Zipp really hoped unicorn sleepovers didn't have as much makeover stuff as pegasi sleepovers. Though the makeovers might actually be more of a Pipp thing than a pegasus thing. They'd really only had sister sleepovers until now.

Izzy was really excited to be having another Bridlewood unicorn over. The amount of decorating and activity prep she'd managed to do in a single afternoon was impressive. Zipp didn't know what half of this stuff was for, but she was curious about all of it.

The doorbell rang and Izzy perked up from where she'd been crouching counting craft supplies.

"Sweet sauce horseshoe toss!" Izzy exclaimed giddily. "She's herrrre!" The unicorn pranced over to the front door and swung it open. A blue and pink unicorn mare was standing on the front steps and Zipp was surprised to see Pipp standing next to her.

Outstretching a hoof with dramatic flare Izzy proudly proclaimed, "Welcome to the Brighthouse Misty, Misteee," Izzy's voice tapered into uncertainty. "Misteee, um-" Izzy leaned forward and whispered. "What's your last name?" Wait, had Izzy invited over a pony without even knowing her name? Actually, that wasn't surprising for her.

For some reason, Misty looked a little panicked by the question. "Oh, um, Dawn, er-" the unicorn's eyes darted around rapidly. "Bright-dawn. Brightdawn."

That was weird.

"Welcome Misty Brightdawn," Izzy continued her greeting, ushering Misty inside. "to the best unicorn sleepover of your unicorn life!" Sliding back a couple steps, Izzy then pushed Pipp inside. "And hello Pipp. Welcome to you as well."

"Hey," Pipp replied. "Me and Misty ran into each other on the way here." She looked around at the lights and other decorations. "Ooh, nice setup, Iz."

Sunny approached Misty. "It's so nice to finally meet you, Misty. Izzy's told us-"

Misty startled, taking a step away from the earth pony. "Told you? Told you what?" Okay, this was quickly inching into more than just weird territory.

"When did you say you got into Maretime Bay?" Zipp asked. Misty spun around to face her only to cringe back when she realized Zipp was directly in her face.

"Oh, I didn't-" Misty started, which sounded like the beginning of an excuse. Zipp didn't want an excuse, she wanted an answer.

"In town for a visit or staying permanently?" Zipp pushed.

Izzy cut in, moving in between Misty and Pipp. "Zipp, Zipp, Zipp, buddy," Izzy chided lightly. "You're hoofing it up the wrong hill here. You don't need to detective her. Misty's our friend." Izzy bounced on her hooves. "Ooh, we're already way behind schedule." She walked off, gesturing for the rest of them to follow. "C'mon unicorns." She giggled.

As the group trotted away, Zipp didn't forget that she hadn't gotten an answer to her question. Purposefully falling behind, Zipp motioned Pipp closer, who obliged with a questioning look.

"What's up?" Pipp asked.

"You walked here with her, right?" Zipp probed. "What do you think of her?"

"Misty? Oh, she's nice," Pipp replied. "A little shy, but I can see why Izzy invited her over."

"Shy?" Zipp repeated. "Isn't that kind of weird? Why would a shy unicorn leave her home to come to an earth pony city full of strangers?"

Pipp rolled her eyes. "That's not how being shy works, Zipp. And you better not try to 'investigate' her all night, you're already being kind of rude."

"Rude?!" Zipp scoffed. "I asked her a simple question. Which she didn't answer, by the way. And do shy ponies usually forget their names? It that a shy thing?"

"She didn't 'forget her name', Zipp," Pipp huffed. "She just stumbled on her words a little. Even you, with all your overflowing confidence, have done that before. Quit being weird."

Zipp was getting frustrated now. "I'm not the one being-"

"What are you two doing?" Izzy gasped, dashing over to them and Zipp snapped her mouth shut. Izzy dragged them into the next room. "Now we're getting super duper behind."

"Sorry," Pipp apologized, then glared at Zipp.

