Act III: Unity

“All the leaves are brooown~. And the sky is graaaay~. I've been for a walk… on a winter's daaaay~. I'd be safe and warm… if I was in M’baaaay.~”

The day of the local festival had caught up with us, and you could easily tell by the colorful decorations and numerous stands that had pooped all over Mane Street with the coming of dawn. Ponies left and right rushed like busy ants to wrap up the last-minute preparations, chatting amicably amongst them with a spirit of friendship filling the salty air. A cheerful mood permeated the environment, dozens of ponies from the three tribes pitching in here and there to get everything tidy and ready for this afternoon’s big inauguration act. According to the program, it was supposed to go from there aaaall through the night and into tomorrow past noon… or until the ponies grew tired of celebrating which, in my rich experience, could be for a long while.

“Maaaretime Bay dreamiiing~. On such a winter’s daaaay.~”

I found myself with ‘The Mamas & the Papas’ stuck in my head as I leisurely walked down the very same Mane Street, headed towards the meeting point my friends and I had agreed on for that morning. I had sally overslept after another unsuccessful cram session of research on the Unity Crystals, meaning my friends had already left the brighthouse by the time I had dragged myself out of bed and zombi-ed my way down to get some breakfast.

The last two days had been a flurry of last-minute preparations all over the town, with poor Sunny almost having several panic attacks as she took on the role of coordinator to make sure everything was pitched out perfectly to welcome ponies from all three tribes to enjoy the summer festivities at the coastal town. Practically all their proposals for the betterment of the celebrations had been accepted by the town council, resulting in the biggest festival this town had ever witnessed.

Just short of the main plaza where the streets began to widen up, I found all my friends sans one. Zipp was nowhere in sight, strange since she was actually one of the earliest risers among us. Finding them all with their backs turned on me as they assembled over something or another, my impish side decided to be a little mean and sneaked quietly behind them. My victim was the closet pony in reach, my wacky unicorn friend Izzy, whom I pounced over to suddenly tickle on her sides, making her jump with a squeal of surprise, followed by a bout of laughter that almost brought her down on her back.

A pout and a hip check were her answers to my little prank once she got her bearing under control, but the smile was quick to return to her muzzle with a few strategically placed scratches behind her ears.

“Guten morgen, guys. Everything going swiftly?”

The unicorn virtually purring under my ministrations greeted me back. “Mmmmorning sleepyhead, we’re just waiting for Zipp to get back here with Pipp’s lucky microphone. She wants Sunny to use it for her big announcement! We’ve gotta make sure everypony everywhere knows about the festival!” Izzy informed me, pointing toward a jelly-legged Sunny who waited a few steps ahead of us atop a figurate scenario, nervously shifting in place while Pipp fussed over her in search of the best shot with her phone’s camera.

I snapped my fingers to get her mind out of the gutter she was digging herself in and made some calming hand gestures, quietly reminding her to simply relax and take a deep breath. For the easy way she always would address the ground of ponies in her frequent town rallies to discuss this topic or the other, I was a bit surprised she was getting cold hooves now. She only had to address all of Equestria this time.

Sunny’s ears perked up at the sound of my snap, finding me giving her support. She followed my instructions and visibly relaxed a mince, flashing me a thankful smile in appreciation.

“Ugh, what’s taking her so looongah? I swear if she’s sneaking around the castle like some cheap ninja…” Pipp grumbled under her breath, pacing around Sunny like a mother fussing over her foal on prom day, licking her hoof to boss Sunny’s mane into the proper place, to the earth pony’s chargain.

Witnessing the scene play out, I couldn’t help but smile in bemusement. While we waited, I turned to address Hitch, his shining sheriff badge neatly scrubbed and in place. “Everything okay around town, Sheriff? I know how things can become a bit of a ruckus when big events come around.”

Hitch answered with that winning smile that sold a million calendars per month. “Nothing out of the ordinary. The ponies are happy and expectant, and all the preparations have gone swiftly! We’ve had only a hooffull of troublemakers who thought they could get away with littering with all the other ponies rushing about. Not on my watch they aren’t!” He stomped on the stonework firmly.

“Damm, sheriff. How many years in prison for that?” I asked with no short amount of sarcasm.

Hitch snorted. “The same amount as talking like that to a law-enforcer, citizen.” He finished with an evil smirk, hiking his eyebrows playfully. I raised my hands in defeat and zipped my lips, eliciting a small chuckle from him.

The sound of approaching wings brought our attention towards the sunny skies, from where a certain white pegasus sped towards our position from behind the blinding glow of the morning sun. Wearing a proud smirk, Zipp made for a flashy landing after a loop-the-loop for good measure, twirling her sister’s much-desired microphone in her hoof like a trophy.

“Finally! What took you so long?! I’m getting serious wrinkles here!” Her sister protested, forcefully grabbing the mic from Zipp’s grasp.

“What can I say? Sneakiness takes time.” Zipp answered with a guilty smile, although something told me she actually had a great time playing ninja.

“Ugh!” Pipp was ready to blow a fuse. “Zipp, it’s our house! Was all this really necessary?!”

“Better that than stumbling into mom’s view to be dragged into one of her ‘princess lessons.’” Zipp shuddered, her wings twitching at her sides. “You guys would have been waiting for me ‘till the end of days if that had been the case. You’re very welcome, by the way.” She protested with a dignified flick of her muzzle, to the evident displeasure of her younger sister who only groaned and decided to park it in the benefit of more pressing issues.

With the lucky mic in our possession, Sunny was ready to record the last-minute announcement for all those scrabble-heads who might have forgotten what was happening today.

“Show tiiiime, Sunny~! You know how it goes. Clear speech and happy smiles. Just pretend you’re talking to us and not… you know, the entirety of Equestria, ‘kay? Ookay! Three two one… aaand you’re live!” Pipp hit the button and the recording began with little warning, shattering any confidence I could’ve managed to summon in the nervous, and visibly-shaking mare, who could only stare blankly at the camera.

“N-Now? As in, now now?” Sunny nervously inquired, to which Pipp nodded and moved a bit closer to achieve a narrower angle.

After a few seconds of nervous blubbering, Sunny soon regained her confidence and happily announced the upcoming celebration to anypony who had yet to hear about it, the rest of the gang silently cheering for her behind the camera.

While my friends busied themselves with the announcement, not able to resist participating, I decided to pass the time helping a bunch of nearby ponies who were struggling to transport the last pieces for the actual scenario currently being assembled in the middle of the square, which was programmed to host a series of concerts during the celebrations, with our Pipp being the main star of the show. It didn’t surprise me in the slightest when I heard about it from a passerby. Ponies back and forth went crazy over her hits. There was no way they’d miss the chance of watching her live.

