Chapters The hot air balloon floated peacefully through the clear blue sky, Lukas was still a little bit iffy about this whole idea of his. Sure, he wanted to explore other places of Equestria, but only Ponyville knows about his existence, so he would most likely cause a town-wide panic just by his appearance. Even though he'd only been a resident of Ponyville for a couple of months now, he felt more safer in the quaint, little village. He was starting to have second thoughts about this, but then Rainbow Dash's words echoed in his mind.
"I'm sure the ponies there will welcome you with open hooves."
What if she was right? what if Lukas was wrong and that the ponies there will be welcoming and friendly to him? the poor, little human still hadn't come to a concrete judgement about this whole ordeal. He was getting butterflies in his stomach now and the only company he had was Cherry Berry, who had fallen into a deep sleep, he didn't know what to think.
"Ugh." Lukas groaned, rubbing his head. "I need a rest, this is beginning to hurt my brain." And with no hesitation, he laid down and fluffed his backpack up into a make-shift pillow, he closed his eyes, and soon drifted off to sleep as well.
When Lukas woke up, he had no idea how much time had passed, he looked up and saw that the sky was still bright blue, that was a relief to him, at least he wouldn't have to camp out for the night, but he was still worried about where he was. Lukas then turned around to face Cherry Berry, who was still fast asleep.
"Hey Cherry Berry." Lukas cooed softly, gently shaking the pony, her eyes slowly opened as she glanced at Lukas. "You can take the balloon back to Ponyville now, I think I'm here."
"Well, if you say so, Lukas." Cherry yawned as she pulled on the string. "Have fun."
Lukas then put back on his backpack and hopped out of the balloon as it took off into the sky once again. Turning around, he saw a blue colored sign that read "Now entering Maretime Bay" and sure enough, Lukas looked into the distance and saw none other than the town of Maretime Bay, he had finally made it. Lukas gasped loudly at this sight.
"Yep, I'm here alright." Lukas said to himself proudly. "Although, I am going to need an easier way over there." Lukas said as he quickly scanned around him for anything to help him get there quicker. Then, as if Lukas' prayers were answered, he saw a small, red wagon nearby, it looked a bit old, but it still looked like it had some strength left in it.
"That will do nicely." Lukas said.
Without another word, the human hopped into the wagon, it was a bit cramped for him, but it was better than nothing. With one final big sigh, he pushed the wagon down the hillside as he sped along down the path to Maretime Bay. It wasn't long until Lukas had finally reached the town, he swiftly hopped off the wagon and took a proper look at what he was about to get himself into and began to feel nervous all over again, but he had already come this far and he didn't want any of that hard work to go to waste, after all, he was so close. So Lukas mustered up all of the courage that he had and slowly started to make his way into the town, wondering what it had in store for him.
It actually came out as a shock to Lukas that the ponies in the town were not running into their houses right now, instead, they just stared at him in awe and disbelief, whispering to each other.
"Well, at least I'm not causing any- OOMPH!"
Right before Lukas could finish his sentence, he was suddenly bumped by a strong force from behind, the impact was so strong, that it caused his backpack to go flying in the air, crashing to the ground. As Lukas rubbed his head, he poked his head up to see who or what had just pushed him to the ground, and saw a certain earth pony coming into view, with orange fur, a purple mane and tail, light blue hairbands and a light blue saddlebag. Also, she was wearing roller skates on her hooves and carried a smoothie cart behind her.
"Oh my, I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going." The pony apologized for her clumsiness and helped Lukas back up on his feet, then she took a closer look at him and gasped. "You must be Lukas, Twilight told me you were coming here."
"And you must be Sunny Starscout." Lukas assumed.
"Why yes I am. Well, it is a real pleasure to finally meet you, Lukas." Sunny said.
"You too." Lukas replied.
"It's okay, everypony." Sunny addressed the crowd. "This human is no harm."
Everyone quickly got back to what they were doing, Sunny turned back to face Lukas, who was just putting his backpack back on. "I'm sorry again about crashing into you. I hope you're not hurt." She said nervously.
"Don't sweat over it, nobody is to blame here, it was just an accident, that's all." Lukas said in a reassuring voice. "So, what are you up to?"
"Me? well, I'm on my way to Canterlogic." Sunny informed him.
"Oh, what's that?" Lukas asked.
"It's an annual convention that displays ponies with a lot of inventions to protect them. Say, would you like to come with me, Lukas?" Sunny asked hopefully.
"Sure, I'm down for that." Lukas agreed with a nod.
"Sweet, hop on." Sunny then gestured to her back. "I'll introduce you to my friends."
Just like she had instructed, Lukas hopped on Sunny's back. "Hold tight, Lukas, it's going to be a fast ride."
"Hopefully not too fast, I get a bit motion sick." Lukas advised.
And with that, Sunny and Lukas sped off to Canterlogic, on the way, Sunny began to sing a song about how today is going to be her day, and even Lukas joined in as well. When the two had finished their song, they reached a big building with a statue of a pair of pink glasses on the top of it.
"So, I'm guessing that's Canterlogic?" Lukas pondered.
"Uh huh." Sunny nodded.
"Hmm, it does look pretty amazing from here, and might I add, you have quite the singing talent, Sunny." Lukas said.
"Oh thank you." She said, flattered by the human's comment. "You did good as well."
As Sunny and Lukas started to walk towards the entrance, they were suddenly stopped by another earth pony, who came out from behind a nearby banner, this earth pony was named Hitch Trailblazer. He had light yellow and white colored fur, a short greenish bluish mane and tail and a golden belt with a silver buckle in the middle with a star on it.
"Aha! There you are, Sunny." Hitch said, as if he was expecting her. "Just the pony I was expecting."
"Morning, Sheriff Hitch." Sunny replied, returning back the greeting. "I see you brought the whole squad along again." Sunny then gestured over to three small animals, two birds and one crab, standing next to Hitch.
"What is it with me and critters?" He asked rhetorically. "I'm like a magnet to them." Hitch then lowered his head down to the animals level. "Guys, come on. Give Hitch a little space." As if to take his request literally, all three animals moved slightly back, Hitch groaned in annoyance and looked over at Lukas. "Woah, Sunny, who's that funny looking monkey?"
"Hey! I'm right here, you know!" Lukas exclaimed, making his appearance known.
"Hitch, I would like you to meet Lukas, he's visiting Maretime Bay." Sunny explained to Hitch.
"Well, hello there, Lukas. Name's Hitch, Hitch Trailblazer, proud sheriff of Maretime Bay." Hitch boasted.
"Oh, so you're the sheriff of this town?" Lukas asked.
"Sure am, I take my job as sheriff really seriously." Hitch said proudly.
"Yeah, I know you do, Hitch." Sunny groaned, rolling her eyes at Hitch's boasting, but then decided to change the subject. "So, what's up?"
"Oh, please. Like you don't know." Hitch said in a rather serious tone. "Today is the annual presentation at Canterlogic."
"Hey, we're headed there right now." Sunny said optimistically.
"Yeah." Lukas agreed. "So if you'd just move aside, we'll happily be on our way."
"Uh, no, you won't." Hitch objected. "Listen, I know that you have come up with some harebrained scheme to sabotage it, and if you think I'm just gonna let you walk in there-"
But before Hitch could finish his rant, Sunny interrupted. "Hey, Hitch..." She said in a sing song voice.
"No." Hitch said quickly, as if he knew what she was thinking.
"Come on." Sunny encouraged.
"Good morning, Sheriff Hitch." An earth pony greeted as her and another pony walked by.
"Morning, Mayflower, Dahlia." Hitch chuckled. "Sunny, I'm on duty." There was a small moment of silence between the two ponies, Sunny stared at Hitch and waved a hoof in front of him, as if she was waiting for him to do something. Hitch groaned and then they proceeded to do some sort of secret handshake.
"Up high, down low, hitch it to a post! Flip it sunny-side up and on a piece of toast!" They sang out as their handshake came to a finish, Lukas couldn't help but chuckle at this.
"Oh man, I can tell you guys have been friends for a long time." Lukas said, wiping away tears of laughter.
As Sunny and Hitch chuckled amongst each other, another earth pony named Sprout trundled up towards them, panting heavily, as if he had been running for a long time. Sprout had red fur, a blonde colored mane and tail and like Hitch, he also had a belt around him, but with a gold buckle in the middle instead of silver.
"I did what you asked for, Hitch." Sprout panted. "They never left my side, not even once. Yeah, I'm talking to you as well, you.. whatever you are." He then pointed a sharp hoof at Lukas.
"Actually, I'm a human." Lukas said to him, but Sprout was too tired to complain.
"Oh, hey, Sprout. You okay?" Sunny asked concerned. "You seem kinda wheezy."
"That's Deputy Sprout to you." He corrected her.
"Sprout, this is Lukas, he's a human." Sunny claimed.
"Well, I'm just going to ignore the fact that you are an unusual creature and introduce myself." Sprout said sarcastically. "My name is Sprout and yadda yadda yadda, you've heard my name already."
"Wow, attitude much?" Lukas asked, Sprout opened his mouth to speak, but he just let out a small, quiet groan.
"Fine." Sprout cried. "But don't try anymore funny tricks with me."
Lukas just decided to ignore him, as he realized that arguing would only make the matter worse. Sunny and Lukas made their way to the path entrance of Canterlogic, with Hitch following behind.
"Hey! W-Wait up! I'm not finished! Sunny!" Hitch called out, with the three small animals not far behind. "Sunny, we both know how this goes. Every year you try to sneak in, and every year I stop you."
"Look, you have nothing to worry about." Sunny assured him. "I'll just go into the factory, show Lukas around, deliver my smoothies-"
"Uh-uh!" Sprout interjected, standing aside Hitch. "You can't even step a hoof in there! My mom had you banned!"
"But I.." Sunny began, but was quickly interrupted by Hitch.
"I'm asking you as your friend, Sunny, not as sheriff." Hitch said, his serious tone turned into a more concerned tone. "Just please try not to pull any stunts today. If you won't do this for me, do this for Lukas, you wouldn't want to make a bad first impression on him."
"Okay, okay. I'll try." Sunny assured him with a smile.
"Thank you. Now, give your delivery to Sprout and go home." Hitch told her strictly, but quickly became distracted by a paper ball on the ground. "Hey, hey! That's a violation of Code 33!" He then ran off and his animal friends followed suit.
"Sunny, surely you're not going to give up that easily." Lukas tried to encourage her.
"Of course not, Lukas." She said with a smirk. "Come on, I'll show you around."
"Now that's more like it." Lukas was just about to follow the earth pony inside, but he had just noticed the situation he was getting himself into. "Wait a minute, Sunny told me that Canterlogic is a convention, and a convention is going to be filled with ponies, ponies that would absolutely freak out at my presence."
"Lukas, come on." Sunny called out.
"Coming!" Lukas called back, starting to walk towards Sunny. "Oh boy, something tells me that something bad is about to come out of this."
But unbeknownst to Lukas, his prediction was about to come true...
The inside of the Canterlogic factory was a true sight to behold, with ponies trotting in every direction, preparing themselves for the upcoming presentation. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood about the event, everyone, except for Sprout, who was still feeling a bit sour. He was so upset, that he didn't notice the young filly earth pony who ran in front of him.
"Hey, watch it!" He cried out to the filly, but he seemed too excited to notice.
As Lukas had predicted earlier, the ponies in there were a little bit shocked to see him, but it was nothing new to him. Lukas walked past a pony named Toots, who seemed to be in the mood for answering questions.
"Welcome, everypony. Got any questions about the Canterlogic factory?" He asked gladly. "Happy to answer them."
"Oh, yeah. Where are the free smoothies?" A pony called out.
"Uh, I can't answer that." Said Toots honestly.
Lukas laughed a little bit at that, then continued to stare in awe and amazement as all of the technology and machinery went to work around the factory, he just couldn't wait to tell the mane six when he got back to Ponyville. Suddenly, he heard a whisper.
"Lukas, over here." It squeaked quietly, so only Lukas could hear. The whisper had come from behind the stage curtains, so Lukas snuck behind it to see that the voice had come from none other than...
"Sunny, what are you doing back here?" Lukas asked, whispering as well.
"Listen, I know this might sound a bit crazy, but I think I've actually got a plan to get the message through their heads." Sunny explained.
"What message exactly?" Lukas wondered.
"Why don't you come with me on stage and find out." Sunny suggested.
Lukas wasn't sure about this idea. "Actually, Sunny, I think I'll stay in the crowd. I don't want to make a fool of myself onstage in front of everybody."
"Eh, suit yourself." Sunny said, not bothered to change the human's option as she was too focused on her idea.
And with that, Lukas came out from behind the curtains and continued with his little detour of the factory, while still having a split issue of Sunny's bright idea. He ended up meeting Hitch and Sprout nearby.
"You know what, Sprout?" Hitch sighed. "I think I finally got through to Sunny."
"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that, Hitch." Lukas said with a smile.
"What do you mean, Lukas?" Hitch asked with a slight bit of worry in his voice.
"Oh, just wait and see." Lukas replied, crossing his arms.
Before Hitch had a chance to react, all of the lights turned off and all eyes were focused on the stage. As the ponies gathered around for the presentation, an announcer pony began to make his appearance known. "It's the moment you've all been waiting for. As the founder of Canterlogic, she's been keeping us safe and stylish for the last twenty moons. Please go wild for the one and only... Phyllis Cloverleaf!"
As the announcer said the last two words, a spotlight shone on Phyllis Cloverleaf, the earth pony in charge of Canterlogic as she galloped onstage. She had pink fur, a blonde, fluffy mane and tail, pink glasses, a white pearl necklace around her neck and she also wore a lanyard.
"Thank you! Thank you! Oh, hey, how are ya? Thank you so much." She said gratefully, before she began her presentation. "We here at Canterlogic are so thrilled to create perfect products that protect ponies like you."
"Oh, that's nice." Lukas thought, no knowing the whole story.
"From ponies like that." Phyllis continued, pointing a hoof towards two posters, though it was all that was needed for Lukas to put all of the puzzle pieces together in his mind. One of the posters showed three silhouettes of unicorns with their sharp horns looming over a pony down below, with the unicorns looking ready to attack at any moment. The other poster displayed only one silhouette, this time of a Pegasus, getting ready to swoop down and snatch up the poor, little pony down below. While the crowd booed, Lukas was a bit confused over why everyone were so scared of unicorns and Pegasi. But before Lukas could protest, Phyllis continued her speech.
"And, like I always say, "To be scared is..."
"...to be prepared!" The crowd finished.
"Oh, I love it! That's right!" Phyllis cheered as Lukas still looked unsure at what was about to come. "So, let's start the show!"
The spotlight then shone over to a white fur colored earth pony named Sugar Moonlight, wearing what looked like a metal hat with a red antenna on the top. Despite the weird attire, the ponies in the crowd seemed to take it really serious and were taking pictures of it.
"Up first, we have Sugar Moonlight looking absolutely stunning in our high-tech Anti-Mind-Reading Hat." Phyllis announced as Sugar Moonlight walked down the runway path. "All those psychic unicorns out there are gonna be out of luck when you wear this little number."
"Psychic?!" Lukas asked himself, wondering why she would refer to the unicorns like that. "Okay, that's it!"
Lukas pushed himself through the crowd to the front and then proceeded to climb on the stage and march right up to Phyllis Cloverleaf, who looked confused about his sudden interruption.
"Ma'am, what is your problem?!" He exclaimed. "I don't know what the unicorns and the Pegasi did to you for you to see them this way, but I'm not having it anymore." The crowd gasped at the human's tone.
"Why, I never." Phyllis said in astonishment. "Well, if you don't like it here, then you're more than welcome to leave." She then gestured her hoof over to the exit.
"Fine, I will." Lukas replied, jumping off the stage and making his way out.
"Anyways." Phyllis cleared her throat. "Let's welcome Sparkle Chaser in his Pega-Periscope Goggles."
Lukas, now in a bad mood, had just left the Canterlogic factory. But suddenly, he heard the sound of screaming coming from the sky, looking up, he saw an earth pony being floated away by a bunch of balloons.
"Yep, I made the right call." Lukas walked away, feeling more confident about his choice, but still a bit angry. "Ugh, I just don't understand why everyone is so afraid of unicorns and Pegasi, and judging by the descriptions they gave them, I'm beginning to think that there are just painting them in a bad light." Lukas then let out one big sigh. "I need to clear my mind out of this."
Later that day, Lukas was sitting on a bench that was right next to the ocean, eating one of the apples that Applejack had packed for him before he left for Maretime Bay.
"Man, these apples really are the best, Applejack doesn't mess around when it comes to them." Lukas said to himself, before he began to hear voices from behind him. He looked over and saw Hitch walking with Sunny.
"Do you have any idea how many bylaws you broke in there?!" Hitch asked in a severe tone.
"I'm sure you're about to tell me." Sunny assumed.
"Actually, for once I can't! Because there's so many!" Hitch exclaimed.
"Oh, hey guys." Lukas greeted. "What happened in there?"
"Well, Lukas, let's just say that I'm sure I'm not going to convince them any time soon." Sunny replied.
"I tried to warn you." Hitch said as he let out a frustrated sigh. "I can't keep associating with some pony who breaks every rule and causes chaos wherever she goes. I'm the sheriff!"
"Exactly!" Sunny proclaimed. "Other ponies look up to you! You can help!"
"The law is the law, Sunny, and I'm here to uphold it and keep everypony safe." Hitch retorted.
"Aha! You just said "everypony". That includes Pegasi and unicorns." Sunny pointed out, but Hitch wasn't having it.
"Come on, Sunny, what did you think was gonna happen?" He asked his friend. "You give a little speech and what? Everypony just magically welcomes unicorns and Pegasi into Maretime Bay? You keep saying there's nothing to be afraid of. Well, then, prove it." Hitch then let out another sigh and changed his tone to a more sympathetic tone. "All of that pony unity stuff was just a foal's bedtime story made up by your dad. Like it or not, this is the way it is and always will be, and aside from Lukas, I'm the last real friend you got in this town. You really want to lose me, too?"
"Woah Hitch!" Lukas exclaimed. "you didn't have to go there. Look, I might of not been there, but I'm sure that Sunny never meant any of what she did." Hitch didn't respond, instead, he just walked away, leaving a now distraught Sunny behind as she let out a sad sigh.
"Don't worry, Sunny. I'm sure you'll convince them eventually." Lukas assured her, but she was to sad to reply. "Sunny?" He asked in concern.
Lukas then saw that Sunny was looking at two fillies that were running past, laughing and giggling amongst themselves, but then they both saw another one of those manipulative posters on a nearby wall. One of the fillies roared at the other one as they both ran away.
"Well, that doesn't seem very reassuring." Sunny said in a deflated voice as she walked over to the bench and sat on it and stared off into the ocean. "I wish you were here, Dad."
