Equestria was now brighter than ever. To say that the first inclusive Maretime Bay Day was a success would be an understatement. Pipp Petals and Posey had finished the new Maretime Bay Day song to a standing ovation by the large crowd that had gathered, with it becoming the talk of the town just days later. The Mane 5 had saved the day and stopped magic from disappearing.
Earth ponies had also gotten their own magic as well thanks to the event. It was a pretty special day not only strengthened the bond between the new protectors of Equestria, but brought the three pony tribes closer than they ever had been before.
Even Zipp couldn’t believe that they had made it out all right. For all her investigating of the magic fluctuations, nothing could prepare her for the near disaster the Crystals malfunctioning caused. At least now she knew that they were powered by positive energy from the ponies. But that still didn’t explain how they were created to begin with and how they got separated. Needless to say, Zipp had her work cut out for her trying to find answers to all the questions she had posed to her friends following the big event. Luckily she was able to convince her mom Queen Haven to allow her stay in Maretime Bay.
She knew that eventually she would have to give the good life up with her friends and return to her responsibilities in Zephyr Heights, but the longer she was able to put that off the better. Unlike her sister Pipp, who relished and craved the attention given to her on a daily basis, Zipp wanted nothing to do with it. She was always fine being a loner, being the only pony in the whole Royal Family not content with lying to the pegasi about their flight. In the end though, she was happy to meet her friends and live with them. Getting away from the palace had given her the opportunity to further explore who she was as a pony and what she wanted to do with her life.
In her mind, she wasn’t Princess material. She was a detective, trying to solve the realm’s greatest mysteries. But something from that fateful day that she met her friends was still haunting her to this day, something she had done that would never leave her, something that still ate away at her very being.
She had exposed Pipp at her concert back when the heist for the Pegasus Crystal commenced.
She and Pipp didn’t talk about it much and when they did it was always as a playful jab at one or the other. Most of that stemmed from the fact that it wasn’t that hard to get Pipp’s fans back. Once they had seen that she was now a national hero, they all came flocking back to her, happy to be her “Pippsqueaks” again and eat up everything she livestreamed to them.
Yet Zipp couldn’t shake the fact that the incident was never fully resolved. They rarely talked about it, yes, but the fact was that she had cost her sister everything she had held dear all due to a reckless heist. She knew deep down in her conscience that she would never be able to rest until she gave her sister a proper apology.
And that was exactly what she was going to do.
It all started when she was helping some pegasi foals with their flying lessons. After returning the fillies to their mother, she communicated with Pipp through the special walkie talkies that they had and told her to meet her by the Crystal Brighthouse in order for her to share a “very important discovery.” Pipp agreed and Zipp was on her way.
When she arrived, Pipp was already there, taking selfies with her phone. When she saw Zipp, she brightened. “Zipp! There you are! This better not be another false alarm because you’ve been doing these quite a lot this past week. Posey and I were practicing some additional lyrics for next year!”
“It’s not,” Zipp said, “Pipp, I…do you remember…your concert back when magic was still gone? When it was revealed we…couldn’t fly?”
Pipp cocked her head in confusion. “You’re bringing that up? Zipp, it’s over now. Magic is back and everything’s fine now. You’re just being paranoid. I got something that’ll help.” She opened her mouth to sing a reprise of ‘Everything’s Gonna Be Okay.’
Fortunately, Zipp managed to stop her right on time, “Pipp, please. Can we just have a serious discussion about this? You’ve been avoiding it whenever I try and bring it up. Does it really not bother you at all anymore?”
Pipp sighed. “Zipp, why are you bringing this up now? Did something happen?”
“The fact that I ruined your life and just brushed it under the rug happened!” Zipp shouted, letting all the emotion come out. “I should’ve been more careful. I shouldn’t’ve just left you hanging there in the spotlight for everypony to see! What kind of sister does that make me?!”
Pipp nodded slowly, “I see where you’re coming from. To be honest…I did feel hurt when I confronted you and you just laughed it off like it was nothing. But in the end, I think it was a good wake up call. For both of us, but more specifically me…”
“Really?” Zipp asked her.
“Yeah,” Pipp told her, “I was practically taking advantage of the high class life. Losing it all was a big wake up call that yeah, I’m no better than anypony else in Zephyr Heights. I guess I started using social media to compensate for the fact that…I’ll never be you, Zipp.”
“I…don’t understand,” Zipp was caught off guard by that last sentence.
“I mean, you’re destined to be Queen someday whether you want to or not,” explained Pipp sadly, “You always have Mom’s undivided attention because you’re the one everypony’s going to be looking up to. You don’t care for all that attention, but I crave it, Zipp. That’s why I started becoming a social media star because that way, I could feel like I was as important as you. Being surrounded by so many followers…I actually felt like I was worth something. Losing all that…it hurt, but I needed it. I let my quest for fame make me so cold and condescending towards you. I knew you didn’t want to be in on the lie and I just ignored your feelings. I’m sorry about that, Zipp.”
Zipp let out a slight chuckle, “I guess I’m not the only one wanting to apologize for something I did in my past.”
Pipp smiled through gathering tears. “No, you aren’t. What made you remember that incident?”
“I’ve been keeping it bottled up inside me for such a long time,” Zipp spoke, “I mean…every time we brought it up, it was always as a joke. I never really got to tell you how sorry I was for ruining the one thing that mattered the most to you, even if it was just temporary. And now that I know you started doing social media to feel like you were worth something…I just feel even worse. Nothing is worth making my little sister feel worthless, not even all the magic and friendships in the world.”
“Thanks,” Pipp thanked her, “And it looks like I still haven’t learned my lesson. I didn’t believe you about the magic glitching and for that, Sunny almost died trying to save Posey. If it wasn’t for her alicorn thing…she would’ve actually perished in that pit. I’m a pretty poor excuse for a friend.”
Zipp shook her head. “No, you aren’t. Don’t ever say that. You made a mistake. So did I. Everypony, no matter who they are, royalty or no, makes mistakes. Nopony is perfect. You did what you had to do and saw it through without exemption. You may not be destined to be Queen, but you’re still extremely important to me. And as long as I think you’re the most important pony in the entire universe, then who cares what everypony else thinks, right?”
Pipp wiped her tears. “Thanks, Zipp…about what you said, about social media being the one thing that matters the most to me…it matters a whole lot, but nothing can ever replace sisterhood. You’ll always be the pony I love the most out of everyone. Always.”
“And I love you the most out of everyone too,” Zipp replied, wiping her own tears away, “Let’s start over, sis. Let’s work together to build a brighter future for everypony in Equestria. And if you want to talk about something, go ahead and do so. I know I will. We’ll always be there for each other no matter what, I promise.”
“And I promise to always listen to you from now on if you think there’s a problem,” Pipp promised her, “You’re the investigator in this town.”
Zipp reached out with her right hoof. “We’ll do our part…”
Pipp reached out with her right hoof and touched it to Zipp’s in an act of forging a unbreakable promise. “Hoof to heart…”
With that, a new promise was made. It was promise of empathy, a promise of solidarity, but most importantly of all…
A promise of family.
