Lukas Makes His Mark

Down at the beach, Hitch was still trying to sort out the argument about the destroyed sandcastle as the two ponies had their backs turned away, clearly not wanting to even look at each other. Even under all the pressure of accidentally saying the wrong thing and making this argument worse, Hitch still maintained a confident grin.

"Okay. Tell me what happened. One at a time." Hitch proclaimed.

"She tried to sabotage my sand castle!" The Earth pony said, annoyed.

"No, I didn't! My magic was just gone!" The unicorn protested.

Hitch tried to intervene. "Okay, okay. Everypony just—" But it didn't work.

"Magic shouldn't even be allowed on the beach!" The Earth pony said angrily.

"Is magic allowed on the beach, Sheriff Hitch?" A tiny Pegasus asked as they approached him.

"Oh, uh... It's not... not allowed?" Hitch said.

There was a moment of silence.

"You know, actually, maybe I should go back to the stations and check the records to see what I can dig up! Yeah! You ponies just hang tight, and I'll get back to you!" Hitch stuttered, trying to think of an excuse to get himself out of this situation.

And just like that, he turned around and started walking away as his deputies followed suit. As Hitch was walking along the beach, he then spied a strange looking pink and white egg in a hole in the sand, needless to say, Hitch was a bit confused by this.

"Huh. You don't belong here, do you? I've never seen an egg like this. Have you?" He asked the birds, who simply chirped in response. "What in Equestria are you?"

All of a sudden, a huge wave of salt water swept up the unusual egg. Hitch, reacting quickly, raced off towards it and picked it with his hoof, saving it from the sudden rapid.

"Oh! I'll take care of you, little one." Hitch cooed.

Meanwhile, the argument between the Earth pony and the unicorn was showing no signs of stopping.

"You did it on purpose!"

"I would never do that on purpose!"

Hitch, not wanting to make the situation worse, quickly ran off towards his office.

"That's better."

At the police station, the sheriff had just added the finishing touches to the egg's temporary home in a cupboard, complete with a small cushion to protect it, and a lamp to help keep it hot. Hitch stared at the egg with wonder, thinking about where this egg could've possibly come from, whether it fell from the sky, or somepony left it there, he was determined to take care of this egg.

"All roasty and toasty. I'll just keep you safe here until we can find who you belong to, okay?" He said while stroking the egg.

"Sheriff Hitch!" A voice called out, disrupting Hitch.

In a fast pace, he quickly slammed the cupboard shut, and pretended to water a nearby plant with a cup as he paid attention to the pony who had just walked into the office, and that pony was Posey Bloom, looking confused as she entered.

"Who were you just talking to?" Posey asked while looking around.

"Nopony! Nopony at all!" Hitch assured her. "How can I help you, Posey?"

"I was just trotting down Mane Street when I noticed that my hooves were stuck to the sidewalk. I tried and tried to move, but I couldn't for, like, a really long time." She said as she demonstrated what had happened to her. "I think somepony's pranking me. Probably one of those unicorns. I'd like to file a complaint."

"Okay. The complaint box is over there on the wall." Hitch replied.

Hitch then pointed over to said complaint box and as it turned out, Posey wasn't the only one coming by with complaints as the box was filled to the brim with them.

"Well, I'd prefer if you took it down yourself." Posey said.

"I would, but I'm late for an important meeting at the Brighthouse. Duty calls!" Hitch then put the plant he was holding back onto the desk, before he secretly opened the cupboard with both the egg and his little deputy inside.

"Keep an eye on that egg for me, would you, deputy?" He whispered as the bird chirped in agreement, giving a small salute.

With that, Hitch closed the cupboard and headed out of the office, while laughing nervously, trying to make himself not seem suspicious, but he was failing miserably. Hitch then left the office, leaving a very skeptical Posey behind.

Meanwhile, at the Crystal Brighthouse, Lukas and the rest of the ponies were busy in the kitchen, baking some glimmerberry tarts for the festival, the job was fairly messy as there were bowls stacked up on each other and they were all covered in purple mixture, but they didn't mind it one bit.