Lukas didn't know how to react when he had heard that, should he just leave her to be alone? or should he go and talk to her? Lukas took a good look at Sunny as her head hung low in distraught, he even saw a small tear roll down her cheek. At that point, he thought that the answer was obvious at this point. Lukas slowly made his way over to her and sat next to the pony he had just met a couple of hours ago.
"Oh Sunny." Lukas squeaked as he put a comforting hand on Sunny's shoulder. "I don't know what it's like to lose a parent, but it must've been devastating for you. But like Hitch said, I'm you're friend as well, and I will never leave you side, no matter what happens."
"Thanks, Lukas. That really means a lot." Sunny said, feeling a bit better.
"No problem, Sunny." Lukas replied, wiping a few tears from her eyes.
However, their peace and quiet was quickly interrupted, when they began to hear the sound of screaming and panting.
"What the...?" Sunny asked in confusion.
Both her and Lukas looked over and saw everypony running away from somthing in the distance, but it was so far away, that neither Sunny nor Lukas could make out what it was.
"What's going on? What's happening?" Sunny asked frantically.
Lukas was too busy looking around the panicking ponies running amuck in the town, that one of the ponies bumped into him, the impact causing him to land on the ground with a hard thud.
"Lukas, are you okay?" Sunny wondered.
"Yeah, I'm alright." Lukas replied, before looking over to see what everypony was running away from. "Um.. Sunny, you might want to take a look at this."
Sunny looked over and let out a deep gasp when she saw what was in front of her...
"Hi, new friends! My name's Izzy!"
A unicorn named Izzy Moonbow was standing right there, this unicorn had purple colored fur, with long dark blue hair, and the biggest grin on her face. As Lukas got back on his feet, Sunny was starring at Izzy in pure disbelief.
"U... U... Unicorn!" Sunny exclaimed at a loss for words.
Almost instantly, everyone started screaming and running away from the unicorn, one pony was so scared, that he jumped into the sewer drain. Izzy was oblivious to what was happening and thought that this was just a game.
"Ooh, is everypony playing hide-and-seek?" Izzy asked optimistically.
"I don't think that's the case, Izzy." Lukas said, but Izzy was too distracted to listen.
"I see you." She said, pointing her head towards a pony who was taking cover behind the ice cream trailer.
"It's a unicorn!" He screamed as he jumped over the fence and into the ocean.
Everypony had attracted so much noise, that Hitch, along with Sprout, came out to see what all of the commotion was about. "Hey, what's going on?" He asked, before looking at Izzy and he gasped loudly.
"Unicorn attaaaaaaaack! " He cried out, Sprout was so terrified, that he ran right into the door. However, Hitch was more prepared as he sounded the alarm.
"This is not a drill! I repeat – this is not! A! Drill!" Hitch exclaimed as he ran away, but among the crowd, he saw a helpless young filly. "A vulnerable young pony!" He gasped, jumping over and catching the filly in his hooves. "Gotcha!" He then gave the filly to a mare who he thought was his mother. "Your son is safe now, ma'am." Hitch said as he galloped away.
The mare looked at the filly in confusion. "This isn't my kid!" She called out.
"You're welcome!" Hitch called back. "Man the Splat-a-pult! Activate the unicorn trap! Pick up that litter! " He pointed towards the paper ball on the ground as a pony quickly picked it up.
On cue, a bunch of unicorn traps emerged from the ground, they all were grey, metal squares with red crosses on them. Sunny and Lukas both looked over at Izzy, who was making her way towards the ocean view, but little did she know, she was about to step in a unicorn trap, but she was so distracted, she didn't notice.
"Wow! Is that the sea? I've never seen the sea!" Izzy chippered.
"Izzy, look out!" Lukas gasped, pushing Izzy out of the way just in time.
"I've gotta get you out of here!" Sunny exclaimed.
"Don't worry, Sunny. I'm right behind you!" Lukas cried out as he ran after the two ponies.
Author's Note
Before I start, I just wanted to say sorry for not uploading chapters to this story in a long time, I was just thinking about how the story should play out. So with that out of the way, let's begin the fourth chapter.
Making An Escape
Sunny, Izzy and Lukas were running through the streets in Maretime Bay, where ponies were still running around screaming and panicking at the presence of a unicorn, but Izzy seemed oblivious to this.
"Earth ponies are serious about games." She giggled, unaware of the havoc that she caused.
"They're not playing! They're terrified!" Sunny clarified the situation for her.
"Oh no! Of what?" Izzy asked, now a bit concerned.
"You! You're a unicorn! Earth ponies hate unicorns!" Sunny replied.
"Really? That seems a little harsh." Izzy thought.
"Yeah, and they apparently take their security measures to the extreme!" Lukas added.
While they were running, Izzy took a good look at Lukas. "I don't mean to come off as rude, but you are a funny looking creature."
"Yeah, I get that a lot." Lukas replied, not at all offended by Izzy's comment. "I'm Lukas, by the way."
"Well, nice to meet you, Lukas." Izzy said happily.
"No time for introductions, we have to go!" Sunny wailed in a frantic tone.
Once they had reached the center of Maretime Bay, they saw a bunch of green slime everywhere, looking up, they saw that Phyllis had prepped up some sort of catapults and they were both projecting the same green goo. barely missing the trio.
"Let's go!" Sunny exclaimed and ran off, with Izzy and Lukas following behind.
Lukas, Izzy and Sunny took cover behind the tram car, which had previously applied its brakes after seeing Izzy. Green slime flew everywhere and ponies were still running amuck, it was utter chaos. Sunny and Izzy began to run off again, however, Lukas wasn't so lucky. When he was about to leave, a blob of slime stuck to his hands, causing them to get stuck on the tram.
"Guys help! I'm stuck." Lukas called out in a panic.
"I got ya, Lukas!" Izzy cried as she ran up towards Lukas and set him free by cutting the slime with her horn.
"Thanks Izzy, now let's get out of here!"
The trio continued to run as fast as they could, with a few minor issues along the way, but just when they thought that they were in the clear, Sunny and Lukas looked behind to see that Izzy was no long behind them, but instead was distracted by a movie theater as she started to make her way towards it.
"Ooh, I haven't seen this one yet."
But Izzy would've been better off if she had just stayed there, because as soon as she started trotting, she was suddenly incased in a metal box with a red siren on top, there was also a big red button on the side of it, which was assumed to be how you open up the box. After that, everything went silent, there wasn't a single sound besides the ringing siren.
"Woah, that seems a bit like overkill." Lukas muttered under his breathe.
"All right, citizens, calm down." Hitch said aloud. "The threat has been neutralized. The unicorn has been captured. You may now cheer."
As if on cue, everyone began cheering knowing that Izzy was no longer a threat to them, however, Sunny felt pretty bad for her, even though they have only known her for a couple of minutes now, she knew that she didn't do anything wrong. She looked over at Lukas to get his approval as Lukas slowly nodded his head as if he knew what Sunny was thinking, she started to walk towards the box.
"Sunny! What are you doing?" Hitch asked as the crowd stopped cheering. "Don't even think about it. No, don't you dare. No, no, no, no!"
Despite Hitch's demands, Sunny ignored him and pushed the red button on the side of the box.
"Sunny!" Hitch exclaimed.
But it was too late, Izzy was freed again, but she still had a big smile on her face like nothing ever happened. "So, your name's Sunny?"
Now that Izzy was out of the box, the ponies started panicking once again, some of them even ended up getting trapped in the boxes themselves. Sunny and Izzy quickly raced away.
"Bye! It was nice to meet you all!" She called out.
"Wait up, guys!" Lukas wailed, and was about to follow them, but then he heard Hitch say...
"Deputy, to the lighthouse!"
"Uh oh! I gotta slow him down, but how?" Lukas thought to himself and after looking around, he saw a nearby trash can filled to the brim with trash. Lukas then walked over towards the trash can and proceeded to knock it over, causing all of the trash inside of it to spill all over the floor. "Oh no, there's litter on the ground, who's going to come and pick it up?" Lukas asked in a fake tone.
Hitch was running after the two ponies, but then heard Lukas and whipped his head around. "Litter!" He then ran up towards the trash. "Don't worry, Lukas. I'll have this litter cleaned up in no time."
"Ha, I can't believe that actually worked." Lukas chuckled as he ran off.
Now finally making their way out of Maretime Bay, they were beginning to quickly run out of breath, but they had to get out of there, otherwise, they would've been thrown in jail. Seeing that they were officially in the clear, Sunny decided to get the answer to the question that she never received.
"You don't have any magic?" She panted.
"Nope." Came Izzy's reply.
Sunny and Lukas both suddenly screeched to a halt.
"No magic?" Sunny asked herself in disbelief.
"Wait, Izzy, you have no magic?" Lukas quizzed as Izzy nodded in response. "But... you're a unicorn... you're supposed to have magic." Lukas stuttered, now at a loss for words."
"Oh, but if it makes you guys feel any better, we did have it, but that was many, many, many months ago." Izzy explained. "It just - poof - disappeared. Everypony thinks the pesky Pegasi had something to do with it and..." Before Izzy could continue her explanation, she noticed that Sunny was now in a state of shock and confusion.
"O-Oh. Hey, you look like kinda woozy. Are you okay?" Izzy asked with conern.
"Huh, I am on the run with a unicorn who has no magic." Sunny said, now realising her predicament. "What are we gonna do?"
Lukas was about to say something, but Izzy suddenly went up towards Sunny and began to sniff her, much to her confusion.
"What are you doing?" She wondered, slowly turning her head around to face Izzy.
"You don't smell." Izzy remarked.
"Thanks. Wait what?" Sunny said, but quickly caught on to what Izzy had just said.
"Um.. come again?" Lukas asked, also a bit confused.
"I was told all you Earth ponies smell like rotten sardines, but you do not. Hmm." Izzy shrugged, before getting distracted by a butterfly, but Sunny was still a bit confused and decided to get some more information.
"What else do unicorns say about Earth ponies?" Sunny asked, now curious to learn more.
"Oh, just that you're lazy and not the brightest crystals in the forest." Izzy replied, still focused on the butterfly.
"Charmimg." Sunny groaned sarcastically.
"Nope, just those three." Izzy said in a chipper voice. "So, what's the plan?"
"Oh, I've got an idea." Lukas proclaimed. "What if we just ask everyone really nicely.."
"Uh.. no offense, Lukas. But I don't think it's that easy." Sunny interjected.
"Fine." Lukas moaned. "So, do you have a plan?"
Sunny puzzled over this for a moment before answering. "Wait. I've got it! Izzy, Lukas, we're going on a quest... to Zephyr Heights."
Right as she said that, Sunny pulled out an old fashioned book from her saddlebag and presented it in front of Izzy and Lukas, it was some sort of map, but then Sunny pointed a hoof towards a location on the map called Zephyr Heights.
"The Pegasus city?" Izzy perplexed.
"Yes. We need to find out what happened to your magic and bring it back." Sunny declared. "They have magic. Maybe they can help."
"Huh, that's actually not a bad idea." Lukas thought, but Izzy didn't look too sure of the idea herself and said so.
"Uh, but the Pegasi are bad news." She said cautiously.
"What if you're wrong about them? Earth ponies were wrong about unicorns. They could welcome us with open wings." Sunny hypothesized.
"But what if they don't?" Izzy said worriedly.
Izzy then ran over to a nearby cliff side and her, Sunny and Lukas began to sing another song about how they will all look out for each other, no matter what happens. Meanwhile, back in Maretime Bay, Hitch and Sprout we’re now at the police station, thinking of a plan to stop Sunny from making a fool out of herself again.
“I told her. I told her. No more favors. No more bailing her out. She gave me no choice. No choice!” Hitch said, pacing around the room as Sprout sat at the desk helping himself to a slice of pizza. “All right. We need to arrest her and bring her back to face the full force of the law.“
“Question.” Sprout interjected, pulling the pizza slice away from his lips. “When you say "we", you mean...?“
“You and I.” Hitch said sternly.
When Sprout heard this, the pizza he was about to eat dropped out of his grip and splattered on the desk and his eyes widened, it would seem like he really didn’t want to be involved in this mission .
“Uh, I... I'd love to, but, um, I just gotta... clean up my workspace, get my papers in order, and, um...“
While Sprout went on about his little white lie, he started to make a mess of the desk, slamming supplies to the ground, scattering papers everywhere in a rushed manner, but Hitch just shook his head.
“You know what? I think you're right. This one's a job for Hitch and Hitch only.” He said as he whipped his head, flicking his mane and striking a cocky smile. With his plan working, Sprout let out a big sigh of relief.
“All right. Sprout, you stay here while I'm out dancing with danger.” Hitch instructed as he kicked open the door, slowly making his way out. “Keep everypony calm, maintain the peace, be a pillar of strength. Who am I kidding?” He sighed, but before he went on his way, he looked at Sprout and said one more thing.. “Just try not to start a war while I'm gone, okay?”
And with that, Hitch was now out the door, leaving a very disgruntled Sprout behind. “Everypony loooooves Hitch. What does he have anyway?” He asked angrily as he walked over to a calendar of Hitch, ripping off every picture as he continued on his rant.
“Sure, he's got a perfect mane, shredded abs, paid-off mortgage... So what?! I've got stuff! I can do, um... things! Like that!“ Sprout, in a fit of rage, took off the calendar from the wall and throwing it on the ground. “And that.” He exclaimed again as he kicked the drawer of a nearby file cabinet, closing the bottom one, but leaving the top one open. Frustrated, Sprout growled to himself, but before he could continue messing up the office any more, Phyllis Cloverleaf came rushing in with a worried look on her face.
“Where's Hitch?!” She asked frantically. “Ponies all over town, they're terrified! They want answers!“
“He went after Sunny.” Sprout replied with envy. “Another solo Hitch mission.“
“Sugar cube.” Phyllis cooed, as she put a hoof to Sprout’s chin. “Why the Sprout pout? That's great news.”
“It is?” Sprout asked, all matter of jealousy gone in his voice.
“Yes! It means that you are the sheriff!” Phyllis explained as she put a sheriff’s badge on Sprout’s belt buckle. “At least for now.“
“I am!” Sprout said, now satisfied with the change and forgetting all about Hitch. “Hey there. The name's Sprout. Sheriff Sprout. What's the problem, filly? Don't worry. Sheriff Sprout is here. Pick up that litter! Sheriff Sprout's orders!”
Sprout grinned at his mother and she returned the smile, but little did they know, this change was about to cause a great deal of trouble...
Up in the mountains, Lukas, Sunny and Izzy were tretching through a misty and vast canyon with stone cliffs on both sides. Their adventure was still going strong with no intentions of stopping any time soon.
"You know, not to freak you out or anything, but you do know Pegasi can steal your luminescence, right?" Izzy asked with caution.
"My lumi-what?" Sunny questioned, not familiar with that word.
"Luminescence. You know, like, your sparkle?" Izzy clarified. "Yours is... lavender."
"Huh?" Sunny said, still a bit puzzled over this.
"And the happier you are, the brighter it shines!" Izzy exclaimed as the two continued their hike, with Lukas close behind.
"Oh man, all of this hiking is making me hungry." He groaned, before reaching into his backpack, pulling out an apple. "It's a good thing Applejack packed me plenty of apples, these should last me the whole day."
But when Lukas took a bite of the apple, there was a loud rumbling sound from behind them, followed by the sound of falling rocks.
"Huh. I had no idea my chewing was that loud!" Lukas said.
Suddenly, a mysterious and shadowy figure raced over their heads. Startled, Sunny, Izzy and Lukas all looked up to see who the figure was, but it was gone.
"Um... I don't think that was you, Lukas." Sunny said nervously.
"Guys, I think we should run!" Lukas exclaimed before bolting away.
Sunny and Izzy followed suit and ran after Lukas, with the figure not too far behind. As the trio sped through the caynon. Lukas was able to get a good look at the figure who was on the ledge of the cliffs, and the silhouette resembled a Pegasus with its wings tucked in. Until they eventually reached a dead end where there was a big pile of rocks in the way, as if a landslide had occurred. Lukas looked back to see the assumed Pegasus jumping over from rock to rock, getting closer every time.
"Hurry!" Sunny cried.
Without any other options, the trio started to climb the cliff, with Sunny pushing Izzy and Lukas in the process.
"Ugh, I was never good at rock climbing." Lukas groaned, struggling to keep his grip.
Finally, they had arrived at the top of the cliff, there were even higher than the clouds. Izzy was the first to reach the top, followed by Lukas, however, Sunny's luck had ran thin as she suddenly lost her grip and began to fall.
"Sunny!" Lukas called out, before quickly grabbing her hooves just in time. "I've got you."
With all of his strength, Lukas tugged and tugged as hard as he could, sweat was dripping down and his face was slowly turning red, then with one final pull, Sunny was now safely on the ledge.
"Thanks, Lukas." Sunny said gratefully.
"Don't mention it." Lukas replied with a smile.
Suddenly, they all heard a whooshing sound as a Pegasus flew into view, assumingly the same Pegasus that chased them earlier. Sunny and Izzy were so startled, that they screamed while hugging each other.
The Pegasus eventually landed on a nearby rock and fluffed its wings put gracefully, this Pegasus was named Zipp Storm, she had white fur, a magenta coloured mane with a blueish, greenish streak through it. But most of all, she had a pair of white wings with purple, red and blueish greenish coloured feathers.
"A real Pegasus...!" Sunny said in awe.
"Why does her mane remind me of toothpaste?" Lukas asked himself.
"Whoa! A unicorn? An Earth pony? And a human? Together?!" Zipp gawked in amazement. "Okay, well, this day just got a whole lot more interesting."
"Wait a second." Lukas interrupted. "How do you know about me?"
"Word gets around." Zipp replied.
They all suddenly heard the sound of clanking metal as two Pegasi in armor were approaching, she then jumped over to the cliffside, as if she was avoiding them. Before she jumped off, she looked at the trio and said one sentence.
"Don't tell them you saw me!" And with that, Zipp was off.
"There's no way we cooooould! We don't even know your naaaaame!" Izzy called out to Zipp, but she was already gone. "She seems nice."
All of a sudden, a small yelp was heard from behind them. Turning over, they saw two royal guards, one of them was cowering behind the other one, their names were Zoom Zephyrwing and Thuder. They both wore golden armor, but Zoom Zephyrwing had blue fur, while Thunder had green fur.
"Thunder! Get it together!" Zoom said angrily.
"But... But that's an Earth pony, and a human!" Thunder retorted.
"They're harmless." Zoom clarified. "They have very tiny brains."
Sunny and Lukas didn't look pleased about that statement.
"What do we do about that ?!" Thunder asked, gesturing over to Izzy.
"Well, did you bring the shield?" Zoom questioned.
"What shield?"
"Didn't you read the guard guide?"
"Yes! ...Okay, no."
"Ugh, fine!" Zoom groaned, before walking over to the group spreqding out her wings. "I've got this."
