> A New Generation: Friendship is Magic > by Sky_Wishes > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prologue: The Mare in the Moon > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, There were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her powers to raise the sun at dawn; the younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects — all the different types of ponies. But as time went on, the younger sister became resentful. The ponies relished and played in the day her elder sister brought forth, but shunned and slept through her beautiful night. One fateful day, the younger unicorn refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young one's heart had transformed into a wicked mare of darkness: Nightmare Moon. She vowed that she would shroud the land in eternal night. Reluctantly, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to ponydom: The Elements of Harmony. Using the magic of The Elements of Harmony, she defeated her younger sister and banished her permanently in the moon. The elder sister took on responsibility for both sun and moon… “…And harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since.” Sunny heaved a happy sigh and clutched the book close to her chest. She knew that she probably should’ve gone to bed hours ago— There was still so much stuff she needed to do in the morning before the Summer Sun Celebration tomorrow! —but she couldn’t help it. The tale of the two alicorn princesses had been a favorite of Sunny’s ever since she was a little filly. Back when her dad was still alive, he used to read it to her every night before bed, and she’d fall asleep dreaming of meeting the beautiful Sun Princess who saved Equestria from darkness. Sometimes the Moon Princess would be there as well, and they’d use the Elements of Harmony to return her to normal. Then they’d play all day and all night, spreading friendship and harmony to all the ponies they met. Sunny giggled to herself at that thought. While it was unlikely that her fillyhood dreams would ever fully be realized, at least part of them would come true tomorrow, because Princess Celestia had decided to hold the 1000th Summer Sun Celebration right in Ponyville! Everypony knew and admired the benevolent yet reclusive princess tasked with raising the sun and moon, and tomorrow could be her only chance to meet her in person! Smiling at the thought of it, Sunny picked up another book. Predictions and Prophecies, one of her Dad’s favorites. With a smile on her face, she continued reading until she stumbled onto a peculiar paragraph. The Mare in the Moon: A myth from olden pony times. A powerful pony who wanted to rule Equestria. Defeated by the Elements of Harmony and imprisoned it the moon. Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about nighttime eternal. Sunny looked at the paragraph. She reread it once. Twice. She looked back at the legend of the two princesses that she’d been reading just minutes earlier. Back to Predictions and Prophecies. Back to the Legend. Predictions and Prophecies. The legend. Predictions and Prophecies. The legend… Finally Sunny’s eyes settled not on any particular book, but on the view outside her bedroom window. The moon hung high in the sky, and Sunny could make out the craters and seas of it’s surface. Craters and seas which coincidentally made up the shape of an alicorn. Sunny had heard of the Mare in the Moon before. When she was a filly, her Dad had always let her look through his telescope and pointed out the shape the craters made. Even nowadays, when she volunteered at the old folk’s home, she occasionally heard the residents chatting amongst themselves about the legend. Both the Mare in the Moon and Nightmare had wanted to bring eternal night. Both were defeated by the Elements of Harmony. Both were imprisoned in the moon. Sunny had read the legend about Nightmare Moon about a thousand times by now. How had she not made the connection before? Wait a minute… Sunny’s eyes darted back to Predictions and Prophecies. Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape… Everypony knew that the longest day of the year was the Summer Sun Celebration. And since this year was the millenial celebration, that meant that the day that Nightmare Moon would return… …was tomorrow. Sunny scrambled to her feet. She had to do something! But what could she do? Should she warn Hitch? Warn Princess Celestia? How would she even do that? Write a letter? It wasn’t like she had some sort of magical direct communication line to the princess. How was she supposed to guarantee that it would get to her in time? And even if it did, what would they do? How had Nightmare Moon been defeated the last time? Sunny’s eyes lit up. Of course! The elements! She