"Maretime Bay Day is going to be great with these treats!" Sunny declared.

"I'll say." Lukas agreed, licking his lips. "I have a feeling that I'm really going to like Maretime Bay Day."

"How could you not?" Pipp asked rhetorically as she flew in. "We've literally thought of everything. And I've been working on the all-new anthem for Maretime Bay Day! Whoo! " She sang aloud.

"You wanna hear it?" Izzy, Sunny and Lukas all nodded. "Too late! Doing it anyway!"

Then, she begins to practice her vocal cords with Sunny, Izzy and Lukas as a mini audience.

"Maretime Baaaaaay, yeah! Hey! Heeeeey!"

"And then it's like..."

'Somethin' about the sunshine and sea"

"And then it's like..."

"Somethin', somethin', somethin', somethin', SOMETHIN'!"

Pipp sang the last part in a progressively higher pitch, and even know he thought the singing needed some serious modifying, Lukas didn't want to upset her, so he kept it to himself, but Izzy and Sunny seemed to love the princess' singing as he continued.

"Then... Somethin', somethin', somethiiiiin'!" Pipp sang in an extra soulful tone.

"Uh... yeah, I don't like it. I love it! What?!" Izzy said excitedly.

"That's one way to put it." Lukas thought to himself.

Just then, the door swung open. Everyone looked over to see who had just entered and it was Hitch as he trotted inside happily, humming to himself, apparently hearing Pipp's singing.

"Catchy!" Hitch said as he replicated it. "Somethin', somethin'..." He sang out. "Yup. Very catchy. She's good."

And Hitch couldn't have come at a better time, because everyone heard the timer ding, meaning that the glimmerberry tarts were done cooking in the oven, Sunny took the tray out and put the tasty pastries on display for everyone to see.

"Mmmm! Miniature glimmerberry tarts! Great idea, Izzy!" Sunny said as Izzy added the finishing touches.

"Aww! Ta-daaa!" Izzy giggled. "Ooh, now they're a true work of tart".

"Yeah, these look so good that I don't even know where to tart." Lukas added, contributing to the puns as Hitch put on in his mouth.

"Mmm. But how do you make 'em taste like magic?" He asked with a mouthful.

"The secret ingredient... Magic." She whsipered.

"Wow, who would've guessed?" Lukas asked sarcastically, helping himself to a sample.

"We have to make cloud candy next!" Pipp said, showing the group the recipe. "It's Zipp's favorite! Um, where is she, by the way?"

Lukas swallowed his treat before answering. "Well, judging by the way she's been acting lately, she's probably doing something secretive." He thought.

Meanwhile at the top of the Bright House, a very bored-looking Zipp was still monitoring the unity crystals to ensure that no other weird glitches happened.

"Hour five... Still nothing... Hour five and one minute... Still nothing..." She sighed as she put her phone away, and started to walk away "Maybe I was wrong. Maybe there's no pattern to it. Just a glitch. Ugh."

All of a sudden, streams of holographic magic flowed into the unity crystals. Drawn by the sound, Zipp quickly turned back and saw this strange occurrence.

"What in the wingfeathers?" She whispered to herself.

Back downstairs, Lukas, Izzy, Sunny and Pipp were laughing and having fun as they worked together to put the glimmerberry tarts into separate containers, and even Pipp ended up eating one as it flew into her mouth. Zipp could only watch as more holographic magic engulfed the unity crystals, causing Zipp to flinch back slightly. Suddenly, there was a flash of white light, when the light cleared, it revealed that the glass walls were now covered in vine-like patterns. Zipp took a closer look at it.

"Whoa! I don't believe this!" She said in pure disbelief.

She didn't know what was going on with the unity crystals, but nevertheless, she urgently needed to warn everyone else about this unusual thing that was happening. Zipp quickly flew downstairs, where the others were preparing to cook another pizza.

"Everypony, quick! Come upstairs! You have got to see this!" She cried frantically.

