I swear, they were right here...

by bahatumay

Rating: everyone
Tags: My Little Pony: A New Generation, Mane 5, Slice of Life
Length: 1005

The magic came back. So did some other things.

Sunny Starscout may have brought the magic back to Equestria, but there was still so much to learn about this new, magical world. There were other things still waiting to be discovered, things that had remained hidden.

Things that liked mangoes.

Written for the 1k Word Contest, Slice of Life category.

Published 2024-07-12 18:30:01 UTC
Last updated 2024-07-12 18:30:01 UTC

Chapter 1

Zipp opened the fridge and stuck her head inside. She frowned and shifted a few things around before turning and slamming the door shut with a wing. “Ok, who took my mango smoothie?” she asked the room at large. She narrowed her eyes at her first suspect. “Pipp?”

Pipp let her head hang back. “I ate your cookie once, Zipp,” she said exasperatedly. “We were fillies. Let it go.”

Zipp huffed, but acceded. “Misty?” she tried.

Misty looked up, startled. “Sorry! I, no, wait…” She checked under the lid to confirm what she knew. “No, not me.”

Zipp rolled her eyes. Misty’s first instinct was still to apologize, no matter what had happened. “Izzy?”

“If it’s not Dreamy Greenie, it’s not for me-nee!” Her brow furrowed as she processed what she’d just said. “Wait.”

“Well, somepony took it.”

“Don’t worry, Zipp,” Sunny said, hopping down. “I’ll just make you another one.”

Zipp grunted and hopped onto a stool. She wasn’t about to just let this mystery go, but it was always easier to think with a smoothie in hoof.

Sunny opened the pantry, scanning the shelves. Then, she checked the counters, opened another cupboard, then checked in a drawer. Her ears flicked.

“Sunny?” Zipp questioned.

“I can’t find them,” Sunny said, confused. “They’re just… gone.”

“I guess that’s why they call it a man-go instead of a man-stay,” Izzy mused.

“It's not like they could just walk away,” Pipp said, getting down to help look. “Maybe Sparky turned them into something else.”

“I don’t think so,” Zipp said, flying over to join the search. “He’s been out with Hitch since last night, and we obviously had them earlier today.”

But the mangoes were nowhere to be found.

“Alright. My current theory is that somepony took the mangoes. And just the mangoes. Without anypony noticing. Which is a little weird when I say all that out loud. But there’s no other explanation.”

Izzy gasped. “Unless I ate them in my sleep!”

Zipp rolled her eyes. “There’s no other rational explanation,” she amended.

“But who would take just the mangoes?” Sunny asked, her eyes roaming over the multitude of other delicious fruits she had.

“I don’t know.” Her eyes narrowed. “But I’m going to find out.”

Misty opened the door. Her eyes scanned the room, and she hesitated. “Um, Zi- eek!” She yelped as she was quickly dragged behind the couch.

“Shh!” Zipp hissed. “I’ve set some traps to catch our mango thief, and I don't want to catch you, instead.”

“Oh. You don't have to worry about that,” Misty said. “They’re all pretty obvious.”

Zipp looked at her and raised her eyebrow.

Misty blushed slightly, hoping she hadn't come across as offensive. “Well, I mean, look, the tripwire there is pretty obvious, the lasso isn't disguised at all, and the net there casts a shadow.”

“What, nothing about the board?” Zipp asked flatly.

“It does draw attention from the bowl of paint, but the red, is, uh, very visible. Anypony who gets caught in any of these would probably have to be blind, or…”

Suddenly, there was a clatter as the traps went off. Zipp's head shot up over the couch, only for her ears to drop as she recognized the victim. “Or very distracted?” she finished dryly.

“Ziiiiiiipp!” came Pipp’s frustrated cry, her legs flailing wildly. “Get me down from here!”

“Wow, Misty,” Zipp said appreciatively as the unicorn joined her hiding place behind the couch. “You’ve got some great trap-setting skills.”

Misty chuckled nervously, remembering exactly how she'd honed these skills. “Yeah, I had a little practice trying to catch Sparky.”

“Right,” Zipp said. Her ears flicked as she remembered that whole situation. “How did you catch him, anyway?”

“Oh, uh, it was actually easier than I thought it would be,” Misty said, becoming slightly more confident that she wouldn't be scolded. “It was almost like everything just… happened. First, I-”

Pipp huffed as she scrubbed her phone once more, but it was no use. She tossed the red-stained cloth away and sighed. The paint had won; her case was unsalvageable. Oh well. It was a nice case while it had lasted.

“-and then from the closet, I just took-”

But Pipp was nothing if not prepared. She was already scrolling through a list of possible replacements. “Ooh, that one’s cute,” she mused.

“-but obviously I couldn't just do that, so I had to find-”

Her story was interrupted by a crash and clatter.

“That’d better not be Izzy,” Zipp said, pulling herself over.

It was not Izzy. Instead, the pony trapped by her hind leg was unlike any they'd seen before. Her fur was gray, her ears were tufted with fur, and her wings were a dark purple, and that wasn't even the strangest part. Her purple wings had no feathers, and were long and pointed. Her eyes had slitted pupils, and were a golden yellow.

“Is that a pegasus?” Misty asked.

“Not like one I’ve ever seen,” Pipp said, surreptitiously taking a picture.

Zipp neared slowly, wings flared but curious. “What are you?” she asked.

The pony tilted her head and extended her tongue to get more of the mango that had been used as bait.

“Hungry,” Zipp surmised. She flipped out her phone and started verbally taking notes. “Alright. Subject is apparently equine, with a proclivity for fruit and very strange wings.”

The pony paused her efforts for the mango and gave her a flat look. “My wings are normal,” she said snippily. “Your wings are weird with all those feathers.”

“You can talk,” Zipp said slowly.

“I can siiiing!” she sang, and then let out a piercing, “Eeeeeee!”

The three ponies looked at each other. That... might have qualified as singing?

The door burst open and Sunny ran in, drawn by the strange noise. Her eyes widened and she let out an excited “Eeeheeheehee!~” of her own as she pranced in place.

Zipp exhaled slowly. “This is going to be a long day,” she murmured.