To Save our Legacy

“Izzy, could you please slow down?”

That might as well have been the hundredth time I had prayed to the overjoyed, hyper-excited, and ultra-caffeinated unicorn to please slow down with her bouncing around the marketplace.

“NO!!” Her bouncing ceased for a millisecond before the springs on her hooves launched her back into the air. “Eeeeeeee!”

And by ‘springs on her hooves’, I mean LITERAL springs tied to her frogs, something about a revolutionary vision that had catapulted her out of her bed the night before with its unmatched awesomeness and practicality!... And also gave us the scare of our lives with a loud screeching only fit for a true visionary, forcing me out of my room in my underwear in a panicked rush, Binary in hand thinking a Drekavac had snuck into the brighthouse, nasty little buggers…

It would have been hilarious if it wasn’t me who’d made a fool of himself. Pipp, wide-eyed as the rest of the ponies, hadn't wasted a second to snap a picture of me in my undies holding Binary while crouching in my preferred lunging pose. I’m very proud of it. It became my new phone wallpaper afterward.

But that wasn’t the reason we were traversing the market district, full of the usual stores open all year ‘round and a few temporary wooden stands that only got set up on the weekends and special occasions, which with the ponies being ponies was practically every two days. No no, if what Izzy had experienced the other night had been a vision, what she had stumbled upon this very morning had been an absolute epiphany, a phenomenon never described before, an occurrence of unparalleled proportions!!

Izzy had made a friend. A unicorn friend, to be more precise.

And such an epic event demanded an equally epic ceremony, as was required by unicorn law, or else you would get the jinxes and be doomed for all eternity or something. You know, like your average religious movement. For as much as Izzy had assured us that she didn’t believe in that nonsense anymore, I still caught her sometimes fearfully avoiding certain behaviors or actions, almost unconsciously so in fear of being jinxed, only to do the EXACT same thing later without an ounce of dread on her fuzzy body.

She could be so random sometimes…

But this particular tradition called for a special type of ceremony, nothing about singing a song, preparing a special meal, crafting a special necklace… no, this ceremony was all of them at the same time: a ‘traditional unicorn sleepover’, where new friends turn into best friends and everypony is sure to have the time of their lives.

That was a thing now, it seemed.

It had been a couple of days since our trip to Zephyr Heights and the feedback we’d gotten from our impromptu late-night games and partying had been nothing but positive, which only worked to push Izzy’s eagerness for this meeting even further.

It was in this circumstance that I bumped into her as I was leaving mid-way through my shift at the clinical lab in search of something to eat while it was still morning. And, as the situation demanded, I was promptly dragged along by her on her overjoyed ride to assist with the necessary purchases so that all she had planned for that night turned out simply perfect. Tradition demanded it, or you'd be jinxed with... something.

“Okay! Okay!” She bellowed once we’d reached the very center of the market district, kicking away the springs on her hooves and sending them Faust knows where. We found ourselves standing in the middle of the usual traffic of quadruped multicolored ponies minding their own business, already used to our peppy friend enough to not even bat an eye at us. “We’re gonna need ten kilograms of corn seeds, a copy of ‘Trotting Hills’ from the rental store, an assorted mix of gems for crafting, a LOT of snacks…!”

On and on she went, listing things from memory, getting her to repeat some of the items once or twice, and pointing to each of the shops where we would find each of them as she listed them. I had tuned her out long ago, leisurely looking around the street, nodding to those ponies who I knew personally and happened to trot nearby.

“You got all of that?!” Izzy finished her wacky listing with inquiring eyes full of joy.

I couldn’t remember one single item on her list. “Sure, let’s go.”

Allowing her to take the lead, and saving me from one of her biting sprees, I spent the morning helping her go over everything she deemed a must for tonight's sleepover. Sleepovers were an activity I regularly shared with my old friends, most of them taking place in Twilight's castle which could accommodate all of us better. Long evenings of games, movies, and series from my home planet and theirs, along with chats and playful gossiping... at first, the notion of sharing a sleepover with a group exclusively made up of mares, and the sole other male in the form of Spike the dragon, was quick to fall into the universal shared conception of what was strictly and unilaterally forbidden, according to my human upbringing that is. But it didn’t take long for me to cast such inhibitions away and enjoy the experience of being together. Especially since our paths diverged and drove us apart more and more with each passing year.

As the volume of our purchases became excessive, one of the nearby stall vendors saw our plight and kindly offered to lend us his cart to alleviate our future suffering. It was a typical red cart with four wheels and an adjustable handle. Extremely grateful for his gesture, which saved me from repeating the pack mule experience from the other day at Zephyr Heights, I set about meticulously arranging the numerous bags and boxes inside the cart to maximize loading capacity while also putting measures in place to prevent everything from falling over the edge on our way up-hill to the brighthouse.

But Izzy had a different idea. Hopping into the cart in a swift movement, she comfortably loafed herself inside and, with her most innocent smile, lit up her horn and managed to secure everything in her telekinetic grasp.

A small part of me registered her visible skill with her magic, a huge improvement considering she had gained the ability to cast magic only a mere few months ago. However, that tiny doubt was easily overrun by the profound sense of bemusement I felt from her sudden movement.

“Um, Izzy…”

“Come on, Alex, we don’t have all day!” She ushered me, motioning with her head towards the handle currently resting against the stony road. “Chop Chop!”

Sporting my best fish cosplay, I could only stare blankly at the tucked-in unicorn. Her anxious request erased any form of rebuttal from me. Limply, I reached for the handle and proceeded to drown the nearby area with the squeaking of the old wheels turning after a long time of service.

If the passerby ponies hadn’t batted an eye before at us, they were certainly now watching with equal parts astonishment and mirth at the tall human toiling away in carting around a very pleasured Izzy who, with eyes closed and a peppy smile, enjoyed the ride around the coastal town with our purchases floating securely behind us.

“Um, Alex? What are you…?”

“I don’t know, Windy,” I said while casting a tired sideways glance at the puzzled pegasus who happened to trot across the road. “I really, really don’t know.”

Leaving her behind with the mass of confused ponies, I made my slow way up on the usual path to the northern end of the bay, with my ears catching Izzy humming a little song over the diminishing hustle and bustle of the town and the sound of the waves crashing over the cliffs. She looked so comfortable back there, seemingly unaware of my huffing, puffing, and sweating, which almost made me lose the grip of the handle a couple of times.

“Hah… Hah… you fat-flanked mare…” I cursed between tired puffs.

“Aww, thank you…” She waved her foreleg with a coy smirk on her muzzle, fluttering her eyelashes sensually. If the desired result was driving me further up the wall, she had succeeded at it with flying colors.

It took me considerably longer to reach our shared home with the heavy lump of pony tailing behind me, but I managed to climb up the road in a single go.

“Okay, Izzy.” After taking a moment to catch my breath, I twirled on my heels to address the still-loafing unicorn, not taking my hand off the handle due to the road leading up to the brighthouse’s porch being quite steep, and the last thing I wanted was our purchases flying down the hill. “Put whatever needs to go to the kitchen on the left, and then put the rest on the right.” I gestured to the porch.

Following my pointing finger, she understood my proposal and moved her eyes up toward the mess of levitating bags and boxes, sorting them in the air as I instructed before depositing them where I had chosen. With her distracted for the moment, I made use of those precious seconds to put the evil plan I had been scheming on our way up in motion.

Without her noticing, I slowly and very gently inched the cart away from the porch. The further I went, the steeper it got, and the pull of gravity on the cart became gradually stronger. Izzy remained unaware of my nefarious intentions, levitating all the stuff into its proper places for better assortment later.

“Okay, done and done!” She merrily announced once the magical glow around the last bag had evaporated. “Now we can…” The words died in her muzzle, eyes widening when she noticed the sole finger still on the handle preventing her from taking a quick trip back to town. “W-Wait, WAIT!!”

As she panickedly fumbled inside the cart, fighting to jump the boat before it was too late, I released an evil laugh and prepared to deliver my malicious speech.

However, I was rendered without a chance since Izzy, instead of trying to jump out as soon as she could get her legs from under her, had wiggled to reposition herself inside the cart, her new pose now facing away from me and into the homely town stretching in the distance, grabbing the rim of the cart with both forehooves.

“Ready.” She called over her shoulder, a determined gleam in her magenta eyes. With my evil plan crushed, I simply let go of the cart, deeply disappointed at having lost my chance for revenge and allowed gravity to do the rest of the work.

“WEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee….!!!” And off she went on her speedy way downhill. I stood still until her screams of delight had faded under the ripples of the waves and the low humming of the Prisbeam energy. The lack of any crashing sounds and startled yelling let me know she had managed to arrive unscathed…. or at least I hoped that that had been the case.

I sighed and shook my head slightly, unable to fight the amused smirk growing on my lips. “That mare…”

When I turned around and was about to make my way to the door, I realized at that moment how the peppy unicorn had tricked me; for now, all our purchases stood neatly all over the porch waiting to be carried inside and further assorted. A task that would be now carried by yours truly. Alone.

“Faust dammit…”

Grumbling obscenities under my breath, I powered my gauntlets and levitated as much as I could from the mess of snacks, crafting items, decorations, and whatever Izzy’s shopping spree had resulted in, the remaining items secured with both hands. Kicking the doors open since the rest of my limbs were currently occupied, I crossed the foyer of our cozy brighthouse, seeing nopony around at first sight. Which also meant no help for poor little me arranging all that stuff.

I decided to take care of the most pressing items, those being the snacks for tonight, marching over to the kitchen and spending a couple of minutes extracting everything from their bags and scattering it messily over the counter while putting in the refrigerator whatever snacks required it. Izzy would deal with the rest. The remaining bags I left in her workshop for her to do what she pleased with them.

The trek left me quite weary from toiling Izzy’s fat flanks all the way here. Not feeling like making the journey back into town, I contacted my coworkers and asked them to cover for me the rest of the shift. It was a slow day at the hospital so it shouldn’t have been much of a hassle for them. I resolved to treat them to lunch the next day as a thank you.

Not waiting for their affirmative answer, I dragged my tired feet to the living room, my only thoughts summarized in planting my rear on the couch and doing nothing until the rest of the gang arrived to get the sleepover thing going. I was looking forward to meeting this mysterious new friend of Izzy’s, somewhat surprised with all the pomp and circumstance Izzy was showing for this particular pony since she was already friends with most, if not all, of Maretime Bay’s residents. Must’ve been quite an encounter.

It was at the moment of entering the living room when I found the first integrant of our crazy team of ponies, and a handsome human of course. Her royal Highness and heir to the throne of Zephyr Heights lay over the middle couch… well, lay might not be the best term; she was sprawled on her back over the couch, resting upside down with her ear legs peeking over the back pillows, wings hanging limply at her sides and forehooves tapping over the screen of her foldable phone currently opened in tablet mode. From the way she was scowling at the contents of the display, it was obvious she wasn’t playing Candy Crash… or, perhaps she was. That game was every bit as evil as its counterpart from my world.

“Mmm, full focus mode, must be something serious,” I called to her while taking a seat beside her, referencing how she referred to that particular position where the blood would pool in her head, ensuring maximum thinking capabilities. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that that was far from how it actually worked, instead taking amusement every time I caught her like that.

“Grrr,” She acknowledged my presence with a low grumble. “I just can’t wrap my head around it!” She wailed while bumping the couch’s pillows with her hind leg.

“Around what?”

