The party was not going well.
Sunny didn't know what to do. It had started out good, but now there was a tangible tension between the different groups.
"What do we do, Hitch?" Sunny fretted, nervously watching the teams as they neared the completion of their sandcastles. "Should we make Posey leave?"
"It's not that bad Sunny," Hitch tried to assure her. "There were always going to be some bumps to this. Yes, Posey is stirring up trouble, but there was always going to be some trouble. Most of the ponies here have never seen a pony from another tribe in their life, and they haven't generally heard good things about the other tribes either." Hitch sighed. "As for Posey, we don't really have the grounds to force her to leave. This is technically an open invitation event on a public beach, and while she's been- hostile, none of it is enough to justify kicking her out. She hasn't been physical and so far, her complaints have mostly been reasonable. Making her leave would probably upset a lot of the other earth ponies too. Besides, booting her out isn't going to make her warmup to the other tribes any faster."
"Mmgh," Sunny groaned, plopping her face against the table. "So what am I supposed to do?"
"I don't think there is anything you can do beyond keeping the peace," Hitch shrugged. "You're giving them the opportunity, but you can't force ponies to be friends. The ice is broken, even if no ponies become besties after one day, I don't think any of these ponies will be as nervous about the other tribes as they were before."
Sunny understood what he was saying, it was true, but she wished they'd all just- get over it. The three tribes together at a party like this was a dream she'd had since she was a filly. It wasn't supposed to be- uncomfortable. Surely there was something she could do to help?
Sighing gloomily, Sunny stood up. "I'm going to get some cake."
Hitch jumped to his hooves. "Ooh, I'll come with you. I want another one of those cupcakes with the candy shells."
When they made their way over to the dessert table, Misty was moving some empty trays off the table. Ponies were enjoying the food at least.
"Hey Misty," Sunny greeted and the unicorn startled, the trays rattling in her hooves but not dropping. "How are things going over here?"
"Oh, good, good," Misty nodded. "No problems here."
Hitch glanced around. "Where's Sugar?" Hm, the earth pony was missing. Sunny didn't see her anywhere.
"Oh, she ran to get more blueberry cupcakes," Misty told them. "They've been really popular." The unicorn's stomach let out a loud gurgle and Misty winced, hoof reaching up to briefly clutch her stomach.
"You okay, Misty?" Sunny asked, concerned.
"Oh, fine," Misty stuttered. "Just, a bit hot, maybe. Need to stay hydrated. Not used to this kind of heat. It's, um, pretty shaded in Bridlewood."
Sunny's ears straightened. "Oh, wow, I hadn't considered that." Most unicorns lived in forests; it made sense they wouldn't be accustomed to harsher heat. "Are we still good on water? Has anypony else been feeling sick?"
"Not that I've seen," Misty shrugged. "And I'm fine really. Might just, um, grab an umbrella, or something. We still have plenty of water. Lemonade and berry punch too. We still have two coolers full."
"Good," Sunny said, relieved. She'd have to be more thoughtful about those sort of things next time. She grabbed a razzle berry cupcake. "Make sure you enjoy the party too, Misty." She hadn't really seen Misty mingling away from the table. "You don't have to be stuck over here the whole time."
"Oh, I'm fine, I-" Misty cut off, eyes widening and gaze shifting up further down the beach. Sunny turned to see what she was looking at. Just as she did, a strong gust of wind hit her square in the face, momentarily blinding her. Once she could see again, her ears flattened at the sight.
A mass of dark grey clouds were barreling towards them. No! The weather was supposed to be good today! It had been good. Where had that come from?
Zipp galloped up to them, staring up at the incoming storm in disbelief. "What the-? Where did-? That storm looks pretty bad, Sunny." It did. They should probably move the party to the Brighthouse. They could improvise some stuff to do.
Posey's shout rang out over the rising wind. "You pegasi better quit it right now!"
Sunny, Zipp, and Hitch's attention jerked to the other ponies on the beach.
"Us?" A black stallion pegasus startled. "We aren't doing that! Do you see any pegasus up there? We don't even know how to make storms!"
"Yeah!" a light pink pegasus mare agreed heatedly. "This is clearly unicorn magic!"
