Sunny and Izzy were leaving a Pie Festival in Maretime Bay.

As the name implies, this festival was all about pies, and Sunny and Izzy went to it together to have fun.

However, as Sunny and Izzy were walking on the streets of Maretime Bay, Sunny couldn't help but notice that Izzy was feeling down again. Lately, she has been feeling sad and worried, and she had suspicions about why, but she still needed to be sure.

So, she suddenly boopped Izzy's nose, taking her a bit off guard. "Sure was a fun festival, huh?" Sunny asked her with a smile.

"Huh?" Izzy exclaimed. "Oh, yeah! It's so nice seeing everypony come together!" she said, putting on the best smile she could. "There are so many kinds of sparkles between unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies..." she added, but then she gave a worried expression. "It's just a little hard to focus on everything with Discord still on the loose."

Sunny understood perfectly. After all, Discord himself declared that he wanted to do what he was going to do for her, and ever since she has been feeling down. Sunny felt that Izzy thinks that Discord wants to destroy the Crystal is her fault, but again, she needs to be sure first.

She already had to deal with Tails and Knuckles being overprotective with her lately. With Knuckles, she understood it; he liked her, so he had that protective attitude towards her because he loved her, even if he would never accept it. However: Tails was a different manner, because she didn't understood why he acted the same way Knuckled does with her.

Perhaps she'll never know.

"Hey, I get it..." Sunny told Izzy with an understanding look before smiling. "And we'll find him," she assured. "But I think I know what you need right now!" she exclaimed excitedly.

"Oh?" Izzy asked curiously.

"Come with me!" Sunny said, now running towards the Crystal Brighthouse.

Izzy smiled and decided to join Sunny in her little race to their home.

Once they arrived at the Brighthouse, they were surprised to find Sonic walking around normally, holding a plate of chilidogs, and sitting on a couch in the living room.

There, Tails waited with the Daring Do book Sonic had found in the basement. Tails were reading it to find anything that could tell them where Discord was going and why it was so important for him to keep it a secret.

"Whatcha doing, guys?" Izzy asked them with a cheery smile.

"Trying to find out if there's a place in special that Discord wants to keep as a secret," Tails explained.

"And I'll say I'm helping, but after my last encounter with him, I'm not allowed to help if that involves me running towards Discord again, even tho now I can understand him better and even feel a bit bad for him," Sonic said with a bored expression, also chomping a chilidog.

"That, and Pipp warned him not to do anything if it was Discord-related," Tails said casually, still reading the book.

Sunny and Izzy laughed as they moved towards the kitchen. Sonic started to look around the living room in search of something.

"Uh, what are you looking for?" Tails asked, confused.

"Nothing special. Just looking for the guy who asked you," Sonic replied.

Tails realized what Sonic had just done while burying his head in the book and screaming in annoyance, and Sonic smirked in pride.

Meanwhile, Sunny searched for the blender in the kitchen while Izzy waited patiently as she hummed to herself.

Once she returned with the blender, Sunny asked her excitedly, "Hey, remember that smoothie we made together?"

Izzy gasped as well when Sunny mentioned that. "Oh yeah!" she exclaimed, also excited now.

"The Dreamy Creamy Peanut Butter Starbow!" they both exclaimed with sparkling eyes, placing their hooves together.

"I know things haven't been going well with Discord, but... this is what the Unity Crystals are all about," Sunny said with a smile, gathering some fruits, a bottle of milk, and a peanut butter jar. "It's about all of us coming together," she added, grabbing the milk bottle and placing some milk on the blender.

That's right! Izzy thought to herself, placing a hoof on her chin. I wanted so badly to connect with Sunny... she remembered.

A flashback sequence started when Izzy remembered how things were in Maretime Bay when Magic was recently restored.

This also happened 2 or 3 days after the Mane 5 and Sonic finished the Brighthouse, meaning neither Tails, Knuckles, or Sparky were there with them yet, and Discord didn't stoled the Pegasus Crystal either.

