‘... That shield isn’t Twilight’s aura’.

That small detail in a storm of chaos was the first thought that pierced through my foggy mind after the loud shrill bouncing over the glass to the point of shattering had freed us. My… perhaps not-so-accidental attack had been harmlessly dissipated against the crystal’s integrated defenses.

Integrated defenses, go figure. Can't stop the Avatar of Chaos from snatching one of the three under our noses, but will turn on if you happen to sneeze too close so as to preserve their unparalleled luster.

However, a piece of protection magic I had come to learn while training with Shining was that the color of a magical shield usually matches that of its caster’s ‘aura’, or magical core if you prefer the correct term.

That shield wasn’t sporting Twilight’s, and I had spent enough years with her to easily recognize the discrepancy in its essence.

‘Discord said her magic doesn’t entirely power them. We knew it would require an alicorn-level magic power surge to activate all the spells that make up their matrix, but if it wasn’t entirely hers…. then whose is it? It almost feels like hers, but… not quite…’

With that lingering reflection and the fading echoes of Harmony’s reminder, my topmost priority was my pegasus pal on the brink of a nervous breakdown. I kneeled in front of her, her pupils narrow and darting all over the place in instinctual panic.

“Hey, Zipp. Zipp! Come on, it’s over. Zipp, answer me!” I repeatedly shook the pegasus, who remained pressed against the marblework, shaking in fear after suffering through what for her must’ve accounted for a haunting experience, their sensitivity to magic being greater than mine could ever be.

On the other hand, I was more than used to soldiering through weird magical phenomena, but Zipp surely wasn’t.

“Zipp, deep breaths, yes? Calm yourself, it’s over.” I did my best to soothe her panic-induced shaking to the best of my abilities, even if I or one was also moments away from breaking down into a trembling ball, hadn't my seasoned experience kept me rooted in the present.

“It’s over, Zipp. It’s over now.” I squeezed her withers reassuringly.

‘Over? No, it’s not. It’s just the beginning…’

After a few more gentle attempts, I was able to bring her out of her catatonic state, only for her to start darting around frantically, searching for the glowing vines that had covered the room not even a minute ago.

“Zipp! ZIPP!!” I grabbed her shoulders to lock her in place and raised my voice to get her attention. Her fearful eyes fixed on mine and, with labored breaths, she asked the same question that was ravaging my temples.

“Alex! What the actual buck was that?!!” She demanded in fearful panic.

“Zipp!” I shook her again, this time more firmly. "Zipp, calm down, okay? It's over now. Repeat after me.”

I took a page from Twilight’s book and guided her with a few deep breaths to finally calm her nerves to the point some semblance of rationality could return to the mare. It worked, more or less, but it allowed us to take a cool and calm approach to the situation.

“Zipp. Our friends downstairs…”

No further explanation was needed. Zipp quickly scrambled into her hooves and shoved himself into the elevator. With an impatient tapping of her hooves, she descended in a hurry in search of our friends, who I wasn't sure had even heard a thing at all.

I used the moments of solitude to try to puzzle out some semblance of meaning of the strange phenomenon we had experienced. Harmony's renewed insistence to see me fulfill my supposed 'task' only served to further piss me off.

‘What Task, you demi-god-like cuss?!! Why can’t you just leave me the FUCK ALONE?!’

I was tired of her constant bullshit, like a broken record playing the same notes over and over again, for months and years now. I wanted nothing to do with her Game and petty prophecies. She had messed with my life enough as it was.

‘A-And what the hell was that energy spike? Where did it come from?! A-And what were those vines? They weren’t real, but rather engravings of pure energy. What the fuck do they mean?!’

My poor attempt to bring some of the pieces together was interrupted by the sound of my friends approaching up where Zipp had left not a minute ago.

“... and there were those vines all over the room, a-and all that magic emanating from the crystals! My head almost exploded!!”

Zipp had returned with the ponies hot on her tail, all of them wearing expressions of profound confusion as they casted a quick look around in search for the thing that had got Zipp so riled up. It looked like they hadn’t noticed a thing from downstairs somehow, to my utter befuddlement. The whole thing was shaking!

“Alex! Are you alright? Zipp said something about there being some glowing vines in here?” Sunny, finding nothing out of the ordinary, rushed to my side, rearing on her rear legs and running her muzzle all over me in search of any injuries I might have sustained.

I gently pushed her back, giving her a few reassuring scritches behind her ears in appreciation. “I’m fine, Tangerine. Nothing broken just… shaken, I guess.” She hesitantly conceded, conducting yet another, more thorough search around the room for the aforementioned glowing vines. But no trace of them remained, not an imprint on the pristine floors or a reflection on the glass enclosing the room.

Nothing. Not even the aftershocks of the magic surge.

“Soooo… what are we looking for?” Izzy noticed as much and inquired after making sure for herself that I was totally fine, with a few exploratory sniffs of my torso, which only managed to tickle me and nudge her backwards to her utmost reluctance. That mare was a clingy mare.

“I told you!” Zipp tried again, her voice breaking in desperation. “There was this loud noise, and then the vines started spreading from under the crystals! A-And then this loud explosion and… it was suddenly gone! She flared her wings for emphasis, looking about to blow a fuse.

“Is that true, Alex?” Hitch inquired, staying close to Zipp, gently rubbing his hoof down her back to ease her ragged breathing.

I peered down at the sheriff and back around me. “Yes, it is… but I can’t make any sense of what happened. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

My lack of answers only helped drive their confusion further. With a couple of loud clops on the marble floor, Zipp called our friends’ attention back to where she stood.

“Fine! I have a confession to make.” She loudly exclaimed, earning puzzled dips of the ponies’ heads. “I've spent the better part of the morning monitoring the Crystals, and I think something is wrong with them!” She announced with a flick of her tail.

All my friends were shaken by her revelation, Sunny especially as she cried. “What?! What do you mean something is wrong? They look fine to me.” She reasoned with Zipp, perhaps believing she was overpacking, slightly turning to look at them pouring their Prisbeam energy as if nothing had happened.

“Guys, haven’t you noticed that magic seems kinda weird lately? Like it keeps switching off or something. Just like during Discord’s incident.” Zipp tried again.

The ponies took a pensive moment to reflect on each of their day’s happenings. “Hmmm… nope!” Izzy was the first to answer with her usual peppy self, immediately after trotting to my side, rubbing herself against me in concern. I knew I wasn't gonna unglue her from me anytime soon after the jumpscare, so I thanked her with a few reassuring pets on her mane, never taking my eyes off the Unity Crystals, dreading something might happen again the moment I looked away. I couldn’t take any chances.

‘Let’s make three crystals that control the entirety of the flow of magic back and forth ponykind, Alex! What could go wrong?!’

What was I even thinking that day…

“Me neither. Sorry, sis.” Pipp added absently, once again absorbed in her phone.

Seeing herself running out of ponies to buy her version, Zipp desperately searched for Hitch’s opinion. “Hitch? I saw what happened at the beach this morning. Didn't you take…?”

“What?! I didn't take anything at the beach!” The sheriff once again jumped at the mention of him and the small beach incident. That made two then, and you know what they say about one's luck, two is chance…

‘What’s going on with you? This isn’t the time for petty secrets, Hitch!’

“… take down a report?” Zipp finished blankly, flashing him a suspicious look.

“O-Oh, right, yes! A report. Actually, that reminds me. Gotta go file that report!” Hitch tried to make for a quick escape, only for my levitation to root him on his hooves.

“Wait a moment before you go, Hitch.” My call for him was enough to win my friends' attention all the same.

Once I was positive they were all paying attention, Pipp included after a nasty look from her sis demanding she dropped her phone for a minute, I shared my thoughts.

“None of us knows what happened exactly. But seeing as it’s unlikely for it to happen again, we can’t allow it to distract us from today’s big event. The crystals look stable right now, and I don’t feel any shifts in the flow of magic. Do you feel anything, Izzy?”

She stuck her tongue out in thought, lighting her horn to get a taste of the ambient magic. Her negative response allowed me to continue with my plan.

“Great, so…” I pointed towards all the ponies present, except Zipp. “You guys continue with what you were doing. Today’s the first step of our great project of bringing the true Equestria back. We can't mess it up. See to it that that doesn’t happen.” As one, the ponies gave me solemn nods of understanding, offering no complaint.

“Zipp,” I turned towards my now calmer, but still-ruffled friend. “Same plan as before, go out and do a few rounds of aerial surveillance and see if you can catch anything weird. We have to make sure if it was an isolated event, or if this is a recurring thing, understood?” Another nod of acknowledgment, her wings twitching impatiently in anticipation for a liftoff. “Fantastic, I’ll remain here for a bit to continue monitoring the crystals more closely. I’ll join you as soon as I can. Faust dammit it always has to be at the worst of times…” I darkly muttered out of the ponies hearing as they prepared to head out again, remembering the numerous occasions I had lived through similar to the one we were currently experiencing.

