"Sunny! Sunny, look!"

Sunny jerked awake to somepony yelling her name. She blinked blearily and the violet blue blurr beside her bed transformed into a very excited Izzy. Seeing her friend's horn caused her heart to skip a beat for a second. She was friends with a real unicorn! Maybe the amazingness of that would wear off eventually, but probably not anytime soon. Still not thrilled about the sudden wake up though.

"Izzy? Wha-?" She realized the unicorn was shoving a piece of paper in her face. The page was blank except for shaky letters spelling out Izzy's name in blue ink. Sunny wasn't sure what she was supposed to be saying. "Oh, um, you…" Was it a card? Was there more on the back? "have your name there?"

"Yeah," Izzy nodded eagerly. "I wrote it with my magic. Ooh, ooh, wait-" Her horn glowed pink and a matching pink enveloped the paper, floating it off of her hoof to hover in midair. "Ta-dah!"

"Wow, Izzy!" Sunny gasped, now fully awake. She climbed out of bed. "That's great! You've improved so much in so little time!" Izzy had barely been able to lift a pen a few days ago. Now she was writing with it. The letters were a bit wonky, but she'd learn finer control with time.

"I've been practicing super hard," Izzy told her, bouncing on her hooves. "I want to be able to use my magic for sewing and knitting and weaving and crocheting and all kinds of stuff."

"That's totally doable," Sunny encouraged. "None of that stuff is very heavy. You just need practice."

"Yeah," Izzy agreed with a twirl. "Just thinking of all the stuff I'll be able to create makes my hooves tingle. I'll be able to super streamline my process."

Sunny nodded, yawning. "What time is it?" she asked, glancing at her alarm clock as she did. Wait, 10:00am?! Oh no, she'd slept in!

"Ah, how is it so late?" she gasped, trotting anxiously in place. "Why didn't my alarm go off?"

"Uh," Izzy hummed, leaning towards the clock until her eyes were practically touching it. "Looks on to me. You must have slept through it."

"Slept through it?!" Sunny moaned. But Izzy was right, the clock was still set.

"Ten AM isn't that late," Izzy remarked. "Your smoothie stand doesn't open for a couple hours still. And I thought you said Sparkleberry Swirl worked the stand on Thursday afternoons?"

"She does," Sunny confirmed, yawning again. "The smoothie stand isn't the problem. I've just got so many other things to do!"

Izzy tilted her head. "How late were you up last night?"

"I don't know. I was reading in bed and- oh." She hopped to the other side of her bed. The book had fallen by the side. She sighed, ears flattening. "This one didn't have anything helpful either."

"Hmm," Izzy skipped over to read the cover. "'The Terrifying Magic of Unicorns and How to Protect Yourself from It'". She shook her head. "Hm, yeah, can't see how this would be very helpful."

Sunny sighed again. "I thought it might have more about unicorn magic in there somewhere. But it's all nonsense. Unless poking me in the head with your horn really does give you control over my body."

"Um, yeah, no, wait-" Izzy leaned forward and tapped the side of her horn against Sunny's head. "Yep, nope, not a thing."

Sunny giggled. "Yeah, I didn't think so." The pair trotted towards the lift.

Izzy sighed, suddenly looking gloomy. "I wish we could find some spell books. Every unicorn in Bridlewood is scouring the forest for them. But they were all thrown out a long time ago. I guess they were supposed to be bad luck. And they made everypony sad. Levitation and illumination were super common in ancient Equestria, so we did manage to find a few copies of the spells in old foal's books. But besides those, nothing."

It was incredibly frustrating. Sunny hit the button to bring the lift down. "There really isn't a single unicorn who held onto one?" Even one would help a lot.

"Not in Bridlewood at least," Izzy affirmed sadly. "Another unicorn city might find some, but we've probably lost a lot of old magic." She lifted her head slightly. "Actually, there was one unicorn who collected old spell books in Bridlewood, but she left many moons ago, before I was even born."

"Really?!" Sunny asked, ears perking up. That was the most promising lead yet. "Why did she leave? What's her name?"

Izzy's expression grew thoughtful as she tried to recall. "Starry Dawn. Yeah, that was it. She left because the other unicorns didn't like that she was so into magic. Nopony's seen her since." The unicorn shook her head. "You'd think she would have come back by now; we've had magic for a week. She has to have noticed."

"Maybe she moved really far away?" Sunny theorized, stepping off the lift as it reached the first floor. If this unicorn had loved magic so much that she'd leave her home for it, surely its return would make her want to share her knowledge with the rest of her kin. "She's our best lead so far. If she doesn't show up soon, we should definitely look into it."

A loud thump from outside caused them both to turn their heads towards the front door.

"Whatdoya think that was?" Izzy asked. Her question answered itself when Pipp came through the door a moment later.

