken.
I don't think that I can take much more I'm bout to lose my mind But then I'm slip n sliding on the floor I think my dreams came true and...
It's alright alright alright right right It's alright Lock the door, swallow the key... it's alright to party
Pipp's friends knew if she kept it up, they had this one on lock.
The bell chimed again, and this time, the victory flag popped out on the right side, signalling Pipp as the winner.
"We won... We won!" Sunny cheered.
Cheers erupted from all of her friends as Pipp jumped up, overjoyed. Sunny rushed up and threw her front hooves around her. Even the unicorns watching found the outcome unexpected and exciting.
"Alright," Pipp said, pulling away from Sunny and turning back to the stunned Alphabittle. "A deal is a deal. Pay up."
The unicorn eyed her suspiciously, but stepped aside, motioning to the table containing the unicorn crystal.
"I am a pony of my word," Alphabittle said, his tone defeated. "It's all yours."
Pipp stepped forward and took the crystal from its holder, giving it over to Sunny, and then went over to the other table and took her tiara back while Sunny put both crystals in her saddlebags as the spectators began to disperse.
"Let's go, everypony," Sunny said.
Alphabittle, who had returned over to the bar, watched the group of five exit the crystal tea room, before going over to the beat poet, still at the mic with her drummer companion.
"Say, Onyx, you've got a pretty good memory. Other than Izzy, have you seen any of those four around the forest before...?"
By the time Sunny and her friends had returned to Izzy's cottage with both crystals, they had managed to wrap up singing praises about Pipp's miraculous performance on Alphabittle's dancing game and coming away with the victory.
"Too bad we didn't get that on livestream, eh sis?" Zipp said, nudging her sibling as they entered back into the unicorn's tree house.
"It definitely proves one thing; Zephyr Heights has an absolutely criminal shortage of dancing games," Pipp replied.
Sunny removed her saddlebags as she sat down and leaned against the wall next to one of Izzy's painted wooden end tables. She reached into the left bag and pulled out both crystals, setting them down on the wood surface separately as the others gathered around.
"So do we just... Put them together?" Izzy asked.
Sunny took a deep breath, then reached a hoof up to gently slide the unicorn crystal down into the 'wings' of the pegasus crystal. They fit perfectly like two puzzle pieces.
But absolutely nothing happened after that.
"Is something supposed to happen?" Pipp asked.
"Yeah, my horn doesn't feel any more magical," Izzy added, gently poking at her horn. Even Zipp unbuckled the decorative saddle that Izzy had made to conceal her wings, letting it drop to the floor before giving her wings a few test flaps, finding herself just as grounded as before.
"Well, I think that means that Hitch's theory is probably the best one to go off of," Sunny said, trying her best to hide the disappointment in her voice.
"What theory?" Zipp asked.
"While you were up in the castle, we were down in that station, discussing what these crystals could possibly do. That broken center window? The one that we climbed out of to get out of Zephyr Heights? That could have depicted an Earth Pony crystal, if there is one."
"Well, I spent quite a bit down in that station. I've never found any traces of that window, or what may have been on it, but... It makes sense," Zipp said, fluttering her wings again. "Three pony kinds, three windows, three crystals. Unity."
"But, where do we even start to look for it?" Pipp asked.
Sunny was about to answer when she saw the wide-eyed expression on Hitch's face as he looked back at her. He slowly raised a hoof, and pointed to the window behind her. Sunny turned to look, and shot up to her hooves with a short scream, as she was startled by Alphabittle who was now peering into the interior of Izzy's cottage, and had an all-too-clear look at Zipp's exposed wings.
"I had a pretty good feeling something was up," his muffled accusation came through the window, before he trotted to the left over to the front door. It opened long before Izzy could get there to lock it, and he barged in.
"Izzy Moonbow, what have you done? I told you it was a bad idea to leave Bridlewood, and now you've brought... Pegasi into the forest!" Alphabittle said, pointing at Zipp and Pipp, before looking over at Sunny and Hitch. "I've never seen these two around before, so I'm guessing they must be earth ponies!"
"Yes, we are," Hitch said, him and Sunny stepping up to stand defensively between Izzy and the intruding, towering unicorn, with the two pegasi siblings quickly following suit.
But with or without the four-pony barricade, Izzy was undeterred.
"Alphabittle, do these earth ponies smell? No. You're close enough to realize that yourself. And these pegasus sisters? They haven't taken an ounce of sparkle, either. And I can see sparkle, Alphabittle. Sunny's is lavender, Hitch's is silver, Zipp's is a really cool glow-y hot pink, and Pipp's is aquamarine! I left because I wanted to see Maretime Bay. Did it go exactly how I thought it would? No. Not by a long shot. But I got what I went there to get. I got my first friend, and that quickly turned into three more friends."
The lilac unicorn took a breath.
"Alphabittle, everything we know about the other tribes is wrong."
"Then what do you want with my crystal?" Alphabittle asked, only slightly softened by Izzy's speech.
Sunny took a step forward.
"We know that nopony has magic. The pegasi can't fly, and unicorns can't use their horns," Sunny told him.
"Um, I still say I could have chiseled down that tree," Izzy interjected.
"My point is, nopony knows what happened to Equestria's magic. We're trying to figure out how to bring it back."
Sunny stepped over to the table where the crystals rested, and picked them up, coming back over to the hulking unicorn stallion.
"See? See how perfectly they go together? The crystals are meant to be united. Just like the tribes are. It was something my dad believed in, and it's something I believe in; and it's a belief that has brought me four amazing friends from across Equestria in just a matter of days."
The stallion looked down at the crystals the earth mare held, and saw that she was correct; the crystal that was part of his collection barely an hour ago was perfectly nestled into the two sides of the crystal that she had put up as collateral for the dancing challenge.
"How about it, Alphabittle?" Izzy asked. "Couldn't you just imagine a Bridlewood without jinxies? A Bridlewood full of magic?"
Alphabittle looked across at Izzy's companions standing between him and her, then back to Sunny.
"You really think you're not wasting your time? That combining some crystals together is going to bring back magic for everypony?" He asked her, looking her in the eyes.
"I think we're ready to try," Sunny replied, matching his leer, even more confidently as she had at the bar.
"Then I sincerely hope you find the answer. Because if you don't, please be courteous, mind the warning signs, and keep out."
With that, Alphabittle turned on his hooves, and left through the open front door before kicking it shut, heading back deeper into the forest.
Sunny let out an exasperated sigh.
"We say we're trying to bring magic back, and that's still how he treats us," she mused, turning back to her friends, going back to the table to return the crystals to her saddlebags.
"Sunny, I think a lot of ponies are going to be stuck in their ways until we prove otherwise; until we prove ourselves right," Hitch offered. "So what's the next step? You said if there was an earth pony crystal, that your dad would have known something about it?"
Sunny took another breath as she closed the flap on her saddlebags, then turned back to her friends, who were all looking to her.
"I've spent months and months going through all the research my dad has stacked up over the years, and there are still stacks more. But yeah, I think you're right; if there's any mention of an earth pony crystal, it'd be somewhere there. So that's where we'll go next. Back to Maretime Bay."
"You don't think we'll cause another game of hide and seek, do you?" Izzy asked.
"Eh, I think the lighthouse is far enough outside of town that we can probably slip in unnoticed," Hitch offered.
"Then it's settled," Zipp said confidently. "To Maretime Bay."
Sprout Cloverleaf had eaten enough personal pizzas alone, and gotten off of his shift just to come to an empty house that his curiosity was now ready to get the better of him.
Leaning back slightly in his chair, he kicked off his desk with his back hooves, rolling his chair back to nearly collide with the wall, before getting up, and grabbing his saddlebags and keys, giving the last set of paperwork for the day one last check before slipping it into the filing cabinet, and with that his desk was neatly organized and ready for tomorrow.
He hoped Hitch would be proud of him for holding down the fort for the past couple days. This was the first time he had gone solo with this job, and he liked to think he had done an okay job. To be fair, nothing of any major consequence had happened, outside of that unicorn's appearance, followed by his mom's attempt at trying to convince the populace to vote him in as Hitch's replacement.
Sprout hoped he would be back soon, in case she got that idea in her head again. Luckily, she hadn't, but if all of her flyers around town going missing wasn't enough to pull her attention away from Canterlogic, it made him even more curious about what she could possibly be working on pretty much around the clock, and was keeping her out late and leaving early before he even got up... If she was even coming home. He knew Canterlogic had bunks for employees that just couldn't get far from whatever projects they were working on. Maybe she figured he'd be busy enough running things at the sheriff's department that she wouldn't really be missed at home.
To be fair, that was sort of accurate.
He walked east further into town, finding the earth ponies of Maretime Bay on their evening strolls, or having dinner at the various restaurants that downtown offered.
Canterlogic's main concourse was even harder to miss at night, as it was easily the brightest section of town; it would likely even beat out the lighthouse, if it were still in service. The second shift would have likely gone clocked out by now, evidenced by several of the patrons at restaurants he passed by wearing Canterlogic uniforms. The third shift was the smallest, but Canterlogic effectively ran 24 hours a day, especially during production runs, and with the increase in purchases of Anti-Mind-Reading Caps and Anti-Pegasus Periscopes, they would probably have plenty to keep them busy this week. But they certainly didn't need his mom there working copious amounts of overtime for something as simple as a little increased production.
The street lamps led the way to the ever-brighter factory on top of Maretime Bay's largest hill. He went up the slightly wavy ramp of the stone-tiled walkway to the front doors of the factory, and trotted right into admissions, after merely waving his all-access pass in front of the badge reader; compliments of his mom.
Sweets was working the late-night shift at the receptionist's desk.
"Good evening, Sprout. Looking for your mom? I think she's actually gone home for the night," she greeted.
"Well, that'd be the earliest clock-out this week. Just what has she been working on?" Sprout asked, putting his front hooves up and leaned on the desk.
"Now Sprout, what kind of employee would I be if I just blabbed about in-progress products?" Sweets asked.
Sprout slowly raised an eyebrow at her. Nah, she wasn't going to get off that easily.
"Okay, so in that case," Sprout began, setting his front hooves on the floor before digging into his saddlebag. "On what authority should I be admitted downstairs? By the Maretime Bay Sheriff's Department?" He asked, sliding the silver star badge onto the receptionist's desk. "Or... By the authority of a Canterlogic Level 3 All-Access Badge?" He finished, setting the lanyard-attached card his mom had given him years ago onto the desk right next to the law enforcement badge.
Knowing that either one would get him wherever he wanted to go in the factory, not to mention that he was the owner's son, Sweets relented.
"She's been downstairs in R&D most of the time, take a look for yourself. Just keep out of the way if you can, Sprout. Toots is running the night shift tonight."
With a satisfied smirk, Sprout returned the lanyard to his neck and the deputy's badge to his bandolier.
"Thank you kindly, Sweets," he finished, before continuing out of Admissions and towards the elevators. Most went upstairs to factory lines and offices. One single tube elevator went down to the basement. Stepping on board, he hit the button to start his descent. The ride down was slow and steady, and the tinted glass gave everything a green hue. After about a half minute, the sense of descent on his stomach slowed, and the lift came to a stop, before the glass doors slid open, revealing Research and Development. There were about a half-dozen ponies working on various tasks dotted around the room, around a third of the number that would be here during the day. Toots was up on the central platform, slightly elevated above the rest of the floor, and he had seen the elevator come down.
"Oh, Sprout! Good evening. I wasn't expecting you down here tonight. If you're looking for your mom, I think she's gone for the evening," he said to the deputy.
"Yeah, that's what Sweets told me upstairs. Just thought I'd come down here to see what's kept her here so long for so many days. Every single one of my dinners this week has been a solo affair. What have you all been up to down here?" Sprout asked.
"Now I'm not at liberty to say what work we have in progress down he—"
Sprout, who had been anticipating the same corpo-speak answer that Sweets had given him a few moments ago, had already begun to reach into his saddlebags and pull out the all-access pass, and it stopped Toots mid-sentence.
"Alright, have a look if you like, but don't expect me to try to convince your mom if she wants to revoke that. I don't think this was ready to be revealed yet," Toots warned, stepping aside as Sprout stepped up on the platform and approached whatever gargantuan piece of equipment was behind the opaque plastic curtains. He found where the split was in two curtains hanging from the bars above, and parted them with his right hoof, peeking inside.
His eyes immediately widened at what he saw.
Taking up much of the space on the platform was a large vehicle. It could almost pass as a large robotic pony. The locomotion was provided by two continuous tracks, minimizing the terrain that would be able to slow or stop the vehicle. The driver's canopy was up in the head, with the 'eyes' making up the windshield. What was no doubt the most ridiculous part of the whole thing was that it clearly resembled his mom. He had to truly resist slamming his face into his hooves when he saw the vanity plate on the front bumper.
'ROVERLEAF'
"Toots..." Sprout began, pulling his head back from the curtain and turning towards Canterlogic's Operations Manager. "Just what in Equestria does she think something like this is going to be needed for?" He asked, trying to keep the incredulous tone to a minimum.
"Emergency defense," Toots replied. "She said we couldn't take any chances on what Hitch and Sunny could bring back to Maretime Bay."
Sprout took another look through the curtain at the absolute insanity that sat on the construction platform. Unicorn traps and anti-telepathy caps were one thing, but this... This was overkill. It was as if she was expecting Hitch and Sunny to come back with an army of pegasi and unicorns behind them.
Shaking his head in disbelief, Sprout merely turned around and headed back to the lift in silence, riding it up to the first floor and promptly leaving the building, knowing that no amount of sleep was going to set his mind at ease knowing what he now knew:
The high noon sun wasn't terribly unbearable due to the frequent cloud cover, as well as the considerable breeze. As Sunny and her group of friends continued over the hills towards the coast, the earth mare was continually having to fight back worries that these crystals weren't going to do much of anything. The friends she had made these past few days had been amazing, but she knew it was more than making friends; she was doing this to prove that all of ponykind could live in harmony together. She hadn't pestered her friends with these concerns, but she knew that they would need some kind of plan if and when these crystals came together, and nothing happened.
She was already getting ahead of herself; there was absolutely no telling if the Earth Pony crystal was anywhere near Maretime Bay. This could be just another stop before they headed out again. They were betting everything on the whereabouts of it being somewhere in her dad's research.
The group didn't get very far after leaving Bridlewood before they had to stop and make camp for the night, but luckily, it was less than half the distance than it had been from Maretime Bay to Zephyr Heights, and from Zephyr Heights to Bridlewood. If they kept this pace, they'd get back to the lighthouse in the early afternoon.
"You think we'll attract much attention coming into your town?" Zipp asked Sunny and Hitch.
"If we don't do it like Izzy, probably not," Hitch commented.
"What did she do?" Pipp asked.
"Pretty much waltzed right into the middle of downtown and caused a panic," Sunny said, smirking.
"Well, how was I supposed to know that was going to happen?" Izzy countered, nudging her friend playfully.
"In all seriousness," Hitch began. "Sunny's lighthouse is on the very edge of town, on the coast. We should be able to see it over the next few hills, in fact. The only way they'd see us coming is if they're actively looking for us, because we'd stick out pretty well; the trees clear out considerably a good mile before the coastline."
"You think they'd be actively looking for us?" Zipp asked.
"That's honestly my biggest concern right now, yeah. One unicorn threw the populace into a panic. Now throw in two pegasi into the mix? Here's hoping that Sprout has managed to keep everypony calm," Hitch answered.
"You really think he's done a good job?" Sunny asked.
"I've known Sprout as long as you have, Sunny. I know that when he's confident, he does good work and keeps a good head. So that's what I did before I left; told him to be a beacon of calm, and maintain the peace," Hitch said.
"Did you remind him to not start a war?" Sunny asked.
"See, now that would have sapped his confidence. I just reminded him of his positives, kept his mind away from his flaws," Hitch replied.
"Is that the factory you told us about?" Pipp asked, motioning to the rooftop of a building they could see just over the top of a hill to the right in the distance.
"Yup, that's CanterLogic. By far the biggest employer in town," Hitch told her.
As the group got closer to the northeast edge of town, a dirt path became clearer, and after the next hill, they saw the lighthouse on the coast.
"Home sweet home..." Sunny commented, seeing her dwelling for the first time in nearly a week.
"There enough room for all of us in there?" Zipp asked.
"Plenty," Sunny answered. "There's a spare bedroom, there's the couch, and we've got our sleeping bags and plenty of space on the floor."
"So I'm guessing there's no chance we could take a look around town?" Pipp asked.
"Probably not the best idea," Hitch said. "Izzy caused quite the panic. We should look through Argyle's research, and try and find the third crystal as soon as possible... And hope it works."
"And if it doesn't?" Zipp asked as they crested the next hill, with the path leading down to the lighthouse, with an old 'Welcome To Maretime Bay' sign off to the side.
Sunny didn't answer the pegasus' question, but was halfway glad that she wasn't the only one beginning to wonder what the next step would be if these crystals didn't end up doing anything. The ponies came up to the front door, Sunny reached into her saddlebags to pull out her key, slid it into the lock, and opened the door, ushering her new friends inside.
"Come on in," Sunny said, stepping off the welcome mat to the side, letting the two pegasi, unicorn, and earth pony into the house proper. Hitch and Izzy were already familiar with the layout, but Pipp and Zipp took a few moments to take in their surroundings.
"Looks comfy," Pipp commented.
"Once I dig out all of my dad's research, I can put some lunch together. Hope you like hayburgers and smoothies!"
Sweets trotted up the main concrete path towards the CanterLogic concourse. Quickly scanning her ID badge at the front doors, she went inside and immediately headed for the elevators, going down to the basement. Once the lift touched down, she stepped out onto the Research and Development main floor, and approached the elevated platform where her boss' project was nearing completion.
"Excuse me, Miss Cloverleaf?" She asked, stepping around a worker who was pushing a cart of tools across the room.
Phyllis Cloverleaf leaned out of the door of the 'cockpit' of the large vehicle.
"Yes, Sweets?" She asked, holding a clipboard in her left hoof.
"You told me to keep an eye on Sunny's lighthouse? Well, I think she and Hitch are back, and not just the two of them. It definitely looked like four or five ponies went into the lighthouse."
"I knew Sunny wouldn't just see that unicorn home. She's never set her activism aside like that; after all, that's how she got fired from here," Phyllis commented.
"What should we do, ma'am?" Sweets asked.
"Nothing, yet. As long as they stay up there in the lighthouse. This should be done by tonight, then we'll get to the bottom of this."
"Well, one thing's for sure, Sunny. It's easy to see why your smoothie cart is such a success," Zipp said, taking another gulp of her Strawberry Kiwi Delight smoothie, with a crispy, crunchy hayburger with a pretzel bun sat half eaten on a plate next to it.
"Hitch's hayburgers aren't that bad either. This pretzel bun is going to go right to the flanks, I'm telling you," Pipp agreed, taking another eager bite of her burger.
This 'lunch' could very easily be considered a somewhat early dinner, as after they had dug out Argyle Starshine's twenty or so boxes of documents and research on Ancient Equestria, it was already approaching 4:00 in the afternoon, and the sun would be setting within the next few hours.
"Alright," Hitch began, as he was the first to clean his plate and his smoothie. "I promise I'm not trying to get out of going through your dad's documents, but I do think it would be a good idea to go check on Sprout, see how he's been holding up while we've been gone gallivanting around Equestria."
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," Sunny agreed as she continued eating.
Once the food was eaten and the dishes were done, everypony except Hitch gathered around the boxes and boxes of Argyle's research, while the sheriff left through the front door and began trotting down the hill towards Maretime Bay proper.
"It might be a good opportunity to restock on supplies," Sunny told the others as she opened the first box, passing out the binders, journals, and file folders that the archaeologist had gathered over the course of his career. "In case this earth pony crystal is nowhere close by."
"Well, as long as we can get a little bit of relaxation squeezed in there somewhere," Zipp commented. "It feels like we've been on the move non-stop for the past three days."
With his appetite sated for now, Hitch casually trotted down the coastal street of town. He expected a little more in the way of crowds for this time of day, as ponies were getting out of work, and either heading home or out to dinner, or to a movie with family and friends. But aside from not quite as many Maretimers out and about, things looked relatively peaceful and orderly.
"So, Deputy," Hitch said to himself as his hooves clacked down the road. "You actually managed to do it."
