Never Only One
Zipp would never admit that she inherited much from her mother, but her friends would suggest otherwise with how she throws herself into her work like her mother has to with all of her queenly duties.
Technically it was only two cases she was working on right now, but they were so big and important for the safety and future of Equestria that they required all of her attention.
Pulling out here phone, Zipp pressed record and jotted down her current findings. “Case update: neither Allura or her rabbit minion have been spotted in the recent weeks. Possibly planning some kind of attack. Will need to investigate further before coming up with counter strategy.” Finishing the recording, the pegasus then turned her attention to her second mystery of interest; the location of the rest of the alicorns.
Following her adventure with Sunny, Zipp had been trying to decipher what the blanket they uncovered from Opaline’s lair meant. Sure, they knew it meant there were other alicorns besides Sunny, and Opaline if you wanted to count recently deceased, but where were they? And just how many were there? Ten? Fifty? Hundreds? Thousands? Seventy-two?
The idea was so exciting that she didn’t hear anypony approaching until Sunny spoke up. “Hey, Zipp?” She asked quietly as to not startle her friend.
The result was a failure as Zipp immediately leapt into the air in surprise. “Aaaah!”
“Sorry!” Sunny quickly apologized. “I was trying not to scare you.”
“It’s fine.” Zipp assured her as she placed a hoof over her heart to slow down its beating. “Just happens when I get to absorbed in a mystery is all.” She said as she landed.
Walking over to the board, Sunny saw all that her friend was working on. Specifically the alicorn blanket as she grabbed the object and looked at it more closely. "So?" She started to ask. "What have you found out about it?"
"Not much else since yesterday's findings." Zipp told her as she took the blanket. "I tried looking through the alicorn book I got from ZH, but the languages don't seem to match."
"They don't?" Sunny asked as she looked at the blanket, but failed to notice any writing on it.
Zipp noticed this and pulled out her magnifying class and put it over a section so Sunny could see. "It's very subtle, but there's some writing on it in another language. Perhaps the next time we go to Zephyr Heights we can search the archives to see if there's a translator or something and work from there."
"That sounds good." Sunny agreed with a smile.
A smile that Zipp immediately knew was forced from her experiences as a princess. "Is there something wrong with that?" She asked, deciding to get straight to the point.
Sunny seemed taken aback by the question. "Wh-what? N-no!" She stammered out. Zipp just raised an eyebrow at Sunny and let the earth pony mare know that her attempts to hide her lie were failing. While she initially darted her eyes around as she tried to think of something more convincing to say, Sunny quickly gave up with a sigh as she knew from experience once Zipp was onto somepony it was impossible to throw her off track.
"I'm worried about what the alicorns would think of me when they see me." She confessed.
"Huh?" Zipp said in confusion. "I don't follow." She admitted. "Why would the alicorns not see you as amazing? You're Sunny Starscout!"
"Look at me, Zipp." Sunny said as she spun around. "No wings. No horn. I'm supposed to be the alicorn, yet you don't see any of those on my right now, do you?"
"No." Zipp answered truthfully, still not understanding where Sunny was coming from.
"Exactly. I'm not a true alicorn. I'm only one when I'm able to make it happen. What would the alicorns think when they see an earth pony trying to play the role of a god?" Sunny explained herself.
"I'd say they're still gonna be impressed with how you managed to get those powers and use them." Zipp countered Sunny's points before bringing up a point of reassurance. "Sunny, if you're worried they're all going to be like Opaline, and see themselves as the greatest and everypony else needs to be culled or whatever, don't be. Remember Spike's story? Opaline was banished because she tried to seize power and become stronger than everypony else. I find it very unlikely that all the other alicorns in Skyros would think the same way if that's what they did to her and only her."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Sunny realized. "Probably silly of me to worry about something like that." She admitted before laughing at her foolishness. "Hahahaha! Good thing I have a friend like you, Zipp. Always there to help me when I need it."
"Yeah. I feel the same way, Sunny." Zipp agreed with her own smile.
That seemed to be it. The solution to the problem. But if that were the case, why was Sunny still standing there with, albeit subtle, uncertainty?
The way her hooves fidgeted and crossed. How her ears were lowered. Her tail slightly sagging. As far as Zipp could tell, this was not over yet. "Is there something else you want to talk about?" She asked her friend.
Surprisingly, Sunny didn't respond vocally this time. Instead she gave what seemed to be a mixture of shaking her head and nodding. Zipp recognized this as the classic case of knowing there was something bugging you, but not wanting to say it out loud and relive the memory. So Zipp would have to figure it out herself in order to, hopefully, get Sunny talking.
"Okay, Zipp. Time to see if you're as good a detective with reading ponies as you are with finding clues." The princess thought to herself. "Let's see. She came up here asking about the blanket we found. And we went to go find it after she told me about that dream she had. The dream where we were all alicorns that turned into a nightmare when Sunny was all alone. Alone" She repeated the last word her head before she asked the question. "Is it about the dream you had?"
Looking down, kinda like it was in shame, Sunny quietly whispered out, almost too quiet for Zipp to hear. "Yes."
Seeing her first guess was right, Zipp decided to ask the second, and more personal, question. "And it has to do with how the dream ended with us falling and you being left alone, doesn't it?"
Sunny nodded again, and Zipp could see tears starting to form in her eyes. “I had the dream again last night. Only this time it lasted longer.” The orange mare choked back a sob and Zipp was immediately by her side, a comforting wing around her back. Sunny briefly smiled at the gesture before continuing. “At first I was thought the dream was telling me how I was the only alicorn left. But now I’m seeing it saying I’m going to be alone for a different reason.”
"Sunny." Zipp said quietly.
