when worlds collide

Izzy screamed and began to sob. she collapsed to the ground crying. Sunny picked her up and shielded her eyes with her hoof. Sunny led her away from the crime scene. Izzy cried for a long time. Izzy finally got herself together enough to talk to Sunny but she was still crying.

"T-t-that was m-my friend G-Geode!" Izzy rests her head on Sunny's shoulder. Sunny couldn't explain it. But it felt really nice. Izzy's tears began streaming down Sunny's coat as Sunny tries to turn herself into an alicorn. She hasn't quite mastered this skill yet but she manages to do it and she picks Izzy up with her magic. They begin going back to Maretime Bay.

When Izzy is finally strong enough to stand, Sunny places her down on the ground gently. Izzy immediately throws up and starts crying again. the two of them walk in silence for about half of the journey until suddenly Izzy speaks up.

"I'm not the pony everypony else thinks I am." she says.

Sunny looks back at her shocked. She wasn't expecting her to say anything. let alone something like that.

"What do you mean Izzy?" sunny asks. "most ponies see you as a happy and fun pony and that's definitely who you are. I swear sometimes I wonder if you've ever had a care in the world."

Izzy sighs shakily as she continues to sob softly. she turned to Sunny and says " the only reason everypony thinks that I'm that way is because that's what I make them believe. the truth is Sunny, most of the time I am thinking about things more than I am enjoying anything."

Sunny is confused. she can't even believe that this is the same pony that was just bouncing around on the beach and playing with fillies not even hours earlier. She tries again to bring the unicorn to see her true self. "Izzy that's not true. everypony loves you. except maybe Posey but she hates everypony."

Izzy continues to cry softly and doesn't say anything until the crystal brighthouse comes into view. she runs forward and yells, "Sunny we need to warn everypony!"

they burst through the brighthouse door yelling "everypony I have an announcement you need to come here." it took her a second to realize that someone was going for her. Zipp was charging her full force. Sunny stepped out of the way and Zipp crashed into the door.

Zipp starts yelling "Sunny Starscout if you ever wake me up like that again, I will throw you off the balcony."

Sunny ignores her and continues talking about what she was saying before. by now, both Hitch and Pipp had heard the yelling and crashing and were in the main room.

Hitch looks towards Sunny. he can tell that she looks frantic. "what's wrong Sunny?" Hitch asks while looking at the two of them to see if anypony is hurt. He is the sherriff after all. If someone is hurting ponies, it is his job to help.

It took about twenty minutes for Sunny to explain everything that had happened. everything about the statue, why she was looking through books so early in the morning, and most importantly, the villains are back.

Pipp looked incredibly confused. that didn't happen very often. "so wait. you're saying that this half bull half pony creature is stealing pony's magic to make himself more powerful, and that there are two more of these villains, and you think one of them use their horn to stab one of Izzy's friends?"

Sunny nodded and looked over to Hitch and Pipp. They both looked paler than they usually were. But Hitch of course was the first to react.

"alright everypony," he said with a lot of authority in his voice. "we need to get out of here. we can warn everypony else about what is about to happen and then we're leaving. go pack your bags."

everypony began slowly walking upstairs. everypony that is, except for Izzy who sat there on her haunches. she appeared to be deep in thought. Sunny wanted to tell her friends about Izzy's identity crisis. but she asked me to never mention our conversation earlier. Her entire situation was very confusing at the time.

when sunny went upstairs, Pipp was live-streaming to the entire town and everywhere so that everypony would know. Within a half hour after, they went outside and began their journey. When they were finally out in the feild between Bridlewood and Maretime Bay, they finally heard Izzy speak.

"No"

Everypony else was confused. "No what?" Hitch asked.

"I'm not going back to Bridlewood." Izzy said as she sat down to make it evident that she would not be leaving this spot.

Sunny sighed. "Listen Izzy. how does this sound? We're going to stop here and make camp for the night-"

"but we can't stop now!" Hitch interjected. "If we're going to get any leads, we need to be to Bridlewood by tonight."

