Hitch was essentially retracing his steps from a couple days ago as he trotted across the outskirts of Maretime Bay's city limits, to the solitary cabin of one Posey Bloom.

He had to do a double take, because if it wasn't for the stone path leading to it, he would have missed it nearly hidden behind the garden on either side of the path that had doubled not only in height, but in thickness as well, and the shrubs on the side of the house had tripled in size, as had the two trees behind it.

"Um, Posey?" Hitch called, as he started up her front path.

The light yellow earth pony stepped onto the path from behind her towering flowerbeds.

"Just absolutely amazing, isn't it, Sheriff?" Posey asked, motioning to her flowers.

"Amazing... Mysterious... Dangerous," Hitch answered as he continued up the walk, looking at both sides of the mare's garden.

"Dangerous?" Posey asked, curious about Hitch's choice of words.

"If that video of yours was accurate, then earth ponies have magic of their own for the first time in, well, ever. If all this crazy growth took place overnight, what next? If we don't find a way to control this new magic, then what about tonight? And tomorrow night? And the next? After what I've seen this morning, this is something we have to figure out, and soon, or it's not going to take very much for Maretime Bay to be overrun with overgrown plants," Hitch told her.

"Alright then. I'll try my best to set your mind at ease with what I've started to discover this morning," Posey began, turning to her left flowerbed. "I'm pretty sure that it's a mental game. Using this magic, and controlling it, is all about focus. Because I just think about what I want to grow, and..."

The mare put her right hoof on the mound of dirt directly behind her mailbox, and a green stem rapidly came out of the soil, and within seconds, came up to chest height and bloomed into a bright red petunia. Turning back to the rose garden on the right side of the walk, she put her hoof on the tip of the soil.

"Now... A red rose," Posey told Hitch, and seconds later, another step came up, then a bud, which bloomed into a brilliant red rose. "Now white..." She continued, taking a small step to the left, and again put her hoof down, and just as last time, a stem came up, and produced a white-petaled rose.

"So just to experiment a little bit... While cross-breeding is possible with a whole manner of flowers, let's try something that would be quite impossible in nature, and crazy difficult in controlled conditions..."

Posey again stepped to the left, and put the tip of her hoof into the dirt a third time. The results weren't as instantaneous, as Posey had to close her eyes in concentration for a moment, but then another stem came out of the dirt, slower than the last two, and Hitch's eyes widened as it grew, budded, and bloomed into a brilliant rainbow-colored rose, with no petal any single color.

"Convinced yet, Sheriff?" Posey asked.

Hitch took a deep breath, trying to keep his polite composure with Posey.

"Convinced of what, Posey? I have all the evidence I need in town that this is magical, and thankfully, it's not out-of-control unicorn magic. Not thankfully, it's out-of-control earth pony magic instead. There is one thing you can do to put my mind at ease, Posey. Reverse it. Shrink them. If magic can make them grow out of nothing, then I'm hoping they can return to nothing," Hitch told her.

Posey sensed a hint or two about Hitch's frustration.

"Well, it's not exactly from nothing, Sheriff. It takes energy. If I go around my property making plants grow everywhere, I'll probably be taking one heck of an afternoon nap later. So, yeah, let's give that a try..."

Taking a step back to the right, Posey stood in front of the three flower she had just grown. Taking slow deep breaths, Hitch watched as the flowering petals were slowly drawn in, and the bud shrunk to nothing, and the stem slowly started descending.

But just as it was halfway back down to the dirt, it suddenly stopped, and bloomed again where it was.

"Hm. Okay, so maybe this is going to take some practice," Posey confessed.

"Well, if anything, at least we know it's possible. No doubt this is going to be a skill that needs to be practiced and honed. But you've demonstrated plenty today, Posey, thank you. No doubt you'll continue practicing, so I might be back to ask you for any advice. We might have to get some kind of educational textbook going as soon as possible," Hitch told her.

Posey nodded with a smile.

"I'm glad to be of help, Sheriff," Posey said.

Hitch turned and began to walk away when he heard his phone ring in his saddlebags. He pulled it out, and saw it was a video call from Zipp.

"Hey, Zipp. Any news?" he asked, as the screen showed a live feed of his white pegasus friend.

"Yes, I'd say so, Sheriff. Now, I hope I'm not going to sound like I'm crazy here, but I have a theory. This plant growth is magic. Specifically, earth pony magic," the pegasus told him.

"Well, a half hour ago, I would definitely sound more surprised. But Posey has just given me quite the convincing demonstration. The only question is, how quickly can we get proficient at it so that overgrowth doesn't become a problem like it did overnight?" Hitch asked.

"Looks like you've got some planning to do, Hitch," Zipp told him. "I'll be at Canterlove Studios if you need me; I have to start putting together a curriculum; I have to make some proficient pegasi as well."

"Right, later Zipp."

Just as he was hanging up, he got a text from his deputy.

Sprout
Hitch, a lot of ponies in town have overgrown gardens, way too much for their own kitchens. Seashell gave Sunny a huge strawberry for her smoothie cart, and I'm thinking we can arrange a community food bank for what they don't have room for.

Hitch raised an eyebrow, quite impressed at his deputy's suggestion as he tapped away at a reply.

Hitch
Excellent idea, Deputy. You can be in charge of that, you'll need to find someone with the available space to host that.

"Some planning to do, indeed..." Hitch muttered to himself as he headed back towards town at a healthy trot.

Author's Note