Act II: Guilt

The last few days had been nothing short of… interesting, to say the least. Four days after everyone had returned from their home cities, I was woken up in the middle of the night by numerous panicked screams coming from the girls’ bedroom. With my heart beating a mile a minute, I rushed through the corridor in my underwear towards them, clumsily putting on my gauntlet in case I had to protect them… only to find the girls running around the room screaming, trying to escape from what appeared to be a… floating blanket?

“What in Celestia’s name is going on here!?” I shouted, seeking to raise my voice over the screaming ponies and understand what in Tartarus was going on in there.

It turned out to be one of those silly pony-shenanigans situations I had grown well accustomed to with my pony family. It seemed Izzy was still struggling to gain full control of her magic. That summed up to her tendency to sleepwalk, well…

What followed was an important lesson, learned by Izzy herself, about the importance of being a good roommate, and not making a complete mess of your roommate’s stuff.

‘Using a toothbrush as an ear cleaner? For Faust’s sake, Izzy…’

I had to check and recheck my meager amount of personal belongings in case the purple menace had damaged them or misplaced anything. And also had to schedule some beginner classes with her to help guide her control of magic. A quick learner, that unicorn, almost as if she had had magic since birth like she should have.

On the other hand, none of them had ever experienced anything similar, so I wasn’t really surprised the girls still had some things to learn when it came to sharing a home together. Still, nopony was injured and a lesson was well learned, a win-win in my book. With the return of magic, I was positive this little innocent coastal town was bound to become a new Ponyville eventually with how things were slowly building.

I had also been given a brand-new smartphone from Pipp, although she claimed it was an ‘older model’ and that she wasn’t using it at the moment.

‘If that is an old model, then I’m a fossil from the Cretaceous Period.’ I chuckled inwardly. ‘Well, it’s free, so I’m not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth… or pony. Whatever.’

The phone worked very similarly to the one I arrived in Equestria with. Similar to the early twenty twenties model, if only a bit bunkier with the hoof holster sprouting on the back of the protective casing. After opening the case, I found its electrical architecture very similar to the one I had shown to the ponies in my early years, although I almost gave poor Pipp a heart attack in the process of dismantling the phone she’d hoofed me five minutes earlier. It took me a while to reassure her that I knew what I was doing. I mean, they were based on my own in the first place.

After a few minutes, I had saved all my friends’ contacts, and I asked Izzy if she could tweak the decoration a bit, as so many shining gemstones really hurt my eyes if I used it for more than two minutes straight. Also, it weighed like a brick, a literal brick.

In other news, Pipp finally got her desired photos with me for her social media. I asked all the present ponies, especially our resident influencer, that in case they wanted to talk about me to anypony else or share something on the ‘Canternet’ about me, to please not to mention anything regarding my origins or my true purpose here. As far as everypony should be concerned, I’m just a weird guy who arrived in Maretime Bay by accident and who wanted to stay here for the time being, and not a long lost prince of a bygone area here to threaten their new way of life.

A barrier to such information was safer for me, safer for them, and also saved me a lot of future trouble had I not asked them to restrict what information they gave out. I didn’t want to risk it until I had a better grasp of the situation at hand. Afterwards, we would see. I also kinda enjoyed being your average citizen once again, just friendly greetings and normal treatment, not ‘Your Highness’ this and ‘My Prince’ that. Zipp understood well what I meant, we both were fed up with it already in our short lives.

The pony demanding the pictures with Maretime Bay’s new resident? Not so much.

A few selfies later, I was ‘trending-trotting’ on all Pipp’s social media accounts. She happened to be a very popular influencer in Zephyr Heights, and was slowly building her fanbase beyond her home city, including ponies of the other tribes as the information highway normalized between the three settlements for all ponies to share the same virtual space. Princess, popstar icon, and Canternet influencer in her free time…

Yeah, that pony had a busy life if I ever saw one. Although… more often than not she looked a bit too engrossed when dealing with her followers. bad habits like constantly checking her phone and trying to turn everything into new content for her fans. ‘Hiiiii, Pippsqueaks~ Today I’m gonna show you how Princess Pipp peels an apple!!’

It's an actual thing, I caught her in the kitchen the other day.

My long experience around the cyberspace back on Earth taught me well about the dangers of losing yourself on the internet, even more so in those days when the migration to the Two Point O internet was underway, around the time I crossed the barriers between the worlds. The streamers’ age was declining while VR and AR slowly dominated the content in the early thirties’ when I left my home planet. Crazy times which I’d rather much prefer not to relive here in a technological-advanced Equestria.

I made a mental note to have a talk with her in the future.

The next day after the impromptu selfie session, the ponies and I attended the opening of Mane Melody, Pipp’s new mane salon and karaoke bar for brave-enough ponies. In only a few minutes after the doors opened for the very first time, several ponies, including our friends, were quick to request a change in mane style, hooficures, etc. Pipp had branded it a ‘glow up’, and had become her main call to amass a healthy number of customers for the opening.

It goes without saying her Canternet figure helped wonders to spread the announcement far and wide, so it wasn't much of a surprise to see so many ponies waiting impatiently before the new salons’ entrance even before Pipp had arrived that morning for the inauguration.

The pegasus in question was simply vibrating. She, along with her coworkers, soon found themselves hooves full with numerous clients asking for the very best where mane treatment was concerned.

Actually, something funny had happened halfway into their opening rush. Her reaction when the same yellow-furred earth pony that had given me the stinky eye the other day, whose name I learned was Posey, punctuated her new mane style with a solid ‘meh’, was simply hilarious. Pipp, fighting herself to remain steady, was seconds away from tearing her to pieces. I think I’ve never seen an eye twitching so hard as hers while she ‘thanked’ the earth to pony for her honest review.

But aside from that mishap, the ponies left pretty content with her work, and many happy clients made their satisfaction known in their reviews, both online and in person. That is until Miss Cloverleaf entered the salon like a thunderstorm. I could have sworn the temperature decreased by a couple of degrees as ponies began shaking in their horseshoes. Very dramatic, but what can you expect from the small, colorful equines?

Miss Cloverleaf wanted to try the new establishment and see if it met her… standards. Being a member of the town’s council, and the head of the largest company in town on the side, undoubtedly gave her a great deal of influence. Also, judging from the whispers of ponies in the salon, she seemed to be a very difficult pony to please, possessing a track record of businesses closing shortly after her visits .

Poor Pipp was so nervous when Phyllis asked her to ‘surprise her’, that she ended up messing it up right from the start, cutting a good chunk out of the mature mare’s mane in a swift, yet accidental move.