Turns out that their security measure was to place a tennis ball on top of Izzy's horn to prevent her from using any kind of magic, despite the fact that she doesn't have any to begin with. Right now, Sunny, Lukas and Izzy were escorted to the elevator that led up to the castle.
"That's creative." Izzy commented as she stared at the tennis ball on her horn.
"Where did you guys even get a tennis ball from?" Lukas asked.
No answer...
"Um.. hello?" Lukas said, waving his hand in front of their faces. "Oh, I get it, you guys are just ignoring me. Well, two can play that game."
"What's it like to fly?" Sunny asked Thunder. "Is your wingspan the same as your height?"
"Well, I..." Thunder began, before Sunny and Izzy threw even more questions at him.
"Do you need a license to fly? How far can you go?"
"Can you fly to the moon?"
"Do Pegasi wear horseshoes, or do they just weigh you down."
"Woah, guys. We don't want to overwhelm him." Lukas said cautiously.
"Well, I-I do collect sneakers." Thunder answered.
"Hey, hey, hey! Don't answer anything!" Zoom advised. "They could be spies."
"Oh, for crying out loud!" Lukas groaned.
But when him, Sunny and Izzy saw a full view of Zephyr Heights, they completely forgot about being fugitives. Zephyr Heights seemed to be a thriving city with plenty of advertisements spread around the place. This city kind of reminded Lukas about Las Pegasus.
"Woah." Lukas gasped. "Now this looks like the perfect place for me."
"Yeah, the perfect place for you to try everypony's brains." Zoom accused while pointing a sharp hoof at Lukas.
"You do know that I'm not a unicorn, right?" Lukas asked, as if stating the obvious.
"Well, maybe you have a hidden horn underneath all of that hair!" Zoom exclaimed.
"Okay, now you're just being ridiculous." Lukas said in a deadpanned voice.
But before Lukas could lecture the guards any more, there was a news report on one of the many screens, featuring two ponies, one stallion and one mare. The stallion was named Skye Silver, and the mare was named Dazzle Feather.
"Good morning, Zephyr Heights! It's another beautiful day in the big city." Skye announced. "Looks like warm breezes and clear skies for tonight's royal celebration!"
"Royal celebration?! Talk about great timing!" Izzy laughed.
"Tonight's royal bash for Queen Haven will be stunning, but the real jewel in the crown will be Princess Pipp's performance." Dazzle added, before turning over to Skye. "Isn't that right, Skye?"
"Oh, my, yes, Dazzle." Skye chuckled. "And this just in – an exclusive vid from Pipp for all you loyal fans out there in Z.H."
Just then, a small display of what looked like a live stream appeared on screen and standing in the middle, was Pipp Petals herself, she had light pink fur, a purple mane, white, fluffy wings, and a yellow coloured tiara with a green crystal.
"What is up, everypony? Big shout out to all my fans, the Pippsqueaks!" Pipp announced as two young fillies squealed in excitement.
"So." Pipp begam. "Tonight's the night. I can't wait to debut my new song later. It has a very special place in my heart, but not as much as you guys!"
The pegasi all let out an audible "Awwww."
"We love you so much, Pipp!" A Pegasus fan exclaimed aloud.
"Okay, guys, I love you lots. Gotta go. Pipp-Pipp-hooray!" Pipp said while fluttering her wings.
"Pipp-Pipp-hooray!" The pegasi, Izzy, Zoom and Thunder repeated.
Finally, the elevator had reached the top as the doors slid open.
"Move it!" Zoom instructed.
"You betcha." Izzy obeyed.
As they stepped out of the elevator and onto a golden bridge, Sunny couldn't help to notice something rather unsusal about their surroundings.
"Do you see anypony flying here?" She asked.
"Huh, now that you mention it. That does seem a bit odd." Lukas agreed, but Izzy didn't seem to realise.
"They have a castle!" She squealed.
Even though they weren't here for sightseeing, they secretly had to admit that the castle did look really flashy. As they went inside the throne room, a line of royal guards marched on each side of a path that lead to three thrones before making a stop next to the entrance.
"Wow, nice spread." Lukas gawked.
"Bow before our queen!" Thunder declared.
As he said that, a trumpet fanfare sounded around the throne room, before all the guards bowed down before... A small, white, fluffy Pomeranian with wings name Cloudpuff as he walked regally over to the front of the room. Sunny and Lukas seemed a bit confused about this, but Izzy played along with it, bowing down as well.
"Your Majesty!" She said in a overdramatic voice.
Suddenly, Cloudpuff perked his snout up in the air, as if he smelt something nearby. Then he stared barking and jumping around, before running over to Lukas and snatching his backpack.
"Hey! Give that back!" Lukas demanded
But instead of completly ripping the bag to shreds. Cloudpuff pulled out a tray of cupcakes from it, the same cupcakes that Pinkie Pie packed for Lukas.
"Oh, I forgot I had those in there." Lukas said.
Then, a faint light shone from the ceiling as Cloudpuff raced back to the front of the throne room, right when three pegasi swooped in. Two of them was Pipp and Zipp, and the other one was the queen and motherly figure of the two pegasi, Queen Haven. In appearance, she had light purple fur and was also the same colour as her mane, she also wore a dark purple cloak and a tiara with blue Pegasus wings made out of crystals.
"Well, that's one way to make an entrance." Lukas whispered.
"Hi, new friend!" Izzy said to Zipp.
But instead of a friendly greeting, Zipp shook her head, signalling her to be quiet. Izzy seemed to have taken the hint as she pretended to zip her mouth shut.
"Guards, state your business, and please make it quick." Queen Haven said in a posh voice. "We're on a very tight schedule today. Before the celebration, Cloudpuff needs his pedicure, Pipp needs to rehearse, and I need to practice my laugh." She then let out a forced laugh. "Hmmm. Still not right."
"Your Highness, we found these intruders in our territory." Zoom announced, gesturing over to Lukas, Sunny and Izzy.
Queen Haven then took off her glasses and when they saw the trio, she let out a deep gasp in astonishment.
"An Earth pony... a unicorn... and a human... in Zephyr Heights?!" She stammered, unable to believe what she was seeing.
"We have them under control, your Highness." Zoom assuree her.
"Oh, oh, a-and we deployed the shield!" Thunder said, referring to the tennis ball still perched on Izzy's horn.
"That is completely pointless!" Lukas exclaimed.
"Hey, you stay out of this!" Zoom scolded.
"Is this an attack?! On the night of our royal celebration?!" Queen Haven asked as he paced around. "Why are you here?! Who sent you?! Nopony must know they're here!"
Despite Queen Haven's words, Pipp still couldn't resist showing her live stream.
"Check it out, Pippsqueaks! Live from the castle... it's a real unicorn, Earth pony and human!"
She then turned her phone around so that the live stream could get a good look and they all gasped loudly.
"I know, right? This is so not a filter."
"Pipp! There's nothing to fear." Queen Haven assured her as she took the phone from Pipp."Those nasty little ponies and human have been captured. Your queen will protect you."
The pegasi then all let out a sigh of relief, now knowing that they had nothing to worry about.
"Shut it off!" She instructed, tossing the phone back to Pipp.
"Look, your majesty." Lukas began. "We don't want to cause any trouble here, we just need to..."
"Guards!" Queen Haven cried, interrupting Lukas in the middle of his sentence. "Please escort these ponies and human to the dungeon until I can question them properly! And confiscate the book!"
As instructed, Zoom Zephyrwing snatched the journal from Sunny and began reading it.
"What? N-No, no! But-but, your Majesty, I just wanted to ask you a few questions, please!"
But the royal family didn't seem to care as they began to make their exit through the roof while Sunny, Lukas and Izzy were escorted out of the throne room.
"Did she just say "dungeons"?" Izzy asked worridley.
"What else could go wrong today?" Sunny sighed to herself.
Yeah... about that..
Things may have been looking bad for Sunny and her friends, but back in Maretime Bay, things were looking even worse. Sprout has now been fully committed to his role as substitute sherrif, replacing a picture of Hitch with his own picture. As he marveled at his creation, he was suddenly interrupted by Phyllis Cloverleaf busting into the office, closing the doors quickly behind her as angry ponies gathered around.
"Mom?" Sprout asked, putting the picture down and looking up at her.
Phyllis and Sprout both made eye contact. "My, oh, my, aren't you the handsome sheriff!" Phyllis said. "Look at you."
"Yes. Yes, I am, Mommy." Sprout laughed giddily while tapping his hooves on the desk.
"Well, this is it. It is your time to shine, dear." Phyllis began. "Everypony wants to hear from you ."
"They do?" Sherrif Sprout asked.
"Of course." Phyllis replied. "You are in charge now. It's your destiny." As she said the last part, she moved her face closer to Sprout's,
After a moment, Sprout then realised that his mother was right. He went over to the doors and kicked them open.
"Citizens!" Sprout proudly declared.
However, his introduction was cut short when the doors slammed shut right on his face.
"Ow!" He screamed in a muffled voice.
The crowd looked confused by what just happened as Sprout opened to doors again, cleared his throat and restarted his introduction.
"It is I, Sheriff Sprout!"
"Sheriff? Where's Hitch?" Toots asked.
"We need a real sheriff!" An earth pony called out from the crowd as everyone began ranting about the absence of Hitch.
"Come on now, everypony." Phyllis encouraged. "Let's listen to what our new sheriff has to say."
There was a moment of silence. "That's you, sugarcube." She added, nudging her son.
"Oh, yeah, it's me." Sprout replied, clearing his throat. "Okay, folks, calm down. There's no need to be scared."
"We're scared, and we want to be prepared!" Toots said nervously.
"The unicorns are coming! The unicorns are coming!" Called out Sparkle Chaser, who was still wearing his periscope goggles from earlier, before running off, causing a crash sound to be heard as the crowd cringed a bit.
Suddenly, the crowd started throwing question after question at Sprout, clearly showing signs of panic. One pony cried out "What if the unicorn comes back?" as Sprout started to ponder over that specific statement.
"Actually... what if you're all right? The unicorns could come back." Sprout declared. "They could even bring the Pegasi. We are all in danger!"
The crowd gasped at that.
"Now is not the time to be complacent! We should do something!"
Sprout then led the crowd into a musical number about the dangers of unicorns and Pegasi, mobilizing them into an angry mob in the process.
Back in Zephyr Heights, the three fugitives had just been escorted to the castle dungeon for presumably trespassing. Sunny was gazing out a nearby window, in a deep trail of thought.
"Something is not right." Sunny whispered. "We haven't seen a single pony flying, except the royal family." She then noticed that there was no response from Izzy or Lukas. Sunny turned back to face them"Izzy, Lukas, are you two listening?"
"I read you loud and clear, Sunny." Lukas replied. "But I'm not so sure about Izzy."
Lukas then gestured over to the purple unicorn, who was in a massage chair as it hummed quietly, she had two cucumber slices on each of her eyes, and was holding a coconut with a straw and an umbrella.
"This isn't dungeon-y at all." She giggled.
As it turns out, Izzy was right about the aesthetic of the dungeon, it looked less like a dungeon and more like a luxurious spa resort. The only difference is that you can't leave, which sounded even more pleasing.
"Yeah, but we still gotta get out of here." Lukas pointed out, before walking over to talk to a Pegasus guard standing next to their cell. "Hey dude, if you let us out, I'll give you an apple." He pulled out a red, shiny apple from his backpack, but the guard just stared at him silently. "Two apples?" He pulled another apple, but the guard was still not interested. "Two apples and a cupcake?"
"Sorry, bub. I don't accept bribes." The guard said bluntly, walking away.
"I should've known it would've been that easy." Lukas sighed, feeling defeated.
"Hey." Said a familiar voice.
"Huh?" Lukas looked over and saw none other than Zipp Storm standing there. "Oh, it's you."
"I'm sorry you three got thrown in here, but I have to talk to you." Zipp said, getting to the point.
"Princess?" Sunny said in disbelief.
"Your Majesticness! Y-Your Graceful Highness!" Izzy stuttered.
"Zipp. Just... call me Zipp." She interrupted, preventing Izzy from embarrassing herself even more.
"Okay, Zipp. I'm Sunny." She introduced. "And these is my friends."
"I'm Lukas."
"Izzy Moonbow."
"Sunny, Izzy, Lukas, I really need to ask you something important." Zipp then looked both ways to make sure that nopony was around. "...about magic." She continued.
"What a coincidence, that's why we're here." Lukas said.
"Maybe you can tell us how yours works?" Sunny asked. "Izzy has no idea how the unicorns lost theirs, so we thought maybe-" Before Sunny could continue, she was interjected by Zipp.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait. Lost theirs? As in no magic? Well... that changes things." Zipp whispered to herself, before continuing. "Listen, I might have some information that could help, but first, you need to tell me about this."
Zipp reached into her wing and presented a familiar looking journal.
"My journal!" Sunny gasped, taking the journal, happy to be reunited with it again. "Thank you, Zipp. I-I never thought I'd see it again."
"Yeah, I can be pretty sneaky when I want to be." Zipp replied eagerly.
"Nice." Izzy remarked. "I'm-I'm only medium sneaky."
"Don't mind her, Zipp." Said Lukas. "Personally, I think that you've got the talent on you."
"Oh, thanks Lukas." Zipp said gratefully, before turning back to Sunny. "Anyways, So where did that come from?"
"It was my father's. Why?" Sunny asked.
"That star..." Zipp said quietly, as if she had seen something like it before.
As Lukas took a closer look at the journal, he did see a rather familiar symbol on it, but before he could explain to Zipp what it was, they were interrupted by the faint sound of a digital trumpet fanfare nearby. Turning over to the source, they see two pegasi guards rolling out a red carpet, with Princess Pipp Petals following with a strut in her step, before noticing Zipp next to the assumed fugitives.
"Zipp, what are you doing here? Mom said to stay away." Pipp said with clenched teeth.
"Right. Then why are you here?" Zipp asked with a smirk.
"For the content." Pipp scoffed as she pulled out her phone and took a couple of selfies.
"Um.. excuse me, Princess, if I may." Lukas stuttered as Izzy brought Sunny in for a hug while Pipp was taking selfies.
"Please, just call me Pipp." She said modestly.
"Okay then, Pipp. If you don't mind me asking, why isn't anypony flying?" Lukas asked,
Pipp then gasped and turned around, giving us a nervous laugh. "Everypony knows that only royals can fly, of course."
"What?" Sunny, Izzy and Lukas exclaimed aloud in unison.
" I know, it's not fair. But that's just the way it is. If there were some way we could teach the citizens to fly, you know we would in a wing beat." Pipp said while fluttering around, before stopping to look at Zipp to get her approval. "Right, Zipp?"
"Yeah. In a wing beat." Zipp groaned sarcastically, before Pipp's phone buzzed.
"Oh! Dress rehearsals. Gotta go." She then snapped her head around to her sister. "And so should you." As Pipp walked away, she started doing vocal exercises. "Me-me-meeeee! Red feather, yellow feather, red feather, yellow feather. "
"Man, she's like a worse version of Rarity." Lukas thought.
"I have to show you something." Zipp declared.
With that, Zipp put her hoof on the touch pad next to the luxury dungeon, and almost instantly, the jail bars quickly rise up, officially making the trio free from their dungeon. Sunny, Izzy and Lukas gasp over how easy it was.
"Wow, I can't believe it was that easy." Lukas said with disbelief.
"You comin' or what?" Zipp called out.
"Never mind that now, Lukas." Sunny said as they walked out. "We need answers."
But before Izzy could follow behind, she looked back and took an orange from the fruit bowl nearby and replaced it with the tennis ball, giggling to herself, before following the others.
But little did they know, a certain sheriff was about to catch up to them...
TO BE CONTINUED...
Just outside Zephyr Heights around the area of the same cliff side where Lukas, Sunny and Izzy met Princess Zipp Storm, two fluffy bunnies were minding their own business, eating away at some grass sprouting out from the cracks of the ground, when suddenly, a hoof gripped onto the cliff side, causing the two bunnies to run off with a small yelp. Turns out the source of the hoof was none other than the sheriff of Maretime Bay himself, Hitch Trailblazer, who had just recently embarked on a journey to bring Sunny and Izzy to justice.
With all of his strength, Hitch quickly pulled his body up and finally making a landing on the cliff side. Once the sheriff was on solid ground, he allowed himself a moment to take a break, all the while panting and grunting, as if he had been doing this for a very long time. Luckily, Hitch wasn't alone as the two bunnies returned and both of them stopped by either side of Hitch. As he looked up in confusion about his new fuzzy visitors, they both cuddled him cutely, much to his chagrin. But then, he noticed something in the distance, a bumper sticker of a unicorn in a heart-shape, presumably left behind by Sunny.
"Litter!" He declared as he got up. "I mean, a clue." He corrected himself, but then, as if the sticker wasn't enough clues left behind, Hitch also found a strain of hair hung on a twig. "Hmmm... Unicorn hair." He pondered.
Finally, the last clue was a blue feather on the ground, Hitch picked up and gave it a small lick as he smacked his lips, just to let the taste sink in.
"Pegasi." He muttered under his breath as he walked off, with the fluffy bunnies following behind. "Track's gone cold." Hitch said, pressing his head up against the ground, before quickly getting back up. "Sunny, Sunny, Sunny, Sunny. You think you've escaped?" He asked himself rhetorically. "Well, think again. I will not eat! I will not sleep! Well, maybe a quick nap and snack if I can't find you in the next few hours, BUT! After that, nothing will stop me!"
When Hitch had finished his speech, all of the bunnies had gathered around the sheriff, clapping their ears together, cheering at such conviction.
"Oh. Thank you. Thank you." Hitch chuckled. "No, no, you're too kind. ALSO!"
As soon as Hitch continued, the bunnies stopped cheering, all except for one, who hadn't noticed that the clapping had stopped, but soon was told when the bunny next to him shushed him, which her quickly obliged.
"I'll follow you wherever you go! Whether harshest deserts, the coldest tundras, no trail too dangerous, no clue too small!"
Suddenly, as the clouds slowly faded away, all the bunnies noticed something behind Hitch, and that something turned to be a news report of the recently assumed fugitives, which were none other than Lukas, Sunny and Izzy. However, Hitch was only after two of them. Since they knew that Hitch was after the ponies right behind her, they tried to tell him by squeaking at him, trying desperately to inform him about it, but he seemed to preoccupied with his speech.
"The past matters not! It's justice-" Before his speech could continue, he finally noticed that the bunnies were trying to tell him something. "What? What?" He groaned, upset that they ruined his speech.
The bunnies then gestured over to behind them, Hitch looked back to see the news report as clear as day. "Gotcha!" He said proudly, having a pretty good feeling on where they were.
Meanwhile, back in the royal castle of Zephyr Heights, Zipp had just taken Lukas, Sunny and Izzy to a hidden compartment that led to what looked like the basket of a hot air ballloon as Zipp made a graceful landing in the basket, before looking up to the others.