No amount of life lived can tune down the dread squeezing your heart. Not when so much was at stake.

My friends set out to fulfill their tasks, Zipp speeding off from the balcony towards the bustling town which filled with more and more ponies with each passing hour. The bustling from the festivities could be now heard from up there. It was aiming to be a huge festival. More reason to keep things nice and tidy on all fronts.

As the rest proceeded towards the elevator, I turned my focus back toward the glimmering crystals, preparing my gauntlet to cast the few adapted scanning and measurement spells, courtesy of Twilight, that I had managed to master in my day. However, the sound of incoming, hesitant hoof steps broke my concentration before I could even start.

Slowly approaching from the now-empty elevator shaft was Sunny, having remained behind, regarding me with a look of both guilt and concern.

A tilt of my head urged her to voice the concerns that haunted those pretty eyes of hers.

“I… I want to do more…” She solemnly lamented, her ears pressing against her scalp, ashamed enough to not even look at me.

‘Oh, Sunny...’ My heart aches for her, her confidence taking nasty tumble after nasty tumble with the limited progress on her alicorn powers. I motioned her to approach me. She did so with heavy steps, a cold aura of defeat following her. I kneeled and extended my arms to warmly embrace my earth pony friend, who eagerly accepted the gesture.

“Sometimes, being yourself is more than enough, remember?” I gently remind her of the most important of lessons, moving her muzzle from my neck to meet my eyes. It was evident that she wished to do more, her lack of progress with her powers only furthering her sense of uselessness. I reached and tenderly rubbed my nose against her snout, successfully changing her frown for a cute smile and light blush.

“… Okay.” She whispered, a bit of her confidence now restored, but a far cry from her full self. The Sunny that brought all of ponykind together.

Only one thing was left to be said. “Then go do what you do best.” I encouraged her with a tiny peck on the bridge of her muzzle.

With a happy waggle of her tail, she gave me one last nuzzle and scampered off towards the elevator, waiting patiently for it to rise and pick her up. Once on it, she flashed me a last look of gratitude before disappearing into the structure below.

Even in the middle of all the confusion and dread from Harmony's interference and the crazy phenomenon rocking the brighthouse to its foundations, I couldn’t help a goofy smile from adorning my face, the long lost butterflies conquering my tummy once more.

‘Not yet, Alexander. Not yet.’

“Uggghhh.”

I looked down at my phone, eyes sore from all the screen time I was subjecting them to that morning, tapping the record button with a hoof. It offered a sultry beep in response and the recording began.

“Report. Nothing new to report. No more signs of mysterious glowing vines or magical glitches.” Exhaling, I pressed the button again to stop the recording, and then again surveyed my surroundings.

I was slowly making my way through Mane Street, keeping both eyes open in search of any and all glitches or glitches–wannabes the townsponies might be suffering from. To my dismay and utter frustration, the trot from the brighthouse to here had resulted in nothing out of the ordinary. Just what we were hoping for, yet a part of me couldn't help feel infuriated by the lack of evidence that something was indeed wrong with the Unity Crystals.

‘Come on. The last time was terrible, how is it that now it’s suddenly so calm-Gah!’

The feeling of my phone vibrating under my wing got a little jump out of me. The slight adrenaline rush came to a screeching halt at the sight of my Mom’s name on the screen for the millionth time that day.

Needless to say, I was the complete opposite of looking forward to talking with her, hence the fact I had been avoiding her calls since that morning’s little ‘discussion’.

“Deep breaths, Zipp, no need to give her reasons to suspect.” I recited to myself, anxiously tapping the green button. “Hi, Mom.” I greeted with as much enthusiasm as a brick as I switched to video feed with my best attempt at a fake smile.

*Zipp! There you are, my darling! Have you been ignoring my calls, young filly?* My mom gave me the suspicious eye she’d sent me every time I’d skip princess lessons.

‘Crap!’

I was thankfully versed in the ways of making fast excuses. “N-No, I’ve just been busy! I'm actually helping Sunny with decorations right now, so I gotta go, hehe.” I moved my hoof towards the red button to end the call, only for her to halt me dead on my hooves.

*Well, I can't wait to see them, my dear!*

That got me to do a double take, blinking owlishly at the image of my mom and the throne behind her. “... See what?”

*Why the decorations, of course!* She chirped with visible excitement. *Oh, didn't Pipp tell you? I'll be attending the Maretime Bay Day Festival in person.*

‘You have GOT to be kidding me…’

Of all the things she could’ve called me for. “You will?! Why?!”

*What do you mean ‘why’? Does a mother need a reason to visit her fillies? Also, I want to see how you’ve managed the preparations for the event!* My mom justified in short, leaving me without room to retort.

Before I could continue, Cloudpuff barged into the scene, distracting my mom’s attention from the call with his own doggy demands.

*Yes, yes my sweetie, it’s treat time! I know, I know! See you there, darling!* The call ended with my mom’s rushed goodbyes. I was just left standing in the middle of the road, staring at the black screen. On its reflection, I could see my left eye twitching from the sheer pressure I was under.

“… Ngggh, mother of all… !! Ugh, come on! There’s gotta be something!!”

I decided to just keep searching before I had the chance to implode into a ball of nerves. I would deal with my mom later. For now, I had more pressing matters to attend to.

‘Everything on Mane Street appears normal…’

I was about to leave and search somewhere else when I saw Hitch going into his office, dragging something with him. Some kind of sack filled with something by the way it bulged under the stallion’s pulling. Judging from his body posture and the numerous searching looks he sent at his surroundings, it was clear he was meaning to do this without being discovered.

‘Huh? Hmmm… Except that… that’s not normal.’

Allowing my curiosity to get the best of me, I decided to head over for a quick stop and see what this was all about. Hitch had been acting strange recently, and by my mother's crown I was going to find out what the buck was going on.

Tip-hoofing my way into the police station, I quietly opened the double doors, finding him hunched over the small cabinet at the back of the room. He seemed to be… baby-talking?

“Mhm, lookin' all toasty and cozy! Now who wants to hear a story?”

“Uh, I do.” I revealed my presence, feeling genuinely curious at this utterly strange behavior from him.

I scared him enough for him to jump twice his height into the air, twirling in the air in an impressive moment to face me and grasping his chest to keep his heart in place.

“AAH!! Zipp!”

With a loud *SLAM*, he hurriedly closed the cabinet doors behind him, pressing his back against it with a creepy smile.

“W-Wow, you are one sneaky pegasus, hehe!” Hitch stuttered with the fakest of smiles, followed by a few moments of painfully awkward silence. “S-So, what are you doing here?”

“I had an instinct, so I followed it.” I took the window he had opened by relaxing his posture, flapping my wings and quickly reaching over him up to the top of the cabinet. Before he had any time to react, I opened the doors and peeked inside, dangling upside down like a bat.

“Aha! You have been hiding something!”

“Hey!” He tried to protest, but it was too late.

What awaited me inside the cabinet was… well, my best guess was an egg of some sorts, but it was big. Like, really big. Almost half the size of my head for reference. I couldn’t imagine what kind of bird could lay an egg such as that, never mind lay it comfortably or fly afterward. The shell had a milky pink appearance, becoming a stronger shade of the same color over its bottom as well as in some mottled spots over its surface. It laid slightly tilted over a bed of sand, with his desk lamp casting a gentle warmth over it. One of Hitch’s bird friends was keeping guard over it, wings ready to intercept me in case it deemed that I posed a threat to the egg.

“Whoo! Jackpot! Sooo, uh… what is it?” I inquired, looking at it upside down while balancing from the cabinet’s top.

With the cake unraveled, Hitch saw no reason to keep playing coy. “No clue.” He answered, taking a few steps closer to it, addressing it with a s much puzzlement and wonder as me. “I saw it all alone on the beach, and I just knew it needed help. I just…”

“Had an instinct and followed it?” I finished for him with a coy grin, gaining an embarrassed laugh from him as he combed his mane back guiltily.

“Y-Yeah, I uh…” He nervously shuffled with his forehooves. “Hey, um, would you mind keeping this between us for now?”

I didn’t get at the moment why he wanted to keep it a secret, but I saw no harm in humoring him. “Sure. No problem.” I answered with a firm nod, watching him visibly deflate in blissful peace.

“… Sooo, are you gonna read us that story now or what?” I only half-jested, generally curious about what bedtime stories the earth ponies might have in their repertoire. I could really use one to calm down for a bit. He had a nice voice too…

My playful proposition lit him into an adorable shade of red as he stammered an answer. Before I had any hopes to laugh at his expense, a buzz from my phone demanded my attention. It was a short buzz, so it meant it was just a message.