She remembered one day when she was outside of the Crystal Brighthouse with the rest of the Mane 5 and Sonic. Other ponies from all the tribes were also around, trying out the newly restored magic. Everyone but the earth ponies since their magic wasn't invented back then.

"Everypony was so Happy when Magic was restored to Equestria... Especially Sunny," Izzy narrated. "Seeing all of us together was her dream come true, and it showed."

Sunny was in her alicorn form, smiling brightly and talking with a small group of ponies from all the tribes.

"Her sparkle was so bright..." Izzy narrated. "But I couldn't say the same thing about mine," she added with sadness, while she looked sad at her memory as well. "My sparkle just couldn't keep up with Sunny," she remembered as well.

Still in the flashback, a few days later, after that happened, Izzy was on her side of the bedroom, fixing her mane with a brush and smiling at her reflection in the mirror.

"Sunny's been galloping all over since we all got our magic back and settled in the Crystal Brighthouse," Izzy told her reflection, most likely talking to herself. "And everypony knows if you work hard, you gotta play hard!" she added with a smirk.

After finishing her mane, she rushed downstairs and pulled out a lot of stuff from her Crafting Spot using her magic, which was still tricky back then.

"So I'm gonna take Sunny on a wildcrafting adventure!" Izzy stated with a smile.

She went back upstairs to look after Sunny... but she didn't find her there. She went to the Crystal Room at the top of the Brighthouse but didn't find her there either.

When she returned downstairs and entered the kitchen, she found a note on the fridge. The note said, 'Out flying with Zipp and Pipp! Back later - Sunny', signed with a smiling face.

Izzy squealed excitedly, levitated the note, and then jumped towards the Brighthouse's doors. "Out flying with Zipp and Pipp? Oh, eee! That sounds like so much fun!" she said with excitement. "If I hurry, maybe I can catch them––" she tried to add, but then she realized that Sunny was out flying with the pegasus sisters. "Oh... but I can't fly," she remembered with sadness.

She decided to go outside the Brighthouse for a walk and put her thoughts in order. It seemed to work since she was in a better mood, and her smile went wide again.

"Of course, she'd want to fly with Zipp and Pipp. They're so cool and fun!" Izzy told herself with a smile as she walked down the road. "Who wouldn't want to use pegasus magic?" she questioned. "I mean, my magic isn't so bad, either," she added with a bright smile.

She then lighted up her horn and used her magic to levitate some rocks, leaves, and flowers around her, making them float around her as she smiled and laughed, also shouting 'Ta-da!' with joy... a joy that didn't last long when she remembered she could not join Sunny, Zipp and Pipp since she has no wings.

"But I still can't fly with my friends..." Izzy said with sadness. That made her snap at herself as she shook her head wildly and tried to stay happy and positive. "I can't get too down on myself! C'mon, Izzy. Keep it together! I can still have a fantastic day," she assured herself.

She kept walking downtown, still trying to put her ideas in order, but then she passed by a bench where two earth pony mares were talking and feeling thirsty since it was a sunny day (no pun intended).

"Gosh, I could use a smoothie right now," one of the mares said. "I haven't seen Sunny skating around today!" she pointed out.

"That's too bad," said the other mare. "Sunny's smoothies are the best."

Izzy, having heard the conversation, approached them with a raised eyebrow and a confident smirk. "Oh yeah? You know, I'm Sunny's best friend. I could whip up some good smoothies until she's back!" she assured.

"Really? A unicorn?" one of the mares asked, unconvinced that Izzy could make smoothies. Or, at least, not as good as Sunny's.

"Yeah, a unicorn!" Izzy assured confidently. "And why not? Unicorns like smoothies just as much as earth ponies! We also like a lot of tea, but still! I could help Sunny!" she reassured.

But then the two earth pony mares got startled when Izzy suddenly gasped dramatically.