"I know, I know. You all would never abandon me." Sunny quickly said so Zipp wouldn't think she forgot about the talk they had after the Ali-Conned incident before she scolded herself. "It honestly feels so stupid that I keep thinking this!"
"Hey! Hey!" Zipp gently scolded in return. "You are many things, Sunny. But stupid ain't one of them. OK? If you're stupid, then we're all stupid. Never forget that."
"But I can't help it." Sunny replied as it seemed she was about to start crying. "I keep worrying about how I'm going to fail one day as the Alicorn and you and the others will all be trapped forever. It's not just the dream, it's happened before in real life."
Sunny surprised Zipp by burring her head into the pegasus' coat as deep as she could before continuing. "When Allura put you all under her spell, and you all marched towards us under her command, I thought I lost you all forever." She started to quietly cry at the memory. "And just before that, when Opaline took all of your Cutie Marks and I was the only one left, I had to defeat her and free everyone's magic, but I failed!"
Now that quiet crying turned into sobbing. "Everypony was counting on me, and I failed them! The only reason we all aren't Opaline's slaves is because of Sparky and everypony singing at the Together Trees! What kind of Alicorn does that make me if I can't protect my friends when they need me the most!?" Sunny cried aloud.
Zipp just looked down at the sobbing mare in her chest sympathetically. She couldn't say that she ever expected Sunny to have this much pressure on herself. In hindsight, it seemed pretty obvious given how similar the two of them were, but still, Sunny always seemed so optimistic. Always so....sunny. It felt kind of frightening to see her friend like this.
As Zipp pondered what to say, and only just stroked Sunny's back, she was surprised when the earth pony lifted her head and looked directly into the princess' eyes. "Honestly, Zipp, I think you should be the Alicorn instead of me." She told her.
"Wh-WHAT!?" Zipp shouted at the claim.
"You heard me. I think you would be a much better fit for the role of the Alicorn instead of me." Sunny repeated. "Not only are you much smarter than me, but you also are able to keep true to your element. I'm supposed to represent hope, but yet I'm constantly showing signs of pessimism. You represent bravery, and you're not afraid of anything. The crystals made a mistake, Zipp. If anypony should be the Alicorn, it's you."
Zipp was still recovering from the initial shock of Sunny's proposal. Her? The alicorn? Maybe if she was more corrupt and power hungry, like if that necklace had after effects. (Wink, Wink!) But was she really the pony for such a position. She already had her doubts of being Queen, but the Alicorn too? A pony who was meant to stand as the symbol of unity? That wasn't her.
"You're wrong, Sunny." Zipp told her friend.
"Huh?" Sunny said in confusion to Zipp's claim. How was she wrong about Zipp being a better alicorn that her?
"I'm not truly afraid of nothing, Sunny." Zipp clarified herself. "I have many fears and worries for the future. Not just from being the Future Queen, but also from things like Allura and how we'll defeat her."
"But you never back down from a challenge." Sunny pointed out. "You're the bravest pony there is."
Zipp shook her head and began to explain in more detail. "One thing I've learned about bravery is that you can't have bravery without fear. Bravery is about overcoming your fears, but that doesn't mean they go away completely. And if there's a pony I'd say that perfectly represents bravery, it's you, Sunny."
"How? How can a hopeless, weak alicorn like myself be brave?" Sunny asked through her tears as she was about to burry her head back into Zipp's coat.
But Zipp gently lifted Sunny's chin with her wing and looked into her eyes. "You say the bravest ponies are the ones who never back down. That's you, Sunny. In the fact of doubt, regardless of if it's Opaline or Allura, you still pushed through and kept fighting. You held onto your hope and bravely continued on fighting. It's thanks to you Allura doesn't have control of Starlight Ridge, the auroricorns, or us anymore."
"But she still escaped and is now in Maretime Bay. And I still failed to defeat Opaline." Sunny countered.
"If you failed to defeat Opaline, then why is it that she's completely powerless inside a tree while the rest of us still have our magic?" Zipp countered back. "Yeah, Spike, Sparky, and the rest of us helped, but you still played a major role in defeating Opaline if the story you and Spike both gave is true."
"But I'm the Alicorn!" Sunny exclaimed as she broke the hug and stood up. "I shouldn't have to rely on other ponies to help me save the day!"
"And who says you can't!" Zipp answered back as she also stood up. "We might not be alicorns ourselves, Sunny, but that doesn't mean we're defenseless! You shouldn't have to think that you're the only one who has to fight the villains we encounter. Because no matter what you say or try, I will always be there flying beside you into battle, and I know the others would do the same."
Sunny heard what Zipp said and looked down in shame. "You're right, Zipp. I guess I've been pretty selfish lately."
Zipp walked back up to Sunny and put another wing around her back. "Hey, if anything, saying all of this out loud made me realize I should probably be more open about my worries too. Like I said, if you're stupid, then we're all stupid." She joked, earning a laugh from both of them.
When her laughs died down, Sunny gained another look of uncertainty, though not as bad as before. "Thanks for that, Zipp. But I still feel that I'm not good enough to be the alicorn. I feel that I can be stronger."
"And we'll help you find a way to become stronger." Zipp assured her. "Like I said, the ZH Archieves have books galore. There has to be one that can teach you more magic. Plus that room Misty found, I'm pretty sure she would love to have a training partner."
"Yeah." Sunny agreed before she looked at Zipp's eyes before she nuzzled her neck. "Thank you, Zipp. I'm so happy I have a friend like you."
Zipp blushed at the gesture before she slowly returned it. "Think nothing of it, Sunny. And I can promise you that I'll stay with you as long as I live."
"I'd like that." Sunny replied as the two friends stayed there, hugging and nuzzling, ready to bravely face the future together.