After a few trips back and forth, making use of my levitation to lessen the weight of the equipment on the hard-working ponies’ backs, all the final pieces were ready to be assembled into the medium-sized scenario, with a full set of lights and sound equipment to match. I was going to offer my help further with the assembly, seeing as I was already there and not feeling like treading around with my hands in my pockets, when the startled screams of my friends, accompanied by the stomping of sprinting hooves, broke my train of thought.

Peering back towards one of the side streets in search of my pony companions, I saw my friends sprinting behind what appeared to be one of Hitch’s bird friends, the one who always wore and old can for a hat for some reason, a species I couldn’t quite identify, although I had seen a bunch of them all around town as some kind of small-sized cousins of gulls. It was carrying in its beak Pipp’s phone, with the aforementioned pegasus desperately pleading for it to be surrendered back to her.

Once their tails had disappeared past the curve of the street, I remained there with a few construction ponies, all glancing ahead where the stampeding ponies had just passed with a dry look.

After a few moments of silent confusion, I turned back to address the construction ponies in front of me. “I mean, I wasn’t planning for a morning jog… but it’s best if I go and check that out. Think you can manage without me?”

A blue-furred mare answered with a hesitant nod. “Y-Yeah, we’ll manage. You go ahead and see to… whatever that was.”

“Great, I’ll see you around then.” I began to briskly walk towards said street, taking a few moments to stretch my legs. “Come on then, old man, let’s give it a little juice. Accelero!”

With my spell cast, I rushed with heightened gusto through the street, following the trail of scared ponies who had managed to get out of my way at the last moment, with me slowing down a bit to mutter a few rushed apologies before speeding up again.

My hunch was well placed, as I soon found my friends sprinting towards the outskirts of the town, following an old dirt path whose destination I was unfamiliar with, although the roof of a house could be discerned over the crest of the hill the path climbed through. Just a few seconds before I could catch up with them, the bird suddenly spat the phone down with a disgusted chirp before flapping its wings harder and flying away from the pursuing ponies.

Izzy was quick to light her horn and catch the falling phone. However, something weird caught my eye, slowing my gate as I pondered what just happened. It could have been the still-considerable distance between us, but I could have sworn she was struggling to get a grip on the phone with her levitation magic, almost as if it wasn’t working as it should.

‘Uh?’

In a final act of heroism, she redoubled her efforts and managed to solidify her grasp on the phone, the chase ending with her tripping over her own hooves and skidding a few meters over the grassy field, leaving a path of upturned soil which found home all over her fur and mane.

The pursuit ended with the phone safely held in her levitation magic, but at the cost of a broken mail post and a bunch of roses belonging to that very same house, which had ended up tossed around when Izzy had crashed into them just a few moments before she could stop. Whoever lived in the house wasn’t going to be happy.

“Haha! Got iiit~! Way to go, Izzy!” My unicorn friend patted herself on the back, carefully returning the phone to its rightful owner who latched into it with the utmost care, almost as if it was a foal in need of mommy’s reassurance. I even heard her whispering a few soothing words to it… that was a bit weird if you ask me, but who was I to judge?

“Are you alright, Izzy?” Sunny stepped closer to our recovering friend, having witnessed her clumsy tumble, who shook herself free of any lingering dirt.

Izzy springed back on her hooves and shook herself free of any lingering dirt. “Yep! A little ground glitter never hurt anypony!” She reassured us with a giggle and a mock-heroic pose.

“Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you so much Izzy!” Pipp smothered Izzy in a big hug with the unicorn somewhat shyly returning it.

“Awww, you’re very welcome, Pipp. Hey, Alex.” She called me when she saw me approaching over Pipp’s shoulder. “Did you see that?! Pretty impressive, uh? Think I’ll get a statue for it?” She asked with a proud smirk, although it was evident she was just playing.

Or perhaps not, You couldn’t tell with that unicorn sometimes.

“I’ll put in a good word with Phyllis, I’m sure we can get something going.” I joked back, brushing a few stubborn specks of dirt from her mane.

Our playful moment was mercilessly obliterated by a very displeased voice coming from behind the house’s main door. “What. Are. You. Doing. Here?!” The sharp tone of a positively angry mare brought our gazes towards the front door, where a light-yellow furred earth pony with a pink mane and tail glared at us with unrestrained fury.

I knew then whose pony this house belonged to.

‘Faust damm it, of course it has to be her house… Although I guess it kinda fits, with her being how she is.’ I mentally reasoned. A house far from the town's main nucleus but still within its limits, sheltered from any annoying ponies who might simply breathe too close to her presence or whatever it was that got the mare’s tail in a knot every hour of every day.

Storming from the medium-sized house sitting on the outskirts of Maretime Bay, Posey made her displeasure at the sight of us clearly known.

The first days after my arrival at Maretime Bay were met with the expected suspicion and fear from many a pony, which was reasonable considering how the sudden arrival of a creature like me is prone to cause a ruckus. It had also happened with my initial appearance in Ponyville, and I was positive it was going to happen again in this new town, so it hadn't really bothered me that much.

And, that’s exactly what happened, although with all I had learned the first time around, I was quick to win the townsponies over, leaving only a scarce amount of them still giving me the stinky eye when we crossed paths. Coincidentally, those same ponies were the ones to see the restoration of magic and the rejoining of the three races with no short amount of contempt, although most of them chose to keep their thoughts to themselves.

How, in the name of Faust almighty, could a pony NOT be happy with the return of magic. It was simply beyond me.

Posey was one of said ponies. I had caught her numerous times voicing her displeasure loud and clear to ponies of her same-minded circle, making sure to obnoxiously get her point across, which would only help to undo the progress my friends and I struggled to achieve. She had as little sympathy for me as she had for new things such as magic.

The fact I had chosen to answer her deep scowls with utmost indifference only helped get her madder.

Everypony was entitled to their own opinion, and that hadn’t changed at all since the time of Celestia’s rule. But that scornful attitude of hers couldn’t have come at a worse time. It actually got me quite miffed as much as I kept it under wraps, but I just didn’t have the time or the energy to deal with her that morning.

Even if her question was addressed to all of us, the holes she drilled in my skull with her scowl left no doubt as to whom she was, in particular, referring to. Her visible miff only worsened when she found out about her messed-up garden.

“What have you done to my roses?!!” She angrily demanded, her shrill making my friends flinch, their ears pressed against their scalps.

“I’m so sorry, Posey, it was an accident. We were just trying to ca-”

“Oh, I sure know what you were up to, Sunny Starscout! And I’m tired of having to deal with your ‘so fantastic magic’ and the chaos it just keeps provoking. It’s given me headaches all week!” Posey rudely interrupted my friend's apology, stomping down the steps of her porch to assess the damage, pushing aside Sunny while doing so. I balled my hands into fist to keep myself collected.