quickly picked up Predictions and Prophecies again. It was supposed to be full of knowledge on this kind of stuff, so surely it would have more information on— Elements of Harmony: See Mare in the Moon Sunny nearly threw the book to ground in a fit of frustration. Well that wasn’t any help at all. Still, it wasn’t like those two books were the only two books she owned. She turned back towards her old bookshelves. There has to be more information on the elements somewhere around here… > Sounding the Alarm > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Sunny. Sunny. Sunny! Are you in there?” Sunny cracked her bleary eyes open. Her muscles ached from sleeping on the ground, and she let out a small groan as someone pushed her bedroom door open. “Ugh. There you are, Sunny. I’ve been looking for you all morning.” A familiar male voice rang in her ears. “Don’t tell me you stayed up all night reading again. I told you that being up so late was bad for you. And you shouldn’t leave all your books strewn about the floor like this!” Sunny lifted her head off the ground. “Hitch…?” The yellow stallion continued his rant as he returned various books to their proper shelves and papers to their desks. “Yes, it’s me. You have got to start taking better care of yourself. Have you even had breakfast yet?" Sunny's stomach growled. She shook her head. "No..." Hitch gave Sunny a pointed look. "Listen Sunny. I understand that you really love this stuff. But you have a responsibility to yourself to get enough rest. And it's not even just about you this time! Everypony in Ponyville is counting on you for refreshments for the celebration tonight.” "Celebration...?" Sunny rubbed her eyes, trying to process what her foalhood friend was saying. "What celebrat—" She cut herself off as her mind finally caught up with her. The Summer Sun Celebration. Nightmare Moon. The elements! “Hitch!” Sunny jumped up suddenly, scattering papers across the floor as she did. “I need to tell you something! You see, I was reading—” “—I know that. And as I’ve been saying, you need to stop doing that. I can’t keep coming around reminding you to take care of yourself.” “But I found something really important—“ “—And I’m really busy today, too. I still need to have Zipp clear the clouds, check Izzy’s decorations, make sure Pipp’s ready to sing tonight. And that’s not even including—” “—But everyone in Ponyville could be in danger, Hitch!” At the sound of the ‘D’ word, Hitch stopped in his tracks and swiveled around to face Sunny. “Danger?” He asked in his ‘sheriff voice’. “What kind of danger are we talking about? Stampeding cattle? Parasprites? Sleeping Dragon?” “No, it’s Nightmare Moon!” “Nightmare—” Hitch’s serious face shifted into one of incredulity. “Nightmare Moon? From that old bedtime story?” Sunny nodded. “Yes, but she’s not just a bedtime story! She’s real, and she’s going to return tonight.” Hitch remained blank-faced. “Nightmare Moon. From the foal’s bedtime story. Is going to come here tonight.” Sunny nodded again. “Yes. Now I’ve been doing some research, and the only things that can defeat her are these artifacts called the Elements of Harmony. Now, I couldn’t find much information on them, but—” “Sunny.” Hitch put his hoof on Sunny’s shoulder. “Listen to me. You’re one of my best friends. We’ve known each other since we were foals. So listen to me when I tell you I say this with your best interests in mind. I think all these books are starting to get to you.” Sunny glared at him, shoving his foot off. “What? No! This is serious! If you look at the story of the Mare in the Moon—” “—Which is also just a legend.” Hitch interrupted “And besides, if there was really some scary immortal alicorn who wanted to plunge Equestria into eternal night, don’t you think the Princess would warn us?” Sunny couldn’t come up with an answer to that, and simply cast her gaze on the floor. He sighed. “Listen, I’m not sure what sort of bad dreams you had last night, but like I said, I have a lot to supervise before the celebration tonight. Are you going to be okay? Because if you need to take a day to rest, I can always get somepony else to cover refreshments.” “But I’m not just—” Sunny paused as she carefully considered Hitch’s words. A small smile began to spread across her face. “Actually, Hitch, you know what? I think I will need somepony to cover for me.” She let out an exaggerated yawn. “I did stay up really late last night, and I want to make sure I’m rested up for the party tonight. So if it’s not too much trouble…” Hitch smiled. “Of course not. Anything for a friend!” He turned around to walk out the bedroom door. “I’ll get right to it, so get some sleep, okay? I’ll see you tonight.” “Bye, Hitch!” Sunny said, as