“You know what!” I became the target of her piercing glare. “This!”

Forcefully passing me her phone, I saw the reason for her anger. Crudely drawn was an outline with Sunny’s and Hitch’s cutie marks with arrows pointing at the other respectively, and a little picture of Sparky spewing his dragon fire right below it. Interconnected with several points and lines were annotations and hypotheses written by the same detective currently waiting for my verdict with hard breaths.

“You’re still going over it?” I asked once I had taken in all the contents on the screen.

“Well of course I am!” She exclaimed, almost sounding offended. “How do you expect me to just let it go?!”

“I don’t know,” I shrugged nonchalantly. “We found the culprit, and everything worked out in the end. I don’t see what’s left to see.”

Of course, I was messing with her at that point. I knew very well her detective instincts wouldn’t let her rest until she found everything there was to find from the other day’s cutie mark incident. As it happened, Sparky’s fire transmutation capabilities extend beyond simple objects. An accident with his dragon fire resulted in Sunny’s and Hitch’s cutie marks being exchanged. A pony-patented getting-into-each-other’s-horseshoes bonding experience ensured, with both affected parties learning about each other’s responsibilities and commitment to the community and loved ones, nothing that Equestria hadn't already seen a hundred times before, which is why I decided it was best to refrain from intervening and let them figure it out by themselves. It was these kinds of scuffles that led the Elements of Harmony to learn so much about the magic of friendship and grow into the role models they would eventually become. So many years in isolation had deprived my new friends of all sorts of similar experiences, and my failure in finding the Journal of Friendship to act as a baseline meant that it would be through these shared experiences that they would relearn those long-lost lessons.

But of course, Detective Zipp would not be satisfied until she’d figured out every single aspect of what had transpired. Even if her role in figuring out our little scaly culprit had been essential to working out the issue, she still was unsatisfied with the actual meaning behind such an occurrence. ‘How can two cutie marks just be switched like that?’ ‘Why did they suddenly start acting like the other would?’ Those and many more questions had plagued her and driven her to figure out the mystery. But, I could tell from the way she’d jumped down my throat at the slightest of pushes that that she was still far from her goal.

“Fiiiine,” I moaned exaggeratedly, deciding it was high time to offer my two bits since the lesson had been learned satisfactorily and bonds had tightened.

“Finally!” She cried to the heavens, rearranging herself into a proper posture, ears forward and attentive.

“Well, ‘the how’ is something you already know.” I started, handing the phone back. “Sparky’s dragon fire is more powerful than what we’d assumed at first.” While I had a couple of theories regarding that particular phenomenon, I decided to leave them aside until I could gather more solid proof. She already had enough to deal with as it was.

“And ‘the why’?” She instantly inquired, phone in hoof recording my every word.

Smiling cheekily, I wiggled into a comfier position since the moment would call for it. “Let me tell you a story.”

“Ugh,” With a beep, the recording stopped and Zipp leaned back on her seat with an irritated huff. “We don’t have time for sto-”

“It’s the story about how Twilight Sparkle became an alicorn, and therefore the Princess of Friendship.”

My short clarification flicked the attention button in her brain and turned up the dial to one hundred and twenty percent. As quick as the lighting bolt in her cutie mark, Zipp had erased any semblance of irritation from her features and now regarded me with the look a young foal would give their parents during bedtime storytelling.

“I’m listening…” She stiffly declared.

“I can see that.” I snorted in amusement at her sudden change of demeanor, playfully booping her snout. “Very well, this is a story of the days before my arrival in Equestria, so my words are those of Twilight as she told me the story herself.” That only made her two big dark pools of wonder spark ever brighter.

“During a day like any other, Princess Celestia turned to her most beloved pupil and gave her a… somewhat unusual task. Perfectly aware of her tremendous gifts with magic, she asked her star pupil to make sense of and finish a spell that the great wizard Starswirl the Bearded was never able to complete, one that would’ve become the old wizard’s magnum opus.” Clearing my throat, I dug into my memories for the exact words of the original incantation. “From one to another, another to one. A mark of one's destiny singled out alone, fulfilled.” With an eyebrow raised, I waited for the alabaster pegasus to make the connection.

“… Wait.” She mumbled once the gears in her mind stopped turning.

Cutting off her musings, I continued with the story. “Those exact words were spoken by Twilight while she was trying to decipher the meaning behind them, unaware that she had in truth unleashed the spell in its unfinished form.” My words got Zipp’s attention back. “She went to bed, unaware of the catastrophe she had just unlocked, and it was during the next morning when she noticed how things, more precisely her friends, were acting kinda weird…”

I related how every one of the Elements of Harmony had their cutie marks interchanged and, consequently, their behaviors, as well as personalities, followed in tow. Each of the girls tried to fill the role their new cutie marks demanded of them, and failed miserably in doing so, for it was not who they truly were, yet what choice did they have?

“‘Cause it’s what my cutie mark is telling me.” I finished, watching how understanding slowly invaded Zipp’s previously scrambled thoughts. “And, to keep it short, Twilight managed to understand what was going on; she completed the spell, and changed everything back to what it was truly meant to be. In doing so, she created new magic, something Equestria hadn’t seen in hundreds of years.” A familiar sense of pride for the young alicorn broke through the sticky sense of depression that nailed the painful knowledge of her loss, returning every time her image came to mind. “… It so happened that Celestia had already decided that Twilight’s most recent accomplishment was her final test. Pleased with all her previous achievements, Celestia called the time right and… well, through means I don’t fully understand and the details of which I am NEVER allowed to share with anycreature, Twilight was granted alicornhood, and ascended as Equestria’s newest princess shortly after.”

Falling back onto the couch, I waited for Zipp to fully absorb this new fragment of Equestria’s greatest heroes. Her muzzle scrunched and relaxed repeatedly in a cute fashion while the alabaster pegasus fought to bring some semblance of clarity to her thoughts, for she had successfully made the connection between that story and what had transpired just the other day.

“B-But…” she struggled to voice her conclusions. “How can a cutie mark… How can it…?”

“‘Cutie mark’ is just an Equestrian term for it.” Seeing her struggle, I decided to help her a bit further. “It appeared after the Great Unification. Do you know how ponies referred to them before that time?”

A silent shake of her head followed. “Destiny marks.” I revealed. “How and why the term changed, I can’t begin to guess, but deep inside that’s what they’ve always been. A manifestation of your true calling, your reason, your place within pony society, your…” I ran out of simple terms to describe them. “Well, you get the idea.”

Looking down at her flank, I pointed to her lightning bolt-themed mark. “Even with magic completely denied to you by the Unity Crystals, that is something not even they can take away from you. They were designed as such.”

Surprise gleamed in her eyes. “They’re… magical? As in, they’re made out of magic?”

I caught her by surprise with my loud bursting of laughter, making her recoil slightly. “Well OF COURSE they’re magical!” With all her unmatched cunning behind her reasoning, I was surprised she still hadn’t realized something as trivial as that. “Zipp,” Shifting my stance to rest sideways and give her my full attention, I closed and opened my fist repeatedly while coming up with a way to explain it so she would get it. “Let’s see… you’re very good at flying, right?”

“Um… yeah?” She conceded, confusion masking any undertone of smugness for my praise.

“How?”

“H-Huh?”

“How are you so good at flying?” I inquired further. “I mean, you’d never flown before the crystals were rejoined. Sunny told me how you’d mastered all the theory behind it, but you could never truly use your wings under your own means until very recently. And yet, in the middle of a sea of headless chickens trying not to bump into each other, you were flying around as you’d been doing so since you were a filly!”

Her muzzle opened and closed in quick succession, a rebuttal struggling to come out yet it was unable to do so.

“You didn’t know.” I continued in a lower tone. “Yet, you did know how.”

“…‘Cause it’s what my cutie mark tells me…” She whispered, her eyes now into the two-toned lighting bolt on her flank.

“And when it is exchanged for that of another pony....” I let it hang in the air.

“It changes you.” She concluded, finally achieving the desired ‘click’. “It IS you, but… not entirely. Because you’ve lost a part of you and changed it for a part of somepony else.”

Nodding in agreement, I provided the closing remark. “And with that, you got Sunny trying to fill Hitch’s horseshoes as the town’s sheriff and critter whisperer, and Hitch trying to fill in for Sunny both at her smoothie stand and as a pillar of the community. Not just acting like the other, but being the other. ‘Cause that’s what their cutie marks are telling them.”

A heavy silence fell over the living room, allowing the distant wisps of the rolling waves below the cliff to filter through the closed windows. Zipp’s focus remained on her cutie mark. What beforehand might have just earned a passing glance, now it was the reason for a sense of uneasiness darkening her gaze. Uneasiness matted with a touch of fear.

“… That’s not right.” Were the first words spoken by her after her choking silence ebbed away.

“Three guesses as to who came up with this wondrous idea.” I proposed with a touch of cockiness.

“Harmony.” Her answer came short and full of conviction.

“Ding ding ding!” I playfully conceded, failing to elicit even the smallest sense of merriment from the troubled pegasus. I reached for the rim of my shirt and pulled upwards, the motion returning her attention to me. Tapping with my finger, I motioned for my left pectoral. “See? I got one too.” I spoke referring to the ugly scar permanently marring my skin. “That means I’m also part of the game.” I finished with a creepy smile which only worked to disturb Zipp further. And that’s how I wanted her to feel, for it is the same way I felt when I understood their purpose. What ponies celebrated with pride and wonder, sometimes… sometimes I could only see shackles.

“N-No, that’s… t-that’s not…”

“It's got to be my destiny, and it's what my cutie mark is telling me~.”

Gripping her head with both forehooves, Zipp struggled to come to terms with the truth. It was a disturbing truth from an external point of view. Countless ponies lived their lives without even asking the why or the how. Just the usual ‘it’s my talent, that’s what I’m supposed to do. Funny how my magic and skills suddenly align with that which my talent is supposed to be, huh?’ A clever trick to achieve the perfect society, harmonious, peaceful, a TRUE paradise… as long as it remains in your interest.

And what about the dozens of different species who don’t possess cutie marks? Well, sucks to be them.

A loud bang abruptly ejected us from the gloomy atmosphere, the noise of the front doors opening signaling somepony had just entered the brighthouse.

“… gotta make a BIG entrance for you! EEEEHEHEEHE!! ”

The full power of Izzy’s enthusiasm was being forced upon a poor unfortunate soul who I guessed was the wacky unicorn’s newest friend, and our guest of honor for the night.

“Come on, Zipp.” I nudged the startled pegasus. “We’ve got a sleepover to prepare.” I informed her while standing up and stretching my limbs.

“… A what?”

“…’cause I’ve been missing Bridlewood SO much, and now we can spend hours and hours and hours bonding over Bridlewood experiences and showing my friends how we unicorns rooooll, right? Right! I have everything worked out! There’s so much we have to do if we wanna avoid the jinxes, ‘cause then our friends would also get jinxed, and they don’t know the traditional de-jinxifying dances!! So we must…”

I tried, I swear I did, but she just wouldn’t shut up!

I had to take a couple of mental breaths to keep myself from lashing out. I was already on edge while I was doing another round around town before Izzy caught me spying on her. You would’ve expected a pony at least a bit creeped out after finding somepony was spying on them, if not outright mad. That's what I had expected of her. And yet, instead of doling out the harshness, she forcefully introduced herself and dragged me into her stupid idea of a sleepover without giving me ANY chance to at least consider it. I mean, I can appreciate her energy, I could definitely do with some of it myself, but her overexcited eagerness was gonna get me caught and Opaline’s plans completely and utterly trashed… again!