"Yeah, sorry," Zipp echoed, genuinely meaning it. Izzy had put a lot of work into this sleepover and Misty being a little off shouldn't ruin that. Zipp would continue to observe the newcomer for more oddities. If something was up with her, she'd slip up again.

They started with horn bedazzling. The non-unicorns of the group used fake horns similar to the ones they'd used to sneak into Bridlewood. Nothing suspicious occurred. Misty decorated her own horn and laughed and talked with everypony else. Maybe Zipp had overreacted and judged too quickly…

When they moved in to building pillow forts, Misty continued to be normal. Although… she wasn't using any magic. Izzy was using hers every now and then to grab the smaller pillows. Misty not using hers wasn't suspicious by itself. Magic was still really new, she might just not be good at it yet or she might be uncomfortable using it in front of others. Zipp would still take note of its absence though.

The next activity was 'Dare the Mare', some kind of unicorn board game. Again, Misty didn't do anything weird, smiling and nodding along as Izzy rapid fire explained the complicated rules of the game.

What was Zipp accusing her of anyways? Not being honest about her last name and being worried Izzy had told them something? Zipp didn't really have a solid hypothesis she was trying to prove other than 'suspicious'.

Before they could start playing the board game, Izzy let out an abrupt gasp then swiped the game off the table. "Whoops! Explaining the rules took too long, we gotta move on! Let's go party ponies!"

Zipp frowned, exchanging a glance with Sunny who looked just as confused. Maybe Izzy had seen that they didn't understand the rules and decided their time was better spent elsewhere instead of trying to explain it?

Hoof reading was next. Izzy had setup cushions for them to sit on. Sunny went first with Izzy doing the reading.

"The art of hoof reading has been in the Moonbow family for generations," Izzy began. "It all started with great, great auntie Buttons…"

Misty was paying as much attention as Zipp was, so not much. Hoof reading just didn't interest Zipp. Misty wasn't just not paying attention though; she was looking around the room… almost as if she was looking for something. A new bit of evidence. When Misty realized Zipp was watching her, she stopped and commented on the hoof reading. Like she knew she'd been doing something wrong. Something was weird, Zipp knew she hadn't been imagining it. But what was Misty's angle? What was she up to?

They only did Pipp's reading after Sunny then Izzy was moving on to the next thing. The unicorn was really rushing through a lot of this.

"Teatime!" Izzy announced, passing teacups around the table. Misty took a sip as soon as she got hers and Izzy gave her a strange look. "Umm, Misty, those tea leaves were for reading, not for drinking. Hehe. Remember?" Misty blushed and spat the tea back into her cup.

Was that suspicious? Zipp wasn't sure. Izzy hadn't been clear with what they were doing and Zipp wasn't familiar enough with unicorn culture to know if it was weird Misty had assumed it was for drinking. Inconclusive evidence.

The tea leaves didn't take long and then they were moving onto snacks. Izzy had seven bowls of different colored popcorn prepared. They looked tasty. Zipp definitely hadn't seen some of these flavors before.

"Popcorn stationnn," Pipp sang, eyeing the pink popcorn. It was probably strawberry.

"Yum," Sunny cheered. "Thanks, Izzy."

Misty popped one of the chocolate kernels into her mouth. "This is the best popcorn I've tasted in my entire life!" she exclaimed excitedly, ears perking. That was the loudest the unicorn had been all evening.

Zipp raised an eyebrow. That seemed like an extreme reaction. Especially for a treat she'd supposedly had many times before.

Misty seemed embarrassed by her own reaction. "I say that every time I eat it," she hurriedly explained, "because I eat it all the time. In Bridlewood. Where I've lived all my life." She ate another kernel. "But, wow, this was a great batch. Best I've ever had."

Was Zipp seriously the only one seeing this? The others could not think this was normal. A pattern was appearing; Misty didn't seem to know any of the unicorn stuff. So that, plus the name thing and the secret she didn't want ponies hearing and the fact that she still had yet to use any magic whatsoever… Was Misty not a real unicorn? It would explain everything. But that was crazy, right? Her horn looked real. And why would an earth pony be pretending to be a unicorn in Maretime Bay?

