A Day Out With Dad

“Huh. Interesting. I didn’t know we had a trail of rubies just lying around,” Alphabittle mused as he studied the trail outside of the Tea Room, which was now mysteriously littered with fragments of red rubies all leading to an unknown location. “I assume we cleaned those up after Bridlewoodstock.”

Misty crouched down to the ground as well upon noticing this. She was curious why they had been placed there too, and so soon as well. She certainly couldn’t remember seeing them when she was walking into town. Whatever her friends were doing, they clearly were trying to keep it a secret from her at the moment. She couldn’t see any sign of them no matter where she looked. It was possible they had already taken off to the next location, and she had no idea what their plan actually was.

The only thing she knew was that the rubies were part of the mystery somehow, and that they had to follow the trail to wherever it led in order to get more answers. The process was fascinating to her, the idea of creating this intriguing game of clues. To many ponies, this was a common game that friends liked to play whenever they hung out. But to Misty, it was all new. She was learning the rules as she went along, and that invigorated her. It made her even more excited to play, as for all she cared, this was a real mystery worth solving. She could tell that Alphabittle was enjoying it as well. He seemed engrossed in studying the patterns and where they could lead.

“I don’t know why they’re here either,” Misty answered, getting back on her hooves. “Zipp didn’t really inform me what the plan was. But I guess we gotta follow those rubies to wherever they lead.” She squinted her eyes, trying her best to see some form of end point for the trail. “It appears to be leading out of town, the way I came.”

“Fascinating!” Alphabittle commented. “The idea that gems seemingly so innocuous could hold a deep, dark secret! Whoever’s setting all this up, they are really good! No notes from me. Lead the way, Detective Misty!”

“After you, Assistant Detective Dad!” Misty replied back in the same mock-professional tone. She giggled, watching him eagerly walk along the trail and study every single ruby laid out. She followed him, doing the same and seeing if she could spot any deviations in the pattern.

They hiked along the trail and through the Bridlewood Forest for a good while, chatting to each other about where the clues could lead. Misty had to admire how interested Alphabittle was in the intricacies of the mystery. It was like he was a natural-born detective. The technical talk, terminology like “culprits” and “targets,” the theories on what the patterns could mean…it was like it came to him naturally, and he was hiding his true talents. She loved seeing this side to her father, the geeky and the nerdy side. He had showed interest like this before, but never to this extent.

“You know why I love getting out of the Tea Room?” he asked her with a warm smile.

“No. Why?” Misty inquired back.

“It gives me the chance to explore things about Bridlewood I never thought possible before,” Alphabittle’s replied. “I mean, after learning that Breezies were still around and ran an interior market within the Wishing Tree no less, it made me realize how much I truly didn’t know about the town I practically lead. So I like doing these excursions, to find out what else is really out there waiting to be discovered. I mean, now that you came back into my life, I have a lot more time for that now.”

“I always thought I knew everything there was to know about the world too,” Misty told him. “I mean…after Opaline basically lied to me all my life, I thought that Equestria was a selfish and cruel place. But I realized the only thing truly cruel about it was ponies like her, and that…there was a life for me out there for me to enjoy.”

“You never know when opportunities might come your way,” Alphabittle advised her. “So the best thing to do is always keep your mind open to new possibilities, as long as they’re in your comfort zone, of course.”

As they continued to walk along the trail, a pink head with a purple mane and tail peeked out from one of the bushes to the right. It was Pipp, and she was surveying their every move. She wanted to ensure that everything went according to her plan, and she was prepared to sabotage the others’ efforts in the process if that meant the special day went according to how she envisioned it.

“Perfect!” she exclaimed as quietly as she could. “Now I just need to ensure that they get to Mane Melody and foil Sunny’s plan in the process. Hope those rubies don’t lead to a crossroads, otherwise it’ll get awkward real fast.”

With that, she ducked under the bush again, just in time to see Misty take a quick glance in her direction upon hearing a sound. Fortunately, she wasn’t spotted, but it had been a real close call.

“The trail leads to a CROSSROADS?!” Misty asked in shock.