And now she wouldn’t shut up and grant me the chance to come up with a way to prevent myself from throwing it all to Tartarus in a single day!

The other day’s ‘Opaline catching me eavesdropping’ incident had gotten her mad. No, mad falls waaaaaay short of the truth. She was positively furious, her rage practically incandescent and bubbling like a volcano about to erupt. So much so, she practically shoved my flanks out of her fortress and warned me to stay well away for a while, both to not see my face and to prevent herself from committing something we both would later regret since I was apparently still of use to her after that failure. You can see how I didn’t stick around and question it. I was halfway back into town by the time she stopped yelling.

But even during my temporary exile, she still wanted me to continue with my infiltration efforts, especially after the other day’s findings. She had managed to sneak a little magic-constructed spy into the Crystal Brighthouse, its alleged defenses either not identifying it or outright treating it as non-threatening. Whatever had been the case, she had found that Sunny’s lantern, the one she had dragged with her down that creepy hole in the ground during the Maritime Bay Day festival, had a smidge of the Prisbeam energy inside it.

Opaline wanted it; she wanted it bad, claiming it would help her regain her powers. She had given me an enchanted collar with a special gem inside which would help me communicate with her from here. It was kinda creepy-looking, so I tried to wear it as little as I could, and specifically to not wear it around that white pegasus and her friends. She would surely sniff something weird about it from a kilohoof away! Through such means, I had let her know about Izzy’s forceful invitation to her sleepover. I was convinced she would just straight yell at me NOT to accept the said invitation so I could protect my cover and not endanger the plan further.

However, I was surprised when she proposed the opposite; she wanted me to go, and at first, to mingle so I wouldn’t look suspicious and, at the moment the ponies were all asleep, snatch the lantern away and bring it to her. She assured me she would forgive me if I brought it back with me and, perhaps, only then PERHAPS, would consider the idea of finally giving me my own cutie mark.

I could only jump at the chance. I’d dreamed of having a cutie mark my entire life and, seeing as I didn’t gain one like other ponies did, she was the only means for me to get my wish.

And that brought me here, being practically dragged by my tail up the hill by Izzy, trying and failing to follow her endless tirade while shakily approaching the looming structure which served as the ponies as well as the hooman’s residence.

The hooman… no, human, as Opaline had harshly corrected my spelling earlier, Alexander. The one I was supposed to avoid like a plague. I had completely missed his presence while coming up with a plan to better blend in. I would be able to start from scratch with the ponies, but he already knew me from our previous encounter. Which meant no fake names, nor could I pass off a change of background, as he and that pegasus might then smell something fishy.

But what I had to make sure to do on top of everything else was to keep my big mouth shut. I had a bad habit of babbling every time I grew nervous, and more than once it has betrayed me by spitting out things I wanted to keep inside.

I had to keep my cool and stay in character, because as far as Izzy’s planning went, we all would spend the night together at the Crystal Brighthouse, and no doubt the ponies would be curious about little ol’ me.

‘Keep your cool, Misty. Opaline has trained you for this. This time I CAN’T mess it up, or she’ll…’

Gulping now the ball of nerves forcefully ended that train of thought. We had arrived at the brighthouse’s lawn, its entrance decorated by a gorgeous crystal mural I had spent several minutes admiring the first time I tried to sneak in. The subtle tingling in my horn sent a shiver down my spine from the sheer amount of magic being radiated upwards into the endless sky.

“Okay okay! AAARGH!!” My companion was about to burst from excitement, quaking in her horseshoes with barely restrained energy. “You wait here for a second. I gotta make a BIG entrance for you!! EEEEHEHEEHE!!”

“B-but…” I tried, but she had already burst through the twin doors, granting me a quick glance into the foyer and the humongous hall stretching as high as the residential part of the structure went, its walls not possessing the same crystalline shine as the outer façade had. The light filtering through the glassy mural on the entrance painted the nearby floor in a myriad of colors and shapes. Two ramps lead to the upper floor where several doors lead to rooms with purposes yet unknown to me. Another thing I wanted to do was get a bit of recon done from the inside, since whatever magical defenses preventing the screening pool from peeking inside remained as strong as ever.

My ears twitched when catching the slightly muffled voice of Izzy calling me from somewhere inside. Interpreting it as my signal I hesitantly took the remaining steps separating me from my goal and stood in the middle of the foyer, shying away from the group of ponies and the hooman regarding me with curiosity. “Fillies and gentlecolts! A big round of applause for my newest and bestest unicorn friend in the world… MISTY!!” Izzy stood before her friends; forelegs stretched in a welcoming motion.

However, her celebratory demeanor suddenly morphed into one of confusion. “Misty… uh…”

It took me a second to understand what she was implying, my eyes narrowing to two pinpricks. “I-I, uh… um…” These ponies were wondering what my last name was, but I had always been Misty. Just Misty. Stumbling over my own words, my panicking mind raced to find any available name I could use. My eyes darted around the place, searching for the tiniest glimpse of inspiration. In their panicked search, they stumbled over the cacophony of colors projected from the glass mural behind me. It was there where, after straining my neck to get a quick look at it, that inspiration came to me. And, honestly, I liked what I came up with.

“B-Buh… Brrrriiighhh…” The first idea that popped into my mind was ‘Brighthouse’ as my last name, but I quickly caught myself from blurting that stupidity. “Brrrrrightdawn!” I finally managed to spit out, followed by my most innocent smile.

“Misty Brightdawn?” The hooman asked, to which I answered with a vigorous nod. “Mmm, it has a nice ring to it. You didn’t mention it the first time.”

“Wait!!” Izzy interceded, jumping between us. “You guys know each other?!”

“Mhm.” He replied with an affirmative nod. “Caught her spying over the bridge during the Maretime Bay Day festival.” He flashed me a knowing smirk.

However, I failed to catch his playful tone. “S-S-Spying?!! I-I wasn’t s-spy-”

He cut me off with a sudden laugh. “I know, Misty, I know, I’m just messing with you.” Passing by my side, he patted my head twice while sending a wink towards my direction. He was heading towards the kitchen. “Well, now that you’re here, anypony care for some drinks? It’s a long night ahead of us.” He kindly offered to the group of ponies still arranged around me.

“Uh Uh Uh!” Izzy lit her horn and halted the hooman’s steps solid. Looking over his shoulder, he shot a puzzled look at the unicorn. A short jealous streak ran through my body at seeing this, since the absence of a cutie mark on my rear meant that I couldn’t make use of my magic like all other unicorns could. Not that Opaline had ever even tried to teach me anything since magic came back. Another thing I had to be careful to hide from the inquisitive ponies.

“Huh? What do you mean ‘no’?”

Grinning cheekily, Izzy bounced up the hooman’s rear and rose on her hind legs to place her forehooves on his back. “Sorry, Alex, but tonight’s a ‘girls' night exclusive unicorn sleepover’” She informed the surprised human while gently nudging him to get a move on.

“Uh… is that part of the tradition or something?” He inquired, remaining firm in his place.

“Nuh huh, just thought the mares and I could use a girl’s night for ourselves. You…” She poked him on the back of his head. “...are gonna crash at Hitch’s! I’m sure he could use the company, and you guys can have one of those ‘boy talks’ you stallions love to brag about.” She concluded with a merry giggle which was far away from pleasing Alexander.

“Waaaaitwaitwaitwait.” He took a long step forward, making Izzy lose her balancing point and falling back on fours. Turning on his heels, she addressed the unicorn with a scowl. “You’ve dragged me from my lunch, aaall over the town to get stuff for your sleepover, made me toil your sorry flank ALL the way up here, AND got me to organize our purchases alone, and now you’re giving me the boot?!!”

“Yep!” Izzy replied with her most winning grin, unfazed by the human’s aggressiveness.

He turned towards the rest of the ponies who, sporting guilty smiles, remained silent to his pleading eyes.

“... Fine.” He conceded with a defeated tone. “I still haven’t properly checked out Hitch’s coltcave either way.” He narrowed his eyes at the mares and pointed a threatening finger at them. “But rest assured that there is going to be a lot of gossip happening behind your backs... regarding the behind of your backs more precisely.”

Chuckling at this saucy humor, the mares just rolled their eyes and waved him off, wishing him a fun time back with the missing stallion and promising for all of us to meet up for breakfast here.

Retracing his steps, he passed by my side on his way out. “You have fun, Misty.” He spoke while gently bopping my snout, making me go cross-eyed. “Don’t let the girls bite too much.”

And with a parting wink and a hoof shake, he went on his way to the sole stallion of the group’s house for the night. A profound sense of relief quickly overcame my confusion at his words the moment his tailless rear disappeared beyond the doors. A couple of overcurious ponies were enough of a hassle to deal with, but with him here too, perfectly aware of everything that happened back then in Ancient Equestria… heck, knowing Opaline in pony himself…

‘You can count your lucky stars, Misty. He would’ve caught you in a second.’

Finishing their goodbyes, the previously rooted mares began heading for the kitchen, following Alexander’s initiative in getting some refreshments to begin the party… Was it supposed to be a party?... A meeting?... A hangout?

When you spend your entire life living in an isolated fortress with a millenary alicorn as sole company you can’t help but miss a couple of things.

“Soooo…” The pegasus Zipp began while matching my gaze towards our first destination of the night. “When did you say you got to Maretime Bay?” She inquired with a raised eyebrow, the rest of the ponies’ ears flicking towards us with renewed interest.

“O-oh, I, um… I didn’t…”

“In town just for a visit? Or staying permanently?” She pressed on, her eyes now narrowing in suspicion.

My saving grace came in the form of an over-energetic unicorn mare who swiftly stepped between us. “Zipp, Zipp, Zipp, Zipp, Ziiiiipp. Buddy, you're hoofing it up the wrong hill here.” Izzy cut off the pegasus’ interrogation and placed a foreleg around her withers, ushering her towards the other side of the counter and away from me. “Misty's our friend!” She reasoned, sending a wink towards my direction, to which I responded with a thankful smile. “Ooh! We're already way behind schedule! Come on, ‘uuuunicorns’~!” She made quotes with her hooves and promptly fell into another fit of giggles while encouraging us to hurry it up.

I could almost feel the sweat dripping from my coat onto the spotless floor. Not even a minute in, I had already been questioned and ended up on one of the ponies ‘suspicious’ list.

Sighing in lament, I decided to play it by hoof, for the time being; better to wait until everypony was distracted before attempting to take a peek around. I would enact the theft later while they were all asleep.

‘…Oh, who am I kidding? This is gonna be a disaster…’

“Cheers.”

“Cheers.”

With a soft clink, our bottles of soft cider touched, after which we brought them to our lips and took a long swig of them. After having been ‘asked nicely’ by the girls to leave them to their traditional sleepover slash girl’s night slash whatever demonic rituals mares perform during such meetings, I had to find a place to rest my sorry ass for the night. The best option I could come up with was the one the mare’s had proposed. A quick phone call later I was on my way to Hitch’s dwelling, which happened to be located right next to his office. The brighthouse had been our standard meeting point thus far, so I had never thought to visit his home.

The stallion himself welcomed me with enthusiasm since, just as it had happened to me during my arrival to Equestria, our circle of friends had grown to be mostly female, and this kind of occasion where two stallions… well, a stallion and a human at this point, could just hang out and talk about their things tended to happen less frequently, closer to practically never.

