A Day Out With Dad

“Zipp! Zipp!! Guess what?!”

Zipp was startled out of her concentration by the sound of Misty’s voice. She turned around just in time to see the unicorn running excitedly through the doors to the Crystal Brighthouse. She was grinning ear to ear, sporting the biggest smile on her face she had in a good while. There was a light spring in her step, and an atmosphere of joy surrounding her entire being. It was unlike her to be this cheery on normal occasions as she was normally very reserved. Whatever had happened to the unicorn in the past few hours since she had left just have been the greatest news ever.

Misty skidded to a halt right behind the bamboozled detective, still having that expression of pure elation on her face, and seemingly completely oblivious to the fact that she had just interrupted some very important business. She had never been this happy in her entire life, and Zipp was curious to know what the reason was. Not that she minded the fact that Misty was happy of course. It was always great to see the pony she practically called her sister at this point so filled with energy. Given what she had been through for years, it was rare to see something like this, though it certainly wasn’t the first time that she had been more upbeat than she usually was.

Since they had all gotten back from the family vacation a couple days ago, the pegasus had noticed Misty acting a lot more relaxed than usual, like a huge burden had finally been taken off her. Perhaps it was because she had stopped stressing over the trip and learned to go with the flow, or the fact that she had gotten to spend some quality time with her newly expanded family in a way she never got to before. Her whole world had changed ever since the announcement of a future royal wedding, and it was great to see her settle into this new role so easily now, to the point where she could talk to Zipp about anything now. That was what family did for each other.

Still, Zipp wanted answers as she always did, though she knew better at this point not to pressure the unicorn into answering anything. If she wanted to talk, then she could, and that was the most important thing to remember when trying to get the answer to any mystery. Not everything was a complicated puzzle, and sometimes, ponies just needed the space to feel comfortable.

“What’s got you so excited, Misty?” Zipp asked, smiling and setting her research on the history of Auroricorns on the table. She had been in the middle of finishing her latest theory before she had gotten interrupted, but she knew the investigation could wait. Family was much more important.

“It’s Sire’s Day, Zipp!!” exclaimed Misty happily, practically jumping up and down with sheer happiness. “I get to celebrate today with my Dad!!”

“That’s incredible!” Zipp replied. “I honestly forgot today was Sire’s Day. I’ve been so busy finishing my thesis on Auroricorns that I didn’t think to mark it on the calendar. You think the trip would’ve reminded me to do so. That was the whole point of it.”

Misty giggled. “That’s okay. I know you’ve been quite busy.”

“So…why did you come to me?” inquired Zipp. “I mean, I know we’ve been talking a lot lately, given everything that’s happened in the past week, but…what made you come over to see me?”

“Well…” Misty said, her tone barely containing her excitement. “I really want this day out with Alpha-I mean Dad to go as perfectly as possible. The last time he and I got to spend a whole day together, just the two of us, was the next day after we reunited. And then there was the Night Market, the whole food fight, which didn’t really count, Opaline, and…well, you know.”

“Yeah, I think I get it.”

“So would you mind…doing one little, or maybe it’s big, favor for me?”

“Of course. Anything for my new sister.”

Misty blushed at that. “Aww, thanks, Zipp. It’s…” She hesitated, her smile vanishing at that moment. “I know Dad likes excitement. He told me he loves getting out of the Tea Room whenever he can. So I wanted to set up a little mystery for him, and you’re good at that.”

Zipp almost did a double take. This was the most unusual request she had ever gotten. She had her fair share of interesting misadventures before, but this was on a whole new level. Not to mention, she didn’t even know what that meant. “Set up a mystery? Like…fake a crime scene?!”

“It’s not like that!” Misty corrected herself quickly. Her confidence was quickly evaporating, and she shifted in place uncomfortably. “I just…it’s a game. Sunny told me that sometimes there are these escape rooms with pretend mysteries that ponies have fun in, and…I was wondering if you could set up something like that, but around Maretime Bay, Bridlewood, and Zephyr Heights?”

“Okay okay okay,” Zipp said. “Let me get this straight. You want to take Alphabittle to all three cities in order to solve a fake mystery. And then…”

“There’s a grand prize at the end,” Misty explained. “Ponies win some form of reward for completing the challenge, whether that be a certificate or what. And…I think that’s it. But you can come up with something creative.”