“Look at this mess!” She pointed to the bent and slightly upturned roses, venom dripping in bucket loads out of her. “Is it so much to ask for you to keep your stupid magic well away from my house?!” She snapped at us, poor Sunny taking a step back and sinking her gaze down in shame.

“Come on, Posey, it’s not THAT bad. We’ll fix it in no time. Care to do the honors?” Izzy attempted to ease the fuming mare, bringing my attention towards the broken mail post. I understood the message and soon began to charge my gauntlets, pointing my left one towards it.

“Rep-”

“NO! I told you already, I don’t want your magic anywhere near my house!” She interrupted my casting with another scream. I was startled by it, losing concentration for a second, making the building magic almost escape into a feedback loop that could have damaged the gauntlet’s integrity if unchecked. Years worth of experience allowed me to regain my focus and safely dispel it. I would have felt it the morning after if I hadn’t.

“What is your problem with magic? It has only done good things for us! Don’t you see how happy everypony is with it?” Zipp, wings flared and fed up with Posey’s… uh, pose, pried the mare in annoyance.

“Ha! Easy for you to say, actually having magic, not like us earth ponies.” Posey rebutted, trotting back to her porch with a last disgusted look over her shoulder at her ruined garden.

I decided it was time for me to intervene, keeping my voice steady and professional. “Posey, all of ponykind possesses magic, earth ponies included.” I calmly explained, only to be completely dismissed.

“Oh, is that so? I don’t see myself levitating stuff around. Do you?”

I pursed my lips, and explained further. “Magic has countless forms, even more so when manipulated by living creatures. Your innate magic doesn’t manifest as a unicorn’s. It’s subtler; it acts to bolster the growth of all kinds of plants, as well as granting you enhanced strength, you know? The ‘shattering all my bones if you wished to’ kind of strength?”

“Bah, what do you know about that?” She once again casted my explanation aside in a stubborn streak. “You’re just a weird monkey with weird gizmos that hasn’t done anything but cause trouble since you got here. We all lived peacefully until you suddenly arrived and brought back magic with… these ponies. If you expect me to believe you straight out of the mill, then you’re going to be very disappointed.” She concluded her rant with a dignified flick of her tail.

My friends didn’t take her hurtful words kindly, taking a threatening step forward. Izzy was the first to speak on my defense. “Hey! Now you listen here, you….”

I rested my hand over her shoulder, gaining a quizzical look from her. I silently shook my head no, reasoning that it just wasn’t worth it. Izzy wasn’t happy with my preference, but relented nonetheless with a puffy snort.

“Posey, I know change can be hard. We’re in the middle of something Equestria hasn’t experienced in hundreds of years! It’s going to take time for everypony to settle down and get the hang of their magic. Just… please, will you at least give it a chance?” Sunny pleaded to the fuming earth pony after needing a moment to regain her wits after Posey’s harsh comment.

Against our best efforts, Posey would not budge in her refusal to any and all of our pleadings, preferring to stick to her, in my not-so-humble opinion, backwards beliefs.

“Magic is NOT safe, and the only thing it will bring us is trouble, loads of trouble!” She pointed an accusing hoof at us. “Starting with you! If you want to keep messing around with it, be my guest, but don’t expect for a moment to see me falling in trot behind it!” She threw a last look towards her ruined flowers. “And do so away from my garden!!” With that last exclamation, she turned tail and slammed the door in our faces with a huff, leaving us rooted, dejected at our failure to convince her.

‘That crap you’re spitting out is what got us in here in the first place, Posey! I ain’t going to force my opinions on you, but you had better be careful with your words. I haven’t come all the way here for your ‘Karen’ attitude to ruin it all!’

“Wow, wasn’t she a ray of sunshine?” Izzy flatly commented, trotting a few steps around the porch. With a simple spell, she straightened what roses had ended up bent and quickly replanted those that had been uprooted. I was impressed by her dexterity; she was getting quite deft at using her magic.

Once she was happy with the results, she looked back to me and gestured with her head towards the broken mail post. Although I was far from inclined to help Posey after her ‘kind’ appreciation towards my person, I decided to just not dwell on it, preferring to focus on the upcoming celebrations.

A quick Reparo spell got it back in one piece, and using some levitation I successfully nailed it back into the ground. With the cleanup done, Sunny motioned for us to return to the town, albeit looking a bit down after Posey’s hostile confrontation. Thankfully, Izzy was soon there to cheer her up, quickly bringing back a festive mood fitting for the day’s festivities.

I wasn’t going to allow that small fight to ruin the day, and my friends sure weren’t either. Walking at the rear of the group, I distracted myself by enjoying the surrounding landscape, paying half a mind to my friends’ conversation, which once again covered their numerous plans for the day.

“Stopped into a chuurch.~ I passed along the waaay.~ Well, I got down on my knees… And I pretend to praaay.~ You know the preacher like the cold.~ He knows I’m gonna staaay.~ Maretime bay dreamiiiin’... On such a winter’s daaay.~”

My light humming didn’t go unnoticed by my friends, especially Pipp, who had recognized the root melody of my little, improvised cover. She flapped her wings and hovered at my side.

“You and I are so going to make a song together.” She sealed the deal with a light shove on my shoulder, electing an amused chuckle from me.

“You know? My singing voice is renowned for spiking divorce rates by sixty percent, at a minimum.” I dramatically jested, my friends all answering with a roll of their eyes. I wasn’t going to get out of it that easily, and Pipp would make sure of that.

Leaving the musical pegasus behind, I quickened my pace to reach my friend Izzy at the front of the group. “Hey, Izzy.” I said, lightly tapping her on the back.

“Hmm? What’s up?” She asked with a tilt of her head.

“I just wanted to congratulate you on your spellcasting back there, you’re getting very good at it.” I complemented, rewarding her with a playful rub of her mane.

“Aww shucks. I’ve had plenty of chances to practice the last few days. These ponies are in serious need of some unicycling.” She softly nuzzled my hand back in appreciation.

At that moment, a funny thought invaded my mind, making me lightly chuckle at the irony of it.

“What’s so funny?” Izzy wanted to know when she noticed my merriment.

“It’s just… in the past, unicorns were really, and I mean it, really dependent on their magic to get things undergone. To the point that a magic-less unicorn would find themselves with four left hooves, if you know what I mean.”

Izzy sure looked surprised. “Really? That seems a bit odd.”

“Well, perhaps it’s a bit exaggerated, but the point still stands. Just, seeing your dexterity with your hooves when it comes to crafting, plus the fact of you being a unicorn, I just find it a bit funny since anypony would have expected you to do all that with your magic instead of your hooves. That’s more of an earth pony thing.”

“Well, it’s not like I had anything better before I met you guys. I had to make do with what I had. I’ve always been quick with my hooves. A loooot of free time and no magic will make sure of that for anypony. I don’t have a problem with using the ‘earth pony’ way.” She playfully rubbed her barrel against Sunny’s, forcing an embarrassed smile from her.