"Watch your step." She warned, but Sunny and Izzy didn't take that advice very well, as they both made a rather rough landing, ending up on top of each other.
Lukas looked down at the long drop below him, seeing how Sunny and Izzy had just landed, he didn't want to get hurt. Fortunately, he had a plan to prevent him from falling on his bottom, and with a big, deep breath, he jumped cleanly inside while doing a back flip and grabbed onto the ropes holding up the balloon basket, then he leaped over to the other side of the ropes and grabbed onto them as well. Finally, he ended his stunt with another back flip and landing perfectly on his feet, the other occupants were amazed.
"Whoa, Lukas. You really know how to make a landing." Zipp remarked.
"Well, Rainbow Dash has been teaching me." Lukas replied, satisfied that his stunt pulled off well.
As Sunny and Izzy got up, Zipp then pulled down a nearby switch, making the balloon basket lower down as the group was now looking over what looked like some sort of abandoned and condemned building as Sunny, Izzy and Lukas all gawked at the sight before them, but it did look like the place could use a little TLC.
"Where are we?" Sunny gasped as the basket made a landing.
"It's amazing, right?" Zipp asked rhetorically as the group hopped out and examined the place. " I'm pretty sure it was some sort of station for when Earth ponies and unicorns used to visit Zephyr Heights. It's like everypony just... forgot."
"Wow, it definitely looks." Lukas then trailed off before clearing his throat. "rustic."
While Zipp was explaning, Sunny and Izzy both went up towards a framed picture of Maretime Bay, it seemed like it had been here for a very long time because of all the dust on it. Sunny reached out her hoof and wiped off some of the dust to reveal a familiar looking lighthouse overlooking the city. As she eyed upon it, her face lit up, recognizing that structure. But then, she looked above it and saw another framed, and rather dusty picture of three ponies walking through a forest, one Earth pony, one Pegasi and one unicorn, the latter carrying a rose with its magical aurora.
"This is proof! All pony kinds did used to be friends!" She said eagerly. "My dad was right."
"Man, if only the ponies from Maretime Bay can see this." Lukas groaned.
Lukas then noticed Zipp staring upwards intently at something on the wall, and as the human walked over to her, he looked up at what she was looking at, and he couldn't believe what he saw, it was a Wonderbolts poster, resembling the same poster that he'd see in Rainbow Dash's house.
"Is that what I think it is?" He asked, unable to believe.
"Yes indeed, Lukas." Zipp replied.
"I didn't know you were a fan of the Wonderbolts." Lukas said, crossing his arms. "You know, one of my friends happens to be a Wonderbolt herself."
"Really?" Zipp asked, Lukas nodded in response.
"She's been dying to become a member ever since she was just a little foal." He replied.
"Well, no wonder. They're only the best flying team in the history of Equestria. Zipp chuckled as Lukas joined in.
"Yeah, you said it, Zipp." Lukas smirked. "And speaking of "flying." It must feel a bit weird being the only pegasi that could do that
Zipp's smile slowly started to fade away as she let out a sigh of disappointment, as if she wanted to get something off her chest. "The truth is we can't fly either. We've been faking it."
"Faking it?" Lukas asked in astonishment. "This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder."
"But how?" Sunny wondered as she and Izzy walked up towards the Pegasus, demanding answers.
"You'd be surprised what some wires and good lighting will do." Zipp explained as she walked up to a chalkboard with a complicated equation drawn on it. "But I'm just so tired of living that ridiculous lie. That's why I come down here – to get away from all of that. And, well... to do this."
The Pegasus ran off, jumped onto a switch that seemed to have activated a nearby fan, with the machine being turned on, Zipp leaped over it, causing her to fly up into the air, spreading her wings out gracefully as she did so.
"Wow!" Sunny gawked at the Pegasi's flight.
"Whoa! Her sparkle is so bright right now!" Izzy remarked.
"Ha, wait until Rainbow Dash hears about her." Lukas added.
"Who's Rainbow Dash?" Asked Izzy, not recognizing the name.
"Oh, just a friend of mine." Lukas replied as Izzy nodded in understanding.
After spreading out her wings for a moment, Zipp glided back down to the ground and led the trio to a particular part of the abandoned station.
"But that's not why I brought you down here. This is what I wanted to show you."
She then gestured over to what appeared to be a stained glass window depicting one unicorn and one Pegasi on either sides of the window underneath an picture of Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark.
"Oh, my stars...!" Was all Sunny could say, before taking a quick gaze at her journal, which depicted the exact same symbol on it.
"This was made a long, long time ago, when we still had magic." Zipp clarified.
"It's beautiful!" Izzy gawked.
"Well, it sure is something alright." Lukas added, admiring the creation.
As Sunny marveled at the creation herself, her eyes soon lied upon the crystal that was above the Pegasi. "What is that?"
"That's the Pegasus Crystal." Replied Zipp. "It's part of my mom's crown."
Sunny then walked over to the stained glass window, before noticing something unusual about the structure, the Pegasi had a crystal above it, but the unicorn didn't have one. The circle where it should've been in looked like it was shattered by an unknown force.
"Hmmm. Where's the Unicorn Crystal?" She asked, letting her thoughts out.
As she examined the room, she then noticed a piece of curtain on the ground, and she could see a slight lump in it, meaning that something was underneath the curtain. Sunny then walked over to it and pulled away the curtain slowly to reveal none other than the unicorn crystal. Her face lit up once again, having found what she was looking for. Then, she looked at an engraving on the floor of the Pegasi crystal. At the top of it, there was a small gap, it looked like a perfect fit for the unicorn crystal. Curious, Sunny tested out her theory by pushing the crystal into the gap and it turned out, she was right, it was a perfect fit.
"Look!" Sunny called out to the group as they all gathered around.
"They fit?" Izzy asked.
"These two crystals belong together. United." Sunny exclaimed.
"So... what are you saying?" Zipp pondered, confused about what the earth pony was thinking.
"Maybe you lost your magic because the crystals were separated." Sunny thought.
"So if we put them back together..." Izzy trailed off.
"...magic will return?" Zipp finished.
"And all three pony kinds will get along again!" Sunny said with glee.
"That's actually not that far-fetched, Sunny." Lukas remarked.
"Aw, but what about the Unicorn Crystal?" Zipp asked.
"Well, if you're looking for crystals, we've got, like, a gazillion of them back in Bridlewood." Izzy replied.
"Then that's where we'll go next." Sunny declared, before remembering something else. "After we get the Pegasus Crystal from your mom, of course."
"Ooh... That'll be tricky. She, uh, never takes her crown off." Zipp informed them.
As it turns out, Queen Haven really adored that crown, because it never left her head and she wears it everywhere she goes. When she's sleeping, when she was in the shower, she even wore the crown while going swimming, and to prevent it from getting wet, she puts a swimming cap over top of it.
"So, what do we do?" Sunny asked, a little bit stumped.
"I think I might have an idea." Lukas exclaimed. "What if we take the crown while she's sleeping?"
"That's... not the worst idea I've heard, Lukas." Zipp said. "But I don't want to risk waking her up." She then pondered for a moment, trying to think of a plan. " I got it! Pipp's performing at tonight's royal celebration. All eyes will be on her, especially my mom's. She'll be distracted. So we just need to swap the real crown with a fake."
"Oooh, I can craft a decoy!" Izzy beamed. "But I will need a box of macaroni, a tube of glue, fourteen gooey bunnies, and three jelly beans. Oh. And glitter. Lots of glitter."
"I think I'm going to like this." Lukas said intrigued.
"Okay." Zipp began. "Here's the plan."
Zipp was so confident that the heist would be a success that she thought everything would go perfectly according to plan. How wrong she was...
The first part of the plan was to get the supplies so Izzy could create a fake replica of Queen Haven's crown, which she did an amazing job in. Next, Zipp distracted the hoard of Pegasi just outside the castle entrance, and while the crowd started throwing any question they could at Zipp, the trio, Lukas, Izzy and Sunny quietly sneaked into the castle, making sure they didn't alert any of the royal guards in the process. As soon as they were inside the theater room, making the crown swap would be easy breezie, right?
"I hear you paid our guests a visit." Queen Haven said while applying her make-up, not even aware of the heist.
"Pipp told you?" Zipp asked her mother.
"Oh, you know she tells me everything." Queen Haven replied, turning over to her daughter. "I wish you would tell me more. You're going to be queen one day. You'll wear this crown. And trust me, it is heavier than it looks."
"Actually, there is something I wanted to tell you. The unicorns don't have any magic." Zipp said as Queen Haven suddenly had a look of frustration. "I-I think it's tied to why we can't fly, and I-"
"Zephyrina!" Queen Haven snapped, interrupting Zipp in the middle of her sentence. "I don't know what silly ideas that unicorn put into your head, but we have a duty to protect our citizens, and don't even get me started on that human, talk about freaky." She cringed a little before continuing. "Pegasi are happy enough knowing that we royals can fly. Why would you want to disrupt things?"
"Because it's a lie!" Zipp exclaimed, her tone getting slightly louder.
"It makes them feel safe." The queen sighed. "One day you'll understand. Your sister does. Oh, and here she is now!" On cue, Pipp came floating in, attached to her wires while singing a wonderful melody. "Showtiiiiiime!"
Meanwhile, Sunny, Izzy and Lukas crept up behind Queen Haven's throne so they could easily make the crown swap, but Lukas was a bit skeptical about this idea.
"Let's just get this over with." He said.
All of a sudden, distant music began to play as the wires lowered down two of the princesses down onto their respective thrones. While Queen Haven loved to make an entrance, Zipp was the exact opposite and just groaned at her mother's compliment to the crowd. Princess Pipp then took center stage with her song, however, while she preformed her musical number, the group of fugitives quickly put the plan into action.
Lukas peeped up from behind Queen Haven's throne, who had just been tasked as the one to make the crown swap, but just when he could grab it, the spotlight then started to go in his direction. To avoid being seen, he quickly ducked down and started to lose his balance as he was standing on both Sunny and Izzy. When the spotlight was focused on Pipp again, Lukas attempted to make the crown swap, successfully this time. The trio then walked away with the crown in hand.
Sunny, Izzy and Lukas made their way over to the exit and thought they were in the clear, but when they opened the doors, they saw a royal guard standing right there. Luckily for them, he didn't hear them since he appeared to be distracted with his phone.
"No, you hang up." The guard said.
Sunny quickly shut the doors, but before they could somehow find another way out of here, they all heard the sound of a whimper from behind them. Looking over, they saw the royal-winged Pomeranian, Cloudpuff, looking at them.
"Um... nice doggie?" Lukas asked nervously.
Cloudpuff responded by giving a low growl as his innocent face suddenly changed into a face that looked like it was ready for war. Sunny, Izzy and Lukas all screamed in unison and ran away from the dog, who quickly chased after them. Cloudpuff continued to chase the trio, the chase led Sunny to another pair of doors. Opening them, she saw none other than...
"Sunny Starscout, you are under arrest." Hitch proclaimed, just before Sunny slammed the door shut.
Seeing his chance, Cloudpuff pounced up on Lukas' head and snatched the crown out of his hand.
"Hey, give that back!" Lukas exclaimed, giving chase to the dog, the others in hot pursuit.
When they were gone, Hitch burst through the doors to find Sunny and Izzy, before looking up and seeing Pipp soaring gracefully, the song was so catchy, that he started shaking his flank a little. He quickly stopped when he noticed and continued his search for the fugitives.
The roles were reversed, now the trio were chasing after Cloudpuff, but right when Lukas was about to catch him, two royal guards walked in the way, mesmerized by Pipp's performance. Quickly, Lukas ducked behind the wall and peered behind it, only to see Cloudpuff darting off to give Queen Haven her crown back, which she didn't even realize was missing. The dog then stopped and jumped up and down to get the queen's attention. But instead got the attention of Zipp. Trying not to be seen by her mother, she slid down and tried to grab the crown from the dog's mouth.
"Give... it... to... me!" She said through clenched teeth.
The two applied so much force to the crown that it completely snapped into two pieces, but Zipp didn't get the crystal part of the crown, the one thing that she needed, so she chased Cloudpuff who still had the crystal in his mouth, shoving a few Pegasi out of the way. Meanwhile, Sunny, Izzy and Lukas was sneaking by, only to see Hitch on the other side of the room, the sheriff suddenly started trotting in their direction. Sunny and Izzy then sneaked backwards and ended up in the tech room of the theater, with the tech operator inside.
"It's the prisoners!" She screamed, running around the room as the duo tried desperately to hush him.
The chase between Cloudpuff and Zipp continued as the dog started to gain some distance from the Pegasi, who got lost in the crowd. But the dog was too distracted looking at the stranded princess, he didn't notice that Hitch was standing in front of him as he bumped into him, dropping the crystal in the process.
"Huh?" Hitch said, looking down as he saw Cloudpuff with wide eyes.
"It's okay, don't be scared!" Sunny ebbed the tech operator.
"I'm not gonna fry your brain, okay?" Izzy added.
But the tech operator was still frightened, so frightened in fact, that he flinched back, pressing one of the buttons displayed. Suddenly, all of the lights in the room began flickering on and off, even the light that was focusing on Pipp, much to her confusion.
"What the?" She asked herself.
Instead of her, the spotlight was now focused on Hitch as he stopped dead in his tracks. The crowd looked at him with confusion.
"Uhhh... Throwin' up, find a glove, fly around, up above." Hitch sung poorly. "Doin' stuff that I love, you're like, "Why?", I'm like, "What?"
"What is happening?" Pipp asked with confusion.
While Hitch continued to sing her poorly executed song, Zipp noticed that Cloudpuff had dropped the crystal and didn't even realize it. Meanwhile back in the tech room, the tech operator was still a bit scared by the presence of an earth pony and a unicorn that he jumped up on the machine cowardly, pulling on one of the levels, which caused Pipp to fly around the room like crazy, screaming at the top of her lungs. With the crowd distracted by Pipp's unexpected flight, Zipp stealthily grabbed the crystal. The tech operator then ran out the tech room screaming.
"I got it!" Zipp exclaimed, handing the crystal over to Sunny.
"Yes!" Sunny declared, grabbing the crystal and putting it in her saddlebag.
"Let's go!" Zipp called back as she, Sunny and Izzy quickly made their way out, followed by Lukas.
"Wait for me, guys!"
"Freeze!" Hitch called out, stopping the group dead in their tracks.
"It's the prisoners!" A Pegasi from the crowd gasped as the group dashed off again.
Then all of a sudden, before Hitch could give chase to the criminals, Pipp flew right behind him, the sudden wind caused the sheriff's cardboard wings to come straight off, revealing his true self.
"Aah! Another Earth pony!"
Now that his cover had been blown, Hitch made a run for the exit, soon to be joined by the others. Pipp continued to flail around the place like she was in a washing machine, until finally, her wild ride came to an end, ending her upside down, revealing to everypony the wires that were holding her up as the crowd let out audible gasps.
"She's a fake!" A Pegasus exclaimed among the crowd as another quickly took a picture of the dangling Pegasi.
"The royals can't fly either?!" Another Pegasus called out as Pipp looked down at the unpleasing crowd, not sure how to handle this situation.
But Zipp took a good look at her sister's predicament before she ran off, and Pipp looked back at her.
"Zipp...?" Pipp whispered.
Zipp was too busy staring at her sister, Sunny ended up bumping into her.
"Zipp, hurry!" She instructed and ran off. Zipp took one last look at Pipp, before running after Sunny, Izzy, Lukas and Hitch."
Unfortunately, due to the sudden impact into Zipp, the Pegasi crystal that Sunny precariously placed in her saddlebag had flown right out, landing on the floor. She didn't have enough time to pick it back up...
The sounds of sirens echoed around the city of Zephyr Heights and flashing lights could be seen flickering on and off, chasing after the four fugitives down the street. Despite all of the distracting sounds around them, the four friends clearly had no intentions of stopping any time soon.
"Quick, this way!" Zipp shouted as they all ducked into a nearby alleyway, not realizing that a certain human was missing.
"Okay. I think we lost 'em." Hitch said as a street rat hugged his back hoof, squeaking happily.
"Hitch, what are you even doing here?" Sunny asked the sheriff.
"Arresting you. And saving you. So, you know, a little of both actually."Hitch replied, shaking the rat off his hoof. "You're welcome!"
"Oh-ho-ho, gee, thanks. But we don't need any saving, okay?" Zipp said, walking up towards Hitch.
"And you are?" He asked.
"Her mom is the queen!" Izzy burst out.
"Wait a minute. So that means... you're a princess?"
"Huh. Look at that. The sheriff just became a detective." Zipp remarked.
"What?" Hitch asked in confusion.
Before he could get an answer, Izzy noticed someone was missing. "Wait, where's Lukas?"
But they didn't need to ponder over that for much longer, because running up to the front of the alleyway and out of breath was none other than Lukas.
"Hey guys." Lukas said, trying to catch his breath.
"Lukas, where were you?" Zipp asked.
"Sorry, I just had to take care of something." Lukas replied.
Then suddenly, a news announcement showed up on one of the screens. Everyone looked up to see Dazzle Feather, and next to her, was a picture of Pipp's hanging predicament, exposed wires and all.
"Breaking story – Zephyr Heights is in turmoil tonight after the shocking revelation that the royals cannot fly."
It then cut to several interviews of the Pegasi of Zephyr Heights, the first one were two fillies, presumably fans of Pipp, but not anymore after that incident.
"Pipp used to be my favorite!" One of the fillies said in frustration.
"If we can't trust our own royalty, who can we trust?" A Pegasus asked as another Pegasus came up and snatched the microphone.
"I blame the unicorns and the Earth ponies! They ruin everything!"
"This just in – Queen Haven has been arrested for being a phony pony full of baloney." Dazzle said in a rather serious tone as Zipp gasped at the sight of her own mother getting arrested.
"No comment! And no photos!" Queen Haven snapped at the Pegasi taking her picture, though she couldn't resist herself. "Okay, one photo." She then struck a pose as the camera flashed.
"Well, at least she knows her limitations." Lukas said.
"Anypony care to explain?" Hitch asked, facing the group.
"We had to get the crystal. Look." Sunny then rummaged through her saddlebag, but because she dropped it earlier, it was no longer in there. "Oh, no, no, no, no! It's not here!"
"Seriously?" Zipp asked in disbelief.
"On the bright side, we had so much losing it." Izzy chirped.
"We have to go back!" Sunny exclaimed.
"But we don't have to do that." Lukas said, taking off his backpack and unzipping it
"What do you mean, Lukas?" Sunny asked.
"See, there's a reason why I took so long to get here." Lukas then reached into his backpack and pulled out a certain object "Because I managed to get it back."
The five ponies gasped at what the human had in his hand. "Lukas, you're amazing!" Sunny said happily as she ran up and took the crystal back.