“I’m sure I could. Nothing says a detective can’t set up her own mystery. But even if I could get Mom to fake a national emergency, which I don’t think she’ll agree to anyway, what would the case even be? You’d have to plan out everything in advance, not throw everything at me last minute!”

“Oh.”

Zipp could see the unicorn’s face fall at this revelation. It was clear that this idea meant so much to her, and the last thing she wanted to do was let her down, especially since Sire’s Day was a special occasion that only came once a year. Misty only had one chance to make this day out with her father memorable, and she would never fit give herself if she didn’t at least try something.

Seeing Misty begin to walk away in a downtrodden state was the last straw, and her sisterly instinct took over. She didn’t know what she was getting herself into, but she owed it in her heart to give the idea her best shot. After all, as absurd as the request sounded, she knew that if it ultimately came down to it, she would do the same for Pipp any day. The one core truth about family was that they never gave up on each other, and she knew that all too well.

“Misty?”

Misty turned around, obviously trying to hold back tears.

“I think…I think we can give it a try.”

“Really?!” Misty asked, her eyes now sparkling with excitement. Zipp’s heart warmed at the sight of this. She knew she was doing the right thing. They deserved to have the perfect day out together, and the idea was certainly an interesting one for sure.

“Yeah,” she said, smiling. “So long as it’s nothing too crazy and we keep it small scale…who’s to say it can’t work?”

That was when Misty jumped into the pegasus’s hooves and hugged her, thanking her for agreeing to do this. Zipp couldn’t believe she was agreeing to it either, but she always promised her that no matter what happened, she would always be there for her when she needed it most.

“Thank you, Zipp!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!” Misty thanked her profusely. “You have no idea how much this means to me!”

Zipp chuckled. “Don’t thank me yet, Misty. This is going to require all of us to put our brains together. And a whole lot of planning too. But…I promise I’ll make it work, okay? We got this.”

“We so DON’T got this.”

“Hitch, come on!” Zipp insisted. “You said that no idea was too far fetched in an era where magic basically controls the world. What’s so bad about letting Misty and Alphabittle have their fun?”

The ponies were all gathered on the balcony, where the Unity Crystals were. This was their place to strategize about important things, and she could think of nothing more important than this. She had messaged her friends to meet her on top of the Brighthouse an hour earlier, and they had all agreed, completely unaware of the insanity they were about to get themselves into.

Now Zipp had the Herculean task of convincing them to go along with Misty’s ridiculous plan, and none of them had any idea how to pull it off. It was one thing to solve a real problem going on in Maretime Bay. They were all used to it by this point, and it had become routine. But making a problem happen just for the sake of entertainment was a whole other ballgame.

“Because none of us have any idea what we’re doing,” Sunny reasoned. “I know I told Misty about the escape rooms Dad used to take me to, but recreating it ourselves does kinda sound too far fetched to be plausible.”

“Come on,” Zipp pleaded. “I already promised Misty that I would make this work out. And I don’t want to let her down. She obviously wants this special day with her Dad so badly that if I were to tell her that I can’t do it…it would crush her.”

“She would understand, Zipp,” Sunny answered. “You know how much work actually goes into these fake mystery shacks? A ton. It’s not something we can accomplish in a day, even if we put all our minds to it.”

“I’m not asking for it to be something elaborate.” Zipp countered firmly. “Just something fun, low stakes. We plant clues towards an overarching mystery in here, Zephyr Heights, and Bridlewood. To solve the clues and advance through the game, they have to complete various activities throughout, all culminating in one grand reward.”

“Alright,” Hitch relented. “That sounds a bit more reasonable. I thought you wanted to build an entire secret lair or something. That would’ve been impossible.”

“Don’t give my sister any ideas, Hitch.” Pipp stated flatly.

“So what sort of awesome spectacular, epic quest against the forces of evil will our brave adventurer Misty be going on today?!” Izzy inquired in a theatrical tone. She giggled. “Kidding. But I do have a ton of ideas for activities!”