You can guess what followed. It was up to us to act as a distraction while her sister helped her with a nervous breakdown down a nearby alley.

While Sunny pretended to work on her hoof, I distracted Phyllis with some friendly conversation on the topics we both specialized. She was quite disappointed with my definite refusal to work at her company, a company that was currently on hold since their factory had shut down, but still. I nevertheless promised her that I would check in from time to time to see her progress when it resumed, and lend a hand where I could.

Poor Sunny for her part, had no idea what she was doing with the mare's hoof. Luckily, Phyllis was blindfolded with two cucumber slices that prevented her from seeing the absolute mess.

A few minutes later, Pipp stormed back into the salon with a confident look on her face and a steely determination to tackle the issue head-on. After many aggressive combing techniques and numerous styling products, she ended up leaving Miss Cloverleaf with exactly the same mane cut she had when entering the establishment.

Faust’s luck was on our side, since that was exactly what Phyllis was looking for, and she reflected it on a review attesting to that. Crisis averted, although I would have liked to see that unlimited free pizza restaurant that had allegedly closed down due to Phyllis’ sharp reviews…

After the turmoil was over, I asked for a little haircut; nothing fancy, just a little off the top to keep it from getting in my eyes. I always preferred short hair as a matter of personal preference, as well as for lab safety, like if it ended up catching on fire or worse…. which did happen once. Pipp did a great job, especially considering it was her first time dealing with hair like mine.

That same afternoon we all gathered at the beach for some quality time together. It was there when, completely out of nowhere, that I saw it for the first time.

“Mother of Faust.” I muttered in complete disbelief. “Sunny, how did you do that?!” I demanded the surprised mare-now-turned-alicorn. She had just been playing tag in the water with Izzy, both having the time of their lives when, out of a sudden, the same translucent horn and pair of translucent golden wings materialized with a *whoosh* Particles of light exploded outwards at the same time her new assets materialized, trickling down into the rolling waves of the afternoon low tide.

“Oh, my, glitter, Sunny, it’s happened again!! You look absolutely marvelous!!” Exclaimed Pipp while pulling her sunglasses away from her eyes, launching herself into the air and bathing the flummoxed earth pony in photos.

Sunny flapped her wings testingly and exited the water to land in front of me. “I-I don’t know Alex, I-I was just having fun with Izzy and suddenly I f-felt this pressure on my head, like something wanted to urgently escape my body, a-and after relaxing and letting go… these things appeared.” She worriedly pointed at her forehead and sides.

I could barely believe what I was seeing. It wasn't like those cheap imitation spells that would grant you wings or a horn for a limited time. The project I immersed myself with during my days in Canterlot had never left its planning phase, so I never had the chance to see a finished version on a pony, if the thing before my eyes was the actual same thing to begin with!

I cautiously approached her and ran my fingers over her translucent wings. “Can you feel this?” I asked the concerned mare as the tips of my finger traced her individual feathers..

“Y-yeah, I mean, kinda.” She shuddered in light of the new sensations. “It’s like suddenly gaining a new sense. It feels very weird, like If my body wasn’t supposed to feel it, but it does nonetheless. Is it bad?” Her apprehension was rising as the rest of the ponies surrounded her with visible concern. Zipp took out her phone and started taking notes… or, that’s what it looked like she was doing.

“Oh no! Is she going to be sick, or… or… will she EXPLODE?!!” Izzy wailed with a dramatic wave of her forelegs, only working to unnerve the ponies further.

Her unwelcome attitude was only bringing Sunny closer to a nervous breakdown, so I decided to diffuse such nonsense immediately, “Don't be ridiculous, Izzy, she’s going to be fine. It’s just… this is a type of magic I don’t think anypony here has ever seen before, and we have to be cautious around it.” I left her wings be and slightly pulled back to assess her entire frame. “Okay Sunny, tell me. What were you thinking about when this happened? Can you remember how you were feeling?” I inquired while slowly walking around her to get a more complete view of her new body parts. Only her new assets, you pervs. I promise.

Two average pegasus-sized wings, and an average-sized horn jutting form below her mane, although there was neither a flowing mane present nor had there been a change to the size of her body. The limited nature of these changes led me to conclude for the moment that they were not permanent, theory reinforced by the fact she had gained this form and lost it previously.

She nervously pawed at the sand while coming up with an answer, “W-well, I was having a great time just messing around with Izzy. I was just thinking about how to get her back after splashing me, and I was looking around to see how I could create a big-enough splash to get back at her. I was also thinking how easy it would be to do if only I had the same magic as my friend… and then it suddenly happened, I was an alicorn again! I don’t understand, Alex…” She concluded with her frightened gaze down in the sand, her ears pressed against her scalp.

I placed my hand on her chin and nudged her head up to meet my eyes. With a soothing voice, I tried to reassure her. “It’s fine, Sunny. I was expecting something like this. This type of magic is usually triggered by a specific thought or emotion.” I explained in short, rubbing my thumb along her furry cheek. “With practice, I have no doubt that you’ll be able to unleash your powers on your terms, as well as control them. Alicorn magic was the MOST powerful type of magic in the Heptarchy… and chances are it still is. So,” I proposed firmly. “Starting tomorrow, we will begin with some practical lessons. I will try to help you as much as I can, but the hard work will be on you. Do you understand, Sunny?”

She timidly nodded under my intense gaze. I didn’t want to sound too strict or pushy, but with that kind of power, she urgently needed guidance to learn how to control it, before it overwhelmed her and drove her crazy or something worse. It wouldn't be the first time it happened, or the second, or even the third… And we were under no means prepared to deal with an alicorn-level treat, removable wings and horn or not.

Now more relaxed under my reassurance, I encouraged her to start with her lessons right now, try and fly a few laps above the coastal waters, just in case she suddenly fell out of the sky have something to cushion her. After some awkward flapping and an initial lack of brain-to-wing coordination, Sunny managed to rise and move slowly but steadily through the air, Zipp and Pipp at her sides as her wingponies. Her expression of pure bliss soon overcame her initial fear, and it could have lit up the entire night sky with how bright she shone.

“Hey, Alex… is she really going to be okay? You didn’t look very convinced back there...” Hitch worryingly inquired while standing next to me as we watched our friends soar through the sky at low altitude, their laughs resounding all over the beach.

I sighed softly, not feeling like lying and claiming I held all the cards. “I hope so, Hitch. This type of magic was something I never expected to see on a pony. If she stays true to herself and doesn't allow it to consume her, she should be perfectly fine.” That’s what you would tell to everypony with such power, and we all know it doesn't always end right regardless of the amount of warnings. “She doesn’t come off as the power-hungry type to me, and with that kind of magic, that can only be a good thing.”