"Yeah, I know I am." Lukas remarked. "And it's a good thing no one saw me as well, could you imagine how Pipp would react if she found out that..."
But before Lukas could finish his sentence, there was a sound of a can being dropped to the ground from behind them, but Lukas was too scared to look.
"She's right behind me, isn't she?" He asked nervously as everyone nodded in response.
Lukas slowly turned around, only to be met with a very furious looking Pipp standing right in front of her, and she did NOT look happy at all.
"You seriously need to explain why that thing was so important that you had to ruin my whole show over it!" She scowled.
"Trust me, it was." Zipp remarked with a smirk.
"Because of you, everypony now knows we can't fly." Pipp snarled while pointing an accusing hoof at Lukas.
"Look, Pipp, I'm sorry about that, but.."
"Oh you're sorry, are you?" Pipp asked, interupting Lukas in the middle of his sentence. "Well sorry doesn't get my reputation back, now does it?"
Lukas was taken aback by Pipp's tone and attitude, but suddenly, his scared and concerned face suddenly changed into a look of anger as he couldn't believe that Pipp was accusing him of stealing the crystal. I mean, he did just that, but it was for a good reason.
"Well maybe if you wren't acting like such a narcissist, this would've happened to you." Lukas snapped as the others gasp in shock.
"Oh, I'll show you a narcissist!" Pipp yelled and was just about to attack Lukas, but Zipp stopped her before she could.
"Guys, stop!" She exclaimed. "We don't have time to argue right now!"
"Don't try to change the subject, Zipp." Pipp barked, smacking Zipp's hoof away in anger. "You left me hanging there!"
Before Pipp could rant any longer, her phone then vibrated as she pulled it out from her wing and saw another news announcement.
"A warrant is out for the arrest of the princesses." Dazzle exclaimed as an video of Queen Haven in jail, holding up her prison number.
"Pipp! Zipp! Save yourselves!" She said frantically before she made a pose for the camera.
"What?! This is not happening! This is so not happening!" Pipp said nervously.
"Pipp! Forget about all that." Zipp remarked. "We think we can bring back magic, but we need that crystal."
"Have you lost your mind?" Pipp asked her sister.
"Please. This might be our only chance." Zipp pleaded.
"Yeah, Pipp, please give us a chance." Lukas added.
Pipp wasn't sure what to say, but after a moment of silence, she finally made her decision. "Ugh! Fine! I know a way out. Come on."
Reluctantly, Pipp lead the group out of the alleway, leaving an equally reluctant Hitch.
"What? Wait! You can't just... But I'm a sheriff!" Hitch groaned and followed the others.
"I just hope everything in Maretime Bay is going better." Lukas thought.
But unfortunately, that wasn't the case...
Author's Note
Yes, believe it or not, this story is not cancelled, despite how infrequently I've been writing for it. Regardless, I promise you I will no longer take forever just to write a single chapter.
With that out of the way, enjoy the return of Lukas' Journey.
Midnight Confessions
Back in Maretime Bay, at the Canterlogic factory, all of the ponies were hard at work, but this time weren't making more ant-unicorn and Pegasus devices. Sprout, now declared Emperor of Maretime Bay arrived down an elevator to inspect on the process of his upcoming project, all the while, drinking a refreshing smoothie.
"Why aren't you finished yet?" He asked angrily as he handed over his smoothie over to Sweets.
"W-We're working as fast as we can, but we've run out of rivets." Toots stuttered as Sprout wasn't buying it.
"Rivet-ing story."Sprout then laughed at his pun, sighing happily. He suddenly grabbed Toots by the collar. "Just make it work, okay?!" He threatened.
Glitter Cupcake then flew by on a pipe, screaming as he did so. Sprout was starting to get annoyed on the fact that his project was taking so long to make.
"Sugarcube." Phyliis called out. "I know your little top-secret project is important and all, but when do you think my workers can get back to making Canterlogic products?"
Suddenly, both of them heard the sound of screaming from above them, they looked up to see Giltter Cupcake as he smacked face first onto the ground, letting out an audible "OW!" as Phyllis cringed at the pony's fall, but Sprout didn't seem to be affected by it at all.
"Back to work, Glitter Cupcake!" Sprout demanded as Glitter Cupcake got picked up by a claw.
"It is my factory, after all, dear." Phyllis pointed out.
"But it's my town, Mommy!" Sprout said in a hushed voice. "Your son's now emperor of Maretime Bay!"
"Emperor?!" Phyllis scoffed in disbelief. "But yesterday you were only the sheriff."
"Well, see how fast I'm climbing the ranks? This defense factory is going on offense, and it's all thanks to your love and encouragement." Sprout explained as Phyllis couldn't believe what she had just heard. "Break's over, Bubblegum McGinty!"
"Oh, dear. Somepony's getting a big head."
Back with Lukas and his friends, their journey was still going strong and had led them to a daisy field that was filled to the brim with daises. They stopped in front of a large pink leaf tree.
"That's the tree from the map." Sunny exclaimed as she looked in her book. "That means... it's this way." As the group walked in that direction, a reluctant Pipp and Hitch followed behind.
"What am I even doing here?" He asked angrily, thinking that this whole journey is a lost cause. "Hoofing it across daisy fields, looking for a magical crystal that doesn't even exist! "
"It was supposed to be my best show ever." Pipp moaned. "And now it's all over. I'm a criminal! And it's all because of..."
"Them!" Pipp and Hitch growled in unison.
"And that is so not cool." Pipp snarled.
"No, it is not." Hitch agreed. "Did I just agree with a Pegasus?"
"Hey! Are you sure she even knows where to find this other crystal?" Pipp cried.
"Don't you trust me at all?" Zipp asked her sister.
"I don't know. You are the one that just got Mom thrown in jail!" Pipp remarked.
"Look, once we get our magic back, the whole kingdom will be so excited, they won't even remember what happened back there." Zipp protested. "You'll be a hero, Pipp."
Meanwhile, Lukas was singing Pipp's song under his breath, having it stuck in his head. "Glowin' up, kind of love, dip and slide, through the cut."
Pipp, overhearing the human's singing, was so impressed, that she soon forgot to be cranky. "Oh, are you singing my song?"
"Well yeah, It is pretty catchy after all." Lukas replied while bopping his head.
"You know, I don't believe I got your name yet." Pipp wondered.
"I'm Lukas." He replied.
"Lukas." Pipp repeated. "I like that name, I think it really suits you.
"Oh, thank you." Lukas said, blushing a little bit.
"Let's get one thing straight." Hitch said sternly to Sunny, who took no notice.
"We're almost to the river, everybody!" Sunny announced.
"About time." Lukas cheered.
"After this whole escapade is over with, you are gonna march back home to Maretime Bay with me. Is that clear?" Hitch asked.
"Crystal." Sunny replied without a care in the world.
"Great. Because this badge means that I'm the she-" He then felt around his chest, but quickly made a shocking discovery. "No, no, no, no, no! Where's my badge?!" He screamed, before turning over and pointing an accusing hoof at a very optimistic Izzy. "Hey! You!"
"Hmm?" Izzy asked innocently.
"I know unicorns like shiny things!" Hitch remarked.
"Oh, you know, I think I did see a shiny badge-y thing on the ground a few hours ago." Izzy confessed as Hitch gasped.
"What?! Hours?!"
"Well, maybe it's for the best." Izzy replied, before turning over towards Lukas. "Between you and me, Lukas. That badge was creating an unhealthy power dynamic." She hushed.
"Ooh, good one, Izzy." Lukas laughed.
As the group continued to walk over towards a canyon, expecting to see some sort of bridge across. But when they looked, there was a bridge there, but it was broken in the middle, leaving a huge gap that would be impossible to jump over.
"What are we gonna do?" Sunny gasped.
"Any ideas, Zipp?" Pipp asked, turning over to her sister.
"You know what would be great right now? Let me think. Maybe something like... THE ABILITY TO FLY!" Zipp snapped.
"You know what would be even better?" Pipp asked hypothetically. "Not being stuck in the middle of nowhere as OUTCASTS FROM OUR OWN KINGDOM!"
"Man, this is really falling apart." Lukas sighed to himself.
"Oh, well. That's the end of that." Hitch said, giving up ."Time to go home. I wish I could say it was nice meeting all of you, but it wasn't. Come on, Sunny."
"I don't think so!" Pipp retorted.
"Everypony, stop! " Sunny declared, putting an end to the sisters' argument. "We're gonna get to the other side, find the crystal, and bring back magic! And once we do, you'll get to fly, you'll get your fans back, and you'll have me in custody! Everypony happy now?!"
Before Sunny could get an answer, there was a sudden snapping sound from behind them, everyone looked over to see that somehow, Izzy had managed to knock down an entire tree.
"Ta-daa!" Izzy called out.
Luckily, the tree was just long enough to reach the other side of the canyon, making a makeshift bridge.
"All right!" Zipp cheered.
"Oh great!" Hitch groaned
"Way to go, Izzy!" Lukas remarked.
"Thanks." Izzy giggled.
"Come on, everybody!" Sunny declared again as they all crossed the makeshift bridge safety, but little did they know, that same balloon pony from earlier was still floating through the air, screaming for help, but his pleads fell on deaf ears.
By now, the sky was starting to get dark, so the group decided to settle down and re-coop for the night and continue first thing in the morning, and the side of a mountain was the perfect spot for a camp out. Hitch, who was still in a salty mood, was sitting off to the side while the rest of the group prepared a fire, Hitch tried to do the same thing, with little success.
"Come on, stupid stick." Hitch growled to himself.
"You need some backup, sheriff?" Zipp asked in a cocky voice.
"No!" Hitch replied quickly. "Thank you. I've got it. Come on... If only I had a match..." He continued rubbing the two sticks together until he managed to start a small fire, before it quickly went out, much to the sheriff's frustration.
"Oh, well, that was sad to watch. Come on, don't be a hero, dude. Come get warm." Zipp encouraged as Lukas walked up towards Hitch.
"I'm not sure about this, Lukas." HItch admitted to the human. "Because if we just go back to Maretime Bay..."
"What have we got to lose?" Lukas asked.
"By giving magic back to our enemies? Uh, let me think. I know – a lot!" Hitch protested, Lukas was getting fed up by his attitude.
"Okay, Hitch." He began. "I've just about had it with this new attitude of yours!"
"My attitude is not the problem here!" Hitch claimed angrily."The problem here is that Sunny needs to stop jumping to conclusions."
"And you need to stop being in a sour mood." Lukas remarked
He walked back to the group, sat down and gestured for Hitch to join in as well. Reluctantly, Hitch walked over to the group and sat down as well as Lukas looked over at Sunny who nodded.
"So I think we should set off at first light. Last stop – Bridlewood." Sunny declared.
"Sounds like a plan, Sunny." Lukas agreed, before he looked over at Izzy, seeing her depressed expression. "Izzy? is something wrong?"
After a moment of silence, Izzy spoke up. "It's just that... being with you ponies has been the best thing that's ever happened to me. I guess... I just don't want our adventure to end."
"But, Izzy, you'll get your magic." Sunny said, making Izzy feel a bit better about herself.
"Can I ask you a question?" Hitch asked. "Why did you come to Maretime Bay?"
" I always wanted to visit." Izzy replied. "When I was a filly, I found this pretty lantern." She then reached into her mane and presented a small folded up piece of paper. "It had a message inside. It said I had friends in Maretime Bay."
As Izzy unfolded the piece of paper, it was a drawing of a Pegasi, a unicorn and an Earth pony having a picnic together. The drawing looked like it was drawn by a small filly, Sunny looked at the drawing with a huge smile. "It... It was you!"
"Wait, Sunny, you drew that?" Lukas asked as Sunny nodded in response.
"I made it with my dad." She explained as the drawing was passed over to her. "We always promised each other that someday we would prove that all ponies were meant to be friends. We'll do our part. Hoof to heart." She hugged the drawing to her chest as Izzy and Pipp touched hooves.
Hitch, now feeling remorseful, started to open up. "Hey." He began as all eyes were on him. "I want to do my part. What have we got to lose, right?" The group then cheered knowing that everyone was back together again. "I have to admit. A unicorn forest does sound kind of magical."
"Well we better get to sleep." Lukas thought. "We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow." Everyone agreed as they all laid down, settling in for the night...
The air was silent and the fire had just gone out, Izzy awoke to the sound of wind rushing by her. She examined her surroundings, only to discover that Lukas was nowhere to be seen in the group. Izzy then turned over to see the human sitting on the side of the mountain, looking up at the sky, deep in thought. Izzy then proceeded to get up and trot up to the human's side quietly.
"Lukas? are you alright?" She asked as Lukas looked over at her.
"Huh, oh, hey Izzy, I'm fine." Lukas assured her. "I'm just thinking."
"About what?" Asked the unicorn.
"About how I ended up here." Lukas paused for a moment, before continuing. "Okay Izzy, I'm going to tell you something, but you have to promise me not to tell the others. I don't want them to know just yet."
"My lips are sealed." Izzy assured the human.
"So, to tell you the truth, I'm actually not from around here as you can probably tell." Lukas said jokingly. "You see, I'm a creature that is known as a human."
"A human?" Izzy asked.
"Well, we were actually monkeys at first, but we eventually evolved into what we are today." Lukas explained.
"So how did you end up in Equestria?" Izzy asked, now interested about this.
"I don't really remember, but all I know is that I'm probably in some sort of coma right now or something." Lukas wondered. "Anyways, we should get back to sleep."
"Yeah, we should." Izzy agreed as they both made their way back to the group, who were fast asleep. "You know, it was glad that you opened up, I must've felt good to get that off your chest."
"You know what, it actually did. But it would feel a lot more better when I tell the others." Lukas said as both him and Izzy nodded back off to sleep, now a bit more closer than before...
The next day, the group woke up and continued their journey to Bridlewood, but as it turns out, it didn't look as magical and candy coated as they had anticipated, with crooked branches hanging from trees and multiple signs with red crosses over unicorn silhouettes posted at the entrance.
"Come on! My house isn't far from here!" Izzy encouraged, trotting into the creepy forest, humming to herself as she did so.
Everyone was resistant at first to think about what unspeakable horrors lie within that forest, but magic wasn't going to restore itself, so they had no choice but to follow Izzy into the forest. There was fog everywhere, making it hard to spot any potential wildlife. Everyone looked around with worry in their expressions, while Izzy lead the group with a smile on her face. Then, they made into a clearing of the forest as all the fog around them suddenly dissapeared as they were approaching Izzy's house, which was a purple tree.
"Well, here we are, guys." Izzy declared as she opened the door for the group. "La villa Izzy!"
The inside of Izzy's house was like walking into an art museum because there were multiple art pieces scattered around the place. Lukas marveled at a painting of a pony, then suddenly, it mysteriously blinked at him, which startled Lukas. Sunny was operating what seemed to be a music instrument. As she cranked the lever, glass bottles clanked together in a beautiful melody.
"Did you make all of this?" Zipp asked in disbelief as she stared at a mobile.
"Yup!" Izzy replied. "Uni-cycling! Isn't it funky?"
"It is gorgeoooous!" Pipp said in a singsong voice.
"I also make friendship bracelets!" Izzy exclaimed as she pulled out a small bowl of bracelets.
"Ah, cool." Zipp remarked.
"Wait, wait! Watch this! Hold everything! Aah! I've never gotten to use this with actual friends!" Izzy then pushed out a mechanism that was in the shape of a flower, and when she pressed a button on the top, the petals then spread wide, balancing teapots and teacups on them. "Ta-Daaa!"
"Whoa!" Zipp gawked.
"I so wish I had live-streamed that!" Pipp gasped."
"Wow Izzy." Was all Lukas could say. "I can tell you have a lot of spare time on your hooves."
"We don't have time for that right now." Sunny called out. "If we're gonna get the information we need on the Unicorn Crystal, we can't stick out like sore hooves. We need to look like unicorns."
"Yay, makeovers! I love makeovers!" Pipp squealed as Zipp didn't look too interested at that idea.
"No. No, this is not... This is not what I signed up for. No." She said, while laughing nervously.
"So, Izzy, can you do it?" Sunny wondered.
"A glow-up?" Izzy asked as she slurped from the teacup, before slamming it down. "Honey, you came to the right cottage."
Izzy then proceeded to lead the group into a musical number about fitting in with unicorns. During the song, Izzy took everyone's measurements and got fake horns for the group, as well as cloaks to cover up Pipp and Zipp's wings. When the musical number ended, Lukas then came to a realization.
"Wait a minute, I don't look anything like a pony to begin with." He thought as Izzy pondered for a moment, before running off to the other room. A few moments later, she came back with a blue potion. "What is that?"
"It's a pony transformation potion." Izzy explained, giving the potion bottle to Lukas. "It can turn anything and anyone into a pony."
"Really? That's cool." Lukas remarked
"Wait, why do you even have one of those?" Hitch asked.
"Oh, I sometimes use it on my teddy bears so that I can have friends for my tea parties." Izzy replied with a smile.
Lukas looked at the potion for a brief moment, before he eventually took off the cork and downed the contents of the potion in one gulp, it had a pretty weird taste, but Lukas managed to swallow it. For a moment, nothing happened, then suddenly, he was engulfed in a bright light as he was slowly lifted of the ground. Lukas could feel his body morphing and twisting. Then all of a sudden, he was thrown to the ground.
"Ugh, my head!" Lukas groaned. "Well guys, how do I look?"
Everyone gasped as Izzy ran off to get a mirror for Lukas to look at his reflection, when Izzy came back with the mirror, Lukas looked at his reflection and saw that he was no longer a human being, but rather, a blue unicorn with a brown mane and tail and freckles on his cheeks.
"Wow, I look cool as a pony." Lukas awed at himself, but when he got up, he found it difficult to the stand on all fours, but after stumbling around the room for a while, he finally was starting to get used to it. "Oh, it's going to be a bit hard walking on all fours."
"Now that that's out of the way, let's go into Bridlewood." Izzy announced.
"Lead the way, Izzy." Lukas remarked.
As the group of "unicorns" walked through Bridlewood, they quickly found out that the forest seemed to be a lot more welcoming than what they saw at the entrance. What was once an dark forest was now a bright and vibrant looking forest as the sun shone through the leaves of the trees, and as Izzy pointed out, there were multiple crystal statues scattered around the forest.
"Ta-daaaaa! Crystals! Crystals! Crystals!" Izzy said as she went from crystal to crystal.
"She does know we're just looking for the one , right?" Zipp asked.
"Oh let her have fun, Zipp." Lukas replied.
"Crystals! Crystals! Crystals!" Izzy continued as she showed everyone what Bridlewood has to offer.
The group then continued their walk, but the further they walked through the forest, the quicker they started to realize that the unicorns weren't exactly all that cheerful. They all slumped around with bored expressions on their faces. An elderly unicorn was nearby, getting hit in the head by numerous apples from a tree, each time letting out an audible "ow!"
"Hey." A deadpanned unicorn said to another.