Since it had been an impromptu meeting for the both of us, no plans had been arranged for the night beforehand. Instead, we were content to just hang out at his home, watching crappy shows on TV and ordering Hayburger for dinner while yapping about stuff.

While we did so, Sparky was fully immersed in his baby toys, currently going through his newest addition according to Hitch. The usual colorful box with pieces of wood that fit into different slots in the box. He was stubbornly trying to fit the triangle-shaped one into the square slot. After the tenth failure or so, his baby eyes sought advice from us when he found he just simply couldn’t muscle his way in. I made a twisting motion with my hand, pretending to have the piece in it and reorienting it in the air. Sparky’s eyes lit up in understanding and, following the same movement, managed to fit the triangle in the square slot rotating it vertically.

“That’s cheating.” Hitch blankly commented, having watched our short exchange.

“But he understood perspective.” I clarified for him. “He’s a smart dragon, not like his dad.” I finished in a teasing tone.

“Yeah, yeah…” Huffing, he took another swing of his drink. A pensive look grew on his features, taking a few seconds to mull his thoughts before going for it. “Hey, um… can I ask you something?”

With a blank look, I responded with my best ‘duh’ gesture.

“Right.” He cleared his throat. “It’s… it’s about your brother…”

“Spike?”

He nodded silently, testing my reaction since he knew perfectly well that everything related to my past friends and family was a sensitive subject for me.

While painful jabs always pierced my heart every time I thought of them, I had no problem talking about the greatest creatures to ever live. “Go ahead, there’s a lot I can say about him.” I gave him the go-ahead and took another sip of my cider.

With my blessings, Hitch fidgeted a bit on the couch to make himself more comfortable and gave me his full attention. “I guess… what I want to know is… how was it? Living with a dragon, I mean. You know…” Anxious concern darkened his features. “How ponies treated you, both of you being different and all… Did they give him a hard time? Did he live peacefully with the ponies…?”

I knew where his worries came from. Sparky, while he was still a baby, baby dragon, one day he would grow up to be the humongous beast dragons were known for. While that would not happen until waaay after both of us had kicked the bucket (I hoped), his concerns were just the same as the ones that had tormented Twilight’s sleep when the responsibility for Spike's care fell on her hooves during her early years as Celestia’s private protégé.

“Hmmm.” I took a moment to mull over my answer, twisting the bottle of cider in my fingers “Well, the shortest answer I can give you is that it was just fine. Spike, while he was older than Sparky is at the moment, was still considered a baby dragon back when I first arrived, his height barely reaching my hip.” I reached low and placed my free hand around the approximate height for Hitch to get a better idea. “He’d been living with Twilight his entire life back in Canterlot, and continued doing so after they moved to Ponyville. Ponies were a little skittish of him at first, she told me, but they quickly grew used to him being around like any other citizen.”

“Didn’t they treat him differently, or… was anypony mean to him…?”

“Mm mm.” I shook my head sideways. “Nah, he’s a very charming fella, and growing around ponies smoothed down any aggressive dragon instincts or predatory behavior. He’s as normal as you and me. And I believe the same will happen to little Sparky here with the ponies of Maretime Bay. I mean, nopony has given either of you a hard time, right?”

Visibly reassured, he shook his head no, taking another sip of cider to further calm his nerves. “…Wait.” He scrunched his muzzle, something not clicking right with him. “You refer to him as ‘he’s’, as in ‘he is’?”

‘...Yeah, I let that slip.’

With a long sigh, I reclined further on the sofa, throwing my gaze upwards to the beige-painted ceiling. “Dragons live for hundreds of years, Hitch, a few even reaching quadruple digits.” My attention returned then to the tiny reptile still fumbling over with his toys. “If this little guy is here, it means there might be dragons out there somewhere… and one of them might be Spike.” A mental image of him all grown up appeared in my mind, eliciting a sad laugh. “Faust… he’ll bite my head off if I ever find him…”

“W-Why do you say that?!” He loudly inquired, sounding terrified at such a possibility.

Another cold spear thrust itself into my heart, my free hand rising instinctually towards the scar under my shirt. “‘Cause I promised him,” I revealed without hesitation, slowly losing myself in the memories of that day.

“Promise? What promise?”

Failing to meet his titled head and curious eyes, I instead focused on the tiny dragon, oblivious to the heavy atmosphere falling over the living room. A phantom of the purple and green-scaled dragon took his place in my clouded vision.

“… Dragons live for hundreds if not thousands of years. Alicorns too, not so much ascended ones than those pure born, but still… And Empyreans shall last for as long as they are needed by their people… Twilight, Spike, and I knew very well what the future would hold for us.” I had to stop for a moment to swallow the heavy lump in my throat. “We knew what would become of our loved ones as the years went by.” I gripped my hands tightly to prevent them from shaking. “… And in the face of this reality, we made a promise to each other.” The phantom image of my brother dissipated as my sight returned to the stallion. “That no matter what, we would face the ages together, after everypony we knew and loved had passed on, for however much each of us would last… We would face it together, as a family.”

With a deep breath, I fell back again onto the couch. “But, here I am… I broke a lot of promises that day. The day I left.”

“Grrru?” Little Sparky, noticing my growing unease, had forgotten about his toys and, without me catching him, had climbed into my side and regarded me with unworried eyes, big and adorable as any baby is meant to sport.

“Thanks, you little bugger.” I appreciated his concern, sneaking a finger under his chin and tickling him to his giggling delight. “So,” I continued with Hitch’s inquiry. “If he’s still out there and we happen to cross paths… well, I’m gonna fall on my knees and beg for forgiveness, and he’s gonna chew me between his jaws ‘till I look like a Jackson Pollock painting.”

“Alex,” Hitch, having listened attentively, reached with a comforting hoof towards my knee. “I don’t need to know your brother to be sure he would never do that to you.”

His comment brought a tiny chuckle out of me. “Heh, perhaps…”

“Although, I too would be mad.” He clarified further, using foal-friendly language yet making clear he would feel way more just ‘mad’. “But, if you explain why to him, I’m sure he’d understand.”

Before I could comment further, the sound of the doorbell startled us out of our conversation.

“Hmm, that’s our dinner, I reckon.” Being a polite houseguest, I offered to take care of it. A short walk later saw me back to the foyer, a framed photo of Hitch’s family alongside a rectangular mirror adorning the wall right next to the door. Not bothering to check through the peephole, I opened the door leading directly into Mane Street, a couple of ponies chatting on their way behind the tan-furred delivery mare patiently waiting with our orders. That was until she caught sight of me.

“O-oh!” She exclaimed, slightly startled at the sight of my tall form. She was quick to catch herself, casting a quick look at the number of Hitch’s house engraved in silver letters. “Forgive me, I…” She checked the address on her phone once again. “I thought this was Sheriff Hitch’s house.”

“It is. I’m just a friend hanging out.” I tersely explain, the appetizing aroma of our dinner already making my mouth wet and shortening my patience.

“Oh, o-okay then.” She conceded with a nervous smile. “In that case,” She reached behind her to her saddlebags and pulled two paper bags with the Hayburger’s logo imprinted on their side. “Herefff ffou ffgo!”

“Thank you.” I grabbed the bags from her muzzle and extracted my wallet from my back pocket.

“Oh, no no.” She waved her forehooves. “It’s already paid for.”

It was at that moment that I remembered that delivery apps were a thing now.

“… Of course it is,” I replied with an embarrassed one, eliciting another one from her. “In that case…” I extracted a pair of two-bit coins from my wallet and balanced them on the tip of her snout, making her go cross-eyed for a moment. “Excuse this senile old man.”

With a bright smile at the impromptu tip, she wished me a pleasant night and went for her next delivery.

Closing the door behind me, I re-entered Hitch’s lodgings, placing the bags on the dinner table.

“Dinner’s here,” I called, hearing the clopping of hooves moving away from the couch with the muffled tapping of a pair of baby dragon’s claws in tow.

Sniffing the air with his sensitive snout, Hitch’s muzzle too began watering from the appetizing scent of life-shortening pony-patented junk food.

“Mmmff,” Hitch moaned in bliss, muzzle full of Double-decker Cheese n’ BBQ Hay Burguer. “Sho, good…”

“A role model for the townsponies, I see…” I teased lightly, amused at the way he was devouring his meal. Not that I had any grounds to complain. I still was given weird looks by the staff every time I entered the establishment to get a burger for myself.

But I was just SO hungry that day…

“And Sunny wanted to ban this,” Hitch recalled after swallowing the surprising amount of burger he had managed to stuff into his muzzle. Pointing with his free hoof at the half-eaten burger, he shook his head sideways aggressively. “Not under my watch, she ain’t!”

“You know,” I began after finishing my portion of french fries, the all too familiar taste bringing me back to old times. “Hayburger was a thing back then in Equestria at the time I first arrived.”

Hitch’s eyebrows rose in visible surprise. “Ifft fffwas?” He inquired with his muzzle full.

“Mhm. And of course, it’s a fast-food franchise that’s capable of surviving an apocalypse. Can you imagine how many hundreds of thousands of burgers must’ve been served in all those years?”

“Damm…” Hitch muttered in a low voice: baby dragon still present. “Pony society crumbling and shattering, only to be brought back together. Magic lost and found again, and earth ponies with new powers too! But the only constant… burgers.”

“A profound reflection, we ought to print it sometime.”

Agreeing with a nod, we spent the rest of dinner set on finishing our courses.

“Hey, now that I think about it,” I spoke after a while, cleaning the remains of ketchup from my mouth. “How are you guys doing with your new magic? It's been a while already and I haven't heard of any other incidents.”

A proud grin stretched over Hitch’s features. “Almost everypony has gotten the hang of it by now. The Community Garden’s full of ponies every day.”

That was an understatement. Sunny's dream project had bloomed into a town-wide attraction. Every morning when I took the road downhill to the town I passed by several early ponies already hard at work trying new crazy combinations or just growing whatever what's on their mind for lunch that day.

“Whatever you grow you can take, that’s the one and only rule, and ponies are behaving surprisingly well. I mean,” He continued. “I haven't needed to patrol around or scold anypony as of yet.”

“That's great news, sheriff.” I congratulated him with a proud smile of my own.

His smile morphed into a tiny chuckle. “Heh. I teased Sunny with the idea of charging the ponies a small amount for the use of land the other day.” The chuckling grew into a belly laugh. “Oh, she gave me an earful alright!” He rubbed his left ear in emphasis.

“Yeah, she can be pretty scary when she’s pissed.” The mention of our friend brought up an idea, and never a better opportunity to ask than with her oldest friend present. “Hey, I know she’s already told me a couple of things herself, but I gotta ask you. How was Sunny back then? Before your little trip around Equestria?”

I offered to take care of cleaning up the table while Hitch made sure Sparky had finished his own dinner. “How was she?” Hitch began. “A royal headache was what she was!” He exclaimed with a hint of dramatism.

“Come on, it couldn’t have been THAT bad…”

The blank look he was giving me over his shoulder could’ve killed a manticore. “One hundred and thirty-two.”

I furrowed my brow in confusion. “One hundred and thirty-two what?”

“One hundred and thirty-two attempts at changing Maretime Bay’s mind about the unicorns and pegasi. One hundred and thirty-two attempts that either failed miserably or ended up with me catching her before any scandal arose.”

“Damm,” I muttered, surprised at her resolution. “That mare’s drive made a pony.”

