All was going well in the town of Maretime Bay, ever since Lukas, the human, and his new pony friends reunited all the three pony tribes together again and restored magic. Now unicorns and Pegasi are flying around and using magic freely now, but that wasn't all. The annual Maretime Bay Day Festival is fast approaching, originally a festival celebrated by only Earth ponies, but can now be enjoyed by everypony. Just above the bustling town, a hot air balloon was floating peacefully as its occupant looked down at the view below, this occupant was a human by the name of Lukas Hart.
"Man, I can't wait to visit Maretime Bay again." He said to himself, overlooking the town. "I'm sure Sunny and the rest of the group will be very pleased to see me again."
Unfortunately, while Lukas was thinking about being reunited with Sunny, Izzy, Hitch, Pipp and Zipp, he forgot to lower down the hot air balloon and soon enough, he wasn't over the town of Maretime Bay anymore, but instead was above the outskirts of the town, much to his disappointment.
"Dang it, I overshot it." He moaned. "Oh well, I might as well make the landing now."
It wasn't long until Lukas' hot air balloon had reached solid ground, but as he got out, he then spied a familiar looking Pegasus flying through the clear blue sky, Lukas knew immediately who it was.
"Zipp! Zipp!" Lukas called out, trying to get her attention, but she was so far up in the sky that there was no way she'd be able to hear him from the ground.
The human then started waving his arms up in the air, hoping she would notice him, and sure enough, Zipp did see him despite how high up she was. The moment Zipp locked eyes with Lukas, the Pegasus quickly flew down as fast as she could finally being reunited with Lukas.
"Lukas?" Zipp asked in shock. "What are you doing back here?"
"Well it's been a couple of months, so I figured I'd revisit and see how things are going." He replied.
"Well, you came here at the right time, because I might actually need your help with something." Zipp explained as Lukas seemed intrigued.
"Go on." Lukas said, interested in what Zipp meant by that.
Zipp and Lukas were both flying towards the Pegasi city, Zephyr Heights, well more accurately, Zipp was the only one flying as Lukas was riding on her back, feeling a bit uneasy as he was worried about losing his balance and falling to his death.
"So remind me what we're doing again Zipp." Lukas said, still unable to wrap his head around what was happening.
"Well, you see." Zipp began. "Pipp wants me to collect her lucky microphone from Zephyr Heights, but I don't want to end up getting roped into another princess lecture with my mom, so we need to be extra sneaky about this."
"Oh yeah, another heist mission, because as we both know, that went so smoothly the last time we did this. "Lukas said sarcastically, remembering what happened back at Pipp's performance.
"Yeah, let's hope things don't go as disastrous this time." Zipp replied, cringing at that memory also.
As Zipp carried Lukas over to the castle of Zephyr Heights, Lukas was thinking about a way that they could get inside without getting spotted. Zipp then flew up close towards one of the closed windows of the castle.
"Okay Zipp. How are we gonna get in?" Lukas wondered as he kicked the window, trying to get it open.
It came as a shock to Lukas when the window actually ended up opening from the force of the kick as both him and Zipp had easy access to the inside of the castle.
"Oh, that's how." Lukas replied to his own question.
"So did you get it yet, Zipp?" A familar sounding voice asked over Zipp's radio, it was her own sister, Pipp Petals
"Almost." Zipp replied quietly, so Lukas wouldn't hear. "I have some extra help as well. I'll bring it in no time."
"Well, hurry uuuuup!" Pipp groaned impatiently.
"On it. Maximum sneaky engaged." Zipp replied with a smirk.
Suddenly, both Zipp and Lukas heard the sound of hoofsteps approaching as the two Pegasi guards Zoom Zephyrwing and Thunder were walking up towards the two. Quickly, Lukas hid behind a nearby pillar, he went so quickly that he didn't see where Zipp went. He saw the two guards walk up to the window and close it, before walking away. Lukas came out of his hiding space, only to find out that Zipp was flying within a few feet above the two guards.
"Really Zipp? That's the best hiding spot you could come up with?" He asked.