The mare in question ran laps back and forth the beach, the two pegasi close to her side and providing tips and pointers every once in a while. Izzy for her part galloped through the shallow end of the beach behind her soaring friend, screaming words of encouragement for the flying earth pony. “Still, I’ll keep a close eye on her. I’ve seen the kind of power she now possesses used to achieve wonderful things… but it also can cause pain and destruction in the wrong hooves. Unfortunately, this particular type of magic escapes my current understanding… and that’s yet another thing I need to look into.” I sighed again, more heavily this time.

‘It’s going to be a loooong year.’

Normalcy fell into our daily lives for the rest of the week, the ponies with their things and me beginning both cataloging Argyle diaries as well as testing some rough approaches to acquire a better understanding on the Unity Crystals, focusing more in the theory than the practical side of the planned experiments for the time being.

However, said normalcy was shattered during the morning of my twelfth day after my arrival. That morning while I was at work, strange things began to happen… well, stranger than normal for Equestria. I was working my morning shift in the lab, going through some blood samples from recently admitted patients when I heard a crash behind me. One of my newest coworkers, a brown-coated unicorn with faint lines black lines along his fur and a short spiky mane and tail, had dropped a vial of non-specific blocking serum from his levitating grasp. The vial shattered on impact and made quite a mess from our working place.

“Come oooon, Gaster! You have got to be more careful with those things!” I lamented the sorry state of the lab as I lightly scolded the shocked-looking pony.

“M-my magic! I-it’s failing somehow! I can’t keep it steady!” He alarmingly exclaimed while pointing at his horn, which was flaring up in random bursts of magic, only to immediately dissipate. It looked at first glance like it was… glitching, for lack of a better word. As if the flow of magic was becoming uneven.

‘That can’t be good…’ I lamented to myself as I sighed tiredly while closing my eyes and pinching my brow. Not two weeks in and things had started to turn south.

“See, this is why I took an hourly contract… I’ll go back to the brighthouse and take a look. You all wait here and under NO CIRCUMSTANCES use your magic to manipulate anything. Stay safe, everypony.” I instructed my coworkers while removing my improvised, fitting lab coat and headed towards the exit on the ground floor of the modest-sized hospital.

I heard one of them calling out to me to wait, but now wasn’t the time to delay. I’d never seen magic glitching like that before, but since said magic had effectively become a prisoner of the Unity Crystals, I couldn’t assume anything.

Rushing my way up the stairs and out of the main entrance, I crossed paths with a bunch of panicking ponies, none of them understanding what was going on while witnessing their wings and horn failing.

The situation wasn’t any better on the streets. Ponies back and forth saw their magic suddenly disappearing, and while there wasn’t yet an outright pony-patented panic wave, there would be one soon if this wasn’t solved quickly. As I jogged to my destination, I observed unicorns clumsily dropping whatever they were carrying, pegasi diving for emergency landings with unsteady wings, and earth ponies trying desperately to help others while trying to keep the situation under control, seemingly unaffected by whatever was happening. Expected, since their magic manifested passively rather than actively.

I focused my sight beyond the far side of town, expecting to see the magical rainbow trail, which thanks to my closer examination of the crystals the other day, I had determined to be some form of Prisbeam energy, similar to the one manifesting from the Elements of Harmony when triggered by their bearers. Instead, it was utterly gone from the sky.

The sight froze my steps, leaving me standing there, looking dumbfounded. “What the actual fuuuuck…”

Shaking myself back to reality, I chose the obvious path and hurried to return to the brighthouse to assess what in Tartarus was going on with the crystals.

“Okay… huff… huff… let’s see if I’m still in shape. Accelero!”

After a few warm-up breaths and stretches, I cast my acceleration spell and began sprinting towards the town center to cut though the middle of the town. On my way, I rushed past many ponies who were still struggling to assert control over their magic. Nopony seemed to have been seriously injured aside from some nasty bumps, but their scared and confused faces spoke volumes about the current situation. It wouldn’t be long for the situation to get completely out of hand.

I quickly recognized one of those ponies as Izzy, who was standing near a small park at the side of the main street, pushing her magic to its limit while freezing a big statue in the air, preventing it from crushing a unicorn work-pony. The mare in question was desperately raising her foreleg above his head in a doomed attempt to prevent the disaster.

Casting a desperate look around, Izzy caught sight of me in the corner of her eye and frantically shouted my name.

“ALEX!!! HELP ME!!! I-I can’t keep it steady for much longer!!” She desperately pleaded, gritting her teeth and giving it her all.

Fearing her magic would frizzle out at any moment, I quickly ran to her side and readied my magic by pointing my gauntlet at the cowering pony. With a low hum, my LIMstone powered up with a whitish glow after interpreting my intentions.

“Depulso!” I yelled my spell at the exact moment Izzy’s magic flickered out. Not a millisecond too late, the energy wave coming from my hand impacted against the work-pony, pushing her away from the falling statue. From the force of the impact, and the size of the crater made in its wake, I deduced that its weight had to be a few hundred kilos at least.

‘That could have ended very, very badly.’ I thought while helping the trembling unicorn up after the shock.

A moment later, Izzy was at our side, looking over the poor pony as she searched for any injuries.

“Izzy, what in Faust’s name is going on?! Have you done something to the crystals?!” I demanded to my friend after making sure the work-mare was uninjured. I asked her not to cast any more magic until the issue was solved, and to spread the message among her coworkers. With a shaky nod and teary eyes, she went on her way to do my bidding.

A deeply concerned Izzy dusted herself and turned to me. “N-no, none of us have touched them like you asked. I was just on my way to get a smoothie when suddenly everything went nuts! I have no idea what’s going…” A loud scream for help interrupted her, her ears flicking as we both looked up to see Pipp in free fall closely followed by Zipp and Sunny, who had somehow managed to manifest her powers after the first test run on the beach.

Before they could catch her, Zipp’s wings started to fail too, forcing Sunny to switch targets and hold the now-falling Zipp in a rough levitation spell. We had spent the last few days practicing simple spells, and she had managed to summon her alicorn powers at will on a couple of occasions, but not once under her own command. Most of her casting had been a spur of the moment event rather than a conscious effort, like that levitation spell holding the flailing pegasus in place, threatening to fail at any moment.

“Dammit all! Aresto momentum!” At the sight of the falling pegasus, I tried to cast a spell that would at least slow down Pipp’s fall, only for absolutely nothing to happen after my cast.