The path of rubies split at the entrance to Maretime Bay. There was no unified sense of direction. The fragments continued in two completely separate ways, with the trail to the right eventually leading towards the beach and the Boadtrot amusement park, whereas the trail to the left led further into town and in the direction of Mane Melody. It was obvious that there was some disagreement on where the trail should have led, and neither party had been aware that the other had been there first.

Alphabittle didn’t seem phased in the slightest. In fact, he seemed to love this new challenge more than anything. “Hmm, this is interesting. It appears the culprit wants us thrown off, to choose the wrong trail and ultimately lose their cover! But we’re too smart for them! Right, Misty?”

Misty shook her head, refocusing herself after she had gotten momentarily distracted. Inside, she was worried about what sort of argument had most likely erupted between her friends. But she couldn’t let herself think about that now. “Huh? Oh! Yeah. They won’t distract us!”

“The key thing here is to trust your instincts,” Alphabittle said in another one of his sagely advice moments. “Trust your heart to make the right call. Where do you think we should go?”

Misty thought about it. She thought about it long and hard. In truth, she knew that no matter what path she chose, she wouldn’t be derailing anything. If she didn’t go with one pony’s path, then the mystery would still go on with the other one. But in her heart, she wanted to check out the Boadtrot more. She had already been to Mane Melody a ton of times, and she knew that she would have a lot more fun at the park.

“We should go…” she decided. “This way!” She pointed with her hoof towards the trail of rubies on the right.

“Then the Boardtrot it shall be!” Alphabittle decreed gleefully. “I have always wanted to spend more time at this place. Impressive work you guys did with it.”

They headed towards the right and disappeared from view, much to the chagrin of Pipp, who was once again spying from a certain vantage point. This time, she was so far away that she couldn’t be seen, but thanks to Zipp’s headset, she was able to see ponies and objects from a great distance. And she certainly wasn’t happy that her plans had been foiled again.

“Ugh! What am I doing wrong?!” she whined. Then she got into focus. “Don’t panic, Pipp. You can still save this. You just gotta make sure that they don’t find the map.” She sighed. “Sorry, Sparky. I hope you’ll forgive me.”

“Enjoying your solo act, sis?” came a voice from behind her.

Pipp yelped, almost flying into the air from fear, but stopping herself once she realized it was just her older sister. She was standing there with a smug look on her face, almost as if she knew things would go wrong from the start.

“Come to gloat?!” she challenged her angrily.

Zipp shook her head. “No. I’m just on a lookout for Izzy. I’m trying to stop her before she jeopardizes everything with that little craft wagon of hers. I already thought the trail of rubies was pushing it, but if anything else litters the ground, they’ll become confused.”

Pipp glared at her. “Well, I can’t help. I’m trying to ensure things go my way.”

“And how’s that working out for you so far?” Zipp questioned her.

The pegasus influencer groaned. “Not good at all. But I’m still not trying your idea! I really want them to sing a song together, and bond over it! It would be so cute!!”

“I know it would, Pipp,” admitted Zipp. “But we have to think of Misty first and foremost. This is her special day. Stop trying to make things go your way and just let she and her Dad have fun. You know they hardly ever get a chance to do this.”

Pipp sighed deeply. “I know. I just want what’s best for them too! Don’t you understand how much it would benefit both of them?”

“I do understand. But whether or not they do so is not up to you. Just come to me whenever you’re ready to be reasonable. I have to round up Izzy before she runs over somepony.” With that, Zipp flew off in the direction of the Boardtrot, leaving her little sister where she was.

“Look at all these mirrors!” Alphabittle exclaimed. “This is magic that I’ve never seen before!”

“I haven’t been in here before either!” Misty agreed, looking around in awe at the sights around her. “This place is incredible!”

The two of them were now in the Hall of Mirrors, the exact place where the trail of rubies stopped. It was an ever-evolving hallway, with mirrors on every single side, even on the floor and ceiling. There was seemingly no end in sight. The tall glass mirror reflections stared back at them with their contorted expressions, many of them making out different animals and shapes.