‘Please, please, don’t let it be Mom again.’

It was my sister, thank Faust, sending through the group chat a weird but unequivocally emergency message in the form of three stressed emojis, because apparently we need no context on what had her tail in a knot now of all times. My sister could sometimes be so… so… ugh.

Hitch also checked his phone, seeing the same message. We shared a brief look of confusion, and together sped back to the brighthouse.

A rushed sprint later saw us back in the brighthouse’s main hall, where the rest of the gang was waiting for us.

“We… ah… rushed right here!.... Agh… So, what's the emergency?!” Exclaimed my out-of-breath friend, with me fairing no better.

My sister took a step forward and flashed him a welcoming smile. “Weeell, everypony seems really stressy lately with all the festival planning and… whatever it was that happened earlier.” She wiggled her hoof to lessen the urgency. “The thing is, we clearly need a break, and that includes you! Luckily, I know just the place.” She started excitingly trotting in place. “I planned a surprise for you! You're welcome!”

“Oooooh!” My friend Izzy seemed to be totally digging it with her usual self.

“Juuust give me a second to bring down our grumpy resident human, who hasn’t even bothered to reply.” She grumbled that last part with an annoyed tone, making a mountain out of a molehill, alway, although I wasn't one to talk much at that time.

A new buzz from my phone told me she was messaging him via the group chat.

16:45 Alexander Kintobor!! Answer me this instant!!!

16:45 Kinda busy right now.

16:45 Busy with what? Fuming at the crystals? You have all week to do that! Come on, I’ve planned something to help us unwind. We’re gonna need it before the festival.

16:46 Not now, Pipp.

16:46 ALEXANDER KINTOBOR!! MOVE YOUR HAIRLESS FLANK DOWN HERE, RIGHT, NOW!! OR SO HELP ME I’LL DRAG YOU DOWN BY THAT SORRY EXCUSE YOU HAVE FOR A MANE AND DYE IT PURPLE!!

“Hey! What’s wrong with purple?!” Izzy demanded annoyingly, having been following the online conversation too.

‘Sis, your mane is purp-Bah, forget it.’

We received no further answer from him, meaning that either he had preferred to ignore my sister's aggressive summons, or that he was on his way. It turned out to be the latter, as we soon heard the door of our shared bedroom open and close, followed by the distinctive sound of his hoofsteps. Uh, footsteps.

“Pipp, I really don’t have time to…” He was sporting a small frown as he tried once again to defuse my sister’s demands, but Pipp was having none of it.

“Aaaaa ta ta ta, I don’t want to hear none of that.” She had the courage to fly up to his height and cover his mouth with his hoof, which only worsened his scowl. “We are all going to Mane Melody for some much-needed pampering. And then, we’re going to enjoy the festival, ‘kay? ‘Kay!” She was out of his mane in a jiffy.

Without giving him a chance to protest, she began leisurely flapping her way out of the foyer. Our friends gave him sympathetic looks, silently chuckling at his murmured-yet-colorful obscenities.

However, I wasn’t so sure about the upcoming ‘much-needed pampering’.

‘Please don't let it be makeovers! Please don't let it be makeovers!!’

…

Sure enough, they were makeovers.

A short trip later, I was dragged against my will and flopped into one of Pipp’s mane dryers, silently praying for it to be brief and painless. The rest of the ponies found themselves in similar arrangements, with the girls in their own chairs passing the time reading some fashion magazines fresh out of Zephyr Heights. Hitch was, funnily enough, getting a hooficure. A very stallionly and reglementary hooficure, whose only purpose was to ensure the maximum grip for the harshest of prosecutions, as he made positively and repeatedly sure to establish.

He wasn’t fooling anypony, though.

Even funnier than that, was Alex giving Jazz a weird look, titling his head in silent contemplation. He wasn’t subtle in the slightest, which got Jazz to quickly realize the weird leer he was giving her.

“Uuuuh, is everything okay, Alex?” Jazz nervously inquired from the massage table when noticing my friend’s strange behavior.

“O-Oh, sorry, Jazz, it’s just… I swear I lost your ears for a second back there.” He answered, still giving Jazz’s head an analytical glance.

“Umm, they’re right here, see?” She wiggled her ears for the world to see.

“….Nah, they were totally not there a moment ago.” He continued roaming his eyes all over her mane in search of her ‘missing ears’, making her roll her eyes tiredly and return to finishing Hitch’s hooficure. The poor stallion could barely hold back his laughter.

“S-Sohohorry, Jazz. Hahaha! I’m s-so sorry! So ticklish!”

I silently chuckled at the amusing sight of the oh-so masculine stallion giggling like a filly. Now that I could get a closer look, him laying in that pose actually gave me a great view of his….

‘NOPE!! Not going there, Zipp! Nopenopenopenope!’

I pinned my gaze straight ahead, fighting the blush that threatened to color my cheeks all the way to my ears. I wasn't going to let them catch me like this! Never!!

“Hehe, don’t you ponies just looove it here at Mane Melody?” My sister asked from her place high on the stage. All my friends answered with affirmative cheers, letting their stress flow out of them. All except me, and Rocky, my sister’s coworker, was quick to notice my absence of cheering. Soon was at my side, brush in-hoof.

“What's wrong, Princess? Not a fan of Mane Melody?” He asked with concern.

“No, no!” I blurted out quickly to diffuse his worries, not wanting to paint even more suspicion over me. “It’s awesome. Pipp has done a great job here.” I waved my forehooves all over the place to embrace it all.

My sister heard my praise and promptly zoomed toward my chair, almost flipping us over.

“You really think so?!” She inquired, her eyes turning to a pair of black pools of giddiness.

“Of course I do! And… hey.” I lowered my gaze to the tiled floor. “I'm sorry if I haven't been helping out much. My mind's just been on other things all morning.” I apologized, feeling quite a bit of shame at not having been a good sister.

“You mean the issue with the crystals?”

I couldn’t help the tired sigh that escaped my lips. “Amongst other things…” I also didn’t want her to worry about me and Mom’s… disagreements. Heir to the throne business was my burden to suffer though. My sis had her own things to look after… and forward to.

“Ugh,” She huffed with a roll of her eyes. “You worry tooooo, too much, sis.”

I was a bit bothered by her downplaying of the potential danger. “Pipp! If something happens to those Crystals, we'll lose magic again for good! Then it'll be no more flying and…”

“Siiiiis, sis, sis, sis, sis, sis. You need to chillah. Nothing’s going to happen, m’kay?” She interrupted my ranting and flew back to the stage, accompanied by her coworkers who sent me one last worried glance before falling into character.

“We have frieeends, we have maaagic, and most importantly, we have…” She took a deep breath. “Muuuuusiiiiic-kuh!!” She sang at the top of her lungs with her coworkers.

She then set the stage to perform one of her new hits, the lights lowering and the speakers soon blasting the new melody. Pipp, along with her coworkers, started singing the lyrics, with the rest of my pony friends rising from their seats and dancing to the rhythm.

However, a quick look behind me revealed my human friend sporting a conflicted look, not sharing in the gang’s hip-wiggling and enthusiasm. It seemed like he wanted to enjoy my sister’s music, but he was as troubled as I was about the crystals, making us both look like a pair of boring dullards in the middle of a party.

As much as it hurt me, my sister’s carefreeness only furthered my anger. It seemed that she just wasn’t able to see how dire a situation we were finding ourselves in! I could understand the coming festival setting the mood and all but, come on! We were in real danger here!

When she finished her short musical number, instead of the loud cheering like my friends provided, I took an angry step toward her and flashed her an angry scowl, fed up with her passiveness.

“You don't get it, do you?!” I stomped my hoof in anger. “We can't just sing a song and ignore everything! If we lose magic this time, we may never get it back!... And, it'll be our fault...”

The rush of blood to my ears drowned any answers my friends might have for me as I struggled to keep myself from hyperventilating, feeling my legs slowly lose the battle against the tremors that threatened to condemn me to shaking like a scared filly watching a horror movie with a rating waaay above her age.

Discord's theft of the Pegasus Crystal had made me acutely aware of their true fragility when it came to the stability and continued existence of magic, something Alex had previously warned us about in earnest. Not only that, that was the first and foremost reason he had traveled to our time!

Holy wingbeats, how I wished I had taken him more seriously…

A loud crash and the pained cries of ponies just outside got me to quickly sober up. Alex, standing the closet from the doors, had been the first to react, already on his way out when the rest of us had just finished registering what we had just heard.

Rushing behind his steps, we collectively trotted out to be met with the sight of several ponies recovering from what looked like an aerial crash. Alex was by Windy’s side, slowly rubbing her wing, her wincing at his touch indicated she had hurt it during the crash.