Our way back was met with no interruptions. After checking that the final preparations were well underway, we all decided to have an early lunch and begin getting ready for the festival. The inauguration ceremony was still a few hours away, but we were all itching to get a start on partying. Sunny for sure was looking forward to personally welcoming all the ponies from Zephyr Heights and Bridlewood that had decided to attend.

Just as we reached the brighthouse, Izzy’s telekinetic grasp pulled me aside without anypony else noticing.

“Psst, Alex. I need you to distract Sunny for a moment while I show Pipp around and finish the last touches to the you-know-what.” She whispered to me. It took me a few moments to puzzle out her intentions, but once I had, I answered with a nod of understanding.

As the ponies made their way inside, Izzy quietly snuck Pipp away towards the upper floor. I did the same for Sunny, surprising her by reaching for her barrel and lifting her up with a confused squeal. Placing one arm under her rump and another supporting her belly, I began carrying her towards the kitchen, to the bemusement of the remaining ponies.

“A-Alex?! What are you doing?” She demanded, flashing me a confused look, adorably highlighted with an embarrassed blush.

“I’m distracting you. Smart, right?” I answered nonchalantly, only driving her confusion further.

“Uh, I think the distracted pony isn’t supposed to know they’re being distracted,” Zipp remarked, following us towards the kitchen with Hitch in tow, silently chuckling at the sight of us.

“I didn’t read that in the ‘101 Ways to Distract a Pony’ manual, so…”

“Is that an actual thing?” Asked Hitch.

“You’d be surprised. I swear, it always seemed like there was a book for literally anything in Twilight's collection.” I remembered my frequent visits to several of Equestria’s libraries, one purple mare’s in particular, being endlessly surprised by the books I found in them.

Once in reach of the counter, Hitch began to collect the necessary utensils to cook up some pizzas for all of us, while Zipp took a seat over at the kitchen counter, resting her head on her forelegs, her expression denoting she was deep in thought.

Myself and Sunny just stayed there for a moment, the mare still hanging in my grasp. Her blush only seemed to have deepened, but she made no attempt to escape.

“Hey there.” I spoke to her with a grin.

“U-Um… Hi?” She stuttered back, her embarrassment only worsening. With a final laugh, I softly set her back on her hooves, and together we began preparing our meal.

A few minutes later, the sound of clopping hooves alerted me to the return of our missing friends. I searched Izzy's gaze and flashed her a wink seeking confirmation that everything was going to plan, receiving one back with an excited smile. Sunny was up for a pleasant surprise that afternoon.

We settled for margaritas, veggies, and mushroom pizzas; a shame none of them had any meat whatsoever, but I wasn’t going to start whining about it. I was more than accustomed to their vegetarian habits.

The ponies worked together in an improvised assembly line, and soon, another pizza was on its way to the oven for a nice, crispy touch. Seeing as they had it more than covered, I simply set myself to watch them working as a team. However, I soon noticed the absence of one of my friends in the assembly line. A quick search around the kitchen found her still sitting alone at the other side of the isle, seemingly deep in thought. Puzzled by her out-of-season demeanor, I decided to check if everything was dandy with her.

“Hey, Zipp, you alright? You seem a bit out of it.” I addressed the frowning pegasus while taking a seat at her side.

She took a moment to reply, shaking her head to wake herself up. “Y-Yeah, just thinking about something weird that happened earlier.”

“You mean the issue with Posey?”

She wetted her lips before replying. “Uh, yeah, that. It’s kinda off-putting seeing ponies still thinking like her. Almost makes me feel like our progress has been for naught.” She finished with her ears drooping against her scalp.

I couldn’t fully express how much I sympathized with that claim, but a deep sigh would have to do. “Well, everypony is entitled to their own opinion, Zipp. I just wished that she would keep those opinions to herself. Or preferably, not have them in the first place. However…” I gently took her chin in my hand, moving her muzzle to match my gaze. “Don’t you ever think for a second that what we’re doing is for nothing. We’re working towards something great, Zipp, and we’ll get there, together, regardless of what anypony else thinks or wishes.”

That got her to cheer up, shedding her frown for a tiny smile of appreciation.

“Same here.” Sunny, who had caught up to our conversation, called from the oven. “How could she not love magic?” She asked with visible frustration.

“Maybe she’s just jealous?” Hitch proposed from the counter where he was slowly flattening more pizza dough for a last batch. “Even with magic back, it’s not that much different for us earth ponies.”

“Jealous?” Pipp inquired as she neatly assembled the toppings.

“Heh, I know I am.” Hitch continued. “Magic sounds pretty scary at first, but colt would I jump at the chance to be able to levitate stuff, or make an impromptu flight to the top of a building. Hey, Alex…” He searched for me “Do you think you can whip up one of those gauntlets for us?”

Not the first time a pony had asked. The answer would be the same as always. “Sorry, Hitch,” I answered with a solemn shake of my head. “I lack both the materials and diagrams, and only a high-level unicorn specialized in the field could imprint the multilayered spell engrams to create the LIM that powers them. My abilities don’t reach that far.”

However, there was a high chance that a bunch of them could have remained in Canterlot Castle’s laboratories, since it became a high-priority research project back in the day, with the crown enlisting ponies all over Equestria to pour their abilities to perfect them, among many other research fields that made up the ISIT program. I made a mental note to check what remained of it when I visited again, and I was going to visit again. As painful as it was to do so.

“Come on, Hitch, it’s not that bad for us. We work with what we have, like we’ve always done. The difference is that now we have both unicorns and pegasi there to help us. Ready?” Sunny looked at Izzy and me, holding the peel in her mouth, a freshly made pizza smoking above it, ready to be cut.

Izzy and I gave each other a nod of confirmation, repeating the gesture with Sunny, who launched the pizza into the air. A few severing spells cast in quick succession cut the pizza into eight pieces, which were carefully levitated by Izzy’s magic to each of us. I shared with her a celebratory hoof bump.

“I guess levitation is pretty cool.” Pipp began before taking a mouthful of her portion. “Mmmm, shoooo good… *gulp*Ahem. But I wouldn’t trade these babies for anything,” She flapped her fluffy wings for emphasis.

Her sister changed the topic. “What about you, Sunny? Have you figured out the whole ‘magical wings and horn appearing at random times’ thing yet?”

The problem Zipp had just mentioned had become a pressing issue, since it was nigh-impossible to schedule training sessions when her powers would just switch on and off randomly. Sunny had made excellent progress with them, and more or less could summon them at will with enough time and mental preparation, but the trigger was still a mystery to her. Whatever it was, it acted in and outside training, and more often than not ended up causing a magical accident when her powers came forth without being summoned. More wood for the fire that was Posey’s opinion on magic.

