Summer Sun Scavengerby Joshua CrapoChaptersTeaser/Cold OpenAct 1Act 2Act 3Teaser/Cold OpenIt’s been a few days since my last birthday party, the third one here in Equestria. The strange thing is that the one before that was shortly before all this retirement business with Celestia, Luna and Chrysalis. And since my birthday passed already, Cozy Glow has actually been staying with me, Twilight and the rest for the summer. And before anyone asks, yes, Cozy was at my party. She and Starlight collaborated to make the food there. It only seemed like yesterday that Starlight used to freak out over collaborating, and now she’s the one to come up with the idea. Currently at the castle dining room, Cozy, Spike and I are playing a classic game of War after Spike cleaned the table off from breakfast. The cards we use are the same ones from almost two years ago when Twilight, Sunset and I went on our friendship mission. I use my magic to handle my cards, Spike uses his claws, but all Cozy can do is flip the top card forward with her hoof and launch it overtop, so when she wins, I just put the cards out onto her winnings deck. Spike’s winnings deck has the most cards currently. “One, two, three…” I count during a particular round, prompting all of us to flip over our top cards. I have an eight, and Cozy and Spike have an ace each. “WAR!” the two shout in excitement. All I can do is watch as Spike and Cozy start a three card buffer, Cozy launching hers and Spike simply laying down his. When they show their next card, there is a jack on Cozy’s side and a seven on Spike’s. “Ha! A jack!” Cozy points to her card. Spike faceclaws. “Ugh! It’s always a seven!” “Come on, Spike. Aita didn’t partake in half the round and you don’t see her complaining.” I float the laid out cards and realign them and put them into Cozy’s winnings. “I’m the dealer, Cozy, so I kinda can’t.” Cozy and I widen our eyes when Spike puffs up his cheeks, turns around and burps up a letter. “Huh. I wonder who that is,” I say, floating the letter to myself. Dear Sibling Supreme Aita, The Summer Sun Celebration is tomorrow, so while sis is handling the main event, I would love to see you there in the crowd, watching her properly raise the sun for the first time. So to pass the night, I have a little something for you to track down as a belated birthday present. Love Shining Armor. P.S. This hunt is between you, me, and your teammates. I mumble out what I read and gasp when the thought sinks in. “Spike! Cozy! Do you guys know what this means?!?” The two look at each other as if they don’t know. “It means Shining Armor has invited me to Canterlot for a scavenger hunt! I’ve always wanted to do that since Twilight’s surprise with Flurry Heart!” I toss the invitation letter in the air, letting it float down. “Flurry Heart? Was she the one that was over a couple of times for the weekend while I was here?” asks Cozy, which Spike and I nod. “Golly, do you think we should tell Twilight?” “The letter did say no to that, but what do you say? Scavenger hunt?” I hold my hoof out in front of Cozy and Spike. “Scavenger hunt!” they say, putting their claw and hoof on top of mine. Act 1At the foyer, Cozy Glow, Spike and I see Twilight and her friends coming up stop. “Aita? Cozy Glow? You’re going too?” I nod at Twilight. “But I thought George and Kevin were going to watch over you two.” “Well they did say to spend more time with you,” I reply. “Can’t do that while you’re gone.” “But that was ten months ago. Surely you should be feeling all better by now, Aita.” Cozy Glow realizes what I was trying to do and flies up to Twilight. “I wouldn’t worry about it. We just wanted to see the sun rise just like everypony else. We decided to have a little fun while we waited.” Wow! Cozy is WAY better at this than I am. Could that’ve been from lobbying the Happy Foals school board last year? Twilight grins. “Oh, okay. I’m sure you two will be safe, playing in the castle. Hope it goes well.” When she and her friends leave, she looks back at Spike, who is staying with us. “Aren’t you coming, Spike?” “I’ll catch up in a bit. You guys go ahead.” And with that, Twilight and her friends close the door, leaving me and Cozy with Spike. “Wow, Cozy, I don’t think I’ve seen anypony so talented at that,” I remark. Cozy wraps her hoof around me. “I couldn’t just sit there and let one of my best friends spill the beans on accident, ironic as it may seem. If you need a secret kept safe, I’m your filly, Aita.” Something about what Cozy said was a bit off to me. I might want to talk to Spike about it. I also realize something else. I could still be called by the map one more time before I become more than just the Sibling Supreme. “I just realized,” I tell her. “that the map uses the stylus for my DS to call me. I might need that in case that happens.” “You mean that plastic brick you had back in LOLO?” She’s correct in her description at least, so I nod getting her to run off to my room. “You can count on me!” I turn to Spike. “Is something wrong, Aita?” he asks me. “Spike, something about Cozy’s comment didn’t sit right. Would you agree?” “Eh, I guess I can see where you’re coming from. You should’ve witnessed first hoof how our friends treated me when I first went to the dragon lands.” “Oh, I remember seeing that.” I momentarily mimic Spike. “WADDLE?!? UUUGGGHHH!!!” Spike giggles a bit. “Hey, that was pretty good. Maybe that’s what Cozy was talking about.” I cock my upper eyelids. “Come again?” “You do such good impressions of our friends, it’d be crazy to think you’d need somepony to keep the scavenger hunt a secret. She must’ve seen your impressions at some point, right?” I nod yes. “There you go. Just let me know if she makes you feel uncomfortable again. I got your back.” “Thanks, Spike,” I tell him, hugging him. “Maybe it was just my imagination.” When the two of us finish, I grab a nearby saddlebag in time for Cozy to return with my DS. “Okay you two, ready?” Spike and I nod as I put the DS into the saddlebag. I then grab Cozy and Spike and teleport out with them. In Canterlot, it turns out Spike, Aita and Cozy Glow decided to meet me and my friends in Canterlot. While my friends are preparing for the celebration, I’m at the same room I stayed during my first ever royal duties, currently going over - pretty cleanly might I add - the list of responsibilities I have in order to perform the Summer Sun Celebration. Keeping me company are of course, Aita, Spike and Cozy. Celestia and Luna open the room door. “Sorry to interrupt,” Celestia greets. “We know you’re busy planning the Summer Sun Celebration as we requested, but…” They suddenly notice the atmosphere in the room and the accompanying organization compared to how it used to be years ago when I stayed. “Oh!” Luna lightly exclaims as she and Celestia approach me. “Things seem, uh, calmer than we would’ve expected.” “No complaints here,” notes Spike, alongside Aita and Cozy, as he’s reading his comic. I turn and face the princesses, still subconsciously going through a checklist on-magic. “Without exception, I’ve made a lot of progress since adopting Aita, possibly even more so by this point than if I didn’t. You may not know this about me, but I used to freak out.” The sisters look at each other in confusion. “That was a joke. I wanted to show you with the Summer Sun Celebration how much I’ve improved. So I’ve focused on delegating and trusting others. It’s been great!” “That’s actually what we came to talk to you about. This may be the last Summer Sun Celebration you’ll need to plan,” Luna reluctantly explains. “Did I do something wrong?” I ask. “Of course not,” replies Celestia. “It’s just that the celebration has always been about us: my defeat of Luna…” “And thanks to you and your friends, my reunion with my sister.” “Now that we’re leaving, we don’t see a need for the holiday any longer,” Celestia further explains. “Now that you’re…” I start. “My sister and I have decided,” says Celestia. “the time for us to retire is upon us. You and your friends have proven you are ready to lead Equestria. So let this be the last Summer Sun Celebration, as Equestria leaves behind the old to embrace the new.” Luna floats an amulet imbued with their magic to me, which I take. I gulp in slight