Misty was impressed by this. She hadn’t actually been inside the Hall and explored it before. She was always a little creeped out by the concept of mirrors that contorted your expressions to look goofy. It sounded fun on paper, but she personally never got the appeal behind it, and she probably never would if she was to be honest with herself. Still, it was fascinating to see this all up close.

She and Alphabittle walked down the colorful hallway, being careful not to stare at the off-putting mirrors the whole way through. Loud and upbeat music played as they traversed through and Misty actually found herself humming along to the tune after a while. Eventually though, they reached the end of the corridor, where they were meant to meet Sparky and get the map to Zephyr Heights.

However, just as they were about to proceed and ask for further directions, there was the sound of screaming from one of the CAST MEMBERS ONLY rooms to the right. Suddenly, a door in the wall burst open to reveal a terrified Sunny running for her life with Sparky in her hooves. Chasing after her was both Pipp and Hitch, with Zipp trying to round them both up.

“Sunny?!” Misty asked in surprise, not expecting to see her show up this early into the day.

“What are those ponies doing?” Alphabittle inquired curiously. “Looks like this is some sort of chase. Could this be part of the performance?”

“GET AWAY FROM HIM, YOU FREAKS!!” Sunny shrieked, clutching the now frightened baby dragon tighter in her hooves. She glanced at them both and laughed nervously. “Haha, all part of the show! Nothing to see here!”

“Get back here with Sparky!” Hitch yelled. “I didn’t say you could use him for your cheap medieval fantasy!!”

“Well, you didn’t say no either when we talked about it!!” Sunny shot back. “And he makes a good guardian dragon!!”

“He’s a BABY!!!”

“I say Sparky’s part of my extravaganza!” Pipp declared. “He’s clearly qualified to be my backup vocalist!!”

“All of you, CUT IT OUT!!” Zipp admonished them angrily. “They’re watching us!! And you are just going to ruin everything!!”

“I ruin nothing!!” Hitch protested innocently.

The four ponies chased each other out of the Hall of Mirrors, shouting their heads off. But not before they left, Sparky burped out a piece of paper that spawned from his dragon fire. It flew through the now empty corridor and landed next to Misty and Alphabittle.

Misty was shaken by the chaos that had just erupted between her friends that she didn’t notice what the baby dragon had done at first. She could feel that there was tension between them, tension that they didn’t want her to know about, which made her all the more nervous. It was just a simple request. She didn’t want to believe her friends would prioritize their own self interests over the day, but she could tell that they were not agreeing on some of the activities she and Alphabittle were supposed to perform, and that was a massive sore point between them.

Still, the quest had to go on, so she looked all around the room for any sign of the next clue until her eyes landed upon the fallen piece of paper. Cautiously, she walked over to it and picked it up, unfurling it. Sure enough, it was the magical map to Zephyr Heights that was meant to show them the way to the city. The front of it was glowing green, showing the vague outline of the Royal Palace. This was their chance.

“Perfect!” Alphabittle stated proudly, walking over and taking the map from her. “Now that we have the map, we’re onto the final step of our journey!!” He held it into the air like a sword like a knight in shining armor. “Evil doers beware!! You are no match for the combined teamwork of Misty Wisty and her trusty steed ALPHABITTLE BLOSSOMFORTH!!!”

Misty giggled at his theatrical display. She had never seen him so happy and in the moment before in her life. It almost made her forget the chaos that had just occurred a couple of moments ago. She was spending quality time with her father, the exact way that it should have been from the start. Her perfect day with him could still be salvaged. And she wasn’t going to let it go to waste now.

“Then onward we shall go!!” Misty joined in, grinning excitedly. “Our foes shall tremble at the mention of our name!! Dad, we have followed the quest, and it has led us to our victory!!”

“Yeah!!” Alphabittle cheered. “Now hurry! We don’t have a moment to lose! Our enemies could be just around the corner, waiting to strike!!”

“Just one problem,” Misty cut in, realizing the fundamental flaw with their plan. “How are we gonna get to the city? We don’t exactly have the Marestream.”

“We could just teleport.” Alphabittle pointed out with a knowing smile.