"I CAN DO A TOTAL SMOOTHIE MAKEOVER FOR SUNNY!" Izzy shouted with excitement while the two earth pony mares looked at each other, and one of them shrugged. "It'll be such a cinch! I need to make some new banners for her cart. With lots of glitter, of course!" she said with a smile, pointing to a 'World of Crafts' store. "Stock up on lots of goodies to make some cool new recipes!" she added, pointing at a store called 'Füd King'. "And when Sunny returns, she'll be so surprised, and we can have a lot of fun making smoothies together!" she finished, as she imagined herself and Sunny dancing around giant smoothies.

Why? Well, why not? This is Izzy we're talking about, after all.

After that, she backed away, confusing the two mares. "Weirdo," one of them said.

Back at the Crystal Brighthouse, Sonic was trying to find out how to reactivate the Chaos Emeralds since, back then, they were still only three, and all of them were dead.

However, an explosion that sounded downstairs interrupted his thoughts, so he put the Emeralds back in the bag he used to hide them and placed them on his mattress.

Then, he ran downstairs to find Izzy wearing protective equipment and using a flamethrower, modified to be a glitterthrower, over a pink blanket.

"Uh... Izz?" Sonic called out with a raised eyebrow. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Oh, hi, Sonic!" Izzy greeted with a smile, throwing away the protection equipment. "I'm just going to make some smoothies and help out Sunny until she returns to work!" she explained.

"Okay, but... why use a glitter thrower?" Sonic questioned, confused.

"Oh, I can't tell you just yet, silly!" Izzy replied. "You'll have to wait and see," she stated with a smirk.

"Oookaaay..." Sonic said, not convinced of that answer. "Anyways, I'll be upstairs working on... something... So, if you need me, knock on the door and come to me!" he said with a smirk and a wink, waving his hand goodbye and returning to the bedroom.

"Don't worry, I will! Bye, Sonic!" Izzy waved, then took out a book titled 'Smoothie Recipes' on the cover. "Filling this recipe book will be so much fun!" she stated with a smile.

Later on, she was weaving some cozy covers for the plastic glasses of the smoothies.

"Even smoothies deserve to feel cozy," Izzy told herself with a smile.

A while later, Izzy went to the kitchen and used her magic to bring a white apron with a pink heart in the middle and put it on herself.

"Yeah, my magic isn't so bad, either," Izzy said with a confident smirk.

Then, she brought some fruits and a blender, placed them on the table, and grabbed her recently completed 'Smoothie Recipes' book. She used her magic to levitate some fruits and put them in the blender.

"Some bananas, an orange, some pieces of watermelon..." Izzy listed as she placed said fruits in the blender.

However, Izzy forgot to place the top of the blender when she turned it on, and all of the content blended, but it also exploded on her face and made a mess in the kitchen.

"EEK!" Izzy exclaimed before turning off the blender and looking at the mess she caused... but she didn't care at all since she suddenly got an idea. "This recipe would be good for ponies with a vermillion sparkle. It just needs a little peanut butter!" she said happily.

Later, Izzy moved outside the Crystal Brighthouse and started making a new and improvised Smoothie Stand with her Unicycling skills.

"A little of this..." Izzy said, as she placed the pink blanket from before as a sign that said 'Sunny's Smoothies,' also placing behind her a sign saying 'New Sparkle Smoothies.' "A little of that, and this, and that..." she said again, bringing her homemade roller skates, an orange helmet with a sticker that said '20% Cooler', and some tools to make smoothies as well.

After that, she levitated a red tape and moved it around the improvised stand. She also levitated the 'Smoothie Recipes' book and placed some stickers there, as well as her favorite thing in the world: glitter, lots and lots of glitter.

"And this. And some more of that! And some more of this! And oh, I'm so excited!" Izzy exclaimed happily.

After a few hours, she finished the new Smoothie Stand. The smoothie cart now had two signs: one saying 'Try the Blueberry explosion', a new flavor Izzy invented; and the other one said 'Now with more smooth'.

"Ta-da!" Izzy said with a big smile. Then, she levitated two white aprons with a pink heart in the middle, one being the one she used before after making a mess in the kitchen, cleaning it later on, of course, while the other apron was a gift for Sunny. "She's going to love it!" she assured me with a smirk, putting on the helmet, roller skates, and apron.