he walked out the door. As soon as it was shut, she turned back to her desk. “Well Hitch,” Sunny said with a smile. “If you won’t believe me, maybe there’s somepony out there who will.” The small town of Ponyville was buzzing with excitement. All around, ponies were cleaning, decorating, and generally doing their part to make sure that the festivities were the absolute best that they could possibly be. It seemed like there was no way that anything could go wrong. Which was precisely why it was so surprising to see a certain orange earth pony mare skating through the streets, megaphone in hoof. “Attention everypony! Nightmare Moon is coming! We need to prepare!" Sunny rolled through the streets, determined to reach as many ponies as possible. So Hitch didn't believe her. Fine. She'd just find somepony else who would. Ponyville was full of other ponies; surely one of them would have to listen to her. "Nightmare Moon is coming everypony! we need to— Ooof!" At that moment, Sunny ran straight into a makeshift wooden stage. "Ugh..." "Sunny?" Sunny looked up to see the face of a familiar pink pegasus. "Pipp!" She said, jumping to her feet. "Oh, hey Sunny!" She replied, swooping down to face her. "How are you doing? Do you like the stage? I made it myself." "Um, Yeah. It's very nice, but—" "So, what's all this Nightmare Moon stuff about? Is it some sort of Nightmare Night promotion? 'cause I love your Bloody Orange smoothie as much as the next pony, but I think you might've mixed up your holidays?" Sunny shook her head. "No! She's real, Pipp!" "Who's real?" "Nightmare Moon!" Pipp gave Sunny a blank look before she burst out into laughter. "That's a good one, Sunny!" Sunny growled and stamped her hoof on the ground. "I'm not joking, Pipp! This is serious! Nightmare Moon is coming, and we need to find the Elements of Harmony to defeat her, and—" "Sunny Starscout!" Oh no. Sunny turned around to see the town mayor, Phyllis, storming angrily towards her. “Oh hey,” she said wearing a sheepish expression. “What brings you here?” Phyllis snorted. “What brings me here? What brings me here? I’m here because somepony’s trying to incite a panic in this town with her wild stories about an old mare’s tale! Do you know how many parents have come to me complaining of their foals crying because they’re scared that Nightmare Moon is coming to gobble them up?” Sunny folded her ears back. “I’m sorry. But I’m not trying to scare anypony, honest! You see, I was looking through my dad’s old books, and—” “Bup, bup, bup! I don’t want to hear it. I’m under enough pressure as it is trying to make sure that everything goes perfectly, and the last thing I need is you messing things up with your usual antics.” “But—” “—No buts! If this keeps up, I’ll have to have you banned from this year’s Summer Sun Celebration!” “What? Mator Cloverleaf, you can’t do that!” Pipp said, suddenly flying forward. “Sunny didn’t mean any harm!” Phyllis scoffed. “She never does. And yet somehow it keeps happening.” “Come on. Cut her some slack. I’m sure she’ll tone it down with the whole ‘Nightmare Moon’ stuff, right Sunny?” Sunny nodded vigorously. “Right! Of course I will!” Phyllis glared at Sunny before turning back to Pipp. “Fine,” she said with a sigh. “But I’d better not hear of any more incidents, or else.” And then with another a scoff and a flick of her tail, she turned around and walked off, leaving the two mares by themselves once more. Sunny heaved a sigh of relief and turned to face Pipp. “Thanks for sticking up for me there. I’m glad she likes you.” “Pshhh, it’s no problem!” Pipp said with a grin. “Although you might wanna tone the publicity stunt down a tad. Wouldn’t want to scare anymore foals.” Sunny growled and stamped her hoof. “Argh, Pipp! this isn’t a publicity stunt! This is real! Nightmare Moon really is coming, and we need to prepare!” “Prepare by doing what, exactly? How are we supposed to go up against her?” “Um— Well—” Sunny stammered. “We could— Or maybe—” Pipp drapped a fluffy wing over her back. “Just relax, Sunny! I’m sure even if Nightmare Moon was coming, Princess Celestia would’ve told us!” Right. Hitch had said that too, and it was the one piece of the puzzle that didn’t quite fit. If Nightmare Moon was coming, why wasn’t the Princess doing anything about it? There was no way she could just not know, right? She was Princess Celestia, for goodness’ sake! Sunny looked down. “I guess that makes sense…” Pipp beamed. “Right? There’s no need to worry! So just relax, do your ‘Sunny Thang’, and whatever you do, don’t forget to come see me perform tonight!~” Sunny forced a small smile. “Yeah… I’ll do that.” “Great! Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some practice to get back to.” And with that said, Pipp spread out her wings and flew back onto the stage. Sunny, on the other hand, was left to wander the streets on Ponyville, looking at everypony excitedly setting up for the Celebration. A dark pit formed in her stomach as she watched them. Didn’t they know how much danger they were all in? Maybe Pipp and Hitch are right, though. Maybe I am worrying over nothing. “Psst!” Sunny looked up. Where did that come from? She looked around, but the streets seemed mostly deserted. So where did… “Over here!” Sunny scanned the area around her. There were a few bushes and some ponies who were preoccupied with the planning, but not much— One of the bushes moved. Normally, Sunny would’ve blamed the wind, but the skies were completely clear. So without many other options, she slowly and carefully approached the bush. “Hello?” “Hey.” A head popped out of the bushes, and Sunny jumped back slightly. The voice gave a chuckle, and to her surprise, Sunny recognized it. “Zipp?” “That’s me.” The sleek white pegasus climbed out of bushes, deftly shaking off the leaves that clung to her wings and fur as she did so. Sunny tilted her head. “What were you doing in the bushes? Aren’t you supposed to be clearing the clouds?” “I needed to make sure nopony heard us. Plus, I finished with the clouds a while ago.” She leaned into Sunny’s ear and lowered her voice to a whisper. “I wanted to hear your theory on Nightmare Moon.” “You do?” Sunny squealed, earning her an annoyed look from Zipp. She felt her face heat up. “Sorry,” she whispered. “You do?” Zipp nodded. “I’m curious.” She pulled out her notebook. “You said something about these Elements of Armory?” “Harmony. But yeah!” She pulled her Dad’s book out of her saddlebag. “According to the legend, that’s what Princess Celestia used to defeat her last time. But I’m not sure where they are. Or what they are, really.” She beamed. “Either way, it’s so nice to finally have somepony who believes me!” “Well…” Sunny looked up. Zipp’s face was scrunched up into an unreadble expression. “Zipp?” Zipp pawed her hoof at the ground. “It’s just… it would be weird if there was this huge looming threat and Princess Celestia didn’t tell us, y’know?” Sunny felt her heart sink. “Right…” “I’m not saying that you’re definitely wrong. But I am a little skeptical, just to be clear.” “Oh.” That made sense, at least. And help was better than no help, regardless of the reasoning. “So what do we do now?” Zipp grinned. “What we do now is launch an investigation. And lucky for you I know just where to start.” > Golden Oaks > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “The library! Of course! Why didn’t I think of it before?” Standing besides Sunny, Zipp grinned once more. “I know right? If you're looking for information, you gotta come to Golden Oaks. Now come on.” She gave Sunny’s flank a slight nudge with her own before trotting up to the door, Sunny eagerly following behind. *tap tap tap* Zipp rapped her hoof against the door three times before stepping back and waiting for a response. However, none came. Zipp turned to Sunny, who simply shrugged. She tried again *tap tap tap* still nothing. Sunny tilted her head. “Do you think she didn't hear us, or...?” Her words were cut off by the slow creak of the door opening, and an old unicorn mare emerged. “Come in, come in.” She said before disappearing back into the darkness. Sunny turned to Zipp. “Should we...?” Zipp nodded. “It's okay. Elder Flower can be... odd sometimes, but she's totally harmless. Come on, let's go.” She walked through the doorway, Sunny nervously trailing behind. To Sunny’s surprise, the inside of the library was pitch black. Even as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she could only see the faint outlines of the bookshelves. “Um, Elder Flower?” she asked. “Yes, dearie?” “Why are all the lights off?” Elder flower gave a short chuckle. “Why for the party, course!” “What party?” “The 'Welcome to Ponyville party' for the new pony!” “...Elder Flower?” “Yes?” “There aren't any new ponies coming to Ponyville today.” “Really? Huh, I must've mixed up my stories again. Oh well!” She lit up her horn, and all the lights turned on, revealing the rows and rows of books stacked up high. “There we go! I hope you ponies find what you're looking for! I suggest checking under 'E'.” With that said, she trotted off to the upstairs, humming a little ditty as she did so. Sunny tilted her head once more. “What was...?” “No clue.” Zipp replied. “But under 'E' is probably where we'd find stuff on the Elements of Harmony, so maybe we should check there first?” Sunny nodded. “Good idea. You do that. I'll try to learn more about Nightmare Moon. Maybe I can learn more about this prophecy. Sound good?” She