"What?!" Shimmer gasped, or at least that was what Sunny assumed she'd said. The roll of thunder made it hard to hear. It was like the sky itself was angry. The unicorn's next words were more audible. "We can't do that either! Why would we create a storm anyways?"
All the ponies burst into arguments, their voices blending together and being drowned out by the wind and the first wave of rain hitting them like a sheet. Sunny couldn't make out what anypony was saying anymore. What was happening?! Everything was falling apart!
.
Meanwhile…
Sugar's POV
Sugar breezed through the Brighthouse's laughably nonexistent security. Was it that these ponies trusted their 'friendship' barrier that much or did they not even realize what they had and who might want it? The only sound as she slipped through doors was the rain pounding on the roof outside. Truly the power of an alicorn knew no equal.
The elevator came to a stop and Sugar stepped into the Unity Crystal's room. Wow, all the tribes' magic in those little sparkly rocks. How stupid of them. It may have worked for a time, but now the secret was out.
Not even thirty seconds later she saw the barrier flicker. Sugar grinned, eyes focused on her prize. It was only a matter of time now…
.
A Few Minutes Earlier…
Ruby's POV
"Is it okay going past the guardrails like this?" Sparrow asked nervously, glancing back at the barrier they'd just climbed over.
"It's fine," Ruby assured her. This part of the cliff didn't have a path that went right up to the edge, but this was the best vantage point for this section of beach. "I come up here all the time. It's plenty safe. We won't stand at the very edge anyways. Just far enough to give us a better look at the beach."
Artsy went closer to the edge, scanning the sands below with a squint. "You think we'll be able to spot anything this high?"
Sparrow crawled forward. "I've got pretty good vision, I'll probably be able to spot something-" she flinched back from the edge. "If I can make myself look."
Ruby, much bolder than her friends due to having come here many times before, went much closer to the edge. "Hmm, it looks like some stuff washed up further down that way, we could try-" She cut off as a sudden gust of wind buffeted the back of her head. Turning, her mouth fell open as she realized there was a massive storm coming down the beach. Her heart jumped to her throat. How had- were the pegasi behind this?! Or was it the unicorns?! Both of them?! Storms didn't just come out of nowhere like that!
The other girls looked equally unnerved. Artsy's ears flattened as she clutched her hat to keep it from flying off. "Let's go back to-"
Many things happened at once. Rain began to pour from the sky and another powerful gust so strong it caused Ruby to stumble. Then something heavy crashed into her front hooves. A large branch (that had been what had hit her, she registered dimly) tumbled towards the beach below. And Ruby was following it.
"Ruby!" Sparrow and Artsy shouted, rushing forward.
Oh sweet Luna, Ruby was falling! She was so stunned that she couldn't even scream and her thoughts whizzed through her head like this hurricane that had magically appeared out of the blue. Would she die from this? She might survive if she hit the sand instead of a rock, but it would still really hurt. Her bones would break for sure. She'd never broken a bone before. There was nothing to grab to try to catch herself. What could-?
Suddenly, she wasn't falling anymore. Tearing her eyes from the no longer approaching ground, she twisted her head up to see Sparrow's face mere inches from hers, the other filly's eyes wide with worry. For a panicked, confused moment, Ruby thought Sparrow had fallen as well. But no, neither of them were falling. They were… going up?
That's when she saw it, sending a jolt of shock that might be even worse than the one she'd gotten from being knocked off the cliff. Out of what Ruby had assumed were pocket holes were a set of wings flapping furiously as Sparrow fought to pull Ruby back to the clifftop. And a weird blue sparkly mist had surrounded Ruby's middle. Looking up further, Ruby saw that Artsy had lost her hat, her horn now fully visible and glowing with a blue magic. Artsy's expression was strained with a glint of fear, but also fierce determination, in her eyes.
"You two are…?" Ruby stuttered, brain struggling to process what she was seeing.
Another gust of wind blew her and Sparrow sideways, but the pegasus kept ahold of her and kept pushing upwards. Together, the two other fillies managed to fully lift Ruby up the few feet she'd fallen. Artsy pulled them away from the edge immediately, nearly dragging them back to the guardrail.
Ruby was so confused. And scared and somewhat dazed and jittery. She might throw up. She'd maybe almost died. Artsy and Sparrow had saved her. They were… the entire time they'd been… But that was impossible.
Ruby's head was a mess as the trio dashed to safety.