The two of them continued their little heist mission as Zipp was sneaking through the seemingly empty hallways, as she looked around for any ponies that may be nearby.
"Um, I don't think nobody else is around, Zipp." Lukas assured her.
"You can never be too cautious, Lukas." Zipp responded as she looked up at a framed picture of her and Pipp as fillies in front of the queen herself. "Hey mom." She said to the picture.
Zipp then eyed upon a pair of transparent doors with a touch pad next to it, Zipp walked over to it and put her hoof up to the touch pad as it scanned his hoof, allowing her access inside.
"So I'm guessing that's where Pipp's lucky microphone is?" Lukas wondered.
"Uh-huh." Zipp nodded as both her and Lukas went inside and looked around the room, it wasn't long until they saw the microphone stored in a bell jar. Without wasting any more time, Zipp swiftly grabbed the microphone as they both started to make their escape.
"Huh, that was easier than I thought it was gonna be." Lukas thought to himself as he ran with Zipp, who was talking to Pipp on the other side of her radio.
"Mission accomplished!" Zipp said proudly.
"Good! Now fly fast!" Pipp instructed.
"No problems with that." Zipp chuckled as Lukas climbed back on top of her. "Hold tight, Lukas!"
And with their heist mission completed without any issues, Zipp and Lukas then started to make their way back to Maretime Bay as Lukas was looking forward to being reunited with Sunny, Izzy, Pipp and Hitch.
Lukas wasn't used to riding on top of a Pegasus and was constantly worried about falling, and Zipp doing tricks in the air weren't helping at all. He also felt a little bit dizzy as Zipp performed one back-flip after the other. His expression must've been noticeable because Zipp pointed it out as they flew closer to the town of Maretime Bay.
"You okay there, Lukas?" She asked with concern.
"Yeah, I'm totally fine from being flung around like a rag-doll." Lukas said sarcastically.
Just as Zipp was about to respond, a voice then called out. "Aah! Watch out!"
Suddenly, both Lukas and Zipp saw two Pegasi fillies bump into each other as they started falling to the ground. Acting fast, Zipp then raced down to catch the two fillies in her hooves, and despite the weight of Lukas and the fillies combined, she still managed to carry them.
"Heads up, everypony!" She exclaimed as she flew to the ground, placing the fillies down safely as Lukas got off her back as he felt like everything was spinning.
"I'm so sorry. Thank you, Princess Zipp." One of the fillies said gratefully.
"Zipp. Just call me Zipp. And don't worry about it. The magic from the Unity Crystals in the Brighthouse is new to all of us. It takes practice." She replied,
The unity crystals Zipp was talking about were displayed inside of Sunny's new home, the Crystal Brighthouse, since Sprout ended up destroying her old home only a few months ago, but then, for some unknown reason, the crystals started glitching, and that wasn't a good sign.
As Zipp and Lukas made their way into Maretime Bay, they both saw Sunny, Izzy, Pipp and Hitch in the distance. Pipp held her phone out in front of Sunny, as if she was videoing her.
"Okay Lukas." Zipp began as she turned over to the human. "You hide behind that building and I'll tell you when you can come out, I want your revisit to be a surprise."
Lukas nodded in response as he went to do what Zipp had instructed her as the rebellious princess sped off to meet with her pony friends, who were wondering about her whereabouts.
"Where is she?" Pipp groaned. "I really wanted to use my-"
"Lucky microphone." Zipp finished, presenting her just that.
"There she is." Izzy proclaimed.
Pipp was happy that her sister had returned, but was still demanding answers. " What took you so long? Don't tell me you were sneaking around the palace again." Zipp winked at her as Pipp sighed. "You know you can just enter through the main doors. It's our house."
"But if Mom knew I was there, I'd get stuck doing one of her random princess lessons." Zipp explained, giving the microphone over to Sunny.
"Good point." Pipp said, thinking Zipp's reasoning was justified.
"It's just a bummer Lukas couldn't make it here." Izzy moped.
"Actually, Izzy, it's kind of funny that you brought him up." Zipp smirked
"What do you mean by that, Zipp?" Sunny asked as Zipp looked behind her.