nervousness. At night, Cozy Glow, Spike and I are the first ones at the hall in front of the throne room. When Twilight left her room, Spike received a letter from Shining Armor, telling us to meet at the throne room and that his key will be in front of the doors. When Cozy and I start for the doors, I notice Spike isn’t doing the same. “Um, aren’t you coming?” I ask. “I wish I could, but I still have to help Twilight and our friends. You and Cozy weren’t planned to be here like I was.” “But you do promise to keep this hunt a secret, right Spike?” Spike nods at Cozy, so I turn around and see Shining Armor’s medal, which I take and press onto the detector to open the throne room door. When I see Shining Armor, he motions for me to close the door after we walk in before Twilight and her friends see us. Shining Armor grins. “So, you brought at least one of your teammates, Aita. Where’s Spike?” “He had to help your sister prepare the festival,” Cozy explains. “I just hope he keeps this scavenger hunt a secret. But for now, you two can play it. On the throne is the first clue, but don’t read it until I head for the final destination.” So, Shining Armor begins marching out of the throne room, retrieving his key from us. He opens the door with it and walks out. Once the door’s closed, I walk to the throne and float the note he pointed out to us to me. “Welcome to your first hunt, sis. I hope you’ll be enjoying this. Your school basement uses ink, so press onward once you think. Hm… Shining Armor’s referring to the Foal Free Press, which uses a printer. And ink in printers typically comes in carts. Cozy, would you happen to know if there’s a hardware store around here?” “I don’t know,” Cozy replies. “Okay then. Why don’t I snap us out and we’ll start looking.” I slide the paper under Celestia’s throne and teleport us to the front of the castle. It isn’t too long after subconsciously noticing Shining Armor that me and my friends gather around in front of the throne room. I am still holding the amulet Luna gave me, still a little nervous about the new stakes of the celebration, and the bulletin board I used earlier is still with me. “My goodness!” Rarity exclaims. “How are you feeling about all this?” I smile reassuringly. “I’m actually fine. But if this is gonna be the last Summer Sun Celebration, I want to make sure it’s the best celebration ever. So even though everything was done, I thought of a few last minute changes I could use your help with.” I teleport out the amulet during my announcement. Oh! The end of a beloved holiday, Sibling Supreme and her friend running around the castle, last minute changes to a celebration? Discord is revealed to be the new voice around here as he teleports in. “That sounds positively CHAOTIC!!!” “What are YOU doin’ here?” Applejack asks in aggravation. “I’ve known Celestia and Luna longer than any of you. I terrorized them, they turned me into stone.” Discord suddenly changes his composition into stone and crumbles to the floor. “If this is the last Summer Sun Situation, I simply can’t miss it.” Now he returns to normal. “Well, I see I’ve arrived just in time for the ‘Twilight gives her friends an impossibly long and overly detailed list’ predicament.” I beam at him, knowing how behind he seems to be in perception of me. “I guess some draconequus isn’t the know-it-all he thinks he is.” I proceed to float six small cards to my friends, who seem to be pleasantly surprised that. “Huh. I thought not freaking out about ruling Equestria was a fluke,” Rainbow Dash remarks. “Has Aita seriously had such a positive effect on you?” I nod. “No more crazy lists. No more freaking out. With your help, I know we’ve got this.” Discord groans. “Character growth is so boring. Do I at least get that restraining order cleared? Or my own note card?” “Look, I know you’re mad about not being able to hang out with Aita like the rest of us. But Celestia has control over that, not me, Chrysalis or even Luna. But, at your request…” I float a white card our of the file pocket on the bulletin board, write a short message on it, and send it over to Discord. “There. Now I need to go rewrite my speech, but if you all look at your cards, you’ll see ALL the changes I’ve enlisted you to make.” Discord sighs as I head for the throne room. “Alright. I guess there was a reason you were picked by Celestia and Luna to raise the sun this final year, just as I did keeping Aita safe last summer.” I turn to him and nod. “Of course, and I appreciate that you did, Discord; really I do. Once the princesses retire, I promise I’ll do what I can so that you two can see each other whenever you want again.” So, my friends wave to me as I finally head into the throne room to begin the rewrite. However, I see a stack a papers behind Celestia’s throne. I fly over to investigate, only to see one square inch of paper jutting out of the front of the throne on the bottom. I float it out and begin reading it. Welcome to your first hunt, sis. I hope you’ll be enjoying this. Your school basement uses ink, so press onward once you think. Looking at the hornwriting, it seems to be from Shining Armor. Reading that first line, I gasp, knowing exactly what’s going on. “Aita and Cozy Glow are on a scavenger hunt by Shining Armor?!?” Suddenly, I hear a few honks around in the room. Right, Shining Armor employed geese to guard the throne room. I better watch my volume in here. “I’ve got to tell my friends about this,” I say to myself, leaving the throne room. “The rewrite can wait. This is too important to ignore.” I’ll also have to find out for sure if Shining Armor is responsible for Cozy and Aita lying. Act 2After having teleported, Cozy Glow and I are now outside of Canterlot Castle. I’m about half familiar with Canterlot, mostly from what I remember seeing over two and a half years ago. But ever since Twilight, Spike and Starlight started hanging out more with Twilight’s old friends, I’ve taken note of a few additional places in relation to the ones I saw beforehoof. “Alright Cozy, once we find a nearby landmark in Canterlot, I should know the rest of the way to the local hardware store.” “And how will we find that?” she asks. “It’s so dark out here, we won’t be able to see the facade.” I momentarily wrap my hoof around Cozy as I give her the main instruction. “Just follow the light of my eyes. Twilight and the rest of us visit her old friends sometimes, and we usually go for some donuts. And I do know I always see something along the lines of our target somewhere between Pony Joe’s and the train station.” While walking, I make sure our movement is efficient and quick. At least now I sort of know my way around here. Once we enter familiar territory, I close my eyes for a moment and charge my horn. Now I can smell in space, but unlike last time, I can pick up on more than just organic scents: I can also pick up on elements as well. To my right, donuts are detected, and on the left, something at least partly metallic. “Aita, why did we stop?” asks Cozy, looking around. “I was using my abilities to find our way,” I explain as we continue our way to the first destination. “I smelt nuts and bolts where we’re headed now. This is what Chrysalis and Carve call trailing.” Now looking to our right, and toward the night sky, we see a storefront labeled with a hammer, saw and screwdriver, me because of my sight alone, and Cozy since I’m looking at the sign. Cozy realizes what trailing means now. “Because that way you always find what you’re looking for!” Entering the store, thirteen aisles in all are present on the sales floor, filled with a variety of tools, metals, plastics and other items a mechanic could potentially use. The outer shelf across the sales floor spans the entire wall while a single counter occupies the front of the wall on our side. Behind the counter, a unicorn stallion with a white coat and orange mane, tail and mustache looks to be working a night shift. His cutie mark depicts a silver wrench. “Oh! Hello there, Aita,” he greets. “How may I help you?” I hover up to the counter, pointing to Cozy when I say her name. “Um, did Shining Armor come by earlier? Cozy Glow and I are on a scavenger hunt that led us here.” “Oh! I think I know who you’re talking about. He said he was leaving