"Sunny, Izzy!" Pipp greeted cheerfully. When her eyes landed on Sunny though, they widened in horror. "Sunny! What happened to your mane?!"

"Huh?" Sunny tried to look at her mane best she could. Ugh, she still had bedhead. She let out a groan. "My mane's always a mess in the morning. I just woke up."

"Ohhh," Izzy said. "I thought you were just trying a new look."

"What?" Sunny startled. "No, I just haven't brushed it yet. Doesn't your mane get tangled when you sleep?"

"Nope, it's like this when I wake up," Izzy replied. Lucky her.

"Don't worry, Sunny," Pipp gushed, pulling out a brush. "I'm always ready for a mane emergency." She was brushing Sunny's mane before Sunny could even get a word out. Pipp was quick, but gentle. A minute later and Pipp was tying the end of the briad. "There. Fabulllousss."

"Ah, thanks, Pipp," Sunny smiled. She had a Pegasus friend. Who did her hair. She wished Dad could have seen this.

"Is Zipp coming too?" Izzy asked.

"Ah, no, sorry," Pipp apologized, putting the brush away. "she couldn't make it today. She's giving a flying class to the royal guard today. Mom wanted her to be more involved since she's the future queen. That and Zipp's pretty much the only pony who knows practically anything about flying. Making sure everypony can fly safely is the kingdom's top priority right now."

"How's that going?" Sunny asked, concerned.

"Oh, fine," Pipp answered, to Sunny's relief. "Taking off is easy enough, and so is flying so long as the weather is good. Landing is a bit trickier though. And my mom's banned flying in bad weather until we're sure they'd be able to do it safely. Which is nopony so far."

"That's probably for the best," Sunny nodded. "I'm not sure if even Zipp could fly in a storm yet. According to ancient Equestrian history, Pegasus could fly inside of tornados if they were skilled enough." SO incredible. "We're still a bit far from that though."

"Yeah," Pipp agreed. "But everypony's super excited to be able to fly again." She fluffed her wings. "It's all anypony's sharing right now. Well, that any pegasus is sharing." She brought out her phone and scrolled through some screens. "We totally need to link up all the races' social media apps now that we're friends." Her wings fluttered excitedly. "I'll get so many more followers!" Then she winced slightly, eyes darting around. "Er, not that that's the important thing. It's a must for friendship. We can't be cut off from each other like that."

Sunny frowned. She didn't use social media much. She'd tried in the past; to post stuff about pegasus and unicorns, but most ponies had blocked her, so she'd stopped. But Pipp was right, having the pony social sites separate wouldn't help friendship. Yet another thing to do. On the ever expanding, already long list.

"You're right," Sunny agreed, trying to keep her anxiety out of her voice. "I don't even know how we'd start on that though."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that right now," Pipp said, waving a wing flippantly. "Everypony's so focused on trying master their magic, nopony's going to want to spend time on that. Maybe once everypony's more settled in." A few wing flaps and Pipp was in the air. "Flying is everything right now."

"Wow!" Izzy exclaimed with an excited bounce. "Flying looks like so much fun! Have you taught any flying classes, Pipp?"

"Oh, um, no," Pipp replied hesitantly, very slowly lowering herself towards the ground. Very gently, she set her hooves on the floor, but still stumbled a little when her wings stopped flapping. "I'm- not a very good flyer."

"What?" Sunny gasped. "C'mon, Pipp, you can't say that. You've only been able to practice for a week. You can't make a judgement that quickly."

"I don't know, Sunny," Pipp sighed, wings drooping. The pegasus looked down at her hooves. "I can flap around fine, but I always have trouble keeping up when anypony speeds up. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or if my wings just aren't strong enough…"

"Sunny's right, Pipp," Izzy reassured. "Magic's new for everypony. Mine's not up to snuff either. Once you get more practice and build up your wing strength, you'll be soaring through the sky like lightning."

Pipp laughed for some reason. "Yeah, yeah, of course, you're right." She flipped her mane back with her hoof. "I'm just being a bit dramatic. I'll catch up eventually."

Sunny frowned. "Pipp-"

All three of them jumped as the front door slammed open.

"Oh, gee," Hitch winced, apologetic, glancing behind the door to make sure he hadn't hit anything. "Sorry, Sunny, I didn't think I pushed the door that hard."

"It's fine," Sunny assured him, glad she'd decided to move the picture of her and her dad. She trotted up to greet him. "How are you today?"

"Oh, good, good," Hitch nodded. "A lot of ponies are still nervous about all this magic stuff, but no serious incidents."

Sunny sighed. She'd known things wouldn't change overnight, but she had hoped things would move a litter faster. "A lot's changed in the past week. I understand why they're nervous. Hopefully, everypony adjusts quickly."