"You can come out now!" She called out to Lukas.
Taking that as his cue, Lukas walked out from behind the building and towards the group as they couldn't believe who was standing right in front of them.
"Hey guys, what did I miss?" He asked casually as the group of ponies all gasped.
"LUKAS!?" Sunny, Izzy, Pipp and Hitch all exclaimed in unison.
"Yep, that's me."
Then the next thing he knew, he was suddenly brought in a crushing bear hug, courtesy of Izzy. "Oh I'm so glad you're back Lukas!" She said excitedly.
"Glad to be back too, Izzy." Lukas replied as Izzy released him from the hug.
"So, what brings you back to Maretime Bay, Lukas?" Sunny asked.
"Well, it's been a few months since I was here, so I decided to come visit again." Lukas responded as he looked around the town. "It looks like things are still going well around here."
"Hm-mm." Izzy nodded. "We're just getting ready for Maretime Bay Day."
"Oh, is that like some kind of festival or something?" Lukas wondered.
"It sure is." Izzy replied.
As it turns out, the reason why Pipp was had her phone in front of Sunny's face eariler was because she was preparing Sunny to give a live message to the ponies who still lived in Bridlewood and Zephyr Heights, informing them about the upcoming Maretime Bay Day festival.
"Okay, Sunny. Just remember. Pretend you're talking to us and not, like, all of Equestria, and you'll do great." She advised, but it didn't seem to work as Sunny was still nervous about this, but before she could back out, Pipp hit record on her phone. "You're live... now."
"Like, "now" now?" Sunny asked nervously as Pipp nodded in response.
With that, Sunny began. "Uh... Hey, everypony! I'm Sunny Starscout, and I live here in Maretime Bay with my friends. A lot has changed around here in the past few months. Maretime Bay used to be the place just us Earth ponies live, just like how unicorns always stayed in Bridlewood and Pegasi never left Zephyr Heights. But when we found the three Unity Crystals and brought them back together, it brought us back together! All pony kinds were reunited in friendship! Now anypony can live... anywhere! And... we have magic again!"
As the ponies continued talking about Maretime Bay Day and its festivities, Lukas looked at The Crystal Brighthouse in the distance and he thought it looked a rather nice place to live in. Lukas was glad Sunny's old lighthouse got upgraded ever since Sprout destroyed it a couple of months ago, it seemed like it was only yesterday that Sunny transformed into an Alicorn. But as Lukas eyed the building holding the unity crystals, he saw that they started glitching slightly like it did before, but only this time, he saw it as clear as day.
Before Lukas was about to tell the group about that strange occurrence, a nearby bird swooped in and snatched Pipp's phone in its beak while Hitch was holding it, much to Pipp's distraught.
"Hitch, my phone!" She gasped dramatically.
"Don't worry, Pipp, we'll get it back." Lukas assured her as him and the rest of the ponies chased after the bird.
Lukas and his pony friends chased the bird, which still had Pipp's phone in its beak, the chase led the group all throughout the town of Maretime Bay, and even Zipp had a near-collision with the tram. Eventually, they chased the bird all the way to the outskirts of the town, which led them to a big, grassy field. Izzy was in front of the group as the bird eventually dropped Pipp's phone and the unicorn caught it with her magic, before it suddenly fizzed out, causing Izzy to lose her focus as she tripped over a rock and slid on the ground. Luckily, she was able to catch Pipp's phone, before she promptly crashed into a flower bed as the rest of the group approached her.
"Got it!" Izzy proclaimed as she blew leaves off her face. "Oh, hey, look. It's still on." She then gave Pipp her phone back.
"See you at the festival!" Pipp said, ending the livestream.
"Are you alright there, Izzy?" Lukas asked.
"Oh, yeah, oh, yeah. I mean, a little ground glitter never hurt anypony." Izzy chuckled in response as she took out more leaves from her mane.
"Well, thank hoofness for magic." Sunny said with a smile.
"Oh, yeah!" Izzy agreed.
"Definitely." Pipp added.
"Fo' sho'." Zipp finished.
"Well, I, for one, do not agree." An angry voice called out.