Hm, motivations aside, it was an easy thing to test.

As they moved into the living room area and settled on and around the couch, Zipp faked nearly dropping her popcorn bowl and fake tripping as a result. She fell so she bumped into Misty, who was sitting below her, pushing against the side of her horn as she went. The horn didn't budge even a fraction.

"Oh my gosh," Misty gasped, scrambling upright, green eyes wide. "Are you okay? Did I poke you?"

"No, no, I'm fine," Zipp assured, climbing back onto her spot, feeling a little bit guilty. Not super guilty because Misty was still hiding something, but a bit guilty. "Sorry, I thought I had a better grip on it."

Pipp was glaring at her from across the couch, but Zipp ignored her. Somepony had to get to the bottom of this.

The movie they were going to watch was a romance. Zipp liked romances, so long as they weren't the cheesy, dumb kind. Well written romances were great. She hoped this was one of those. She already had to suffer through so many cheesy romances because Pipp liked them.

"Oooh," Izzy squealed, grabbing the remote. "Trotting Hill! A unicorn sleepover classic!" She glanced down at her notepad that she'd written their itinerary on. "That we only have three minutes to get through. Let's go!"

Wait, what?

Zipp watched in bewilderment as Izzy fast forwarded to a seemingly random part of the movie. The others looked just as confused. Izzy knew they could just watch the movie another day, right?

"Aha," Izzy exclaimed, stopping on a scene where a yellow unicorn mare, whose name Zipp didn't know because they'd skipped the first half of the movie, was talking to some stallion, presumedly the love interest or one of the love interests. As the girl on screen spoke, Izzy mimicked her words and movements. "Don't you see, Salty? I'm just a unicorn, standing in front of another unicorn, asking him to share with her." Izzy shivered, pausing the movie and holding the remote to her chest. "Uhghm, so romantic."

Thankfully, Sunny spoke up. "Say, Izzy, you think we could slow down a bit?"

"Yeah," Pipp seconded. "I've barely made a dent in my chocolate popcorn."

"I'll help you finish it!" Misty eagerly volunteered.

Izzy gasped. "Slow down?!" She leapt to her hooves, knocking over Misty, who had been reaching over to take some popcorn from Pipp. "If anything, we need to speed up! If we don't do everything it's jinxie."

"What's jinxie?" Misty asked around her mouth full of popcorn. Zipp was back to having no idea what was going on. What could possibly explain that? She was definitely a unicorn. How could she not know something as integral to unicorns as jinxies?

Izzy burst out laughing, "You are so funny." Had that been a joke? Misty hadn't said it like a joke. But maybe she really was just shy and awkward. There was no way she could have been serious. This was an increasingly confusing case.

"Don't you think it's a little weird Misty seems just as lost as us?" Zipp whispered to Pipp, needing someone to back her up on this. "She claims to have grown up in Bridlewood, but its as if she's never even been there. And why isn't she using magic?" Annnd Pipp had just walked away. While Zipp was talking to her. Her sister was now standing over Izzy's shoulder reading the itinerary. "Pipp, Pipp?" Nope, her sister was ignoring her. Great. Perfect.

"What's next, Izzy?" Sunny asked, apparently having already given up on trying to reason with her to go slower.

"Ask an amethyst, what's that?" Pipp questioned, squinting down at the way too long list. There was no way they were going to do everything on that list in one night.

"You mean having conversations with your crystals is just a unicorn thing?" Izzy said, sounding wowed. "Wooooahhhh." Turning to where Misty was still eating her popcorn she asked, "Can you believe that Misty?"

Misty straightened, startled at suddenly being addressed. "Uh, totally, it's what you said. We do it all the time." Ugh, was it that she hadn't heard what they were talking about? Was she just awkward? Or was she clueless? It had to be one of the three, but which was it?