“Yeah!” Sunny piped up, a mischievous glint in her eyes. “They start off in Bridlewood, finding a mysterious trail of rubies leading them to Maretime Bay. We could then have them participate in the Hall of Mirrors at the Boardtrot! Once they traverse through the entire hall, they’ll find a magical map to Zephyr Heights, courtesy of Sparky, the guardian dragon! He’ll transport them to the city with his dragon fire magic! After they get there, they locate the culprit, one of us, who will be waiting in the castle, having stolen Queen Haven’s throne! The two of them will have to battle it out for the future of Zephyr Heights and defeat the usurper! After he or she is brought to justice, Misty and Alphabittle will be hailed as heroes, made official knights of the kingdom, and the two will be closer than ever before!!”

“Or,” Pipp interjected. “They could visit Mane Melody, where they must perform a song together in order to proceed! Nothing says father-daughter bonding like some good old fashioned music!! After which, they go to Zephyr Heights and discover the culprit has abducted Mom and imprisoned her in the dungeons! Together, they must free her and unite as a family to take them down! The entirety of the kingdom celebrates through the power of song in front of our Together Tree, spreading love and unity across the land for miles!”

“Boring!” Izzy quipped. “I say we have them get a charm bracelet from my crafting wagon! They’ll go to the Brighthouse and be met by Señor Butterscotch, who will tell them that in order to pass, they must answer a riddle!! After which, they go to Zephyr Heights and battle the culprit outside the castle using the power of creativity, pelting them with all the glitter you can imagine! Their cutie marks will glow, and blast the culprit hundreds of miles away, never to be seen again!!”

Hitch gulped. “Izzy, you do realize that one of us has to be the culprit, right?”

“Ooooh. Yeah, that would be a problem, wouldn’t it?”

“I say songs are better!” Pipp argued passionately. “Music is the universal language of all ponykind! Either we do that or nothing at all!”

“Señor Butterscotch was born to be a cheap puppet Sphinx ripoff!” Izzy countered angrily.

“They’ll LOVE the medieval fantasy aesthetic of my plan!” Sunny yelled. “What better way to bond than seeing your wildest imaginations play out in real life?!!”

“I say the mystery should be a tame, completely safe version of hide and seek!” Hitch shouted. “Completely contained in Maretime Bay!”

“That wasn’t the prompt!” Sunny shot back at him. “We’re supposed to utilize all three cities!!”

“Well, my prompt is better!”

“Am I the bad guy?” Izzy asked curiously.

“Guys,” Zipp tried to say. “You all have great ideas. So why don’t we put them altogether and create something truly unique? Remember, creating a special day for Misty comes first. Let’s just put our minds together and focus on creating the best mystery game possible. Okay?”

The others all looked at each other for a solid moment, almost as if they were considering cooperation as a genuine possibility. Then they grinned at one another mischievously and shook their heads collectively.

“Nah!” her friends said in unison before taking the elevator back downstairs and proceeding to each go their separate ways, all the while Pipp chatted at length about her idea being the best one out of all of them.

Zipp groaned. This wasn’t going well at all.

Bridlewood…

Misty ran into the Crystal Tea Room as fast as her hooves could take her, slamming them open in the process, and startling Alphabittle. He dropped the tea he was pouring into a cup, causing it to spill all over the counter. He blinked in surprise upon seeing her, brightening instantly.

Misty took a deep breath to calm herself after all of that running. She wiped sweat off her forehead using her hoof before looking back at him. “Dad! I made it!”

“Misty!” Alphabittle greeted her enthusiastically. He got up and walked towards her, smiling. “There you are. I don’t know what epic plans you have for our day out, but I’m sure ready to find out! What are you thinking?”

“I don’t know either,” Misty admitted. “Zipp said she was going to figure it out with the others. But I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough! Today will be absolutely perfect.”

Alphabittle chuckled. “I don’t doubt it, kid. You and your friends always come up with the best ideas. Now what do you say we get this ‘Father-Daughter Day 2.0’ extravaganza rockin’?!”

“I’d love that!” Misty answered, feeling increasingly more excited by the minute. Finally, she was going to have the best day ever with her father, and nothing would get in the way this time. She trusted her friends to sort out everything, and give them a truly memorable experience.

“Then let’s go!” he declared. “This special day isn’t going to wait around forever!”