Everybody turned over to see an Earth pony coming out of her house, her name was Posey Bloom, she was a yellow earth pony with light brown hooves. She had a pink tail tied in a green bow, and similarly, a pink mane tied back in a ponytail with a green bow. Her eyes were green and she wore a beaded necklace with a five-leafed clover.
"And who might you be?" Lukas wondered, not recognizing her.
"That's not important right now." Posey answered in a rather rude tone.
"Is this about your flowers, Posey?" Sunny asked. "It was an accident, but we'll fix them right away."
"No." Posey replied as she walked closer towards the group. "What I meant was that I wish magic had never come back. And I'm not the only pony around here who thinks so."
"Uh, what do you mean?" Sunny questioned.
"You Pegasi are always flying too fast! O-Or too low! Or too high up!" Posey complained.
"What's wrong with flying high up?" Pipp asked.
"Ugh! I just don't like it, okay?! And every time I'm at the market, there's some smug unicorn using their magic to shop!" She continued, referring back to something that happened to her earlier. "I almost got hit in the head by a bag of floating apples yesterday!"
"Well, maybe you should just watch where you're going." Lukas pointed out, but Posey ignored him as she went on with her rant.
"Magic is not very safe. At least not for the rest of us ponies who don't have it." Posey then walked over towards the only Earth pony in the group. "Right, Sheriff Hitch?"
"Uh... I don't know if I would say that." Hitch stammered as Posey just growled at him.
"Well, what about you?" Posey then pointed a hoof at Lukas.
"What about me?" Lukas asked, confused as to why she dragged him into this conversation.
"Don't you have any magic?" Posey wondered as she inspected Lukas. "I don't see a horn on you or anything, surely you feel the same way."
"Oh. Well, I guess I haven't really thought about that." Lukas said while rubbing the back of his head.
"Uh huh." Posey replied, unconvinced.
"Everypony's just... still learning how to use it. That's all." Sunny said, trying to talk some sense into the grumpy Earth pony. "Magic takes practice."
"Hmph. Then they should do it somewhere else other than my garden!" And with that, Posey stormed off back into her house, slamming the door.
"Okay, wow. She was really nice, right, guys?" Izzy asked.
"I'm not sure if that's the word I'd use, Izzy." Lukas replied, thinking of much better words to describe Posey.
As the rest of the group walked off, Izzy decided to fix up Posey's garden and her broken mailbox with her magic, all the while humming to herself.
"Oh! Come on, Sunny! Let's go home!" Izzy said as she galloped off.
Before Sunny followed the group back to Maretime Bay, she glanced back and saw Posey shut her curtains, clearly not wanting to associate with them.
"Don't worry, Posey. I'm gonna find a way to show you and everypony else just how awesome magic can be."
The group were now heading towards the Crystal Brighthouse, Lukas thought that it looked more amazing up close, but when he saw the interior, he couldn't think of anything to say. It was just like Sunny's old lighthouse, but more better-looking, not that Lukas didn't like the lighthouse before, but he was rather impressed with this upgrade.
"Wow Sunny, this place is amazing." Was all Lukas could say.
"Thanks, Lukas." Sunny replied. "It wasn't easy building it."
"Yeah, I can imagine." Lukas chuckled, before Izzy suddenly came up to him.
"Lukas! Lukas! Lukas!" She exclaimed, obviously wanting his attention. "I want to show you something!"
But before Lukas had a chance to respond, Izzy suddenly grabbed him by the arm and took him to the top floor of the Crystal Brighthouse.
"So what did you want to show me?" He asked, turning over to the unicorn.
"Well." Izzy began. "I don't know if you noticed, but I consider myself a bit of an artist."
"Of course I noticed." Lukas replied. "But why are you telling me this?"
"So, the other day, when I was searching for my box of googly eyes in the basement, I found this!" Izzy then reached into a nearby box and pulled out something that surprised Lukas.
"Is that Sunny's old lantern?" He gasped.
"Well, her dad made it for her when she was a filly!" Izzy explained as she continued. "So I thought I'd fix it up for her as Maretime Bay Day present."