“Shit! Izzy!” I shouted at her to try and stop Pipp’s falling.

“Mine isn’t working either!” She desperately returned, only getting a few useless sparks to come out of her horn and quickly dissolve in the air. “Come on Pipp! Believe you can fly, and you will!” She screamed her pathetic advice to her panicking friend. Even without being operational, her wings were enough to slow down her fall considerably, but the crash would be ugly.

‘Think think think THINK!!!’ I urged myself while looking around for anything that might help us. At the sight of an ice cream and slush cart, a crazy idea surged in my mind.

“Izzy! Plan B!” I called her while pointing at the cart. The lightbulb shone on her head a moment later.

“That’s absolutely crazy!” She cried while rushing towards what I hoped would be our solution.

“‘You don’t say! Open the compartment and plug the tap!” I pointed to her as I stood behind the cart. With some effort, I managed to turn it around while Izzy opened the compartment leading to the frozen juice tanks and plugged the taps connected to them, causing its contents to explosively burst out in a mess of smoothie juice that hopefully would cushion Pipp’s fall.

A deranged plan only meant to work in a world born from a child’s imagination. Thankfully, Equestria was exactly that kind of place.

Pipp’s out-of-control flight was duly ended by the burst of frozen fruit juice, and with a resounding *splotch*, a now-drenched Pipp unearthed herself from the pile of frozen delicacy, an expression of profound indignation written in plain view on her muzzle as fruit juices dripped from her chin.

“Ow, ow, owwww… couldn’t you guys figure out another way that wasn’t so… sticky?” She whined while poking her head out of the multicolored mess, her mane and tail completely drenched alongside her pink fur.

“Sticky... or delicious?” Queried Izzy while taking a big lick out of the smoothie pile.

‘Blegh.’ I furrowed my nose at the sight.

“Guys! Are you alright?!” I caught Hitch’s alarmed voice calling to us, closely followed by a high-pitched barking. The sisters’ pet flying Pomeranian, who had somehow managed to travel all the way from Zephyr Heights after they had left with their things, closely followed the sheriff. At the sight of us, he quickly rushed to check if we were all alright with his puppy-like worry.

“Yes, yes, we're alright, Cloudpuff, don’t you worry.” I soothed the worried dog, who darted around us sniffing in search for any injury with a few gentle pets.

“Is everypony okay?!” Asked Sunny as she came in for a soft landing on the ground, releasing Zipp from her levitation spell, which had miraculously held the entire time, near her sister. Without wasting any time, she rushed towards me with worried eyes.

“We’re all fine, Sunny. Congratulations on that quick casting, by the way.” I took a moment to congratulate her on her quick thinking, eliciting a tiny blush on her cheeks and a disguised smile. “No serious injuries, right Pipp?” I inquired about the pegasus who desperately tried to wring the melting funk out of her soaked mane.

“It was so freaky! One second, my wings were totally fine, and then the next, they totally started spazzing out!!” She wailed while unsuccessfully attempting to rid herself of the sticky mess. Cludouff didn't waste a second to sample the tasty flavors on her fur with some vigorous lick, pushing the mare further to the brink.

The rest of the ponies voiced similar experiences. A critical look around the area showed the same thing happening to most of the town’s citizens. Pegasi were flapping their wings uselessly while remaining rotted on the ground, and unicorns were barely getting a spark out of their horns. Sometimes, one would get a couple of meters worth of acceleration in the air, only to fall limply back to the earth.

I turned my sight back towards Sunny. “What about you, Sunny? Did you experience anything similar with your alicorn magic?” She had been getting steadily better during the short training sessions we had scheduled the last few days, although she hadn’t yet fully grasped the trigger that caused the summoning of her wings and horn, so we in truth had to train during the moments her powers revealed themselves. Nothing beyond powering and depowering as well as magic sensing and discerning, warming her new sixth sense up before moving to more serious business.

Still, she had at least been trying to summon them at will with concentration and a ‘clear target’, as she had explained to me, but had met with only limited, if any success at all.

“I could feel my magic glitching, but it never fully disappeared. I think it's better now.” She answered with an experimental flap of her ethereal wings.

A soft humming from my left revealed Izzy powering up her magic, her horn now regaining its characteristic luminescence. “Oh, look! Magic seems to be coming back to me, too! Looks like this topsy-turvy magical crisis has been averted.” She cheerfully celebrated, her horn launching a few magical sparks into the air.

“Just because our magic’s back doesn’t mean it’s BACK back. If it fizzled away once, the same thing could happen again.” Reasoned Hitch, looking at us with concern.

Now a bit more riled up, Zipp exclaimed. “None of this makes any sense! So long as there’s unity between ponies, the crystals are supposed to keep our magic stable, that’s what you said… right, Alex?” She looked at me in search of confirmation.

“As far as I know, that was the original intent. Magic in Equestria isn’t something that flickers on and off like that. Not without a very good reason, at least.” I agreed, confirming her assumption.

Zipp continued with her reasoning, “Pegasi, unicorns and earth ponies have never been tighter. If anything, our magic should be stronger than ever!”

“You’re right,” Added Sunny while taking a step forward, “So, if magic is going haywire, it can’t be about friendships… oh no…” Her face suddenly contorted into one of panic.

“There’s clearly a problem with the Unity Crystals. I’ll ask you all once again. Have ANY of you touched them or done anything with them recently?!” I gave the surrounding ponies an inquisitive look.

“You were the only one up there since the brighthouse appeared. Are you sure you’re not the cause of this?” Zipp asked while returning the leer, the rest of the ponies looking at each other with baffled expressions.

“Nothing that could have triggered something like this. I’ve just settled for external observations and what little recordings I can get done with the available equipment I have. I’m sorry, but I’m just as lost as you guys are…” I turned in the direction of the brighthouse, the Prisbeam energy still gone from its top. “We have to go and check what’s going on... Accelero!” I concluded, casting my spell and speeding through the slowly recuperating citizens, with the rest of the gang falling in tow behind me.

I burst through the twin doors, climbed my way up the ramps and reached the elevator inside the girl’s bedroom. A few moments later, the rest of the ponies were at my side, tiredly panting at the impromptu exercise.

“Arff… aaargh… wow, Alex, you gotta teach me that one… ah… aah.” Puffed an exhausted Izzy between breaths.

“Come on ponies… ah… into the elevator…” Sunny weakly prompted us to step into the renewed elevator, now bigger and modernized to accommodate the wider structure. We weren't sure how it worked. Some kind of levitation spell seemed the most likely mechanism in contrast to the old pulleys and levers, but I hadn’t bothered to check it closely to confirm my suspicions. It had this futuristic air to it, I don’t know.