Sunny was flying above Maretime Bay with a smile.

She had a lot of fun flying with Zipp and Pipp, but she was a bit tired, and now she needed to stay with her hooves on the ground for the moment.

However, as she was landing, she couldn't help but notice that some ponies around were with smoothies, and she accidentally heard a conversation between two earth pony fillies.

"A unicorn smoothie! Who would've guessed?" one of the fillies said with a smile.

"She says it matches my sparkle... whatever that means," the other filly replied, smiling and sipping from her smoothie.

"Feels cozy!" the first filly pointed out as she hugged her smoothie because of its cozy cover.

"Unicorn smoothie?" Sunny questioned, confused.

"Your sparkle looks fuschia today, so try this raspberry chamomile smoothie!" Izzy's voice spoke, and Sunny finally turned to see that Izzy was selling smoothies on a different Smoothie Stand than hers, also talking with a green earth pony mare.

"Hey, that... sounds kinda good," the earth pony said with a smile as she grabbed the smoothie and paid for it. "Are you reading my mind?" the mare asked rhetorically.

"Ha ha! Unicorns can't do that!" Izzy replied with a smirk that faded away as she suddenly approached the mare's face. "Or can we? Ooooh..." she added in a spooky tone.

The mare freaked out and walked away as she looked at Izzy with a strange look, probably thinking that Izzy loosened a screw.

As the mare walked away, Sunny approached Izzy with a confused and curious look.

"Sunny!" Izzy exclaimed with a bright smile. "Surprise!" she shouted, rolling skating towards Sunny, who made her alicorn form fade away. "How do you like the makeover? I did everything myself!" she said with excitement.

"Wow, Izzy! That's... So nice!" Sunny said with an awkward smile since her thoughts on all of this were... let's say she could hurt Izzy's feelings if she told her what she thought about everything she did.

"I put your name up big and bright! And I thought streamers would be cute here––" Izzy started to list at a fast paste. "We could add wind chimes, though! Then everypony can hear you coming!" she suggested, still smiling brightly.

"Oh... Wind chimes!" Sunny said, still thinking about Izzy's additions to her usual 'smoothie routine'.

"And I made a few new recipes. I organized them by sparkle color. We can look them over together; it'll be fun!" Izzy added, showing the 'Smoothie Recipes' book to Sunny and still with a smile.

"By sparkle?" Sunny questioned.

"And look at these smoothie sweaters I knitted!" Izzy said as she showed the covers/sweaters she made for the smoothie glasses, but Sunny cringed at the sight and even got a twitchy eye. "Oh, oh, and finally––" Izzy was going to add, but Sunny cut her off.

"Izzy, this is so sweet, but I wish you asked me first!" Sunny said with an anxious expression.

"But if I asked first, then it wouldn't be a surprise!" Izzy pointed out with a smile, but it faded away as soon as she saw Sunny's expression, and now she started to feel sad. "Wait... you don't like it, do you, Sunny?" she asked with disappointment.

Thinking the answer was a yes, Izzy started roller skating away, but Sunny stopped her.

"Izzy! Hold on... That's not what I'm saying," Sunny said with a worried expression, but then she smiled a bit. "It's not that I don't like the makeover! I think it's so sweet you did all this for me," she explained. "It's just a lot to return to. I've been working here for so long, and my dad and I came up with many recipes together, I just... I'm attached to how things are," she added.

"Oh... I can understand that," Izzy replied sadly. Then, she removed her helmet and roller skates and sat on the floor. "I wanted to surprise you because you've been all over the place since magic returned, and I thought we could do something together," she explained. "It's not like I could go flying with you, Pipp and Zipp," she added with disappointment.

"Oh, Izzy..." Sunny said, placing a hoof around Izzy's neck and smiling softly at her. "I know everypony's magic is unique, but look at us. We're all finally together now!" she pointed out with happiness.