The stallion came up to the Maretime Bay Police Department, and saw that the light was on, so Sprout had followed protocol there too. Hopefully he hadn't left it on while he went to go get an early dinner. Pizza delivery to the department was free, after all. The sheriff walked up to the double doors, and pushed them open gently, the drawn shades flapping gently against the windows. He looked over, and saw Sprout sitting at his desk to the left.
The red stallion's eyes widened, and a look of... Relief...? Seemed to wash over the deputy's face for a second.
"Hitch... You're back..." Sprout said, pushing back off of the desk and leaning into his chair.
Hitch took a quick look around the office, and saw that pretty much everything was as he had left it, if not actually a little bit cleaner.
"Wow, Deputy. I'm impressed. You've really turned over a new leaf. We might have to talk about a raise," Hitch complimented, turning back to his friend after his quick, glancing inspection of the surroundings.
Sprout's expression didn't change, and he didn't even crack a smile at the thought of more bits in his pockets.
Then Hitch noticed the bottle of apple whiskey on the desk next to the open pizza box containing all but a quarter of a supreme pizza. The sheriff took in the details carefully and quickly; he remembered giving Sprout that bottle of whiskey for his 21st birthday last year, and to his knowledge, his deputy had stashed it in the bottom drawer and had never opened it. The cork had been popped now, though, but it looked like not even an inch of the contents had been poured into the tumbler glass with two ice cubes in it.
The pizza in the open box was hardly steaming hot, and the only reason Sprout's mane wasn't frazzled was because he had always been so meticulous about keeping it styled. Everything else about his features told Hitch that his friend wasn't anywhere close to drunk, but he had lost his appetite, and was clearly stressed and worried beyond belief about something.
"Deputy? Is everything okay? Things haven't been that crazy while we've been gone, have they?" Hitch asked, chuckling softly to try and lighten the mood. When his lighthearted tone did nothing to soften Sprout's features, he knew something was wrong, and it was likely serious.
"Sprout? What's wrong?"
Sprout took a sip of the apple bourbon and swallowed before returning his worried gaze to the sheriff.
"Hitch... Did you bring Sunny back with you?" he asked.
"Yeah, Sunny's at the lighthouse."
"Anypony else?"
"As a matter of fact, yeah, we did. The unicorn, Izzy, came back with us, and a couple of royal pegasus sisters from Zephyr Heights, Zipp and Pipp. I know it sounds crazy, Sprout, but things out there aren't what we've been led to believe all these years. The history books are all wrong."
Hitch saw his deputy visibly shudder.
"That's all the excuse she'll need..." he said in a half-whisper, his gaze falling to the calendar on his desk.
"Deputy, what's going on?" Hitch asked, a bit more sternly this time.
Sprout's eyes met Hitch's.
"Things are getting out of control, Hitch, and I don't know if I can stop it."
"What are you talking about? Things look fine out there. I mean, sure the dinner rush could be a little busier, but it's a slow evening. What's the matter?"
"CanterLogic is going on, Hitch, and I don't know what to do. Help me, Hitch. Help me talk some sense into her... Please."
Sprout closed the doors of the sheriff's station behind him, and made sure they were locked, taking a deep breath before turning around and heading down the street at a full gallop. There were some Maretimers on the roads tonight, but not nearly as much as there usually were, and that made his concern skyrocket. Right now, the one thing he wanted to do was to follow Hitch's instructions.
'Get to Sunny, tell her to get her friends out of the city to safety.'
He made his way down the coastal road, and saw the lighthouse in the distance at the top of the hill on the cliff. He saw the lights were on for both the main floor as well as the second floor. Galloping up the dirt path, he skidded to a halt at the doorstep, and pounded on the front door.
"Sunny? Sunny are you in there?" He called out, continuing to knock, signalling to the occupants that this was urgent.
Several moments later, the door was pulled open, and there stood Sunny, a half-worried look on her face.
"Sprout? Is everything okay? Where's Hitch?" Sunny asked.
"We've got a situation, and Hitch is trying to deal with it. We need to get out of here. Get your friends and let's go," Sprout told her.
"Whoa, whoa. We're not going anywhere Sprout, we have to find—"
"Sunny, maybe you don't realize what's been happening here during your little escapade, but it's not safe here, especially for your friends!" Sprout interrupted her.
By now, the conversation had grabbed the attention of the unicorn that Sprout had last seen in the station, as well as a light pink pegasus, who came up to Sunny.
"Everything okay, Sunny?" Pipp asked, eyeing their visitor carefully.
"Pipp, Izzy, this is Sprout Cloverleaf, Deputy of the Maretime Bay Police Department. Sprout, what has been going on?" Sunny asked after introducing him to her friends.
"Mom has gone off the deep end, Sunny. She's had the lighthouse under watch, so she probably knows that you brought unicorns and pegasi back to town, and the last thing we need right now is to fuel her paranoia," Sprout explained.
Sunny's eyes widened, both from wondering what 'off the deep end' meant coming from Sprout's lips, as well as the fact that he seemed to be honestly concerned with their safety. Maybe he deserved more credit than she thought.
"Sprout, the unicorns and pegasi have just as many ridiculous tales about earth ponies as we do about them. They're no threat to us," Sunny told him.
"I'll tell you what they are a threat to; CanterLogic's profits! And I don't want to think about how far mom will go to protect those!" Sprout exclaimed.
Sunny took a deep breath, and Sprout saw another pegasus, a white one, spread her wings up near the rope lift and glide down to the ground floor.
"Sprout, we think a set of crystals can prove that the three tribes were meant to be together, and we've got two out of three. We're looking through my dad's research to see if he knows where we can find the earth pony crystal. If we're right; if all of ponykind are to reunite, then confrontations with ponies like your mom are inevitable. I appreciate your concern, Sprout, I really do. But we're not going anywhere," Sunny told him, turning to Zipp. "This is the last of my new friends, Zipp Storm. Zipp, Sprout Cloverleaf, Maretime Bay Deputy."
Sunny stepped aside to let Sprout come inside.
"Sunny, you don't know what she's built. I don't want anypony hurt," Sprout continued to protest.
"We have to know what we're looking for," Sunny countered.
"I may have found something," Zipp said. "Come on upstairs."
"Help yourself to a glass of water, Sprout. You look a little wheezy," Sunny told the red stallion as she turned to follow Zipp back to the lift upstairs. Sunny pulled the handle, and the wooden platform rose up to the second floor. Once they had dug out Argyle's lifetime worth of research, they spread out to give themselves space. Zipp had opted for the spare bedroom on the second floor.
"I found a drawing of the crystals we've found, including a third one," Zipp said, coming to the open notebook on the floor surrounded by dozens of other notebooks, bound books, and file folders. On the center of the open page were the two crystals they had already collected; the pegasus crystal on the bottom of the formation, and the unicorn crystal on the top. There, in the middle, was a round white diamond; the earth pony crystal.
"Alright, well, at least now we know what we're looking for," Sunny said, just before she felt the floor beneath her hooves begin to softly, but noticeably vibrate.
"You feel that?" Zipp asked, moments before the lights went out.
Five minutes earlier...
Hitch rushed away from the sheriff's station towards CanterLogic at the fastest, steadiest pace he could, with Sprout's debrief echoing in his mind.
'Mom's been building something, Hitch. It's like she's preparing to defend Maretime Bay from an all-out invasion or something.'
Hitch didn't know what to make of that description at first, since CanterLogic had been making those sorts of defensive products for years, the most popular ones of course being the anti-mind reading cap, and the Unicorn Entrapment Device, which almost every business owner in town had installed in front of their storefronts.
What little hope he had that things were going to stay calm were quickly evaporating as he heard the echoing of a loudspeaker, moments before he felt the ground under his hooves begin to vibrate.
"What the...?" He asked himself as the vibrating only got stronger, accompanied by a growing engine noise. Just when he was ready to cover his ears, there it was coming around the corner; a large metallic pony chassis resembling none other than CanterLogic CEO Phyllis Cloverleaf, roaring forward on a pair of treads and tracks; an absolutely overkill all-terrain vehicle, and no doubt was the 'emergency defense' Sprout had just told him about ten minutes ago.
The vehicle cruised down Maretime Bay's main street away from the factory and towards the coast. He glanced back at CanterLogic to see the entrance being patrolled and guarded by memory-cap-wearing employees, before he turned to give chase to the 'Roverleaf', according to the license plate on the back. To his fear, the speed was just slightly faster than the gait of his gallop, and he saw it make a left on the coastal road, towards the lighthouse.
Part of him hoped that Sprout instilled a sense of urgency in Sunny and her friends to get out of her home and out of town, but another part of him knew that Sunny wouldn't go anywhere until they had a solid lead on the earth pony crystal.
As the sheriff chased after the vehicle as it went from the stone road onto the dirt path towards the lighthouse, he heard a metallic whirring just barely audible above the roar of the engine, and a small turret popped up on the back right panel above the track. It immediately faced him with a targeting laser, and fired the projectile it had loaded with a defining 'thunk!', and a glob of green goo was launched out of the barrel towards him.
Due to how fast he was galloping, he couldn't exactly turn on a dime. He barely evaded the first glob, but the second caught his front right hoof, causing him to nearly skid to the ground. Two more subsequent shots caught his back right hoof, effectively pinning him to the ground. He pulled, and his hooves slowly began to come loose, but he was immediately losing the vehicle as it climbed the hill to Sunny's home...
"Well, that's great, now what?" Pipp asked, turning on her smartphone's flashlight moments after the whole lighthouse had gone dark, effectively putting a halt to her searching through the small pile of Argyle Starshine's records that she had brought down to the coffee table. "Do you feel that?"
The floor had begun to shake, moments before their eyes were drawn to a brightening light source shining through the front windows. Sprout set down the glass of water he had been drinking down on the counter and headed for the front door at the same time as the unicorn and pegasus.
"Sunny Starscout!" they heard the shrill tone of a loudspeaker.
Sprout arrived at the front door, pulled it open, and was nearly blinded by the front headlights of the Roverleaf. He couldn't see beyond the lights, but he knew the voice of his mom all too well. Pipp and Izzy were right by his side as he stepped out onto the doorstep.
"Well, that's all the proof I need. Sunny Starscout, you have conspired with the mortal enemies of the earth ponies of Maretime Bay. I demand you surrender into the custody of the Maretime Bay Police Department," Phyllis demanded over the loudspeaker.
"As acting sheriff," Sprout yelled above the idling engine, stepping farther out from the doorstep. "You don't have that authority, mom. Turn that thing around before somepony gets hurt!"
Sprout heard his mom sigh over the loudspeaker built into the 'head' of the vehicle.
"I can sadly see that they've gotten to you too, sugarcube. I should have known better when you didn't take the position of sheriff the moment Hitch left. Rest assured, sweetheart, I'm not going to let Sunny or her poisonous ideals ruin everything I've built!" Phyllis screamed, moments before the engine revved up, and the Roverleaf lurched forward towards the lighthouse.
"Get back, get back!" Spout yelled, turning and quickly shoving Izzy and Pipp back into the house away from the front walls.
Sunny had just barely gotten into her bedroom after feeling her way down the pitch black hallway when she heard Sprout challenge his mom downstairs. There was no way this was going to be resolved peacefully. She squinted her eyes when she got into her bedroom, and saw the faint outline of the lantern her dad had made for her when she was younger. She stepped around her bed, and was just about to reach for the portable light source when she heard the engine outside roar, moments before there was a deafening crash. She heard wood splinter and glass shatter as the whole structure violently shook and she was knocked off her hooves. She looked up just in time to see her lantern, teetering on the edge of the shelf, fall to the ground and break.
The top projecting lens popped out of its fitting just below the handle on top, and rolled on its side towards Sunny. The structure lurched again as the lights outside moved again, and gave her a small amount of illumination through her now broken bedroom window, and she saw the lantern lens that had rolled towards her and settled in between her front hooves.
The Earth Pony crystal.
"Oh my gosh. It's here... It's here! It's here! I found it!" Sunny cried out, picking up the crystal and getting to her hooves. She would leave Phyllis to the judicial fury of one Hitch Trailblazer; right now she needed to get herself and her friends out of here...
Sprout got to his hooves, getting off of the pegasus that he had shoved back inside moments before the Roverleaf collided with the front of the structure. He looked around quickly and was grateful that nothing had come down on top of them... Yet.
"You two listen to me... The moment I say, you run for the front door... Or rather, where the front door used to be, and get out and run for the hills," Sprout told Izzy and Pipp as they got to their hooves.
"What about Sunny and Zipp?" Pipp asked.
"We're not going to do them any good sticking around here if this place could come down at any moment," Sprout replied.
The blinding headlights shifted as the Roverleaf began to back up after its initial collision with the lighthouse.
"Now, go!" Sprout yelled.
The trio ran for the gaping hole where the front door used to be. The moment they got outside, the unicorn and pegasus cut to the right, while Sprout continued towards the reversing vehicle, digging into his saddlebags as he galloped. His hooves found what he was looking for, pulling out the CanterLogic Level 3 Access badge, which he immediately put in between his teeth the moment before he leapt up onto the plating above the left track, and went for the door of the driver cabin. He nearly lost his balance as the Roverleaf stopped going in reverse, switched gears, and headed for the damaged lighthouse again. He waved the badge across the panel beside the door, and the lock indicator went from red to green. He dropped the badge and yanked the door open.
"By the authority entrusted to me by Sheriff Trailblazer, this ends now!" Sprout yelled, momentarily getting the attention of his mom as he charged towards her and the steering levers...
Hitch heard the collision as he galloped towards the cliff where Sunny's lighthouse was. As he ran under the last overpass, his fears were confirmed as he saw that Phyllis Cloverleaf's gargantuan vehicle had rammed the lighthouse. He had no idea what he was going to do to the rampaging mare, but he knew she had to be stopped, now. He rushed up the dirt path as he saw the Roverleaf reverse. He saw Izzy and Pipp run out of the house with Sprout, but where they took off towards the hills, Sprout headed right for his mom's vehicle. The sheriff saw him leap up onto the track, yank the door open, and charge in as it sped towards the lighthouse a second time. But right before a second collision was certain, he saw the whole vehicle unexpectedly lurch to the right after Sprout had dove inside the driver cabin. He wanted to let out a breath in relief, but all in the next instant, he saw the left track of the vehicle barely scrape the side of the lighthouse, and saw that it was far too late for it to stop from its new trajectory.
"Sprout!!!" Hitch screamed as he ran for the lighthouse.
The Roverleaf veered from side to side and showed no signs of slowing down as the two occupants no doubt struggled for control of the controls, moments before the whole contraption vanished over the edge of the cliff.
Hitch's heart crept up in his throat as the sickening crunching, scraping, and tearing of metal reached his ears. It felt like it went on forever, but in reality it was only a few moments before the sounds of crashing stopped with a splash of water last of all, and smoke began to rise from the cliff edge and block out the stars and moon.
Sunny Starscout felt her heart drop in her chest when she and Zipp descended the lift down to the first floor, and saw the damage to the front of her home. The front wall had been smashed inward, and the front door had been blown off its hinges, and was now splintered and prone on the floor in front of the doorway. She saw outside that the awning above the front door was severely damaged, hanging by its left side and touching the ground.
Worse yet, Izzy, Pipp, and Sprout were nowhere to be seen, and she heard a growing commotion in the late evening outside.
The answers were no more clear as the earth and pegasus mares stepped outdoors. They saw Hitch over by the cliff edge to the left. He turned, and had a clear look of panic on his face.
"Zipp! Zipp! Can you get down there? As fast as you can? See if you can pull them out of there!" Hitch yelled, before turning to see a small crowd of curious earth ponies begin to come of the hill and gather. "Toots! Go get paramedics down to the beach, now!!!" Hitch screamed as he started to take control of what was clearly a very chaotic situation.
Sunny watched as Zipp galloped over to where Hitch was, looked over the cliff, and she immediately nodded at Hitch, spread her wings, and jumped, gliding down to where smoke was rising into the sky, blocking out the stars and moon on an otherwise clear night sky. She heard galloping come from the right, and saw Pipp and Izzy come from over the hill towards her.
"Sunny, thank goodness you're okay!" Izzy said, hugging her friend briefly. "After the first hit, Sprout told us to run."
Sunny was still trying her best to grasp what had happened in the past few moments. She saw the large tracks in the dirt and grass leading up to the lighthouse, and from the damage, it had been clearly been rammed right into the structure. She saw Hitch turn and gallop at full speed down the hill towards the beach, while Toots and Sweets ran back down the road into town towards Maretime Bay General Hospital. She finally got the courage to gallop over to the cliff where the tracks led, and she gasped as she peered over the edge to see a mangled, flaming wreck of a vehicle on the rocks. The evening tide wasn't doing much to douse the flames, but she saw Zipp on top of what looked like a gigantic robotic version of Phyllis Cloverleaf. She turned, reared back with her back right hoof, then bucked the front windshield, shattering it enough to jump in. She looked back at the beach and saw Hitch gallop into the tide towards the wreck. She watched in stunned silence as Hitch, nearly obscured by the smoke, flames, and darkness, climbed up onto the wreck, and helped Zipp pull out two limp bodies from the vehicle, before carefully jumping into the surf with them, keeping their heads above water as they made their way back to the beach.
"Sunny, you okay?" Pipp asked.
Sunny turned to Pipp and realized that she must have had a look of stupor on her face, because she had not moved as she watched Hitch and Zipp pull the limp bodies up onto the beach as the paramedics arrived with stretchers, which were absolutely not intended to be wheeled across sand.
"Yeah... Yeah, sorry. I feel kind of helpless right now..." Sunny said, looking back over at her severely damaged home. A moment later, she got her wits about her, and headed north along the cliff edge towards the beach. By the time she had gotten to the beach, she saw that it had been Sprout and Phyllis that had been pulled from the wreck, and that once they were on the stretchers, it had taken Hitch, Zipp, and all four paramedics to get the stretchers off of the beach and back out onto the road.
"Hitch!" Sunny called, galloping over to him. "Hitch, what happened?"
Hitch and Zipp were both sopping wet.
"Phyllis has lost it, that's what's happened. Sprout tried to put a stop to it, and the whole ridiculous vehicle just went off the cliff. They're both breathing, but they're unconscious, and are both hurt pretty badly. Sprout has a pretty concerning head injury. They're taking them both to the emergency room."
Hitch saw the crowds that had continued to gather that had followed Sunny down the cliff towards the commotion.
"Alright, listen up!" Hitch called out to the crowd, his voice unquestioningly commanding. "We've had a very serious situation tonight. I will address it directly at a town meeting in front of the precinct at 10 AM tomorrow morning. If it is possible for you to be there, then I highly suggest you do so. For now, please return home. I am declaring a curfew until 6 AM tomorrow morning. Is that clear?"
Hitch got nods and mumbled and confused acknowledgements.
"Good. Now clear out. We'll settle this in the morning."
Once the crowds had begun to disperse, the five friends found themselves alone on the coastal road in front of the beach.
Hitch took a deep breath.
"Alright. Zipp, Pipp, Izzy, this is not the Maretime Bay welcome I wanted you to have. We'll start over tomorrow morning, I promise. For now, to avoid any more drama, you can all spend the night at my house. Sunny, here's my spare house key. I'm going to Maretime Bay General to get any updates I can with Sprout, before I come back and try to get some sleep before tomorrow morning's town meeting."
Hitch got tired nods from his friends before going after the stretchers down the road towards the hospital.
Sunny took another shuddering, deep breath as she forced herself to not look up the hill at the lighthouse again.
"Alright, this way, girls. Let's get inside and out of sight for now..." she said. As she lead her friends towards Hitch's house, she heard the clinking of the unity crystals in her saddlebags with each step she took.
If this was unity, she was hoping it would get better. Because so far, it had gotten off to an absolutely disastrous start.
The double sliding doors parted as Hitch trotted into the emergency room of Maretime Bay General, and came up to the admissions desk.
"Excuse me, ma'am?" Hitch said, getting the attendant's attention. "Where is the attending physician?"
"Right here," came a stallion's voice right as the attendant was nodding towards the doctor who was coming out of a pair of swinging doors of the operating theater. "Good evening, Sheriff. I'm Doctor Wellhoof. They just brought Phyllis and Sprout in, they're getting checked out now."