Her sudden appearance caused Izzy to throw the pizza dough up in the air, before it flopped straight onto the counter as everyone looked over at the worried princess.

"There you are." Pipp said, not even paying attention to what her sister had just said.

"Where have you been?" Lukas asked.

"Just hurry!" She demanded, slamming her hooves onto the counter.

Seeing how worried and frantic she was, the situation must've been serious, so without another word, the others quickly followed Zipp upstairs. After using the elevator, they were at the top, and instead of the vine-like patterns on the glass walls, there was nothing there, much to Zipp's confusion.

"Wow! What are we looking at?" Izzy puzzled, looking around.

"There were all these vines growing on the wall!" Zipp explained, trying not to sound crazy. "And they were glowing!"

"Glowing vines?" Pipp said, obviously confused by this.

Zipp hesitated for a moment, but if she wanted everyone else's help, she was going to have to come clean. "Okay. I have a confession. I've been monitoring the Crystals, and I think something is wrong with them."

"What? No, there isn't." Sunny said dismissively.

Lukas was about to agree with Sunny, but then he remembered something that he saw earlier. "Well actually, Sunny. I think Zipp might be right."

"What are you talking about, Lukas?" Hitch asked.

"Earlier today, while all of you were focusing on the livestream, I looked at the Crystal Bright House and noticed that the unity crystals were glitching." Lukas explained.

"Exactly." Zipp agreed. "None of you have noticed that magic seems kinda weird lately? Like it keeps switching off or something."

Izzy put a hoof up to her chin as she pondered over what Zipp had just asked them, before replying. "Nope!"

"Me neither." Pipp answered as Zipp turned to her sister.

"Really?" She asked.

Pipp's phone chimed as she took it out. "Sorry sis." She said in a rather uninterested voice.

"Hitch?" She called out, turning over towards the sheriff, who had an unsure look on his face as Zipp walked towards him. "I saw what happened at the beach earlier. Didn't you take-?"

"What?! I didn't take anything at the beach!" Hitch interrupted her, thinking she was referring to the egg he found on the beach.

"Wait Hitch, you took something from the beach?" Lukas asked as Hitch was too nervous to respond.

"No, what I was going to say was, didn't you take down a report?" Zipp finished her question.

Oh. Right. A report." Hitch replied, before making his way out. "Actually, that reminds me. Gotta go file that report!" He said as he went down the elevator.

"Hey, you wait a second! You were gonna teach us how to make life-sized gummy bunnies!" Izzy called down to him as her and Pipp followed the sheriff, leaving only Sunny, Zipp and Lukas behind.

"I know it sounds weird." Zipp began. "But I know what I saw! And what I've been seeing! Like earlier, when Lukas and I were flying back from Zephyr Heights, these two Pegasi crashed into each other, and I think it-" Before Zipp could continue her explanation, Sunny interrupted her.

"I'm sorry, Zipp. I've been so caught up in all the festival planning. This is all my fault." Sunny said sadly.

"That magic is glitching?" Zipp assumed.

"Magic is not glitching." Sunny scoffed.

"Come on, Sunny." Lukas groaned. "I was expecting you of all ponies to believe in this."

"Yeah." Zipp added. "And you said it yourself. Your Alicorn magic keeps appearing randomly. You don't find that strange? At all?"

Sunny's ears drooped down as she processed what Zipp and Lukas had said to her. "No, I-I think that's just because I'm still learning. We all are." And with that, Sunny too went down the elevator.

"Don't worry, Zipp. I believe in you." Lukas said sympathetically. "Something is happening to the unity crystals and I want to help you in any way I can."

"Thanks Lukas, that really means a lot." Zipp smiled as the human smiled back.

"So, where do we begin?" Lukas asked.

In the town of Maretime Bay, all seemed well as Zipp and Lukas walked through Mane Street, looking around suspiciously, all the while, Zipp was still doing her voice recordings.

"It was a seemingly normal day in the town of Maretime Bay, little did everypony know, danger lurked from behind the shadows and it was up to two brave heroes to make sure that Equestria will be safe." Lukas said to himself in a dramatic voice.