What only a few hours ago would have been a captivating sight of the levitating crystals joined together as they launched their Prisbeam energy straight into the sky, now was a mess of littered notes and equations from my previous attempts to get some research underway, and two of the three Unity Crystals scattered carelessly on the floor near the upturned desk were said notes had been previously organized.

Sunny reacted the first, hastily approaching them and gently taking them in her hooves, the color draining from her face against the fact she could only count two of the inseparable three-piece set. Only the unicorn and earth pony crystals remained, their shine still present, flickering on and off randomly, but considerably dimmer than before.

‘It looks like they're still active, although it’s obvious that their effect is diminished now that they are separated.’ I speculated as I looked over her shoulder to the very same crystals she was grasping as if they would turn into dust any moment without notice.

The rest of the ponies searched the room while Sunny regained her bearings, under and over my scattered work, not leaving any corner unchecked. But alas, their efforts proved fruitless.

The pegasus crystal was gone.

Sunny started hyperventilating after their negative results on the brief search, repeatedly muttering denials regarding the tremendous issue we now faced. Izzy was quick at her side, trying in vain to reassure her earth pony friend while looking as worried as the mare in question.

“Let’s not get our manes tied up in a bunch, ponies.“ Hitch cut in in an attempt to ease down the ambient atmosphere that was rapidly approaching panic. “The crystal could just be lost.”

“Did you install the cameras as I suggested?” I asked the sheriff as I left a panicking Sunny’s side.

A sideways movement of his head told me the answer. “Sorry Alex, I didn’t have any spares in the station, and the order I filed with Canterlogic still hasn’t been delivered…” He explained with his gaze lowering in shame. With the old factory closed after the incident with Sprout, any new products had been put on hold until the owner herself could bring some semblance of order into her company.

“Fuck! And I was just starting to make some sense of them…” I muttered angrily. Most of my knowledge of the crystals revolved around their pure crystalline structure and composition. Most of the arcane matrices, spell arrays and more magical aspects of their creation were up to Twilight’s expertice. Her unchallenged knowledge of magic was far bigger than mine, so I was more than happy to delegate, especially after my opinion on them had experienced a striking one-hundred-and-eighty-degrees turn. However, by the time I had left for the future, while their design was almost complete and the magic engraved into their structure, I never had the chance to see them actually working.

“I didn’t think the crystals could be separated like this… this looks like it was intentional.” Sunny blurted out as she shook herself awake from her stupor, still clinging to the two remaining gems. “These crystals are a symbol of ponykind’s ability to live in harmony. If somepony separated them, it’s because they want magic to fizzle out until it's gone… for life to go back the way it was before!”

It was simply unfathomable. Who in this crazy world could wish for that?! My tone lowered a couple of octaves. “We can’t allow that to happen, under no circumstances can magic disappear again. Not now, not ever.” I spoke with harsh resolution. “And certainly not after all the sacrifices we’ve had to make!”

‘Faust curse it, this is the last thing I need right now!!’

Sunny rose and boldly exclaimed, following my initiative. “We were able to unite the crystals once before. We can do it again!” She pumped her free hoof victoriously. “Let’s find the crystal thief and get that crystal back!”

The ponies cheered in agreement, Izzy bringing about a magnifying glass from… somewhere, announcing the beginning of the investigation.

Before we had the chance to prevent it, Pipp had already taken out her phone and started live-streaming to her ‘Pippsqueaks’, making sure to tell them aaaall about what had just happened, and making a special emphasis on how screwed we actually were.

“Pipp!! You’ll only get them to start panicking!!” Zipp loudly scolded her sister while reaping the phone out of her hooves.

“Hey!” An indignant Pipp protested. “They deserve the truth! My Pippsqueaks MEDITATE when they’re overwhelmed. They. Don’t. Panic.” She stated while trying to reach for the phone her sister was keeping out of reach.

The rising cacophony of panicked screams from the town, barely noticeable from where we stood all the way up there from the town, made me think otherwise.

“Nopony should be scared, because WE are going to solve this by beginning our search right here, where the break-in happened.” Sunny proclaimed while regarding us all with her confidant look, taking the reins of the situation.

Speaking from the other side of the room, Zipp pulled a detective hat out of… nowhere…

‘These ponies, I swear sometimes…’

… And proceeded to take a closer, conscious look at the crystal room, now re-titled the crime scene. “No matter how hard a thief tries, they’ll never be able to leave the scene exactly as they found it…”

“Are you a detective now, Zipp?” I asked, amused at her looks and new attitude.

“Ooh, I would like fifty of those hats, please!! Where’s it from?” Inquired an overly-excited Izzy. For a moment, I feared she was going to jump Zipp to nab her hat.

“Detective Zipp always comes prepared.” The white pegasus smugly stated, not missing a beat on her scrutiny of the place.

“Detective Zipp?” Teased Sunny with a coy smile.

“That’s right.” Replied Zipp while removing her hat in a mock salute. ”Because I Zipp my way through a mystery until I track down the perpetrator and bring them to justice!”

However, her sister didn’t sound too convinced. “Uhhh, I wouldn’t be so sure, sis.” She cut her sister’s bold claim with her blank look. “How many successful cases have you solved, Detective Zipp?” She jabbed with a smug grin.

“Well…” Poor Zipp began with an embarrassed expression. “This would technically be my first case…” Her eyes ran nervously through the room while she rubbed her withers with her hoof.

“Technically? Well, that just means you haven’t flunked any previous investigations, am I right?” I commented with a smirk of my own.

“Heh, yeah, you’re right. Take that, sis!” Zipp, reinvigorated by my dubious affirmation, was sure to rub it on her sister. Pipp’s only response was a tired roll of her eyes.

I gestured for the ponies to form a circle around me. “Okay then, let’s start investigating. Any ideas?”

“I think I might have something…“ Surprisingly, Pipp was the first to provide a lead, earning a frustrated leer from her older sister which she promptly ignored. Searching for a moment in her phone, she turned to show us her findings.

Zipp, losing the venomous look sent to the smaller pegasus, was quick to recognize the image we were looking at. “Oh, yeah. Pipp filmed this before we left this morning.” Her eyes narrowed in concentration for a moment, quickly lighting up in inspiration. “Ah! Look. See from the rainbow light shining behind her? The crystal hadn’t been stolen yet! Look closely. What else do you see?” She pointed at the image of her sister recording against the bedroom window.