Finishing our business in the kitchen, Hitch took a moment to tuck Sparky into his cradle within the sheriff’s bedroom, since he believed he was still too young to sleep alone in a room of his own, although I managed to sneak a look and saw how renovations for said room were already well underway for future use. Hitch had clearly fully immersed himself in his role as dragon dad.

“My dad was the town’s sheriff before me.” I caught Hitch’s voice returning from his room while I was heading back to the couch where I would crash that night. Turning around the corner, I saw him heading back to the living room with a pillow and a couple of blankets for me.

“Thanks.” I took the blankets from his back and left them nearby for later.

“No problem.” He conceded dismissively and plopped his rump on the couch at my side. “My dad and her dad were great friends, and just as I had to do with Sunny, he also had to keep an eye on Argyle sometimes. Although the old stallion was never as ‘radical’ as her daughter.” He talked with a fond smile, a hint of longing dripping from his words. “We practically grew up together, Sunny and I, still too young to fully comprehend what her dad was trying to do. Yet, Sunny wouldn't let that stop her from doing her part.”

I listened attentively, eager to learn more about the ponies I now called my family. “Sunny always followed her dad’s hoofsteps, even after he passed away ten years ago. You know?” He spoke hesitantly, an undertone of shame painting his voice. “After he passed away and Sunny took up his mantle, I… I, uh…” He fumbled nervously with his hooves. “I… blamed him for a while.”

My raised eyebrow was enough indicative of my surprise at this state.

“Y-Yeah. He’d raised Sunny by himself, and by doing so, I felt he’d turned her into a pariah like he was. Her unwavering faith and steely resolve, while it was a legacy of his, I felt that it had cost her practically all her friends and reputation in town…” His ears lowered a bit. “After both of us had grown up to be our own ponies, we’d fallen into our little game when she would attempt another of her crazy ideas and I would stop her or clean up the mess after her… but she never gave up.”

He slowly shook his head sideways with a smirk of renewed pride. “Never. And that’s how I’m fully convinced that, once she finishes her training with you, she’s gonna be unstoppable.”

“What is ‘jinxie’?”

Instead of answering me, Izzy fell into a loud fit of laughter, almost falling back on her rump, leaving me even more flabbergasted, if that was even possible by that point.

“Ah, Misty, you’re SO funny!” She exclaimed once she had regained control of her breathing and, with a peppy stride, headed for our next activity of the night, the rest of the ponies in tow. I just stood there, looking blankly at the wall, not understanding what was so funny about my question.

That was what this night was about; activities! Traditional unicorn activities for a traditional unicorn sleepover. Of course, having grown up with Opaline meant I had absolutely NO idea what a traditional unicorn sleepover was supposed to be, meaning that I had to bust my chops pretending to follow along while not making a fool of myself. I had to pretend I had grown up in Bridlewood with the rest of the unicorns and know perfectly what Izzy was attempting to accomplish with her friends who, just like me, were completely lost following the rampaging unicorn all over the brighthouse.

Izzy had planned a hundred activities for us, and all of them had to be completed satisfactorily and on schedule if we wanted to avoid the ‘jinxies’, like she had repeatedly warned us several times that night.

Her over-juiced drive to meet each and every one of the requirements meant we could only dedicate only a few minutes, sometimes not even a full minute, to each one of Izzy’s activities, since the unicorn was adamant that we go through all of them in a single night. I didn't need to have grown up in Bridlewood to know that that was virtually impossible, tradition or not, but Izzy would hear none of it.

The ponies were exhausted, and so was I, but none wanted to take the wind out of her sails, and just followed along with the overexcited mare who seemed to be the only one having fun by that point.

However, I hadn't just stood idly while being dragged all over the place. I had been taking careful notice of everything around the place. Such an opportunity for reconnaissance could not be wasted!

Yet, for all the comings and goings around the brighthouse, my primary target still remained out of my reach. Everything that was transpiring was happening on the ground floor. I still had to find the chance to sneak around for a while and at least find where it was located before snatching it away. But Izzy would not allow anypony to stray away from the tight schedule. Any wasted second was another chance for us to get jinxed!

… I still didn't know what that meant. It didn't sound THAT dangerous though…

“Okay, ponies!” Izzy called to the group from the living room, who had arranged themselves in a semicircle around her. Fumbling on my hooves, I hastily caught up with them, lowering myself onto the thin mattress Sunny had provided each of us with for our comfort. “It’s time for my favorite part!... Well, next to my other favorite part and my other, other favorite part… Ahem.” She took a deep breath. “It's the sleepover sing-along!” She exclaimed, raising herself onto her hind legs and waving her forehooves in the air.

Her excitement was drowned by the silence that fell over the room, since nopony knew what she was referring to, myself included. Seeing how none of us were catching up, Izzy explained.

“It's the traditional sleepover song! We sang this aaall the time back in Bridlewood. Even foals know it!!”

“Huh, for a bunch of mopey ponies you unicorns were, there seems to be a lot of singing in Bridlewood…” Zipp commented under her breath. I was unsure what she was referring to, but seeing how Izzy had portrayed her traditional sleepover, I highly doubted she was actually following it by the book.

“Uh, duh!” Izzy clarified as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Oooh!” A light bulb lit over her head. “Misty, You wanna sing along with me?! We can be the Unicorn Duet!”

“U-Um.” All eyes were on me then, making me recoil backward under the weight of their undivided attention. I attempted a pathetic attempt to free myself from what was set to be an embarrassing moment. “I-I, um… well…”

But of course, Izzy would have none of it. “Great! We'll jump into the chorus together, then you take the verse!” Not leaving room for protest, she cleared her throat and began to sing

‘This is it. This is where they catch me…’

“Sing noooow, sleepover frieeends. Time to dream of crystals and geeeems~” With her best voice, Izzy’s singing filled the cozy room. Everypony listened attentively to the foreign lyrics while the unicorn took the stage in the middle of the group. Without any other options available, I decided that it was best to just stand behind her, using her larger frame to hide my shame as best as I could. In a broken voice, I repeated the lyrics as Izzy sang them, trying my best to look like I knew them by heart, yet I spent half the time just humming along and praying the other ponies wouldn't notice.

Izzy’s loud number had caught most of the ponies’ attention, sparing me from their criticism for the time being. However, when the moment came for my solo performance, my mind came up completely blank.

“U-Um…” My mind worked a hundred kilohooves an hour to bring out the saddest, most horrible excuse for a verse. “G-G-Get on y-your hooves and… plaaaay… a-along, ‘c-cause it’s… a party and… that's w-what happens when you… uh, have fun with… frieeeends…'' Finishing with my most convincing smile, I waited for the inevitable shame of their laughing.

‘That was the WORST musical performance in the history of Equestria.’

Wincing, I peered over my lidded eyes to assess their reactions. However, instead of being laughed at, or worse, being called out, the ponies just waited patiently with a sympathetic smile for Izzy’s verdict. The unicorn in question was far from pleased with my performance.

“O-Oh, I guess… we just learned different versions... That’s okay…”

‘...Different versions?...’

Before I could process the fact that I had just escaped by the skin of my teeth, Sunny had risen from her seat and placed a reassuring hoof over the now sad unicorn.

“I'm sorry we don't know a ton of unicorn stuff, Izzy.” The orange-furred mare apologized. “But we're happy to learn!”

“It may just take us a while,” Zipp added with a guilty smirk.

Izzy turned to fondly address her friends. “Aww, thanks, guys. Maybe we can continue our list and... I'll just sing the song by myself later...” However, her tone indicated she wasn't completely reassured by them.

Seeing her demeanor, Pipp jumped at a chance to correct the issue, eager at the chance to sing along. “Nooo, nononono, NO! I'll sing it with you!” She offered with an eager pump of her wings, a golden microphone in her hooves.

“O-Or maybe we can play another game together!” Sunny proposed hesitantly.

‘This is my chance.’

While the ponies were busy discussing the next step of their sleepover amongst themselves I, who had remained in the background of the conversation, tip-hooved my way out of the living room and up to the first floor where I’d hoped to find their bedrooms. The first door I tried led me to a bedroom alright, but it wasn't the girls’. A single bed stood in the middle, with a work desk full of notes and diagrams immediately in front of it. The clothes scattered around the bed were indicative enough of whom these quarters belonged to, yet it was the scent coming from the room that nailed the identity of the owner.

‘Hmm, he smells… different, I guess?’

Not wanting to waste time in useless musings, I silently closed the door and tried the next room.

“Bingo.”

A large room opened up before me, five beds meticulously filling up the entirety of the periphery while a glass column stretched from the middle of the room and all of the way up to the ceiling. Inside, the Prisbeam energy discernable from kilohooves around the bay was born, and steadily but surely flowed up into the sky. Being so close to it, a tingling sensation ran down from my useless horn to the tip of my tail. Such power… the entirety of Equestria’s magic was flowing before my eyes. No doubt Opaline wanted to get a hoof on it. Who am I kidding? She wanted all four hooves on it.

But that was a prize for another day. Opaline’s little magic spy had previously located the lantern here in the girls’ bedroom. I prayed that I would find it in the same spot.

To my dismay, a quick look around saw no shining lantern for me to grab and bolt out of there, not that I would be able to sneak past the ponies while they were awake, but I at least wanted to locate it beforehoof so I wouldn't have to search around a bunch of slumbering ponies.

“Ugh! Of course it wouldn't be here!” I cursed under my breath after I had completed a second lap around the room. My eyes were then dragged towards the shimmering column of rainbow energy. More precisely, at how a section of the glass column facing the doors seemed to be able to separate from the rest. The keypad right at the side and the platform inside the column revealed the presence of an elevator.

‘Hmm, perhaps it’s up there…’

Up there was where the Unity Crystals were located. Opaline’s screening pool only allowed her to get so close. ‘A quick look won’t hurt anypony’, I reasoned, especially since I had no plans to even touch those crystals in the first place.

Confident that I would find what I was looking for, I placed my hoof on the button and waited for the doors to open. It was at that moment that a shrill alarm began to hammer my ears.

‘NO!NonononononononoNO!!’

I began to panic, and in my anxiety to bolt the hay out of there, I ended up tripping over my own hooves as I tasted the marble floor that decorated the entirety of the building. With a pained moan, I got back to my hooves, only to come snout-to-snout with an angry-looking alabaster pegasus.

With a loud yelp, I jumped back from the scowling mare, and almost ended back on the floor again. “I-I… uhh…”

“What are you doing here, Misty?” Zipp inquired, her tone making clear she wouldn’t take any nonsense.

“I, uh… I-I was just… trying to figure out this keypad to go up to the washroom! Hehehe.” I tried with an embarrassed giggle.

“You were trying to find the washroom in the elevator?” She inquired with a raised eyebrow.

Gulping loudly, I waved my forehooves energetically. “N-No, no, that’s, uh… kinda stupid, right?” Her expression remained neutral. “Y-Yes, well. I just thought… I thought I'd go look at the view first! It's a…. fun Bridlewood tradition! Which is probably why… you didn't know about it!”

Her eyes narrowed further, the pegasus taking slow steps toward me while her analytical gaze sought to crack me wide open. I remained firm… no, I didn't. With my most innocent smile, I took a step back for every step Zipp took forward until my rump collided with something behind me, my whole body shaking like a leaf. Just as I was about to throw it all to Tartarus and jump out of the window, Zipp’s inquiring leer gave way to a bright smile.