"Uh Lukas, who are you talking to?" Zipp asked.

"Oh, nobody." Lukas replied. "Nobody at all."

Zipp rolled her eyes as she continued with her voice recording. "Report. Nothing new to report. No more signs of mysterious glowing vines or Crystal glitches."

Suddenly, Zipp's phone started ringing, causing the princess to toss it back and forth in her hooves. As she finally caught it, she looked at who was calling her and it was none other than Queen Haven herself, much to her chagrin.

"You should probably take that." Lukas advised. "I'm gonna try and look for clues." He said as he walked off.

"Uggghhh!" Zipp groaned loudly, really not wanting to answer this call, but she reluctantly answered, being greeted by Haven's close up face.

"Zipp! There you are! Have you been ignoring my calls, young filly?" She asked in a stern voice.

"No, no! Just busy, Mom! I'm actually helping Sunny with decorations right now, so I gotta go." Zipp replied while laughing nervously.

"Well, I can't wait to see them!" Queen Haven replied, catching Zipp off-guard. "See what?"

"The decorations! Oh, didn't Pipp tell you?" Queen Haven then put her mouth really close to the screen. "I'll be attending this Maretime Bay Day Festival."

"You will?! Why?!" Zipp questioned her mother.

Before she could get an answer, Cloudpuff flew up to the screen while barking as Queen Haven turned to him. "Yes, it is treat time! I know, I know! See you there, darling!" And just like that, she hung up as the call ended.

"Hey Lukas, did you find anything?" Zipp asked the human.

"Not much yet I'm afraid." He answered, causing Zipp to groan.

"Come on! There's gotta be something!" Zipp then took out a pair of binoculars and looked closely around the town. "Everything on Mane Street appears normal."

"Expect that." Lukas pointed out.

Zipp moved the binoculars to where Lukas was pointing and zoomed in closer to the police station to see Hitch dragging a bag into the station.

"Zipp, I think we've found our first clue." Lukas said as him and Zipp made their way towards the police station.

As it turned out, the bag that Hitch was dragging was filled with sand for the egg that he found on the beach.

"Here you go, little one. I brought you some sand to make you more comfortable. I thought maybe you'd like that." He said gently as he placed a crab plushie beside the egg as Hitch's crab deputy starred at it as it poked the plushie. "Lookin' rosy and cozy! Now who wants to hear a story?"

"We do." Zipp answered.

Hitch gave a small yelp at the sudden arrival. "Zipp, Lukas!" He then quickly slammed the cupboard doors shut. "Wow. You two are sneaky. What are you doing here?"

"We had an instinct, so we followed it. And we were right." Zipp exclaimed as she slammed her hooves on the desk. "You have been hiding something!"

Zipp then proceeded to fly over the desk and onto the cupboard the egg was hiding in.

"Hey!" Hitch called out, trying to stop her.

However, this was proven to be unsuccessful as Zipp opened the cupboard as she looked inside to see the very thing that Hitch was hiding.

"Wait, what is that?" Lukas asked.

"No clue." Hitch replied. "I saw it on the beach, and I just knew it needed help."

"Oh, so that's what you meant by taking something from the beach." Lukas said, recalling what Hitch had said at the Bright House.

Hitch nodded. "I just-"

"Had an instinct and followed it?" Zipp finished.

"Yeah." Hitch replied as Zipp flew down to him. "Hey, uh, would you two mind keeping this between us for now?"

"Sure. we can Zipp it." She said while pretending to zipp her mouth.

"Nice one, Zipp." Lukas chuckled, before Zipp looked at Hitch with a smug face.

"What?" Hitch asked, confused as to why she was looking at him like that.

"So... you gonna read us that story now or what?" Zipp questioned.

Suddenly, Zipp's phone chimed as she took it out and looked at it, seeing that Pipp was frequently texting her, using exclamation marks and crying emojis, showing that something was going on.

"Oh, no!" Zipp said worriedly.

To be continued...