Chapters “Your horn is shorter today, isn’t it?” Izzy said.
“Excuse me?” Sunny asked. That wasn’t the greeting she expected upon first seeing her friend. She came to her place to see more of her inventions. They didn’t have much time the last time they were here. Only one day passed since she became an alicorn.
“You need to look at the mirror now.”
“Now?”
“Yes!” Izzy led Sunny to a mirror forcefully.
“I don’t see anything different.”
“I’m going to measure your horn so we can compare later. It’s shrinking I tell you.”
“Fine.” Sunny felt this was pointless, but it shouldn’t take too long.
There was a problem when Izzy tried to measure her horn, her hoof slipped right on through since the horn wasn’t solid.
“Oh no, was it always like that?” Izzy asked.
“How should I know?” Sunny said. “No one touched my horn yet.”
Izzy tried touching her wings – her hoof moved through them just the same. “The same happens with your wings.”
“Hey, we finally made it. That took way longer than anticipated,” Zipp said after arriving.
“It wasn’t that bad,” Pipp said.
“It took an hour longer than anticipated.”
“We have a problem.” Izzy put her hoof through Sunny’s horn and wings. “Look at this. I think they’re fading away too. Help me measure her wings while I measure her horn.”
“I don’t see what the big deal is.” Sunny flapped her wings to soar off the ground once they finished measuring her. “Even if they fade, I was originally an earth pony. That just means I need to do all the flying and magic while I still can!” She tried juggling a few things with levitation. They landed on the ground after a few seconds. “That might be a bit too hard.”
“We need to race in the sky while you have your wings,” Zipp said. “Come on. Let’s go to Maretime Bay and back. We need to find Hitch anyway; he should be here by now.”
“Sure!” Sunny said.
“A race? Count me out,” Pipp said. “You know that you’re going to beat her.”
Sunny stepped out of Izzy’s house with Zipp for a race. They took their positions in the sky. She tried flying as fast as she could. It took her a while to notice that Zipp was far behind her. “Can’t you go faster?”
“How are you so fast?” Zipp gasped for breath.
“I see Hitch down there.” Sunny dived towards Hitch.
“Sunny? Slow down!” Hitch yelled in a panicked voice.
“I’m okay!” Sunny crashed in a way that her translucent wing was in the ground.
“Your wing!”
“Don’t worry, apparently, everything passes through them. See?” Sunny moved her wing out of the ground. “You can’t even touch them.”
Hitch moved his hoof inside Sunny’s Wing just to see if it was possible. “Was it always like that?”
“How should I know? No one tried to touch my wings until earlier today.”
“Sunny, are you okay?” Zipp called from the sky. “I saw you crash.”
“I’m fine.” Sunny scratched her chin. “What about another round? I’ll carry Hitch and still beat you back to Bridlewood.”
“Bet you won’t.”
“I’d rather walk,” Hitch said.
“Come on, it’ll be fun!” Sunny said. “Besides, you’re only here so it would take at least an hour to get to Bridlewood.”
“What about safety? Won’t I be too heavy for you?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll go slower. It’ll be fine.”
“You’re not that strong,” Zipp said. “Maybe we should just walk.”
“That sounds like a great idea!” Hitch said.
Sunny decided to levitate Hitch.
“Whoa, put me down.”
She dropped Hitch onto her back. “See, it’s going to be fine?”
Hitch applied his weight to prevent Sunny from taking off. “Try flying now.”
“Okay, maybe we should walk,” Sunny said.
“Come on, Hitch, work with her,” Zipp said. “Walking will take so long.”
Sunny tried flying with Hitch on her back once more. As soon as they were able to move a bit in the sky, Zipp yelled, “Meet you there!” She sped towards Bridlewood.
“Hey! It wasn’t time to start yet.” Sunny took off after her, with Hitch screaming along the way.
“Slow down!” Hitch yelled.
“Just hold on!” Sunny went even faster because she wanted to catch Zipp. She sped up despite Hitch’s screaming for her to stop.
“You won’t win this time, you can’t,” Zipp said while flying.