raised her hoof up for Zipp to bump. “Sounds good.” Zipp replied, reciprocating the gesture, before spreading her wings and flying toward the 'E' section. “Good luck!” Sunny nodded before turning towards the shelves. “Okay Sunny. All you have to do is find information on Nightmare Moon. Easy-peasy. I mean, there's an entire holiday dedicated to her! How hard could it be?” As it turns out, very hard. Sunny had looked everywhere: Old history books, books on myths and legends, even Foal's Nightmare Night stories, but they all basically said the same thing; Younger sister gets jealous of older sister, tries to plunge Equestria into eternal night, gets banished to the moon. (The foal's stories also had some passages about how foals had to give up some of their candy in order to avoid getting eaten. Sunny figured that she could discount those parts.) Okay, so there's nothing here, so think! What did Dad tell you about Nightmare Moon? Think Sunny, think! Think back... to all those years ago... “Sunny, it's bedtime! Are you ready for your nightly story?” A young Sunny, only a few moons old, hopped up and down on her bed as her dad came to tuck her in. “Yes! I'm ready! I'm ready!” Argyle laughed. “Alright, alright. Settle down now.” he said, seating himself beside Sunny's bed. “Now what story would you like to hear today? Do you want me to tell you the legend of Nightmare Moon again?” Sunny shook her head. “Nuh-uh.” “Oh, really?” Argyle replied, raising an eyebrow as he did so. “Why's that? I thought that one was your favorite.” “It is, it is! But I was doing some thinking.” Sunny reached out to grab a folded piece of paper on her bedside table, which she handed to her dad. He unfolded it to reveal a drawing depicting an alicorn mare with long pink hair running alongside a pitch black alicorn. Both ponies had wide smiles on their faces, and it was clear that they were both enjoying themselves. “What’s this, Sunny?” “It’s the Princess!” She chirped. “And Nightmare Moon! They used to be sisters and rule together, right? What was it like back then?” Argyle grinned. “Good question, Sunny! I admire your curiosity.” He walked over to the bookcase and pulled out a book with a worn leather cover and crinkled yellow pages. “Unfortunately, there aren't many surviving stories from that time period, but one of the ones we do have talks about their battle against a God named Discord.” Sunny's ears perked up. “The spirit of chaos and disharmony, right? I saw his statue when our class went on the Canterlot field trip!” Argyle nodded. “The very same. He had thrown Equestria into disarray with his cruel pranks. Blueberries grew to the size of houses, bears chirped instead of roared, and cotton candy clouds rained chocolate milk!” Sunny giggled. “Chocolate milk rain? That sounds funny!” Argyle shook his head, a grave expression on his face. “Oh, but it wasn't. Without proper water, crops couldn't grow properly, and ponies didn't have anything to eat. Because you see, Discord didn't think about others. He only cared about what he found funny. And unfortunately, that usually came at the cost of other ponies suffering.” “Oh.” Sunny's ears drooped. “That's not very nice.” “No, it wasn't. Thankfully, the Sun Princess and the Moon Princess arrived and defeated him with the power of the Elements of Harmony.” Sunny gasped. “The very same Elements that the Princess used to defeat Nightmare Moon?” “The very same. Using their power, they were able to turn him into a stone statue; the very same statue that you and your friends saw on your field trip.” Sunny cocked her head. “But I thought the Elements only banished people to the moon?” Argyle chuckled. “Apparently, they can do more than that. But with Discord defeated, ponykind was once again free to live in peace and harmony, ruled by the two princesses.” Sunny shut her eyes, imagining the scene. “That sounds amazing. But wait, how did the Moon Princess use the elements? I thought she was a bad pony.” “She wasn't always bad though. She used to be as kind and benevolent as her sister.” “Then why'd she turn bad?” “Jealousy can be a very powerful thing. Sometimes it can make monsters out of the best of us.” He planted a kiss onto Sunny's forehead. “Tell you what, Sunny-bunny. Tomorrow we can try and learn more about her. Does that sound good?” “Yeah!” “Alright, it's a plan. Goodnight, Sunny.” “Night, Dad...” Unfortunately, that research hadn't borne much fruit. Sure they learned the Moon Princess' name (Luna), and a few small details (Very loud, a bit of a prankster, said to walk through dreams), but nothing big. So another dead end. “Hey, Sunny!” She looked up to see Zipp flying down towards her, book in hoof. “Hi Zipp.” “Looks like you've got quite the pile over here.” Zipp said, landing beside her. “Found anything yet?” Sunny sighed. “Nothing that I didn't already know. What about you?” Zipp grinned. “Well lucky for you I was able to find this!” She placed the book she was holding on the table. “Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide. That's perfect! What does it say?” Zipp cleared her throat. “A-hem. 