“Are you ponies okay? Windy, what happened?” Sunny too rushed to her side, giving Alex enough space to look over her wing cautiously while bathing the mare in a concerned nuzzle. It seemed she had just sprained it, luckily.

“I... I don't know. I was just flying along and…” She winced when Alex folded her wing back into position, “Gah! And, the next thing I knew, I was down here on the ground. My w-wings suddenly stopped working!” She strained her neck to search my human friend’s eyes. “A-Alex, is it… happening again? Ohmypony please tell me it's not happening again!”

Alex could only give an uncertain look, rubbing his fingers through her feathers one last time before pulling back, leaving her limb tight against her barrel. “I… I don’t know what to tell you, Windy. Everything’s fine with the crystals as far as we can tell. I really don’t know what’s going on.” He finished, lowering his gaze in shame.

The earth ponies she had fallen were kind enough to start complaining outright after coming to their senses, blaming her ineptitude in flying for the accident.

“Ugh, I'm so sorry, everypony. I'm normally such a good flier. It’s just…”

“Clearly, she's not!” I felt my facial muscles automatically morph into a scowl at the sound of her irritating screeching. I turned towards the opposite side of the street and, lo and behold, there she was, wearing her proud smirk and trotting over to our side with a confident step. Like a General addressing her troops, Posey went on pacing back and forth with her bossy gate in front of the angry-looking earth ponies, who attentively listened to her nonsense.

“This is what I've been saying all along, what everypony's been thinking! If pegasi and unicorns can't be respectful, then they shouldn't be allowed to use their magic in Maretime Bay, at all!”

More passersby, all earth ponies as chance had it, began to shout their agreement at the shrinking pegasus, their demeanor quickly changing into one I felt was appropriate of the old days before the magic returned. Unicorns and pegasi could only stand still and watch dumbfounded at the rage storm raining all over Winfy. A few of them even started to quietly flee the scene.

“B-B-But…” Windy tried, only to be rudely brushed aside by Posey.

“No! We are all tired of your shenanigans, always messing things around with your careless use of magic. I won’t tolerate any furth-”

“Shut up.”

Alex’s sharp jab caught us all by surprise. He was on his hooves once again, a comforting hand over Windy’s neck as she struggled to get back on her own.

“W-What?” Posey asked, confused. “Who are you to tell me to…”

“Posey. Shut. Up.” My friend repeated, slow and firmly, his features accompanying the weight of his warning in a piercing glare.

‘Oh, boy, not again…’ I mentally dreaded, remembering how he had acted during our final confrontation with Discord. That scary side of him whose origin I swear I could not pinpoint.

Posey took a hesitant step back, finally shutting her muzzle as her ears lowered in fright. I had to admit, it was kinda violent to glimpse. How somepo… uh, somehuman who I had grown accustomed to seeing smiling and always willing to share a hug or a cuddle, could change his demeanor so fast and look absolutely, positively enraged. Although, considering what Posey was doing, I couldn’t really blame him for it. Her every-sunday rant made my blood boil too.

“Ponies, ponies, please!” Sunny called to all those present. “It was just an accident. This isn’t fair to Windy!”

“Fair?” Whatever hesitation Posey had after meeting Alex’s strong glare promptly evaporated as she turned to confront an easier prey on her eyes. “It isn’t fair, for us! We earth ponies don’t get magic like unicorns and pegasi do, and then the ponies that do have it don’t even know how to use it! O-Or they use it to mess with us! Tell me I’m lying, Sheriff. Say you haven’t been dealing with magical mishaps all week long!”

Poor Hitch could only flash us a guilty look as he couldn’t bring himself to lie.

And yet, she was painting it as if it was something none of us had expected to occur.

‘Of course there’s going to be mishaps! The pegasi I’ve been teaching almost destroyed the town while learning how to properly fly. What was she expecting?’

Whatever rebuttals my friends came up with, the townsponies just wouldn’t heed. More and more shared Posey’s anger, randomly accusing the other two tribes of whatever problems they might have experienced during the entire past week, not just that day. Some of them didn’t even make any sense, as it would have been impossible for a unicorn or a pegasus to be to blame for such an occurrence. But they didn't care.

‘Why would a unicorn willingly blow your laundry away while drying? Are these ponies stupid?!’ I seriously thought to myself, forcing myself to keep my muzzle shut, so as to not make things worse, but wishing I didn't.

“Everypony, please, wait!” Sunny desperately tried to place herself in the middle and bring some order, only for her pleading to fall on deaf ears and be brushed aside like a used napkin .

“And now they want to ruin our special earth pony holiday too!!” Posey finished her speech with a stomp against the stone road.

“No! That’s not true! P-Please!” Sunny was starting to look desperate, as now even familiar faces had begun to protest against the unicorn’s and pegasi’s interference with the festival preparations.

“Dahlia…” Alex muttered when finding that the earth pony in question had joined the protesters' ranks. At the sound of her name being called by my friend, she quickly stopped her derailed ranting and lowered her gaze in shame, taking a few steps back to hide within the crowd, away from my friend's disappointed eyes.

“That’s right! You hear that? We don’t want any of your dangerous magic around our festival. Or we, are, not coming!”

Posey’s final statement was interrupted by the sound of rumbling thunder. A quick look up at the sky showed a nasty-looking thunderstorm that somehow had sneaked into our skies without anypony noticing.

‘Where did that come from?!’

None of the ponies seemed to know the answer to my silent question. However, my dread skyrocketed at the visage of Alex. More precisely, how the color of his face completely drained away as he looked at the sky with what I could only describe as pure horror. His gauntlets began powering up in an unconscious gesture from him. That could only mean one thing…

‘Oh, ponyfeatheres…’

Fearing the incoming rain, the gathered ponies made haste to find some shelter, vacating the premises. Our little group remained just outside of Mane Melody, none of us sure of our next step. The festival was quickly falling apart, and none of us knew how to fix it.

“Zipp.” It was Alex’s voice that brought me back from my stupor. “I’m going to take Windy to the hospital. I don’t think it’s broken, but I want to be sure before using any healing spells, if I can even use them in the first place... Take the gang back to the brighthouse and bring them up to speed. I’m sure you’ve already guessed what’s happening.”

It took me a moment to understand his words, hearing my brain click when I finally got his meaning. And what meaning that was. It only foretold bad things happening. Very, VERY bad things.

‘Is this how it was for him back then? Is this what brought Equestria to its downfall?’

My questions would have to wait as he had already left with Windy, keeping her close to his side, the pegasus’ spirits all over the ground at having found herself assaulted by all those earth pony’s accusations.

My heart went out to her. Nopony should have to be thrown to the wolves in such a manner. I made a mental note to have a serious talk with Posey when this all was behind us. Her words were causing way more damage than she was aware of.

I regained my friend’s collective attention and, soon, we found ourselves on our way back to the brighthouse, none of them understanding why we had to return in the first place. It seems our day was gonna be about going back and forth from our home. The journey was starting to derail from routinary to repetitive.

We made frequent stops to help anypony who was experiencing issues with their magic, assuring them that everything would be fixed as soon as possible. We didn’t truly believe it ourselves, and we did a poor job convincing anypony else of the same.

Once inside, I directed them up to the crystals’ room. The Unity Crystals remained unbothered, almost as if the strange phenomena hadn’t occurred in the first place. But a careful observation revealed that everything was not entirely okay. It was subtle, very subtle, but I could discern the flow of magic not being as steady as it was before. Small fluctuations in the Preasbeam, barely noticeable, but enough to reaffirm my suspicions.

‘It's just as he warned us about.’

“Guys, I think I finally know what's happening to magic. Why it’s glitching again.”

“You do?” Sunny pried after finishing her look around the room, finding nothing out of place since we had left barely an hour ago.

“It’s the crystals, a-and the ponies. We are making it happen!”

“Whaaaaaat?” Asked Hitch, nopony fully believing in what I was suggesting. I was starting to become fed up with their lack of trust in me.

‘Ugh, I can’t think of a better way to prove it. Let’s see….’

I could only think of a way to prove my theory. “Okay, check this out.” I turned to address my sister. “Pipp, when we were fillies, I used to steal Mom's chocolate-dipped cherries and blame it on you!”

“*GASP!!* I knew it! You got me grounded, like, twelve times!!” My sis pointed an accusing hoof at me, flaring ehr wings in anger.

I played the role of the older sister to a toot. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. And guess what? I don't like karaoke! It's. The. Woooorst! Ugh!” I made disgusted faces, which fueled my sister’s anger.

“Hey!” Izzy chivalrously stepped up to defend her. “You take that back! Karaoke is a fun activity for every age and skill level!” She stated with a snort.

“Come on, Izzy.” Sunny interjected, always the arbitrator. “Zipp's allowed to like what she likes. Just because we enjoy something doesn't mean that she has to.”