“Hah! First Bridlewood tradition I totally get! I love awesome views!” Her sudden change of demeanor allowed sweet, merciful air into my lungs once again. “Maybe I'll take you up there to look some other time. Buuuuuuut, the washroom is down there.”

Following her stretched foreleg, I saw her pointing out of the room and down where the rest of the ponies were surely wondering what the hay was going on.

“Heh... thanks, Zipp. Um, I'll be sure to take you up on that.”

Not meeting her gaze, I decided that it was best to just hurry up and comply and stop making a fool of myself… further, that is. However, in my carelessness, my tail brushed against whatever was over the night desk I had bumped against, making it fall onto the floor with a loud *clank*. Wincing once again, I stiffly lowered my head to assess the damage. However, you wouldn't believe my surprise when, from the cylindrical casing I had dropped accidentally, the upper end of Sunny’s lantern peeked through, casting the immediate area in a rainbow glow identical to the one coming from the Prisbeam’s, uh… beam.

“Oh no!” Zipp wailed at my side, quickly falling to her knees and carefully taking the lantern into her hooves. A quick look over revealed no visible damage. The casing had done its job. “Please, be careful, Misty. Sunny will have our hides if we break her lantern.”

With stammered apologies, I waited for Zipp to return the lantern to its previous location. The way the casing covered it masked most of its rainbow light from where I was looking. No doubt I hadn't seen it the first time! Also because I was mostly panicking, I reckoned.

“It’s very pretty.” I blurted out while double and triple-checking my mental notes depicting its location. The first part of the plan was done and done.

“I know, right?” Zipp agreed. “It didn't shine like this before, though.”

“What do you mean?”

Tilting it a bit so the rainbow light was visible again, Zipp began to explain. “It used to shine like a normal lantern, but one night Sunny took it with her and rode the elevator up. I think she was looking for Alex and wanted to take it with her since it was probably kinda dark around the place. The thing is, when she came out later, a piece of the Prisbeam energy seemed to have ended up stuck inside.” She shook her head dismissively. “None of us know how or why. It just looks like this now. An upgrade from your average lantern, if you ask me.”

‘So, there IS Prisbeam energy inside it. Opaline was right…’

“Y-Yeah,” I whispered after escaping my previous train of thought. “I guess it is.”

With our discussion seemingly over, I turned back towards the doors, not before shooting one last good look at my prize. However, before I could take a single step, Zipp’s voice rooted me in place.

“Hey, Misty…” She probed with notable hesitation. “Um… perhaps this a bit too soon, since we’ve just met and all, but… can I ask you a weird question?”

Deeply puzzled, I could only nod silently, wondering what had gotten the seemingly confidant pegasus to act so weird all of a sudden.

“Um, it's about your cutie mark.”

Of all the things she could’ve asked about…

“M-My cutie mark?” I croaked out, chastising myself for not considering that possibility. I had nothing prepared! What was I supposed to say? ‘Oh, this little thing? Just a drawing of a butterfly I saw in a book. I paint it on my flanks every time I come to town to hide the fact I'm possibly the ONLY pony in existence without one!!’

“Mhm,” She confirmed with a nod. “Does it, uh, how to say it… feel like you?”

If she hadn't done so already, her question caught me by complete surprise. I was expecting something more in the line of ‘How did you get it?’, or ‘What does the butterfly mean?’

“... What?”

“I mean,” Zipp tried again. “Does it feel like it’s truly who you are? Like, the true you?”

She might’ve been speaking in Neighponese for all I was getting from her. “Well, isn’t that what a cutie mark is about?” I offered, drawing from my limited knowledge about them I had managed to piece out of Opaline’s old dusty books.

An affirmative nod from her, but her continued silence prompted me to continue. “So… yeah. It feels like who I am. Like… with everypony else, I think.”

I was truly lost for words. A cutie mark appears on a pony’s flanks when she or he discovers that which makes them truly special, that talent that sets them apart from the rest. That much I knew, but all that philosophical nonsense? I hadn't the slightest idea where it was coming from.

“... Yeah, of course.” Zipp finally conceded after a minute of silent contemplation. She regarded me with an apologetic smile. “Sorry about that, I just… I talked with Alex just before you arrived and… I have a lot on my mind. Forget I asked.”

“Uh, sure.” Not wishing to make things even weirder, I conceded and, together, we made our way back to the rest.

“Everything alright, ponies?”

Pipp’s inquiry mirrored all our concerns since Misty and Zipp had spent an awful lot of time up there. The alarm she had installed for the elevator had been triggered. We chalked it up to Misty having lost her way, but why was it taking so long for them to come back? There were still a ton of things we needed to do if we were to stay on schedule!

Oooh, I could almost feel the jinxies lurking around the place already. A hundred years of bad luck awaited us! No, a thousand years!

Misty and Zipp’s heads appeared around the entrance to the living room as Pipp voiced her question. A quick explanation confirmed our suspicions. Poor Misty had lost her way looking for the bathroom and had become sidetracked with admiring the stunning beauty of the place we call home!... Or something like that.

“Sooo, what’s next, Izzy?”

Just as I was to answer Zipp, Sunny beat me to it. “How about we all tell stories?!”

That was totally in the plans for tonight, although it didn't come until step sixty-four. Still, I saw no harm in doing it earlier and, along with the rest of our friends, agreed on our next activity while settling back into our mattresses.

“Okay,” Sunny, having proposed the activity, volunteered to go first. Clearing her throat, she began with her storytelling, grabbing a flashlight and pointing it at herself for further ambiance. A clap of Pipp’s hooves triggered the sound-triggered light switch off, bathing the room in twilight. “This is the true story of the Guardians of Harmony…”

“I loooove this story.” Pipp celebrated with a clap, a sentiment I too shared. It was one of my favorite stories too. One all ponies knew even after having been separated for so many centuries.

Smiling brightly at us, Sunny continued. “Once upon a time, there was a very special unicorn. A bright unicorn, as bright as a shining star. One day, she was summoned by the Princess for an assignment: to learn about friendship! She came down from the great city of Canterlot and moved to Ponyville, where she met earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi who became her best friends! Together, they taught her the power of friendship and unity and how to live in harmony with everypony in Equestria!”

A chuckle from Zipp brought our attention to her. “Heh, now that we know Alex, that story sounds like it falls a bit short.”

It was true. Our human friend’s retelling of his time in the past couldn’t be summed up in a few words like Sunny’s story. We had learned of the numerous adventures he and the Elements of Harmony had been through, and how they’d saved Equestria time and time again.

“I guess you’re right, Zipp. But the long version would take us the rest of the night, and I’m sure our hostess here doesn’t want us to stay rooted here, right?”

Realizing she was referring to me, I shook my head sideways vigorously, eliciting a laugh from my friends.

“Thought as much. So,” She recovered the narrative thread. “Ponies far and wide learned to live in unity, and their harmony soon stretched around the world, touching a multitude of different creatures who saw in Equestria an example to be followed. The world saw an era of peace and unity like nopony had ever seen before.”

We all knew what came after, and it reflected in the darkening of her tone. “But then, one day, a magical accident happened! An earth pony got…”

It was at that moment that we all remembered about those certain… inaccuracies the original story portrayed against what our human friend had revealed to us. He was there to witness it in pony and, according to him, it was his fault it happened in the first place…

“Got what?”

Misty’s voice brought Sunny out of her momentary support. “... Hurt.” She mumbled, but the look we all shared spoke volumes about the truth behind the legend. “Everypony started fighting with each other! The unicorn-now-turned-Princess, wanting to protect her kingdom and all of the ponies in it, decided to seal all of the world’s magic into three crystals before it got out of hoof. However, earth ponies only felt safe with other earth ponies. Unicorns with unicorns. And pegasi of a feather flock together. The ponies galloped, trotted, and flew as far as they could with their crystals, settling in what would become Zephyr Heights, Bridlewood, and Maretime Bay. And that's where they lived, alone and isolated… until now.”

Any other day, loud cheering would have followed while we patted each other’s backs, us being the ones responsible for that enormous change and all. However, the truth behind the story had sucked out most of the joy in it. Never in our lives could we have imagined how bad it had truly gotten back then.

“Wait!” Misty’s sharp cry cut though the somber atmosphere. “But that’s not the true story at all!”

‘Huh? What’s she talking about?’ I wondered to myself. Even while remaining separated, the three tribes had shared the same story, for the most part at least.

“Uh, yes it is, Misty. We pieced together the crystal part ourselves. Literally.” Sunny voiced our collective thoughts.

“Why? What have you heard, Misty?”

Spurred on by Zipp’s curiosity, Misty took the flashlight on her hooves and gave us her version. “Well, it’s true that magic once flowed through Equestria. But most of it came from a very powerful pony, an alicorn queen!”

‘Wait. An alicorn queen? Equestria has never had a queen… Well, until now that is.’ I remembered Alex’s retelling of his past adventures, never once mentioning any other pony royal figure aside from the Princesses.

“She was too powerful, and the ponies were jealous of her ability. In an act of treason, the Princess stole the magic from the Queen and hid it somehow. Then, the Princess enchanted an invisi-bubble around the place where the ponies had fled to, so the alicorn queen could never find them again. The Queen was left alone, with only a sliver left of her strength and power, all while the other ponies created towns built with her stolen magic!”

Seconds ticked away while my friends and I processed Misty’s story, a twisted and completely derailed version of the one the three tribes shared. Worried eyes met one another, a silent debate being exchanged with only one possible conclusion.

“What?” Pipp was the one to finally break the silence. “That's the true version?!”

“Who told you that?” A click from Zipp’s phone signaled her recording over, only for another to start immediately after her question.

All our attention was on the sky-blue unicorn, who was quick to catch our shared reluctance to her version of the tale. Grinning nervously, she shuffled with her forehooves while slightly flinching away from us.

“Ah! Um… N-Nopony! Uh, I... you know, I may have made some of it up, hehe.”

‘Some of it? Try ALL of it…’

Her sorry excuse failed to work on our friends, who continued to press her further, making her start sweating as if she had just run the Bridlewood Annual Marathon and recoiled even further. No matter how weird her story had been I couldn’t stand for our star guest suffer like that!

I jumped in front of her and blocked the girls’ incessant questions. “‘True’, ‘made-up’, what difference does it make? Each story was great! Especially that alicorn queen part, Misty.” I reassured her trembling form with a playful wink. “ So creative! So epic! Got any more?”

The ponies were quick to catch my gesture and thankfully stepped back a bit. Although their attention was now on me.

“So, is this like an old Bridlewood pony's tale or...?”

I shook my head vigorously. “I've never heard it, Pipp, but maybe that's just my own corner of the community.” I looked at the shy unicorn over my shoulder. “Where did you say you grew up exactly, Misty?”

“Yeah, where did you grow up, Misty?” Zipp pressed on once again, skyrocketing my already growing frustration with her. She had spent the entire night with that attitude towards Misty. I could understand her detective jitters kicking in with somepony new, but even after she had promised us to not do it again she was pressing her buttons way too much.

And, of course, a pony can only take that much. “Uh, n-nowhere! A-And, I-I… Um, I s-should probablygottagetgoingtogetbackrightaboutnow! Bye!”

In a panicked blur, the sole reason for the slumber party to be an actual thing flew out of the room as if a Tartatus demon was on her tail. Ignoring my friend’s cries, I bolted behind her, pumping my legs in an effort to catch her before she reached the front doors.

