As we trotted along, I was quick to get Izzy up to speed on everything that had happened to us as we'd wandered through that strange place and met that strange guy. It was all strange.

Totes overusing the word strange right now. Might be totes overusing totes if I think about it. But whatevs.

We were back in business, and further to completing our goal of getting this place back on track! Mind you, it was a bit odd experiencing much of it from inside that suit, and thanks to the gear I'd been wearing my fur smelled a bit of rubber. I desperately needed a wash before I went out again. By choice I'd have a bubble bath to relax my muscles and get the cramps out, then a quick wash with some shampoo to get my mane into order. I wonder what types of shampoo Izzy used, and if they'd be compatible with my mane. My scalp can flake quite easily and I used to have problems with dandruff, so it's worth checking if what I'm using helps with those problems.

I looked about again and saw how oddly empty the forest was. I was pretty tired, so probably wasn't soaking everything up that I could have done, but then again that's how it is when you're on the verge of sleep. I could do with a nap on top of a bath. I still needed to get some dirt out of my mane, which was still hanging awkwardly out of place from the night of the concert.

I knew mom and Zipp were OK, that's for sure, but I still feared for them. They were safe at the time the spirit spoke to me, but did that mean they were safe now? You have clue what I would have given to hear their voices again, just to talk to them and hear they were fine.

Speaking of fine, I noticed our new arrival. Misty had been joined by a certain red stallion with a wierd manestyle. I'm, of course, talking about Sprout, and boy was I suspicious. He's not supposed to be here, and yet somehow he was. Somehow he was here in this place, filled with other ponies, and not acting out at all.

In the movie this place is where I was originally from, Sprout was not a nice guy, and he wanted to plunge the world into war- kinda what Gulfstream tried to do. We were not on the best of terms, safe to say.

And yet he was perfectly amicable towards Misty, the two of them chatting like old friends who had met up for their regular meeting. I was amazed at this.

If Sprout was likeable, perhaps even not a bigot, then it meant other things might have changed for the better.

Or for the worse. That Chris guy is awful. Honestly, calling me a demon! The nerve of that guy! And I'm not an airhead either! Operating all this equipment requires a lot of thought and care!

We were still wondering through the forest, when we suddenly took a turn down a path and went downhill for a bit. We then stopped at the bottom of the slope to see a house sitting there within the ruins of an old tree. Or perhaps the tree was alive? I wasn't quite sure.

We stood there in front of the house until, quite suddenly, Izzy began to speak. "Hello house!" she said, breaking us all out of our thoughts. "I've missed you!"

I looked over at Hitch. "Who greets their house?" I asked.

"Izzy, apparently," Hitch replied. It seemed based on his face that he found this whole thing just as perplexing as I did.

Sprout then chimed in. "Perhaps it's some sort of unicorn ritual?" He glanced over to Misty. "Any suggestions, Misty?"

Misty shrugged before speaking again. "Don't look at me!" she said. "I'm not from Bridlewood!"

Sunny was the next to speak in turn, figuring now was her chance to add some input. "Whatever it is, it clearly means something to her. And as long as she's not hurting anybody by doing it, I don't see any reason to worry."

Hmmmm, right. Seems Sunny momentarily forgot she's a pony, if she said 'anybody' instead of 'anypony'. That's a bit careless, and could get us in trouble.

Izzy then opened the door to her house, with the lock squeaking like a weasel as it opened, and moved into position. That was quite the feat, I must admit, as for a lock to be that loud indicates it hadn't been oiled in quite a while. Clearly it needed some oiling before it was used further.

No real time to question it further, though. Izzy beckoned to the door.

"How can we turn things with no hands?" Hitch asked me.

I sighed, pointing out my phone which was sticking to my hooves despite there being no logical reason for this to be the case. "I've long since stopped questioning stuff in this world," I said, and walked forward.

"Welcome to my home!" Izzy said, as we stepped through the door. I was one of the first through, and turned to the right to let the others in.

And my eyes were stunned at what I saw! This place was so nicely decorated! Home made crafts were hanging from the ceilings and walls, and a nice calendar was hung on the wall. I even noticed a picture with eyes that moved by themselves! Izzy was quite the skilled engineer if nothing else. I was finding this place so stunning, and wanted to see even more of this place for myself.

"This is so pretty!" I said, taking my phone up and snapping some photos. "I had no idea this place could look so stunning when seen in real life!"

I trotted round the room whilst Sunny and Izzy took a look at the door sitting in the floor. Izzy claimed that was her basement and that she made cupcakes in there. I'm not quite sure why'd you make cupcakes in a basement, but OK. I stopped next to a small windmill Izzy had built and gave it a quick spin with my hoof. I, of course, filmed it. "You'd have loved the kitchens in the palace," I said to Izzy, as I continued with my filming.

When I turned my head, she had vanished. "Huh? Where did she go?"

"Over here!" she said. I turned my head and saw her fiddling with a kettle. "I'm just making some tea for you guys. It's been such a long time since I got to have tea with anypony, so I decided I'd try out my new tea set!"

We milled around the table for a moment or two as we waited for the tea to brew. But soon it was done, and Izzy brought the tea set over and began to pour the drink into our cups.

Right, time to put the etiquette to good use. This looked to be a herbal tea, so there probably wouldn't be any milk in this one. Nor would you want to add milk to a tea like this. I calmly stirred it to the right, as apparently stirring to the left can disrupt the taste, and popped the spoon down. I then tasted some.

Wow. Gotta say this is pretty good! We stock it now in the palace canteen if you fancy grabbing some when we're done here.

After we had a relaxing cup of tea and chatted for a bit, we decided to discuss our plan for the next crystal.

"I know I'm stating the obvious here," Hitch said, "but we kinda don't blend in. Earth ponies aren't known for existing in large numbers in these parts."

I nodded. "Nor pegasi, for that matter. "Right, Zi- oh. Still feels weird her not being here."

I looked down sadly, reminded once again of how much I missed her. We may only have been related because of the magic that had brought her to this land, but I still loved her like any good sister would.

We were so far apart, so I kept quiet as they continued chatting for a bit. I guess having Hitch for company kinda made things a bit easier to take.

Wait a moment. If that was the case, and I was thinking all that, was I falling for him already? I know characters falling in love ridiculously fast is a staple of My Little Pony fanfiction, but I never imagined I would be the one feeling it myself.

I sat there, trying to process my emotions and how the populace would even react to this. Pegasus princess falls in love with earth pony? I would say there'd be a riot, but there'd already been one so that was something of a moot point.

Still, turns out there was a delay. Izzy needed to buy some more stuff to get our disguises made. So we'd be waiting around for a while. Good thing I'd loaded a few games onto my phone.

Author's Note

Time for some more of Princess Pipp Petals, everyone! :D