"Yeah, about that," Hitch said, running a hoof through his mane. "We really need to work on understanding earth pony magic. I know you're excited about meeting pegasi and unicorns, but you've put all your time into researching their magic. You know a lot more about this stuff than me and if you helped for even just a little while, I think we'd make progress."

Rolling her eyes, Sunny started towards the kitchen. She still needed breakfast. "Earth ponies don't have magic, Hitch, you know that." She wasn't sure why Hitch kept pushing for this. Was he jealous of the other races?

"Maybe not unicorn magic," Hitch agreed, following her. "But there has to be something. I can talk to animals now, Sunny. I couldn't do that before, but I suddenly could after magic came back. And what about the earth pony crystal? Why would we have a crystal if we didn't have any magic?"

Sunny shrugged. "Representation?" She'd been surprised there was an earth pony crystal as well. But they didn't know where they came from, so it was impossible to explain at the moment.

"Why would somepony do that?" Hitch questioned. "And there has to be some magical component to it, it glowed and flew around just like the other two. Has nothing changed for you? You haven't noticed anything odd or different?"

Hitch gaining the ability to talk to animals was weird, yes, but that was only Hitch, not all earth ponies. There was a more logical explanation. "I have alicorn magic, Hitch. Even if something had changed for me, that would be the cause. But nothing has changed for me without the wings and horn. The unity crystals just gave a little magic to you specifically. Like a, thanks-for-putting-us-back-together present." The crystals had made the Brighthouse for them. They'd given her alicorn powers. Given unicorns and pegasi their magic back. Talking to animals was hardly a stretch.

"Well why didn't any of the others get magic like that?" Hitch asked, clearly not believing her. Sunny was the one who knew about ancient Equestria. Hitch hadn't even been interested in this stuff until the last couple weeks. She knew earth ponies didn't have magic. It honestly kind of hurt a little that Hitch didn't believe her on this. She was used to it though.

Izzy slide up beside her, putting up a hoof that didn't muffle her voice at all, and whispered, "Are we sure all of his glitter is in his glue?"

"I'm not crazy," Hitch protested, stomping a hoof.

"I know, Hitch," Sunny placated, taking a bowl out from one of the cabinets. "We believe you." Hitch was the most honest pony she knew, and she didn't think he was crazy either. "And as for your previous statement, the others did get magic. Pipp, Zipp, and Izzy all got their magic back and I got the alicorn stuff. And you got your animal thing." It seemed pretty straightforward really.

"Those aren't the same thing though," Hitch debated. "You can't compare the others getting their natural magic back to your alicorn powers or my talking to animals." Hitch sat down heavily with a short sigh. "C'mon, Sunny, we should at least check to make sure something bigger isn't going on." His ears perked up. "Maybe we could do a survey. See if any earth pony has noticed a change."

Sunny held in a sigh and pulled the eggs out from the fridge. "If you want to do a survey, go ahead. But the unicorns and pegasus need help right now." She didn't have time to play along with Hitch's wild goose chase. "We also need to figure out a way to get the three races to get along better. Ponies are still mostly sticking to their groups." Especially the unicorns.

The frustrated glare Hitch was giving her wasn't going to change her mind. After a few seconds, Hitch broke off and sighed. "Fine. So how do we get the races to break the ice?"

She'd known Hitch would make the right decision. "I was thinking we could throw a party," she explained eagerly, beginning to mix ingredients for her muffins. "Or a kind of friendship celebration. We'll invite all three races. The unicorns could do magic shows-" just thinking about it made her want to squeal! "- the pegasi could do a sky race or maybe give rides."

"Whoa, whoa Sunny," Hitch interrupted. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Are the unicorn and pegasus ready to do all that?" He glanced at Pipp and Izzy. "They only just got their magic."

Izzy shook her head. "Yeah, probably not." Pipp nodded in agreement.

"Oh, yeah," Sunny admitted, mood dipping. Then she perked up again. "But we can still have unicorn horn and pegasus wing decorations. And maybe events that-"

"Okay Sunny," Hitch interrupted. Again. "I'm sorry I keep interrupting. I do get what you're going for, I do. But I think your approach is a little- off."

"Off?" Sunny repeated, confused. She tilted her head. "Off how?"

"Well, a few things actually," Hitch said, shifting on his front hooves. "For one, you haven't mentioned anything the earth ponies could do."

Sunny blinked. "What do you mean? There's plenty of stuff we could do. All the stuff we usually do for celebrations."

"That's not quite what I meant," Hitch revised. "Well, kind of, but really- I meant more- the theme, I guess?"

"Friendship?" Sunny asked, baffled. "What other theme would we use?"

"No, no," Hitch rebuffed, shaking his head. "Friendship is fine. What I meant was that for the party we should do something more… neutral? Universal maybe?"