"Hey." The other replied in the same deadpanned voice.
Lukas then looked over to see three miserable looking foals on a nearby playground, one was on the slide, one was on the swing and the other one was on one side of the sea-saw. Needless to say, Bridlewood wasn't exactly the best place to stay.
"Well, this is... cheerful." Hitch whispered awkwardly.
"These other unicorns seem so different from you." Sunny said to Izzy.
"Yeah, I get that a lot." Izzy replied, not at all offended. "My sparkle is a bit too sparkly for Bridlewood."
Lukas then approached the foals on the playground. "Wow, the unicorns look so miserable without their magic."
"Oooooh! You said a bad word!" The foal on the swing pointed sharply at Lukas.
"What?" Lukas said confusingly.
"Hurry! Before we get jinxed!"
Then, all of the foals proceeded to dive to the ground and do some kind of weird ritual while chanting "Bing bong, bing bong" in unison. Lukas was understandably freaked out about this as he backed slowly away. Zipp, having also seen the foals strange behavior, was confused as well.
"Ooooookay... I'm gonna need some context." She said.
"Unicorns are very superstitious." Izzy explained in a whisper. "If a pony ever says a forbidden word, we have to do a ritual to ward off the jinxies."
"Jinxies?" Pipp asked.
"Bad luck." Izzy continued.
"Forbidden words?" Hitch asked.
"What kind of words would they forbid in a unicorn forest?" Lukas wondered, also interested in this.
""Magic", "wing", "feather"... Oh, and "mayonnaise". Izzy added.
"What's wrong with may-" Before Hitch could get his question out, Izzy went up to him and quickly covered his mouth with her hoof to stop him from saying the forbidden word as multiple nearby unicorns suddenly perked up, but after a while, they went back to doing their regular, bored activities. When Izzy saw that the unicorns were no longer listening, she released her hoof from the sheriff's mouth.
"Come on! There's something I want to show you." Izzy said as she led the group towards a building with a teapot sign over it that read...
"The Crystal Tea Room?" Sunny asked, reading the sign.
There's a pony inside who collects crystals. Maybe he could help us."
That's great, Izzy! Oh, and Hitch?" Sunny added, turning over to Hitch.
"I know, I know. No forbidden words." Hitch replied, knowing what Sunny was about to say.
The crystal tea room seemed to be some kind of cafe as unicorns sat at nearby tables drinking tea. There was even a beatnik unicorn who was making a speech on the stage, with bongo sounds in the background.
"Earth pony jinx. Something stinks. Pegasus neighs..." The beatnik unicorn said as the group found the unicorn that collected crystals, according to Izzy.
"That's the pony I was talking about." Izzy whispered loudly as Sunny seated on the seat in front of him.
"So word in the forest is you collect crystals." Sunny assumed as the rest of the group gathered around the unicorn.
"Yes, I do. Well, I mean, I did. I lost 'em all in a limbo contest with... Alphabittle!" The unicorn exclaimed.
"Oh, no." Was all Izzy could say.
"Wait, who's Alphabittle?" Lukas asked.
Then at that moment, there was a sound of a clanging bell. Everyone looked over to see none other than Alphabittle, who was at the bar observing a unicorn trying to solve a cube puzzle, Alphabittle was a large, heavyset unicorn with a medium gray coat and dark gray hooves. He has a wispy white mane and tail, bushy eyebrows, sideburns, and a beard. He has freckles on his cheeks, and brown eyes.
"Time's up! Pass it over, Jasper." He declared as Jasper hesitantly handed him the cube puzzle, which was incomplete, but Alphabittle quickly solved it in a matter of seconds. "Guess that makes me the winner. Again. Pay up."
"Ugh. Fine." Jasper groaned as he handed a mug to Alphabittle and then sat up and walked off.
"You could always try winning it back!" Alphabittle encouraged, but Jasper wasn't interested. "All right, suit yourself." He then put the mug on a shelf, which was also filled with other valuable items, including the unicorn crystal.
"There it is!" Sunny exclaimed. "But how are we gonna get it?"
Lukas thought for a moment. "I've got an idea. Maybe I could win the crystal by playing Alphabittle's game."
"Wait. Alphabittle can smell fear." Izzy pointed out.
"Got it." Lukas replied, before taking a big breath. "Okay. Be cool."
Izzy cringed as Lukas went up towards the bar while stumbling, still trying to get used to walking on all fours. He then sloppily sat on one of the stools, Alphabittle looked over at him as he was wiping down the tabletop.
"Can I help you?" He asked.
"Why yes you can." Lukas replied, sitting upright. "Could you get me some tea please, I'm so thirsty?" He said in an over-dramatic voice as one of Alphabittle's armadillos got Lukas his tea. "Quite the game player, I see."
"It passes the time. Why? Do you play?" Alphabittle asked.
"I don't just play. I win!" Lukas said in an over-confident voice.
"Is that so?"
"Yeah, it is. And I challenge you... for that! " Lukas then pointed at the unicorn crystal.
"You think you can beat me ?"
"Keep talking like that and you'll find out." Lukas threatened.
"Big talk for a little pony." Alphabittle taunted.
"I think you'll find I'm average height." Lukas taunted back, there was a moment of silence between the two. "Tick-tock. What do you say?"
"Whatever you're bettin', it better be special." Alphabittle teased.
Lukas looked around nervously, he didn't really think this through. "Um, excuse me for a moment." Lukas then walked off while scanning the cafe for anything valuable. He then spotted a crystal necklace on a table nearby. Quickly, he grabbed it and went back to the bar, slamming the necklace onto the counter.
'Special enough for ya?" Lukas asked hopefully.
"Yeah, that will do nicely." Alphabittle replied with glee.
"Great." Lukas said as an armadillo was carrying the same cube puzzle that Jasper was trying to solve. "Now gimme that cube." He snatched the puzzle cube off the armadillo's back.
"Okay, here's how it's gonna go down." Alphabittle began. "I'll give you a minute to solve that cube puzzle, and if you fail, you walk away with nothing.
"And if I win, I'm walking away with that crystal." Lukas added.
"So are you thinking about backing out?" Alphabitle asked.
"Oh no, not at all." Lukas said with confidence.
"Whatever you say. Alright, begin!" Alphabittle stated as he rang the bell.
Without another word, Lukas started to solve the cube puzzle. The rest of the group looked on in anticipation, hoping that Lukas was able to solve it. Sweat was pouring down Lukas' face as he fiddled away with the cube. Then suddenly, before anyone could say anything else, the bell rang again, signaling the end of the time.
"Time's up!" Alphabittle exclaimed proudly. "Ha, I knew you couldn't do it, I guess I'm just too goo-" Before Alphabittle could finish gloating, he then realized that there was now a full solved cube puzzle in front of him as Lukas looked at him with a confident face.
"What do you call that then?" Lukas asked with a smirk.
Alphabittle couldn't believe his eyes. "But..but.. how did."
"I guess I am good after all." Lukas teased as the group cheered for him.
"Way to go, Lukas!" Sunny exclaimed.
"You really showed him!" Hitch declared with excitement.
But unfortunately, their celebration didn't last very long, because immediately after Alphabittle reluctantly gave Lukas the crystal, Lukas was suddenly engulfed in a bright light as all eyes were on him. When he hit the ground, he was no longer a unicorn anymore, but was now...
"A human!" Alphabittle cried out.
As Lukas got up, rubbing his head, he quickly realized what had happened. "Ah! why am I a human again?"
"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, the potion wears off after an hour. " Izzy pointed out.
Lukas was about to lash out at Izzy, but he knew that now wasn't the appropriate time for that. "Look, I know it doesn't look like it, but we're here to help."
"Help?" Alphabittle whispered. "We don't need help. Especially from a human like you. Give me the crystal."
"But I won." Lukas stuttered.
"You tricked me. The crystal." Lukas backed away. "Now!"
Lukas' scared expression quickly turned into anger. "No!"
Everypony gasped in unison as Alphabittle couldn't believe what he had heard. "What did you say!"
"You heard me, I said no!" Lukas cried. "I won this crystal fair and square, and I'm not going to let your grubby little hooves take it. Now back away, or else!"
"Oh yeah, and what are you gonna do about it, you're nothing but a weak and pathetic human!" Alphabittle laughed triumphantly as the rest of the unicorns laughed as well. Lukas was getting more frustrated, his face was slowly starting to turn red and his blood pressure boiled up.
"YOU TAKE THAT BACK!" Lukas then charged at Alphabittle, sending him to the ground as everypony gasped.
"Oh, you asked for it, pal!" Alphabittle then socked Lukas square in the eye, giving him a black eye in the process, and then chucked him over the bar as he slid on the ground.
"Lukas!" Izzy cried out.
"Don't worry about me. Just go, I'll hold them off." Lukas assured the group as they all made a b-line for the exit, while Sunny grabbed the unicorn crystal.
"Sorry about that! Uh, thanks for the tea!" Izzy called out as her and the rest of the group ran away into the forest.
To Be Continued...
As the group ran away from the Crystal Team Room, Lukas was left all alone to deal with all of the unicorns. Lukas didn't want to admit it out loud, but he was starting to lose his courage and was now scared for his life now knowing what Alphabittle could do to him. The human wasn't that badly injured, he just sustained a few minor bruisers. The unicorns glared at Lukas with anger as they cornered him.
"Well, well, well, looks like you're cornered." Alphabittle taunted. "What are you gonna do now?"
"I..." Lukas paused, pointing sharply behind the unicorns. "Oh my gosh, is that another Earth pony over there?"
"Where?" Alphabittle and the other unicorns looked behind them, this giving Lukas enough time to escape, but was quickly caught before he even reached the exit. "Hey, get back here!"
As Lukas ran out the building, he looked around frantically for anything he could use to slow down the unicorns, and saw a nearby tree branch, he then looked up at the sign over the door. Quickly, he grabbed the tree branch and threw it at the sign, thus making it fall to the ground, blocking the exit.
"Phew." Lukas said with relief, wiping sweat from his brow. "That should slow them down for a while." He then ran off to find the others.
Lukas ran and ran through Bridlewood, until his legs were starting to get tired. He looked behind him and saw that the unicorns were not behind him yet, meaning that they were still probably trying to get out of the tea room. So Lukas allowed himself a moment to breathe, before he had ran into a problem, he was completely lost.
"Oh man, I have no idea where I'm going, everywhere in this forest looks the same." Lukas panted.
Suddenly, before Lukas could continue talking to himself, he heard a rustle coming from the bushes in front of him, Lukas looked on nervously, mentally preparing himself for who or what was about to step out of those bushes. Turns out, he didn't really need to prepare to fight because a small Pomeranian winged dog leapt out of the bushes.
"Cloudpuff?" Lukas asked. "What are you doing out here?" Lukas looked closely at Cloudpuff and saw that he had something in his mouth. "Hey, it's Hitch's badge, he wouldn't stop complaining about that thing. Speaking of which, could you please help me find everyone else?"
Cloudpuff then nodded in response, before running off, gesturing for Lukas to follow him.
"Good boy, Cloudpuff." Lukas whispered as he followed the Pomeranian.
Back with the ponies, they too were galloping through the forest of Bridlewood as fast as they little hooves could go. Suddenly, all of them came to a screeching halt when they saw a pony moving out of the bushes, they were moving backwards, so they couldn't see his or her face, but then, the pony turned around to reveal that it was Queen Haven, she had somehow escaped prison and came all the way to Bridlewood, and from the looks of it, she had a rather hard time getting here since they were dirt marks all over her and her mane was unkempt.
"Mom?!" Zipp and Pipp exclaimed in unison.
"Oh, my darlings! Thank hoofness!" Queen Haven said with relief.
"You escaped!" Zipp said in disbelief.
"How did you find us?" Pipp asked.
Just then, Cloudpuff came running out of the bushes, along with Lukas. The little Pomeranian jumped on Hitch, sending the sheriff to the ground and presenting him in his mouth...
"Ah! My badge! Yes!" Hitch exclaimed, proudly taking his badge back.
"Lukas, you look awful!" Sunny moaned, inspecting Lukas' injuries.
"Don't worry, it'll heal soon." Lukas assured her.
"Oh, I'm so glad I found my little fillies." Queen Haven said to her two daughters. "Now, I know that if you just come back with me, we can explain everything. Spin the story, and they'll love us again. R-Right?"
Before Queen Haven could finish talking, all the unicorns and Alphabittle had somehow escaped the crystal tea room after Lukas had blocked the entrance, and they did not look pleased.
"Let us explain!" Sunny cried out.
But before she could, she was interrupted by a voice from behind her. "There she is!"
Everyone turned around to see a group of Pegasi guards walking up, they had apparently come to arrest the queen. "Your Criminal Highness, you're coming with us!"
"Aah! Unicorns!" Thunder exclaimed as he threw a tennis ball at Alphabittle which hit him on the forehead, not affecting him at all.
"Give me back my crystals and leave Bridlewood!" Alphabittle demanded.
"Your crystals? That crystal belongs to me!" Queen Haven protested.
"Not anymore, it doesn't! I won it fair and square!" Alphabittle clarified.
"What!? No you didn't!" Lukas added.
"You stay out of this!" Alphabittle shouted. "I did win that crystal!"
"Hah! I certainly doubt it!" Queen Haven chuckled as she and Alphabittle walked closer to each other. "Unicorns are known to be cheaters!"
"You Pegasi always thought you were better than us!"
"Hey, that's our queen you're talking to!" Zoom added in.
Soon enough, the unicorns and Pegasi were having a heated argument against one another, throwing insults at each other. Lukas and the rest of the ponies watched this whole thing unfold until Lukas finally put their fighting to a close.
"Oh for crying out loud! NOPONY HAS MAGIC!" Lukas shouted as everyone looked at him as a unicorn among the crowd quickly said "Bing bong."
"But we're here to bring it back." Lukas went on.
"Is it possible?" Asked a unicorn.
"Did he just say "magic"?" Thunder pondered.
"This is a trick." Zoom said skeptical.
"I know it sounds a bit unbelievable, and heck, even I have my doubts, but please, just let us try."
"Please, Mom." Pipp begged.
"Trust us." Pipp added.
"Wha... You two..." Queen Haven stuttered, at a loss for words. "Fine."
"You're wasting your time, kid." Alphabittle remarked.
But the group were too focused to listen to Alphabittle's remark. Sunny and Izzy stood at the front of the group, with both the unicorn crystal and the Pegasi crystals in hoof, Sunny took a good look at Izzy, being proud of her, her friends and even herself for making it this far.
"Ready, Izyy?" She asked the unicorn.
"Ready!" Izzy replied.
With that, Sunny and Izzy drew the crystals closer and closer together. Everyone looked on in anticipation, Lukas had his fingers crossed, praying that this would work and everything would go back to normal again. Pipp even fluffed out her wings, preparing herself to fly the moment magic was restored. Even Hitch, the pony who was skeptical from the beginning, claiming it to be a waste of time was generally concerned that this wasn't gonna work.
As for Sunny and Izzy, they both looked at the crystals with wide eyes, finally, after what seemed like a lifetime, the crystals were reunited together once and for all, but unfortunately, nothing happened. No bright lights, no lasers, no nothing, it was just silence. Everyone's happy expressions soon turned into looks of confusion.
"It... It..." Sunny stuttered, unable to believe what had happened.
"Why didn't it work, Daddy?" A unicorn filly asked her dad.
"'Cause it was all just make-believe." Her dad replied sadly.
“We could try again.” Sunny spoke out, finally finding the right words. “Maybe.. Maybe… we did it wrong somehow.” But it was too late to try again as the unicorns and the Pegasi were beginning to leave in sorrow. “Wait, wait, don’t go.” Sunny begged, but she couldn’t stop them.
She then took both crystals and frantically put them together, hoping for at least something to happen. “Oh come on, work.”
The group glared at Sunny as she continued to put the crystals together again and again, and then they glared at each other, unsure how to handle this situation. Finally, Hitch stepped up and walked towards Sunny.
“Sunny, it’s okay.” Hitch assured her. “You did everything you could.”
“I.. I thought it would work.” Sunny replied, looking up at Hitch. “I was so, so sure of it.”
Izzy walked up towards Sunny as well, but didn’t say anything. Sunny then got up and slowly walked away from the group with her head lowered in shame.
“What do we do now, Sunny?” Zipp asked, feeling just as remorseful as everyone else.
Sunny then proceeded to give Alphabittle and Queen Haven their respective crystals back as they both looked unsure how to react to this.
“I’m sorry for all the trouble I caused you.” Sunny said with pain in her voice as she gave Queen Haven her crown crystal back.
"Sunny! We can't give up!" Pipp encouraged, but it wasn't working.
"I thought that I could make a difference." Sunny then looked over at the unicorn filly and his dad walk away as the filly looked back at Sunny with a disappointed expression, thus breaking the earth pony's heart even more. "But everywhere I go, I just make things worse."
"That's not true. We're all in this together." Izzy assured before she turned over to the rest of the group. "Right?"
"Yeah." Pipp agreed.
"Of course." Zipp added.
"Come on, Sunny, It can't hurt to try again." Lukas said, wrapping his hand around the distraught pony, trying his best to comfort her, but instead, she just looked up at him sadly.
"I'm so sorry I let you all down."
That was the very last thing she said before slowly walking out of the forest and on her way back home, disappointed for herself over what she had caused. She was trying to reunite ponykind once and for all, but if anything, she made them want to separate even more. Izzy and the rest of the group watched a very sad Sunny walking off to who-knows-where and they felt just as much pain as she did at that moment.
"Sunny." Lukas whispered quietly.
After a while of nobody doing or saying anything, Hitch started to walk slowly in Sunny's direction, as if he was following her back home to Maretime Bay, but before he left, he glanced back and said... "I guess this is goodbye... friends."
"Better hurry... sheriff." Replied Zipp.
With that in mind, Hitch then walked off and followed Sunny on the way back to Maretime Bay, Lukas watched the two leave in disbelief. Finally, after a brief moment of pondering. Lukas started to walk away from the group as well.
"I.. I should follow them to make sure they get home safely." He stuttered as he went to do just that...
To be continued...
Sunny, Hitch and Lukas were completely silent on their walk back to Maretime Bay as they were all thinking about what had just transpired a few hours ago and felt to devastated to talk to each other about it. When they finally arrived at Maretime Bay, the sky had turned from being bright blue to being filled with dark and gloomy gray clouds.
"I'm right here if you need to talk, Sunny." Hitch spoke out.
Sunny didn't reply, instead, she just glared over at both Hitch and Lukas with a disappointed look on her face. After a moment of silence, Sunny slowly walked towards her lighthouse, with her head still lowered. Hitch watched the saddened earth pony in distraught, before sighing and turning around to walk away.
"Come on, Lukas." Hitch said as he started to walk away, but Lukas didn't follow the sheriff. "Lukas?" Hitch asked, turning around to face the human.