I mentally winced at what I had just unleashed, but it was the only way I could definitively prove my and Alex’s suspicions.

“Sunny, there's no need to get all huffy about it. Izzy was just trying to stand up for Pipp.” Hitch felt like needing to call the mare.

“Don’t call me huffy!” Sunny fired back as she angrily confronted Hitch, the fight only escalating as my friends argued more and more between themselves for petty reasons, no doubt due to the stress from today escaping through their hurtful words.

For a tense, screams-filled minute, nothing happened, making me think for a second my hunch was misplaced and the only thing I had managed to do was get my friends at each other's throats for no reason.

But soon, to my equal-parts relief and dismay, the small fluctuations I had glimpsed derailed into full disruptions of the magic flow coming from the Unity Crystals, evoking a frighteningly loud shrill, almost akin to a TV suffering from interference on a stormy night. Flicking on and off, I could almost feel the Unity Crystals straining to keep the magic flowing, but failing to keep a grip on the flickering magic. It lasted for a few moments, regaining its stability again when my friends suddenly interrupted their argument, after they all started noticing the withering magical flow happening in front of them as well.

Seeing it with our own eyes, and feeling it in our wings, horns and hooves, the magic was dying as our discussion worsened. I was right all along.

“Oh my pony, Zipp, that’s…” Sunny, first amidst the ponies to take notice, spoke with dread in her heart.

“Exactly what I was thinking, Sunny. It’s just as Alex told us.” I answered with a somber tone, keeping my eyes set on the crystals in search of further anomalies.

“When ponies aren't treating each other with kindness...” Izzy muttered.

“When we aren't vibing...” My sister continued.

I finished our collective deduction. “The crystals get weaker, and the more they get weaker, the more unstable that magic becomes across Equestria, until…”

“Until the connection shatters. Permanently.”

We all sharply turned to find Alex just stepping out of the elevator. WIndy was nowhere in sight, and he was taking deep lungfuls of air, the light scent of sweat telling me he had run the entire way back here after successfully checking her in at the hospital.

He continued while catching up with us. “The flow ceases. Pegasi lose their flight and unicorn horns become mere decorations, just as you’ve seen before.” He recited as he reached where we were standing in a circle near the foldable desk with his numerous notes still scattered around. His tone, however, was somewhat… uncertain. As if there was still a missing piece of the puzzle.

“Buuut…” I ushered him to finish voicing his thoughts. He didn’t, remaining in thoughtful contemplation as he searched stone-faced for an answer in the Unity Crystals themselves, an answer nopony gathered there could see.

“It’s proportional." He suddenly blurted out after a few seconds of awkward waiting.

“What’s proportional?” Hitch spoke for all of us, his vocal inflections betraying a lack of patience fueled by his frustration after the events of today, Windy’s scene the sourest of all.

It took Alex another few seconds to build a proper answer. “… When the idea of these crystals was conceived, we had to implement a way for them to assess the size of the rifts that were emerging with each passing day all over Equestria. Small issues we could forgive, they happened between the tribes every once in a while, that’s something we would never be able to prevent or eliminate. Nine ponies out of a thousand are barely an issue, the flow of harmonious magic shouldn't be bothered in the slightest since it wouldn't pose a threat. But, what about nine hundred out of a thousand? That becomes something you notice and something they notice.” He pointed towards the glowing crystals, whose magic continued to slightly glitch now and then, but not fully breaking.

Alex ran a meticulous lap around the glowing halo of the crystals, the gems on his gauntlets firing in quick succession a few times, his eyes glowing in tow as if trying to discern something we could not hope to glimpse with the naked eye. Whatever he was searching for, he didn’t find it.

“I don't know what the exact threshold is, but I know that it was set at the point where we felt that the rift between the races would be too severe to guarantee the safety of the citizens. That’d take a lot of angry ponies to trigger.”

He turned and headed towards where we patiently listened to his explanation, clarifying further in case we weren’t following. “The threshold is proportional to the amount of harmonious magic that permeates the land, which in turn is proportional to the number of ponies that live in harmony with each other and the land itself. A few headbutts out of a thousand living dandy with one another is barely an issue. However, close to a third of the current total Equestrian population of ponies…”

All our features paled at the implications of his words. We were experiencing exactly the same events that had happened all those years ago when Equestria broke apart. What brought about the activation of the crystals in the first place, and made magic disappear when the situation got out of hoof. All those legends and myths around it, foreshadowing terrible consequences and only working to bridge the gap between the tribes wider… and it was happening again, right in front of us.

“I think I’m going to be sick…” My poor sister turned a sickly shade of green, about to puke from the sheer dread of what was about to happen. It had already happened once, and we had no guarantee we would be able to fix it again. Everything we had been working for. Our dream…

We had to do something.

“The festival…” Sunny, who blanched the worst out of all of us, muttered under her breath. “It’s our only chance. We have to make it right. We still have time!” She proposed a bit louder, driving us to sare uncertain glances at each other as an aura of uncertainty befell the crystals’ room.

Did we have enough time?

Thunder boomed over our heads, a serious stormfront trickling from the sea and crashing against the seaside town. Whatever it was that needed to be done, we had better tackle it fast, or else there’d be no festival to celebrate if the storm worsened.

“I didn't travel all this way to watch magic die again.” Alex seethed with barely restrained anger, hands clenched in trembling fists. “Fucking Tartarus, Twilight!! This is what I knew would happen!!”

For a moment, I thought to glimpse small flickers of magic escaping his gauntlets, like short-lived tendrils of purplish energy flickering in and out of existence. It happened so fast, and they were out the moment Alex took a deep breath and relaxed his posture, mumbling something under his breath that I could not quite catch with the roar of the storm above us.

His cry of frustration spurred us on. I felt as if I needed to take the lead. “Come on, ponies. If we want to keep magic in Equestria, first we need to get everypony back on the same page, fast!”

“Zipp's right. We can't give up. We can still make Maretime Bay Day the celebration it's supposed to be!” Sunny cheered at my side.

“Let’s do it, ponies!” Pipp excitedly called us in, placing her foreleg in front of her, the rest of us soon joining.

“Hoof-to-heart!” We cried in unison, our little shared mantra. More determined than ever, we set out to fix the quickly deteriorating situation.

Alex didn’t join our cheering, choosing to remain silent while not taking his sight away from the crystals.

“This is what I feared would happen, what I wanted to avoid at all costs. Why didn’t you listen to me, Twilight… For Faust’s sake why?...” I heard him keep on muttering as I reached the elevator with the rest.

“Alex” I softly called out to him, flashing him a confident smile to fight off the uncertain scowl I was met with when he turned towards me. I achieved partial success, as he fired a nod of confirmation back. I would take what I could.

‘It’s going to work. We have to make it work! WE HAVE TO!!’

As we made our way down, I found myself nervously rubbing a thumb over the LIM gemstone attached to my gauntlet, the one I had taken with me during my journey through time, the one that currently held the solution to the problem we were facing. To free magic, let it run freely amongst ponykind.

The solution I possessed, however, ran as far as the magic glitching and causing trouble for everypony. The rest couldn’t be patched with a simple spell, or even a bunch of them, as had been proven to us time and time again during the long months we fought against the escalating conflicts.

I trusted that my new friends would fix the emerging rifts driving ponies apart once more. I wanted to believe it with all my heart but, knowing the last time, the mightiest group of Equestrian heroes and role models weren’t able to even slow it down or tamper its reach, my more cynical side feared these new Guardians of Harmony wouldn’t fare any better than we had.

The fact that the solution was literally in my hands, and I couldn’t do a thing about it, only pushed my frustration to the brink of madness.

‘If it can’t be fixed that way, then we have no choice but to try the hard way! The one which has already failed, time and time again!... Why do I feel like this isn’t going to end well?’

I couldn’t shake away the dread building in my chest. We were at a critical point, a crossroads between the future of peace and prosperity I wanted for these ponies, and a repetition of that day’s events, when a pony took the life of another in the name of idiocy and mistrust. A point which would mark the future for this new society of colorful equines. Weak and sheltered as a society that they still were, I feared they wouldn't be able to withstand a second blow of the kind that shattered the realm.

‘Heh, a festival saving the realm already worked for the Crystal Ponies… Faust, if only it was that simple this time.’

We had no Crystal Heart to channel all the good thoughts and warmth from an entire civilization of misplaced ponies.

As we reached for the twin ramps, Izzy excused herself for a moment after suddenly remembering something that claimed her urgency, rushing down towards her workshop while the rest of us continued towards the main entrance.

“How’s Windy?” Sunny, who had chosen to trot beside me, asked with concern for our mutual friend.