Sunny held up a hoof to silence him. "Hitch your friend is having a hard time and we need to do anything we can to help her. So Izzy," she said now addressing the mare in front of her. "We will set up camp here tonight, and if you still don't want to go in the morning, then we can go back to Maretime Bay."

Izzy looked down at the ground for a while. she slowly nodded her head. Hitch was about to object, when he heard a sound. A sound he had never wanted to hear. Very softly, Izzy was crying.
***
Hitch didn't sleep at all that night. He couldn't stop thinking about everything that was happening. He thought every bit of it was crazy. But he did know one thing. There was one other pony not sleeping that night. The whole time Hitch was thinking in his sleeping bag, Izzy was softly crying over in hers. Eventually, he got up and walked across the campsite.

His voice was a low whisper but he still spoke "Alright Izzy get up."

She looked at him with tear-stained eyes. And he looked back with the kindest smile he had every given anypony.

Izzy got up and they began walking through the field. Izzy was glad that it was dark. There was no way that Hitch would be able to see her blushing unless the moonlight hit her in the right way. As sad as she was at the current time, she was glad that of all ponies, she was walking through the moonlight with Hitch.

Hitch looked at her and Izzy could see something was bothering her. He decided to try to speak. "Hey Izzy, how are you feeling?"

Her face changed expressions quickly. She now looked hurt again. Her voice became choked and sad again. Hitch immediately regretted this decision.

"I don't really want to talk about it." Izzy said. "How did you know I was up?"

Another tough question. Hitch didn't want to tell Izzy how he felt. He knew deep down in his heart that she was way too good for him.

"well, you see, I uh..." He started. he couldn't think what to tell her. "I just um-"

He was cut off as he tripped over something. It was a black orb of some sort with a lens on one sight and a button on the other. What is it with ponies always littering? He suddenly heard Izzy gasp.

"Oh my gosh Hitch! Are you okay. Oh no this was probably my fault wasn't it?"

Izzy was beginning to have a mental breakdown because of this whole situation. And Hitch could tell.

Hitch got up quickly so Izzy wouldn't be scared. He went over to her and hugged her once more. This time, he tried to make it last as long as possible. Izzy blushed again but quickly pushed off of him. she was breathing heavily and she started shouting.

"NO! I CAN'T HURT YOU AGAIN!" She screamed before collapsing to the ground sobbing. Hitch quickly came up behind her and held her. He made sure she was calmed down before he let go. He could feel her tears staining his coat, but he didn't care. Once her breathing had steadied, he let her go.

"you could never hurt me." He said reassuringly.

Izzy pointed a forehoof to his cheek. "Look what I already did to you!" she half-yelled. She sat down and began to cry softly." Hitch couldn't stand it. This mare that he had been admiring for months now was crying because she thought she had hurt him. He embraced her once more, but this time, he never let go. Izzy cried herself to sleep in his hooves. He fell asleep soon after.

They only awoke by a shocked voice. "Oh my gosh! What are you two doing!"
***
Zipp always woke up early, it was part of her morning routine to go for a fly. She had never really gotten the chance to fly around this field before. She had always meant to, but never got the chance.

This morning however, she noticed something very odd in the field. Two ponies sleeping on the ground. One had a coat of a faded purple. The other, of a bright yellow.

She landed and confirmed her suspicions. these two ponies were Hitch and Izzy.

"Oh my gosh! What are you two doing!" she exclaimed, still trying to get over the shock of this sight.

They both snapped awake quickly. They quickly realized that they were still holding each other and let go quickly. Hitch was the first to speak although he did so in a rather shaky voice. He knew what Zipp was thinking and he had to make sure she knew it wasn't true.

"Zipp! I-it isn't what it looks like I s-swear!" He said frantically.

"Did you two-?" She asked not wanting to say the word.

"W-what!" Hitch began. "With her. Absolutely not!" He hadn't thought about those words until they came out of his mouth. His heart dropped when he turned around to see Izzy looking hurt once more. What he didn't know was that these words had completely destroyed what was left of her heart.

Izzy laid herself down as she buried her face in the ground. Hitch and Zipp didn't even need to listen to know that she was crying again. Neither of them could figure her out anymore. She used to be so happy and carefree, and now she was acting defeated and sad.