“You cheated!” Sunny complained. She tried to speed up even more.
“Maybe you should slow down?” Zipp said.
“Watch out!” Hitch said. “You’re going to crash!” The elevation was low enough that Hitch leaped off of Sunny.
A sudden burst of speed caused Sunny to crash into the door of Izzy’s house.
“I’m okay!” Sunny yelled.
“Don’t panic,” Izzy said.
“Huh?”
“Your wings.”
“What about them?”
“It’s spreading to your body.”
Sunny glanced at her wings. “I don’t think so. I feel fine.” She couldn’t see anything different.
Zipp measured Sunny’s wings again. “Your wing shrunk a bit and she’s right. We should take you to the doctor.”
“I feel fine though,” Sunny said.
“What’s happening to Sunny?” Hitch asked.
“They think that magic is taking over my body or something.”
“No, I think that you’re slowly losing your wings and horn. And the magic is going to cause the rest of your body to fade away at this rate. Like I said, don’t panic,” Izzy clarified. She measured Sunny’s horn for good measure. “Your horn has the same problem. Take a look in the mirror, you can even see it now.”
It was faint but clear that the magic was spreading throughout her body.
“For the record, I still feel fine, and I don’t feel any different,” Sunny said.
“We’ll take you to the best doctors in Zephyr Heights, they’ll know what to do,” Pipp said.
“And don’t use any magic or fly until we clear this up,” Zipp said.
“We don’t need to leave now, we just got here,” Sunny said.
“No, we do actually,” Izzy said. “I don’t want to lose you.”
“Lose me?”
“I don’t know, it could be serious.”
“Fine, one quick check-up and we’ll come right back. It’s not a big deal at all.”
They didn’t even spend some time to see some of Izzy’s inventions before taking off towards Zephyr Heights.
Author's Note
Unsure of how to tag this. Tag for future elements yet to come or per current contents?
Choeropsis Liberiensis Juramentum
They arrived in the majestic city of Zephyr Heights. Their first stop was a nearby hospital so they could see what they would do about Sunny. The princesses Zipp and Pipp used their influences to capture the attention of the best doctors within the city. It didn’t take long for a team of doctors to see the five of them.
“What seems to be the problem?” a doctor asked.
Sunny explained what was wrong with her wings and horn.
“Well, we’ve never dealt with magical afflictions before. There might be some historical records that showed what they did back then.”
“So, you can’t help me?”
“You aren’t in pain, right?”
Sunny shook her head.
“If this were a normal illness, I would recommend cutting them off.”
“Cut them off?” Sunny echoed. “How? Everything passes through them.”
The doctor had to clarify that it involved cutting off the surrounding parts with the hope that the afflicted portions also go. “The other suggestion is to do nothing and see what happens.”
Izzy said, “She’ll probably fade away entirely by then! Her horn and wings faded away a bit more on the way here.”
“Do you want her to lose her wings and horn?” another doctor asked.
“Is there another way?” Zipp said.
“There might be, but that will require research. It’s been many moons since we had magic. If only the useless unicorns kept records.”
“I need some time to think this over,” Sunny said. The thought of losing her horn and wings like this troubled her. It was undeniable that the magic was taking over more of her body.
“We’ll be ready to operate whenever you give us your consent. Our team will be researching on alternative solutions meanwhile.”
They headed out of the hospital. Sunny didn’t have much hope that they could find an alternative solution. Magic was still new to the world, and it was unlikely anyone had experienced something similar in the past.
“It’s all my fault for bringing magic back,” Sunny said. If the doctors cut her wings and horn off, they had to cut the surrounding area as well.
They walked out of the hospital together.
“Follow me,” Zipp said. “I have an idea.”
Zipp led the group to the lower portions of Zephyr heights where there might be something among the abandoned buildings.
“Sunny, maybe you shouldn’t be here with us. Maybe if you stop moving the magic won’t spread as fast,” Izzy said.
It was logical yet she didn’t want to be all alone. “I don’t want to spend the day alone.”
“I’ll keep you company.”