“No, Zipp, I haven’t… and it’s only getting worse.” Sunny admitted, but was quick to realize what she had just said, turning to regard me with an apologetic look, thinking she might have insulted my efforts at training her.

Far from the truth. I rewarded her with a reassuring smile of my own. “You’ve been doing great, Sunny. We’ll get there, I promise.”

The dread she held in her chest soon was blown away with a relieved exhalation, turning her worried frown into her usual, bright smile.

We spent a few minutes enjoying our meal in comfortable silence. That is until Zipp voiced more of her concerns.

“Maybe Posey has a point.” She muttered deep in thought, slowly turning her pizza slice in her hoof. “If there is one thing we’ve learned about magic, it’s that it is unpredictable.”

Sunny was quick to correct her. “It may be unpredictable, but it’s not dangerous.” She spoke with confidence, only for that confidence to shatter a second later when her own words registered in her brain. Again, she nervously peered at me, no doubt recalling some of the more… ‘delicate’ stories they had learned from me regarding the use of magic. “I-I mean, not dangerous as long as it’s wielded with responsibility and care.” She backtracked with a nervous gulp.

“And that is why today is the perfect day to demonstrate that, is it not?” I attempted to defuse her worries, although she wasn’t wrong in the slightest.

“Mhm.” She answered with a confidant pump of her forehoof. “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 ponies, and human, in?” She flashed me a playful wink.

All my friends answered with vigorous cheers, all of them, except Zipp, who I heard groaning dejectedly beside me. From the corner of my eye, I discerned her mom’s name on her phone’s screen, the device vibrating with an incoming call. She definitely wasn’t looking forward to that call. I could guess why after our previous talks regarding her pending princess status and Zipp’s reluctance to involve herself with anything ‘crowny’. A rushed apology saw her making a beeline towards the ramps leading to the second floor for some privacy.

‘I know how it is, Zipp. I know it better than anypony.’

‘Celestia’s sake, Mom! Does it have to be now?’ I angrily complained at the sight of her name and icon on my phone screen.

There was only ONE reason she ever called me since I’d moved to Maretime Bay with my friends, a reason I was in no way looking forward to discussing further than what we already had. What would be the point? The conversation always ended the same regardless of what I tried.

I decided to take the elevator up to the crystal’s room to spare my friends from the show. The distance and low humming would be perfect to mask my voice if it turned into a heated discussion. I didn’t want to stress my friends more than they currently were with the festival and all.

I released a deep breath and mentally prepared for another tiring call from my mom. I flipped the phone open and pressed the green button.

*Zephyrina? Are you there? H-Hello? I can't see you.* The voice of my mother accompanied her image across the video call. I adjusted the camera so that she could see me better, taking a seat on one of Alex’s folding chairs he used during his research seasons. The other one was actually for me or Sunny, since we would both accompany him from time to time.

“Hi, Mom.” I answered with as much emotion as a brick.

*Ah, there you are. It’s been ages since I’ve seen my little fillies.* I tried not to groan at her cheesy greetings. Thankfully, Cloudpuff barged into the scene at the perfect moment for my mom to not notice my tired eye-roll. *At least Pipp answers her phone when I call her. You, my dear, never do! And you haven't visited Zephyr Heights in a long time!*

‘Oh, crap.’

“Uh, nope! I have definitely not been to Zephyr Heights in a while! Hehe… ahem.” I kept my composure as best as I could, praying that she hadn’t learned about my short ‘trip’ there for my sister’s lucky microphone. Once again, Cloudpuff’s search for attention was enough for my mom to not pay a closer look at the bullets I was sweating.

*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! Yes, you, are!*

I resigned myself to just waiting for my mom to stop baby-talking our pet, no doubt sporting the driest look ever worn by a pegasus as I tapped the seconds away with my rear hoof. I’m not ashamed to admit I really don’t have that much patience for these kinds of things.

“Mom, can we please jus-”

*Listen, Zipp, dear.* She interrupted me, her tone becoming more serious all of a sudden. *I called because I'm going to need you to move back home, okay?*

I almost missed a breath. “What?! No! No way, Mom!”

She was having none of it, as usual. *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!* She recited the usual speech with a proud smile, a sentiment I did not share.

“Ugh. I know…” I quickly fumbled for an escape, “But, what about Pipp though?”

*Well, your sister has that 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, like, everything. It’s actually a bit too much at times. I’m going to talk about it with her soon. Still, I don’t have any problems keeping track of her whereabouts. You're the one I need here, studying my every move and representing the royal family!*

“B-But I’m not sure if I’m ready to leave just yet. There’s a lot going on here, Mom!” I desperately tried.

*And what would that be?* She flashed me a questioning look.

“Ummm… uh. There’s a festival soon?”

By some kind of miracle, my trump card worked. *Hmm… I do suppose festival planning does count as a useful skill for your future on the throne. As queen, you'll be responsible for arranging state dinners, teas, parties...*

She went on and on, making me lose what little patience I still held. I didn’t want to deal with it at the moment, preferably not ever.

“Uh… Oh!” I started making static-like noises and shaking my phone in a pathetic attempt to escape. “You’re… breaking… up!”

I immediately ended the call, making sure to avoid the unamused expression on my mom’s features. I remembered then that this was at least the third time I had used that trick. I need to come up with something new.

I sighed dejectedly, returning my phone to the wing holster. “Why does it have to be this way?” I stood up from the chair and trotted my way towards the balcony, feeling my ears drooping against my mane and my wings falling saggy at my sides. I felt so tired at that moment.

“Is everything okay?” The soft voice of my friend popped the bubble of my silent musings. So absorbed was I in my thoughts that I hadn’t heard Sunny nor Alex ride their way up the elevator. She stood closer to me, with him standing a little bit behind, both of them looking visibly worried.

“Y-Yeah,” I tried to diffuse their concerns, unsuccessfully that is. “It's just that... I love it here in Maretime Bay so much… I don't want to leave yet.”

“L-Leave?” Sunny wondered.

“To go back to Zephyr Heights.” I clarified with a wince.

I startled my friend back, her eyes narrowing to pinpricks. “Why?! Do you not like living with us?” She asked with a sad look that almost broke my heart. I quickly set out to correct myself.

“No, no! Of course I do, Sunny! It’s… actually, it’s been the best thing that has happened to me since my sister was born.” I avoided her searching eyes, choosing instead to look towards the town below. “I know I’m not ready to become the full-time, heir-to-the-throne princess yet. Not the way my mom expects me to be, anyway.”

My friends patiently waited for me to finish voicing my thoughts. With no short amount of apprehension, I revealed my most pressing concern. “But... I'm not sure if I fit in here either.”

“Of course you do, Zipp!” Sunny crossed the remaining distance and pressed herself against me in reassuring comfort.