"Aw, that's so thoughtful of you, Izzy." Lukas said. "And I'm assuming you want me to keep this a secret?"
"Yup!" Came the unicorn's short reply.
"Well I sure do love surprises!" Lukas squealed. "Your secret is safe with me."
Later that day, the group was busy making pizza, presumably for the upcoming Maretime Bay Day Festival. Since he loved pizza, Lukas was more than happy to lend a helping hand with the preparations.
"I love the sweet smell of flour." Lukas sighed, before he noticed Zipp was rather quiet as she stared off into space. "Zipp?" He tried to get her attention, but to no avail. Lukas then slowly walked towards her, careful not to catch the Pegasus off-guard.
"Zipp?" He asked again, but he still got no answer. "ZIPP!" He exclaimed, finally snapping her out of her trance.
"Huh?!" Zipp said confusingly, not aware that she had zoned off. "Oh, hey Lukas."
"Uh, you okay Zipp?" Lukas asked worriedly. "You seem a bit.. out of it."
"Oh. Sorry. Just thinking about something weird that happened earlier." Zipp replied.
"The thing with Posey?" Lukas hypothesized.
"Oh, uh... yeah. That." Zipp stuttered, but judging from that response, Lukas wasn't sure if that was the actual reason.
"Same here." Sunny added. "How could she not love magic?"
"Earth ponies have never had magic before. Maybe Posey's jealous." Hitch suggested as he rolled out the dough with a rolling pin.
"Jealous?" Pipp asked.
"Well, that's one way to put it, Hitch." Lukas said as Hitch gave his reason as to why he thought that.
"I know I am. Magic seems a little scary, but it would be pretty cool to be able to levitate things."
"Like this?" Izzy asked as she levitated an uncooked pizza over herself while the others stared.
Suddenly, a crab walked by while holding a mixing bowl. Izzy looked at the crab, causing her magic to go out and the pizza ended up right on her horn, but she didn't seem bothered at all by it as the others laughed.
"Mmm! Worth it." Izzy hummed.
"Ah, you're right, Hitch. That is soooo much better than flying." Pipp agreed.
"So have you figured out the whole "magical wings and horn appearing at random times" thing yet?" Zipp asked Sunny.
"No. And it's been getting worse." Sunny replied sadly.
"How so?" Lukas questioned.
"Well, just the other day, I was just working in my smoothie cart, when suddenly, POOF! My wings and horn just appeared out of nowhere."
"Wow, that does sound troublesome to have to deal with." Lukas thought.
"Maybe Posey has a point. Magic is unpredictable." Zipp added.
Sunny pondered over this for a moment, before a timer let out a small ding, signalling that the pizza had finished cooking.
"It may be unpredictable, but it's not dangerous." She pointed out as she took the pizza off of the stove and tossed it into the air as Izzy sliced it into six equal slices. "We just need to show the Earth ponies that magic is nothing to be afraid of. It makes Equestria a... a better place. And it's fun!"
"Now that sounds like a great idea." Lukas said with a mouthful of pizza.
"Wow! Are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?" Izzy asked optimistically.
"I think I might be." Sunny replied.
"All right, everybody. On the count of three. One... two... three... Floating parade! Right?" Izzy wondered if that was the same idea everyone else had, but judging from their faces, they seemed to have had a different plan in mind.
"Not exactly, but close. We're going to use Maretime Bay Day as our chance to show off all the amazing things magic can do! Then everypony will remember just how special it is that we have friendship and magic in our lives again! Are you guys in?"
"Yeah!" Izzy responded.
"Definitely, definitely!" Pipp added, also on board with Sunny's plan.
"I'm in." Hitch called out.
"So am I." Lukas exclaimed.
Suddenly, Zipp's phone started ringing as she pulled it out of her wing, and she wasn't happy over who was calling her.
"Uggh!" She groaned as she went off to answer the call, even though she really didn't want to...
Zipp went up to the top floor of the Crystal Brighthouse, where the unity crystals were being kept. Reluctantly, Zipp answered the call, and it was none other than her own mother and queen of Zephyr Heights, with her ear being the only thing in frame.