"I don't understand," Sunny said. Neutral?

Hitch buried his face in his front hooves, seemingly embarrassed. "I know I'm not explaining it very well but-" he lowered his hooves and glanced at Pipp and Izzy. "When I met Pipp and Izzy, what made me realize I was wrong wasn't their wings or their horn." He shook his head. "I just don't think starting out by shoving the differences down everypony's throats is the best move. I think it would be better to start with the similarities, so that we can appreciate the differences."

Sunny's ears slid back. "So you just want to ignore their horns and wings? Pretend they don't exist?" She didn't understand what Hitch was thinking. Ponies needed to see how great unicorn and pegasus magic was so they would stop being scared of it.

"No," Hitch corrected quickly. "I just- don't think constantly bringing attention to the differences is the best way to start out. I think just-" he shrugged "-hanging out will bring out all that stuff naturally."

Sunny opened her mouth to retort but Pipp suddenly spoke up. "I think I get what Hitch is trying to say. I think he might be right, Sunny." Pipp agreed?!

"Well, what kind of party do you suggest we throw then?" Sunny asked the stallion hotly.

"Oh, um." Hitch's gaze darted around the room before landing on one of the back windows. "The sea!" he exclaimed triumphantly. "We could have a beach party!" He turned to look at Izzy. "You said you'd never seen the sea before coming here, right, Izzy?"

Izzy nodded. "It's so pretty. I've never been to a beach party before. It sounds super fun!"

Hitch nodded and began pacing. "A lot of ponies have probably never seen it before. Some might come for that alone. I'd have to assemble more lifeguards, make sure the weather is clear, post extra no littering signs-"

"Ooh," Pipp squealed. "The beach is so scenic. And a lot of my followers have commented they've never been to the beach on my past videos."

"Okay then," Sunny conceded, pouring the batter into the muffin tin. She was disappointed her original party idea had been shot down. But a beach themed party would still do the job and Izzy and Pipp seemed excited for it. She didn't really get Hitch's argument, but so long as the party still furthered the cause of friendship, she wouldn't complain. "A beach party it is. How do we get ponies to come?"

"Pegasi will show if I tell them to come," Pipp promised immediately. "The Pipsqueaks are always down for a good party."

"A lot of the earth ponies of Maretime Bay are already more comfortable around the other races," Hitch said, then puffed out his chest. "And if their trusty sheriff tells them to come, we'll get enough." Sunny nodded. Ponies would come if Hitch asked.

Everypony turned to look at Izzy, who suddenly looked nervous. "Oh, um, I don't know," Izzy said uncertainly. "The unicorns are pretty busy with all the magic stuff, buuuttt I can probably convince at least a few to come?"

She didn't sound as confident as Sunny would have liked. It wasn't surprising though. The unicorns were still by far the most solitary of the three races. A fair amount of pegasi had come to visit Maretime Bay since magic's return, but other than Izzy, she'd only seen a couple unicorns. She did understand the reasons why that was, but it was still worrying. "We can work more on the unicorns later. A few is all we really need to start anyways."

"Alright," Sunny exclaimed, tossing her muffins into the oven then turning to the others. "We've got an outline of a plan. It'll be a lot of work, but I know we can do it. Let's throw the best beach party ever and get everypony to be friends again."

"Yeah!" her friends cheered.

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Notes: Many arcs have been set up in this chapter, as I'm sure you can see.

It is super weird in the show that the races just immediately seemed to be able to access each other's websites. Because in the movie, they all acted like they'd never seen a real pony of whatever race before at all. You'd think if they had access to each other's internet, they'd know that pegasi couldn't fly and unicorns didn't have magic and what each race looked like and so on. So they had to have been separate but then Pipp instantly, as far as I can tell, gets fans from other races on the site she is already using. So, yeah, I'm correcting that here. I guess they just don't want us to think about it in the show.

Also, they make it out like Sunny runs her smoothie stand solo in the show, but that just can't be true. The hours would be horrible for one, and she wouldn't have time to do anything else. Or she somehow has her shop set up so that it is only open when she's there and somehow hasn't gone out of business. Hence grabbing an older gen pony with a smoothie like name and having her work at the stand. In gen 4, the only 1 of the mane 6 that really had a similar problem to this was Twilight, I feel the others job schedules worked out fine, but how was Twilight the only librarian? Were ponies able to self check out the books and all Twilight really did was help ponies find books when she was there, and organize things? Because she was not there so much of the time. Who was the librarian when she and Spike left Ponyville for days at a time? And who was the previous librarian? A mystery that will never be solved. And if Twilight was a librarian, How did she not know about how late fees worked in that one episode? I suspect she was never the librarian of the Golden Oak Library at all.