Equestria - Maretime Bay

One of the biggest advantages of living in a small town like Maretime Bay is the fact that you can pretty much find whoever you have to anytime and anywhere.

Is literally impossible not to know everyone that lives in town. Constantly seeing them everyday for years, sometimes even memorizing their routines even if it's by mistake; or simply being a guy that just exists and everyone loves him already, doesn't really matter because you'll still get to know everypony who's everypony.

And that's precisely the case for the important ponies from our story. In fact, two of them are looking for the other two. Pipp Petals and Hitch Trailblazer were looking for their unicorn friends, Izzy and Misty. Pipp was a pink Pegasus mare with purple mane, a musical note with a crown as a Cutie Mark, cozy wings that looked like clouds, green eyes like emeralds, and a golden bandana that almost looked like a tiara.

On the other hoof, Hitch was a yellow Earth Pony stallion with a golden shield that had a turquoise horseshoe inside like a Cutie Mark, aquamarine mane, brown eyes, and a sheriff belt with a badge since he's Maretime Bay's Sheriff. On his back, he's got a little turquoise baby dragon named Sparky Sparkeroni, his adopted son.

As the two ponies walked down the street, Pipp was checking her phone and decided to flap her wings and fly for the rest of the short trip. "You sure you know where those two are, Hitch?"

"I pass across the exact same corner every 3 hours during my rounds, Pipp, and I always find Izzy diving in the trash." Hitch replied. "If anything, it'll be weird she's not there. And if I know Misty, she probably tagged along to help however she could."

"Or she wants to be with somepony to ease her concern," Pipp rolled her eyes slightly. "I don't wanna sound harsh or anything, but does that mare ever stops feeling so anxious over everything?"

"She stopped a long time ago, actually," Hitch pointed out. "I mean, she even went to face Opaline, not even caring if she would lost her Cutie Mark that she earned after so long. She's gotten anxious again over the past two weeks, ever since her little incident with that door and the magic room."

"Yeah, well, a magic door with a book that can speak sounds kinda crazy..." Pipp pointed out, then she noticed Hitch and Sparky's deadpans. "But considering that we literally travelled to another dimension when we helped out Starlight Ridge... I guess a magic book that talks isn't that crazy."

"We can deal with what's gotten into Misty later," Hitch declared. "Right now, we have another thing to discuss. And you know that it's as important, if not even more."

"I'm leaning to believe it's actually more important..."

With everything said and done, the Sheriff and the younger princess turned to an alley and entered it. While the alley had nothing but trash containers, they saw one of the figures they were looking for, right in front of a trash container that wouldn't stop rumbling and moving.

The mare in front was a unicorn with light blue fur, her mane seemed like the dawn of a new day, she had certain pink zones on her body, a bracelet on her left hoof with her friends' Cutie Marks, and her Cutie Mark was a purple with orange butterfly. She was Misty, but she also had a strange homemade doll at her side. It was made of tennis ball, two nuts, a crystal, some cotton and a button. Misty called it "Madame Taffytail", and it was the result of Misty's isolation in Opaline's old liar.

Soon enough, from the trash container she was in front of came another unicorn mare. This one was a purple one with blue mane, a friendship bracelet on her left hoof, another one tied on her mane, purple eyes, and her Cutie Mark was a blue heart with a button in the middle and three needles in the top. But of course, since she came out of a trash container, there was some trash over her. This was Izzy, the other mare Pipp and Hitch were looking for.

"Oh, hello, friends!" Izzy told Pipp and Hitch with a huge smile, also waving her hoof. "Are you here looking for something long and sharp to cut metal as well?"

Pipp had ti resist the urge to puke right here and now after looking - and smelling - at Izzy like that. Meanwhile, Hitch smiled nervously and looked around, as if he wanted to ask for help.

"H-Hey, Izzy!" The Sheriff greeted back. "Um, no. We're not here looking for trash. We were looking for you, actually."

"Both of you," Pipp added, now looking at Misty with a sheepish smile.

"You were?" Misty asked a bit nervous. Not that she really minded if her friends were looking for her, but considering she's been feeling concerned lately, is no surprise she's this nervous.

"And why are you looking after something to cut metal, Iz?" Pipp asked confused to the other unicorn.