Izzy took careful note of the progression of Sunny’s affliction. Pipp decided to go with them as well so she could use her influence to get them what they want within Zephyr Heights. The most motionless activity they could think of was watching television.
Pipp led them to the palace where they stayed.
“Wow,” Sunny marveled at the place they were in.
She was all too eager to show them videos of her past performances. There was even a channel dedicated to all of Pipp’s shows on repeat. Throughout every video she told tales of what it was like.
After several hours, Sunny said, “I’m going to sleep.”
This was rather odd since they hadn’t even eaten supper yet but Sunny was out like a light. At least, the affliction didn’t spread as much.
“We should give her some peace and quiet,” Pipp said.
Hitch and Zipp returned from their search with nothing substantial to report. They found out that the magic of friendship could turn an alicorn back into a pegasus, but it was unclear on how to actually do that. Murals weren’t the best way to understand what happened.
Pipp went and prepared an array of fruits for them to eat for supper. Izzy decided to check on Sunny after the meal. She screamed in terror when she saw what happened to Sunny. They all came rushing to the room.
The magical condition consumed more of Sunny’s body.
“Wake up!” Izzy nudged Sunny.
Sunny was still sleeping soundly even after multiple attempts.
“We should take her to the hospital,” Izzy said.
The four of them carried Sunny to the hospital who still managed to remain asleep despite everything that was happening around her. They arrived in the hospital soon enough.
“Her condition became worse,” Zipp said. “Have you had any success in finding an alternative?”
The doctor shook his head.
“Can you perform the operation?” Zipp asked.
“Not without her consent.”
“She might not live that long,” Izzy said.
“Can’t you make an exception?” Hitch asked
“And we might be making everything worse. It’s her choice and that’s final. None of you are her guardians and thus can’t give consent on her behalf. We can allow two of you to remain by her side.”
“I’m a princess and I demand that you operate on her,” Zipp said.
“It’s not your decision,” the doctor said calmly. “The rest of you need to leave.”
Izzy decided to stay with Sunny who was set up on the operating table in case she woke up and gave consent. She tried everything she could to wake Sunny as she saw the magic spread before her very eyes. It was taking more of her away.
From what she heard outside, Zipp was still busy arguing with the doctors about performing the procedure on an unresponsive Sunny.
Izzy noticed how unsupervised the room was. She had an idea – although she lacked confidence. Her plan was to leave the hospital temporarily and watch a few videos on how to amputate limbs. It shouldn’t be that difficult and Sunny’s time was running out. All she needed was an excuse to leave Sunny so she could come back with more knowledge. It would be even better if Zipp managed to convince the doctors to do their jobs so she wouldn’t have to.
The room was all set up for the operation – all they needed was Sunny’s consent and from the looks of it, she wouldn’t be able to give that.
Desperate times called for desperate measures.
Author's Note
Included death tag out of caution.
A Distant Memory
Izzy decided that she should leave the room and acquire some knowledge before attempting such a dangerous procedure. However, when she got closer, the intensity of Zipp's arguments with the doctors made her back away. It didn't seem like it was going well at all, and the only reason Zipp was still here was probably because of her rank as a princess.
There was a chance that if she left, she couldn't return. She glanced at Sunny's unconscious form. The affliction consumed more of her body while the arguments just outside the room grew louder. Sunny was still sound asleep.
As she struggled with indecision, she rationalized that even though she had no experience performing amputations, it was Sunny's best hope for survival. She took a scalpel in her trembling hooves and tried to sever Sunny's horn, but the affliction proceeded far enough that she would need to cut off the tip of her head. A slight miscalculation on her part also meant that Sunny wouldn't wake up again. She decided that she should start with the easy part first by amputating her wings.
It was still a risk of course, but the consequences wouldn't be as drastic if she failed. As soon as she made a slight cut into Sunny's flesh, so much blood came gushing out that she screamed and dropped the scalpel to the floor.
"What have you done?" Zipp yelled. She used her hoof to temporarily cover the minor wound.
"I tried to save her," Izzy said. "The doctors wouldn't help! There's so much blood. I can't lose her."