"Zephyrina? Are you there? H-Hello? I can't see you." Queen Haven wondered as she showed her full face.
"Hi, Mom." Zipp greeted in a disgruntled tone.
"Oh, there you are." Haven chuckled to herself. "It's been ages since I've seen my fillies!" She explained as Cloudpuff barked loudly. "At least Pupp answers her phone when I call her." Cloudpuff then went up to the screen and licked it. "You never do. And you haven't visited Zephyr Heights at all."
"Nope! You're right! I definitely have not been to Zephyr Heights!" Zipp laughed nervously.
"Well, it's not like you can't fly now, darling. Oh! Cloudpuff wants to say hi! Who's Mommy's little baby? You are!" She cooed while nuzzling his snout. "You were saying?"
"Oh, it was just-" Zipp began, but Queen Haven quickly interrupted her.
"Listen, Zipp, dear. I called because I'm gonna need you to move back home, okay?"
"What?! No! No way!" Zipp exclaimed in shock.
"I know you've had your fun with your new friends and all, but you're a princess, darling. You're going to be queen one day." Haven reminded her daughter.
"I know. What about Pipp though?" Zipp asked her mother.
"Well, your sister has a little salon project, and while I do like the idea of you being there to keep an eye on her, let's face it, she livestreams everything." Haven pointed out, "so that's not really necessary. You're the one I need here, studying my every move and representing the royal family."
"But I'm not sure if I'm ready to leave just yet." The athletic Pegasus moaned.
"And why wouldn't you be?" Haven asked, waiting for an answer.
Zipp didn't know how to respond to that statement, she really didn't want to leave Maretime Bay, after all, she just moved here with Pipp.
"Ummm... there's a festival soon?" Zipp stuttered, hoping that would be a reasonable excuse, which it was.
"Hmm. I do suppose festival planning does count as a useful skill for your future on the throne." Queen Haven thought. "As queen, you'll be responsible for arranging state dinners, teas, parties..."
"Uh... Oh! You're... breaking... up!" Zipp said while mimicking staic sounds, clearly not wanting this phone call to go on much longer.
Zipp then hung up and put her phone back into her wings, groaning as she did so. She then walked onto the balcony and saw the view of Maretime Bay, the town that she would soon have to leave. At that moment, Sunny and Lukas walked up towards the saddened Pegasus.
"Hey Zipp, you've been up here for a while." Lukas said with concern.
"Yeah, Is everything okay?" Sunny questioned with a frown.
"Yeah. It's just that... I love it here in Maretime Bay so much. I don't want to leave yet." Zipp admitted, much to Lukas and Sunny's shock.
"Leave?" Sunny exclaimed.
"What are you talking about?" Lukas asked.
"Go back to Zephyr Heights." Zipp said sadly.
"But you just got here!" Sunny pointed out, what Zipp had been thinking about earlier.
"I know. I'm not ready to become a full-time, heir-to-the-throne princess yet." Zipp whined. "Not the way my mom expects me to be anyway. But... I'm not sure if I fit in here either."
"Of course you do!" Sunny said in a sympathetic voice.
"Even if all I do is fly around and try out new moves?" Zipp asked as she flew up just above the two.
"Of course, Zipp." Lukas confirmed. "You're really good at flying and nobody can take that away from you."
"And as Izzy would say." Sunny began, before she started to intimate Izzy. "It makes your sparkle shine really bright!"
"Wow Sunny, that's a pretty good Izzy impression." Lukas said, impressed.
"Thanks, I've been practicing." Sunny replied.
"I don't know, guys." Zipp said, unsure. "Maybe my mom is right. Maybe I should just go back to Zephyr Heights and really try to be the kind of princess everypony is hoping for." She then sighed to herself. "I'm going to have to do it someday."
"At least stay until Maretime Bay Day. Then you can decide." Sunny suggested.
"Yeah Zipp." Lukas added with a smile. "I'm sure it will be fun."
"Okay, yeah. I guess I can't miss that." Zipp said, coming to her senses.
"Now come on." Sunny encouraged. "We have a festival to plan, and it needs your magic, too."