a note somewhere.” “The ink carts?” Cozy Glow says as she joins me at the counter, prompting the clerk to confirm. “Mhm. Right across the sales floor in the front.” Cozy and I turn around to see that the clerk is right. We approach the note as I take it off the shelf of ink cartridges and read it. “You need to find the fancy dress as you go and take a guess. This suit is loose, but it’ll fit when buttons always come with it. You know what this means, right?” I ask Cozy, already knowing the destination. “Canterlot Carousel!” the clerk answers for her. “You know the way over from here, right Aita?” I nod and head back out with Cozy behind me. “Thanks for the help. Have a wonderful day!” “You too, Aita, Cozy Glow.” And so, it’s off to Canterlot Carousel we go. Following what happened in the throne room, I begin looking for Shining Armor. Unfortunately, I don’t know where he could be. “Oh, if only I could trail like Aita could.” After what feels like hours, I pass by the ceremony hall, seeing Shining Armor at the doors, but I don’t notice until he’s out of my sight. I gasp and backtrack to the same hall. “Twily?!?” I race toward him. “Shining Armor? Could you explain what’s going on? Why would you send Aita and Cozy Glow on a scavenger hunt without my knowledge?” “Wait a minute; who told you?!?” he frantically asks, looking around. I shake my head. “Nopony. I was in the throne room, preparing to rewrite my speech when I saw your note!” Shining Armor puts a hoof to his chin. “That’s strange. They never took it with them?” “Apparently not! Why would Aita and Cozy lie to me? They said they were just going to be playing in the castle!” In response, my brother just takes a deep breath. “I thought that if I just kept the hunt between them and me, that would be one less thing for you to oversee during the celebration. Looks like Aita had more of an impact on you than I thought, huh? I remember when Flurry Heart was on the way, it took you nearly a minute to go over the clues and figure it out. And now look at you. It only took ONE clue for you to get it.” “Hm… I do remember Aita figured out what she was getting for her birthday two years ago with only a couple of unintentional hints.” Shining Armor hugs me. “I’m sorry, Twily. I should’ve told you I’d be hosting the scavenger hunt for Aita and Cozy Glow.” “It’s okay, BBBFF. At least I learned my lesson about doing the same with Aita. I can only imagine how she felt when I had her step out before Lightning Dust’s welcome party. At least Muffins was there to comfort her. Now, why don’t you go and finish your part of the scavenger hunt.” My brother nods and heads elsewhere in the castle while I head back to the throne room to begin rewriting my speech. Normally, this time of day, I would be asleep at home, but tonight is different, since it is the Summer Sun Celebration. And while Rarity IS in Canterlot, she’s busy helping with the fireworks display troop at Canterlot Castle for the festival there, so I am running Canterlot Carousel as “normal”. As a result, business is rather slow, but manageable. A few hours into the night shift, the bell rings decidedly twice. So, I do the same blind song and dance as I always do. “Welcome to Canterlot Carousel! How may I help-” Suddenly, I notice a young changeling and a pegasus filly together at the entrance. I don’t recognize the latter, what with the pink coat, sky blue curls, ivory ribbons and rook cutie mark, but certainly the former. “Panels and patterns! It’s Aita!” Aita waves hello and floats a piece of paper out of her saddlebag to me. “Hi, Sassy Saddles! Cozy Glow and I found a note at the hardware store that led us here.” “A note? Let’s see.” I take the paper and read it in my head. My eyes widen when I recognize the hornwriting. “It’s from Shining Armor! He stopped by during the day and placed something similar on one of the stallion tuxedos. That appears to be what he was referring to here on this note. Accompany me around back, and you’ll see.” I lead Aita and Cozy Glow to the back of the shop and turn on the lights. Across the room, a manikin dons a particularly smashing stallion tuxedo, buttons and all, only with a note attached to its left side. Aita is wide-mouthed from the suit’s beauty, zipping over to the manikin to examine it further. “Man! I’ve NEVER experienced something so amazing! It’s really too bad I had such a bad response to the chain of retirements and moving last year. I probably would’ve looked really good in that as a drone!” I giggle as she hugs the manikin, feeling the full texture of the tuxedo. “I’m certain you would’ve. What wonderful input, Aita.” Cozy Glow flies over to the manikin, takes the note off and begins reading. “I know you’re reading number three, so take a look among the trees. Over there, a spirit pens when friendships are about to end? All I got from that is that it stems from that friendship mission involving my school that Aita and Chrysalis were on.” “Very interesting! My boss, Rarity, has talked with me in the past about similar quests of hers around Equestria,” I explain. Aita gasps in excitement. “That’s it! The tree of harmony!” “The what?” Cozy squeaks, tilting her head. “Thanks for your help, Sassy Saddles. But Cozy and I will need to get going if we want wanna see the sunrise.” I nod at Aita while she stores the note inside the saddlebag. “Happy to help, fillies. Now, good luck with the hunt.” And so, Aita teleports herself and Cozy out of my boutique, leaving me to my own devices. I take a look at the clock: one in the morning. In the food area, Pinkie Pie begins testing all the carts while I track down Braeburn. Step away from the wagons! Official food tasters on official food tasting business! Pinkie springs from one of the carts, scaring away the rest of the earth ponies while she consumes all the pies within it. I turn to Braeburn and give him the card as he sighs. “It ain’t gonna be easy. But I think we can whip up these new cookies Twilight wants before sunrise.” “If anypony can handle some last minute bakin’, Braeburn,” I say, quietly laughing midway through. “It’s y’all.” “We brought plenty for the celebration, but if she keeps testin’, we might be in trouble.” As Braeburn is talking, Pinkie is eating all the cupcakes on another designated cart, so I walk over and grab her by the tail with my mouth and drag her away from the food. “But I see a suspicious looking COOKIE!” Pinkie shouts. Rainbow Dash and I are consulting Feather Flatterfly about the new changes to the weather. Unfortunately, he ends up freaking out when he first hears. “The princess wants WHAT?!?” He is shown Rainbow Dash’s card as she speaks. “Just what’s on that little card. No big deal.” “No big de-de-” he stops short, his eyes darting around. “G- …I-i-it’s a m-MUCH more aggressive weather pattern than what was originally ordered! This- this is… very… irregular! We’ll need to- No! Uh first, we must- Wait! We c-” Feather Flatterfly starts pacing around like a certain best friend I know would’ve years ago, but after a while yawns from the exhaustion of his freakout, so I approach him and try to comfort him. “Take a breath… Let it out slowly.” He does as I tell him, calming him down significantly. “Tell the princess we will do our best.” “We’re sure you’re doing an excellent job,” I assure him. “D- oh yeah, totally… you’re not gonna panic and screw it up AT. ALL,” Rainbow Dash says, masking her apparent doubts for Feather Flatterfly, but we walk away from him anyway. Rarity and I arrive at the stage to see the unicorn troops practicing their pyrotechnics display for the celebration. “Whoa!” I exclaims as we look up. “The flaiming sky firework troop is a marvel,” remarks Rarity. The leader, Fire Flare, turns around with pride. “We take pride in what we do.” I walk up to the stage and give her me and Rarity’s cards. “These last minute changes aren’t too challenging, are they?” “Ha!” Fire Flare laughs as takes the cards with her magic and reads them. “The more challenging, the better! We aim to astound! Now if you don’t mind, we do have a new routine to prepare.” She gives me back the cards and faces backstage again. “Horns at the ready!” Sounds good enough for me and Rarity, so we quickly leave the unicorns to their work, heading back to the