“... Do you really think so?” I muttered with my cheek flat against the balocny’s railing, only to be rewarded with a vigorous nod. “Even if all I do is fly around and try out new moves?” I spread my wings and kicked from the ground to make a tiny loop over the balcony for emphasis.

“It's what you love to do! As Izzy would say… ahem,” She played with her tone of voice to imitate Izzy’s "It makes your sparkle shine really bright!"

I couldn’t help but chuckle at her crude, but accurate imitation, feeling my mood slowly lifting. “… I don’t know. Mom’s very adamant that I return home and start taking my royal lessons seriously. Perhaps it’s time for me to do so…” I sighed again and closed my eyes for a moment. “I’m going to have to do it someday.”

“Zipp.” A masculine voice brought my gaze up from the floor. My human friend had just called out to me. He didn’t say anything else, however, he extended his left arm in silent invitation, an invitation I most eagerly accepted.

Sunny had told us about how he, in truth, is an Equestrian prince proud and proper, albeit unwillingly from his end. She has also asked us, almost begged us in fact, to please not bring it up around him nor treat him any differently because of it. At that moment, I had started regarding him in a different light, a light that had shone on my path since the day I was old enough to understand what role I was to fulfill for the betterment of our kingdom.

Walking with my head low, I trotted to stand in front of his towering form. Not a word was spoken between us, but our eyes spoke all that was needed. Feeling my strength slowly crumbling, I accepted his embrace and buried my muzzle in his belly. He changed his position, kneeling in front of me so that my muzzle switched to nuzzle his neck. I felt his arms gently encompass me, slowly petting my back and neck in warm reassurance.

“… I don’t want to be mean.” I whispered, swallowing back a sob.

“I know.” Was his brief response.

“… I-I don’t want to disappoint anypony.”

“You won’t.” He tightened his embrace.

“B-But… it’s just not who I am…”

“I know, Zipp, I know…”

He patiently waited for me to recompose myself. I hated showing weakness like this in front of anypony. However, at that moment, I knew that, if there was anypony, anypony in the whole world with whom I could feel safe doing so, it was with my friends.

Pushing back once I felt like myself again, I shook myself snout-to-tail to clear my head. With renewed confidence, I gave Alex a nod of appreciation, which he promptly reciprocated.

I felt Sunny slowly trot to my side, giving me her own reassuring nuzzle.

“Come on, Zipp. We have a festival to attend, and it needs your magic, too.”

Not able to fully express my gratitude to my friends, I simply ushered them to go ahead while I took a few more moments to recompose myself fully. Agreeing with me, they both took the elevator down while I returned my sight toward the beautiful landscape of the Horseshoe Bay, and the town it was home to.

However, just as I was about to make my way towards the elevator, a pair of startled screams quickly gained my attention. Flapping my wings hard to assist whomever had screamed, I was regarded with a pair of pegasi who, a bit frazzled, continued their way towards the town, soaring the skies like they hadn't just lost control of their flight for a second out of nowhere. There wasn't even a breeze blowing that might’ve brought them out of rail.

“Hmm….” This had been the second weird phenomenon regarding pegasi and flight that day. That very same morning I had rescued a pair of fillies from pancaking into the ground as I made my way back from Zephyr Heights. I didn’t think too much about it at the time, blaming it on their inexperience.

However, I was starting to have my doubts.

Those doubts brought my attention to the Unity Crystals, the mechanism responsible for our continued usage of magic. We’d already had a major scare with the Discord incident, and I was in no way looking forward to another episode.

“... Ugh, no time for that right now.” I thought best not to dwell too hard on it and quickly hovered towards the elevator, which I rode back to my friends. I had more pressing issues to attend to.

In the middle of the main hall, I found them all in a neat circle, excitedly going over ideas for the decorations that would adorn Mane Street and the area around the concert stage. What weirded me out was the absurd amount of spoons my friend Izzy was currently levitating around her as she delivered a short demonstration.

“What's with all the spoons?” I asked my unicorn friend as I came in for a swift landing near them.

“Oh, we're unicycling these old decorations. You wanna try?” She cheerfully invited, using her levitation to bathe said spoons in glitter and assemble them in some kind of donut shape.

Not feeling like getting my hooves dirty, I blurted my best attempt for an excuse. “Uh, decorating things isn't really my strong point…”

“We could do something else. What about baking some Bay Day treats?” Sunny butted in with her own proposition from the kitchen, hooves full into preparing more treats for today’s celebrations.

“I-I'm not very good at baking either.”

She wasn’t going to relent, wanting to see me a part of the festival planning. “Or write a song for the big concert!”

“Yeah!” My sister exclaimed. “Zipp, you used to love writing song lyrics with me!”

“I-I don’t think so…” I began slowly making my way toward the doors by awkwardly walking backwards, trying to come up with a better excuse to just go and take some time for myself before all the fuss of the big celebration.

“Wait!” Sunny made one last attempt. “I'm sure we can find something that you'd like to do, how about…”

“Guys.” Alex finally decided to intervene. He made a gesture with his hands which I understood to be one for settling down. “Zipp, how about you go take a flight over the town, and see how things are coming along?” He proposed, giving me a knowing glance.

Silently thanking him, I galloped the rest of the way to the exit, and as soon as the blue sky welcomed me over my head I gave my wings a strong pump and launched myself into the air, letting the deafening feeling of rushing air against my ears and muzzle distract me from my previous nervous breakdown.

The weightless levity that accompanied flight worked wonders to soothe my nerves. I relished in the cool breeze that pushed me up into the clouds, the wet feeling of water vapor trickling down my fur and feathers, and the rush of adrenaline as I brought myself to a drop from the heights, pulling up at the last moment before speeding straight towards the seaside town.

The sheriff’s office entered my field of view as soon as I started flying over the central district. Thinking about the strange things I’d witnessed that very same day, I decided it was prudent to go and ask Hitch if he knew anything about them. Being the local sheriff, he ought to know about any strange phenomena happening in this town. Also, I kinda wanted to see him anyway. He had this way of making problems feel less of a deal.

It took me ten seconds flat to land straight in front of the building, and I pushed on the twin doors of the entrance with a light shove, dipping my head inside to see if he had made it into the office, or if he was otherwise patrolling the streets.

Before I could even call for him, I was rewarded with the sight of my friend twirling around in his office chair while trying to… rhyme.

“Uh… are you trying to rhyme?” I asked rhetorically.

He was startled by my appearance, as he quickly stopped spinning and made an attempt to regain his professional composure. Failing miserably, I’m afraid to admit. The goofiest sheriff in town, he was.

“O-Oh, hey there, Zipp. Y-Yeah I, um…. what do you think?” He asked with a sheepish grin.

“Waaay too much.” I flatly answered to his dismay.