"We can fix this," Zipp said. "We have to."
It was certainly to her amazement that Zipp took the scalpel and continued where she left off. Izzy could tell from how Zipp's hooves trembled that Zipp was just like her. The cuts themselves were uneven and jagged as a result.
Sunny remained motionless throughout the entire ordeal even when the first wing came off and some hasty wrappings were applied to stem the loss of blood. At least, severing the appendage seemed to have worked.
"One down," Zipp acted as if it was nothing. "Piece of cake." Her voice betrayed her emotions.
Izzy realized she did nothing during the entire operation. She just watched it all. There was no way that she could let Zipp do the other wing alone. "Let me help. I can do the next one." She tried to sound as confident as she could. If only to spare Zipp the agony of amputating a second wing.
Without any argument, Zipp was all too happy to pass Izzy the scalpel. Zipp seemed relieved though she tried not to show it. Izzy hoped that she wouldn't mess this up. The first cut wasn't ideal either. This was just arts and crafts, but with flesh and blood involved. A friend might also die if she messed up.
Izzy started the amputation of the second wing. She tried to do it as fast as possible to stem the loss of blood. If Sunny lost any more blood, death was a possibility. She already lost a lot of blood when Zipp was amputating the first wing. They had to be fast to succeed. The cut was just before where Sunny's ethereal form began.
Zipp was quick to wrap the wound up after the wing came off. There was so much blood in the hospital room.
"Just one more to go," Zipp panted.
"I'll do it," Izzy said courageously. She was going to cut the tip of Sunny's head and something might drastically go wrong. If Zipp messed up and got Sunny killed, she wouldn't forgive herself. Not like she had much experience in this area, but it was better than letting someone else potentially fail.
Zipp shook her head. "No, we don't want to kill her."
"I won't," Izzy said confidently. "Trust me." She started cutting immediately – in case Zipp decided to stop her. It was easy at first, the scalpel made decent progress cutting Sunny's head. However, it ran into something hard and despite her increased use of force, the blade refused to cut through it.
"It's not working," Izzy said.
"Let me look," Zipp tried to sound confident. It didn't take long for them to find that her horn had a physical component and the scalpel wasn't strong enough to cut it through. She scanned around the room. "Aha! This should work." She grabbed a bone saw in the room. "Use this."
"This?" Izzy said. Her hooves trembled – a slight misstep would be dire. It wasn't like it wasn't already, but making an error with a bone saw would be so much worse. "Are you sure?"
Without a word, Zipp took the initiative to continue where Izzy left off. Zipp made a quick cut to remove the horn. The horn came off and Izzy sealed the wound as best as she could.
Zipp listened to Sunny's heartbeat. "She's still alive. We did it!"
There was so much blood in the room. No one checked on them since they started this unprofessional procedure.
"What are you doing?" Izzy exclaimed. She saw Zipp eating what little parts she could from Sunny's amputated wing.
"You know how you sang back then about how pegasi eat our young? I'm pretty sure that happened. My brother went 'missing.'"
"You had a brother?" Izzy said.
"One that went missing. A long time ago. Pretty sure that my mother served him up. The cupcakes did taste different that day. I never told anyone about this. What am I going to do? I – I think it actually happened. It wasn't rancid milk or spoiled frosting. Not to mention that it did taste good, my sister hated it though." As Zipp finished consuming the physical parts, the wing itself disappeared.
"I hear someone coming," Izzy said, eager to change the topic of conversation.
"You should leave," Zipp said. "What do you think will happen when they see this?"
The entire room was still a bloody mess from their inexperienced amputation procedures.
"I'll take my chances," Izzy said. "You're eating the other one?"
"Not like I'll have another chance. Do you want to try some?"
Izzy shook her head. "Something might happen to you if you eat it. It's not safe."
"You need to try It to understand."
Izzy shook her head again.
"More for me."
"It's not the same as Grinded Pony Hooves."
"Sunny, are you okay?" Pipp Petals said.
"What's wrong?" Sunny asked. Aside from Pipp, there was Hitch and another pony in the room. "Where am I?"