"Well, turns out that making a brand new slide for Hitch's critters is harder than I thought, and in order to make the slide the perfect size for them, I have to cut some strong metal!" Izzy explained with a smile.

"Can't you just borrow a flamethrower to melt the metal? Or buy a chainsaw?" Hitch questioned.

"Ooh... Yeah, that could work!" Izzy smiled, then she got out of the trash can. "Thanks, Hitchy! You're always a live savior~"

Hitch blushed slightly after hearing that and chuckled, scratching his neck a bit, then shook his head and focused again, also clearing his throat. "A-Anyways. I think that, now that the four of us are gathered, we should talk about the elephant in the room that Sunny and Zipp refuse to acknowledge."

"You mean the fact that they spent too much time together lately?" Misty questioned confused.

"The fact they spent more time together is not important, Misty," Pipp pointed out with a concerned frown. "Where they spend it is."

"Those two have been monitoring the Unity Crystals for three weeks!" Hitch said. "If they just went in there, I don't know, twice a week and that's it, I'll definitely believe those two are in some kind of secret romance or something. But three straight weeks, everyday, pretty much every two hours? Now that can't be normal."

"Well, didn't Zipp used to research on a daily basis about the Unity Crystals before the Maretime Bay Day incident?" Izzy pointed out. "Back then, she said magic was failing, and none of us noticed that."

That actually made the other three gasp, although Pipp did it more dramatically, and Misty gulped nervously, hugging tightly her doll while looking down in concern.

"I'm not saying magic's in danger again!" Izzy rushed to make herself clear, which made Hitch and Pipp sigh relieved, but Misty still felt unsure. "I'm just saying that, if Zipp and now Sunny as well are watching over the Unity Crystals, maybe something strange happened."

"But if it did, then why haven't they told us anything?!" Hitch questioned. "Sunny and I've been best friends since we were foals! She'll never hide this stuff from me... Would she?"

"Maybe none of them are sure of what they saw, and want to make sure they're not wrong before telling us why they were doing all of that," Pipp suggested. "I mean, last time, Zipp didn't had enough evidence to prove magic was failing, even though she was right. Maybe this time she's just gathering enough clues before telling us the rest!"

"...I don't know..." Misty finally spoke after remaining silent for most of the time. "I... I kind of feel like something's actually up with the Crystals, but I'm not sure..."

"What do you mean, Misty?" Izzy asked, confused but also concerned since she's been noticing Misty's attitude for days.

Misty bit her lower lip and hugged her doll a bit more tight than before. "...Any of you have noticed I've been more like my old self lately?"

The other three ponies looked at each other with wide eyes after she asked that, and none of them knew how to approach this subject as delicate as possible.

"You guys can be honest with me, really. I won't be mad or offended."

"...Well, now that you mention it... Yeah, it's been really hard to ignore," Izzy confessed with a sheepish smile.

"I mean, I didn't wanted to say anything, but if you're fine with it, then yeah. It's been a bit obvious," Hitch said next, chuckling sheepishly.

"It's been painfully evident, yeah," Pipp deadpanned, gaining glared from Hitch and Izzy. "What? She told us to be honest!"

"It's okay, Pipp. I'm not mad." Misty assured with a little smile. "I guess... I didn't wanted to tell this yet because I thought it was nothing, but if Sunny and Zipp are always checking the Crystals, then... I may have to say it now."

"Misty, what are you talking about?" Hitch asked confused.

"You're starting to scary us now..." Izzy confessed with a slight concerned frown.

"...Well... Look, for the past three weeks, I've been having strange nightmares," Misty confessed. "In all of them, a floating island comes out of nowhere, then someone really, really bad comes from that island and makes a massive chaos across Equestria. They even steal the Unity Crystals and all! And I... I... I thought it was just that, a nightmare..."

The other three ponies looked at each other, all of them both concerned and afraid of making the same question.

"...But?" Hitch finally spoke to cut the tension that was just raising up by the minute.

"...But I've been worried that it isn't one. I mean, a nightmare replying nonstop for three weeks can't just be that, can it?" Misty asked concerned. "And now, the fact that Zipp and Sunny are always watching over the Unity Crystals... It just makes me more worried that my nightmare's gonna turn out to be true!"