throne hall probably like the rest of us will be doing pretty soon. Act 3I teleport Cozy Glow to in front of the chasm just before the castle of the two sisters. The castle though is not the reason why we are here now. The note Cozy read over led us directly to the chasm itself, and to a cave now all too familiar with me, home to the tree of harmony. As we enter the cave, I notice the note we need is on the very top of the tree. “Well, that was easy,” Cozy notes. “Wait a minute… too easy. We’re missing a part of the rhyme. I’m gonna go see how.” I fly up to the top branch and approach the note, only for that note to blow away behind the tree long before I can reasonably take it with my magic. When I land safely on the ground, Cozy Glow catching up to me, I can see a sparkling bright hologram of Twilight. Ah, Aita Bagley-Handy, Cozy Glow, welcome. Cozy and I look at each other, Cozy realizing what I had meant earlier. “Over there, a spirit pens! Was that what you were talking about?” That was exactly what Aita was talking about, and she was correct about the riddle. Astral Twilight now walks up to us, specifically me. Before you two proceed with the scavenger hunt, there is something I need to tell you for when you meet Princess Twilight Sparkle once more. “Wha…” I look eye to eye with astral Twilight, letting this sight sink in with me. She already knows about your quest, and I assure you her response overall was favorable. “She does?” I ask. “But how did she find out?” After a brief investigation, she went to Shining Armor, who confirmed what she found out. Like I stated earlier, she did not object in the end, so you need not worry about that. Astral Twilight now beams warmly at me. Since your migration to Equestria, Aita, you have been growing more and more, following in your mother, Amplitude’s hoofsteps. The very moment Queen Chrysalis protected you from human Spitfire, I knew you could plant the same seed in others as Amplitude and Carve did for Chrysalis. Exhibit A. She now points her hoof toward Cozy Glow, who looks a little nervous as well as scared. Without you, Aita, it was very much guaranteed Queen Chrysalis couldn’t have led Cozy Glow’s path to good. This leads me to the very next note that I present to you personally. Astral Twilight floats the note to in front of the three of us, reading it aloud to us. You may return, but first you’ll need to meet a pony there, indeed. A president from Cozy’s town is having quite the dance right now. Cozy rubs her chin. “I could tell that’s referring to Heavenly Luck, but where would she be?” “The ball room for the Grand Galloping Gala!” I happily answer. “You may return means we go back to Canterlot Castle!” After teleporting back to the castle, I lead Cozy Glow to the ball room. In the wider hall just before, I can hear a familiar sounding song coming from inside the ball room on a phonograph. I know exactly what it is. I rub my cheeks with my hooves in excitement. “Oh my gosh! Physics Engine!” The song I named comes from one of the games I brought with me when I moved. I burst into the ball room, Cozy following close behind as I begin bobbing my head from left to right. As I walk to the source with my eyes closed due to enjoying the music and suddenly bump into somepony on the back: a pink coated pegasus mare with a yellow curly mane and tail with a spade silhouette for a cutie mark. She turns around and immediately recognizes my teammate. “Cozy Glow!” the mare exclaims, hugging her. “How is our top student in preparation for the summer?” “I’m fine. Thanks for asking… you know my two best friends, right?” The mare lets go of Cozy and turns to me. “Oh how how HOW could I not! You’re the one who helped Cozy out during her field trip, is that about the size of it?” I nod, causing her to shake my hooves. “Golly! What a pleasant surprise to meet you, Aita! I’m Heavenly Luck! What can I do for you and your friend?” I take the tree of harmony’s note out of the saddlebag and show it to Heavenly Luck. “Well, we were lead back to Canterlot Castle, so I wanted to see if there was a note like this around here in the ball room.” Heavenly Luck takes the note in her wing and examines it. “Aha! Shining Armor! I just had to attend the final Summer Sun Celebration when he sent me a letter telling me to participate behind the scenes in your scavenger hunt! Here’s you’re note!” She bucks the phonograph with one backhoof, which not only stops the music, but sends a new note flying out of the bottom of the turntable. I catch it with my magic. “All this time, what have you done to get this far in the hunt for one? By now, the spells that Starlight made should be stored to keep them safe.” When I finish reading, all three of us know exactly what the note is referring to. “The Canterlot Archives!” When Heavenly Luck, Cozy and I leave the ball room, the former parts ways to be a part of the festival coming up while we keep going on our hunt. In the archives, we separate to cover more ground to find the next note. In the process, I find a spell book chained to one of the shelves. “Huh. I wonder if there’s a loose copy of that somewhere,” I say to myself under my breath. “Maybe it was chained up for a-” “Aita look! I found the note!” Cozy Glow pops up on the other side of the room and waves to me before flying up to me. “Amazing, Cozy! Now let’s see…” I take the note and read it. “You made it now, and found the clues. How I am so proud of you. This is the last clue; it’s for real. You may want to go for a meal.” Coincidentally, Cozy Glow’s stomach begins to growl. “Dining room?” “Dining room,” she repeats after me, prompting us to dash out of the archives. At the dining room, Shining Armor is there to greet me and Aita. I notice a table has a cloth with a lump on it. “Surprise! Aita, did you like the scavenger hunt?” he asks, walking over and rubbing the back of her head. She briefly hugs him. “Oh it was amazing!!! Great work putting it all together! Now, you did say there was something in the end, right?” Shining Armor freezes, then laughs. “Oh Aita, I think you’re gonna like it. The places I sent you had something in common.” Aita starts to pace around the dining room. “Hm… first we went to the hardware store for ink carts… then we went to Canterlot Carousel for tuxedo buttons… then we visited to the tree of harmony, since it uses my stylus… then we met Heavenly Luck… then we went to the Canterlot Archives, since spells are stored there… carts… buttons… stylus… Heavenly Luck… storage…” Aita gasps. “You got me a new game?!?” Shining Armor nods and lifts the cloth to reveal a small cart. “Happy belated birthday, Aita. I hope you like it.” Aita floats the cart to herself and smiles. “Thanks, Shining Armor,” she replies, hugging him again. “It’s perfect.” Looking around, I see an analog clock saying that it’s quarter after five. “Not to ruin the moment you two, but do you think it’s time to see the sun rise?” Shining Armor and Aita look at the same clock, and realize the same thing, so all three of us leave and join the crowd in watching the main event. At the stage, Twilight is between Celestia and Luna, and has an amulet of some kind in her magic. There are speakers at each end of the stage that now play the Summer Sun Celebration music I was already familiar with the other two times they were on display as normal. While it plays, the sun rises and Twilight approaches a mic at the front. “This celebration has always been a reminder not to fear the night, for there is always a new day to look forward to. But as we look toward Equestria’s future, I am sad to say that today will be the last Summer Sun Celebration.” The audience gasps. “Because there is something even MORE important to celebrate. There are two ponies who have watched over us, night and day for as long as we can remember. We will no longer be commemorating their battle or their reunion. Instead, we will take this day to celebrate how much they mean to all of us. From this day forward, today will be known as the Festival of the Two Sisters!” We all cheer to the announcement of a new holiday replacing one I’ve known for years. During the cheer, Celestia hugs Twilight. Aita looks between Twilight and her game and grins, knowing things are going to be just fine when all these new changes take place.