"You're in the hospital."
"Okay, why?" She remembered falling asleep previously.
"Don't panic," Hitch said.
"What's going on?"
"Izzy decided to cut your wings and horn off because she wanted to save you. Zipp helped."
"Is that all?" Sunny blinked. "Nice try, if something like that happened, I would notice." She moved to touch her non-existent horn. Her hoof passed through it as if it didn't exist. "Can I get a mirror?"
"Stay calm," the doctor said. "Restrain her."
Her friends took her hooves as a precaution.
Sunny saw that her horn was indeed missing and there were bandages wrapped around her head. "How am I supposed to feel about this?" She didn't know what to think since she wasn't in pain. "I feel fine, can I get up now?"
"Easy." The doctor helped her to her hooves.
"Wait what?" Sunny looked at where her wings were supposed to be. Her wings were still there and there were no bandages to be seen. "I thought my wings were gone?" The parts of her body connected to her wings became more ethereal. The affected area was larger than before. "I can move them."
The doctor searched the bed, looking for something. He found a set of bloody bandages. "How are you feeling?"
"I feel fine. Where are Izzy and Zipp?"
"In the dungeon," Pipp said.
"What's going to happen to them?"
"That depends on you."
"On me?"
"We'll talk away from here."
They made their way out of the hospital. "What did you mean earlier?" Sunny asked.
Pipp didn't reply until they were in a relatively secluded spot. "Well… you can set them free…" Pipp sped up during the next parts of her response. "You can execute them; you have them imprisoned for life. There I've said it!" She shouted to the sky, "Are you happy now?"
"Are you crazy?" Sunny shouted, matching Pipp's voice.
"Are you going to set them free?" Pipp asked hopefully.
"I…" She didn't want them dead, but that didn't mean she wanted them free – who knows what else they might do for her benefit.
"Sunny, it's okay, take your time," Hitch said. "And don't kill them."
"Can I deal with this later?" Sunny asked. She
"Sure," Hitch said.
They went back to the palace where they, unfortunately, ran into Queen Haven.
"Do you know what you can request for a verdict?" Queen Haven said.
"Just to be clear…" Sunny listed what Pipp gave her as possible options.
"Have you decided?"
"This is a lot to ask of me."
"It wouldn't be right to ask anyone else."
"But you're the queen of Zephyr Heights."
"And you're the one that they wronged, in a hospital no less."
It didn't matter that Sunny was relatively unharmed. They still did those same uncertain actions without her consent and that meant she got to decide their fate.
They went to a room where Sunny could relax – it was the same room where she was watching television with Izzy recently.
"I can't do this," Sunny said. "I keep thinking of Izzy."
"What do you want to do then?" Hitch asked.
"I don't know." Sunny kept thinking of Izzy and what Izzy did during the time they spent together. If she wanted to set Izzy free, she could, but that didn't change the fact that Izzy tried to cut off her wings and succeeded for a time. "What should I do to Izzy and Zipp?"
"Why don't you talk to them?" Hitch asked.
"Now?" Sunny said.
"Look, if you don't want to make up your mind, you don't have to," Pipp said. "You can take your time."
"A week sounds good. Let's wait a week." Sunny wasn't sure if she wanted to confront them now.
"Why did you cut off my arm?" Sunny said with Izzy standing beside the hospital bed.
Izzy smiled. "I did what I had to do! You're safe now!"
The sequence played over and over again with a different missing appendage.
"Sunny! Wake up!"
Sunny blinked her eyes open. She saw Hitch prodding her awake. "I can't stay here. I want to leave Zephyr Heights." This was the third day of her being unable to sleep well.
"I understand," Pipp said. "Take your time."
They were preparing to leave Zephyr height however Sunny closed her eyes momentarily and went into a trance.
"I keep seeing Izzy when I close my eyes," Sunny said.
"Maybe talking to her would help?" Pipp said suggestively.
"This is a really bad idea."
"Come on, it'll be okay." Pipp screeched, "Sorry!"
"What happened?"