"I know, I know," Izzy said, still sad. "I just think about that letter I found when I was a little filly. It said I had a friend in Maretime Bay and got to meet her! Magic or no magic... And now I miss her..." she confessed with sadness.

"I didn't realize you felt that way, Izzy..." Sunny confessed, now looking sad.

Then, Izzy used magic to bring the other white apron with a heart in the middle, showing it to Sunny. "Yeah, well, this was the last part of the surprise," Izzy confessed, and she extended the apron to Sunny.

Sunny immediately grabbed the apron and put it on herself, smiling brightly. "Awww, I love it!" she said with an honest smile. Then, she nuzzled her cheek with Izzy's, finally making the unicorn smile. "In all the excitement of having magic back, I forgot to check in with all my friends. I didn't realize you felt so left out," she apologized.

"It's okay, Sunny," Izzy assured with a soft smile. "I wish I had said something sooner," she confessed.

"Well, we're together now! So let's sell some smoothies!" Sunny stated with a confident smile.

"That'd be wonderful!" Izzy cheered, with her smile growing bigger.

And that's exactly what these two best friends did the rest of the day: they sold the smoothies Izzy made to everypony in Maretime Bay who wanted one until they eventually ran out of smoothies.

So, they decided to go back to the Crystal Brighthouse after finishing with the sales.

"Looks like we're all out!" Izzy commented as they walked towards the Brighthouse.

"I didn't get to taste one..." Sunny pointed out, and then she got an idea. "Hey, let's head home and make some together," she suggested.

"Sure!" Izzy said with a bright smile.

Once they arrived at the Brighthouse, they gathered some ingredients on the kitchen table, and Izzy took out a big jar of peanut butter.

Sunny grabbed the 'Smoothie Recipes' book Izzy made and was impressed with what Izzy wrote down. "Wow, you were busy with this!" she exclaimed with a smile, and then she read something that got her curious. "Why a green tea smoothie for a red sparkle?" she asked

"Oh, because it's super calming! Especially with ginger and some oranges for fun!" Izzy replied with a cheery smile.

"What do you suggest for my sparkle?" Sunny asked.

"For you... lots of sweet peaches. And a little mango," Izzy replied.

"Ooh, that sounds good," Sunny said with a smile, then she brought some mint leaves. "Between you and me, I like to throw a little mint into my smoothies," she confessed.

"Really? Me, I love a bit of peanut butter," Izzy confessed as well, levitating some ingredients and putting them in the blender, the mint leaves included.

"Yeah? Well, let's go for both!" Sunny stated with a smile, causing Izzy to smile more as she put some peanut butter in the blender. "It feels so good making new recipes with someone again. Thank you, Izzy." Sunny thanked her with a smile.

"Aw, Sunny. Anytime you want, I'm here for you!" Izzy assured with a smile.

"Same here. Hoof to heart," Sunny said with a warm smile.

After a while, the smoothies were finally ready.

"Here we go!" Sunny said with excitement.

"Bottoms up!" Izzy said.

They both started to sip their smoothies to taste their new creation, and they loved it.

"It's sweet and creamy..." Izzy pointed out.

"Mm-hmm. And peanut buttery!" Sunny added. "How about we call it... The Dreamy Creamy Peanut Butter Starbow?" she suggested.

"That sounds great!" Izzy said with a smile. "I think we should make this for all our friends," she stated.

Several minutes later, Sunny and Izzy gathered all of their friends in the Brighthouse's living room to give them the new smoothies made by them.

"Here's your Dreamy Creamy Peanut Butter Starbow!" Izzy said with a smile, giving Zipp one of the smoothies.

"Just a little something Izzy and I whipped up," Sunny explained, smiling.

Hitch and Sonic already had one of the smoothies, and they seemed to like it because none of them could stop sipping it... but in Sonic's case, it was a terrible idea.

"Oh, dang it! Brain freeze!" Sonic complained, grabbing his head in pain while Hitch snorted at his side.

"Adorable!" Pipp said with a smile. "Oh, I just gotta share this with my Pippsqueaks!" she stated, pulling out her phone and taking a picture of the smoothie. "By the way, Sunny, did you see the pics I posted of our flight? Stunning!" she said with joy. "Can't believe how good it feels to fly for real," she added.