'There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known: Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty and Loyalty. The sixth is a complete mystery. It is said, the last known location of the five elements was in the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters, located in what is now the Everfree Forest.” The Everfree Forest. Sunny felt a shiver go up her spine just hearing the name. The most dangerous part of Ponyville, where nature ran wild without pony interference. Ponyville citizens were forbidden inside its borders without special permission from Hitch, not that anypony really wanted to go inside in the first place. “What's with these element names?” Zipp mused. “All these pictures depicted them as stones, but these names are all virtues. So say, if you're using the Element of Honesty, does it make you honest or do you need to be honest to use it?” “I'm guessing the latter option.” Sunny shrugged once more. “So what else is in there?” Zipp scanned the book. “There's some history of their previous uses, speculation on their origins, history of their uses... Not much else, though.” Sunny sighed again. “Well, I suppose it's better than nothing.” She stood up. “Come on, we'd better start looking someplace else.” Zipp nodded. “Okay. Hey Elder Flower?” “Yes, dearies?” The reply came from behind them, startling the two ponies. “You weren't— How did you—” Zipp quickly shook her head. “Never mind. I'm not even going to bother to try and solve that. Can we check out these books?” “That depends. Do ya have your library card on ya?” Zipp smirked, pulling out a small card. “You know I never leave home without it.” “Great! Then come me with to the checkout corner. But before you do, the Tree wanted me to give you two a message.” Sunny and Zipp exchanged confused looks. “Uh...” Zipp finally said. “The tree? Like the library?” Elder Flower shook her head. “Not this tree, sillies! The other one! In the forest!” “A tree in the forest wants to give us a message?” Zipp asked flatly. “Sure as sugar, sweetie!” “And that message is...?” “That you need to know that her spirit lives on in you. Also, that it's important to recycle. Now let's check out those books!” “Well that was... interesting.” Sunny said as soon as they were out of the library. “I mean, what do you think that cryptic message was? 'The tree's spirit lives on in us'? Elder Flower said that she wasn't talking about the library tree, but I'm not sure what other tree she could be talking about. What do you think, Zipp?” No answer. Sunny turned to see the pegasus trailing slightly behind her, face buried in Elements of Harmony reference guide. “Zipp? Zipp! Zipp!” “Sorry! Sorry.” Zipp said, putting the book away. “It's just, I feel like even with all our research I feel like we're still no closer to figuring things out. I almost wish there was a way we could just ask the Princess ourselves so we could—” Zipp was cut off by a purple unicorn running full-speed into her. Plates, paintbrushes, and books went flying to the air before landing on the ground in a book-plate-paintbrush-pony pile. “Ugh...” Zipp groaned. “What was that?” A giggle. “Sorry!” A familiar high pitched voice said from beneath the pile. “Izzy?” Zipp replied. The unicorn sat up. “That's my name! Don't wear it out.” Sunny trotted over to the two mares, reaching out to help Zipp up. “Are you guys okay? That looked really rough.” “I'm fine.” Zipp replied. “Me too!” Izzy chirped. “Sorry about crashing into you! I just got the best idea for some amazing plate decorations for the celebration tonight, and I had to get some new supplies ASAP!” She lit up her horn, levitating all the fallen objects. “Ooh,” she said, eyes falling on the book. “What's this about?” “It's a book all about the Elements of Harmony.” Zipp said, taking the book back into her hooves. “Me and Sunny were just doing some research on them before you came along.” “What a coincidence! I just heard the Princess say something about Elements of Harmony earlier!” Izzy giggled to herself. “Well, I gotta get back to work! Crafting waits for nopony! See ya!” She said, before trotting off at a much more leisurely pace. “Bye Izzy!” Sunny called back as she and Zipp both waved goodbye. The two turned around and continued their own walk in the opposite direction before the full force of Izzy's words hit them. “Wait, what?!”