"Thank you, doctor. I'll be out of your way shortly to go get some badly needed sleep. I just need to make myself perfectly clear; do not, under any circumstances, release Phyllis Cloverleaf after treatment. She's in police custody. Please let me know their conditions as soon as you can, even if it's the middle of the night," Hitch instructed.
Doctor Wellhoof nodded.
"Their injuries looked pretty serious... And understood. I've already been hearing whispers among my staff about what just happened up at the lighthouse. Was it really that bad?" the doctor asked.
"There will be a conference out in front of the precinct in the morning to clear things up. One thing is certain, doctor; Phyllis Cloverleaf is going straight from here to my holding cell as soon as she is physically able."
Sunny slid the key into the front door of Hitch's one-story house, unlocked it, and ushered her friends inside. Thankfully, the rest of Maretime Bay's populace had respected Hitch's emergency curfew, and the streets had been clear for the entire walk here.
"Come on in," Sunny said, standing beside the door as Pipp, Zipp, and Izzy walked through the doorway before she closed it and locked it, as Hitch had another key for when he was done at the hospital. Sunny slowly sauntered into the den, over to the couch, and unbuckled her saddlebags, letting them drop to the floor before falling back into a sitting position.
"Sunny, are you sure you're okay? You seem kind of... Bleh," Izzy commented.
"Izzy!" Zipp chastised. "Sunny, with what just happened to your home, I think you're allowed to be out of it for awhile. Don't worry about us."
Sunny glanced up at her friends, then leaned down to dig into her saddlebags. She came up with the three crystals, and set them down on the coffee table, arranging them so that the earth pony diamond was in the center of the pegasus turquoise, and the unicorn sapphire was on top, resting both on the top of the diamond and both sides of the 'wings' of the turquoise.
After staring at it for a moment, she let out an exasperated, tired sigh.
"Just... Now what?" She quietly asked.
Pipp trotted into the attached kitchen, opened the fridge, and came back with a glass of ice water, which she set on the coffee table next to the crystals.
"Now, you're going to drink that entire glass of water, then lay down, and try to get some sleep. We'll do the same. It sounded like this town meeting tomorrow is pretty important, and Hitch is probably going to want us there," Pipp told her.
Sunny reached over to the glass, picked it up and brought the rim to her lips. A sip turned into several gulps, and she finished the entire glass in one go. After setting the glass back down, she managed a small smile.
"Thanks, I feel a bit better now. You're right, we need to get some rest. That recliner over there is pretty comfortable, and the guest room bed can sleep two, it's the second door on the left just down the hall," Sunny told them.
"Dibs on the recliner!" Izzy called, hopping across the room and jumped into the recliner, immediately reaching down to the wooden lever, bringing the back leg rest out.
"Come on, sis. The guest room is ours, and please don't be a blanket hog," Zipp said.
"Pfft, as if," Pipp shot back as she and her older sister walked down the hall to the guest bedroom and flipped the light on.
Sunny took another deep breath as she slowly laid down and rested her head on the arm rest.
"Sunny, everything's going to be okay. We're here, together, and we have all the crystals. We'll figure the rest out, I promise," Izzy reassured her.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Izzy," Sunny said, before closing her eyes. Sleep didn't come immediately, and the room became darker as the guest bedroom light was switched off as the two pegasi settled down for the night. Izzy stretched out on the recliner, and Sunny was no closer to sleeping fifteen minutes later when she heard a key in the front door, and Hitch walked in a moment later. He walked in, closed the door, locked it, and glanced into the living room.
"Zipp and Pipp are in the guest room, I take it?" he asked.
Izzy nodded.
"Is Sprout okay? Phyllis?" Sunny asked.
"Nothing critically life-threatening, that's all they could tell me for tonight. I'm heading over there around six in the morning to see if they have any updates before the town meeting," Hitch answered.
"I know you're probably still thinking this meeting up in your head, but can we get the gist of it?" Sunny asked, her voice tired.
"The gist of it will be what happened tonight is never going to happen again. We're going to tell everypony the truth about unicorn magic and pegasus flight. There can't be any barriers if we're truly going to reunite the three tribes again," Hitch told the pair.
Hitch took a deep, tired breath.
"I know we'll all feel much better in the morning. Let's hope we can get some sleep. Sweet dreams, you two."
The sliding doors to Maretime Bay General Hospital slid open, and Hitch Trailblazer trotted in at 6:15 in the morning, with the first rays of the sun barely peaking above the early morning sky, and retraced his steps to the admissions desk.
"Good morning, Sheriff Trailblazer," the nurse at the desk greeted. "Doctor Wellhoof told me you'd almost certainly be by this morning. I assume you're here for an update on Sprout and Phyllis Cloverleaf."
"If you have an update to give," Hitch responded, sipping at his cup of coffee.
"I know you were very concerned about the gash on Sprout's head that was bleeding profusely, but he's lucky; it was just a flesh wound; those bleed pretty bad, but other than that, it should heal up fine. Unfortunately, his left front leg is fractured, and that will keep him out of commission for a few weeks. But again, thankfully, there doesn't seem to be any permanent injuries."
Hitch breathed a sigh of relief.
"Very glad to hear that, nurse. What about Phyllis?" Hitch asked next.
"We've been keeping her sedated with restraints, per your orders to not let her out. Her injuries were far less severe, just some minor bruises and a few cuts."
Hitch gritted his teeth for a moment behind his closed lips. Phyllis didn't deserve to be that lucky, especially compared to Sprout.
"I can take you to see him if you like, Sheriff," the nurse told him.
"I would appreciate that very much, thank you."
Sunny woke up in the same position she had eventually fallen asleep in on Hitch's couch last night. She looked up at the clock on the wall and saw that it was nearly 7 am. The fact that she had not moved in all that time was a sure sign that she had badly needed a good night's sleep after the events of last night. It wasn't a night and day difference; she still felt lost and confused when she glanced over at the set crystals on the coffee table, before looking over at Izzy, who was still snoring in the recliner.
Leaning up into a sitting position, she gave a full body stretch, then quietly got to her hooves, and sauntered over to the kitchen. The half-empty pot of coffee suggested that Hitch had already been up and out, no doubt going over to the hospital to get an update on Sprout and Phyllis. She poured a cup of the warm coffee for herself, then started a new pot for her friends, who would probably be getting up within the next half hour or so. They hadn't set any alarms, but this was when that had gotten up almost every morning on their journey to Zephyr Heights to Bridlewood and finally to Maretime Bay.
She had to figure they would be here for at least the next two hours. They probably wouldn't go anywhere without Hitch, until his town meeting at 10:00. The last thing they wanted to do was accidentally start another panic. But if Hitch's demeanor the last ten hours was anything to go by, he would be nipping that in the bud this morning, along with a lot of other things, and Sunny really hoped it would make for a marked improvement.
She still wasn't sure what to do, so was absolutely willing to let Hitch take the reins. She had been the one who wanted a backup plan in case the crystals wound up not doing anything, and now here they were... And she didn't have a clue. But Hitch had considerably more clout with Maretime Bay's populace than she had, so if anyone could bring the town around, it would be him.
As she continued sipping at her coffee, she figured the smells and sizzling sounds of breakfast being made would get her friends up in a timely manner, and started digging in the cabinets looking for some pans.
"Psst, hey, you in there, pal?"
Sprout heard the soft, muffled sound of somepony asking him a question, and he quickly paid it no mind as a dull throbbing on his head faded in as he returned to the waking world. He blinked a few times to clear his vision, and realized that he couldn't wipe his eyes clear of the morning gunk because his front left leg was in an elevated sling, and he was on his back in a hospital bed. Using his right leg to wipe his eyes as best he could, he finally turned towards the source of the voice, and saw Hitch.
"There's my favorite deputy. Glad to see you're finally awake," Hitch greeted with a soft smile.
Sprout managed a soft smile as he began to stretch, but winced in pain.
"Easy there, pal. You took quite a few bad hits last night," his friend told him.
"Hey there, Hitch. How long have I been out?" he asked, his voice raspy as he cleared his throat.
"All night. We pulled you and your mom from the wreck after it went off the side of the cliff. That was a very stupid, foolish, and brave thing you did, Sprout. I'm proud of you. You probably saved some lives."
Sprout smiled again, but was having trouble recalling exactly what had happened after he had lunged for the controls of the Roverleaf, and maybe the bandage wrapped around his head had something to do with that.
"Is it bad?" Sprout asked, motioning to the bandage and his left leg in the cast.
"A flesh wound on your head and a broken leg. All things considered, I'd say you got off pretty lucky," Hitch told him.
"So... Paid time off, right?" Sprout replied, chuckling lightly, and his sore ribs ached in response.
"We'll figure that out, don't worry. I'll be able to manage while you recover. I'd like to immediately offer you my spare bedroom, but my place is pretty crowded at the moment, and I'm not sure for how long, honestly. But if you want to, one more couldn't hurt."
The red stallion took a couple more breaths.
"What about mom?" He asked.
"Not as badly hurt as you, and I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but I'm not sure how I feel about that yet," Hitch answered.
"No, I mean..." Sprout paused for a moment. "I mean what are we going to do about her?" Sprout asked.
Hitch considered his words carefully before answering.
"Well, to tell you the truth, I haven't gotten that far yet, mentally. I've called for a town meeting in a couple hours, and I'm going to call for some sweeping changes. For now, she's staying here. If I have to cuff her to the bed, so be it. Depending on how well this meeting goes, well, the next part might depend on her. We'll see. Like I said, I haven't figured it out yet."
Sprout nodded.
"Whatever you decide, you have my full support... Sheriff," Sprout answered. "Now stop worrying about me, and go get ready for this town meeting. Set this town straight."
"I'm going to try my best. And for the record, Deputy, worrying about my friends is what I do, and for you, it's literally part of my job description," Hitch answered with a slight smirk. With that, he turned and left the deputy's room, turning and headed down the hall. Luckily, Phyllis' room was well out of earshot of Sprout's room, and Hitch didn't hear her indignant protests until well after he had turned the corner into the next wing.
"No, you listen to me. If you are not going to inform me of what I have been charged with, then I demand that you remove these restraints immediately and take me to see my son!"
Hitch didn't even wait until he was through the doorway to begin speaking.
"How about destruction of historical property, reckless endangerment, assaulting an officer, and attempted murder?" Hitch asked, finishing the sentence just as he came through the doorway to Phyllis' room. "As a start."
Those words did indeed bring a halt to the CEO's words, as well as changed her expression considerably.
"Would you excuse us, nurse?" Hitch asked the mare who had been getting yelled at by the restrained patient.
"What makes you think you have the authority to keep me here like this?" Phyllis asked, her indigence quickly returning.
Hitch merely raised a hoof and tapped the sheriff's badge, before reaching back with a rear hoof and tapping the door shut, leaving them secluded and alone.
"Let me make something crystal clear; your position at CanterLogic doesn't give you any authority over me, or anypony else in this town. Do you think you're empress of Maretime Bay or something? If that lighthouse can't be repaired, I've got half a mind to demolish it, replace it with a solitary confinement unit, and put you there for the rest of your life," Hitch began.
Phyllis' indignant look once again melted away.
"And make no mistake," Hitch said, glaring at the mare as he stepped menacingly towards the bed. "After what you did to my deputy, my friends, and this town, making an example out of you is well within my authority."
Phyllis' mouth barely opened, but no words or sounds came out as the sheriff continued to stare daggers into her.
"Here's what's going to happen; your son and I are going to do our very best to undo what you have done to the mental wellbeing of this town. Once we've set that in motion, then we'll figure out what to do with you. Until then, consider yourself detained, and removed from any decision-making processes; at CanterLogic and anywhere else."
With that, Hitch Trailblazer turned on his hooves, and headed for the door, opening it, and leaving the CanterLogic CEO speechless and restrained to her medical bed.
Now that she had some coffee and breakfast in her, Sunny had felt a little bit better. At least until she and her friends got seated front and center among the three dozen folding chairs that had been set up in front of Hitch's press conference podium, which was itself out front of the Maretime Bay Police Department. As 10:00 closed in, so did other citizens of Maretime Bay, and sadly, the events of last night had improved relations little, as the closest earth ponies got was three chairs away from Izzy, Pipp, or Zipp.
"Hey, beats the town-wide panic of last time," Izzy whispered to Sunny.
There wasn't anywhere near enough seating for everypony, and with the way the podium had been wired up, and Toots and Sweets at the audio console off to the right, Sunny was guessing that the podium microphone had been hooked up to the city-wide P.A. system.
Izzy had a point; the fact that the paranoid panic from a week ago had been decreased to nervous murmurs from the surrounding earth ponies was undeniable progress. From what Hitch had told her last night, she was hoping that he had a plan to bring them even closer to unity.
Just as the clock struck ten, the doors of the police department were pushed open, and Hitch came out and went straight to the podium. Sunny noticed that he didn't have any sort of notes or cards with him as he stood at the microphone, and silently waited for the bell chimes to finish. When the tenth ring faded, he glanced to Toots, who nodded at him. Clearing his throat once, he turned back to the ponies who were sitting and standing in front of the podium.
"Good morning. Rather than trust that everypony has a clear picture of the unfortunate events of last night, I'm going to reiterate. I have been abroad with Sunny Starscout for the past week, trekking across the region to meet the other tribes. That turned into a hunt for ancient crystals that she believes plays a part in reuniting the three races of ponykind. I will admit, I initially had my doubts, and was along to ensure her safety. But what we discovered was this; that the pegasi and unicorns are just as wary of us and each other, as we have been of them. When we returned to the lighthouse to begin tracking down the last crystal, CanterLogic CEO Phyllis Cloverleaf took it upon herself to attack the occupants, when nopony other than me came any closer to town than the lighthouse. Because of her actions, one of our oldest historical monuments is damaged, perhaps irreparably, and Sheriff's Deputy Sprout Cloverleaf is currently hospitalized, thankfully with non-life threatening injuries. Due to his selfless actions last night, nopony else was hurt."
Hitch paused to take a sip of water from the glass that had been set out next to the podium.
"It's clear that Phyllis' tenure at CanterLogic has been fearmongering, and then profiting from that fear. She reinforced our fears of anything different. Our fear of change. I stand here before you to tell you, and everypony in town listening, that that stops today. Right now. It's not a full-on panic, but I'm still looking at it, right now," Hitch continued, pointing a hoof down to where Sunny and the others were sitting. "Sunny and our new friends from Zephyr Heights and Bridlewood have nopony sitting next to or around them. Citizens, the unicorns and pegasi have been just irrationally afraid of us for just as long. The unicorns don't have magic, and the pegasi can't fly; and all we've done for generations is blame each other. What has that solved? Absolutely nothing. Something has to change. Somepony has to say 'enough is enough', and let their guard down."
Hitch paused for another sip of water, and pointed down at Sunny.
"Sunny Starscout was the first. All of Maretime Bay is no doubt familiar with her activism, and how ostracized she has become because of her beliefs... Which is an absolute shame, because she, and her father before her, have been right all along. I'm not going to stand here and demand that the fear stops now. Because that will take time, and will be up to each and every individual to get over their own fears of change. But it is time to embrace each other's differences, and stop being afraid."
Sunny smiled up at Hitch.
"Effective immediately, Toots is in charge of all operations at CanterLogic. Mr. Toots, I am ordering the deactivation and decommissioning of every single Unicorn Entrapment Device in Maretime Bay. Any research and development that involves defending Maretime Bay from pegasi and unicorns stops. Now."
Hitch got a nod from his interim audio engineer.
"Sweets, I want you to get a survey team together to inspect the damage to the lighthouse, and whether it can be repaired or not."
He got a nod from Sweets as he took another drink from his water glass.
"I'm also going to open an official dialogue with Zephyr Heights and Bridlewood, and encourage them to visit our town. Citizens of Maretime Bay, it's not about not being afraid. It's about being better. If you choose to continue letting fear and distrust dictate your lives, then Phyllis Cloverleaf was successful. I urge you all to be better. Be better than that. Be better than her. I stand here before you to tell you that Equestria is on the verge of a new era. I implore you to walk forward with me and Sunny, into the new possibilities that friendship and cooperation will bring us. I encourage you to get to know Izzy Moonbow, Pipp Petals, and Zipp Storm here," Hitch said, motioning down to the pegasi and unicorn sitting on both sides of Sunny. "Think about how much more profit your shops can get with more than double the patronage from visiting unicorn and pegasus tourists. CanterLogic workers, take a look at Pipp's smartphone, watch what it can do, and think about what CanterLogic could start to make, and the technological leaps we could make through sharing what we know, and think about how our lives could improve."
Hitch finished what remained in his water glass.
"Phyllis Cloverleaf wanted all of you to be afraid. Earth ponies of Maretime Bay, the truth is, fear is not your friend. But the unicorns and pegasi can be," Hitch said, looking down at Sunny, who was clearly touched at the recital of her words up on the CanterLogic stage. He motioned for his four friends to join him at the podium, which they did immediately. They glanced at each other before looking out at the gathered ponies, as the sheriff continued.
"It won't always be easy. But it will be better. Please join with us in extending the hoof of friendship, and move forward together, as Equestrians."
Sunny looked on in the aftermath of Hitch's town meeting, as several members of the audience were now mingling with Izzy, Zipp, and Pipp, while others went back towards downtown to get an early lunch. Some were timid when they came up to introduce themselves, and almost all of them walked away pleasantly surprised, and a few were seemingly astonished at how they could have been so foolish to have gotten in such a panic barely a week ago.
Next up was an earth mare with a light pink coat, white belly, and a pale aqua green mane and tail. She had a scarf tied around her neck and a flower in her mane, both a matching red wine color.
"Hello there, my name is Dahlia. It's nice to meet both of you," the mare greeted Izzy and Pipp with a smile.
"A pleasure, Dahlia. What do you do for a living?" Pipp asked.
"Oh, I run a flower kiosk, usually pretty close to where Sunny sets up her smoothie cart," Dahlia answered.
Pipp's eyes widened suddenly as an idea dawned on her.
"Does your kiosk open up soon? I'd love to have a look. We were actually planning on going to visit Deputy Cloverleaf after this, and I'd love to bring him some flowers as a thank you for what he did last night," Pipp told her.
"Ooh, count me in too!" Izzy chimed in. "That was real quick thinking last night, and he needs to know that we care about him."
Dahlia's expression brightened considerably when she realized that Hitch was right about the increase in customers if more unicorns and pegasi came to Maretime Bay.
"Absolutely. I can take you there whenever you like," the florist replied.
The crowds were beginning to thin out as lunchtime quickly approached, with Hitch, Toots, and Sweets putting away the chairs that they had set up for the meeting.
"Hey Sunny!" Izzy called, waving their friend over, and she trotted over to them with a smile. "We're going to go check out Dahlia's flower stand, to get something for Sprout. You want to come along?"
Sunny put a hoof to her chin in thought as an idea also came over her.
"Well, I'd say two ponies is quite enough to get flowers, but you did just give me another idea. I'll meet you there, girls, then after visiting, maybe we can all get together for lunch," Sunny replied.
With that, Izzy and Pipp turned back to Dahlia, who immediately waved them to follow her down the shoreline road towards her kiosk.
"Right this way!"
Sprout couldn't help but be just a little bit worried. He had been conscious in this hospital room for just about four hours, and he was already going stir crazy, and who knew how long he was going to have to stay off of this leg. He was really hoping that once he was able to get it in a sling, that Hitch would at the very least put him back at his desk.
"Excuse me, Deputy Cloverleaf?" a nurse announced her presence after walking in to his room. "Your mom has been wanting to know how you're doing. Would you like me to say anything?"
Sprout gave it some quick thought. At first, he wanted the nurse to go tell her to piss off, but he knew that that sort of response would only speak more volumes about him than her, especially if her concern was genuine, even after last night's madness.
"You can tell her I'm hanging in there, but that I'm not interested in seeing her," Sprout answered, afraid that she'd want to come in here next.
"No need to worry about that, Deputy. We're under strict orders to keep her exactly where she is, until she's ready to be transferred to what I can only assume will be the holding cell at the police department," the nurse reassured him before turning and leaving.
Sprout sunk his head back into his pillow again, with his train of thought now dwelling on his mom. Without Hitch here for the past week, he was wondering if there was anything he could have done differently to prevent damage to the lighthouse. If Hitch hadn't come to check on him last night, he probably would have stayed there the rest of the evening sipping at his apple whiskey and nibbling at his cold pizza, before his boss and friend had spurred him into action just as everything was about to go down.