And with that, Sunny and Lukas then walked off to prepare for the festival. Just then, they both saw two Pegasi flying by, when suddenly, they started to fall out of the sky.
"That's not good." Zipp gasped.
But just when she was about to save them, the two Pegasi went right back to flying again, like nothing had even happened.
"Weird." Zipp thought.
Meanwhile on the bottom floor of the Crystal Brighthouse, Sunny, Lukas, Pipp and Izzy were decorating without a care of the world, completely unaware about what was happening with the unity crystals.
"Ribbon wreaths are the traditional decoration of Maretime Bay Day." Sunny explained as she held up a yellow colored wreath with a big red bow and a few orange bows around it. "We hang them on our front doors, on Mane Street... Everywhere!"
"Cuuuute!" Pipp said as she took out another wreath, coughing. "A little dusty, but cute."
Izzy gasped. "I once made a wreath out of old teaspoons!" She explained while levitating a teaspoon, just to prove her point.
"How... creative of you, Izzy." Lukas complimented and walked over to the group, having just finished decorating the walls with wreaths
"Yeah, loving that idea." Pipp added, before she came up with an idea of her own. "Maybe we can add some unicorn and Pegasus flair to these ones, too.
Izzy gasped at that response and ran off. She then started throwing items all over the place while Pipp used the wreath she was holding as a makeshift shield as Lukas tried his best to dodge the trajectory. Soon, Izzy came back with a plethora of teaspoons in her magical aura, and there were even teaspoons lodged in her mane.
"Now... where did I leave my suitcase full of glitter?" She asked as her mouth was full of teaspoons.
As Izzy went off to find her suitcase with glitter, Sunny then noticed someone was missing.
"Uh, anypony seen Zipp?" She asked.
On cue, Zipp flew in. "What's with all the spoons?"
"Oh, we're uni-cycling these old decorations. Do you want to try?" Izzy asked, but Zipp didn't look like she wanted to.
"Uh, decorating things isn't really my strong point." Zipp stated while walking over towards the door, with Sunny following beside her.
"We could do something else. What about baking Bay Day treats?" Sunny suggested.
"I'm not very good at baking either." Zipp retorted.
"Or write a song for the big concert!" Sunny said as Pipp flew up to her sister.
"Ooh! Zipp, you used to love writing song lyrics with me!"
"I-I don't think so." Zipp stuttered while walking away.
"Wait!" Sunny called out. "I'm sure we can find something that you'd like to do."
"Uh, maybe later. Bye!" Was the last thing Zipp said as she ran out the doors, leaving a confused Sunny and Lukas behind.
"Why do I get the feeling Zipp doesn't want to do anything with us?" Lukas asked suspiciously.
"You and me both, Lukas." Sunny added.
"Good morning, station! Sheriff Hitch here, reporting for duty!" Hitch proclaimed as he and his deputies entered the police station, ready for the day ahead of them.
Hitch jumped onto his chair and adjusted the lamp on his desk as his deputies, two birds and a crab, walked over to him as the two birds saluted him.
"At ease, deputies." Hitch instructed as he put his front hooves on his hips. "So what do you say? Which Sheriff-y things should we do today in Maretime Bay? Hey, hey, heeeey!" He said in a sing-song voice while spinning around on his chair.
At that moment, Zipp entered the office, interrupting Hitch's singing session.
"Oof. Are you trying to rhyme?" Zipp asked.
"Oh, hey, Zipp. Yeah, what did you think?" Hitch questioned.
"Way too much." Zipp replied honestly.
"Cool, cool. Just trying something out. Didn't work. Good feedback." Hitch said as he cleared his throat. "So what can I do for you?"
"I came by because... well..." Zipp trailed off as she looked around the room, not sure how to put this. "Have you seen anything... strange lately?"
"Strange?" Hitch asked, getting out a pencil and writing something in his notebook which was held by the crab. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I was on the balcony earlier when..." Zipp began, before she decided to drop the subject. "Y-You know what? It was probably nothing. Forget it." As she headed for the exit, Hitch stopped her in her tracks.