Apart from a flower vase and some books littered on the window-ledge I didn’t see anything suspicious, and neither did the rest of the ponies if their crooked muzzled were of any indication.

“Ummmmm, a pretty flower vase?” Tried Izzy with an adorable dip of her head.

“Perhaps you’re referring to the gorgeous way the light’s brushing against my cheeks?” Proposed a very smug Pipp while taking an exaggerated pose.

‘This pony sure is something…’ I mentally cringed at her antics.

“Ugh, just follow me and I’ll show you.” Zipp, bothered by our lack of understanding, rose on her wings while signaling for the elevator.

Once down and near Pipp’s bed where the recording had been taken, Zipp pointed with her wing towards the very same vase from the video. “See? The vase has been moved!”

Comparing the image from her phone and the actual vase, it seemed it had been indeed rotated sideways, the flowers placed in different positions. Perhaps the perpetrator had accidentally bumped into it while using the window to escape?

“Accio!” I shouted as I casted my summoning spell towards the vase. Now in my hands, I could get a closer look, Zipp doing the same over my shoulder.

After a few seconds of careful examination, I extracted what appeared to be a long strand of whitish hair entangled around the plant’s stem.

I returned the vase to its previous position and lowered the clue for the rest of the ponies to get a good look on.

“Hmmmm, it doesn’t belong to anypony I can think of right now…” Sunny was the first to propose.

None of the rest fared any better. It was too long to belong to a pony’s fur, of that I was sure. “A mane or tail strand perhaps?”I muttered to myself.

A bark from Cloudpuff, who was patiently waiting on Pipp’s bed while watching us make our way through the initial phase of the chase, gave me an idea. a crazy, convoluted idea, but Equestria excels in allowing those kinds of ideas to, not only work, but to excel in doing so.

“This isn’t going to get us anywhere. How about we ask Cloudpuff to follow the scent? He was able to track you down all the way here, right?” I proposed to the sisters, both being the caretakers of the little flying dog. A flying dog. That had been a new one for me too the moment he suddenly barged into our home in search of the pegasi siblings.

“I don’t know… are you up for the task, Cloudpuff?” Asked Zipp as she dangled the hair strand in front of him.

After a few sniffs, he suddenly tensed and, following with a few barks of attention, he began running towards the exit of the bedroom and down the ramps.

“We’ve got a hit! Let’s roll!” Exclaimed Zipp, already on her wings while ushering everypony out of the bedroom. The ponies followed her lead without a thought, I wasn’t going to be so stupid as to leave in a hurry without preparing myself. So, while the ponies made their way out of the brighthouse behind the miniature Pomerarian, I made for a small detour towards my room. Poor Pipp was whining all the way out about not being able to pack her ridiculous amount of ‘bare necessities’ as she was practically pushed to the door by Sunny.

‘Heh, she reminds me a lot of Rarity…’

Once inside my room, I could visibly discern how that somepony had also broken inside, judging from the sorry state of the papers and journal entries I had meticulously organized the precious days. After a quick check, I confirmed that nothing notable was missing, but what progress I had achieved the last few nights was now ruined.

“Uuuggghh, one day I’m gonna lose it for good…'' I cursed with clenched fists, but now was no time to dwell into that.

I grabbed my modified saddlebag, now converted into a backpack thanks to Izzy’s help, and packed a few of my most recent clothes, also courtesy of Izzy, as well as a few blank sheets of paper, a couple of pens, a small blanket, and my new phone, followed by me putting on my trusty jacket and old, but surprisingly not worn out sneakers. From the kitchen, I grabbed a couple of bottles of water and a few leftovers from yesterday’s dinner, not knowing where Cloudpuff would lead us or for how long.

All set, I then cast my acceleration spell and ran outside to catch up with the group. My stomach clenched uncomfortably at the prospect of leaving the other two crystals behind unsupervised, but it wasn't like we had any Royal Guard, or even any kind of police force besides the sheriff to keep an eye on them, so the best I could do was lock the doors behind me.

I had just left behind the decorative arch denoting the town’s southern entrance when I got a glimpse of the dust cloud the running ponies were leaving behind.

“Hey! Wait for me!” I yelled, trying to call them. Sunny and Zipp heard my call and signaled the group to slow down a bit.

“Alex! We thought you were behind us!” Sunny worriedly shouted without stopping her galloping.

“Ah… ah… Yeah, I… ah… had to grab a few things… argh… I’m too old for this…” I breathlessly replied while trying to keep up with the ponies, a species considerably better equipped for running. We were now leaving behind the path that led towards the town and heading for the lush forest that surrounded the bay.

“Come on, Alex! Give those weird legs of yours a shake and keep up!” Zipp called out from above.

“Very… ah… easy to say when… huff… you have wings, Zipp! Do I have to… aaah… remind you I’m technically seven-hundred and… mmfff… forty-six years old?!” I shouted with a mock glare. That only got her to laugh loudly, causing her to miss her course for a moment and almost lose her balance. Sunny and Izzy slowed down a bit to run at my sides, sympathetic smiles on their faces as they made sure I wouldn't be left behind.

“You’re doing great, Alex! Just get your breathing even and think happy thoughts!” Izzy advised me as if it were such a simple thing to do.

“I’m a lab rat for Faust’s sake, I am not made for cross-country…”I muttered irritably, attempting to get my breath under control as she had instructed.

‘Aaah, so much for Rainbow’s training regime… Let’s see where this dog leads us.’

“This dog’s leading us nowhere…” I mumbled angrily. We ran non-stop until we had reached the forest proper, and changed into a fast trot as the terrain became more uneven. Hitch was at the front, not losing sight of the sniffing Cloudpuff, ears up and muzzle twitching in his persecution of the scent.

Zipp and Sunny were in front of me, cautiously looking at the sides of the dirt road in search of dangerous animals, not that I could remember knowing about ever being dangerous animals in this part of the country, but it had been so long since those days that I couldn't be sure of anything anymore. Pipp dragged herself at my side while looking completely miserable, while Izzy fast-trotted at the rear, absentmindedly humming a catchy song while taking the sights, surely familiar for her having grown up in a forest.

“Ugh, you’ll let me know when we hit the fun part, right?” Pipp mumbled sarcastically, her mane a crow's nest and littered with leaves… like the rest of the ponies after the hard trek through the forest, but she was the only one verbally, and repeatedly voicing it.

Zipp gave her sister a tired look and sighed loudly. “The good news is that whoever stole the crystal must be getting tired.”