To be honest, it wasn't just the attack on the lighthouse, and that monstrosity she had built down in R&D; she had wanted him to usurp Hitch's position as Sheriff. If her fearmongering and profiteering had truly pushed her over the edge into megalomania, he was afraid that there might be no rebuilding his relationship with her, and that there would be no other choice than to lock her away for the rest of her life.
He was still hoping that it wouldn't be the case, and that Hitch would be able to get some sense back into her head.
His stomach began to grumble a bit as the nurse returned to the doorway.
"You have some visitors, Deputy. Should I show them in?" She asked.
Sprout nodded, and the nurse stepped back. She gestured to ponies that Sprout couldn't see, until the lilac unicorn and light pink pegasus that he last saw at the lighthouse trotted into the room, and the unicorn was balancing a vase of flowers on her head, before coming over to the bedside table and setting them down.
"Good morning, Deputy Sprout," Pipp said.
"Morning. I'm... I'm really sorry, with how crazy last night was, I don't remember your names," Sprout confessed.
"No worries, Sprout. I'm Izzy. Izzy Moonbow," the unicorn answered.
"Pipp Petals," the pegasus followed.
"Pipp, it's great to meet you. Izzy, nice to see you again. I wish it was under better circumstances," Sprout replied.
"We just wanted to see how you were doing, and bring you these to thank you for what you did last night," Pipp told him. "I'm looking forward to getting to know you once you're on your hooves again. You stopped a bad situation from getting monumentally worse, and you most likely saved our lives. Thank you, Sprout."
Sprout smiled at them again.
"Just doing my job, girls. I wish it didn't come to that. I'm hoping the lighthouse can be saved," he said.
"The jury is still out on that. Hitch is having Sweets put a team together to see if that's possible," Izzy told him.
"Well, here's hoping for the best," Sprout said. He saw the nurse peek in the doorway again.
"Are you ready for lunch, Deputy?" she asked.
Sprout's stomach answered for him as it grumbled again.
"Sure sounds like he is," came another familiar voice, before Sunny came in, carrying a pizza box and paper plates. She walked around his bed and set it on the other bedside table, so it could be reached with his good leg, before opening it, revealing a steaming, bubbly supreme pizza with stuffed crust.
"Alright, that settles it, I know what I want for lunch," Izzy said, licking her lips along with Sprout.
'Well, we can head there as soon as I'm done here. Can I get a minute alone?" Sunny asked her friends. They immediately nodded.
"Thanks again, Sprout. See you soon!" Izzy said, before she and Pipp left the two alone.
"They seem nice," Sprout said as he reached for the first slice of pizza and a plate.
"I wanted to thank you for what you did last night, Sprout, and... Also I wanted to apologize," Sunny said.
Sprout swallowed his first bite of the absolutely delicious pizza.
"Apologize for what?" The red stallion asked.
"When Hitch caught up to us that first night, and told us that he had left you in charge, I thought he was absolutely crazy. I didn't think you were possibly up to the task. Clearly, you deserve more credit than I've given you. I'm sorry, and thank you again for saving my friends last night," Sunny told him, smiling softly.
Sprout set his piece of pizza down on the plate that rested on his stomach.
"Sunny... I haven't exactly been the best role model when it comes to being a deputy. I had been drinking up all those tall tales about unicorns and pegasi along with everypony else in town. When I saw what mom had been building, I froze. I locked up. I had no idea what to do, and if Hitch didn't come back into town to check on me, I don't know what would have happened. She probably would have demolished the lighthouse, and who knows how many of you would have been hurt, or worse," Sprout said.
"Still, I've been focusing too much on your flaws, Sprout, and not enough on the strengths that Hitch saw in you. I'm going to try my best to change that from now on."
Sprout smiled at her and continued eating.
"Well, the populace of Maretime Bay hasn't exactly been giving you a lot of reasons to look for anything besides flaws. But you persevered, and now if I heard Hitch's broadcast correctly, things are going to be changing very quickly around here, thanks to you."
Sunny nodded softly.
"I hope so," she offered.
"Sunny, what's wrong? No, wait, that's a stupid question. There's a gigantic hole in the front of your house," Sprout muttered as he took another big bite of pizza so he had the opportunity to think before another stupid thing came out of his mouth.
"It's not just that, honestly. The crystals I told you about right before the craziness last night? The ones that are supposed to play a part in unifying the races again? We found the last one, and... I don't know what to do next. I'm honestly feeling a little lost right now. But don't worry about me. You enjoy your lunch. Thanks again, and get better, okay?" Sunny told him, before walking back around his bed towards the door.
"Hey Sunny?" Sprout called as she reached the doorway.
"Yeah, Sprout?" She asked, turning to him.
"Just a thought... In the past week, you traveled all across the region, and fulfilled one of your lifelong dreams; you made friends with a unicorn and two pegasi; something that hasn't happened in Maretime Bay in generations. Next to an accomplishment like that, honestly Sunny, who cares about some stupid crystals?"
Sunny's eyes widened for a moment before she giggled lightly.
"Thanks, Sprout. I gotta go catch my friends before they eat without me."
With that, she left the doorway and headed back down the hall towards reception, and her smile only widened, as Sprout's voice played in her head.
'You made your unicorn and pegasus friends, doofus. Be happy.'
She laughed again at the weight that had just been lifted from her shoulders, and at the fact that Sprout Cloverleaf of all ponies was the one to lift it off of her.
By the time Sunny had made her way down the street to Pizza Time, Sprout's favorite pizza place, the other four had already been seated, and was waved down the moment she set hoof inside and was greeted by the hostess.
"Well, you're certainly looking a bit more chipper," Izzy commented as Sunny took her seat at the center of the booth, both sides having been taken by Hitch, Zipp, Pipp, and Izzy. "Finally feeling better?"
"Yeah, a bit, thanks to something Sprout said to me a few minutes ago. Have you guys already ordered?" Sunny asked.
Izzy nodded.
"Extra large party supreme!" Zipp answered.
Sunny's mouth began to water.
"You, on the other hand, look like you've got something on your mind, Hitch. Something up?" Pipp asked the sheriff.
"Yeah dude, that was an epic speech. I think it seriously helped," Zipp commented.
"It's not that, thank you, by the way, and I agree that it probably helped a lot. But yeah, my mind is on Phyllis Cloverleaf, the pony that is responsible for last night. I'm not sure what to do with her," Hitch answered.
"Did something happen to that cage while we've been gone?" Izzy asked.
"No, and that is literally the only holding cell in town. We really don't have a lot of crime here, and that cell is really just for drunks sleeping it off, or late littering fees. But I know Sprout is going to want to come back to work the moment the hospital clears him to walk. I'm not going to make him look at her every single day that he comes in. It's not right," Hitch told them, and his friends agreed silently.
The conversation was paused momentarily as the server came up to the table and set down a very large, very drool-worthy pizza with every topping in the garden sunk into the melt-y, bubbling cheese. Next came the plates and two pitchers of soda, and then the five friends served themselves.
"I've had something on my mind too," Sunny said, after swallowing her first bite. "If the crystals wind up doing nothing, I don't want that to matter. Getting to know you all over the past few days has been amazing for me, and I don't want us to go our separate ways. I want to continue to be a beacon of unity. Regardless of what happens to the lighthouse, I'd absolutely love it if we could all move in together. What do you all think?"
Izzy's smile widened, and her eyes became all sparkly.
"Then we can spend every minute of every day together for the rest of our lives!" She said excitedly.
Zipp slid a few inches away.
"Heh, uh, what?" Zipp asked nervously.
"Not quite like that, but I'm serious. Is that something we all want to do?" Sunny asked.
"Well, I can't even begin to think of how I'll tell mom, but I'm absolutely up for moving here," Zipp said.
"But, my Pippsqueaks!" Pipp objected.
"Chill, sis. You think it's gonna take those CanterLogic folks very long to get a cell tower put up? Then you'll have your crowd in Zephyr Heights, plus an entire new one here in Maretime Bay, maybe even in Bridlewood too!" Zipp encouraged.
Pipp's smile widened at the possibilities.
"So, the five of us being together helps Maretime Bay and Zephyr Heights, how?" Hitch asked.
"By just being here, together, proving that we can co-exist," Sunny answered. "So what do you say, everypony?"
With that, Sunny picked up her mug of soda, and raised it to the center of the table.
Zipp and Pipp immediately nodded, raising theirs, and Hitch and Izzy followed. They met in the middle, and only spilled a few drops, thankfully on the empty spots of the pizza pan.
Just as they withdrew their mugs to take their drinks, however, Sunny's saddlebags began to glow, grabbing the notice of everypony at the table, and even a few patrons at other tables.
"What—?" Was all Sunny got out before the three crystals, glowing very brightly, floated out of her saddlebag, before taking off down the dining area and out the front doors.
"Hey! What are they doing?" Sunny asked, getting up from her chair in a panic, followed moments later by her friends.
Sunny followed the crystals out of the restaurant, and got outside to see them going down the main street towards the coast. She gave chase at a full gallop, not even hearing Izzy yell after her, "I'll get the pizza!"
Sunny was barely able to keep up, but saw the trio of crystals veer sharply to the left as they reached the shoreline street, heading for the lighthouse.
The paved street turned to dirt as she made her way up the hill, seeing that the crystals had finally slowed down, floating and slowly rotating near her damaged lighthouse. Right before she was ready to skid to a halt in front of her home, she felt herself go weightless as all four of her hooves left the ground, her entire body being picked up by some unknown force.
"Hey— What? What's going on?!" Sunny exclaimed as she continued to float up towards the crystals. The gems moved again, this time towards her, and began to rotate around her, faster and faster until they became a ring of light, and she felt an indescribable energy inside her get stronger and stronger.
By now, three out of her four friends had reached the hills in front of the light house, and came to a halt nearly under her.
"Sunny!" Hitch yelled up at her.
Just as soon as the tingling energy was becoming overwhelming, Sunny felt it explode outward, and immediately and clearly felt three new appendages on her body. As she began to float back down towards the ground, she glanced towards the lighthouse, saw her reflection in the glass of the tower, and gasped at the glowing horn and wings of light.
When she felt herself touch the ground, she turned towards her friends, with mouths all agape at what they were seeing. They stood there silently for a few moments before Pipp found it within herself to raise her phone up and snap a picture with the camera.
"Far out!" Zipp said, taking a short jump forward and flapped her wings, and was clearly completely unprepared for the sudden lift that flap gave to her entire body, because she gave one entire flip forward before landing rather ungracefully on her hindquarters. "Whoa, whoa! Ow!"
The stunned looks had gone up, then quickly down, with the white pegasus.
"Sis? Did you just...?" Pipp asked, stunned.
Zipp got to her hooves, realized what had just happened, took a deep breath, and jumped up again, and this time was ready for it as she flapped her wings, a little more gently this time, and stayed airborne. She wavered a bit as she got used to it, but before she knew it, she had herself in a mostly stable hover. Pipp quickly tried it next, and had even more difficulty than her sister, who had spent years practicing on the castle's old airship lifting fans. Neither of them decided to press their luck, and touched down on the ground.
"By the moon, this... This changes everything! Wait... Oh my stars, Pipp... Did this just happen to everypony back home?"
The faces of both pegasi went from overjoyed to stunned disbelief as they pictured thousands of pegasi in Zephyr Heights suddenly taking to the air.
"Did what jusht happen backh home?" Came another voice, and the four of them turned to see Izzy, mouth full of pizza, one hoof holding a slice of pizza, and the rest of the pizza in the box was hovering above her other hoof.
"What?" Izzy asked after swallowing her bits of pizza. "I told you all I'd get the pizza. We did just pay for it, after all. Now that's what I call a glow-up, Sunny!"
The unicorn then noticed how glow-y the pizza box was, and how it also wasn't touching her hoof.
Sunny held her friends in a tight group hug, honestly not wanting to let go as the decision had been made for Zipp, Pipp, and Izzy to return to their respective hometowns and confirm the return of magic everywhere, as well as encourage the unicorns and pegasi to visit Maretime Bay, and the earth ponies would be doing the same back here.
"Don't worry, Sunny. We'll be back before you know it. With a favorable wind and some good updrafts, getting to Zephyr Heights will take one, two hours tops. The hard part will be breaking the news to mom," Zipp told her as they broke away from the group hug.
"I know. It's just this is the first time all week that we'll be apart, that's all," Sunny told them.
"See you soon, Sunny," Pipp said, and with that, she and her sister took to the sky and headed northeast towards Zephyr Heights.
"I just have to grab a few things, then I'm headed right back, honest," Izzy told her friend.
"We'll be here," Sunny told her. Izzy gave one last smile before she headed for the hills at a full gallop north towards Bridlewood.
The earth mare glanced back at her glowing wings, wondering how long they would last, figuring that she wouldn't be an alicorn with the glowing, sparkling wings and horn forever.
"So," Sunny began, turning to Hitch. "What now?"
"Well, if you want to keep yourself busy and keep your mind off of wondering when everypony's going to be back, then... Why not open your smoothie cart?" the sheriff suggested.
Sunny thought about it for a few minutes then nodded.
"Sounds like a good idea, Hitch. That'll get me back into the grind of things a bit. What about you?" She asked.
"Oh, don't worry about me. I've still got plenty to think about, what to do with Phyllis most prominently. I meant what I said over lunch; I don't want Sprout to have to be near his mom every day when he comes back to work if he doesn't want to. But I might have something in mind, just have to see if it can be done in time. And just in case it isn't obvious, my spare bedroom is yours until we know for sure what's happening with the lighthouse, alright?"
Sunny gave her friend a smile.
"Good to know, Hitch. Thanks. I'm gonna go get my cart opened and pass the time."
"Just relax, Pipp. If you tire yourself out, we'll have to land and it'll take longer to get there," Zipp told her sister, who wasn't paying as much attention to the updrafts and had to flap her wings a bit more to keep up with her older sister.
"Well, excuse me if I'm nowhere near as used to this as you are, sis. I didn't exactly spend most of my free time gliding under the current of industrial fans," Pipp shot back.
Zipp smirked at her.
"Just, slow, easy breaths. Let the wind come under your wings and just... carry you," she told her.
Pipp tried her best to do as her sister said, and spread her wings out, catching the next updraft along with Zipp.
"Whoo!"
She couldn't deny the exhilaration, but she didn't even want to think about what her mane was going to look like when they were done. She'd much rather be on the ground.
"So, if we're moving to Maretime Bay to be with Sunny, any idea of what you're going to do? You know, for a job?" Pipp asked.
"You know, I hadn't really thought about it too much, but that's a great question. How about you?"
"Well, if I can absolutely have my way, something that combines content creation, singing, and mane styling!" Pipp replied.
Zipp chuckled.
"Well, if anypony can make that work, I'm sure you can, sis."
Izzy kept her trot at a healthy pace, re-tracing their route to Maretime Bay. Luckily she wouldn't have to worry about the missing bridge over the ravine that was between Zephyr Heights and Bridlewood, but if the tribes were going to start visiting each other, that would have to be something to be repaired sooner or later. If the rest of the unicorns had their magic, that could be something that happened very soon.
But that meant getting there first.
She was also wondering if the unicorns would be able to find any sort of old spellbooks. There had to be more to their magic than just floating things, right? But that was a question for another day.
It was approaching sundown by the time she saw Bridlewood's treeline, and when she squinted, she saw a familiar, stout white unicorn out in front of the forest. She broke into a gallop as she headed down the last hill onto the wide open field.
"Alphabittle!"
The unicorn stallion had seen her come down the hill, and went out to meet her in the middle of the field. She skidded to a halt, and nearly tackled him in a hug.
"I told you! I told you the magic was real!" Izzy said, squeezing him in the embrace momentarily.
"Yes, you did, Izzy. I'm sorry for not believing you," Alphabittle told her, returning the hug, before they both pulled away.
"How is everyone in there?" she asked.
"This is the most lively Bridlewood has been in generations, without a doubt," the stallion replied.
"I can't really figure out a way to tell you this the easy way, so here it goes. I'm moving to Maretime Bay, Alphabittle. We've all agreed to move in with Sunny. Because that's what brought the magic back; unity and working together. So I'm here to pick up a few things and..." Izzy's sentence trailed off as her gaze drifted off to the right side of the field. "What. Is. That? And why have I not seen it before???"
The unicorn mare's overly enthusiastic question brought Alphabittle's attention to what she was looking at; a dilapidated scooter that was rusted and almost overgrown.
"Scooter of some kind, it's been there forever," he told her.
The mare's mind immediately came alive with all sorts of ideas.
"Come on, help me get it out of the dirt!" Izzy said, galloping for her new find, prancing around it to get a look from all angles.
Zipp kept a close eye on the sky as she and her younger sister trotted up the mountains towards Zephyr Heights.
"You think they'd be this far out?" Pipp asked.
"I certainly hope so," Zipp answered as they got closer to the city. "All those pegasi flying together within the confines of the skyline? That's bound to lead to even more injuries. Mom's gonna have to come up with some kind of traffic pattern committee."
Zipp's ears twitched as she saw an airborne pegasus overhead, and they hovered for a moment before turning around and zipping back towards the city.
"Aaaand I think we've been spotted. Ready to get mobbed? Who am I kidding, you're always ready," Zipp mused.
Sure enough, right before they rounded the last corner to the south gates of Zephyr Heights, they heard galloping hooves. A few moments later, two familiar royal guards came galloping and skidding to a halt right in front of them.
"Princesses!" Captain Zoom Zephyrwing announced, offering a quick bow alongside her partner Sergeant Thunder Flap. "I hope you're ready for quite the crowd. Keep pace with us, and we'll get you to the castle. Your mother has been quite anxious for your return."
The two pegasi guards got in formation in front of them, and they turned the corner to the gates. Four more guards came out of the gates and formed a protective escort around the two royal sisters as they came into the city, and the massive crowds waiting for them erupted into cheers and applause the moment they turned the corner. They were instantly surrounded by phones, cameras snapping and recording away.
"Princesses! Over here!" "You did it! We can fly again!" "You two are amazing!" "We love you, Zipp and Pipp!"
The cheers and the praise were non-stop as Zipp, Pipp, and the six-guard escort made their way through the crowds down the main street towards the elevator up to the castle. Pipp waved, and posed for photos every few seconds, and Zipp was content to just smile as she kept pace with the guards. Just before the elevator in front of the crowds were ZBS's most popular anchors, Sky and Dazzle. Ever the shrewd reporters, they had positioned themselves along with their camerapony to be in the best spot to intercept the two princesses as they closed in on the elevator.
"Princess Zipp! Princess Pipp! Anything you want to say to the pegasi of Zephyr Heights? How does it feel to be the ponies who return flight to everypony? How did you do it?" Sky asked, holding out a microphone.
Zoom and Thunder let the trustworthy reporters get closer than the rest of the crowd, who seemed to quiet down a bit once he had asked those questions, wanting to hear their reply. Zipp, of course, stepped aside and let Pipp closer to the mic.
"First off, thank you very much for such an enthusiastic welcome home for me and my sister. Secondly, to answer your question, I have to be very clear; it wasn't just us, Skye. Flight has been returned to the pegasi of Zephyr Heights because we cooperated with the other tribes to get it back. There was no doing it alone. The earth ponies of Maretime Bay have already expressed an interest in opening dialogue with us, so that's one of the first things we're going to discuss with Queen Haven. We're quite excited to get back to our new friends, and I encourage anypony and everypony to visit Maretime Bay. They'd love to have you, and I'm hoping the same can be said for Bridlewood and the unicorns. Again, thank you, and my sister and I are looking forward to being the vanguard of reuniting with the other tribes."
There were some stunned mumbles in learning that the earth ponies and unicorns had a hoof in returning flight, but they were quickly overtaken by the cheers at the end of Pipp's speech as they got on the elevator with Zoom and Thunder.
"You heard it here first, ZH. According to the princesses, earth ponies and unicorns helped restore flight to the pegasi!" They heard Dazzle say before their voices faded into the cheers as they began to ascend to the castle at the top of the mountain.
By the time they got to the top, the front doors of the castle had opened, and Queen Haven came galloping out to meet her daughters, throwing her hooves around the two of them as soon as they stepped off the elevator.
"My sweet darlings!" Haven said, squeezing both of them in her hug. "Welcome home. I'm so proud of you," she said, with Cloudpuff yipping happily around the trio.