It somehow got even more blatant. Izzy wanted to sing a unicorn song but when she started singing, Misty could not follow at all. Zipp was pretty sure she was just making lyrics up on the spot. A dejected look passed over Izzy's face. "I, uh, guess we learned different versions. That's okay…"

"I'm sorry we don't know a ton of unicorn stuff, Izzy," Sunny apologized, trying to comfort the disappointed Izzy. "But we're happy to learn."

"And we're happy to do all the other things you have planned," Pipp added.

"It may just take us awhile," Zipp half joked.

Izzy perked up again. "Ah, thanks guys. Maybe we can just continue my list. And I'll just-" her ears drooped. "-sing the song to myself later."

"No ,no, no, no, no," Pipp rushed to assure, "of course not, I'll sing it with you."

"Or maybe we could play another game together," Sunny suggested.

"Ooh," Pipp said, "What about the unicorn tradition you mentioned where we all balance yarn balls on our heads and count to the highest number we can think of?"

Zipp just nodded along. She hadn't read the list but she was cool to do whatever the others wanted to. It was only a couple minutes later she realized Misty had vanished. Where had she gone?

She opened her mouth to point out the unicorn's absence to the others but decided against it. This was her chance to get Misty alone. And if she was sneaking off, maybe she'd get an idea of what she was up to.

After a bit of searching she found Misty upstairs, looking into the elevator that lead to the Unity Crystals.

"Hey, Misty," Zipp greeted and the unicorn must have jumped at least two feet in the air. "What are you doing in there?"

"Oh, um, hi, sorry," Misty stuttered. "I was looking for the bathroom and um-"

"In the elevator?" Zipp asked flatly. Why was she snooping around?

"N-no, I was just- I've never been to a lighthouse before," the unicorn explained. "So, I thought I'd just go look at the view first. It's a Bridlewood tradition which is probably why you didn't know about. And with the ocean and stuff, I bet it's really pretty. Heheh."

Hm. That all made enough sense. They'd never told her where the bathroom was, which was an oversight on their part. Plus, the elevator was glowing with rainbows, it wasn't surprising it had drawn her attention. And it wasn't like Misty knew the Unity Crystals were up there.

"First Bridlewood tradition I totally get," Zipp told her. Zipp really did not understand most of the stuff Izzy had been having them do all night. "I love awesome views. Maybe I'll take you to look up there some other time. Izzy's got another game ready for us downstairs. Downstairs also happens to be where the bathroom is. C'mon, I'll show you."

"Oh, thanks," Misty said, blushing. "I-um, felt bad about not knowing Izzy's version of the song so I was too embarrassed to ask. I thought I could find it on my own, but this place is bigger than I thought it was."

Another plausible excuse. "Yeah, it's not your average lighthouse."

"Zipp?! Misty?!" That was Sunny.

"We'd better hurry up," Zipp said, "Izzy's rushing things as it is. We don't want to put her even more behind schedule."

"Yeah," Misty nodded. "Right. Lead the way."

This unicorn was a mystery. One that Zipp just did not have enough evidence to solve. Yet.

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So I'm going to give you guys my character/elements of harmony pairing list.
Hitch-Loyalty
Zipp- Honesty
Pipp- Laughter
Izzy- Generosity
Misty- Magic
Sunny- Kindness
I assume that giving Sunny kindness will be the most controversial of these. How can I not give the main character Magic? She's even an alicorn. But at this point in the character's development, Sunny just isn't friendship/magic material. Yes, Sunny likes having friends but if that is all it takes, Pinkie should have been the element of magic. Sunny shows no deep interest in either magic or learning about friendship. She's currently a static character with seemingly little room for growth as far as the show is concerned, even though she does have a lot of growing to do. She acts like she already knows everything even when she gives terrible advice. I still cringe at that 'Oh, just let everybody use the dangerous new plant magic willy nilly, it'll be fine. Yeah, some ponies have almost gotten or have gotten hurt but whatever.' Sunny seems to be driven by the goal to be kind to everyone so that is the element I give her.