“Wait, Misty! You can't leave! This party is all just for y-”

But the resounding slam of the twin doors closing forcefully sharply ended my pleading, making my ears go flat against my scalp and breaking my run, barely managing to stop myself before tasting the white painted wood.

Falling on my haunches, I could only stare longingly at the closed doors, waiting and praying for my newest friend to suddenly have a change of heart and come trotting back with the merry smile I had worked so hard to get from her the whole night.

I felt a presence at my side after a few moments, but I lacked the heart to address it. “Hey,” I recognized Zipp’s apologetic tone. “I didn't mean anything by all my questions. I was just trying to get to the bottom of things and figure out the real truth.”

“Heh, the truth.” I chuckled darkly, making Zipp take a hesitant step back when noticing my complete lack of amusement. “You wanna know the truth, huh?” I rose on four again and slowly loomed over the alabaster pegasus. “The real truth, Zipp, is that my first real sleepover in Maretime Bay has been a complete and total jinx-a-thon!!”

I saw her gulping loudly, ears down and slightly glossy eyes asking for forgiveness, but I was just tired by that point. Everything was going so well, and I was going to have the chance to feel back in Bridlewood, even if it was for a single night.

‘...Who am I kidding?’

“That means ‘failure’, by the way.” I felt the need to clarify, slowly trotting past her and back into the living room to deliver the bad news.

“Izzy…”

Ignoring her, I re-entered the small room where our friends waited with visible worry. “Party's over, ponies.” I heartlessly announced, letting their protests go over my head while flopping over the couch to sulk at the fire warming up the chilling night.

‘I could really use one of Alex’s belly rubs now…’ The random thought failed to bring any spark of happiness.

The familiar scent of my best friend signaled her approach. I felt the couch sinking slightly under her weight at my side. “Izzy, we don't have to start cleaning just yet.” I felt her hoof slowly stroking my shoulder. “I know this didn't go as you planned, but the night is still young…”

“Yeah! We can still have more fun!”

Pipp’s energetic attempt was accompanied by nods of agreement from all present, yet reluctance still clung to me. These ponies were my best friends, and I loved them with all my heart, but they just couldn't understand.

With a longing sigh, I turned my head the slightest amount towards them. “That's really sweet of you to say, but it isn't just Misty leaving…” Although that accounted for the biggest part. “This isn't a real celebratory sleepover without being in Bridlewood, anyway. I just wish I could…” Images of my birthplace filled my vision, memories I cheered as much as the ones I had made in Maretime Bay. “… just lay on the ground and stare up at the big branches of Bridlewood trees rustling above me. It's what I always did when I felt... un-sparkly.” And considering how things were before the reunifications of the crystals, that tended to happen more often than not.

“... Sometimes I miss my unicorn stuff so much. And I thought having Misty here would help…” That had been the main idea for the sleepover. Another one of Izzy's ideas going down the drain…

Right before my eyes began leaking, Sunny’s hoof, still on my shoulder, acquired a firmer grip, pulling harder to force me to meet her decisive look.

“What exactly do you miss about Bridlewood?” She suddenly inquired, making me tilt my head in puzzlement. “Be specific.”

“Uh,” While I was not sure what that was all about so suddenly, I saw no harm in it. I loved to talk about Bridlewood. And boy did I have a lot to say. “Do you reeeeally wanna hear?” Three heads nodded firmly. “Are you suuuure?” Again, another firm nod. “The list is longer than the lyrics to my unicorn sleepover sing-along song, you know?”

The ponies turned a deaf ear to my warnings. “Guess we're gonna have to get comfortable.” Zipp quipped, falling on her belly along with her sister, yet Sunny remained attentive at my side.

“Weeeell…” I took a deep breath and let the floodgates open. “I miss the jinxie dances! Horseshoe games! Sparkle seasons with hot chili peppermint honeysuckle iced teas! The critter contests! The bunnicorns! The Wishiehoofs! The bongo beat poetry! Learning how to hold my breath for long stretches so we can excitedly exclaim long lists like this very one that I'm exclaiming now…!”

On and on I went, listing a thousand and one reasons why I missed the magical forest I grew in, deflating like a balloon with every little thing about my birthplace which I missed dearly and wanted nothing more than to experience once again, and with my bestest friends in the world along with me! I don’t know for how long I went, countless memories breaching through the mist and taking over my voice. I failed to notice Zipp and Pipp sneaking away while I continued with my long tirade, nor Sunny silently directing instructions to the pegasi pair.

“... Crunchy unicorn corn cakes! Sweet, salty horn-shaped strudel! Knitting scarves for armadillos in the winter!” A tapping on my head derailed my train of thought. Looking up, I saw Sunny’s orange-furred hoof as the culprit. Following it, I was met with the very same mare still at my side, now sporting a crooked grin which made me feel a bit self-conscious.

“Hehehe, perhaps I overdid it.” I croaked out in an embarrassed tone.

“Not at all, Izzy.” Grabbing my foreleg, she ushered me out of the couch and up on my hooves. Before I could question her, she stepped behind me and covered my eyes.

“Hey! What’s going on?!”

But instead of answering, she nudged me forward. Blindly following her directions, I realized that we had left the living room and were somewhere in the hall.

“S-Sunny, wait!”

We continued up the ramp to the first floor. My ears caught the doors to our bedroom opening and closing for me. A few steps into our quarters, I felt Sunny’s nudging stop. Without any warning, my vision returned to my eyes when I felt her pull back. Now deeply puzzled, I voiced my confusion.

“What are you ponies do-”

But the words died in my muzzle when my eyes filled with the sight in front of me, a familiar sight, one I had been longing to experience again for some time now. Glowing crystals from my own collection hung from the ceiling, bigger ones littered all around the place, bathing our room in the gentle light the ones from back home emitted too, albeit poorly since magic didn't flow as it should back then. Small decorations, trinkets, and hastily-pulled adornings decorated the area around my bed, some of them I recognized from the very same list I had just… listed.

“What is…?”

“It’s all the stuff you miss from Bridlewood.” Zipp clarified with a nudge of her hip. “Well, most of it.”

Bright smiles adorned everypony’s muzzles, excitedly waiting for my reaction, a reaction which struggled to come out since my astonishment wouldn't wash away.

“I-I can't believe it…” I mumbled, drinking as much of the sights as I could, warmed by the sense of familiarity it stirred in me. “You guys did all of this just as I was talking?!”

“Well, to be fair, you had a lot to say.”

A chuckle was shared after Zipp’s playful comment. It was then that the ponies had their desired reaction, which summed up to me glomping them onto the floor and nuzzling the stuffing out of them.

“ThankyouthankyouthankyousoMUCH!!”

The three mares surrounded me in a group hug, apologizing for their lack of perspective and failing to understand the true importance that this celebration held for me.

Of course, I was more than willing to accept their apologies after what they had just pulled off. Now, the sleepover was back on its rails! You’re not gonna get us this time, jinxies!

With my smile reaching past my ears, I allowed the mares to regain their bearings after my show of gratitude. Skipping in place with barely restrained excitement, a sudden thought ran through my mind.

‘Hmm, I wonder how the colts are doing?’

“JUMP!! JUMP YOU IDIOT!!”

“I AM JUMPING!!” The stallion yelled back while furiously smashing the A button on his controller.

After having tucked Sparky in, and already bored of watching TV, Hitch had pulled out some video games he had stored in his TV cabinet, entertainment I was more than looking forward to trying for myself, curious to see how their technological advancement had impacted on their rough gaming industry from back then.

To my dismay, that improvement summed up to be a jump from sixteen to thirty-two bits, changing the arcades and bulky home consoles for rough attempts to what you could find from the late nineties to the early two thousands more or less. Don’t get me wrong, it was a fair improvement, but it had been seven whole centuries since the Equestrian golden age of video games.

‘This ponies I swear…’

Nonetheless, I swallowed my protests and took him up on his invitation to a quick game which, boys being boys, ended up dragging on for the better part of the night.

“Dammit, Hitch, you got two left hooves or what?!!”

“I HAVE TWO LEFT HOOVES!!”

Technically, he wasn't wrong, but that didn't excuse the complete disaster that was his coordination. We were playing Super Pony Bros 3… you already know how names work here by now; in two-player mode, and currently facing the usual ‘escape before the bad guy catches you’ level. I was fresh out of lives, meaning it was all on Hitch jumping through the obstacles to reach the end of the castle before a conveniently-shaped dragon with a bunch of spikes on its back roasted him down to a crisp.

“Comeoncomeoncomeon…” He mumbled in concentration, hooves flying over the gamepad. A synthetic boom, a bunch of flames swallowing his character, and the always infuriating ‘Game Over’ screen saw the end of our flawless run through the latest number of the series (now in amazing 3D).

“You suck.” I bumped the back of his head, quickly retracting my hand before his hard fetlock could swat it away.

“Bah. Those pegasi developers think we all have feathers to use on the controller.”

It never ceases to amaze me the dexterity of the pegasi with their wings, both in flight and using their primaries as the closest thing a pony will get to actual digits. Still, his whining was as annoying as that of a little foal.

Thank goodness a mouth-splitting yawn prevented me from letting him know about it. A quick look over the phone told me that it was now one-thirty in the morning.

“Damm, I gotta be up for a morning shift tomorrow,” I complained over my breath, feeling exhaustion pulling down on my eyelids.

“I work the morning shift every single day, you baby.” Hitch jabbed with a swat of his tail against my leg. “Time for us to hit the hay.” He ordered, followed by a big yawn of his own.

A longing sigh left my nostrils. “Ah, the day when I’d stay up the entire night drilling a good RPG…” I felt so old at that moment.

Chuckling, Hitch rose from the couch to disconnect the gaming console. “Pipp giving you classes in dramatism?”

“I gotta practice for the podcast. She's almost got everything ready and will drag my ass there the first chance she gets. I gotta play the part.”

“Mmm, you finally going to tell the ponies who you really are?” Hitch asked with a raised eyebrow

“Ha! As if. The last thing I want is ponies bowing to me everywhere I go or something. You guys can be so dramatic sometimes.”

“Only the best of us.” He returned with a cocky smirk, which was erased by another yawn that sealed the deal. “Yeah, that's it for me tonight. Breakfast with the girls tomorrow?”

“Mhm, I’ll call Sunny in case she needs us to get anything from the market before heading there.”

“Awesome.” And with that, he wished me a good night and disappeared into his room, not bothering to move silently since only a freight train crashing into a mountain could hope to wake up a slumbering dragon once they go into REM sleep. Perhaps not even that.

The blankets provided were more than enough to cover me, yet the cold of the night was nipping hard at my furless skin. Nothing that a quick heat spell under the insulation of the blankets wouldn't fix.

‘The commodities of magic… And me trying to make a business out of it. Faust, what was I thinking…’

With those thoughts, I fell into sleep’s embrace.

“Stupid stupid stupid STUPID!! AAAARGH!!” Angry cries and cursing pierced the tranquil early-night scenery. The source? A sky-blue unicorn absolutely incapable of keeping her muzzle shut. It had not been the first, the second, or even the third time that my big mouth and flimsy nerves had put me in a tight spot.

Now? I had made a complete fool of myself and made the ponies even MORE suspicious to the point I couldn’t understand how I wasn’t behind bars by then. Not only I had ended up looking like the creepy unicorn who for some reason seemed to have forgotten EVERYTHING about the very same place where she was supposed to have grown up… which I hadn't, but still!