"Now," Haven continued, releasing her daughters from the embrace. "What is this I'm hearing about going back to your new friends?"
Zipp sighed with a soft smile.
"Yep, figured you were listening to that."
Two days later...
Sheriff Hitch Trailblazer stepped through the front doors of Canterlogic.
"I've got an appointment with Toots in ten minutes," he told the receptionist, Sweets.
"He's already waiting for you in his office, Sheriff. Please go on in," Sweets told him.
Rather than move into Phyllis' office, Toots had done his best to run things from his office. He stepped up to the door, and knocked, announcing his presence.
"Come in," came the reply.
Hitch opened the door to see the light teal earth pony sitting at his desk, hunched over a few books that had been spread out over his desk.
"Afternoon, Sheriff. Thank you for coming on such short notice," the interim CEO greeted. Hitch took a seat on the left chair in front of the desk.
"Not much hustle and bustle in here today," Hitch commented.
"I've got almost everypony out dismantling the unicorn traps, and the few ponies in here are taking inventory of what we've got to work with," Toots answered.
"Is everything okay, Toots?" Hitch asked.
Toots reached down to one of the drawers on his side of the desk, pulled it open, and came out with a plastic case, setting it on top of the books.
"I've got what you asked for," Toots told him, popping the latches open, lifting the top of the case open, reached in, and came out with a metallic ring.
"Here's the cuff, here's the key," he said, also coming up with a small key. "This will allow Phyllis to go on house arrest. I've already got it set to her address. Once she's inside, just put it on her, and it'll activate. She won't be able to leave the premises without an alarm sounding."
"Pretty quick turnaround, Toots," Hitch commented, picking up the cuff and studying it.
"It's not like there's much else to do around here. I'm glad I was able to do that for you, but I honestly wouldn't depend on anything else from us, Sheriff."
"Toots, you didn't answer my question. Is everything okay?" Hitch asked.
"Monthly service fees for the entrapment devices were due today. It doesn't feel right collecting those from everypony this month, not when we're removing all of them. We have virtually no income right now, and the factory is very, very quickly going into the red."
"But, what about the smartphones in Zephyr Heights? Surely-"
"It was a nice speech, Sheriff, but we're further up the creek than you realize. There's no reason any facility in Zephyr Heights would offload some of their production to us, and even if they could, I'm not confident we could pivot fast enough to keep everypony employed. There's enough quarterly surplus for paychecks for the next two periods."
"That's not much of a surplus, Toots."
"No, it's not. Phyllis blew the rest of it on that wreck at the bottom of the cliff. I don't even want to think about paying for the damage done to the lighthouse. The point is, by this time next month, Canterlogic will very likely be insolvent."
The room was silent for a few moments as Hitch realized the seriousness of the situation. If Canterlogic shut down, that was dozens upon dozens of Maretime Bay jobs gone, and worse, he wasn't sure there was anything that could be done to stop it.
"I'm sorry, I don't know what to say, Toots," Hitch told him.
"There's nothing to say. It's not your fault. If anything, it's ours for going along with Phyllis' insanity, and it goes back even farther than her. Our fear of the other two tribes permeated every facet of this place for more than one generation. Reunification is bound to shake a lot of things up, and for the record, I don't think that's a bad thing. If this place has to be shuttered as the price for what we've done, so be it."
Hitch took another breath, and got up from the chair, pulling the latched case over to him.
"Reunification is also a time for new opportunities, Toots. We're all going to help each other get through this on our hooves. I promise."
Toots gave him an uncertain smile, taking what comfort he could in those words.
Queen Haven entered the castle dining room, followed right behind by her daughters, who had agreed to leave the discussion of moving to Maretime Bay until dinner. No sooner were they seated than the overjoyed kitchen staff brought out their meals, each of them congratulating the royals sisters on their success of returning flight to the pegasi of Zephyr Heights.
"So..." Haven began, as she started mixing her salad with her chosen dressing. "You two are actually talking about leaving Zephyr Heights? Moving to Maretime Bay?"
"I know it's a shock, mom, but flight was restored to all pegasi because we all worked together. In fact, it was restored right after we decided to stay together, as a sign of unity. As soon as we can get Maretime Bay a cell tower, keeping in touch will be super-easy," Zipp said.
"Yes, I don't imagine your sister would tolerate being without her phone, or keeping her fans updated, for very long," the queen replied. "It would be quite a change around here, for sure. If you've already told your friends you would go, I don't want you to go back on your word. But while you pack, would you let me prepare a little goodbye of sorts?"
Zipp and Pipp glanced at each other, and shrugged.
"I don't see why not."
Hitch headed down the street towards CanterLogic, with the former CEO Phyllis Cloverleaf keeping pace right next to him. The mare kept her gaze low, for every time she risked looking up at a passer-by, she saw nothing but disdain and disapproval. She silently followed the Maretime Bay sheriff towards what she could only assume was the holding cell at the precinct. She had wanted to check on her son before she had been taken out of the hospital in Hitch's custody, but she was once again told by the nurse on duty that he did not want to see her.
Hitch was thinking that Sprout's dismissive attitude towards his mother was perhaps hitting harder than any of the inevitable consequences and pending legal charges against her.
Phyllis glanced at CanterLogic as they passed by the long walkway up to the building. Things didn't look nearly as active and bustling as they normally did on a weekday, and she saw a few signs that had been staked to the grass in protest, reading 'No More Hate!' and 'Shut the Fear Factory Down!'
It was another half block before they came to her house, and she was surprised when they made a turn to go up the front walk, instead of all the way to the coast where the police station was. The pair of ponies came to the front door, Hitch slid the key in, opened it, and stepped aside to allow Phyllis in first. As soon as they stepped into the foyer, Hitch bent down, and Phyllis felt the fetlock cuff click into place.
"You have me at a disadvantage, Sheriff. What is this?" Phyllis asked.
"House arrest. That ankle monitor will let me know if you step more than ten feet out of the building. I'll arrange grocery deliveries every two weeks, deducted from your severance at CanterLogic," Hitch told her.
Phyllis looked around, immediately aware that this was going to be her prison.
"For how long?" She asked.
"That's for the judge to decide, not me. I just don't want you at the station; I'm not going to make Sprout be around you every day when he gets out of the hospital," Hitch said matter-of-factly.
"Nonsense, he'll have to come home sometime," Phyllis countered.
"Not if he doesn't want to. I've already offered him alternate living quarters," Hitch said.
Phyllis' expression betrayed the fact that the comment did indeed pierce her.
"I'd buckle up, Phyllis. This will most likely get worse for you before it gets better."
With that, Hitch turned and exited through the front door, closing it behind him, locking it afterwards, leaving Phyllis in her home-turned-prison-cell.
Two Days Later...
Hitch was at his desk at the precinct when there was a knock at the door.
"Come on in," he announced. The doors opened, and Sweets trotted in and immediately came up to his desk.
"Afternoon, Sheriff. If I may, how's Sunny?" Sweets asked.
"Missing her friends terribly, but she's luckily been keeping herself plenty busy with her smoothie cart, which is more popular than ever now. And her friends should be back in a few days."
Sweets' expression softened a bit hearing that.
"I hate to be the one to put a damper on her spirits if she's been feeling better..." She said, reaching into her saddlebags, producing a file folder thick with a stack of papers inside, placing it on the desk in front of Hitch.
"I cannot in good conscience recommend the lighthouse for re-habitation. In the professional opinions of me and my team, it cannot be safely repaired, and..." Sweets trailed off.
"...And CanterLogic isn't going to be able to fund any kind of rebuild. Toots already warned me," Hitch finished.
Sweets nodded somberly.
"I'm sorry, sheriff, I don't know what to say," Sweets told him.
"There's nothing more to say, Sweets. I appreciate your candidness and being straight to the point. Phyllis is technically imprisoned in her home for the time being. It's important that the rest of us be there for each other and support each other as we all move into this new era of unity. What do you think is going to happen with Sunny?" Hitch asked.
"I'm sure Toots has told you about the absolute dire financial straits that the factory is in. When everything is said and done... I imagine Sunny will get legal ownership of the building," Sweets told her.
Hitch leaned back in his chair and mulled over the situation.
"Not that I imagine she'll want it, or even know what to do with it," Hitch responded.
"That won't matter in the eyes of a magistrate or judge. It's the only way the factory will be able to cover the debt to her."
Hitch let out a slow exhale.
"Don't worry, Sweets. I'll figure out how to break the news to her, the first part anyway. Thanks again."
With a nod and a somber smile, Sweets turned and exited the precinct, leaving Hitch alone at his desk once again.
The sheriff had to admit; he was looking forward to having Sprout back at the desk across from him, and he was missing their new friends, too.
After giving it some thought, Hitch knew the best way to break the news to Sunny would be open and direct with her. So when it came time to do his next patrol, he made a mental note to swing by her smoothie cart. But when he exited the station, he wasn't really expecting to be greeted by three wagons full of steel and aluminum, and a dozen pegasi.
"Excuse me, are you Sheriff Hitch Trailblazer?" the stallion in front asked. They were all wearing high visibility vests, and there were a stack of hardhats in one of the wagons as well.
"Guilty as charged, can I help you folks?" he asked.
"We're from Zephyr Heights Erections. Queen Haven sent us to set up a cell tower for Maretime Bay. I figured you would know the best place to put it up," the forepony asked.
"Hm," Hitch said, taking a quick glance around the area of town he could see. "Well, off the top of my head, I'd say the best place would be the roof of CanterLogic. It's the big building up on the top of the hill. Stop in at reception, and they'll be able to provide you with blueprints of the building."
"Sounds good. Normally, this would take about a month, but now that my entire team can, you know, fly, we can probably have this up in about half that time. I know Z-Mobile and Trot have been very eager to come down here and show earth ponies their smartphones," the forepony told him.
"As long as you folks stay safe up on the roof. Apologies if you're not in the know, but would you happen to know when Princesses Zipp and Pipp will be back in town?" Hitch asked, figuring Sunny could certainly use some exciting, good news to counter what he was about to tell her.
"All I know is Queen Haven is planning some big farewell parade for the two of them; last I heard that would be happening in the next couple days. Alright, we'll get out of your mane. Thank you, Sheriff."
With that, the construction crew and wagons were on their way towards CanterLogic, and Hitch continued on his way down the shoreline road. He already saw Sunny's smoothie cart, and a line of six ponies waiting in line to order. He went down to the end and got in line. He watched as Sunny dealt with her newfound popularity absolutely swimmingly, chatting up each customer as she blended together the ingredients for their order, served it up in a cup, domed lid, and straw, and was right on to the next pony in line. She saw him and gave him a wave as she moved on to the next customer. He knew that she would be closing in the next fifteen minutes or so, so he waited off to the side.
When the line died down and the crowd started to thin, she hung the 'Closed' sign, she got her blenders washed and put away, and was out the side door with a bag of garbage on her back and a smoothie in her right hoof, before closing the side door and locking it for the night.
"Evening, Hitch. One Super Citrus Delight," Sunny greeted, handing him the smoothie.
Hitch accepted the beverage with a smile, and took a sip.
"As if this wasn't hard enough..." he said as they started to walk towards his house.
"What do you mean?" Sunny asked, throwing the trash bag into the nearby dumpster as they passed by.
"Sweets and her team completed their assessment of the lighthouse, Sunny. They're not going to be able to safely repair it. She said the best thing to do was to bring it down and completely rebuild," Hitch said.
He saw Sunny's ears droop at the news, but she turned to him with that ever-spirited look in her eyes.
"I appreciate you being the bearer of bad news, Hitch. You're a good friend, and I've kept that possibility in the back of my head for the past few days. It's... It's sad that they can't save it, but if it has to be done, it has to be done," Sunny told him.
"I've got a day off tomorrow. I'll help you get everything out that you can and into a storage unit," Hitch told her.
"Thanks, Hitch. I think I will do that. The sooner that's done, the sooner we can move on to whatever the next step is going to be. Any idea what that will be?" Sunny asked.
"Well, once it's safely brought down and cleared away, the land is still legally yours, and you can probably build whatever you like on it," the sheriff told her.
"Yeah, as if I didn't have my mind on enough things..." Sunny mused playfully, trying to keep her mind off of the negative.
The soft droning noise they heard behind them only got louder, and they both turned to see what it was. A single light shone on the front of the small scooter, and as it got closer, they saw a very familiar unicorn on it, and Sunny's smile only widened.
"I'm baaack!" Izzy sing-songed as she brought the scooter to a halt and hopped off. Sunny galloped forward, and threw her hooves around Sunny's neck in an embrace.
"Oh, I missed you so much!" Sunny told her.
"I would have been back a couple days ago, but I saw this half-buried in the dirt and grass, and my unicycling just kicked into overdrive!"
Izzy's mode of transportation looked brand new. It had a fresh coat of paint, and a multi-compartment cargo box had been attached to the back, where she had painted her cutie mark, with flower patterns almost everywhere else across the silver, teal, and fuchsia paint job.
"Well, you being here would be a great help, actually. We're going to try and get as much of Sunny's stuff out of the lighthouse as possible tomorrow. Sadly, it turns out they can't save it," Hitch told her.
"Aw, that's too bad," Izzy said, hugging Sunny again for comfort. "But at least we have each other. Any idea when Zipp and Pipp are coming back?"
"A construction team of pegasi just got into town, actually. They're putting up a cell tower on the roof of CanterLogic, and they told me that there's going to be a farewell parade for them in the next day or two. Depending on how fast they get that tower up, we might be able to catch that on TV if we like," Hitch told them as they continued into town.
Sunny offered a tired but genuine smile.
"That sounds like a great idea, Hitch. I can't wait to see those two again."
Sprout slowly limped along down the hospital corridor, with his front left leg in a sling that was being supported by his neck. At the moment, he figured that with his luck, he'd get perfectly used to moving about on three legs just in time for the cast to come off. But right now, it was worth it to hobble along just to get out of the hospital.
He turned the corner, and saw Hitch waiting for him over by the reception desk. The sheriff spotted the red stallion as soon as he had turned the corner, and smiled at him warmly.
"Hey there, deputy. I've got a bedroom with your name on it all set and ready to go. Don't worry, we can go as slow as you like," Hitch told him when he reached the desk.
Sprout smiled.
"I'm just glad to have a change of surroundings. I'd even ask to chill at the beach for a bit if I wasn't afraid of getting sand all over this cast. But do you mind if we make a stop first? I'd like to... Pick up some things," Sprout replied.
From the expression on Sprout's face, Hitch immediately figured out where the stallion wanted to go.
"In that case, we can go get the wagon," Hitch told him.
"Don't wait up on me, you can go get it faster," Sprout said.
"Are you sure?" The sheriff asked.
"Hitch, I'm hurt. I didn't lose my sense of direction," Sprout said, giving his friend a light smirk.
"Alright. If you do beat me there, don't go in without me. That is now legally a prison cell, and you're still off-duty," Hitch told him.
Sprout nodded, and Hitch went on ahead of him while he slowly sauntered to the exit and headed north towards CanterLogic. He was barely a block away by the time he heard Hitch approaching with the precinct's small cargo wagon. Without any words, they silently came up to the Cloverleaf residence.
"Are you going to say anything to her?" Hitch asked quietly as he detached himself from the wagon yoke.
"I really haven't figured out what I'd say yet, honestly," Sprout admitted as they went up the front walk.
"I'll see that she doesn't bother you," Hitch assured him as they came to the front door, and he slid the key into the lock, turning it, and opening the door.
Nodding, Sprout stepped in first, then Hitch went in immediately after, staying at his side as they walked through the small foyer.
"Anything I can do for you, Sheri—, Oh, sugarcube!" Phyllis said the moment she came around the corner from the living room, immediately spotting her son on the other side of Hitch. "They... They didn't tell me you'd be coming home today."
"I'm not," Sprout said simply, and then stepped forward towards the west hallway, going down to the last room on the left, his bedroom.
"What do you mean you're not? Would you at least—"
"Not another word, Phyllis," Hitch told her, before following Sprout into his room and closing the door.
The pair silently spent the next few minutes gathering up some of Sprout's personal belongings into a set of large saddlebags, which Hitch insisted on carrying out to the wagon himself. Included were some of his favorite comics, a gift card to Pizza Time that still had a balance on it, and a few of his favorite Choose Your Own Adventure books.
"Alright, I guess I'm ready," Sprout told Hitch, who slung the saddlebags across his back, and nodded.
Hitch opened the bedroom door, saw that Phyllis had not pursued them down the hall. He went first, with Sprout following right behind him. They turned back towards the front door, and Hitch saw Phyllis sitting in the chair in the back right corner, keeping a watchful eye on the foyer, waiting for them to come back through. As Hitch continued towards the front door, Phyllis saw Sprout behind him, and got to her hooves.
"Sprout, would you at least say something to me??" Phyllis pleaded.
Sprout noticed Hitch bristle in anger a moment before he turned around, and the red stallion stepped between his friend and his mother, so Hitch would see him first, he gave him a look that told him he would take care of it.
"Just what do you want me to say?" Sprout asked his mom, still facing Hitch, not looking at her. "You know what you did, and you know what you wanted me to do. You wanted me to take my best friend's job while he was away. You could have gotten ponies killed, mom. You have to think very long, and very hard about how you're going to make amends."
Finally, Sprout turned his head slightly and glanced at his mother.
"Until then, I have nothing more to say to you."
With that, Sprout resumed walking and passed Hitch out the front door, while the sheriff stood his ground and turned to look at the mare.
"Wanted him to take my job? Now that, I didn't know."
With another glare, Hitch turned to leave, closed the door, and locked it, before joining Sprout out at the wagon.
"Look, there they are! Hi Zipp, hi Pipp!" Sunny said, as she sat with Hitch and Izzy on the couch in the former's living room, as they watched the live footage of the farewell parade for their two friends up in Zephyr Heights. The signal tower was still under construction on the roof of CanterLogic, but they were far enough along to get a television signal of the pegasus city.
The three of them shared a bowl of popcorn that they passed around, and Sprout seemed content to sit by himself in the recliner next to them, with his own popcorn bowl, and a glass of fruit punch with a straw.
Sunny could tell just by Zipp's expression that she was considerably less than enthused about taking part in this parade.
"Are those pegasi... Crying?" Hitch asked, after the shot had cut to a trio of younger pegasi waving and screaming as the royal float passed them.
"I know exactly how Pipp and Zipp feel right now. I remember it like it was yesterday," Izzy reminisced.
"Uh, Izzy, that was yesterday," Sunny replied.
"Was it? Ooh look, the Queeeeen!" Izzy squeed, pulling the attention of the other two on the couch back to the TV.
"It seems like just yesterday that my daughters were adorable little fillies, and look at them now... All grown up... And leaving me..." Haven addressed the crowd, appearing to get choked up, but quickly composed herself. "And to celebrate their new adventure together, I now present..." Haven said, turning to where a pair of guards were getting ready to unveil a large object currently concealed under a white cloth tarp. They pulled, and it was a large marble statue of the royal sisters.
Sprout had to try increasingly hard not to laugh as the camera feed showed multiple pegasi closing in on the statues, all taking pictures with their phones, and he finally burst out in laughter as they started colliding with one another. The balloons that had been tied in various arches soon became separated, and began to float up into the sky, interrupting the flight paths of several other pegasi who had been watching from above. One dove so fast that he collided with the large balloon of Queen Haven, before nearly colliding with the real thing, who had to quickly duck to avoid being hit. Another pegasus got tangled up in the balloon of Princess Pipp, which then broke free and began to float higher in the sky, taking the tangled pony with it, shrieking.
"Wow... These pegasi can really put on a show," Sprout said, wheezing as he started to catch his breath.
"I'll find it funnier when I hear that nopony got hurt," Sunny said, almost wincing at the footage. Luckily, moments later, after Zipp's balloon sprung a leak and flew off, bringing an end to the royal family's perfect manes, everyone broke into fits of laughter, Haven included.
The chuckles in the living room were brought to a pause with a knock at the door. Hitch passed the nearly empty popcorn bowl to Sunny as he got up and walked over to the front door to answer it. He opened it, and was greeted by the stout figure of Toots.
"Afternoon, Sheriff. Is Sunny here?" The acting CEO of Canterlogic asked.
Hitch nodded.
"She is. Is that what I think it is?" Hitch asked, pointing to the sealed packet in his right hoof.
"It is. We were able to bump up the timetable," Toots answered.