Misty grinned sheepishly, her eyes glancing at her horn. “Oh yeah, I forgot. I have magic.”

Together, their horns glowed and they cast a spell on the map, which pulsed with energy. Within seconds, they were gone from sight, on their way to finishing the quest once and for all.

Outside the Hall of Mirrors building, Zipp finally caught up with the rest of her friends, who were currently engaged in a full on screaming match with one another, blaming each other for everything going wrong. She couldn’t take it anymore. She had to deal with it all day, and she was absolutely sick of it. Why couldn’t they all just agree on something?! Why did it have to be this complicated?! It was just a fun mystery game. The least they could do was work together like they were supposed to.

Finally having enough, the detective yelled out: “That’s enough!! Can’t you guys agree on something and stop arguing?! We are ruining the whole day for them, and none of you even care!!”

“I’ll stop arguing when you admit my idea’s better than Sunny’s filly fantasy, sis!!” Pipp shot back.

Sunny gasped, her eyes narrowing in anger. “Filly fantasy?! How dare you!! The Chronicles of Captain Shining Armor is a fantasy series intended to be enjoyed by all ages!!”

Hitch scoffed. “Like I would ever read something so fillyish! I clearly have more advanced tastes than you.”

“More ADVANCED tastes?!” Sunny demanded. “Do tell me what exactly THAT’S supposed to mean?!”

“My idea for a contained hide and seek game was clearly more safe than whatever your ‘silly quest’ was!”

“Well at least my idea’s actually exciting!!”

“EXCUSE ME?!”

“Um, guys,” Pipp interrupted, getting all of their attentions in the process. “I just realized that we’ve been trying to find Izzy all day, but…we never exactly told her what her role was yet, did we?”

All of them gasped in shock.

“Oh no!!” Hitch realized with dread. “She doesn’t know what to do in there! Quick, we gotta get to Zephyr Heights before she causes any damage! To the Marestream, ponies!!”

With that, the ponies finally had something they could agree on. This whole day had been a mess so far, and the only thing they could do was stop it from getting worse than it already was. They ran out of the park in the direction of the Marestream, which wasn’t parked very far from where they currently were.

They arrived to chaos.

As soon as father and daughter poofed into the throne room of the Royal Palace, they were greeted by the sight of Zoom and Thunder stuffing Queen Haven into a large sack. Izzy was there, sitting on the throne and ordering them to seal it as tight as they possibly could. The pegasus monarch was yelling in protest, but she could barely be heard inside the bag as they tied it close with a knot.

Upon seeing their shocked reactions, the hyperactive unicorn grinned sheepishly. “Whoops! Sorry, you guys weren’t supposed to come yet! We were gonna take Queen Haven down to the dungeons so that you could rescue her!”

“The dungeons?!” Misty couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “But why?!”

“Since nopony volunteered to be The Maniac,” Izzy explained. “I decided that I would volunteer and get us a head start! That way you wouldn’t have to worry about figuring out who would play who. Now FEAR ME!!!” She giggled. “Kidding. But still, I will destroy you and your daughter, and claim the reign of Zephyr Heights for all unicorn kind!!”

“Hold it right there, adorable and lovable Maniac!” Alphabittle shouted, instantly getting into character. “My daughter Misty and I have come to rescue my beloved!” He turned towards her. “Misty, get into position!”

“Oh!” Misty realized. The game was still going, and she had to get into the groove as well. “Your reign is over, Maniac!! By the powers that be, we challenge you to a duel for the throne!!”

Quickly, she ran over towards her father and got into a defensive stance. It felt a bit awkward at first, but her mind soon adjusted to the rules of the game. The atmosphere was intense. She could feel her heart pounding in a way she hadn’t before. This was great. She felt so alive. This was what adventure felt like, and she was loving every single second of it.

A determined smile lit up her face and she prepared to duke it out with the “Maniac” for the fate of the kingdom. Fighting alongside her father, even if it was just make believe, was the greatest Sire’s Day she could have ever asked for. This was the best day of her life, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. She stomped her hooves on the floor in a challenging manner and prepared to charge! But just then-

“Izzy, stop!! We’re not ready yet!!”

