"Oh! Izzy I... I didn't see you there!"
The hill overlooking Maretime bay was occupied. Searing reds of a new dawn above, the two met each other underneath the shadowy ruins of the lighthouse.
"So I am getting better at this!" Izzy the unicorn crept out from behind a red brick-rubble. She opened her mouth to let out a big "WhhooOOP!", before her hooves met an unannounced metal beam laying on the floor. Flowery-scented cerulean hair flew in all directions.
Sunny stood up. "Izzy! Are you alright!?" The shock in her voice carrying concern for her new friend's habit of making flamboyant introductions.
There was a small bruise on her right knee, but nothing major. Sunny offered to get her a bandage from the village clinic, but the defiant Izzy was oblivious to anything having happened at all. She smirked the bruise off, and had almost seemed used to it. The two relocated a few yards, sitting their rumps on the dusty grass opposite. Izzy's mane was frizzled, but weirdly still in shape, and her face was as bright as ever.
"What a world! Uwaaa! How much fun would it be to have my own personal testing ground for my new magics!" The unicorn directed her gaze at a pebble off the side, her horn glowing. "Pow wow, fear my terrifying arsenal of power!!"
It was a valiant effort, but once it reached about head-height, sparks raptured Izzy's horn, and the pebble fell innocently by her hooves.
Sunny looked at Izzy. She was looking back.
"..."
"..."
"...Powerrrr!"
"Did lifting that tram take it all out of you?" Sunny laughed.
They sat in silence for a while longer, looking over the village and surrounding countryside. It was so much livelier than it was before. Everything seemed so much greener.
Is this what happens, when magic comes back to the world?
"Hey Sunny, your mane's standing up!"
"My..." she glanced up, and blushed. "Oh, uh..."
It must not be only other ponies that she returned magic to, Sunny thought, as she stroked her pink hair back down. "Izzy, I'm lost. What are we meant to do now?"
"Whadd'ya mean?"
"I mean, look." She raised her hoof at the view. "All of this, all of the homes we used to know now are connected again. You know what that means, right?"
"Hmm?"
"It means we've changed everything. Earth ponies will see unicorns again. The pegasus will come out from the mountains. But with their magic, they'll not only be happier, they'll be... different, and...."
Izzy looked confused. "Hmm...?"
"...there's not only one stubborn stallion in the world. I bet there's loads of ponies who won't know how to feel about this. We convinced our friends and their family, sure, but... I don't even know how we go about changing everypony else's minds. All those myths and legends..."
She looked up, remorseful. "They don't go away in a flash. I know that. And... we did it. We're responsible for proving their stories wrong.
"If ponies aren't outright disbelieving us, they'll look up to us now! They'll find all the problems in the world, just like Maretime bay, and they'll throw them at us. You. Me. Who do we ask for help? If a earth pony filly comes up to me and asks me how to solve, I don't know, she can't convince her mother about her new pegasus coltfriend, if there's intolerance like I saw at home, or..." She stopped, taking a short breath. "Or, we see something worse. Something brewing under the surface, that we don't even KNOW about! Who do we ask for help?
"I don't know if I..-"
"Mm, m," Izzy tutted. She sounded further away.
"...What if we don't have the answers? What if the world wasn't... ready to change?"
...
Some two pebbles with some googly eyes taped on floated up to eye level. They started clicking together, a googly-eyed rock-mouth.
"I think you need a hug." Izzy said with a low, croaky tone. Her rock-voice was impeccable.
A tight embrace, shoulder to shoulder, pink hooves squeezing her with stubborn resolve. The rocks fell down from their levitation spell. Sunny was breathless.
It lasted for what seemed like a minute, before the unicorn pulled away.
"I bet those rulers you always talk about had a couple of hugs, too."
Sunny's friend was looking out for her. She smiled faintly back at the unicorn. "I bet they did, too."
Izzy was peering into her eyes. She didn't realise before, but she was doing it now. She was whispering.
"I'll tell you what. Hitch is coming up the hill. Right. As. We. Speak. You're gonna hug him just like I did you!"
"Yeah, okay."
"And then you know what? You're gonna find Zipp, and you're gonna hug her, too. And then you'll get between Pipp and her phone and you're gonna hug her. You're gonna hug them hard. Cuz' you know? We're gonna get through this together. As a team. 'Cuz that's how we get through stuff now. Together."
Sunny blinked. "Uh, uh, yeah. Yeah. You know, what?" she sighed. "Wow. Izzy, how have I only known you for one day?"
Izzy hit her on the flank.
"Go get 'em, horsey!"
"Hey-!" Sunny took the message though, and reared off her hooves.
Sunny cantered down the hill and jumped on Hitch, who reacted with some complete and utter confusion. They were rolling down the hill from the impact, and hit into that red-haired kid who drove the scary monster-bot. They then proceeded to tumble right up to the kid's mother, who started shouting. It looked kinda fun.
Izzy smiled, and turned back to the view. All the towns and villages they knew of, the mountains far away and the forests she knew and loved. Everything was new; where she stood, where she was looking, and who she was with. This was a real adventure.
She hooved the googly eyed pebbles off to one side, and whispered under her breath.
"Now we're the rulers..."
Author's Note
Obligatory post-move fic. I think the new characters will have a lot to learn in the future, and this will most likely be the story that goes on from now, if they make it into a TV show.
I'm fairly optimistic about the future. Let's see what happens!