"...Well... A floating island sounds kinda cool, but someone evil coming out of it? That's not," Hitch said with concern.

"And it wanting to steal the Unity Crystals is bad, too," Pipp added, to which both Hitch and Sparky agreed.

"Why did you kept this for yourself?!" Izzy asked Misty. "We are your friends, Tea. We would never judge you nor think you're crazy! If anything, you should've told us this after the first time!"

"I know that, Izzy! But I was afraid that I would just worry you all with some dumb nightmare that might not mean anything... At least that's what I thought at first..."

"Well, you said it yourself," Hitch spoke before Izzy could do it again. "The same nightmare coming back for three straight weeks is everything but normal."

"And while I agree with Izzy that you should've told us this earlier, I can understand why it worried you telling us this," Pipp said with a little smile, then she frowned. "But now we still have to deal with our main problem: Sunny, Zipp and their strange routine of checking the Unity Crystals without telling us why."

Hitch seemed to be a bout to say something, but before he could, the four ponies felt their phones beeping. They all looked at each other confused, then proceed to take out their phones, noticing they received a message from Sunny in their group chat with Zipp and her.

The message said, "Everypony, come to the Crystal Brighthouse and meet us in the Crystal Room in 10 minutes. Zipp and I have something to show and yell you."

After they read the message, they looked at each other again. "Well, that's pretty convenient, but it's the good kind of convenient! Looks like we're finally getting our answers!" Pipp said with a smile.

"Maybe..." Hitch muttered with concern.

"But are we sure this is about the Crystals?" Izzy asked.

"Only one way to find out!" Misty said, putting her doll on her back. "Let's go to the Brighthouse."

The four ponies nodded, then they rushed towards the Crystal Brighthouse to meet with their friends.

Crystal Brighthouse

The whole group as a whole, known as the Mane 6, were in the Crystal Room of the Brighthouse, with the Unity Crystals floating behind Sunny and Zipp while the other four ponies and baby dragon looked at them.

"Thanks for coming in as fast as possible, everypony," Zipp choose to speak first. "We could've choose any other time to tell you this, or even wait until night to do so, but it's extremely important that we do it right now!"

"But before doing that, we wanna apologize first for our behavior these past three weeks," Sunny interfered with a sheepish smile. "We know all of you have noticed, and we also believe you all want an answer regarding that."

"Oh thank hoofness!" Pipp sighed in relief after hearing that.

"About time!" Hitch said with a deadpan.

"What took you so long?" Misty asked next.

"And here I thought you wouldn't tell us, sillies!" Izzy added with her usual cheery smile.

"The reason why Sunny and I've been checking over the Crystals everyday for the past three weeks is because the weirdest thing happened..." Zipp started.

She then brought out her phone and played the video she recorded of the Crystals vibrating and changing colors, then she showed it to the others, earning gasps from Pipp and Misty, while Hitch just raised an eyebrow confused and Izzy could only think on how pretty the lights looked around the Crystals.

"Aww, why didn't you showed me this before?! That lighting looks so good!" Izzy asked.

"Because we had to investigate and make sure that the Crystals were not suffering anything before telling you all," Sunny explained with a little smile.

"That, and we also were trying to figure out why the vibration seemed to affect our Cutie Marks and Sunny's Alicorn form," Zipp added, now showing a video she barely managed to record of her own Cutie Mark vibrating and "extending" into different directions, then switched to a video where Sunny's Alicorn form was glitching out of control.

"Oh... So I did saw you crashing against the Brighthouse that day..." Hitch cringed with low ears. "I thought I was just seeing things."

"Wait... Your Cutie Marks reacted like that, too?!" Pipp asked in shock with wide eyes.

Hearing that made Zipp and Sunny look at each other, also with wide eyes, then back at Pipp. "What do you mean with "too", sis?" The former asked.

"I was at Mane Melody doing Posey's mane, but when I went to look for some mane conditioner, I saw in the mirror that my Cutie Mark was doing the exact same thing yours is doing in the video!" Pipp explained. "And when I looked at everypony else in the salon, I saw theirs doing the same as well. We were all confused on why that happened, until it stopped."

"Now that you mention it, when I saw Sunny crashing into the Brighthouse while doing my rounds, I also noticed that my Cutie Mark was glowing." Hitch confessed. "I thought it was nothing, though, but if it happened to everypony else, then I guess I did wrong..."