Lukas turned around to face Hitch as well. "I- I'm gonna try to talk to her."
Hitch nodded and walked off as Lukas walked off to follow Sunny into her lighthouse.
The lighthouse was quiet as Lukas slowly opened the door as it creaked loudly, revealing the inside of the gloomy interior. Lukas then turned to the wall beside him and noticed a framed picture of Sunny as a small filly, and carrying her, was no other than her dad, Argyle. The picture looked a bit wonky on the wall, so Lukas took the liberty to straighten it, before stepping inside.
"Sunny?" Lukas called out. "Sunny?"
"I'm in here!" A depressed, muffled voice called out from above the ceiling. Lukas then went up the elevator and saw Sunny in the middle of the room with her head still lowered.
"Hey." Lukas said, trying to lighten up the mood. "How are you feeling?"
"Not good." Sunny replied, looking over at Lukas."I don't know what happened, Lukas. I really thought it was going to work."
"Come on, Sunny." Lukas encouraged, walking up to Sunny. "You have to try again, Equestria depends on you."
"But what can I do!?" The earth pony suddenly snapped. "I tried to unite ponykind, but all I've done was make my friends fugitives and outcasts! I'm a failure!" Sunny moaned, looking away in misery.
Lukas was taken aback by Sunny's sudden rant, but he couldn't help but feel sorry for her, Lukas was left with no other options. He grabbed Sunny by the shoulders and turned her around as he looked at her with a serious face.
"Alright Sunny, I want you to listen to me and I want you to listen to me closely. I might not know much about friendship at the moment, but even I know that you're giving up way too easily. Think about how Equestria is going to end up if you don't reunite ponykind, the three tribes will forever be separated and they'll continue to be scared of one another. You are the hero we all need, and nothing will ever take that away from you." Sunny looked up at him with hope in her eyes.
"You really think I can do it?" She asked.
"Oh I don't think so, I KNOW so." Lukas replied. "So, what do you say? you ready to fix this once and for all."
Sunny took a moment to ponder over this, until she finally said.. "Let's do it!"
Lukas and Sunny were now rummaging around the top floor of the lighthouse, looking for something, anything, that could help them figure out how to fix this whole mess, but luck wasn't on their side.
"Sunny, have you found anything?" Lukas called out to her as she rummaged through her papers.
"Not yet I'm afraid." Sunny said worriedly.
"Dang it!" Lukas exclaimed. "I thought for sure something would be up here."
Sunny then walked up towards the table and moved away a few papers on it, before she noticed a very peculiar engraving in the table. Sunny moved away more papers to see that there was indeed an engraving in the table. Sunny then rubbed around it with her hoof in confusion.
"Hey Lukas, come look at this." Sunny called out, Lukas then came over and looked at the mysterious engraving.
"Was that always there?" Lukas asked.
"I don't think so. I mean, I've never really cared enough to notice this."
Suddenly, a bright light from above shone down on the engraving, then bounced up and hit the bottom of the lantern that Argyle had made a long time ago, it was in a box along with mini pony figurines of the mane six. The next thing they knew, little pony silhouettes danced across the walls of the lighthouse as Lukas and Sunny stared at it in pure amazement.
"It's beautiful!" Lukas whispered in awe.
As Lukas continued to stare at the beautiful sight, Sunny noticed that the bright light was pointing towards something at the bottom of the lantern, it appeared to be a circular shaped gem. The earth pony grabbed the gem and pulled it off gently as she stared at it in confusion, before looking back at the circular engraving, it was a perfect fit for the gem. So without a second thought, Sunny slowly but surely plopped the gem in the engraving, which caused it to lower down into the table as two more engravings appeared in the shape of both the Pegasi and unicorn crystal.
"Huh, those engravings look familiar." Lukas pondered.
Sunny's face suddenly lit up. "Lukas, I think I know just what to do."
"Really?" Lukas asked.
"Follow me." Sunny instructed as she headed out.
"I'm right behind you, Sunny." Lukas replied before following Sunny out of the lighthouse and into Maretime Bay.
Lukas and Sunny ran through the city of Maretime Bay, grinning from ear to ear, only to realize that the city appeared to be abandoned as the smoothie trailer was knocked over. Their happy expressions quickly turned into confusion as they inspected the carnage.
"Woah." Lukas said in disbelief. "What happened here?"
But before Sunny had the chance to respond, Hitch suddenly came running out of his office. "Sunny!"
"Hitch! Hitch! We figured it out! There's actually a third—!"
Sunny was quickly interrupted by the sound of fireworks going off in the distance. Everyone looked over to see that there were indeed fireworks going off near Canterlogic. Strangest of all, the residents of Maretime Bay were all marching in a formation wearing those mind reading hats. Confused, Sunny, Hitch and Lukas went over to see what was happening.
"Hey, w-wait. What is going on here?" Hitch asked Toots.
"We can't tell you." Toots replied quickly. "We've signed the Official Sprout Act."
"Official Sprout what ?" Hitch said confusingly.
"Oh I have a pretty good feeling on who's behind this." Lukas said to himself.
All Sunny, Hitch and Lukas could do was watch in horror as the ponies of Maretime Bay marched up towards the entrance of Canterlogic, where they appeared to be a podium. They didn't quite know what to think about all this, even the two birds and crab that had accompanied Hitch earlier were wearing anti-mind reading hats, whoever was behind this, they must've been really persuasive in order to do all of this within two days.
"The Stallion-in-Chief!" Sweets called out in an authoritative voice while she blew bubble gum.
Suddenly, drums began to play as two ponies trotted in while they were carrying something on a throne, or more specifically, somepony, and that somepony was none other than...
"Sprout!" Sunny and Hitch both exclaimed in unison, but Lukas didn't look that surprised
"I knew it." He said quietly.
Sprout then jumped down from the throne he was being carried on and in front of the aforementioned podium, but it seemed to be too tall for him as when he jumped down, he wasn't seen at all.
"Step!" He groaned in a frustrated voice.
"Oh, right!" Sweets said, remembering what she had to do. She then carried Sprout's step and cranked it up so that he could be seen. He then began his speech
"Citizens of Maretime—! " Sprout was suddenly cut off as a banner on it from above covered him up. There was a moment of silence as the crowd didn't say a single word. Eventually, Sprout was able to free himself from the banner as he adjusted his sunglasses. "Can we try that again?"
"Sprout! What are you doing?" Hitch asked as the two little birds and crab took off their mind reading hats once they had heard Hitch's voice.
"Awwww. Little Sheriff Hitchy came trotting back. Waaaah." Sprout mocked in a baby voice. "Just in time to see me do what you couldn't – attack our enemies!" The feedback from the microphone whined as Sprout cringed a little bit by the sound.
"Ugh." Hitch groaned, having also been affected by the feedback."Wait, wait, no, Sprout, listen to me. Listen to me. The Pegasi and unicorns can be our friends. There's no need to be afraid of them."
"And besides, the unicorns don't even have any magic." Lukas added.
"What?" Phyllis asked herself in shock.
"No magic? Hah! That's even better!" Sprout remarked while he let out a manipulative laugh.
"But we can bring magic back! Bring friendship back!" Sunny addressed the crowd.
"So, we don't have to fight?" Sparkle Chaser asked. "That's a relief."
One by one, all of the ponies stared taking off their anti-mind reading hats, happy that they didn't have to resort to fighting, but unfortunately, Sprout was able to convince them otherwise.
"W-Wait, what! Whoa, whoa, whoa! Don't listen! They've been brainwashed!"
"Excuse me?" Lukas asked in astonishment.
"You'll all be next if we don't end this now!" Sprout went on as everyone slowly put their anti-mind reading hats back on.
Sprout then let out another manipulative laugh as he pressed a button on his podium and almost instantly, the ground beneath Lukas began to rise up, causing Lukas to stumble backwards and land on his back. Everyone watched in awe at what was coming out of the ground and even Phyllis looked shocked.
"Say hello... to Sprouticus Maximus!"
The crowd gasped as everyone took a good look at what appeared to be a robot who looked like Sprout, the same color scheme and everything.
"Maybe this is a bit too much, dear!" Phyllis called out, but her plead fell on deaf ears as Sprout quickly got inside.
"Troops! On to Bridlewood!" He declared as he started the engine and blew the horn.
"We have to warn them." Sunny thought as her, Hitch and Lukas ran off as fast as they could to do just that. But Sprout weren't going to let them get away that easily as he quickly gave chase to them.
Lukas was falling behind, his legs were sore from falling over earlier and even though it strained him, he didn't want to get crunched up by Sprout's machine, so he continued to run and he didn't turn back. But just when he was about to catch up to Hitch and Sunny, he suddenly tripped over something, he looked back and saw it was a skateboard.
"Lukas, come on!" Sunny encouraged.
"I can't, my leg's sore!" Lukas called back.
Suddenly, Sprouticus Maximus turned the corner, so Sunny quickly ran up towards Lukas.
"Sunny, what are you doing?" Hitch asked frantically, but didn't get a reply.
Sunny went up to Lukas, picked him up and put him on her back and ran up to Hitch just as Sprout's machine crunched up the skateboard.
The trio promptly made their way to the outskirts of Maretime Bay, Sprout's machine was far behind them, so they decided to catch a small break.
"Lukas, you okay?" Hitch asked worriedly as Sunny let him off her back
"Yeah, I'm fine, Hitch." Lukas assured him, before he turned over to Sunny. "Thanks for saving me, Sunny."
"What are friends for?" Sunny asked, out of breath.
"Sunny!" A voice suddenly called out, everyone looked over to see Izzy, Pipp and Zipp galloping straight towards them.
"Wait, what are you guys doing here?" Lukas asked.
"We don't care what anypony says!" Izzy replied.
"Yeah! We just want to stay friends!" Zipp added.
"Pipp! Zipp!" Another voice called out. It was Queen Haven, she was running with Cloudpuff, Alphabittle, the unicorns from Bridlewood and the Pegasus guards. " I know you're upset, darlings, my sweet little darlings, but it's time to go home now."
"Izzy Moonbow, you're gonna get us all jinxed!" Alphabittle cut in, getting straight to the point. "Come back to Bridlewood!"
Queen Haven looked at Alphabittle with a disapproving face. "Excuse me! Do you see my mouth still moving? That means I'm still a-talking!"
"We don't have time for this right now!" Lukas exclaimed, putting an end to their argument.
"Yeah." Sunny agreed. "You're all in danger!"
"I'm sorry, what?" Queen Haven asked.
Suddenly, before anyone could say anything else, Sprout's machine came through the bushes in the distance and came to a halt in front of everyone, causing a big cloud of dust to form, when the dust cleared, the pony army marched right beside the machine as Toots gasped in surprise when he saw who were in front of them.
"Would you look at this? Sprout asked rhetorically. "Our enemies delivered themselves to us!" He said with a grin.
"No, no, no, we're not here to fight, Mr. Big Robot Pony." Queen Haven stuttered.
"I do not accept your surrender!" Sprout replied, before looking over. "Load the Splat-a-pults!"
But one of the ponies was too scared to do anything, so she ran off and another one followed her, much to Sprout's frustration.
"Why do I have to do everything myself?!" He groaned to himself as he pulled on a lever, causing the cruncher in the front of his machine to extend out.
"We have to stop that thing!" Zipp declared.
"But how?" Izzy asked.
"With magic!" Sunny realized, before quickly running over to Queen Haven and Alphabittle. "Quick! I need your crystals!"
Without another thought, the two of them gave Sunny their separate crystals as she put them both in her saddlebag. "There's a third crystal!" She exclaimed "Follow me!" Sunny then ran off towards the lighthouse, followed by everyone else.
"What?" Hitch asked himself.
"Don't question it, Hitch!" Lukas answered as him and Hitch ran off after the others.
"Oh, no, you don't!" Sprout cried out as he quickly averted the machine over towards the lighthouse, Hitch noticed this.
"I've gotta rein that thing in!" He exclaimed as he darted in the opposite direction.
"I've got your back, Hitch!" Zipp said as he followed after him.
"Count me in!" Lukas added as he followed them both as they jumped under the bottom of Sprouticus Maximus.
Without wasting any time, Sunny, Pipp and Izzy made their way up to the top of the lighthouse as Sunny quickly took out the unicorn crystal from her saddlebag, Izzy and Pipp both grinned as Sunny slowly put the crystal in its place, but just when she was about to put the Pegasi crystal in its place, Sprout laughed evilly to himself as he rammed his machine straight into the side of the lighthouse, causing it to shake violently as Sunny, Izzy and Pipp all fell on the floor, along with the crystals.
"Sprout! Stop!" Hitch begged as a huge crack began to form on the side of the lighthouse.
Back in the lighthouse, the trio of ponies got off the ground as Sunny put the Pegasi crystal back on the table, with the other two still missing somewhere in the room.
"Where are the other crystals?" Sunny asked as she looked around frantically.
"This... ends... now!" Hitch called out as he jumped on the windshield of Sprout's machine.
"What, and let them have magic?! Never!" Sprout replied as he pulled on a lever, making the machine's head move back as Hitch was flung off the windshield. Sprout then pushed on a power switch, making splat-a-pults appear on either side of the machine's body.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Hitch wailed, not sure what to do as slime suddenly went all over the place as everypony ran around trying their best to dodge the goo.
Even the small armadillos from the Crystal Tea Room were running away, but suddenly, slime splattered in front of them , stopping them in their tracks as Alphabittle ran up towards them and covered them. When all of a sudden, slime splattered all on Alphabittle's back and on his hoof, causing him to get stuck. More slime splattered on the lighthouse side and on the window as Pipp shrieked and jumped back. She then stepped on the Earth pony crystal as she looked down and smiled.
"Sunny!" Pipp called as she picked the crystal up and threw it at Sunny, who quickly caught it.
"Got it!" She said as she plopped it back in its place. "We need the Unicorn Crystal!"
"I'm looking, I'm looking!" Izzy exclaimed frantically while darting her eyes across the room.
Sprout was having a delightful time as he accelerated forward, the sudden inertia made Hitch stumble backwards and was about to fall off.
"Hitch!" Zipp called out as she quickly grabbed Hitch and pulled him back on the machine.
Meanwhile in the lighthouse, Izzy had just found the unicorn crystal. "Found it!" She happily proclaimed as she picked it up, but Sprout's machine rammed into the lighthouse again, causing another shake, making Izzy throw the unicorn crystal over the edge of the balcony.
"No, no, no, no!" Izzy gasped as the crystal got closer to the edge.
Suddenly, for some unknown reason, the elevator went down as Pipp was standing on it, causing her to scream at the top of her lungs before she reached the bottom of the lighthouse unscathed.
"Whew... I'm okay!" She said with relief.
Izzy quickly went over to retrieve the crystal, but just when she was about to turn around, the balcony suddenly broke from underneath her.
"Izzy!" Sunny exclaimed as he ran over towards the now broken balcony.
Luckily, Izzy had managed to grab onto safety, but she was now dangling over the edge of the broken balcony. Lukas saw this and he was shocked to say the very least.
"Oh my gosh, she's gonna fall!" He cried out, worried for Izzy's life.
"We need to shut these down!" Zipp exclaimed as she looked at the splat-a-pults.
Alphabittle was still stuck due to the slime on his hoof, but unbeknownst to him, Sprout's machine was gradually getting closer to him.
"Alphabittle, look out!" Pipp called out to him as she ran out of the lighthouse.
Just as Alphabittle was about to get crunched up, Queen Haven suddenly pushed him and the armadillos out of the way just in time. Phyllis ran up to see what all the commotion was about and was shocked to see his son going rampant over everybody as slime continued to fly everywhere. Izzy was still dangling over the edge of the broken balcony, trying with all her might to grab the unicorn crystal. Meanwhile, Hitch had pulled on a pull-string of one of the splat-a-pults, which caused it to go spinning towards the ligthouse, merely missing Sunny and Izzy in the process.
"Okay, that was a bad idea." Hitch remarked as Lukas looked at him in a way of saying "you think?"
"Sprout!" Phyllis called out, getting his attention as she ran beside Sprout's machine. "Let's put the toy away!"
"Mommy, please. I'm in the middle of something." Sprout moaned.
"You come down from there right now!" Phyllis demanded, but got no reply.
"I almost... got it" Izzy said as she waved her hoof around, until finally, she managed to grab it just as Sunny pulled her back up to safety. Izzy showed Sunny that she had caught it, much to Sunny's delight.
"What do we do, guys?" Zipp asked frantically as Lukas was deep in thought.
"I think I may have an idea." Lukas replied as he proceeded to climb on the top of Sprout's machine.
"Lukas, what are you doing?" Hitch asked.
Once Lukas made it to the top, he knew he needed to put his plan into action, and he needed to do it fast. Quickly, he took off his backpack and picked it up, he knew exactly what to do.
"But, Mommy, I'm... in... chaaaaarge!" Sprout wailed.
Suddenly, Lukas used his backpack to break through the windshield of Sprout's machine, causing Sprout to jump backwards as Lukas swung himself inside.
"Lukas?" Sprout said in confusion as he was too stunned to get up
"That's right." Lukas replied. "And I'm not going to let you get away with this.
Lukas then slammed on the brakes of the machine as it began to lose speed. Sunny and Izzy saw Sprouticus Maximus heading towards the lighthouse.
"Oh no!" They both yelled in unison.
But as Lukas was trying to stop the machine, Sprout suddenly pushed him out of the door as he tumbled on the ground, bruised and dizzy.
"Lukas!" Zipp called out.
At this point, Phyllis finally had enough of this madness and figured out that she needed to put an end to this at once. So as Sprout reversed his machine and drove it forwards, Phyllis quickly jumped in front of it.
"I... said... STOP!" She yelled out.
Sprout shrieked as he quickly swerved the machine to avoid hitting his own mother, causing Hitch and Zipp to fly off as Hitch hit the ground and tumbled over, while Zipp flapped her wings, landing on the ground safely. They both looked over to where Sprouticus Maximus was heading, and it was none other than the lighthouse as it crashed into the side of it, the impact caused a huge vibration as everyone eyed at the damaged lighthouse on the verge of tipping over.
"No, no, no!" Hitch said frantically as Pipp gave a small gasp.
Slowly, the top of the lighthouse started to tilt, making Sunny and Izzy fall over and skid along the floor, along with all the furniture and accessories. Sunny slowly climbed up towards the table, breathing heavily as she did so, followed by Izzy as the room became more and more tilted. Eventually, they both grabbed onto the table as Sunny plopped the Pegasi crystal with the other crystals and just like that, the three crystals were finally reunited.
But unfortunately... nothing happened.
There was a moment of silence as Sunny and Izzy began to slowly process over what was happening, after all the trouble trying to put the crystals together, nothing was happening. Finally, Izzy broke the silence.
"It... It didn't work." She said with disbelief.