The doors to the throne room burst open and Sunny ran up to them, followed by Pipp, Zipp, and Hitch. They all had panicked expressions on their faces and were sweating like they had just run a marathon. Zipp seemed angry beyond all belief, whereas the others just looked very concerned.

“I told you guys to just listen to me and work together!” Zipp shouted. “But did you listen?! No, because of course you don’t!! You never do!! Izzy, you’re not The Maniac!!”

Izzy looked pretty crestfallen at that. “Aww, I’m not? But I practiced for the part and everything! Can’t you all give me a chance?”

“Hitch was supposed to be The Maniac!!” Sunny reminded her bluntly, causing the sheriff to gasp in horror. “It was supposed to be a secret earth pony uprising, not unicorns! That was the plot twist! It had it all written out in my script!”

“I’m a law-abiding sheriff!!” Hitch protested. “Never in a thousand moons would I ever agree to have my name slandered through the mud like this, even just for a game!!”

“Not even for one of your best friends?!” Pipp accused him. “How DARE you?!!”

“Oh, so NOW you care about Misty?!” Zipp yelled. “I have been dealing with your antics ALL DAY, with you constantly trying to sabotage Misty and get her to sing at Mane Melody!!”

“Wait, that’s where the alternate trail led?” Alphabittle asked. “Huh. You know, I think I wouldn’t’ve minded going there too. But it was ultimately your choice, Misty.”

Misty stood there, unmoving. Her thoughts were spiraling out of control like a tornado. The perfect day she had envisioned was crumbling before her eyes faster than a millisecond. Everything had been going so well except for a few minor hiccups, and they were both having so much fun. Now it was all falling apart, and she could do nothing but watch her friends fight.

“We didn’t tell Izzy what her role was, nopony knew what to do AT ALL!! And now we don’t even know where Mom’s gonna go!!” Zipp finished furiously. “This day has been a complete DISASTER because none of you listened to my instructions!!”

“We could still put her in the dungeon-“ Pipp offered.

“THAT’S MEANINGLESS!!” Zipp exploded, startling her. “All I wanted to do was give Misty, my new stepsister, the absolute perfect day she always wanted!! And you guys just had to muck it up!! You couldn’t agree on anything, even when I gave you all THE PERFECT OUTLINE TO COMBINE YOUR IDEAS AND WORK TOGETHER!!!”

“Guys…” Misty tried to say softly.

“Oh, so now it’s my fault?!” Pipp shot back. “Maybe if you came up with an actual step by step plan, then none of us would have felt the need to fill in the blanks in the first place!!”

“Guys…”

“I agree with Pipp,” Sunny said, her tone barely containing the rage she was feeling. “You barely gave us anything to work with, and then now you’re mad at us for trying to do the steps you clearly didn’t think of ahead of time!!”

“Well, I’m doing the best I can!! This was all sprung on me last minute!!”

“Guys…”

“That’s no excuse!!”

“THIS WHOLE CASE IS CLOSED!!” Hitch bellowed. “I DEMAND THIS INVESTIGATION BE CEASED IMMEDIATELY!!!”

“GUYS!!!” Misty screamed at the top of her lungs, startling everypony present. Tears filled her eyes and she blinked them back hurriedly. She sniffled, feeling the weight of everything crash down upon her. She couldn’t take it anymore. “I can’t believe you ponies!! All I wanted was the perfect day to spend with my Dad!! And you couldn’t even let me do that!!“

The other ponies stood there, frozen in shock at her outburst. They looked at each other with regret as fresh tears spilled out of the unicorn’s eyes.

“I just wanted a perfect day to remember…” she continued, sniffling. “A day that I could look back and say, ‘that actually went perfectly! For once, I’m not the one who messed everything up!!’ I guess even that’s too much for you all to bear, huh?!!!”

“Misty-“ Alphabittle began to put a comforting hoof on his daughter’s shoulder, but before he could do so, she sprinted out of the throne room and down the hallway.

Before long, she was gone.