“She’s fine. It ended up being just a nasty bump, nothing broken or even sprained. A quick healing spell got her back in the game. She really didn’t want to miss the sandcastle-building competition down at the beach.” The fact that she was even in the mood to deal with other ponies at the moment spoke highly of her character.

Sunny released a relieved breath with the good news. Just as we were about to cross the threshold, Izzy’s call halted our steps.

“Sunny! Sunny, wait!”

We saw Izzy hurriedly making her way from her workshop. She had her saddlebags stripped around her barrel and her horn was shining, holding something behind her to keep it concealed.

That something turned out to be a present, now of all times. “Happy Maretime Bay Day!”

“O-Oh…” Sunny was lost for words as she carefully picked the gift from Izzy’s levitation. “We don't usually exchange gifts.” She guiltily spoke, fearing she should’ve gotten something for Izzy as well.

“I knooow, but just open it!” My peppy friend urged her with some excited prancing.

The gift inside the envelope got a very particular reaction out of Sunny. Wide-muzzled, tears began to spill from her dilated eyes as she held her present carefully in her hooves.

“It's... It's the lantern my dad made for me. I-I thought it was beyond repair.” She softly whispered, turning the radiant lantern in her hooves to drink in all the angles, its light casting pleasant warmth that could be felt from even where I was standing.

Something resonated within me. That lantern was special beyond the mere sentimental sense.

‘Hmm…’

“Ha! Nothing these beauties can’t fix.” She proudly stated, flashing her forehooves at us dramatically. “Sometimes, when you add a little bit of magic, you can fix anythi-Gah!”

Before she had any chance to finish, Sunny had glomped her in a thigh hug, and both mares fell to the ground. I was quick to catch the lantern in my magic before it too crashed to the ground behind them.

I patiently waited, with a bit of a jealous streak tickling my spine that surprised myself, for the two best friends to finish their tender nuzzling. A few moments and some words of appreciation later, both mares were up to their hooves again, both looking a bit flustered after Sunny’s sudden reaction. I returned the lantern to Izzy, which she carefully placed in her saddlebags.

“Come on, girls. We have a festival to save.”

With confident nods, we made our way back to town, for what would be the bajillionth time that day. It was becoming a bit tiring, in all honesty.

Once we were back at Mane Street, the gang separated to watch over the different events that were planned for the festival, making sure everything went smoothly and no fights whatsoever arose between the numerous ponies wanting to continue with the festival in spite of the worsening weather.

I made my way further amidst the numerous posts and stations, where ponies from the three settlements showed their wares and shared a bit of each of their respective tribes’ culture, be it treats, jewelry, souvenirs, or even written history. The usual stuff you’d find in a festival. Mane Street was painted in all its length by the numerous decorations my friends and other gracious volunteers had spent the last week working on.

If it hadn’t been for the bad weather, it would have been a perfect festival for everypony to enjoy, something I would frequently find happening in Ponyville all year ‘round for the silliest of reasons. A pink menace was to blame, as we all perfectly knew.

The bad weather was my most pressing concern. Even without the pegasi managing the weather as they used to, thunderstorms don’t just up and build so suddenly out of nowhere, even while on the coast as we were. Such phenomena only happened under very specific circumstances, the fights between ponies making painfully clear which circumstances amongst the short repertoire those were.

I strained my ears in search of the loud screeching, my eyes searching between the voluminous clouds for any elongated shadows swimming amongst them. The temperature, while cooler than before the storm, was still tolerable, no trace of freezing or even snowflakes. Just ugly clouds threatening to weep all over us the moment you blink away.

If there were Windigos up those clouds, they were making a conscious effort to remain unnoticed.

‘Faust, let me be wrong for once, please! None of us have what it takes to fight them off!’

It could be them, or the instability the shifting flow of magic might have been provoking in the land. It wouldn’t be the first time I had seen either. In any case, both possibilities only reinforced the urgency of our current predicament. We had to get it right, our lives might very well have depended on it.

So absorbed was I in searching the skies that I ended up bumping against somepony, making us both awkwardly fall to our rumps.

“Oooff! Sorry there, I wasn’t paying attention.” I quickly apologized.

The unicorn mare shook her stupor away and slowly crawled back to her hooves. She had light, almost pale-green fur, with a two-toned caramel-brown-shaded mane and tail. Her eyes were also a pale green, while her cutie mark depicted a ladybug over three small leaves.

I could have sworn I had seen that pony before…

Said pony, after regaining her wits, turned to address whoever had bumped into her with a piercing scowl, only for that scowl to morph into a profound look of equal parts surprise and fear.

“Wow, wow, slow down there, I mean you no harm.” I reached out with my hand to try and reassure her, only for her to shy away from it.

Surprised by her attitude, since virtually everypony already knew of me, and were accustomed to my presence, I put some distance between us so as to not spook her further. “Okay, um, let’s try that again, ahem. Hey there, I’m Alex. Sorry about that. There’s a lot of stuff going on and I couldn't help but get a bit distracted.”

After a short delay in which her trembling eyes kept searching me for something I couldn't pinpoint, she regained her composure, looking somewhat relieved. “You’re fine, you just…. startled me. I’m Crackle, nice to meet you.”

I extended once again my hand for a typical hoof bump but met empty air as the mare quickly turned around rudely in search of something, that something being a camera, which had been thrown a few steps away during the crash.

“Tartarus dammit!” I caught her swear when she grasped her camera with her levitation. Even from where I was standing it was clear the lens had cracked with the force of the fall.

“Oh crap, I’m so sorry about that. Here, lend it to me for a moment and I'll fix it for you in a jiffy.” I offered, feeling guilty at having broken it with my carelessness.

With some hesitation, she floated it to my waiting hands. After a quick look over, I called it an easy fix and casted my repairing spell, the lens fixing itself back to shape. I looked through the viewfinder and took a test picture, the image of the wide street and the numerous ponies and stands coming out clear as day.

“There, good as new.” I returned it to her.

“Thanks.” She muttered dryly, twisting her head around the place in search of something. She seemed somewhat… disappointed with the sights. I couldn’t really blame her for it, since the festival was indeed falling far from everypony’s expectations.

“Heh, yeah… not the love and fun-filled festivities that were advertised, right?” I commented, scratching the back of my head in slight shame.

“You can say that again, not satisfying in the slightest, but what can you do about it? I mean, the weather isn’t helping at all.” She flashed a quick look up into the darkened sky.

Before I could pass anything else, she made for a hasty exit. “I’m going to have a look around, see if I can sample some local goods and take a few pictures to sell to the press. Gotta try and make the best out of it, what little there is to take at least.” She didn’t even say her goodbyes, just rudely made herself scarce and disappeared through a side street, leaving me standing there like an idiot.

“… Ooookay then. See you around, I guess…”

‘I swear I’ve seen that pony before… but where?’

“Alex! Over here!” The sound of Pipp’s call brought me back to the waking world. I filed that thought for later while finding she was galloping towards me with a pegasus who could only be the Queen of Zephyr Heights in tow.

‘Oh, crap. I’m so not ready for this.’

“Alex. Look who came to visit!” Pipp turned towards her mom. “Mom, this is Alex. Alex this is my mom, Queen Haven.”

And I thought my meeting with the Neighponese royalty had been particular.

“Uh, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you in per- uh, pony, Haven.” I somewhat nervously greeted the pegasus mare in front of me.

Haven giggled into her hooves and gave me the provoking look of a seasoned ruler. “My my, skipping the titles, I see. Mmm, I have to say that’s a new one for me.”

“Uuuh, hehe…” Pipp shrinked a little as she released a nervous laugh. “Um, he… miiiight outrank you a little bit, Mom.”

“What was that, dear?” Haven asked with a confused tilt of her head.

“Nothing, Your Highness. She’s just being silly.” I quickly interjected, absolutely not wanting to deal with that eventual conversation at this particular moment, preferably never if I could help it. “How are you enjoying the festival?” I tried to change the subject.

“Weeell…” She winced at my question. “It’s obvious that you’ve put a lot of effort behind it… but I’m not sure the ponies are in the mood, actually. The weather isn’t helping either. Truly a shame.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it, Mom. I’m sure the concert will get them right back into the mood, you’ll see, hehe.” She flashed me a worried look that lasted a second before being replaced with the fakest of fake smiles shining for her mom.

Haven looked pleased with her youngest daughter's reassurance. “Oh, I’m sure they will, sweetie. Nopony can resist your singing! Come on then, dear. Let’s see what the earth ponies have to offer.” She ushered Pipp along as she trotted away to continue with her visit.

“I recommend you try the poke, just at the other side of the street, can’t miss it, but you will miss it once you leave,” I offered her with a wink.

“I most certainly will, dear. All that flying has left me exhausted!” She answered with a healthy amount of theatrics. I cast a silent prayer learning that she hadn’t had any problem with her flight during her trip. That could have ended up VERY badly, for Zephyr Heights stood true to its name, high on the tail end of the Zephyr Range.