“Cool, cool, just trying something out. Didn’t work, great feedback.” He cleared his voice and switched to a more professional tone. “So, what can I do for you?”

I debated for a moment whether to outright mention something about my strange sightings or not. “I came by because… well… Have you seen anything strange lately?” I couldn’t think of a better way of hinting it without making him outright panic.

“Strange? You live in a lighthouse with glowing crystals that shoot rainbows up the sky and a unicorn that can move things with the power of her mind. I need you to be a little bit more specific, Zipp?” He pressed with just an ounce of sarcasm. Not that he was wrong.

“Well, I was on the balcony earlier when…”

I lost my edge as I started to overthink things again.

‘Nah, there are more important things to worry about today’.

“Y-You know what? It was probably nothing. Forget it.” I cut it off with a nervous laugh.

Hitch regarded me for a few, suspicious moments when suddenly his features lit up. “Wait, I know what this is about now!”

I nervously gulped, cursing my poor acting skills. “You do?”

He left his chair to approach me from around his desk. “Yup. You, my friend…” I nervously twitched in place. “... are bored.”

‘Pheew, it’s as good a guess as I can get.’

“But, you don't have to be shy. We're pals! We can totally hang out! I know!” He jumped towards the phone on his desk. “Let's order fries from three different diners and then decide which ones are the best! *GASP!!* Or maybe a puzzle!” He brought one from somewhere under his desk. I chuckled at his contagious, almost childish enthusiasm. Another reason I liked spending time with him. He made it so easy for you to stop stewing over your concerns sometimes…

However, before I could propose a different plan, the phone on his desk started ringing, which made my friend switch to ‘sheriff mode.’

“Ahem, Sheriff station… Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm… I see… Really? How strange… At the beach? Yeah, I'll be right there.”

‘A strange event on the beach? I HAVE to check this out.’

Before he even had the chance to hang up the phone, I was already out and bolting furiously towards the beach, where I silently landed above the small, sandy cliff that bordered its length up to the path that connected it to the town’s lower level. I waited silently, belly on the sand and observing the townsponies going about their day as they frolicked on the beach.

An argument between ponies a few meters away from my hiding spot gained my attention. It seemed that my hunch was right, since not even a minute later Hitch was there to handle the issue. From what little I could make out from their exchange, it happened that a unicorn’s magic had suddenly stopped working, dropping an umbrella over another unfortunate pony’s sandcastle, completely destroying it.

Both parties were blaming each other, with poor Hitch trying to mediate the situation as best he could.

I felt a cold shiver running down my spine, as memories from our recent issue with Discord and the Unity Crystals rushed into my mind.

‘No, there’s no possible way. He promised us!’

Before jumping to any conclusions, I decided to check this issue more in depth.

“Thursday, noon, beach. Third magical mishap. Levitation glitch. Unicorn drops umbrella. Lots of upset ponies. Very strange. Must investigate further.” I made sure to leave everything recorded in my phone to review later in case I needed it. Once I made sure I had everything I could get from the crime scene, I felt like checking the Unity Crystals as my next stop, just in case. I couldn’t think of any other reason magic could be failing in said manner.

Whatever jitters I was feeling after learning about this small incident turned into a full-blown panic when I realized my wings weren’t working, degrading me to pathetic hopping as I felt not amount of air being pushed down by my feathers, which had started to feel as heavy as two sack of potatoes dangling from my sides.

Trying as hard as I could, I simply couldn’t get off the ground.

“NO! Oh, no! Please, no! Not again!”

A few harsh attempts later, the tingling feeling of magic rushed over my wings with an invigorating rush, and I found myself in the air.

“Haha! Yes!” I made a small victory loop and promptly rushed towards the brighthouse, but not before making a call to the only pony who might know better than me what was going on.

“Come on, come on, pick up!”

“Mmmff, damm, Gaster, this is some serious shit you got here.”

After Zipp had rushed over to oversee the finishing preparations from the air, and no doubt taking the chance to clear her head in the meantime, I decided to follow her lead, heading for the so-called ‘food district’ where most of the food stands were parked. I had bumped into my unicorn lab partner, who seemed as eager to start with the festivities as the next pony, even though they wouldn’t kick in until well into the afternoon.

A friendly greeting and a short talk later, he dragged me into trying what I could now call the best poke I had tasted in my entire life.

“Um, I would have voiced it differently, but the sentiment is still there. I knew you’d love it. I can say I’m positively addicted to it.” Gaster answered, a bit creeped out by my description. These softy ponies softy…

The food stand was run by a local mare whose food truck you could usually find near the promenade, not far from where Sunny usually opens her smoothie cart. She wore a proud, albeit bemused smirk at the sight of us enjoying her dish.

Even if I had just enjoyed a few slices of pizza with my friends, I couldn’t help but completely devour the delicacy, the bowl now standing empty between my hands. Once I couldn't physically get another scrap out, I returned the empty bowl to the mare behind the counter with a wide smile. “Yeah, you’ve got yourself a new customer, my friend.”

She answered with a sheepish smile, a bit bothered by the small predatory show I had made while eating my second lunch. I can’t say I felt sorry for it, it was just too good.

My phone started vibrating in my pocket with an incoming call. I couldn't help but give it a lopsided grin.

‘Faust, it feels so weird after so much time since I left Earth.’ I mentally chuckled at the feeling of a ringing phone, which I hadn’t experienced since my departure from my home planet all those years ago.

Quickly whipping my hands and mouth with a napkin my pal had graciously hooffed me, I pushed the green button after seeing Zipp’s name on the screen. “Ja?”

*Alex! Where are you?* She asked, sounding positively stressed.

“I’m at the food district, poison-checking the food stands.” I flashed the mare a playful wink, earning a small giggle from her.

*I need you back in the brighthouse. Like, right now!*

“Are you okay, Zipp? You sound a bit str-”

*RIGHT NOW, ALEXANDER!!*

“Oookay, mein Führer, I’m on my way, sheesh.” I hung up and gave my colleague an apologetic pat.

“Better check it out, it sounds serious.” He answered, turning to look back towards the menu in search of another poke to enjoy.

“Something serious happening before a big event? Nah, never heard of it happening in my life.” I voiced, sarcasm dripping from my voice.

The way back was uneventful. I came across Hitch, who also happened to be on his way to the brighthouse after finishing some things back in his office.

“How was the rest of the morning?” I engaged in light conversation.

“Meh, nothing serious, just a foal dropping her umbrella over another foal’s sandcastle over the beach.”

“Hmm, did you find an-”

“Find?! I didn’t find anything on the beach!” He blurted out, breaking down into very nervous jitters, as if been caught doing something bad.

“… anything interesting.” I finished, now regarding him with suspicion, making him nervously sweat.