No, I just HAD to blurt out the version of the story that Opaline had drilled into my head for as long as I could remember. A version which… if I’m being completely honest, I don’t fully believe myself either…

But that wasn’t the point. Opaline had a vision, a very very VERY crucial plan to enact if ponykind was to have any chance of survival, especially now since there were apparently so few of us and we are but a shade of what our ancestors were. And I am an important part of that plan. It was on me to acquire what she needed, and she would then deal with the rest, giving me the thing I’d been longing for my entire life in the process.

“But you just couldn’t keep your muzzle shut, could you, Misty?! No. Now we have to get the hay out of here before those slow-minded ponies finally realize who you truly are!”

Angry stomping accompanied each frustrated scream, carrying me from one side of the communal garden to the other, where I was not-so-subtly trying to hide for the time being, in a fit of self-loathing and frustration.

“No! And where will you go, Misty?! Opaline has kicked you out until you can bring her that accursed lantern! You think she’s gonna let that pass once she catches you returning with your tail between your legs like a LITTLE FILLY!!” More angry stomping saw the release of all the weight of my repeated failures that had accumulated over the last month. Opaline had taught me, she had taught me hard how to best infiltrate the pony settlements, and she had shown me many of her tricks. And best of all, not an ounce of magic was required for them, which fit my complete lack of spellcasting abilities like a glove.

“And for what?! When you’re just MOMENTS away from getting it right for ONCE, you have to open your trap and mess it up! AAAARGH!!”

I don’t know how much time I spent there, but I must’ve gone through my very short list of curses at least three times. Once I had let out all of my steam, I was left standing there like an idiot, mentally drained and physically exhausted. You would’ve thought trotting all the way here and back to Opaline’s fortress as a routine would've improved my stamina.

“... I have to get back.” That was the most logical conclusion. Even better, it was the ONLY conclusion left for me. I didn’t know when the next opportunity would present, and Opaline not wanting to see a hair of me back home meant I was virtually homeless. “I’ll go back, say I was hungry or something and play the silly innocent unicorn for the rest of the night. I can’t allow them to rile me up. What were you expecting, Misty? They’re the enemy, of course they’re meant to blurt a lot of nonsense!”

With my mind set, I gave myself a couple of minutes to regain my bearings and get my breathing under control, lest they began asking questions… again.

With a confident stride, I retraced my steps up the hill and, once in reach, knocked on the doors twice, taking a step back and waiting patiently while coming up with an excuse for my out-of-the-loop behavior.

One minute passed. The two. Then five. I couldn’t believe the ponies would just call it quits and go to sleep!

‘Yeah, that’s the last thing I need right now.’

Puzzled, and not wanting to lose my last chance, I slowly turned the knob and took a peek inside the foyer. Nopony was there, nor were they in the main hall either. Light wasn't coming from any of the side rooms either. However, muffled voices could be discerned coming from the upper floor.

‘They must’ve moved the party upstairs.’

Tip-hooving all the way, I took the same path I had used during my first reconnaissance of the site. The only problem was that now my main target was in the same room as my other targets who under no circumstances could be made aware of my intentions, a poor job by me so far, but I still had the rest of the night. Once everypony pony was a’ sleeping, I would take the lantern and get a’ trotting…

I can’t help it, I always start speaking nonsense when I grow nervous.

“Um, h-hi…” Once I had reached their room, my muzzle, the only thing visible from the slightly opened doors, spoke in an apologetic tone. Those very same doors were suddenly flung open all the way by a purple telekinetic aura, almost throwing me back all the way I came.

“MISTYYYY!!” Izzy, comfortably tucked on her bed over the sheets facing away from the pillow with the rest of the mares forming a semicircle on the floor around her, called with an overabundance of joy. The sheer happiness radiating from her got me a bit flustered at that moment. I couldn’t recall anypony ever being so genuinely happy to see me…

“Y-yeah… it’s me…”

The same magical aura grabbed me and practically launched me all the way to where the girls were gathered, throwing me into the open forelegs of Izzy who had hopped off her bed, and proceeded to hug the stuffing out of me.

“Ooooh, I’m so happy you’re back! I thought we had scared you away forever!!”

“O-Oh…” I stuttered, fighting to breathe while pleasantly shocked by her apparent interest in preserving our new friendship. All of this was painfully new to me. Seeing a positively relieved Izzy choking the air from my lungs while the rest of her friends smiled warmingly at us brought out a series of feelings I couldn't quite explain at the moment. A sense of… I don’t know… I couldn't explain at the time.

But I liked it. A lot.

“Of course not, um… Izzy.” Once she had released her from her bear-trap forelegs, I blurted out another half-flanked excuse to take the weight of their attention off my shoulders. “I-I just… had a nasty hunger cramp and… a-and I saw those delicious glimmerberries at the garden on my way here and… well, I had already eaten a lot of your popcorn and… didn't want to impose…”

“Aww, Mistyyyy.” It didn't take Izzy a second to buy my sorry claim, trapping me in her embrace once again. “I made it just for you! How could you think you would be a burden?!”

Before I could embarrass myself further, Izzy’s head rose from its place atop mine to address somepony behind her, who I couldn’t discern since she was still snuggling my head against her chest.

“Aaaand,” She began. “I believe there’s somepony else who wants to tell you something.”

The clopping of said pony’s hooves bounced around the room for a moment until stopping at my side. Once Izzy had released me again, I was met face to face with the eldest princess of the pegasi herself, the one who was moments away from sniffing out my true persona.

‘Oh, horseapples…’

“Misty,” Zipp’s forehoof came to rest against my trembling shoulder. “I just wanted to say…”

‘SheknowssheknowssheknowsSHEKNOWS…’

“... I’m very sorry.”

“... H-Huh?” I shuttered between clenched teeth.

“I’m very sorry, Misty. I’ve been acting like a jerk to you with all those uncalled-for questions and prodding. I…” My eyes widened when I saw her sheepishly rubbing the back of her head, her gaze directed to the floor below us in embarrassment. “I, uh… It’s a bad habit of mine, I’m working on it.”

I had been expecting something more along the lines of ‘I know you’re working for Opaline’, or ‘I just wanted to say that your secret is no longer, uh… secret to us’. But witnessing the most inquisitive pony in existence apologizing for being too inquisitive?

“Uh… no, you’re… I-It’s fine, don’t worry about it…”

“It’s not fine!” Zipp wailed, ignoring my comment and taking a step closer to me. “All of this is for you, Misty, so that you and Izzy could share some unicorn bonding time! But… I guess I couldn’t just shut my muzzle and let you guys have fun…”

Her ears drooped and her posture sagged, a mirror of the profound shame and regret she was oozing. Against my better judgment, I actually felt bad for her. I mean, I can get ponies being curious when a total stranger suddenly pops out, but it was true she was taking it WAY too far with me, regardless of the fact she was dead on the snout with her suspicions.

And I actually was feeling bad for her.

“Um… well, I guess just… don’t do it anymore, please?” I offered with a nervous smile.

She answered with an ashamed one of her own and, after reincorporating herself a bit, extended her hoof in a peace offering. I hesitantly took it, sharing what might as well have been my first hoof bump ever and sealing her apologies.

“Eeeeeee! I just love it when my friends get along!” Squealing like a filly, Izzy celebrated with a fidgety dance in place, ONCE again catching us in her embrace, both Zipp and I this time.

“Ugh.” Zipp tiredly protested at her gesture, yet her tiny grin betrayed her true sentiments.

Once the lavender unicorn had gotten everything out of her system, she let go of us and hopped back to her bed where, with trumpet-like noises, summoned her friends around her. Now that the worst part had run by, I saw how her little corner of the room had changed quite a bit from the last time I had seen it, which had been but an hour ago, Numerous crystals and other smaller decorations had been arranged around her sleeping arrangements, their pale glow adding to that of the rainbow stream of magic emanating from the transparent column as well as the moonlight bathing us with its gentle light.

“Just like in Bridlewood, am I right?”

The pegasus Pipp brought me out of my momentary stupor, having caught me ogling the new decorations with renewed wonder.

“Uh… yes?”

“Hah! We’re just the best!!” She self-patted her back and flopped on her belly near her sister

However, her question stuck with me a bit longer. She asked me if it reminded me of Bridlewood, my ‘home’, just like it was the home for the rest of the unicorns. Yet that wasn't true for me. I had spent all my life with Opaline, her fortress had been the only home I’ve ever known.

And yet… the pale glow of the crystals… their shapes, their barely perceptible hum…

There was something, a tiny sense of familiarity nagging the back of my head. A memory fighting its way out, yet failing to do so.

‘My… home…’

“Hear, hear.” Izzy, standing proud over her bed, began to announce in a dramatic fashion. “I, Izzy Moonbow of the Bridlewood Moonbows, hereby start the unicorn sleepover ceremonies again!”

A loud cheer emanated from the ponies, one I joined a second too late, but the sentiment was there. And to restart our traditional sleepover, she proposed another of her traditional songs, one she wanted all of us to sing along regardless of our knowledge of the lyrics.

It came out way better than I expected, all of us sharing a laugh after it ended. Now that the suspicion was no longer on me, I found myself actually having fun, more so since Izzy had promised to put on the brakes on the crazy pace we had been following before, granting us the chance to actually enjoy the activities she’d planned.

A couple of hours passed before the ponies could no longer ignore the call of dreamland and, seeing we were all in their bedroom already, decided to just use their regular beds. A sleeping bag and a mattress were provided for me, and Izzy insisted that I sleep at her side.

I saw no reason to protest and joined the ponies for their night’s rest. Once the last of them had fallen into peaceful slumber, the second phase of my plan was a go.

A few guilty cramps upset my tummy. These ponies had so generously given me such a great time… Who am I kidding, it had been the best time of my life!

But my mind had been made the moment I stepped into the brighthouse. I was far too committed to step back now, and Opaline’s threat was still fresh in my mind. I was genuinely sorry for these ponies, but I simply had no other choice.

From my low point of view on the floor near Izzy’s bead, I couldn’t see the ponies on their beds. I had to strain my ears to discern their breathing and, tucking myself in the sleeping bag, just waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

And, just as I was about to fall asleep myself, I decided I had waited long enough and disentangled myself from the comfy sleeping bag. The moon was already halfway in its journey over the night sky. I wanted to save enough nighttime to slip away unnoticed so, as silently as Opaline’s magic mouse, I tiptoed my way from Izzy’s little corner of the room and into the middle of the room.

My searching eyes found the lantern still in its casing, on the same stop as before: right over Sunny’s bedside table.

‘Okay, Misty, quietly now…’

Slowly inching my way towards the nightdesk, and the slumbering pony right beside it, I strained my senses to discern any change in the ponies’ sleeping pattern. Hooves weren't exactly discrete when sneaking around, especially over marble floors, and especially in the middle of the night when everything was supposed to be quiet and peaceful. The harder I tried to be as quiet as I could, the louder I thought I was being.

An excruciatingly long time later, I had arrived at the side of the earth pony’s bed, assessing her continued slumber with a sideways glance. She looked so peaceful, so innocent…

I felt so bad for doing this to her. The way Zipp had explained it to me, and the events we saw during the festival implied this lantern was very important to her.

“... I’m sorry, Sunny. I hope one day you’ll understand.”

With my target in reach, I swiftly grabbed it in my muzzle, and, just as quietly as before, I bolted out there, praying for the mantle of darkness to cover my escape.

‘I hope you all will understand.’