Teaser/Cold OpenIt’s been a few days since my last birthday party, the third one here in Equestria. The strange thing is that the one before that was shortly before all this retirement business with Celestia, Luna and Chrysalis. And since my birthday passed already, Cozy Glow has actually been staying with me, Twilight and the rest for the summer. And before anyone asks, yes, Cozy was at my party. She and Starlight collaborated to make the food there. It only seemed like yesterday that Starlight used to freak out over collaborating, and now she’s the one to come up with the idea. Currently at the castle dining room, Cozy, Spike and I are playing a classic game of War after Spike cleaned the table off from breakfast. The cards we use are the same ones from almost two years ago when Twilight, Sunset and I went on our friendship mission. I use my magic to handle my cards, Spike uses his claws, but all Cozy can do is flip the top card forward with her hoof and launch it overtop, so when she wins, I just put the cards out onto her winnings deck. Spike’s winnings deck has the most cards currently. “One, two, three…” I count during a particular round, prompting all of us to flip over our top cards. I have an eight, and Cozy and Spike have an ace each. “WAR!” the two shout in excitement. All I can do is watch as Spike and Cozy start a three card buffer, Cozy launching hers and Spike simply laying down his. When they show their next card, there is a jack on Cozy’s side and a seven on Spike’s. “Ha! A jack!” Cozy points to her card. Spike faceclaws. “Ugh! It’s always a seven!” “Come on, Spike. Aita didn’t partake in half the round and you don’t see her complaining.” I float the laid out cards and realign them and put them into Cozy’s winnings. “I’m the dealer, Cozy, so I kinda can’t.” Cozy and I widen our eyes when Spike puffs up his cheeks, turns around and burps up a letter. “Huh. I wonder who that is,” I say, floating the letter to myself. Dear Sibling Supreme Aita, The Summer Sun Celebration is tomorrow, so while sis is handling the main event, I would love to see you there in the crowd, watching her properly raise the sun for the first time. So to pass the night, I have a little something for you to track down as a belated birthday present. Love Shining Armor. P.S. This hunt is between you, me, and your teammates. I mumble out what I read and gasp when the thought sinks in. “Spike! Cozy! Do you guys know what this means?!?” The two look at each other as if they don’t know. “It means Shining Armor has invited me to Canterlot for a scavenger hunt! I’ve always wanted to do that since Twilight’s surprise with Flurry Heart!” I toss the invitation letter in the air, letting it float down. “Flurry Heart? Was she the one that was over a couple of times for the weekend while I was here?” asks Cozy, which Spike and I nod. “Golly, do you think we should tell Twilight?” “The letter did say no to that, but what do you say? Scavenger hunt?” I hold my hoof out in front of Cozy and Spike. “Scavenger hunt!” they say, putting their claw and hoof on top of mine.
Act 1At the foyer, Cozy Glow, Spike and I see Twilight and her friends coming up stop. “Aita? Cozy Glow? You’re going too?” I nod at Twilight. “But I thought George and Kevin were going to watch over you two.” “Well they did say to spend more time with you,” I reply. “Can’t do that while you’re gone.” “But that was ten months ago. Surely you should be feeling all better by now, Aita.” Cozy Glow realizes what I was trying to do and flies up to Twilight. “I wouldn’t worry about it. We just wanted to see the sun rise just like everypony else. We decided to have a little fun while we waited.” Wow! Cozy is WAY better at this than I am. Could that’ve been from lobbying the Happy Foals school board last year? Twilight grins. “Oh, okay. I’m sure you two will be safe, playing in the castle. Hope it goes well.” When she and her friends leave, she looks back at Spike, who is staying with us. “Aren’t you coming, Spike?” “I’ll catch up in a bit. You guys go ahead.” And with that, Twilight and her friends close the door, leaving me and Cozy with Spike. “Wow, Cozy, I don’t think I’ve seen anypony so talented at that,” I remark. Cozy wraps her hoof around me. “I couldn’t just sit there and let one of my best friends spill the beans on accident, ironic as it may seem. If you need a secret kept safe, I’m your filly, Aita.” Something about what Cozy said was a bit off to me. I might want to talk to Spike about it. I also realize something else. I could still be called by the map one more time before I become more than just the Sibling Supreme. “I just realized,” I tell her. “that the map uses the stylus for my DS to call me. I might need that in case that happens.” “You mean that plastic brick you had back in LOLO?” She’s correct in her description at least, so I nod getting her to run off to my room. “You can count on me!” I turn to Spike. “Is something wrong, Aita?” he asks me. “Spike, something about Cozy’s comment didn’t sit right. Would you agree?” “Eh, I guess I can see where you’re coming from. You should’ve witnessed first hoof how our friends treated me when I first went to the dragon lands.” “Oh, I remember seeing that.” I momentarily mimic Spike. “WADDLE?!? UUUGGGHHH!!!” Spike giggles a bit. “Hey, that was pretty good. Maybe that’s what Cozy was talking about.” I cock my upper eyelids. “Come again?” “You do such good impressions of our friends, it’d be crazy to think you’d need somepony to keep the scavenger hunt a secret. She must’ve seen your impressions at some point, right?” I nod yes. “There you go. Just let me know if she makes you feel uncomfortable again. I got your back.” “Thanks, Spike,” I tell him, hugging him. “Maybe it was just my imagination.” When the two of us finish, I grab a nearby saddlebag in time for Cozy to return with my DS. “Okay you two, ready?” Spike and I nod as I put the DS into the saddlebag. I then grab Cozy and Spike and teleport out with them. In Canterlot, it turns out Spike, Aita and Cozy Glow decided to meet me and my friends in Canterlot. While my friends are preparing for the celebration, I’m at the same room I stayed during my first ever royal duties, currently going over - pretty cleanly might I add - the list of responsibilities I have in order to perform the Summer Sun Celebration. Keeping me company are of course, Aita, Spike and Cozy. Celestia and Luna open the room door. “Sorry to interrupt,” Celestia greets. “We know you’re busy planning the Summer Sun Celebration as we requested, but…” They suddenly notice the atmosphere in the room and the accompanying organization compared to how it used to be years ago when I stayed. “Oh!” Luna lightly exclaims as she and Celestia approach me. “Things seem, uh, calmer than we would’ve expected.” “No complaints here,” notes Spike, alongside Aita and Cozy, as he’s reading his comic. I turn and face the princesses, still subconsciously going through a checklist on-magic. “Without exception, I’ve made a lot of progress since adopting Aita, possibly even more so by this point than if I didn’t. You may not know this about me, but I used to freak out.” The sisters look at each other in confusion. “That was a joke. I wanted to show you with the Summer Sun Celebration how much I’ve improved. So I’ve focused on delegating and trusting others. It’s been great!” “That’s actually what we came to talk to you about. This may be the last Summer Sun Celebration you’ll need to plan,” Luna reluctantly explains. “Did I do something wrong?” I ask. “Of course not,” replies Celestia. “It’s just that the celebration has always been about us: my defeat of Luna…” “And thanks to you and your friends, my reunion with my sister.” “Now that we’re leaving, we don’t see a need for the holiday any longer,” Celestia further explains. “Now that you’re…” I start. “My sister and I have decided,” says Celestia. “the time for us to retire is upon us. You and your friends have proven you are ready to lead Equestria. So let this be the last Summer Sun Celebration, as Equestria leaves behind the old to embrace the new.” Luna floats an amulet imbued with their magic to me, which I take. I gulp in slight nervousness. At night, Cozy Glow, Spike and