"Wait. I know what this is about." He exclaimed.
"You do?" Zipp asked with a worried face as Hitch got off of his chair.
"Yup. Mm-hmm. You're... bored." Right when Hitch said that, Zipp had a deadpanned face. "But you don't have to be shy. We're pals! We can totally hang out! I know. Let's order fries from three different diners and then decide which ones are the best! Or maybe a puzzle!"
Suddenly, the phone on Hitch's desk began to ring, getting the sheriff's attention.
"A call?" Hitch asked himself as he raced over to the phone and answered it. "Sheriff station." He said in an authoritative voice. "Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I see. Really? How strange. At the beach? Well, I'll be right there." Hitch assured the pony on the other side of the line as he jotted down what they were saying in his notebook, before he promptly hung up the phone.
"It appears we have a code eight-eighteen at the beach. Want to come on a trot-along with me, Zipp?" Hitch asked, turning over to where Zipp was standing, but instead, he saw the door quickly close, meaning that Zipp had left while Hitch was making the call.
"Aaaand I'm talking to nopony." Hitch sighed as the crab pinched its claws.
Later that day, Hitch and his deputies had arrived at the beach to assess the situation. However, when they arrived, nothing out of the ordinary was happening.
"Hmm. Looks normal to me." Hitch said to himself.
"What do you mean something strange happened?! You did it on purpose!" An angry voice exclaimed.
Hitch turned over to see an Earth pony and a unicorn arguing with each other because an umbrella was perched on top of the Earth pony's sand castle, like the unicorn had dropped the umbrella onto it.
"I did not!" The unicorn protested.
"I saw you use your magic to drop your umbrella onto my sand castle!" The Earth pony retorted.
"I'm telling you, it wasn't me! I was carrying it, and then my magic just went away!" The unicorn explained, but the Earth pony still wasn't buying it.
"I don't believe you!" The Earth pony shot back.
"But I'm telling the truth!" The unicorn assured the Earth pony.
Hitch cleared his throat and walked over towards them. "Is everypony okay over here?"
"Sheriff Hitch!" The unicorn exclaimed, surprised to see him. "I promise I didn't mean to ruin everything! My magic..."
"I worked on that castle all day!" The Earth pony angrily called out.
While this was happening, Zipp was watching the scene from afar. Suddenly, Zipp's phone rang as it bounced around, Zipp had difficulty catching her phone, but she eventually caught it and saw that her mom, Queen Haven was the one calling her, but Zipp wasn't in the mood to talk to her at the moment, so she briefly declined her call, before she started a voice recording.
"Thursday, noon, beach. Second magical mishap. Levitation glitch. Unicorn drops umbrella. Lots of upset ponies. Very strange. Must investigate further."
Zipp then started to fly up, when all of a sudden, her wings started glitching out, causing her to drop back on the ground, much to her worry.
"Oh, no! Please, no!" Zipp panicked.
She tried to fly up again, but the same thing happened, her wings glitched and she fell onto the ground. When she looked over at the Crystal Brighthouse, the rainbow beam in the center was glitching as well. Zipp gasped at this, before she gave it one final effort, this time successful as she was now airborne. Happy now that she could fly properly now, she raced over to the Brighthouse. As Zipp flew over to the entrance, Sunny opened the door.
"Zipp! There you are!" She exclaimed excitedly.
"Oh, hey!" Izzy poked her head out from behind the door. "Coming to town with us to gather more supplies for the new-and-improved Maretime Bay Day?"
"Oh. Wish I could, but-" Zipp trailed off as she walked inside.
"Let me guess, you're not able to." Lukas assumed.
"No." Zipp answered. "It's because... I'm working on my surprise thing for Maretime Bay Day! Yeah! H-Have fun!"
"Okay, Zipp is definitely hiding something." Lukas thought, the others agreeing.
Zipp was in fact inspecting the unity crystals to make sure that no more glitches happened. She then pulled out her phone and made another voice recording.
"Thursday, 12:15. Crystals – normal. Pris-beam energy – intact." She then put away her phone.
But little did she know, the glitching was only going to get worse.
To Be Continued...
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...