With a final look of appreciation, Pipp followed her mom towards the other side of the street, away from the bustle of ponies who were warmly greeted by Sunny as they made their way into town.

Continuing my walk around town, I stumbled with a dopey-looking Windy, who seemed like she had just returned from the beach, if the sand clinging to her fetlocks’ fur was any indication.

“Hey, Windy! Everything alright? Is your wing still bothering you?” I rushed to her side, fearing my healing spell hadn’t been enough to ease her pain.

“Oh, hello again, Alex. No, my wing’s perfectly fine, no issues there, it’s just…” Her rosy-furred ears drooped alongside her gaze. “I’m back from the sandcastle competition and…”

“You lost?”

She shook her head “No. I won, but I used my wings to reach a higher height than the rest. My sandcastle was leagues better than theirs as a result, and everypony began to call me a cheater…”

“Well… I mean, it was a bit unfair. You could have just used your hooves.” I wasn’t trying to make her feel worse, but it was true it was unfair to the rest.

“I know that! It’s just, I wasn’t thinking back there. I refused to accept the prize and all but… they didn’t have to be that mean, especially after the accident outside Mane Melody.” Her chin was brushing over the stonework by that point.

My heart went out for her, as did my arms who gently took her in my embrace. “I’m sorry to hear that Windy. It’s true, they didn’t have to be such sore losers.” I exhaled sharply in a brief sigh. “This is truly turning out to be a complete disaster.”

I couldn’t be one hundred percent sure, but I doubted the Unity Crystals were designed to be turned off and on like a common home appliance without any permanent consequences. And that’s exactly what was happening with the earth ponies all acting like jerks. We’re talking about nearly all this continent’s magic being affected!

Izzy was making her way up the path towards the beach a minute later when she found us both there. Her frown made it clear she had seen what had happened. Trying to cheer Windy up, she escorted her away to try some unicorn ice cream. Windy agreed to it after a bit of hesitation, flashing her goodbyes and her thanks for my nice treatment. I felt they were undeserved.

As I continued towards the tail-end of Mane Street, I saw many ponies enjoying the festival. Not outright ecstatic and all junky-cumbaya, but with a nice pep in their step considering the situation. It was a relief that they were at least enjoying themselves to some degree. A small spark of hope flickered in my chest, only to be stomped on when Posey and her goons passed near a group of ponies who were simply having a good time, loudly voicing her discontent and issues with the crumbling festival and everything wrong in the wide world while she was at it, and making sure to spread it to the group like a disease, who no longer seemed as sure as before of having a fun time.

I silently cursed her name and her forefathers’, and began making my way to have a few ‘words’ with her when a deafening thunder shook me to my bones. The sky had darkened considerably more. It wasn't raining yet by some miracle, but I silently wished it would start doing so if it meant no freezing snow and ice that usually accompanies the arrival of Windigos.

I still couldn’t discern anything, but the clouds were so dark and dense that it would have been impossible to distinguish anything from down here.

I changed my approach, returning towards the town's entrance in search of Sunny, thinking about jumping straight to the concert in a desperate last attempt. Music used to work miracles with ponies. I was praying it would be the same this time.

I stumbled with Sunny still greeting the last few visitors, her smile visibly strained compared to when I last saw her. I set out to voice my proposition to her, but Zipp beat me to it, landing between us with urgency.

“Guys, it’s not working! The glitches are getting worse!”

“We have to try the concert, it’s the only thing I can think about that might work at this point.” I proposed, the ponies agreeing with me.

“Very well. Zipp, go find your sister and get her ready. Alex, help me direct the ponies toward Mane Square. We want as many of them as we can fit.”

With a plan settled, we headed out to gather all the visitors we could for the concert. We didn’t have much of a problem doing so, since most were most excited at the prospect of seeing Pipp give an exclusive live show for the attendees. Soon, Mane Street found itself emptied of ponies as most of them congregated around the small stage. I could glimpse Izzy’s tail disappearing backstage, meaning my friends were getting ready for the main act. I decided to wait amongst the crowd and act fas tif something arose.

Not five minutes later, Sunny appeared from behind the curtains to present the first performance, which would consist of Pipp singing her version of the Maretime Bay Day song. What should have been received with vigorous hoof stomps and fan cheers, was instead met with deep frowns and protests from the earth ponies, who demanded their traditional song to be sung by an actual earth pony, with Posey as the lead, of course.

‘I swear I’m going to strangle her!!’

“Ponies!” Sunny called the crowd, her community-driven side taking the wheel. “We know that magic returning hasn't been easy for everypony, that Equestria is really different, but that's a good thing! It's so much better now that…”

A booming thunder interrupted her, making the whole town tremble from the sheer loudness of it. That last show of cheap negativity had been the last straw. Strong winds surprised us blowing in from the sea, and lighting started visibly crackling all around town, hitting alarmingly close to the attendees.

Small sparks spewed sporadically out of my twin gauntlets, the flow of magic erratically going up and down in intensity. My eyes were directed to the brighthouse at the distance, where the torrent of Prisbeam energy began to flicker in and out of existence rather visibly.

‘Oh, Faust above…’

More lighting illuminated the dark sky, the ponies now starting to flee towards safety.

“Eggy!” The sharp cry from Hitch brought my gaze back to the stage, where I saw him making a quick escape toward his office.

“Hitch! Where the fuck are you going?! There are ponies here who need he-”

Lighting struck just in front of me, singeing a hair or two and making the air taste like ozone. The impact pushed me back and made me fall on my ass as I fought to regain my breaths. It was time to panic, as my racing heart was kind enough to show me.

Pegasi had a natural resistance to lighting. I didn’t.

“S-Shit! T-That was a close one…”

Before I could hope to recover, my eyes widened in fright at the sight of the looming hole that suddenly appeared from the ground where the lighting had struck, its ominous purple shade making it very clear that it was magical in nature. Or, more accurately, it was completely absent of magic to the point of breaking some very fundamental laws of this world.

‘A null void?! How the fuck did that come to be?! They’re not supposed to…’

The panicked screams of several ponies halted my train of thought. It was clear that most unicorns and pegasi had fled the immediate area, but the earth ponies largely hadn’t. They seemed… stuck somehow. A weird purple substance was sticking their hooves in the ground, rendering them immobile. To make things worse, I noticed that the void was slowly widening, threatening to swallow anypony not fast enough to run away in time.

“Fuck fuck fuck and FUCK AGAIN! What the fuk is happening?!” Little was known about null voids, since their appearance was mostly a matter of legend, dating back to the old wars against dark creatures from Equestria’s extremely distant past. What I did know about them was that they could be temporarily slowed down by applying a constant flow of magic, like satiating a beast before it can pounce at anypony else.

I saw my friends jumping into action, ushering the non-earth ponies to help earth ponies escape. Progress was slow, painfully slow. Some of them weren’t going to make it. I had to give them more time.

With my mind set, I tried to power up my gauntlets, only to be rewarded with only a few pathetic sparks. Loudly cursing, I racked my brains in search of an alternative.

Only one came to mind, one I was definitely NOT looking forward to trying.

It had been my back-up pan in case this era’s magic was gone for good and the LIMsote couldn’t prove enough to break the connection with the Unity Crystals. Another, different source of magic. One exclusive to us, the living.

‘… Fuck, I really didn’t want to resort to this… This is going to win me four, no, FIVE cookies, if I make it out of this in the first place.’

“A-Anima Arcana.” I muttered the words with choking dread and concentrated as mcuh as my trembling limbs allowed me to, immediately feeling the energy flowing again through my gauntlets, although this time the magic wasn’t flowing from the Äether.

I desperately looked around as I felt my energy slowly being drained, silently praying for the ponies to hurry up, for the amount I could spare was very limited. However, my heart sank at the sight of both Windy and Posey being swallowed by the void just a second before my magic could slow down its growth under their hooves. Just besides it, Sunny also peered down horrified at what had just happened.

She looked at me, and I looked at her. No words were necessary. She immediately tried to summon her alicorn form, without any success.

‘Come on Sunny, come on. Do it! I trust you!’

“Ugh! Come on, alicorn magic! Work! For! ONCE! WORK!!” She tried again and again, only managing to get herself more exhausted, no trace of wings or horn on her body.

“Sunny! T-The magic! It’s gone!” Zipp grimaced in effort, trying to free Hitch from whatever was holding the earth ponies down. He seemed to be holding something in his foreleg, but I couldn’t discern it clearly with all the wind blowing and my consciousness slowly but surely fading.

“… Then I’ll have to try without it! I’m going in!” She rose to her hooves and quickly made for the void, grabbing her lantern in her muzzle.