I are the first ones at the hall in front of the throne room. When Twilight left her room, Spike received a letter from Shining Armor, telling us to meet at the throne room and that his key will be in front of the doors. When Cozy and I start for the doors, I notice Spike isn’t doing the same. “Um, aren’t you coming?” I ask. “I wish I could, but I still have to help Twilight and our friends. You and Cozy weren’t planned to be here like I was.” “But you do promise to keep this hunt a secret, right Spike?” Spike nods at Cozy, so I turn around and see Shining Armor’s medal, which I take and press onto the detector to open the throne room door. When I see Shining Armor, he motions for me to close the door after we walk in before Twilight and her friends see us. Shining Armor grins. “So, you brought at least one of your teammates, Aita. Where’s Spike?” “He had to help your sister prepare the festival,” Cozy explains. “I just hope he keeps this scavenger hunt a secret. But for now, you two can play it. On the throne is the first clue, but don’t read it until I head for the final destination.” So, Shining Armor begins marching out of the throne room, retrieving his key from us. He opens the door with it and walks out. Once the door’s closed, I walk to the throne and float the note he pointed out to us to me. “Welcome to your first hunt, sis. I hope you’ll be enjoying this. Your school basement uses ink, so press onward once you think. Hm… Shining Armor’s referring to the Foal Free Press, which uses a printer. And ink in printers typically comes in carts. Cozy, would you happen to know if there’s a hardware store around here?” “I don’t know,” Cozy replies. “Okay then. Why don’t I snap us out and we’ll start looking.” I slide the paper under Celestia’s throne and teleport us to the front of the castle. It isn’t too long after subconsciously noticing Shining Armor that me and my friends gather around in front of the throne room. I am still holding the amulet Luna gave me, still a little nervous about the new stakes of the celebration, and the bulletin board I used earlier is still with me. “My goodness!” Rarity exclaims. “How are you feeling about all this?” I smile reassuringly. “I’m actually fine. But if this is gonna be the last Summer Sun Celebration, I want to make sure it’s the best celebration ever. So even though everything was done, I thought of a few last minute changes I could use your help with.” I teleport out the amulet during my announcement. Oh! The end of a beloved holiday, Sibling Supreme and her friend running around the castle, last minute changes to a celebration? Discord is revealed to be the new voice around here as he teleports in. “That sounds positively CHAOTIC!!!” “What are YOU doin’ here?” Applejack asks in aggravation. “I’ve known Celestia and Luna longer than any of you. I terrorized them, they turned me into stone.” Discord suddenly changes his composition into stone and crumbles to the floor. “If this is the last Summer Sun Situation, I simply can’t miss it.” Now he returns to normal. “Well, I see I’ve arrived just in time for the ‘Twilight gives her friends an impossibly long and overly detailed list’ predicament.” I beam at him, knowing how behind he seems to be in perception of me. “I guess some draconequus isn’t the know-it-all he thinks he is.” I proceed to float six small cards to my friends, who seem to be pleasantly surprised that. “Huh. I thought not freaking out about ruling Equestria was a fluke,” Rainbow Dash remarks. “Has Aita seriously had such a positive effect on you?” I nod. “No more crazy lists. No more freaking out. With your help, I know we’ve got this.” Discord groans. “Character growth is so boring. Do I at least get that restraining order cleared? Or my own note card?” “Look, I know you’re mad about not being able to hang out with Aita like the rest of us. But Celestia has control over that, not me, Chrysalis or even Luna. But, at your request…” I float a white card our of the file pocket on the bulletin board, write a short message on it, and send it over to Discord. “There. Now I need to go rewrite my speech, but if you all look at your cards, you’ll see ALL the changes I’ve enlisted you to make.” Discord sighs as I head for the throne room. “Alright. I guess there was a reason you were picked by Celestia and Luna to raise the sun this final year, just as I did keeping Aita safe last summer.” I turn to him and nod. “Of course, and I appreciate that you did, Discord; really I do. Once the princesses retire, I promise I’ll do what I can so that you two can see each other whenever you want again.” So, my friends wave to me as I finally head into the throne room to begin the rewrite. However, I see a stack a papers behind Celestia’s throne. I fly over to investigate, only to see one square inch of paper jutting out of the front of the throne on the bottom. I float it out and begin reading it. Welcome to your first hunt, sis. I hope you’ll be enjoying this. Your school basement uses ink, so press onward once you think. Looking at the hornwriting, it seems to be from Shining Armor. Reading that first line, I gasp, knowing exactly what’s going on. “Aita and Cozy Glow are on a scavenger hunt by Shining Armor?!?” Suddenly, I hear a few honks around in the room. Right, Shining Armor employed geese to guard the throne room. I better watch my volume in here. “I’ve got to tell my friends about this,” I say to myself, leaving the throne room. “The rewrite can wait. This is too important to ignore.” I’ll also have to find out for sure if Shining Armor is responsible for Cozy and Aita lying.
Act 2After having teleported, Cozy Glow and I are now outside of Canterlot Castle. I’m about half familiar with Canterlot, mostly from what I remember seeing over two and a half years ago. But ever since Twilight, Spike and Starlight started hanging out more with Twilight’s old friends, I’ve taken note of a few additional places in relation to the ones I saw beforehoof. “Alright Cozy, once we find a nearby landmark in Canterlot, I should know the rest of the way to the local hardware store.” “And how will we find that?” she asks. “It’s so dark out here, we won’t be able to see the facade.” I momentarily wrap my hoof around Cozy as I give her the main instruction. “Just follow the light of my eyes. Twilight and the rest of us visit her old friends sometimes, and we usually go for some donuts. And I do know I always see something along the lines of our target somewhere between Pony Joe’s and the train station.” While walking, I make sure our movement is efficient and quick. At least now I sort of know my way around here. Once we enter familiar territory, I close my eyes for a moment and charge my horn. Now I can smell in space, but unlike last time, I can pick up on more than just organic scents: I can also pick up on elements as well. To my right, donuts are detected, and on the left, something at least partly metallic. “Aita, why did we stop?” asks Cozy, looking around. “I was using my abilities to find our way,” I explain as we continue our way to the first destination. “I smelt nuts and bolts where we’re headed now. This is what Chrysalis and Carve call trailing.” Now looking to our right, and toward the night sky, we see a storefront labeled with a hammer, saw and screwdriver, me because of my sight alone, and Cozy since I’m looking at the sign. Cozy realizes what trailing means now. “Because that way you always find what you’re looking for!” Entering the store, thirteen aisles in all are present on the sales floor, filled with a variety of tools, metals, plastics and other items a mechanic could potentially use. The outer shelf across the sales floor spans the entire wall while a single counter occupies the front of the wall on our side. Behind the counter, a unicorn stallion with a white coat and orange mane, tail and mustache looks to be working a night shift. His cutie mark depicts a silver wrench. “Oh! Hello there, Aita,” he greets. “How may I help you?” I hover up to the counter, pointing to Cozy when I say her name. “Um, did Shining Armor come by earlier? Cozy Glow and I are on a scavenger hunt that led us here.” “Oh! I think I know who you’re talking about. He said he was leaving a note somewhere.” “The ink carts?” Cozy