"Oh... Well, I can give it to her," Hitch told him, reaching forward, but Toots drew his hoof back, keeping it out of reach.
"Sorry, Sheriff. This goes directly from me to Sunny's hooves. Magistrate's orders. I'm sure you understand," Toots told him.
Hitch let out a quiet breath, and just as he turned to call Sunny, there she stood, having gotten up from the couch to investigate hearing her name twice.
"Somepony call my name? Afternoon, Toots. What can I do for you?" She asked.
When Toots saw Hitch's expression, he began to put the pieces together.
"I'm assuming that Sheriff Hitch here hasn't broken the news to you yet, then," Toots told her.
The way Hitch averted his gaze all but confirmed his suspicions.
"Told me what? Hitch?" Sunny asked.
She began to worry slightly when she turned and saw the look of uncertainty on her friend's face.
"Excuse me for not wanting to bombard her with all the bad news in one day, Toots," Hitch answered.
"Well, it is what it is. Here you go, Sunny. CanterLogic is officially defunct, and the building is legally yours now," Toots said, offering the packet of papers to her.
"What?" Sunny asked, her eyes widening in shock.
"The Sheriff's speech last week was noble and all, but there's no way we're keeping the factory in the black after what Ms. Cloverleaf pulled," Toots explained.
Still in a state of absolute disbelief, Sunny stepped forward onto the doorstep and pushed past Toots, breaking into a gallop as soon as she did so, heading east towards Canterlogic.
"Sunny!" Hitch called, and he was ignored as Sunny continued galloping down the street. He turned to Toots, his annoyance all too apparent on his face. "You know, you could have given me some warning, Toots."
"I did give you warning, Sheriff. Plenty warning. I figured the faster we shut down, the more of what remains of our surplus can go towards keeping our former employees fed. I wasn't expecting you to take more than three days to break the news to her. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have the building's new owner to console, not to mention get the deed into her possession."
With that, Toots gave Hitch a curt nod, before trotting off in the direction Sunny had headed off in. By this time, Sprout and Izzy had gotten up and come to the door, finding Hitch the only one there. Sprout stepped up.
Toots quickly trotted down the main street of Maretime Bay, not wanting the distraught Sunny to get too far ahead. The early dinner rush began to crowd the streets as the second shift for most of the town's businesses began to let out. Normally, most of the hoof traffic would be coming down from the Canterlogic campus.
Clearly, that was no longer the case. Nopony came down the main thoroughfare, and only a single pony stood facing the main entrance, completely alone up on the hill.
One Sunny Starscout.
Toots made his way through the crowd, and quietly walked up to the mare, who merely stood and stared half-dumbfounded at the empty factory in front of her.
"Sunny..." Toots began, standing next to her.
The mare looked at him incredulously for a second.
"Toots, this... This isn't what I wanted," Sunny told him.
"I know, Sunny. This isn't your fault. This can be laid 100% at the hooves of Phyllis Cloverleaf. Hitch's speech was sensible, but the fact is, Phyllis went through so much of our surplus, that Canterlogic would be so deep in the red by the time Zephyr Heights even thought about moving any production over here. Could we have stayed open longer? Yes, but for what purpose? Without all these stupid traps, it would just be a waste of money and electricity. I truly feel it's going to be some time before this building has a purpose again. The fact is that Canterlogic wasn't going to be able to afford to replace the lighthouse with all the money Phyllis spent building that monstrosity. Construction would start, get about halfway done, then the factory would most likely run out of money, and the employees would have to be let go and have absolutely zero support. I knew that's not what you would want. So I closed it right now, and had the magistrate sign it over to you. That way, the rest of the surplus can go to all the affected employees for that much longer while they figure out what to do."
Sunny swallowed some tears as she struggled to keep herself composed, and Toots continued.
"This way, you'll be able to sell it to fund a rebuild of the lighthouse, or if you want to end up using the building somehow, that's fine too, and nopony expects you to know what to do with it right away," the interim CEO told her.
Toots took a step closer to Sunny and offered her the folder once again.
"You can't really refuse, Sunny, it's legally yours in the town's books already. If not from me, all you'll get is a visit from a magistrate telling you the same thing." Toots told her. "And I truly believe that Canterlogic, or whatever it ends up being in the future, has never been in better hooves."
Sunny took a deep breath, and accepted the folder from Toots.
Toots' explanation didn't make her feel much better, but she kept the folder tucked securely underneath her right leg while she silently turned and headed back down into town, wondering what tomorrow would hold, and wanting nothing more than the last of her friends to get back here and just be here with her.
"And here you are, sir. Congrats on getting the cell tower completed today!" Sunny said, sliding the filled smoothie cup across the counter to the pegasus wearing the yellow hard hat and high-visibility vest.
"Thank you again, Miss Starscout. It was a pleasure to help Maretime Bay and Zephyr Heights keep in touch with each other more easily. I hope our team over in Bridlewood had just as much luck as we did these past couple weeks."
Sunny gave the forepony a smile and nod before he trotted off, slurping at his smoothie, and another pegasus came up in line, this one with a light blue coat and a blonde mane and tail.
"Hello there, ma'am. What can I interest you in today?" Sunny asked.
The pegasus mare quickly looked over the menu, and shrugged.
"Your best-selling smoothie, please!" She replied, before reaching into her saddlebags and produced a business card, putting it on the counter and slid it across to Sunny. "I'm actually wondering if you and I could talk business."
Sunny picked up the card, and read aloud.
"Fifi's Flying Fruit Smoothie Smooth Fruit Delivery Service. Well, I couldn't say that three times fast, that's for sure. As for my best-selling item, one Berry Blast Blitz coming right up," Sunny said, immediately getting the ingredients gathered and tossed into a blender. "Well, with how business has been absolutely booming ever since reunification, I could certainly afford to hire another delivery company. Depending on what pegasi grow in Zephyr Heights, that could even lead to a menu expansion!"
"Well, to be completely honest, it isn't exactly, um, 'flying' just yet. Queen Haven's got all the librarians in the city looking up ancient texts for any kind of formal flying lessons. Flying with just a saddlebag or two is tricky enough, but while towing an entire fruit cart behind you? That's a whole other book," Fifi replied.
"I'm sure the pegasi will figure it out, Fifi. After all, in ancient times, royal guards used to ferry the princesses across Equestria on royal chariots," Sunny told the pegasus mare as she started the blender. A minute later, a cup filled with a rich pink goop was place in front of Fifi with a straw. She took one slurp, and the look on her face was all Sunny needed.
"Absolutely delicious. Here's to a potential future partnership!" Fifi told her, raising the cup before returning the straw to her mouth, continuing to drink the beverage as she trotted away.
Sunny took the business card and put it into the cash register drawer. When she turned back, her breath was taken away by the next two ponies in line.
"Well, sis. According to Maretime Bay, this is where you get the best smoothies in town," Zipp said with a smirk.
"Oh, I don't know. I think she'll have to prove it to us," Pipp replied, before they both turned their heads and smiled at Sunny.
Nearly considering jumping over the counter, Sunny burst out of the side entrance of her smoothie cart and threw her front legs around her two royal pegasi friends.
"Welcome back, girls!" She greeted, squeezing them affectionately.
"Sorry we took longer than we said we would, mom was absolutely adamant on throwing us that farewell parade," Zipp explained.
"How have things been with you, Sunny?" Pipp asked.
"Well, to be honest, a little on the rough side. Things have been happening so fast around here that a rush period at the smoothie cart is the calmest part of my day. I've actually been preferring when it's that busy because it doesn't give me the time to think about anything else."
"What kind of things?" Zipp asked.
Sunny took a deep breath, then let it out as she turned and went back inside her smoothie cart, washing the blenders out in the sink.
"CanterLogic isn't going to be able to fund the rebuild of the lighthouse. Phyllis spent so much of the surplus on that scrap heap at the bottom of the cliff that they can't afford it. After they finished disarming all of the unicorn traps around town, they closed the building, then... Then passed legal ownership of the property to me," she told them as she put the washed and rinsed blender jars back on the bases.
"So... That place is yours now?" Pipp asked.
Sunny nodded.
"And I don't have an inkling of a clue what to do with it. Right now I'm leaning towards selling it as-is to the first entrepreneurial pegasus or unicorn that wants it, as long as they give me enough to rebuild my home."
The siblings' mouths dropped open.
"It sounds like you need to close up shop and come get some dinner with your friends, Sunny," Zipp told her.
Sunny smiled softly at the two of them while she made them each a mixed berry smoothie, before giving her blender jars one more rinse, closed all of the crates containing her fruit, and gathered up the bits for the day into her saddlebags, before closing and locking her cart.
"You're right. Let's go and see if Hitch was successful in keeping Sprout out of the kitchen. I know he's been increasingly desperate to make himself useful around the house."
Once everypony had gotten more or less settled in at Hitch's place, they had decided on spaghetti and hayballs for dinner. Sprout pouted a little when Hitch told him to stay out of the kitchen and rest.
"Give me any more grief, pal, and I won't hesitate to check you back into your hospital room," Hitch half-heartily threatened.
Having all of her friends back in town, with the addition of Sprout, made Sunny all the more aware of just how crowded it was going to be under one roof, and she wasn't exactly comfortable with burdening Hitch with this many guests.
"Alright, come and get it!" Hitch called from the kitchen.
The situation was exacerbated when six ponies not only came into the kitchen, but attempted to sit and eat comfortably around Hitch's circular table.
Hitch dished up plates of pasta, sauce, and hayballs one by one, passing them around the table, before getting to Sunny last of all, who suddenly pushed her chair out from the table and got up.
"I'm sorry, guys, I'm not hungry," she said as she turned to leave the kitchen and head out the front door into the Maretime Bay evening.
Hitch gave out a sigh as he put Sunny's empty plate back down onto the crowded table.
"I was hoping that all of us being back in town would lift her spirits a little," Izzy commented after she swallowed her first bite. "We're even under the same roof."
"I think she might see that as part of the problem," Hitch replied. "I want to be very clear; I'm happy to have all of you here, but I'm pretty sure she sees that as a burden for me. It might be, but it's one I'm proud to take. Just doing my part for reunification."
Sprout quickly finished his plate, then got up.
"I'll try and talk to her. Leave the dish rack for me to put away, Hitch," the deputy commented.
"You think I'm kidding about checking you back in to the hospital if you don't take it easy? If you don't give your leg the time to properly recover, I will seriously do that," Hitch told him.
Sprout rolled his eyes as he turned to head outside.
"Well, recovering deputy aside, we'll definitely help you clear the table and get things cleaned up once we're done eating," Zipp reassured him.
"Thanks, and again, I'm glad to have all of you here. I just hope Sunny can see that, sooner or later," Hitch told them as they continued eating.
"Well, unless your construction crews can buy that factory from her, then build her a new house really fast, I'm really afraid it might be later," Izzy commented, levitating a sauce-covered hayball into her mouth.
Sprout headed south down Maretime Bay's coastal street the most steady three-legged trot he could muster as he headed to where he figured Sunny Starscout would be.
Sure enough, when he got halfway up the hill, he saw the mare sitting in front of the dilapidated remains of her lighthouse, staring up at the trio of glowing gems that hadn't moved since she had temporarily taken on that glowing alicorn form.
She turned as she heard him come up the path behind her.
"I'm just going to come right out and say it," Sprout began. "I told you once in the hospital, so I'm going to have no problem telling you again. You need to stop being such a stick in the mud, Sunny."
Sunny's eyes widened as she turned to face him entirely.
"I'm sorry," she replied, her tone quite incredulous. "I suppose you haven't noticed how crowded Hitch's house is now, through no fault of his own."
"Yes, Sunny, it is very crowded, it's not his fault, and it's not your fault either. You think the rest of us haven't noticed? It is what it is, and I'd say we're all making the best of a tricky situation. I'd also say that you need to stop bumming your new friends out by moping around because you don't have a home right now and because you also have an empty factory that you don't know what to do with just yet," Sprout told her.
"Are you listening to yourself right now?" Sunny asked him.
"Are you? Sunny, Maretime Bay is getting more visitors every single day, and we don't exactly have the facilities to handle guests from out of town. But we are handling it. Everypony is handling it. This is, quite obviously, an unprecedented situation."
"Right. So in addition to all the hotels and apartments that will have to be built, we'll have to squeeze in a new lighthouse too, once I've got the funds. Who knows when that'll be. Unless, you know, a new one magically pops out of the ground."
Upon finishing that sentence, the pair of ponies felt the ground under their hooves shake. They both took a few steps backwards down the hill, before being knocked onto their haunches by a shockwave that emanated from the remains of the lighthouse, a moment before a beam of rainbow light shot up out of the top of the tower, and the crystals in the middle began to shine blindingly bright, enveloping the entire cliffside in an orb of white light.
Not wanting Sprout to be hurt further, Sunny kept him down on the ground as he tried to blindingly get up and shield her from whatever might have been happening. The pair of them could only lay there on the ground, feeling their entire bodies vibrate as the ground continued to shake.
"What's happening???" Sunny asked.
"No idea!" Sprout replied, continuing to lay there and shield his eyes with his good front leg.
They quickly lost track of the seconds as the shaking continued, but it couldn't have been more than a minute or so. Finally, when the shaking stopped, both Sunny and Sprout risked lifting their hooves from their faces, and indeed the shaking had stopped, and their eyes widened in shock at what was now before them.
A glowing, pristine lighthouse now sat where the old one had been, the rainbow beam continuing to shine out of the top, the crystals floating in the middle of it on the top floor.
The murmurs from some bystanders further down the hill brought them out of their shock, and Sprout gave Sunny a playful shove.
"So that's another thing; we've got mystical magic crystals in town now, you want to watch your mouth?"
By the time Sunny and Sprout came back into town at quick a pace as the deputy could manage, they saw Hitch and the others out on the street staring over at the rainbow beam.
"Are you two okay? What happened?" Hitch asked as Sunny approached.
"Um, hard to explain. Anypony up for a late night walk?" Sunny asked.
There were nods across her friends, and she turned back towards the top of the hill, while Sprout kept heading up the front walk to head back inside.
"Coming, Sprout?" Hitch asked.
The deputy scoffed.
"Whatever happened to 'give your leg time to heal or I'm checking you back in'? I just saw what she's about to show all of you, and I'm not about to pass up the opportunity to have the TV remote all to myself," Sprout said, chuckling as he headed back inside, closing the door.
It was a five minute trot back to the lighthouse site, where a small crowd had gathered at the undoubtedly magical structure.
"Unbelievable!" Izzy said as they approached the front doors.
"Have you taken a look inside?" Hitch asked Sunny.
"I took about a five-second peek in the front doors before I decided to come get all of you," Sunny replied, her somber mood having improved considerably. Stepping forward, she opened the front doors, and stepped inside, her friends right behind her.
Two short steps descended into the foyer, with multi-colored crystal tiles making up the floor. The walls were painted a sky blue. The kitchen on the right side was roughly in the same place it had been originally, with a bit more space this time around.
Instead of stairs off on the left side wall, two spiral ramps made of crystal and polished wood provided access to the second floor. Sunny ascended the curving walkway and her smile widened further when she saw all of the available space on the second floor, where the elevator to the top waited in the center, a rainbow beam shining up out of the glass cylinder.
"This... This is way too much room for just me. This is for all of us, I just know it," Sunny commented, turning around to the two pegasi, unicorn, and earth stallion.
She got smiles and nods from her friends, who were realizing that with that idea, they now all suddenly had a place to stay in Maretime Bay as well. Izzy's grin was the widest as the opportunities for unicycling was expanding in her mind by the millisecond.
Not wanting to get too far ahead of herself, she stepped towards the elevator with her friends, and once they were all on the platform, Sunny pressed her hoof to the glowing touch pad on the wall, and it rose effortlessly up to the top of the lighthouse. There, just above the heads of all of them, in the middle of the rainbow beam, floated the three Unity Crystals. The view from the balcony provided the same spectacular view of both the ocean and Maretime Bay.
"Well, I suppose now you've got something to put all those new profits to use for," Hitch began. "Just leave me out of the floor plan. I'm sure it'll be easier to make sleeping arrangements for four ponies instead of five, and I'm perfectly happy in my house already."
"Fair enough, and yeah, I've certainly got things to think about now. We all do," Sunny said. "It is way too late to go furniture shopping tonight, and ponies are probably expecting my cart to be open tomorrow, so I suppose we'll all cram back into your place for tonight, then try to get this place livable as fast as we can."
"Sounds like a plan. Let's go get some sleep, friends," Hitch agreed.
They all gathered on the elevator again, and everyone was no doubt processing ideas as fast as they could as the platform descended to the second floor. The small crowd outside was either taking pictures, or had dispersed back into town. For her part, Pipp dug out her phone and took a selfie in front of the new lighthouse, to no doubt post to Ponygram.
After a short walk back to Hitch's house, they quietly went in, and saw Sprout sleeping on the couch as the TV played at a low volume.
"Hey, come on, Sprout. If you're going to sleep, then don't leave the TV on," Hitch told him, while he grabbed the remote and shut off the TV.
"I was just resting my eyes, I swear," Sprout said, but nevertheless sauntered over to the recliner, and laid back, giving out another yawn.
Zipp and Pipp went back to the spare bedroom again, Izzy spread out her sleeping bag, and Sunny got the couch. Not that she was going to get any sleep anytime soon, as she dug out a notepad from her saddlebags, put the end table lamp on the dimmest setting, and began making a shopping list for the new lighthouse.
If Sunny was really, really honest with herself, she almost didn't open her smoothie cart today. Getting a new place to live and getting four ponies out of Hitch's two bedroom house had been the two problems that had been stressing her out the most, and they had magically vanished overnight.
Of course, that brought new problems to the forefront, such as getting her new lighthouse furnished. Plus there was the biggest building in town that she now owned and had no idea what to do with.
As much as she wanted to be there with her friends for their shopping spree, she did like keeping her schedule, especially when business was booming, and the Maretime Bay regulars combined with the new tourists wanted to patronize one of the unifiers of Equestria. In which case, Monday and Tuesday, her regular days off, couldn't get here soon enough.
The last customer of the latest rush trotted off, slurping away at their beverage, and Sunny saw Pipp come up with a shopping bag over her shoulder.
"Hey there, Pipp. Things going okay at the lighthouse?" She asked the pegasus.
"Yep. That's actually one of several reasons why I'm here," Pipp began, reaching into her saddlebags, and came out with a file folder which she placed on the serving counter.
"Inspector just finished. I believe he was being quite literal when he said he's never seen a structure appear out of thin air and magically be up to code. But it's all set; roof, foundation, plumbing, electrical, heating, and air conditioning; everything is perfect."
"That's great news. I'm thrilled that you were able to get an appointment with him on such short notice," Sunny said as she took the folder and slid it into her saddlebags under the counter. "So Zipp and Izzy are out shopping, I take it?"
"Beds first. Which brings me to reason number two for my visit," Pipp continued, reaching into her shopping bag, and came out with a small rectangular box that was barely bigger than her hoof. "It's been all set up and everything, so if we find something we think you'll like, we can show you before we buy it. After all, it's your house," Pipp said, setting the box down on the counter.
Sunny took the box in her hooves, and pulled the top off, and her eyes widened as she looked down at a brand new smartphone.
"The first shipment just came in from Z-Mobile, I've taken the liberty of setting up all my friends' accounts. Everypony's numbers are already in your contacts," Pipp told her.
Pipp had taken the liberty of getting the phone fitted with a case that had an attachment on the back that made holding it incredibly easy.
"Um, wow, Pipp. I don't know what to say. I hope I have enough spare time to learn all the ins and outs of this. Thank you so much. I'm almost afraid to ask if there's anything else," Sunny told her, setting the phone to the side, where she could keep an eye on it, but where it wouldn't have much of a chance of getting anything spilled on it.
"Actually, there is, one last thing," Pipp said, reaching into her saddlebags again and came out with another file folder, and opened it, showing Sunny what looked like a deed, similar to the one that had signed over CanterLogic to her. "You're looking at the owner of the empty corner shop down the block. I'm opening a combination karaoke bar and beauty salon!"
"Oh wow, well, congratulations!" Sunny told her. "When do you open?" Sunny asked.
"As soon as I can, but don't worry, I'm saving some of my spare time to get that lighthouse livable as well. I'm hoping to get Mane Melody up and running in a matter of weeks!"
