Family

They all split up and began asking every pony that they encountered various questions to see if they were under mind control or not. This caused them to get a lot of weird looks, especially from Posey.

Sunny then ran into Misty. “Misty, is that you? Is that REALLY you?”

“Of course it’s me.” Misty replied with a confused look. “Why wouldn’t it be me?”

Sunny let out a sigh. “It’s a long, strange story.”

“You want to talk about strange? Try talking to Pipp.”

“Why?”

“I tried talking to her earlier, but she just completely blew me off. In fact, it seemed like she was in a trance or something.”

Sunny’s eyes went wide. “Misty, where did you see Pipp going?”

“Towards the Brighthouse. Why do you ask?”

“There’s no time to explain! I’ll go find Izzy and Hitch. You go find Zipp, then meet us at the Brighthouse!” Sunny and Misty then took off running to find their friends.

Meanwhile, Allura and Twitch snuck into the Brighthouse. They followed Pipp up the stairs to the top where the Friendship crystal was.

“Good. Now fly up and retrieve the crystal.” Allura commanded.

“Yes mistress.” Pipp replied while still in a state of mind control. Pipp then flew up and grabbed the Friendship crystal. She then gave it to Allura.

After the Friendship crystal was removed from the Brighthouse, a shockwave was sent throughout Equestria. All of the magic in Maretime Bay, Bridlewood, and Zephyr Heights disappeared. Pegasi fell to the ground, Earth ponies were unable to summon plants, and Unicorns found that their horns were now useless.

Pipp snapped out of her mind control spell. “Wha..what happened? What’s going on?”

“You have given me just what I need.” Allura said. She then gave the Friendship crystal to Twitch for him to hold onto. Twitch then jumped onto Allura’s back, and she raced down the stairs and out of the Brighthouse. As soon as she was outside however, Allura found herself blocked by Sunny and her friends.

“We won’t let you get away with this, Allura!” Zipp shouted.

“Yeah! We won’t let you conquer Equestria!” Said Hitch.

Allura had had enough. “SHUT UP!!! I don’t want to conquer Equestria or destroy it! I want to go home!”

“HOME?!” Everypony said in unison.

Pipp came running out of the Brighthouse. “OH! You have to tell your story! It will be great for my podcast!” Pipp then took out her phone.

Allura sighed and smacked her paw against her face. “Fine. I was born in a land very far from here. It was a snow filled land. Everyday I would go out and play with my brother, Alterro. One day, we came across a strange crystal in the snow. I touched it, and a portal opened up. I tried to get away, but I was sucked in. That was the last time that I saw Alterro.”

Izzy broke out crying. “That is SO sad!”

“Anyway, I arrived in a land filled with crystal ponies, but the crystal that brought me there was gone. I was alone and scared. The only friend that I was able to make was Twitch. I then discovered a gem that allowed me to control the crystal ponies. I ordered them to find the crystal that had brought me there. And then you all showed up.”

“You were enslaving ponies!” Zipp shouted. “We had to stop you!”

“I was going to let them go when the crystal was found!” Allura said defensively. “It was only after you freed them and took away the mind control gem that I figured out it was actually the crystal I needed to get home! I am such a fool!” Allura then put her paw on top of her head and sighed.

“So that’s why you followed us back to Maretime Bay.” Sunny said.

“Exactly. I needed that crystal to get home, and I was going to stop at nothing to get it. But you ponies destroyed it when you used its magic to create your amusement park!”

Sunny and her friends all stared at each other. They had no idea that they had caused so much trouble for Allura.

“So, what do you intend to do with the Friendship Crystal?” Sunny asked.

Allura held up a crystal shard. “This is the last remaining piece of the crystal that took me away from my home. By combining it with the power of the Friendship crystal, I should be able to open a portal back home.”

“That’s it?” Zipp asked.

Allura nodded her head. “That’s it.”

“Will magic return to Equestria once you are done using the Friendship crystal?” Misty asked.

Allura shook her head. “I do not know. But please, my intention was never to cause harm. And I have no interest in even being in Equestria. I just want to go home.”

A moment of silence followed. Sunny then looked at Allura.

“You may use the friendship crystal.”

All of her friends gasped. Hitch confronted her. “Sunny, what are you doing?!”

“Allura just wants to go home and be with her family. I know how she feels. I have lost my mother and my father. I can be reunited with them, but Allura can be reunited with her brother.”

Allura then connected the shard to the Friendship crystal. Both of them lit up, then a beam of light shot out of the shard. The light turned into a portal that led to a snow filled land. Sanding just on the other side of the portal was another winged panther.

“Hello Allura.”

Allura’s eyes went wide. “Alterro? Is that really you?”

Alterro Smiled. “Yes, Allura. It’s been a long time.”

Allura reached through the portal and hugged Alterro tightly. Alterro hugged Allura tightly as well.

“I never gave up hope that I would see you again!” Allura said with tears streaming down her face.

“This is so heartwarming!” Izzy said.

Allura let go of Alterro and looked over at Sunny. “Farewell, Sunny.” Allura then looked over at Twitch. “Come on Twitch. Let’s go home.”

Twitch jumped onto Allura’s back. Allura then walked through the portal, and it sealed shut.

The Friendship crystal then fell to the ground. Sunny picked it up and returned it to the top of the Brighthouse. The crystal reactivated, and magic once again returned to Equestria.

“I guess we were wrong about Allura.” Hitch said.

“All she wanted was to be reunited with her family. I know how that feels.” Said Misty.

“We all make mistakes. The best we can do is learn from them and improve ourselves.” Sunny said with a smile.

In the distance, a star sparkled in the sky.