We were several hours in, magic having flickered on and off several times, rendering the winged ponies flightless as a safety measure. The forest we were traversing had spread until reaching the central mesa that lightly lifted the innermost part of the Equestrian peninsula above sea level, meaning that if we continued on this path, we would reach the geographical center of the country in another day or so with a brisk pace.

With an angry mutter, Pipp took out her phone from her underwing hostler and started live streaming, telling her fans about how terrible of a search this was turning out to be, only for a sharp tone to ring followed by a screen warning, the phone going silent immediately after.

A look of pure horror adorned her face. “NO! My phone died! And I don’t have a charger because SOMEPONY didn’t give me enough time to PACK ANYTHING!!” She began to cry exaggeratedly, her forehoof storming into the ground in rage.

Her sister was having none of it. “If we don’t find who did this, we’re going to lose the trail and maybe our magic altogether! I THINK that’s more important than a phone charger!”

“But now I can’t even call for help if we need it!” Rebutted Pipp with tears in her eyes. Not true, since our phones were still charged. At least mine was.

Seeing the situation escalating, Sunny stepped in between the arguing sisters and tried to diffuse the animosity growing between them. “I know you’re all sacred. I am too… but we can’t let fear tear us apart. The only way through this is by sticking together!”

I chose then to add my two bits, speaking from experience. “Listen to her, ponies. If there’s anything I’ve learned from my adventuring times, it’s that the fastest way to failure is by allowing fear and anger to divide us.”

It had been early morning when we had made for our hasty run out of town, meaning the sun was close to setting, and the last thing I wanted was to begin traversing the forest in the middle of the night. “I think we should stop for today. It’s starting to get late, and the forest isn’t a place you want to wander about in the dark of night. We’ll resume the search tomorrow at first light.”

“B-but, the trail…” Zipp began to protest.

“The trail is going nowhere Zipp.” I interrupted her, “If my memory serves me right, we should be halfway around the Zephyr Peaks by now. If we follow the river upstream, we’ll emerge near some of the closest locations which used to be inhabited, which are the most likely places where the thief will have run to, if we are even on the correct trail after all…” I casted a dubious side look at the oblivious pup. “Dodge City should be around two days west of our position, and the other possible location I can think about is…” I couldn’t finish my reasoning, since the landmark I was searching with my gaze wasn’t as visible as it should be.

It wasn't visible, period.

‘The Zephyr Peaks are to our right, and the sun is setting in front of us… Where the actual fuck is Cantenrhorn Peak?!’ I thought to myself, hardly believing what I was seeing, or rather, what I wasn’t seeing.

“Alex?” Sunny checked on me with a small tap of her hoof against my arm.

“… It doesn’t matter, just… let’s get some rest. We’ll continue tomorrow.” Not wanting to start making assumptions, I retraced my steps and made my way through the vegetation in search of a clear spot in the dense forest.

Looking at each other worriedly, the ponies followed me without protest. Except Pipp, who still gave her sister the nasty look while uselessly checking over her dead phone, trying to miraculously bring it back to life with enough whining and pleading.

After a few minutes of searching, we managed to find a small clearing sheltered under an arrowhead-shaped rocky formation covered in moss and ivy. It was damp and smelly, but it would have to do.

Izzy levitated a few dry branches into the center of the clearing while the rest of the ponies sat on their haunches in a circle around the wood pile, wearing dejected and positively tired expressions. Not the most stellars of beginnings, but beggars can't’ be choosers either. I reached for my bag and grabbed the leftovers I had brought with me, sharing them with the group. It wasn’t much, and it was cold, but it would keep us going for the time being.

“Incendio.” I muttered with a wiggle of my finger, the pile of branches bursting up in flames immediately afterward. The ponies all scooted a little closer to warm up and began their dinner. For a few minutes, we ate in silence, listening to the crackling of the campfire and the sound of wildlife in the distance.

“Hey, Alex…” Izzy began from her place at my left.

“Hmm?” I prompted her to continue.

“What’s with the strange words you keep saying before you cast a spell? I don’t need to say any words to get the magic going.”

A smile made its way up my face. “Now that’s a VERY interesting question, Izzy.” I congratulated her with a brief ear rub for taking notice of my strange methods. She answered with a small victory whoop.

The ponies leaned closer to hear my explanation, Sunny now wearing her characteristic nerdy look I had grown to adore.

“You see, during my early days in Equestria, I found myself profoundly envying my friends and their ability to cast magic, both actively and passively. With these sentiments fueling me, I sought to find a way to gain that ability for myself.” I began to recall from my times in Ancient Equestria. “After loooong weeks of studying, I found how many different types of gems throughout Equus possessed the ability to absorb, store, and emit magical energy filling the environment. More importantly, how their crystalline composition could be altered to store and hold magic in specific ways, meaning that some of these gems could be enchanted to perform a certain task. Like a heating stone which releases magic in the form of heat, as well as gems that can freeze, levitate, detect, scan, and a hundred other different spells and functions individually performed. Most of Equestria’s rough technology back then was based around that principle.”

The ponies were immersed in my lecture, successfully having diffused the moody atmosphere.

“Knowing that, I sought to try and apply a bit of human knowledge to the mix. It took many, MANY attempts, but with the help of Twilight and many other eggheads, I managed to create what I later would baptize as a LIM gemstone.”

“LIM gemstone?” Repeated a puzzled Sunny.

“Language Integrative Matrix. A complex mix of language-integrative spells alongside modifications to the crystalline composition of specific gem types, all tied up together in a spell matrix. It was a kind of a language-recognition gem, but considerably more complex. It could understand instructions, mostly spoken but could also understand thoughts and the will of the user, and create an output according to those instructions.” I removed my gauntlet and pointed to the central gem.

“The gem I showed you before is one of those. It allows me to cast any spell I manage to learn, albeit in a different way than a unicorn would do. Since I lack that… ‘sixth sense’ all unicorns possess when dealing with magic and spellcasting, I had to take a more practical approach, which means shouting words that held certain meanings for the gem to recognize. However, when I first attempted to cast my first spells, I found the gem completely unresponsive to my commands.”

“Why was that?” This time it was Pipp who interrupted me with a question.

“It took me a while to figure it out, but I eventually found out that I was suffering from an ‘overly-logical mental blockade’, or so Twilight referred to it.” At the absolutely baffled faces the ponies gave me, I quickly sought to explain further. “You see, while I myself believed I could cast magic, my brain did not fully agree with me. Back in my home world, there was no magic whatsoever, so no human, including me, ever truly believed they were supposed to be able to cast magic. So, when I actually had the chance to fulfill every little kid’s dream for myself, my own logic said ‘no, mihijo, eso no se puede hacer.’ I lacked…let’s call it, a ‘conviction’ to do so, and so the gem didn’t recognize my desires.”