"I placed my hoof through your head. I didn't mean to. Did I hurt you?"
"No, I didn't even feel anything." Sunny tried to place her hoof on top of her head, but it sank through her form – yet she felt nothing. That part of her form wasn't ethereal like the parts afflicted by magic which consumed slightly more than what it did before. "Deep breaths," she said to herself yet she withdrew her hoof before she could feel something. "Am I going to die soon?"
Silence told her all she needed to hear.
Just before they reached the dungeons, Sunny had a change of mind. "I want to hide my horn and wings."
They made a quick detour to a shop for some clothes before they were off to the dungeons again. Sunny didn't know what she hoped to accomplish yet she felt like she had to see them. The guards let them in without an issue.
"Sunny, are you okay?" Izzy asked with concern.
Unlike the previous spa accommodations, they weren't in a comfortable cell. The two ponies shared a two-bunk bed. There was nothing in the room. Zipp's wing looked as if things could pass through it – just like Sunny's own.
"I don't know," Sunny said.
"It's not too bad, is it?" Izzy said. "We tried our best. The doctors wouldn't help. Then they took us to the dungeons."
Sunny realized that they thought her horns and wings were still missing. Instead – she was hiding them and her wings would slip through her clothes if she didn't keep them folded. "Do you realize what could happen to you?"
"Yes," Zipp said. "It all depends on you."
They did this – knowing the risks.
"Sorry to interrupt, what happened to your wing?" Pipp said.
"Not here," Zipp said. "Set us free already."
"I dreamed you know – that you're going to cut something else off," Sunny said. "I'm terrified of falling asleep. It's been three days without a good night's rest. I just want it to end."
"But you're alive, aren't you?" Izzy said.
Sunny laughed sadly. "See these?" She spread her wings. "I don't know what's going to happen to me."
"Are you in pain?" Izzy asked.
"No, but…" Sunny pushed her head inside the bars surrounding the cell. "I can do this, and this scares me." Her non-ethereal form passed through the bars part way. "I don't know what will happen if I happen to feel something. Right now? I don't feel anything at all."
"Maybe it'll work out somehow," Izzy said. "If it makes you feel better, I wanted to save you and didn't know what you wanted. Zipp kept her wing just like it is."
That was reassuring enough for Sunny shouted to the guards nearby, "Set them free."
The guards readily obliged her request and they were free. They walked out of the dungeons together – it was only when they were away from other ponies that Zipp said, "I ate you, Sunny."
"Wait what?"
"What she means is that she ate what I cut off," Izzy said.
"Eww, why?"
"Just wanted to confirm something," Zipp said. "And now my wing is going to fade away."
"Confirm what?" Pipp asked sharply.
"What Sunny tastes like."
"What does she taste like?" Hitch asked.
Sunny tried to run away – this was so wrong. She wasn't fast enough to elude Zipp who tried tackling her to the ground, but she passed through Sunny instead.
"Sunny! I just passed through you," Zipp said. "Are you okay?"
Sunny landed, where the other ponies tried to touch her. "I do feel that," Sunny said with relief.
Her previous intangible form became tangible again.
Zipp tried to touch her again – but her hoof slipped through Sunny's form. "What gives?" She tried to touch someone else just to see if she could touch anyone. "Okay, I'm not a ghost."
Regardless of what they tried – Zipp and Sunny could not touch each other. Zipp passed through Sunny whenever they made contact. And by spending time together, Sunny was no longer afraid of Izzy nor Zipp.
"Let's just forget about this," Sunny said. "See you later."
The mystery would need to wait another day.
A week later Sunny learned that Zipp grew a horn. The most absurd thing happened when they met up together.
"Can I taste you?" Izzy asked.
"What?" Sunny blinked. "Say that again?"
"So, Zipp has a horn now and can use magic. I want some wings."
"And me," Pipp said. "I already had a taste of Zipp. It didn't do anything."
Sunny started running – envisioning that Izzy would try to cut something of hers off.
"Let me explain!" Izzy chased after her. "My idea is just grinded pony hooves!"