“Sunny, wait!” Izzy tried to stop her, but she was determined to bring those ponies back from oblivion.

She gave me one last hurried look as she jumped into the void, time slowing to a trickle when our eyes met. I couldn’t stop her. I couldn't interrupt the flow of magic, even for a moment, as it might jumpstart the growth of the void explosively, and make it grow out of my control.

‘Whatever you think you are doing Sunny, you’d better make it back!’

That was my last thought before she disappeared into the darkness. I prayed that her powers would manifest in the direst of moments, which would be around that exact second.

My strength was being drained away every moment I kept channeling, moments that passed without any news from my friend. I kept pushing, kept pouring more and more magic to give her as much time as she needed. A sickening crack brought my sight to my left gauntlet. Small but numerous cracks were spreading all over the LIMstone. The magic outage was more than the gems could handle in their poor arrangements, but I couldn’t worry about that at the moment. I had to keep pushing!

‘Come on Sunny. Comeoncomeoncomeon, I know you can do it!!’

I was starting to lose consciousness, my legs weakening from the effort. Small burns began spreading through my hands and wrists as the sheer surge of magic heated the metal and fabric to the point it started to literally cook my skin. More cracks in the gemstone appeared, and more and more pain spread through my limbs. I could feel small rivets of blood pouring from my nose, mouth and ears as I wished with my fading awareness for Sunny to be victorious.

I kept pouring, I kept pushing.

It’s our duty, Traveler.

‘Come on, come on, Sunny, COME OOOOOOON!!!’

Darkness surrounded me, pierced by purple lightning that threatened to singe me as I plunged like dead weight. I kept falling and falling, the light from my lantern the sole source of illumination.

‘Where are you girls? Where are you?!’

A few tense seconds later, the two mares entered my poor field of vision, flailing their limbs desperately as they too fell further into the void, completely out of control.

Once again, I strained myself to will my alicorn powers forth, as it was the only chance to save them and me. But I was too nervous, my whole body shaking in fright and cold as we kept plunging into the abyss.

‘You need to calm yourself, Sunny. Remember his lessons.’

With tremendous effort, I heeded my own advice to regain control of my body, trying to ease my powers into existence instead of forcing them, searching for the catalyst that would make them manifest.

‘They’re counting on you, Sunny. They need your help, don’t let them down!!’

The image of Alex on the beach, gifting me his most confident smile, flashed before my eyes.

‘He’s counting on you…’

Nothing happened for a short time, almost making me fall back into panic. However, before I surrendered myself to the inevitable, a familiar warmth spread through my body, especially in my flanks where my cutie marks were located. The telltale sound of alicorn magic reached my ears, an energy boost filling me with renewed vigor. New senses registered in my mind. I opened my eyes and couldn’t help but cheer to myself at the sight of my translucent wings and horn finally appearing in their proper places.

‘YES!! FINALLY! Okay okay,now for the magic part. Remember Sunny, just as he taught us.’

I focused my magic and exerted my will towards the falling ponies. I was expecting to catch them in a levitation field. However, my magic manifested more like a bubble that encompassed the two mares, halting their descent as I too kept myself in a hover. They looked as confused as I was, but I wasn’t going to protest.

Just as quickly as they had been falling, they began to rise back the way we came. I strained my wings to follow behind them, the exit now a small speck of light that didn’t seem to become bigger as we ascended. The magic expenditure was taking its toll on me, I feared it would give up before I could escape.

‘Come on Sunny, you have to make it out! Do it for him! Do it for them, Sunny!!’

Renewed strength coursed through my veins, but its origin was uncertain to me. Rainbow light swirled my vision as I felt myself almost being pushed upwards. Not a moment later I was spat out from the abyss, the rainbow magic accompanying and boosting me out flying towards the brighthouse, where it fused with the unstable glow of Prisbeam energy, apparently stabilizing it. The strange void closed as soon as I had exited out of it, leaving only the unscathed pavement behind.

The clouds began to disappear as soon as the hole closed and the lighting ceased to rain all over town, allowing the afternoon sun to warm my frozen body and brighten the spirits of everypony who saw that it was finally over. I flew a small lap over the square, and I rejoiced at the sight of everypony safe and cheering at me.

I had done it! I had saved them with my powers!

With a scream of pure ecstasy, I allowed myself to make a tiny loop, cutting the refreshing skies before diving in for a landing right about where my friends were congregating.

“Oh my gosh, guys, did you see that?!” I excitedly called them after landing, but none of them answered. In fact, none of them were celebrating.

“Guys?” I repeated, puzzled at their dull behavior. Seeing how all of them were looking towards the same spot in the plaza, I followed their gaze to find Alex the subject of their attention, standing just where I had last seen him.

Something was wrong. He remained unmoving, his chest raising and lowering feebly in what sounded like labored breaths. I took a few steps to the side to get a better look at him. What I saw made my blood freeze on the spot.

He was bleeding… He was bleeding all over. His eyes, nose, ears, and mouth were all leaking profusely, and countless rivers of blood dyed his face bright scarlet down his neck to sip into his clothes. His eyes were unfocused, hazy, blankly gazing forward into the nothingness without blinking once. Small gushes of blood escaped his mouth with each pained breath he took, splattering grimly into the ground.

“A-Alex?” I tried with apprehension, paralyzing fear now making my own breathing hard. From the corner of my eye, I discerned small fragments of what looked like one of his gemstones scattered near him, shining under the sun’s rays as the clouds above parted.

His head turned painfully slowly towards me, following the sound of my voice while his eyes never focused on me once. One, two, three seconds without any reaction…

And then, like stone, he fell face first into the ground.

“ALEX!!!”

“GRRRR!! THAT MEDDLESOME, INFURIATING, BUCKING MONKEY!! HE WAS SUPPOSED TO REMAIN ASLEEP FOR ANOTHER THREE HUNDRED YEARS!! I WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE MORE TIME TO PREPARE!!”

I hid myself behind the upturned double doors that led to the throne room, waiting for Opaline to stop cursing and flailing at the image of the ponies and that weird creature she had been monitoring since that morning. The sight of that strange being had unnerved her enormously, almost ridiculously so, making her even more mad than her usual self.

“O-O-Opaline.” I feebly called her, trembling from snout to tail.

“WHAT?!” She snapped at me, almost falling off her throne.

“W-What is it about this creature that angers you so much?” I innocently asked, not enjoying seeing her so angry, mainly because that only could end up badly for me.

At the sight of my trembling form, she calmed down somewhat. Or at least, she stopped shouting like a madmare, but her anger remained clinging to her. “Come and see for yourself, Misty.” She ushered me forward with her hoof, firing icy daggers at the projected image to the town’s square.

With shaky steps, I entered the throne room, now better discerning the image projected over the magic pool. Opaline focused the image closer, the ponies and that… strange creature were just going about their day, with what looked like some kind of festival in the background.

He looked weird, waaay different from the ponies around him, but he didn’t seem dangerous at first sight.

Opaline didn’t share my opinion of it. “That, Misty,” She pointed a hoof towards the strange creature. “Is enemy number one. He was supposed to remain out of our manes for another couple of centuries. She told me so herself! Argggh! It looks like I’m going to have to move up the schedule. As if it wasn’t going to be hard enough already!” She hit the marble floor with her hooves in a fit of rage.

She was in front of me in a blink and grabbed my head and made me look dead in her eyes. “He’s dangerous, Misty. More than you could possibly imagine.“ She warned me loomingly. I made sure to listen, but I still couldn’t see how he was of any danger to us. Still, I trusted her judgment and took careful notice of her words.

“I-Is the plan still going ahead?” I asked after she had released me.

She mulled it over for a few seconds. “… Yes, it is. He doesn’t know of our presence here. And we MUST make sure it stays that way. With him there, I can’t infiltrate the town directly, so it will have to be you, and you alone, Misty.”

I nervously gulped, feeling myself weak at the knees for having to assume such a difficult task.

“Tsk, at least they figured out how to stabilize the magic. And with that annoying draconequus out of the picture, it is high time to take back what is mine!”

She rose from her throne and took a few menacing steps towards the floating vision. “I will show them. I will finally show them I’m not to be taken for granted. No more interfering from the princesses, no more playing her petty games! I will take ALL the magic, and tie their destinies to me!! OPALINE ARCANA!!... Hehehe! Hehehahaha! AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

She continued with her evil laugh until her lungs couldn’t take it anymore. I could only stand beside her throne in the shadows and wait, unsure of what she had planned for them. But now wasn’t the time to be a coward.

I wanted to help her. I was going to help her.

I owed it to her, after all.

Author's Note

Ow mama, now we're into it! Once again, I ask for your opinion on the story. I want to make sure how I'm doing before delving into MYM proper. Thanks for the continued support, see you next time.