Chuckling at their crooked smirks at the first time hearing my mother language, I rolled the gem in my fingers a couple of times while I continued. “However, there was a fictional book series called Harry Potter back home that depicted a fictional world where humans could utilize magic, and they did so by casting their spells with voice commands while using a wand for direction, very dramatic if you ask me. I grew up reading those stories, so a tiny part of my brain associated those words, which deviate from a dead language called ‘Latin’, with the ability to cast magic. This mental shortcut sort of cheats my overly-logical brain to think that by using those words, I should be able to cast the spells. It's like fooling myself to do something I didn’t fully believe in. That, summed up to a LOT of training, ultimately got me casting spells far and wide, physical limitations aside of course. The downside is that I had to spend many an hour trying to find the correct words that gave the best results…. and that’s about it. Cool, huh?” I finished my long lecture with a smirk.

The ponies were silent for a few moments, mulling over my words.

Izzy was the first one to answer. “Woah, that’s… very cool and… weird, I guess? I mean, as long as it helps you...”

“Is that part of what you tried to integrate into Equestria? Part of your efforts to bring everyspecies closer?” Sunny followed with her own query.

“Amongst other things, yes, it was part of that.” I answered with a friendly scratch behind her left ear. eliciting a shy smile out of her.

Zipp however seemed a bit bothered by something from my speech. After a few more moments of mulling, a light bulb lit over her head. “Wait a minute, did you just say, ‘back in my home world’?”

The rest of the gang quickly turned to gaze at me once again, their astonished expressions reaching new heights when they realized the implications of what I’d said earlier.

I decided to mess a bit with the pegasus. “Oh, I did, didn’t I? Oops, it seems I forgot to tell you that tinsy tiny small detail. It happens to the best of us… right?” I teased with a shit-eating grin.

‘Even if it’s going to take me a while to explain, I can’t help myself. Serves you right, pegasisters!… no, that word doesn’t sound right for some reason…’

I was left completely speechless. An alien? From another world? ANOTHER DIMENSION ENTIRELY? In my father’s notes, the human of legend was depicted as a creature from a faraway land who stumbled into Equestria by accident. It neglected to mention that small detail that he was an honest-to-Faust WORLD TRAVELER.

I had soooo many questions. So many that my head began to hurt just trying to keep up. The same could be said for my friends, who hastily assaulted him with a barrage of their own.

Unfortunately, he dodged all our questions by mentioning that it was very late and that we should rest, and that would talk about it another time when the situation wasn’t so dire. Albeit begrudgingly, we had to concentrate on catching the thief instead of learning about his home world full of humans, and ponies too, perhaps? The future of magic depended on it!

Disappointed, we spread out around the dying campfire. The sisters huddled together near the rocks that would serve as a poor shielding against the cold forest wind. Hitch did the same at the other end of the makeshift barricade, with Cloudpuff snuggling against his chest with a groan of joy.

Alex lowered himself on his back on the other side of the campfire, while Izzy shamelessly curled up next to him. He didn't seem to mind, giving her a little poke on her snout, electing a small giggle from the unicorn. He then wrapped his arm around her, and Izzy took the opportunity to snuggle in deeper, burying her muzzle at the curve of his neck with a happy exhalation.

Both had grown closer during the past few days, frequently talking to each other and hanging around the brighthouse. I mean, not that he wasn’t spending time with the rest of us, but still, between his work at the clinical lab and his investigation of the crystals, I believed we weren’t spending as much time together as I would have liked.

“Are you coming over Sunny? I just so happened to find a very snuggly alien. Isn’t that great?!” She prompted me to join her.

With a mock roll of his eyes, Alex invited me to approach his free side.

With a bit of hesitation, I slowly reached my human friend. He seemed to notice my apprehension and, with a soft voice, he reassured me.

“Come on Sunny, are you scared that the big, scary alien is going to eat you in your sleep?” He teased in a mock tone.

“Ooooh that’s kinkyyyy… ouch!” Izzy teased us, only to receive a small bump on her head.

A soft giggle escaped my lips at their antics. His reassuring eyes were enough to calm down my previous nerves and, without wasting any more time, I laid down and curled myself against his side.

He was very warm, which only enhanced the experience given the chilly breeze coming down from the nearby mountains. I couldn’t help myself, and I snuggled in deeper following Izzy’s example, burrowing my muzzle in the crook of his neck near his jacket hood.

“My my… not even a month in and you’re already sandwiched between two gorgeous mares, you sure are a ladiestallion.” Izzy playfully jabbed him with a small wiggle of her rump against his legs.

“Go to sleep, Izzy. Tomorrow's going to be a looong day.” Alex answered with a tired groan, electing yet another amused giggle from Izzy.

That got a tiny smile out of me. Both Izzy and Alex seemed to be hitting it off quickly. I was happy for them, of course. What kind of friend would I be if I wasn’t?… But I guess it kinda made me feel a little bit left out…

‘Ugh, those are just silly thoughts Sunny, stop acting so foalish. He’s free to spend time with whomever he wishes. You’re nopony to want to hoard his attention like that…’

Before I could delve further into my thoughts, I felt his hand gently petting my fur, from the nape of my head all the way to my flank. A shiver ran through my body as I felt his delicate touch against my coat. Those hands of his were truly a marvel. I gave him a small nuzzle in appreciation, and he continued until I noticed his breathing deepening, and his muscles relaxing as he finally fell asleep.

As I was about to follow him, Izzy began whispering to me. “Psst, Sunny, are you awake?”

“Now I am Izzy, what do you want?” I whispered back, trying to not wake the slumbering human or the rest of our friends who also sounded like they had passed into the realm of dreams.

“Can I ask you a weird question?”

“Go ahead, Izzy…” I replied sleepily with a lazy yawn.

“Is it just me, or does he smell really good?”

“Izzy!!” I thoughtlessly raised my tone at her words, giving her a smack with my tail. I quickly strained my head to check if I had woken Alex with my outburst. He didn’t seem bothered, his breathing still deep and rhythmic.

Izzy replied with an amused snort at my reaction. Still whispering, she added. “Come on, it’s not like I’m lying…”

‘Ugh, sometimes I swear that mare… and yet, she isn’t lying. He does smell pretty nice.’

And with those last thoughts, I joined my friends in peaceful slumber, breathing in his scent and listening to his heartbeat, letting it lull me to sleep.

Author's Note

Sorry for the delay. My editor and I are hard at work reviewing and fixing the previous chapters.
Enjoy.