Sunny quickly put the ingredients of her friend's favorite smoothie into the blender, and soon slid a full cup with a straw over to the pegasus.
Sprout had to be perfectly honest with himself; he had more than half a mind to ask Izzy if she had some magic healing spell for his leg now that the unicorns had gotten their magic back.
Because here he was with comics, a television with sixty new channels broadcasted from Zephyr Heights, a hot supreme pizza, and he was going absolutely freaking stir crazy.
'Just keep telling yourself that it's better than the hospital, Sprout,' he told himself as he nibbled at his current slice of pizza.
He was fairly certain that it wasn't the activities, or lack of activities, but that he was currently feeling like a freeloader. Hitch wasn't letting him help with any of the upkeep around the house, and he was afraid that pushing the matter would indeed land him right back in Maretime Bay General.
He had felt that the best way to get his point across was when Hitch brought him the pizza on his lunch break five minutes ago.
"Could I at least paint the east wall so I can watch it dry?!" He had asked incredulously, causing Hitch to laugh as he left to return to work.
He had unpacked his comics and books that he had brought over from his bedroom, and had quickly deduced that it was just a little too soon for a re-read.
At least it wasn't deathly quiet in here; the television at least provided background noise when he wasn't paying attention to it.
His attention snapped to the front door when he heard it open, and in walked Pipp Petals, who gave him a warm smile as she came into the den.
"Afternoon, Deputy. Hope you're on the mend, and I've got something for you that will hopefully distract you from how long the healing process takes!" Pipp told him as she took a seat on the couch next to him, setting a shopping back on the floor in between it and the coffee table.
The pegasus reached down into it, and came out with a small rectangular white box, which had a 'Z' on the lid, which she promptly pulled off and set to the side. Inside, was a small device that Sprout had most frequently seen in the hooves of the mare that was currently sitting next to him.
"For you, Deputy Sprout," Pipp said, lifting it out of the indentation and offered it to him.
"Um, wow. I don't know what to say. Or, um, what to call it," Sprout admitted as he accepted it, turning it over in his hooves.
"A smartphone, the greatest cure-all for boredom known to pegasus kind!" Pipp said. "The most simple way to put it, is a phone, camera, and media player all in one. Not to mention canternet access."
"Canternet?" The stallion asked.
"A communication network, allowing for ponies across town, or now, across the region, to interact. You know, share pictures, videos, and status updates!" Pipp said.
Sprout looked like a raccoonicorn staring at a tram's headlight.
"Like, let's say you're gonna be a little late to work. Normally you'd call Hitch and hope he's at his desk? Well, now, you can just use that, and he can pick up anytime! You know, if he has his smartphone on him," Pipp told him.
"He has one?" Sprout asked, tapping the screen with the tip of his hoof and saw the screen light up, showing the time and temperature outside.
"Yep, all of our friends do now. I just stopped by Sunny's cart to give her hers," Pipp said.
"There is no way it's that windy out," Sprout said, looking at the forecast.
"Yeah, the weather app probably needs to be updated to account for the Maretime Bay tower now, it's probably still giving out Zephyr Heights' forecast," the pegasus said.
Sprout was trying to keep up as best he could.
"App?"
"Short for application. There are quite a few on the store. I'm willing to bet that your favorite pizza place is going to have an app to place orders on in the near future," Pipp told him.
The longer she saw him look at the device absolutely bewildered, the more she came to realize how overwhelmed earth pony was.
"I'm guessing this is a fairly big leap in technology for you guys," Pipp told him.
"I'll say. To think that CanterLogic could have been making stuff like this, instead of those stupid traps..." the stallion mused.
"I've been meaning to ask... You're alright with Sunny having that factory, right? That's not going to create any hard feelings?"
"What? Of course not. When everything is said and done, those are the absolute best hooves for that building to be in. She doesn't have a clue what to do with it right now, but I know she will eventually. So, I figured you'd be over at the new lighthouse, getting it ready to live in and everything," Sprout said.
"That's where I'm headed next. I just wanted to get this dropped off and get you reading through this manual to see how all the bells and whistles work. With Hitch at work and everypony else at the lighthouse, I didn't want you to get too lonely here. You're probably going nuts, Sprout. After what you did for us, I didn't want to have you think that you'd been forgotten about, with all the crazy changes that have been happening around here."
Sprout smiled warmly at her.
"Thanks, Pipp. That means a lot, it really does. I'm hoping Hitch isn't too overwhelmed with all the new tourists coming to town; I'm guessing construction teams in town have got to be salivating at all the new projects to get more housing built. I know Hitch means well with not having me do anything around here to help me heal faster, but that isn't going to count for much if I go insane by the time I'm able to use all four legs again," Sprout complained.
"Well, then lucky for you, that is the absolute perfect way to keep yourself occupied. You can watch videos on ClipTrot, go check out any number of community message boards on Hoofit, and share pictures on PonyGram. Those are three of the most popular ones by far, and there are so many more to see," Pipp told him. "Don't worry, I doubt you're the only one who is going to be struggling to figure everything out."
"Still, it's finally something to stimulate my mind, gives me something to do. Just one question; how durable is it? Like, say if a certain somepony comes in and tells me to not touch the screen too hard because it'll make my recovery longer, can I throw this at them?" Sprout asked with a mischievous grin on his face.
Pipp let out a giggle as she reached back into the bag, and pulled out a smaller box. She opened it, and came out with what looked to be another phone. She took the phone from Sprout, and he realized it was a case as she got it fitted into all sides, before popping the screen protector on, and gave it back to him.
"Now it will. But I wouldn't do that honestly. As someone who has made the mistake of throwing it at my older sister, believe me, it would be all too easy for him to pick it up and take off with it, and you can't exactly keep up with him at the moment." Pipp said.
"I take it you speak from experience," Sprout assumed.
"Chased her around half the corridors of the castle before mom finally put a stop to it," Pipp said, offering a soft chuckle. "Well, I've got to see how they're doing at the lighthouse. I'm just a message away if you need help with anything," Pipp said, taking the owner's manual out of the box and setting it on the coffee table. "Though it would likely be a lot easier on me if you read that cover to cover first, just to cover the basics of how to work it."
Sprout set the phone down on the arm of the couch and reached for the manual, setting it next to the phone before flipping it open to the first page.
"Oh, one more thing," Pipp said, opening an inner flap on the box that the phone at come in. "Real good thing electrical standards have remained the same across all of our tribes!"
Pipp pulled a plug and a cord out and went over to the wall and plugged the charger in, draping the cord over the left arm of the couch.
"For when your battery gets low, it's the little port on the bottom. Well, here's hoping that everypony is a little bit better with their phones by dinner tonight!"
With that, Pipp picked up her shopping bag, and was out the front door, leaving the deputy alone with the television, pizza, and new device.
If Sunny was quite honest with herself, she was becoming quite tired of this roller coaster ride of the opening days of a reunified Equestria. Because it seemed like every single time they hit a high, they'd dive right down to another low yet again.
Like now, as she stood in front of Hitch's desk next to new business partner Fifi at the police department as the sheriff filled out an incident report, after Fifi's first fruit delivery ended disastrously as she herself landed safely, but then the cart she had been pulling kept it's momentum, bounced over her head, and right into the sunglasses kiosk that had been right next to Sunny's smoothie cart. The damage had been substantial.
"I'm glad nopony was hurt," Hitch began as he finished up the report. "Property can be replaced; ponies can't. But I am becoming concerned with airborne pegasi within town limits."
"What do you mean?" Sunny asked.
"I mean this is hardly the first flying incident or accident report I've had to fill out. Just because pegasi can fly again doesn't mean they've been able to fly safely," Hitch told her.
Fifi must have seen the incredulous look on Sunny's face, because she spoke up before the earth mare could.
"Please don't give the sheriff a hard time, Sunny. He has a very good point. Zephyr Heights hasn't been able to offer anything in the form of formal flying lessons. I've already agreed to pay for the damages in full to the kiosk owner, but I'm not sure I can make deliveries to you on time before the fruit spoils if I stay on the ground. All of my other deliveries are local to Zephyr Heights. I know we've just started this business partnership, but maybe it's best we put it on hold until we can figure this out."
Sunny couldn't hide the look of disappointment from showing on her face.
"Alright, Fifi. If you think that's best," Sunny replied in resignation.
"Like I said, it's not the first, and unless we do something in the meantime, I doubt it will be the last. I'm wondering if we should designate a landing area outside of the town, and declare all of Maretime Bay a no-fly zone for the time being," Hitch said.
Sunny's mouth dropped open in disbelief.
"Hitch, are you kidding me? You can't be—"
"He's right, Sunny. Ponies are getting hurt. It's the right choice until we can fly safer," Fifi said.
Not finding the words to say, Sunny simply signed the incident report where Hitch had requested, before sliding it over to Fifi before the two mares left the station.
With that piece of business taken care of, Hitch reached for his new smartphone. He wasn't close to figuring out all the bells and whistles yet, but he had gotten the basic functions down as he scrolled down his short list of contacts, found the one he was looking for, and pressed the video call button. There was a ringing tone for several moments before the screen showed a... View of a ceiling high above.
"Oh, how does this thing work?" Came the voice of Queen Haven of Zephyr Heights.
"I think you look at the screen, Your Majesty," Hitch replied.
The screen shifted away from the ceiling, and after a few moments, the face of the pegasus ruler came into focus.
"Ah, much better. Sheriff Trailblazer, to what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?" Haven asked.
Hitch smiled softly at the knowledge that there were even pegasi who hadn't quite mastered these smartphone devices yet.
"Unfortunately, some unpleasant incidents, ma'am. We've had quite a few accidents from flying pegasi not being able to land safely. I was just wanting to touch base with you and make sure there weren't going to be any problems if I were to declare Maretime Bay a no-fly zone," Hitch told her.
Queen Haven sighed, but gave the sheriff an understanding glance.
"Absolutely no problem, Sheriff. I'll even put out notices here on our end that flight is to stop over Maretime Bay's limits. Whatever issues you're having over there, I'm sure our issues are even worse. There haven't been any life-threatening injuries yet, thank hoofness, but our emergency rooms have been nearly beyond capacity ever since flight magic returned," Haven told him.
"Fifi told me that Zephyr Heights hasn't been offering formal lessons. Are there any plans to?" Hitch asked.
"Yes, but sadly, those plans aren't exactly taking off. Pegasi haven't been able to fly in generations, so you can understand that there's not much surviving material to go off of. In fact, I'd say the pegasus that would be most suitable to handle that would be my oldest, Zephyrina. Or, well, you probably know her as Zipp," Haven replied.
"If she's interested in training lessons, I would gladly give her whatever outdoor space she needs," Hitch said.
"Sheriff, if you can convince her to do that, you'll have to tell me your secrets," Haven told him.
"What do you mean?" Hitch asked.
"I mean that in all my years, I've never known Zipp to do something willingly because she's asked or told to. She's always gone her own way. I've only been able to have her attend royal events by being quite stern with her, but that's likely only a visage for a mother, and not a friend. I'm sure that pegasi don't want a teacher that feels coerced into teaching. I feel Zipp would only do it if she wanted to."
Hitch nodded in understanding.
"Alright, thank you for your time, Your Majesty. Best of luck."
After Fifi's disastrous delivery, Sunny had to rely on an emergency local order to get her supplies refilled for the next few shifts, before finally closing up for the day and heading back towards the lighthouse. She was coming up the path to the front doors when they burst open, and Zipp came out, followed quickly by Pipp.
"Zipp, I seriously don't understand you!" Pipp told her incredulously.
"Sis, just drop it!" Zipp snapped. "I'm not interested. There's no way I would ever be qualified for something like that."
With that, Zipp spread her wings, and took off, headed east over the hills outside of town, while Sunny came up to Pipp.
"So I take it she knows already?" Sunny asked.
Pipp nodded.
"Thinks the no-flight rule is ridiculous, and will likely be giving Hitch an earful sooner than later. But at the same time, she doesn't think she's fit to teach other pegasi how to fly," Pipp answered.
"She's probably the most fit!" Sunny countered.
"I know, right? How can she say she isn't qualified? I mean, even I've managed to make time to give up-and-coming livestreamers some pointers on the basics to help them share their passions with the rest of the city."
From the stunned, wide-eyed expression that formed on Sunny's face, Pipp knew she had struck some kind of nerve.
"What? What did I say?" Pipp asked.
"You aren't quite ready for dinner, are you?" Sunny asked.
"Not really, why?" Pipp replied.
"Come with me," Sunny told her, quickly turning around and heading down the hill at a steady gallop, and Pipp followed a moment later. The sun continued dipping below the horizon as the earth and pegasus mares made their way down the main street, right up to the dark CanterLogic building, which would normally be one of the brightest areas of town during this time of day.
The pair of ponies came up to the front doors, and Sunny reached into her saddlebags and came out with the one and only working keycard to the building, brushing it against the reader beside the door. The indicator light went from red to green, and the lock clicked open, letting her pull open the front door.
The entire factory was under emergency lighting only, so the entire front concourse was only dimly lit. Pipp stayed close to her friend as they passed the front offices and came to the production floor. The wide open space made it a lot darker than the offices up front, but it was still clear to see their surroundings; cardboard boxes littered the entire floor, some filled, some not.
Sunny knew what had happened; the factory staff were in the middle of getting rid of all of Phyllis' propaganda materials when Toots had made the call to shut it all down and hand the property over to her.
"Sunny, what are we doing here?" Pipp asked.
Sunny finally came to a stop in the middle of the wide open floor.
"Alright," she began, turning to Pipp. "Picture this if you can; all of this junk cleared away. The earth ponies and unicorns are loving their new smartphones, and your streams are just getting more and more popular, with quite a few ponies wanting to give it a try themselves. So, let's give them a place to do it. Right here! A livestreaming studio! Where ponies can give tutorials and lessons and content on any manner of subjects!"
Now it was Pipp with the wide-eyed, stunned look, as a building's worth of light bulbs came on in her head.
Hitch was wrapping up the last of his paperwork before he went home for the night. According to Pipp, Sprout was now perfectly occupied with a new smartphone, so he was hoping that his deputy would go through the rest of his recovery with minimal complaining. He glanced down at his own phone, seeing the text message that had popped up about five minutes ago.
Pipp Heads up, Sheriff. Zipp might be headed your way, she's not too happy about the flight ban.
Just as he was about done with the last piece of work on his desk, the double doors swung open, and Zipp, looking rather irate, came trotting through the door, right up to his desk.
"And just what is this I'm hearing about a flight ban in town? Do you want pegasi to up and leave Maretime Bay?" Zipp asked with an unquestioningly accusing tone.
"No, I don't. But I do want all pegasi, and unicorns, and earth ponies to be safe when they're in Maretime Bay, Zipp. A kiosk stand was damaged today, and thankfully nopony was hurt. This time," Hitch explained to her.
"So that means just ban every pegasus from flying?" Zipp asked.
"Zipp, if a task takes a specific skill, ponies aren't free to do it just anywhere. When CanterLogic was still open, not just anypony could drive the forklifts, you needed a license. Same with the trolleys around town. I'll stop beating around the bush; you are the only pegasus with considerable flying ability, no doubt because of the countless hours down in that hangar. Nopony else has."
"So I'm just supposed to put my life on hold and teach every single pegasus how to fly?" Zipp asked.
"I didn't say that."
"Have you ever thought about what my mom will think when you've grounded every pegasus within city limits?" Zipp asked.
If Zipp thought that question was going to trip the sheriff up, she was setting herself up for disappointment as Hitch merely raised an eyebrow.
"She was the first one I called when I first considered it. She stands behind my decision one hundred percent, saying that hospitals and clinics have been packed to the brim with flight injuries. I won't have the same thing happening here. And you know what? Yours was the first name she suggested who should teach others. So take it up with her, Zipp. For now, until we figure out a solution, I'm afraid my decision is final."
Zipp wanted to continue arguing, but she knew it wouldn't do any good. With a final huff, the pegasus turned and shoved the doors to the station open, and galloped down the streets.
She needed to go for a fly, and evidently she needed to go out to the hills outside of town to do that now...
Hitch and Sprout walked up the hill towards the Crystal Brighthouse, which seemed to almost glow in the dusk. Coming up the front steps, Hitch knocked on the door to announce their arrival.
"It's open!" He heard Izzy call.
Hitch turned the knob, and pushed the doors open. He immediately saw Izzy over by the stove in the kitchen, and Sunny and Pipp talking excitedly on the couch, with a small cluster of papers scattered on the coffee table. Sunny looked over from Pipp when she noticed they had visitors.
"Hitch, don't be ridiculous. Neither of you two have to knock to come in here," Sunny said, getting up and going over to hug him.
"But knock we will. This is your home, and I won't barge in unannounced," Hitch told her.
"Pfft. 'Unannounced'. When we invited you two over for dinner," Sunny replied. "How have you been holding up Sprout?"
"Well I'm not going stir crazy anymore since Pipp got me this awesome phone," the red stallion replied.
"And he'll be pleased to know that he's been cleared for desk duty," Hitch added.
Sprout had obviously not heard this ahead of time, because his ears perked up and his head whipped towards Hitch.
"Wait, seriously? Really?" He asked enthusiastically.
"Desk duty, Deputy. 'Desk' was the keyword there," Hitch emphasized, before turning his attention to the scribbles and sketches on the papers scattered on the coffee table. "So what's all this?"
"Sunny finally has an idea for the factory," Pipp said. "A public livestreaming studio!"
"A what-streaming studio?" Sprout asked.
"Remember when I gave you that quick walkthrough on your phone, telling you about how a lot of ponies broadcast to their audiences live? That's livestreaming," Pipp told him.
"With how popular Pipp claims it is in Zephyr Heights, I figured let's get a bit of a head start on giving everypony in Maretime Bay a place to hone their new hobby. I have a meeting with Toots tomorrow on my lunch break, I'd like to bring as much of the CanterLogic staff back as I can," Sunny said.
"Well, sounds like you've got it all under control for now," Hitch offered, before the inviting scent of seasoned pasta and cheese reached his nostrils. "Smells great over there, Izzy. What's for dinner?"
"Macaroni and cheese, with all sorts of crazy pasta shapes courtesy of Mac-a-poni in Zephyr Heights!" Izzy answered.
"Say, where's Zipp?" Hitch asked.
He saw the expressions of Pipp and Sunny turn somber for a moment.
"Zipp... Isn't joining us tonight. Sent me a text an hour ago, saying not to expect her back tonight," Pipp answered.
"Yeah, I was afraid she'd still be angry about the new flight ordinance. Hoped I could soften the blow by telling her that I had your mom's support," Hitch told her.
"Which is why I'd wager that she's flying home right now to give her an earful. For what it's worth, Hitch, I think you made the right call; until more pegasi can learn to fly safely, we need to stay on the ground in crowded areas."
"It's ready!" Izzy called from over in the kitchen, levitating a large pot over to the dining table. "Come and get it!"
Queen Haven sipped at her morning cup of coffee as she quietly went over her to-do list for the day with Captain Zephyrwing in the cavernous throne room in Zephyr Heights Castle.
"And how are the clinics and Zephyr Heights General doing, Captain?" Haven asked as she glanced down her list.
"Still overwhelmed, Your Highness, but the tide does seem to be ebbing a bit; the warning signs are probably helping."
The quiet conversation came to a halt when the throne room doors burst open, and in trotted Zipp, who honestly looked like she hadn't gotten a decent night's sleep.
"Good thing you put that possibility on the list, Your Highness," Captain Zephyrwing muttered to her, taking her hoof and sliding 'Talk to Zipp' to the top of the to-do list as the white pegasus continued to march into the throne room.
"So you actually agree with what Hitch is doing in Maretime Bay? You're letting him keep us from enjoying the magic that's been returned to us?" Zipp asked incredulously.
Haven took a quiet breath, nodding at Captain Zephyrwing, letting her know that that would be all for now, as she got up from the throne and walked towards her oldest daughter.
"Come with me," Haven told her just as she passed her on her trot towards the large double doors. When she got to them, seeing that Zipp hadn't moved, she turned her head to look back at her.
Zipp walked nearly one full pace behind her mother as she made her way through the downtown streets of Zephyr Heights, escorted by Captain Zoom and Corporal Thunder. The pair of royal guards were able to keep most of the onlookers away and about their business, as they both were quite familiar with how much Zipp loathed the attention of Zephyr Heights' citizenry.