Glow says as she joins me at the counter, prompting the clerk to confirm. “Mhm. Right across the sales floor in the front.” Cozy and I turn around to see that the clerk is right. We approach the note as I take it off the shelf of ink cartridges and read it. “You need to find the fancy dress as you go and take a guess. This suit is loose, but it’ll fit when buttons always come with it. You know what this means, right?” I ask Cozy, already knowing the destination. “Canterlot Carousel!” the clerk answers for her. “You know the way over from here, right Aita?” I nod and head back out with Cozy behind me. “Thanks for the help. Have a wonderful day!” “You too, Aita, Cozy Glow.” And so, it’s off to Canterlot Carousel we go. Following what happened in the throne room, I begin looking for Shining Armor. Unfortunately, I don’t know where he could be. “Oh, if only I could trail like Aita could.” After what feels like hours, I pass by the ceremony hall, seeing Shining Armor at the doors, but I don’t notice until he’s out of my sight. I gasp and backtrack to the same hall. “Twily?!?” I race toward him. “Shining Armor? Could you explain what’s going on? Why would you send Aita and Cozy Glow on a scavenger hunt without my knowledge?” “Wait a minute; who told you?!?” he frantically asks, looking around. I shake my head. “Nopony. I was in the throne room, preparing to rewrite my speech when I saw your note!” Shining Armor puts a hoof to his chin. “That’s strange. They never took it with them?” “Apparently not! Why would Aita and Cozy lie to me? They said they were just going to be playing in the castle!” In response, my brother just takes a deep breath. “I thought that if I just kept the hunt between them and me, that would be one less thing for you to oversee during the celebration. Looks like Aita had more of an impact on you than I thought, huh? I remember when Flurry Heart was on the way, it took you nearly a minute to go over the clues and figure it out. And now look at you. It only took ONE clue for you to get it.” “Hm… I do remember Aita figured out what she was getting for her birthday two years ago with only a couple of unintentional hints.” Shining Armor hugs me. “I’m sorry, Twily. I should’ve told you I’d be hosting the scavenger hunt for Aita and Cozy Glow.” “It’s okay, BBBFF. At least I learned my lesson about doing the same with Aita. I can only imagine how she felt when I had her step out before Lightning Dust’s welcome party. At least Muffins was there to comfort her. Now, why don’t you go and finish your part of the scavenger hunt.” My brother nods and heads elsewhere in the castle while I head back to the throne room to begin rewriting my speech. Normally, this time of day, I would be asleep at home, but tonight is different, since it is the Summer Sun Celebration. And while Rarity IS in Canterlot, she’s busy helping with the fireworks display troop at Canterlot Castle for the festival there, so I am running Canterlot Carousel as “normal”. As a result, business is rather slow, but manageable. A few hours into the night shift, the bell rings decidedly twice. So, I do the same blind song and dance as I always do. “Welcome to Canterlot Carousel! How may I help-” Suddenly, I notice a young changeling and a pegasus filly together at the entrance. I don’t recognize the latter, what with the pink coat, sky blue curls, ivory ribbons and rook cutie mark, but certainly the former. “Panels and patterns! It’s Aita!” Aita waves hello and floats a piece of paper out of her saddlebag to me. “Hi, Sassy Saddles! Cozy Glow and I found a note at the hardware store that led us here.” “A note? Let’s see.” I take the paper and read it in my head. My eyes widen when I recognize the hornwriting. “It’s from Shining Armor! He stopped by during the day and placed something similar on one of the stallion tuxedos. That appears to be what he was referring to here on this note. Accompany me around back, and you’ll see.” I lead Aita and Cozy Glow to the back of the shop and turn on the lights. Across the room, a manikin dons a particularly smashing stallion tuxedo, buttons and all, only with a note attached to its left side. Aita is wide-mouthed from the suit’s beauty, zipping over to the manikin to examine it further. “Man! I’ve NEVER experienced something so amazing! It’s really too bad I had such a bad response to the chain of retirements and moving last year. I probably would’ve looked really good in that as a drone!” I giggle as she hugs the manikin, feeling the full texture of the tuxedo. “I’m certain you would’ve. What wonderful input, Aita.” Cozy Glow flies over to the manikin, takes the note off and begins reading. “I know you’re reading number three, so take a look among the trees. Over there, a spirit pens when friendships are about to end? All I got from that is that it stems from that friendship mission involving my school that Aita and Chrysalis were on.” “Very interesting! My boss, Rarity, has talked with me in the past about similar quests of hers around Equestria,” I explain. Aita gasps in excitement. “That’s it! The tree of harmony!” “The what?” Cozy squeaks, tilting her head. “Thanks for your help, Sassy Saddles. But Cozy and I will need to get going if we want wanna see the sunrise.” I nod at Aita while she stores the note inside the saddlebag. “Happy to help, fillies. Now, good luck with the hunt.” And so, Aita teleports herself and Cozy out of my boutique, leaving me to my own devices. I take a look at the clock: one in the morning. In the food area, Pinkie Pie begins testing all the carts while I track down Braeburn. Step away from the wagons! Official food tasters on official food tasting business! Pinkie springs from one of the carts, scaring away the rest of the earth ponies while she consumes all the pies within it. I turn to Braeburn and give him the card as he sighs. “It ain’t gonna be easy. But I think we can whip up these new cookies Twilight wants before sunrise.” “If anypony can handle some last minute bakin’, Braeburn,” I say, quietly laughing midway through. “It’s y’all.” “We brought plenty for the celebration, but if she keeps testin’, we might be in trouble.” As Braeburn is talking, Pinkie is eating all the cupcakes on another designated cart, so I walk over and grab her by the tail with my mouth and drag her away from the food. “But I see a suspicious looking COOKIE!” Pinkie shouts. Rainbow Dash and I are consulting Feather Flatterfly about the new changes to the weather. Unfortunately, he ends up freaking out when he first hears. “The princess wants WHAT?!?” He is shown Rainbow Dash’s card as she speaks. “Just what’s on that little card. No big deal.” “No big de-de-” he stops short, his eyes darting around. “G- …I-i-it’s a m-MUCH more aggressive weather pattern than what was originally ordered! This- this is… very… irregular! We’ll need to- No! Uh first, we must- Wait! We c-” Feather Flatterfly starts pacing around like a certain best friend I know would’ve years ago, but after a while yawns from the exhaustion of his freakout, so I approach him and try to comfort him. “Take a breath… Let it out slowly.” He does as I tell him, calming him down significantly. “Tell the princess we will do our best.” “We’re sure you’re doing an excellent job,” I assure him. “D- oh yeah, totally… you’re not gonna panic and screw it up AT. ALL,” Rainbow Dash says, masking her apparent doubts for Feather Flatterfly, but we walk away from him anyway. Rarity and I arrive at the stage to see the unicorn troops practicing their pyrotechnics display for the celebration. “Whoa!” I exclaims as we look up. “The flaiming sky firework troop is a marvel,” remarks Rarity. The leader, Fire Flare, turns around with pride. “We take pride in what we do.” I walk up to the stage and give her me and Rarity’s cards. “These last minute changes aren’t too challenging, are they?” “Ha!” Fire Flare laughs as takes the cards with her magic and reads them. “The more challenging, the better! We aim to astound! Now if you don’t mind, we do have a new routine to prepare.” She gives me back the cards and faces backstage again. “Horns at the ready!” Sounds good enough for me and Rarity, so we quickly leave the unicorns to their work, heading back to the throne hall probably like the rest of us will be doing pretty soon.