“N-Nope, nothing important. Just the small argument with the foals, nothing I couldn’t handle. And also Posey stopping over to file a complaint about somepony pranking her by sticking her hooves with glue on the ground or something. Yep! Everything’s great and peachy and all…good.” He finished his short rant with a toothy smile, the kind of smile a pony gave you while hiding the metaphorical body under the bed behind them, which only made me more suspicious. However, as we were approaching the brighthouse, I decided to let it slide.

‘Huh… weird.’

We entered to find Pipp in the middle of the foyer practicing what she titled as her all-new anthem for Maretime Bay Day, although by what little we managed to catch, it seemed pretty green to me. And by green, I meant non-existent. Hitch seemed to like it though.

When I asked the ponies about Zipp’s whereabouts, I was returned with a collective shrug, informing me she had come not half an hour ago, citing she had to work on her own Maretime Bay Day surprise or something. They too thought she came off as a bit spooked about something, but with all the ‘treat preparing frenzee’, they hadn’t given it much thought.

Thanking them, and giving a thumbs up to Izzy’s miniature glimmerberry tarts after rushingly trying one out, I set out to look for Zipp on the second floor. A surprise for today’s festival didn’t seem that serious to me for her needing me here so urgently. Not finding her in their shared bedroom or any of the side rooms, I decided to check the crystals’ room.

After a short ride up for the second time that morning, I found my missing pegasus friend slumped over the marble floor, glaring daggers at the trio of floating crystals which steadily hummed with the flow of powerful Preasbeam.

“There you are. So, what’s burning?” I called my pegasus friend who slightly jolted with my unannounced arrival.

“Hey, Alex. Sorry for the rushed call, it’s just…. do they seem okay to you?” She asked, pointing at the Unity Crystals.

After some careful observation, I wasn’t able to find anything anomalous with the crystals, at least as far as my limited knowledge went. “I don’t know what to tell you, Zipp. They seem fine to me. The magic’s flowing steadily, there are no energy spikes, no visible thaumic field distortions… nothing out of the ordinary as far as I can see. Why? Have they been acting up?”

The look of worry didn’t leave my friend’s features after my short examination. She instead sighed to indicate she had further concerns. “Perhaps it’s nothing, but…”

She switched her gaze from the crystals to me. “I’ve stumbled upon some weird phenomena regarding magic, more specifically magic failing, just this very morning! There was this pegasi who suddenly dropped from the sky for just a second before regaining their flight, a-and a unicorn foal claimed her magic had suddenly stopped working, making her drop an umbrella over a sandcastle.”

I recognized that last event from Hitch’s report. “I see… anything else?” I urged her, scratching my chin as I mulled over her observations in search of an explanation.

“N-No. Nothing that I could witness, at least. Alex, I… I really don’t want to sound paranoid, especially not today of all days, but I can’t help but think about…”

“About Discord’s incident?” I finished her train of thought, also finding the issues a bit too similar to those caused by Discord’s theft of the Pegasus Crystal. Way too similar for my comfort.

She returned her gaze to the glowing gems. “But here they are, untouched, unbothered. Nothing looks to be out of place with them, so what in Tartarus was that all about? Just a small glitch without importance?” She sounded positively desperate for answers, answers I couldn’t provide with complete certainty.

“Hmmm,” I ran it over in my mind for a few more laps. “If I’m completely honest, I think you aren’t that far from it. I’m taking a wild guess here, but I doubt they were designed to have one of them pulled out forcefully like that. I wouldn’t think it crazy for some after-effects to manifest, especially after having spent a couple of weeks working at reduced capacity as they were during our hunt. Again Zipp, I really don’t know what to tell you, this is as new for me as it is for all of you.”

I checked them over one last time before offering my friend a temporary solution. “Hm, this is what we’re going to do.” I pointed towards the balcony. “You go out and keep an eye out for anything suspicious out there. There’s going to be a lot of ponies in the town today, you’d better keep both eyes open. Anything weird you catch, you come here and tell me. I’m going to stay here, see if I can run a few tests to cle-”

A shift in the flow of magic derailed my train of thought, accompanied by the telltale sound of building magical power. Both our eyes were dragged back towards the crystals, which seemed to be powering up, fed by individual multicolored streams of magical energy, which emerged from the central column of Prisbeam energy into the crystals field proper.

“What in the wing feathers?” Zipp muttered under her breath at the sight of the colorful display.

Soon, I felt a familiar tingling coursing through my body. Before I even had the chance to react, the slow trickle of building power raised a hundredfold, momentarily blinding us.

Blinking repeatedly to dispel the bright spots in my vision, our mouths fell at the sight of what was surrounding us.

“Are those… vines?”

My friend’s guess was as good as mine. Numerous… ‘vines’ stretched from the center of the room, crawling all over the floor and walls, covering the glass and slightly darkening the room around us. They weren’t vines per se, more like imprints of them shimmering in a powerful, greenish hue.

Never in my life had I encountered something like this. None of my previous experiences with magic could even begin to explain what was before my eyes.

I kneeled and reached with a trembling hand towards one of the vines that stretched under my feet towards the glass wall behind me.

As my fingers were to make contact, the whisper of a voice I had learned to dread with my very life caressed my ears.

Traveler…

My blood froze up. It was her in my mind.

‘No… No no no no, shut up!!’

“Alex! What’s happening?!” Zipp wailed in distress, feeling the atmosphere pressing down on us with every ounce of magical power that accumulated.

I tried to answer, but my vocal cords wouldn’t respond. The same pressure that assaulted me when I first came across the crystals, the same I experienced in the Map Room at the old Castle, had paralyzed me once again.

Our knowledge shall be their legacy.

‘Shut up!’

The humming grew in intensity, the room almost shaking under our feet. Poor Zipp had to cover her ears from the sheer pressure the magic from the crystals was exerting on us.

Our legacy shall be their future.

‘SHUT UP!!’

I stumbled backwards, pressing my hands against my head in an attempt to escape the agonizing pressure. My gauntlet’s gems sparkled with the overflowing magical energy.

Our future is one in…

“SHUT UUUUUUP!!!”

Without thinking, survival instincts taking over, I explosively released the magical energy contained within my gauntlets, aiming them at the Unity Crystals in a desperate attempt to end whatever was happening around us.

The energy wave impacted against them, causing a profound reverberation that shook the whole room accompanied by a loud shrill that emanated from them as the energy bounced and dissipated against their magical, bubble-like defenses.

Just as it had started, the powerful presence suddenly faded away, taking the glowing vines with it, leaving the room in an utterly deafening silence.

With labored breaths, I searched for my pegasus friend, who had ended up pressing herself against the floor, covering her ears with both hooves and shaking like an autumn leaf. I quickly closed the distance between us and kneeled to check on her, wincing with the echo of her final words.

Guide them, Traveler…

Author's Note

It begins...