"My Cutie Mark also glowed like that!" Izzy said. "I mean, it was pretty, but I thought that was just because I was really focused on my Unicycling project!"

"Mine also reacted like that, and I thought it was because it was failing or something!" Misty confessed as well. "But everypony was having these, too?"

"Hmm..." Zipp muttered, rubbing her chin with a hoof while thinking on all the possible conclusions to their current situation. "So everypony's Cutie Mark was reacting to the Crystals' vibration... And it also seemed to affect your Alicorn magic, Sunny."

"But was it only my magic specifically?" Sunny questioned, then looked at the rest of her friends. "Did any of you felt your magic failing as well?"

"Hmm.... Nope!" Izzy replied cheerfully.

"Nu-uh," Pipp shook her head.

"Me neither," Misty added next.

"I wasn't even using it," Hitch pointed out.

"Then something's definitely up with the Unity Crystals," Zipp stated, and that seemed to worry everypony else as well, but Misty and Sunny seemed to be the most affected ones.

On the one hand, Misty feared more and more that that horrible nightmare that kept repeating itself in her dreams incessantly every night would become a reality. Although she could not recognize what that evil creature that appeared was, she knew that it was the one who stole the Unity Crystals. Just thinking that such a thing could seriously happen was frightening, and even more so considering that Opaline's attempt to keep all the magic for herself was still recent, even if it was months ago.

On the other hand, Sunny was terrified at the thought that something could be wrong with the Crystals again. The last thing she wanted was to go back to those days where she was nothing more than an insignificant pony who dreamed of a better world. That world had been improved thanks to magic and the Crystals, and losing them would be bad for everyone, but especially for her.

She had already ignored a fault with them in the past. She wouldn't allow herself to do the same idiotic thing twice.

"How can we be so sure about that, though?" Pipp questioned. "They just vibrated and glow in different colors, but it did nothing to us!"

"Maybe not, but it did affected our Cutie Marks, as well as my Alicorn magic," Sunny pointed out. "We cannot allow ourselves to low our guard if we're before a possible new failure!"

"...Um... Sunny, Zipp?" Misty called out, making the two mentioned mares turn to her. "I don't think this is really gonna help with what's up with the Crystals, but I've been having a horrible nightmare that I'm not so sure if it's just that, or a warning."

This made Zipp and Sunny look at each other, then back at Misty. "What do you mean?" Zipp asked, also taking out her phone to record her words.

"Every night, for the past three weeks, I've been having the same nightmare," Misty confessed once again. "I see a floating island coming out of nowhere, then someone that comes from the island makes chaos in Equestria, and then they steal the Unity Crystals! I-I can't say for sure what is that bad creature, and I kept this to myself because I thought it was nothing, but..."

"Let me guess: The fact that it keeps repeating itself every night, plus everything we just shared about the Crystals vibrating, makes you think it can be some kind of premonition?" Zipp finished for her.

Misty blinked a few times, then shook her neck sheepishly. "Yeah... I wasn't going to use those exact words, but it's pretty much where I wanted to go, anyways."

"So someone evil that comes from a floating island could be after the Unity Crystals..." Sunny muttered concerned, then she turned to see said Crystals, and then she nodded with a determinate look. "I know that you say is just a dream, Misty... But I'm not going to take risks. Not after what happened before Maretime Bay Day. We gotta keep the Unity Crystals safe from anypony that tries to steal them! They're the symbol of friendship and unity all across Equestria, the very reason why everypony got back together! And most importantly, the source of our magic!"

As she declared this las thing, her Alicorn form was summoned. No one was really surprised for this at this point, since they're already used to her transformations, but they were still impressed all the same.

"If somecreature is after our Crystals, we must protect them as the new protectors in Equestria!" Sunny declared determined. "And we're not gonna let anypony steal our Crystals. As long as we're together, there's nothing we can't do!"

"Yeah!" Everypony else cheered in unison, all decided to keep the Unity Crystals safe.

If only they knew that this is going to be their hardest task so far...

Author's Note

It's still gonna take a while before the groups meet each other, I'm gonna warn that.

There's really nothing else I can say, so thanks for reading. See you next episode!