Just as Sunny was about to say something, another cracking sound was heard as the top of the lighthouse finally broke off. The sudden tilt caused the three crystals to be flung in the air as Sunny and Izzy fell after them, and it that moment, it was like the whole world was in slow motion as the crystals bounced off the floor and were getting closer to the edge.
"No, no, no!" Sunny screamed, trying to grab the crystals, but they were too far away.
Izzy screamed as well, now noticing that they too were going to fall as the top of the lighthouse eventually came crashing down to the ground, letting out a big cloud of dust, and then... nothing...
We'll Do Our Parts, Hooves To Hearts
Once the dust cleared away, it revealed an unconscious Sunny laying on the ground in silence, until she slowly managed to open her eyes slightly. She raised her head up to look at the damage caused by Sprout's selfishness, the whole top of her home was completely destroyed, but that wasn't the worst thing. As Sunny got up to look at the damage around her, she noticed something on the ground on a concrete slab, which was a broken picture of her with her dad Argyle, luckily it wasn't completely broken since the picture frame was only broken into four pieces, but regardless, Sunny couldn't help but feel a bit deflated as everypony else started to regain consciousness as well, including Lukas.
"I feel like my head just got hit by a crowbar." Lukas groaned as he rubbed his head in pain.
Suddenly, he heard the sound of a door opening from behind him. Turning around, he saw a now remorseful Sprout crawling out of his tumbled machine as he looked at the destruction he had caused. Even though it looked like he had regretted his decisions, Lukas still felt like punching him straight in the muzzle, and he was sure he wasn't the only one.
"Sprout" Lukas began, before slowly walking over to her. "Do you have any idea what you just did?"
"Uh... maybe?" He replied worriedly as he backed away from the angered human.
Lukas felt his face turning red with anger as his blood began to boil. But just as he was about to give Sprout a piece of his mind, he then let out a frustrated sigh. "You know what? I'm not even going to waste my breath on you, I just hope you're proud of what you did."
But Sprout was anything but proud of what he had done.
"Oh, Sunny..." Izzy said softly.
"I understand now." Sunny replied.
"Understand what?" Lukas asked as he walked over to her.
"It's not the crystals that need to be brought together. It's us. We can bring back everything that was lost, but it's up to us. We can stay separated by fear and distrust, or we can choose friendship." Sunny stated as she looked over at her friends and then down to the broken picture. "We can choose love. That's the true magic."
"I couldn't have said that better myself, Sunny." Lukas added.
There was a moment of silence as everyone thought hard over Sunny's speech. Then, Queen Haven trotted up and put one of the broken pieces of the picture frame in place. For a brief moment, Sunny looked shocked, before she gave the queen a tiny smile as Queen Haven gave a smile back. With that little gesture, Alphabittle trotted up and put another piece of the picture frame in place, followed by Phyllis, who put the last piece in place as the picture frame was now fully fixed. The three of them gazed at each other and then back at Sunny as her and her friends smiled from ear to ear.
But then, their moment was quickly interrupted when the unicorn crystal lit up and floated out of the rubble and into the air, followed by the other crystals.
"Uh guys." Lukas pointed out, turning everyone's attention towards the flying crystals, which were now circling around Sunny.
"What?" Was all Sunny could say before she started floating as well. Sunny shrieked as she floated with the crystals in the air. The others gasped in shock and anticipation. Then the next thing she knew, a holographic yellow horn and wings sprouted out of her as she looked at her new features in awe. As the crystals continued to circle around her, they all shot higher into the air and floated on top of one another, before they quickly merged together, causing a sonic rainboom to happen, lighting up the sky in an aurora borealis as everyone flinched back from the explosion.
"Whoa! What just happened!?" Lukas exclaimed, at a loss for words.
"I think I know!" Izzy replied as her horn lit up with magic.
Then, Pipp and Zipp's wings started to flap and lifted them both off the ground, then the next thing they knew, they were both flying around the rainbow colored sky.
"We're actually flying!" Pipp called out in amazement.
"Whoo!" Zipp cried happily as the both continued to fly as the other Pegasi and unicorns started to gain their magic back as well.
Sunny looked down at everypony cheering and she couldn't feel anymore happy as she slowly flew down with her newly formed wings.
"Whoa, Sunny! Check you out!" Zipp exclaimed as she flew around her.
"Whoo!" Sunny laughed as her, Zipp and Pipp all landed on the ground, allowing her other friends to get a good look at her new form.
"What?!" Hitch asked in disbelief.
"I can't believe it!" Sunny said, unable to process what had just happened.
"Now that's what I call a glow-up!" Izzy remarked.
"You took the words right out of my mouth, Izzy." Lukas added.
"Look!" Pipp exclaimed as she pointed her hoof towards the sky as everyone looked up at the aurora borealis.
Meanwhile, all the way back in Bridlewood, the three unicorn fillies still looked miserable on the playground, but not for long as the magic began to go into their horns also, as their sad expressions suddenly turned into looks of disbelief as the unicorn filly on the swing set instantly rushed up to tell his dad about this.
"Daddy, Daddy! The magic is real!" He called out as the unicorns of Bridlewood eventually all got their magic back.
But Maretime Bay and Bridlewood weren't the only places getting their magic back. The Pegasi in Zephyr Heights got the ability to fly again as they were all having the time of their lives soaring through the sky, even street rats had the ability to fly. Back in Maretime Bay, all the Earth ponies, unicorns and Pegasi there were all hanging out in the town. Sunny saw an Earth pony filly laughing while running after Cloudpuff.
"Aw, I see you've made a new friend." Queen Haven said to the filly.
"Hi there, buddy." Alphabittle said to another Earth pony filly, who was staring at him intently, much to his confusion.
As the filly continued to chase after Cloudpuff, Hitch, a Pegasus guard and a Canterlogic worker pony looked up as the tram from earlier was carefully put back on the track, thanks to the unicorn magic. Pipp was taking a selfie of Zipp, Toots, Sweets, an earth pony, a unicorn and even the small animals posed for the selfie.
"Stunning!" Pipp said in a singsong voice as she put her phone back in her wings as Phyllis and Sprout walked by.
"Mommy? Was I a good sheriff?" Sprout asked.
"Uh, uh... Look! A flying dog!" Phyllis pointed in the air as Sprout looked back, giving Phyllis the time to awkwardly trot away, when Sprout turned his head back around, she was gone, much to his annoyance.
Sunny couldn't help but smile to herself at the fact that magic had finally returned and all three pony kinds were reunited once again.
"You did it, Sunny." Hitch whispered proudly as he walked up towards her, followed by the others.
"No. We did it. Together." Sunny corrected.
"Now we never have to be apart!" Izzy proclaimed happily as she bounced in place.
"Hooves to hearts!" They all said in unison as they put their hooves together and raised them into the air, while Lukas was off to the side, with an uneasy look on his face, Pipp took notice of this.
"What's wrong, Lukas?" Pipp asked with concern as the others looked at Lukas as well.
"I just feel like it's my fault for destroying your lighthouse, Sunny." Lukas sighed.
"Oh Lukas, that wasn't your fault." Sunny assured him.
"Yeah, it could've happened to anypony." Izzy added. "Or should I say "any human" She snickered.
"Well actually, that's not the only thing I'm thinking about." Lukas said, much to everyone else's confusion.
"What do you mean, Lukas?" Hitch asked.
"Okay guys, it's about time you knew the truth." Lukas then paused for a moment, before continuing. "As you guys can probably tell, I'm not from around here. I actually came from an alternate dimension and I am what you would call a human."
"Human?" Zipp asked. "That's a weird name, no offense."
"None taken." Lukas replied. "Anyways, I hope you guys don't think differently of me now."
"Lukas." Sunny began. "No matter what you're like, there's no way we would think of you any different."
"Really?" Lukas asked as everyone nodded. "Well, thank you guys." He then extended his arms out. "Come on, bring it in."
And with that, they all gathered into one big group hug and Lukas was relieved that the ponies still thinks of him the same, despite the fact that he comes from a different dimension and he kept this information to himself until now. But their group hug was cut short when Lukas saw Cherry Berry in the same hot air balloon he used to come to Maretime Bay slowly float down to the ground.
"Well guys, looks like it's time for me to leave." Lukas said as he dispersed from the group hug.
"Aw bummer." Izzy moaned with disappointment.
"Don't worry, Izzy, I'll be sure to come back soon." Lukas assured her.
"Wait Lukas, before you go. I need to do something." Pipp cried out, but just when Lukas was about to respond, Pipp took out her phone and brought him in for a selfie. "The Pippsqueaks are not going to believe this." She laughed as everyone else joined in as well.
Later that day, everyone was saying their goodbyes to Lukas, who was preparing to go back to Ponyville and tell everyone about his adventures.
"Goodbye Lukas, hope you come back soon." Sunny said as Izzy brought Lukas in for a crushing bear hug.
"I'm gonna miss you, Lukas." She said as she released Lukas from the hug.
"Izzy, we already had a hug." Lukas informed her.
"Sorry, I couldn't resist." Izzy grinned.
"Ready to go, Lukas?" Cherry Berry asked as Lukas got in the hot air balloon.
"I sure am." He replied as Cherry Berry lit up the hot air balloon.
"Man, what a trip this has been." Lukas thought to himself as the hot air balloon slowly floated in the air as everyone waved him goodbye.
Then, at that moment, the pony who flew off with the balloons finally made his way back onto solid ground. "Whew! Hey, guys. What did I miss?" He then turned over to see the ponies standing right behind him, causing him to let out a terrified scream.
Someone is really going to have to catch him up on what he missed...
THE END
Author's Note
Well, this has certainly been... uneventful...
But hey, I finally finished my story of a human in the G5 universe and boy, what a hassle it was. Thanks to all of those who supported me throughout this rocky journey and be on the lookout for my next story.
Until then, this is ThunderRodeo, signing off...
"Thanks again for helping me, Lukas." Twilight Sparkle said kindly.
"Not at all, Twilight." Lukas assured her with a smile. "It's the least I could do."
The Princess of Friendship and Lukas were just in Twilight's castle re-organizing the bookshelves. Since Spike was away at Canterlot on royal business, Lukas happily agreed to lend a helping hand.
"I just wonder what royal business Spike had to attend to." Twilight pondered as she levitated some books on the bookshelves.
"Well, if I know him, he's probably at Donut Joe's scoffing away on donuts." Lukas chuckled at his hypothesis and Twilight laughed as well.
"Yeah, he sure does have a sweet tooth." She snickered.
As the two went back to work, Lukas pulled out a book from the bookshelves to look at the cover, but as he pulled it away, he saw, at the back of the shelves, a dusty, old book with a yellow star symbol on the front. Lukas had never seen this book in the library before.
"Hey Twilight." Lukas called out.
"Yeah?" Twilight called back.
"Where does this book go?" Lukas asked as he pulled the dusty book out.
Twilight took a good look at it and thought for a moment. "That goes in classics."
"Oh, okay." Lukas replied, going over to put the book in the classics section.
"You want to know something interesting about that book, Lukas? It was given to me by Sunny Starscout." Twilight said
"Who's that?" Lukas asked as he put the book in the section.
"A former student of mine." Twilight said to him. "She used to live in Ponyville, but she moved into a city far away, I believe it's called Maretime Bay."
"Really, hmm.. interesting. I'd like to see this city for myself." Lukas thought.
"Oh, I don't know, Lukas." Twilight said cautiously. "I mean, like I said, it is pretty far away from Equestria."
"Well, I don't mind. Besides, this could be my first trip out of Ponyville. Please Twilight, let me have this chance." Lukas pleaded.
After pondering to herself for a quick moment, Twilight answered. "Alright then, if you promise to be careful, then I guess you could go."
Lukas' eyes lit up with excitement as he ran up to Twilight and gave her a tight hug. "Oh thank you, Twilight. I promise I'll take great care of myself while I'm there." Lukas said as all Twilight could do was smirk.
Later that day, Lukas was getting ready for his trip to Maretime Bay as he put his bags into the hot air balloon. Twilight, Starlight and the rest of the mane six were also there as well, coming to wish the human good luck.
"So what did you say she looked like again?" Lukas asked Twilight.
"She has orange fur, a purple mane and tail, light blue hairbands and a light blue saddlebag." Twilight replied.
"Oh, she sure does sound like a sweet little darling." Rarity cooed.
"Alright, got it." Lukas said, he then took a big sigh. "This is so exciting, my very first trip out of Ponyville, let alone Equestria. But at the same time, I'm also a bit nervous as well."
"Oh, so you're nervous-cited" Pinkie chirped.
"What now?" Lukas said confused.
"Don't ask." Rainbow Dash replied. "And hey, there's no need for you to be nervous, I'm sure the ponies there will welcome you with open hooves."
"I sure hope you're right, Rainbow. I would hate to cause any trouble there." Lukas said worriedly, he quickly hopped inside of the balloon, where Cherry Berry was preparing the flame.
"Good luck, Lukas. I'll inform the princesses and Sunny about your visit to Maretime Bay." Twilight said.
"Oh, here Lukas." Applejack exclaimed, as she pulled out a few apples from her saddlebag. "Have some apples for the road."
Applejack tossed the apples over to Lukas, who caught them in his backpack. Next, it was Pinkie Pie's turn to give Lukas some snacks.
"And some cupcakes, I even wrapped them up nicely, just for you." Pinkie tossed the tray of cupcakes over to Lukas as he took a sniff.
"Mmm.. Blueberry Swirl, my favorite." Lukas said as he put the tray in his backpack as well. "Well, I guess this is it." Lukas said nervously.
"Don't worry, Lukas. I'm sure you'll like it in Maretime Bay." Starlight assured him, this was enough for Lukas to restore back his confidence.
"Okay, I'm ready." Lukas said proudly.
"Are you sure?" Fluttershy asked.
"Very sure." Lukas replied, before turning over to the pony in the hot air balloon with him. "Alright, Cherry Berry, light 'em up."
"You got it, Lukas." Cherry Berry said.
Cherry then pulled on the string as the balloon's flame got bigger, blowing with the wind in the air, finally, Lukas was on his way to Maretime Bay. As the balloon slowly lifted off the ground, the ponies down below said their final goodbyes to Lukas, until the balloon was so high in the sky, Lukas was unable to hear them anymore.
After making their way out of the city of Maretime Bay, Sunny had just taken Izzy to her lighthouse, readjusted the crooked picture next to the door and closed all of the curtains in the room so that nobody would be able to peek through. She then whipped her head around to take a real good look at Izzy, who was still smiling from ear to ear, she couldn't believe that a real life unicorn was in her house. As she continued to stare at her in disbelief, Izzy finally caught wind on what was going on.
"Do Earth ponies also like staring contests?" She asked, before she started to stare really hard at Sunny Starscout, up to the point where they were almost touching noses, but after a while, she ended up losing the contest. "Ah! You win! I blinked!"
As Izzy walked off the explore the room, Sunny still couldn't believe the fact that she was within the presence of a real life unicorn. "There's... a unicorn... in my house... This is so cool!" She squealed in a fangirl voice, but suddenly, her smile quickly faded away as she processed the situation she had gotten herself into. "Wait, no, it's bad. Very, very bad. What have I done?" She asked herself in a panic.
"Wow! I've never seen an Earth pony before." Izzy said as she stared into a telescope nearby. "We look exactly the same! Except for this, of course." She then gestured to her unicorn horn.
"Whoa! Hey! Be careful where you point that thing." Sunny said cautiously after Izzy got a bit too close to her.
"Why?" She asked.
"Well, I, uh... um... sorta don't want to get zapped with a wayward laser beam." Sunny stuttered. "But of course you know that already. [chuckles] You've probably been reading my mind this whole time." Suddenly, she noticed something rather odd about Izzy's horn. " Isn't it supposed to glow, by the way? Or does that only happen when you levitate stuff?"
"Well, actually..." Izzy laughed nervously, shifting her eyes around the room, but before she could explain, she was interrupted by Sunny.
"Wait! Don't answer that yet. Let me get my notebook!" Sunny then ran over to the counter in the kitchen, pulling out her notebook from one of the drawers. "Okay, wow. Okay." She exhaled as she opened the notebook. "A hundred forty-two questions for a unicorn". Question number one - where do you live?"
"Bridlewood." Izzy replied.
"I knew it!" Sunny exclaimed, before continuing to ask her questions in a rather fast pace. "Do unicorns really live in trees? Do they eat pizza? If so, what toppings do they like? If not, why not? Can you actually fry pony brains with a single horn zap?" She then stopped asking questions and gasped as she noticed a can of beans nearby, knocking it over to Izzy. "Can you make this float?"
Izzy looked at the can of beans for a brief moment, before looking back up at Sunny with a sad look on her face. "No... but I can do this ." She then proceeded to fling the can right onto her horn, bouncing it in the air like a basketball. Eventually, she bounced it one more time, causing it to hit the ground as beans splattered all over the floor. "Ta-daaaaa!"
"Wait. You don't have any magic?" Sunny asked in a sudden sad tone.
But before Sunny could get an answer, they were suddenly interjected by Lukas, who swung the door open and closed it behind him instantly, panting as he did so.
"Lukas? What took you so long?" Sunny wondered about the absence of the human.
"Sorry, Sunny. I had to distract Hitch from coming here, it's going to take a while for him to pick up all of that litter." Lukas scoffed to himself, but little did he know, his statement turned out to be wrong.
"Sunny Starscout! " Hitch called out in an amplified voice. "Argh, that hurt. " He cleared his throat and continued, as Sprout was standing behind him wearing one of those mind reading hats. "Sunny Starscout, I know you're in there with that unicorn! Come out with your hooves up and surrender! "
"Yeah, you're completely surrounded!" Sprout exclaimed, trying to sound intimidating, when in actuality, there was nobody else there besides him and Hitch.
"Will you let me do my job?" Hitch whispered angrily, before turning back over. "You are under arrest! "
"Wow, he cleans up litter fast." Lukas pointed out
"This is bad." Sunny said nervously. "How sneaky are you guys?
"Uh, medium sneaky?" Izzy replied.
"Yeah, what she said." Lukas added in.
"I can work with that." Sunny said in a more calm voice. "Okay, I'll distract them."
"Oh, pffft. Relax. I'll talk to them." Izzy scoffed as she made his way out the door.
"Wha—? N-No, no!" Sunny cried out, trying to stop the unicorn from making the situation worse for them, but despite Sunny's begging, Izzy went outside to try to talk some sense into Hitch and Sprout.
"Hi, guys!" Izzy greeted casually. "Now, I know what you're thinking."
"Aah! She's already reading our minds!" Sprout screamed, before running in the opposite direction as fast as he could. "Quick, before she fries our brains!"
"W-What are you doing? Where are you going?" Hitch asked, turning his head around, but unbeknownst to him, Sunny, Izzy and Lukas quickly made their escape.
"To get reinforcements!" Sprout exclaimed.
"We have reinforcements?" Hitch asked himself, before noticing that the three friends had just left. "Oh, come on!"
