Pegasi of a Father

Pipp and Zipp lighted softly back in their old home of Zephyr Heights. They knew what to expect, and nothing surprised them about it. The city still felt massive, with huge skyscrapers reaching towards the azure blue painted above them. Adorning most of these were massive billboards, full of advertisements that spoke to the city’s hard working, competitive nature. Each one clamored for everypony’s attention, much as an animal might fight another to establish dominance. True, things were intense, but they were also fair, as Queen Haven had enacted a series of trade laws to ensure this.

On other buildings rested massive television screens that served to entertain those trotting the streets below. These featured a wide range of spectacles, from digital versions of the aforementioned advertisements to clips of popular concerts held at Zephyr Heights’s very own stadium. Finally, there was the ZBS television headquarters, which displayed the current shows on air. The morning sun was shining over Zephyr Heights and the screens reflected this in both the virtual image and the real one. Zipp and Pipp, curious about the news from their birthplace, stopped to observe.

“Good morning, Zephyr Heights!” The ZBS lead anchor, Halter Cronkite, said. “It’s such a pleasure to be with you this morning. I’m Halter Cronkite.”

“-and I’m Sky Fall,” the other co-anchor chirped. “Here with today’s headlines. Our top story at this hour: tragedy befalls a certain family here in town. Last night, the home of Mr. & Mrs. Wington of 45th Street was broken into and severely vandalized. The culprits stole a valuable piece of technology that Mr. Wington, a locally prominent inventor, was working on.”

“Sources state that this small bit of pony progress was commissioned by Queen Haven herself, though we have no information on what it was or why it was commissioned,” Halter said. “Police have also said that the home was left in a shambles and various things were painted on the wall in a language that has never been seen before. Officials are baffled as to the cause of this or the source of the odd language.”

Pipp didn’t need to look. She could feel her sister’s temperature rising with each passing second. A valuable piece of Pegasi technology, one that was ordered by the queen herself, had been stolen. Pipp knew that Zipp was about to explode with anticipation. But, at the same time, she also knew why they were there. Their missing father had to be the only case they focused on. So, she turned to her sister and prepared to spontaneously lecture her about keeping her eye on the prize and how they couldn’t solve every mystery that came about. But, instead, she found her sister deep in thought.

“Hey…you okay?” She asked.

“I’m just…wondering about Dad,” Zipp said. “Are we crazy for trying to find him?”

Pipp took a step back. “Hey, you were the one who had to talk me into this, remember?”

Zipp looked down. She did remember, and she felt guilty all over again. Ever since she’d revealed the letter to Pipp, her level of shame over hiding it had been rising. The weight of carrying her father’s secrets for moons upon moons sat squarely on her shoulders. If they ever did find him, she would be sure and ask him why he’d ever told her to do such a thing. Her thoughts were full of images of their beloved patriarch and she sat down sharply to try and get control of her emotions.

Then, she felt a hoof on her shoulder. “We’re in this together,” Pipp said. “Don’t you ever forget that.”

Zipp smiled and returned her sister’s touch. “I know…I just…hope we can find him.”

The two then returned to their hooves and continued their trot through the city towards the palace. Aside from getting asked for autographs here and there, it was a rather pleasant stroll. Surprisingly enough, nopony completely mobbed them. Pipp would have been lying if she said she didn’t take a bit of offense to this. After all, she was the biggest star in the entire city and, perhaps, even all of Equestria. However, she would also have been lying if she said that she didn’t find the lack of attention soothing and relaxing. It was nice to just trot along beside her elder sibling, as they did when they were small fillies.

Finally, they arrived at the castle and were immediately escorted inside. The entire place seemed to be on high alert. Zipp and Pipp were curious about this. Each guard had been fitted with new armor and carried the sharpest spears. The princesses gulped as they even saw swords being fitted around the backsides of certain ponies. Weaponry aside, the fierce looks that the guards gave were unsettling and frightening. If looks could kill, both of them would have been dead by the time they hit the castle’s main floor. But, the building was multiple stories high and they were ushered in to the private elevator that would give them direct access to their mother’s throne room. Once left alone inside the armored transport, they had a chance to speak. Even so, they did in hushed tones.

“Why is everypony so…silently angry?” Pipp asked.

“I don’t know,” Zipp said, “usually, they only go to this level of alertness when Mom raises the invasion threat level above an 8. I mean, swords? New spears? This is nuts!”

“I wonder if Zephyr is under threat from somewhere else.”

“Where?!” Zipp asked. “That threat level was implemented to ward off unicorns and earth ponies. Now that we’re all friends again, it’s completely useless!”

“Good point,” Pipp said. “So…what is it, then?”

“Believe me, I wish I knew. We haven’t been escorted around like that since they thought all the unicorns were coming at us with a spell that would chop off everyone’s wings!”

Pipp nodded. “Well, whatever it is, we can ask Mom to straighten it out for us.”

It was at this point that the door opened and the princesses stepped into the throne room. Immediately, their jaws hit the floor. The old place didn’t look like it used to. Instead of the gentle, warm spot that they remembered playing in as fillies, they now stood in a fortress of sorts. Everything was metallic, and their mother’s throne was protected by four different bunkers with ponies manning guns that could spit out magic, machine gun style. They’d been a defensive gift to their mother from the unicorns, and now she was putting them to use.

“Um…wha…wha…what is this?” Pipp asked.

“I have no idea,” Zipp said in complete bewilderment.