That had been a fun sleepover. Pipp hoped Misty wouldn't forget to text her when she got her phone back. She didn't think she would, and she'd already promised to come to their beach party so even if she forgot, Pipp would see her at that. Pipp wanted to start her flying training ASAP.
Everypony was saying their goodbyes to the unicorn. Zipp was being a lot nicer than she'd been last night. Hopefully, her sister was over whatever weirdness she'd been going through last night.
"Feel free to visit anytime," Sunny offered.
"Yeah," Pipp agreed. "Maybe we can take you see our castle in Zephyr Heights sometime."
Misty's eyes widened. "Oh, wow, that would be cool!"
"When's your birthday?" Izzy asked, skipping a circle around the blue unicorn.
"Er, my birthday?" Misty repeated, raising an eyebrow. "Why?"
"What if it's tomorrow and I miss it?" Izzy fretted. Her eyes widened in alarm. "Or what if it was today?! You would have told us if it was today, right?!"
"Oh, um, it's not," Misty assured. "It's July eighteenth."
Sunny gasped. "Seriously? That's my birthday too!"
"Oh my gosh, you two are twinsies!" Pipp cheered. What were the odds of that?
Sunny glanced at Misty's horn then up at her own hornless head. "Maybe not twinsies, but that's still really cool. I've never met anypony with the same birthday before."
"Your eyes are the same color," Pipp pointed out. "Obviously you aren't actually twins, but you can still be honorary twinsies. We'll have to throw a massive party for the big day." Pipp loved planning parties and events.
"Oh, y-you don't have to do that," Misty stuttered. "I don't want to get in the way of Sunny's birthday."
"You wouldn't be in the way," Izzy promised. "Besides, we have tons of time to plan. We can work out the details later."
"Er, sure, okay," Misty mumbled uncertainly. "If you say so."
After a final round of goodbyes, Misty trotted off towards the city. Just before leaving their view, she turned back to give them one final wave. Then she was gone.
"Well, as fun as all that was," Zipp declared, "we should get down to business. Did you find anything else about the Unity Crystals? Or anything else interesting?"
Sunny sighed. "No, nothing new. My dad's journal is really the only book that's been useful. No other book has had what we're looking for so far. And I've gone through my dad's journal so many times now, I don't think there's anything new to find."
"Why don't me and Zipp take a look at it?" Pipp suggested. She wasn't the best researcher, but Zipp might be able to find something.
"Yeah," Zipp nodded eagerly. "Me and Pipp only saw part of it that one time. New perspectives might notice something you didn't. Especially if it is something about pegasus."
"Great idea!" Sunny agreed enthusiastically. "It's in my dad's study."
They all headed for the study.
"I'm sorry we haven't been helping more," Pipp apologized. She felt bad they kept leaving things to just Sunny, Izzy, and Hitch.
"You don't need to be sorry," Sunny assured. "You two are princesses and your tribe just got their magic back. It would be weird if you weren't busy." Nice of her not to mention the fallout of the royal family's lies being exposed. "You're here now. With all of us working together, I'm sure we'll make progress. Hitch will be here once he's done with his morning rounds."
"He's got candidates for a new deputy, right?" Pipp asked. "It's a lot of work for one pony."
"There are a few officers he's thinking about promoting," Sunny told her. "I'm sure he'll choose soon."
As they entered the study, Pipp admired the room. So sturdy and not destroyed. "It's so nice that the crystals fixed your dad's study like this."
"Yeah," Izzy chimed in. "Instead of replacing Sunny's lighthouse, the Brighthouse grew out of it."
"I am really grateful," Sunny nodded, running a hoof down one of the bookshelves. "This is the one room that would have been truly irreplaceable."
Pipp curiously scanned the many, many book titles lined on the shelves while Sunny went to grab the journal. The earth pony's movements grew frantic as the minutes stretched on. Was something wrong? Pipp exchanged worried looks with Zipp and Izzy.
"Er, Sunny?" Izzy pipped up. "Something wrong?"
"It's not here," Sunny told them, a frustrated edge to her voice. "I swear I put it back, but I don't see it anywhere."
Zipp's ears perked up. "It's missing?!"
"I guess," Sunny admitted, ears dropping.
"I remember what it looked like," Zipp offered. "I'll double check." Pipp remembered as well, but she didn't see it anywhere.
"What could have happened to it?" Zipp wondered, quickly flitting around the room with her wings. "You think someone stole it?"
Pipp rolled her eyes. It was like Zipp wanted stuff to get stolen just so she could hunt down the thief. Who would steal a dusty old book?
"What?" Sunny startled. She shook her head. "No, I'm sure I just misplaced it. I was really tired. I must have put it down somewhere and forgotten."
"We can retrace you steps then," Izzy encouraged. "Where were you reading it last?"
"Ugh, I was carrying it around with me most of the day," Sunny told them, looking thoroughly annoyed with herself. "And I don't remember putting it down. It could be almost anywhere in the Brighthouse."
"Are you sure, Sunny?" Zipp pressed. "I have a hard time believing you misplaced something so important." Pipp wanted to groan from embarrassment.
Sunny gazed at the floor guiltily. "It has to be. I'm sorry for making such a stupid mistake. I'll find it as quick as I can, don't worry. I'm sorry for wasting time."
"It's not a big deal, Sunny," Pipp shrugged. "I misplace stuff all the time. It took me a week to find my favorite microphone once." Such a dark time of her life. "We'll help you look."
Her sister nodded, thankfully not saying anything else to make Sunny feel bad. "Let's split up, cover more ground."
They all nodded and went their own ways. After about ten fruitless minutes of searching, Pipp sighed and trotted outside. Maybe Sunny had left the book on the patio?
But when she got there, no book. Well, it had been a long shot anyways. They were running out of places to look, somepony was bound to find it soon.
Sighing, Pipp plopped into one of the chairs only for her rump to hit something hard. Confused, she got up again, reaching under the cushions. It was- the journal! She'd found it! Sunny must have left it out here by accident. The earth pony would be so relieved.
Pipp put the book in her bag and happily walked to the front door. Only to have Zipp burst out of it wearing her detective goggles.
"You brought your detective stuff with you to Maretime Bay?" Pipp asked, not really surprised.
"Yeah," Zipp shrugged. "Never know when you might need it. And now I'm prepared! I'll bag the culprit in no time flat. Master Detective Zipp is on the case!" Why was Zipp so convinced the journal had been stolen?
"Actually-" Pipp started to explain.
"No, Pipp," Zipp interrupted, holding up a hoof. "I know what Sunny said, but she's just too nice to suspect somepony. This is all way too suspicious to just be a coincidence." Zipp's attention snapped to something on the ground. "Ooh, hoofprints!" Zipp charged off to examine something in the dirt. It was probably just Pipp's hoofprints. Zipp wandered even further away, sticking her head into a large bush.
Pipp should tell her. She really should. But… Zipp looked like she was having so much fun. She was excited, she was smiling. Zipp loved playing detective and this was like a real case. It wasn't a real case, but it was real enough for Zipp. Her older sister had been so stressed and busy last week. As the future queen, Zipp had more duties and responsibilities than Pipp. And this trip to Maretime Bay was planned to be almost all week. Surely, they had some time to spare? There wasn't any urgent reason they needed to examine the book this very second.
Zipp popped out of the bush with a satisfied grin on her face. She began messing with the settings on her goggles.
Yeah, Pipp could hold off a little longer.