Chapter 1: Overreactions

"Your horn is shorter today, isn't it?" Izzy said.

"Excuse me?" Sunny asked. That wasn't the greeting she expected upon first seeing her friend. She came to her place to see more of her inventions. They didn't have much time the last time they were here. Only one day passed since she became an alicorn.

"You need to look at the mirror now."

"Now?"

"Yes!" Izzy led Sunny to a mirror forcefully.

"I don't see anything different."

"I'm going to measure your horn so we can compare later. It's shrinking I tell you."

"Fine." Sunny felt this was pointless, but it shouldn't take too long.

There was a problem when Izzy tried to measure her horn, her hoof slipped right on through since the horn wasn't solid.

"Oh no, was it always like that?" Izzy asked.

"How should I know?" Sunny said. "No one touched my horn yet."

Izzy tried touching her wings – her hoof moved through them just the same. "The same happens with your wings."

"Hey, we finally made it. That took way longer than anticipated," Zipp said after arriving.

"It wasn't that bad," Pipp said.

"It took an hour longer than anticipated."

"We have a problem." Izzy put her hoof through Sunny's horn and wings. "Look at this. I think they're fading away too. Help me measure her wings while I measure her horn."

"I don't see what the big deal is." Sunny flapped her wings to soar off the ground once they finished measuring her. "Even if they fade, I was originally an earth pony. That just means I need to do all the flying and magic while I still can!" She tried juggling a few things with levitation. They landed on the ground after a few seconds. "That might be a bit too hard."

"We need to race in the sky while you have your wings," Zipp said. "Come on. Let's go to Maretime Bay and back. We need to find Hitch anyway; he should be here by now."

"Sure!" Sunny said.

"A race? Count me out," Pipp said. "You know that you're going to beat her."

Sunny stepped out of Izzy's house with Zipp for a race. They took their positions in the sky. She tried flying as fast as she could. It took her a while to notice that Zipp was far behind her. "Can't you go faster?"

"How are you so fast?" Zipp gasped for breath.

"I see Hitch down there." Sunny dived towards Hitch.

"Sunny? Slow down!" Hitch yelled in a panicked voice.

"I'm okay!" Sunny crashed in a way that her translucent wing was in the ground.

"Your wing!"

"Don't worry, apparently, everything passes through them. See?" Sunny moved her wing out of the ground. "You can't even touch them."

Hitch moved his hoof inside Sunny's Wing just to see if it was possible. "Was it always like that?"

"How should I know? No one tried to touch my wings until earlier today."

"Sunny, are you okay?" Zipp called from the sky. "I saw you crash."

"I'm fine." Sunny scratched her chin. "What about another round? I'll carry Hitch and still beat you back to Bridlewood."

"Bet you won't."

"I'd rather walk," Hitch said.

"Come on, it'll be fun!" Sunny said. "Besides, you're only here so it would take at least an hour to get to Bridlewood."

"What about safety? Won't I be too heavy for you?"

"Don't worry. I'll go slower. It'll be fine."

"You're not that strong," Zipp said. "Maybe we should just walk."

"That sounds like a great idea!" Hitch said.

Sunny decided to levitate Hitch.

"Whoa, put me down."

She dropped Hitch onto her back. "See, it's going to be fine?"

Hitch applied his weight to prevent Sunny from taking off. "Try flying now."

"Okay, maybe we should walk," Sunny said.

"Come on, Hitch, work with her," Zipp said. "Walking will take so long."

Sunny tried flying with Hitch on her back once more. As soon as they were able to move a bit in the sky, Zipp yelled, "Meet you there!" She sped towards Bridlewood.

"Hey! It wasn't time to start yet." Sunny took off after her, with Hitch screaming along the way.

"Slow down!" Hitch yelled.

"Just hold on!" Sunny went even faster because she wanted to catch Zipp. She sped up despite Hitch's screaming for her to stop.

"You won't win this time, you can't," Zipp said while flying.

"You cheated!" Sunny complained. She tried to speed up even more.

"Maybe you should slow down?" Zipp said.

"Watch out!" Hitch said. "You're going to crash!" The elevation was low enough that Hitch leaped off of Sunny.

A sudden burst of speed caused Sunny to crash into the door of Izzy's house.

"I'm okay!" Sunny yelled.

"Don't panic," Izzy said.

"Huh?"

"Your wings."

"What about them?"

"It's spreading to your body."

Sunny glanced at her wings. "I don't think so. I feel fine." She couldn't see anything different.

Zipp measured Sunny's wings again. "Your wing shrunk a bit and she's right. We should take you to the doctor."

"I feel fine though," Sunny said.

"What's happening to Sunny?" Hitch asked.

"They think that magic is taking over my body or something."

"No, I think that you're slowly losing your wings and horn. And the magic is going to cause the rest of your body to fade away at this rate. Like I said, don't panic," Izzy clarified. She measured Sunny's horn for good measure. "Your horn has the same problem. Take a look in the mirror, you can even see it now."

It was faint but clear that the magic was spreading throughout her body.

"For the record, I still feel fine, and I don't feel any different," Sunny said.

"We'll take you to the best doctors in Zephyr Heights, they'll know what to do," Pipp said.

"And don't use any magic or fly until we clear this up," Zipp said.

"We don't need to leave now, we just got here," Sunny said.

"No, we do actually," Izzy said. "I don't want to lose you."

"Lose me?"

"I don't know, it could be serious."

"Fine, one quick check-up and we'll come right back. It's not a big deal at all."

They didn't even spend some time to see some of Izzy's inventions before taking off towards Zephyr Heights.