The four pegasi came to the front entrance of Zephyr Heights General, where the doors slid open and they walked into the brightly lit interior.
Zipp had been in here once or twice before, and had never seen it so crowded. Every chair was occupied, and still more sat against the walls as they waited for rooms or even diagnoses. She couldn't help but glance at the admissions board, and see that every single slot on the list was full, and no doubt everypony in the hall was waiting for a room and a doctor.
"Your Majesty, how can we help you today?" the receptionist asked.
"Oh, you don't have to help us with anything, miss. I'm well aware of how absolutely overwhelmed you all are. We're just here to see how our citizens are recovering. After all, the sooner they're out, the sooner more of those waiting can get help," Haven told her.
Zipp noticed a hint of relief on the receptionist's face when she realized that her time and attention wouldn't be required of the hospital's royal visitors.
"Then I certainly won't take up any more of your time, Your Majesty. Our outpatient rooms are right down there," the receptionist told her, pointing a hoof towards the hall on the left.
Smiling, nodding, and thanking her, Haven made her way down the hall with her eldest daughter following along with their escort. Haven stopped at the first room on the right, and entered.
The light pink pegasus was quite surprised at who her visitors were.
"Y-Your Majesty! Princess Zipp! To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Good morning, Miss Windy, right?" Haven began. "We're just visiting, seeing how everypony is recovering."
Zipp recalled that Windy, like much of Zephyr Heights, was a big fan of Pipp's, and remembered seeing her have a midair collision during their farewell parade a few days ago.
"They say I'll be ready to head home in another day or so. I'm also supposed to not attempt to fly again until my left wing heals entirely. The doctor has told me that could take about two weeks. After that... Who knows, hopefully some of us can get some mattresses together on the floor in a gymnasium or something," Windy commented.
"We know you're anxious to get back up into the air, but a complete recovery is the most important thing. Have a good day, Windy," Haven told her.
With that, Haven and the increasingly quiet Zipp rejoined the guards outside in the hall, and made their way down to the next room, then the next, and the next; each time having a short conversation with the pegasus patient inside. The most common injuries were sprained or broken wings, but sometimes the patient had tucked them in before impact, and then it was a neck injury, or a broken leg.
They came to the last room on the left, and when Haven walked in, she stopped, as the pink stallion in the bed was immediately recognized and somepony the royal family had become very familiar with.
"Oh, Ruddy, you too?" Haven asked. When Zipp joined her mother in the room, Haven closed the door, leaving Zoom and Thunder outside in the bustling hallway, and giving them a semblance of privacy.
Ruddy Sparks was the palace stage manager, and was one of the very, very few ponies who knew every detail of the ruse that Haven and her daughters had pulled on the rest of Zephyr Heights. Thus, he was paid handsomely for his talents, and had been given residence in the palace for his loyalty and trustworthiness.
"Your Majesty... So sorry you have to see me like this," Ruddy began, motioning to his bandaged left wing and splinted right leg. "Took a bit of a nasty roll when I collided with the side of a building two days ago. I suppose it's my own fault; years of working with your wires and harnesses made it look easier than it actually is."
Zipp felt a pang of guilt upon hearing those words.
"It is hardly your fault, Ruddy," Haven replied. "You are hardly the only one in here."
The stallion glanced over at Zipp.
"I can certainly understand why your mom is keeping up appearances, but how did she drag you along, Princess?" Ruddy asked.
"Almost literally," Zipp muttered.
"I'm hoping I'm proving a point to her," Haven commented.
"What point is that?" Zipp asked.
"Sorry you have to see her so snippy, Ruddy. She arrived back at the palace rather irate at my agreement with Maretime Bay's new flight ban. I'm hoping she now understands why that is a good idea," Haven told him.
"No offense, Your Majesty, but that's how I've almost always seen her," Ruddy commented, seeing the white pegasus bristle in annoyance at the comment. "Oh come on, Princess. Your mom and sister always had to twist your leg to come to rehearsals."
"And now she wants to keep us all grounded because we're having trouble adapting to our new magic. We may as well not have any magic at all," Zipp quipped.
"Zephyrina, you have now seen firsthoof how absolutely overwhelmed the hospital staff is with flight injuries. Staff that are very familiar with pegasus anatomy. You think Maretime Bay's doctors know how to treat wing injuries? If their hospitals and clinics began getting filled up with pegasi, we'd most likely have to send some of our medical professionals down there to help, and honestly, that would very likely send this place careening over their breaking point."
Zipp didn't reply, as she had nothing to say.
"Secondly, the only way we're going to start to curtail these kind of injuries is if we can get some sort of training out there. In her last call to me, Pipp said that you were quite dismissive when she suggested that you hold some lessons, and I would frankly like to know why. I even told Sheriff Hitch that you would be the prime candidate for some basics, and I'd like to know why you so very quickly made a liar out of me."
Zipp once again bristled at the accusation.
"Maybe because nopony checked with me first?" Zipp replied incredulously. "So magic comes back, and I'm supposed to put my life on hold while I show every other pegasus how to stay in the air?"
Haven let out an exasperated sigh as she glanced over at Ruddy.
"I am not daft, Zephyrina," Haven began. "I know you've never liked playing Princess, nor having ponies look up to you over false hope... Over a lie. But you, your sister, and your friends have brought magic back. In short, Zephyr Heights now has a very real reason to look up to you now. Now that they can fly, they need a pony, a leader, to show them how."
"I don't think your mom is suggesting that you put your life on hold, Princess. After all, your sister reaches so many other ponies every single day through her streams. She could certainly help you figure something out," Ruddy offered.
Silence hung in the room for several moments.
"I'm not going to tell you to do anything," Haven told her daughter. "Because I know that wouldn't help. You've always gone your own way. Just promise me that you'll think about it. That's all I'm asking."
Zipp took a quiet breath, and finally opened her mouth to speak.
Sunny trotted away from the pick-up counter with a tray containing a Pretzel Hayburger Deluxe, a medium hayfry, and a strawberry milkshake, going into the dining area and sat across the table from Toots, who already had his food and was scrolling through his smartphone which was laying next to his tray.
"Alright, so now that we're ready to eat, want to tell me what this is about?" Toots asked, sipping at his soda.
"Yes. Thanks for coming out to lunch with me, Toots. I wanted to tell you that I've figured out what to do with the factory, and I'd like to know if you'd be interested in help run it again, as well as bring as many former employees back as we can," Sunny told him.
"Well, I'd say you certainly have my intrigue, but I'd like to know more, as much as I can, in fact, before committing to something like that. It's just that I would never want to get former employees' hopes up if it's something that doesn't end up being sustainable. I won't ask them to come back just for them to go through a closure again," Toots warned her.
"No problem, and I appreciate your bluntness, Toots," Sunny began, before she paused as she noticed Pipp come to the table with a cup of iced coffee, looking positively half asleep.
"Ah, Pipp, I'm so glad you were able to make it," Sunny said.
"You alright, Miss Pipp? You don't look too good," Toots greeted.
Pipp nodded sluggishly.
"I'm afraid that helping me with my new idea along with getting her new salon ready to open is running Pipp here into the ground. That's why I'm really hoping that I can take the pointers she's given me, and have you take over, so she can focus more on Mane Melody and stop spending more energy than she has. No offense, Pipp," Sunny offered.
"None taken, Sunny," Pipp replied, yawning. "But she is right. While I am more than happy to bring livestreaming, both as a hobby and career path, to an entire new community of ponies, trying to jump start two new business ventures at once is currently taking more coffee than is probably healthy."
"Livestreaming? Like the short episodes you put out almost daily?" Toots asked.
"Exactly," the pegasus replied. "Doing it entirely on your own takes equipment, bandwidth, knowledge, and most importantly, practice and time to generate an audience. Sunny is interested in turning CanterLogic into a space that provides most of that; mainly space and equipment. I'm already in contact with knowledgeable livestreamers up in Zephyr Heights to see if they'd be interested in providing their expertise."
"I'm envisioning having multiple stages, some large, some small, depending on what the streamer's needs would be. Cameras, microphones, props... What ever they need to put on their show," Sunny chipped in.
"So put succinctly, a public access broadcasting studio," Toots surmised.
Sunny and Pipp nodded.
"You're already familiar with the building's layout, so I was hoping you'd like to come back and keep things running," Sunny told him.
Toots mulled this offer over as he continued into his lunch.
"The first thing I would need is a plan to bring in revenue. This idea is all well and good, but at the end of all of these discussions, we'll need a way to keep the lights on and keep employees paid," the earth stallion told them.
"That's a very good point, Sunny. I know Maretime Bay will give you a monthly grant for the building being public access, but there should also be some kind of rental fees for equipment or stage usage, and it should be just enough to pay staff and overhead," Pipp told her.
"No worries, Sunny. That is my line of work and area of expertise," Toots told her.
"We should make it accessible and attractive to both newbies and experienced streamers, so ponies don't stop using the studio once they get enough streaming experience and equipment to do it on their own," Pipp added.
"The more hooves-on experience we get from Zephyr Heights, the better," Sunny said. "Not to mention the less we'll need you, so you can focus on Mane Melody."
"One more thing, before we start putting things in motion," Toots said. "Got any ideas for a name?"
Sunny nodded, picking up her beverage.
"I do," Sunny said, raising her glass up in an invitation to a toast.
Sprout sipped at his coffee as he slid the keycard into the lock on the front doors of the precinct. The light blinked green, he pulled the left door open, and stepped inside.
He actually managed to do it; he got up, got ready, and got all the way here before Hitch woke up. He didn't want to take any chances and have Hitch perhaps change his mind at the last minute and have him continue to rest at his house. Taking a quick glance around the office, he went over to his desk, and sat down in his chair. Hitch hadn't done any kind of organizing of his deputy's work area, so it was as it had been left the way it had been when his mom had unleashed that monstrous vehicle on Sunny's lighthouse over two weeks ago.
Including the bottle of apple bourbon that had barely had two inches poured out of it. Luckily, Sprout had the foresight to close the bottle before running off to warn the occupants of the lighthouse, so the booze hadn't spoiled. He picked it up and put it back into the drawer that it had come from. Best save it for an occasion to celebrate with Hitch later on.
It felt good to be back here.
Sprout reached into his saddlebag, and came out with two items; his new smartphone, and a wireless charger that he picked up from the brand new Z-Mobile location downtown. He plugged in the charger under his desk, and made sure that it was on before starting to scroll through his phone. He immediately began to wonder how this device could be used here as part of his job. If their records could become even partially electronic, it would certainly streamline things around here. It wouldn't mean trip after trip to the filing cabinets if some of their paperwork became digital.
He'd talk with Hitch about it. For now, he wanted to perform 'desk duty' to the absolute best of his ability. While under normal circumstances, he and Hitch would take turns patrolling, so he would likely be taking care of things here in the precinct while Hitch spent most of his time out on the streets.
The red stallion took another look around the office, and figured the first thing he could do was clear out the complaint box. They were usually littering complaints, but having tourists in town for the first time in, well, ever, probably complicated things a bit. Getting up from his chair, he walked over to the box, opened it, and indeed found three cards.
"Damage to garden... Reckless flying... Complaint about the flight ban..." he recited as he flipped through the trio of cards.
Well, the sooner Zipp could be convinced to give some flying lessons, the sooner that third one could happen. He noticed that the other two were signed by the same pony, one Posey Bloom.
"You ever going to run out of things to complain about, Posey?" Sprout asked, talking to himself. Even before reunification, the earth mare was one of the citizens who frequented the complaint box the most. Some of Maretime Bay even referred to her derogatorily as a 'Maren', or somepony who complains. A lot.
He made a note to check with Posey about her garden, but as for the other two cards, one had already been handled, and the other one couldn't be dealt with yet until pegasi could fly more safely.
Welp, that was the complaint box taken care of.
Suddenly, an idea dawned on him. He went back to his desk and sat down, before picking up the wired landline in the back corner, picking it up and dialing a familiar number.
"Yes, hello. This is Deputy Sprout Cloverleaf, and I'd like to place an order for lunch carryout."
Phyllis carefully gave the china display cabinet under her front windows a final wipe with her dusting cloth, then tossed it into the bucket next to her with the rest of the cleaning supplies. She glanced through the gap of the barely closed curtains, seeing a couple pegasi and a unicorn trot down the street with an earth pony.
With a heavy sigh, she left the bucket of cleaning supplies where it sat on the carpet, and went over to her recliner, sinking into it, glancing over at the clock, wondering if she should get lunch started soon. Perhaps put on some music too; the silence in here could get maddening at times.
The former CanterLogic CEO was about to go to the kitchen to see what groceries she had left before the sheriff's next delivery when there was a knock at the door. She was immediately intrigued, she was fairly certain that Hitch had informed the town that there were to be no visitors to her house. Getting up from the recliner, she crossed the living room into the small foyer, and opened the door, and her eyes widened upon coming face to face with her son.
"S-Sugarcube... Hi," Phyllis greeted.
Sprout gave his mother a soft smile.
"I thought you might like some hay and swiss dips for lunch," the red stallion offered, holding up a large paper bag.
The smell was quite inviting.
"But of course, come on in, hun," Phyllis replied, stepping aside and letting the deputy step inside as she tried to internally figure out what he was doing here, after so adamantly dismissing her more than a week ago. She followed him into the kitchen, where he set the bag down on the table, reached into it, and produced two wrapped hay and swiss cheese sub sandwiches, along with two cups of steaming hot dark broth for dipping. For her part, she went and poured two glasses of iced sweet tea, bringing them to the table.
"Well," Phyllis began as she took a seat at the dining table across from Sprout. "No sense in beating around the bush, I'm rather surprised that you're here, after... After, well, you know."
"Yeah, I know," Sprout said, sliding one of the sandwiches and dip cups over to her. "This is my first day back on duty. For the last two weeks, the absolute worst part of my recovery was how mind-numbingly lonely it got while everyone else went about their day. So this morning I realized that keeping you in here with absolutely no visitation probably isn't the best way to encourage rehabilitation."
Phyllis smiled at her son as he took his first bite of lunch.
"You're right about that... The loneliness. I've deep-cleaned this place more than ever before just to keep myself occupied," she commented.
"I was about to say, this place is spotless. I'm not gonna have to wonder where things are in my room, am I?" Sprout asked.
"No, I haven't touched anything in there, sugarcube," his mom replied.
With that, she dipped the sandwich into the hot broth, and took her first bite. It was divine, and easily the best thing she had eaten in days.
"Absolutely delicious, sweetheart. Thank you," Phyllis began. Sprout gave her a smile behind his full mouth. "So, how is everything out there with unicorns and pegasi everywhere?"
"Well, not the smoothest of sailing, but we're managing as best we can. We're trying to find somepony to have formal flying lessons for the pegasi, because Zephyr Heights has been overwhelmed with flight injuries, and we don't want that to happen here. Other than that, not too many complaints, well, except for Posey, of course, and Hitch told me he'd deal with that before we went on lunch break."
"So Hitch knows you're here?"
"Yeah. Not really looking to do anything behind his back on my first day back on the job," Sprout told her.
"Oh, I wasn't insinuating that, I'm just glad that you wanted to come see me, and that he let you come see me," she replied.
"Yeah, well, I gave him my reasons, and he agreed," Sprout replied.
After her next bite, Phyllis took a deep breath before looking at her son again.
"I'm sorry, Sprout. I really am. I know that's probably not worth much right now, but I still had to say it," she told him.
He swallowed his current bite, and paused before taking another.
"I had a feeling you would be, but it's nice to hear you say it, mom. Things are a bit unexpected right now, but it's also exciting. Take this for example..."
Sprout dug into his saddlebags and came out with a small hoofheld device, and set it on the table.
"This is a smartphone. The pegasi make them in Zephyr heights. It's a mobile phone, but also so much more... It's a camera, a list of contacts, apps that can show you the weather, increase your productivity. One of the most popular things to do is livestream," Sprout explained.
"Livestream?"
"Yeah, it's like broadcasting footage from the phone's camera instantaneously. It's tricky to really explain clearly, but Sunny has decided to turn CanterLogic into a public access studio for Maretime Bay, because boy is livestreaming taking off. Oh, um, did you know that? They signed the building over to her," Sprout asked.
"Yes, I caught wind of that. It's my own fault, and I have to take responsibility for it. I know she'll turn it into something amazing. I probably won't recognize the place when I get out of here," Phyllis commented. "Or any of Maretime Bay..."
Sprout took a swallow of sweet tea.
"Well, I don't want to comment about something like that when I have little to no authority on it. I'm not going to go and give you false hope over possibilities of sentence commutation or anything like that. All I'll say is this; if you promise to give this reunification, this new Maretime Bay, a real, honest shot, then I promise to keep coming over for visits. Deal?" Sprout asked, popping the last bit of sandwich that he had left into his mouth.
It was becoming a beautiful, cool summer afternoon as Sheriff Hitch Trailblazer made his way through the outskirts of Maretime Bay. Nearly all of the earth ponies lived in city limits, and out here, all one would find is farmers, extensive gardeners, and ponies who preferred their solitude.
Posey Bloom fit all of those descriptions. She was one of Maretime Bay's most proficient gardeners, made considerable contributions to the local farmer's market multiple times a year, and seemed to enjoy being out here among the rolling hills outside of town.
Her home was the very definition of cozy; one story with a small attic, and two large garden plots on either side of the front walk. Hitch went right up the front walk, and knocked on the front door, hoping that he hadn't wasted his lunch hour in coming out here only to have her not be home.
But luckily, that wasn't the case, and the door opened to reveal one Posey Bloom. The yellow-coated, pink-maned earth pony greeted him with a light smile. She wore a lime green bow in both her mane and tail, to match her eyes, and wore a green clover necklace.
"Afternoon, Sheriff Hitch. What can I do for you?" She greeted.
"I'm actually here to see if there's anything I can do for you. To perhaps ease your mind a bit about this reunification?" Hitch asked.
Posey softly shook her head.
"As far as I can tell, you and Deputy Sprout have been doing a fine job so far; that unicorn that slid into my mailbox replaced it, and the flight ban within city limits is perfectly reasonable, if you ask me," Posey replied.
"Yeah well, that certainly depends on who you ask," Hitch told her, remembering how Zipp had reacted, and for all he knew, how she was still reacting. "But I know you're a pretty reasonable mare, Posey. If you feel that having unicorns and pegasi in town is bothersome, then I'd like to hear any, shall I say, ulterior concerns you have, that's all."
Posey gave a soft exhale. Hitch was always quite good at reading ponies.
"Give me one moment, Sheriff," Posey told him. With that, she left the door open while she went back inside. Hitch heard a faucet running, and a few moments later, Posey stepped out onto her front porch with a watering can. She stepped down to the front walk, and began walking along side her left garden, tipping the watering can forward as she went, with Hitch walking alongside.
"Why just them, Sheriff?" Posey asked.
"What do you mean, 'just them'?" Hitch asked.
"If I've heard your speech correctly, you, Sunny, and your new friends went gallivanting across the region in search of magic crystals, right? I don't mean to sound selfish, but... They give pegasi their flight back, unicorns their magic back, even instantly make a new lighthouse for Sunny, but what do the rest of the earth ponies get? Just a 200% increase in tourism and shop revenue?"
Posey knew that her sarcasm at this point was more than a bit biting, so she cleared her throat.
"I'm sorry. I'm just feeling a little... Left out. I think a lot of us are."
"Well, I'm not much of a student of what ancient Equestria was like, but even in the times I overheard Sunny, I don't think she even mentioned earth ponies having any magic at any point in history. But maybe a change of scenery? You've always loved gardening, so maybe visit Zephyr Heights or Bridlewood, and bring some new flowers to Maretime Bay," Hitch suggested.
Posey raised an eyebrow in concern.
"And potentially introduce an invasive species? You don't know much about gardening, do you, Sheriff?" Posey asked with a smirk.
"No, I suppose law enforcement was always my strong suit. I just don't want you to feel like you're stuck in a rut when everypony else is discovering something new about themselves," Hitch told her.
"Well, I'm not alone in that regard. I know a lot of shop owners are thrilled about the increase in tourism, I just want all this effort to bring us something more, you know?"
"I'll be honest, I don't completely understand, but I think I know where you're coming from; it's not easy seeing others grow around you and having no idea how to achieve something similar yourself. I just don't want you to be afraid to speak your mind, alright?" Hitch asked.