Act 3I teleport Cozy Glow to in front of the chasm just before the castle of the two sisters. The castle though is not the reason why we are here now. The note Cozy read over led us directly to the chasm itself, and to a cave now all too familiar with me, home to the tree of harmony. As we enter the cave, I notice the note we need is on the very top of the tree. “Well, that was easy,” Cozy notes. “Wait a minute… too easy. We’re missing a part of the rhyme. I’m gonna go see how.” I fly up to the top branch and approach the note, only for that note to blow away behind the tree long before I can reasonably take it with my magic. When I land safely on the ground, Cozy Glow catching up to me, I can see a sparkling bright hologram of Twilight. Ah, Aita Bagley-Handy, Cozy Glow, welcome. Cozy and I look at each other, Cozy realizing what I had meant earlier. “Over there, a spirit pens! Was that what you were talking about?” That was exactly what Aita was talking about, and she was correct about the riddle. Astral Twilight now walks up to us, specifically me. Before you two proceed with the scavenger hunt, there is something I need to tell you for when you meet Princess Twilight Sparkle once more. “Wha…” I look eye to eye with astral Twilight, letting this sight sink in with me. She already knows about your quest, and I assure you her response overall was favorable. “She does?” I ask. “But how did she find out?” After a brief investigation, she went to Shining Armor, who confirmed what she found out. Like I stated earlier, she did not object in the end, so you need not worry about that. Astral Twilight now beams warmly at me. Since your migration to Equestria, Aita, you have been growing more and more, following in your mother, Amplitude’s hoofsteps. The very moment Queen Chrysalis protected you from human Spitfire, I knew you could plant the same seed in others as Amplitude and Carve did for Chrysalis. Exhibit A. She now points her hoof toward Cozy Glow, who looks a little nervous as well as scared. Without you, Aita, it was very much guaranteed Queen Chrysalis couldn’t have led Cozy Glow’s path to good. This leads me to the very next note that I present to you personally. Astral Twilight floats the note to in front of the three of us, reading it aloud to us. You may return, but first you’ll need to meet a pony there, indeed. A president from Cozy’s town is having quite the dance right now. Cozy rubs her chin. “I could tell that’s referring to Heavenly Luck, but where would she be?” “The ball room for the Grand Galloping Gala!” I happily answer. “You may return means we go back to Canterlot Castle!” After teleporting back to the castle, I lead Cozy Glow to the ball room. In the wider hall just before, I can hear a familiar sounding song coming from inside the ball room on a phonograph. I know exactly what it is. I rub my cheeks with my hooves in excitement. “Oh my gosh! Physics Engine!” The song I named comes from one of the games I brought with me when I moved. I burst into the ball room, Cozy following close behind as I begin bobbing my head from left to right. As I walk to the source with my eyes closed due to enjoying the music and suddenly bump into somepony on the back: a pink coated pegasus mare with a yellow curly mane and tail with a spade silhouette for a cutie mark. She turns around and immediately recognizes my teammate. “Cozy Glow!” the mare exclaims, hugging her. “How is our top student in preparation for the summer?” “I’m fine. Thanks for asking… you know my two best friends, right?” The mare lets go of Cozy and turns to me. “Oh how how HOW could I not! You’re the one who helped Cozy out during her field trip, is that about the size of it?” I nod, causing her to shake my hooves. “Golly! What a pleasant surprise to meet you, Aita! I’m Heavenly Luck! What can I do for you and your friend?” I take the tree of harmony’s note out of the saddlebag and show it to Heavenly Luck. “Well, we were lead back to Canterlot Castle, so I wanted to see if there was a note like this around here in the ball room.” Heavenly Luck takes the note in her wing and examines it. “Aha! Shining Armor! I just had to attend the final Summer Sun Celebration when he sent me a letter telling me to participate behind the scenes in your scavenger hunt! Here’s you’re note!” She bucks the phonograph with one backhoof, which not only stops the music, but sends a new note flying out of the bottom of the turntable. I catch it with my magic. “All this time, what have you done to get this far in the hunt for one? By now, the spells that Starlight made should be stored to keep them safe.” When I finish reading, all three of us know exactly what the note is referring to. “The Canterlot Archives!” When Heavenly Luck, Cozy and I leave the ball room, the former parts ways to be a part of the festival coming up while we keep going on our hunt. In the archives, we separate to cover more ground to find the next note. In the process, I find a spell book chained to one of the shelves. “Huh. I wonder if there’s a loose copy of that somewhere,” I say to myself under my breath. “Maybe it was chained up for a-” “Aita look! I found the note!” Cozy Glow pops up on the other side of the room and waves to me before flying up to me. “Amazing, Cozy! Now let’s see…” I take the note and read it. “You made it now, and found the clues. How I am so proud of you. This is the last clue; it’s for real. You may want to go for a meal.” Coincidentally, Cozy Glow’s stomach begins to growl. “Dining room?” “Dining room,” she repeats after me, prompting us to dash out of the archives. At the dining room, Shining Armor is there to greet me and Aita. I notice a table has a cloth with a lump on it. “Surprise! Aita, did you like the scavenger hunt?” he asks, walking over and rubbing the back of her head. She briefly hugs him. “Oh it was amazing!!! Great work putting it all together! Now, you did say there was something in the end, right?” Shining Armor freezes, then laughs. “Oh Aita, I think you’re gonna like it. The places I sent you had something in common.” Aita starts to pace around the dining room. “Hm… first we went to the hardware store for ink carts… then we went to Canterlot Carousel for tuxedo buttons… then we visited to the tree of harmony, since it uses my stylus… then we met Heavenly Luck… then we went to the Canterlot Archives, since spells are stored there… carts… buttons… stylus… Heavenly Luck… storage…” Aita gasps. “You got me a new game?!?” Shining Armor nods and lifts the cloth to reveal a small cart. “Happy belated birthday, Aita. I hope you like it.” Aita floats the cart to herself and smiles. “Thanks, Shining Armor,” she replies, hugging him again. “It’s perfect.” Looking around, I see an analog clock saying that it’s quarter after five. “Not to ruin the moment you two, but do you think it’s time to see the sun rise?” Shining Armor and Aita look at the same clock, and realize the same thing, so all three of us leave and join the crowd in watching the main event. At the stage, Twilight is between Celestia and Luna, and has an amulet of some kind in her magic. There are speakers at each end of the stage that now play the Summer Sun Celebration music I was already familiar with the other two times they were on display as normal. While it plays, the sun rises and Twilight approaches a mic at the front. “This celebration has always been a reminder not to fear the night, for there is always a new day to look forward to. But as we look toward Equestria’s future, I am sad to say that today will be the last Summer Sun Celebration.” The audience gasps. “Because there is something even MORE important to celebrate. There are two ponies who have watched over us, night and day for as long as we can remember. We will no longer be commemorating their battle or their reunion. Instead, we will take this day to celebrate how much they mean to all of us. From this day forward, today will be known as the Festival of the Two Sisters!” We all cheer to the announcement of a new holiday replacing one I’ve known for years. During the cheer, Celestia hugs Twilight. Aita looks between Twilight and her game and grins, knowing things are going to be just fine when all these new changes take place.