"It does!" Sunny assured with a smile.

"Hah. Wait till I tell you ponies what happened on my wilderness trip!" Hitch said with a worried expression.

"Oh, that trip, huh?" Zipp said with a bored expression.

"Please tell me you did something stupid. I like to mess with you, Donut Lord," Sonic said with a smirk after his brain freeze was over, and Hitch rolled his eyes in annoyance.

The group started to chit-chat, except for Izzy, who seemed worried as she looked at her friends talking happily.

"In the end, the desire to bring back magic brought us all together––not just Equestria, but the six of us. Five different ponies and one hedgehog from another dimension with our beautiful sparkles, finally becoming friends..." Izzy narrated in her mind.

Izzy was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard Sunny turning on the blender, and when she turned in her direction, she saw that Sunny already had one of the smoothies served.

"We're all different, but when we come together, we can make beautiful things happen. Just like when the Unity Crystals come together, the beauty of magic happens," Sunny commented with a smile as she gave the smoothie to Izzy. "You see?" she asked to the unicorn.

"Yeah... of course!" Izzy said with a forced but convincing smile before looking away worriedly. Magic has brought us all together, but... I wonder if our sparkles can stay bright through everything. she questioned in her mind with worry.

She also couldn't help but menacingly imagine Discord holding the Pegasus Crystal he stole and preparing to destroy it, making magic disappear forever this time.

Tails was having a massive headache.

After about six hours of reading the book, the young fox found nothing useful on how that could help to find Discord.

"I hate to be running in circles..." Tails said with annoyance, having his face smashed on the table.

"Dude, you're not reading the book properly if you're seriously struggling this much," Sonic said at his side, his arms crossed behind his head, his eyes closed, and his legs crossed.

"Of course, I'm reading this properly!" Tails complained with a twitchy eye. "And let me tell you what I discovered: Discord is a stupid old man with serious mental problems because this book tells nothing about where he could be!" he shouted in frustration, smashing his head against the table again.

Sonic rolled his eyes in annoyance and stretched his arms a bit. "Dude, you're such a drama king. If you only checked out page 45 properly, you wouldn't have said any of that," he said calmly.

Tails suddenly separated his face from the table and looked on, shocked. "Page 45..." he muttered before grabbing the book again and starting to search for said page. However, he stopped when he realized what Sonic just said. "Hey! Didn't Pipp tell you not to help on anything Discord-related?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Tails, little bro, at this point, you should know, better than anyone, that this guy right here responds to no one," Sonic said with a smirk and a relaxed tone, also pointing at himself.

At first, Tails was surprised by the reply, but then he smirked and returned his gaze to the book. He moved forward through the pages until he stopped on page 45.

There, he started to read the entire page... and his eyes widened when he saw something about a place called 'Lava Creeks'... and the mention of something powerful, and his only guess was that something was powerful enough to destroy the Pegasus Crystal.

"Sonic... we did it," Tails said in disbelief before happily flying around the living room. "WE FINALLY DID IT!!!" he cheered in excitement. "This is it! The clue we've been seeking to reach! The clue that will lead us to Discord!" he stated with a smile.

"And the clue that will help us save the magic and, hopefully, find the last Chaos Emerald," Sonic stated confidently. "Now, there's only one thing left to do..." he smirked.

Both Sonic and Tails smiled at each other and fist-bumped. "Find that draconequus and save the day again!" they both stated confidently, ready to find Discord and stop him from destroying the magic once and for all.

To be continued...

Author's Note

Next time, we're finally going back to the plot! WHOOO!

Too bad that means we're just two issues away (not counting this one) for this story to end, but don't worry! As I said, future comic events will be referenced in the next stories one way or another.

I'm also adding two prologues to tease Sonic x Make Your Mark Season 2, as I already stablished before, so at least I'm closing this story with a golden brooch!

P.S: Thanks to JD1 for editing this chapter!