"Listen Zipp." Hitch began. "I know what this looks like. It isn't like that and I'm going to need to ask you to leave please. I need to make sure that she is okay."

"Fine!" Zipp said. "But only for Izzy's sake. we are so not done talking about this." she looked down at this moment and she spotted the orb that Hitch had tripped over the previous night. "Hey what's this thing?" She asked. "I think I've seen a picture of this thing in a book back at Zephyr Heights. Mind if I hold onto it for a bit?"

"Fine. Just get out of here"

And with a nod and a glare, Zipp took off back towards the campsite. she had better keep her mouth shut about this to the others Hitch thought as he sat down beside Izzy. He tried to put his hoof next to hers when it was immediately slapped away. Hitch exclaimed with a shout of pain. Izzy stood up and began to walk away. Never once casting a glance at Hitch.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Hitch asked.

Izzy's pain had now turned to rage. And unfortunately for Hitch, He was about to catch it all.

"Why do you even care?" She began to say. Her voice getting louder with each word. Hitch could still hear in her voice that she was crying.

"Because you're my friend and I care about you." Hitch said. He knew he had messed up with what he said to Zipp. now it was up to him to fix it all.

"Am I really your friend though?"

"W-What"

"Have you ever really cared for me? Last night? the past few months? Tartarus , you're harder to read than old ponish text! Admit it Hitch Trailblazer. You never really cared for me. It's all been an obligation that you do for sunny's sake. Last night, you were just trying to make believe that everything was okay. Guess what? It's not okay. One of my friends is now dead thanks to these villains and we don't even have a lead on how to find them. But no, let's just put everything in the hooves of a small town sheriff. Surely he'll be the one to save everypony. Just like how he was the hero to save everypony from the evil unicorn when she came to town!"

"Izzy, you know it isn't like that." It stung Hitch that she really felt this way about him.

"No Trailblazer!" Izzy was practically spitting her words at this point. "It is like that! Why don't you explain it to me then? Why would you never be with a pony like me? And don't even TRY to pretend that you never said that! We both heard what you said to Zipp. Oh wait a second. I know why. Because NOPONY WOULD EVER BE WITH A STUPID UNICORN LIKE ME!"

She was crying by the end of that. She began walking towards the direction of Maretime Bay as she looked back. A mixture of fear, anger, ad sadness in her eyes as she said softly, "go to Tartarus Hitch Traiblazer." She then began running as fast as her forehooves would take her. That way Hitch would never process her words in time.

And she was right. by the time Hitch had worked everything over in his mind, he could no longer see Izzy.

***

Hitch walked back to camp with his ears down low. As his friends came into view, he saw Sunny running up towards him. [igood he thought. Ireally need a friend right now. but instead, Sunny smacked him hard with her forehoof.

"HOW COULD YOU HITCH!" She screamed. "HOW COULD YOU DO SUCH A THING TO SUCH AN INNOCENT MARE!"

Hitch rubbed his head as he answered, "let me guess, Zipp told you?"

Sunny smacked him again. Harder this time. "YES OF COURSE SHE TOLD US! WHY WOULDN'T SHE TELL US?!"

Hitch began to yell back "YOU STILL THINK THIS IS ABOUT ME SLEEPING WITH IZZY? SHE'S GONE NOW SUNNY! SHE LEFT FOR MARETIME BAY! AND IT'S ALL MY FAULT!"

Sunny's look of anger began to disappear. "Wait, so nothing happened then?

Hitch looked at her. "Come on Sunny. You know I'm not that kind of stallion. But now after I told Zipp that I would never do that with Izzy, she took off running and I don't think she's coming back. She's probably already back in Maretime bay at this point. We didn't make much progress yesterday."

"Fine Hitch. We'll just have to go on witho-"

Sunny's words were interupted by a strange sound. the sound of hundreds upon hundreds of beating wings. The ponies looked towards the sky to see an army of black creatures flying through the sky.

"CHANGELINGS!!!" Sunny screamed.

But they weren't heading for them. They were on a course...

straight to Maretime Bay